Background/Aims: Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is characterized by intestinal and extra intestinal symptoms associated with the consumption of gluten-containing food. Since biomarkers for non-celiac gluten sensitivity are lacking, its prevalence is estimated based on self-reported symptoms. However, no data exist on self-reported non-celiac gluten sensitivity in the Korean population. Thus, we aim to investigate the prevalence of self-reported non-celiac gluten sensitivity in the Korean population and to determine its demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods: This study surveyed Korean participants aged 18-80 years who visited gastroenterology outpatient clinics at 9 tertiary hospitals in South Korea from January 2016 to February 2017. They were questioned regarding symptoms related to gluten ingestion: degree of discomfort (visual analog scale score), frequency, time of symptom onset, and duration. Abdominal discomfort caused by 11 differentkinds of gluten-containing Korean food items was investigated. Results: More non-celiac gluten sensitivity self-reporters were identified among those with irritable bowel syndrome (33.6%) than among controls (5.8%). Major gastrointestinal symptoms included bloating (75.0%), abdominal discomfort (71.3%), and belching (45.0%).Common extra-intestinal symptoms included fatigue (20.0%) and headache (13.7%). More than half of those who self-reported nonceliac gluten sensitivity (66.3%) developed symptoms within 1 hour of food ingestion, and symptoms were localized in the upper abdomen (37.5%) and entire abdomen (30.0%). Conclusion Our findings suggest that if there are gluten-related symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome, the possibility of accompanying non-celiacgluten sensitivity should be considered.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of high mobility group AT-hook 1 (HMGA1) on the phenotyptic change of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Methods: Gene silencing and overexpression of HMGA1 were introduced to evaluate the effect of HMGA1 expression on the phenotypic change of VSMCs. Marker gene expression of VSMCs was measured by promoter assay, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and western blot analysis. Common left carotid artery ligation model was used to establish in vivo neointima formation. Results: HMGA1 was expressed strongly in the synthetic type of VSMCs and significantly downregulated during the differentiation of VSMCs. Silencing of HMGA1 in the synthetic type of VSMCs enhanced the expression of contractile marker genes thereby enhanced angiotensin II (Ang II)-dependent contraction, however, significantly suppressed proliferation and migration. Stimulation of contractile VSMCs with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) enhanced HMGA1 expression concomitant with the downregulation of marker gene expression which was blocked significantly by the silencing of HMGA1. Silencing of HMGA1 retained the Ang II-dependent contractile function, which was curtailed by PDGF stimulation, however, overexpression of HMGA1 in the contractile type of VSMCs suppressed marker gene expression. Proliferation and migration were enhanced significantly by the overexpression of HMGA1. Furthermore, the Ang II-dependent contraction was reduced significantly by the overexpression of HMGA1. Finally, the expression of HMGA1 was enhanced significantly in the ligated artery, especially in the neointima area. Conclusion HMGA1 plays an essential role in the phenotypic modulation of VSMCs.Therefore, paracrine factors such as PDGF may affect vascular remodeling through the regulation of HMGA1.

Purpose: Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) panels for solid tumors have been useful in clinical framework for accurate tumor diagnosis and identifying essential molecular aberrations. However, most cancer panels have been designed to address a wide spectrum of pan-cancer models, lacking integral prognostic markers that are highly specific to gliomas. Materials and Methods: To address such challenges, we have developed a glioma-specific NGS panel, termed “GliomaSCAN,” that is capable of capturing single nucleotide variations and insertion/deletion, copy number variation, and selected promoter mutations and structural variations that cover a subset of intron regions in 232 essential glioma-associated genes. We confirmed clinical concordance rate using pairwise comparison of the identified variants from whole exome sequencing (WES), immunohistochemical analysis, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Results: Our panel demonstrated high sensitivity in detecting potential genomic variants that were present in the standard materials. To ensure the accuracy of our targeted sequencing panel, we compared our targeted panel to WES. The comparison results demonstrated a high correlation. Furthermore, we evaluated clinical utility of our panel in 46 glioma patients to assess the detection capacity of potential actionable mutations. Thirty-two patients harbored at least one recurrent somatic mutation in clinically actionable gene. Conclusion We have established a glioma-specific cancer panel. GliomaSCAN highly excelled in capturing somatic variations in terms of both sensitivity and specificity and provided potential clinical implication in facilitating genome-based clinical trials. Our results could provide conceptual advance towards improving the response of genomically guided molecularly targeted therapy in glioma patients.

