OBJECTIVE: To investigate employment status after spinal cord injury (SCI) and identify personal, family, and injury characteristics those affect their employment in South Korea. METHODS: Participants were 334 community-dwelling persons 20-64 years of age who had sustained SCI for more than one year. Investigators visited each participant's home to carry out the survey. Bivariate and binary logistic regression analyses were performed to identify personal, family, and injury characteristics that influenced employment after SCI. RESULTS: Employment rate decreased significantly from 82.5% to 27.5% after SCI. Logistic regression showed that the probability of employment was higher in men than women, and in individuals older than 45 years at the time of injury than those aged 31-45 years of age. Moreover, employment was higher in individuals injured for longer than 20 years than those injured for 1-5 years and in individuals with incomplete tetraplegia than those with complete paraplegia. Employment was lower in individuals with SCI caused by industrial accidents than those injured in non-industrial accidents. CONCLUSION: Injury characteristics are the most important predictors of employment in persons with SCI. For persons with lower employment rate, individualized vocational rehabilitation and employment-support systems are required.
Accidents, Occupational ; Employment* ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Paraplegia ; Quadriplegia ; Rehabilitation, Vocational ; Republic of Korea* ; Research Personnel ; Spinal Cord Injuries* ; Spinal Cord*

Recombinant human parathyroid hormone 1-34 (rHPTH; 1-34, teriparatide) increases bone mass and increases osteoporotic fracture by stimulating new bone formation. It was approved in the United States for treatment of osteoporosis in men and women, and its effectiveness and safety was proved. Mild hypercalcemia was observed, but persistent and severe hypercalcemia was not observed in the studies of teriparatide. In this case, severe hypercalcemia was developed from patient having gait disturbance who was treated with vitamin D, calcium and teripartide for two months to treat osteoporosis after subtrochanteric fracture. Hypercalcemia was resolved with discontinuation of teriparatide. Severe hypercalcemia is not a common complication of teriparatide and monitoring of serum calcium level is routinely not recommended. But it is necessary to pay close attention to patients who were treated with teriparatide, especially in immobilized patients.
Calcium ; Female ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypercalcemia ; Male ; Osteogenesis ; Osteoporosis ; Osteoporotic Fractures ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Teriparatide ; United States ; Vitamin D

Recombinant human parathyroid hormone 1-34 (rHPTH; 1-34, teriparatide) increases bone mass and increases osteoporotic fracture by stimulating new bone formation. It was approved in the United States for treatment of osteoporosis in men and women, and its effectiveness and safety was proved. Mild hypercalcemia was observed, but persistent and severe hypercalcemia was not observed in the studies of teriparatide. In this case, severe hypercalcemia was developed from patient having gait disturbance who was treated with vitamin D, calcium and teripartide for two months to treat osteoporosis after subtrochanteric fracture. Hypercalcemia was resolved with discontinuation of teriparatide. Severe hypercalcemia is not a common complication of teriparatide and monitoring of serum calcium level is routinely not recommended. But it is necessary to pay close attention to patients who were treated with teriparatide, especially in immobilized patients.
Calcium ; Female ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypercalcemia ; Male ; Osteogenesis ; Osteoporosis ; Osteoporotic Fractures ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Teriparatide ; United States ; Vitamin D

