Objective: This study seeks to evaluate the association between the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the severity of depression and anxiety in the Korean community during the period dominated by the Omicron variant. Methods: We used data from the 2022 Daejeon Mental Health Survey, involving data of 985 participants aged 19–69 years. The data collected included SARS-CoV-2 infection experience, days post-infection, and depression and anxiety symptoms evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire-7, respectively. Additionally, physical health, social activity status, and sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, age, marital status, educational level, and household income were collected. The association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and depression and anxiety were examined. Further analyses explored association between days post- infection and the severity of depression and anxiety. Results: There was no significant correlation between SARS-CoV-2 infection and depression and anxiety in the overall population. Notably, participants under 50 years of age exhibited a transient worsening of depression and anxiety, followed by a decrease in symptoms within 40 days. Participants aged 51 years and older showed no significant change in depression and anxiety. Conclusion This study discerned transient effects of Omicron variant infection on depression and anxiety, particularly in younger individuals. A prospective study encompassing a larger sample size is imperative to investigate the influence of SARS-CoV-2 infection on depression and anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Human endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were first identified in the peripheral blood and later in the cord blood and bone marrow (BM) with different vascularization capacity and different surface marker profiles. However, their identity and functional roles in neovascularization have not been clearly demonstrated in vivo and in vitro. METHODS: Characterization of BM-EPC like cells were performed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, immunofluorescence staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Matrigel tube formation assay, and western blot analysis. RESULTS: BM-EPC like cells were identified by selective adhesion to fibronectin and collagen from BM mononuclear cells, which generate fast-growing colonies with spindle morphology, express surface markers of CD105, vWF, UEA-I lectin binding, secrete HGF, VEGF, TGF-beta1 but can be distinguished from circulating EPC and endothelial cells by no expression of surface markers such as CD31, CD309, CD45, and CD34. These BM-EPC like cells shared many cell surface markers of BM-mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) but also can be distinguished by their vasculogenic property and other unique surface markers. Furthermore, the vasculogenic capacity of BM-EPC like cells were enhanced by co-culture of BMMSC or PDGF-BB priming. PDGF-BB stimulated cell migration, proliferation, and secretion of laminin b-1, which was proposed as one of the mechanisms involved in the better vascularization of BM-EPC like cells. CONCLUSION PDGF-BB priming may be applied to improve the potency and function of BM-EPC like cells as vasculogenic cell therapy for the ischemic vascular repair.

BACKGROUND: Current dilemma working with surgically-induced OA (osteoarthritis) model include inconsistent pathological state due to various influence from surrounding tissues. On the contrary, biochemical induction of OA using collagenase II has several advantageous points in a sense that it does not involve surgery to induce model and the extent of induced cartilage degeneration is almost uniform. However, concerns still exists because biochemical OA model induce abrupt destruction of cartilage tissues through enzymatic digestion in a short period of time, and this might accompany systemic inflammatory response, which is rather a trait of RA (rheumatoid arthritis) than being a trait of OA. METHODS: To clear the concern about the systemic inflammatory response that might be caused by abrupt destruction of cartilage tissue, OA was induced to only one leg of an animal and the other leg was examined to confirm the presence of systemic degenerative effect. RESULTS: Although the cartilage tissues were rapidly degenerated during short period of time upon biochemical induction of OA, they did not accompanied with RA-like process based on the histology data showing degeneration of articular cartilage occurred only in the collagenase-injected knee joint. Scoring evaluation data indicated that the cartilage tissues in non-induced joint remained intact. Neutrophil count transiently increase between day 8 and day 16, and there were no significant change in other complete blood count profile showing a characteristics of OA disease. CONCLUSION: These study shows that biochemically induced cartilage degeneration truly represented uniform and reliable OA state.
Animals* ; Blood Cell Count ; Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular ; Clothing ; Collagenases* ; Digestion ; Inflammation ; Joints ; Knee Joint ; Leg ; Models, Animal* ; Neutrophils ; Osteoarthritis* ; Regeneration

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ecological factors influencing school adjustment of adolescents from low-income families. METHODS: Secondary data analysis was performed using data of 1,321 low-income adolescents in 123 regions found on the Survey on Service Satisfaction with Community Child Care Center. RESULTS: The results of multi-level analysis identified the factors influencing school adjustment of low-income adolescents as follows: individual-level factors were gender, grade in school, and emotional problem; an interpersonal-level factor was family structure; organizational-level factors were length of time attending center and satisfaction with the service of the center; community-level factors were region and perception of community. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that low-income adolescents' adjustment to school is influenced not only by individual factors but also by diverse environmental factors. Community factors suggest that more education support systems and leisure facilities for adolescents need to be built in small and medium cities. Strategies to enhance positive perception of community are also needed for this population. Further, it is necessary to develop multi-level interventions to improve the school adjustment of adolescents from vulnerable social groups.
Adolescent* ; Child ; Child Care* ; Child* ; Community-Based Participatory Research ; Education ; Humans ; Leisure Activities ; Multilevel Analysis ; Poverty ; Social Adjustment ; Statistics as Topic

