Gender differences in the relationship between informal caregiving and subjective health: the mediating role of health promoting behaviors

Abstract Background In most of developed societies, the prevalence of informal care is on the rise due to rapid population ageing. This study investigates longitudinal associations between informal caregiving and health among caregivers and potential gender differences in this relationship. Moreover, drawing on the Health Promotion Model, this study examines the mediating role of health promoting behaviors in the link between informal caregiving and caregivers health. Methods Seven waves of a large-scale (N = 9,608), a nationally representative longitudinal study of middle- and old-aged adults in Korea between 2006 and 2018, were used. To address the possibility of omitted variable bias, this study employed ordinary least squares models with lagged dependent variables (OLS-LDV) as well as fixed effects (FE) models. Univariate Sobel-Goodman mediation tests were used. Results Findings from OLS-LDV models showed that transition into informal caregiving is negatively associated with health satisfaction and self-rated health. FE results also suggest that our results are robust to controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. In the model where informal caregiving is interacted with gender, we found that these associations were largely driven by women caregivers. Results from Sobel-Goodman tests revealed that a decrease in regular exercise partially explains the observed association between informal caregiving and subjective health outcomes (11% for health satisfaction and 8% for self-rated health). Conclusions Although informal caregiving can be a rewarding role, it poses a threat to caregivers subjective health. Findings of this hold important implications and provide evidence in support of a gender-conscious approach to improve the health and well-being of informal caregivers

Coexistent Actinomycosis and Fungus Ball in the Maxillary Sinus: A Case Report

Actinomycosis is rarely accompanied by fungus balls. It is difficult to distinguish between actinomycosis and a fungus ball due to their similar clinical and computed tomography scan results. Thus, a meticulous histopathological examination is required for definite diagnosis. We report a case of actinomycosis accompanied by a fungus ball, found incidentally in a patient without rhinologic symptoms. The patient was successfully treated with endoscopic sinus surgery, followed by short-term antibiotic therapy. We suggest that shortterm antibiotic therapy may be more appropriate than long-term antibiotic therapy based on our case study as well as several other studies

GarlicESTdb: an online database and mining tool for garlic EST sequences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Allium sativum</it>., commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus (<it>Allium</it>), which is a large and diverse one containing over 1,250 species. Its close relatives include chives, onion, leek and shallot. Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for culinary, medicinal use and health benefits. Currently, the interest in garlic is highly increasing due to nutritional and pharmaceutical value including high blood pressure and cholesterol, atherosclerosis and cancer. For all that, there are no comprehensive databases available for Expressed Sequence Tags(EST) of garlic for gene discovery and future efforts of genome annotation. That is why we developed a new garlic database and applications to enable comprehensive analysis of garlic gene expression.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>GarlicESTdb is an integrated database and mining tool for large-scale garlic (<it>Allium sativum</it>) EST sequencing. A total of 21,595 ESTs collected from an in-house cDNA library were used to construct the database. The analysis pipeline is an automated system written in JAVA and consists of the following components: automatic preprocessing of EST reads, assembly of raw sequences, annotation of the assembled sequences, storage of the analyzed information into MySQL databases, and graphic display of all processed data. A web application was implemented with the latest J2EE (Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition) software technology (JSP/EJB/JavaServlet) for browsing and querying the database, for creation of dynamic web pages on the client side, and for mapping annotated enzymes to KEGG pathways, the AJAX framework was also used partially. The online resources, such as putative annotation, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and tandem repeat data sets, can be searched by text, explored on the website, searched using BLAST, and downloaded. To archive more significant BLAST results, a curation system was introduced with which biologists can easily edit best-hit annotation information for others to view. The GarlicESTdb web application is freely available at <url>http://garlicdb.kribb.re.kr</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>GarlicESTdb is the first incorporated online information database of EST sequences isolated from garlic that can be freely accessed and downloaded. It has many useful features for interactive mining of EST contigs and datasets from each library, including curation of annotated information, expression profiling, information retrieval, and summary of statistics of functional annotation. Consequently, the development of GarlicESTdb will provide a crucial contribution to biologists for data-mining and more efficient experimental studies.</p

Plexiform Angiomyxoid Myofibroblastic Tumor of the Stomach: A Case Report

Plexiform angiomyxoid myofibroblastic tumor (PAMT) is a recently described mesenchymal tumor of the stomach. We report the first case of PAMT in Korea. A 52-yr-old man underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy due to dyspepsia for 2 yr. There was a submucosal mass with small mucosal ulceration in the gastric antrum. The tumor measured 3.5 × 2.3 cm in size and showed multinodular plexiform growth pattern of bland-looking spindle cells separated by an abundant myxoid or fibromyxoid matrix rich in small thin-walled blood vessels. The tumor cells were negative for CD117 (c-KIT), CD34 and S-100 protein, but diffusely positive for smooth muscle actin consistent with predominant myofibroblastic differentiation. The patient is doing well without recurrence or metastasis for 5 months after surgery. Although there have been limited follow-up data, PAMT is regarded as a benign gastric neoplasm with histological and immunohistochemical charateristics distinguished from gastrointestinal stromal tumor and other mesenchymal tumors of the stomach

Ectopic Cushings syndrome associated with a pheochromocytoma in a dog: a case report

