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Introduction Despite the ethnic differences in 5-HTTLPR (S allele relates to better antidepressant response in Korean and Japanese people, while L allele with better response in Caucasians), it is unclear whether 5-HTTLPR and its high expression locus rs25531 are interactively associated with antidepressant treatment outcome. We investigated the individual and interaction effects of these polymorphisms on antidepressant treatment outcomes in the Korean population. Methods A total of 464 Korean subjects with major depressive disorder completed 6 weeks of antidepressant monotherapy. Venous blood was extracted for genotyping 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. We used logistic regression analyses to verify the main and interaction effects of 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 on response and remission after antidepressant treatment. Results After adjusting for covariates, the SS genotype of 5-HTTLPR was significantly associated with better treatment outcomes (p0.05). Discussion Our findings suggest variations in allelic frequency and functionality of 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 among the different ethnicities. We found a minor advantage of rs25531 in achieving remission. However, there was no interaction effect with 5-HTTLPR.

Background Dementia is a progressive neurocognitive disease with a substantial social burden. No apparent breakthroughs in treatment options have emerged so far; thus, disease prevention is essential for at-risk populations. Depression and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) are independent risk factors for dementia, but no studies have examined their interaction effect on dementia risk. This study aimed to identify the association of depression and CVD with the risk of dementia and evaluate whether dementia risk among patients with comorbid depression and CVD is higher than the sum of the individual risk due to each condition. Methods A population-based cohort study was conducted to analyze the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort data of all individuals over 50 years of age. Individuals who had not been diagnosed with dementia at baseline were included and followed up from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2013. A time-varying Cox proportional hazard regression model adjusted for potential confounding factors was used for the analysis. The interaction between depression and CVD was estimated based on the attributable proportion (AP), relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI), synergy index (SI), and multiplicative-scale interaction. Results A total of 242,237 participants were included in the analytical sample, of which 12,735 (5.3%) developed dementia. Compared to that for participants without depression or CVD, the adjusted hazard ratio for the incidence of dementia for those with depression alone was 2.35 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.21–2.49), CVD alone was 3.25 (95% CI 3.11–3.39), and comorbid depression and CVD was 5.02 (95% CI 4.66–5.42). The additive interaction between depression and CVD was statistically significant (AP—0.08, 95% CI 0.01–0.16; RERI—0.42, 95% CI 0.03–0.82; SI—1.12, 95% CI 1.01–1.24). The multiplicative interaction was significant too, but the effect was negative (0.66, 95% CI 0.60–0.73). Conclusions In this population-based nationwide cohort with long-term follow-up, depression and CVD were associated with an increased risk of dementia, and their coexistence additively increased dementia risk more than the sum of the individual risks.

Background: Dementia is a progressive neurocognitive disease with a substantial social burden. No apparent breakthroughs in treatment options have evolved so far, suggesting that disease prevention for at-risk populations is essential. Depression and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) are known independent risk factors for dementia, but no studies have examined whether the risk for dementia among people with both illnesses is higher than the sum from each effect individually. This study aims to evaluate the dementia risk among people with depression, CVD, or both, compared to those with neither.Methods: A population-based cohort study analyzing the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort database was conducted for all individuals aged over 50 years. This population had not been diagnosed with dementia at baseline, and was followed up from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2013. The analyses used a time-varying Cox proportional hazard regression model that was adjusted for potential confounding factors. The synergistic effect of depression and CVD was estimated by calculating the attributable proportion (AP) due to interaction.Results: A total of 242,237 participants were included in the analytical sample, and 12,735 (5.3%) participants developed dementia. Compared with participants without depression or CVD, the adjusted hazard ratio for the incidence of dementia for those with depression alone was 2.35 (95% CI 2.21-2.49); CVD alone, 3.25 (95% CI 3.11-3.39); and comorbid depression and CVD, 5.02 (95% CI 4.66-5.42). The synergistic effect between depression and CVD was statistically significant (AP due to interaction = 0.08, P-value = 0.037), whereby 8% of incident dementia among those with comorbid depression and CVD was attributed to the concomitance of the two illnesses.Conclusions: In this population-based nationwide cohort with a long-term follow-up, depression and CVD were associated with an increased risk of dementia, and their coexistence had a synergistic association.

