Background: Cross-sex hormone therapy (CHT) changes the physical characteristics of transgender women to match their gender identity and expression. This study aimed to determine the effects of feminizing cross-sex hormones on body composition, bone mineral density (BMD) and muscle strength in transgender women. Methods: A prospective observational study assessed 11 participants who underwent feminizing CHT. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and handgrip strength were measured before CHT and after 6-months of CHT. Fat mass, lean body mass (LBM), and BMD were measured by DXA and handgrip strength was measured by hand-dynamometer. Results: Regional body fat in the trunk, legs, and gynoid region increased by 18%, 27.4%, and 27.2%, respectively after 6 months of CHT. Total body fat increased by 16.2%, while the fat mass ratio decreased by 7.2%. Although body fat increased, the android/gynoid fat ratio decreased; BMD in the lumbar spine significantly increased by 3.9% (P=0.0051), but changes in the femoral neck (P=0.1969) and total femur (P=0.4769) were not significant. Changes in LBM ranged from -3% (trunk) to -8% (arm region). Right-hand grip strength also significantly decreased by 7.7% (P=0.0467). Conclusions After 6 months of CHT, transgender women showed a general increase in fat mass and a decreased in overall LBM and handgrip strength. Increase in fat mass percentage were more remarkable in gynoid region, leading to a more “female” body fat distribution.

Recently, gender-affirming hormone therapy for gender incongruence has become an issue in various countries and organizations with various guidelines. In South Korea, several clinical treatments are also used with many possible options. These treatments include masculinizing (female-to-male [FTM]) or feminizing (male-to-female [MTF]) hormone therapies, with regimens usually driven by standards of hormonal replacement therapy for hypogonadism (i.e., hypogonadal natal men and postmenopausal women). This cross-sex hormone therapy can change patients’ physical appearance to better match their gender identity and expression. Regarding masculinizing therapy, injection and transdermal gel types of testosterone are used according to international guidelines. Progesterone is utilized in the form of oral pills, injections, or intrauterine devices to suppress menstruation and avoid pregnancy. Essentially, feminizing therapy uses androgen blockers along with estrogen. This is because estrogen alone cannot exert sufficient androgen-suppressing effects. In South Korea, the most commonly used androgen blockers are spironolactone and cyproterone acetate. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist is also available. Regarding estrogen, oral pills, injections, and transdermal gels are utilized. This review introduces these gender-affirming hormone therapies in South Korea and discusses the side effects of each regimen.

BACKGROUND: ABO antibody titration is useful for the evaluation of ABO-incompatible bone marrow or solid organ transplantations, yet the results quite vary between different test methods used. We compared the results of microcolumn agglutination and tube methods. METHODS: Anti-A and anti-B isoagglutionin titers were determined in 63 healthy individuals (23 O, 20 A, and 20 B blood groups) using 4 different methods: immediate spin tube (tube), microcolumn agglutination without anti-human globulin (AHG) (CAT), tube with AHG (tube-AHG) and microcolumn agglutination with AHG (CAT-AHG). RESULTS: The median (range) titers of anti-A and anti-B in group O individuals by tube, CAT, tube-AHG, and CAT-AHG methods were 64 (8-512), 64 (8-512), 128 (8-2,048), and 128 (16-2,048); 64 (16-128), 128 (16-256), 128 (16-512), and 256 (16-512), respectively. The median (range) titers of anti-A in group B and anti-B in group A individuals by the four methods were 64 (16-128), 128 (8-128), 128 (8-256), and 256 (8-256); 64 (8-128), 64 (8-128), 32 (8-128), and 64 (8-256), respectively. The isoagglutinin titer measured by CAT-AHGmethod was the highest. The titers measured by CAT and CAT-AHG methods were 0-1 titer higher than those by tube and tube-AHG methods, respectively. Whatever method was used, the isoagglutinin titers were higher in women than in men. CONCLUSIONS: CAT-AHG was the most sensitive method among the four methods tested. Since AHG titer values are critical for the clinical management and CAT has less manual procedures than tube method, CAT-AHG method could be used for the standardization of ABO antibody titration in different institutions.
Agglutination ; Animals ; Bone Marrow ; Cats ; Female ; Humans ; Organ Transplantation ; Transplants

Since an exact ABO blood type match is essential for transfusion therapy, any ABO discrepancies should be resolved prior to the issuing of blood. The authors confirmed the ABO blood group of a 50-year-old male using genotyping. On a routine blood group test, the cell type was A+; however, anti-B was undetected in his serum. To determine the cause of this ABO discrepancy, an adsorption elution test and saliva test were performed. The presence of a weak B substance was suspected despite no evidence of the B antigen on red blood cells. Polymerase-chain-reaction restriction-fragment-length-polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and sequencing analysis of exons 6 and 7 demonstrated that his blood type was A1Bweak (the A allele tested as the A105 subtype, while the B allele was most similar to the B302 subtype). Again, using genotyping, we subsequently confirmed the A1Bweak blood type in a leukemic patient who was in complete remission.
Adsorption ; Alleles ; Erythrocytes ; Exons ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Saliva

