The experience of unmarried mothers raising their children in residential facilities: a phenomenological qualitative study

Background : Birth outside of marriage has been gradually increasing in Korea. However, social perception of unmarried mothers is still negative, and a number of them are not accepted by their family. Therefore, the Korean government has implemented a policy to provide financial aid and communal residence to unmarried mothers who cannot raise children with their family, or afford residence. Unmarried young mothers who rely on this government policy have low economic independence and social adaptation skills. Additionally, they have a high chance of encountering numerous challenges in raising children due to their living conditions in residential facilities and social prejudice. This study was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experience of unmarried mothers raising children in residential facilities. Methods : Data were collected through in-depth interviews with nine unmarried mothers living in residential facilities with their children. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted to analyze the data. Results : The findings revealed that unmarried mothers struggled with various difficulties given the limitations of living in the facility, but attempted to navigate their uncertain future with the determination to be good mothers. Three main themes and eight sub-themes emerged: (1) adaptation to the identity of “unmarried mother”, (2) willingly undertaking the heavy burden of childrearing, (3) indispensable but insufficient supports from facilities. Participants had childrearing responsibilities, and tried to be good mothers for their children while struggling to adapt to their new identities. However, their self-doubt as a “good mother” and the absence of the child's father made them feel sorry for their child. Their daily experiences raising children and simultaneously preparing for their own independence were exhausting. The supports from the facilities were helpful but unsatisfactory and led to various psychosocial difficulties such as anxiety, depression, fear, guilty, and anger in unmarried mothers. Conclusions : Besides information and resources for parenting and independence, active approaches are needed to improve the psychological stability of unmarried mothers raising their children in facilities, and sustain a long-term socioeconomic support system. Thoughtful services tailored to mothers and children are also needed, instead of standardized services.This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) under grant by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. NRF-2019R1A2B5B01070519)

Loss of Nuclear BAP1 Expression Is Associated with High WHO/ISUP Grade in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Background BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) mutations are frequently reported in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC); however, very few studies have evaluated the role of these mutations in other renal cell carcinoma (RCC) subtypes. Therefore, we analyzed BAP1 protein expression using immunohistochemistry in several RCC subtypes and assessed its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics of patients. Methods BAP1 expression was immunohistochemically evaluated in tissue microarray blocks constructed from 371 samples of RCC collected from two medical institutions. BAP1 expression was evaluated based on the extent of nuclear staining in tumor cells, and no expression or expression in < 10% of tumor cells was defined as negative. Results Loss of BAP1 expression was observed in ccRCC (56/300, 18.7%), chromophobe RCC (6/26, 23.1%), and clear cell papillary RCC (1/4, 25%), while we failed to detect BAP1 expression loss in papillary RCC, acquired cystic disease-associated RCC, or collecting duct carcinoma. In ccRCC, loss of BAP1 expression was significantly associated with high World Health Organization (WHO)/International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade (p = .002); however, no significant correlation was observed between loss of BAP1 expression and survival in ccRCC. Loss of BAP1 expression showed no association with prognostic factors in chromophobe RCC. Conclusions Loss of BAP1 nuclear expression was observed in both ccRCC and chromophobe RCC. In addition, BAP1 expression loss was associated with poor prognostic factors such as high WHO/ISUP grade in ccRCC

Modeling the Synergistic Impact of Yttrium 90 Radioembolization and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors on Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The impact of yttrium 90 radioembolization (Y90-RE) in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has recently gained attention. However, it is unclear how sequencing and dosage affect therapeutic efficacy. The purpose of this study was to develop a mathematical model to simulate the synergistic effects of Y90-RE and ICI combination therapy and find the optimal treatment sequences and dosages. We generated a hypothetical patient cohort and conducted simulations to apply different treatments to the same patient. The compartment of models is described with ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which represent targeted tumors, non-targeted tumors, and lymphocytes. We considered Y90-RE as a local treatment and ICIs as a systemic treatment. The model simulations show that Y90-RE and ICIs administered simultaneously yield greater benefits than subsequent sequential therapy. In addition, applying Y90-RE before ICIs has more benefits than applying ICIs before Y90-RE. Moreover, we also observed that the median PFS increased up to 31~36 months, and the DM rates at 3 years decreased up to 36~48% as the dosage of the two drugs increased (p < 0.05). The proposed model predicts a significant benefit of Y90-RE with ICIs from the results of the reduced irradiated tumor burden and the associated immune activation and suppression. Our model is expected to help optimize complex strategies and predict the efficacy of clinical trials for HCC patients

Blautia argi Paek & Shin & Kook & Chang 2019, SP. NOV.

