Effective Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of a Huge Esophageal Liposarcoma: A Case Report.

This case report presents the successful endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of a well-differentiated esophageal liposarcoma in a 51-year-old male with persistent dysphagia. The cause was initially diagnosed as a 10 cm pedunculated lesion extending from the upper esophageal sphincter to the mid-esophagus. An ESD was chosen over traditional surgery because it is less invasive.

Region-Based Static Video Stitching for Reduction of Parallax Distortion.

In this paper, we propose a semantic segmentation-based static video stitching method to reduce parallax and misalignment distortion for sports stadium scenes with dynamic foreground objects. First, video frame pairs for stitching are divided into segments of different classes through semantic segmentation. Region-based stitching is performed on matched segment pairs, assuming that segments of the same semantic class are on the same plane.

A comparative study of the trends in epidemiological aspects of Lyme disease infections in Korea and Japan, 2011-2016.

Lyme disease (LD) is one of the most prevalent tick-borne emerging infections in North America, Europe, and far Eastern Asia including Korea and Japan. This study was undertaken with the aim of a comparative and quantitative analysis of the epidemiological aspects of LD infections in Korea and Japan from 2011 to 2016. The raw data analyzed in this study were obtained from the websites of the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), Korea, and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Japan.

Multi-Frame Based Homography Estimation for Video Stitching in Static Camera Environments.

In this paper, a multi-frame based homography estimation method is proposed for video stitching in static camera environments. A homography that is robust against spatio-temporally induced noise can be estimated by intervals, using feature points extracted during a predetermined time interval. The feature point with the largest blob response in each quantized location bin, a representative feature point, is used for matching a pair of video sequences.

Comparative Study on the Epidemiological Trends and Aspects of Murine Typhus in Korea in the Last Decade (2006-2015).

Introduction: In this study, we undertook a retrospective analysis of the epidemiological aspects and risk factors of murine typhus (MT) in Korea in the last decade (2006-2015).

Materials And Methods: MT infections in Korea using a total of 411 cases obtained from the Diseases Web Statistical System of the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Results: In a total of 411 MT infection cases, the cumulative incidence rate was 0.

International Travel and Exotic Dengue Fever in South Korea from 2006 to 2015.

We analyzed reported dengue fever (DF) cases and DF-relevant characteristics in South Korea from 2006 to 2015. A total of 1,260 DF notifications were obtained during the study period that were presumably introduced from endemic foreign countries. The nationwide cumulative incidence rate (CIR) of DF was 0.

A Comparative Study of the Trends of Imported Dengue Cases in Korea and Japan 2011 - 2015.

Background: Dengue is a mosquito-borne febrile disease that represents a major public health problem in tropical and subtropical areas. Even though Korea and Japan are not the regions where dengue is epidemic, there have been many imported cases in both countries, and in increasing numbers. A better understanding of the characteristics of the prevalence of dengue and the recent trends in these neighboring countries may provide information to promote improvement and control strategies for both.

Shadow Detection Based on Regions of Light Sources for Object Extraction in Nighttime Video.

Intelligent video surveillance systems detect pre-configured surveillance events through background modeling, foreground and object extraction, object tracking, and event detection. Shadow regions inside video frames sometimes appear as foreground objects, interfere with ensuing processes, and finally degrade the event detection performance of the systems. Conventional studies have mostly used intensity, color, texture, and geometric information to perform shadow detection in daytime video, but these methods lack the capability of removing shadows in nighttime video.

A Comparative Study of the Epidemiological Aspects of Legionnaires' Disease: Outbreaks in Korea and Japan, 2010 - 2014.

Background: In the present study, we compared the epidemiological aspects of Legionnaire' disease (LD) outbreaks in Korea and Japan by analyzing the current state from 2010 to 2014.

Methods: The following factors were analyzed: nationwide cumulative incidence rate (CIR) per 100,000 populations and case-fatality rate in percentage, epidemiological aspects (i.e.

Step Detection Robust against the Dynamics of Smartphones.

A novel algorithm is proposed for robust step detection irrespective of step mode and device pose in smartphone usage environments. The dynamics of smartphones are decoupled into a peak-valley relationship with adaptive magnitude and temporal thresholds. For extracted peaks and valleys in the magnitude of acceleration, a step is defined as consisting of a peak and its adjacent valley.

Risk Factors for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection in Areas with a High Prevalence of HCV in the Republic of Korea in 2013.

Background/aims: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Busan, Gyeongnam, and Jeonnam Provinces in Korea is more than twice the national average. This study aimed to examine whether demographic and lifestyle characteristics are associated with HCV infection in these areas.

Methods: A case control study was performed at three study hospitals.

A Comparative Study of the Epidemiology of Human Leptospirosis in Korea and Japan between 2006 and 2012.

We undertook a comparative analysis of the epidemiology of reported human leptospirosis (HL) cases in Korea and Japan. Between 2006 and 2012, the cumulative incidence of HL in Korea was higher than that in Japan (1.26 vs.

Unified camera tamper detection based on edge and object information.

