Publications by authors named "M-K Hong"

Most cases of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) in Europe are caused by isolates of the serogroups B, C, W, and Y. We aimed to explore cases caused by other unusual serogroups. We retrospectively screened IMD cases in the databases of the National Reference Center for Meningococci and in France between 2014 and 2023.

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Replications are important for assessing the reliability of published findings. However, they are costly, and it is infeasible to replicate everything. Accurate, fast, lower-cost alternatives such as eliciting predictions could accelerate assessment for rapid policy implementation in a crisis and help guide a more efficient allocation of scarce replication resources.

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Background: Patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) tend to be excluded or under-represented in randomized clinical trials evaluating the effects of potent P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy after short-term dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT).

Methods: Individual patient data were pooled from randomized clinical trials that included STEMI patients undergoing drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation and compared ticagrelor monotherapy after short-term (≤3 months) DAPT versus ticagrelor-based 12-month DAPT in terms of centrally adjudicated clinical outcomes. The co-primary outcomes were efficacy outcome (composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, or stroke) and safety outcome (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 3 or 5 bleeding) at 1 year.

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  • More women of childbearing age are surviving heart transplants and many wish to become pregnant, but there's little information on their counseling experiences or knowledge regarding pregnancy after transplantation.
  • A survey of 64 women who underwent heart transplants revealed that many felt they lacked adequate information about post-transplant pregnancy and contraception before and after the procedure.
  • The results indicate a significant gap in communication between healthcare providers and these women, suggesting a need for improved education and support regarding reproductive health after heart transplantation.*
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  • Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), now often referred to as metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), is prevalent among children and teens with obesity and is linked to metabolic syndrome factors like insulin resistance.
  • A consensus of 65 international experts was reached through surveys to create recommendations covering various aspects of pediatric MAFLD, including its causes, epidemiology, and treatment strategies.
  • The final consensus aims to enhance clinical outcomes and life quality for affected youth, highlighting the importance of standardized diagnosis and treatment methods.
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Background: Although clinical benefits of intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with complex coronary artery lesions have been observed in previous trials, the cost-effectiveness of this strategy is uncertain.

Methods: RENOVATE-COMPLEX-PCI (Randomized Controlled Trial of Intravascular Imaging Guidance vs Angiography-Guidance on Clinical Outcomes After Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) was conducted in Korea between May 2018 and May 2021. This prespecified cost-effectiveness substudy was conducted using Markov model that simulated 3 states: (1) post-PCI, (2) spontaneous myocardial infarction, and (3) death.

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Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens are routinely used in pathological diagnosis, but their large number of artifactual mutations complicate the evaluation of companion diagnostics and analysis of next-generation sequencing data. Identification of variants with low allele frequencies is challenging because existing FFPE filtering tools label all low-frequency variants as artifacts. To address this problem, we aimed to develop DEEPOMICS FFPE, an AI model that can classify a true variant from an artifact.

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Traditional thermoelectric materials often face a trade-off between efficient power generation (high ZT) and cooling performance. Here, we explore the potential of achieving simultaneous thermoelectric power generation and cooling capability in the recently fabricated bulk ZrSeTe Janus structure using first-principles density functional theory (DFT). The layered ZrSeTe Janus structure exhibits a semimetal character with anisotropic transport properties along the in-plane and out-of-plane directions.

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Background: The RENOVATE-COMPLEX-PCI (Randomized Controlled Trial of Intravascular Imaging Guidance Versus Angiography-Guidance on Clinical Outcomes After Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) demonstrated that intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) improved clinical outcome compared with angiography-guided PCI for patients with complex coronary artery lesions. This study aims to assess whether the prognostic benefit of intravascular imaging-guided procedural optimization persists in patients undergoing PCI for left main coronary artery disease.

Methods: Of 1639 patients enrolled in the RENOVATE-COMPLEX-PCI, 192 patients with left main coronary artery disease were selected for the current prespecified substudy.

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Background: There is limited information on the delivery of acute stroke therapies and secondary preventive measures and clinical outcomes over time in young adults with acute ischemic stroke. This study investigated whether advances in these treatments improved outcomes in this population.

Methods: Using a prospective multicenter stroke registry in Korea, young adults (aged 18-50 years) with acute ischemic stroke hospitalized between 2008 and 2019 were identified.

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  • Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) can enhance predictions of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk, and this study investigates their link to histopathologic features of CAD based on autopsy data from 4327 sudden death cases.
  • The analysis involved 954 participants, revealing that those with the highest PRS quintile exhibited significantly worse atherosclerosis characteristics, such as higher %stenosis and greater calcification rates, even when accounting for traditional risk factors.
  • The study concludes that individuals in the highest PRS quintile are at a markedly increased risk of severe atherosclerosis and CAD-related death, especially in those aged 50 and below.
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Background: Stopping aspirin within 1 month after implantation of a drug-eluting stent for ticagrelor monotherapy has not been exclusively evaluated for patients with acute coronary syndrome. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ticagrelor monotherapy after <1 month of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is noninferior to 12 months of ticagrelor-based DAPT for adverse cardiovascular and bleeding events in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Methods: In this randomized, open-label, noninferiority trial, 2850 patients with acute coronary syndrome who underwent drug-eluting stent implantation at 24 centers in South Korea were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either ticagrelor monotherapy (90 mg twice daily) after <1 month of DAPT (n=1426) or 12 months of ticagrelor-based DAPT (n=1424) between April 24, 2019, and May 31, 2022.