Despite the great socioeconomic burden of stroke, there have been few reports of stroke statistics in Korea. In this scenario, the Epidemiologic Research Council of the Korean Stroke Society launched the “Stroke Statistics in Korea” project, aimed at writing a contemporary, comprehensive, and representative report on stroke epidemiology in Korea. This report contains general statistics of stroke, prevalence of behavioral and vascular risk factors, stroke characteristics, pre-hospital system of care, hospital management, quality of stroke care, and outcomes. In this report, we analyzed the most up-to-date and nationally representative databases, rather than performing a systematic review of existing evidence. In summary, one in 40 adults are patients with stroke and 232 subjects per 100,000 experience a stroke event every year. Among the 100 patients with stroke in 2014, 76 had ischemic stroke, 15 had intracerebral hemorrhage, and nine had subarachnoid hemorrhage. Stroke mortality is gradually declining, but it remains as high as 30 deaths per 100,000 individuals, with regional disparities. As for stroke risk factors, the prevalence of smoking is decreasing in men but not in women, and the prevalence of alcohol drinking is increasing in women but not in men. Population-attributable risk factors vary with age. Smoking plays a role in young-aged individuals, hypertension and diabetes in middle-aged individuals, and atrial fibrillation in the elderly. About four out of 10 hospitalized patients with stroke are visiting an emergency room within 3 hours of symptom onset, and only half use an ambulance. Regarding acute management, the proportion of patients with ischemic stroke receiving intravenous thrombolysis and endovascular treatment was 10.7% and 3.6%, respectively. Decompressive surgery was performed in 1.4% of patients with ischemic stroke and in 28.1% of those with intracerebral hemorrhage. The cumulative incidence of bleeding and fracture at 1 year after stroke was 8.9% and 4.7%, respectively. The direct costs of stroke were about ₩1.68 trillion (KRW), of which ₩1.11 trillion were for ischemic stroke and ₩540 billion for hemorrhagic stroke. The great burden of stroke in Korea can be reduced through more concentrated efforts to control major attributable risk factors for age and sex, reorganize emergency medical service systems to give patients with stroke more opportunities for reperfusion therapy, disseminate stroke unit care, and reduce regional disparities. We hope that this report can contribute to achieving these tasks.
Adult ; Aged ; Alcohol Drinking ; Ambulances ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Emergency Medical Services ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Epidemiology ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Hope ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality ; Prevalence ; Reperfusion ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stroke ; Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ; Writing

This article provides an overview of the developmental history and rationale of medical ethics to establish the code of ethics and professional conduct of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (KACAP). Most medical professional organizations have their own codes of ethics and conduct because they have continuous responsibility to regulate professional activities and conducts for their members. The Ethics and Award Committee of the KACAP appointed a Task-Force to establish the code of ethics and conduct in 2012. Because bioethics has become global, the Ethics Task Force examined global standards. Global standards in medical ethics and professional conduct adopted by the World Medical Association and the World Psychiatric Association have provided the basic framework for our KACAP's code of ethics and professional conduct. The Code of Ethics of the Americal Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has provided us additional specific clarifications required for child and adolescent patients. The code of ethics and professional conduct of the KACAP will be helpful to us in ethical clinical practice and will ensure our competence in recognizing ethical violations.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Psychiatry* ; Adolescent* ; Advisory Committees ; Awards and Prizes ; Bioethics ; Child* ; Codes of Ethics ; Ethics ; Ethics, Medical* ; Humans ; Mental Competency ; Societies

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study aimed to estimate the changes in gray matter volume (GMV) and their hemispheric difference in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) using a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methodology, and to determine whether GMV changes are correlated with clinical features. METHODS: VBM analysis of brain MRI using statistical parametric mapping 8 (SPM8) was performed for 30 left MTLE (LMTLE) and 30 right MTLE (RMTLE) patients and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We also analyzed the correlations between GMV changes and clinical features of MTLE patients. RESULTS: In SPM8-based analyses, MTLE patients showed significant GMV reductions in the hippocampus ipsilateral to the epileptic focus, bilateral thalamus, and contralateral putamen in LMTLE patients. The GMV reductions were more extensive in the ipsilateral hippocampus, thalamus, caudate, putamen, uncus, insula, inferior temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, cerebellum, and paracentral lobule in RMTLE patients. These patients also exhibited notable reductions of GMV in the contralateral hippocampus, thalamus, caudate, putamen, and inferior frontal gyrus. We observed that GMV reduction was positively correlated with several clinical features (epilepsy duration and seizure frequency in RMTLE, and history of febrile seizure in LMTLE) and negatively correlated with seizure onset age in both the RMTLE and LMTLE groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed GMV decreases in the hippocampus and extrahippocampal regions. Furthermore, the GMV reduction was more extensive in the RMTLE group than in the LMTLE group, since it included the contralateral hemisphere in the former. This difference in the GMV reduction patterns between LMTLE and RMTLE may be related to a longer epilepsy duration and higher seizure frequency in the latter.
Age of Onset ; Brain ; Cerebellum ; Epilepsy* ; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe ; Gray Matter* ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Occipital Lobe ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Putamen ; Seizures* ; Seizures, Febrile ; Temporal Lobe ; Thalamus

