1.Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus secondary to COVID-19 infection in a patient on lithium medication: a case report
Jong-In CHOI ; Somin LEE ; Hyun Lee KIM ; Jong-Hoon CHUNG ; Byung Chul SHIN ; Youngmin YOON
Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2025;36(1):41-44
Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is characterized by polyuria and polydipsia, high serum osmolality, and low urine osmolality because of resistance to antidiuretic hormone. Lithium is commonly used to treat psychiatric disorders, and NDI is one of the common renal side effects of lithium therapy. On the other hand, NDI induced by lithium medication in a patient after a coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection has not been reported. This paper presents a patient who developed new-onset NDI secondary to a COVID-19 infection despite being on a stable lithium dose for several years. This case highlights the importance of considering a COVID-19 infection as a possible cause of NDI in patients taking lithium medication.
2.Combination of Aβ40, Aβ42, and Tau Plasma Levels to Distinguish Amyloid-PET Positive Alzheimer Patients from Normal Controls
Seungyeop BAEK ; Jinny Claire LEE ; Byung Hyun BYUN ; Su Yeon PARK ; Jeong Ho HA ; Kyo Chul LEE ; Seung-Hoon YANG ; Jun-Seok LEE ; Seungpyo HONG ; Gyoonhee HAN ; Sang Moo LIM ; YoungSoo KIM ; Hye Yun KIM
Experimental Neurobiology 2025;34(1):1-8
Alzheimer disease (AD) diagnosis is confirmed using a medley of modalities, such as the detection of amyloid-β (Aβ) neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles with positron electron tomography (PET) or the appraisal of irregularities in cognitive function with examinations. Although these methods have been efficient in confirming AD pathology, the rising demand for earlier intervention during pathogenesis has led researchers to explore the diagnostic potential of fluid biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma. Since CSF sample collection is invasive and limited in quantity, biomarker detection in plasma has become more attractive and modern advancements in technology has permitted more efficient and accurate analysis of plasma biomolecules. In this study, we found that a composite of standard factors, Aβ40 and total tau levels in plasma, divided by the variation factor, plasma Aβ42 level, provide better correlation with amyloid neuroimaging and neuropsychological test results than a level comparison between total tau and Aβ42 in plasma. We collected EDTA-treated blood plasma samples of 53 subjects, of randomly selected 27 AD patients and 26 normal cognition (NC) individuals, who received amyloid-PET scans for plaque quantification, and measured plasma levels of Aβ40, Aβ42, and total tau with digital enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in a blinded manner. There was difficulty distinguishing AD patients from controls when analyzing biomarkers independently. However, significant differentiation was observed between the two groups when comparing individual ratios of total-tau×Aβ40/Aβ42. Our results indicate that collectively comparing fluctuations of these fluid biomarkers could aid in monitoring AD pathogenesis.
3.The Survival and Financial Benefit of Investigator-Initiated Trials Conducted by Korean Cancer Study Group
Bum Jun KIM ; Chi Hoon MAENG ; Bhumsuk KEAM ; Young-Hyuck IM ; Jungsil RO ; Kyung Hae JUNG ; Seock-Ah IM ; Tae Won KIM ; Jae Lyun LEE ; Dae Seog HEO ; Sang-We KIM ; Keunchil PARK ; Myung-Ju AHN ; Byoung Chul CHO ; Hoon-Kyo KIM ; Yoon-Koo KANG ; Jae Yong CHO ; Hwan Jung YUN ; Byung-Ho NAM ; Dae Young ZANG
Cancer Research and Treatment 2025;57(1):39-46
Purpose:
The Korean Cancer Study Group (KCSG) is a nationwide cancer clinical trial group dedicated to advancing investigator-initiated trials (IITs) by conducting and supporting clinical trials. This study aims to review IITs conducted by KCSG and quantitatively evaluate the survival and financial benefits of IITs for patients.
Materials and Methods:
We reviewed IITs conducted by KCSG from 1998 to 2023, analyzing progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) gains for participants. PFS and OS benefits were calculated as the difference in median survival times between the intervention and control groups, multiplied by the number of patients in the intervention group. Financial benefits were assessed based on the cost of investigational products provided.
Results:
From 1998 to 2023, KCSG conducted 310 IITs, with 133 completed and published. Of these, 21 were included in the survival analysis. The analysis revealed that 1,951 patients in the intervention groups gained a total of 2,558.4 months (213.2 years) of PFS and 2,501.6 months (208.5 years) of OS, with median gains of 1.31 months in PFS and 1.58 months in OS per patient. When analyzing only statistically significant results, PFS and OS gain per patients was 1.69 months and 3.02 months, respectively. Investigational drug cost analysis from six available IITs indicated that investigational products provided to 252 patients were valued at 10,400,077,294 won (approximately 8,046,481 US dollars), averaging about 41,270,148 won (approximately 31,930 US dollars) per patient.