OBJECTIVES: Rapid economic growth and industrial development in South Korea have led to a great change in dietary patterns, and the use of convenience foods has continuously increased. This study was performed to evaluate the energy and nutrient contents of convenience foods at convenience stores near the universities as a meal. METHODS: Data was collected by visiting 22 convenience stores near some universities in Chungbuk and Seoul and by checking nutrition labels on convenience foods at the stores. Data of a total of 338 food items were collected, and divided into five groups according to the food categories; rice products (n=156), noodles (n=101), burger/sandwiches (n=62), Tteokbokkis (n=11), and dumplings (n=8). Further, rice products, noodles, and burger/sandwiches were divided into subcategories. RESULTS: The proportion of calories from carbohydrates was high in the rice products and tteokbokki, while the rate of calories from fat was high in burger/sandwiches and dumplings. Among the rice products, the proportion of carbohydrate calories was high in a one-dish food, rice with soup, and triangular kimbap, while the proportion of calories from fat in lunch boxes was high. In the noodles category, ramyeon and spaghetti had a high percentage of fat calories, while udong had a high percentage of carbohydrate calories. The ratio of the calorie content in relation to the KDRIs for adults aged 19-29 years, lunch boxes provided about 1/3 of daily required energy. However, the amount of calories as one meal was not enough for other types of rice products except for lunch boxes. Ramyeon was high in calories, fat, and sodium, but low in protein content. The burger/sandwiches had a high percentage of fat and sodium. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed several nutritional limitations of convenience meals in convenience stores according to the type of food. Therefore, college students should limit excessive intake of convenience meals on a regular basis in order to avoid unhealthy food intake patterns. Our results demonstrate the need for educating college students with regard to checking nutrition labels when choosing convenience meals in order to facilitate the selection of food items that contribute to a balanced diet.
Adult ; Carbohydrates ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Diet ; Eating ; Economic Development ; Fast Foods ; Humans ; Industrial Development ; Korea ; Lunch ; Meals* ; Seoul ; Sodium

Myoepitheliomas are well-established to occur in the salivary glands, but they have also been described in the breast, upper aerodigestive tract, skin, and soft tissues. We report here on a unique case of primary myoepithelioma that occurred in the right testis of a 28-year-old man. The tumor was entirely confined to the testis and it was clearly separated from the epididymis. Histopathology revealed mixed architectural patterns in which the reticular areas merged into the chondromyxoid stroma. The tumor cells, which were focally immunoreactive to pancytokeratin and S-100 protein, were round to ovoid and spindly arranged in cords, strands, and fascicles. They showed mild nuclear pleomorphism, sparse mitotic figures and a low Ki-67 proliferative index. There was no ductal differentiation in the tumor. To the best of our knowledge, there has been only one case report of a primary testicular myoepithelioma in the English medical literature.
Adult ; Breast ; Epididymis ; Humans ; Male ; Myoepithelioma ; S100 Proteins ; Salivary Glands ; Skin ; Testis

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the trend of press reports on mental illness in Korea to help set a desirable direction for future press reports on the subject. METHODS: This study adopted the method of semantic network analysis to analyze the trend of press reporting on mental illness in Korea. The study analyzed 1253 newspaper articles from 2016 to 2018 published by the five major Korean press: The Kyunghyang Shinmun, The Dong-A Ilbo, The Chosun Ilbo, The JoongAng Ilbo, and The Hankyoreh. RESULTS: The number of articles on mental illness is on the decline year by year, with 465 articles in 2016, 406 in 2017, and 382 in 2018. According to keyword analysis, the order of the words of the highest frequency is as follows: treatment (659), patients (486), mental health (466), incidents (436), and children and adolescents (413). In terms of the Degree Centrality, Closeness Centrality, and Betweenness Centrality, the following words are commonly ranked within the top 10 on the lists: treatment, children and adolescents, patient, mental health, depressive disorder, family, suicide, and counselling. CONCLUSION The press should pay more attention to mental illness, and its reporting should guarantee accuracy, objectivity, fairness, diversity, and social responsibility. In addition, reports on mental illness need to provide balanced health information, considering the readers, from basic information on mental illness to detailed treatment methods. Establishing reporting guidelines for mental illness would help reduce harm and prejudice related to mental illness and increase access to treatment.

Background: Malaria elimination strategies in the Republic of Korea (ROK) have decreased malaria incidence but face challenges due to delayed case detection and response. To improve this, machine learning models for predicting malaria, focusing on high-risk areas, have been developed. Methods: The study targeted the northern region of ROK, near the demilitarized zone, using a 1-km grid to identify areas for prediction. Grid cells without residential buildings were excluded, leaving 8,425 cells. The prediction was based on whether at least one malaria case was reported in each grid cell per month, using spatial data of patient locations. Four algorithms were used: gradient boosted (GBM), generalized linear (GLM), extreme gradient boosted (XGB), and ensemble models, incorporating environmental, sociodemographic, and meteorological data as predictors. The models were trained with data from May to October (2019–2021) and tested with data from May to October 2022. Model performance was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Results: The AUROC of the prediction models performed excellently (GBM = 0.9243, GLM = 0.9060, XGB = 0.9180, and ensemble model = 0.9301). Previous malaria risk, population size, and meteorological factors influenced the model most in GBM and XGB. Conclusion Machine-learning models with properly preprocessed malaria case data can provide reliable predictions. Additional predictors, such as mosquito density, should be included in future studies to improve the performance of models.

