Objectives: ：This study aims to identify various psychiatric symptoms and psychosomatic symptoms caused by COVID-19 infection and investigate their long-term impact. Methods: ：A systematic literature review was conducted, selecting papers from domestic and international databases using keywords such as “COVID-19” and “psychosomatic.” A total of 16 papers, including those using structured measurement tools for psychosomatic symptoms, were included in the final analysis. Results: ：Psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms have been reported in acute COVID-19 infection, while long-term post-COVID symptoms include chest pain and fatigue. The frequency of long-term psychosomatic symptoms has been estimated to be 10%-20%. Factors contributing to these symptoms include psychological and social stress related to infectious diseases, gender, elderly age, a history of psychiatric disorders, and comorbid mental illnesses. It is suggested that systemic inflammation, autoimmune re-sponses, and dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system may be involved. Conclusions ：Psychosomatic symptoms arising after COVID-19 infection have a negative impact on quality of life and psychosocial functioning. Understanding and addressing psychiatric aspects are crucial for symptom prevention and treatment.

The rapidly growing nontuberculous mycobacterium, Mycobacterium fortuitum, is of increasing clinical importance. The ubiquitous M. fortuitum has been isolated from water, soil, and dust. M. fortuitum usually causes skin or soft-tissue infection following trauma or surgery, but may also infect a wide variety of tissues, including the lungs, lymph nodes, bones, joints, and meninges. We believe this is the first report of a breast abscess due to M. fortuitum, which presented in an immunocompetent woman in Korea after nipple piercing. A 26-year-old non-pregnant female presented with a 5-month history of a tender right breast lump that gradually increased in size. Pus from the right breast supported the growth of M. fortuitum. Mycobacterial infection should be considered in cases of recurrent breast abscess with sterile bacterial cultures, particularly when there is a history of nipple piercing procedures.
Abscess ; Adult ; Body Piercing ; Breast ; Dust ; Female ; Humans ; Joints ; Korea ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Meninges ; Mycobacterium ; Mycobacterium fortuitum ; Nontuberculous Mycobacteria ; Skin ; Soil ; Suppuration

PURPOSE: To analyze the incidence and prevalence of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and to predict the future AMD populations and health expenditures of intravitreal ranibizumab injection. METHODS: From 2010 to 2014, the National Health Insurance claims data were used to estimate the incidence and prevalence change of exudative AMD, according to demographic characteristics (year, sex, residence, and age). Based on the above results and changes in future population distribution, we estimated the AMD population by 2030. Considering the cost of Intravitreal ranibizumab injection from 2010 to 2014, we predicted the future health expenditure for AMD. RESULTS: The incidence and prevalence of exudative AMD increased from 14.04 and 295.11 per 100,000 populations in 2010 to 14.25 and 580.71 in 2014, respectively. The prevalence rate was higher in men and showed a large increase over 70 years of age. The ranibizumab was prescribed 13 times per person in average, and the amount consumed increased as the number of insurance coverage increased from 2013. Future AMD populations are predicted to reach 557,007 in 2030 from 146,871 in 2014. As a result, the cost of intravitreal ranibizumab injection is expected to increase from 83.6 billion won in 2014 to 171.7 billion won in 2030. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in medical expenses for AMD is expected due to social aging. Therefore, we need policies to secure medical resources and expand insurance indications.
Aging ; Demography ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insurance ; Insurance Coverage ; Korea ; Macular Degeneration ; Male ; National Health Programs ; Prevalence ; Ranibizumab

Background: Chronic stress is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. This study aimed to assess whether better coping with stress, as assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study used 2018/2019 data and 2-year follow-up data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. Of the 3,014 total participants, we included 1,826 participants (mean age, 77.6±3.7 years, 51.9% female) who completed BRS and Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Battery and the Korean version of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Results: Higher BRS score at baseline was associated with a lesser decline in the Mini-Mental State Examination score over 2 years after adjusting for age, sex, years of education, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, and depression (B, 0.175; 95% confidence interval, 0.025–0.325) for 2 years, which represents global cognitive function. Other cognitive function measurements (Word List Memory, Word List Recall, Word List Recognition, Digit Span, Trail Making Test-A, and FAB) did not change significantly with the BRS score at baseline. Conclusion These findings suggest that better stress-coping ability, meaning faster termination of the stress response, may limit the decline in cognitive function.

Background: Chronic stress is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. This study aimed to assess whether better coping with stress, as assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study used 2018/2019 data and 2-year follow-up data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. Of the 3,014 total participants, we included 1,826 participants (mean age, 77.6±3.7 years, 51.9% female) who completed BRS and Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Battery and the Korean version of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Results: Higher BRS score at baseline was associated with a lesser decline in the Mini-Mental State Examination score over 2 years after adjusting for age, sex, years of education, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, and depression (B, 0.175; 95% confidence interval, 0.025–0.325) for 2 years, which represents global cognitive function. Other cognitive function measurements (Word List Memory, Word List Recall, Word List Recognition, Digit Span, Trail Making Test-A, and FAB) did not change significantly with the BRS score at baseline. Conclusion These findings suggest that better stress-coping ability, meaning faster termination of the stress response, may limit the decline in cognitive function.