Conclusion
Our findings, based on analysis of published research, suggest that IITs conducted by KCSG led to survival benefits for participants and, in some studies, may have provided financial benefits by providing investment drugs.
4.Machine Learning Prediction of Attachment Type From Bio-Psychological Factors in Patients With Depression
Yoon Jae CHO ; Jin Sun RYU ; Jeong-Ho SEOK ; Eunjoo KIM ; Jooyoung OH ; Byung-Hoon KIM
Psychiatry Investigation 2025;22(4):412-423
Objective:
Adult attachment style is linked to how an individual responds to threats or stress and is known to be related to the onset of psychiatric symptoms such as depression. However, as the current assessment of attachment type mainly relies on self-report questionnaires and can be prone to bias, there is a need to incorporate physiological factors along with psychological symptoms and history in this process. We aimed to predict the measurement of two important types of adult attachment with heart rate variability (HRV), early life stress experience, and subjective psychiatric symptoms.
Methods:
Five hundred eighty-two subjects with depressive disorder were recruited retrospectively from January 2015 to June 2021. The experience of early life stress and psychiatric symptoms were collected, and HRV measures were obtained as input for an ensembled Voting Regressor model of machine learning-based regression models, including linear regression, ElasticNet, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost).
Results:
Model performances evaluated with R-squared score averaged across 30 seeds were 0.377 and 0.188 for anxious- and avoidant-attachment, respectively. Mean absolute error averaged to 13.251 and 12.083, respectively. Shapley value importance analysis indicated that for both attachment types, the most important feature was the trait-anxiety, followed by emotional abuse, state-anxiety or self-reported depressive symptoms, and fear or helplessness felt in the moment of an early life stressor.
Conclusion
Our results provide the evidence base that may be utilized in clinical settings to predict the degree of attachment type using bio-psychological factors.
5.Human Understanding is Expected of the Physician: Proposing a Model of Disease Development
Sang-Heum PARK ; Samel PARK ; Jin Young KIM ; Hyeon Ah LEE ; Sang Mi LEE ; Tae Hoon LEE ; Sang Byung BAE ; Sung Hae CHANG ; Si Hyong JANG ; Sung Wan CHUN ; Jong Ho MOON
Korean Journal of Medicine 2025;100(1):44-
6.Machine Learning Prediction of Attachment Type From Bio-Psychological Factors in Patients With Depression
Yoon Jae CHO ; Jin Sun RYU ; Jeong-Ho SEOK ; Eunjoo KIM ; Jooyoung OH ; Byung-Hoon KIM
Psychiatry Investigation 2025;22(4):412-423
Objective:
Adult attachment style is linked to how an individual responds to threats or stress and is known to be related to the onset of psychiatric symptoms such as depression. However, as the current assessment of attachment type mainly relies on self-report questionnaires and can be prone to bias, there is a need to incorporate physiological factors along with psychological symptoms and history in this process. We aimed to predict the measurement of two important types of adult attachment with heart rate variability (HRV), early life stress experience, and subjective psychiatric symptoms.
Methods:
Five hundred eighty-two subjects with depressive disorder were recruited retrospectively from January 2015 to June 2021. The experience of early life stress and psychiatric symptoms were collected, and HRV measures were obtained as input for an ensembled Voting Regressor model of machine learning-based regression models, including linear regression, ElasticNet, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost).
Results:
Model performances evaluated with R-squared score averaged across 30 seeds were 0.377 and 0.188 for anxious- and avoidant-attachment, respectively. Mean absolute error averaged to 13.251 and 12.083, respectively. Shapley value importance analysis indicated that for both attachment types, the most important feature was the trait-anxiety, followed by emotional abuse, state-anxiety or self-reported depressive symptoms, and fear or helplessness felt in the moment of an early life stressor.
Conclusion
Our results provide the evidence base that may be utilized in clinical settings to predict the degree of attachment type using bio-psychological factors.
7.Machine Learning Prediction of Attachment Type From Bio-Psychological Factors in Patients With Depression
Yoon Jae CHO ; Jin Sun RYU ; Jeong-Ho SEOK ; Eunjoo KIM ; Jooyoung OH ; Byung-Hoon KIM
Psychiatry Investigation 2025;22(4):412-423
Objective:
Adult attachment style is linked to how an individual responds to threats or stress and is known to be related to the onset of psychiatric symptoms such as depression. However, as the current assessment of attachment type mainly relies on self-report questionnaires and can be prone to bias, there is a need to incorporate physiological factors along with psychological symptoms and history in this process. We aimed to predict the measurement of two important types of adult attachment with heart rate variability (HRV), early life stress experience, and subjective psychiatric symptoms.
