Objectives: Vertebral fractures are associated with disability and mortality, but most vertebral fractures are asymptomatic. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of and develop a predictive nomogram for asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese adults. Methods: This cohort study as a part of the Vietnam Osteoporosis Study involved 168 men and 287 women aged 50 years and older without a clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture. Their spine x-rays were taken at the recruitment and subsequent 2-year visit. Vertebral fractures were ascertained using the Genant’s semiquantitative method. We employed the Bayesian Model Averaging method to search for the optimal model for predicting asymptomatic vertebral fractures. A predictive nomogram was also developed to facilitate risk prediction. Results: During a median of 2.38 years of follow-up, 13 men and 16 women developed an asymptomatic vertebral fracture, yielding the overall incidence rate of 28 fractures per 1000 person-years, or 33 fractures/1000 personyears in men and 24 fractures/1000 person-years in women, respectively. Most asymptomatic vertebral fractures were moderate, almost 1.5 times more common than mild fractures. The optimal model for predicting incident asymptomatic vertebral fractures included age, male sex and lower femoral neck T-score. The area under the receiver’s operating characteristic curve was 0.91, with 95% CI ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. Conclusions Asymptomatic vertebral fractures were relatively common among adults in Vietnam. A simple model with sex, age and femoral neck T-score is helpful for selective screening of asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese individuals.

Objectives: Vertebral fractures are associated with disability and mortality, but most vertebral fractures are asymptomatic. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of and develop a predictive nomogram for asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese adults. Methods: This cohort study as a part of the Vietnam Osteoporosis Study involved 168 men and 287 women aged 50 years and older without a clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture. Their spine x-rays were taken at the recruitment and subsequent 2-year visit. Vertebral fractures were ascertained using the Genant’s semiquantitative method. We employed the Bayesian Model Averaging method to search for the optimal model for predicting asymptomatic vertebral fractures. A predictive nomogram was also developed to facilitate risk prediction. Results: During a median of 2.38 years of follow-up, 13 men and 16 women developed an asymptomatic vertebral fracture, yielding the overall incidence rate of 28 fractures per 1000 person-years, or 33 fractures/1000 personyears in men and 24 fractures/1000 person-years in women, respectively. Most asymptomatic vertebral fractures were moderate, almost 1.5 times more common than mild fractures. The optimal model for predicting incident asymptomatic vertebral fractures included age, male sex and lower femoral neck T-score. The area under the receiver’s operating characteristic curve was 0.91, with 95% CI ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. Conclusions Asymptomatic vertebral fractures were relatively common among adults in Vietnam. A simple model with sex, age and femoral neck T-score is helpful for selective screening of asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese individuals.

Objectives: Vertebral fractures are associated with disability and mortality, but most vertebral fractures are asymptomatic. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of and develop a predictive nomogram for asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese adults. Methods: This cohort study as a part of the Vietnam Osteoporosis Study involved 168 men and 287 women aged 50 years and older without a clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture. Their spine x-rays were taken at the recruitment and subsequent 2-year visit. Vertebral fractures were ascertained using the Genant’s semiquantitative method. We employed the Bayesian Model Averaging method to search for the optimal model for predicting asymptomatic vertebral fractures. A predictive nomogram was also developed to facilitate risk prediction. Results: During a median of 2.38 years of follow-up, 13 men and 16 women developed an asymptomatic vertebral fracture, yielding the overall incidence rate of 28 fractures per 1000 person-years, or 33 fractures/1000 personyears in men and 24 fractures/1000 person-years in women, respectively. Most asymptomatic vertebral fractures were moderate, almost 1.5 times more common than mild fractures. The optimal model for predicting incident asymptomatic vertebral fractures included age, male sex and lower femoral neck T-score. The area under the receiver’s operating characteristic curve was 0.91, with 95% CI ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. Conclusions Asymptomatic vertebral fractures were relatively common among adults in Vietnam. A simple model with sex, age and femoral neck T-score is helpful for selective screening of asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese individuals.

