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Background/Aims@#Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a curative treatment modality for early gastric neoplasms; however, ESD can be a time-consuming process. To overcome this pitfall, we developed the one-step knife (OSK) approach, which combines an endoscopic knife and injection needle on a single sheath. We aimed to evaluate whether this approach could reduce the ESD procedure time. @*Methods@#This single-blinded randomized multicenter trial at four tertiary hospitals from June 2019 to June 2020 included patients aged 19 to 85 years undergoing ESD. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups (OSK or conventional knife [CK]). The injection time, total procedure time, resected specimen size, submucosal fluid amount, degree of device satisfaction, and adverse events were evaluated and compared between groups. @*Results@#Fifty-one patients were analyzed (OSK: 25 patients and CK: 26 patients). No baseline differences were observed between groups, with the exception of a higher portion of males in the OSK group. The mean injection time was significantly reduced in the OSK group (39.0 seconds) compared to that in the CK group (87.5 seconds, p<0.001). A decrease of more than 10 minutes in the total procedure time (18.0 minutes vs 28.1 minutes, p=0.055) in the OSK group compared to the CK group was observed. Second-look esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed two delayed bleeding cases in the OSK group that were easily controlled by endoscopic hemostasis. @*Conclusions@#OSK reduced the injection time and showed a decrease in total procedure time compared with the CK approach. OSK can be a feasible tool for ESD, especially in difficult cases.
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Background/Aims@#Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with the occurrence of venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, to date, there have been few studies on the risk of VTE in Asian IBD patients. We aimed to estimate the incidence of VTE in Asian IBD patients and to determine if IBD is related to increased VTE risk. @*Methods@#We performed a population-based cohort study between 2004 and 2015 using Korean National Health Insurance data. IBD and VTE were defined by ICD-10 codes. Incidence rates of VTE were calculated among patients with IBD and among age- and sex-matched controls. Hazard ratios were estimated using Cox regression with adjustment for multiple variables. We performed additional analyses stratifying by age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) score, and disease type. @*Results@#Among the 45,037 patients with IBD (IBD cohort) and 133,019 matched controls (nonIBD cohort) included in our analysis, 411 IBD patients and 641 controls developed VTE. The IBD cohort had a higher incidence rate ratio and risk of VTE than the non-IBD cohort (incidence rate ratio: 1.92 and hazard ratio: 1.93). Older age, female sex, higher CCI scores, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, use of steroids, and hospitalization were significant risk factors for VTE in patients with IBD. @*Conclusions@#The IBD patients in this study were approximately two times more likely to develop VTE than the non-IBD individuals. Our findings support the need for thromboprophylaxis in Asian IBD patients with various factors that further increase the risk of VTE.
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Three neonatal pigs from the same litter in a domestic farm were born with skin lesions. Grossly, multiple wellcircumscribed, round papules distributed over the skin of the three piglets. Two piglets were submitted for a diagnosis of skin disease.Microscopically, epidermal hyperplasia with ballooning degeneration of stratum spinosum keratinocytes was observed. Some keratinocytes contained eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusions and a central nuclear vacuole and chromatin margination. Swinepox (SWP) virus was detected by polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing, and Staphylococcus hyicus was isolated in skin lesions. Based on the gross findings and laboratory results, these piglets were diagnosed with congenital SWP with a secondary staphylococcal infection.
ABSTRACT
African swine fever (ASF), caused by the ASF virus, a member of the Asfarviridae family, is one of the most important diseases in the swine industry due to its clinical and economic impacts. Since the first report of ASF a century ago, ample information has become available, but prevention and treatment measures are still inadequate. Two waves of epizootic outbreaks have occurred worldwide. While the first wave of the epizootic outbreak was controlled in most of the infected areas, the second wave is currently active in the European and Asian continents, causing severe economic losses to the pig industry. There are different patterns of spreading in the outbreaks between those in European and Asian countries. Prevention and control of ASF are very difficult due to the lack of available vaccines and effective therapeutic measures. However, recent outbreaks in South Korea have been successfully controlled on swine farms, although feral pigs are periodically being found to be positive for the ASF virus. Therefore, we would like to share our story regarding the preparation and application of control measures. The success in controlling ASF on farms in South Korea is largely due to the awareness and education of swine farmers and practitioners, the early detection of infected animals, the implementation of strict control policies by the government, and widespread sharing of information among stakeholders. Based on the experience gained from the outbreaks in South Korea, this review describes the current understanding of the ASF virus and its pathogenic mechanisms, epidemiology, and control.