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  • - Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) typically receive dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for one year, but recent strategies are exploring the potential benefits of switching to monotherapy with a P2Y inhibitor like ticagrelor after a short DAPT period to reduce bleeding risks.
  • - A study analyzed data from randomized trials where patients received 3 months of DAPT followed by either ticagrelor monotherapy or continued ticagrelor plus aspirin, focusing on major bleeding events and serious complications like death or heart attacks.
  • - The results showed that ticagrelor monotherapy significantly reduced major bleeding events (0.8% vs. 2.1%)
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  • Traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI) lead to the loss of important brain cells, and current treatments do not fully regenerate these cells, causing limited recovery.
  • Researchers have developed a type of neural stem cell called oligodendrogenically biased NPCs (oNPCs), which showed promise in healing after thoracic SCI.
  • The study successfully created human iPSC-derived oNPCs for cervical SCI, demonstrating improved recovery in mobility and decreased complications, highlighting their potential as an effective therapy for spinal injuries.
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  • Recent research indicates a lack of interchangeability between modified Rankin Scale measures of functional outcomes and mortality measures in assessing hospital performance for acute ischemic stroke patients.
  • The study evaluated 8292 hospitalized stroke patients and used various metrics like 1-month and 1-year mortality to assess hospital outcomes.
  • Findings revealed no significant correlation between hospitals’ rankings based on functional outcomes and those based on mortality rates, suggesting that these measures evaluate different aspects of hospital performance.
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Machine learning-based pathogenicity prediction helps interpret rare missense variants of BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are associated with hereditary cancers. Recent studies have shown that classifiers trained using variants of a specific gene or a set of genes related to a particular disease perform better than those trained using all variants, due to their higher specificity, despite the smaller training dataset size. In this study, we further investigated the advantages of "gene-specific" machine learning compared to "disease-specific" machine learning.

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  • * Finding the right balance of platelet inhibition based on individual patient factors and their specific heart conditions is a significant challenge for healthcare providers.
  • * The Academic Research Consortium is working to clarify the different methods of adjusting antiplatelet therapy (like de-escalation and escalation) and aims to standardize the terminology used in this field.
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Nonsense mutations are the underlying cause of approximately 11% of all inherited genetic diseases. Nonsense mutations convert a sense codon that is decoded by tRNA into a premature termination codon (PTC), resulting in an abrupt termination of translation. One strategy to suppress nonsense mutations is to use natural tRNAs with altered anticodons to base-pair to the newly emerged PTC and promote translation.

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  • Female patients experience greater disability and worse long-term outcomes after ischemic strokes compared to male patients, with distinct clinical manifestations and infarct locations influencing these disparities.
  • A study involving 6,464 patients in South Korea utilized MRI and various statistical methods to assess differences in stroke severity and neurological outcomes based on sex.
  • Results indicated that while the infarct volumes were similar, female patients had higher stroke severity scores, more neurological deterioration, and distinct lesion patterns, suggesting biological factors may play a role in sex differences related to stroke recovery.
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Background: We sought to explore the sex differences in clinical outcomes among patients with acute coronary syndrome treated with ticagrelor monotherapy after ticagrelor-based 3-month versus 12-month dual-antiplatelet therapy.

Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of the TICO trial (Ticagrelor Monotherapy After 3 Months in the Patients Treated With New Generation Sirolimus-Eluting Stent for Acute Coronary Syndrome; n=3056)-a randomized controlled trial for patients with acute coronary syndrome treated with drug-eluting stent. The primary outcome was a net adverse clinical event (composite of major bleeding, death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, stroke, or target-vessel revascularization) 1 year after drug-eluting stent implantation.

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  • The study investigates the process of centrosome reduction during cardiomyocyte maturation and its potential link to a rare infant case of dilated cardiomyopathy.
  • Researchers derived induced pluripotent stem cells from the patient, performed whole exome sequencing, and utilized CRISPR/Cas9 techniques to identify and validate the causal gene, RTTN (rotatin).
  • The findings suggest that a defect in the centrosomal protein RTTN is associated with impaired maturation and function of cardiomyocytes, marking it as a potential contributor to non-syndromic dilated cardiomyopathy.
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Background: Data regarding clinical outcomes after intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for complex coronary-artery lesions, as compared with outcomes after angiography-guided PCI, are limited.

Methods: In this prospective, multicenter, open-label trial in South Korea, we randomly assigned patients with complex coronary-artery lesions in a 2:1 ratio to undergo either intravascular imaging-guided PCI or angiography-guided PCI. In the intravascular imaging group, the choice between intravascular ultrasonography and optical coherence tomography was at the operators' discretion.

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Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu or ErbB2)-positive breast cancers comprise 15%-20% of all breast cancers. The most common manifestation of HER2-positive breast cancer at mammography or US is an irregular mass with spiculated margins that often contains calcifications; at MRI, HER2-positive breast cancer may appear as a mass or as nonmass enhancement. HER2-positive breast cancers are often of intermediate to high nuclear grade at histopathologic analysis, with increased risk of local recurrence and metastases and poorer overall prognosis.

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Aims: This study evaluated the effect of moderate-intensity statin with ezetimibe combination therapy vs. high-intensity statin monotherapy among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).

Methods And Results: This was a pre-specified, stratified subgroup analysis of the DM cohort in the RACING trial.

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