Responses of mouse lymphocytes to the soybean paste fermented by Korean traditional fashion was examined to clarify its effects in cytokine production in vitro. A fraction of the soybean paste (KFSP-100) was prepared by precipitation with ammonium sulfate and by filtration through ultrafiltration membrane. KFSP-100 were added into cultures of fresh mouse splenic cells in vitro. KFSP-100 significantly enhanced the amount of IL-6 and TNF-a produced by macrophages and IL-6 and IFN-r produced by lymphocytes. Production of IL-12 by macrophages was not much affected by KFSP-100 treatments. The most noticeable finding was the fact that lymphocytes treated with KFSP-100 proliferated to an exceeding numbers (more than 10 times to the control) in 72 hours. The KFSP-100-induced proliferative response was specific to B cells since almost all of the KFSP-100-induced cells in the cultures of splenic cells were B cells. Furthermore, such a proliferative responses were equally observed only in cultures of purified B cells but not in cultures of T cells. In thermostability test, the biologically active components of the KFSP-100 is assumed to be either linear protein or glycoprotein. KFSP-100 did not induce agglutination of lymphocytes demonstrated by lectins in the same cells. These observations suggest that KFSP-100 may be a novel mitogen for B lymphocytes. The component (s) responsible for the B cell proliferation in KFSP-100 might be a factor gained by natural fermentation. None of the fractions of not fermented soybean paste prepared by the same methods demonstrate the same effect.
Agglutination ; Ammonium Sulfate ; Animals ; B-Lymphocytes ; Cell Proliferation ; Fermentation ; Filtration ; Glycoproteins ; Immunologic Factors* ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-6 ; Lectins ; Lymphocytes ; Macrophages ; Membranes ; Mice ; Soybeans* ; T-Lymphocytes ; Ultrafiltration

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neuromuscular disease that requires multidisciplinary medical care, including rehabilitation management. The emergence of a genetic therapy-based approach for SMA has markedly changed the disease course.Nonetheless, currently, updated physical therapy and rehabilitation are warranted for individuals with SMA in the era of gene therapy. In this review, we discuss the physical therapy and rehabilitation strategies currently performed for people with SMA, such as positioning and bracing, supported standing, management of musculoskeletal deformities, stretching, physical exercise training like aerobics and strengthening exercises, assistive devices, pulmonary rehabilitation, and dysphagia treatment.

PURPOSE: Despite radical lymph node dissection and combined resection, the operative result of progressive gastric cancer remains unsatisfactory. The prognosis of gastric cancer has not been improved. In case of recurred gastric cancer, the problem is low curative resection rate. We tried to study the pattem of recurrence after curative resection for gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We had retrospectively analyzed the recurrence pattern of 191 patients who recurred after curative resection of gastric cancer. We analyzed the interval between operation and recurrence, primary tumor location, tumor histologic type, Borrmann's type, pathologic stage, DNA ploidy pattem and lymph node metastasis. RESULT: The number of recurred gastric cancer patients was 191. The M: F ratio was 2.03: 1. Seven cases were early gastric cancer. The interval between operation and recurrence was from 1 month to 130 months. The early recurrence within 24 months was found in 147 patients (77.0%), the intermediate recurrence from 25 months to 60 months was found in 38 patients (19.9%), the late reeurrence after 60 months was found in 6 patients (3.1%). The pattems of recurrence were as follows: loco-regional recurience, including lymph node and site of anastomosis, was found in 51 cases, liver metastasis in 37 cases, peritoneal metastasis in 74 cases, extraperitoneal metastasis in 29 cases including Virchows node. In undifferentiated cancer, peritoneal metastasis was higher than in other histologic types (p<0.05). 59 cases was found in stage IV, 47 cases in stage IIIb, 43 cases in stage IIIa, 31 cases in stage II, 8 cases in stage Ib, and 3 cases in stage Ia. We found peritoneal metastasis was very high in stage IIIb. The 5-year survival was better in loco-regional group than that of other patterns of recurrence. CONCLUSION: Recurrence after operation was found within 24 months, that in most of patients, so the follow up is very important in this period and the recurred pattem after curative resection for gastric cancer was related with cell differentiation of primary tumor and stage. In local recurrence, the survival rate was higher than the other pattern of recurrence.
Cell Differentiation ; DNA ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Liver ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Ploidies ; Prognosis ; Recurrence* ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms* ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine factors affecting the long-term survival of subjects with aortic aneurysm (AA). METHODS: We included 294 Korean patients aged ≥30 years who were hospitalized from 1994 through 2004. Diagnosis was confirmed in 267A subjects (75.8% with abdominal only AA (AAA) and 24.2% with thoracic AA (TAA)) by computed tomography angiography in Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. AA repair direct operation or percutaneous endovascular AA repair (Revascularized group) was performed in 60.3% of the total patients. Death data were obtained from all participants between 1994 and 2009. RESULTS: The mean age of AA subjects was 68.7 (±8.1) years. The proportion of males was 82%. Five- and 10-year survival rates were 89.8% and 82.6%, respectively. The 5- and 10-year survival rates were 92.3% and 84.9% in revascularized group and 86.4% and 79.5% in non-revascularized group, respectively. Adjusted hazard ratios were 1.11 {95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.21} in ages and 3.07 (95% CI 1.26-7.90) in smoking for AA. CONCLUSIONS: Age and smoking contributed to death in Korean AA patients. In addition, the 10-year survival rate for AA patients in Korea was over 80%.
Angiography ; Aortic Aneurysm* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Seoul ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Survival Rate*

