The association between sialolithiasis and smoking, alcohol drinking and obesity in Korea: a nested case-control study

Smoking and alcohol consumption are the most common social habits in patients with sialolithiasis. Moreover, obesity has been reported to have a significant association with poor oral hygiene, one of the causes of sialolithiasis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships among tobacco smoking, drinking alcohol, obesity and sialolithiasis in a Korean population. The Korean National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort, which includes patients ≥40 years old, was assessed from 2002 to 2013. A total of 947 sialolithiasis participants were matched with 3788 control subjects at a ratio of 1:4 with respect to age group, sex, income group, region of residence, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. We analyzed the participants previous histories of smoking (current or past smokers compared to nonsmokers) and alcohol consumption (≥ 1 time per week compared to < 1 time per week) in the sialolithiasis and control groups. Obesity was measured using body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), which was categorized as < 18.5 (underweight), ≥ 18.5 and < 23 (normal), ≥ 23 and < 25 (overweight), ≥ 25 and < 30 (obese I), and ≥ 30 (obese II). Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using conditional logistic regression analyses. The rate of smoking was higher in the sialolithiasis group (32.4% [307/947]) than in the control group (29.1% [1103/3788], P = 0.047). The adjusted OR of smoking for the sialolithiasis group was 1.31 (95% CI = 1.08–1.59, P = 0.006). Alcohol consumption and obesity were not statistically significantly related to sialolithiasis. The odds of smoking were increased in sialolithiasis patients compared with control subjects in the population ≥ 40 years of age.This work was supported in part by a research grant (NRF-2018-R1D1A1A0– 2085328 and NRF-2019-R1G1A1–099842) from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea

Polymorphisms in Apoptosis-Related Genes and TP53 Mutations in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Apoptosis plays an essential role in the elimination of mutated or transformed cells from the body. Therefore, polymorphisms of apoptosis-related genes may lead to an alteration in apoptotic capacity, thereby affecting the occurrence of TP53 mutations in lung cancer. We investigated the relationship between potentially functional polymorphisms of apoptosis-related genes and TP53 mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Twenty-seven single nucleotide polymorphisms in 20 apoptosis-related genes were genotyped by a sequenome mass spectrometry-based genotyping assay in 173 NSCLCs and the associations with TP53 mutations in the entire coding exons (exons 2-11), including splicing sites of the gene, were analyzed. None of the 27 polymorphisms was significantly associated with the occurrence of TP53 mutations. This suggests that apoptosis-related genes may not play an important role in the occurrence of TP53 mutations in lung cancer

Potentiated therapeutic angiogenesis by primed human mesenchymal stem cells in a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia

Background: Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are advantageous for cell-based therapy to treat ischemic diseases owing to their capacity to secrete various paracrine factors with potent angiogenic activity. Materials methods: In this study, we describe a method to increase secreted levels of VEGF and HGF from hMSCs without genetic modification. Results: We demonstrated that transplantation of primed hMSCs into ischemic limbs led to significantly greater improvements in tissue perfusion and limb salvage by increasing capillary formation compared with nonprimed hMSCs. The primed hMSCs also exhibited greater survival in vivo and secreted human VEGF and HGF in the ischemic tissue, supporting enhanced angiogenesis and cell survival. Conclusion: These findings indicate that priming hMSCs via methods described in this study enhances secretion of critical proangiogenic factors resulting in an enhanced therapeutic effect of cells for the treatment of ischemic diseases.This research was supported by grants from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project (M-S Chang, A100823) and the Innovative Research Institute for Cell Therapy, National University Hospital (A062260), both sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family, Seoul, Republic of Korea.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2013-01/102/0000027724/1SEQ:1PERF_CD:SNU2013-01EVAL_ITEM_CD:102USER_ID:0000027724ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A075930DEPT_CD:862CITE_RATE:3.718FILENAME:첨부된 내역이 없습니다.DEPT_NM:치의과학과EMAIL:[email protected]_YN:YCONFIRM:

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-positive vasculitis: a single-center retrospective study

