Prospective Audit and Feedback for Antimicrobial Treatment of Patients Receiving Renal Replacement Therapy in Community-Based University Hospitals: A before-and-after Study.

In South Korea, because of manpower and budgetary limitations, antimicrobial stewardship programs have relied on preauthorization. This study analyzed the impact of a prospective audit and feedback (PAF) program targeting inpatients undergoing intermittent hemodialysis or continuous renal replacement therapy, which was implemented at two community-based university hospitals. During three years of PAF, 27,906 antimicrobial prescriptions were reviewed, with 622 (2.

Institutional-specific smartphone application as a supplemental tool for an antimicrobial stewardship program in 2 large community-based hospitals: Acceptance of physicians and pharmacists.

Purpose: Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) have been a challenge in less resourceful health care settings. Medical smartphone applications (apps) can be accessible tools to support ASPs under such circumstances. A hospital-specific ASP app was prepared and the acceptance and usability of the study ASP app were evaluated by physicians and pharmacists in 2 community-based academic hospitals.

Polyherbal formula SC-E3 inhibits rheumatoid arthritis activity in a mouse model of type-II collagen-induced arthritis.

Objective: SC-E3 is a polyherbal formula that contains five medicinal herbs used frequently in traditional herbal medicine. In our previous study, we demonstrated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of SC-E3. The present study examined the effects of SC-E3 in a mouse model of type-II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA).

Changes in serum fibronectin levels predict tumor recurrence in patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma after curative treatment.

Fibronectin, a matrix glycoprotein aberrantly expressed in various tumor cells, is a known candidate biomarker for the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we investigated whether serum fibronectin levels could predict tumor recurrence in patients with early-stage HCC after curative treatment. A total of 83 patients who showed complete response after initial curative treatment were included.

Hierarchical Structured Component Analysis for Microbiome Data Using Taxonomy Assignments.

The recent advent of high-throughput sequencing technology has enabled us to study the associations between human microbiome and diseases. The DNA sequences of microbiome samples are clustered as operational taxonomic units (OTUs) according to their similarity. The OTU table containing counts of OTUs present in each sample is used to measure correlations between OTUs and disease status and find key microbes for prediction of the disease status.

MS1-Level Proteome Quantification Platform Allowing Maximally Increased Multiplexity for SILAC and Chemical Labeling.

Quantitative proteomic platforms based on precursor intensity in mass spectrometry (MS1-level) uniquely support metabolic labeling with superior quantification accuracy but suffer from limited multiplexity (≤3-plex) and frequent missing quantities. Here we present a new MS1-level quantification platform that allows maximal multiplexing with high quantification accuracy and precision for the given labeling scheme. The platform currently comprises 6-plex SILAC or diethylation labeling with a dedicated algorithm and is also expandable to higher multiplexity (e.

Efficacy and safety of nanoparticle-albumin-bound paclitaxel compared with solvent-based taxanes for metastatic breast cancer: A meta-analysis.

The curative effects of nanoparticle albumin-bound (nab)-paclitaxel in the first-line treatment of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are still controversial, with even more after the removal of marketing approval of indication of bevacizumab. Five electronic databases and the related resources were searched for eligible randomized clinical trials (RCTs) without year and language restrictions to perform a meta-analysis. The studies were comparing the efficacy and safety between nab-paclitaxel chemotherapy versus solvent-based (sb)-taxanes chemotherapy such as sb-paclitaxel and docetaxel.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Community Health Systems Perceived by Physicians and Pharmacists: A Qualitative Study with Gap Analysis.

Antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) is one of the most important strategies for managing infectious disease treatment and preventing antimicrobial resistance. The successful implementation of ASP in the community health system (CHS) has been challenging. We evaluated perceptions of current ASP, potential setbacks of ASP implementation, and future demands on ASP services among physicians and pharmacists in the CHS.

