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Background: Assessing the illness perception of patients with tuberculosis (TB) could improve our understanding of their beliefs about disease and help address problems in their health-seeking behavior. Study aim: We assessed illness perception in patients with pulmonary TB in association with patients’ demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical features. Methods: Adult patients who were newly diagnosed with pulmonary TB at three tertiary hospitals in South Korea were included from November 2016 and September 2018. Participants’ illness perception was assessed using the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) at the start of anti-TB treatment. Results: In total, 390 patients with pulmonary TB completed this survey. The mean BIPQ score was 31.6 ± 13.2, and that was positively correlated with clinical TB scores. Patients were highly concerned about their illness, but believed in the treatment. Unhealthy eating habits were mentioned as the most prevalent perceived cause. Coughing for more than one month and alarming symptoms were significantly associated with BIPQ scores ≥ 33. Non-adherent patients had significantly higher BIPQ scores. Conclusions: Assessing the illness perceptions of those with severe TB-related symptoms and signs may help to identify TB patients with vulnerable to poor treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cnidium officinale is an important medicinal crop grown in Asia for its pharmacological properties. In this study, tetraploid breeding was conducted to increases the content of medicinal compound and tolerance to the environmental conditions using in vitro shoot culture of C. officinale. For this, we generated tetraploid C. officinale plants using oryzalin, a chromosome doubling agent, and compared the morphological traits, cytological characteristics, and heat stress-responsive gene expression levels between tetraploid and diploid genotypes. Chromosome doubling efficiency was the highest in plantlets treated with 4.0 mg∙L−1 oryzalin for 2 days. Compared with diploids, the plant height of tetraploids was reduced, while the petiole diameter was increased by approximately 39%. The dry matter of tetraploid leaves was significantly higher than that of diploid leaves. Compared with diploids, tetraploids showed higher chloroplast number and stomatal complex size but lower chlorophyll and carotenoid contents. The phenolic content of tetraploid plantlets was significantly higher than that of diploid plantlets. Contents of naringin as well as salicylic acid and gentisic acid, which are strong antioxidant compounds, were dramatically increased upon tetraploidization. Interestingly, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) analyses revealed increased levels of senkyunolide F and phthalide in tetraploid roots but not in tetraploid or diploid leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Red Ginseng is well‐known functional food in Asia which is produced by steaming and drying fresh ginseng (Panax ginseng). In the production of red ginseng extract, around 65% of the original material is left over as by‐product and discarded. Most studies on ginseng are focused on ginsenosides. Many functional substances other than ginsenoside are found in red ginseng, but they have not been studied and are usually discarded. Acidic polysaccharides, which are functional polysaccharides found in the by‐product of red ginseng, can be utilized as excellent high‐value‐added material. In this study, we developed red ginseng by‐product polysaccharides (RGBPs) by applying an enzyme‐linked high‐pressure process (ELHPP). We have demonstrated the antioxidant, anti‐aging, and anti‐atopic dermatitis efficacy of ELHPP‐RGBPs in this study. In acute oral toxicity and skin irritation tests, ELHPP‐RGBPs were found to be very low in toxicity. ELHPP‐RGBPs inhibited solar ultraviolet‐induced matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (MMP‐1) protein through activator protein‐1 (AP‐1), a major transcription factor for MMP‐1. ELHPP‐RGBP attenuated DFE‐induced AD‐like symptoms as assessed by skin lesion analyses, dermatitis score, and skin thickness. Taken together, these results suggest that ELHPP‐RGBP may have potential as a nutraceutical ingredient for skin health. Practical applications: This paper presents a new method of using ginseng by‐product that has not been used and discarded. The use of polysaccharides in ginseng by‐product has been shown to prevent skin wrinkles and atopic dermatitis. This is an economical new functional food material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lenacapavir is a novel, first-in-class, capsid inhibitor, which has been approved as an adjunctive therapy for multidrug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 virus in combination with optimized background regimen (OBR). Lenacapavir has demonstrated a significant decrease in viral load and high rate of virologic suppression in patients with multidrug-resistant HIV-1 infection with limited treatment options. Here, we report a case of 43-year-old male who was diagnosed with HIV-1 infection in 2005 but failed to achieve viral suppression due to multiclass resistance. After lenacapavir use with OBR, viral suppression was achieved, and recovery of CD4 + T-cell count was observed for 8 months. This case report shows the first lenacapavir experience in Asia in a heavily treatment-experienced HIV patient with limited treatment options., Competing Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (© Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2024.)

