Purpose: This study aimed to compare perioperative and postoperative outcomes of single-port laparoscopic articulated instrument-assisted versus da Vinci SP-assisted totally extraperitoneal (TEP) inguinal hernia repair using a propensity score-matched multi-institutional cohort. Methods: Between April 2022 and July 2025, 221 patients underwent TEP unilateral inguinal hernia repair at four institutions. Among them, 33 patients underwent da Vinci SP-assisted repair (Intuitive Surgical) and 188 underwent single-port laparoscopy using the articulated instrument, ArtiSential (LivsMed). Propensity score matching was performed in a 1:1 ratio based on demographic and clinical variables, resulting in 30 matched patients in each group. Perioperative outcomes and postoperative complications were analyzed. Results: After matching, baseline characteristics were well balanced between the groups.Operative time was significantly longer in the da Vinci SP group than in the ArtiSential group (median [interquartile range], 82.0 [67.5–105.0] vs. 35.0 [28.5–47.5] minutes; p < 0.001). No open conversions occurred, and conversions to transabdominal preperitoneal repair were rare and comparable. Mesh size selection differed significantly, with smaller meshes more frequently used in the da Vinci SP group (p < 0.001). Postoperative outcomes, including length of hospital stay, overall complication rates, chronic pain, and recurrence, were similar between the groups. No major complications, readmissions, or reoperations were observed. Conclusion Articulated instrument-assisted TEP inguinal hernia repair demonstrated a significantly shorter operative time than da Vinci SP-assisted repair, while perioperative safety and postoperative outcomes were comparable.

Since the role of the liver in metabolic dysfunction, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, was demonstrated, studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) have shown associations between fatty liver disease and other metabolic diseases. Unlike the exclusionary diagnostic criteria of NAFLD, MAFLD diagnosis is based on the presence of metabolic dysregulation in fatty liver disease. Renaming NAFLD as MAFLD also introduced simpler diagnostic criteria. In 2023, a new nomenclature, steatotic liver disease (SLD), was proposed. Similar to MAFLD, SLD diagnosis is based on the presence of hepatic steatosis with at least one cardiometabolic dysfunction. SLD is categorized into metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related/-associated liver disease, alcoholrelated liver disease, specific etiology SLD, and cryptogenic SLD. The term MASLD has been adopted by a number of leading national and international societies due to its concise diagnostic criteria, exclusion of other concomitant liver diseases, and lack of stigmatizing terms. This article reviews the diagnostic criteria, clinical relevance, and differences among NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD from a diabetologist’s perspective and provides a rationale for adopting SLD/MASLD in the Fatty Liver Research Group of the Korean Diabetes Association.

Since the role of the liver in metabolic dysfunction, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, was demonstrated, studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) have shown associations between fatty liver disease and other metabolic diseases. Unlike the exclusionary diagnostic criteria of NAFLD, MAFLD diagnosis is based on the presence of metabolic dysregulation in fatty liver disease. Renaming NAFLD as MAFLD also introduced simpler diagnostic criteria. In 2023, a new nomenclature, steatotic liver disease (SLD), was proposed. Similar to MAFLD, SLD diagnosis is based on the presence of hepatic steatosis with at least one cardiometabolic dysfunction. SLD is categorized into metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related/-associated liver disease, alcoholrelated liver disease, specific etiology SLD, and cryptogenic SLD. The term MASLD has been adopted by a number of leading national and international societies due to its concise diagnostic criteria, exclusion of other concomitant liver diseases, and lack of stigmatizing terms. This article reviews the diagnostic criteria, clinical relevance, and differences among NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD from a diabetologist’s perspective and provides a rationale for adopting SLD/MASLD in the Fatty Liver Research Group of the Korean Diabetes Association.

