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Background Behcet9s disease is a chronic, systemic vasculitis that can involve all sizes of blood vessels. Those complicated symptoms lead to the patient9s impairment of life quality as well as psychological problems. Sleep disturbance is one of the most particular concerns in patients with Behcet9s disease. It has been known that the disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylosis is associated with the sleep quality. However, studies about the sleep quality of patients with Behcet9s disease in Korean population are limited. Objectives The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of sleep quality on Behcet9s disease in Korean population. We also investigated the relationship between depression, quality of life, other clinical findings of Behcet9s. Methods The study was performed by cross-sectional design in two tertiary hospitals. We met one hundred patients with Behcet9s disease, surveyed them face-to-face and conducted the chart review for more clinical informations. Sleep quality was assessed by the Korean version of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Disease activity of Behcet9s disease was evaluated by Behcet9s disease current activity form (BDCAF). Depression was assessed by the Korean version of Beck depression inventory second edition (BDI-2). Quality of life was assessed by the Korean version of the Leeds Behcet9s Disease Quality of Life Measure (BDQoL). Results Among 100 patients, median age was 51 [44.5–56.0] years, median disease duration was 77.5 [24.0–136.0] months and 31% were male. Those who met the diagnostic critera of fibromyalgia were 28 patients. The frequency of poor sleep quality (PSQI >5) was 67%. Patients with poor sleep quality tend to have higher BDI2, BDCAF and pain VAS score (P Conclusions The low quality of sleep is associated with disease activity, depression and quality of life in Korean patients with Behcet9s disease. We expect better disease control will improve the sleep quality. References Tascilar NF, Tekin NS, Ankarali H, Sezer T, Atik L, Emre U, Duysak S, Cinar F. J Sleep Res 2012;21:281–8. Melikoglu MA, Melikoglu M. Rheumatol Int 2010;30:941–6. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Headaches is common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) [1]. However, the lack of specific clinical distinctions for headache in SLE has made it difficult to elucidate its pathophysiology. Chronic daily headache (CDH) is a category of headache disorders that occurs more than 15 days per month and is associated with a profound decline in the quality of life [2]. Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical characteristics of CDH in patients with SLE and their association with disease severity and the quality of life. Methods A total of 40 consecutive patients with SLE participated in the survey. We investigated headache characteristics, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, and six-question headache impact test (HIT-6) to evaluate the impact of headache on the quality of life. The patients underwent required blood tests for assessment of disease activity using the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI). Results Six patients (15%) met the criteria for CDH. The total score of HIT-6 is significantly higher in SLE patients with CDH than in those patients who suffered from headache without CDH (P=0.027). SLE patients with CDH in particular had a higher prevalence of “wish could lie down” than those who suffered from headache without CDH (P=0.017). The multivariate regression analysis indicates that the headache days per month was a predictor for headache-related disabilities. Conclusions As far as we know, this is the first study of its kind to evaluate the correlation of CDH and the quality of life in Korean patients with SLE. CDH may deteriorate the quality of life in patients with SLE. References Cuadrado MJ, Sanna G. Headache and systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus 2003;12:943–6. Pascual J, Colas R, Castillo J. Epidemiology of chronic daily headache. Curr Pain Headache Rep 2001;5:529–36. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Interleukin-17A (IL-17A) plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which is characterized by exaggerated synovial proliferation. Autophagy is required to prevent accumulation of cellular damage and to ensure cellular homeostasis. Dysregulated autophagy has been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases such as cancer and infections. Here, we hypothesized that IL-17A, a key cytokine in the development of RA, might have an impact on autophagic flux and that aberrant autophagy might be involved in expansion of synovial fibroblasts in the patients with RA, which is stimulated by pro-inflammatory cytokines. Objectives The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate whether IL-17A influences on autophagic flux in the synovium of the patients with RA and (2) to investigate whether the modulation of autophagy can regulate migration and proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) from the patients with RA (RA-FLS) under inflammatory milieu. Methods Synovial tissue was obtained from the patients with RA or osteoarthritis (OA) during total knee replacement surgery. FLS was cultured with IL-17A, autophagy inducer or inhibitor. The expression of marker proteins for autophagic flux (LC3B, Beclin1, Atg5, p62) and the formation of autophagolysosome (LAMP1) were analyzed by western blot. A migration scratch assay was used to assess FLS migration in response to stimulation with IL-17A. Proliferation of FLS was determined by the viable cell count using trypan blue. Bafilomycin was used for inhibiting autophagic flux. Results The expression of autophagy markers (LC3B, Beclin1, Atg5) was increased in the synovium of the patients with RA than in that of the patients with OA. Autophagy was also enhanced in RA-FLS compared with OA-FLS. IL-17A upregulated the expression of LC3B, Atg5, Beclin1, LAMP1 in RA-FLS. In particular, IL-17A-induced accumulation of p62 was prominent in RA-FLS. Migration and proliferation of FLS stimulated by IL-17A was suppressed by the inhibition of autophagy. Conclusions This study reveals that IL-17A stimulates autophagic flux and that intervention of autophagy can control IL-17A-induced migration and proliferation of FLS. Our results also provide additional evidence for a significant role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of RA. Thus, we suggest that autophagy might be a potential therapeutic target for the management of RA. References Lin NY, Beyer C, Giessl A, et al. Autophagy regulates TNFα-mediated joint destruction in experimental arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 May;72(5):761–8. Connor AM, Mahomed N, Gandhi R, et al. TNFα modulates protein degradation pathways in rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts. Arthritis Res Ther. 2012 Mar 14;14(2):R62. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Interleukin-21 (IL-21) has various effects on a number of immune cells including B cells, T cells, natural killer (NK) and NKT cells. One of the essential roles of IL-21 is to contribute to autoantibody production as a result of promoting hyperactivity of B cells. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a prototypic autoimmune disease characterized by pathogenic autoantibody production and systemic organ damage. A few studies have been conducted for investigating the contribution of IL-21 to the pathogenesis of murine SLE. However, only limited studies have been performed concerning the role of IL-21 in human SLE and the results are still controversial. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate whether IL-21 participates in the pathogenesis of human SLE. Methods Serum IL-21 levels were measured in SLE, osteoarthritis (OA) patients and healthy controls (HC). Serum IL-21 levels were analyzed for revealing the correlation with laboratory data or a disease activity index for SLE. Kidney tissues from patients with lupus nephritis and controls were used for evaluating the expression of IL-21 and IL-21R. Normal portions of human kidneys removed for renal carcinoma were used as normal controls. Results Serum levels of IL-21 were increased in the patients with SLE as compared to the patients with OA or HC. Serum IL-21 levels of the patients with SLE were positively correlated with serum levels of IgG, the titers of anti–double-stranded DNA antibodies and the scores of SLE Disease Activity Index. SLE patients with low C4 concentrations had higher serum IL-21 levels than those with normal C4 concentrations. The expression of IL-21 was higher in renal tubular epithelial cells of the patients with lupus nephritis than in those of controls. Conclusions This study reveals the association between IL-21 and disease activity in the patients with SLE. We also first demonstrate IL-21 expression in renal tissue of the patients with lupus nephritis. These findings suggest that IL-21 is critically implicated in the pathogenesis of SLE. References Ettinger R, Kuchen S, Lipsky PE: Interleukin 21 as a target of intervention in autoimmune disease. Annals of the rheumatic diseases 2008, 67 Suppl 3:iii83–86. Herber D, Brown TP, Liang S, Young DA, Collins M, Dunussi-Joannopoulos K: IL-21 has a pathogenic role in a lupus-prone mouse model and its blockade with IL-21R.Fc reduces disease progression. Journal of immunology 2007, 178(6):3822–3830. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background: Curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric ( Curcuma longa), is known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties. The present study was aimed to determine the effect of curcumin in regional myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and its underlying mechanisms involving the role of prosurvival kinases and apoptotic kinases. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 109) subjected to a 30-minute left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion followed by reperfusion were assigned to receive saline (control), curcumin (100 mg/kg), wortmannin (inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase [PI3K]-Akt), wortmannin + curcumin, U0126 (inhibitor of extracellular signal-regulated kinase [ERK1/2]), U0126 + curcumin, SB216763 (inhibitor of glycogen synthase kinase [GSK-3β]), and SB216763 + curcumin 20 minutes before LAD occlusion. Infarct size was measured after 2 hours of reperfusion by triphenyl tetrazolium chloride staining. The phosphorylation of Akt, ERK1/2, GSK-3β, p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) was determined by immunoblotting after 10 minutes of reperfusion. Results: Curcumin significantly reduced the infarct size compared with the control (33.1% ± 6.2% vs 50.1% ± 3.9%; P < .05). Wortmannin or U0126 alone did not affect the infarct size but abolished the curcumin-induced cardioprotective effect. Curcumin significantly enhanced the phosphorylation of Akt, ERK1/2, and GSK-3β, while it reduced that of p38 and JNK. Wortmannin or U0126 abolished enhanced phosphorylation of GSK-3β induced by curcumin. SB216763 alone or combined with curcumin reduced the infarct size and enhanced phosphorylation of GSK-3β compared with the control. Conclusions: Preconditioning by curcumin effectively protects against regional myocardial I/R injury through the activation of prosurvival kinases involving PI3K-Akt, ERK1/2, and GSK-3β, and attenuation of p38 and JNK.

Background: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) reflects the maturation of the brain microstructure. Although preterm infants are at significant risk for altered brain microstructure, it remains unclear whether this is affected by prematurity itself or other clinical factors. Objectives: To investigate DTI parameters in preterm infants at a term-equivalent age (TEA) compared with healthy term infants and to assess the associations between DTI parameters and clinical factors that may affect brain development. Methods: We studied 34 preterm infants without apparent brain lesions and 12 healthy term infants using tract-based spatial statistics. Region-of-interest analysis was performed in the posterior and anterior limbs of the internal capsule (PLIC and ALIC), corpus callosum (CC), optic radiation, and cerebral peduncle. Results: Preterm infants had significantly decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in nearly the entire white matter (WM) compared with term infants (p < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that FA in the PLIC, ALIC, optic radiation, and cerebral peduncle were positively associated with postmenstrual age (PMA) at imaging and that the apparent diffusion coefficient was negatively associated with PMA. Only FA in the CC was positively correlated with gestational age. Chronic lung disease (CLD) and postnatal infection were associated with decreased FA in the CC and PLIC, respectively. Conclusions: Preterm infants at TEA showed an altered microstructure of the WM compared with healthy term infants. The altered microstructure of the measured WM except the CC was independent of the degree of prematurity. Chronic lung disease and postnatal infection are related to localized WM alterations.

Two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) has become a general platform for analysis of various clinical samples such as biofluids and tissues. In comparison to conventional 2-D polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE), 2D DIGE offers several advantages, such as accuracy and reproducibility between experiments, which facilitate spot-to-spot comparisons. Although whole plasma can be easily obtained, the complexity of plasma samples makes it challenging to analyze samples with good reproducibility. Here, we describe a method for decreasing protein complexity in plasma samples within a narrow pH range by depleting high-abundance plasma proteins. In combination with analysis of differentially expressed spots, trypsin digestion, identification of protein by mass spectrometry, and standard 2D PAGE and DIGE, this method has been optimized for comparison of plasma samples from healthy donors and patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) has become a general platform for analysis of various clinical samples such as biofluids and tissues. In comparison to conventional 2-D polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D PAGE), 2D DIGE offers several advantages, such as accuracy and reproducibility between experiments, which facilitate spot-to-spot comparisons. Although whole plasma can be easily obtained, the complexity of plasma samples makes it challenging to analyze samples with good reproducibility. Here, we describe a method for decreasing protein complexity in plasma samples within a narrow pH range by depleting high-abundance plasma proteins. In combination with analysis of differentially expressed spots, trypsin digestion, identification of protein by mass spectrometry, and standard 2D PAGE and DIGE, this method has been optimized for comparison of plasma samples from healthy donors and patients diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder resulting from progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) pars compacta. Therefore, imaging of the SN has been regarded to hold greatest potential for use in the diagnosis of PD. At the 7.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it is now possible to delineate clearly the shapes and boundaries of the SN. We scanned eight early and two advanced PD patients, along with nine age-matched control subjects, using a 7.0T MRI in an attempt to directly visualize the SN and quantify the differences in shape and boundaries of SN between PD subjects in comparison with the normal control subjects. In the normal controls, the boundaries between the SN and crus cerebri appear smooth, and clean "arch" shapes that stretch ventrally from posterior to anterior. In contrast, these smooth and clean arch-like boundaries were lost in PD subjects. The measured correlation analyses show that, in PD patients, there is age-dependent correlation and substantially stronger UPDRS motor score-dependent correlation. These results suggest that, by using 7.0T MRI, it appears possible to use these visible and distinctive changes in morphology as a diagnostic marker of PD.

The concentration of TiO(2) in a cream formulation has been non-destructively measured using Raman spectroscopy without further sample pretreatments. The distribution of TiO(2) particles in a highly viscous cream may not be homogeneous on a microscopic scale and local aggregation of the particles is possible; therefore, acquisition of Raman spectra capable of representing the whole sample identity rather than the localized chemical information was critically necessary to ensure reliable quantitative analysis. A wide area illumination (WAI) scheme, applying 6-mm diameter laser illumination area (total coverage: 28.3mm(2)) on a sample, was used to achieve representative sample presentation and improved accuracy. When Raman spectra were collected for the same sample using a conventional scheme with a much smaller laser spot ( approximately 100 microm), the spectral reproducibility was degraded, as expected. The local aggregation of TiO(2) particles was confirmed by analyzing both SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and Raman images of a cream sample. When the WAI scheme was used, the resulting error in the determination of TiO(2) concentration was 0.03 wt%, while 0.17 wt% in the case of using the conventional scheme. The proposed Raman scheme would be advantageous over the conventional titration method that requires destructive incineration of the organic cream matrix, as well as a large consumption of chemical reagents.

After the outbreak of acute renal failure associated with melamine-contaminated pet food, many attempts have been made to uncover the mechanism underlying the renal toxicity caused by melamine and melamine-related compounds. Using rat models, we investigated the renal crystal formation following the ingestion of a melamine-cyanuric acid mixture (M+CA, 1:1) to gain insight into the M+CA-induced renal toxicity. M+CA did not induce toxicity in precision-cut kidney slices, suggesting that M+CA does not have a direct nephrotoxicity. On the contrary, oral administration of M+CA for 3 days induced nephrotoxicity as determined by increased serum blood urea nitrogen and creatinine, reduced creatinine clearance, and enlarged kidneys in the animals treated with 50 mg/kg M+CA (melamine, 25 mg/kg, and cyanuric acid, 25 mg/kg; 2 of 10 animals) and 100 mg/kg M+CA (9 of 9 animals). While urine crystals were found in all animals treated with M+CA (25-100 mg/kg), histological examination revealed that renal crystals could be observed only in the kidneys of animals showing signs of nephrotoxicity. Remarkably, at 50 mg/kg M+CA, crystals were observed mainly in the medulla region of the kidney, while at 100 mg/kg, crystals were disseminated throughout the cortex and medulla regions. To further investigate the crystal formation by M+CA, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization quadrupole time-of-flight (MALDI-Q-TOF) imaging mass spectrometry detecting melamine distribution through monitoring the product ion (m/z 85, M + H) from melamine (m/z 127, M + H) was developed to directly obtain the image of melamine distribution in the kidney. The distribution image of melamine in kidney tissue confirmed that dense points of melamine were located only in the medulla region at 50 mg/kg M+CA, while at 100 mg/kg, they were disseminated widely from the cortex to medulla. These results demonstrated that M+CA ingestion could lead to crystal formation in kidney tubules along the osmotic gradient and that renal crystal formation is closely linked with M+CA-induced nephrotoxicity.

Videos are often used in e-learning contents. But learning pages consisting of texts and figures can be delivered in fast service, while learning pages including large video or sound files need a relatively longer service time to deliver learning contents. Accordingly in the present study, we aim to make it more independent of the operating systems, devices or browsers and enable interactions among learners. The convenience of learning is intended to be achieved by realizing e-learning contents, enabling self-initiated learning. To this end, in the present paper, a technique to synchronize multimedia e-learning contents, multimedia objects based on XML is proposed, and the e-learning contents of the proposed technique are developed with Flash, to support high-quality multimedia learning via synchronized data of images, sounds, videos, ect. on Web sites.

The aim of this study was to examine the hypoglycemic effect of chlorella in 6 week-old type 2 diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK, n=30) rats and 6 week-old normal Wistar (n=30) rats. Animals were randomly assigned to 3 groups respectively, and were fed three different experimental diets containing 0%, 3% or 5% (w/w) chlorella for 8 weeks. In diabetic GK rats, the insulinogenic-indices were not significantly different among the groups. The concentrations of fasting plasma glucagon and hepatic triglyceride, and the insulin/glucagon ratios of the GK-3% chlorella and GK-5% chlorella groups were significantly lower than those of the GK-control group. The HOMA-index and the concentrations of fasting blood glucose and plasma insulin of the GK-3% chlorella and GK-5% chlorella groups were slightly lower than those of the GK-control group. In normal Wistar rats, the insulinogenic-indices were not significantly different among the normal groups, but that of the Wistar-5% chlorella group was slightly higher than the other groups. The concentrations of fasting blood glucose and plasma insulin, and the HOMA-index of the Wistar-5% chlorella group were a little higher, and the fasting plasma glucagon concentration and the insulin/glucagon ratio of the Wistar-5% chlorella group were significantly higher than those of the Wistar-control and Wistar-3% chlorella groups. In conclusion, this study shows that the glucose-stimulated insulin secretion was not affected by the intake of chlorella, which could be beneficial, however, in improving insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetic GK and normal Wistar rats.

Search engine requirements increase as Internet use increases. Various types of forms must be requiring different search techniques. In case of academic writing (theses or professional scientific publications), quoted data from other documents must be appropriately handled. The occurrence of keywords in referenced documents, quoted in many documents in common, each highly weighted, attributes a disproportionately high weight to that keyword in the document. The more often a document is quoted, the more reliable the common portions of the referenced documents are ascribed to be. An algorithmic method of numerically ranking the importance of the pages is important to the search techniques. The quoted relations are sampled in the list of referenced documents and the statistics of the quoted relations were calculated. The technique renewing the keyword weight of referenced documents reflects the keyword weights of the quoted documents.

A series of business processes, based on Wf-XML, executing cooperatively and sharing information among customers, suppliers and business partners are used in electronic commerce. Wf-XML (Workflow-XML) is an asynchronous Web service protocol. A language defining XML-based protocol is suggested for the mutual linkage of the workflow engine. In this paper, the model is proposed to model the UML diagram on the resource model provided in Wf-XML to link different workflow engines. It facilitates understanding workflow for links and cooperation between enterprises.

This paper proposes a novel secure query processing model for semantic sensor networks. A semantic sensor network (SSN) is a sensor network which includes semantics of sensory data and context information, and relationships between the semantics. In brief, SSN is an extension of the current sensor network (SN) and realized by using semantic Web (SW) technologies. Although various researches have been activated on SSN, there is little activity on how to access data in semantic sensor networks in safe. This paper proposes a new access control model for secure query processing under semantic sensor networks. The proposed security model is based on RBAC (role-based access control) and enables secure access control of ontology for SSNs.

There is increasing interest in clustering, owing to improvements in computer capacity and expanding accessible information, circa 1990s. This paper aims to increase cohesion of clustering borrowing from techniques of pagerank showing the links among pages by assigning numerical values to the relevance of pages linked in Web pages. There are cases that need to be referenced in other documents because of any index in academic information. The greater the frequency of referenced academic information, the higher the probability that the referenced index of the document is relevant. Relations among documents referencing each other, are calculated via literature citing each document. The method of increasing the cohesion of clustering involves controlling the distance between two documents based on the values.

There is a study in progress that extracts an index using the structure and contents of a document for achieving more effective index extraction and index weighting. Most studies calculate the relevance of the context and determine the index according to the weights of each tag. But, these previous studies are determining the relevance according to simple parameters from general theory, rather than proving relevance via objective experiments. This study classifies a thesis in which the main paragraphs were converted into XML, via XML structural information, and proposes a technique that determines the weight of the final index while updating the weight of the index according to the weight of terms, subsequent to calculating the weight for the term in each paragraph.

This paper proposes an implementation model for RDF access control in Oracle, and the model is to improve usability of the RAC model, devised for secure resource management for intelligent service frameworks such as semantic Web, semantic grid, semantic GIS, and semantic sensor network. The RAC model has been devised based on the standard relational database facility, and thus it does not useful for real application. In other words, RDBMSs provide various and powerful security mechanisms, practical implementation models are required for RDBMSs. The goal of this paper is to develop an implementation model for high usability and applicability of the RAC model. This paper shows a prototype implementation and experiment.

An extremely small amount of several heavy metals have been detected in cosmetic products as impurities, which can cause skin allergies through percutaneous adsorption on the skin. We present here a fast, accurate, and highly sensitive method for simultaneous determination of Pb2+, Fe2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Cd2+ and Mn2+ in coloring agents and cosmetic products, to be evaluated by ion chromatography. All of these metals are well separated through a bifunctional ion-exchange column (IonPac CS5A) and detected by post-column reaction and spectrophotometric detection. The calibration graphs are linear (r20.999), in the range 0.1-1000 microg/ml. Detection limits for a 200-microl sample solution are at the mug/l level, which is sufficient for judging whether the product is safe or not. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention time and the peak area are less than 0.21% and 1.24%, respectively. The recovery rates are 97-104%. The result shows that the proposed determination method is more sensitive, more accurate, and faster than current methods such as HPLC, ICP-MS and Flame-AAS. The new method was applied to analyze the amount of heavy metals contained in 22 cosmetic products and 11 coloring agents.

Background Systemic erythematosus lupus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with multi-organ involvement and diverse autoantibodies are associated with SLE [1]. Recently, many reports have suggested that anti-C reactive protein (CRP) antibody is more prevalent in patients with SLE, and the level of anti-CRP antibody increases when the disease flares up [2]. Objectives This study was performed to investigate the relationship between anti-CRP antibody and the disease activity markers in Korean patients with SLE. Methods 29 patients with SLE and 30 healthy people were enrolled between April 2014 and November 2014. The presence of anti-CRP antibody was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data on clinical variables and disease activity markers, such as complement, anti-dsDNA antibody, and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) were recorded. Results The level of serum anti-CRP antibody in SLE patients was significantly higher than that of healthy controls (p=0.035). However, anti-CRP antibody levels were not positively correlated with the complement levels, the SLEDAI score, and anti-dsDNA antibody levels. And also there was no significant difference in the level of anti-CRP antibody between the patient group with lupus nephritis and the patient group without lupus nephritis. Conclusions This study shows the presence of serum anti-CRP antibody in Korean SLE patients. But there was no significant relationship between anti-CRP antibody and disease activity, lupus nephritis. These findings are not consistent with previous study that anti-CRP antibody is a useful marker to evaluate the disease activity. References Shere Y, et al. Semin Arthritis Rheum 2004;34:501-37. Sjowall C, et al. Arthritis Res Ther 2004;6:R87-R94. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background Research on the safety and effects of febuxostat in stage 4 or 5 CKD patients is very limited. There are some studies where research on hyperuricemia patients with gout history has been conducted [1, 2], but there is little data on cases of application to patients actually in order to treat gout. Objectives This study aims to examine the clinical effects of febuxostat in cases of allopurinol-refractory hyperuricemia during treatment of gout in dialysis patients or stage 4 CKD patients. Methods Patients selected had been administered febuxostat for six months or longer because of allopurinol-refractory hyperuricemia during treatment of gout from May 2012 to February 2014. The patients met the American College of Rheumatology criteria for acute gout. The age, gender, duration of gout, cause of CKD, serum uric acid (SUA), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), creatinine, and doses of febuxostat were investigated in patients whose eGFR had been less than 45 mL/min per 1.73 m 2 among the patients before the initiation of febuxostat administration Results A total of 25 patients were enrolled. The number of stage 3b (30 ≤ eGFR Conclusions In gout treatment of dialysis patients or CKD stage 4 patients with allopurinol-refractory hyperuricemia, febuxostat inhibited gout recurrence and effectively decreased SUA during a period of six months. References Horikoshi, et al. Clin Exp Nephrol. 2013:17;149-50. Shibagaki, et al. Hypertens Res. 2014:37;919-25. Disclosure of Interest None declared

� Abstract— The water content of Stratum Corneum (SC) has been reported to vary depending on the anatomical sites (1-7). Each anatomical site respectively have their own proper water content of SC which reflects the status of skin health. Also, this anatomical region can be divided into relatively wet and dry area according to the degree of the water content of SC (8). In this study, we tried to investigate time series trend of the water content. Skin hydration was measured on the different anatomical sites for the first four seconds using single frequency- susceptance measuring method (10). It is observed that the slope of the graph for the water content during the first four seconds is different depending on the anatomical sites and can be divided into two groups by the degree of the slope. These grouped areas are well aligned with traditional wet and dry area. It is presumed that the difference of the gradient could be caused by the thickness of SC. In this study, the different gradient of time series trend of water content of SC on different anatomical sites was found, and it could be conveniently used to distinguish the wet and dry area of the skin.

Chromium hydroxide green [Cr(2)O(OH)(4)] and chromium oxide green (Cr(2)O(3)) are colouring agents for use in cosmetic products. These colourants may contain chromium (VI), which cause skin allergies through percutaneous adsorption on the skin. Eye shadow is a representative cosmetic product in which significant colourants are used. We analysed the chromium (VI) in the eye shadows by ion chromatography and post column derivatization. We optimize conditions of chromium (VI) analysis in eye shadows. During the pretreatment procedure, there are no exchange of chromium (III) to chromium (VI). This method has a limit of quantification for chromium (VI) of 1.0 microg l(-1), recovery rate of 100 +/- 3% and analysis time less than 10 min. This result is 300 times more sensitive than the high-performance liquid chromatography method. We applied the optimized method to analyse 22 eye shadows and 6 colouring agents. 2 out of 22 of the products contained more than 5 mg l(-1). In our previous work, 5 mg l(-1) of Cr represented a threshold level. There was much more Cr(VI) in the colouring agents. The Cr(VI) in one of the colouring agents was 97.6 mg l(-1).

Molecular imaging is leading an important role in the era of molecular medicine. Optical imaging, a rising star in the filed of molecular imaging, largely consists of fluorescent imaging and bioluminescent imaging. Molecular imaging analysis will allow us to observe the incipience and progression of the disease. In this paper, we suggest image processing methods and develop software for bioluminescence image analysis. And we calculate the photon count and analyze bioluminescence image in time sequence. . The mouse was transplanted a colon cancer which has high photon count value in day 3 and day 4. Bacterial luciferase reporter gene expression becomes activity in this time. This study has the importance of the development software for bioluminescence image processing and analysis. We expected this study lead the development of image technology.

Breast cancer was the most commonly occurring malignancy among women, so study of breast cancer are important. This paper is preprocessing of breast tumor research for segmentation method. There are many thresholding methods. Many thresholding methods developed but they have different result in each image. So we need automatic thresholding method because manual operating is tedious, time-consuming. This study compared result of 6 automatic thresholding method and 1 semi-supervised thresholding method in breast tumor image. Otsu's method and Iterative selection are good result in breast tumor cell images. So we expected results using Otsu's method and Iterative Selection to help for determining and diagnosing the breast tumor.

Premature ovarian failure (POF) is menopause before the age of 40 years. The frequency of POF is about 1% of all women. Recently inhibin alpha gene (INHalpha) has been indicated as candidate in POF pathogenesis. Inhibin, a glycoprotein, is a gonadal hormone, which can inhibit the synthesis and secretion of pituitary follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which has an important role in the recruitment and development of ovarian follicles during the folliculogenesis. G769A variation of INHalpha, alanine, is highly conserved across species, and has an important role of its receptor binding. We screened a G769A transition in the INHalpha from the total population of the patients of 84 women with POF and 100 normal fertile women. We found no variation between the normal subjects and the POF patients. G769A variation of INHalpha is rare in Korea women with POF.

We investigated the expression of the mitochondrial ATPase6 gene whose product is active in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), and compared it to the expression of Tfam, an important regulator of the transcription and replication of mtDNA. Our aim was to examine a possible relation between mitochondrial gene expression and Down syndrome. The expression of ATPase6 and Tfam was analyzed by RT-PCR amplification of the mRNA in cultured amniocytes from Down syndrome and normal fetuses. The band intensities obtained were normalized against those of HPRT. The Down syndrome fetuses were found to have lower ATPase6 and Tfam expression than the normal fetuses. This finding suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction resulting from decreased ATPase6 and Tfam expression during meiotic oocyte maturation of oocytes might affect ATP generation and cause the nondisjunctional error. Hence this study suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction may be associated with the developmental mechanism of Down syndrome.