Introduction: Toxoplasma gondii can cause symptomatic toxoplasmosis in immunodeficient hosts, including in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH), mainly because of the reactivation of latent infection. We assessed the prevalence of toxoplasmosis and its associated risk factors in PLWH in the Asia-Pacific region using data from the TREAT Asia Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Observational Database (TAHOD) of the International Epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) Asia-Pacific., Methods: This study included both retrospective and prospective cases of toxoplasmosis reported between 1997 and 2020. A matched case-control method was employed, where PLWH diagnosed with toxoplasmosis (cases) were each matched to two PLWH without a toxoplasmosis diagnosis (controls) from the same site. Sites without toxoplasmosis were excluded. Risk factors for toxoplasmosis were analyzed using conditional logistic regression., Results: A total of 269/9576 (2.8%) PLWH were diagnosed with toxoplasmosis in 19 TAHOD sites. Of these, 227 (84%) were reported retrospectively and 42 (16%) were prospective diagnoses after cohort enrollment. At the time of toxoplasmosis diagnosis, the median age was 33 years (interquartile range 28-38), and 80% participants were male, 75% were not on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Excluding 63 out of 269 people without CD4 values, 192 (93.2%) had CD4 ≤200 cells/μL and 162 (78.6%) had CD4 ≤100 cells/μL. By employing 538 matched controls, we found that factors associated with toxoplasmosis included abstaining from ART (odds ratio [OR] 3.62, 95% CI 1.81-7.24), in comparison to receiving nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors plus non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, HIV exposure through injection drug use (OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.15-4.47) as opposed to engaging in heterosexual intercourse and testing positive for hepatitis B virus surface antigen (OR 3.19, 95% CI 1.41-7.21). Toxoplasmosis was less likely with increasing CD4 counts (51-100 cells/μL: OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.18-0.96; 101-200 cells/μL: OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.06-0.34; >200 cells/μL: OR 0.02, 95% CI 0.01-0.06), when compared to CD4 ≤50 cells/μL. Moreover, the use of prophylactic cotrimoxazole was not associated with toxoplasmosis., Conclusions: Symptomatic toxoplasmosis is rare but still occurs in PLWH in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the context of delayed diagnosis, causing advanced HIV disease. Immune reconstitution through early diagnosis and ART administration remains a priority in Asian PLWH., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Lee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Purpose: Defibrillation threshold (DFT) testing is a routine practice in some Asian countries for patients receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). However, there are few long-term data about the necessity of intraoperative DFT testing in an Asian population. We investigated the safety of DFT testing and the long-term clinical outcomes in Asian patients undergoing ICD implantation., Methods: All patients undergoing de novo transvenous ICD implantation were randomized to undergo periprocedural DFT testing. The study included 67 patients (50 males; 51.5 ± 16.9 years) who underwent ICD implantation with (n = 33) or without (n = 34) intraoperative DFT testing between March 2012 and February 2014. We compared first-shock success, composite safety end points (the sum of complications recorded at 30 days), arrhythmic death, and all-cause mortality., Results: The baseline clinical characteristics and the procedural-related adverse event rate (3.0% with DFT vs. 0% with non-DFT, p = 0.214) did not differ between groups. The programmed output of the first shock was lower in the DFT testing group (22.9 ± 4.4 J vs. 25.3 ± 5.4 J, p = 0.007). However, there were no significant differences between groups for all-cause mortality (12.1% vs. 17.6%, p = 0.526) or first-shock success rate for ventricular arrhythmia (100% vs. 88.2%, p = 0.471)., Conclusions: There were no between-group differences in periprocedural safety, complications, and long-term clinical outcomes. Our results suggest that DFT testing in Asian patients allows reduction of the programmed output of the first shock, but does not affect long-term clinical outcomes.

Hereditary natural anticoagulant deficiencies are the major cause of genetic thrombophilia in Asia. Given the growing acknowledgment of the risk of venous thromboembolism in Asian populations, we investigated the frequency and mutation spectrums of natural anticoagulant deficiency in Korea. The group of patients consisted of consecutive patients with venous thromboembolism screened for thrombophilia. Genetic tests were performed on suspicion of natural anticoagulant deficiency. For the population group, >3,000 individuals were screened from routine check-ups, and those with a low level (<1(st) percentile) of natural anticoagulant underwent genetic tests. Mutations were detected by direct sequencing of PROC, PROS1, and SERPINC1, followed by additional multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification for PROS1 and SERPINC1 for dosage mutations. Among 500 patients screened, 127 were suspected of having a natural anticoagulant deficiency, and this was genetically confirmed in 71: protein C deficiency in 36 (50.7%), antithrombin deficiency in 21 (29.6%), and protein S deficiency in 14 (19.7%). Among 3,129 individuals from the population who were screened, the frequency of natural anticoagulant deficiency was ~1.0%: antithrombin deficiency 0.49%, protein C deficiency 0.35%, and protein S deficiency 0.16%. Two PROC mutations causing type I protein C deficiency were prevalent (Arg211Trp and Met406Ile in patients and Arg211Trp in the population). Two SERPINC1 mutations causing type II antithrombin deficiency, Arg79Cys and Ser158Pro, were prevalent in the population group. This is the first study on the genetic epidemiology of natural anticoagulant deficiencies in Korea. The results demonstrated that the frequencies and spectrum of mutations underlying genetic thrombophilia in Korea are different not only from those in Caucasians but also those in other Asian populations.