Depression is a neuropsychiatric disorder associated with persistent stress and disruption of neuronal function. Persistent stress causes neuronal atrophy, including loss of synapses and reduced size of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. These alterations are associated with neural dysfunction, including mood disturbances, cognitive impairment, and behavioral changes. Synaptic plasticity is the fundamental function of neural networks in response to various stimuli and acts by reorganizing neuronal structure, function, and connections from the molecular to the behavioral level. In this review, we describe the alterations in synaptic plasticity as underlying pathological mechanisms for depression in animal models and humans. We further elaborate on the significance of phytochemicals as bioactive agents that can positively modulate stress-induced, aberrant synaptic activity. Bioactive agents, including flavonoids, terpenes, saponins, and lignans, have been reported to upregulate brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression and release, suppress neuronal loss, and activate the relevant signaling pathways, including TrkB, ERK, Akt, and mTOR pathways, resulting in increased spine maturation and synaptic numbers in the neuronal cells and in the brains of stressed animals. In clinical trials, phytochemical usage is regarded as safe and well-tolerated for suppressing stress-related parameters in patients with depression. Thus, intake of phytochemicals with safe and active effects on synaptic plasticity may be a strategy for preventing neuronal damage and alleviating depression in a stressful life.

Intravascular extension of Wilms tumor (WT) can occur in approximately 4-10% of patients. In general, it does not cause any clinical problems because most of these tumors are small. Although there is no standard treatment currently, preoperative chemotherapy and delayed nephrectomy is generally recommended for children with WT accompanied by tumor thrombus. We report a rare case of WT, aniridia, genitourinary anomalies, and mental retardation (WAGR) syndrome in a boy who also had a huge inferior vena cava thrombus, 7 cm length. The prevalence of bilateral WT and tumor thrombus in WAGR has not been identified. The patient was successfully treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to decrease the size of the tumor thrombus with WT and delayed nephrectomy following chemotherapy without any invasive intervention and did not show complications.

BACKGROUND: Sorbus rufopilosa, a tsema rowan, is a species of the small ornamental trees in the genus Sorbus and the family Rosaceae found in East Asia. The bioactivities of S. rufopilosa have not yet been fully determined. The objective of this study is to evaluate the antioxidant and anticancer effects of ethanol extract of S. rufopilosa (EESR) and to determine the molecular mechanism of its anticancer activity in human colon carcinoma HT29 cells. METHODS: To examine the antioxidant activity of EESR, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity assay was performed. Inhibitory effect of EESR on cancer cell growth and proliferation was determined by water-soluble tetrazolium salt assay. To investigate the mechanism of EESR-mediated cytotoxicity, HT29 cells were treated with various concentrations of EESR and the induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry, 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining, and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: EESR showed significant antioxidant activity and inhibitory effect on HT29 cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. EESR induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase in a dose-dependent manner by modulating cyclin B, cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), and CDK inhibitor p21 expression. EESR-induced apoptosis was associated with the upregulation of p53, a death receptor Fas, and a pro-apoptotic protein Bax and the activation of caspase 3, 8, and 9, resulting in the degradation of PARP. CONCLUSIONS: EESR possessing antioxidant activity efficiently inhibits proliferation of HT29 cells by inducing both cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. EESR may be a possible candidate for the anticancer drug development.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; CDC2 Protein Kinase ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints* ; Cell Cycle* ; Colon* ; Cyclin B ; Ethanol ; Far East ; Flow Cytometry ; HT29 Cells* ; Humans* ; Rosacea ; Rosaceae ; Sorbus* ; Trees ; Up-Regulation

