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Malakoplakia is a rare chronic granulomatous disease found in the genitourinary tract, mainly. It is considered to be related to immunosuppression and/or infectious processes. We would like to present an operative case of cecal malakoplakia in a patient with a history of surgical resection and chemotherapy for cervical cancer. A 74-year-old female patient visited our hospital for 1-year follow-up after operation and chemo-radiotherapy for cervical cancer. An infiltrative mass of 6 cm, between the cecal base and the right psoas muscle, was observed on computed tomography. An ileocectomy was performed for diagnosis. Histopathologic examination revealed cecal malakoplakia. After surgery, based on previous reports, antibiotics therapy was added. Then the patient was discharged and treated in the outpatient clinic. To our knowledge, a rare case has been described of cecal malakoplakia during observation after surgery and chemo-radiotherapy for cervical cancer. Malakoplakia is known to be related to immunosuppressive condition. Therefore, our case suggests that close observation should be made in patients on immunosuppressive condition, such as chemotherapy.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the risk of osteoarthritis associated with menopausal hormone therapy (MHT). Methods: This population-based retrospective cohort study used a database of Korean health insurance claims (2007--2020). Females aged ≥ 40 who initiated menopause-related healthcare visits between 2011 and 2014 were identified. The MHT group comprised females aged ≥ 40 who initiated MHT for ≥ 6 months during this period. The non-MHT group comprised females aged ≥ 40 who attended menopause-related healthcare visits but did not receive MHT. To account for potential confounding factors, the two groups were matched at a 1:1 ratio using propensity score matching. Results: A cohort of 453,040 postmenopausal females aged ≥ 40 years was identified, with 26,354 assigned to either the MHT or non- MHT group after propensity matching. The median age was 49 years, and the median follow-up was 8.2 years. The Cox proportional hazards model demonstrated an elevated risk of osteoarthritis with MHT (hazard ratio [HR], 1.154; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.117--1.193) for knee (HR, 1.148; 95% CI, 1.102--1.195) and other arthritis (HR, 1.205; 95% CI, 1.151--1.261), although not statistically significant for hip arthritis. Tibolone (HR, 1.211; 95% CI, 1.161--1.263), estrogen--progestogen therapy (EPT) (HR, 1.092; 95% CI, 1.048-- 1.137), and estrogen therapy (ET) (HR, 1.235; 95% CI, 1.148--1.329) were associated with a higher risk of osteoarthritis compared to non- MHT users. Conclusions: MHT was associated with an increased risk of osteoarthritis, consistently observed across tibolone, EPT, and ET, particularly affecting joints other than the hip, with a trend toward an elevated risk of hip osteoarthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widely used ZnO quantum dots (QDs) as an electron transport layer (ETL) in quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) have one drawback. That the balancing of electrons and holes has not been effectively exploited due to the low hole blocking potential difference between the valence band (VB) (6.38 eV) of ZnO ETL and (6.3 eV) of CdSe/ZnS QDs. In this study, ZnO QDs chemically reacted with capping ligands of oleic acid (OA) to decrease the work function of 3.15 eV for ZnO QDs to 2.72~3.08 eV for the ZnO-OA QDs due to the charge transfer from ZnO to OA ligands and improve the efficiency for hole blocking as the VB was increased up to 7.22~7.23 eV. Compared to the QLEDs with a single ZnO QDs ETL, the ZnO-OA/ZnO QDs double ETLs optimize the energy level alignment between ZnO QDs and CdSe/ZnS QDs but also make the surface roughness of ZnO QDs smoother. The optimized glass/ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PVK//CdSe/ZnS//ZnO-OA/ZnO/Ag QLEDs enhances the maximum luminance by 5~9% and current efficiency by 16~35% over the QLEDs with a single ZnO QDs ETL, which can be explained in terms of trap-charge limited current (TCLC) and the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) tunneling conduction mechanism.

