Mitochondria function as platforms for bioenergetics, nutrient metabolism, intracellular signaling, innate immunity regulators, and modulators of stem cell activity. Thus, the decline in mitochondrial functions causes or correlates with diabetes mellitus and many aging-related diseases. Upon stress or damage, the mitochondria elicit a series of adaptive responses to overcome stress and restore their structural integrity and functional homeostasis. These adaptive responses to low-level or transient mitochondrial stress promote health and resilience to upcoming stress. Beneficial effects of low-grade mitochondrial stress, termed mitohormesis, have been observed in various organisms, including mammals. Accumulated evidence indicates that treatments boosting mitohormesis have therapeutic potential in various human diseases accompanied by mitochondrial stress. Here, we review multiple cellular signaling pathways and interorgan communication mechanisms through which mitochondrial stress leads to advantageous outcomes. We also discuss the relevance of mitohormesis in obesity, diabetes, metabolic liver disease, aging, and exercise.

OBJECTIVES: Studies evaluating weight changes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have yielded inconsistent results, and most of those studies were based on self-reported anthropometric measures. We investigated changes in body mass index (BMI), professionally measured waist circumference (WC), and metabolic syndrome components from before to during the pandemic in a sample of the adult population in Korea. METHODS: This retrospective study included 1,118 male and female (age≥18 years) who underwent health checkups at a university medical center between January 1, 2016 and March 31, 2022. Changes in BMI, lifestyles, and metabolic syndrome components during the pandemic were analyzed using the paired t-test, McNemar test, generalized estimating equations, and repeated-measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: Changes in body weight, BMI, and body fat percentage during the pandemic were not clinically significant. However, statistically significant results were found for decreased physical activity (p<0.001) and WC (p<0.001), and exacerbation of all metabolic syndrome components (except serum triglyceride levels). Moreover, the metabolic syndrome prevalence increased significantly from 20.2% to 31.2% during the pandemic (p<0.001). The prevalence of abdominal obesity and high fasting blood glucose levels also significantly increased from 2019 to 2021. CONCLUSIONS Metabolic syndrome, its components, and fat distribution worsened significantly after the implementation of social distancing and lockdowns, despite no clinically significant changes in body weight and BMI. Further studies on the post- pandemic period should investigate the long-term impact of social lockdowns on BMI and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.

Applying work restrictions for asymptomatic healthcare personnel (HCP) with potential exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is recommended to prevent transmission from potentially contagious HCP to patients and other HCP. However, it can lead to understaffing, which threatens the safety of both patients and HCP. We evaluated 203 COVID-19 exposure events at a single tertiary hospital from January 2020 to June 2021. A total of 2,365 HCP were potentially exposed, and work restrictions were imposed on 320 HCP, leading to the loss of 3,311 working days. However, only one of the work-restricted HCP was confirmed with COVID-19. During the study period, the work restriction measures might be taken excessively compared to their benefit, so establishing more effective standards for work restriction is required.

Applying work restrictions for asymptomatic healthcare personnel (HCP) with potential exposure to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is recommended to prevent transmission from potentially contagious HCP to patients and other HCP. However, it can lead to understaffing, which threatens the safety of both patients and HCP. We evaluated 203 COVID-19 exposure events at a single tertiary hospital from January 2020 to June 2021. A total of 2,365 HCP were potentially exposed, and work restrictions were imposed on 320 HCP, leading to the loss of 3,311 working days. However, only one of the work-restricted HCP was confirmed with COVID-19. During the study period, the work restriction measures might be taken excessively compared to their benefit, so establishing more effective standards for work restriction is required.

Objective: This study analyzed the characteristics of people who attempted suicide that resulted in deaths as compared to that of the suicide survivors. Methods: This study included 799 suicide attempts that occurred from March 1, 2015, to March 31, 2019 at the emergency department of the university hospital in a city of around 300,000 people. Suicide attempts were classified into the survivor and death groups, and the characteristics of each group were compared. The suicide deaths due to re-attempts were also analyzed. Results: There were more males than females in the death groups. There was a high proportion of people aged 50 or older in the death groups. Hanging, carbon monoxide poisoning, and jumping from great heights were the most commonly used methods of suicide in the death groups. In the selected death group, psychiatric symptom, physical illness, and economic problem among the suicidal causes and depressive disorder among the psychiatric diagnoses were factors that increase the risk of suicide death. Sixty-three point four percent of the survival groups and 52.5% of the selected deaths had not received psychiatric care. On the analysis of suicide deaths due to re-attempts, the average number of suicide attempts was 2.45±0.9. The time from the first suicide attempt to the last suicide attempt was 13.8±10.4 months. Conclusion If it is necessary to make a treatment decision for a suicide attempt in a limited time, such as the case of treating a suicide attempter who visits an emergency department, it is necessary to consider the characteristic factors of the death attempts of suicidal people.

Objective: This study examined the characteristics of the patients taking poison intentionally at the pre-hospital stage to prevent it at the community level. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data that had been reported to fire stations from January 2017 to December 2018. This data included sex, age, occupation, the season of the year, time, place, methods, alcohol ingestion, transferred to the hospital or not, and we examined how taking poison had an effect on the suicide success rate. Results: The subjects were a total of 1,356 patients who had been reported to fire stations due to intentionally taking poison. Forty-five point five percent of them were male, and 54.5% were female. The most common method of intentional taking poison was sedatives (58.3%), followed by pesticides (24.6%), antidepressants (19.0%), and other methods (12.6%). The home place was preferred more than any other places. The suicide success rate was 2.1% in males and 1.4% in females. For the age groups, those patients 40-64 years old tried taking poison much more than the other age groups. In the aspect of the season of the year, summer was the highest season for taking poison, at 30.3%. The daytime was more preferred than the night time. Conclusion In this study, we analyzed the characteristics of the pre-hospital intentional poisoning cases according to gender, age, occupation, season of the year, time, and between the transferred and the untransferred groups. Efforts should be made in cooperation with the community to prevent suicide attempts by intentionally taking poison.

