The Relationship Between Interoceptive Awareness, Emotion Regulation and Clinical Symptoms Severity of Depression, Anxiety and Somatization

Objective@#The primary objective of this study was to examine the associations among emotion regulation strategies, interoceptive awareness, and psychological distress measures—namely, depression, anxiety, and somatization. Additionally, we aimed to explore the predictive power of various facets of interoceptive awareness in determining the severity of symptoms for each mental disorder. @*Methods@#A cohort of 130 outpatients diagnosed with depression/anxiety disorder were recruited, and 20 subjects exhibiting incomplete responses were excluded from the dataset, leading to a final sample size of 110 outpatients. The clinical symptoms were measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-9, State–Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and the usage of emotion-regulation strategies and interoceptive awareness was assessed with Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), respectively. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine whether emotion-regulation strategies and interoceptive awareness explain the statistically significant variance in each of the symptoms. @*Results@#In the depression model, cognitive reappraisal, accept, and attention regulation showed significant associations, while in the anxiety model, cognitive reappraisal, attention regulation, trust, and notice emerged as significant factors. Lastly, cognitive reappraisal and attention regulation were found to be significant contributors to the final model for somatization. @*Conclusion@#The inclusion of MAIA subscales improved the predictive ability of the regression model, highlighting the independent association between interoceptive awareness—particularly attention regulation—and clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression. Additionally, the study underscores the relevance of considering the specific pathological context when implementing interventions, as evidenced by the positive associations between the accept subscale and depression and between the notice subscale and anxiety, respectively.

Factors Associated with Sleep Quality in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease / 중환자간호학회지

Purpose@#: This study aimed to examine the relationship between sleep quality and its influencing factors in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). @*Methods@#: This descriptive correlational study included 130 patients with CAD admitted to the cardiology department of a general hospital in B City between September 2019 and February 2020. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and research instruments to measure sleep quality, anxiety, depression, chronotype, and daytime sleepiness. @*Results@#: The mean scores for sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, anxiety, and depression were 7.59±3.45, 6.45±3.46, 6.58±3.88, and 7.74±4.05, respectively. In terms of chronotypes, 10.8%, 48.5%, and 40.7% of the participants had evening-, intermediate-, and morning-type patterns, respectively. Sleep quality was significantly correlated with anxiety (r=0.38, p＜.001), depression (r=.37, p＜.001), and daytime sleepiness (r=.26, p =.002). Factors associated with sleep quality in patients with CAD included anxiety (β=.29), heart failure (β=.22), daytime sleepiness(β=.21), and sleeping alone (β=.19). Collectively, these factors had an explanatory power of 23.1% for sleep quality variance. @*Conclusion@#Patients with CAD often experience poor sleep quality owing to various factors such as anxiety, daytime sleepiness, heart failure, and sleeping alone. It is recommended that healthcare providers objectively evaluate sleep and identify factors that influence sleep quality. This will enable the development of effective methods for sleep management as part of nursing care.

Review of the Determination of the Cause and Manner of Death, in Deaths Related to Medical Care / 대한법의학회지

A death certificate (DC) can be considered a legal document and in terms of societal use, it is a public document. A DC includes facts such as the time and place of death, as well as judgments as to the cause and manner of death. Whether it pertains to facts or judgments, recording false information results in a false DC. According to the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) in the United States, it is acknowledged that there are varying opinions and approaches when it comes to classifying the manner of death. Therefore, it may require a final judgment, including input from the legal system. Generally, deaths resulting from complications that occur during drug administration or medical procedures are classified as natural deaths, while deaths due to unforeseen complications that occur suddenly, are categorized as accidental deaths. Applying this classification by NAME to the principles and legal precedents related to the duty of explanation and medical lowas of the Korean Medical Association, it is reasonable to classify deaths resulting from complication, during medical care, as natural death. However, if the death occurs due to injury or poisoning during medical care, it falls under external causes, according to the principle of following the primary cause. In conclusion, it is considered reasonable to classify complications that occur during medical treatment as natural deaths when they are foreseeable and within the accepted range of complications determined by medical standards at that the time.