Purpose: Smoking cessation intervention is one of the key components of successful lung cancer screening program. We investigated the effectiveness and related factors of smoking cessation services provided to the participants in a population-based lung cancer screening trial. Materials and Methods: The Korean Lung Cancer Screening Project (K-LUCAS) is a nationwide, multi-center lung cancer screening trial that evaluates the feasibility of implementing population-based lung cancer screening. All 5,144 current smokers who participated in the K-LUCAS received a mandatory smoking cessation counseling. Changes in smoking status were followed up using a telephone survey in 6 months after lung cancer screening participation. The lung cancer screening’s impact on smoking cessation is analyzed by variations in the smoking cessation interventions provided in screening units. Results: Among 4,136 survey responders, participant’s motivation to quit smoking increased by 9.4% on average after lung cancer screening. After 6 months from the initial screening, 24.3% of participants stopped smoking, and 10.6% of participants had not smoked continuously for at least 6 months after screening. Over 80% of quitters stated that participation in lung cancer screening motivated them to quit smoking. Low-cost public smoking cessation program combined with lung cancer screening increased the abstinence rates. The smokers were three times more likely to quit smoking when the smoking cessation counseling was provided simultaneously with low-dose computed tomography screening results than when provided separately. Conclusion A mandatory smoking cessation intervention integrated with screening result counselling by a physician after participation in lung cancer screening could be effective for increasing smoking cessation attempts.

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) is dominating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide. The waning protective effect of available vaccines against the Omicron variant is a critical public health issue. This study aimed to assess the impact of the third COVID-19 vaccination on immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 strain in older individuals. Materials and Methods: Adults aged ≥60 years who had completed two doses of the homologous COVID-19 vaccine with either BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech, New York, NY, USA, BNT) or ChAdOx1 nCoV (SK bioscience, Andong-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea, ChAd) were registered to receive the third vaccination. Participants chose either BNT or mRNA-1273 (Moderna, Norwood, MA, USA, m1273) mRNA vaccine for the third dose and were categorized into four groups: ChAd/ChAd/BNT, ChAd/ChAd/m1273, BNT/BNT/BNT, and BNT/BNT/m1273. Four serum specimens were obtained from each participant at 0, 4, 12, and 24 weeks after the third dose (V1, V2, V3, and V4, respectively).Serum-neutralizing antibody (NAb) activity against BetaCoV/Korea/KCDC03/2020 (NCCP43326, ancestral strain) and B.1.1.529 (NCCP43411, Omicron BA.1 variant) was measured using plaque reduction neutralization tests. A 50% neutralizing dilution (ND 50 ) >10 was considered indicative of protective NAb titers. Results: In total, 186 participants were enrolled between November 24, 2021, and June 30, 2022. The respective groups received the third dose at a median (interquartile range [IQR]) of 132 (125 - 191), 123 (122 - 126), 186 (166 -193), and 182 (175 - 198) days after the second dose. Overall, ND 50 was lower at V1 against Omicron BA.1 than against the ancestral strain. NAb titers against the ancestral strain and Omicron BA.1 variant at V2 were increased at least 30-fold (median [IQR], 1235.35 [1021.45 - 2374.65)] and 129.8 [65.3 - 250.7], respectively). ND 50 titers against the ancestral strain and Omicron variant did not differ significantly among the four groups (P= 0.57). NAb titers were significantly lower against the Omicron variant than against the ancestral strain at V3 (median [IQR], 36.4 (17.55 - 75.09) vs. 325.9 [276.07 - 686.97]; P = 0.012). NAb titers against Omicron at V4 were 16 times lower than that at V3. Most sera exhibited a protective level (ND 50 >10) at V4 (75.0% [24/32], 73.0% [27/37], 73.3% [22/30], and 70.6% [12/17] in the ChAd/ChAd/BNT, ChAd/ChAd/m1273, BNT/BNT/BNT, and BNT/BNT/m1273 groups, respectively), with no significant differences among groups (P = 0.99). Conclusion A third COVID-19 mRNA vaccine dose restored waning NAb titers against Omicron BA.1. Our findings support a third-dose vaccination program to prevent the waning of humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2.

Since the role of the liver in metabolic dysfunction, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, was demonstrated, studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) have shown associations between fatty liver disease and other metabolic diseases. Unlike the exclusionary diagnostic criteria of NAFLD, MAFLD diagnosis is based on the presence of metabolic dysregulation in fatty liver disease. Renaming NAFLD as MAFLD also introduced simpler diagnostic criteria. In 2023, a new nomenclature, steatotic liver disease (SLD), was proposed. Similar to MAFLD, SLD diagnosis is based on the presence of hepatic steatosis with at least one cardiometabolic dysfunction. SLD is categorized into metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related/-associated liver disease, alcoholrelated liver disease, specific etiology SLD, and cryptogenic SLD. The term MASLD has been adopted by a number of leading national and international societies due to its concise diagnostic criteria, exclusion of other concomitant liver diseases, and lack of stigmatizing terms. This article reviews the diagnostic criteria, clinical relevance, and differences among NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD from a diabetologist’s perspective and provides a rationale for adopting SLD/MASLD in the Fatty Liver Research Group of the Korean Diabetes Association.

