OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to develop KAVLT (Korean Auditory Verbal Learning Test)and to examine its reliability and validity. The KAVLT is a modified Korean version of RAVLT (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) The KAVLT assesses immediate supraspan memory, registration, retention, retrieval, recognition, learning strategy, and interference effect. METHODS: Final version of KAVLT was developed through preliminary trials. The KAVLT was administered to 75 normal healthy adults and 30 organic brain syndrome patients. Twenty-five normal controls were retested 3 weeks after the first trial to examine the test-retest reliability. The scores of basic and combined indices of KAVLT were compared between normal controls and patients. Factor analysis was done to investigate the construct validity. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between the test-retest scores of most of the basic indices. Discriminant validity which differentiates organic brain syndrome patients from normal controls was excellent. In order to accomplish the structure analysis of the KAVLT, different sets of scores were submitted to factor analysis procedure. Factor analysis of KAVLT basic indices revealed 2 factors, 'aquisition' and 'retention'. In the factor analysis of KAVLT's basic and combined indices, 4 factors emerged: 'general learning', 'retroactive interference', 'proactive interference', and 'primacy/recency effect'. CONCLUSION: The newly developed KAVLT was found to be a reliable and valid tool for evaluating multifactorial assesment of verbal memory and learning in Korean subjects.
Adult ; Brain ; Equidae ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Humans ; Learning ; Memory ; Reproducibility of Results ; Verbal Learning*

OBJECTIVES: This study was to investigate the verbal memory and learning ability in remitted schizophrenic patients and euthymic bipolar patients in order to explore trait-dependent cognitive deficits of each disorder. METHODS: Verbal memory was assessed with KAVLT(the Korean version of Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test) in outpatients with remitted schizophrenia(N=30), euthymic bipolar disorder(N=28), and normal control(N=72). KAVLT is made for assessment of immediate supraspan memory, registration, retention, retrieval, recognition, learning strategy, and interference effect. Several confounding factors including age, sex, educational level, attention span, residual psychopathology, and extrapyramidal symptoms were controlled among 3 groups. Patient groups were matched according to the age of onset, duration of illness, and frequency of hospitalization. RESULTS: 1) The performance of bipolar group generally fall between the performance of schizophrenia and normal controls, while being most impaired in retroactive interference. Schizophrenic group showed significant impairment on most variables of KAVLT in comparison with the groups of bipolar disorder and normal control. 2) Within group analysis revealed that residual negative symptoms, duration of illness, and number of admission were highly correlated with the impairment of verbal memory and learning in schizophrenics. Number of depressive episodes and age were negatively correlated with verbal memory and learning among bipolar disorder patients. CONCLUSIONS: Both remitted schizophrenia and euthymic bipolar patients showed distinctive impairment in verbal memory and learning compared with controls. These results suggest that specific impairment of verbal memory and learning in remitted state can be a trait-dependent marker in both diseases. These deficits can give clues to the understanding of the pathophysiology and searching for more appropriate therapeutic interventions of mental disorders to improve cognitive deficits in remitted patients.
Age of Onset ; Bipolar Disorder ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Learning* ; Memory* ; Mental Disorders ; Outpatients ; Psychopathology ; Schizophrenia ; Verbal Learning

PURPOSE: The E-cadherin gene, located on chromosome 16q22, may play principal roles in cell adhesion with the loss of E-cadherin expression leading to a propensity for a great number of malignant properties. The loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on 16q22 has rarely been studied in invasive ductal carcinomas. Our objectives were to evaluate the LOH of E-cadherin and the protein expression in invasive ductal carcinomas and their correlation with various clinicopathological factors. METHODS: The LOH analysis was performed using polymerase chain reactions with three polymorphic microsatellite markers (D16S419, D16S3106 and D16S498) in 50 surgically resected tumors and their non-tumorous counterparts. The E-cadherin protein expression was studied using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The LOH and loss of protein expression were detected in 54% and 46% of the tumors, respectively. There was no LOH or protein loss detected in the non-tumor lesions. The LOH results were well correlated with the tumor size and lymph node metastasis. The protein loss results were well correlated with tumor histological grade. No correlation was found between LOH and protein loss. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the LOH of E-cadherin may be associated with tumor metastasis and tumor progression and E-cadherin protein loss may be related with the dedifferentiation in some portions of invasive ductal carcinomas. We propose the LOH of E-cadherin and protein loss may contribute to tumor progression by independent mechanism.
Cadherins* ; Carcinoma, Ductal* ; Cell Adhesion ; Immunohistochemistry ; Loss of Heterozygosity* ; Lymph Nodes ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

This study was initiated in order to investigate the anticancer and immunomodulating activities of crude polysaccharides extracted in methanol, neutral saline, and hot water (hereinafter referred to as Fr. MeOH, Fr. NaCl, and Fr. HW, respectively) from the fruiting bodies of Panellus serotinus. Content of beta-glucan and protein in Fr. MeOH, Fr. NaCl, and Fr. HW extracts of P. serotinus ranged from 22.92~28.52 g/100 g and 3.24~3.68 g/100 g, respectively. In vitro cytotoxicity tests, none of the various fractions of crude polysaccharides were cytotoxic against sarcoma 180, HT-29, NIH3T3, and RAW 264.7 cell lines at the tested concentration. Intraperitoneal injection with crude polysaccharides resulted in a life prolongation effect of 23.53~44.71% in mice previously inoculated with sarcoma 180. Treatment with Fr. HW resulted in an increase in the numbers of spleen cells by 1.3 fold at the concentration of 50 microg/mL compared with control. Treatment with Fr. NaCl resulted in improvement of the immuno-potentiating activity of B lymphocytes by increasing the alkaline phosphatase activity by 1.4 fold, compared with control, at the concentration of 200 microg/mL. Among the three fractions, maximum nitric oxide (13.48 microM) was recorded at 500 microg/mL in Fr. HW. Production of tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1beta, and interleukin-6 was significantly higher, compared to the positive control, concanavalin A, at the tested concentration. Therefore, treatment with crude polysaccharides extracted from the fruiting body of P. serotinus could result in improvement of antitumor activity.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Animals ; B-Lymphocytes ; Cell Line ; Concanavalin A ; Fruit ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Interleukin-1beta ; Interleukin-6 ; Life Support Care ; Methanol ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide ; Polysaccharides ; Sarcoma 180 ; Spleen ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Water

