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Actinic keratosis (AK) is a precancerous lesion that can progress to invasive squamous cell carcinoma if untreated. However, no gold standard treatment has been established. We aimed to investigate the management of AK by comparing the effectiveness and treatment duration of treatment modalities, including cryotherapy, imiquimod (IMQ), and photodynamic therapy (PDT). We reviewed the medical records of 316 patients diagnosed with AK at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital from February 2015 to May 2020, and a total of 195 patients were included. The clearance rate was the highest in PDT, followed by cryotherapy and IMQ (82.4%, 71.2%, and 68.0%, respectively). The recurrence rate was the lowest in cryotherapy, followed by PDT and IMQ (3.5%, 6.7%, and 10.5%, respectively, p < 0.05). The average treatment duration was shortest with PDT, followed by IMQ and cryotherapy (5.5 weeks, 6.8 weeks, and 9.1 weeks, respectively, p < 0.05). The number of hospital visits was lowest for PDT, followed by cryotherapy and IMQ (1.8, 2.8, and 3.6, respectively, p < 0.05). PDT showed the highest clearance rate, a moderate recurrence rate, the shortest treatment duration, and the least number of visits, suggesting that PDT could be the first choice for treatment of AK. Considering the advantages as a topical agent, IMQ could also be a treatment option.

Summary Seven species belonging to Suborder Hoplolaimina are characterised using integrative taxonomy, considering both morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses of the 28S-rRNA, ITS-rRNA and COI gene sequences. It is evident that, as more populations of Pratylenchus zeae are continuously characterised, the species continues to display an ever-increasing intraspecific genetic variation within the 28S-rRNA and ITS-rRNA genes. However, the COI gene sequences exhibit minimum intraspecific variation and thus might be the most powerful DNA barcoding marker for the precise identification of P. zeae and should therefore be recommended as a complementary technique in the identification process of the species. Pratylenchus zeae, Meloidogyne graminicola and Heterodera pratensis are characterised herein for the first time in Korea, while the presence in Korea of P. penetrans, P. scribneri, H. avenae, and M. marylandi, is molecularly confirmed.

Summary Hemicycliophora labiata was reported from the rhizosphere of Poa pratensis and for the first time in Korea. Females and juveniles are molecularly characterised and morphological and morphometric descriptions supplied. Species identification was made using an integrative approach considering morphological characteristics and the results of the analyses of the D2-D3 expansion segment of 28S rRNA, ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 of rRNA and the partial COI gene sequences. The phylogenetic position of H. labiata is resolved after recent misidentifications due to the existence of a wide morphological plasticity within the genus. Females and juveniles from Korea conform to the original description and also to subsequent species descriptions from Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and India. Despite the close morphological similarities with H. typica de Man, 1921, the two species can be adequately differentiated based on molecular data. This is the first molecular characterisation of H. labiata. The use of molecular markers in species delimitation continues to explore the existence of species complexes, thus providing a better understanding of the unresolved species biodiversity within this speciose genus.

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is mainly found in fermented and rotten fruits and is more tolerant to chemicals emitted during the fermentation process than other organisms. Its distinctive habitat suggests an evolutionary adaptation to the chemicals, such as acetic acid, ethanol, and 2-phenylethanol. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assays can be performed to analyze the expression patterns of D. melanogaster genes putatively involved in chemical detoxification and metabolism, to better understand D. melanogaster adaptions to its environment. The selection of stably-expressed, internal reference genes across samples is crucial for accurate normalization of target gene expression parameters. In this study, we investigated the transcription levels of ten candidate reference genes: hsp22, ef1β, α-tub, rpL18, rpS3, argk, nd, tbp, gapdh, and ace, in D. melanogaster exposed to various concentrations of acetic acid, ethanol, and 2-phenylethanol, and expression stability of these genes was evaluated using three different programs: geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper. These three software resulted in different stable genes, but suggested the selection of multiple reference genes for target gene normalization. For validation of reference genes, expression levels of adh were normalized with different references and combination of multiple genes. In the flies exposed to three chemicals, rpL18 was commonly suggested to be used for the most stable reference gene for comparing expression levels of genes potentially associated with environmental chemical tolerance in D. melanogaster.

