Differentiating early Alzheimer's disease (AD) from depression with cognitive impairment is challenging in the elderly. To develop a model for differentiating these two conditions using electroencephalography (EEG), we enrolled 11 patients with early probable AD and 11 age- and cognitive function-matched patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and compared the EEG relative powers of 9 scalp regions. Compared to the MDD group, the AD group had a higher global theta relative power (p=0.021). In the MDD group, beta relative power was higher in the mid-central region than in the left or right central regions (p<0.01). The prediction model that included global theta relative power and regional beta index was able to discriminate AD from MDD (AUC=0.893, p=0.002). A combination of global theta relative power and intra-individual regional differences in beta may differentiate early AD from MDD with cognitive impairment.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Cognition Disorders ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Electroencephalography* ; Humans ; Scalp

beta-Lapachone has drawn increasing attention as an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer drug. However, its oral bioavailability has not been yet assessed, which might be useful to develop efficient dosage forms possibly required for non-clinical and clinical studies and future market. The aim of the present study was thus to investigate pharmacokinetic properties of beta-lapachone as well as its first-pass metabolism in the liver, and small and large intestines after oral administration to measure the absolute bioavailability in rats. A sensitive HPLC method was developed to evaluate levels of beta-lapachone in plasma and organ homogenates. The drug degradation profiles were examined in plasma to assess the stability of the drug and in liver and intestinal homogenates to evaluate first-pass metabolism. Pharmacokinetic profiles were obtained after oral and intravenous administration of beta-lapachone at doses of 40 mg/kg and 1.5 mg/kg, respectively. The measured oral bioavailability of beta-lapachone was 15.5%. The considerable degradation of beta-lapachone was seen in the organ homogenates but the drug was quite stable in plasma. In conclusion, we suggest that the fairly low oral bioavailability of beta-lapachone may be resulted from the first-pass metabolic degradation of beta-lapachone in the liver, small and large intestinal tracts and its low aqueous solubility.
Administration, Intravenous ; Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Biological Availability* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Dosage Forms ; Intestines ; Liver ; Metabolism* ; Pharmacokinetics ; Plasma ; Rats* ; Solubility

Globally, the incidence of communicable diseases has decreased compared to non-communicable diseases. However, chronic communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis persist worldwide. Furthermore, emerging new infections such as H1N1 influenza pose a new threat to public health. However, most studies have focused on non-communicable diseases because of their increasing incidence, with fewer studies investigating communicable diseases. Therefore, we estimated the burden of communicable diseases in Korea using national representative 2012 data. To estimate the disability-adjusted life years (DALY), we used cause of death data from the Statistics Korea to estimate the years of life lost (YLL), applied the Korean garbage code algorithm, and used national claims data from the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) to estimate years lived with disability (YLD). In 2012, the total DALYs of communicable disease were 445 per 100,000, with 129 YLLs per 100,000 and 316 YLDs per 100,000. The total DALYs in men were 468 per 100,000, greater than the 422 per 100,000 DALYs seen in women. The DALYs of lower respiratory infections were the highest value among communicable diseases at 143/100,000 DALYs followed by tuberculosis and upper respiratory infections. The 40-49 years old age group had the largest number of total DALYs. In contrast, the over 80 years old age group had the largest number of total DALYs per 100,000 followed by the 70-79 and 0-9 years old age groups. These results enable the prioritization of interventions related to communicable diseases and can be used for evidence-based public health policies.
Cause of Death ; Communicable Diseases* ; Female ; Garbage ; Humans ; Incidence ; Influenza, Human ; Korea ; Male ; National Health Programs ; Public Health ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Tuberculosis

OBJECTIVES: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients show decreased semantic memory-processing ability including that for naming objects. We examined event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the semantic processing of MCI patients and compared their ERPs to those of cognitively normal elderly subjects. METHODS: A total of 25 MCI patients and 23 age-matched cognitively normal elderly controls (CN) participated in an object-word matching task that consisted of responding to whether a word stimulus matched the picture stimulus preceding it. There were three types of object-name pairs: 1) matched pair, 2) related but mismatched pair, and 3) unrelated mismatched pair. We compared the mean amplitude of ERPs to examine the mismatch effects between matched and mismatched pairs (N400M) and the category effect between inner category and outer category mismatched words (N400C) in CN and MCI patients. RESULTS: Compared to the CN subjects, the MCI patients showed a distinct N400M response to mismatch conditions, but the observed range was limited in the centroparietal area. While CN individuals showed a significantly larger N400C amplitude for unrelated mismatch pairs than those for related mismatch pairs, MCI patients exhibited no significant difference between those pair types. CONCLUSION The MCI showed a lack of the category effects in ERP responses, which may reflect latent behavioral impairments.

