Regiodivergent Ring-Expansion of Oxindoles to Quinolinones.

The development of divergent methods to expedite structure-activity relationship studies is crucial to streamline discovery processes. We developed a rare example of regiodivergent ring expansion to access two regioisomers from a common starting material. To enable this regiodivergence, we identified two distinct reaction conditions for transforming oxindoles into quinolinone isomers. The presented methods proved to be compatible with a variety of functional groups, which enabled the late-stage diversification of bioactive oxindoles as well as facilitated the synthesis of quinolinone drugs and their derivatives.

Survival Rates of Breast Cancer Patients Aged 40 to 49 Years according to Detection Modality in Korea: Screening Ultrasound versus Mammography

Objective@#The aim of this study was to compare the survival rates of Korean females aged 40 to 49 years with breast cancer detected by supplemental screening ultrasound (US) or screening mammography alone. @*Materials and Methods@#This single-institution retrospective study included 240 patients with breast cancer (mean age, 45.1 ± 2.8 years) detected by US or mammography who had undergone breast surgery between 2003 and 2008. Medical records were reviewed for clinicopathologic characteristics and detection methods. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between patients with breast cancer in the US and mammography groups using the log-rank test. Multivariable cox regression analysis was used to identify independent variables associated with DFS and OS. @*Results@#Among the 240 cases of breast cancer, 43 were detected by supplemental screening US and 197 by screening mammography (mean follow-up: 7.4 years, 93.3% with dense breasts). There were 19 recurrences and 16 deaths, all occurring in the mammography group. While the US group did not differ from the mammography group in tumor stage, the patients in this group were more likely to undergo breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy than the mammography group.The US group also showed better DFS (p = 0.016); however, OS did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.058). In the multivariable analysis, the US group showed a lower risk of recurrence (hazard ratio, 0.097; 95% confidence interval, 0.001–0.705) compared to the mammography group. @*Conclusion@#Our study found that Korean females aged 40–49 years with US-detected breast cancer showed better DFS than those with mammography-detected breast cancer. However, there were no statistically significant differences in OS.

Complicated Surgical Wounds and Associated Factors in Oncology Patients.

The objective of this study was to identify the occurrence of complicated surgical wounds (CSWs) and to analyze the associated factors in hospitalized patients at an oncology institution. This was an epidemiological, observational, cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational study conducted in the intensive care and hospitalization units forming part of a large cancer hospital. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from medical records and physical examinations of the skin. Associations between the dependent variable (presence of CSWs) and the independent variables were obtained by chi-square tests and odds ratio (OR) calculations with a 95% confidence interval. Logistic regression (LASSO) was used to verify the possible predictors of the outcome. The sample consisted of 341 patients, specifically individuals who are White (46.9%), married (53.4%), and men (58.1%) with an average age of 59.2 years. Complicated surgical wounds were present in 3.2% of patients, and the most frequent types of complications were dehiscence (40%), infection (26.7%), and fistula (20%) present in the abdominal (40%), cephalic (26.7%), and cervical (13.3%) regions. Senile purpura, diaper use, and infection were the clinical variables associated with the occurrence of CSWs (p = .044, p = .001, and p < .001, respectively). Based on the logistic regression, the presence of infection (p < .001; OR = 90.8; 95% CI [18.42, 538.79]) persisted as a predictor of the occurrence of CSWs. From these observations, recommendations regarding best practices for the prevention of CSWs are made, specifically for patients with cancer.

Trends in the Intake of Fatty Acids and Their Food Source According to Obese Status Among Korean Adult Population Using KNHANES 2007-2017.

BACKGROUND: Increasing obesity rates are related to energy intake with carbohydrate and fat ratio. Using Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2017 data, we examined the hypothesis that the fat intake and food sources of dietary fats had changed over the last 10 years according to gender and obesity status in adult population ≥19 years. METHODS: The food intake of each participant was collected by the 24-hour recall method, and nutrient intake including different fatty acids was calculated. The fatty acid intakes from 7 food groups were determined according to gender and obesity status. RESULTS: Body mass index increased in both genders of the obese group over the decade, but it decreased in the normal-weight group. In men, energy intake was higher in the obese group than in the lean group, but the opposite trend was shown in women. Total fat intake including various fatty acids continuously and sharply increased in both men and women until 2016, then slightly declined only in men. The source of saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake was mainly from the animal food group in men and women regardless of obese status, and SFA and monounsaturated fatty acid from the animal food group gradually increased over time in both genders. N-3 fatty acid intake markedly decreased from fish and crabs and increased from sauces and nuts regardless of genders and the obese status from 2008 to 2017. Polyunsaturated fatty acid and N-6 fatty acid intake increased from bread, cookies, sauces, and nuts regardless of genders and obesity status. CONCLUSION: Fat intake was higher in obese men, but this was opposite in women. The N-3 fatty acid intake from seafood should increase, and the fat composition in sauce needs to be modulated to increase N-3 fatty acids.