The Streptococcus pyogenes CRISPR/Cas9 (SpCas9) system is now widely utilized to generate genome engineered mice; however, some studies raised issues related to off-target mutations with this system. Herein, we utilized the Campylobacter jejuni Cas9 (CjCas9) system to generate knockout mice. We designed sgRNAs targeting mouse Tyr or Foxn1 and microinjected into zygotes along with CjCas9 mRNA. We obtained newborn mice from the microinjected embryos and confirmed that 50% (Tyr) and 38.5% (Foxn1) of the newborn mice have biallelic mutation on the intended target sequences, indicating efficient genome targeting by CjCas9. In addition, we analyzed off-target mutations in founder mutant mice by targeted deep sequencing and whole genome sequencing. Both analyses revealed no off-target mutations at potential off-target sites predicted in silico and no unexpected random mutations in analyzed founder animals. In conclusion, the CjCas9 system can be utilized to generate genome edited mice in a precise manner., Highlights • Generate genetically engineered mice using the Campylobacter jejuni Cas9 (CjCas9) system. • CjCas9 showed reasonably high biallelic InDel mutation rate (up to 50%) in newborn mice. • CjCas9 system showed relatively higher specificity compared to SpCas9 system.

Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease that results in spot baldness in humans. Adequate animal models for AA are currently lacking. The objective of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of autoimmune-like alopecia (ALA) in C57BL/6.CD80CD86-deficient (B6.CD80CD86-/- ) mice. Incidence and severity of alopecia were analysed in 58 B6.CD80CD86-/- mice using histological examination, flow cytometry, multiplex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, quantitative RT-PCR and CD25 inhibition test. Both male and female B6.CD80CD86-/- mice showed almost 100% incidence of hair loss at 40 weeks of age. Moreover, CD4+FoxP3+Treg (Treg) cell population in B6.CD80CD86-/- mice was significantly lower than in B6 mice, which presumably underlined autoimmune reaction. Histologically, B6.CD80CD86-/- mice showed CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell infiltration around terminal follicle region and exhibited hair follicle destruction in the anagen or catagen stage. Negative correlation between the number of CD4+FoxP3+ Tregs and ALA was confirmed by the CD25 depletion test in B6 mice, as follicle destruction was similar to that observed in B6.CD80CD86-/- animals. CD80CD86 deficiency disrupted CD4+FoxP3+ Treg homoeostasis and prompted the development of ALA. We demonstrated that B6.CD80CD86-/- mice might have several advantages as an ALA model, because they exhibited high incidence of disease phenotype and epipathogenesis similar to that observed in human AA.

Wellness is defined as an individual’s lifestyle, choices, and habits as a way to achieve optimal health and well-being. Professional organizations and literature in the counseling field underscored the importance of enhancing personal wellness of professional counselors and counselors-in-training. The assumption underlying this movement was that counselors’ personal wellness would be directly translated into their effectiveness with clients in counseling practice. However, this assumption has received little empirical attention. In addition, the review of counselor wellness literature illustrated the need for addressing potential moderators in the relationship of counselor wellness to counseling effectiveness as an attempt to provide an elaborated knowledge base for wellness interventions in counselor training. Thus, this study investigated the relationship of Korean counselors’ personal wellness to their clients’ perceptions of counseling effectiveness and the moderating effects of counselor empathy on this relationship. Participants in this study were 133 counselor-client dyads who had engaged in face-to-face individual counseling at university counseling centers or youth counseling institutes located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Survey measures for counselors were used for the assessment of personal wellness, empathy, and social desirability. Client survey measures were used to assess counseling effectiveness variables: (a) satisfaction with counselors’ in-session behavior, (b) evaluation about the session impact, and (c) perception of the working alliance. The results from correlation and multiple regression analyses indicated that Korean counselors’ personal wellness scores were not significantly related to their clients’ ratings of counseling effectiveness. However, a series of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that Korean counselors’ cognitive empathy moderated the relationships of their personal wellness to client-perceived counseling effectiveness. Specifically, the findings suggested that, for Korean counselors with lower levels of cognitive empathy

This study explores 8 international doctoral students' perceptions of coping strategies used in supervision training in counselor education programs. Using human agency as a conceptual framework, the authors found 3 categories: (a) personal and professional self-directed strategies as personal agency, (b) support and care from mentors as proxy agency, and (c) networking among international doctoral students and/or graduates as collective agency. Implications for counselor educators are discussed. Este estudio explora las percepciones de 8 estudiantes internacionales de doctorado sobre las estrategias de afrontamiento usadas en la capacitacion de supervision en programas de educacion para consejeros. Usando la agencia humana como marco conceptual, se hallaron 3 categorias: (a) estrategias autodirigidas personales y profesionales como agencia personal, (b) apoyo y cuidados recibidos de mentores como agencia delegada y (c) creacion de redes de contactos entre estudiantes internacionales de doctorado y/o doctores como agencia colectiva. Se discuten las implicaciones para educadores de consejeros.

