Prediction Forecast for Culex tritaeniorhynchus Populations in Korea

AbstractObjectivesJapanese encephalitis is considered as a secondary legal infectious disease in Korea and is transmitted by mosquitoes in the summer season. The purpose of this study was to predict the ratio of Culex tritaeniorhynchus to all the species of mosquitoes present in the study regions.MethodsFrom 1999 to 2012, black light traps were installed in 10 regions in Korea (Busan, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, and Jeju) to capture mosquitoes for identification and classification under a dissecting microscope. The number of mosquitoes captured/week was used to calculate its daily occurrence (mosquitoes/trap/night). To predict the characteristics of the mosquito population, an autoregressive model of order p (AR(p)) was used to execute the out-of-sample prediction and the in-sample estimation after presumption.ResultsCompared with the out-of-sample method, the sample-weighted regression method's case was relatively superior for prediction, and this method predicted a decrease in the frequency of Cx. tritaeniorhynchus for 2013. However, the actual frequency of this species showed an increase in frequency. By contrast, the frequency rate of all the mosquitoes including Cx. tritaeniorhynchus gradually decreased.ConclusionThe number of patients with Japanese encephalitis has been strongly associated with the occurrence and density of vector mosquitoes, and the importance of this infectious disease has been highlighted since 2010. The 2013 prediction indicated an increase after an initial decrease, although the ratio of the two mosquito species decreased. The increase in vector density may be due to changes in temperature and the environment. Thus, continuous prevalence prediction is warranted

IS6110-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Spoligotyping Analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates for Investigating Epidemiologic Distribution in Korea

The Beijing family of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been emerging in the world. However, there are few nationwide data of genotypic distribution in Korea. This study aimed to identify the genotypic diversity of clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis and to demonstrate the population of Beijing family in Korea. We collected 96 clinical M. tuberculosis isolates from 11 university hospitals nationwide in Korea from 2008 to 2009. We observed 24 clusters in IS6110-RFLP analysis and 19 patterns in spoligotyping. Seventy-five isolates were confirmed to be Beijing family. Two isolates of the K strain and 12 isolates of the K family strain were also found. We found that drug resistance phenotypes were more strongly associated with Beijing family than non-Beijing family (P=0.003). This study gives an overview of the distribution of genotypes of M. tuberculosis in Korea. These findings indicate that we have to pay more attention to control of M. tuberculosis strains associated with the Beijing family

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

The Effect of a Novel Mica Nanoparticle, STB-MP, on an Alzheimer’s Disease Patient-Induced PSC-Derived Cortical Brain Organoid Model

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most well-known neurodegenerative diseases, with a substantial amount of advancements in the field of neuroscience and AD. Despite such progress, there has been no significant improvement in AD treatments. To improve in developing a research platform for AD treatment, AD patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) was employed to generate cortical brain organoids, expressing AD phenotypes, with the accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau (pTau). We have investigated the use of a medical grade mica nanoparticle, STB-MP, as a treatment to decrease the expression of AD’s major hallmarks. STB-MP treatment did not inhibit the expression of pTau; however, accumulated Aβ plaques were diminished in STB-MP treated AD organoids. STB-MP seemed to activate the autophagy pathway, by mTOR inhibition, and also decreased γ-secretase activity by decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. To sum up, the development of AD brain organoids successfully mimics AD phenotype expressions, and thus it could be used as a screening platform for novel AD treatment assessments

Delayed onset of obesity and glucose tolerance in interleukin 18 deficient mice by single housed condition

Abstract Interleukin 18 (IL18) is a kind of proinflammatory cytokine that belongs to the interleukin-1 family. IL18 is associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. To discover whether body composition parameters in IL18 deficient mouse are altered in single-housed condition, body weight, glucose tolerance, lipid profiles, fat masses, and size of white adipocytes were examined. Mice were housed singly and were divided as follows: C57BL/6 J male (B6-M), IL18 deficient male (IL18-M), C57BL/6 J female (B6-F), IL18 deficient female (IL18-M). Body weight statistically significantly increased in IL18-M at 9 months (p < 0.05). Glucose tolerance occurred in IL18-M at 6 and 9 months. Total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol were statistically significantly increased in IL18-F compared with B6-F at 9 and 12 months, respectively (p < 0.05). Also, total cholesterol of IL18-M was statistically significantly increased compared with B6-F and IL18-F at 9 months (p < 0.05). The perirenal and inguinal fat masses were statistically significantly increased in IL18-M at 9 months (p < 0.05). In addition, the size of white adipocytes was increased in IL18-M at 9 months. In single-housed condition, onset of obesity and glucose tolerance were delayed by 3 months in IL18-M. Taken together, these results suggest that housing condition is a very important factor for weight gain and onset of glucose tolerance in IL18 deficient male mouse

Boundary Migration Induced Plasticity during Recrytallization and Growth under Applied Stress

In general, plastic strain occurs over a certain stress, called yield stress. However, it has been reported that the permanent strain could happen during boundary migrating even under the extremely slight externally applied stress. In this study, we performed dilatometry experiments under the various compressive stresses and measured the amount of recrystallization and growth induced permanent strain. A new empirical constitutive equation was suggested to describe the recrystallization and growth induced plasticity. This equation was verified by comparing the calculated values with dilatometric experimental data under the various compressive stresses.11sciescopu

Feasibility and Validity of the Daily Physical Pain Intensity (DPPI) Scale for Pain Assessment

Purpose: The purpose of this study was the examination of the correlations between the daily physical pain intensity (DPPI) scale and the numeric rating scale (NRS), and between the DPPI scale and the quality of life (QOL) of short form health survey (SF-36) and beck depression inventory (BDI) questionnaires. The focus of the DPPI scale was the daily-living activities of the individual, and the scale contains three items regarding the pain per movement range, the pain per day, and the pain when touching the pain area. Methods: A total of 241 adults answered the DPPI, NRS, SF-36, and BDI questionnaires. Pearson&apos;s correlation coefficients were calculated for the various relations of the DPPI to the other scales. Results: High correlations were shown between the NRS and the DPPI (r= 0.809, p&lt; 0.05). The DPPI scale (r= 0.437, p&lt; 0.05) showed &quot;moderate&quot; significant correlations with the SF-36 and the NRS (r= 0.370, p&lt; 0.05), and it showed &quot;weak&quot; significant correlations with the SF-36. There are no statistically significant correlations between the DPPI, the NRS score, and the BDI score (p&gt; 0.05). Conclusion: This study was the first attempt to establish the concurrent validity of a new focus on daily-living activities for the assessment of pain. This study showed promise for the development of activities of daily living focused tool for an assessment of the subjective pain in patients that was more objective