Methods:
Five hundred eighty-two subjects with depressive disorder were recruited retrospectively from January 2015 to June 2021. The experience of early life stress and psychiatric symptoms were collected, and HRV measures were obtained as input for an ensembled Voting Regressor model of machine learning-based regression models, including linear regression, ElasticNet, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost).
Results:
Model performances evaluated with R-squared score averaged across 30 seeds were 0.377 and 0.188 for anxious- and avoidant-attachment, respectively. Mean absolute error averaged to 13.251 and 12.083, respectively. Shapley value importance analysis indicated that for both attachment types, the most important feature was the trait-anxiety, followed by emotional abuse, state-anxiety or self-reported depressive symptoms, and fear or helplessness felt in the moment of an early life stressor.
Conclusion
Our results provide the evidence base that may be utilized in clinical settings to predict the degree of attachment type using bio-psychological factors.
8.Human Understanding is Expected of the Physician: Proposing a Model of Disease Development
Sang-Heum PARK ; Samel PARK ; Jin Young KIM ; Hyeon Ah LEE ; Sang Mi LEE ; Tae Hoon LEE ; Sang Byung BAE ; Sung Hae CHANG ; Si Hyong JANG ; Sung Wan CHUN ; Jong Ho MOON
Korean Journal of Medicine 2025;100(1):44-
9.Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus secondary to COVID-19 infection in a patient on lithium medication: a case report
Jong-In CHOI ; Somin LEE ; Hyun Lee KIM ; Jong-Hoon CHUNG ; Byung Chul SHIN ; Youngmin YOON
Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2025;36(1):41-44
Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) is characterized by polyuria and polydipsia, high serum osmolality, and low urine osmolality because of resistance to antidiuretic hormone. Lithium is commonly used to treat psychiatric disorders, and NDI is one of the common renal side effects of lithium therapy. On the other hand, NDI induced by lithium medication in a patient after a coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection has not been reported. This paper presents a patient who developed new-onset NDI secondary to a COVID-19 infection despite being on a stable lithium dose for several years. This case highlights the importance of considering a COVID-19 infection as a possible cause of NDI in patients taking lithium medication.
10.Pulmonary Tumor Thrombotic Microangiopathy Associated With Gastric Cancer: Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes
Tae-Se KIM ; Soomin AHN ; Sung-A CHANG ; Sung Hee LIM ; Byung-Hoon MIN ; Yang Won MIN ; Hyuk LEE ; Poong-Lyul RHEE ; Jae J. KIM ; Jun Haeng LEE
Journal of Gastric Cancer 2025;25(2):276-284
Purpose:
Pulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy (PTTM) is a fatal complication of gastric cancer (GC). This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and immunohistochemical profiles of patients with GC-induced PTTM.
Materials and Methods:
From 2011 to 2023, 8 patients were clinically diagnosed with PTTM associated with GC antemortem. Clinical features and outcomes were reviewed, and immunohistochemical staining for c-erbB-2, MutL protein homolog 1, and programmed cell death ligand-1 was performed.
Results:
The median patient age was 56 years (range, 34–66 years). In all the patients, the tumors exhibited either ulceroinfiltrative or diffusely infiltrative gross morphology.The median tumor size was 5.8 cm (range, 2.0 cm–15.0 cm). Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma was the most common histological type (6/8, 75%), followed by signet ring cell carcinoma (1/8, 12.5%) and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (1/8, 12.5%).Chest computed tomography revealed ground-glass opacities (7/8, 87.5%) or tree-in-bud signs (2/8, 25.0%) without definite evidence of pulmonary thromboembolism. Disseminated intravascular coagulation was present in 62.5% (5/8) of the patients diagnosed with PTTM.C-erbB-2 was positive in one patient (1/8, 12.5%). One patient who received palliative chemotherapy after developing PTTM survived for 35 days, whereas the other 7 patients who did not receive chemotherapy after developing PTTM survived for 7 days or less after PTTM diagnosis.
Conclusions
Most patients with GC-induced PTTM had an undifferentiated-type histology, infiltrative morphology, and extremely poor survival. Palliative chemotherapy may benefit patients with GC-induced PTTM; however, further studies are needed to explore the potential of targeted therapy in these patients.

Result Analysis
Print
Save
E-mail