Using consensual qualitative research methodology, this study examines the challenges doctoral-level international students encountered in counselor education programs, during supervisor training, specifically. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants and revealed a variety of difficulties. Despite the wide variability in terms of national/ethnic origins and program locations, most of the participants perceived a lack of discussions on culture and diversity issues in the class and the absence of multicultural supervision models, with unsupportive peers and course instructors as the most challenging parts of their supervision training. Grounded in the themes emerging from the interview data, suggestions for supervision training were made as to constructing a supervision course and addressing international students’ needs for understanding cultural and environmental contexts found in the U.S. Given the exploratory nature of this study’s findings, future studies need to be conducted with a large representative sample of international doctoral students in supervisor training.

An ethics project is described that challenged students to collaborate with disability rights authorities to co-write a code of ethics for a Center of Independent Living. Experiential and reflective assignments analyzed how the construction of knowledge and language is never value-neutral, and people with disabilities need to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives. Insights from the project suggest considerations for teaching students to construct ethical knowledge that is empathetic and respectful to the culture for which a code of ethics will be applied, in this case, the experience of disability from a social model perspective.

Korea is often referred to as the only divided nation in the world. Although the military tension with North Korea is having an adverse effect on the financial markets, South Korea has one of the fastest growing economies in the 21st century; even in the global financial crisis, it ranks as the sixth largest exporter and 10th largest importer in the world (Kwon, 2010). According to the International Monetary Fund (2011), South Korea recorded a growth rate of 6.2% in 2010, ranking sixth among the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors countries. Besides the exponential economic growth, the country has gained global recognition by hosting major international sports competitions: the 1988 Summer Olympics, the 2002 FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup, and the 2018 Winter Olympics. As rapid as the economic boom, the counseling profession in South Korea has witnessed tremendous growth over the past 20 years. An increasing number of counseling programs established in colleges and universities, the emergence and development of professional counseling associations, the diversification of work settings where professional counselors are employed, the expansion of government funding for youth counseling policies, and sustained efforts to develop culturally relevant counseling theories and techniques suitable for South Koreans have enhanced the recognition and professional status of the profession. The advancements of the counseling profession can be attributed to numerous social changes affecting the mental health needs of people: a rising unemployment rate among young people under 30; a suicide rate among the highest in the world; exacerbated intergenerational conflicts; an extremely competitive educational environment; and an unprecedented increase in foreign workers, international students, and foreign women who are married to South Korean men. However, there are still a number of challenges for further growth with which counseling professionals are struggling. For instance, there is no counselor licensure system in South Korea, thus producing a number of unqualified paraprofessionals who practice counseling in their private agencies. Also, there is no standardized counselor training model agreed upon among counselor educators. Another well-documented, cultural consideration is that South Koreans are largely reluctant to seek professional help such as counseling for their psychological problems for fear of being stigmatized. It is interesting that the terms counselors and counseling psychologists are used interchangeably in the field of counseling in South Korea. This may be partly because counseling was first introduced by those who completed a doctoral degree in counseling psychology in the United States and also because the largest professional counseling body, the Korean Counseling Psychological Association (KCPA), belongs to the Korean Psychological Association (KPA). However, given the diverse academic backgrounds and work settings of practicing counselors, the term professional counselors is being suggested for adoption (Kim, Kim, Seo, & Kim, 2009) because the term encompasses counselors having different majors or degrees (such as education, psychology, social work, or theology) and considers only those who are certified by the government or counseling-related professional associations. In this article, we review the history and development of the counseling profession in South Korea, which is followed by a discussion of its current status and future trends and the challenges facing it. * History of Counseling in South Korea The counseling profession is one of the fastest growing fields in South Korea. Since it was first introduced to South Korea in the 1950s, counseling has evolved into a distinctive field with a number of professionals in various settings. Such a rapid growth was only possible because the counseling profession has tried to transform itself to sensitively reflect the societal needs and solidify its identity (Seo, Kim, & Kim, 2007). …

This study aimed to examine the factorial equivalence of the Five Factor Wellness Inventory across U.S. and Korean professional counselors and counselors-in-training. Latent means analyses demonstr...

