Objective: The Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson’s Disease–Cognition (SCOPA-Cog) was developed to assess cognition in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the SCOPACog (K-SCOPA-Cog). Methods: We enrolled 129 PD patients with movement disorders from 31 clinics in South Korea. The original version of the SCOPA-Cog was translated into Korean using the translation-retranslation method. The test–retest method with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used to assess reliability. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Korean version (MOCA-K) and the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) were used to assess concurrent validity. Results: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.797, and the ICC was 0.887. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation with the K-MMSE and MOCA-K scores (r = 0.546 and r = 0.683, respectively). Conclusion Our results demonstrate that the K-SCOPA-Cog has good reliability and validity.

Purpose: Renal tumors account for approximately 7% of all childhood cancers. These include Wilms tumor (WT), clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK), malignant rhabdoid tumor of the kidney (MRTK), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) and other rare tumors. We investigated the epidemiology of pediatric renal tumors in Korea. Materials and Methods: From January 2001 to December 2015, data of pediatric patients (0–18 years) newly-diagnosed with renal tumors at 26 hospitals were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Among 439 patients (male, 240), the most common tumor was WT (n=342, 77.9%), followed by RCC (n=36, 8.2%), CCSK (n=24, 5.5%), MRTK (n=16, 3.6%), CMN (n=12, 2.7%), and others (n=9, 2.1%). Median age at diagnosis was 27.1 months (range 0-225.5) and median follow-up duration was 88.5 months (range 0-211.6). Overall, 32 patients died, of whom 17, 11, 1, and 3 died of relapse, progressive disease, second malignant neoplasm, and treatment-related mortality. Five-year overall survival and event free survival were 97.2% and 84.8% in WT, 90.6% and 82.1% in RCC, 81.1% and 63.6% in CCSK, 60.3% and 56.2% in MRTK, and 100% and 91.7% in CMN, respectively (p < 0.001). Conclusion The pediatric renal tumor types in Korea are similar to those previously reported in other countries. WT accounted for a large proportion and survival was excellent. Non-Wilms renal tumors included a variety of tumors and showed inferior outcome, especially MRTK. Further efforts are necessary to optimize the treatment and analyze the genetic characteristics of pediatric renal tumors in Korea.

목적: 이 연구는 2019학년도 역학조사관 입문교육 과정에 참여한 29명의 수습과정생에게 참여형 자기주도 학습 역학조사관 연수 프로그램(FETP)의 효과와 만족도 등 역량 변화를 분석해 그 결과를 향후 과정 개발의 참고 자료로 활용하고자 하였다. 방법: 교육 프로그램의 만족도와 교육 후 모듈에 대한 역량 변화를 평가하는 연구가 수행되었다. 만족도와 역량의 차이 비교는 크루스칼 왈리스 검정(Kruskal-Wallis test)를 실시하였고, 역량의 차이는 윌콕슨 부호순위검정(Wilcoxon signed rank test)에 의해 이루어 졌다. 결과: 2019년 FETP에 참여한 역학조사관 중 여성은 48.3% 였으며, 40세 미만은 9.4% 였다. 역학조사관 입문교육과정 모듈(역학조사, 보건통계 및 정보통계, 감염병 국가 체계, 감염병 질환 감시 체계, 진단 및 실험실 검사, 생물 안전 및 관리, 주요 감염성질환 관리와 조사, 커뮤니케이션, 협동과 리더십, 일반과정)별 만족도는 실무적 도움, 전문성, 기능, 태도 등에서 4점(5점 만점)을 초과하였고, 전체 4.2±0.21(5점 만점)점으로 높은 수준이였다, 모듈의 교육훈련 전후 평균 점수는 2.25±0.91, 3.68±0.63점 등으로 유의한 향상이 있었으며, 모든 모듈 및 하위 주제들도 유의한 향상이 있었다(p<0.001). 그 중에서 현장역학조사 경험이 가장 높은 변화가 있었고, 표본 수집과 실무가 가장 낮은 역량 변화가 있었다. 결론: 2019년 진행된 입문교육 과정은 수료 후 학생들의 역량은 개선되었고, 만족도는 높은 편이었다. 참여형 자기주도학습의 촉진은 역량을 향상시킬 뿐만 아니라 보건 종사자들의 자신감을 높일 수 있었다.