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BACKGROUND@#In Korea, to investigate the casual relationship between humidifier disinfectant and lung disease, four rounds of investigation and judgment were conducted. During this investigation, two adults who performed lung biopsy were recognized for their relevance between humidifier disinfectants and lung disease. At first, we did not think of the relationship to humidifier disinfectant because chest computed tomography (CT) finding of 2 cases were improved. However, they performed lung biopsy and it showed typical humidifier disinfectant lung injury (HDLI) pathologic findings, they could be recognized as HDLI. We report these cases here.CASE PRESENTATION We selected 2 cases from the fourth-round investigation at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. Patient of case 1 used humidifier disinfectants since September 2010. The patient was admitted 6 months later to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to severe dyspnea. Pathology following a lung biopsy revealed typical HDLI finding which was determined to be due to humidifier disinfectant exposure. Patient of case 2 used humidifier disinfectant from 2001 to 2008 for about 3 months each winter. The patient's cough and sputum production symptoms began in December of 2007. The patient was admitted to the respiratory medicine department due to worsening dyspnea. Pathology following a lung biopsy revealed typical HDLI finding. This was determined to have been caused by humidifier disinfectant exposure. @*CONCLUSIONS@#Because the typical radiologic findings associated with HDLI can improve over time, it is necessary to consider the revision of current diagnostic criteria that the presence of radiologic findings is important.
ABSTRACT
Three neonatal pigs from the same litter in a domestic farm were born with skin lesions. Grossly, multiple wellcircumscribed, round papules distributed over the skin of the three piglets. Two piglets were submitted for a diagnosis of skin disease.Microscopically, epidermal hyperplasia with ballooning degeneration of stratum spinosum keratinocytes was observed. Some keratinocytes contained eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusions and a central nuclear vacuole and chromatin margination. Swinepox (SWP) virus was detected by polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing, and Staphylococcus hyicus was isolated in skin lesions. Based on the gross findings and laboratory results, these piglets were diagnosed with congenital SWP with a secondary staphylococcal infection.
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Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Biopsy , Cough , Disinfectants , Dyspnea , Humidifiers , Intensive Care Units , Judgment , Korea , Lung Diseases , Lung Injury , Lung , Pathology , Pulmonary Medicine , Sputum , ThoraxABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@#In Korea, to investigate the casual relationship between humidifier disinfectant and lung disease, four rounds of investigation and judgment were conducted. During this investigation, two adults who performed lung biopsy were recognized for their relevance between humidifier disinfectants and lung disease. At first, we did not think of the relationship to humidifier disinfectant because chest computed tomography (CT) finding of 2 cases were improved. However, they performed lung biopsy and it showed typical humidifier disinfectant lung injury (HDLI) pathologic findings, they could be recognized as HDLI. We report these cases here.CASE PRESENTATION We selected 2 cases from the fourth-round investigation at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. Patient of case 1 used humidifier disinfectants since September 2010. The patient was admitted 6 months later to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to severe dyspnea. Pathology following a lung biopsy revealed typical HDLI finding which was determined to be due to humidifier disinfectant exposure. Patient of case 2 used humidifier disinfectant from 2001 to 2008 for about 3 months each winter. The patient's cough and sputum production symptoms began in December of 2007. The patient was admitted to the respiratory medicine department due to worsening dyspnea. Pathology following a lung biopsy revealed typical HDLI finding. This was determined to have been caused by humidifier disinfectant exposure. @*CONCLUSIONS@#Because the typical radiologic findings associated with HDLI can improve over time, it is necessary to consider the revision of current diagnostic criteria that the presence of radiologic findings is important.