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a metabolic derangement that may be seen after the initial treatment of cancer and usually occurs in patients with bulky, rapidly proliferating, or treatment-responsive tumors such as acute leukemia or Burkitt lymphoma. However, it is rare in the treatment of the solid tumor, especially osteosarcoma. An 11-year-old girl was admitted with a 3-months history of severe right leg pain. She was diagnosed as osteosarcoma and was treated with cisplatin and adriamycin. Three days after treatment, the values of potassium, phosphorus, uric acid were 6.4 mEq/L, 5.6 mg/dL and 8.9 mg/dL, respectively. At the same time, the value of calcium was 6.2 mg/dL. Although she was treated with proper conservative treatment including dialysis, she had significant complications such as renal failure, heart failure, hypoxic brain damage. We report a case of TLS in a girl with huge osteosarcoma.
Burkitt Lymphoma ; Calcium ; Child ; Cisplatin ; Dialysis ; Doxorubicin ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypoxia, Brain ; Leg ; Leukemia ; Osteosarcoma ; Phosphorus ; Potassium ; Renal Insufficiency ; Tumor Lysis Syndrome ; Uric Acid

Objective: To evaluate the association between atopic dermatitis (AD) and suicidal behaviors in adolescent defectors among residents who escaped from North Korean (adolescent defectors, n=423) and adolescents with South Korean parents (Korean adolescents, n=540,265). Methods: The study used data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted from 2011 to 2019. Differences in general characteristics, health behaviors, suicidal ideation, suicide plans, suicide attempts, and AD between adolescent defectors and Korean adolescents were examined. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between AD and suicidal behaviors. Results: The adolescent defectors group had lower AD (16.3% vs. 24.2%), poorer subjective health (10% vs. 6%), smoked more (47% vs. 18%), drank more (60% vs. 43%), lived with family less frequently (56% vs. 96%), and were more than twice as likely to have depression (42% vs. 27%), suicidal ideation (30% vs. 14%), a suicide plan (23% vs. 5%), or have made a prior suicide attempt (19% vs. 3%) compared with the Korean adolescent group (p<0.001). The adjusted odds ratio for the adolescent defectors group compared to the Korean adolescent group was 1.66 for suicidal ideation, 3.59 for suicide plans, and 4.34 for suicide attempts (p<0.001). AD was found to be associated with suicide plans and attempts in adolescent defectors and associated with suicidal ideation in Korean adolescents. Conclusion AD was significantly associated with suicide plans and suicidal attempts among adolescent defectors and suicidal ideation in Korean adolescents, based on a random sample of middle- and high-school students.

