Gene Expression Profiles are Altered in Human Papillomavirus-16 E6 D25E-Expressing Cell Lines

Previously, we have reported that the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 E6 D25E is the most prevalent variant in Korean women at high risk for cervical cancers. Several studies have identified an association between the increased frequency of this variant and the elevated risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cervical carcinoma. To investigate whether the HPV-16 E6 D25E variant might influence cervical cancer progression, we used an oligonucleotide microarray approach to identify transcriptionally altered gene expression patterns in recombinant wild-type E6 or E6 D25E variant-expressing HPV-negative cancer cells. We found that 211 genes were significantly up- or down-regulated (at least 1.5-fold, p < 0.05). We identified 14 genes, nine down-regulated and five up-regulated upon E6 D25E expression, compared with wild-type E6 expression. These results further emphasize the unique biological activity of the HPV-16 E6 D25E variant

Effectiveness of vaccination and quarantine policies to curb the spread of COVID-19

A pandemic, the worldwide spread of a disease, can threaten human beings from the social as well as biological perspectives and paralyze existing living habits. To stave off the more devastating disaster and return to a normal life, people make tremendous efforts at multiscale levels from individual to worldwide: paying attention to hand hygiene, developing social policies such as wearing masks, social distancing, quarantine, and inventing vaccines and remedy. Regarding the current severe pandemic, namely the coronavirus disease 2019, we explore the spreading-suppression effect when adopting the aforementioned efforts. Especially the quarantine and vaccination are considered since they are representative primary treatments for block spreading and prevention at the government level. We establish a compartment model consisting of susceptible (S), vaccination (V), exposed (E), infected (I), quarantined (Q), and recovered (R) compartments, called SVEIQR model. We look into the infected cases in Seoul and consider three kinds of vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. The values of the relevant parameters are obtained from empirical data from Seoul and clinical data for vaccines and estimated by Bayesian inference. After confirming that our SVEIQR model is plausible, we test the various scenarios by adjusting the associated parameters with the quarantine and vaccination policies around the current values. The quantitative result obtained from our model could suggest a guideline for policy making on effective vaccination and social policies.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Relationship between Work Hours and Smoking Behaviors in Korean Male Wage Workers

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study are 1) to measure the prevalence of smoking according to weekly work hours by using data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), and 2) to explain the cause of high smoking prevalence among those with short or long work hours by relative explanatory fraction. METHODS: Data from a total of 2,044 male subjects who responded to the questionnaire in the 10th year (2007) and 11th year (2008) of the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study were used for analysis. Current smoking, smoking cessation, continuous smoking, start of smoking, weekly work hours, occupational characteristics, sociodemographic and work-related factors, and health behavior-related variables were analyzed. Log-binomial regression analysis was used to study the relationship between weekly work hours and smoking behaviors in terms of the prevalence ratio. RESULTS: The 2008 age-adjusted smoking prevalence was 64.9% in the short work hours group, 54.7% in the reference work hours group, and 60.6% in the long work hours group. The smoking prevalence of the short work hours group was 1.39 times higher than that of the reference work hours group (95% confidence interval of 1.17-1.65), and this was explained by demographic variables and occupational characteristics. The smoking prevalence of the long work hours group was 1.11 times higher than that of the reference work hours group when the age was standardized (95% confidence interval of 1.03-1.19). This was explained by demographic variables. No independent effects of short or long work hours were found when the variables were adjusted. CONCLUSION: Any intervention program to decrease the smoking prevalence in the short work hours group must take into account employment type, job satisfaction, and work-related factors

Improvements of motion vector in variational echo tracking technique by correction of initial guess

Póster presentado en: 3rd European Nowcasting Conference, celebrada en la sede central de AEMET en Madrid del 24 al 26 de abril de 2019

Large-scale preparation of active caspase-3 in E. coli by designing its thrombin-activatable precursors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Caspase-3, a principal apoptotic effector that cleaves the majority of cellular substrates, is an important medicinal target for the treatment of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. Large amounts of the protein are required for drug discovery research. However, previous efforts to express the full-length caspase-3 gene in <it>E. coli </it>have been unsuccessful.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overproducers of thrombin-activatable full-length caspase-3 precursors were prepared by engineering the auto-activation sites of caspase-3 precursor into a sequence susceptible to thrombin hydrolysis. The engineered precursors were highly expressed as soluble proteins in <it>E. coli </it>and easily purified by affinity chromatography, to levels of 10–15 mg from 1 L of <it>E. coli </it>culture, and readily activated by thrombin digestion. Kinetic evaluation disclosed that thrombin digestion enhanced catalytic activity (<it>k</it>_cat/<it>K</it>_<it>M</it>) of the precursor proteins by two orders of magnitude.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A novel method for a large-scale preparation of active caspase-3 was developed by a strategic engineering to lack auto-activation during expression with amino acid sequences susceptible to thrombin, facilitating high-level expression in <it>E. coli</it>. The precursor protein was easily purified and activated through specific cleavage at the engineered sites by thrombin, generating active caspase-3 in high yields.</p

