Real-World Epidemiology, Treatment Patterns, and Disease Burden of Chronic Hepatitis B and HDV Co-Infection in South Korea.

Introduction: Long-term complications of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) viral infection, such as cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and liver failure, cause a large disease burden. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology, clinical outcomes, and treatment patterns of CHB infection and co-infection with hepatitis D virus (HDV) in South Korea.

Methods: The retrospective, observational study used existing data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database.

Targeted Literature Review of the Burden of Respiratory Syncytial Infection among High-Risk and Elderly Patients in Asia Pacific Region.

Introduction: The burden of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes acute respiratory illness, is well recognized among the pediatric population but also imposes a significant risk to the elderly (age ≥ 60) and those with underlying comorbidities. The study aimed to review the most recent data on epidemiology and burden (clinical and economic) of RSV in the elderly/high-risk populations in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia.

Methods: A targeted review was conducted of English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese language articles published from 1 January 2010 to 7 October 2020 relevant for the purpose.

The fasciola cinereum subregion of the hippocampus is important for the acquisition of visual contextual memory.

The fasciola cinereum (FC) is a subregion of the hippocampus that has received relatively little attention compared with other hippocampal subregions with respect to anatomical characteristics and functional significance. Here, we show that the FC exhibits clear anatomical borders with the distalmost region of the CA1. Principal neurons in the FC resemble the granule cells in the dentate gyrus (DG).

Goal-directed interaction of stimulus and task demand in the parahippocampal region.

The hippocampus and parahippocampal region are essential for representing episodic memories involving various spatial locations and objects, and for using those memories for future adaptive behavior. The "dual-stream model" was initially formulated based on anatomical characteristics of the medial temporal lobe, dividing the parahippocampal region into two streams that separately process and relay spatial and nonspatial information to the hippocampus. Despite its significance, the dual-stream model in its original form cannot explain recent experimental results, and many researchers have recognized the need for a modification of the model.

Strictly Lobar Microbleeds Reflect Amyloid Angiopathy Regardless of Cerebral and Cerebellar Compartments.

Background And Purpose: We aimed to determine whether lobar cerebellar microbleeds or concomitant lobar cerebellar and deep microbleeds, in the presence of lobar cerebral microbleeds, attribute to underlying advanced cerebral amyloid angiopathy pathology or hypertensive arteriopathy.

Methods: We categorized 71 patients with suspected cerebral amyloid angiopathy markers (regardless of the presence of deep and cerebellar microbleeds) into 4 groups according to microbleed distribution: L (strictly lobar cerebral, n=33), L/LCbll (strictly lobar cerebral and strictly lobar cerebellar microbleeds, n=13), L/Cbll/D (lobar, cerebellar, and deep microbleeds, n=17), and L/D (lobar and deep, n=8). We additionally categorized patients with cerebellar microbleeds into 2 groups according to dentate nucleus involvement: strictly lobar cerebellar (n=16) and dentate (n=14).

Cost-effectiveness of a national immunization program with the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine compared with the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in South Korea.

Introduction: Globally, pneumococcal disease represents a significant burden. South Korea implemented the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) in 2003, replaced with the 10-valent (PCV10) and 13-valent (PCV13) vaccine in 2010. In 2014, both vaccines were introduced in the national immunization program (NIP) for infants with 3 primary doses and one booster dose We performed a cost-effectiveness evaluation to elucidate which vaccine may be expected to provide greater impact if included in a NIP.

The Cortical Neuroanatomy Related to Specific Neuropsychological Deficits in Alzheimer's Continuum.

Background And Purpose: In Alzheimer's continuum (a comprehensive of preclinical Alzheimer's disease [AD], mild cognitive impairment [MCI] due to AD, and AD dementia), cognitive dysfunctions are often related to cortical atrophy in specific brain regions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between anatomical pattern of cortical atrophy and specific neuropsychological deficits.

Methods: A total of 249 participants with Alzheimer's continuum (125 AD dementia, 103 MCI due to AD, and 21 preclinical AD) who were confirmed to be positive for amyloid deposits were collected from the memory disorder clinic in the department of neurology at Samsung Medical Center in Korea between September 2013 and March 2018.

Environmental factors which can affect the burden of pneumococcal disease and the immune response to pneumococcal vaccines: the need for more precisely delineated vaccine recommendations.

: Precision medicine describes the customization of healthcare tailored to the individual patient. Generally, vaccines are considered as public health tools rather than from the individual patient perspective. However, adult vaccination programs in particular should consider many different factors, at the individual level and also from societal, cultural and country-specific perspectives.

Machine learning based hierarchical classification of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Background: In a clinical setting, an individual subject classification model rather than a group analysis would be more informative. Specifically, the subtlety of cortical atrophy in some frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients and overlapping patterns of atrophy among three FTD clinical syndromes including behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), non-fluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA), and semantic variant PPA (svPPA) give rise to the need for classification models at the individual level. In this study, we aimed to classify each individual subject into one of the diagnostic categories in a hierarchical manner by employing a machine learning-based classification method.