DESCRIPTION OF BLAUTIA ARGI SP. NOV. Blautia argi [ar′ gi. L. masc. n. Argus -i (from Gr. n. Argos), of or pertaining to Argus, in Homer’ s Odyssey the old faithful dog of Ulysses, referring to the isolation of the type strain from a faecal sample of a mature dog]. Gram-positive, obligately anaerobic, non-spore forming and non-motile. Cells in colonies formed on RCM with 5 % sheep blood are coccoid or oval-shaped and 0.7–1.0×1.5– 2.6 µm in size. Growth occurs from 20 to 40 Ǫ C, with an optimum of 37 Ǫ C, and from pH 6 to 8, with an optimum of pH 7. The species tolerates up to 3.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1.0 %). In the Rapid 32A test the species is positive for arginine dihydrolase, a - galactosidas e, b - galactosidase, a - glucosidase, b - glucosidase and a - arabinosidase, and negative for urease, b- galactosidase-6-phosphate, b- glucuronidase, N -acetyl - b - glucosaminidase, mannose fermentation, raffinose fermentation, glutamic acid decarboxylase, a - fucosidase, reduction of nitrates, indole production, alkaline phosphate, arginine arylamidase, proline arylamidase, leucyl glycine arylamidase, phenylalanine arylamidase, leucine arylamidase, pyroglutamic acid arylamidase, tyrosine arylamidase, alanine arylamidase, glycine arylamidase, histidine, arylamidase, glutamyl glutamic acid arylamidase and serine arylamidase. In the API ZYM test, the species is positive for a- galactosidase, b- galactosidase, a- glucosidase and b- glucosidase activity, but negative for alkaline phosphatase, esterase (C4), esterase lipase (C8), lipase (C14), leucine arylamidase, valine arylamidase, cystine arylamidase, trypsin, a- chymotrypsin, acid phosphatase, naphthol-AS-b-phosphohydrolase, b- glucuronidase, N -acetyl-b- glucosaminidase, a- mannosidase and a- fucosidase activity. Acid is produced from L- arabinose, galactose, glucose, fructose, methyl a- D- glucoside, amygdalin, arbutin, aesculin, salicin, cellobiose, maltose, lactose, melibiose, sucrose, gentiobiose but not glycerol, erythritol, D- arabinose, L- arabinose, D-ribose, D- xylose, adonitol, methyl b- D- xylopyranside, sorbose, rhanmose, dulcitol, inositol, mannitol, sorbitol, methyl a, D- mannopyranside, N -acethyl-glucosamine, trehalose, inulin, melezitose, starch, glycogen, xylitol, D- turanose, D-lyxose, D- tagatose, D- fucose, D- arabitol, L- arabitol, gluconate, 2-keto-gluconate and 5-keto-gluconate by API 50 CH test strips. The diagnostic diamino acid of the peptidoglycan is m - DAP. The major fatty acids are C 14: 0, C 16: 0 and C 18: 1 cis 9. DPG and PG are the major polar lipids, with PL, AL and GL comprising the minor polar lipids. The end products of glucose metabolism are lactic and acetic acids, with trace amounts of formic acid present. The G +C content is 44.2 mol% and the type strain yielded a 77.1 % ANI value and 24.5 % GGD value with B. hansenii KCTC 5951 T. The type strain, N6H1-15 T (= KCTC 15426 = JCM 31394), was isolated from dog faeces. The GenBank/ EMBL / DDBJ accession number for the 16S rRNA gene sequence is KX025138 for N6H1-15 T and MG 493231 for YH1_16.Published as part of Paek, Jayoung, Shin, Yeseul, Kook, Joong-Ki & Chang, Young-Hyo, 2019, Blautia argi sp. nov., a new anaerobic bacterium isolated from dog faeces, pp. 33-38 in International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 69 (1) on page 37, DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.002981, http://zenodo.org/record/604862