Jeong Sik Kim(a,b*), Dae Lim Koo(c*), Mi-Ri Kang(a), Min Jae Seong(a), Won Gu Lee(a), Eun Yeon Joo(a,b), Sung Tae Kim(d), Dae Won Seo(a,b), Seung Bong Hong(a,b)

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective-based study. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the usefulness of iliac screws in the surgical correction of sagittal imbalance by changes of spinopelvic parameters. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: Although reports exist regarding the fusion rates on lumbosacral fusion by iliac screws, no previous studies address the issue of changes of spinopelvic parameters on surgical correction of sagittal imbalance by iliac screws. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed a total of 23 patients who were operated on by pedicle subtraction osteotomy and posterior fusion on sagittal imbalance. Patients were divided into two groups: 1) non-iliac screw fixation and; 2) iliac screw fixation. The two groups were compared during the preoperative and postoperative stages, and the last follow-up spinopelvic parameters of two groups. RESULTS: Spinopelvic parameters, except for pelvic incidence, were corrected after surgery; some corrected values of spinopelvic parameters were lost during follow-up. There was a statistically significant difference in the last follow-up period between lumbar lordosis and pelvic tilt. Values of postoperative lumbar lordosis and pelvic tilt was similar to each other; however, during the follow-up period corrected values of spinopelvic parameters of non-iliac screw fixation group were more lost. There were no statistically significant changes in postoperative and last follow-up sacral slope and pelvic incidence. CONCLUSIONS: Sagittal imbalance could be corrected by pedicle subtraction osteotomy, and corrected values of lumbar lordosis and pelvic tilt of iliac screw fixation group could be maintained well compared to non-iliac screw fixation. Iliac screw fixation could be useful for maintenance of corrected values of spinopelvic parameters in surgical correction of sagittal imbalance.
Animals ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lordosis ; Osteotomy

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to develop guideline for evaluation of depression. METHODS: Development of this guideline was processed according to the ADAPTE manual, which was developed for adaptation of good clinical practice guidelines. Important key questions were determined, and a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines was performed. The contents of guidelines selected by comparison of the methodological quality and currency were evaluated with regard to the applicability and acceptability. Answers to key questions and clinical recommendations were established by peer review. RESULTS: Careful evaluations on the characteristics of depression, including subtype, severity, suicidality, and psychiatric and physical comorbidities were recommended because these factors can have an influence on course and prognosis in treatment of depression. CONCLUSION: The results of this study may contribute to the systematic evaluation of depression, based on clinical importance. However, this guideline did not include systematic reviews regarding useful scales for evaluation of depression. In the future, amendment of this guideline might be needed in order to supplement limitations.
Comorbidity ; Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Diagnosis* ; Methods ; Peer Review ; Prognosis ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to develop guideline for use in diagnosis of depression. METHODS: Development of this guideline was processed according to the ADAPTE manual, which was developed for adaptation of good clinical practice guidelines. Important key questions were determined, and a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines was performed. The contents of guidelines selected by comparison of the methodological quality and currency were evaluated with regard to the applicability and acceptability. Answers to key questions and clinical recommendations were established by peer review. RESULTS: There has been no evidence on strategies to improve the accuracy and rate of diagnosis of depression. The screening tools for depression were useful in diagnosis of depression in clinical practice. CONCLUSION: The results of this study may suggest the necessity of strategies to improve the validity and reliability of diagnosis of depression. In contrast, scales for screening depression can be useful in diagnosis of depression. This guideline did not include systematic reviews regarding useful scales for diagnosis of depression. In the future, amendment of this guideline might be needed in order to supplement limitations.
Depression* ; Depressive Disorder ; Diagnosis* ; Mass Screening ; Methods ; Peer Review ; Reproducibility of Results ; Weights and Measures