Neuroinflammation is an important process underlying a wide variety of neurodegenerative diseases. Carvacrol (CAR) is a phenolic monoterpene commonly used as a food additive due to its antibacterial properties, but it has also been shown to exhibit strong antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. Here, we sought to investigate the effects of CAR on inflammation in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects. In our study, lipopolysaccharide was injected into the lateral ventricle of rats to induce memory impairment and neuroinflammation. Daily administration of CAR (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg) for 21 days improved recognition, discrimination, and memory impairments relative to untreated controls. CAR administration significantly attenuated expression of several inflammatory factors in the brain, including interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, and cyclooxygenase-2. In addition, CAR significantly increased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA, and decreased expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) mRNA. Taken together, these results show that CAR can improve memory impairment caused by neuroinflammation. This cognitive enhancement is due to the anti-inflammatory effects of CAR medicated by its regulation of BDNF and TLR4. Thus, CAR has significant potential as an inhibitor of memory degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases.
Animals ; Brain ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Cytokines ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Food Additives ; Hippocampus ; Inflammation ; Lateral Ventricles ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Memory ; Necrosis ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Neuroprotective Agents ; Phenol ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Rats ; RNA, Messenger ; Toll-Like Receptor 4

0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) was 0.922 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.89–0.95]. In external validation, the discrimination was good, with an AUC value of 0.833 (95% CI 0.70–0.92) for this model. Nomogram calibration plots indicated good agreement between the predicted and observed outcomes, exhibiting close approximation between the predicted and observed probability.CONCLUSION: We constructed a scoring model for predicting massive transfusion during cesarean section in women with placenta previa. This model may help in determining the need to prepare an appropriate amount of blood products and the optimal timing of blood transfusion.]]>
Area Under Curve ; Blood Transfusion ; Calibration ; Cesarean Section ; Cohort Studies ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Early Intervention (Education) ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Maternal Age ; Nomograms ; Placenta Previa ; Placenta ; Placentation ; Postpartum Hemorrhage ; Pregnancy ; ROC Curve ; Ultrasonography

Various commercial assays have recently been developed for detecting glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and/or toxin A/B to diagnose Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). We compared the performance of two assays for the simultaneous detection of C. difficile GDH and toxin A/B, using 150 stool samples: C. DIFF QUIK CHEK COMPLETE (QCC; TechLab, Blacksburg, VA, USA) and RIDASCREEN Clostridium difficile GDH (RC-GDH) and Toxin A/B (RC-Toxin A/B; R-Biopharm, Darmstadt, Germany). For GDH detection, QCC and RC-GDH showed satisfactory sensitivity (95.7% and 94.3%, respectively) and specificity (92.5% and 93.8%, respectively) compared with C. difficile culture. For toxin A/B detection, QCC showed higher sensitivity than RC-Toxin A/B (60.0% vs 33.3%, P < 0.001) compared with toxigenic C. difficile culture. When the results of QCC or RC-GDH+RC-Toxin A/B were used as the first step of a two-step algorithm for diagnosing CDI, QCC permitted more accurate discrimination than RC of positive or negative results for CDI (77.3% and 65.3%, respectively). QCC is useful for the simultaneous detection of C. difficile GDH and toxin A/B as a part of the two-step algorithm for diagnosing CDI.
Clostridium difficile ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Glutamate Dehydrogenase ; Glutamic Acid ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the prototypic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by production of autoantibodies to various nuclear antigens and overexpression of genes regulated by IFN-I called IFN signature. Genetic studies on SLE patients and mutational analyses of mouse models demonstrate crucial roles of nucleic acid (NA) sensors in development of SLE. Although NA sensors are involved in induction of anti-microbial immune responses by recognizing microbial NAs, recognition of self NAs by NA sensors induces production of autoantibodies to NAs in B cells and production of IFN-I in plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Among various NA sensors, the endosomal RNA sensor TLR7 plays an essential role in development of SLE at least in mouse models. CD72 is an inhibitory B cell co-receptor containing an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM) in the cytoplasmic region and a C-type lectin like-domain (CTLD) in the extracellular region. CD72 is known to regulate development of SLE because CD72 polymorphisms associate with SLE in both human and mice and CD72−/− mice develop relatively severe lupus-like disease. CD72 specifically recognizes the RNA-containing endogenous TLR7 ligand Sm/RNP by its extracellular CTLD, and inhibits B cell responses to Sm/RNP by ITIM-mediated signal inhibition. These findings indicate that CD72 inhibits development of SLE by suppressing TLR7-dependent B cell response to self NAs. CD72 is thus involved in discrimination of self-NAs from microbial NAs by specifically suppressing autoimmune responses to self-NAs.
Animals ; Antigens, Nuclear ; Autoantibodies ; Autoantigens ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Autoimmunity ; B-Lymphocytes ; Cytoplasm ; Dendritic Cells ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Immunoreceptor Tyrosine-Based Inhibition Motif ; Lectins, C-Type ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Mice ; RNA