The first transition-metal-free aerobic oxidative conversion of aldehyde catalyzed by a nitroxyl radical/NOx system is presented for the synthesis of nitrile. In the presence of a catalytic amount of 4-AcNH-TEMPO (4-acetamido-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl), NaNO2, and HNO3, benzaldehydes bearing a variety of functional groups underwent condensation with NH4OAc and following aerobic oxidation to produce nitriles selectively under an O2 balloon. Aerobic oxidative conversion of a primary alcohol instead of aldehyde is also achieved by a one-pot sequential strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excitotoxicity and oxidative stress mediate neuronal death after hypoxic–ischemic brain injury. We examined the possibility that targeting both N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated excitotoxicity and oxidative stress would result in enhanced neuroprotection against hypoxic–ischemia. 2-Hydroxy-5-(2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-4-trifluoromethyl-benzylamino)-benzoic acid (Neu2000) was derived from aspirin and sulfasalazine to prevent both NMDA neurotoxicity and oxidative stress. In cortical cell cultures, Neu2000 was shown to be an uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist and completely blocked free radical toxicity at doses as low as 0.3 μmol/L. Neu2000 showed marked neuroprotection in a masked fashion using histology and behavioral testing in two rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia without causing neurotoxic side effects. Neu2000 protected against the effects of middle cerebral artery occlusion, even when delivered 8 h after reperfusion. Single bolus administration of the drug prevented gray and white matter degeneration and spared neurologic function for over 28 days after MACO. Neu2000 may be a novel therapy for combating both NMDA receptor-mediated excitotoxicity and oxidative stress, the two major routes of neuronal death in ischemia, offering profound neuroprotection and an extended therapeutic window.Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism (2007) 27, 1142–1151; doi:10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600418; published online 15 November 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The aetiological factors of endometriosis still remain poorly understood. While there is growing evidence that genetic and immunological factors play important roles in the pathogenesis of the disease, HLA-DRB1 alleles have been reported to be associated with the risk of endometriosis in Japanese populations. This study was performed to determine whether susceptibility to advanced endometriosis is also associated with HLA-DRB1 alleles in a Korean population, which is the closest ethnic group to Japanese. METHODS: We recruited 100 Korean patients with advanced endometriosis confirmed by surgical and histolological examinations. HLA-DRB1 genotyping was carried out in two steps. Low to intermediate resolution typing was performed by PCR sequence-specific oligonucleotide hybridization method, followed by high resolution typing utilizing group-specific amplification and PCR–single strand conformation polymorphism method. Distribution of HLA-DRB1 alleles was compared with that of 800 unrelated ethnically matched individuals as well as 108 healthy female subjects. RESULTS: Genotyping revealed that the distribution of HLA-DRB1 alleles in patients with advanced endometriosis was not different from that in the two control groups. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study suggest that susceptibility of advanced endometriosis is not associated with HLA-DRB1 alleles in a Korean population, which is apparently not the case in the Japanese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The vulnerability during pregnancy has raised concerns about the potential impact of COVID-19 on obstetric anesthesia, an essential aspect of maternal care during cesarean section procedures. To evaluate the influence of COVID-19 infection on obstetric anesthesia during cesarean section, we analyzed the data from Korean National Health Insurance System (NHIS). This retrospective study utilized data from Korean NHIS. We included patients admitted with operation codes specific to cesarean section between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021. We classified patients into a COVID (+) group with a diagnosis code (U071) 30 days around surgery and a COVID (−) group without the code in the same period. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality that was defined as death within 30 days of admission due to any causes. Secondary outcomes were pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome [ARDS], pulmonary thromboembolism [PTE], or unexpected postoperative mechanical ventilation), ICU admission, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction [MI], other thromboembolic events, surgical site infection, sepsis, acute renal failure [ARF], and hepatic failure. Among 75,268 patients who underwent cesarean section, 107 had a COVID-19 diagnosis code, while 75,161 did not. After 1:4 propensity score matching (PSM), 535 patients were included in each group. 30-day mortality showed no significant differences between the two groups both before and after PSM. The COVID (+) group demonstrated significantly elevated rates of pneumonia, ARDS, PTE, and surgical site infection both before and after PSM. Hospital length of stay and admission costs were also significantly longer and higher, respectively, in the COVID (+) group before and after PSM. In subgroup analysis, no differences were observed in mortality and postoperative complications based on the anesthesia method after matching. COVID-19 infection is associated with increased rates of postoperative complications, including pneumonia, ARDS, PTE, surgical site infection, longer hospital stays, and increased admission costs, in patients who underwent cesarean section.

Extracellular ATP has recently been identified as an important regulator of cell death in response to pathological insults. When SN4741 cells, which are dopaminergic neurons derived from the substantia nigra of transgenic mouse embryos, are exposed to ATP, cell death occurs. This cell death is associated with prominent cell swelling, loss of ER integrity, the formation of many large cytoplasmic vacuoles, and subsequent cytolysis and DNA release. In addition, the cleavage of caspase-3, a hall- mark of apoptosis, is induced by ATP treatment. However, caspase inhibitors do not overcome ATP-induced cell death, indicating that both necrosis and apoptosis are associated with ATP-induced cell death and suggesting that a necrotic event might override the apoptotic process. In this study we also found that P2X7 receptors (P2X7Rs) are abundantly expressed in SN4741 cells, and both ATP-induced swelling and cell death are reversed by pretreatment with the P2X7Rs antagonist, KN62, or by knock-down of P2X7Rs with small interfering RNAs. Therefore, extracellular ATP release from injured tissues may act as an accelerating factor in necrotic SN4741 dopaminergic cell death via P2X7Rs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]