Body Awareness in Patients With Depression and/or Anxiety Disorder / 신경정신의학

Objectives@#The objective of the present study was to examine whether patients with severe depression and/or anxiety show a difference in the level of body awareness compared with that of healthy controls. @*Methods@#Outpatients (n=100) with a diagnosis of moderate to severe depression and/or anxiety and 42 healthy controls were included in the study. Body awareness was assessed with the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) scale, and other clinical characteristics like anxiety and depression were measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Patient Health Questionnaire, respectively. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA, and statistically significant differences between the two groups in both the overall MAIA score and subscale scores were documented. @*Results@#The overall MAIA scores of patients with depression and/or anxiety were significantly lower than that of healthy subjects. Specifically, the differences found in the subscales of trust, acceptance, attention-regulation, and return-to-body were significant, whereas the differences found in the subscales of notice and mind-to-body awareness were not. @*Conclusion@#These findings imply that the ability to monitor one’s own bodily sensations and to be aware of their connection with emotional states cannot serve as a marker for psychological well-being. Rather, it may be the aspects of attentional styles and attitudes toward bodily states that play a critical role in mental health. Further analyses examining the relationships between the subscales of body awareness and other psychological variables are deemed necessary.

Vessel-Derived Decellularized Extracellular Matrices (VdECM):Novel Bio-Engineered Materials for the Wound Healing

BACKGROUND@#Decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) is a non-cellular scaffold with various functions in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Elastin is related to tissue elasticity and scarless wound healing, abundantly found in lung and blood vessel tissues. We studied the characteristics of blood vessel-derived dECM (VdECM) and its effect in wound healing. @*METHODS@#VdECM was prepared from porcine blood vessel tissue. Weight percentages of elastin of VdECM and atelocollagen were analyzed. Migratory potential of VdECM was tested by scratch assay. VdECM in hydrogel form was microscopically examined, tested for fibroblast proliferation, and examined for L/D staining. Cytokine array of various growth factors in adipocyte-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ASC) media with VdECM was done. Animal wound model showed the wound healing effect of VdECM hydrogel in comparison to other topical agents. @*RESULTS@#VdECM contained 6.7 times more elastin than atelocollagen per unit weight. Microscopic view of 0.35% VdECM hydrogel showed consistent distribution. Compared to 3% atelocollagen, 0.35% VdECM showed superior results in fibroblast migration. Fluorescent microscopic findings of L/D assay had highest percentage of cell survival in 1% VdECM compared to atelocollagen. Growth factor expression was drastically amplified when VdECM was added to ASC media. In the animal study model, epithelialization rate in the VdECM group was higher than that of control, oxytetracycline, and epidermal growth factor ointments. @*CONCLUSION@#VdECM contains a high ratio of elastin to collagen and amplifies expressions of many growth factors. It promotes fibroblast migration, proliferation, and survival, and epithelialization comparable to other topical agents.

Comparison of Sodium Reduction Practice and Estimated Sodium Intake by Salty Food Preference on Employees and Customers of Sodium Reduction Restaurant in Daegu, Korea / 대한지역사회영양학회지

Objectives@#The purposes of this study were to compare the degree of sodium reduction practice and estimate sodium intake by salty food preference. @*Methods@#Sodium reduction practices, salty food preferences and estimated sodium intake were surveyed for restaurant owners (n = 80), employees (n = 82) and customers (n = 727) at the restaurants participating in the sodium reduction project in Daegu, Korea. Estimated sodium intake was performed by examining sex, age, body mass index (BMI), salty eating habit and dietary behaviors. @*Results@#The degree of sodium reduction practice was significantly higher in salinity meter use (P < 0.001), low salt seasonings (P < 0.001) and efforts to make the foods as bland as possible overall (P < 0.001) in the restaurants participating in sodium reduction project than in homes (P < 0.001). The degree of sodium reduction practice appeared lower in the high salty food preference group than in the low-preference group in such items as efforts to make the foods as bland as possible overall (P < 0.05) and washing the salty taste and then cooking (P < 0.05). The high-preference group showed high-salt dietary behavior, including eating all the soup until nothing was left (P < 0.05) more than the low-preference group, but low-salt dietary behavior included checking the sodium content in processed foods (P < 0 .0 5) less than the low-preference group. The high-preference group was higher in the soup and stew intake frequency than the low-preference group (P < 0.05) and much lower in nuts (P < 0.05) and fruits (P < 0.05) intake frequency. The high-preference group had a higher salty eating habit (P < 0.05), salty taste assessment (P < 0.05) and estimated sodium intake (P < 0.05) than the low-preference group. @*Conclusions@#The present study showed that the salty food preference was strongly associated with lower sodium reduction practice and higher estimated sodium intake.

