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BACKGROUND@#To achieve optimal bone marrow engraftment during bone marrow transplantation, migration of donor bone marrow cells (BMCs) toward the recipient’s bone marrow is critical. Despite the enhanced engraftment of BMCs by co-administration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the efficiency can be variable depending on MSC donor. The purpose of this study is to examine the functional heterogeneity of tonsil-derived MSCs (TMSCs) and to identify a marker to evaluate efficacy for the enhancement of BMC migration. @*METHODS@#To examine the donor-to-donor variation of TMSCs in potentiating BMC migration, we isolated TMSCs from 25 independent donors. Transcriptome of TMSCs and proteome of conditioned medium derived from TMSC were analyzed. @*RESULTS@#Enhanced BMC migration by conditioned medium derived from TMSCs was variable depending on TMSC donor. The TMSCs derived from 25 donors showed distinct expression profiles compared with other cells, including fibroblasts, adipose-derived MSCs and bone marrow–derived MSCs. TMSCs were distributed in two categories: high- and low-efficacy groups for potentiating BMC migration. Transcriptome analysis of TMSCs and proteome profiles of conditioned medium derived from TMSCs revealed higher expression and secretion of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 1 in the high-efficacy group. MMP1 knockdown in TMSCs abrogated the supportive efficacy of conditioned medium derived from TMSC cultures in BMC migration. @*CONCLUSION@#These data suggest that secreted MMP1 can be used as a marker to evaluate the efficacy of TMSCs in enhancing BMC migration. Furthermore, the strategy of analyzing transcriptomes and proteomes of the MSCs may be useful to set the standard for donor variation.
ABSTRACT
Hyper-immunoglobulin (Ig) M syndrome is a congenital immunodeficiency disorder characterized by increased serum IgM with low serum IgG, IgA, and IgE. We report the case of a 6-year-old boy with hyper-IgM syndrome as an underlying disease who showed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy findings on brain magnetic resonance imaging after visiting the hospital due to left upper extremity muscle weakness, gait disturbance, and speech impairment. At the time of hospitalization, he was treated with steroids and intravenous immunoglobulin, and his condition improved somewhat, but 6 months later, he visited the hospital with rapid deterioration.
ABSTRACT
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is commonly found in the surrounding environment and can cause opportunistic infection. Mainly, it causes lymph node infection in the cervical area, which is often known to occur in children. Recently, we have experienced a case of NTM infection on a branchial cleft cyst in a 36-year old male. NTM was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration and branchial cleft cyst was confirmed by postoperative pathologic findings. We report this case with a review of literature.
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Background and Objectives@#There has been a long debate on whether intraoperative parathyroid hormone (IOPTH) monitoring is mandatory or not in the excision of a single abnormal parathyroid gland. The aim of this study is to suggest a new criteron of IOPTH monitoring. Subjects and Method We retrospectively analyzed 31 patients who underwent parathyroidectomy from 2005 to 2019. Patients had IOPTH not measured and those with secondary hyperparathyroidism were excluded. IOPTH was measured preoperatively (EX00), at 10 minutes (EX10) and 20 minutes (EX20) after the excision and analyzed. We determined the surgery as a ‘successful excision of lesion (SEOUL)’ when it met the following criteria: criterion 1) the level of EX10 or EX20 decreased under the upper normal or under upper limit of parathyroid hormone (65 pg/mL); criterion 2) EX20 decreased below 50% of EX00 and less than 195 pg/ mL (3 times the upper normal limit); criterion 3) multiglandular disease. @*Results@#Twenty-five patients among 31 patients were included this study (M:F=8:17). Twenty- two patients were suspected of single lesion and three patients of multiple lesions on preoperative images (99mTc-sestamibi scan, neck CT, and PET-CT). IOPTH of EX00, EX10, and EX20 were 488.92±658.74, 121.36±134.73, and 92.44±111.55 pg/mL, respectively. Sixty-four percent patients (16/25) met the criterion 1. Six patients (24%) successfully excised a lesion meeting the criterion 2. Three patients had multiglandular disease, meeting the criterion 3. @*Conclusion@#Our new criteria suggest when we could stop the procedure. If the level of IOPTH does not meet the SEOUL criteria, it means that there might be more lesions.
ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives@#Treatment using systemic antibiotic administration and surgical drainage has been the common treatment modality for deep neck infection. This study compared the changing pattern of isolated pathogens to recommend the best empirical antibiotics for deep neck infection.Subjects and Method Reviewed retrospectively were medical charts of 131 patients who, confirmed with deep neck infection, underwent surgical drainage for pus cultures at Ewha Womans University Medical Center between January, 2009 and July, 2019. We analyzed the changing pattern of isolated pathogens and antibiotic susceptibility tests using their pus cultures. @*Results@#Streptococcus viridans was the most commonly isolated organism (35.1%), followed by Klebsiella pneumonia (13.7%) and Staphylococcus aureus (4.6%). The isolation rate of Streptococcus viridans increased in the recent 10 years [p=0.016, odds ratio (OR)=3.417]. Antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that all pathogens were resistant to ampicillin, but susceptible to ampicillin/sulbactam and cephalosporin. The isolation rate of clindamycin resistant pathogens was increased with statistical significance (p=0.020, OR=8.076). @*Conclusion@#Antibiotics effective against both Streptococcus viridans and Klebsiella pneumonia should be used as the first-line of treatment for deep neck infection. Ampicillin/sulbactam or amoxicillin/clavulanic acid were sufficient to treat deep neck infection empirically regardless of age or underlying diseases.
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This paper describes a community effort to improve earlier versions of the full-text corpus of Genomics & Informatics by semi-automatically detecting and correcting PDF-to-text conversion errors and optical character recognition errors during the first hackathon of Genomics & Informatics Annotation Hackathon (GIAH) event. Extracting text from multi-column biomedical documents such as Genomics & Informatics is known to be notoriously difficult. The hackathon was piloted as part of a coding competition of the ELTEC College of Engineering at Ewha Womans University in order to enable researchers and students to create or annotate their own versions of the Genomics & Informatics corpus, to gain and create knowledge about corpus linguistics, and simultaneously to acquire tangible and transferable skills. The proposed projects during the hackathon harness an internal database containing different versions of the corpus and annotations.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@#Respiratory mucosa defects result in airway obstruction and infection, requiring subsequent functionalrecovery of the respiratory epithelium. Because site-specific extracellular matrix (ECM) facilitates restoration of organfunction by promoting cellular migration and engraftment, previous studies considered decellularized trachea an idealECM; however, incomplete cell removal from cartilage and mucosal-architecture destruction are frequently reported. Here,we developed a decellularization protocol and applied it to the respiratory mucosa of separated porcine tracheas. @*METHODS@#The trachea was divided into groups according to decellularization protocol: native mucosa, freezing–thawing (FT), FT followed by the use of Perasafe-based chemical agents before mucosal separation (wFTP), after mucosalseparation (mFTP), and followed by DNase decellularization (mFTD). Decellularization efficacy was evaluated by DNAquantification and hematoxylin and eosin staining, and ECM content of the scaffold was evaluated by histologic analysisand glycosaminoglycan and collagen assays. Biocompatibility was assessed by cell-viability assay and in vivotransplantation. @*RESULTS@#The mFTP mucosa showed low antigenicity and maintained the ECM to form a proper microstructure.Additionally, tonsil-derived stem cells remained viable when cultured with or seeded onto mFTP mucosa, and the in vivohost response showed a constructive pattern following implantation of the mFTP scaffolds. @*CONCLUSION@#These results demonstrated that xenogenic acellular respiratory mucosa matrix displayed suitable biocompatibilityas a scaffold material for respiratory mucosa engineering.
