Effects of glycation on human γd-crystallin proteins by different glycation-inducing agents.

Human γd-crystallin (Hγd-crystallin), a major protein component of the human eye lens, is associated with the development of juvenile- and mature-onset cataracts. Evidence suggests that nonenzymatic protein glycation plays an important role in the aetiology of cataract and diabetic sequelae. This research compared the effects of various glycation modifiers on Hγd-crystallin aggregation, by treating samples of Hγd-crystallin with ribose, galactose, or methylglyoxal using several biophysical techniques.

Absolute Lymphocyte Count in Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy for Rectal Cancer: Changes Over Time and Prognostic Significance.

We analyzed the changes in absolute lymphocyte count and its changes over time in 139 patients treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer. The baseline absolute lymphocyte count was defined as the median of absolute lymphocyte count levels measured during 30 days before preoperative chemoradiotherapy. Absolute lymphocyte count at 1 month, 0.

Accreditation Standard Guideline Initiative for Tai Chi and Qigong Instructors and Training Institutions.

Evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of (TQ) have emerged in the past two decades, but TQ is underutilized in modern health care in Western countries due to lack of promotion and the availability of professionally qualified TQ instructors. To date, there are no government regulations for TQ instructors or for training institutions in China and Western countries, even though TQ is considered to be a part of Traditional Chinese medicine that has the potential to manage many chronic diseases. Based on an integrative health care approach, the accreditation standard guideline initiative for TQ instructors and training institutions was developed in collaboration with health professionals, integrative medicine academics, Tai Chi and Qigong master instructors and consumers including public safety officers from several countries, such as Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Korea, Sweden and USA.

Malignant and borderline phyllodes tumors of the breast: a multicenter study of 362 patients (KROG 16-08).

Purpose: To identify risk factors for local recurrence (LR) and investigate roles of adjuvant local therapy for malignant and borderline phyllodes tumors of the breast.

Methods: From 1981 to 2014, 362 patients with malignant (n = 235) and borderline (n = 127) phyllodes tumors were treated by breast-conserving surgery (BCS) or total mastectomy (TM) at 10 centers. Thirty-one patients received adjuvant radiation therapy (RT), and those who received adjuvant chemotherapy were excluded from the study.

Monte Carlo simulation of neutron dose equivalent by photoneutron production inside the primary barriers of a radiotherapy vault.

Purpose: To evaluate the neutron dose equivalent produced by photoneutrons inside the primary barriers of a radiotherapy vault.

Methods: Monte Carlo simulations were performed for investigating the production of photoneutrons as well as neutron shielding requirements. Two photon beams of 15 and 18 MV struck sheets of steel and lead, and the neutron doses were calculated at the isocenter (P) and at a distance of 50 cm from the inside wall (P) while delivering 1 Gy to the patient.

Risk Factors for High Myopia in Koreans: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Purpose: To investigate risk factors for high myopia in the general Korean population.

Methods: In this nationwide population study, the dataset of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008-2012 was analyzed. The study cohort included 11 703 participants, aged 25-49 years, who underwent neither refractive nor cataract surgery.

Prognostic implication of FEV1/FVC ratio for limited-stage small cell lung cancer.

Background: A proportion of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may progress rapidly to small cell lung cancer (SCLC). As the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced volume vital capacity (FVC) ratio is usually impaired in patients with COPD, and given that the FEV1 and FVC are not necessarily related to lung cancer development, we performed this study to test our hypothesis that the FEV1/FVC ratio predicts survival of patients with limited-stage (LS)-SCLC.

Methods: We assessed 74 patients with LS-SCLC treated with chemoradiotherapy.

Resting-State Functional Connectivity Predicts Cognitive Impairment Related to Alzheimer's Disease.

Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) is a promising neuromarker for cognitive decline in aging population, based on its ability to reveal functional differences associated with cognitive impairment across individuals, and because rs-fMRI may be less taxing for participants than task-based fMRI or neuropsychological tests. Here, we employ an approach that uses rs-FC to predict the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (11 items; ADAS11) scores, which measure overall cognitive functioning, in novel individuals. We applied this technique, connectome-based predictive modeling, to a heterogeneous sample of 59 subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, including normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and AD subjects.

Lung dose and the potential risk of death in postoperative radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer: A study using the method of stratified grouping.

Purpose: Postoperative radiation therapy may have a detrimental effect on survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. We investigated the association of the lung radiation dose with the risk of death in patients treated with postoperative radiation therapy.

Methods: We analyzed 178 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who received postoperative radiation therapy.

High Dietary Glycemic Load is Associated with Poor Functional Outcome in Patients with Acute Cerebral Infarction.

Background And Purpose: Elevated postprandial blood glucose is a critical risk factor for stroke. The dietary glycemic load (GL) and glycemic index (GI) are frequently used as markers of the postprandial blood glucose response to estimate the overall glycemic effect of diets. We hypothesized that high dietary GL, GI, or total carbohydrate intake is associated with a poor functional outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Ensuring reproducibility and ethics in animal experiments reporting in Korea using the ARRIVE guideline.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the reporting quality of animal experiments in Korea using the Animals in Research: Reporting Experiments (ARRIVE) guideline developed in 2010 to overcome the reproducibility problem and to encourage compliance with replacement, refinement and reduction of animals in research (3R's principle). We reviewed 50 papers published by a Korean research group from 2013 to 2016 and scored the conformity with the 20-items ARRIVE guideline. The median conformity score was 39.