BACKGROUND: Trophoblast antigen 2 (TROP2) is a human trophoblast cell-surface glycoprotein that is overexpressed in several types of epithelial cancers, and is suggested to be associated with an unfavorable prognosis. BRAF mutations are the most common genetic alteration in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We evaluated the correlation between TROP2 expression and BRAF mutation in PTC. METHODS: First, we carried out pyrosequencing for BRAF mutations and immunohistochemistry for TROP2 expression with a tissue microarray consisting of 52 PTC cases. Membranous staining in at least 5% of tumor cells was designated as positive staining and we analyzed the relationship between TROP2 expression and diverse clinicopathological factors, including BRAF mutation. Second, we tested TROP2 mRNA expression in three thyroid cancer cell lines with BRAF mutations (BCPAP, SNU790, and 8505C) and a normal thyroid cell line. Additionally, we checked TROP2 protein levels in a normal thyroid cell line after introduction of the BRAF V600E mutation. RESULTS: In this study, 21 of 26 cases with BRAF mutation showed TROP2 immunoreactivity, whereas all 26 cases without BRAF mutation showed no immunoreactivity for TROP2 with a statistically significant difference (p<.001). Upregulation of TROP2 mRNA was observed in all three thyroid cancer cell lines, but not in the normal thyroid cell line. Interestingly, however, the TROP2 expression was increased in the normal thyroid cell line after introduction of the BRAF V600E mutation. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, we concluded that TROP2 expression is significantly associated with BRAF mutation and that TROP2 immunohistochemistry could be used for predicting BRAF mutations or diagnosing papillary thyroid carcinoma.
Cell Line ; Glycoproteins ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Prognosis ; RNA, Messenger ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Trophoblasts ; Up-Regulation

BACKGROUND: Although histological diagnosis of pilomatricoma is not difficult because of its unique histological features, cytological diagnosis through fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is often problematic due to misdiagnoses as malignancy. METHODS: We reviewed the cytological features of 14 cases of histologically-proven pilomatricoma from Korea Cancer Center Hospital, with a discussion on the diagnostic pitfalls of FNAC. RESULTS: Among 14 cases of pilomatricoma, 10 (71.4%) were correctly diagnosed through FNAC, and two (14.3%) were misdiagnosed as carcinoma. Cytologically, all cases had easily recognizable clusters of basaloid cells and foreign body-type multinucleated cells. Although ghost cells were also found in all cases, some were inconspicuous and hardly recognizable due to their small numbers. CONCLUSIONS: An accurate diagnosis of pilomatricoma in FNAC is feasible with consideration of clinical information and close examination of ghost cells.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Korea ; Pilomatrixoma

BACKGROUND: It is difficult to correctly diagnose follicular neoplasms (FNs) on fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) because it shares many cytological features with other mimicking lesions. The aim of this study was to identify the cytological features that differentiate FNs from mimicking lesions. METHODS: We included the cytological slides from 116 cases of thyroid FN diagnosed on FNAC, and included their subsequent histological diagnoses. We evaluated the cytological architectural pattern and nuclear features of the lesions according to their histological groups. RESULTS: The final histological diagnoses of the 116 cases varied, and included 51 FNs (44%), 47 papillary thyroid carcinomas (40%) including follicular variant, and seventeen cellular nodular hyperplasias (15%). Regardless of the final histological diagnosis, microfollicular pattern was observed in most cases. On the other hand, trabecular pattern was identified in 34% of FNs, but not in any other lesions. Additionally, elongated nuclei and ground glass chromatin were found in only some papillary thyroid carcinomas. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the trabecular pattern is a representative cytological feature of FNs that can be used to distinguish FNs from mimicking lesions. In addition, nuclear shape and chromatin pattern can be used to further confirm the diagnosis of FNs from mimicking lesions through FNAC.
Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Chromatin ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Glass ; Hand ; Hyperplasia ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms