• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.84 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2021

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has infected more than two billion individuals worldwide, of whom 5%-10% have clinically active disease and 90%-95% remain in the latent stage with a reservoir of viable bacteria in the macrophages for extended periods of time. The tubercle bacilli at this stage are usually called dormant, non-viable, and/or non-culturable microorganisms. The patients with latent bacilli will not have clinical pictures and are not infectious. The infections in about 2%-23% of the patients with latent status become reactivated for various reasons such as cancer, human immunodeficiency virus infection, diabetes, and/or aging. Many studies have examined the mechanisms involved in the latent state of Mycobacterium and showed that latency modified the expression of many genes. Therefore, several mechanisms will change in this bacterium. Hence, this study aimed to briefly examine the genes involved in the latent state as well as the changes that are caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The study also evaluated the relationship between the functions of these genes.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.386-394
• /
• 2019

Trypanosoma cruzi infection results in debilitating cardiomyopathy, which is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the endemic regions of Chagas disease (CD). The pathogenesis of Chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM) has been intensely studied as a chronic inflammatory disease until recent observations reporting the role of cardio-metabolic dysfunctions. In particular, we demonstrated accumulation of lipid droplets and impaired cardiac lipid metabolism in the hearts of cardiomyopathic mice and patients, and their association with impaired mitochondrial functions and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in CD mice. In the present study, we examined whether treating infected mice with an ER stress inhibitor can modify the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy during chronic stages of infection. T. cruzi infected mice were treated with an ER stress inhibitor 2-Aminopurine (2AP) during the indeterminate stage and evaluated for cardiac pathophysiology during the subsequent chronic stage. Our study demonstrates that inhibition of ER stress improves cardiac pathology caused by T. cruzi infection by reducing ER stress and downstream signaling of phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor ($P-elF2{\alpha}$) in the hearts of chronically infected mice. Importantly, cardiac ultrasound imaging showed amelioration of ventricular enlargement, suggesting that inhibition of ER stress may be a valuable strategy to combat the progression of cardiomyopathy in Chagas patients.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.231-239
• /
• 2005

Purpose: Investigation of the quality of life (QoL), family support and associated variables in patients with Parkinson's disease. Methods: The data were collected from 102 patients registered in the neurology department of C University Hospital. QoL was assessed using the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) and Family Support Scale. Modified Hoehn and Yahr (H & Y) stages were obtained from an interview and clinical examination by a neurologist. Collected data were analyzed using the SAS program. Results: The participants' PDQ-39 average score was 34.34. The scores were significantly higher for participants who were older, who had a job and who were over 2.5 on the H & Y stage. The average for Family support scores was 41.6. Participants who had a living spouse, religion and a job scored higher than those who did not. PDQ-39 score had a positive correlation with age, job, and H & Y stage. Family support and PDQ-39 score were also positively correlated. Conclusion: It is recommended a program involving family that improves family support and be developed and that it be varied according to different H & Y stages, in order to improve QoL.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.308-312
• /
• 2013

The popcorn disease caused by sclerotia forming fungi reduces the productivity of mulberry fruits in world wide. In Korea, only two species (Ciboria shiraiana and Scleromitrula shiraiana) have been reported as the major causal organisms and their morphological features are also largely unknown. Hereby, we report the first identification of another species (i.e. Ciboria carunculoides) in Korea and detailed features of their anamorphic stage. Fungi dominantly associated with sclerotia were purely isolated from infected mulberry fruits under the microscope. PCR-amplified DNA encoding 5.8S rRNA displayed 100% similarity to Ciboria carunculoides. The anamorphic features exhibited the absence of true mycelia. Instead, very short, aseptated, branched conidiophores were directly emerged from sclerotia. Phialides were usually three in number from each conidiophore, ampuliform to navicular in shape, slightly curved and tapering towards the apex. Conidia were produced from phialides and mostly found as one celled, pear shaped, not hyaline with smooth to uneven surface walled. Diversely modified features in phialides formed pseudo-mycelial structures around the host tissue. Combined all, current study is the first report of C. carunculoides isolated in Korea and the foremost detailed description of its anamorph stage.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.44-50
• /
• 2024

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that affects multiple organs. More than half of the patients with SLE have kidney involvement, and up to 10% of patients with lupus nephritis develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Central nervous system (CNS) involvement in SLE occurs in 21% to 95% of patients. Severe neurological manifestations such as seizures, cerebrovascular disease, meningitis, and cerebrovascular accidents can develop in childhood-onset SLE, but cerebral infections, such as brain abscess and hemorrhage, are seldom reported in lupus nephritis, even in adults. Here, we report a rare case of childhood-onset SLE with ESRD, cerebral abscess, and hemorrhage. A 9-year-old girl diagnosed with lupus nephritis was administered high-dose steroids and immunosuppressant therapy to treat acute kidney injury (AKI) and massive proteinuria. The AKI deteriorated, and after 3 months, she developed ESRD. She received hemodialysis three times a week along with daily peritoneal dialysis to control edema. She developed seizures, and imaging showed a brain abscess. This was complicated by spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage, and she became unstable. She died shortly after the hemorrhage was discovered. In conclusion, CNS complications should always be considered in clinical practice because they increase mortality, especially in those with risk factors for infection.

• Journal of Multimedia Information System
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.21-32
• /
• 2022

Early-stage diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) from Cognitively Normal (CN) patients is crucial because treatment at an early stage of AD can prevent further progress in the AD's severity in the future. Recently, computer-aided diagnosis using magnetic resonance image (MRI) has shown better performance in the classification of AD. However, these methods use a traditional machine learning algorithm that requires supervision and uses a combination of many complicated processes. In recent research, the performance of deep neural networks has outperformed the traditional machine learning algorithms. The ability to learn from the data and extract features on its own makes the neural networks less prone to errors. In this paper, a dense neural network is designed for binary classification of Alzheimer's disease. To create a classifier with better results, we studied result of different activation functions in the prediction. We obtained results from 5-folds validations with combinations of different activation functions and compared with each other, and the one with the best validation score is used to classify the test data. In this experiment, features used to train the model are obtained from the ADNI database after processing them using FreeSurfer software. For 5-folds validation, two groups: AD and CN are classified. The proposed DNN obtained better accuracy than the traditional machine learning algorithms and the compared previous studies for AD vs. CN, AD vs. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and MCI vs. CN classifications, respectively. This neural network is robust and better.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.29 no.7
• /
• pp.734-740
• /
• 1996

The relative importance of various factors influencing the prognosis and survival in the treatment of thymoma is still controversial. Sixty ave patients operated on for thymoma from Jan. 1981 to Dec. 1994 were evaluated, 28 patients (43.1 %) with myasthenia gravis and 37 patients (56.9%) without. Masaoka staging revealed stage I disease in 28 patie ts(4).1%) , stage ll in 1) patients(20.0%), stage 111 In 22 patients(33.8%), stage IVa in 1 patients(1.5%), and stage IVb in 1 patient(1.5%). There was no operative mortality. A complete resection was performed in 48 patients (73.8%) patients, associated in 10 patients (15.4%) with postoperative adjuvant treatment(radiotherapy 5; chemotherapy 1: radio- and chemotherapy 4). Thymomas were found to be predominantly of the epithelial type in 16 patients(24.6%), predominantly Iymphocytic type in 18 patients(27.7%), and mlxed in 22 patients (33.9%). The overall 5- and 10-year survival rates were 87% and 82%, respectively, Factors indicating a poor prognosis included local invasion, incomplete excision, thymic carcinoma, advanced staging and myasthenia gravis. The de- gree of tumor invasion turned out to be the main prognostic factor, and treatment should be planned ac- cordingly. The prognosis is best predicted by the stage of the tumor as determined intraoperatively and is poorer in patie ts with incomplete resection than in those with complete resection of the thynoma. No recurrence developed In patients with stage I disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.4835-4837
• /
• 2012

