OBJECTIVE: The goal of the present study was to evaluate demographic and clinical factors that affect the intention to participate in commonly-conducted research in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Thirty-four outpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were enrolled in this study. They were asked whether they would have any intention to participate in four imaginary studies: a simple questionnaire, a genetic study, a study of complex tasks and a risky study. We analyzed the differences in general psychopathology, insight and demographic characteristics of the participants according to their responses (acceptance or refusal) to the four proposed studies. RESULTS: Younger and better-educated patients tended to decline participation in a risky study. Patients with a longer duration of regular psychiatric follow-ups tended to willingly participate in the simple questionnaire. There were no overall statistical differences in general psychopathology and insight between patients who agreed or declined to participate in studies. CONCLUSION: Age and education level may be factors that influence decisions to participate in schizophrenia studies. Further research is needed to confirm and expand on the current findings.
Demography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Informed Consent ; Intention ; Outpatients ; Patient Participation ; Pilot Projects ; Psychopathology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Research Subjects ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to reveal the relationship of depression with growth factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in inpatients diagnosed with alcohol dependence, and to identify candidate growth factors as biological markers to indicate the comorbid of alcohol dependence and depression. METHODS: This study examined demographic factors in 45 alcohol-dependent patients. The ADS (Korean version of the Alcohol Dependence Scale) and BDI (Korean version of Beck's Depression Inventory) were used. BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1 were measured through ELISA. RESULTS: The average drinking quantity and the ADS score were significantly more severe in alcohol-dependent patients with depression than in those without depression. Linearly comparing BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1 with BDI values, IGF-1 was the growth factor significantly correlated with BDI scores. BDI scores were significantly correlated with ADS scores. IGF-1 was significantly higher in alcohol-dependent patients with depression. Alcohol-dependent patients with depression had greater alcohol use and more severe ADS scores. BDNF and NGF showed no significant difference between alcohol-dependent patients with and without depression, but IGF-1 was significantly higher in those with than in those without depression. CONCLUSION: IGF-1 was found to be associated with depression in alcohol-dependent patients, suggesting that IGF-1 in alcohol-dependent patients could be an important biomarker to indicate whether alcohol-dependence is accompanied by depression.
Alcoholism ; Biomarkers ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Demography ; Depression* ; Drinking ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins* ; Nerve Growth Factor

A Computer-Based Examination(CBE) System is developed to take the effective examination for medical student. The server system is operated with Windows NT(Korean ver. 4.0) and the clients system with Windows 95(later than ver. OSR 2), and the Microsoft SQL server(ver. 7.0) is used for database server, and the Inprise Delphi(ver. 4.02) for development tool. This system consists of five subsystems(item bank, item selection, implementation, item analysis). The CBE system is designed to execute the multimedia data(image, sound, movie), and for professors to build question items, to extract the items for examinations on this system, and for students to conduct the examination on the client computer systems. It will reduce time to mark examination papers and to analyze the items, and can be applied for self-studying(computer assisted learning, CAL) with linking to internet or knowledge-base system.
Computer Systems ; Humans ; Internet ; Learning ; Multimedia ; Students, Medical*

Capillary hemangioma of the tracheobronchial tree is an extremely rare benign tumor in adults, especially those located in the bronchus. Characteristics and treatment of capillary hemangiomas of adult tracheobronchial trees have not been well known. We present a 61-year-old man with hemoptysis, which was caused by a small tiny nodule in the left lingular segmental bronchus. The nodule was removed by a forcep biopsy, via flexible bronchoscopy, and it was revealed to be capillary hemangioma. A small isolated endobronchial capillary hemangioma can be treated with excisional forcep biopsy, but a risk of massive bleeding should not be overlooked.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Bronchi ; Bronchoscopy ; Capillaries ; Hemangioma, Capillary ; Hemoptysis ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Surgical Instruments

In the present study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on lipid peroxidation and Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) levels in the hippocampus of Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats and lean control rats (ZLC) during the onset of diabetes. At 7 weeks of age, ZLC and ZDF rats were either placed on a stationary treadmill or made to run for 1 h/day for 5 consecutive days at 16~22 m/min for 5 weeks. At 12 weeks of age, the ZDF rats had significantly higher blood glucose levels and body weight than the ZLC rats. In addition, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the hippocampus of the ZDF rats were significantly higher than those of the ZLC rats whereas SOD1 levels in the hippocampus of the ZDF rats were moderately decreased. Notably, treadmill exercise prevented the increase of blood glucose levels in ZDF rats. In addition, treadmill exercise significantly ameliorated changes in MDA and SOD1 levels in the hippocampus although SOD activity was not altered. These findings suggest that diabetes increases lipid peroxidation and decreases SOD1 levels, and treadmill exercise can mitigate diabetes-induced oxidative damage in the hippocampus.
Animals ; Diabetes Mellitus/enzymology/*metabolism ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; Genotype ; Hippocampus/*enzymology/metabolism ; Lipid Peroxidation/*physiology ; Male ; Malondialdehyde/metabolism ; Physical Conditioning, Animal/*physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Zucker ; Superoxide Dismutase/genetics/*metabolism

Objective: The rapid societal changes have underscored the importance of effective stress detection and management. Chronic mental stress significantly contributes to both physical and psychological illnesses. However, many individuals often remain unaware of their stress levels until they face physical health issues, highlighting the necessity for regular stress monitoring. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of vocal biomarkers in detecting stress levels among healthy Korean employees and to contribute to digital healthcare solutions. Methods: We conducted a multi-center clinical study by collecting voice recordings from 115 healthy Korean employees under both relaxed and stress-induced conditions. Stress was induced using the socially evaluated cold pressor test. The Emphasized Channel Attention, Propagation and Aggregation in Time delay neural network (ECAPA-TDNN) deep learning architecture, renowned for its advanced capabilities in analyzing person-specific voice features, was employed to develop stress prediction scores. Results: The proposed model achieved a 70% accuracy rate in detecting stress. This performance underscores the potential of vocal biomarkers as a convenient and effective tool for individuals to self-monitor and manage their stress levels within digital healthcare frameworks. Conclusion The findings emphasize the promise of voice-based mental stress assessments within the Korean population and the importance of continued research on vocal biomarkers across diverse linguistic demographics.