A new spiral nematode Helicotylenchus asiaticus n. sp., recovered from sandy rhizosphere of Poa pratensis from Korea, is characterized based on integrative taxonomy, considering both morphological and molecular phylogenetic inferences from analyses of the 28S-rRNA and ITS-rRNA gene sequences. Additionally, H. caudatus is characterized for the first time outside its type locality; notes on the taxonomic status of H. microlobus are stated, and the existence of H. dihystera in Korea is molecularly confirmed. The new species is characterized by a lip region not offset; hemispherical, bearing 4–5 annuli; stylet knobs sloping posteriorly, rarely anteriorly flattened; spermatheca, offset and filled with sperms; incisures of the lateral field areolated in pharyngeal region, with incomplete areolation in the tail region; inner incisures usually distally modified into a u-shape or y-shaped configuration; phasmids postanal, situated at 3–8 annuli posterior to anus level; tail conical, bearing 8–15 annuli, ending in a rounded to pointed extremity; and males abundant. The new species is morphologically similar to H. erythrinae, H. californicus, H. electropicus, H. tropicus, H. conicus, H. elegans, H. interrogativus, H. saxeus, H. certus and H. silvaticus but differs from all, either by lip region shape, stylet knob shape, sperm filled spermatheca, phasmid position, tail termini shape and (or) presence of males. Sequence data analyses from amplified regions suggest that Helicotylenchus asiaticus n. sp. is a sister species to unidentified Helicotylenchus sp. From Korea.

Two populations of Tylenchorhynchus annulatus, recovered from loamy-soil rhizosphere of Zoysia japonica from Korea are described and illustrated based on integrative taxonomy, considering both morphological and molecular phylogenetic inferences from analyses of the 28S-rRNA and ITS-rRNA gene sequences. One of the populations manifested variation in species diagnostic characters; continuous lateral field incisures past the phasmid was not a constant character in all specimens examined, with some specimens manifesting fusion of inner incisures of the lateral field below the level of the phasmid and incomplete areolation of the lateral fields. The fusion of the inner incisures of the lateral field past the phasmid level is therefore a variable character within the group, and when used alone, may not be taxonomically reliable to delineate species within the genus. This is molecularly supported by genetic resemblance of the two populations with other characterized T. annulatus isolates based on D2-D3 expansion segment and ITS-rRNA. The overlapping disparities between the two populations are therefore herein treated as intraspecific variations within T. annulatus populations. Furthermore, comparison within all the published sequences of T. annulatus are made and recommendations for sequence corrections are given. Tylenchorhynchus thermophilus is characterized herein for the first time in Korea while T. annulatus and T. claytoni are molecularly confirmed.

Treatment options for Bowen’s disease (BD) include surgical excision, cryotherapy, curettage with cautery, topical 5-fluorouracil or imiquimod, and photodynamic therapy. However, it is not clear which treatment is the most effective due to lack of studies. We reviewed the electronic medical records of 158 patients who were diagnosed with BD and treated at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital from January 2011 to December 2020. Treatment modalities were surgical excision, cryotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and imiquimod. A total of 121 patients was enrolled in this study. The average treatment period was longest for cryotherapy, followed by imiquimod, PDT, and excision (119.53, 87.75, 68.50, and 1 day, respectively). The therapeutic efficacy was highest in the surgical excision group (100%) and lowest in the PDT group (62.5%). The recurrence rate was highest in the imiquimod group (33.33%). Surprisingly, only in patients treated with cryotherapy, satellite lesions developed in 9.09% of them during follow-up. Surgical excision exhibited the highest clearance rate and the lowest recurrence rate, and its treatment period was the shortest, confirming that it remains the gold standard. In contrast, since cryotherapy demonstrated a relatively high recurrence rate including development of satellite lesions, careful monitoring is required when performing cryotherapy for treatment of BD.

Dermatophytosis includes all fungal infections caused by dermatophytes in humans. Some risk factors for the development of subtypes of dermatophytosis have been studied; however, large-scale epidemiologic studies on risk factors for total dermatophytosis are scarce. We investigated the risk factors of dermatophytosis using a nationwide study. Total 4,532,655 subjects with dermatophytosis aged between 20 to 40 years were examined using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service from 2009 to 2018. Women showed a lower risk of development of dermatophytosis compared to men (hazard ratio [HR], 0.848; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.843–0.853). Subjects with elevated waist circumference (HR, 1.057; 95% CI, 1.048–1.065), heavy drinking (HR, 1.053; 95% CI, 1044–1.061), engaging in mild-to-heavy exercise (HR, 1.071; 95% CI, 1.064–1.077) had a higher risk of dermatophytosis. In addition, subjects with body mass index (BMI) of more than 30 kg/m2 exhibited a higher risk of dermatophytosis (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.342–1.378) compared to those with BMIs in the range of 18.5 to 23 kg/m2. In this study, the risk of developing dermatophytosis significantly increased in individuals with elevated waist circumference or high BMI. Lifestyle modifications, including weight management, are suggested to be important in preventing dermatophytosis.