Circulating Microbiota-Based Metagenomic Signature for Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Circulating microbial dysbiosis is associated with chronic liver disease including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and alcoholic liver disease. In this study, we evaluated whether disease-specific alterations of circulating microbiome are present in patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and their potential as diagnostic biomarkers for HCC. We performed cross-sectional metagenomic analyses of serum samples from 79 patients with HCC, 83 with cirrhosis, and 201 matching healthy controls, and validated the results in the same number of subjects.

gpart: human genome partitioning and visualization of high-density SNP data by identifying haplotype blocks.

Summary: For the analysis of high-throughput genomic data produced by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, researchers need to identify linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure in the genome. In this work, we developed an R package gpart which provides clustering algorithms to define LD blocks or analysis units consisting of SNPs. The visualization tool in gpart can display the LD structure and gene positions for up to 20 000 SNPs in one image.

Deuterium-Free, Three-Plexed Peptide Diethylation for Highly Accurate Quantitative Proteomics.

The deuterium, a frequently used stable isotope in isotopic labeling for quantitative proteomics, could deteriorate the accuracy and precision of proteome quantification owing to the retention time shift of deuterated peptides from the hydrogenated counterpart. We introduce a novel three-plexed peptide "diethylation" using only C isotopologues of acetaldehyde and demonstrate that the accuracy and precision of our method in proteome quantification are significantly superior to the conventional deuterium-based dimethylation labeling in both a single-shot and multidimensional LC-MS/MS analysis of the HeLa proteome. Furthermore, in time-resolved profiling of Xenopus laevis early embryogenesis, our 3-plexed diethylation outperformed isobaric labeling approaches in terms of the quantification accuracy or the number of protein identifications, generating more than two times more differentially expressed proteins.

HO-1 Induction by Extract Inhibits Inflammatory Response in Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated RAW 264.7 Macrophages.

is the dried, aerial part of (P.Beauv.) Spring and has been used to treat amenorrhea, abdominal pain, headaches, and hematuria in Korea.

Factors influencing disordered eating behavior based on the theory of triadic influence.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to identify factors influencing disordered eating behaviors in female college students based on the theory of triadic influence.

Design And Method: The participants in this study were 307 college females in Korea. Data were analyzed using t-tests, correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analyses.

Nutrition and Clinical Outcomes of Nutrition Support in Multidisciplinary Team for Critically Ill Patients.

Background: To examine the outcomes of the implementation of a multidisciplinary nutrition support team (NST) that included a pharmacist for critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: Data were retrospectively collected from electronic medical records and compared between the pre-NST group (n = 73) and post-NST group (n = 75). Patients were included if they received enteral or parenteral nutrition support for at least 72 hours in the ICU of an approximately 900-bed, top-tier university medical center.

A new haplotype block detection method for dense genome sequencing data based on interval graph modeling of clusters of highly correlated SNPs.

Motivation: Linkage disequilibrium (LD) block construction is required for research in population genetics and genetic epidemiology, including specification of sets of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for analysis of multi-SNP based association and identification of haplotype blocks in high density sequencing data. Existing methods based on a narrow sense definition do not allow intermediate regions of low LD between strongly associated SNP pairs and tend to split high density SNP data into small blocks having high between-block correlation.

Results: We present Big-LD, a block partition method based on interval graph modeling of LD bins which are clusters of strong pairwise LD SNPs, not necessarily physically consecutive.

Effects of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Marker Density on Haplotype Block Partition.

Many researchers have found that one of the most important characteristics of the structure of linkage disequilibrium is that the human genome can be divided into non-overlapping block partitions in which only a small number of haplotypes are observed. The location and distribution of haplotype blocks can be seen as a population property influenced by population genetic events such as selection, mutation, recombination and population structure. In this study, we investigate the effects of the density of markers relative to the full set of all polymorphisms in the region on the results of haplotype partitioning for five popular haplotype block partition methods: three methods in Haploview (confidence interval, four gamete test, and solid spine), MIG++ implemented in PLINK 1.

Addition of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis to Full-Field Digital Mammography in the Diagnostic Setting: Additional Value and Cancer Detectability.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the value of adding digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) to full-field digital mammography (FFDM) in the diagnostic workup of breast cancer and to determine which lesion variables affect cancer detectability in the combined modality.

