Background: The largest outbreak of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 occurred at a preschool in South Korea from June 12 to 29, 2020. This study aimed to analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of EHEC infection in this outbreak. Methods: Epidemiological investigation was performed on all 184 children and 19 workers at the preschool using a standard questionnaire to assess symptoms, food intake, attendance, and special activity history. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of confirmed cases was performed to determine genetic relevance. Results: During this outbreak, 103 children were affected, whereas only one infection was identified in adults. Of the 103 pediatric patients, 85 had symptoms (82.5%), including diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloody stool, fever, and vomiting. Thirty-two patients (31.1%) were hospitalized, 15 (14.6%) were diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome, and 4 (3.9%) received dialysis treatment. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis identified 4 genotypes with high genetic relevance (92.3%). Epidemiological investigation revealed that this outbreak might have occurred from ingesting foods stored in a refrigerator with a constant temperature above 10°C, which was conducive to bacterial growth. Despite several measures after outbreak recognition, new infections continued to appear. Therefore, the preschool was forced to close on June 19 to prevent further person-to-person transmission. Conclusion Our findings from the response to the largest outbreak will help prepare countermeasures against future EHEC outbreak.

OBJECTIVES: Menopause is a natural aging process causing estrogen deficiency, accelerating atherogenic processes including dyslipidemia. Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction is also high in postmenopausal women, and it is known to elevate the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Therefore, we are to study on the associations in between serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and prevalence of CVD in postmenopausal women who have normal thyroid function. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of 247 Korean postmenopausal women who visited the health promotion center from January, 2007 to December, 2009. Postmenopausal women with normal serum TSH were included in the study. Coronary atherosclerosis was assessed by 64-row multidetector computed tomography. RESULTS: In multiple linear regression analysis, serum TSH was associated with serum triglyceride (TG) (β = 0.146, P = 0.023). In multiple logistic regression analysis, increasing age and serum TSH were associated with an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis in euthyroid postmenopausal women (odds ratio [OR] = 1.107 [1.024-1.197], P = 0.011 and OR = 1.303 [1.024-1.658], P = 0.031, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: It revealed that significant predictor of serum TSH was serum TG, and increasing age and TSH were found to have associations with an increased risk of coronary atherosclerosis in euthyroid postmenopausal women. Screening and assessing risks for CVD in healthy postmenopausal women would be helpful before atherosclerosis develops.
Aging ; Atherosclerosis ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Coronary Artery Disease* ; Dyslipidemias ; Estrogens ; Female ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Logistic Models ; Mass Screening ; Menopause ; Multidetector Computed Tomography ; Postmenopause ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyrotropin* ; Triglycerides

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical, biomechanical, and histologic changes in new distraction osteogenesis (DO) technique combined with a compression stimulation in accordance to different compression-distraction force ratio. 23 adult male rabbits underwent open-osteotomy at the mandibular body area and a external distraction device was applied. In the control group of 8 rabbits, only a 8 mm of distraction was performed by conventional DO technique. In an experimental group of 15 rabbits, a distraction followed by a compression force was performed according to the ratio of compression-distraction suggested by authors. The rate of experimental group I was set up as a 2 mm compression versus 10 mm distraction and the rate of experimental group II was set up as a 3 mm compression versus 11 mm distraction. All the rabbits were sacrificed for a gross finding, biomechanical, histomorphometric and histologic findings at the time of 55 days from the operation day. The results were as follows: 1. On the gross findings, because all rabbits had a sufficient healing time, every distracted new bone had good bone quality and we could not find any difference among all three groups. 2. In the histologic findings, rapid bone maturation (wide lamellar bone formation in the cancellous and cortical bone areas) was observed in two experimental groups compared to the control group. 3. On the bone density tests, the experimental group II showed higher bone density than the other experimental group and control group (control group - 0,2906 g/cm2, experimental group I - 0.2961 g/cm2, experimental group II - 0.3328 g/cm2). 4. On the biomechanical tests, the experimental group II had significantly higher bone microhardness than the other experimental group and control group (control group - 252.7 MPa, experimental group I - 263.5 MPa, experimental group II - 426.0 MPa). 5. On the microhardness tests, when we compared the hardness ratio of distracted bone versus normal bone, we could find experimental group II had significantly higher hardness ratio than the other experimental group and control group (control group - 0.47, experimental group I - 0.575, experimental group II - 0.80). From this study, we could deduce that the modified distraction osteogenesis method with a compression stimulation might improve the quality of bone regeneration and shorten the consolidation period in comparison with conventional distraction osteogenesis techniques.
Adult ; Bone Density ; Bone Regeneration* ; Hardness ; Humans ; Male ; Osteogenesis ; Osteogenesis, Distraction* ; Rabbits