PURPOSE: This study investigated the relationship between the item response time (iRT) and classic item analysis indicators obtained from computer-based test (CBT) results and deduce students' problem-solving behavior using the relationship. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the results of the Comprehensive Basic Medical Sciences Examination conducted for 5 years by a CBT system in Dankook University College of Medicine. iRT is defined as the time spent to answer the question. The discrimination index and the difficulty level were used to analyze the items using classical test theory (CTT). The relationship of iRT and the CTT were investigated using a correlation analysis. An analysis of variance was performed to identify the difference between iRT and difficulty level. A regression analysis was conducted to examine the effect of the difficulty index and discrimination index on iRT. RESULTS: iRT increases with increasing difficulty index, and iRT tends to decrease with increasing discrimination index. The students' effort is increased when they solve difficult items but reduced when they are confronted with items with a high discrimination. The students' test effort represented by iRT was properly maintained when the items have a 'desirable' difficulty and a 'good' discrimination. CONCLUSION: The results of our study show that an adequate degree of item difficulty and discrimination is required to increase students' motivation. It might be inferred that with the combination of CTT and iRT, we can gain insights about the quality of the examination and test behaviors of the students, which can provide us with more powerful tools to improve them.
Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Motivation ; Reaction Time ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: This study analyzed a path through which factors influencing death anxiety in the community-dwelling elderly, assuming personal organismic factors and microsystemic factors based on the ecology model purported by Belsky (1980). METHODS: This study was performed with 189 elderly people. Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS and AMOS programs. RESULTS: The factors influencing death anxiety in the elderly were depression, family support, social network, and familism value, and the explanatory power of these variables was 22%. Death anxiety increased with higher depression, higher familism value, larger social network, and lower family support. Spiritual well-being and elderly discrimination experience had indirect effects on death anxiety, and these effects were mediated by depression. CONCLUSION: Depression, family support, social network, and familism value were found to influence death anxiety in the elderly, and the strongest effect came from depression. To reduce death anxiety in the elderly, it is important to improve their relationship with their family and friends. Moreover, support should be provided by establishing local systems, and intervention should be provided to alleviate depression.
Aged ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Ecology ; Friends ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: To develop a diagnostic model for superficial soft tissue lesions to differentiate epidermal cyst (EC) from other lesions based on ultrasound (US) features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 205 patients who had undergone US examinations for superficial soft tissue lesions and subsequent surgical excision. The study population was divided into the derivation set (n = 112) and validation set (n = 93) according to the imaging date. The following US features were analyzed to determine those that could discriminate EC from other lesions: more-than-half-depth involvement of the dermal layer, “submarine sign” (focal projection of the hypoechoic portion to the epidermis), posterior acoustic enhancement, posterior wall enhancement, morphology, shape, echogenicity, vascularity, and perilesional fat change. Using multivariable logistic regression, a diagnostic model was constructed and visualized as a nomogram. The performance of the diagnostic model was assessed by calculating the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve and calibration plot in both the derivation and validation sets. RESULTS: More-than-half-depth involvement of the dermal layer (odds ratio [OR] = 3.35; p = 0.051), “submarine sign” (OR = 12.2; p < 0.001), and morphology (OR = 5.44; p = 0.002) were features that outweighed the others when diagnosing EC. The diagnostic model based on these features showed good discrimination ability in both the derivation set (AUC = 0.888, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 0.825–0.950) and validation set (AUC = 0.902, 95% CI = 0.832–0.972). CONCLUSION: More-than-half-depth of involvement of the dermal layer, “submarine sign,” and morphology are relatively better US features than the others for diagnosing EC.
Acoustics ; Calibration ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Epidermal Cyst ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Nomograms ; Retrospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Ultrasonography

