Mutational Characterization of Colorectal Cancer from Korean Patients with Targeted Sequencing.

Effective treatment of colorectal cancer could benefit from understanding molecular characteristics including mutation profiles of important genes. This study aimed to explore the molecular characteristics of colorectal cancer based on next generation sequencing. The mutational characteristics by targeted next generation sequencing in 172 colorectal tumor samples from Korean patients were evaluated to explore their associations with clinical features.

Synovial Fluid of Patient With Rheumatoid Arthritis Enhanced Osmotic Sensitivity Through the Cytotoxic Edema Module in Synoviocytes.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the synovial membrane ultimately leading to permanent damage in the affected joints. For this study, synovial fluids from 16 patients diagnosed with either RA or osteoarthritis (OA) were used to examine volume regulation and cooperative water channels, both of which are involved in the cytotoxic edema identified in RA-fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS). The osmolarity and inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 of synovial fluids from RA patients were mildly enhanced compared to that from OA patients.

Cognitive reserve and the effects of virtual reality-based cognitive training on elderly individuals with mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition.

Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) is a concept proposed to account for discrepancies between the extent of brain pathology and clinical manifestations of that pathology. This study aimed to explore the associations between CR and the effects of cognitive training using fully immersive virtual reality (VR).

Methods: A total of 44 older adults (22 cognitively normal, 22 with mild cognitive impairment) underwent eight cognitive training sessions using VR for a period of 4 weeks.

Particulate matter (PM) as a newly identified environmental risk factor for acute gout flares: A time-series study.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of short-term exposure to ambient particulate matter less than 10μm in diameter (PM) on occurrence of acute gout flares in the general population and identify susceptible groups accordingly.

Methods: The data of emergency department (ED) cases with acute gout flare in Incheon city, Korea between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2015 were collected from the National Health Insurance Service claims data. The levels of PM and meterological measurements were provided by the Ministry of Environment and the National Meterological Office, respectively.

Optimizing Preparative Regimen for Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Adult Acute Leukemia Patients: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Requires Myeloablative Conditioning but Not Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Cord blood transplantation (CBT) is a valuable alternative to bone marrow transplantation in adults without readily available donors. We conducted this study to investigate the feasibility of CBT for adult patients with acute leukemia with regards to impact of different conditioning and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis regimens on clinical outcomes. From 16 centers in Korea, 41 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and 29 ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) patients undergoing CBT were enrolled.

Autologous stem cell transplantation in elderly patients with multiple myeloma in Korea: the KMM1807 study.

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is not frequently performed for elderly patients multiple myeloma (MM) in Korea, despite its being a standardized approach for young patients. Medical records of 150 patients from 15 Korean institutions who received ASCT at age ≥ 64 years were analyzed retrospectively. Patients included had symptomatic MM, and had received their first ASCT at age ≥ 64 following induction chemotherapy.