Since the role of the liver in metabolic dysfunction, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, was demonstrated, studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) have shown associations between fatty liver disease and other metabolic diseases. Unlike the exclusionary diagnostic criteria of NAFLD, MAFLD diagnosis is based on the presence of metabolic dysregulation in fatty liver disease. Renaming NAFLD as MAFLD also introduced simpler diagnostic criteria. In 2023, a new nomenclature, steatotic liver disease (SLD), was proposed. Similar to MAFLD, SLD diagnosis is based on the presence of hepatic steatosis with at least one cardiometabolic dysfunction. SLD is categorized into metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-related/-associated liver disease, alcoholrelated liver disease, specific etiology SLD, and cryptogenic SLD. The term MASLD has been adopted by a number of leading national and international societies due to its concise diagnostic criteria, exclusion of other concomitant liver diseases, and lack of stigmatizing terms. This article reviews the diagnostic criteria, clinical relevance, and differences among NAFLD, MAFLD, and MASLD from a diabetologist’s perspective and provides a rationale for adopting SLD/MASLD in the Fatty Liver Research Group of the Korean Diabetes Association.

Background and Objectives: To evaluate the impact of smoking in young adults on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the clustering effect of behavioral risk factors such as smoking, obesity, and depression. Methods: A Korean nationwide population-based cohort of a total of 3,280,826 participants aged 20–39 years old who underwent 2 consecutive health examinations were included. They were followed up until the date of CVD (myocardial infarction [MI] or stroke), or December 2018 (median, 6 years). Results: Current smoking, early age of smoking initiation, and smoking intensity were associated with an increased risk of CVD incidence. Even after quitting smoking, the risk of MI was still high in quitters compared with non-smokers. Cigarette smoking, obesity, and depression were independently associated with a 1.3–1.7 times increased risk of CVD, and clustering of 2 or more of these behavioral risk factors was associated with a 2–3 times increased risk of CVD in young adults. Conclusions In young adults, cigarette smoking was associated with the risk of CVD, and the clustering of 2 or more behavioral risk factors showed an additive risk of CVD.

Background: To solve the difficulty in determining the appropriate treatment regimen for patients infected with extensively drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDRAB), it is necessary to develop various strategies to increase the therapeutic effect of antimicrobial agents. The purpose of this study was to select the treatment combination showing the greatest antimicrobial effect among seven candidate antimicrobial substances. Methods: Seven strains of XDRAB were used in this study. The composition of the treatment consisted of colistin as the base and one of the seven antimicrobial substances, doripenem, minocycline, tigecycline, linezolid, fusidic acid, vancomycin, or alyteserin E4K peptide. The interaction between the drugs in each combination was evaluated by measuring the synergy rates using time-kill analysis. Results: The synergy rates of the seven combinations tested in the time-kill assay in this study were as follows, in descending order from the combination with the highest synergy rate: colistin + minocycline (57.1%), colistin + alyteserin E4K (50.0%), colistin + tigecycline (42.9%), colistin + vancomycin (28.6%), colistin + doripenem (14.3%), colistin + fusidic acid (14.3%), and colistin + linzolid (0%). None of the combinations showed antagonism. The three combinations showing bactericidal activity and the rates of their bactericidal activity were colistin + alyteserin E4K combination (33.3%), colistin + minocycline (14.3%), and colistin + vancomycin (14.3%). Conclusion The colistin + minocycline and colistin + alyteserin E4K treatment combinations, which showed high synergy rates, can be considered as promising candidates for future in vivo experiments evaluating combination therapies.

African tick-bite fever (ATBF), caused by Rickettsia africae, is the second most frequent cause of fever after malaria in travelers returning from Southern Africa. As the Korean outbound travelers are increasing every year, tick-borne rickettsial diseases as a cause of febrile illness are likely to increase. We describe a febrile Korean returning traveler who showed two eschars after visiting the rural field in Manzini, Swaziland. We performed nested polymerase chain reaction using the eschar and diagnosed the patient with ATBF. He was treated with oral doxycycline for 7 days, and recovered without any complications. We believe that the present case is the first ATBF case diagnosed in a Korean traveler.