An excess of amyloid beta (Aβ) led to a rise in ROS production, which in turn caused inflammatory reactions and mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Natural flavonoids are proposed as possible agents for neurodegeneration. Pectolinarin is an important flavone mainly found in Cirsium species. In this study, we explored the potential neuroprotective effect of pectolinarin in Aβ25-35 -induced SH-SY5Y cells. The result demonstrated that pectolinarin enhanced cell viability. Pectolinarin treatment inhibited Aβ25-35 -induced ROS generation. Pectolinarin also suppressed NO generation by inhibiting the translocation of NF-ĸB and downregulating protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Moreover, the expression of Bcl-2 increased while BAX protein decreased when the cells were exposed to pectolinarin, resulting in a decrease in the BAX/Bcl-2 ratio. Pectolinarin treatment also increased BDNF and its receptor TrkB protein expression. In conclusion, pectolinarin neuroprotected Aβ25-35 -induced inflammation and apoptosis. These findings suggest that pectolinarin may be a promising neuroprotective functional food in the protection of the neurodegenerative diseases, including AD.

An excess of amyloid beta (Aβ) led to a rise in ROS production, which in turn caused inflammatory reactions and mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Natural flavonoids are proposed as possible agents for neurodegeneration. Pectolinarin is an important flavone mainly found in Cirsium species. In this study, we explored the potential neuroprotective effect of pectolinarin in Aβ25-35 -induced SH-SY5Y cells. The result demonstrated that pectolinarin enhanced cell viability. Pectolinarin treatment inhibited Aβ25-35 -induced ROS generation. Pectolinarin also suppressed NO generation by inhibiting the translocation of NF-ĸB and downregulating protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Moreover, the expression of Bcl-2 increased while BAX protein decreased when the cells were exposed to pectolinarin, resulting in a decrease in the BAX/Bcl-2 ratio. Pectolinarin treatment also increased BDNF and its receptor TrkB protein expression. In conclusion, pectolinarin neuroprotected Aβ25-35 -induced inflammation and apoptosis. These findings suggest that pectolinarin may be a promising neuroprotective functional food in the protection of the neurodegenerative diseases, including AD.

An excess of amyloid beta (Aβ) led to a rise in ROS production, which in turn caused inflammatory reactions and mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Natural flavonoids are proposed as possible agents for neurodegeneration. Pectolinarin is an important flavone mainly found in Cirsium species. In this study, we explored the potential neuroprotective effect of pectolinarin in Aβ25-35 -induced SH-SY5Y cells. The result demonstrated that pectolinarin enhanced cell viability. Pectolinarin treatment inhibited Aβ25-35 -induced ROS generation. Pectolinarin also suppressed NO generation by inhibiting the translocation of NF-ĸB and downregulating protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Moreover, the expression of Bcl-2 increased while BAX protein decreased when the cells were exposed to pectolinarin, resulting in a decrease in the BAX/Bcl-2 ratio. Pectolinarin treatment also increased BDNF and its receptor TrkB protein expression. In conclusion, pectolinarin neuroprotected Aβ25-35 -induced inflammation and apoptosis. These findings suggest that pectolinarin may be a promising neuroprotective functional food in the protection of the neurodegenerative diseases, including AD.

An excess of amyloid beta (Aβ) led to a rise in ROS production, which in turn caused inflammatory reactions and mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Natural flavonoids are proposed as possible agents for neurodegeneration. Pectolinarin is an important flavone mainly found in Cirsium species. In this study, we explored the potential neuroprotective effect of pectolinarin in Aβ25-35 -induced SH-SY5Y cells. The result demonstrated that pectolinarin enhanced cell viability. Pectolinarin treatment inhibited Aβ25-35 -induced ROS generation. Pectolinarin also suppressed NO generation by inhibiting the translocation of NF-ĸB and downregulating protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Moreover, the expression of Bcl-2 increased while BAX protein decreased when the cells were exposed to pectolinarin, resulting in a decrease in the BAX/Bcl-2 ratio. Pectolinarin treatment also increased BDNF and its receptor TrkB protein expression. In conclusion, pectolinarin neuroprotected Aβ25-35 -induced inflammation and apoptosis. These findings suggest that pectolinarin may be a promising neuroprotective functional food in the protection of the neurodegenerative diseases, including AD.

An excess of amyloid beta (Aβ) led to a rise in ROS production, which in turn caused inflammatory reactions and mitochondrial dysfunction, both of which accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).Natural flavonoids are proposed as possible agents for neurodegeneration. Pectolinarin is an important flavone mainly found in Cirsium species. In this study, we explored the potential neuroprotective effect of pectolinarin in Aβ25-35 -induced SH-SY5Y cells. The result demonstrated that pectolinarin enhanced cell viability. Pectolinarin treatment inhibited Aβ25-35 -induced ROS generation. Pectolinarin also suppressed NO generation by inhibiting the translocation of NF-ĸB and downregulating protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Moreover, the expression of Bcl-2 increased while BAX protein decreased when the cells were exposed to pectolinarin, resulting in a decrease in the BAX/Bcl-2 ratio. Pectolinarin treatment also increased BDNF and its receptor TrkB protein expression. In conclusion, pectolinarin neuroprotected Aβ25-35 -induced inflammation and apoptosis. These findings suggest that pectolinarin may be a promising neuroprotective functional food in the protection of the neurodegenerative diseases, including AD.

Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) is a potentially curative treatment option for acute leukemia. We aimed to identify the comorbidity factors affecting survival outcomes after alloSCT and develop a new comorbidity index tool for predicting overall survival (OS). Methods: A Korean nationwide cohort of 3,809 adults with acute leukemia treated with alloSCT between January 2002 and December 2018 was analyzed as the development cohort.A retrospective cohort comprising 313 consecutive adults with acute leukemia who underwent alloSCT between January 2019 and April 2020 was analyzed as the validation cohort. Results: In the development cohort, advanced age, male sex, and comorbidities such as previous non-hematologic malignancy, hypertension, and coronary or cerebral vascular disease were significantly related to poor OS. Subsequently, a new comorbidity scoring system was developed, and risk groups were created, which included the low-risk (score ≤0.17), intermediate-risk (0.17＜ score ≤0.4), high-risk (0.4＜ score ≤0.55), and very high-risk (score ＞0.55) groups. The 1-year OS rates were discriminatively estimated at 73.5%, 66.2%, 61.9%, and 50.9% in the low-risk, intermediate-risk, high-risk, and very high-risk groups in the development cohort, respectively (P ＜0.001). The developed scoring system yielded discriminatively different 1-year OS rates and 1-year incidence of non-relapse mortality according to the risk group (P =0.085 and P =0.018, respectively).Furthermore, the developed model showed an acceptable performance for predicting 1-year non-relapse mortality with an area under the curve of 0.715. Conclusion The newly developed predictive scoring system could be a simple and reliable tool helping clinicians to assess risk of alloSCT in adults with acute leukemia.

The circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of Plasmodium spp. is a diagnostic antigen and useful biomarker for monitoring short-term/seasonal changes to malaria transmission. Using P. vivax CSP antibody ELISA, epidemiological characteristics were analyzed in the residents of Ganghwa, Cheorwon, Paju, and Goseong from 2017 to 2018. In Ganghwa and Cheorwon, 1.6% and 1.2% of residents, respectively, were PvCSP-antibody-positive in 2018, which indicates a decrease of 0.4% in the positive rate compared to 2017. The annual parasite incidence (API) in Ganghwa and Cheorwon was 24.9 and 10.5 in 2017 and 20.3 and 10.7 in 2018, respectively. Although the changes were not significant, the API in Ganghwa decreased slightly by 4.5 in 2018 compared to the previous year. In Paju and Goseong, 3.9% and 2.0% of residents were positive for the PvCSP antibody. The API in Paju was 13.1 in 2017 and 16.0 in 2018, although no malaria patients were reported for the 2 years. Therefore, the results suggest that PvCSP is a useful antigen for confirming initial malaria infection. Additionally, considering that the antibody is relatively transient, it can be employed for sero-epidemiological studies to determine the extent of malaria transmission in the current year.

Incidence of tsutsugamushi disease (scrub typhus) caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, is steadily increasing. It is a mite-borne disease transmitted by chigger mites. In this study, the chigger mites were collected from field small mammals in Hwaseong-si (city), Gyeonggi-do (province), Korea, 2019 and 2020. The field small mammals captured were 56 Apodemus agrarius (94.9%) and 3 Crocidura lasiura (5.1%). A total of 7,531 chigger mites were collected from the captured small mammals. Using PCR test, 153 chigger mite pools were examined and 17 pools were reported positive for O. tsutsugamushi. The O. tsutsugamushi were identified to 5 strains; Jecheon strain was most prevalent, followed by Boryong strain. The other strains were OI011, Taguchi, and Shimokoshi. Collectively, these results provide essential regional information on mite-borne tsutsugamushi disease in the Hwaseong-si, and further contribute to bring awareness and rapid diagnosis for the tsutsugamushi disease.

This study aimed to characterize the seasonal abundance of hard ticks that transmit severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus from April to November 2019 and 2020 on Ganghwa-do, Incheon Metropolitan City, Korea. The ticks were collected at grassland, grave site, copse and mountain road using a collection trap method. The ixodid hard ticks comprising three species (Haemaphysalis longicornis, H. flava, and Ixodes nipponensis) collected were 6,622 in 2019 and 3,811 in 2020. H. longicornis was the most frequent (97.9% in 2019 and 96.0% in 2020), followed by H. flava (2.0% and 3.0% in 2019 and 2020, respectively) and I. nipponensis (less than 0.1%). Our study demonstrated that seasonal patterns of the tick populations examined for two years were totally unsimilar. The hard ticks tested using RT-qPCR were all negative for severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus.

The circumsporozoite protein (CSP) of Plasmodium spp. is a diagnostic antigen and useful biomarker for monitoring short-term/seasonal changes to malaria transmission. Using P. vivax CSP antibody ELISA, epidemiological characteristics were analyzed in the residents of Ganghwa, Cheorwon, Paju, and Goseong from 2017 to 2018. In Ganghwa and Cheorwon, 1.6% and 1.2% of residents, respectively, were PvCSP-antibody-positive in 2018, which indicates a decrease of 0.4% in the positive rate compared to 2017. The annual parasite incidence (API) in Ganghwa and Cheorwon was 24.9 and 10.5 in 2017 and 20.3 and 10.7 in 2018, respectively. Although the changes were not significant, the API in Ganghwa decreased slightly by 4.5 in 2018 compared to the previous year. In Paju and Goseong, 3.9% and 2.0% of residents were positive for the PvCSP antibody. The API in Paju was 13.1 in 2017 and 16.0 in 2018, although no malaria patients were reported for the 2 years. Therefore, the results suggest that PvCSP is a useful antigen for confirming initial malaria infection. Additionally, considering that the antibody is relatively transient, it can be employed for sero-epidemiological studies to determine the extent of malaria transmission in the current year.