The Guidelines of the 2019 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the 5th Society of Lipid and Atherosclerosis (KSoLA) for the Management of Dyslipidemia advocate a more intensive lipid-lowering strategy. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the current status of lipid management in Korean patients in real-world practice. The Korean Society of Myocardial Infarction conducted a survey among its members of the Korean Society of Cardiology on the new lipid guidelines. Although most participants were aware of the changes in the ESC and the KSoLA guidelines, more than half of them did not agree with lowering the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels to < 55 mg/dL, because its safety and efficacy have not yet been proven in Koreans. A substantial disparity exists between lipid management guidelines and current clinical practices, highlighting the necessity for clinical research that specifically targets East Asians and Koreans to bridge this gap.

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of treatment with drug-coated balloon (DCB) in a large real-world population. Methods: Patients treated with DCBs were included in a multicenter observational registry that enrolled patients from 18 hospitals in Korea between January 2009 and December 2017. The primary outcome was target lesion failure (TLF) defined as a composite of cardiovascular death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and clinically indicated target lesion revascularization at 12 months. Results: The study included 2,509 patients with 2,666 DCB-treated coronary artery lesions (1,688 [63.3%] with in-stent restenosis [ISR] lesions vs. 978 [36.7%] with de novo lesions).The mean age with standard deviation was 65.7±11.3 years; 65.7% of the patients were men.At 12 months, the primary outcome, TLF, occurred in 179 (6.7%), 151 (8.9%), 28 (2.9%) patients among the total, ISR, and de novo lesion populations, respectively. A history of hypertension, diabetes, acute coronary syndrome, previous coronary artery bypass graft, reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, B2C lesion and ISR lesion were independent predictors of 12 months TLF in the overall study population. Conclusions This large multicenter DCB registry study revealed the favorable clinical outcome of DCB treatment in real-world practice in patient with ISR lesion as well as small de novo coronary lesion.

Objectives: Women experience more stress in middle age than in other periods of their lives. Therefore, health management programs that enable middle-aged women to cope with and manage stress are needed. This study investigated the psychological effects of a meditation-focused forest therapy program among 53 middle-aged women living in urban areas in Korea. Methods: Participants were divided into 2 groups: one group underwent the program for 3 days in a forest, followed by 3 days in an urban environment, and the other group underwent the program for 3 days in the urban environment, followed by 3 days in the forest. The psychological effects of the forest therapy program were evaluated using the Profile of Mood States-Brief (POMS-B). Differences in mood state before and after the program conducted in the forest (experimental group) and in the urban environment (control group) were evaluated using the paired-samples t-test. Results: The program in the forest significantly reduced tension, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion among the domains of the POMS-B. The program in the urban area significantly reduced tension, but not depression, anger, fatigue, or confusion. Conclusions Meditation-focused forest therapy programs are expected to contribute to promoting psychological health and enhancing the quality of life of middle-aged women.

There is insufficient quality data to recommend the use of herbs for the treatment of acute bronchitis. Small number of randomized trials of plant extracts for this purpose were determined to be low quality and there are concerns for the safety. HL301 is a combined product of seven medicinal plants. In the present study, we tried to evaluate the efficacy and safety of HL301 for the treatment of acute bronchitis with a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial design. Methods: A total of 166 patients with acute bronchitis were randomized to receive placebo or HL301 (600 mg/day) for 7 days. The primary endpoint was change in bronchitis severity score (BSS) from baseline visit (visit 2) to the end of treatment (visit 3). Other efficacy variables were the change of each component of the BSS (cough, sputum, dyspnea, chest pain, and crackle) with treatment, response rate, improvement rate, satisfaction rate and number of rescue medications taken. Results: Changes in the BSS from visit 2 to visit 3 were higher in the HL301 group than in the placebo group both in the full analysis set (4.57 ± 1.82 vs. 3.15 ± 3.08, p < 0.01) and in the per protocol set (4.62 ± 1.81 vs. 3.30 ± 3.03, p < 0.01). Four BSS components (cough, sputum, dyspnea, and chest pain) improved more with HL301 treatment than with placebo treatment. Participants treated with HL301 showed higher response, improvement, and satisfaction rates and less use of rescue medication than the placebo group. Conclusions: HL301 (600 mg/day) was effective and safe for symptomatic treatment of acute bronchitis.

From October 2015 to August 2018, tapeworm proglottids were obtained from 10 patients who were residents of Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces and had a history of raw beef consumption. Most of them had no overseas travel experience. The gravid proglottids obtained from the 10 cases had 15–20 lateral uterine branches. A part of internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) DNA of the 10 cases, amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and digested with AleI restriction enzyme, produced the same band pattern of Taenia saginata, which differentiated from T. asiatica and T. solium. Sequences of ITS1 and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) showed higher homology to T. saginata than to T. asiatica and T. solium. Collectively, these 10 cases were identified as T. saginata human infections. As taeniasis is one of the important parasitic diseases in humans, it is necessary to maintain hygienic conditions during livestock farming to avoid public health concerns.
Agriculture ; Cestoda ; Daegu ; DNA ; DNA, Ribosomal ; Electron Transport Complex IV ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Livestock ; Parasitic Diseases ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Public Health ; Red Meat ; Republic of Korea ; Taenia saginata ; Taenia ; Taeniasis