Objective: The rapid societal changes have underscored the importance of effective stress detection and management. Chronic mental stress significantly contributes to both physical and psychological illnesses. However, many individuals often remain unaware of their stress levels until they face physical health issues, highlighting the necessity for regular stress monitoring. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of vocal biomarkers in detecting stress levels among healthy Korean employees and to contribute to digital healthcare solutions. Methods: We conducted a multi-center clinical study by collecting voice recordings from 115 healthy Korean employees under both relaxed and stress-induced conditions. Stress was induced using the socially evaluated cold pressor test. The Emphasized Channel Attention, Propagation and Aggregation in Time delay neural network (ECAPA-TDNN) deep learning architecture, renowned for its advanced capabilities in analyzing person-specific voice features, was employed to develop stress prediction scores. Results: The proposed model achieved a 70% accuracy rate in detecting stress. This performance underscores the potential of vocal biomarkers as a convenient and effective tool for individuals to self-monitor and manage their stress levels within digital healthcare frameworks. Conclusion The findings emphasize the promise of voice-based mental stress assessments within the Korean population and the importance of continued research on vocal biomarkers across diverse linguistic demographics.

Objective: The rapid societal changes have underscored the importance of effective stress detection and management. Chronic mental stress significantly contributes to both physical and psychological illnesses. However, many individuals often remain unaware of their stress levels until they face physical health issues, highlighting the necessity for regular stress monitoring. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of vocal biomarkers in detecting stress levels among healthy Korean employees and to contribute to digital healthcare solutions. Methods: We conducted a multi-center clinical study by collecting voice recordings from 115 healthy Korean employees under both relaxed and stress-induced conditions. Stress was induced using the socially evaluated cold pressor test. The Emphasized Channel Attention, Propagation and Aggregation in Time delay neural network (ECAPA-TDNN) deep learning architecture, renowned for its advanced capabilities in analyzing person-specific voice features, was employed to develop stress prediction scores. Results: The proposed model achieved a 70% accuracy rate in detecting stress. This performance underscores the potential of vocal biomarkers as a convenient and effective tool for individuals to self-monitor and manage their stress levels within digital healthcare frameworks. Conclusion The findings emphasize the promise of voice-based mental stress assessments within the Korean population and the importance of continued research on vocal biomarkers across diverse linguistic demographics.

Objective: The rapid societal changes have underscored the importance of effective stress detection and management. Chronic mental stress significantly contributes to both physical and psychological illnesses. However, many individuals often remain unaware of their stress levels until they face physical health issues, highlighting the necessity for regular stress monitoring. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of vocal biomarkers in detecting stress levels among healthy Korean employees and to contribute to digital healthcare solutions. Methods: We conducted a multi-center clinical study by collecting voice recordings from 115 healthy Korean employees under both relaxed and stress-induced conditions. Stress was induced using the socially evaluated cold pressor test. The Emphasized Channel Attention, Propagation and Aggregation in Time delay neural network (ECAPA-TDNN) deep learning architecture, renowned for its advanced capabilities in analyzing person-specific voice features, was employed to develop stress prediction scores. Results: The proposed model achieved a 70% accuracy rate in detecting stress. This performance underscores the potential of vocal biomarkers as a convenient and effective tool for individuals to self-monitor and manage their stress levels within digital healthcare frameworks. Conclusion The findings emphasize the promise of voice-based mental stress assessments within the Korean population and the importance of continued research on vocal biomarkers across diverse linguistic demographics.

Background: Recent diabetes management guidelines recommend that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) or glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) with proven cardiovascular benefits should be prioritized for combination therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and established cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study was aimed at evaluating SGLT2i or GLP-1RA usage rates and various related factors in patients with T2DM and established CVD. Methods: We enrolled adults with T2DM aged ≥30 years who were hospitalized due to established CVD from January 2019 to May 2020 at 13 secondary and tertiary hospitals in Korea in this retrospective observational study. Results: Overall, 2,050 patients were eligible for analysis among 2,107 enrolled patients. The mean patient age, diabetes duration, and glycosylated hemoglobin level were 70.0 years, 12.0 years, and 7.5%, respectively. During the mean follow-up duration of 9.7 months, 25.7% of the patients were prescribed SGLT2is after CVD events. However, only 1.8% were prescribed GLP-1RAs. Compared with SGLT2i non-users, SGLT2i users were more frequently male and obese. Furthermore, they had a shorter diabetes duration but showed worse glycemic control and better renal function at the time of the event. GLP-1RA users had a longer duration of diabetes and worse glycemic control at the time of the event than GLP-1RA non-users. Conclusion The SGLT2i or GLP-1RA prescription rates were suboptimal in patients with T2DM and established CVD. Sex, body mass index, diabetes duration, glycemic control, and renal function were associated with the use of these agents.