Ectopic Cushings syndrome (ECS) associated with malignant tumors, such as small cell lung carcinoma, bronchial carcinoids, and pheochromocytoma, has been reported in human medicine. However, ECS related to pheochromocytoma has not been reported in dogs. An 11-year-old castrated, male Scottish terrier was diagnosed with a left adrenal mass. Cushings syndrome was suspected based on clinical signs, including pot belly, polyuria, polydipsia, bilateral alopecia, recurrent pyoderma, and calcinosis cutis. Cushings syndrome was diagnosed on the basis of consistent clinical signs and repeated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation tests. In addition, tests for fractionated plasma metanephrine/normetanephrine suggested a pheochromocytoma. Unilateral adrenalectomy was performed after medical management with trilostane and phenoxybenzamine. Histopathology confirmed a diagnosis of pheochromocytoma without cortical lesions. After surgery, fractionated metanephrine/normetanephrine and the findings of low-dose dexamethasone suppression and ACTH stimulation tests were within the normal ranges without any medication. There were no clinical signs or evidence of recurrence and metastasis on thoracic and abdominal X-rays and ultrasonography up to 8 months after surgery. Pheochromocytoma should be considered a differential diagnosis for dogs with Cushings syndrome with an adrenal tumor. A good prognosis can be expected with prompt diagnosis and surgical intervention.This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2016M3A9B6026771). It was partially supported by the Research Institute for Veterinary Science, Seoul National University. The design of the study including collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, and in writing the manuscript were not influenced by the funders

The distinctive roles of erythroid specific activator GATA-1 and NF-E2 in transcription of the human fetal γ-globin genes

GATA-1 and NF-E2 are erythroid specific activators that bind to the β-globin locus. To explore the roles of these activators in transcription of the human fetal stage specific γ-globin genes, we reduced GATA-1 and p45/NF-E2 using shRNA in erythroid K562 cells. GATA-1 or p45/NF-E2 knockdown inhibited the transcription of the γ-globin genes, hypersensitive site (HS) formation in the LCR and chromatin loop formation of the β-globin locus, but histone acetylation across the locus was decreased only in the case of GATA-1 knockdown. In p45/NF-E2 knockdown cells, GATA-1 binding was maintained at the LCR HSs and γ-globin promoter, but NF-E2 binding at the LCR HSs was reduced by GATA-1 knockdown regardless of the amount of p45/NF-E2 in K562 cells. These results indicate that histone acetylation is dependent on GATA-1 binding, but the binding of GATA-1 is not sufficient for the γ-globin transcription, HS formation and chromatin loop formation and NF-E2 is required. This idea is supported by the distinctive binding pattern of CBP and Brg1 in the β-globin locus. Furthermore GATA-1-dependent loop formation between HS5 and 3′HS1 suggests correlation between histone modifications and chromatin looping

Multiplication of Chromosome 17 Centromere Is Associated with Prognosis in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancers Exhibiting Normal HER2 and TOP2A Status

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of chromosome 17 centromere (CEP17) multiplication (increased copy number of CEP17) related to human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) status in patients with invasive breast cancer. Methods: We constructed tissue microarrays using 594 invasive breast cancer samples and performed single-color silver-enhanced in situ hybridization (SISH) assay for HER2, TOP2A, and CEP17 to assess for copy number aberrations. The association of CEP17 multiplication with patient survival was analyzed according to HER2 and TOP2A status. Results: Among 567 informative cases, HER2 amplification was noted in 22.8%, TOP2A amplification in 8.3 % and TOP2A deletion in 11.1%. CEP17 multiplication was identified in 33.2 % and was significantly associated with worse overall survival (OS) (p = 0.02) and disease-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.02). CEP17 multiplication correlated with patient survival in patients with normal TOP2A or non-amplified HER2 status, but the prognostic significance was lost in those with altered TOP2A or amplified HER2. On multivariate analyses, CEP17 multiplication was an independent prognostic factor for poorer OS (p=0.02) and DFS (p = 0.01) in patients with normal TOP2A and non-amplified HER2. Conclusion: CEP17 multiplication was identified as a promising prognostic marker in patients with invasive breast cancer exhibiting either non-amplified HER2 or normal TOP2A status

Nucleosome and transcription activator antagonism at human β-globin locus control region DNase I hypersensitive sites

Locus control regions are regulatory elements that activate distant genes and typically consist of several DNase I hypersensitive sites coincident with clusters of transcription activator binding sites. To what extent nucleosomes and activators occupy these sites together or exclusively has not been extensively studied in vivo. We analyzed the chromatin structure of human β-globin locus control region hypersensitive sites in erythroid cells expressing embryonic and fetal globin genes. Nucleosomes were variably depleted at hypersensitive sites HS1-HS4 and at HS5 which flanks the 5′ of the locus. In lieu of nucleosomes, activators were differentially associated with these sites. Erythroid–specific GATA-1 resided at HS1, HS2 and HS4 but the NF-E2 hetero-dimer was limited to HS2 where nucleosomes were most severely depleted. Histones H3 and H4 were hyperacetylated and H3 was di-methylated at K4 across the LCR, however, the H3 K4 MLL methyltransferase component Ash2L and histone acetyltransferases CBP and p300 occupied essentially only HS2 and the NF-E2 motif in HS2 was required for Ash2L recruitment. Our results indicate that each hypersensitive site in the human β-globin LCR has distinct structural features and suggest that HS2 plays a pivotal role in LCR organization at embryonic and fetal stages of globin gene expression