The author's affiliation should be corrected.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are multipotent and have self-renewal ability, support the regeneration of damaged normal tissue. A number of external stimuli promote migration of MSCs into peripheral blood and support their participation inwound healing. In an attempt to harness the potential beneficial effects of such external stimuli, we exposed human MSCs (hMSCs) to one such stimulus-low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR)-and examined their biological properties. To this end, we evaluated differences in proliferation, cell cycle, DNA damage, expression of surface markers (CD29, CD34, CD90, and CD105), and differentiation potential ofhMSCs before and after irradiation with γ-rays generated using a ¹³⁷ CSirradiator.At doses less than 50 mGy, LDIR had no significant effect on the viability or apoptosis of hMSCs. Interestingly, 10 mGyofLDIR increased hMSC viability by 8% (p<0.001) comparedwith non-irradiatedhMSCs.At doses less than 50 mGy, LDIR did not induceDNA damage, including DNA strand breaks, or cause cellular senescence or cell-cycle arrest. Surface marker expression and in vitro differentiation potential of hMSCs were maintained after two exposures to LDIR at 10 mGy per dose. In conclusion, a two-dose exposure to LDIR at 10 mGy per dose not only facilitates proliferation of hMSCs, it alsomaintains the stem cell characteristics of hMSCswithout affecting their viability.These results provide evidence for the potential ofLDIRas an external stimulus for in vitro expansion of hMSCs and application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Apoptosis ; Cell Aging ; Cell Proliferation ; DNA ; DNA Damage ; Humans* ; In Vitro Techniques ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells* ; Radiation, Ionizing ; Regeneration ; Regenerative Medicine ; Stem Cells* ; Tissue Engineering

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but progressive and currently incurable disease, which is characterized by vascular remodeling in association with muscularization of the arterioles, medial thickening and plexiform lesion formation. Despite our advanced understanding of the pathogenesis of PAH and the recent therapeutic advances, PAH still remains a fatal disease. In addition, the susceptibility to PAH has not yet been adequately explained. Much evidence points to the involvement of epigenetic changes in the pathogenesis of a number of human diseases including cancer, peripheral hypertension and asthma. The knowledge gained from the epigenetic study of various human diseases can also be applied to PAH. Thus, the pursuit of novel therapeutic targets via understanding the epigenetic alterations involved in the pathogenesis of PAH, such as DNA methylation, histone modification and microRNA, might be an attractive therapeutic avenue for the development of a novel and more effective treatment. This review provides a general overview of the current advances in epigenetics associated with PAH, and discusses the potential for improved treatment through understanding the role of epigenetics in the development of PAH.
Animals ; DNA Methylation/drug effects ; Drug Discovery/methods ; *Epigenesis, Genetic/drug effects ; Genetic Therapy/methods ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/*genetics/therapy ; MicroRNAs/*genetics

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related disease are drawing a lot of attention in Korea as one of the serious health problems. Bone health status may be influenced by the general dietary quality and dietary pattern. SUBJECTS/METHODS: To determine the relationship between dietary quality and intake patterns and bone health status, the %RNI, NAR, DDS, and food group intake patterns were assessed according to their bone health status for 847 postmenopausal women using the 2010 KNHANES data after eliminating those of likely changing their diet under the advice of doctors or those taking estrogen. RESULTS: Bone health became worse as dietary quality deteriorated. All NAR and %RNI values were highly associated with bone health levels and the consumption frequency of Ca sources, DDS and the food group intake patterns also confirmed the findings. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that dietary quality and dietary patterns were important for bone health. Nutritional education on eating foods from the five basic food groups has to be emphasized to prevent osteoporosis among older women.
Diet ; Eating ; Education ; Estrogens ; Female ; Health Status ; Humans ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Osteoporosis

Primary duodenal adenocarcinoma is a rare malignant neoplasm accounting for 0.3% of all gastrointestinal tract carcinomas. We herein present one case of duodenal adenocarcinoma after duodenal neuroendocrine carcinoma. Poorly differentiated duodenal neuroendocrine carcinoma with liver metastasis (TxNxM1) was confirmed, and eight cycles of palliative chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil/etoposide/cisplatin) were administered. The patient was then in a clinically complete response status. About 1 year later, newly developed adenocarcinoma was detected at the same site. It was completely surgically resected, and the patient was cured.
Adenocarcinoma/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use ; Duodenal Neoplasms/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Second Primary/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Neuroendocrine Tumors/*diagnosis/drug therapy

Neuroendocrine carcinoma of colon is a rare disease entity that is histologically poorly differentiated and immunochemically synaptophysin positive, enabling it to be confirmed by an immunohistochemical stain. Neuroendocrine carcinomas, in almost all cases, have poor prognosis due to a tendency of early metastasis and lack of standardized treatment. The concurrent diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma is extremely rare. The relation of these two disease entities is not understood. We experienced a patient with a colonic neuroendocrine carcinoma concurrent with adenocarcinoma. A 65-year-old male presented with abdominal pain. Emergent computed tomography suggested a malignant tumor of the ascending colon. Colonoscopy showed an infiltrative lesion in the ascending colon with a luminal narrowing, a large pedunculated lesion at the splenic flexure, and multiple small polyps in the descending colon. The patient underwent a right hemicolectomy including the pedunculated lesion. The pathology confirmed advanced neuroendocrine carcinoma in the ascending colon, adenocarcinoma in proximal descending colon, and multiple metastatic lymph nodes of neuroendocrine carcinomas on abdomen. The patient underwent the postoperative chemotherapy but did not tolerate it well and expired a year after diagnosis. We report this rare case with a review of the literature.
Abdomen ; Abdominal Pain ; Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine ; Colon ; Colon, Ascending ; Colon, Descending ; Colon, Transverse ; Colonic Neoplasms ; Colonoscopy ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Phenobarbital ; Polyps ; Prognosis ; Rare Diseases ; Synaptophysin