Methylene bis-benzotriazolyl tetramethyl butylphenol and bis-ethylhexyloxy phenol methoxyphenyl triazine are sunscreen agents that have hydrophobic behaviors in common. They were not normally assayed with the following four sunscreen agents that have hydrophilic behaviors in a single chromatographic run: ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, isoamyl p-methoxycinnamate, ethylhexyl salicylate, and ethylhexyl triazone. For that reason, methylene bis-benzotriazolyl tetramethyl butylphenol and bis-ethylhexyloxy phenol methoxyphenyl triazine require much time in order to assay products with those materials. A rapid, selective, and reproducible determination method needs to be developed for the simultaneous examination of methylene bis-benzotriazolyl tetramethyl butylphenol and bis-ethylhexyloxy phenol methoxyphenyl triazine with the sunscreen agents, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, isoamyl p-methoxycinnamate, ethylhexyl salicylate, and ethylhexyl triazone. This new technique could reduce time in examining the sunscreen agents and be effective for quality control of suncare products. In this paper, the HPLC and UPLC system is used for developing the determination of the sunscreen agents. Several evaluations of some mixtures of eluents and columns were obtained for the optimal condition of separation. In HPLC, the optimal peak resolution was obtained through ethanol-water gradient elution and a 75-mm C18 column with a 3.5-microm-sized particle on a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. In UPLC, the most distinctive peak resolution was obtained through methanol-water gradient elution and a 50-mm C18 column with a 1.7-microm-sized particle on a flow rate 0.4 ml/min. Both of those chromatographic determination methods could be used in the examination of six types of sunscreen agents without any interference from other product excipients in the agents. The proposed determination methods were validated for specificity, linearity, repeatability, system stability, intermediate precision, and accuracy. Consequently, HPLC and UPLC determination methods could be rapid, selective, and proper applications for the assay of sunscreen agents in suncare products.

Nowadays there are many sun-protection cosmetics incorporating organic or inorganic UV filters as active ingredients. Chemically stable inorganic sunscreen agents, usually metal oxides, are widely employed in high-SPF (sun protection factor) products. Titanium dioxide is one of the most frequently used inorganic UV filters. It has been used as a pigment for a long period of cosmetic history. With the development of micronization techniques, it has become possible to incorporate titanium dioxide in sunscreen formulations without the previous whitening effect, and hence its use in cosmetics has become an important research topic. However, there are very few works related to quantitation of titanium dioxide in sunscreen products. In this research, we analyzed the amounts of titanium dioxide in sunscreen cosmetics by adapting redox titration, reduction of Ti(IV) to Ti(III), and reoxidation to Ti(IV). After calcification of other organic ingredients of cosmetics, titanium dioxide is dissolved by hot sulfuric acid. The dissolved Ti(IV) is reduced to Ti(III) by adding metallic aluminum. The reduced Ti(III) is titrated against a standard oxidizing agent, Fe(III) (ammonium iron(III) sulfate), with potassium thiocyanate as an indicator. In order to test the accuracy and applicability of the proposed method, we analyzed the amounts of titanium dioxide in four types of sunscreen cosmetics, namely cream, make-up base, foundation, and powder, after adding known amounts of titanium dioxide (1 approximately 25 w/w%). The percentages of titanium dioxide recovered in the four types of formulations were in the range between 96% and 105%. We also analyzed seven commercial cosmetic products labeled with titanium dioxide as an ingredient and compared the results with those obtained from ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry), one of the most powerful atomic analysis techniques. The results showed that the titrated amounts were well in accord with the analyzed amounts of titanium dioxide by ICP-AES. Although instrument-based analytical methods, namely ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) and ICP-AES, are best for the analysis of titanium, it is difficult for small cosmetic companies to install such instruments because of their high cost. It was found that the volumetric method presented here gives quantitatively accurate and reliable results with routine lab-ware and chemicals.

Objective. To evaluate the prevalence of sleep disturbance in Korean patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and its association with disease activity and depression. Methods. Forty patients with AS and eighty healthy controls were included in this study. Sleep quality was assessed using the Korean version of Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI). Depression was assessed by the Korean version of Beck depression inventory second edition (BDI-2). Ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score-C-reactive protein (ASDAS-CRP) was used to evaluate disease activity. Patients were dichotomized into a good sleeper group (PSQI≤5) and a poor sleeper group (PSQI>5). Results. The mean total PSQI score of patients with AS was 7.23±3.84. It was higher than that of the control subjects. AS patients had higher scores in all of the PSQI components, except for the use of sleep medication. Sixty percent of the AS patients were classified as poor sleepers. The mean BASDAI, ASDAS-CRP, and BDI-2 scores of the poor sleeper group were higher than that of the good sleeper group. Significantly, higher disease activity according to ASDAS-CRP was associated with poor sleep quality and depression. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the duration of morning stiffness and depression were independent risk factors that influenced poor sleep quality. Conclusion. Sleep disturbances are prevalent amongst Korean patients with AS. Lower quality of sleep is significantly associated with higher disease activity and depression. Therefore, optimal management to improve sleep quality in patients with AS is important.

Adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) is a nucleotide used as long-term therapy of chronic hepatitis B. Many published reports have shown that long-term high-dose therapy with adefovir can be associated with proximal renal tubular dysfunction resulting in significant hypophosphatemia, renal insufficiency and osteomalacia. We have encountered two patients who developed evidence of hypophosphatemic osteomalacia while on long-term low-dose adefovir therapy for chronic hepatitis B. We report on its clinical features and its potential resolution with cessation of the drug and supplementation with phosphate. We also reviewed the other published cases associated with hypophosphatemic osteomalacia after low-dose adefovir therapy. The symptoms and the hypophosphatemia improved after cessation of the drug and supplementation with phosphate in most cases. Patients taking adefovir long-term should receive regular investigation of the phosphate level and renal function.

Cisatracurium provides superior hemodynamic stability with only minor release of histamine, and its metabolism via Hoffman elimination is independent of organ function. However, use of cisatracurium is limited because of reportedly slower onset and unsatisfactory intubating conditions. Many studies have shown that remifentanil might provide reliable intubating conditions; thus, we hypothesized that pretreatment with remifentanil before administration of cisatracurium might result in acceptable intubating conditions. Sixty healthy patients scheduled for elective surgery were enrolled and randomly divided into three groups: saline (Group I, n=20), remifentanil 0.5 µg/kg (Group II, n=20), and remifentanil 1.0 µg/kg (Group III, n=20). The anesthesia was induced with propofol 2.0 µg/kg given intravenously over 30 s followed by injection over 30 s of a different dose of remifentanil according to the study protocol. We examined the intubating condition by jaw relaxation, vocal cord state, and diaphragmatic response 90 s after administering cisatracurium. We also measured mean blood pressure, heart rate, and the onset time, which is the interval from the end of neuromuscular blocking agent administration until suppression of maximal T1 on a train-of four sequence. The mean values of the intubating condition after endotracheal intubation in Groups II and III were significantly lower than that in Group I (p

Synopsis An extremely small amount of several heavy metals have been detected in cosmetic products as impurities, which can cause skin allergies through percutaneous adsorption on the skin. We present here a fast, accurate, and highly sensitive method for simultaneous determination of Pb2+, Fe2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Cd2+ and Mn2+ in coloring agents and cosmetic products, to be evaluated by ion chromatography. All of these metals are well separated through a bifunctional ion-exchange column (IonPac CS5A) and detected by post-column reaction and spectrophotometric detection. The calibration graphs are linear (r2 > 0.999), in the range 0.1–1000 μg ml-1. Detection limits for a 200-μl sample solution are at the μg L-1 level, which is sufficient for judging whether the product is safe or not. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the retention time and the peak area are less than 0.21 and 1.24%, respectively. The recovery rates are 97–104%. The result shows that the proposed determination method is more sensitive, more accurate, and faster than current methods such as HPLC, ICP-MS and Flame-AAS. The new method was applied to analyse the amount of heavy metals contained in 22 cosmetic products and 11 coloring agents.

OBJECTIVE: We have developed breast tumor image retrieval system using content-based retrieval method. It compares the breast tumor image with Fibrocystic Change images, Ductal Carcinoma in Situ images and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma images and find most similar one. Since the final diagnosis for breast tumor image is done only by pathologist manually, this system can provide the objectivity and the reproducibility for determining and diagnosing the breast tumor. METHODS: The breast tumor image features used in the content-based image retrieval are color feature, texture feature and texture features of wavelet transformed images. And the system can be accessed through the internet. We used Windows 2003 as an operating system, Internet Information Server 6.0 as Web a server and ms-sql server 2000 as a database server. Also we use ActiveX Data Object to connect database easily. RESULT: We evaluated the recall and precision performance of the system according to the combinations of feature types and usage of partial or whole image. Results showed that the use of multiple features and whole image gave consistently higher rates compared to the use of single feature and partial image. CONCLUSION: This retrieval system can help pathologist determine the type of breast tumor more efficiently. Also it is working based on the internet, we can use it for researching and teaching in pathology later.

The expression patterns of CD44s and CD44v6 were immunohistochemically compared with those of normal, hyperplastic and malignant endometrium. In normal endometria (n=37), endometrioses (n=46) and adenomyoses (n=20), the surface and glandular epithelial cells were negative for CD44s and CD44v6 in a proliferative pattern and positive in a secretory pattern, whereas the stroma was only positive for CD44s in both proliferative and secretory patterns. The endometrial hyperplasia (4 simple and 9 complex) had the identical patterns with normal proliferative phase of endometrium. Only one case showing complex hyperplasia with atypia was focally positive for CD44s and CD44v6 in glandular epithelia. CD44s and CD44v6 were positive in all endometrial adenocarcinomas (13), except one CD44s-negative case. In summary, the expressions of CD44s and CD44v6 in endometriosis and adenomyosis recapitulated those of normal cyclic endometrium. The expression patterns in endometrial hyperplasia were similar to those in normal proliferative endometrium, whereas the endometrial adenocarcinoma showed abnormal expressions for CD44s and CD44v6. Thus it was considered that the ectopic endometrium in endometriosis and adenomyosis was not aberrant as in endometrial carcinoma on the aspects of immunohistochemical expressions of CD44s and CD44v6.