Epidemiological Characterization of Imported Systemic Mycoses Occurred in Korea

OBJECTIVES: Imported systemic mycoses is a severe fungal infection that can cause diseases in healthy people. However, there is a serious lack of epidemiological data about imported systemic mycoses. Therefore, an epidemiological characterization of imported systemic mycoses in Korea was performed. METHODS: We collected health insurance data between 2008 and 2012 from the Health Insurance Corporation and analyzed the data to determine the prevalence and treatment management of imported systemic mycoses. RESULTS: The prevalence of imported systemic mycoses between 2008 and 2012 increased slowly by 0.49/100,000 to 0.53/100,000 persons. The prevalence of coccidioidomycosis increased from 0.28/100,000 in 2008 to 0.36/100,000 persons in 2012. A mean of 229.6 cases occurred each year. Children and the elderly showed higher prevalence than adults in the 20- to 59-year-old age group. The rate of infection according to region ranged from 0.18/100,000 persons in Ulsan, to 0.59/100,000 persons in Gyeonggi. The prevalence in females was higher than that in males. Inpatient treatment was 3.3% (38 cases), with 96.7% treated as outpatients. Hospitalizations cost 272.7 million won and outpatient treatments cost 111.7 million won. The treatment cost for coccidioidomycosis from 2008 to 2012 was 330.9 million won, with personal charges of 79.2 million won and insurance charges of 251.7 million won. Most of the expenses for the coccidioidomycosis treatment were for inpatient treatment. CONCLUSION: The results in this study may be a useful resource for determining the changes in the trend of imported systemic mycoses.

Corrigendum to “Epidemiological Characterization of Imported Systemic Mycoses Occurred in Korea” Osong Public Health Res Perspect 2018;9(5):255–60

The authors want to update the existing affiliation for one of the authors Keun-Dol Yook. Correct affiliation for the author should be Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, Daejeon Health Institute of Technology, Daejeon, Korea.

Cordycepin-Enriched WIB801C from Cordyceps militaris Inhibits Collagen-Induced Ca2+i Mobilization via cAMP-Dependent Phosphorylation of Inositol 1, 4, 5-Trisphosphate Receptor in Human Platelets

In this study, we prepared cordycepin-enriched (CE)-WIB801C, a n-butanol extract of Cordyceps militaris-hypha, and investigated the effect of CE-WIB801C on collagen-induced human platelet aggregation. CE-WIB801C dose-dependently inhibited collagen-induced platelet aggregation, and its IC50 value was 175 microg/ml. CE-WIB801C increased cAMP level more than cGMP level, but inhibited collagen-elevated [Ca2+]i mobilization and thromboxane A2 (TXA2) production. cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS increased the CE-WIB801C-downregulated [Ca2+]i level in a dose dependent manner, and strongly inhibited CE-WIB801C-induced inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptor (IP3R) phosphorylation. These results suggest that the inhibition of [Ca2+]i mobilization by CE-WIB801C is resulted from the cAMP/A-kinase-dependent phosphorylation of IP3R. CE-WIB801C suppressed TXA2 production, but did not inhibit the activities of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and TXA2 synthase (TXAS). These results suggest that the inhibition of TXA2 production by WIB801C is not resulted from the direct inhibition of COX-1 and TXAS. In this study, we demonstrate that CE-WIB801C with cAMP-dependent Ca2+-antagonistic antiplatelet effects may have preventive or therapeutic potential for platelet aggregation-mediated diseases, such as thrombosis, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, and ischemic cerebrovascular disease.