Clinical Effects of Frontal Behavioral Impairment: Cortical Thickness and Cognitive Decline in Individuals with Subjective Cognitive Decline and Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Frontal behavioral impairment (FrBI) is commonly observed in various degenerative diseases and refers to various behavioral symptoms.

Objective: We investigated the effects of the presence of FrBI on cortical thickness, and the longitudinal neuropsychological changes in people in the predementia stage.

Methods: A total of 794 individuals completed neuropsychological tests and the Frontal Behavioral Inventory (FBI) Questionnaire, and underwent magnetic resonance (MR) scanning.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine versus 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine in an adult population in South Korea.

In South Korea, the National Immunization Program offers a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) for the elderly; however, the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) is not included, and vaccination is not offered to younger, at-risk populations. This study offers a comparative analysis of PCV13 and PPSV23 in Korea's adults, stratified by age and risk group. A Markov model with a lifetime horizon was developed from the healthcare perspective.

Incidence and risk factors of postoperative pneumonia following cancer surgery in adult patients with selected solid cancer: results of "Cancer POP" study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and risk factors of postoperative pneumonia (POP) within 1 year after cancer surgery in patients with the five most common cancers (gastric, colorectal, lung, breast cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]) in South Korea. This was a multicenter and retrospective cohort study performed at five nationwide cancer centers. The number of cancer patients in each center was allocated by the proportion of cancer surgery.

Prognostic value of amyloid PET scan in normal pressure hydrocephalus.

Amyloid positron emission tomography ([18F] florbetaben (FBB) PET) can be used to determine concomitant Alzheimer's disease (AD) in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) patients. FBB PET scans and the tap test were performed in 31 patients with clinically suspected iNPH, and amyloid positive (iNPH/FBB+) and negative (iNPH/FBB-) groups were compared with respect to clinical characteristics. We evaluated prognostic value of FBB PET scans by analyzing the response to the tap test using a linear mixed model.

Tick-borne encephalitis in Japan, Republic of Korea and China.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) causes mild or moderate febrile illness in humans that may progress to encephalitis, leading to severe long-term complications and sometimes death. TBEV is prevalent in the Eurasian continent and has been isolated in China, Japan and Republic of Korea (ROK). The TBEV isolates from Japan are of the Far-Eastern subtype; in ROK, the isolates are of the Western subtype; and all TBEV isolates in China are of the Far-Eastern subtype, except one strain that was identified most recently as the Siberian subtype.

Protective effects of APOE e2 against disease progression in subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment patients: A three-year longitudinal study.

Although the association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype and disease progression is well characterized in patients with Alzheimer's disease, such a relationship is unknown in patients with subcortical vascular cognitive impairment. We evaluated whether APOE genotype is associated with disease progression in subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI) patients. We prospectively recruited 72 svMCI patients (19 APOE4 carriers, 42 APOE3 homozygotes, and 11 APOE2 carriers).

Increased Variability and Asymmetric Expansion of the Hippocampal Spatial Representation in a Distal Cue-Dependent Memory Task.

Place cells in the hippocampus fire at specific positions in space, and distal cues in the environment play critical roles in determining the spatial firing patterns of place cells. Many studies have shown that place fields are influenced by distal cues in foraging animals. However, it is largely unknown whether distal-cue-dependent changes in place fields appear in different ways in a memory task if distal cues bear direct significance to achieving goals.

Elemental or contextual? It depends: individual difference in the hippocampal dependence of associative learning for a simple sensory stimulus.

Learning theories categorize learning systems into elemental and contextual systems, the former being processed by non-hippocampal regions and the latter being processed in the hippocampus. A set of complex stimuli such as a visual background is often considered a contextual stimulus and simple sensory stimuli such as pure tone and light are considered elemental stimuli. However, this elemental-contextual categorization scheme has only been tested in limited behavioral paradigms and it is largely unknown whether it can be generalized across different learning situations.

Impact of circadian nuclear receptor REV-ERBα on midbrain dopamine production and mood regulation.

The circadian nature of mood and its dysfunction in affective disorders is well recognized, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we show that the circadian nuclear receptor REV-ERBα, which is associated with bipolar disorder, impacts midbrain dopamine production and mood-related behavior in mice. Genetic deletion of the Rev-erbα gene or pharmacological inhibition of REV-ERBα activity in the ventral midbrain induced mania-like behavior in association with a central hyperdopaminergic state.

Perirhinal cortical inactivation impairs object-in-place memory and disrupts task-dependent firing in hippocampal CA1, but not in CA3.

Objects and their locations can associatively define an event and a conjoint representation of object-place can form an event memory. Remembering how to respond to a certain object in a spatial context is dependent on both hippocampus and perirhinal cortex (PER). However, the relative functional contributions of the two regions are largely unknown in object-place associative memory.

Immunoprophylactic effects of administering honeybee (Apis melifera) venom spray against Salmonella gallinarum in broiler chicks.

Antibiotics continue to be used as growth promoters in the poultry industry. Honeybee (Apis melifera) venom (HBV) possesses a number of beneficial biological activities, particularly for regulating the immune system. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the immunoprophylactic effects of HBV against Salmonella Gallinarum in broiler chicks as an initial step towards developing eco-friendly alternatives to reduce antibiotic use.