Glycoconjugates enhanced the intracellular killing of Bacillus spores, increasing macrophage viability and activation.

Infections caused by Bacillus spores can be attenuated if the intracellular killing of the organism by macrophages can be enhanced. Glycoconjugate-bearing polymers, which selectively bind to Bacillus spores, were tested for modulation of intracellular killing when added prior to, during, and following macrophage exposure to B. cereus spores. In the absence of glycoconjugates, murine macrophages were ineffective at killing Bacillus spores. In presence of glycoconjugates, however, macrophages efficiently killed spores, whether the glycoconjugates were added to the cells prior to, during, and following spore addition. Glycoconjugates were shown to exert a protective influence on macrophages and increase their activation, as evidenced by viability and lactate dehydrogenase release assays. Increased levels of nitric oxide production by macrophages pretreated with glycoconjugates suggest that, under these conditions, glycoconjugates provide an activation signal to macrophages. These results indicate that glycoconjugates promote killing of Bacillus spores, while increasing macrophage activation level and viability. The selection of glycoconjugate ligands bearing immunomodulating properties could be exploited for vaccine and/or immunomodulator development and/or for the improvement of existing vaccines against B. cereus and B. anthracis.

The lesbian rights movement and feminism in South Korea.

The lesbians' rights movement in South Korea has undertaken various projects for solidarity with feminist movement groups for over 10 years. In spite of these efforts, lesbian issues have been blatantly excluded from all the agendas of women's rights. The same thing has happened in Women's Studies. Some feminists express homophobic thoughts without understanding the reality of lesbians, and other young scholars take on a lesbian identity temporarily as a sign of being progressive and liberated; in neither situation are they committed to dealing with the oppression of lesbians or seeing lesbian rights as a feminist concern. In order to further lesbian rights there are two strategies possible: forming a movement only for lesbians or forming solidarity with feminists. In the latter case, a concern about lesbian rights will help achieve the goals of a true feminism as patriarchy is built upon heterosexism. doi:10.1300/J155v10n03_11.

The Method of Sorting as a Data-Gathering Procedure in Multivariate Research.

This study compares two basic variants of the sorting method: single-sort in which each respondent is given only one opportunity to sort the items; and multiple-sort in which the respondent is given several opportunities to sort, each time on a different basis. Kinship terms serve as stimulus materials. Multidimensional scaling solutions show large differences between the two methods with respect to the degree to which the kinship dimensions are used as a basis for sorting. In particular, most respondents ignore the most obvious dimension (sex of the terms) when they believe they have only one opportunity to indicate the dimensions in the set. Similar observations of pairwise judgments in another stimulus domain (consonant phonemes) suggest the same bias may be present in such judgments. Moreover, in both instances hierarchical clustering completely fails to represent the minority of judges who do not ignore the given dimension. These results indicate that a multiple set of judgments from each set of respondents may be superior to a single set of judgments for certain stimulus domains. Finally, the kinship data also indicate that male and female respondents emphasize different kinship dimensions but that aggregated multiple-sort data do appear to reflect the cognitive dimensions present in any given individual.

