Effects of behavioral risk factors and social-environmental factors on non-communicable diseases in South Korea: a national survey approach

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are one of the major health threats in the world. Thus, identifying the factors that influence NCDs is crucial to monitor and manage diseases. This study investigates the effects of social-environmental and behavioral risk factors on NCDs as well as the effects of social-environmental factors on behavioral risk factors using an integrated research model. This study used a dataset from the 2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. After filtering incomplete responses, 5462 valid responses remained. Items including one’s social-environmental factors (household income, education level, and region), behavioral factors (alcohol use, tobacco use, and physical activity), and NCDs histories were used for analyses. To develop a comprehensive index of each factor that allows comparison between different concepts, the researchers assigned scores to indicators of the factors and calculated a ratio of the scores. A series of path analyses were conducted to determine the extent of relationships among NCDs and risk factors. The results showed that social-environmental factors have notable effects on stroke, myocardial infarction, angina, diabetes, and gastric, liver, colon, lung, and thyroid cancers. The results indicate that the effects of social-environmental and behavioral risk factors on NCDs vary across the different types of diseases. The effects of social-environmental factors and behavioral risk factors significantly affected NCDs. However, the effect of social-environmental factors on behavioral risk factors was not supported. Furthermore, social-environmental factors and behavioral risk factors affect NCDs in a similar way. However, the effects of behavioral risk factors were smaller than those of social-environmental factors. The current research suggests taking a comprehensive view of risk factors to further understand the antecedents of NCDs in South Korea

Downregulation of protein kinase CK2 activity induces age-related biomarkers in C. elegans

Studies show that a decrease in protein kinase CK2 (CK2) activity is associated with cellular senescence. However, the role of CK2 in organism aging is still poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether protein kinase CK2 (CK2) modulated longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans. CK2 activity decreased with advancing age in the worms. Knockdown of kin-10 (the ortholog of CK2 beta) led to a short lifespan phenotype and induced age-related biomarkers, including retardation of locomotion, decreased pharyngeal pumping rate, increased lipofuscin accumulation, and reduced resistance to heat and oxidative stress. The long lifespan of age-1 and akt-1 mutants was significantly suppressed by kin-10 RNAi, suggesting that CK2 acts downstream of AGE-1 and AKT-1. Kin-10 knockdown did not further shorten the short lifespan of daf-16 mutant worms but either decreased or increased the transcriptional activity of DAF-16 depending on the promoters of the target genes, indicating that CK2 is an upstream regulator of DAF-16 in C. elegans. Kin-10 knockdown increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the worms. Finally, the ROS scavenger N-acetyl-L-cysteine significantly counteracts the lifespan shortening and lipofuscin accumulation induced by kin-10 knockdown. Therefore, the present results suggest that age-dependent CK2 downregulation reduces longevity by associating with both ROS generation and the AGE-1-AKT-1-DAF-16 pathway in C. elegans. © Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.1111sci

Current Status of Biportal Endoscopic Decompression for Lumbar Foraminal Stenosis: Endoscopic Partial Facetectomy and Outcome Factors

Degenerative lumbar foraminal stenosis is relatively common condition in which the circumferential narrowing of the space available for the nerve root leads to back pain and radicular symptoms. The preferred surgical treatment to relieve the compression of the nerve root has not been established yet. Recently, several reports have shown good clinical outcomes in patients who underwent biportal endoscopic decompression for the treatment of degenerative lumbar foraminal stenosis. The floating-type biportal endoscopic technique could be used with various surgical instruments without docking in the narrowed foramen, unlike the full-endoscopic technique. Multiple sites can be accessed with more freedom in the approaching angle through triangulation and portal switching. We reviewed articles to understand putative outcome factors and discuss the appropriate indications for biportal endoscopic foraminal decompression. Lumbar lordosis, degenerative lumbar scoliosis, height of the posterior intervertebral disc and level of procedure were all related to clinical outcomes. The best indications and contraindications to the endoscopic foraminal decompression still depends on the surgeon’s skill level and evolving experience. However, we could suggest that biportal endoscopic spinal surgery is supposed to be an alternative treatment for foraminal decompression preserving motion and stability, and decreasing the need for fusion surgery in various lumbar degenerative disease

Between comments and repeat visit: capturing repeat visitors with a hybrid approach

Purpose Understanding customers' revisiting behavior is highlighted in the field of service industry and the emergence of online communities has enabled customers to express their prior experience. Thus, purpose of this study is to investigate customers' reviews on an online hotel reservation platform, and explores their postbehaviors from their reviews. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ two different approaches and compare the accuracy of predicting customers' post behavior: (1) using several machine learning classifiers based on sentimental dimensions of customers' reviews and (2) conducting the experiment consisted of two subsections. In the experiment, the first subsection is designed for participants to predict whether customers who wrote reviews would visit the hotel again (referred to as Prediction), while the second subsection examines whether participants want to visit one of the particular hotels when they read other customers' reviews (dubbed as Decision). Findings The accuracy of the machine learning approaches (73.23%) is higher than that of the experimental approach (Prediction: 58.96% and Decision: 64.79%). The key reasons of users' predictions and decisions are identified through qualitative analyses. Originality/value The findings reveal that using machine learning approaches show the higher accuracy of predicting customers' repeat visits only based on employed sentimental features. With the novel approach of integrating customers' decision processes and machine learning classifiers, the authors provide valuable insights for researchers and providers of hospitality services

Glucose repression of the Escherichia coli sdhCDAB operon, revisited: regulation by the CRP·cAMP complex

Expression of the Escherichia coli sdhCDAB operon encoding the succinate dehydrogenase complex is regulated in response to growth conditions, such as anaerobiosis and carbon sources. An anaerobic repression of sdhCDAB is known to be mediated by the ArcB/A two-component system and the global Fnr anaerobic regulator. While the cAMP receptor protein (CRP) and Cra (formerly FruR) are known as key mediators of catabolite repression, they have been excluded from the glucose repression of the sdhCDAB operon. Although the glucose repression of sdhCDAB was reported to involve a mechanism dependent on the ptsG expression, the molecular mechanism underlying the glucose repression has never been clarified. In this study, we re-examined the mechanism of the sdhCDAB repression by glucose and found that CRP directly regulates expression of the sdhCDAB operon and that the glucose repression of this operon occurs in a cAMP-dependent manner. The levels of phosphorylated enzyme IIA(Glc) and intracellular cAMP on various carbon sources were proportional to the expression levels of sdhC-lacZ. Disruption of crp or cya completely abolished the glucose repression of sdhC-lacZ expression. Together with data showing correlation between the intracellular cAMP concentrations and the sdhC-lacZ expression levels in several mutants and wild type, in vitro transcription assays suggest that the decrease in the CRP·cAMP level in the presence of glucose is the major determinant of the glucose repression of the sdhCDAB operon