Background: Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are a rare and heterogeneous group of aggressive malignancies.This study aimed to comprehensively analyze patients diagnosed with PTCLs in Korea, evaluating treatment outcomes, including transplantation and long-term survival.Patients and methods In this retrospective study, clinical data from the National Health Insurance Service on patients with PTCL were investigated. Most patients diagnosed with mature T-cell lymphomas and natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphomas between January 2005 and December 2022 in Korea were included. Incidence rates of each subtype and survival outcomes of both treated and untreated patients were analyzed. Results: A total of 12,573 patients were analyzed. PTCL not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) and extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma were the most frequently diagnosed, followed by angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL). Compared to the general population, the relative survival rate was highest in anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma. With a median follow-up of 6.7 years, the 3-year and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rates among treated patients were 44.0% and 39.5%, while the overall survival (OS) rates were 48.6% and 43.5%, respectively. Kaplan–Meier survival curves indicated that patients who added etoposide to the CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) regimen showed improved PFS and OS. In addition, autologous stem cell transplantation significantly improved PFS and OS, particularly in the PTCL-NOS and AITL subtypes. Conclusion Patients who received etoposide-containing CHOP-based regimens had improved treatment outcomes.The survival benefits of consolidative autologous stem cell transplantation (auto-SCT) were evident in PTCL-NOS and AITL.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a rare genetic disorder in dogs and cats and has been mostly reported in purebred cats. In this study, we report a case of a 1-year-old castrated male Korean shorthair cat, who presented with multiple small skin tears and bruises distributed over the entire trunk area. The cat’s skin was hyperextensible and easily torn with gentle touch. The skin extensibility index of the cat was 25%, indicating the possibility of EDS. The cat exhibited no signs of pruritus or inflammation, and no underlying disease was found.However, radiography revealed hip joint subluxation and arthritis. Following this, biopsy of the lacerated skin was performed. Histopathological examination of the skin revealed that in the dermis adjacent to the lesions, the collagen fibers were irregular in size and width, with a slightly thinner epidermis, and increased interfibrillar spaces containing low numbers of scattered well-differentiated fibroblasts and mast cells. Histopathological examination of the skin confirmed EDS. The symptoms observed in the cat, including skin hyperextensibility, multiple bruising, hip joint subluxation, and arthritis, corresponded to the classical subtype of EDS in humans. Thus, this study is a rare report of a classical EDS case in a Korean shorthair cat. This study suggests that skin extensibility index and biopsy are useful diagnostic procedures for confirming EDS in animals until a more definitive genetic test is established.

In the era of immunotherapeutic control of cancers, many advances in biotechnology, especially in Ab engineering, have provided multiple new candidates as therapeutic immunooncology modalities. Bispecific Abs (BsAbs) that recognize 2 different antigens in one molecule are promising drug candidates and have inspired an upsurge in research in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. Among several BsAbs, T cell engaging BsAb (TCEB), a new class of therapeutic agents designed to simultaneously bind to T cells and tumor cells via tumor cell specific antigens in immunotherapy, is the most promising BsAb.Herein, we are providing an overview of the current status of the development of TCEBs. The diverse formats and characteristics of TCEBs, in addition to the functional mechanisms of BsAbs are discussed. Several aspects of a new TCEB-Blinatumomab-are reviewed, including the current clinical data, challenges of patient treatment, drawbacks regarding toxicities, and resistance of TCEB therapy. Development of the next generation of TCEBs is also discussed in addition to the comparison of TCEB with current chimeric antigen receptor-T therapy.

Objective: To investigate the agreement and reliability of estimating the volumes and normative percentiles (N%) of segmented brain regions among NeuroQuant (NQ), DeepBrain (DB), and FreeSurfer (FS) software programs, focusing on the comparison between NQ and DB. Materials and Methods: Three-dimensional T1-weighted images of 145 participants (48 healthy participants, 50 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 47 patients with Alzheimer’s disease) from a single medical center (SMC) dataset and 130 participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset were included in this retrospective study. All images were analyzed with DB, NQ, and FS software to obtain volume estimates and N% of various segmented brain regions. We used Bland–Altman analysis, repeated measures ANOVA, reproducibility coefficient, effect size, and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to evaluate inter-method agreement and reliability. Results: Among the three software programs, the Bland–Altman plot showed a substantial bias, the ICC showed a broad range of reliability (0.004–0.97), and repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant mean volume differences in all brain regions.Similarly, the volume differences of the three software programs had large effect sizes in most regions (0.73–5.51). The effect size was largest in the pallidum in both datasets and smallest in the thalamus and cerebral white matter in the SMC and ADNI datasets, respectively. N% of NQ and DB showed an unacceptably broad Bland–Altman limit of agreement in all brain regions and a very wide range of ICC values (-0.142–0.844) in most brain regions. Conclusion NQ and DB showed significant differences in the measured volume and N%, with limited agreement and reliability for most brain regions. Therefore, users should be aware of the lack of interchangeability between these software programs when they are applied in clinical practice.

Objectives: This study examined whether the polygenic risk score (PRS) calculated from the most recent genome-wide association study for bipolar disorder (BD) of European ancestry patients is significantly associated with BD diagnosis in the Korean population. Methods: The study included 417 Korean patients with BD and 497 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using the Korean Biobank Array. Summary statistics of the European samples from the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium were used as base data to generate the PRS for each individual. The program PRSice-2 was used to calculate the PRS. Logistic regression was conducted to determine the association between BD diagnosis and PRS for BD after adjusting for age and sex. Results: PRS for BD was significantly higher in patients diagnosed with BD compared to healthy controls. The PRS at the p-value threshold of 0.01 best explained the variance of BD after adjusting for age and sex (R2 =0.0061, p=0.039). Subgroup analyses were performed for bipolar I and II subgroups. In bipolar I patients, the PRS at the p-value threshold of 0.01 best explained the diagnosis (R2 =0.0165, p=0.0055), whereas no significant result was found for bipolar II patients. Conclusion PRS for BD calculated for the Korean sample showed a significant association with the BD diagnosis. This result suggests an overlapping genetic risk for BD between the European and Korean populations.