Pleurotus nebrodensis is an edible and commercially available mushroom in Korea. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the anticancer and immunopotentiating activities of crude polysaccharides, extracted in methanol, neutral saline, and hot water (hereafter referred to as Fr. MeOH, Fr. NaCl, and Fr. HW, respectively) from the fruiting bodies of P. nebrodensis. beta-Glucan and protein contents in Fr. MeOH, Fr. NaCl, and Fr. HW extracts of P. nebrodensis ranged from 23.79~36.63 g/100 g and 4.45~6.12 g/100 g, respectively. Crude polysaccharides were not cytotoxic against sarcoma 180, HT-29, NIH3T3, and RAW 264.7 cell lines at a range of 10~2,000 microg/mL. Intraperitoneal injection with crude polysaccharides resulted in a life prolongation effect of 11.76~27.06% in mice previously inoculated with sarcoma 180. Treatment with Fr. NaCl resulted in an increase in the numbers of spleen cells by 1.49 fold at the concentration of 50 microg/mL, compared with control. Fr. HW improved the immuno-potentiating activity of B lymphocytes through an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity by 1.65 fold, compared with control at 200 microg/mL. Maximum production of nitric oxide (14.3 microM) was recorded in the Fr. NaCl fraction at 200 microg/mL. Production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) was significantly higher, compared to control, and IL-6 production was highest, in contrast to TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and positive control, concanavalin at the tested concentration of the various fractions. Results of the current study suggest that polysaccharides extracted from P. nebrodensis have a strong anticancer effect and may be useful as an ingredient of biopharmaceutical products for treatment of cancer.
Agaricales ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Animals ; B-Lymphocytes ; Cell Line ; Fruit ; Immunomodulation ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Interleukin-1beta ; Interleukin-6 ; Korea ; Life Support Care ; Methanol ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide ; Pleurotus ; Polysaccharides ; Sarcoma ; Sarcoma 180 ; Spleen ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Water

With rapid population aging, the socioeconomic burden caused by dementia care is snowballing. Although a few community-based studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been performed in Korea, there has never been a nationwide hospital-based study thereof. We aimed to identify the demographics and clinical characteristics of mild-to-moderate AD patients from the Clinical Research Center for Dementia of Korea (CREDOS) registry. A total of 1,786 patients were consecutively included from September 2005 to June 2010. Each patient underwent comprehensive neurological examination, interview for caregivers, laboratory investigations, neuropsychological tests, and brain MRI. The mean age was 74.0 yr and the female percentage 67.0%. The mean period of education was 7.1 yr and the frequency of early-onset AD (< 65 yr old) was 18.8%. Among the vascular risk factors, hypertension (48.9%) and diabetes mellitus (22.3%) were the most frequent. The mean score of the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) was 19.2 and the mean sum of box scores of Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR-SB) 5.1. Based on the well-structured, nationwide, and hospital-based registry, this study provides the unique clinical characteristics of AD and emphasizes the importance of vascular factors in AD in Korea.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alzheimer Disease/complications/*diagnosis ; Brain/radionuclide imaging ; Caregivers ; Dementia/diagnosis ; Demography ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/etiology ; Female ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Hypertension/etiology ; Interviews as Topic ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Questionnaires ; *Registries ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors

The pneumonia severity index (PSI) and CURB-65 are widely used tools for the prediction of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). This study was conducted to evaluate validation of severity scoring system including the PSI and CURB-65 scores of Korean CAP patients. In the prospective CAP cohort (participated in by 14 hospitals in Korea from January 2009 to September 2011), 883 patients aged over 18 yr were studied. The 30-day mortalities of all patients were calculated with their PSI index classes and CURB scores. The overall mortality rate was 4.5% (40/883). The mortality rates per CURB-65 score were as follows: score 0, 2.3% (6/260); score 1, 4.0% (12/300); score 2, 6.0% (13/216); score 3, 5.7% (5/88); score 4, 23.5% (4/17); and score 5, 0% (0/2). Mortality rate with PSI risk class were as follows: I, 2.3% (4/174); II, 2.7% (5/182); III, 2.3% (5/213); IV, 4.5% (11/245); and V, 21.7% (15/69). The subgroup mortality rate of Korean CAP patients varies based on the severity scores and CURB-65 is more valid for the lower scores, and PSI, for the higher scores. Thus, these variations must be considered when using PSI and CURB-65 for CAP in Korean patients.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cohort Studies ; Community-Acquired Infections/*mortality ; Female ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pneumonia/*mortality ; Prospective Studies ; Republic of Korea ; *Severity of Illness Index ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use ; Ascites/diagnosis/prevention & control/therapy ; Cholagogues and Choleretics/therapeutic use ; Fatty Liver/diagnosis/diet therapy ; Fatty Liver, Alcoholic/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Hemorrhage/prevention & control/therapy ; Hepatic Encephalopathy/diagnosis/prevention & control/therapy ; Hepatitis B, Chronic/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Hepatitis C, Chronic/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/*diagnosis/drug therapy/pathology/*therapy ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary/drug therapy ; Vasodilator Agents/therapeutic use