High-risk human papillomavirus infection in the prediction of poor treatment response and disease recurrence in patients with vulvovaginal condyloma.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the predictive factors for progression and recurrence of vulvovaginal condyloma (VVC), with a specific focus on high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infections. METHODS: Retrospective data were collected from 48 patients who were diagnosed with VVC and treated with topical trichloroacetic acid application or laser therapy during 2003-2014 at a hospital in South Korea. The diagnoses were made based on the presence of exophytic condylomatous lesions as assessed by direct visual inspection regardless of whether a biopsy was performed. RESULTS: Overall, 18 patients (50.0% of those with a test result) were positive for HR-HPV. Three-quarters of the patients with a poor treatment response had abnormal cytologies, and abnormal cytology was a risk factor for a poor response (odds ratio, 4.33 [95% confidence interval, 1.05-17.84]). During a median follow-up of 24months, VVC recurred in seven (14.6%) patients. A high viral load (more than 50 relative light units) of HR-HPV was significantly associated with recurrence (odds ratio, 7.42, 95% confidence interval, 1.19-46.18). CONCLUSION: A high HR-HPV load is a risk factor for recurrence, but is not related to treatment response. A poor treatment response is more related to abnormal cytology than it is to viral load.

Association between nutritional status and disease severity using the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) functional rating scale in ALS patients.

OBJECTIVE: The nutritional status of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been shown to be associated with mortality. However, there have not been, to our knowledge, any studies on the association between nutritional status and disease severity. The present study investigated the hypothesis that nutritional status was negatively associated with disease severity using the ALS functional rating scale (ALSFRS-R). METHODS: One hundred ninety-three Korean ALS patients were divided into tertiles based on their ALSFRS-R score. Dietary intake was measured using 24 h recall and nutritional status was determined by body mass index (BMI) and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI). RESULTS: BMI and GNRI were significantly lower in patients in the lowest tertile of ALSFRS-R. BMI and GNRI also correlated with ALSFRS-R score, bulbar score, albumin levels, total lymphocyte count, and total daily energy expenditure. Intakes of energy and most nutrients were significantly lower in patients in the lowest tertiles of ALSFRS-R, but significances disappeared after adjusting for energy intake. Intakes of vegetables, grains, seasonings, and oils were also significantly lower in patients in the lowest tertile of ALSFRS-R. In addition, patients in the lowest tertile of ALSFRS-R were significantly younger at disease onset, had a longer duration of ALS, less regular exercise, and less sun exposure. CONCLUSION: Nutritional status, as assessed by BMI and GNRI, was negatively associated with disease severity using ALSFRS-R. The present study suggested that intake of nutrients decreases with disease progression in ALS patients.

The potential of interleukin 12 receptor beta 2 (IL12RB2) and tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 8 (TNFRSF8) gene as diagnostic biomarkers of oral lichen planus (OLP).

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the potential of interleukin 12 receptor beta 2 and tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 8 as diagnostic biomarkers of oral lichen planus (OLP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The mRNA expression of IL12RB2 and TNFRSF8 in FFPE OLP samples (OLP group, n = 38) were investigated with quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis and compared to those of chronic non-specific mucositis (Non-OLP group, n = 25) and normal mucosa (Normal group, n = 18). Predictive modeling of the expression of IL12RB2 and TNFRSF8 was constructed using support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), neural network (NN) and naive Bayes (NB) methods. RESULTS: Normalized expression of IL12RB2 in the OLP group (3.78 ± 1.67) was significantly higher than the Normal group (1.97 ± 1.12), but lower than the Non-OLP group (6.86 ± 1.67). TNFRSF8 gene expression in the OLP group (7.46 ± 1.51) was significantly higher than the Normal group (2.90 ± 1.61), but no significant difference was found between the OLP and Non-OLP groups. The ratio of IL12RB2/TNFRSF8 in the OLP group (0.52 ± 0.23) was significantly lower than the Normal group (0.74 ± 0.39) and the Non-OLP group (1.07 ± 0.38). In the predictive modeling, the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC) ranged from 0.83-0.92 and their accuracy was higher than 0.75 in all methods. CONCLUSIONS: The IL12RB2/TNFRSF8 ratio can be a useful diagnostic tool for OLP.

Isolation of Legionella pneumophila from cooling towers, public baths, hospitals, and fountains in Seoul, Korea, from 2010 to 2012.

Legionnaire's disease is associated with a high mortality rate. The authors collected 3,495 water samples in Seoul, Korea, between 2010 and 2012 from public facilities (cooling towers, public baths, hospitals, and decorative fountains), which are considered the major habitats of Legionella pneumophila. In all, 527 (15.1%) isolates of L. pneumophila were obtained by microbial culture and polymerase chain reaction. Serological diagnosis and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis were performed for the samples. The authors categorized the samples into four groups (A-D) on the basis of PFGE results. The analysis revealed that cooling towers containing the most samples with L. pneumophila serogroup 1 constituted the highest proportion of isolate. Samples from public facilities and serogroups could be distinctively classified by PFGE patterns. Thus, it is expected that source-specific features revealed through PFGE and serological analyses could serve as the basis for effectively coping with future outbreaks of L. pneumophila.