Publications by authors named "Yeonkyung Lee"

Background/objectives: Over the past 10 yrs, the prevalence of diabetes in Korea has continued to incline, and the importance of lifestyle modification to manage diabetes has been highlighted. For patients with diabetes, carbohydrate intake reduction is effective in improving glycemic control; thus, we aimed to analyze the effect of carbohydrate intake ratio and suggest an appropriate carbohydrate intake ratio.

Subjects/methods: Using the 8th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2019-2021), we analyzed the data including participants aged 30 yrs or older with diabetes, and they were stratified into good and poor glycemic control groups.

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Traditional clinical methodologies often fall short of revealing the complex interplay of multiple components and targets within the human body. This study was designed to explore the complex and synergistic effects of phytochemicals in a plant-based multivitamin/mineral supplement (PBS) on oxidative stress and inflammation in healthy individuals. Utilizing a systems biology framework, we integrated clinical with multi-omics analyses, including UPLC-Q-TOF-MS for 33 phytochemicals, qPCR for 42 differential transcripts, and GC-TOF-MS for 17 differential metabolites.

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Background: Smoking can reduce taste sensitivity, the ability to sense various tastes, and diet quality and can increase the incidence of diseases such as hypertension. This study aimed to analyze the association between the smoking amount, subjective salt preference, and salt-related eating behaviors.

Methods: Data of more than 16 million individuals from the Korean Community Health Survey were used.

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Background: The goal of this study was to help prevent and control the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by identifying transmission routes and risk factors in livestock slaughtering and processing facilities (SPFs) and establishing an optimal intervention strategy for outbreaks.

Methods: This case series study was a demographic analysis of patients with confirmed COVID-19 associated with 5 SPFs in Korea between January and June 2021. Additionally, in a retrospective cohort study, the association between COVID-19 infection and risk factors was analyzed for SPFs at which outbreaks occurred.

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Background/objectives: Excessive sodium intake, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption are risk factors for a wide range of diseases. This study aimed to determine whether smokers and drinkers are more likely to enjoy their food with more salt, and whether the combination of smoking and drinking is associated with salty taste preferences.

Subjects/methods: This study analyzed the data of over 16 million Koreans from two four-year Korean Community Health Survey cycles (, 2010 to 2013 and 2014 to 2017).

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Background/objectives: This study aimed to compare 24-h diet recall (DR) and 24-h urine collection (UC) for estimating sodium and potassium intakes and their ratio (Na/K), identifying factors associated with sodium and potassium intakes and Na/K, and identifying those who were likely to underestimate sodium and potassium intakes by DR.

Subjects/methods: A total of 640 healthy adults aged 19-69 yrs completed a questionnaire survey, salty taste assessment, anthropometric measurement, two 24-h DRs, and two 24-h UCs.

Results: The mean sodium and potassium intakes and Na/K were 3,755 mg/d, 2,737 mg/d, and 1.

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Background/objectives: South Korea has been conducting the Sodium Reduction Restaurant Project since 2015 to reduce sodium contents in restaurant menus. The purpose of this study was to analyze changes in the sodium content of menus as determined by the Daegu Sodium Reduction Restaurant Project between 2015 and 2019.

Materials/methods: Intervention was aimed at reducing the sodium contents of over 10% of menu items in participating restaurants.

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Background/objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a sodium index, which is a tool for estimating and assessing sodium intake easily and quickly, to assist in the prevention of various diseases induced by excess sodium intake in Korean adults.

Subjects/methods: The 24-h urine collection and dietary behavior surveys were performed on 640 healthy people in 4 regions of South Korea, and an equation for the estimation of 24-h sodium intake was developed. The validity and reliability of the equation were verified with 200 adults.

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Sodium is a physiologically essential nutrient, but excessive intake is linked to the increased risk of various chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular. It is, therefore, necessary to accomplish an evidence-based approach and establish the Korean Dietary Reference Intakes (KDRIs) index, to identify both the nutritional adequacy and health effects of sodium. This review presents the rationale for and the process of revising the KDRIs for sodium and, more importantly, establishing the sodium Chronic Disease Risk Reduction Intake (CDRR) level, which is a new specific set of values for chronic disease risk reduction.

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Accumulating evidence suggests that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in the acquisition of fear memory during trace fear conditioning in which a conditional stimulus (CS) is paired with an aversive unconditional stimulus (UCS) separated by a temporal gap (trace interval, TI). However, little is known about the role of the prefrontal cortex for short- and long-term trace fear memory formation. Thus, we investigated how the prelimbic (PL) subregion within mPFC in rats contributes to short- and long-term trace fear memory formation using electrolytic lesions and d,l,-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (APV), an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist infusions into PL.