Background We aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients aged ≥65 years with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-positive ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) in Korea. Methods Seventy patients diagnosed with ANCA-positive AAV from 2006 to 2019 at a single center were analyzed and categorized into younger (aged <65 years) or elderly (aged ≥65 years) groups. Initial induction treatments were investigated according to age group. All-cause mortality and kidney outcomes were evaluated. Results After categorization by age, 34 (48.6%) and 36 patients (51.4%) were in the younger and elderly groups, respectively. In the elderly group, more patients were treated with oral cyclophosphamide (CYC) (30.6%) than with intravenous CYC (19.4%). During a median follow-up of 14.6 months (range, 3.0–53.1 months), 13 patients died (elderly group: 11 patients, 84.6%). In the elderly group, older age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09–1.90; p = 0.01), lower hemoglobin (HR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.08–0.60; p = 0.003), and higher serum creatinine level (HR 14.17; 95% CI, 1.29–155.84; p = 0.03) were significant risk factors for all-cause mortality after adjustment. Oral CYC + steroid treatment was associated with decreased all-cause mortality compared to untreated induction immunosuppressants (HR, 0.01; 95% CI, 0.001–0.47; p = 0.02). Kidney failure or kidney recovery outcomes were not significantly different between the younger and elderly groups. Conclusion Patients aged ≥65 years had higher mortality rates than younger patients, and mortality was associated with older age, lower hemoglobin, higher serum creatinine level, and nontreatment compared to oral CYC + steroids

Retrospective Analysis of Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation for the Treatment of High-Risk Neuroblastoma

Disease relapse after autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (APBSCT) is the main cause of treatment failure in high-risk neuroblastoma (NBL). To reduce relapse, various efforts have been made such as CD34+ selection and double APBSCT. Here the authors reviewed the clinical features and outcomes of high-risk NBL patients and analyzed their survival. The medical records of 36 patients with stage III or IV NBL who underwent APBSCT at Seoul National University Children's Hospital between May 1996 and May 2004 were reviewed. Total 46 APBSCTs were performed in 36 patients. Disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival of all patients were 47.7% and 68.8%, respectively. The patients were allocated to three groups according to the APBSCT type. The DFS of CD34+ non-selected single APBSCT patients (N=13), CD34+ selected single APBSCT patients (N=14), and CD34+ selected double APBSCT patients (N=9) were 55.6%, 40.6%, and 50.0%, respectively, which were not significantly different. Thus the survival was not found to be affected by CD34+ selection or transplantation number. To improve long-term survival, various efforts should be made such as chemotherapy dose intensification, more effective tumor purging, and control of minimal residual disease via the use of differentiating and immune-modulating agents

Improved survival in patients with recurrent Wilms tumor: the experience of the Seoul National University Children's Hospital

The survival in cases with relapsed Wilms tumor is dismal. Recently, however the introduction of new therapeutic agents and experimental strategies has improved the survival. We analysed the survival of patients with relapsed Wilms tumor according to the treatment period. During the early period 1983-1993, patients who had received two drugs were treated with doxorubicin and the others were treated with cisplatin and etoposide, whereas during the late period 1994-2004, patients were treated with combinations of cyclophosphamide/etoposide and carboplatin/etoposide. During the early period, 8 of 57 experienced relapse, and 8 of 41 relapsed during the late period. Only 2 patients treated during the early period survived in complete response (CR), whereas during the late period, 5 patients remained alive in CR, and 3 of those received high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) with autologous peripheral stem cell rescue (SCR). The estimated 5 yr event-free survival rate was 37.5% in the entire study group, 50% for patients in the late period, and 25% for patients in the early period (p=0.38). The survival in patients with relapsed Wilms tumor dramatically improved during the late period and HDC with SCR was one of the effective salvage strategies

Akt1-Inhibitor of DNA binding2 is essential for growth cone formation and axon growth and promotes central nervous system axon regeneration.

Mechanistic studies of axon growth during development are beneficial to the search for neuron-intrinsic regulators of axon regeneration. Here, we discovered that, in the developing neuron from rat, Akt signaling regulates axon growth and growth cone formation through phosphorylation of serine 14 (S14) on Inhibitor of DNA binding 2 (Id2). This enhances Id2 protein stability by means of escape from proteasomal degradation, and steers its localization to the growth cone, where Id2 interacts with radixin that is critical for growth cone formation. Knockdown of Id2, or abrogation of Id2 phosphorylation at S14, greatly impairs axon growth and the architecture of growth cone. Intriguingly, reinstatement of Akt/Id2 signaling after injury in mouse hippocampal slices redeemed growth promoting ability, leading to obvious axon regeneration. Our results suggest that Akt/Id2 signaling is a key module for growth cone formation and axon growth, and its augmentation plays a potential role in CNS axonal regeneration

Air-stable n-type operation of Gd-contacted carbon nanotube field effect transistors

We report air-stable n -type operations of the single-walled carbon nanotube field effect transistors (SWNT-FETs) fabricated with Gd electrodes. Unlike previously reported n -type SWNT-FETs, our devices maintained their n -type operation characteristics in ambient atmosphere for more than two months. The shallow Gd films with a thickness below 20 nm are corroded by environmental oxygen, whereas the well-contacted Gd-SWNT interfaces underneath the thick Gd layers are protected from contaminations by air molecules. Theoretical studies based on the first-principles electronic structure calculations confirm that Gd layers have an excellent binding affinity to the SWNTs.open8