Although lymphoepithelial cysts (LECs) of the pancreas are benign lesions, most of them have been treated with surgical resection due to diagnostic difficulty. We report a 66-year-old woman diagnosed with pancreatic LECs. Abdominal ultrasound revealed two masses in the pancreas, which were not visible on the abdominal computed tomography. In an abdominal magnetic resonance imaging, pancreas lesions showed solid tumors, which revealed a low signal intensity on T1-, moderate high signal intensity on T2 weighted images, and homogeneous delayed enhancement in the portal venous phase. Endosonography (EUS) revealed two hypoechoic round masses measuring 1.5 cm and 4.5 cm in the body and tail of the pancreas, respectively. EUS-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) revealed squamous cells, amorphous keratinous debris, and lymphocytes. The patient was diagnosed with LECs of the pancreas. For the duration of the follow-up period of two years, imaging studies were unchanged. EUS-FNA is useful in making a definite diagnosis and avoiding unnecessary surgery. This is the first case of pancreatic LECs diagnosed with EUS-FNA in Korea.
Aged ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Diagnosis ; Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration ; Endosonography ; Epithelial Cells ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Lymphocytes ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Cyst ; Tail ; Ultrasonography ; Unnecessary Procedures

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine nursing organizational culture and resilience and their effects on quality of nursing service. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A convenience sampling method was used to collect data from 199 participants who worked in a tertiary hospital in G city. Demographic and work related variables, quality of nursing service, resilience, and nursing organizational culture were measured using validated self-report questionnaires. RESULTS: All of the participants were women and the majority were staff nurses and single. A statistically significant difference in quality of nursing service was found for age, marital status, educational level, clinical career, position and perceived health status. Age, educational level, clinical career, position, resilience, innovation-oriented culture, relation-oriented culture, and hierarchy-oriented culture were significant predictors of quality of nursing service, explaining 47% of total variance. Among the predictors, resilience was the strongest predictor, followed by innovation-oriented culture, and hierarchy-oriented culture. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that quality of nursing service can be improved by raising individual nurse's resilience and advancing nursing organizational culture. Considering the identified factors, researchers and administrators need to develop and provide clinical nurses with a variety of programs to improve the quality of their nursing service.
Administrative Personnel ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Methods ; Nursing Services ; Nursing ; Organizational Culture ; Tertiary Care Centers

There is little evidence on the effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on prevalence of periodontal disease. The aims of this study were to explore the trends of prevalence of periodontal disease and types of exposure to smoke, including ETS according to the survey year, identify factors affecting periodontal disease, and compare the effect size of periodontal disease between active smokers and secondhand smokers. Data on 11,643 individuals were obtained from the fourth and fifth Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys. Information on exposure to ETS at home and work was self-reported. Severity of periodontal disease was evaluated using the community periodontal index. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to model periodontal disease using types of smoking and the survey year. Overall, the prevalence of periodontal disease was 26.0% (n=3,029) and about 9% of the study population were secondhand smokers. The prevalence of periodontal disease among smokers was significantly increased according to smoking types by year. Active smokers showed a statistically significant adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for having periodontal disease except in the year 2007, whereas secondhand smokers had significant associations only in 2010 (aOR, 1.68; 95% confidence interval, 1.05 to 2.70) compared to non-smokers. For secondhand smokers, the statistical relationship of predicting periodontal disease was weaker than that of active smokers. However, ETS should separately be considered as an important risk factor for periodontal disease. This study suggested the need for further investigation of the impact of ETS on prevalence of periodontal disease using in-depth research designs and objective measurements for assessing periodontal disease and ETS.
Health Surveys ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Odds Ratio ; Periodontal Diseases* ; Periodontal Index ; Prevalence ; Research Design ; Risk Factors ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate clinical outcomes following definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) for patients with N3-positive stage IIIB (N3-IIIB) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), with a focus on radiation therapy (RT) techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 2010 to November 2012, 77 patients with N3-IIIB NSCLC received definitive CCRT (median, 66 Gy). RT techniques were selected individually based on estimated lung toxicity, with 3-dimensional conformal RT (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated RT (IMRT) delivered to 48 (62.3%) and 29 (37.7%) patients, respectively. Weekly docetaxel/paclitaxel plus cisplatin (67, 87.0%) was the most common concurrent chemotherapy regimen. RESULTS: The median age and clinical target volume (CTV) were 60 years and 288.0 cm3, respectively. Patients receiving IMRT had greater disease extent in terms of supraclavicular lymph node (SCN) involvement and CTV > or = 300 cm3. The median follow-up time was 21.7 months. Fortyfive patients (58.4%) experienced disease progression, most frequently distant metastasis (39, 50.6%). In-field locoregional control, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) rates at 2 years were 87.9%, 38.7%, and 75.2%, respectively. Although locoregional control was similar between RT techniques, patients receiving IMRT had worse PFS and OS, and SCN metastases from the lower lobe primary tumor and CTV > or = 300 cm3were associated with worse OS. The incidence and severity of toxicities did not differ significantly between RT techniques. CONCLUSION: IMRT could lead to similar locoregional control and toxicity, while encompassing a greater disease extent than 3D-CRT. The decision to apply IMRT should be made carefully after considering oncologic outcomes associated with greater disease extent and cost.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Chemoradiotherapy* ; Cisplatin ; Disease Progression ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated