Detecting Depression of Cancer Patients with Daily Mental Health Logs from Mobile Applications

Mobile mental health trackers, the mobile applications that gather self-reported mental logs from users, have gained recent attention from clinicians as a tool for detecting patients’ depression. However, critics have raised questions about the validity of the data collected from mental health trackers, which ask only a few simple questions using the face emoticon scale. This is the first study to address this issue, and we provide theoretical discussion that leads to the following hypotheses: (1) simpler but larger datasets collected daily from mobile mental health trackers can serve as good indicators to detect patients’ depression, and (2) higher adherence to mobile mental health trackers enhances screening accuracy. We test our hypotheses using the dataset of 5,792 sets of daily mental health logs collected from 78 breast cancer patients. Our random logistic panel regression and ROC analysis results, as well as k-means clustering analysis, provide strong supports for both hypotheses

Profit or Purpose: What Increases Medical Doctors’ Job Satisfaction?

This study integrates two competing views to examine whether medical doctors are satisfied with their jobs when they perceive their hospitals as being oriented toward profit (i.e., rational choice theory) or purpose (i.e., public service motivation). Using a sample of 127 doctors from 70 hospitals, this study tests these competing views. The results show that doctors who perceive their hospitals as purpose-driven are likely to experience job satisfaction, and this pattern still holds even if they also perceive their hospitals to be emphasizing profits. However, only the purpose-driven orientation results in job satisfaction via a sense of meaningfulness. Thus, this study offers comprehensive evidence that while medical doctors are likely to be satisfied with their jobs when they work at either purpose-driven or profit-driven hospitals, only purpose-driven hospitals give doctors a sense of meaningfulness. This finding suggests that both rational choice theory and public service motivation perspective are valid; however, public service motivation plays a greater role in terms of a sense of meaningfulness. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed

TCF/β-catenin plays an important role in HCCR-1 oncogene expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oncogene <it>HCCR-1 </it>functions as a negative regulator of the p53 and contributes to tumorigenesis of various human tissues. However, it is unknown how <it>HCCR-1 </it>contributes to the cellular and biochemical mechanisms of human tumorigenesis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we showed how the expression of <it>HCCR-1 </it>is modulated. The luciferase activity assay indicated that the <it>HCCR-1 </it>5'-flanking region at positions -166 to +30 plays an important role in <it>HCCR-1 </it>promoter activity. Computational analysis of this region identified two consensus sequences for the T-cell factor (TCF) located at -26 to -4 (Tcf1) and -136 to -114 (Tcf2). Mutation at the Tcf1 site led to a dramatic decrease in promoter activity. Mobility shift assays (EMSA) revealed that nuclear proteins bind to the Tcf1 site, but not to the Tcf2 site. LiCl, Wnt signal activator by GSK-3β inhibition, significantly increased reporter activities in wild-type Tcf1-containing constructs, but were without effect in mutant Tcf1-containing constructs in HEK/293 cells. In addition, endogenous <it>HCCR-1 </it>expression was also increased by treatment with GSK-3β inhibitor, LiCl or AR-A014418 in HEK/293 and K562 cells. Finally, we also observed that the transcription factor, TCF, and its cofactor, β-catenin, bound to the Tcf1 site.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest that the Tcf1 site on the <it>HCCR-1 </it>promoter is a major element regulating <it>HCCR-1 </it>expression and abnormal stimulation of this site may induce various human cancers.</p

Comparison of infant mortality and associated factors between Korean and immigrant women in Korea: an 11-year longitudinal study

Purpose This study compared infant mortality and its associated factors between Korean and immigrant women using vital statistics gathered by Statistics Korea. Methods Birth and death statistics from the period between 2009 and 2019 were extracted from the census of population dynamics data of the Microdata Integrated Service, Korea. Statistical data were derived from a complete survey and infant mortality was analyzed from mortality statistics data. Descriptive statistics were used for comparison. Results The average infant mortality rate (IMR) of Korean women was 2.7 in Koreawhich, did not change significantly between 2009 and 2019; however, the IMR of immigrant women increased significantly in 2018 to 4.2 and subsequently decreased to 2.6 in 2019. Moreover, the age of Korean and immigrant women at the time of infant death gradually increased from 31.1 years and 25.9 years in 2009 to 32.8 years and 30.9 years in 2019, respectively. The gestational age was lower for deceased infants born to immigrant women (mean, 31.04 weeks; standard deviation [SD], 6.42; median, 30.00 ) compared to those born to Korean women (mean, 31.71 weeks; SD, 6.48; median, 32.00). Immigrant women (91.7%) received slightly fewer antenatal care visits compared to Korean women (93.1%). Conclusion It is vital to devise a plan to lower the IMR of immigrant women in Korea. Moreover, it is necessary to explore the factors related to infant mortality among immigrant women within the context of Korean societal situation, culture, and home environment

Comparison of the number of live births, maternal age at childbirth, and weight of live births between Korean women and immigrant women in 2018