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a community effort to improve earlier versions of the full-text corpus of Genomics & Informatics by semi-automatically detecting and correcting PDF-to-text conversion errors and optical character recognition errors during the first hackathon of Genomics & Informatics Annotation Hackathon (GIAH) event. Extracting text from multi-column biomedical documents such as Genomics & Informatics is known to be notoriously difficult. The hackathon was piloted as part of a coding competition of the ELTEC College of Engineering at Ewha Womans University in order to enable researchers and students to create or annotate their own versions of the Genomics & Informatics corpus, to gain and create knowledge about corpus linguistics, and simultaneously to acquire tangible and transferable skills. The proposed projects during the hackathon harness an internal database containing different versions of the corpus and annotations.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@#Respiratory mucosa defects result in airway obstruction and infection, requiring subsequent functionalrecovery of the respiratory epithelium. Because site-specific extracellular matrix (ECM) facilitates restoration of organfunction by promoting cellular migration and engraftment, previous studies considered decellularized trachea an idealECM; however, incomplete cell removal from cartilage and mucosal-architecture destruction are frequently reported. Here,we developed a decellularization protocol and applied it to the respiratory mucosa of separated porcine tracheas. @*METHODS@#The trachea was divided into groups according to decellularization protocol: native mucosa, freezing–thawing (FT), FT followed by the use of Perasafe-based chemical agents before mucosal separation (wFTP), after mucosalseparation (mFTP), and followed by DNase decellularization (mFTD). Decellularization efficacy was evaluated by DNAquantification and hematoxylin and eosin staining, and ECM content of the scaffold was evaluated by histologic analysisand glycosaminoglycan and collagen assays. Biocompatibility was assessed by cell-viability assay and in vivotransplantation. @*RESULTS@#The mFTP mucosa showed low antigenicity and maintained the ECM to form a proper microstructure.Additionally, tonsil-derived stem cells remained viable when cultured with or seeded onto mFTP mucosa, and the in vivohost response showed a constructive pattern following implantation of the mFTP scaffolds. @*CONCLUSION@#These results demonstrated that xenogenic acellular respiratory mucosa matrix displayed suitable biocompatibilityas a scaffold material for respiratory mucosa engineering.
ABSTRACT
Vocal fold injections are usually performed with a patient wake in an office under local anesthesia. For comfortable and safe office-based procedures, thorough anesthesia and premedication should be provided to the following three regions; nasal cavity, oropharynx, and larynx. Topical lidocaine is most widely used anesthetics on office based procedure. Lidocaine has a low to intermediate potency, 45 minutes to 60 minutes’ duration of action, and onset of sufficient anesthesia within 90 seconds of topical administration. Tetracaine, prilocaine, ropivacaine, and bupivacaine also have been used in the office-based procedures. Nasal decongestant, oxymetazoline, is also used for widening nasal cavity by constriction of nasal mucosa. The amount of topical and local anesthetics used in vocal fold injection rarely exceeds toxic doses. The physician should know proper anesthesia techniques and must be familiar with the safe dose and complication of all anesthetics used.
ABSTRACT
Background@#We first determined the efficacy of lesional injection of tonsil-derived MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) for the treatment of 5-fluorouracil induced oral mucositis. @*Methods@#Oral mucositis was induced in hamsters by administration of 5-fluorouracil (day 0, 2, 4) followed by mechanical trauma (day 1, 2, 4). The experimental groups included MT (mechanical trauma only), 5-FU + MT (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration), TMSC (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration, tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells injection), DEXA (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration, dexamethasone injection), and saline (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration, saline injection). @*Results@#On day 10, gross and histologic analyses showed that nearly complete healing and epithelialization of the cheek mucosa of the TMSC group, whereas the other groups showed definite ulcerative lesions. Compared with the MT and DEXA groups, CD31 expression was greater in the TMSC group on days 10 and 14. Tendency towards a decrease in MMP2 expression with the time in the TMSC group was observed. In addition, the TMSC group showed higher expression of TGF-β, and NOX4 on day 10 compared with the other groups. Scratch assay demonstrated that the conditioned media harvested from tonsil-derived MSCs significantly increased migratory efficacy of NIH3T3 cells. Transwell assay showed that the preferential migration of tonsil-derived MSCs to the wound area. @*Conclusion@#Intralesional administration of tonsil-derived MSCs may accelerate wound healing of 5-fluorouracil induced oral mucositis by upregulating neovascularization and effective wound contraction. In addition, tonsil-derived MSCs might contribute to oral ulcer regeneration via the stimulation of fibroblast proliferation and migration.
ABSTRACT
Vocal fold injections are usually performed with a patient wake in an office under local anesthesia. For comfortable and safe office-based procedures, thorough anesthesia and premedication should be provided to the following three regions; nasal cavity, oropharynx, and larynx. Topical lidocaine is most widely used anesthetics on office based procedure. Lidocaine has a low to intermediate potency, 45 minutes to 60 minutes’ duration of action, and onset of sufficient anesthesia within 90 seconds of topical administration. Tetracaine, prilocaine, ropivacaine, and bupivacaine also have been used in the office-based procedures. Nasal decongestant, oxymetazoline, is also used for widening nasal cavity by constriction of nasal mucosa. The amount of topical and local anesthetics used in vocal fold injection rarely exceeds toxic doses. The physician should know proper anesthesia techniques and must be familiar with the safe dose and complication of all anesthetics used.
ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives@#The King Hyojong was the 17th King of the Chosun dynasty from 1649 to 1659. He is well known for his plan for northern campaigns against the Manchus (Bukbeol, 북벌), an act of vengeance on the Qing dynasty for the war of 1636. His plan for the northern conquest was never put into action since he suddenly died of small boil on face in 40 years old. After his death, the reason of his sudden death was questioned by the public. Many people suspected him of being killed by poison. We studied and considered the cause of King Hyojong’s death based on two tremendous Chosun dynasty’s official records.Materials and Method We reviewed Joseon Wangjo Sillok (the annals of the Joseon dynasty) and Seungjeongwon Ilgi (the diaries of royal secretariat of the Joeson dynasty). @*Results@#King Hyojong had congenital pre-auricular fistula. He also had been suffering from diabetes and its related complications for a long time before his death. His pre-auricular fistula was infected and not managed properly. It could be presumed that King Hyojong’s cause of death was hypovolemic shock from fatal injury of superficial temporal artery caused by inappropriate incision and drainage. @*Conclusion@#We assumed a historical person’s cause of death based on Chosun dynasty’s official records.
ABSTRACT
Basal cell adenocarcinoma is 1 ~ 2 % of salivary gland carcinoma. It was recently classified as low grade malignancy. It is low grade malignant counterpart of basal cell adenoma. It has similar morphologic attributes with basal cell adenoma, but it has distinctive malignant potential including infiltrative growth into surrounding tissues and distant metastasis. Recently, we have experienced a case of basal cell adenocarcinoma arising from the bilateral parotid gland in a 38-year old woman who was previously operated on superficial parotidectomy due to pleomorphic adenoma. We report this rare case with a review of literature.
ABSTRACT
Basal cell adenocarcinoma is 1 ~ 2 % of salivary gland carcinoma. It was recently classified as low grade malignancy. It is low grade malignant counterpart of basal cell adenoma. It has similar morphologic attributes with basal cell adenoma, but it has distinctive malignant potential including infiltrative growth into surrounding tissues and distant metastasis. Recently, we have experienced a case of basal cell adenocarcinoma arising from the bilateral parotid gland in a 38-year old woman who was previously operated on superficial parotidectomy due to pleomorphic adenoma. We report this rare case with a review of literature.
ABSTRACT
Background@#We first determined the efficacy of lesional injection of tonsil-derived MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) for the treatment of 5-fluorouracil induced oral mucositis. @*Methods@#Oral mucositis was induced in hamsters by administration of 5-fluorouracil (day 0, 2, 4) followed by mechanical trauma (day 1, 2, 4). The experimental groups included MT (mechanical trauma only), 5-FU + MT (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration), TMSC (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration, tonsil-derived mesenchymal stem cells injection), DEXA (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration, dexamethasone injection), and saline (mechanical trauma with 5-fluorouracil administration, saline injection). @*Results@#On day 10, gross and histologic analyses showed that nearly complete healing and epithelialization of the cheek mucosa of the TMSC group, whereas the other groups showed definite ulcerative lesions. Compared with the MT and DEXA groups, CD31 expression was greater in the TMSC group on days 10 and 14. Tendency towards a decrease in MMP2 expression with the time in the TMSC group was observed. In addition, the TMSC group showed higher expression of TGF-β, and NOX4 on day 10 compared with the other groups. Scratch assay demonstrated that the conditioned media harvested from tonsil-derived MSCs significantly increased migratory efficacy of NIH3T3 cells. Transwell assay showed that the preferential migration of tonsil-derived MSCs to the wound area. @*Conclusion@#Intralesional administration of tonsil-derived MSCs may accelerate wound healing of 5-fluorouracil induced oral mucositis by upregulating neovascularization and effective wound contraction. In addition, tonsil-derived MSCs might contribute to oral ulcer regeneration via the stimulation of fibroblast proliferation and migration.
