Occurrence of four waterborne viruses at five typical raw water resources in the Republic of Korea during August 2013 to February 2019.

Waterborne diseases have critical public health issues and socioeconomic relevancy worldwide. Various viral pathogens are ordinarily associated with waterborne diseases. Six-year-surveillance (a total of 20 times) of norovirus, hepatitis A virus, group C rotavirus, and enterovirus was conducted at five raw water sampling sites including two lakes (Lakes Soyang and Juam), Hyundo region of Geum River in Daejeon City, and Guui region of Han River in Seoul Metropolitan City and Moolgeum region of Nakdong River in Gimhae City which are located near two water intake plants.

Changes in Cardiac Varices and Their Clinical Significance after Eradication of Esophageal Varices by Band Ligation.

. Cardiac varices (CVs) in patients with type 1 gastroesophageal varices (GOV1s) usually disappear with treatment for esophageal varices (EVs) by endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (EIS). However, whether this applies to patients treated with endoscopic band ligation (EBL) for EVs remains unclear.

Cyanoacrylate injection versus band ligation for bleeding from cardiac varices along the lesser curvature of the stomach.

Background/aims: Practice guidelines recommend endoscopic band ligation (EBL) and endoscopic variceal obturation (EVO) for bleeding from esophageal varices and fundal varices, respectively. However, the optimal treatment for bleeding from cardiac varices along the lesser curvature of the stomach (GOV1) remains undefined. This retrospective study compared the efficacy between EBL and EVO for bleeding from GOV1.

Long term results from a prospective database on high dose rate (HDR) interstitial brachytherapy for primary cervical carcinoma.

Objective: Present long-term outcomes in primary cervical cancer treated with external beam and high dose rate interstitial brachytherapy.

Methods: High dose rate (HDR) interstitial (IS) brachytherapy (BT) and external beam (EBRT) were administered from 1992 to 2009 to 315 patients who were unsuitable for intracavitary (IC) BT alone. Histology was 89% squamous cell, 8% adenocarcinoma, and 3% adenosquamous.

Hepatitis B surface antigen titer is a good indicator of durable viral response after entecavir off-treatment for chronic hepatitis B.

Background/aims: Clear indicators for stopping antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients are not yet available. Since the level of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) is correlated with covalently closed circular DNA, the HBsAg titer might be a good indicator of the off-treatment response. This study aimed to determine the relationship between the HBsAg titer and the entecavir (ETV) off-treatment response.

Computed tomography findings for predicting severe acute hepatitis with prolonged cholestasis.

Aim: To evaluate the significance of computed tomography (CT) findings in relation to liver chemistry and the clinical course of acute hepatitis.

Methods: Four hundred and twelve patients with acute hepatitis who underwent enhanced CT scanning were enrolled retrospectively. Imaging findings were analyzed for the following variables: gallbladder wall thickness (GWT), arterial heterogeneity, periportal tracking, number and maximum size of lymph nodes, presence of ascites, and size of spleen.

Response of fish communities to various environmental variables across multiple spatial scales.

A better understanding of the relative importance of different spatial scale determinants on fish communities will eventually increase the accuracy and precision of their bioassessments. Many studies have described the influence of environmental variables on fish communities on multiple spatial scales. However, there is very limited information available on this topic for the East Asian monsoon region, including Korea.

Spinal cord injury after conducting transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for costal metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) has been used widely to treat patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. However, this method can induce various adverse events caused by necrosis of the tumor itself or damage to nontumor tissues. In particular, neurologic side effects such as cerebral infarction and paraplegia, although rare, may cause severe sequelae and permanent disability.

Assessment on the potential role of applying cryoprobe for tissue ablation.

Background/aims: Cryotherapy is the therapeutic application for tissue ablation. Clinical applications of cryotherpy such as in pulmonology have increased. Until now, its development in gastroenterology has been insignificant.

Rifampin-induced Pseudomembranous Colitis with Rectosigmoid Sparing.

Pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) is known to be associated with antibiotic treatment, but is not commonly related to antitubercular (anti-TB) agent, rifampin. PMC is frequently localized to rectum and sigmoid colon, which can be diagnosed with sigmoidoscopy. We report a case of rifampin-induced PMC with rectosigmoid sparing in a pulmonary tuberculosis patient.

Cause of chest pain in a patient with previous myocardial infarction: look outside the heart for extracardiac mass.

We report a case of thymic carcinoma that was initially detected by echocardiography in an 80-year-old male who visited the emergency room for chest pain and had a history of myocardial infarction and percutaneous coronary intervention. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a huge extracardiac mass that was located in the anterior mediastinum and was diagnosed as a thymic carcinoma by biopsy.