Purpose This study compared maternal age at childbirth, the number of live births, and the weight of live births between Korean women and immigrant women using statistical data from the Republic of Korea for the period of 2008-2018. Methods The analysis was conducted using data from the Microdata Integrated Service of Statistics Korea (https://mdis.kostat.go.kr/index.do). Results Korean women and immigrant women showed a higher age at childbirth in 2018 than in 2008. The percentage of newborns of Korean women with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg increased slightly for 3 consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, whereas for immigrant women, this percentage increased in 2017 compared to 2016 and then decreased again in 2018. Very low birth weight (less than 1.5 kg) became more common among immigrant women from 2016 to 2018. Birth at a gestational age of fewer than 37 weeks increased both among Korean and immigrant women from 2016 to 2018. In both groups, the percentage of women who had their first child within their first 2 years of marriage decreased from 2008 to 2018. Conclusion Immigrant women had higher birth rates than Korean women, while both groups showed an increasing trend in preterm birth. Greater attention should be paid to the pregnancy and birth needs of immigrant women, and steps are needed to ensure health equity and access in order to prevent preterm births. It is also necessary to identify factors that affect preterm birth and birth of very low birth weight infants among immigrant women in the future

CHD7 Mutational Analysis and Clinical Considerations for Auditory Rehabilitation in Deaf Patients with CHARGE Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Otologic manifestations are one of the most consistent findings of CHARGE syndrome found in more than 90%. Since genetic analysis of the CHD7 gene has rarely been performed in previous reports dealing with ear abnormalities, the genotypic spectrum of CHD7 mutations was analyzed in deaf patients with CHARGE syndrome, and the clinical considerations concerning auditory rehabilitation were investigated. METHODS: Nine Korean patients with CHARGE syndrome showing profound hearing loss and semicircular canal aplasia were included. All 38 exons of CHD7 were analyzed by direct sequencing. For splice site variations, in silico and exon-trapping analyses were performed to verify the pathogenicity of nucleotide variations. Clinical features and the outcome of auditory rehabilitation were also analyzed. RESULTS: Eight of 9 patients revealed alterations of the CHD7 gene including 3 frameshift, 2 nonsense, 2 splice site, and 1 missense mutations. Five of 9 patients were clinically diagnosed as atypical CHARGE syndrome but demonstrated various mutations of the CHD7 gene. One familial case showed intra-familial variability. Radiologic findings suggesting cochleovestibular nerve deficiency were identified in most of the patients. Of the 8 patients who underwent cochlear implantation, 5 patients demonstrated favorable outcome. Larger diameter of the cochleovestibular nerve on imaging and absence of severe mental retardation were factors related to better outcome after cochlear implantation rather than the type of CHD7 mutations. Auditory brainstem implantation was performed in two patients who did not benefit from cochlear implantation. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic analysis of the CHD7 gene should be performed in cases with semicircular canal aplasia even when other typical features of CHARGE syndrome are absent. For auditory rehabilitation in CHARGE syndrome, cochlear implantation should be strongly recommended in selected cases with favorable prognostic factors. Auditory brainstem implantation may be a viable option in patients with CHARGE syndrome who have failed to benefit from cochlear implantation

Evolution of a Strategy for Concise Enantioselective Total Synthesis of the Salinosporamide Family of Natural Products

Our first strategy for rapidly accessing pyrrolidinone cores of salinosporamides involved combined use of memory of chirality and dynamic kinetic resolution principles in aldol reactions of the serine-derived 5-oxazolidinone substrate, which was ultimately unsuccessful with respect to enantioselectivity. This failure led us to the revised strategy. The influence of the stereocenter in 5-oxazolidinone enabled selective installation of the C-2 stereocenter. The intramolecular aldol reaction of the C-2 stereodefined aldol substrate was successful. An unexpected hydrolytic dynamic kinetic resolution was observed in hydrolyses of the bicyclic aldol products. This unprecedented substrate-driven hydrolytic dynamic kinetic resolution was utilized in preparing the pyrrolidinone core with excellent efficiency. Through this strategy, the concise total syntheses of salinosporamides A and B as well as cinnabaramides A, E, and F were achieved with high selectivity.N

Proliferation of activated CD1d-restricted NKT cells is down-modulated by lymphocyte activation gene-3 signaling via cell cycle arrest in S phase

Upon antigenic stimulation, CD1d-restricted NKT cells quickly secrete large amounts of cytokines. This prompt response demonstrates that CD1d-restricted NKT cells may potentially prove to be useful therapeutic agents for the treatment of many diseases. Despite the clinical importance of CD1d-restricted NKT cells, the regulating mechanisms of this unique T cell population remain to be defined. We found murine LAG-3 is inducible on CD1d-restricted NKT cells as the result of a variety of stimulants such as concanavalin A (con A) and anti-CD3. Also, antigen-specific CD1d stimulation can elicit LAG-3 in CD1d-restricted NKT cells. Moreover, ectopic LAG-3 expression on CD1d-restricted NKT cells results in cell cycle arrest in the S phase. These results show that LAG-3 signaling on activated CD1d-restricted NKT cells may down-modulate NKT cell proliferation