ABSTRACT
The Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics appointed a task force to establish clinical practice guidelines for the management of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). These guidelines cover a comprehensive range of management-related factors, including the diagnosis and treatment of UVFP, and provide in-depth information based on current, up-to-date knowledge. Detailed evidence profiles are provided for each recommendation. The CORE databases, including OVID Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and KoreaMed, were searched to identify all relevant papers, using a predefined search strategy. When insufficient evidence existed, expert opinions and Delphi questionnaires were used to fill the evidence gap. The committee developed 16 evidence-based recommendations in six categories: initial evaluation (R1–4), spontaneous recovery (R5), medical treatment (R6), surgical treatment (R7–14), voice therapy (R15), and aspiration prevention (R16). The goal of these guidelines is to assist general otolaryngologists and speech-language pathologists who are primarily responsible for treating patients with UVFP. These guidelines are also intended to facilitate understanding of the condition among other health-care providers, including primary care physicians, nurses, and policy-makers.
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Spasmodic dysphonia is a focal laryngeal dystonia that results in involuntary spasms during speech. The etiology of spasmodic dysphonia is not yet defined, but it is presumed to be a neurological abnormality of central nervous system motor function. The treatment of choice for spasmodic dysphonia is botulinum toxin injection directly at the laryngeal muscles. However botulinum toxin injection requires repeated procedures. Many different kinds of surgical treatments have been introduced but the recurrence rate is still high. So we performed myomectomy with LASER and neurectomy with specially designed electrical surgical knife which can cut recurrent laryngeal nerve branch selectively with its noble curved section. We report a case of a 43-year-old male patient with spasmodic dysphonia treated by thyroarytenoid myoneurectomy.
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BACKGROUND: The liver is an organ with remarkable regenerative capacity; however, once chronic fibrosis occurs, liver failure follows, with high mortality and morbidity rates. Continuous exposure to proinflammatory stimuli exaggerates the pathological process of liver failure; therefore, immune modulation is a potential strategy to treat liver fibrosis. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with tissue regenerative and immunomodulatory potential may support the development of therapeutics for liver fibrosis. METHODS: Here, we induced hepatic injury in mice by injecting carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) and investigated the therapeutic potential of conditionedmedium from tonsil-derivedMSCs (T-MSCCM). In parallel, we used recombinant human IL-1Ra,which, as we have previously shown, is secreted exclusively from T-MSCs and resolves the fibrogenic activation of myoblasts. Hepatic inflammation and fibrosis were determined by histological analyses using H&E and Picro-Sirius Red staining. RESULTS: The results demonstrated that T-MSC CM treatment significantly reduced inflammation as well as fibrosis in the CCl₄-injured mouse liver. IL-1Ra injection showed effects similar to T-MSC CM treatment, suggesting that T-MSC CM may exert anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects via the endogenous production of IL-1Ra. The expression of genes involved in fibrosis was evaluated, and the results showed significant induction of alpha-1 type I collagen, transforming growth factor beta, and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteases 1 upon CCl₄ injection, whereas treatment with T-MSC CM or IL-1Ra downregulated their expression. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data support the therapeutic potential of T-MSC CM and/or IL-1Ra for the alleviation of liver fibrosis, as well as in treating diseases involving organ fibrosis.
Subject(s)
Animals , Humans , Mice , Carbon Tetrachloride , Collagen Type I , Culture Media, Conditioned , Fibrosis , Inflammation , Interleukin 1 Receptor Antagonist Protein , Liver Cirrhosis , Liver Failure , Liver , Mesenchymal Stem Cells , Metalloproteases , Mortality , Myoblasts , Transforming Growth Factor betaABSTRACT
Functional dysphonia (FD) is a disease entity which includes various voice disorders in the absence of structural or neurologic laryngeal pathology. Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), psychogenic dysphonia are representative FD with completely different pathogenesis. Therefore there is no standard treatment modality for FD, the first step of treatment of FD is differentiating patient's voice symptoms from other organic voice disorders and other functional voice problems. MTD is a functional voice disorder caused by hyperfunction of intrinsic and extrinsic laryngeal musculature. Symptoms include increased vocal effort, roughness, fatigue and odynophonia. First line for MTD is indirect or direct voice therapy. Unfortunately, many patients with MTD improve with voice therapy alone. For these patients, various modalities tried; lidocaine application, surgical excision of the false vocal folds, and botulinum toxin injection, etc. Botulinum toxin injections are widely used in the field of otolaryngology, especially for spasmodic dysphonia. However, its use in FD or MTD has only been described in few case reports. The aim of this lecture is to evaluate the feasibility of botulinum toxin injection for FD, especially MTD.