As one of the unsupervised learning neural network methods, self-organizing maps(SOM) are applied to various fields. It reduces the dimension of multidimensional data by representing observations on the low dimensional manifold. On the other hand, the minimal spanning tree(MST) of a graph that achieves the most economic subset of edges connecting all components by a single open loop. In this study, we apply the MST technique to SOM with subnodes. We propose SOM's with embedded MST and a distance measure for optimum choice of the size and shape of the map. We demonstrate the method with Fisher's Iris data and a real gene expression data. Simulated data sets are also analyzed to check the validity of the proposed method.

Irinotecan(IRI) prevents DNA from unwinding by inhibition of topoisomerase I. Its main use is in colon cancer, in particular, in combination with other chemotherapy agents. Recent studies, those with Irinotecan treatment has a synergistic effect appears. However, there is no study on the effect of the Irinotecan mono-treatment. In addition their roles and the underlying mechanism in anti-tumorigenic function of solid tumor, especially kras wild and mutant type colon cancer, are not yet known. Bax protein is a key mediator of apoptosis and might be related to chemosensitivity. In this work, we evaluated the anti-tumorigenic action of these Irinotecan anti-cancer agent with especially k-ras wild and mutant type colon cancer cell lines, and investigated their apoptosis-inducing effects as the potential mechanism in this process. The results show that the growth inhibitory effects of 5-fuorouracil (5-FU), Oxaliplatin(OX) produced a dose- and time dependent fashion in k-ras wild(HT29, Colo205) and mutant type(HCT116, DLD-1) colon cancer cell lines. Otherwise, Irinotecan(IRI) produced a cell growth of k-ras wild type cell lines were resistant versus that shown in the sensitive k-ras mutant type cell lines. Cell cycle analysis by FACS indicated that IRI-treated cell lines showed an increase in the proportion of cells in sub-G1 phase, compared to untreated cells. Exposure of colon cancer cells to IRI also resulted in the increase in the percentage of annexin V- positive and PI-negative cells. The results by multiple in vitro experimental model, showed that IRI induce these k-ras mutant type colon cancer cells to undergo apoptosis with increased the Bax protein and a release of cytochrome C from mitochondria, the activation of caspase9, the cleavage of PARP. But Bax protein was inactivation in k-ras wild type colon cancer cell lines. Importantly, inhibition of ERK kinase activity demonstrated that IRI-induced apoptotic pathway was regulated by the ERK signaling cascade. These data indicate that Anti-cancer agent, Irinotecan, promotes Bax-mediate apoptosis of colon cancer cell lines by sequential activation of the ERK signaling pathway followed by the up-regulation of intrinsic pathway of caspase 9. Citation Format: Myoung Hee Kang, Jung Lim Kim, Bo Ram Kim, Yoo Jin Jang, Sun Il Lee, Jun Suk Kim, Sang cheul Oh. Different effect of irinotecan induced apoptosis in k-Ras wild and mutant type colon cancer cell lines. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5128. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5128

Objectives This report describes the development process of a drug dosing database for ethical drugs approved by the Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA). The goal of this study was to develop a computerized system that supports physicians' prescribing decisions, particularly in regards to medication dosing. Methods The advisory committee, comprised of doctors, pharmacists, and nurses from the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, pharmacists familiar with drug databases, KFDA officials, and software developers from the BIT Computer Co. Ltd. analyzed approved KFDA drug dosing information, defined the fields and properties of the information structure, and designed a management program used to enter dosing information. The management program was developed using a web based system that allows multiple researchers to input drug dosing information in an organized manner. The whole process was improved by adding additional input fields and eliminating the unnecessary existing fields used when the dosing information was entered, resulting in an improved field structure. Results A total of 16,994 drugs sold in the Korean market in July 2009, excluding the exclusion criteria (e.g., radioactivity drugs, X-ray contrast medium), usage and dosing information were made into a database. Conclusions The drug dosing database was successfully developed and the dosing information for new drugs can be continually maintained through the management mode. This database will be used to develop the drug utilization review standards and to provide appropriate dosing information.