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Objective: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >100 risk loci for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but the disease genes at most loci remain unclear, hampering translation of these genetic discoveries. We aimed to prioritise genes underlying the 110 SLE loci that were identified in the latest East Asian GWAS meta-analysis.

Methods: We built gene expression predictive models in blood B cells, CD4 and CD8 T cells, monocytes, natural killer cells and peripheral blood cells of 105 Japanese individuals.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to uncover genetic risk factors for steroid-associated ONFH (S-ONFH) in SLE patients, involving data from 636 SLE patients with S-ONFH and nearly 96,000 controls.
  • * Four significant genetic loci were identified, with three showing strong associations with S-ONFH, suggesting potential common genetic factors between S-ONFH and SLE, particularly implicating genes involved
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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease in which the abnormal immune system causes arthritis. We reviewed previous studies about the mortality and causes of death in Korean patients with RA. Also, we discussed the association between comorbidities and mortality in Korean patients with RA.

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Objective: To elucidate whether clinical features and the weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) were associated with the presence of lupus nephritis (LN).

Methods: We retrospectively divided patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, n=1,078) into biopsy-proven LN (n=507) and non-LN groups (non-LN, n=571) Baseline clinical features, serologic markers, and the wGRS were collected The wGRS was calculated from 112 non-human leukocyte antigen (non-HLA) loci and HLA-DRβ1 amino acid haplotypes for SLE Associations among clinical features, wGRS, and the presence of LN were identified.

Results: In the multivariate analysis, patients with LN were younger at diagnosis (odds ratio [OR]=0.

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Objectives: To investigate the causes and risk of death in a large cohort of Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Patients in the Hanyang BAE (Bae registry of Autoimmune diseases for Epidemiology) RA cohort who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria were analyzed. A total of 2355 patients were enrolled from October 2001 to December 2015.

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Objective: To examine healthcare resource utilisation (HRU) and direct medical costs for patients with diabetic macular oedema (DME) treated with antivascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) in Korea by comparing with those for (1) patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) without retinopathy and (2) patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treated with anti-VEGF.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: The Korean National Health Insurance (NHI) database from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2016.

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Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disorder, has been associated with nearly 100 susceptibility loci. Nevertheless, these loci only partially explain SLE heritability and their putative causal variants are rarely prioritised, which make challenging to elucidate disease biology. To detect new SLE loci and causal variants, we performed the largest genome-wide meta-analysis for SLE in East Asian populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to enhance understanding of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by conducting genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in a large cohort of Korean individuals.
  • Researchers generated new genomic data from 4,068 RA patients and 36,487 controls, identifying six novel RA-risk loci and a total of 122 prioritized genes associated with the disease.
  • The findings suggest specific immune-related pathways and tissues involved in RA and provide insights into the genetic factors underlying the condition.
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Background And Objectives: Koreans tend to have high sodium intake in restaurants. This study assessed the effect of the sodium reduction project in restaurants in Daegu Metropolitan City.

Methods And Study Design: A total of 156 sodium reduction menu items offered by 90 restaurants were categorized into 11 food groups to compare sodium content and salinity before and after the project.

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Purpose: To investigate the use of a retinal thickness deviation map generated from swept-source (SS) OCT images for hydroxychloroquine retinopathy screening.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: This study included 1192 Korean patients with a history of hydroxychloroquine treatment: 881 patients (1723 eyes) in the discovery set and 311 patients (591 eyes) in the validation set.

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While ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is known as a precursor lesion to most invasive breast carcinomas, the mechanisms underlying this transition remain enigmatic. DCIS is typically diagnosed by the mammographic detection of microcalcifications (MC). MCs consisting of non-stoichiometric hydroxyapatite (HA) mineral are frequently associated with malignant disease, yet it is unclear whether HA can actively promote malignancy.

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Background: Structural variations such as copy number variations (CNVs) have a functional impact on various human traits. This study profiled genome-wide CNVs in Korean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to investigate the efficacy of treatment with TNF-α blockers.

Methods: A total of 357 Korean patients with RA were examined for the efficacy of TNF-α blocker treatment.

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This study aimed to clarify the association between the frequency of dining out and the risk of obesity, diabetes mellitus, and dyslipidemia among Korean adults. This cross-sectional study surveyed 640 participants aged 20-69 years in Korea. Daily intake of energy, fat, protein, and cholesterol significantly increased as the frequency of dining out increased ( < .

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Impulsivity is closely associated with addictive disorders, and changes in the brain dopamine system have been proposed to affect impulse control in reward-related behaviors. However, the central neural pathways through which the dopamine system controls impulsive behavior are still unclear. We found that the absence of the D2 dopamine receptor (D2R) increased impulsive behavior in mice, whereas restoration of D2R expression specifically in the central amygdala (CeA) of D2R knockout mice ( normalized their enhanced impulsivity.

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