Primary Subcapsular Reflux as an Etiology of Subcapsular Renal Abscess

Herein, we report two rare cases of renal infection. The first case was renal subcapsular urine reflux in a 8-month-old girl with recurrent urinary tract infection and the second was subcapsular abscess in a 14-year-old girl with diabetes, who was successfully treated with percutaneous drainage. It has been suggested that renal subcapsular abscesses could be caused by the direct reflux of urine into the subcapsular space, rather than spread of infection from an existing parenchymal lesion, and that complete recovery can be achieved if percutaneous drainage is performed in a timely manner. We propose primary subcapsular reflux, in which urine directly refluxes upwards into the subcapsular space of the kidney, as one of the mechanisms for development of renal subcapsular abscesses.

Inflammatory response in the mid colon of ICR mice treated with polystyrene microplastics for two weeks / 한국실험동물학회지

Background@#The oral administration of polystyrene-microplastics (PS-MPs) causes chronic constipation of ICR mice, but there are no reports on their effects on the inflammatory response in the colon. To determine if the oral administration of MPs causes inflammation in the colon, the changes in the apoptosis-associated speck like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC)-inflammasome pathway, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) signaling pathway, and inflammatory cytokine expression were evaluated in the mid colon of ICR mice treated with 0.5 μm size PS-MPs for two weeks. @*Results@#The thicknesses of the mucosa, muscle, flat luminal surface, and crypt layer were decreased significantly (p < 0.01) in the mid colon of the MPs treated group compared to the Vehicle treated group. On the other hand, a remarkable increase in the expression levels of NOD-like receptor pyrin domain-containing protein (NLRP) 3, ASC, and Cleaved Caspase (Cas)-1 protein was observed in the MPs treated group. In addition, similar increasing pattern in the levels of p-NF-κB and phospho-inhibitory subunit of NF-κB (p-IkB) α protein was detected. Four inflammatory cytokines, including NF-κB, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and IL-1β, showed an increased expression level after the MPs treatment. @*Conclusions@#Therefore, the present study suggests that PS-MPs can be a novel cause of an inflammatory response in the mid colon of ICR mice.

Comparison of cisplatin-induced anti-tumor response in CT26 syngeneic tumors of three BALB/c substrains / 한국실험동물학회지

Background@#To determine whether the background of BALB/c substrains affects the response to anti-tumor drugs, we measured for alterations in tumor growth, histopathological structure of the tumor, and expressions of tumorrelated proteins in three BALB/c substrains derived from different sources (BALB/cKorl, BALB/cA and BALB/cB), after exposure to varying concentrations of cisplatin (0.1, 1 and 5 mg/kg). @*Results@#Cisplatin treatment induced similar responses for body and organ weights, serum analyzing factors, and blood analyzing factors in all BALB/c substrains with CT26 syngeneic tumor. Few differences were detected in the volume and histopathological structure of the CT26 tumor. Growth inhibition of CT26 tumors after exposure to cisplatin was greater in the BALB/cB substrain than BALB/cKorl and BALB/cA substrains, and a similar pattern was observed in the histopathological structure of tumors. However, the expression levels of other tumor-related factors, including Ki67, p27, p53, Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), caspase-3 (Cas-3), matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) proteins, were constantly maintained in the tumors of all three substrains after cisplatin treatment. A similar decrease pattern was observed for the expressions of inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and IL-10, in the CT26 tumors of the three BALB/c substrains. @*Conclusions@#Taken together, results of the present study indicate that the genetic background of the three BALB/c substrains has no major effect on the therapeutic responsiveness of cisplatin, except growth and histopathology of the CT26 syngeneic tumor.

Comparison of Serologic Response of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Using 8 Immunoassays

Background@#In Korea, there were issues regarding the use of immunoassays for anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies to detect infection. So, we compared antibody results of eight kinds of commercial immunoassays using clinical remnant specimens. @*Methods@#We compared the results of several immunoassay kits tested on 40 serum samples from 15 confirmed patients and 86 remnant serum samples from clinical laboratory.Eight kinds of IVD kits—four enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, two lateral flow rapid immunochromatographic assays, and two chemiluminescent immunoassays with one RUO kit were tested. @*Results@#Among 40 serum samples from 15 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, 35 yielded at least one positive result for detecting antibodies in the combined assessment. There were inconsistent results in 12 (28%) samples by single immunoassay. Forty samples collected in 2019 before the first COVID-19 Korean case showed negative results except for one equivocal result. @*Conclusion@#The discrepant results obtained with different immunoassay kits in this study show that serological assessment of SARS-CoV-2 by a single immunoassay requires caution not only in detecting infection but also in assessing immunologic status.