OBJECTIVES: It has been constantly reported that mismatch negativity (MMN) is impaired in patients with schizophrenia. However, the mechanism which relates impaired MMN and schizophrenia is not clear yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between MMN and clinical variables including functional status in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: The present study assessed MMN using passive auditory oddball task in 26 patients with schizophrenia and 48 healthy controls. Repeated measures Analysis of Variance with age as a covariate was carried out for comparing peak amplitude and latency of MMN at 8 central line electrodes (FPz, Fz, FCz, Cz, CPz, Pz, POz, Oz) across groups. Pearson's correlation was performed to reveal the relationship between MMN and clinical variables including neurocognitive test results and the Global Assessment of Functioning score. RESULTS: MMN amplitude was significantly reduced in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy controls. Pearson's correlation showed that subsets of short form of Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale scores and GAF scores were associated with MMN amplitude in patients with schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that MMN amplitude is associated with current functional status including cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia.
Adult ; Analysis of Variance ; Electrodes ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Schizophrenia*

Robust identification of genetic alterations is important for the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of tumors. Screening for genetic alterations using tumor tissue samples may lead to biased interpretations because of the heterogeneous nature of the tumor mass. Liquid biopsy has been suggested as an attractive tool for the non-invasive follow-up of cancer treatment outcomes. In this study, we aimed to verify whether the mutations identified in primary tumor tissue samples could be consistently detected in plasma cell–free DNA (cfDNA) by digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR). We first examined the genetic alteration profiles of three colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue samples by targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) and identified 11 non-silent amino acid changes across six cancer-related genes (APC, KRAS, TP53, TERT, ARIDIA, and BRCA1). All three samples had KRAS mutations (G12V, G12C, and G13D), which were well-known driver events. Therefore, we examined the KRAS mutations by dPCR. When we examined the three KRAS mutations by dPCR using tumor tissue samples, all of them were consistently detected and the variant allele frequencies (VAFs) of the mutations were almost identical between targeted NGS and dPCR. When we examined the KRAS mutations using the plasma cfDNA of the three CRC patients by dPCR, all three mutations were consistently identified. However, the VAFs were lower (range, 0.166% to 2.638%) than those obtained using the CRC tissue samples. In conclusion, we confirmed that the KRAS mutations identified from CRC tumor tissue samples were consistently detected in the plasma cfDNA of the three CRC patients by dPCR.

Robust identification of genetic alterations is important for the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of tumors. Screening for genetic alterations using tumor tissue samples may lead to biased interpretations because of the heterogeneous nature of the tumor mass. Liquid biopsy has been suggested as an attractive tool for the non-invasive follow-up of cancer treatment outcomes. In this study, we aimed to verify whether the mutations identified in primary tumor tissue samples could be consistently detected in plasma cell–free DNA (cfDNA) by digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR). We first examined the genetic alteration profiles of three colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue samples by targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) and identified 11 non-silent amino acid changes across six cancer-related genes (APC, KRAS, TP53, TERT, ARIDIA, and BRCA1). All three samples had KRAS mutations (G12V, G12C, and G13D), which were well-known driver events. Therefore, we examined the KRAS mutations by dPCR. When we examined the three KRAS mutations by dPCR using tumor tissue samples, all of them were consistently detected and the variant allele frequencies (VAFs) of the mutations were almost identical between targeted NGS and dPCR. When we examined the KRAS mutations using the plasma cfDNA of the three CRC patients by dPCR, all three mutations were consistently identified. However, the VAFs were lower (range, 0.166% to 2.638%) than those obtained using the CRC tissue samples. In conclusion, we confirmed that the KRAS mutations identified from CRC tumor tissue samples were consistently detected in the plasma cfDNA of the three CRC patients by dPCR.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Biopsy ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gene Frequency ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Plasma ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact worldwide, making it difficult to transplant unrelated hematopoietic stem cells. On the other hand, cord blood transplantations in Korea increased during the pandemic. In 2021, the release of 110 cord blood units and 83 cord blood transplantations were performed. Cord blood transplants have increased by 35% compared to the pre-pandemic period (average of 58 cases over four years vs. 78 cases over two years). This phenomenon is not only occurring in Korea. In France, cord blood transplantation in 2020 increased by 19% compared to the previous year. The cord blood is the blood in the umbilical cord and placenta that would be discarded during childbirth but can be used as a useful source of hematopoietic stem cells in the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it is essential to collect and store high-quality cord blood continuously because of the high likelihood of developing various therapeutic agents using cord blood.

PURPOSE: Caspase-3 is a cysteine protease that plays an important role in the process of apoptotic cell death, but little has been studied clinically on caspase-3 in lung cancer. Increased c-myc expression can result in mitosis or apoptosis, and its contribution to the pathogenesis and prognosis of lung cancer has gained interest. In the present study, the expressions of caspase-3 and c-myc, along with their possible correlations with prognostic variables, were analyzed in resected non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Archival tumor tissues from 147 previously untreated NSCLC patients were examined by immunohistochemistry for the expressions of caspase-3 and c-myc proteins. Clinical information was obtained through the computerized retrospective database from the tumor registry. RESULTS: The expressions of caspase-3 and c-myc were detected in 60 (88/147) and 16% (24/147) of tumors, respectively. No association was found between caspase-3 and c-myc expressions. A multivariate analysis demonstrated the N status and pathologic stage to be significantly correlated with poor survival (p-value=.018 and .002, respectively), but positive expression of caspase-3 was associated with a good prognosis (p=.03). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest the involvement of caspase-3 in the tumorigenesis of NSCLC. It is also noteworthy that caspase-3 expression might be a favorable prognostic indicator in these tumors.
Apoptosis ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Caspase 3* ; Cell Death ; Cysteine Proteases ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mitosis ; Multivariate Analysis ; Prognosis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc ; Retrospective Studies