Objectives: To evaluate residual disease in uterine cervical cancer patients treated with teletherapy using combined high dose rate Cobalt-60 brachytherapy. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of uterine cervical cancer patients, FIGO stages IB-IVB (International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians recommendations), treated by radiotherapy alone between April 1986 and December 1988 was conducted and the outcomes analysed. The patients were treated using teletherapy 50 Gy/25 fractions, five fractions per week to the whole pelvis together with HDR Cobalt -60 afterloading brachytherapy of 850 cGy/fraction, weekly to point A for 2 fractions. Results: The study covered 141 patients with uterine cervical cancer. The mean age was 50.0 years with a range of 30-78 years. The mean tumor size was 4.1 cm in diameter (range 1-8 cm). Mean follow - up time was 2.94 years (range 1 month-6.92 years). The overall incidence of residual locoregional disease was 3.5%. Residual disease, according to stage IIB, IIIB and IVA was present in 2.78%, 3.37% and 50.0%. It was noted that there was no evidence of residual disease in stage IB and IIA cases. Conclusion: Combined teletherapy along with high dose rate Cobalt -60 brachytherapy of 850 cGy/fraction, weekly to point A for 2 fractions resulted in overall 3.5% residual disease and a 96.5% complete response. The proposed recommendation for improving outcome is initiation of measurements for early detection of disease.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.236-240
• /
• 2018

Crop yield is critically related to the physiological responses and disease resistance of the crop, which could be strongly affected by high temperature conditions. We observed the changes in the growth of barley under higher than ambient air-temperature conditions using a temperature gradient field chamber (TGFC) during winter and spring. Before the stem extension stage of barley growth, Cladosporium sp. spontaneously appeared in the TGFC. The severity of disease became serious under warmer temperature conditions. Further, the stomata closed as the severity of the disease increased; however, stomatal conductance at the initial stage of disease was higher than that of the normal leaves. This was likely due to the Iwanov effect, which explains that stressed plants rapidly and transiently open their stomata before longer-term closure. In this study, we tested three optical methods: soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) chlorophyll index, photochemical reflectance index (PRI), and maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm). These rapid evaluation methods have not been used in studies focusing on disease stress, although some studies have used these methods to monitor other stresses. These three indicative parameters revealed that diseased barley exhibited lower values of these parameters than normal, and with the increase in disease severity, these values declined further. Our results will be useful in efficient monitoring and evaluation of crop diseases under future warming conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.16-22
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Bisphosphonate is the primary cause of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ). Bisphosphonates are eliminated from the human body by the kidneys. It is anticipated that bisphosphonate levels in the body will increase if the kidney is in a weak state or if there is systemic disease that affects kidney function. The aim of this study was to analyze the relevance of renal function in the severity of BRONJ. Materials and Methods: Ninety-three patients diagnosed with BRONJ in Pusan National University Dental Hospital from January 2012 to December 2014 were included in this study. All patients underwent a clinical exam, radiographs, and serologic lab test, including urine analysis. The patient's medical history was also taken, including the type of bisphosphonate drug, the duration of administration and drug holiday, route of administration, and other systemic diseases. In accordance with the guidelines of the 2009 position paper of American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the BRONJ stage was divided into 4 groups, from stage 0 to 3, according to the severity of disease. IBM SPSS Statistics version 21.0 (IBM Co., USA) was used to perform regression analysis with a 0.05% significance level. Results: BRONJ stage and renal factor (estimated glomerular filtration rate) showed a moderate statistically significant correlation. In the group with higher BRONJ stage, the creatinine level was higher, but the increase was not statistically significant. Other factors showed no significant correlation with BRONJ stage. There was a high statistically significant correlation between BRONJ stage and 'responder group' and 'non-responder group,' but there was no significant difference with the 'worsened group.' In addition, the age of the patients was a relative factor with BRONJ stage. Conclusion: With older age and lower renal function, BRONJ is more severe, and there may be a decrease in patient response to treatment.