Purpose
This study aimed to evaluate the mid-term efficacy and safety of
Escherichia coli
-derived bone morphogenetic protein-2 (E.BMP-2)/hydroxyapatite (HA) in lumbar posterolateral fusion (PLF).
...Methods
This multicenter, evaluator-blinded, observational study utilized prospectively collected clinical data. We enrolled 74 patients who underwent lumbar PLF and had previously participated in the BA06-CP01 clinical study, which compared the short-term outcomes of E.BMP-2 with an auto-iliac bone graft (AIBG). Radiographs and CT scans were analyzed to evaluate fusion grade at 12, 24, and 36 months. Visual analog scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), and Short Form-36 (SF-36) scores were measured preoperatively and at 36 months after surgery. All adverse events in this study were assessed for its relationship with E.BMP-2.
Results
The fusion grade of the E.BMP-2 group (4.91 ± 0.41) was superior to that of the AIBG group (4.25 ± 1.26) in CT scans at 36 months after surgery (
p
= 0.007). Non-union cases were 4.3% in the E.BMP-2 and 16.7% in the AIBG. Both groups showed improvement in pain VAS, ODI, and SF-36 scores when compared to the baseline values, and there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. No treatment-related serious adverse reactions were observed in either group. No neoplasm-related adverse events occurred in the E.BMP-2 group.
Conclusions
The fusion quality of E.BMP-2/HA was superior to that of AIBG. E.BMP-2/HA showed comparable mid-term outcomes to that of AIBG in terms of efficacy and safety in one-level lumbar PLF surgery.
Since 2011, 2% chlorhexidine in 70% isopropyl alcohol (2% chlorhexidine tincture) has been widely used in Korea. To investigate changes in chlorhexidine sensitivity of staphylococci causing central ...line-associated bloodstream infections, 264 blood culture isolates from adult patients treated in intensive care units of five university hospitals between 2008 and 2016 were analysed. We observed no significant changes in chlorhexidine minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations, or in the prevalence of resistance-associated genes before and after introduction of 2% chlorhexidine tincture. Thus, there was no evidence of increased resistance to chlorhexidine in staphylococci causing central line-associated bloodstream infections.
In demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, a critical problem is failure of remyelination, which is important for protecting axons against degeneration and restoring conduction deficits. ...However, the underlying mechanism of demyelination/remyelination remains unclear. N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-IX (GnT-IX; also known as GnT-Vb) is a brain-specific glycosyltransferase that catalyzes the branched formation of O-mannosyl glycan structures. O-Mannosylation of α-dystroglycan is critical for its function as an extracellular matrix receptor, but the biological significance of its branched structures, which are exclusively found in the brain, is unclear. In this study, we found that GnT-IX formed branched O-mannosyl glycans on receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase β (RPTPβ) in vivo. Since RPTPβ is thought to play a regulatory role in demyelinating diseases, GnT-IX-deficient mice were subjected to cuprizone-induced demyelination. Cuprizone feeding for 8 weeks gradually promoted demyelination in wild-type mice. In GnT-IX-deficient mice, the myelin content in the corpus callosum was reduced after 4 weeks of treatment, but markedly increased at 8 weeks, suggesting enhanced remyelination under GnT-IX deficiency. Furthermore, astrocyte activation in the corpus callosum of GnT-IX-deficient mice was significantly attenuated, and an oligodendrocyte cell lineage analysis indicated that more oligodendrocyte precursor cells differentiated into mature oligodendrocytes. Together, branched O-mannosyl glycans in the corpus callosum in the brain are a necessary component of remyelination inhibition in the cuprizone-induced demyelination model, suggesting that modulation of O-mannosyl glycans is a likely candidate for therapeutic strategies.
Objective
To describe the health characteristics of individuals with low HbA1c levels and evaluate the association between HbA1c level and disability or all-cause mortality in non-diabetic older ...adults.
Design
Prospective observational cohort study.
Setting
Seongnam, Gyeongi Province, Korea.
Participants
Among the 1,000 community-dwelling Koreans ≥ 65 years of age who were followed for 5 years, 760 non-diabetic individuals were analyzed.
Measurements
Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental ADL (IADL) were evaluated and mortality data were obtained from the National Statistics Office of Korea.
Results
The mean age was 76.3 (SD 9.0) years, and 319 subjects (42.0%) were male. Lower level of HbA1c was associated with less frequent hypertension and less frequent use of aspirin or statin, and lower values of body mass index, hematocrit, total iron-binding capacity, albumin, and cholesterol level. The participants were categorized into 3 groups according to their HbA1c (group I, < 5.5%; group II, 5.5∼5.9%; and group III, 6.0 ∼ 6.4%). Although, there was no significant difference in functional status according to baseline HbA1c level, disability was more frequently observed as the HbA1c level decrease (18.3% in group I, 12.5% in group II, and 5.3% in group III, p=0.029) at the 5-year follow-up evaluation. There were 172 deaths (22.6%) during the follow-up period. There was no significant difference in mortality among the groups, however, group I had a 2.071-fold higher risk for the incident disability or mortality over group III after adjusting age, gender, and possible confounder (95% CI: 1.040 ∼ 4.124, p=0.038).
Conclusions
Lower level of HbA1c was associated with an increased risk of disability in non-diabetic older adults.