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BACKGROUND: Many studies have reported the negative effects of long working hours on various health problems. However, whether hair loss is associated with working hours has been rarely investigated so far. The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between long working hours and the development of alopecia among Korean male workers. METHODS: A total of 13,391 male workers not to take alopecia medicine in 2013 were followed up to see if they have alopecia medicine after 4 years, and that was used to confirm the alopecia development. Weekly working hours were categorized into three groups: reference working hours (RWH; 52 hours/week). Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between long working hours and the development of alopecia after adjusting age, marital status, education, monthly household income, smoking, and work schedule within strata of the covariates. RESULTS: Long working hours was significantly related to the development of alopecia. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for the development of alopecia were 1.57 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21–2.05) for LWH group and 1.74 (95% CI: 1.23–2.47) for MLWH group relative to RWH group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that unintentional development of alopecia is another potential health consequence of long working hours among Korean male workers. Preventive interventions to promote appropriate and reasonable working hours are required in our society.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Alopecia , Appointments and Schedules , Education , Family Characteristics , Follow-Up Studies , Hair , Logistic Models , Marital Status , Occupational Health , Odds Ratio , Smoke , SmokingABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We investigated the association between long workhours and marital status change from married to divorced or separated status that might have bad health effects. METHODS: A total of 40,654 participants with married status in 2014 were followed up in 2015. Weekly workhours were categorized into four groups: ≤ 40, 41–52, 53–60, and > 60 hours per week. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between groups of workhours and marital status change after adjusting for age, total monthly household income, working type, and depression with sex stratification. RESULTS: The study populations consisted of 8,346 (20.5%) females and 32,308 (79.5%) males. Odd ratios (ORs) of marital status change for females working for more than 60 hours per week was 4.26 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.25–14.5), when working less than or equal to 40 hours per week was used as reference in the crude model. ORs of working more than 60 hours per week was 4.57 (95% CI: 1.02–20.5) in female workers when considering age, total household earning per month, working type of daytime, and depression in a dose-response manner. However, for male workers, long workhours were not significantly related to change of marriage status. CONCLUSIONS: Long workhours for more than 60 hours per week had significantly higher risk of divorce or separation in females, but not in males. Further follow-up studies are needed to evaluate long term effects of long workhours on divorce risk.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Depression , Divorce , Family Characteristics , Follow-Up Studies , Logistic Models , Marital Status , MarriageABSTRACT
Various new technologies have been applied for developing vaccines against various animal diseases. Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology was used for manufacturing the porcine circovirus type 2 and RNA particle vaccines based on an alphavirus vector for porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Although VLP is classified as a killed-virus vaccine, because its structure is similar to the original virus, it can induce long-term and cell-mediated immunity. The RNA particle vaccine used a Venezuela equine encephalitis (VEE) virus gene as a vector. The VEE virus partial gene can be substituted with the PED virus spike gene. Recombinant vaccines can be produced by substitution of the target gene in the VEE vector. Both of these new vaccine technologies made it possible to control the infectious disease efficiently in a relatively short time.
Subject(s)
Animals , Alphavirus , Animal Diseases , Circovirus , Communicable Diseases , Diarrhea , Encephalitis Virus, Venezuelan Equine , Encephalomyelitis, Equine , Immunity, Cellular , Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus , RNA , Vaccines , Vaccines, Synthetic , Vaccines, Virus-Like Particle , VenezuelaABSTRACT
Destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) is a common pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). Characteristics of PD patients include bradykinesia, muscle rigidity, tremor at rest and disturbances in balance. For about four decades, PD animal models have been produced by toxin-induced or gene-modified techniques. However, in mice, none of the gene-modified models showed all 4 major criteria of PD. Moreover, distinguishing between PD model pigs and normal pigs has not been well established. Therefore, we planned to produce a pig model for PD by chronic subcutaneous administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), neurotoxin. Changes in behavioral patterns of pigs were thoroughly evaluated and a new motor scoring system was established for this porcine model that was based on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) in human PD patients. In summary, this motor scoring system could be helpful to analyze the porcine PD model and to confirm the pathology prior to further examinations, such as positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT), which is expensive, and invasive immunohistochemistry (IHC) of the brain.
Subject(s)
Animals , Humans , Mice , 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine , Brain , Dopaminergic Neurons , Electrons , Hypokinesia , Immunohistochemistry , Injections, Subcutaneous , Models, Animal , Muscle Rigidity , Parkinson Disease , Pathology , Substantia Nigra , Swine , TremorABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to identify a new gene of Haemophilus parasuis that could be used to develop a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for this porcine pathogen. H. parasuis genomic DNA was cloned into a set of expression vectors, and transformants expressing His-tagged polypeptides were identified by colony blotting. An ABC transporter-like gene was isolated. The cloned DNA fragment is 1,105 base pair and shows 78% similarity at the nucleotide level with an ABC transporter gene of H. ducreyi. Based on this sequence, two PCR primers were designed to amplify the entire 1,105-bp fragment in the proposed diagnostic PCR test. PCR amplification was able to detect a minimum of 1 x 10(4) CFU/ml of H. parasuis organisms. Fifteen different H. parasuis serovars were positive using the PCR test. No amplification was observed when the test was done using DNA from 16 other bacterial species commonly isolated from swine.