PURPOSE: Peripheral neuropathy is common among colorectal cancer (CRC) patients who undergo oxaliplatin-based (OXL) chemotherapy. A pharmacogenetic approach can be used to identify patients at high-risk of developing severe neuropathy. This type of approach can also help clinicians determine the best treatment option and prevent severe neurotoxicity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the evidence of pharmacogenetic markers for OXL-induced peripheral neuropathy (OXIPN) in patients with CRC. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted using the following databases up to December 2017: Pubmed, EMBASE, and CINAHL. We reviewed the genetic risk factors for OXIPN in observational studies and randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs). All processes were performed independently by two reviewers. RESULTS: Sixteen studies published in English between 2006 and 2017 were included in this review. A genome-wide association approach was used in one study and various candidate genes were tested, based on their functions (e.g., DNA damage or repair, ion channels, anti-oxidants, and nerve growth etc.). The genes associated with incidence or severity of OXIPN were ABCG2, GSTP1, XRCC1, TAC1, and ERCC1. CONCLUSION: This study highlighted the need and the importance of conducting pharmacogenetic studies to generate evidence of personalized OXIPN symptoms management. Additional studies are warranted to accelerate the tailored interventions used for OXIPN in patients with CRC (NRF-2014R1A1A3054386).
Colorectal Neoplasms ; DNA Damage ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Ion Channels ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Pharmacogenetics ; Risk Factors

We investigated the major trends in health aid financing in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by identifying the primary donor organizations and examining several data sources to track overall health aid trends. We collected gross disbursements from bilateral donor countries and international organizations toward the DPRK according to specific health sectors by using the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development creditor reporting system database and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs financial tracking service database. We analyzed sources of health aid to the DPRK from the Republic of Korea (ROK) using the official records from the ROK's Ministry of Unification. We identified the ROK, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) as the major donor entities not only according to their level of health aid expenditures but also their growing roles within the health sector of the DPRK. We found that health aid from the ROK is comprised of funding from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, private organizations, local governments, and South Korean branches of international organizations such as WHO and UNICEF. We also distinguished medical equipment aid from developmental aid to show that the majority of health aid from the ROK was developmental aid. This study highlights the valuable role of the ROK in the flow of health aid to the DPRK, especially in light of the DPRK's precarious international status. Although global health aid from many international organizations has decreased, organizations such as GFATM and UNFPA continue to maintain their focus on reproductive health and infectious diseases.
Databases, Factual ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; Electrical Equipment and Supplies/economics/statistics & numerical data ; Financial Management/*economics/trends ; Health Expenditures/statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; United Nations ; World Health Organization

The ketogenic diet is an effective treatment for the patients with intractable epilepsy, however, the diet therapy can sometimes be discontinued by complications. Protein–losing enteropathy is a rarely reported serious complication of the ketogenic diet. We present a 16-month-old Down syndrome baby with protein-losing enteropathy during the ketogenic diet as a treatment for West syndrome. He suffered from diarrhea, general edema and hypoalbuminemia which were not controlled by conservative care for over 1 month. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy and stool alpha-1 antitrypsin indicated protein-losing enteropathy. Related symptoms were relieved after cessation of the ketogenic diet. Unexplained hypoalbuminemia combined with edema and diarrhea during ketogenic suggests the possibility of protein-losing enteropathy, and proper evaluation is recommended in order to expeditiously detect it and to act accordingly.
Diarrhea ; Diet Therapy ; Down Syndrome ; Drug Resistant Epilepsy ; Edema ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Humans ; Hypoalbuminemia ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Ketogenic Diet* ; Protein-Losing Enteropathies* ; Spasms, Infantile

