Endoscopic Therapy of Colonic Liver Flexure Mucocele

Colorectal mucoceles usually arise in the appendix, and colonic disease is very rare. We report the first case of a mucocele of the colonic liver flexure that was treated successfully with endoscopy. A 36-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of abdominal distension persisting for 3 days. Colonoscopic examination revealed a round polyp in the hepatic flexure, and we performed hot snare polypectomy with argon plasma coagulation. Histologically, the polypectomy specimen was confirmed to be a mucocele, with no neoplastic changes. Follow-up examinations at 6 and 12 months showed no evidence of recurrence

Quantitative Analysis of Calcium Phosphate Nanocluster Growth Using Time-of-Flight Medium-Energy-Ion-Scattering Spectroscopy

One of the remaining challenges in material chemistry is to unveil the quantitative compositional/structural information and thermodynamic nature of inorganic materials especially in the initial nucleation and growth step. In this report, we adopted newly developed time-of-flight medium-energy-ion-scattering (TOF-MEIS) spectroscopy to address this challenge and explored heterogeneously grown nanometer-sized calcium phosphate as a model system. With TOF-MEIS, we discovered the existence of calcium-rich nanoclusters (Ca/P ∼ 3) in the presence of the non-collagenous-protein-mimicking passivating ligands. Over the reaction, these clusters progressively changed their compositional ratio toward that of a bulk phase (Ca/P ∼ 1.67) with a concurrent increase in their size to ∼2 nm. First-principles studies suggested that the calcium-rich nanoclusters can be stabilized through specific interactions between the ligands and clusters, emphasizing the important role of template on guiding the chemical and thermodynamic nature of inorganic materials at the nanoscale. © 2018 American Chemical Society.1

Chamaecyparis obtusa

Chamaecyparis obtusa (C. obtusa) is known to have antimicrobial effects and has been used as a medicinal plant and in forest bathing. This study aimed to evaluate the anticariogenic activity of essential oil of C. obtusa on Streptococcus mutans, which is one of the most important bacterial causes of dental caries and dental biofilm formation. Essential oil from C. obtusa was extracted, and its effect on bacterial growth, acid production, and biofilm formation was evaluated. C. obtusa essential oil exhibited concentration-dependent inhibition of bacterial growth over 0.025 mg/mL, with 99% inhibition at a concentration of 0.2 mg/mL. The bacterial biofilm formation and acid production were also significantly inhibited at the concentration greater than 0.025 mg/mL. The result of LIVE/DEAD® BacLight™ Bacterial Viability Kit showed a concentration-dependent bactericidal effect on S. mutans and almost all bacteria were dead over 0.8 mg/mL. Real-time PCR analysis showed that gene expression of some virulence factors such as brpA, gbpB, gtfC, and gtfD was also inhibited. In GC and GC-MS analysis, the major components were found to be α-terpinene (40.60%), bornyl acetate (12.45%), α-pinene (11.38%), β-pinene (7.22%), β-phellandrene (3.45%), and α-terpinolene (3.40%). These results show that C. obtusa essential oil has anticariogenic effect on S. mutans

The Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version of the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndrome

OBJECTIVE: The Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndrome (SIPS) from Yale University is intended to diagnose prodromal syndrome of psychosis and to measure the severity of prodromal symptoms. Here, a Korean version of SIPS is presented, and its reliability, validity, and factor structures are examined using a representative Korean sample. METHODS: The Korean version of SIPS was administered to 40 participants over a period of 1 year. The inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the SIPS were then evaluated. In addition, its factor structure was investigated using principal-axis factor analysis. Concurrent validity was explored using Pearson correlation coefficients with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). RESULTS: Of the 40 subjects, 12.5% developed psychotic disorders during the 1-year follow-up period. Inter-rater reliability was good (intra-class correlations=0.96), and internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha=0.83). A three-factor resolution displayed the best simple structure and accounted for 52.6% of all item variance. Factors 1 and 2 showed strong correlations with negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction, respectively, on the PANSS. Factor 3 was not correlated with any factor on the PANSS. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of SIPS is a reliable instrument for the assessment of prodromal symptoms in subjects and may be used to evaluate prodromal psychosis.ope

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Tuberculosis Infection among Hospital Workers in Hanoi, Viet Nam

BACKGROUND: Transmission of tuberculosis (TB) to health care workers (HCWs) is a global issue. Although effective infection control measures are expected to reduce nosocomial TB, HCWs' infection has not been assessed enough in TB high burden countries. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of TB infection and its risk factors among HCWs in Hanoi, Viet Nam. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 300 HCWs including all staff members in a municipal TB referral hospital received an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA), QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube(TM), followed by one- and two-step tuberculin skin test (TST) and a questionnaire-based interview. Agreement between the tests was evaluated by kappa statistics. Risk factors for TB infection were analyzed using a logistic regression model. Among the participants aged from 20 to 58 years (median = 40), prevalence of TB infection estimated by IGRA, one- and two-step TST was 47.3%, 61.1% and 66.3% respectively. Although the levels of overall agreement between IGRA and TST were moderate, the degree of agreement was low in the group with BCG history (kappa = 0.29). Working in TB hospital was associated with twofold increase in odds of TB infection estimated by IGRA. Increased age, low educational level and the high body mass index also demonstrated high odds ratios of IGRA positivity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Prevalence of TB infection estimated by either IGRA or TST is high among HCWs in the hospital environment for TB care in Viet Nam and an infection control program should be reinforced. In communities with heterogeneous history of BCG vaccination, IGRA seems to estimate TB infection more accurately than any other criteria using TST

Limits on WWZ and WW\gamma couplings from p\bar{p}\to e\nu jj X events at \sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV

We present limits on anomalous WWZ and WW-gamma couplings from a search for WW and WZ production in p-bar p collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV. We use p-bar p -> e-nu jjX events recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during the 1992-1995 run. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 96.0+-5.1 pb^(-1). Assuming identical WWZ and WW-gamma coupling parameters, the 95% CL limits on the CP-conserving couplings are -0.33<lambda<0.36 (Delta-kappa=0) and -0.43<Delta-kappa<0.59 (lambda=0), for a form factor scale Lambda = 2.0 TeV. Limits based on other assumptions are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant causes brain infection with lymphoid depletion in a mouse COVID-19 model

Background The Omicron variant has become the most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variant. Omicron is known to induce milder lesions compared to the original Wuhan strain. Fatal infection of the Wuhan strain into the brain has been well documented in COVID-19 mouse models and human COVID-19 cases, but apparent infections into the brain by Omicron have not been reported in human adult cases or animal models. In this study, we investigated whether Omicron could spread to the brain using K18-hACE2 mice susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results K18-hACE2 mice were intranasally infected with 1 × 105 PFU of the original Wuhan strain and the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. A follow-up was conducted 7days post infection. All Wuhan-infected mice showed > 20% body weight loss, defined as the lethal condition, whereas two out of five Omicron-infected mice (40%) lost > 20% body weight. Histopathological analysis based on H&E staining revealed inflammatory responses in the brains of these two Omicron-infected mice. Immunostaining analysis of viral nucleocapsid protein revealed severe infection of neuron cells in the brains of these two Omicron-infected mice. Lymphoid depletion and apoptosis were observed in the spleen of Omicron-infected mice with brain infection. Conclusion Lethal conditions, such as severe body weight loss and encephalopathy, can occur in Omicron-infected K18-hACE2 mice. Our study reports, for the first time, that Omicron can induce brain infection with lymphoid depletion in the mouse COVID-19 model