Anthropogenic food provisioning and immune phenotype: Association among supplemental food, body condition, and immunological parameters in urban environments.

Direct or indirect supplemental feeding of free-ranging animals occurs worldwide, resulting in significant impacts on population density or altered demographic processes. Another potential impact of increased energy intake from supplemental feeding is altered immunocompetence. As immune system maintenance is energetically costly, there may be trade-offs between immune responses and other energy-demanding physiological processes in individual animals.

Psychiatric comorbidities among patients undergoing liver transplantation in South Korea: a nationwide population-based study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of mental disorders in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) based on claims data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) in South Korea.

Methods: We confirmed mental disorders in a nationwide cohort of 3758 patients receiving LT between January 2010 and December 2014. We categorized the prevalence of mental disorders based on patient age at the time of LT.

Resting-state functional connectivity predicts neuroticism and extraversion in novel individuals.

The personality dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion are strongly associated with emotional experience and affective disorders. Previous studies reported functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity correlates of these traits, but no study has used brain-based measures to predict them. Here, using a fully cross-validated approach, we predict novel individuals' neuroticism and extraversion from functional connectivity (FC) data observed as they simply rested during fMRI scanning.

Predictors of Psychological Distress Trajectories in the First Year After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis.

Purpose: Psychological distress is a significant and ongoing problem for breast cancer. These mental health problems are often neglected as they are not always properly understood. This study was performed to explore the trajectory of psychological distress over 1 year since breast cancer surgery and to identify the associated factors for the trajectory.

Psychiatric comorbidities among ovarian cancer survivors in South Korea: A nationwide population-based, longitudinal study.

Purpose: The aim of this time-dependent study was to analyze the prevalence of mental disorders in ovarian cancer survivors using claims data in South Korea.

Materials And Methods: We confirmed mental disorders in a nationwide cohort of 9763 patients who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2014. We categorized the prevalence of mental disorders based on the age and the time of diagnosis.

Adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy in patients with microscopic residual tumor after curative resection for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Purpose: We investigated the role of adjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) in patients with a microscopically positive resection margin (R1) after curative resection for extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHCC).

Methods/patients: A total of 84 patients treated with curative resection for EHCC were included. Fifty-two patients with negative resection margins did not receive any adjuvant treatments (R0 + S group).

Treatment plan comparison between Tri-Co-60 magnetic-resonance image-guided radiation therapy and volumetric modulated arc therapy for prostate cancer.

To investigate the plan quality of tri-Co-60 intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with magnetic-resonance image-guided radiation therapy compared with volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for prostate cancer. Twenty patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, who received radical VMAT were selected. Additional tri-Co-60 IMRT plans were generated for each patient.

Clinical Predictors of Oro-esophageal Tube Feeding Success in Brain Injury Patients With Dysphagia.

Objective: To identify possible clinical predictors of intermittent oro-esophageal (OE) tube feeding success, and evaluate the clinical factors associated with OE tube treatment.

Methods: A total of 135 dysphagic patients were reviewed, who received OE tube treatment and were hospitalized in the department of rehabilitation medicine between January 2005 and December 2014. The 76 eligible cases enrolled were divided into two groups, based on the OE tube training success.

Connectome-based predictive modeling of attention: Comparing different functional connectivity features and prediction methods across datasets.

Connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM; Finn et al., 2015; Shen et al., 2017) was recently developed to predict individual differences in traits and behaviors, including fluid intelligence (Finn et al.

Gamma analysis with a gamma criterion of 2%/1 mm for stereotactic ablative radiotherapy delivered with volumetric modulated arc therapy technique: a single institution experience.

To report a single-institution experience of gamma evaluations with 2%/1 mm for stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) delivered with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) technique, from January 2014 to January 2016. A total of 168 SABR VMAT plans were analyzed with a gamma criterion of 2%/1 mm, a threshold value of 10%, and a tolerance level of 90%. Of the 168 cases, four cases failed with 2%/1 mm.

The Prognostic Impact of the Number of Metastatic Lymph Nodes and a New Prognostic Scoring System for Recurrence in Early-Stage Cervical Cancer with High Risk Factors: A Multicenter Cohort Study (KROG 15-04).

Purpose: We aimed to assess prognostic value of metastatic pelvic lymph node (mPLN) in early-stage cervical cancer treated with radical surgery followed by postoperative chemoradiotherapy. Also, we sought to define a high-risk group using prognosticators for recurrence.

Materials And Methods: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted using the data from 13 Korean institutions from 2000 to 2010.

Variability of the drug response to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs according to cyclooxygenase-2 genetic polymorphism.

Purpose: Cyclooxygenase (COX) is the main pharmacodynamic target of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We investigated the inhibitory effects on COX-2 after NSAIDs administration using a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-derived COX-2 induction model in whole blood, according to the genotypes of COX-2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Patients And Methods: Seven genotypes of COX-2 SNPs were selected from public databases and analyzed in 324 healthy subjects.

Mapping patterns of locoregional recurrence following contemporary treatment with radiation therapy for breast cancer: A multi-institutional validation study of the ESTRO consensus guideline on clinical target volume.

Background And Purpose: To validate the ESTRO guideline on clinical target volume (CTV) delineation for breast cancer using a multi-centre dataset.

Materials And Methods: Patients with axial imaging of gross locoregional recurrence (LRR) were identified from 10 participating institutions. All patients received RT, albeit not to all regional node.