In this paper, a novel camera tamper detection algorithm is proposed to detect three types of tamper attacks: covered, moved and defocused. The edge disappearance rate is defined in order to measure the amount of edge pixels that disappear in the current frame from the background frame while excluding edges in the foreground. Tamper attacks are detected if the difference between the edge disappearance rate and its temporal average is larger than an adaptive threshold reflecting the environmental conditions of the cameras.

Trends in the epidemiological aspects and mortality of alcoholic liver disease in Korea in the decade between 2000 and 2009.

Background: Alcohol consumption and related alcohol liver disease (ALD) have substantially increased in Korea during the last decade. The objective of this study was to evaluate the trends in the epidemiological aspects and mortality rate (MR) of Korea in the decade between 2000 and 2009.

Methods: The raw data analyzed in this study were obtained from the website of "the ALD" managed by Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), Korea Public Health Association (KPHA), and statistics website of Statistics Korea.

Relationship of bispectral index to minimum alveolar concentration during isoflurane, sevoflurane or desflurane anaesthesia.

Objective: To determine bispectral index (BIS) values produced by equipotent concentrations of commonly used volatile anaesthetics.

Methods: Female patients undergoing thyroidectomy were randomly assigned to receive isoflurane, sevoflurane or desflurane anaesthesia. After induction, anaesthesia was maintained by the volatile agent at 1 minimum alveolar concentration and supplemented with remifentanil infusion.

A retrospective study of the extensive eradication program for brucellosis outbreaks and control in Korea, 2002-2009.

This study concerns the quantitative analysis of brucellosis outbreaks and the related risk factors and control programs for both domestic cattle and human brucellosis infections in Korea between 2002 and 2009. There were a total of 77,082 infections of bovine brucellosis (BB) in domestic cattle with a prevalence rate (PR) of 13.3 per 1,000 cattle; during the same period there were 620 cases of human brucellosis (HB) with a PR of 0.

Rab15 alternative splicing is altered in spheres of neuroblastoma cells.

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive pediatric tumor that accounts for 15% of cancer-related deaths in children. More than half of high-risk neuroblastoma patients develop tumor relapse that is lethal in most cases. A small population of tumor-initiating cells (TICs), recently identified from high-risk neuroblastoma patients as spheres, is believed to be responsible for tumor relapse.

Epigallocatechin gallate inhibits sphere formation of neuroblastoma BE(2)-C cells.

Objectives: A growing number of epidemiological studies have demonstrated that the consumption of green tea inhibits the growth of a variety of cancers. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechin in green tea, has been shown to have an anti-cancer effect against many cancers. Most cancers are believed to be initiated from and maintained by a small population of tumor-initiating cells (TICs) that are responsible for chemotherapeutic resistance and tumor relapse.

Epidemiological aspects of exotic malaria and dengue fever in travelers in Korea.

In order to compare the epidemiological aspects of exotic malaria (EM) and dengue fever (DF) imported by travelers in Korea, we have analyzed the current state both of the disease incidence and related risk factors. A total of 345 cases of EM occurred between 2001 and 2008 in Korea, and the average incidence rate per 100,000 population was 0.091.

Diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy via high-resolution melting analysis symmetric polymerase chain reaction without probe: a screening evaluation for SMN1 deletions and intragenic mutations.

Aim: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a well-defined autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene. The most frequently observed mutation is a deletion of exon 7, which has been documented in >95% of SMA patients. A novel technique for detecting mutations known as high-resolution melting analysis (HRMA) has rapidly become the tool of choice for screening pathogenic genetic variants.

Valproic acid increases SMN2 expression and modulates SF2/ASF and hnRNPA1 expression in SMA fibroblast cell lines.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a common autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder that is caused by loss of the survival motor neuron gene, SMN1. SMA treatment strategies have focused on production of the SMN protein from the almost identical gene, SMN2. Valproic acid (VPA) is a histone deacetylase inhibitor that can increase SMN levels in some SMA cells or SMA patients through activation of SMN2 transcription or splicing correction of SMN2 exon 7.

Rab15 expression correlates with retinoic acid-induced differentiation of neuroblastoma cells.

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children and accounts for 15% of pediatric cancer deaths. Although retinoic acid (RA) is currently used to treat high-risk neuroblastoma patients in the clinic, RA-responsiveness is variable and unpredictable. Since no alterations in the RA-signaling pathway have been found in neuroblastoma cells, molecules correlated with RA-induced differentiation will provide predictive markers of RA-responsiveness for clinical use.

Herbal Medicine Containing Licorice May Be Contraindicated for a Patient with an HSD11B2 Mutation.

Licorice ingestion, as well as mutations in the HSD11B2 gene, inhibits 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11βHSD2) enzyme activity, causing the syndrome of apparent mineral corticoid excess (AME). However, the combined effect of licorice ingestion and an HSD11B2 mutation has never been reported, until now. In this study, we demonstrated that licorice ingestion can produce overt hypertension in an individual without medical history of hypertension who is heterozygous for wild-type and mutant HSD11B2 genes.