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the combined effects of vitamin D and daily calcium intake on bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis in Korean postmenopausal women. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional study consisting of 1,921 Korean postmenopausal women aged 45 to 70 years without thyroid dysfunction, from the 2008–2011 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were classified into six groups according to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and daily calcium intake. BMD was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at femur and at lumbar spine, and the serum vitamin D levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: The BMD divided according to serum 25(OH)D and daily calcium intakes were not statistically different among the groups. However, when both daily calcium intake and serum 25(OH)D were not sufficient, risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis showed significant increase in both femur neck and lumbar spine (odds ratio [OR] 2.242, P=0.006; OR 3.044, P=0.001; respectively). Although daily calcium intake was sufficient, risks of osteopenia and osteoporosis significantly increased in lumbar spine group if serum 25(OH)D is <20 ng/mL (OR 2.993, P=0.006). CONCLUSION: The combined effects of insufficient daily calcium intake and vitamin D deficiency may cause low BMD and increase in prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in Korean postmenopausal women aged 45 to 70 years.
Absorptiometry, Photon ; Bone Density* ; Bone Diseases, Metabolic ; Calcium* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Menopause ; Nutrition Surveys ; Osteoporosis* ; Prevalence ; Radioimmunoassay ; Spine ; Thyroid Gland ; Vitamin D Deficiency* ; Vitamin D* ; Vitamins*

Objective: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is recommended for general cognitive evaluation in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. However, age- and education-adjusted cutoffs specifically for PD have not been developed or systematically validated across PD cohorts with diverse education levels. Methods: In this retrospective analysis, we utilized data from 1,293 Korean patients with PD whose cognitive diagnoses were determined through comprehensive neuropsychological assessments. Age- and education-adjusted cutoffs were formulated based on 1,202 patients with PD. To identify the optimal machine learning model, clinical parameters and MoCA domain scores from 416 patients with PD were used. Comparative analyses between machine learning methods and different cutoff criteria were conducted on an additional 91 consecutive patients with PD. Results: The cutoffs for cognitive impairment decrease with increasing age within the same education level. Similarly, lower education levels within the same age group correspond to lower cutoffs. For individuals aged 60–80 years, cutoffs were set as follows: 25 or 24 years for those with more than 12 years of education, 23 or 22 years for 10–12 years, and 21 or 20 years for 7–9 years. Comparisons between age- and education-adjusted cutoffs and the machine learning method showed comparable accuracies. The cutoff method resulted in a higher sensitivity (0.8627), whereas machine learning yielded higher specificity (0.8250). Conclusion Both the age- and education-adjusted cutoff methods and machine learning methods demonstrated high effectiveness in detecting cognitive impairment in PD patients. This study highlights the necessity of tailored cutoffs and suggests the potential of machine learning to improve cognitive assessment in PD patients.

PURPOSE: Liver resection has been the treatment of choice for a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but the survival rates remain low, and recurrences common. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors that could affect the overall and disease free survivals of HCC. METHODS: Five hundred ten and liver resections for HCC, conducted 1994- and -2001, were retrospectively reviewed. They subjects consisted of 409 men and 101 women with a median age of 51.2 years, (ranging: from 10- to 88-). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on several of the clinicopathological variables in order to find factors affecting the overall and disease free survivals. The statistical analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method, Log-rank test and Cox regression hazard model, with SPSS 11.0 for Windows. RESULTS: The 1-, 3-, 5- year overall survival rates were 85, 68 and 54%, and the 1-, 3-, 5- year disease free survival rates were 61, 42 and 34%, respectively. Tumor recurrence occurred in 314 patients (61.6%) and was the main cause of death in 205 (56%). The independent prognostic factors for overall survival were ICGR15, tumor capsule formation and size. Furthermore, the independent prognostic factors for disease free survival were alfa-feto protein (AFP), transfusion, tumor capsule formation, size and venous emboli. CONCLUSION: HCC is one of the most common malignancies worldwide, and a partial hepatectomy is a safe, effective, and potentially curative therapy. However, the postoperative recurrence rate remains high rate. The prudent evalulation of patients factors of survival and recurrence is required before an operation and high risk patients should be followed up more carefully.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cause of Death ; Disease-Free Survival* ; Female ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver* ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the influence of abutment materials on the stability of the implant-abutment joint in internal conical connection type implant systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Internal conical connection type implants, cement-retained abutments, and tungsten carbide-coated abutment screws were used. The abutments were fabricated with commercially pure grade 3 titanium (group T3), commercially pure grade 4 titanium (group T4), or Ti-6Al-4V (group TA) (n=5, each). In order to assess the amount of settlement after abutment fixation, a 30-Ncm tightening torque was applied, then the change in length before and after tightening the abutment screw was measured, and the preload exerted was recorded. The compressive bending strength was measured under the ISO14801 conditions. In order to determine whether there were significant changes in settlement, preload, and compressive bending strength before and after abutment fixation depending on abutment materials, one-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD post-hoc test was performed. RESULTS: Group TA exhibited the smallest mean change in the combined length of the implant and abutment before and after fixation, and no difference was observed between groups T3 and T4 (P>.05). Group TA exhibited the highest preload and compressive bending strength values, followed by T4, then T3 (P<.001). CONCLUSION: The abutment material can influence the stability of the interface in internal conical connection type implant systems. The strength of the abutment material was inversely correlated with settlement, and positively correlated with compressive bending strength. Preload was inversely proportional to the frictional coefficient of the abutment material.
Friction ; Joints* ; Titanium ; Torque ; Tungsten