The COVID-19 pandemic and factors influencing depression in residents of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak caused the border closure, martial law declaration, and lockdown to prevent the spread of the disease. These policies caused reduced interaction among people, social isolation, and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Objectives: This study aimed to examine changes in depressive symptoms of residents of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that may have arisen due to the COVID-19 and lockdown measures and to identify relevant influencing factors. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 300 residents of the DRC. An online survey tool investigated general and public health characteristics and included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 for measuring depressive symptoms. The study was conducted from April 7–30, 2020. Results: The average depression score was low at 2.74±3.33. Factors influencing depression were the number of family members, probability of death due to COVID-19, knowledge of COVID-19, and time at home. The factor that most significantly influenced depression and these variables accounted for 26.9% of the influence of COVID-19 on depression (F= 9.936, p<.001). Conclusion: This study investigated the influence of COVID-19 outbreak on depression in DRC. Levels of depression increased for individuals who were living alone, had low levels of knowledge of COVID-19 and awareness of the disease severity, and spent a long time at home.

Perception and Experience of Sexual and Gender Minority Korean Youth in School Counseling

© 2022, The Author(s).To comprehensively explore the school counseling experience of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youths in South Korea, we interviewed 14 SGM youths about their school counseling experience and the climate of their schools toward SGM. Results showed that a hostile school climate and the accessibility, confidentiality, trustworthiness, and LGBTQ competency of school counselors drove the reluctance of these youths to receive school counseling services. Implications for the role of school counseling services for SGM youths were discussed based on the findings of this work and the suggestions offered by the interviewed SGM youths.Y

Glass Transition and Thermal Expansion Behavior of Polystyrene Films Supported on Polystyrene-Grafted Substrates

Glass Transition and Thermal Expansion Behavior of Polystyrene Films Supported on Polystyrene-Grafted Substrate

Restoration of regulatory B cell deficiency following alemtuzumab therapy in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis

Abstract Background Regulatory B cells (Bregs), which protect from autoimmunity, are deficient in multiple sclerosis (MS). Novel regulatory B cell subsets CD19+CD24hiCD38hi cells and CD19+PD-L1hi cells, with disparate regulatory mechanisms have been defined. Alemtuzumab provides a long-lasting suppression of disease activity in MS. In contrast to its documented efficacy, alemtuzumab’s mechanism of action is not fully understood and information about the composition of repopulating B cell pool is scarce. Aim To characterize repopulated B cell subsets and elucidate alemtuzumab’s mechanism of action in B cell perspective. Methods The frequency and the absolute number of Bregs were studied in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 37 MS patients and 11 healthy controls (HC). Longitudinal analysis of the frequency and the absolute number of Bregs in PBMC of 11 MS patients was evaluated, before and at 6, 9, and 12 months post alemtuzumab. Results We found deficiency of CD19+CD24hiCD38hi cells during relapse compared to remission and HC (relapse vs remission: p = 0.0006, relapse vs HC: p = 0.0004). CD19+PD-L1hi cells were deficient during relapse than remission and HC (relapse vs remission: p = 0.0113, relapse vs HC: p = 0.0007). Following alemtuzumab, the distribution of B cells shifts towards naïve phenotype and Breg deficiency is restored. The frequency of CD19+CD24hiCD38hi cells was significantly increased at 6 M and 9 M compared to 0 M (6 M vs 0 M: p = 0.0004, 9 M vs 0 M: p = 0.0079). At 9 M, the frequency of CD19+CD24hiCD38hi cells started to decrease and by 12 M the frequency was reduced compared to 6 M, although it was significantly higher than baseline level (12 M vs 0 M: p = 0.0257). The absolute number was significantly increased at 6 M and 9 M post-alemtuzumab (6 M vs 0 M: p = 0.0063, 9 M vs 0 M: p = 0.02). The frequency of CD19+PD-L1hi cells significantly increased until 12 M (6 M vs 0 M: p = 0.0004, 12 M vs 0 M: p = 0.0036). The frequency of CD19+PD-L1hi cells at 12 M was significantly higher than 9 M (p = 0.0311). We further pinpoint that CD19+CD24hiCD38hi cells were deficient at severe relapses following alemtuzumab infusion and restored during recovery. Conclusions Our results highlight the preferential reconstitution of Bregs as a possible mechanism of action of alemtuzumab and CD19+CD24hiCD38hi cells as a potential biomarker for disease activity