In this study, we described the new developed method to simultaneously discriminate two herbal drugs of Artemisiae Argyi Folium and Artemisiae Iwayomogii Herba using eight marker compounds (1 – 8) on an HPLC-PDA system. The developed method was applied to quantify the major components of two herbal drugs. The pattern analysis successfully discriminated and evaluated different components between Artemisiae Argyi Folium and Artemisiae Iwayomogii Herba. Results were used for classification of different species from collected samples.
Artemisia ; Classification ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Methods

Estimating the risk of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-induced gastric cancer during endoscopic examination is important. Owing to recent advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy, the gross appearance of the background gastric mucosa has enabled discrimination of subjects with active, chronic, and past H. pylori infection from those with no history of infection. To provide subjective criteria for H. pylori infection-related endoscopic findings with increased risk of gastric cancer, the Kyoto classification of gastritis was proposed at the 85th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in May 2013 in Kyoto. The main contents focus on determining the gastric cancer risk by scoring the endoscopic findings of the background gastric mucosa from 0 to 8. These important findings are not described in the Kyoto Global Consensus Conference proceedings published in English. To better estimate the gastric cancer risk during screening endoscopy in an H. pylori-prevalent population, knowledge of the Japanese version of the Kyoto classification is important. This new classification emphasizes the discrimination of subjects with H. pylori infection by assessing 19 endoscopic findings (presence of atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, diffuse redness, spotty redness, mucosal swelling, enlarged folds, sticky mucus, chicken skin-like nodularity, foveolar-hyperplastic polyp, xanthoma, depressed erosion, regular arrangement of collecting venules, fundic gland polyp, linear red streak, raised erosion, hematin deposit, multiple white and flat-elevated lesions, patchy redness, and map-like redness). In this review, the validity of the Kyoto classification is summarized in conjunction with several suggestions to resolve emerging H. pylori infection-related problems in Korea.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Atrophy ; Chickens ; Classification ; Consensus ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Gastric Mucosa ; Gastritis ; Helicobacter pylori ; Helicobacter ; Hemin ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Metaplasia ; Mucus ; Polyps ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Venules ; Xanthomatosis

PURPOSE: To validate and update a nomogram for predicting ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) upstaging in preoperative biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 444 preoperative DCIS patients were evaluated and used to validate a previous version of the Severance nomogram for predicting DCIS upstaging in preoperative biopsy. Patients were divided into two groups according to the final postoperative pathology. Univariate and multivariate analyses with the chi-square test, Student's t-test, and binary logistic regression method identified new significant variables. The updated nomogram was evaluated with the C-index and Hosmer—Lemeshow goodness of fit test. RESULTS: The area under a receiver operating characteristic curve for comparison with the previous nomogram was 0.48. In postoperative pathology, the pure DCIS and invasive cancer groups comprised 345 and 99 cases, respectively. Approximately 22.3% of patients preoperatively diagnosed with DCIS were upstaged to invasive cancer. Significant variables in the univariate analysis were operation type, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 overexpression, comedo necrosis, sonographic mass, mammographic mass, preoperative biopsy method, and suspicious microinvasion in preoperative biopsy. In multivariate analysis, operation type, sonographic mass, mammographic mass, and suspicious microinvasion were risk factors for upstaging. The updated model with these variables showed moderate discrimination and was appropriate in the calibration test. CONCLUSION: The previous nomogram did not effectively discriminate upstaging of preoperative DCIS in an independent cohort. An updated version of the nomogram appears to provide more accurate information for predicting preoperative DCIS upstaging.
Biopsy ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Calibration ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating ; Cohort Studies ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Medical Records ; Methods ; Multivariate Analysis ; Necrosis ; Nomograms ; Pathology ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Risk Factors ; ROC Curve ; Ultrasonography