Background: and PurposeImpulse-control disorder is an important nonmotor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that can lead to financial and social problems, and be related to a poor quality of life. A nationwide multicenter prospective study was performed with the aim of validating the Korean Version of the Questionnaire for Impulsive-Compulsive Disorders in Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (K-QUIP-RS). Methods: The K-QUIP-RS was constructed using forward and backward translation, and pretesting of the prefinal version. PD patients on stable medical condition were recruited from 27 movement-disorder clinics. Participants were assessed using the K-QUIP-RS and evaluated for parkinsonian motor and nonmotor statuses and for PD-related quality of life using a predefined evaluation battery. The test–retest reliability of the K-QUIP-RS was assessed over an interval of 10–14 days, and correlations between the KQUIP-RS and other clinical scales were analyzed. Results: This study enrolled 136 patients. The internal consistency of the K-QUIP-RS was indicated by a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.846, as was the test–retest reliability by a Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.808. The total K-QUIP-RS score was positively correlated with the scores for depression and motivation items on the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale, and Rapid-Eye-Movement Sleep-Behavior-Disorders Questionnaire. The total K-QUIP-RS score was also correlated with the scores on part II of the UPDRS and the PD Quality of Life-39 questionnaire, and the dopaminergic medication dose. Conclusions The K-QUIP-RS appears to be a reliable assessment tool for impulse-control and related behavioral disturbances in the Korean PD population.

BACKGROUND: AND PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the clinimetric properties of the Korean version of Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale-2 (K-PDSS-2) and whether distinct subtypes of sleep disturbance can be empirically identified in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) using the cross-culturally validated K-PDSS-2. METHODS: The internal consistency, test–retest reliability, scale precision, and convergent validity of K-PDSS-2 were assessed in a nationwide, multicenter study of 122 patients with PD. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to derive subgroups of patients who experienced similar patterns of sleep-related problems and nocturnal disabilities. RESULTS: The total K-PDSS-2 score was 11.67±9.87 (mean±standard deviation) at baseline and 12.61±11.17 at the retest. Cronbach's α coefficients of the total K-PDSS-2 scores at baseline and follow-up were 0.851 and 0.880, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficients over the 2-week study period ranged from 0.672 to 0.848. The total K-PDSS-2 score was strongly correlated with health-related quality of life measures and other corresponding nonmotor scales. LCA revealed three distinct subtypes of sleep disturbance in the study patients: “less-troubled sleepers,”“PD-related nocturnal difficulties,” and “disturbed sleepers.” CONCLUSIONS K-PDSS-2 showed good clinimetric attributes in accordance with previous studies that employed the original version of the PDSS-2, therefore confirming the cross-cultural usefulness of the scale. This study has further documented the first application of an LCA approach for identifying subtypes of sleep disturbance in patients with PD.

PURPOSE: Transglutaminase type 2 (TG2) is an extracellular matrix crosslinking enzyme with a pivotal role in kidney fibrosis. We tested whether quantification of urinary TG2 may represent a noninvasive method to estimate the severity of kidney allograft fibrosis. METHODS: We prospectively collected urine specimens from 18 deceased donor kidney transplant recipients at 1-day, 7-day, 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month posttransplant. In addition, kidney allograft tissue specimens at 0-day and 6-month posttransplant were sampled to analyze the correlation of urinary TG2 and kidney allograft fibrosis. RESULTS: Thirteen recipients had increased interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) scores at the 6-month protocol biopsy (IFTA group). The mean level of urinary TG2 in the IFTA group was higher compared to that of 5 other recipients without IFTA (no IFTA group). Conversely, the mean level of urinary syndecan-4 in the IFTA group was lower than levels in patients without IFTA. In the IFTA group, double immunofluorescent staining revealed that TG2 intensity was significantly upregulated and colocalizations of TG2/heparin sulfate proteoglycan and nuclear syndecan-4 were prominent, usually around tubular structures. CONCLUSION: Urinary TG2 in early posttransplant periods is a potent biomarker for kidney allograft inflammation or fibrosis.
Allografts ; Atrophy ; Biomarkers ; Biopsy ; Extracellular Matrix ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Kidney Transplantation ; Kidney ; Methods ; Prospective Studies ; Proteoglycans ; Syndecan-4 ; Tissue Donors ; Transplant Recipients

BACKGROUND: Ovarian epithelial cancer (OEC) is the second-most common gynecologic malignancy. CD109 expression is elevated in human tumor cell lines and carcinomas. A previous study showed that CD109 expression is elevated in human tumor cell lines and CD109 plays a role in cancer progression. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether CD109 is expressed in OEC and can be useful in predicting the prognosis. METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining for CD109 and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed. Then we compared CD109 expression and chemoresistance, overall survival, and recurrence-free survival of OEC patients. Chemoresistance was evaluated by dividing into good-response group and poor-response group by the time to recurrence after chemotherapy. RESULTS: CD109 expression was associated with overall survival (p = .020), but not recurrence-free survival (p = .290). CD109 expression was not an independent risk factor for overall survival due to its reliability (hazard ratio, 1.58; p = .160; 95% confidence interval, 0.82 to 3.05), although we found that CD109 positivity was related to chemoresistance. The poor-response group showed higher rates of CD109 expression than the good-response group (93.8% vs 66.7%, p = .047). Also, the CD109 mRNA expression level was 2.88 times higher in the poor-response group as compared to the good-response group (p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Examining the CD109 expression in patients with OEC may be helpful in predicting survival and chemotherapeutic effect.
Cell Line, Tumor ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Risk Factors ; RNA, Messenger