PURPOSE: Vaccine evaluation studies were initiated from 2000 by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to produce proper data about the safety and immunogenicity of vaccines. The purpose of this study was to review studies and reports on evaluation of vaccine such as immunogenicity, efficacy, effectiveness, safety and other related topics in order to find and analyze the data on the usefulness of each vaccine. METHODS: From 2000 to 2014, the project "The vaccine evaluation" had been performed by several researchers, and studies and reports of vaccine evaluation. We reviewed the results and outcomes of studies regarding the evaluation of vaccine's usefulness and analyzed the possibilities of applying these data for establishing vaccine policies. For each vaccine, data analysis and organization were done according to evaluation fields. RESULTS: A total of 83 studies were performed on vaccines from 2000 to 2014. For each vaccine, 8 studies were performed on BCG, 14 on DTaP/Td, 1 on poliovirus, 5 on Hib, 3 on pneumococcus, 11 on influenza, 3 on hepatitis A, 11 on MMR, 11 on varicella, and 16 on Japanese encephalitis. All studies were analyzed by the following evaluation area, such as safety, immunogenicity, seroprevalence, persistence of immunity, efficacy, effectiveness, vaccine evaluation methods, quality control product for vaccine, and others. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccine evaluation studies performed in Korea may be useful as references for establishing vaccination strategy and policy and could be used as baseline data for future studies on vaccine evaluation, vaccine policy establishment, and public/expert vaccine education in Korea.
Chickenpox ; Education ; Encephalitis, Japanese ; Haemophilus influenzae type b ; Hepatitis A ; Influenza, Human ; Korea* ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Poliovirus ; Quality Control ; Republic of Korea ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Statistics as Topic ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Vaccination ; Vaccines

PURPOSE: Unbalanced diets and decreased physical activity have contributed to increased prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome in adolescents. We have performed a systematic review and data analysis to examine the association between dietary pattern and metabolic syndrome risk factors in adolescents. METHODS: We searched the PubMed and BioMedLib databases for appropriate articles published during the past 10 years and selected 6 articles. The studies reviewed applied factor analysis or cluster analysis to extract dietary patterns. For data analysis, we examined the association between dietary patterns and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome risk factors using data of 3,168 adolescents (13 to 18 years) obtained from 4 consecutive Korean Nutrition Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (1998, 2001, 2005, and 2007 to 2009). RESULTS: Our systematic review confirmed that western dietary patterns are positively associated with metabolic syndrome risk factors such as obesity and elevated triglycerides, while traditional dietary patterns were negatively associated. Data analysis found that the number of adolescents aged 16 to 18 years who had "Rice & Kimchi" dietary pattern decreased, while the number having western dietary patterns increased during the 1998 to 2009 time frame. There were no changes in the dietary patterns in adolescents aged 13 to 15 years. The risk of elevated serum triglycerides and reduced serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol was high in the "Rice & Kimchi" dietary pattern compared to the other dietary pattern groups. CONCLUSION: Because adolescents' dietary patterns are changing continuously and have long-term effects, further studies on the dietary patterns of adolescents and their health effects into adulthood are necessary.
Adolescent ; Aged ; Cholesterol ; Cholesterol, HDL ; Diet ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Motor Activity ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Statistics as Topic ; Triglycerides

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells (DCs) are increasingly being utilized for anti-cancer immunotherapy. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) blasts are able to generate leukemia-derived DC. Advances in culture techniques and AML-DC characterization justify possible clinical applications. We investigated the ability of AML, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and biphenotypic acute leukemia (BAL) blasts to differentiate into DCs in vitro and the qualified function of the leukemia-derived DCs. METHODS: Leukemia cells from 11 patients with AML, 3 patients with ALL and 2 patients with BAL were cultured with GM-CSF, IL-4 and with or without SCF. Cultured leukemia cells were evaluated by phenotype, mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR), cytokine production and cytotoxic T cell (CTL) inducing activity. RESULTS: DCs were generated with GM-CSF and IL-4 from the leukemic blasts in 72% of the AML patient cells. MHC class I/II, CD11c and ICAM-1 were highly expressed in the AML-derived DCs. MLR and enzyme linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays demonstrated that AML-DCs were able to induce T cell proliferation and activation into IFN-gamma secreting effector cells. The ALL blasts from two out of three patients differentiated into DCs with MHC class I/II+, CD11c+ only in the presence of GM-CSF, SCF and IL-4 for 14 days. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that functionallyactive DCs can be differentiated from AML blasts using GM-GSF and IL-4 and ALL, BAL blasts were differentiated into DCs only under stem cell-DC culture conditions.
Cell Proliferation ; Culture Techniques ; Dendritic Cells ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Interleukin-4 ; Leukemia* ; Leukemia, Biphenotypic, Acute ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed ; Phenotype ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma

Gabriel–de Vries syndrome, caused by the mutation of YY1, is a newly defined genetic syndrome characterized by developmental delay, facial dysmorphism, and intrauterine growth retardation. A 7-month-old girl presented developmental delay and subtle facial dysmorphism including facial asymmetry, micrognathia, and low-set ears. Whole exome sequencing identified a de novo heterozygous missense variant in the YY1 (c.1220A>G; p.His407Arg) gene. Here, we examined the clinical and genetic characteristics of an infant with a novel likely pathogenic variant of YY1. This case expands the phenotypic spectrum of Gabriel–de Vries syndrome.