OBJECTIVES: Since 2003 South Korea's suicide rate has remained the highest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Gatekeeper training is a major strategy in the national suicide prevention plan in Korea. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the Korean standardized suicide prevention program on the gatekeeper's intervention, developed by the Korea Association for Suicide Prevention and implemented by the Korea Suicide Prevention Center. METHODS: A telephone survey was conducted in order to assess awareness and intervention for the high risk group. Out of the 35825 people who completed the educational course in 2013, 800 gatekeepers were selected by proportional quota sampling. RESULTS: Of the 800 subjects, 93% answered that people in the high risk group of suicide sent diverse signals implying suicide ; 19.9% of the gatekeepers found actual high risk suicidal people, 95% of whom listened to why they came to think about suicide and 71.5% of listeners gave information about suicide prevention and referred them to mental health professionals. CONCLUSION: The Korean standardized suicide prevention program may be helpful to the gatekeepers in playing an adequate role in intervention, but further study is needed in order to evaluate long-term educational effects.
Korea ; Mental Health ; Suicide* ; Telephone

BACKGROUND: Osmanthus matsumuranus, a species of Oleaceae, is found in East Asia and Southeast Asia. The bioactivities of O. matsumuranus have not yet been fully understood. Here, we studied on the molecular mechanisms underlying anti-cancer effect of ethanol extract of O. matsumuranus (EEOM). METHODS: Inhibitory effect of EEOM on cell growth and proliferation was determined by WST assay in various cancer cells. To investigate the mechanisms of EEOM-mediated cytotoxicity, HepG2 cells were treated with various concentration of EEOM and analyzed the cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction by flow cytometry, Western blot analysis, 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining and DNA fragmentation. RESULTS: EEOM showed the cytotoxic activities in a dose-dependent manner in various cancer cell lines but not in normal cells, and HepG2 cells were most susceptible to EEOM-induced cytotoxicity. EEOM induced G2/M arrest in HepG2 cells associated with decreased expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), cyclin A and cylcin B, and increased expression of phospho-checkpoint kinase 2, p53 and CDK inhibitor p21. Immunofluorescence staining showed that EEOM-treated HepG2 increased doublet nuclei and condensed actin, resulting in cell rounding. Furthermore, EEOM-mediated apoptosis was determined by Annexin V staining, chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation. EEOM caused upregulation of FAS and Bax, activation of caspase-3, -8, -9, and fragmentation of poly ADP ribose polymerase. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that EEOM efficiently inhibits proliferation of HepG2 cells by inducing both G2/M arrest and apoptosis via intrinsic and extrinsic pathways, and EEOM may be used as a cancer chemopreventive agent in the food or nutraceutical industry.
Actins ; Annexin A5 ; Apoptosis* ; Asia, Southeastern ; Blotting, Western ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Caspase 3 ; CDC2 Protein Kinase ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Line ; Chromatin ; Cyclin A ; Dietary Supplements ; DNA Fragmentation ; Ethanol ; Far East ; Flow Cytometry ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Hep G2 Cells* ; Humans* ; Oleaceae ; Phosphotransferases ; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases ; Up-Regulation

Cedrol, a sesquiterpene alcohol, isolated from Juniperus chinensis has been reported to inhibit minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins as cancer biomarkers in human lung cancer in vitro. In the present study, we investigated the anti-cancer activity of cedrol in vitro and in vivo using human colorectal cancer HT29 cells and a human colorectal tumor xenograft model. Cedrol inhibited MCM protein expression and cell growth in HT29 cells, which are associated with G1 arrest and the induction of apoptosis. We demonstrated that cedrol effectively reduced HT29 tumor growth without apparent weight loss in a human tumor xenograft model.Compared with vehicle- and adriamycin-treated tumor tissues, cedrol induced changes in the tumor tissue structure, resulting in a reduced cell density within the tumor parenchyma and reduced vascularization. Moreover, the expression of MCM7, an important subunit of MCM helicase, was significantly suppressed by cedrol in tumor tissue. Collectively, these results suggest that cedrol may act as a potential anti-cancer agent for colorectal cancer by inhibiting MCM protein expression and tumor growth.

OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to evaluate size-specific dose estimate (SSDE) of low-dose CT (LDCT) in the Korean Lung Cancer Screening (K-LUCAS) project and to determine whether CT protocols from Western countries are appropriate for lung cancer screening in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For participants (n = 256, four institutions) of K-LUCAS pilot study, volume CT dose index (CTDI(vol)) using a 32-cm diameter reference phantom was compared with SSDE, which was recalculated from CTDI(vol) using size-dependent conversion factor (f-size) based on the body size, as described in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Report 204. This comparison was subsequently assessed by body mass index (BMI) levels (underweight/normal vs. overweight/obese), and automatic exposure control (AEC) adaptation (yes/no). RESULTS: Size-specific dose estimate was higher than CTDI(vol) (2.22 ± 0.75 mGy vs. 1.67 ± 0.60 mGy, p < 0.001), since the f-size was larger than 1.0 for all participants. The ratio of SSDE to CTDI(vol) was higher in lower BMI groups; 1.26, 1.37, 1.43, and 1.53 in the obese (n = 103), overweight (n = 70), normal (n = 75), and underweight (n = 4), respectively. The ratio of SSDE to CTDI(vol) was greater in standard-sized participants than in large-sized participants independent of AEC adaptation; with AEC, SSDE/CTDI(vol) in large- vs. standard-sized participants: 1.30 ± 0.08 vs. 1.44 ± 0.08 (p < 0.001) and without AEC, 1.32 ± 0.08 vs. 1.42 ± 0.06 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Volume CT dose index based on a reference phantom underestimates radiation exposure of LDCT in standard-sized Korean participants. The optimal radiation dose limit needs to be verified for standard-sized Korean participants.
Body Mass Index ; Body Size ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Mass Screening* ; Overweight ; Pilot Projects ; Radiation Dosage ; Radiation Exposure ; Thinness ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to prospectively validate the Korean Cancer Study Group Geriatric Score (KG)-7, a novel geriatric screening tool, in older patients with advanced cancer planned to undergo first-line palliative chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants answered the KG-7 questionnaire before undergoing geriatric assessment (GA) and first-line palliative chemotherapy. The performance of KG-7 was evaluated by calculating the sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV), balanced accuracy (BA), and area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: The baseline GA and KG-7 results were collected from 301 patients. The median age was 75 years (range, 70 to 93 years). Abnormal GA was documented in 222 patients (73.8%). Based on the ≤ 5 cut-off value of KG-7 for abnormal GA, abnormal KG-7 score was shown in 200 patients (66.4%). KG-7 showed SE, SP, PPV, NPV, and BA of 75.7%, 59.7%, 84.4%, 46.0%, and 67.7%, respectively; AUC was 0.745 (95% confidence interval, 0.687 to 0.803). Furthermore, patients with higher KG-7 scores showed significantly longer survival (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: KG-7 appears to be adequate in identifying patients with abnormal GA prospectively. Hence, KG-7 can be a useful screening tool for Asian countries with limited resources and high patient volume.
Area Under Curve ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Drug Therapy ; Geriatric Assessment ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Prospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Purpose: The treatment of male breast cancer (MBC) has been extrapolated from female breast cancer (FBC) because of its rarity despite their different clinicopathologic characteristics. We aimed to investigate the distribution of intrinsic subtypes based on immunohistochemistry, their clinical impact, and treatment pattern in clinical practice through a multicenter study in Korea. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 248 MBC patients from 18 institutions across the country from January 1995 to July 2016. Results: The median age of MBC patients was 63 years (range, 25 to 102 years). Among 148 intrinsic subtype classified patients, 61 (41.2%), 44 (29.7%), 29 (19.5%), and 14 (9.5%) were luminal A, luminal B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, and triple-negative breast cancer, respectively. Luminal A subtype showed trends for superior survival compared to other subtypes. Most hormone receptor-positive patients (166 patients, 82.6%) received adjuvant endocrine treatment. Five-year completion of adjuvant endocrine treatment was associated with superior disease-free survival (DFS) in patients classified with an intrinsic subtype (hazard ratio [HR], 0.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.04 to 0.49; p=0.002) and in all patients (HR, 0.16; 95% CI, 0.05 to 0.54; p=0.003). Conclusion Distribution of subtypes of MBC was similar to FBC and luminal type A was most common. Overall survival tended to be improved for luminal A subtype, although there was no statistical significance. Completion of adjuvant endocrine treatment was associated with prolonged DFS in intrinsic subtype classified patients. MBC patients tended to receive less treatment. MBC patients should receive standard treatment according to guidelines as FBC patients.