The kinetics of cytokine mRNA expression was studied in porcine alveolar macrophages using an RT-PCR assay. The expression levels of IFN- gamma, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, GM-CSF, IL-12 p35, and IL-12 p40 were examined after 2, 4, 14, 24, 48, and 72 h of incubation in unstimulated control and LPS-stimulated cells. The expression contents of IFN-gamma, IL-2, and IL-4 were not detected in both unstimulated and LPS-stimulated cells. On the other hand, the expression levels of IL-6, GM-CSF, and IL-12 in LPS-stimulated cells were almost always higher than those in control cells. Among those cytokines, IL-6 exhibited the predominant expression, and GM-CSF, IL-12 p40, and IL-12 p35 followed in the descending order. The times to reach the peak expression levels for IL-6, and GM-CSF, IL-12 p35, and IL-12 p40 were 14, and 24 h, respectively. After reaching the peak expression point, the expression levels of IL-6, GM-CSF, and IL-12 p40 reduced to the baseline by 72 h after stimulation, however, IL-12 p35 still kept a substantial expression by the same time. This study demonstrates that porcine alveolar macrophages primarily respond to express IL-6, GM-CSF, and IL-12 by LPS-stimulation and have a cytokine-specific expression profile during the stimulation time.
Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Cytokines/*genetics ; Female ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation/*drug effects ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor/genetics ; Interferon Type II/genetics ; Interleukins/genetics ; Kinetics ; Lipopolysaccharides/*pharmacology ; Macrophages, Alveolar/*drug effects/*metabolism ; RNA, Messenger/genetics/metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Swine/*genetics

A capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (capture ELISA) was developed to detect Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) in assay buffer and human serum. The assay is based upon affinity-purified rabbit polyclonal and biotinylated monoclonal antibodies directed against the BoNT/A complex purified from C. botulinum ATCC19397. For the capture ELISA, the optimized amount (2 microgram/ml) of rabbit polyclonal antibody was immobilized on ELISA plates to detect BoNT/A (ranging from 0 to 500 ng/ml), which was recognized by 2 microgram/ml of the monoclonal antibody. From three independent repeated experiments, standard curves were linear over the range of 0~31.25 ng/ml BoNT/A and the coefficients (r(2)) ranged from 0.9951~0.9999 for all assays. The inter-variations were typically 0.50~6.93% and the specificity was confirmed by showing no cross-reactivity against BoNT/B and /E. The detection limit of capture ELISA was 0.488 ng/ml, which was close to mouse LD(50). In addition, application with BoNT/A-spiking human sera showed a possibility to detect BoNT/A with capture ELISA from the contaminated human sera. Taken together, the newly developed capture ELISA could serve as a rapid and sensitive screening tool for detecting BoNT/A simultaneously from massive specimens.
Animals ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Clostridium botulinum ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Limit of Detection ; Mass Screening ; Mice ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Infective endocarditis related to pacemaker implantation is a rare complication. However, it is a potentially lethal complication with a mortality rate of 30 to 35%. Infective endocarditis associated with pacemaker implantation usually involves the right heart and tricuspid valve. Conservative treatment without complete removal of the entire pacing system is prone to fail (i.e. result in infection relapse or development of sepsis). Therefore, the total extraction of the entire pacemaker system should be considered as standard therapy for most patients with pacemaker-related endocarditis and for many patients with local infectious symptoms at the site of pacemaker implantation to achieve complete recovery. We report a case of a 42-year-old man with documented pacemaker related left-sided endocarditis that was associated with multiple embolic events. Also, we review the literature regarding pacemaker-related endocarditis and local wound infection, in particular with respect to the modalities of treatment.
Adult ; Aortic Valve* ; Endocarditis* ; Endocarditis, Bacterial ; Heart ; Humans ; Mortality ; Recurrence ; Tricuspid Valve ; Wound Infection