Gabriel–de Vries syndrome, caused by the mutation of YY1, is a newly defined genetic syndrome characterized by developmental delay, facial dysmorphism, and intrauterine growth retardation. A 7-month-old girl presented developmental delay and subtle facial dysmorphism including facial asymmetry, micrognathia, and low-set ears. Whole exome sequencing identified a de novo heterozygous missense variant in the YY1 (c.1220A>G; p.His407Arg) gene. Here, we examined the clinical and genetic characteristics of an infant with a novel likely pathogenic variant of YY1. This case expands the phenotypic spectrum of Gabriel–de Vries syndrome.

Purpose: Exercise is an effective non-pharmacological approach for alleviating treatment-related adverse effects and enhancing physical fitness in breast cancer survivors. A Kinect-based mixed reality device (KMR), with real-time feedback and user data collection, is an innovative exercise intervention for breast cancer survivors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of KMR exercise program on quality of life (QOL) and physical function in breast cancer survivors. Materials and Methods: Seventy-seven participants were randomly assigned to either the KMR exercise group or home stretching group with an 8-week intervention. Physical function (shoulder range of motion, body composition, aerobic capacity, and hand grip strength) was evaluated before and after the intervention period. Participants completed questionnaires such as the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast, and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to assess upper extremity disabilities, QOL, and physical activity levels. Results: Significant group-by-time interaction was found for flexion of the operated arm (154.3±12.5 to 165.8±11.2), and the non-operated arm (158.2±13.8 to 166.5±12.2), abduction of the non-operated arm (154.8±31.6 to 161.1±28.1), and adduction of the operated arm (46.5±9.1 to 52.6±7.2). Significant improvements were also observed in DASH (46.8±9.1 to 40.8±9.3) and IPAQ (1,136.3±612.8 to 1,287±664.1). Conclusion The KMR exercise program effectively improved the physical function, alleviated edema, reduced upper extremity disability, and enhanced the QOL in breast cancer survivors. Coupled with significant group-by-time interactions for various outcomes, the results emphasize the potential benefits of incorporating the KMR exercise program to improve the QOL in breast cancer survivors.

Purpose: Exercise is an effective non-pharmacological approach for alleviating treatment-related adverse effects and enhancing physical fitness in breast cancer survivors. A Kinect-based mixed reality device (KMR), with real-time feedback and user data collection, is an innovative exercise intervention for breast cancer survivors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of KMR exercise program on quality of life (QOL) and physical function in breast cancer survivors. Materials and Methods: Seventy-seven participants were randomly assigned to either the KMR exercise group or home stretching group with an 8-week intervention. Physical function (shoulder range of motion, body composition, aerobic capacity, and hand grip strength) was evaluated before and after the intervention period. Participants completed questionnaires such as the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast, and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to assess upper extremity disabilities, QOL, and physical activity levels. Results: Significant group-by-time interaction was found for flexion of the operated arm (154.3±12.5 to 165.8±11.2), and the non-operated arm (158.2±13.8 to 166.5±12.2), abduction of the non-operated arm (154.8±31.6 to 161.1±28.1), and adduction of the operated arm (46.5±9.1 to 52.6±7.2). Significant improvements were also observed in DASH (46.8±9.1 to 40.8±9.3) and IPAQ (1,136.3±612.8 to 1,287±664.1). Conclusion The KMR exercise program effectively improved the physical function, alleviated edema, reduced upper extremity disability, and enhanced the QOL in breast cancer survivors. Coupled with significant group-by-time interactions for various outcomes, the results emphasize the potential benefits of incorporating the KMR exercise program to improve the QOL in breast cancer survivors.