Therapeutic Effects of Ruby Laser Photocoagulation on Retinal Diseases

I. Central Serous Chorioretinopathies: One hundred and nine patients with central serous retinopathy were an a lysed after treatment with AO Laser Photocoagulator. The patients in this study were mainly male (87%) between the ages of 30 and 40 years (81.5%). Involvement was exclusively unilateral (98.1 %), and fluorescein fundus angiography revealed leaking points in almost all cases (98.1%). Majority of patients (67.4%) recovered normal vision with one or two sittings of photocoagulation, each sitting composed of 6 to 8 energy pulses producing grade I lesion. During the course of this study normal vision is gained in 80.2% of patients. With the development of fluorescein fundus angiography the lesion of central serous retinopathy were found to be choroidal abnormalities associated serous leakage across Bruch's membrane. Burn is made by the light energy delivered to pigment epithlium. The burn results, through normal healing processes, in a scar, which seals off the communication across Bruch's membrane. This phenomenon constructs the basis of treatment of central serous retinopathy with photocoagulation. II. Diabetic Retinopathies: Diabetic retinopathy is rapidly becoming the prominent cause of blindness in the world. The striking change of retinopathy is in the venous side of retinal capillaries and their altered function leads to exudation, hemorrhage, formation of new vessels, and fibrosis over the retinal plane or into vitreous, resuJting ultimately into blindness. Of the 34 patients treated with AO Ruby Photocoagulator at Han Yang Uni. Hos., the response of the patients in pre-proliferative stage was excellent, all of them recovering vision above 0.8. The patients in proliferative stage, however, responded poorly to photocoagulation. It is learned in this study that the optimal time of photocoagulation is in the pre-proliferative stage. The photocoagulation of retinitis proliferans has some effect only in arresting or delaying the progress of retinal changes. III. Focal Choroiditis: Nonsuppurative intracular inflammation is caused by various etiology. Scrutinization such as serologic and skin test or x-ray finding is important for the diagnosis of uveitis but not so significant as the definitive clinical characteristics of specific forms of ocular inflammation. Focal choroiditis, sized less than 1/4 disk diameter, was coagulated with ruby laser. Four out of 6 patients recovered good vision, the lesion being replaced by a scar. The remaining two patients did not visit the hospital after one session of photocoagulation. It is emphasized by the author that the focal choroiditis is excellent indication to the laser photocoagulation. IV. Eales' Disease: Eales' disease is considered to be due to hypersensitivity to mostly tuberculo-antigen, clinically characterized by retinal perivenous exudate, neovascularization and vitreous hemorrhage. A boy has recovered his normal vision after 18 sessions of ruby laser photocoagulation. There have been no benificent effects where photocoagulation was discontinued after two or three sittings.

A Case of Cysticercosis in Lateral Rectus Muscle

The authers have recently experienced a case of cysticercosis in the left lateral rectus muscleof 9 years old Korean boy. The cyst, 3 X 3 X 5mm of size, was located within the muscle sheath and removed surgically in its capsule, confirmed as cysticercosis microscopically. We presents here a report of cysticercosis with a brief review of literature.

A Case of Cysticercosis in Lateral Rectus Muscle

The authers have recently experienced a case of cysticercosis in the left lateral rectus muscleof 9 years old Korean boy. The cyst, 3 X 3 X 5mm of size, was located within the muscle sheath and removed surgically in its capsule, confirmed as cysticercosis microscopically. We presents here a report of cysticercosis with a brief review of literature.

A Case of von Hippel-Lindau Disease

Recently, we have experienced a case of von Hippel-Lindau's disease. The patient was a 16 years old Korean girl who visited to our hospital because of visual impairment in both eyes since childhood, mental retardation, dysarthria and gait disturbance. On the eye examination, visual acuity of both eyes were 0.04, incorrectable, funduscopy revealed optic atrophy and typical angiomatosis retinae in the right eye and optic atrophy associated with retinal detachment in the left eye. The cerebral angiography showed a space occupying mass in the left cerebellum. Thus this case was presented as a complete form of von Hippel-Lindau's disease, and a brief review of literatures was also discussed.

Comparative Study on the Epithelial Regeneration of the Corneal Ulceration after Cryocautery and Iodine Cautery

Recently cryogenic therapy is widely used for the treatment of herpes simplex keratitis. We had experimental studies on the effect of iodine cautery and cryocautery upon the regeneration of corneal ulceration. On 10 adult albino rabbits, one eye was treated by iodine, and the other by cryocautery in area of 0.6cm X 0.6cm. The epithelium in this area was completly removed by cotton applicator. There after, the rate of epithelial regeneration was observed every 12 hours. The results were as follows: (1) The average period of complete epithelial regeneration was 48 hours in animal treated with cryocautery and 78 hours in animals treated with iodine cautery. This difference is statistically highly significant. (2) Corneal opacity was not demonstrated in eyes treated with cryocautery. Six eyes treated with iodine, however, showed various degree of corneal opacities. These results support the view that the healing time in human herpes simplex keratitis is shortened in patients with cryocautery as compared with iodine.