Objectives: Vertebral fractures are associated with disability and mortality, but most vertebral fractures are asymptomatic. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of and develop a predictive nomogram for asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese adults. Methods: This cohort study as a part of the Vietnam Osteoporosis Study involved 168 men and 287 women aged 50 years and older without a clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture. Their spine x-rays were taken at the recruitment and subsequent 2-year visit. Vertebral fractures were ascertained using the Genant’s semiquantitative method. We employed the Bayesian Model Averaging method to search for the optimal model for predicting asymptomatic vertebral fractures. A predictive nomogram was also developed to facilitate risk prediction. Results: During a median of 2.38 years of follow-up, 13 men and 16 women developed an asymptomatic vertebral fracture, yielding the overall incidence rate of 28 fractures per 1000 person-years, or 33 fractures/1000 personyears in men and 24 fractures/1000 person-years in women, respectively. Most asymptomatic vertebral fractures were moderate, almost 1.5 times more common than mild fractures. The optimal model for predicting incident asymptomatic vertebral fractures included age, male sex and lower femoral neck T-score. The area under the receiver’s operating characteristic curve was 0.91, with 95% CI ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. Conclusions Asymptomatic vertebral fractures were relatively common among adults in Vietnam. A simple model with sex, age and femoral neck T-score is helpful for selective screening of asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese individuals.

Objectives: Vertebral fractures are associated with disability and mortality, but most vertebral fractures are asymptomatic. The present study aimed to determine the incidence of and develop a predictive nomogram for asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese adults. Methods: This cohort study as a part of the Vietnam Osteoporosis Study involved 168 men and 287 women aged 50 years and older without a clinically diagnosed vertebral fracture. Their spine x-rays were taken at the recruitment and subsequent 2-year visit. Vertebral fractures were ascertained using the Genant’s semiquantitative method. We employed the Bayesian Model Averaging method to search for the optimal model for predicting asymptomatic vertebral fractures. A predictive nomogram was also developed to facilitate risk prediction. Results: During a median of 2.38 years of follow-up, 13 men and 16 women developed an asymptomatic vertebral fracture, yielding the overall incidence rate of 28 fractures per 1000 person-years, or 33 fractures/1000 personyears in men and 24 fractures/1000 person-years in women, respectively. Most asymptomatic vertebral fractures were moderate, almost 1.5 times more common than mild fractures. The optimal model for predicting incident asymptomatic vertebral fractures included age, male sex and lower femoral neck T-score. The area under the receiver’s operating characteristic curve was 0.91, with 95% CI ranging from 0.86 to 0.96. Conclusions Asymptomatic vertebral fractures were relatively common among adults in Vietnam. A simple model with sex, age and femoral neck T-score is helpful for selective screening of asymptomatic vertebral fractures in Vietnamese individuals.

PURPOSE: Medication adherence is an essential part of the management and control of high blood pressure (HBP). Although the Hill-Bone Medication Adherence (HBMA) scale is one of the most frequently used instruments for measuring HBP medication adherence, the psychometric properties of the scale have never been tested among Korean Americans, a population that experiences a disproportionately high prevalence of HBP. Therefore, the objective of this study is to validate a Korean version of the HBMA subscale (HBMA-K). METHOD: We used two, independent samples of Korean Americans (KAs) (combined n = 525) who participated in community-based intervention trials for HBP control. To develop the HBMA-K, the original scale was translated into Korean and then back translated into English. Reliability was assessed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was done to assess construct validity. We also calculated the Pearson's correlation coefficients between the scale and theoretically driven variables such as blood pressure, knowledge, and HBP belief to test concurrent validity. RESULTS: The EFA revealed a one-factor solution with eight items, explaining 35.4% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was .80. The 8-item HBMA-K scale was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure (BP) (r = .18, p < .01), diastolic BP (r = .24, p < .01), HBP knowledge (r = -.13, p < .01), and HBP belief score (r = -.18, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The 8-item HBMA-K scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring medication adherence among KAs with HBP. It can be easily administered at community and clinical settings to screen hypertensive patients with low medication adherence.
Asian Americans ; Blood Pressure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Medication Adherence ; Prevalence ; Psychometrics