BACKGROUND: Many terminal cancer patients and families are affected with physical, emotional, and social problems. Many people claim that a type of medical services is needed to manage them such as hospice palliative care. There have not been many studies of cancer patients and families with respect to their opinions and attitudes on hospice palliative care for terminal cancer patients, although their views on it is important. METHODS: We surveyed 687 in-patients, out-patients and their families with cancer in 8 hospitals. The self-administered questionnaires included the following; 1) socio-demographic and clinical variables; 2) opinions on hospice palliative care; 3) attitudes on ethical issues associated with hospice palliative care; 4) factors associated with withholding futile care at the end-of-life. The data were analyzed with x2-test, Mantel-Haenszel x2-test, and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Almost 90% of the subjects agreed to the need of obtaining hospice palliative care with health care insurances and reaching a social consensus on the contents of its programs. Five hundred and seventy six (83.8%) subjects agreed to the need of using advanced directives. Two hundred and eighty five (72.2%) cancer patients and 200 (68.5%) families agreed to the need of withholding futile care at the end-of-life and of people accepting their cancer diagnosis with insight and living in the metropolis as they were more likely to do. In the multivariate analysis, the attitudes on withholding futile care at the end-of-life was significantly different only by insight of cancer diagnosis (OR; 1.09-3.15). CONCLUSION: This study showed that hospice palliative care should be established through social consensus on the issues related to ethics and insurances, and that cancer patients and families must have a right to choose such services with informed decision-making.
Consensus ; Delivery of Health Care ; Diagnosis ; Ethics ; Hospices* ; Humans ; Insurance ; Logistic Models ; Multivariate Analysis ; Outpatients ; Palliative Care* ; Social Problems ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was designed to compare outcomes in patients who underwent hepatectomy or radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFA) for synchronous or metachronous colorectal liver metastases (CLM). METHODS: One hundred twenty-two patients who underwent hepatectomy or RFA for their first CLM between 2001 and 2004 were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into two groups (synchronous [N=77] and metachronous [N=45] CLM). Patient characteristics, clinicopathologic features, long-term outcomes, and prognostic factors were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the 5-year disease-free and overall survival rates between the synchronous and metachronous CLM groups (36.2% vs. 37.2%, p=0.78; and 53.0% vs. 54.4%, p=0.82, respectively). Patients in the synchronous CLM group underwent more bilobar hepatic resections, intra-operative RFA, or co-modality treatments than the metachronous CLM group (p=0.035). The surgical resection group had a longer disease-free survival, but not overall survival than the RFA group. Greater N stage and female gender were associated with a worse prognosis in overall survival; N0 stage and surgical resection were good prognostic factors for disease-free survival. N stage and surgical resection were also statistically significant prognostic factors based on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: The synchronicity of CLM is not a significant prognostic factor, but the clinicopathologic characteristics that reflect more disseminated disease than metachronous metastasis are significant prognostic factors. Tumor characteristics and aggressiveness may be more important for prognosis than chronology.
Colorectal Neoplasms ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

Aberrant expression of BORIS/CTCFL (Brother of the Regulator of Imprinted Sites/CTCF-like protein) is reported in different malignancies. In this study, we characterized the entire promoter region of BORIS/CTCFL, including the CpG islands, to assess the relationship between BORIS expression and lung cancer. To simplify the construction of luciferase reporter cassettes with various-sized portions of the upstream region, genomic copies of BORIS were isolated using TAR cloning technology. We analyzed three promoter blocks: the GATA/CCAAT box, the CpG islands and the minisatellite region BORIS-MS2. Polymorphic minisatellite sequences were isolated from genomic DNA prepared from the blood of controls and cases. Of the three promoter blocks, the GATA/CCAAT box was determined to be a critical element of the core promoter, while the CpG islands and the BORIS-MS2 minisatellite region were found to act as regulators. Interestingly, the polymorphic minisatellite region BORIS-MS2 was identified as a negative regulator that repressed the expression levels of luciferase reporter cassettes less effectively in cancer cells compared with normal cells. We also examined the association between the size of BORIS-MS2 and lung cancer in a case–control study with 590 controls and 206 lung cancer cases. Rare alleles of BORIS-MS2 were associated with a statistically significantly increased risk of lung cancer (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% confidence interval, 1.02–4.08; and P=0.039). To conclude, our data provide information on the organization of the BORIS promoter region and gene regulation in normal and cancer cells. In addition, we propose that specific alleles of the BORIS-MS2 region could be used to identify the risk for lung cancer.
Alleles ; Clone Cells ; Cloning, Organism ; CpG Islands ; DNA ; Gene Expression* ; Luciferases ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Minisatellite Repeats* ; Promoter Regions, Genetic