Methods: Between March and May 2012, paired FFDM and DBT images were obtained from 203 women as part of a diagnostic workup for breast cancer. Images from FFDM alone, DBT alone, and DBT combined with FFDM were reviewed in separate sessions by six blinded readers.

Resilience Mediates Impact of Some Childhood Maltreatment on Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Conscripted Marines in the Republic of Korea.

Although it is known that post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) can result from military service, the variance in PTSS unexplained by military service warrants further investigation, and no researchers have investigated South Korean Marines' vulnerability during their 2-year conscripted service as the first line of national defense against threats from North Korea. This study was designed to examine whether resilience mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and PTSS in 169 Korean conscripts into the Marine Corps. In a cross-sectional study design, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form was used to measure childhood maltreatment, including abuse and neglect.

Akt activation by Evodiae Fructus extract protects ovary against 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide-induced ovotoxicity.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Evodiae Fructus (EF) is the dried, unripe fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa Benth., and one of the main components of traditional herbal prescriptions issued for the treatment of sterility caused by irregular menstruation in Korea. However, scientific evidence regarding the efficacy and action mechanism of EF is lacking.

Off-site evaluation of three-dimensional ultrasound for the diagnosis of thyroid nodules: comparison with two-dimensional ultrasound.

Objectives: We compared the diagnostic performance of off-site evaluation between prospectively obtained 3D and 2D ultrasound for thyroid nodules.

Methods: 3D and 2D ultrasonographies were preoperatively obtained from 85 consecutive patients (mean age, 51 years; age range, 28-83 years) who were referred for a total thyroidectomy. Three radiologists independently evaluated 3D and 2D images of 91 pathologically confirmed thyroid nodules (30 benign and 61 malignant nodules) for nodule characterization.

Clique-Based Clustering of Correlated SNPs in a Gene Can Improve Performance of Gene-Based Multi-Bin Linear Combination Test.

Gene-based analysis of multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a gene region is an alternative to single SNP analysis. The multi-bin linear combination test (MLC) proposed in previous studies utilizes the correlation among SNPs within a gene to construct a gene-based global test. SNPs are partitioned into clusters of highly correlated SNPs, and the MLC test statistic quadratically combines linear combination statistics constructed for each cluster.

[Factors associated with Self-Rated Health in Metabolic Syndrome and Relationship between Sleep Duration and Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors].

Purpose: Purpose was to explore associations between sleep duration and metabolic syndrome (MS) risks, and to determine factors associated with self-rated health (SRH) of adults with MS compared to other adults.

Methods: This is a secondary data analysis based on the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey KNHANES V (N=12662). Study instruments included sleep duration, MS risk factors, SRH and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Co-culture of 3D tumor spheroids with fibroblasts as a model for epithelial-mesenchymal transition in vitro.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) acts as a facilitator of metastatic dissemination in the invasive margin of malignant tumors where active tumor-stromal crosstalks take place. Co-cultures of cancer cells with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are often used as in vitro models of EMT. We established a tumor-fibroblast proximity co-culture using HT-29 tumor spheroids (TSs) with CCD-18 co fibroblasts.

Does adding diffuse optical tomography to sonography improve differentiation between benign and malignant breast lesions? Observer performance study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the added value of diffuse optical tomographic categories combined with conventional sonography for differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions.

Methods: In this retrospective database review, we included 145 breast lesions (116 benign and 29 malignant) from 145 women (mean age, 46 years; range, 16-86 years). Five radiologists independently reviewed sonograms with and without a diffuse optical tomographic category.

Characterization of breast lesions: comparison of digital breast tomosynthesis and ultrasonography.

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and conventional breast ultrasound (US) to characterize breast lesions as benign or malignant.

Materials And Methods: A total of 332 women, presenting for screening examinations or for breast biopsy between March and June 2012 were recruited to undergo digital mammography (DM), DBT, and breast US examination. Among them, 113 patients with 119 breast lesions depicted on DM were finally included.