ATP-sensitive K+ channels (KATP) were not identified in gastric smooth muscle cells. However, in tension recording of intact gastric circular muscle, lemakalim of KATP channels opener in other tissues suppressed mechanical contractions and this effect was blocked by glibenclamide, a specific inhibitor of KATP channels. The aims of this study were to investigate whether KATP channels exist in gastric smooth muscle of guinea-pig and to know its physiological role. Whole cell K+ currents activated by lemakalim were recorded from freshly isolated cells with a 0.1 mM ATP, 140 mM KCl pipette solutions. Lemakalim (10 muM) increased inward currents of -224 +/- 34 pA (n = 13) at -80 mV of holding potential in bath solution contained 90 mM K+. Bath-applied glibenclamide (10 muM) inhibited the lemakalim-activated inward currents by 91 +/- 6% (n = 5). These lemakalim-activated inward currents were reduced by increased intracellular ATP from 0.1 to 3 mM (-41 +/- 12 pA) (n = 5). The reversal potential of the glibenclamide-sensitive inward currents was -5.2 +/- 2.4 mV (n = 3) in external 90 mM K+ and shifted to -14.8 +/- 3.6 mV (n = 3) in external 60 mM K+, which close to equilibrium potential of K+ (EK). External barium and cesium inhibited the lemakalim-activated inward currents dose-dependently. The half-inhibitory dose (IC50) of barium and cesium were 2.3 muM (n = 5) and 0.38 mM (n = 4), respectively. 10 mM tetraethylammonium (TEA) also inhibited the lemakalim-activated inward currents by 66 +/- 15% (n = 5). Both substance P (SP) (5 muM) and acetylcholine (ACh) (5 muM) inhibited lemakalim-activated inward currents. These results suggest that KATP channels exist in the gastric smooth muscle and its modulation by neurotransmitters may play an important role in regulating gastric motility.
Acetylcholine ; Adenosine Triphosphate ; Barium ; Baths ; Cesium ; Cromakalim ; Glyburide ; KATP Channels ; Muscle Cells* ; Muscle, Smooth ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Substance P ; Tetraethylammonium

Asparagus cochinchinensis has been used to treat various diseases including fever, cough, kidney disease, breast cancer, inflammatory disease and brain disease, while IL-4 cytokine has been considered as key regulator on the skin homeostasis and the predisposition toward allergic skin inflammation. However, few studies have investigated its effects and IL-4 correlation on skin inflammation to date. To quantitatively evaluate the suppressive effects of ethyl acetate extracts of A. cochinchinensis (EaEAC) on phthalic anhydride (PA)-induced skin inflammation and investigate the role of IL-4 during their action mechanism, alterations in general phenotype biomarkers and luciferase-derived signals were measured in IL-4/Luc/CNS-1 transgenic (Tg) mice with PA-induced skin inflammation after treatment with EaEAC for 2 weeks. Key phenotype markers including lymph node weight, immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentration, epidermis thickness and number of infiltrated mast cells were significantly decreased in the PA+EaEAC treated group compared with the PA+Vehicle treated group. In addition, expression of IL-1β and TNF-α was also decreased in the PA+EaEAC cotreated group, compared to PA+Vehicle treated group. Furthermore, a significant decrease in the luciferase signal derived from IL-4 promoter was detected in the abdominal region, submandibular lymph node and mesenteric lymph node of the PA+EaEAC treated group, compared to PA+Vehicle treated group. Taken together, these results suggest that EaEAC treatment could successfully improve PA-induced skin inflammation of IL-4/Luc/CNS-1 Tg mice, and that IL-4 cytokine plays a key role in the therapeutic process of EaEAC.
Animals ; Biomarkers ; Brain Diseases ; Cough ; Epidermis ; Fever ; Homeostasis ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunoglobulins ; Inflammation* ; Inflammatory Breast Neoplasms ; Interleukin-4 ; Kidney Diseases ; Luciferases ; Lymph Nodes ; Mast Cells ; Mice ; Phenotype ; Skin*

The inhibitory effects of Asparagus cochinchinensis against inflammatory response induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), substance P and phthalic anhydride (PA) treatment were recently reported for some cell lines and animal models. To evaluate the hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity of A. cochinchinensis toward the livers and kidneys of ICR mice, alterations in related markers including body weight, organ weight, urine composition, liver pathology and kidney pathology were analyzed in male and female ICR mice after oral administration of 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg body weight/day saponin-enriched extract of A. cochinchinensis (SEAC) for 14 days. The saponin, total flavonoid and total phenol levels were found to be 57.2, 88.5 and 102.1 mg/g in SEAC, respectively, and the scavenging activity of SEAC gradually increased in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, body and organ weight, clinical phenotypes, urine parameters and mice mortality did not differ between the vehicle and SEAC treated group. Furthermore, no significant alterations were measured in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and the serum creatinine (Cr) in the SEAC treated group relative to the vehicle treated group. Moreover, the specific pathological features induced by most toxic compounds were not observed upon liver and kidney histological analysis. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that SEAC does not induce any specific toxicity in the livers and kidneys of male and female ICR mice at doses of 600 mg/kg body weight/day.
Administration, Oral ; Alanine Transaminase ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Animals ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Body Weight ; Cell Line ; Creatinine ; Female ; Humans ; Kidney ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; Liver ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR* ; Models, Animal ; Mortality ; Organ Size ; Pathology ; Phenol ; Phenotype ; Saponins ; Substance P