Objectives: This study examined whether the polygenic risk score (PRS) calculated from the most recent genome-wide association study for bipolar disorder (BD) of European ancestry patients is significantly associated with BD diagnosis in the Korean population. Methods: The study included 417 Korean patients with BD and 497 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using the Korean Biobank Array. Summary statistics of the European samples from the Psychiatric Genomic Consortium were used as base data to generate the PRS for each individual. The program PRSice-2 was used to calculate the PRS. Logistic regression was conducted to determine the association between BD diagnosis and PRS for BD after adjusting for age and sex. Results: PRS for BD was significantly higher in patients diagnosed with BD compared to healthy controls. The PRS at the p-value threshold of 0.01 best explained the variance of BD after adjusting for age and sex (R2 =0.0061, p=0.039). Subgroup analyses were performed for bipolar I and II subgroups. In bipolar I patients, the PRS at the p-value threshold of 0.01 best explained the diagnosis (R2 =0.0165, p=0.0055), whereas no significant result was found for bipolar II patients. Conclusion PRS for BD calculated for the Korean sample showed a significant association with the BD diagnosis. This result suggests an overlapping genetic risk for BD between the European and Korean populations.

Purpose: : This study aims to identify nurses’ attitudes toward patients hospitalized after attempting suicide and inform directions for research and interventions to establish a therapeutic environment. Methods: : For integrative review, the five stages suggested by Whittemore and Knafl were followed. Articles and theses published before February 2021 were searched using eight databases and a manual search. The search terms were suicide, self-harm, emergency department (ED), intensive care unit (ICU), nurses, and attitudes. Results: : Five studies met the inclusion criteria; three of them were descriptive studies, one was a qualitative study, and one a mixed-method study. In most studies (80%), the participants were ED nurses. ED/ICU nurses showed positive or neutral attitudes toward patients. All studies suggested that suicide-related education programs are needed to increase nurses’ positive attitudes such patients. Conclusion : More research is required on ICU nurses’ attitudes toward patients who have attempted suicide, and efforts to identify various aspects of such attitudes are necessary. In addition, suicide education programs and support from trained psychiatric personnel should be provided to establish a therapeutic environment.

PURPOSE: The association between tobacco smoking and thyroid cancer remains uncertain. We evaluated the associations of active and passive smokingwith the risk of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), the most common type of thyroid cancer, and with the BRAF(V600E) mutation, the most common oncogenic mutation in PTC related to poor prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted this study with newly diagnosed PTC patients (n=2,142) and community controls (n=21,420) individually matched to cases for age and sex. Information on active and passive smoking and potential confounders were obtained from structured questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, and medical records. BRAF(V600E) mutation status was assessed in PTC patients. We evaluated the associations of active and passive smoking with PTC and BRAF(V600E) mutation risk using conditional and unconditional logistic regression models, respectively. RESULTS: We did not find associations between exposure indices of active and passive smoking and PTC risk in both men and women, except for the association between current smoking and lower PTC risk. Cumulative smoking ≥ 20 pack-years was associated with lower BRAF(V600E) mutation risk in male PTC patients (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30 to 1.00). The CI for the association was wider in female PTC patients (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.02 to 2.62), possibly owing to a smaller sample size in this stratum. CONCLUSION: We did not find consistent associations between active and passive smoking and PTC risk. Cumulative smoking ≥ 20 pack-years was associated with lower BRAF(V600E) mutation risk in male PTC patients.
Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Medical Records ; Prognosis ; Sample Size ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

PURPOSE: Aster glehnii (AG) and Aster yomena (AY) are medicinal plants that belong to the family Compositea and grow widely in Korea. Plants in the genus Aster have been used to treat snakebite wounds or bruises in oriental medicine. This study compared the effects of anti-oxidants and anti-adipocyte differentiation according to the species (the aerial parts of AG and AY). METHODS: AG and AY were extracted using 70% ethanol (−E) and water (−W) at room temperature. The anti-oxidant activities were measured by total phenol contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), DPPH and ABTS+ assay. In addition, correlation analysis was performed for the anti-oxidant compounds and effect. The level of anti-adipocyte differentiation was assessed using an oil red O assay on pre-adipocytes. RESULTS: AG-W showed higher TPC (6.92 µg/mL) and AG-E presented higher TFC (8.22 µg/mL) than the other extracts. Furthermore, AG-E exhibited higher radical scavenging activity in the DPPH and ABTS+ assay (IC50: 104.88 and 30.06 µg/mL). In the cytotoxicity assay, AG and AY extracts at concentrations less than 100µg/mL were non toxic. AG-W reduced the lipid accumulation of 3T3-L1 cells significantly after differentiation (70.49%) compared to the other extracts. CONCLUSION: These results show that the water extract of AG has anti-oxidant effects and reduces the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. Therefore, AG has utility as a functional food material for its anti-oxidant activities and ability to prevent lipid accumulation.
3T3-L1 Cells ; Adipocytes ; Antioxidants ; Contusions ; Ethanol ; Functional Food ; Humans ; Korea ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Phenol ; Plants, Medicinal ; Snake Bites ; Water ; Wounds and Injuries