Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are hospitalized for various conditions. Hospitalization increases the readmission rate and mortality rate, seriously deteriorating patients’ quality of life. Consequently, it is crucial to analyze the reasons for hospitalization in CKD patients from a broader perspective according to CKD grade. Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of CKD patients entitled the KoreaN cohort study for Outcomes in patients With Chronic Kidney Disease (KNOW-CKD). A total of 2,238 patients were examined, and the reasons for hospitalization were classified into 16 disease categories. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) according to CKD stage was compared using negative bimodal regression analysis. Results: The all-cause hospitalization incidence was 184.96 per 1,000 person-years. The most common reason for hospitalization was circulatory system disease, followed by infection and digestive system disease. Among hospitalizations for acute kidney injury, endocrine-nutrition-metabolic–related illness, blood-related disease, and diseases of the nervous system and sensory organs, IRR increased as CKD grade advanced. The incidence of ophthalmologic surgery during hospitalization increased according to the CKD stage. The IRR of KNOW-CKD patients was 6.19 (95% confidence interval, 5.92–6.48; p < 0.001) compared with the general population. Conclusion: This in-depth analysis of hospitalizations among CKD patients confirmed that CKD patients were hospitalized for various reasons, such as metabolic, ophthalmic, and hematologic diseases. Early detection and intervention regarding causative diseases of CKD are important to reduce the hospitalization burden and improve patients’ quality of life.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether micro-flow imaging (MFI) offers diagnostic performance comparable to that of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in detecting segmental congestion among patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Methods: Data from 63 patients who underwent LDLT between May and December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. MFI and CEUS data collected on the first postoperative day were quantified. Segmental congestion was assessed based on imaging findings and laboratory data, including liver enzymes and total bilirubin levels. The reference standard was a postoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan performed within 2 weeks of surgery. Additionally, a subgroup analysis examined patients who underwent reconstruction of the middle hepatic vein territory. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MFI were 73.9% and 67.5%, respectively. In comparison, CEUS demonstrated a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 75.0%. These findings suggest comparable diagnostic performance, with no significant differences in sensitivity (P=0.655) or specificity (P=0.257) between the two modalities. Additionally, early postoperative laboratory values did not show significant differences between patients with and without congestion. The subgroup analysis also indicated similar diagnostic performance between MFI and CEUS. Conclusion MFI without contrast enhancement yielded results comparable to those of CEUS in detecting segmental congestion after LDLT. Therefore, MFI may be considered a viable alternative to CEUS.

Background: With the ultimate goal of developing chatbot content to address consumer inquiries about pressure injuries (PIs), this study analyzed consumer perceptions of PI using big data. Methods: This study collected text data, with PI as the central word, from three search engines (Naver, Daum, Google) from January 2019 through December 2022, using Textom version 4.5. The words were refined through text mining, keyword analysis, and TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) analysis. N-gram analysis and centrality visualization were conducted using Ucinet 6.0. The keywords and frequencies were clustered based on the frequency of words used in CONCOR (convergence of iteration correlation) analysis. Results: Consumers for PI showed a high perception of common sites for PI, concept of PI, healthcare facility for PI, PI products, PI care, PI-related life, and PI-related disease. Conclusion Development of chatbot content customized to consumers’ needs, based on seven clusters associated with consumers’ perception of PI obtained through extensive data analysis with PI as the central word, is expected to make a significant contribution to improving consumers’ understanding of PI and enhancing the quality of PI management.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether micro-flow imaging (MFI) offers diagnostic performance comparable to that of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in detecting segmental congestion among patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Methods: Data from 63 patients who underwent LDLT between May and December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. MFI and CEUS data collected on the first postoperative day were quantified. Segmental congestion was assessed based on imaging findings and laboratory data, including liver enzymes and total bilirubin levels. The reference standard was a postoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan performed within 2 weeks of surgery. Additionally, a subgroup analysis examined patients who underwent reconstruction of the middle hepatic vein territory. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MFI were 73.9% and 67.5%, respectively. In comparison, CEUS demonstrated a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 75.0%. These findings suggest comparable diagnostic performance, with no significant differences in sensitivity (P=0.655) or specificity (P=0.257) between the two modalities. Additionally, early postoperative laboratory values did not show significant differences between patients with and without congestion. The subgroup analysis also indicated similar diagnostic performance between MFI and CEUS. Conclusion MFI without contrast enhancement yielded results comparable to those of CEUS in detecting segmental congestion after LDLT. Therefore, MFI may be considered a viable alternative to CEUS.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether micro-flow imaging (MFI) offers diagnostic performance comparable to that of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in detecting segmental congestion among patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Methods: Data from 63 patients who underwent LDLT between May and December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. MFI and CEUS data collected on the first postoperative day were quantified. Segmental congestion was assessed based on imaging findings and laboratory data, including liver enzymes and total bilirubin levels. The reference standard was a postoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan performed within 2 weeks of surgery. Additionally, a subgroup analysis examined patients who underwent reconstruction of the middle hepatic vein territory. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MFI were 73.9% and 67.5%, respectively. In comparison, CEUS demonstrated a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 75.0%. These findings suggest comparable diagnostic performance, with no significant differences in sensitivity (P=0.655) or specificity (P=0.257) between the two modalities. Additionally, early postoperative laboratory values did not show significant differences between patients with and without congestion. The subgroup analysis also indicated similar diagnostic performance between MFI and CEUS. Conclusion MFI without contrast enhancement yielded results comparable to those of CEUS in detecting segmental congestion after LDLT. Therefore, MFI may be considered a viable alternative to CEUS.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether micro-flow imaging (MFI) offers diagnostic performance comparable to that of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in detecting segmental congestion among patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Methods: Data from 63 patients who underwent LDLT between May and December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. MFI and CEUS data collected on the first postoperative day were quantified. Segmental congestion was assessed based on imaging findings and laboratory data, including liver enzymes and total bilirubin levels. The reference standard was a postoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan performed within 2 weeks of surgery. Additionally, a subgroup analysis examined patients who underwent reconstruction of the middle hepatic vein territory. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MFI were 73.9% and 67.5%, respectively. In comparison, CEUS demonstrated a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 75.0%. These findings suggest comparable diagnostic performance, with no significant differences in sensitivity (P=0.655) or specificity (P=0.257) between the two modalities. Additionally, early postoperative laboratory values did not show significant differences between patients with and without congestion. The subgroup analysis also indicated similar diagnostic performance between MFI and CEUS. Conclusion MFI without contrast enhancement yielded results comparable to those of CEUS in detecting segmental congestion after LDLT. Therefore, MFI may be considered a viable alternative to CEUS.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is the most common complication of diabetes, and approximately 50% of patients with this disease suffer from peripheral neuropathy. Nerve fiber loss in DN occurs due to myelin defects and is characterized by symptoms of impaired nerve function. Schwann cells (SCs) are the main support cells of the peripheral nervous system and play important roles in several pathways contributing to the pathogenesis and development of DN. We previously reported that human tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells differentiated into SCs (TMSC-SCs), named neuronal regeneration-promoting cells (NRPCs), which cells promoted nerve regeneration in animal models with peripheral nerve injury or hereditary peripheral neuropathy. METHODS: In this study, NRPCs were injected into the thigh muscles of BKS-db/db mice, a commonly used type 2 diabetes model, and monitored for 26 weeks. Von Frey test, sensory nerve conduction study, and staining of sural nerve, hind foot pad, dorsal root ganglia (DRG) were performed after NRPCs treatment. RESULTS: Von Frey test results showed that the NRPC treatment group (NRPC group) showed faster responses to less force than the vehicle group. Additionally, remyelination of sural nerve fibers also increased in the NRPC group. After NRPCs treatment, an improvement in response to external stimuli and pain sensation was expected through increased expression of PGP9.5 in the sole and TRPV1 in the DRG. CONCLUSION The NRPCs treatment may alleviate DN through the remyelination and the recovery of sensory neurons, could provide a better life for patients suffering from complications of this disease.