It has been reported that fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) do not act only as intracellular mediators of lipid responses but also have extracellular functions. This study aimed to investigate whether extracellular liver type (L)-FABP has a biological activity and to determined serum L-FABP levels in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We isolated L-FABP complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) from the Huh7 human hepatocarcinoma cell line and expressed the recombinant L-FABP protein in Escherichia coli. A549 lung carcinoma and THP-1 monocytic cells were stimulated with the human recombinant L-FABP. Human whole blood cells were also treated with the human recombinant L-FABP or interleukin (IL)-1α. IL-6 levels were measured in cell culture supernatants using IL-6 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Human recombinant L-FABP induced IL-6 in a dose-dependent manner in A549, THP-1 cells, and whole blood cells. The blood samples of healthy volunteers and patients with ESRD were taken after an overnight fast. The serum levels of L-FABP in healthy volunteers and ESRD patients were quantified with L-FABP ELISA. The values of L-FABP in patients with ESRD were significantly lower than those in the control group. Our results demonstrated the biological activity of L-FABP in human cells suggesting L-FABP can be a mediator of inflammation.
Blood Cells ; Carrier Proteins* ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Line ; DNA ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Escherichia coli ; Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6* ; Interleukins ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Liver* ; Lung

IL-32 exists as seven mRNA transcripts that can translate into distinct individual IL-32 variants with specific protein domains. These translated protein domains of IL-32 variants code for specific functions that allow for interaction with different molecules intracellularly or extracellularly. The longest variant is IL-32γ possessing 234 amino acid residues with all 11 protein domains, while the shortest variant is IL-32α possessing 131 amino acid residues with three of the protein domains. The first domain exists in 6 variants except IL-32δ variant, which has a distinct translation initiation codon due to mRNA splicing. The last eleventh domain is common domain for all seven IL-32 variants. Numerous studies in different fields, such as inflammation, autoimmunity, pathogen infection, and cancer biology, have claimed the specific biological activity of individual IL-32 variant despite the absence of sufficient data. There are 4 additional IL-32 variants without proper transcripts. In this review, the structural characteristics of seven IL-32 transcripts are described based on the specific protein domains.
Autoimmunity ; Biology ; Codon, Initiator ; Inflammation ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; RNA, Messenger

Interferons (IFNs) have been known as antiviral genes and they are classified by type 1, type 2, and type 3 IFN. The type 1 IFN consists of IFNα, IFNβ, IFNτ, and IFNω whereas the type 2 IFN consists of only IFNγ, which is a key cytokine driving T helper cell type 1 immunity. IFNλ belongs to the type 3 IFN, which is also known as IL-28 and IL-29 possessing antiviral activities. Type 1 IFN is produced by viral infection whereas type 2 IFN is induced by mitogenic or antigenic T-cell stimuli. The IFNτ of bovine was first discovered in an ungulate ruminant recognition hormone. IFNτ belongs to the type 1 IFN with the common feature of type 1 IFN such as antiviral activity. IFNs have been mostly studied for basic research and clinical usages therefore there was no effort to investigate IFNs in industrial animals. Here we cloned porcine IFNα8 from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Korean domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica). The newly cloned IFNα8 amino acid sequence from Korean domestic pig shares 98.4% identity with the known porcine IFNα8 in databank. The recombinant porcine IFNα8 showed potent antiviral activity and protected bovine Madin-Darby bovine kidney epithelial (MDBK) cells from the cytopathic effect of vesicular stomatitis virus, but it failed to protect human Wistar Institute Susan Hayflick (WISH) cells and canine Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial-like (MDCK) cells. The present study demonstrates species specific antiviral activity of porcine IFNα8.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Clone Cells ; Humans ; Interferons ; Kidney ; Ruminants ; Sus scrofa ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer ; Vesicular Stomatitis

Recently, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (B.1.1.529) Omicron variant originated from South Africa in the middle of November 2021. SARS-CoV-2 is also called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since SARS-CoV-2 is the causative agent of COVID-19. Several studies already suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant would be the fastest transmissible variant compared to the previous 10 SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, interest, and alert. Few clinical studies reported the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant but there is insufficient time to perform actual experiments to prove it, since the spread is so fast. We analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, which revealed a very high rate of mutation at amino acid residues that interact with angiostatin-converting enzyme 2. The mutation rate of COVID-19 is faster than what we prepared vaccine program, antibody therapy, lockdown, and quarantine against COVID-19 so far. Thus, it is necessary to find better strategies to overcome the current crisis of COVID-19 pandemic.