New Signature Scheme Using Conjugacy Problem

We propose a new digital signature scheme based on a non-commutative group where the conjugacy search problem is hard and the conjugacy decision problem is feasible. We implement our signature scheme in the braid groups and prove that an existential forgery of the implementation under no message attack gives a solution to a variation of conjugacy search problem. Then we discuss performance of our scheme under suggested parameters

A Case of Recurrent Schneiderian Papilloma of the Lacrimal Sac Invading the Nasal Cavity

A 44-year-old man presented with a history of chronic epiphora, discharge from the right eye, and a palpable mass in the medial canthal area. Irrigation of the lacrimal system revealed bloody discharge. Orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a well-defined heterogeneous enhanced mass filling the lacrimal sac and upper nasolacrimal duct (NLD). A wide excision and surgical biopsy were performed. Histopathology showed the tumor to be an exophytic Schneiderian papilloma with moderate to severe dysplasia. Three months later, the mass was found to be invading the nasal cavity through the NLD. Endoscopic histopathological evaluation confirmed that it was identical to the originally identified papilloma

Clinical Impact of Prophylactic Antibiotic Treatment for Self-Expandable Metallic Stent Insertion in Patients with Malignant Colorectal Obstruction

Purpose. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of prophylactic antibiotics (PA) for reducing the infectious complications and the potential risk factors responsible for the infectious complications after stent insertion for malignant colorectal obstruction. Methods. We performed a retrospective review of 224 patients who underwent self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) insertion for malignant colorectal obstruction from May 2004 to December 2012. Results. There were 145 patients in the PA group and 79 in non-PA group. The CRP level in PA group was significantly higher than that in non-PA. Abdominal tenderness and mechanical ileus were significantly more frequent in PA group than those in non-PA. The frequency of post-SEMS insertion fever, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), and bacteremia was not significantly different between PA and non-PA groups. In multivariate analysis, the CRP level was risk factor related to post-SEMS insertion SIRS. However, in propensity score matching analysis, there was no independent risk factor related to post-SEMS insertion fever, SIRS, and bacteremia. Conclusion. The use of PA in patients with malignant colorectal obstruction may be not effective to prevent the development of infectious complications after SEMS insertion

Neo-Marxian social class inequalities in self-rated health among the employed in South Korea: the role of material, behavioral, psychosocial, and workplace environmental factors

Background The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of social inequality in self-rated health among the employed using the Wrights social class location indicator, and to assess the roles of material, behavioral, psychosocial, and workplace environmental factors as mediating factors in explaining the social class inequality in self-rated health in South Korea. Methods This study used data from the 4th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2009. Study subjects included the employed population of 4392 men and 3309 women aged 19–64 years. Subjects were classified into twelve social class positions based on the Wrights social class map. The health outcome was self-rated health. Material, psychosocial, behavioral, and workplace environmental factors were considered as potential mediators in explaining social class health inequality. We calculated prevalence ratios of poor self-rated health according to social class, adjusted for age and mediating factors using Poisson regression models. Results Nonskilled workers and petty bourgeoisie reported worse self-rated health than other social classes among men. The age-adjusted prevalence of petty bourgeoisie and nonskilled workers were about four-fold greater than that of managers. Expert supervisors in the contradictory class location had a greater prevalence of poor self-rated health than experts in men. In women, the prevalence of poor self-rated health was greater in most social classes than their male counterparts, while the differences among social classes within women were not statistically significant. Workplace environmental factors explained the social class inequality by from 24 to 31% in nonskilled and skilled workers and nonskilled supervisors, respectively, and material factors showed an explanatory ability of about 8% for both nonskilled workers and petty bourgeoisie in men. Conclusions We showed the inequality in self-rated health according to the Wrights social class in an industrialized Asian country. Policy efforts to improve workplace environments in nonskilled and skilled workers and nonskilled supervisors would have a moderate effect on reducing the magnitude of social class inequality in self-rated health. Furthermore, the means to improve power relations in the workplace should be devised to further reduce the social class inequalities in health