OBJECTIVE: We compared the expression levels of Müllerian inhibiting substance (MIS)/anti-Müllerian hormone type II receptor (AMHRII) in uterine myoma and adenomyosis to evaluate the possibility of using MIS/anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) as a biological regulator or therapeutic agent in patients with uterine leiomyoma and adenomyosis. METHODS: We studied normal uterine myometrium, leiomyoma, endometrial tissue, and adenomyosis from 57 patients who underwent hysterectomy for uterine leiomyoma (22 cases) or adenomyosis (28 cases) and myomectomy for uterine myoma (7 cases). Immunohistochemical staining was used to confirm the MIS/AMHRII protein expression level in each tissue. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed to quantify MIS/AMHRII mRNA expression. RESULTS: The MIS/AMHRII protein was more strongly expressed in uterine myoma (frequency of MIS/AMHRII expressing cells: 51.95%±13.96%) and adenomyosis (64.65%±4.85%) tissues than that in the normal uterine myometrium (3.15%±1.69%) and endometrium (31.10%±7.19%). In the quantitative analysis of MIS/AMHRII mRNA expression, MIS/AMHRII mRNA expression levels in uterine myoma (mean density: 4.51±0.26) and adenomyosis (6.84±0.20) tissues were higher than that in normal uterine myometrial tissue (0.08±0.09) and endometrial tissue (1.63±0.06). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that MIS/AMHRII was highly and strongly expressed on uterine myoma and adenomyosis. Our data suggest that MIS/AMH may be evaluated as a biological modulator or therapeutic agent on MIS/AMHRII expressing uterine myoma and adenomyosis.
Adenomyosis ; Animals ; Endometrium ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Leiomyoma ; Mice ; Myoma ; Myometrium ; RNA, Messenger

BACKGROUND: Sleep problems commonly occur in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and are associated with a lower quality of life. The aim of the current study was to translate the English version of the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's Disease-Sleep (SCOPA-S) into the Korean version of SCOPA-S (K-SCOPA-S), and to evaluate its reliability and validity for use by Korean-speaking patients with PD. METHODS: In total, 136 patients with PD from 27 movement disorder centres of university-affiliated hospitals in Korea were enrolled in this study. They were assessed using SCOPA, Hoehn and Yahr Scale (HYS), Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale 2nd version (PDSS-2), Non-motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS), Montgomery Asberg Depression Scale (MADS), 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ39), Neurogenic Orthostatic Hypotension Questionnaire (NOHQ), and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder Questionnaire (RBDQ). The test-retest reliability was assessed over a time interval of 10–14 days. RESULTS: The internal consistency (Cronbach's α-coefficients) of K-SCOPA-S was 0.88 for nighttime sleep (NS) and 0.75 for daytime sleepiness (DS). Test-retest reliability was 0.88 and 0.85 for the NS and DS, respectively. There was a moderate correlation between the NS sub-score and PDSS-2 total score. The NS and DS sub-scores of K-SCOPA-S were correlated with motor scale such as HYS, and non-motor scales such as UPDRS I, UPDRS II, MADS, NMSS, PDQ39, and NOHQ while the DS sub-score was with RBDQ. CONCLUSION: The K-SCOPA-S exhibited good reliability and validity for the assessment of sleep problems in the Korean patients with PD.
Depression ; Humans ; Hypotension, Orthostatic ; Korea ; Movement Disorders ; Parkinson Disease ; Quality of Life ; Reproducibility of Results ; Sleep, REM ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVE: This study was to identify the risk factors for cytological progression in women with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). METHODS: We analyzed data from women infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) who participated in the Korean HPV cohort study. The cohort recruited women aged 20–60 years with abnormal cervical cytology (ASC-US or LSIL) from April 2010. All women were followed-up at every 6-month intervals with cervical cytology and HPV DNA testing. RESULTS: Of the 1,158 women included, 654 (56.5%) and 504 (43.5%) women showed ASC-US and LSIL, respectively. At the time of enrollment, 143 women tested positive for HPV 16 (85 single and 58 multiple infections). Cervical cytology performed in the HPV 16-positive women showed progression in 27%, no change in 23%, and regression in 50% of the women at the six-month follow-up. The progression rate associated with HPV 16 infection was higher than that with infection caused by other HPV types (relative risk [RR], 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08–2.84; P=0.028). The cytological progression rate in women with persistent HPV 16 infection was higher than that in women with incidental or cleared infections (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed a significant relationship between cigarette smoking and cytological progression (RR, 4.15; 95% CI, 1.01–17.00). CONCLUSION: The cytological progression rate in HPV 16-positive women with ASC-US or LSIL is higher than that in women infected with other HPV types. Additionally, cigarette smoking may play a role in cytological progression.
Atypical Squamous Cells of the Cervix* ; Cohort Studies* ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Human papillomavirus 16* ; Human Papillomavirus DNA Tests ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Papillomaviridae ; Risk Factors* ; Smoking ; Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions of the Cervix