Objective: To evaluate the effects of Catalpa bignonioides fruit extract on the promotion of muscle growth and muscular capacity in vitro and in vivo. Methods: Cell viability was measured using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol- 2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Cell proliferation was assessed using a 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) assay kit. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the protein expressions of related factors. The effects of Catalpa bignonioides extract were investigated in mice using the treadmill exhaustion test and whole-limb grip strength assay. Chemical composition analysis was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: Catalpa bignonioides extract increased the proliferation of C2C12 mouse myoblasts by activating the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. It also induced metabolic changes, increasing the number of mitochondria and glucose metabolism by phosphorylating adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase. In an in vivo study, the extract-treated mice showed improved motor abilities, such as muscular endurance and grip strength. Additionally, HPLC analysis showed that vanillic acid may be the main component of the Catalpa bignonioides extract that enhanced muscle strength. Conclusions: Catalpa bignonioides improves exercise performance through regulation of growth and metabolism in skeletal muscles, suggesting its potential as an effective natural agent for improving muscular strength.

Objectives: Presenteeism is known to be a much more economically damaging social cost than disease rest while going to work despite physical pain. Since COVID-19, social discussions on the sickness benefit have been taking place as a countermeasure against presenteeism, and in particular, farmers and fishermen do not have an institutional mechanism for livelihood support when a disease other than work occurs. This study attempted to examine the relationship between agricultural, fishing, and forestry workers and presenteeism using the 6th Korean Work Conditions Survey. Methods: From October 2020 to January 2021, data from the 6th working conditions survey conducted on 17 cities and provinces in Korea were used, and a total of 34,981 people were studied. Control variables were gender, age, self-health assessment, education level, night work, shift work, monthly income, occupation, working hours per week, and employment status. Results: As a result of the analysis, farmers and fishermen showed the characteristics of the self-employed and the elderly, and as a result of the regression analysis, when farmers and fishermen analyzed the relationship with presenteeism tendency compared to other industry workers, farmers and fishermen increased by 23% compared to other industry groups. Conclusion This study is significant in that it has representation by utilizing the 6th working conditions survey and objectively suggests the need for a sickness benefit for farmers and fishermen who may be overlooked in the sickness benefit.

Objectives: Presenteeism is known to be a much more economically damaging social cost than disease rest while going to work despite physical pain. Since COVID-19, social discussions on the sickness benefit have been taking place as a countermeasure against presenteeism, and in particular, farmers and fishermen do not have an institutional mechanism for livelihood support when a disease other than work occurs. This study attempted to examine the relationship between agricultural, fishing, and forestry workers and presenteeism using the 6th Korean Work Conditions Survey. Methods: From October 2020 to January 2021, data from the 6th working conditions survey conducted on 17 cities and provinces in Korea were used, and a total of 34,981 people were studied. Control variables were gender, age, self-health assessment, education level, night work, shift work, monthly income, occupation, working hours per week, and employment status. Results: As a result of the analysis, farmers and fishermen showed the characteristics of the self-employed and the elderly, and as a result of the regression analysis, when farmers and fishermen analyzed the relationship with presenteeism tendency compared to other industry workers, farmers and fishermen increased by 23% compared to other industry groups. Conclusion This study is significant in that it has representation by utilizing the 6th working conditions survey and objectively suggests the need for a sickness benefit for farmers and fishermen who may be overlooked in the sickness benefit.

Objectives: Presenteeism is known to be a much more economically damaging social cost than disease rest while going to work despite physical pain. Since COVID-19, social discussions on the sickness benefit have been taking place as a countermeasure against presenteeism, and in particular, farmers and fishermen do not have an institutional mechanism for livelihood support when a disease other than work occurs. This study attempted to examine the relationship between agricultural, fishing, and forestry workers and presenteeism using the 6th Korean Work Conditions Survey. Methods: From October 2020 to January 2021, data from the 6th working conditions survey conducted on 17 cities and provinces in Korea were used, and a total of 34,981 people were studied. Control variables were gender, age, self-health assessment, education level, night work, shift work, monthly income, occupation, working hours per week, and employment status. Results: As a result of the analysis, farmers and fishermen showed the characteristics of the self-employed and the elderly, and as a result of the regression analysis, when farmers and fishermen analyzed the relationship with presenteeism tendency compared to other industry workers, farmers and fishermen increased by 23% compared to other industry groups. Conclusion This study is significant in that it has representation by utilizing the 6th working conditions survey and objectively suggests the need for a sickness benefit for farmers and fishermen who may be overlooked in the sickness benefit.

As part of our current projects to discover biologically active compounds from natural sources, we conducted a phytochemical investigation of Juncus decipiens, a species generally distributed throughout Korea. J. decipiens has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to control diuresis for strangury and clear out heart fire. The phytochemical investigation of the EtOH extract of J. decipiens led to the isolation of five phenolic compounds (1–5) via semi-preparative HPLC purification. The chemical structures of the isolated compounds were identified as isosaponarin (1), isovitexin 7,2′′-di-O-glucoside (2), 4-O-feruloylquinic acid (3), 5-O-feruloylquinic acid (4), and 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5) based on comparisons of their spectroscopic and physical properties with those reported in previous studies. Notably, this is the first report of the presence of compounds (1–4) in J. decipiens. Then, compounds 1–5 were tested to determine their effects on osteogenesis and adipogenesis in the mouse mesenchymal stem cell line C3H10T1/2. We found that quinic acid derivatives (3–5) promoted the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. These findings demonstrate that the bioactive quinic acid derivatives might be effective for the treatment of menopause-associated syndromes, such as osteoporosis, as the isolated compounds were shown to promote osteogenesis of stem cells.