Tightly controlled recruitment of telomerase, a low-abundance enzyme, to telomeres is essential for regulated telomere synthesis. Recent studies in human cells revealed that a patch of amino acids in ...the shelterin component TPP1, called the TEL-patch, is essential for recruiting telomerase to telomeres. However, how TEL-patch-telomerase interaction integrates into the overall orchestration of telomerase regulation at telomeres is unclear. In fission yeast, Tel1(ATM)/Rad3(ATR)-mediated phosphorylation of shelterin component Ccq1 during late S phase is involved in telomerase recruitment through promoting the binding of Ccq1 to a telomerase accessory protein Est1. Here, we identify the TEL-patch in Tpz1(TPP1), mutations of which lead to decreased telomeric association of telomerase, similar to the phosphorylation-defective Ccq1. Furthermore, we find that telomerase action at telomeres requires formation and resolution of an intermediate state, in which the cell cycle-dependent Ccq1-Est1 interaction is coupled to the TEL-patch-Trt1 interaction, to achieve temporally regulated telomerase elongation of telomeres.
Radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), hosting powerful relativistic jet outflows, provide an excellent laboratory for studying jet physics. Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) enables ...high-resolution imaging on milli-arcsecond (mas) and sub-mas scales, making it a powerful tool to explore the inner jet structure, shedding light on the formation, acceleration, and collimation of AGN jets. In this paper, we present Very Long Baseline Array observations of 10 radio-loud AGNs at 43 and 86 GHz that were selected from the Planck catalog of compact sources and are among the brightest in published VLBI images at and below 15 GHz. The image noise levels in our observations are typically 0.3 and 1.5 mJy beam−1 at 43 and 86 GHz, respectively. Compared with the VLBI data observed at lower frequencies from the literature, our observations with higher resolutions (with the highest resolution being up to 0.07 mas at 86 GHz and 0.18 mas at 43 GHz) and at higher frequencies detected new jet components at sub-parsec scales, offering valuable data for studies of the physical properties of the innermost jets. These include the compactness factor of the radio structure (the ratio of core flux density to total flux density), and core brightness temperature ( ). In all these sources, the compact core accounts for a significant fraction ( ) of the total flux density. Their correlated flux density at the longest baselines is higher than 0.16 Jy. The compactness of these sources make them good phase calibrators of millimeter-wavelength ground-based and space VLBI.
Background. The incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing in Korea, especially in the aged population. The health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with chronic renal ...insufficiency is lower than that for the general population and a lower HRQOL is a predictor of adverse events. We report the impact of kidney function on the HRQOL and the risk factors for poor HRQOL in an elderly population living in one Korean city. Methods. This study was conducted as a part of the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging (KLoSHA) that was designed as a population-based, prospective cohort-study in a population aged >65 years living in a satellite city of Seoul in Korea. Among 1 000 randomly selected subjects, 944 were able to complete the SF-36 questionnaires to measure HRQOL. We categorized the participants into five GFR groups: group 1: 90 mL/min/1.73 m2 or more, group 2: 89–75 mL/ min/1.73 m2, group 3: 60–74 mL/min/1.73 m2, group 4: 45–59 mL/min/1.73 m2 and group 5: less than 45 mL/min/ 1.73 m2. Results. Except for the general health perception and mental health scale, all the other scores of the SF-36 scales showed differences among five groups categorized according to GFR. However, the scores were significantly decreased only among participants with a GFR value of <45 mL/min/1.73 m2, compared to the other four GFR groups. After adjustment, the physical component summary score was the lowest in participants with GFR values <45 mL/min/1.73 m2. The dichotomized GFR factor with the criterion of 45 mL/min/1.73 m2 was an independent predictor of poor physical HRQOL. Other factors, such as age, gender, duration of education, regular exercising habits, depression and a history of cardiovascular accident, were also predictors of HRQOL. A lower haemoglobin level was related to the mental component summary. Conclusion. The renal function deduced to be an important predictor of HRQOL, even in the old age group. The moderately decreased renal function of 45 mL/min/1.73 m2 GFR was the level at which HRQOL decreased in the elderly Korean population.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli amongst community-onset bacteraemia and to evaluate treatment ...outcomes. From the database of a nationwide surveillance programme for bacteraemia, data from patients with community-onset E. coli bacteraemia were analysed. Patients with ESBL-producing E. coli bacteraemia were compared with those with non-ESBL-producing bacteraemia. The overall proportion of ESBL-producers was 9.5% (82/865) amongst community-onset E. coli bacteraemia cases. Healthcare-associated infection, underlying liver disease and primary bacteraemia were significant independent factors associated with ESBL-producing E. coli bacteraemia ( P < 0.05). There was a trend toward mortality being higher in the ESBL group compared with the non-ESBL group (15.0% vs. 7.6%; P = 0.096). ESBL production was found to be an independent factor associated with mortality after adjusting for confounding variables (odds ratio = 2.99, 95% confidence interval 1.01–8.84; P = 0.048), along with severe sepsis, higher Pitt bacteraemia score, primary bacteraemia, pneumonia and underlying liver disease ( P < 0.05). ESBL-producing E. coli is a significant cause of bacteraemia, even in patients with community-onset infections, predicting higher mortality, particularly in patients with primary bacteraemia, underlying liver disease or healthcare-associated infection.
A 5-Gb/s/pin transceiver for DDR memory interface is proposed with a crosstalk suppression scheme. The proposed transceiver implements a staggered memory bus topology and a glitch canceller to ...suppress crosstalk-induced distortions in a memory channel. The transceiver is implemented using 0.18 mum CMOS process and operates at 5 Gb/s. The results demonstrate widened eye diagram and lower bit error rate. The eye width and height of the proposed scheme increases 28.3% and 11.1% compared to the conventional memory transceiver, respectively. The peak-to-peak jitter of output data is 52.82 ps.
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