Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most important opportunistic viral pathogen in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients.The Korean guideline for the prevention of CMV infection in SOT recipients was developed jointly by the Korean Society for Infectious Diseases and the Korean Society of Transplantation. CMV serostatus of both donors and recipients should be screened before transplantation to best assess the risk of CMV infection after SOT. Seronegative recipients receiving organs from seropositive donors face the highest risk, followed by seropositive recipients. Either antiviral prophylaxis or preemptive therapy can be used to prevent CMV infection. While both strategies have been demonstrated to prevent CMV infection post-transplant, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. CMV serostatus, transplant organ, other risk factors, and practical issues should be considered for the selection of preventive measures. There is no universal viral load threshold to guide treatment in preemptive therapy. Each institution should define and validate its own threshold.Valganciclovir is the favored agent for both prophylaxis and preemptive therapy. The evaluation of CMV-specific cellmediated immunity and the monitoring of viral load kinetics are gaining interest, but there was insufficient evidence to issue recommendations. Specific considerations on pediatric transplant recipients are included.

Background: Recently, microbiome research has been actively conducted for various skin areas. However, no study has yet compared the microbiome of bacteria and fungi in the ear canal of healthy individuals and patients with chronic otitis externa in Korea. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the difference in the distribution of fungal and bacterial microbial communities in ear canal samples of healthy individuals and patients with chronic otitis externa. Methods: In 24 patients with bilateral chronic otitis externa and 24 healthy controls, cotton swabs were used to obtain samples from the bilateral ear canal. To characterize the fungal and bacterial communities, we sequenced and analyzed the 16S rRNA V4–V5 and ITS1 regions using Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology 2, respectively. Results: The alpha diversity analysis for bacteria and fungi confirmed that both richness and evenness decreased in the patient group. The beta diversity analysis for bacteria confirmed that these parameters differed between the control and patient groups. The beta diversity analysis for fungi showed no difference between the groups. Conclusion We observed different skin microbiomes in the patients with chronic otitis externa compared with those in the healthy individuals.

Since its debut in the biomedical research fields in 1981, zebrafish have been used as a vertebrate model organism in more than 40,000 biomedical research studies. Especially useful are zebrafish lines expressing fluorescent proteins in a molecule, intracellular organelle, cell or tissue specific manner because they allow the visualization and tracking of molecules, intracellular organelles, cells or tissues of interest in real time and in vivo. In this review, we summarize representative transgenic fluorescent zebrafish lines that have revolutionized biomedical research on signal transduction, the craniofacial skeletal system, the hematopoietic system, the nervous system, the urogenital system, the digestive system and intracellular organelles.

Since its debut in the biomedical research fields in 1981, zebrafish have been used as a vertebrate model organism in more than 40,000 biomedical research studies. Especially useful are zebrafish lines expressing fluorescent proteins in a molecule, intracellular organelle, cell or tissue specific manner because they allow the visualization and tracking of molecules, intracellular organelles, cells or tissues of interest in real time and in vivo. In this review, we summarize representative transgenic fluorescent zebrafish lines that have revolutionized biomedical research on signal transduction, the craniofacial skeletal system, the hematopoietic system, the nervous system, the urogenital system, the digestive system and intracellular organelles.

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is characterized by terminal hair miniaturization, which progressively decreases hair density and thickness. Genetic predisposition and the role of androgen in AGA have been widely accepted; however, its definite mechanism has not been clarified. AGA may also occur in adolescents, although its clinical characteristics including the disease prevalence have not yet been fully established. Objective: To analyze the clinical differences of AGA between adolescents and adults. Methods: Six-hundred fourteen patients with AGA were recruited and information about age, sex, and family history, comorbidities were collected. Results: A total of 74.5% of adolescents and 66.4% of adults had family history of AGA, with “paternal only” as the most common pattern. A total of 27.3% of adolescents and 44.5% of adults had comorbidities, with seborrheic dermatitis being the most common. Other common comorbidities were acne, folliculitis, and atopic dermatitis in adolescents, dyslipidemia, hypertension, mood disorder, and diabetes mellitus in adults. A total of 12.7% and 15.0% of adolescents and adults, respectively, had abnormal serum testosterone levels, and 5.5% of adolescents and 7.5% of adults had abnormal serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels. Regardless of age, the proportion of patients with abnormal testosterone levels was higher in the female group than in the male group. Conclusion AGA showed paternal predominance in family history regardless of sex or age, suggesting paternal history as an important factor of AGA. Testosterone and DHEA-S abnormalities were found in patients with AGA, indicating a need for further studies on therapeutic effects associated with differences in hormonal profiles.

Objective: Unlike common acute urinary tract infections, obstructive urinary tract infections caused by urinary calculus can be fatal because they can progress to sepsis and cause shock or disseminated intravascular coagulation. The evidence of patients with obstructive urinary tract infections caused by urinary tract stones visiting the emergency center is still lacking. Methods: Seventy-seven patients who visited the emergency room with obstructive urinary tract infections caused by urinary calculus from January 2016 to December 2018 were enrolled in this study and divided into two groups: sepsis group and non-sepsis group. Results: The lymphocyte count, platelet count, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, serum creatinine, and C-reactive protein were significantly different in the sepsis-positive and negative groups. Percutaneous nephrostomy was also significantly higher in the sepsis-positive group. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was calculated to evaluate the ability of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio to predict a septic urinary tract infection. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio were 0.659 and 0.550, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that diabetic patients, percutaneous nephrostomy, and serum creatinine were associated with septic obstructive urinary tract infection. Conclusion In patients with an obstructive urinary tract infection who were referred to the emergency center, diabetic patients and those with high blood urea nitrogen and creatinine levels are at high risk of sepsis. In such cases, rapid diagnosis and treatment, such as percutaneous nephrostomy, are necessary.

In 2010, the Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (ASCI) provided recommendations for cardiac CT and MRI, and this document reflects an update of the 2010 ASCI appropriate use criteria (AUC). In 2016, the ASCI formed a new working group for revision of AUC for noninvasive cardiac imaging. A major change that we made in this document is the rating of various noninvasive tests (exercise electrocardiogram, echocardiography, positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, radionuclide imaging, cardiac magnetic resonance, and cardiac computed tomography/angiography), compared side by side for their applications in various clinical scenarios. Ninety-five clinical scenarios were developed from eight selected pre-existing guidelines and classified into four sections as follows: 1) detection of coronary artery disease, symptomatic or asymptomatic; 2) cardiac evaluation in various clinical scenarios; 3) use of imaging modality according to prior testing; and 4) evaluation of cardiac structure and function. The clinical scenarios were scored by a separate rating committee on a scale of 1–9 to designate appropriate use, uncertain use, or inappropriate use according to a modified Delphi method. Overall, the AUC ratings for CT were higher than those of previous guidelines. These new AUC provide guidance for clinicians choosing among available testing modalities for various cardiac diseases and are also unique, given that most previous AUC for noninvasive imaging include only one imaging technique. As cardiac imaging is multimodal in nature, we believe that these AUC will be more useful for clinical decision making.
Area Under Curve ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Clinical Decision-Making ; Consensus* ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methods ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Radionuclide Imaging ; Tomography, Emission-Computed