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common endocrine malignancies. It is known that thyroid cancer can develop during reproductive periods, possibly due to the effects of sex hormones and growth factors such human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG). Some data suggest that elevated HCG levels during pregnancy or gestational trophoblastic disease can stimulate thyroid cellular proliferation and promote cancer formation; however, a case of papillary thyroid cancer accompanied by a gestational trophoblastic tumor has not been reported. Here, we report the case of a 44-year-old woman with papillary thyroid cancer during treatment for a gestational trophoblastic tumor.
Adult ; Cell Proliferation ; Chorion ; Female ; Gestational Trophoblastic Disease ; Gonadal Steroid Hormones ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Pregnancy ; Reproduction ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Trophoblastic Neoplasms ; Trophoblasts

Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome (DDMS) is a rare condition characterized by asymmetric cerebral hemispheric growth with unilateral atrophy, ipsilateral compensatory osseous hypertrophy, hyperpneumatization of the paranasal sinuses and mastoid cells, and contralateral paresis. Varying degrees of hemiparesis, hemiplegia, seizures, mental retardation, and facial asymmetry can be associated with DDMS. We report the case of a 26-year-old man with DDMS associated with hypopituitarism who complained of polydipsia and polyuria. After an oral glucose tolerance test, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. There is no report of DDMS associated with other pituitary dysfunction or hyperglycemia. Clinicians should consider the possibility of coexisting pituitary dysfunction or type 2 diabetes in patients with DDMS, as it is obviously important for the patient's outcome.
Adult ; Amides ; Atrophy ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Facial Asymmetry ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Hemiplegia ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Hypertrophy ; Hypopituitarism ; Intellectual Disability ; Mastoid ; Paranasal Sinuses ; Paresis ; Polydipsia ; Polyuria ; Seizures ; Sulfones

PURPOSE: Assessment of suicide risk is a critical task for nurses, especially for nurses working with psychiatric inpatients. The purpose of this study was to verify the reliability and validity of the Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) for psychiatric inpatients. METHODS: This study was methodological study. A scale composed of 15 items was used with 106 psychiatric inpatients in open and closed psychiatric units of a tertiary hospital. Cohen's kappa coefficient, Intraclass correlation, factor analysis and Jonckheere-Terpstra Test for Ordered Alternatives were used for statistic analysis. RESULTS: Main results were as follows; Reliability of the scale was supported with a total intraclass correlation coefficient of .890 (range from .722 to 1.000). In investigating construct validity, 15 items loaded on six factors which explained 63.4% of total variance. Also the Jonckheere-Terpstra test revealed a significant trend in the order of median scores of NGASR across the three groups of Evaluation of Suicide Risk (ESR). These results supported the criterion-related validity of the scale. CONCLUSION: The findings in this study indicate that this scale is reliable and valid in assessing suicide risk of psychiatric inpatients. Therefore it is an appropriate scale to assess suicide risk for psychiatric inpatients.
Humans ; Inpatients ; Reproducibility of Results ; Risk Assessment ; Suicide ; Tertiary Care Centers

PURPOSE: The gender difference of neurally mediated syncope is not well defined in a large patient population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the gender difference of clinical manifestations in patients with neurally mediated syncope who underwent head-up tilt test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of 1,051 consecutive patients with two or more episodes of syncope, who were diagnosed as having neurally mediated syncope by head-up tilt test, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Of 1,051 patients, 497 (47.3%) patients were male and 554 (52.7%) patients were female. Female patients were experiencing syncopal episodes for longer periods of their lives (8.2 +/- 9.5 years vs. 6.8 +/- 9.2 years, p = 0.002) and more episodes of syncope prior to head-up tilt test (HUT) (7.2 +/- 9.4 vs. 5.0 +/- 6.4, p = 0.001) than male patients. Micturition syncope (20.0% vs. 5.2%, p < 0.001) was observed more frequently in male patients than in female patients. To the contrary, however, defecation syncope (16.3% vs. 9.3%, p < 0.001) was observed more frequently in female patients than in male patients. CONCLUSION: Female patients were experiencing syncopal episodes for longer periods of their lives and more episodes of syncope than male patients. Gender difference was also noted with regard to frequency of situational syncope.