The potential of tivozanib as a treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) was explored in this study. We investigated the effects of tivozanib on OSCC using the Ca9-22 and CAL27 cell lines. OSCC is a highly prevalent cancer type with a significant risk of lymphatic metastasis and recurrence, which necessitates the development of innovative treatment approaches. Tivozanib, a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor inhibitor, has shown efficacy in inhibiting neovascularization in various cancer types but has not been thoroughly studied in OSCC. Our comprehensive assessment revealed that tivozanib effectively inhibited OSCC cells. This was accompanied by the suppression of Bcl-2, a reduction in matrix metalloproteinase levels, and the induction of intrinsic pathway-mediated apoptosis. Furthermore, tivozanib contributed to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) inhibition by increasing E-cadherin levels while decreasing N-cadherin levels. These findings highlight the substantial anticancer potential of tivozanib in OSCC and thus its promise as a therapeutic option. Beyond reducing cell viability and inducing apoptosis, the capacity of tivozanib to inhibit EMT and modulate key proteins presents the possibility of a paradigm shift in OSCC treatment.

Purpose: This single-arm phase II trial investigate the efficacy and safety of S-1 plus oxaliplatin (SOX) in patients with metastatic breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Patients with metastatic breast cancer previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes were enrolled. Patients received S-1 (40-60 mg depending on patient’s body surface area, twice a day, day 1-14) and oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2, day 1) in 3 weeks cycle until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR) according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor 1.1. Secondary endpoints included time-to-progression (TTP), duration-of-response (DoR), overall survival (OS), and adverse events. Results: A total of 87 patients were enrolled from 11 institutions in Korea. Hormone receptor was positive in 54 (62.1%) patients and six (6.9%) had human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive disease. Forty-eight patients (85.1%) had visceral metastasis and 74 (55.2%) had more than three sites of metastases. The ORR of SOX regimen was 38.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 26.9 to 50.0) with a median TTP of 6.0 months (95% CI, 5.1 to 6.9). Median DoR and OS were 10.3 months (95% CI, 5.5 to 15.1) and 19.4 (95% CI, not estimated) months, respectively. Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was reported in 28 patients (32.1%) and thrombocytopenia was observed in 23 patients (26.6%). Conclusion This phase II study showed that SOX regimen is a reasonable option in metastatic breast cancer previously treated with anthracyclines and taxanes.

Background/Aims: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumor cells is associated with a poor biliary tract cancer (BTC) prognosis; tumor-infiltrating immune cells in the tumor microenvironment are associated with a better prognosis. The effect of PD-L1 expression on immune cells on survival is unclear. We investigated the relationship between PD-L1 expression in immune cells and BTC prognosis. Methods: PD-L1 expression was evaluated using an anti-PD-L1 22C3 mouse monoclonal primary antibody, and its relationships with clinical characteristics and prognosis were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazard model to investigate the prognostic performance of PD-L1 in BTC. Results: Among 144 analyzed cases, patients with positive PD-L1 expression in tumor cells and negative PD-L1 expression in immune cells showed poorer overall survival rates than those exhibiting other expressions (tumor cells: hazard ratio [HR]=1.023, p<0.001; immune cells: HR=0.983, p=0.021). PD-L1 expression in tumor cells was an independent predictor of poor overall survival (HR=1.024, p<0.001). In contrast, PD-L1 expression in immune cells was a predictive marker of good prognosis (HR=0.983, p=0.018). Conclusions PD-L1 expression in immune cells may be used as an independent factor to evaluate the prognosis of patients with BTC.

Objective: Alcohol consumption is a frequent risk factor for trauma. The shock index is widely used to predict the prognosis of trauma, and alcohol can influence the shock index in several ways. This study investigated the usefulness of the shock index in trauma patients who had ingested alcohol. Methods: This was a retrospective, observational, single-center study. We performed a logistic regression analysis to assess the association between alcohol consumption and massive transfusions. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to determine the predictive value of the shock index for patients who had ingested alcohol. Results: A total of 5,128 patients were included in the study. The alcohol-positive group had lower systolic blood pressure and higher heart rate; consequently, the shock index in this group was higher. There was no significant difference between the proportion of the alcohol-positive and alcohol-negative groups who underwent massive transfusions and suffered hospital mortality compared to the overall proportion of patients who underwent massive transfusion based on the shock index. In the logistic regression analysis, the alcohol-negative group showed higher odds ratios for massive transfusions compared to the alcohol-positive group. The area under the ROC curve for predicting massive transfusion was 0.831 for the alcohol-positive group and 0.825 for the alcohol-negative group. However, when a cutoff value of 1 was used, the false positive rate was significantly higher in the alcohol-positive group. Conclusion The shock index is a useful tool for predicting outcomes in patients with trauma. However, in patients who have ingested alcohol, the shock index should be interpreted with caution.

Renal infarction is a condition caused by sudden disturbance of renal arterial blood flow, which occurs frequently in cardioembolic disease, renal artery injury (trauma, Marfan syndrome, rarely Ehlers-Danlos syndrome), and in association with a hypercoagulable state. Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a rare hereditary connective tissue disease characterized by skin fragility, hyperelasticity, hypermobility of small joints, and easy bruising. Among the subtypes, vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a very rare genetic disease caused by a mutation in the COL3A1 gene. As blood vessels are fragile due dysfunctional collagen synthesis, complications of bleeding due to arterial dissection or rupture are common in patients with this disease. Here, we report a case of vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome diagnosed based on a renal infarction caused by thrombus and renal artery injury; we also present a review of the relevant literature.