Vaccinia virus is the prototype orthopoxvirus that has been used as a vaccine strain for small pox. This virus has been used to express a variety of cellular and viral genes in mammalian cells at high levels. Interleukin-4 (IL-4) has been found to stimulate the proliferation of T cells and enhance the cytolytic activity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. To test the immunotherapeutic potential of IL-4 delivered in vivo by poxvirus, a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the murine IL-4 gene (RVVmIL-4) was constructed. A high level of IL-4 production was confirmed by infecting HeLa cells and measuring IL-4 in cell culture supernatant by ELISA. As a tumor model, two cell lines were used: the murine T leukemic line P388 and the murine breast cancer line TS/A. CDF1 mice were intraperitoneally inoculated with 1 x 105 cells of P388. Mice were injected at the same site with 5 x 105 PFU of recombinant vaccinia virus; first, 3 days after the injection of tumor cells and thereafter once every week for 3 weeks. Intraperitoneal injections of RVVmIL-4 significantly prolonged the survival time of mice inoculated with tumor cells. All mice injected with RVVmIL-4 remained alive for 30 days after the postinoculation of tumor cells, while 100% and 70% of the animals injected with saline or wild type vaccinia virus died, respectively. In another tumor model using TS/A, tumor was established by subcutaneously inoculating 2 x 105 tumor cells to BALB/c mice. After tumor formation was confirmed on day 4 in all mice, 5 x 106 PFU of RVVmIL-4 was inoculated subcutaneously three times, once every week for 3 weeks. The TS/A tumor was eradicated in two of the nine mice. Seven of the nine mice treated with RVVmIL-4 developed a tumor, but tumor growth was significantly delayed compared to those treated with saline or wild type vaccinia virus. These results indicate that recombinant vaccinia viruses may be used as a convenient tool for delivering immunomodulator genes to a variety of tumors.
Animals ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Line ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Genes, Viral ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Interleukin-4* ; Interleukins* ; Mice ; Orthopoxvirus ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; Vaccinia virus* ; Vaccinia*

Objectives: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first line treatment for insomnia. However, many patients remain with sleep disturbances even after undergoing CBT-I, and those with short sleep durations have shown fewer gains. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is one of the third wave of behavioral therapies, and it is useful in helping patients get flexibility of mind. Therefore, we incorporated its components into CBT-I, came up with an advanced CBT-I program that involves cognitive behavior therapy based on ACT, and examined its efficacy in comparison to that of CBT-I. Methods: Patients with chronic primary insomnia were recruited at the memory center of CHA University Hospital from June to August 2020. To examine the efficacy of advanced CBT-I compared to that of CBT-I, the patients (n=16) were assigned to two groups (CBT-I: n=6; advanced CBT-I: n=10). The patients in each group were treated for 4 weeks (8 sessions). The quality of sleep, severity of insomnia, sleepiness, depression, anxiety, acceptance, efforts to sleep, and dysfunctional beliefs concerning sleep were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Results: The severity of insomnia, quality of sleep, depression, anxiety, acceptance, efforts to sleep, and dysfunctional beliefs concerning sleep improved after both CBT-I and advanced CBT-I treatment. Conclusions This study examined the efficacy of advanced CBT-I in improving the severity of insomnia, sleep quality, and other symptoms related to sleep. The results suggest that components of ACT were useful for insomnia.

Objectives: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the first line treatment for insomnia. However, many patients remain with sleep disturbances even after undergoing CBT-I, and those with short sleep durations have shown fewer gains. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is one of the third wave of behavioral therapies, and it is useful in helping patients get flexibility of mind. Therefore, we incorporated its components into CBT-I, came up with an advanced CBT-I program that involves cognitive behavior therapy based on ACT, and examined its efficacy in comparison to that of CBT-I. Methods: Patients with chronic primary insomnia were recruited at the memory center of CHA University Hospital from June to August 2020. To examine the efficacy of advanced CBT-I compared to that of CBT-I, the patients (n=16) were assigned to two groups (CBT-I: n=6; advanced CBT-I: n=10). The patients in each group were treated for 4 weeks (8 sessions). The quality of sleep, severity of insomnia, sleepiness, depression, anxiety, acceptance, efforts to sleep, and dysfunctional beliefs concerning sleep were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Results: The severity of insomnia, quality of sleep, depression, anxiety, acceptance, efforts to sleep, and dysfunctional beliefs concerning sleep improved after both CBT-I and advanced CBT-I treatment. Conclusions This study examined the efficacy of advanced CBT-I in improving the severity of insomnia, sleep quality, and other symptoms related to sleep. The results suggest that components of ACT were useful for insomnia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare psychiatric comorbid disorders and psychological outcomes in children and adolescents with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). METHODS: Subjects were divided into a child group (aged under 12 years) and an adolescent group (aged 12 years and above). All subjects were diagnosed with ADHD based on the DSM IV diagnostic criteria using the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Korean Version (K-SADS-PL-K). The K-SADS-PL-K was also used to evaluate those psychiatric disorders comorbid with ADHD. And the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL) was used to examine the subjects' psychological outcomes. RESULTS: The rate of comorbidity in adolescent group was significantly higher than that in the child group. In particular, the adolescent group had a significantly higher ratio of comorbid conduct disorder and mood disorder than the child group. With respect to the predominantly inattentive type and Not Otherwise Specified, the school subscale scores on the K-CBCL for the children were significantly higher than those for the adolescents. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the psychiatric comorbidity may differ between adolescents and children with ADHD. Therefore when treating adolescents with ADHD, more careful assessment and treatment targeting a range of comorbidities are needed.
Adolescent ; Checklist ; Child ; Child Behavior ; Comorbidity ; Conduct Disorder ; Humans ; Mood Disorders

The recovery of quadriceps muscle strength and knee function after knee surgery is important. Recently, neuro-muscular electrical stimulation (NMES), which is a method in which an electrical current is applied to the surrounding targeted muscle, has been incorporated into muscle-strengthening programs. The objective of this review was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of NMES in patients who have undergone knee surgery. A database search was performed in 8 Korean databases, Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. Article selection and quality assessment were performed by 2 reviewers. Of the 580 articles selected, 14 papers (randomized controlled trials) were included in the final assessment. In the results of the meta-analysis, NMES combined with rehabilitation demonstrated a significant improvement in the enhancement of quadriceps muscle strength after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. On the basis of the currently available data, NMES with rehabilitation is associated with favorable outcomes, and should be considered a safe and effective procedure for enhancing quadriceps muscle strength.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction ; Electric Stimulation Therapy* ; Electric Stimulation* ; Humans ; Knee* ; Methods ; Quadriceps Muscle ; Rehabilitation

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) mapping are functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques for detecting water diffusion. DWI and the ADC map were performed for intracranial lesions in two dogs. In necrotizing leukoencephalitis, cavitated lesions contained a hypointense center with a hyperintense periphery on DWI, and hyperintense signals on the ADC maps. In metastatic sarcoma, masses including a necrotic region were hypointense with DWI, and hyperintense on the ADC map with hyperintense perilesional edema on DWI and ADC map. Since DWI and ADC data reflect the altered water diffusion, they can provide additional information at the molecular level.
Animals ; Brain/*pathology ; Brain Neoplasms/pathology/*veterinary ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*veterinary ; Dog Diseases/*pathology ; Dogs ; Female ; Leukoencephalopathies/pathology/*veterinary ; Necrosis/veterinary ; Neuroimaging/*veterinary ; Sarcoma/pathology/*veterinary

BACKGROUND: There are two variations in the attention subitem of the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE): 'serial 7's subtraction and "sam-chun-ri-gang-san" backward. At a scale of one to five, they can be used interchangeably, which inevitably brings a considerable difference in results. Thus, we compared the scores of the 'serial 7's subtraction' and the "sam-chun-ri-gang-san" backward and analyzed the influence of sociodemographic factors on the differences. METHODS: We administered the Korean MMSE including the two types of attention item: serial 7's and "sam-chun-rigang-san" backward to 239 community-dwelling elderly people aged 65 or older in Kyung Hee University Medical Center and four Seoul senior centers and analyzed the difference from June 2012 to July 2012. RESULTS: The score for "sam-chun-ri-gang-san" backward (2.5+/-2.1) was lower than that of the serial 7's (3.4+/-1.7) by a mean point of 0.9+/-1.9. The score of "sam-chun-ri-gang-san" backward was zero in 31.4% of the subjects. However, only 9.6% scored zero on the serial 7's. The ratio of the same scores between two tasks was 36.0%. Education was the primary source of variance on difference score, followed by the number of family. There was no significant effect of age or gender when the score of difference was analyzed by multiple regression. CONCLUSION: In this study, subjects tended to outperform the serial 7's in general. Upon administering "sam-chun-rigang-san" backward instead of serial 7's due to the preference of the patient, we should take into account that the score of "sam-chun-ri-gang-san" backward was 0.9 point (mean value) lower than serial 7's to ensure appropriate interpretation of MMSE score.
Academic Medical Centers ; Aged ; Education ; Humans ; Senior Centers ; Seoul

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the optimal cut-off point of calf circumference (CC) as a simple proxy marker of appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) and sarcopenia in the Korean elderly and to test the criterion-related validity of CC by analyzing its relationships with the physical function. METHODS: The participants were 657 adults aged 70 to 84 years who had completed both dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and physical function test in the first baseline year of the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study. RESULTS: ASM and skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) were correlated positively with CC (male, ASM, r = 0.55 and SMI, r = 0.54; female, ASM, r = 0.55 and SMI, r = 0.42; all P < 0.001). Testing the validity of CC as a proxy marker for low muscle mass, an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81 for males and 0.72 for females were found and their optimal cut-off values of CC were 35 cm for males and 33 cm for females. In addition, CC-based low muscle groups were correlated with physical functions even after adjusting for age and body mass index. Also, the cut-off value of CC for sarcopenia was 32 cm (AUC; male, 0.82 and female, 0.72). CONCLUSION: The optimal cut-off values of CC for low MM are 35 cm for males and 33 cm for females. Lower CC based on these cut-off values is related with poor physical function. CC may be also a good indicator of sarcopenia in Korean elderly.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Adult* ; Aged ; Aging* ; Anthropometry ; Body Mass Index ; Cohort Studies* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Muscle, Skeletal ; Proxy ; Sarcopenia*

Background: Hearing loss (HL) is the most common chronic disease and has been linked to negative health outcomes. Hearing aids (HAs) are regarded as the gold standard for HL management, however, the adoption rate of HAs is relatively low for various reasons. With this background, hearing devices, such as personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) received significant attention as an alternative to conventional HAs. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of PSAPs in patients with mild to moderately severe HL. Methods: Nineteen patients with mild hearing loss (MHL), 23 with moderate hearing loss (MDHL), and 15 with moderately severe hearing loss (MSHL) participated in the study.Electroacoustic analysis, simulated real-ear measurements (REMs), and three clinical evaluations were implemented. Results: All devices satisfied the electroacoustic tolerances. All devices provided sufficient gain for MHL and MDHL audiograms. However, in MSHL audiogram, the gains of PSAPs were insufficient, especially for high frequencies. In terms of clinical evaluations, soundfield audiometry showed significant improvements between aided and unaided thresholds in all groups for all devices (P < 0.001). Significant improvements of word recognition scores were only shown for HAs between aided and unaided conditions. The Korean version of the Hearing In Noise Test did not show any consistent findings for all devices and groups. Conclusion Certain PSAPs are beneficial for improving hearing and speech perception in patients with HL. Well-chosen PSAPs could be an alternative hearing rehabilitation option for these patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Glutaraldehyde (GA) has been used as a representative method of tissue preservation in cardiovascular surgery. However, GA has showed limited durability including calcification, mechanical failure and toxicity. To overcome those unsolved problems, we analyzed the crosslinking differences of primary amines, GA and genipin in their mechanical and biochemical properties with a single or double crosslinking agent for clinical application. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Samples were divided into 3 groups; control, single crosslinking fixation and double crosslinking fixation after decellurarization using bovine pericardium. For analysis of the biochemical and mechanical properties of each crosslinking method, tensile strength, percentage strain, thermal stability, resistance to pronase, nynhydrin and cytotoxicity test were studied. RESULTS: Combined hexamethylene diamine and suberic acid in the carbodiimide hydrochloride/N-hydroxysucinimide solution (EDC/NHS) after decellurarization, tensile strength and strain percentage were not statistically significant compared to the single crosslinking treated groups (p>0.05). Tissue crosslinking stability was weak in single treatment of diphenylphosphoryl azide, suberic acid, low concentration of EDC, hexamethylene diamine and procyanidin groups, but thermal stability and resistance to the pronase and ninhydrin were markedly increased in concentrated EDC/NHS or after combined double treatment with low concentration of GA or genipin (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Single or double crosslinking with low concentration of carbodiimide, diphenylphosphonyl azide, procyanidin, suberic acid and hexane diamine were not as effective in mechanical, biochemical, cytotoxic and crosslinking properties compared to GA or genipin fixation, but their mechanical and chemical properties were much improved when combined with low concentrations of GA or genipin in the double crosslinking process.
Amines ; Azides ; Biflavonoids ; Bioprosthesis ; Caprylates ; Catechin ; Dicarboxylic Acids ; Glutaral ; Iridoids ; Ninhydrin ; Pericardium ; Proanthocyanidins ; Pronase ; Sprains and Strains ; Tensile Strength ; Tissue Preservation