Background: Chronic stress is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. This study aimed to assess whether better coping with stress, as assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study used 2018/2019 data and 2-year follow-up data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. Of the 3,014 total participants, we included 1,826 participants (mean age, 77.6±3.7 years, 51.9% female) who completed BRS and Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Battery and the Korean version of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Results: Higher BRS score at baseline was associated with a lesser decline in the Mini-Mental State Examination score over 2 years after adjusting for age, sex, years of education, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, and depression (B, 0.175; 95% confidence interval, 0.025–0.325) for 2 years, which represents global cognitive function. Other cognitive function measurements (Word List Memory, Word List Recall, Word List Recognition, Digit Span, Trail Making Test-A, and FAB) did not change significantly with the BRS score at baseline. Conclusion These findings suggest that better stress-coping ability, meaning faster termination of the stress response, may limit the decline in cognitive function.

Background: Chronic stress is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. This study aimed to assess whether better coping with stress, as assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), is associated with slower cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study used 2018/2019 data and 2-year follow-up data from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. Of the 3,014 total participants, we included 1,826 participants (mean age, 77.6±3.7 years, 51.9% female) who completed BRS and Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Battery and the Korean version of the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Results: Higher BRS score at baseline was associated with a lesser decline in the Mini-Mental State Examination score over 2 years after adjusting for age, sex, years of education, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, and depression (B, 0.175; 95% confidence interval, 0.025–0.325) for 2 years, which represents global cognitive function. Other cognitive function measurements (Word List Memory, Word List Recall, Word List Recognition, Digit Span, Trail Making Test-A, and FAB) did not change significantly with the BRS score at baseline. Conclusion These findings suggest that better stress-coping ability, meaning faster termination of the stress response, may limit the decline in cognitive function.

Recently, we reported that the A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR) agonist LJ529 (2-chloro-N6-(3-iodobnzyl)-5'-N-methylcarbamoyl-4'-thioadenosine) reduces cerebral ischemic injury via inhibition of recruitment of peripheral inflammatory cells into ischemic brain lesion. A3AR agonists, however, are known to possess anti-platelet activity, which may deter the combination therapy with tissue plasminogen activator for the therapy of cerebral ischemic stroke. Thus, the present study investigates the neuroprotective/anti-ischemic effect of a synthetic seco-nucleoside, LMT497 ((S)-2-((R)-1-(2-chloro-6-(3-iodobenzylamino)-9H-purin-9-yl)-2-hydroxyethoxy)-3-hydroxy-N-methylpropanamide) with little anti-platelet activity. LMT497 neither showed A3AR binding activity nor anti-platelet activity. In our present study LMT497 significantly attenuated the injury/death of cortical neurons exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by re-oxygenation (R). LMT497 significantly reduced the ascending cellular level of reactive oxygen species under ischemic conditions by increasing the superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels. LMT497 also inhibited the migration of microglia which mediates inflammatory responses in ischemia. In rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO, 1.5 h) followed by reperfusion, LMT497 largely reduced brain infarction volume, and edema, and improved neurological score. Therapeutic efficacy of LMT497 was obtained by twice treatments even at 10 h and 18 h after the onset of ischemia. Collectively, LMT497 could be a therapeutic drug candidate with a wide therapeutic time window for the treatment of cerebral ischemic stroke.
Animals ; Brain ; Brain Infarction ; Brain Ischemia ; Edema ; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery ; Inflammation ; Ischemia ; Microglia ; Neurons ; Oxidative Stress ; Rats ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Receptors, Purinergic P1 ; Reperfusion ; Stroke ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Tissue Plasminogen Activator

OBJECTIVE: Declines in naming ability and semantic memory are well-known features of early Alzheimer's disease (AD). We developed a new screening algorithm for AD using two brief language tests : the Categorical Fluency Test (CFT) and 15-item Boston Naming Test (BNT15). METHODS: We administered the CFT, BNT15, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to 150 AD patients with a Clinical Dementia Rating of 0.5 or 1 and to their age- and gender-matched cognitively normal controls. We developed a composite score for screening AD (LANGuage Composite score, LANG-C) that comprised demographic characteristics, BNT15 subindices, and CFT subindices. We compared the diagnostic accuracies of the LANG-C and MMSE using receiver operating curve analysis. RESULTS: The LANG-C was calculated using the logit of test scores weighted by their coefficients from forward stepwise logistic regression models : logit (case)=12.608−0.107×age+1.111×gender+0.089×education−0.314×HS(1st)−0.362×HS(2nd)+0.455×perseveration+1.329×HFCR(2nd)−0.489×MFCR(1st)−0.565×LFCR(3rd). The area under the curve of the LANG-C for diagnosing AD was good (0.894, 95% confidence interval=0.853–0.926 ; sensitivity=0.787, specificity=0.840), although it was smaller than that of the MMSE. CONCLUSION: The LANG-C, which is easy to automate using PC or smart devices and to deliver widely via internet, can be a good alternative for screening AD to MMSE.
Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Humans ; Internet ; Language Tests ; Logistic Models ; Mass Screening ; Memory ; Semantics

Hair growth cycles are mainly regulated by human dermal papilla cells (hDPCs) and human outer root sheath cells (hORSCs).Protecting hDPCs from excessive oxidative stress and hORSCs from glycogen phosphorylase (PYGL) is crucial to maintaining the hair growth phase, anagen. In this study, we developed a new PYGL inhibitor, hydroxytrimethylpyridinyl methylindolecarboxamide (HTPI) and assessed its potential to prevent hair loss. HTPI reduced oxidative damage, preventing cell death and restored decreased level of anagen marker ALP and its related genes induced by hydrogen peroxide in hDPCs. Moreover, HTPI inhibited glycogen degradation and induced cell survival under glucose starvation in hORSCs. In ex-vivo culture, HTPI significantly enhanced hair growth compared to the control with minoxidil showing comparable results. Overall, these findings suggest that HTPI has significant potential as a therapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of hair loss.