A single exposure to stress can induce functional changes in neurons, potentially leading to acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder.In this study, we used in vivo wide-field optical mapping to simultaneously measure neural calcium signals and hemodynamic responses over the whole cortical area. We found that cortical mapping to whisker stimuli was altered under acute stress conditions. In particular, callosal projections in the anterior cortex (primary/secondary motor, somatosensory forelimb cortex) relative to barrel field (S1BF) of somatosensory cortex were weakened. On the contrary, the projections in posterior cortex relative to S1BF were mostly unchanged or were only occasionally strengthened. In addition, changes in intra-cortical connection were opposite to those in inter-cortical connection. Thus, the S1BF connections to the anterior cortex were strengthened while those to the posterior cortex were weakened. This suggests that the well-known barrel cortex projection route was enhanced. In summary, our in vivo wide-field optical mapping study indicates that a single acute stress can impact whole-brain networks, affecting both neural and hemodynamic responses.

Purpose: Acquisition time reduction in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can be achieved by the combining multiband and variable-rate selective excitation (MB-VERSE). This study attempted to evaluate and compare the image quality (IQ) and focal lesion detectability of the respiratory-triggered MB-VERSE DWI with conventional DWI for liver magnetic resonance imaging. Materials and Methods: The acquisition time, IQ, and focal lesion detectability of MBVERSE DWI and conventional DWI were compared in 144 patients. Qualitative (overall IQ, IQ at the liver dome, sharpness of the liver margin, and degree of artifacts) and quantitative (signal-to-noise ratio [SNR], contrast-to-noise ratio [CNR], and apparent diffusion co efficient) IQ parameters were compared with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The diagnostic accuracy for focal lesion detectability was estimated with the mean figure of merit (FOM) from the area under the jackknife alternative free-response receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: The MB-VERSE DWI exhibited significantly shorter scan time (153.1 ± 34.5 s vs.225.1 ± 33.0 s, p < 0.001), poorer qualitative IQ (3.4 vs. 3.9, p < 0.001), lower SNR (34.4 vs. 50.0, p < 0.001), but comparable CNR (57.5 ± 49.0 vs. 78.9 ± 75.6, p = 0.070) compared to those of the conventional DWI. The MB-VERSE DWI exhibited similar per-lesion sensitivities (85.1%–88.1% vs. 88.1%–92.5%) and specificities (99.7%–99.8% vs. 99.5%–99.8%) of focal lesion detectability (p > 0.050) and similar diagnostic accuracy (FOM, 0.958 vs.0.957, p = 0.583) compared to those of the conventional DWI. Conclusion MB-VERSE DWI exhibited a significantly shorter acquisition time than conventional DWI, with compromised overall IQ and lower SNR but preserved CNR and focal liver lesion detectability. MB-VERSE DWI may be a useful alternative for patients requiring a short acquisition time.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine whether micro-flow imaging (MFI) offers diagnostic performance comparable to that of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in detecting segmental congestion among patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Methods: Data from 63 patients who underwent LDLT between May and December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. MFI and CEUS data collected on the first postoperative day were quantified. Segmental congestion was assessed based on imaging findings and laboratory data, including liver enzymes and total bilirubin levels. The reference standard was a postoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan performed within 2 weeks of surgery. Additionally, a subgroup analysis examined patients who underwent reconstruction of the middle hepatic vein territory. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MFI were 73.9% and 67.5%, respectively. In comparison, CEUS demonstrated a sensitivity of 78.3% and a specificity of 75.0%. These findings suggest comparable diagnostic performance, with no significant differences in sensitivity (P=0.655) or specificity (P=0.257) between the two modalities. Additionally, early postoperative laboratory values did not show significant differences between patients with and without congestion. The subgroup analysis also indicated similar diagnostic performance between MFI and CEUS. Conclusion MFI without contrast enhancement yielded results comparable to those of CEUS in detecting segmental congestion after LDLT. Therefore, MFI may be considered a viable alternative to CEUS.