Little is known about the comorbidities in actinic keratosis patients. To evaluate the association of actinic keratosis with certain malignancies. All patients with actinic keratosis (n = 61,438) and age- and sex-matched control subjects (n = 307,190) at a 5:1 ratio were enrolled using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service between the years 2007 and 2014. In subjects with actinic keratosis, overall cancer incidence was higher than that for controls after income level, habitat, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were adjusted (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 1.43 [95% confidence interval 1.38–1.47]). The positive association of specific cancers were observed in the following order: skin cancer (HR = 3.43 [2.47–4.75]), oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer (HR = 1.99 [1.57–2.52]), lymphoma (HR = 1.59 [1.28–1.96]), leukemia (HR = 1.35 [1.03–1.77]), prostate cancer (HR = 1.35 [1.21–1.51]), renal cancer (HR = 1.29 [1.02–1.63]), liver cancer (HR = 1.21 [1.09–1.35]), thyroid cancer (HR = 1.20 [1.05–1.38]), and gastric cancer (HR = 1.13 [1.03–1.23]). Although further research on pathologic mechanism is needed, the implications of a positive correlation between actinic keratosis and internal organ malignancies has great significance.

A new needle nematode, Paralongidorus koreanensis n. sp., recovered from rhizosphere of Poa pratensis and Zoysia japonica from Korea, is described and illustrated based on inferences from morphological and molecular data. Additionally, the existence and taxonomic status of X. diffusum and X. insigne in Korea is also duly confirmed. Phylogenetic inferences were based on an integrative approach considering the analyses of the 28S rRNA, ITS1 rRNA, SSU rRNA and the partial COI gene sequences. The new species is characterized by medium body length (4.2–5.5 mm); lip region rounded, slightly set off from the body by a shallow indentation, 15.0–18.3 μm wide; amphidial fovea stirrup shaped; guiding ring anteriorly positioned (28.6–33.6 μm from anterior end); odontostyle moderately long (99.4–109.7 μm); tail short (34.0–43.5 μm), hemispherical to bluntly rounded. Males rare in population. Spicules moderate, 70 μm long; 13 irregular spaced ventromedian precloacal supplements anterior to the adanal pair; four juvenile developmental stages clearly distinguishable. The new species is morphologically similar to P. bikanerensis, P. inagreinus, P. hanliae, P. spasskii, P. nudus, P. indicus and P. sali but differs from all, either by lip region shape and width, amphidial fovea shape, body and odontostyle length, female tail length and shape or spicule length. Sequence data analyses from amplified regions suggest that it’s a sister species to P. bikanerensis and P. sali, and the three species are consistently placed in a clade outside the main clade for Paralongidorus. Xiphinema insigne and X. diffusum DNA sequences were similar to the respective species sequences available in GenBank.

Objective.Behçet disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory multiorgan disease. An increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and heightened death rate with BD have been suggested, but to our knowledge, a nationwide large-scale study has not been conducted to date. This study aimed to determine the overall CV risk and death rate in patients with BD versus controls using the Korean National Health Insurance Service claim database.Methods.Patients with BD (n = 5576) with no previous history of CVD were selected from 2010 to 2014. An age- and sex-matched control population of individuals without BD (n = 27,880) was randomly sampled at a ratio of 5:1. Both cohorts were followed for incident CVD or all-cause death until 2015.Results.The risks of myocardial infarction (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.01–2.73) and stroke (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.09–2.50) were significantly higher in patients with BD than in controls. Patients with BD also had a significantly higher risk of all-cause death (HR 1.82, 95% CI 1.40–2.37) compared to controls.Conclusion.Korean patients with BD had a higher overall risk of CVD than did those without BD. Therefore, patients with BD must be carefully monitored for the potential development of CVD to ensure that appropriate early treatments are delivered.

There have been no epidemiological studies identifying associations between systemic inflammatory diseases and actinic keratosis. This study used a large nationwide database to investigate the associations between actinic keratosis and systemic inflammatory diseases. Records of patients over 20 years of age newly diagnosed with actinic keratosis (n = 64,659) from 2012 to 2017 were analysed. A control population of individuals without actinic keratosis, matched for age, sex, and year of claim, who visited an outpatient clinic, was sampled at a ratio of 1:1 (n = 64,659). Both cohorts were analysed for the presence of systemic inflammatory diseases within at least 5 years prior to diagnosis of actinic keratosis. Patients with actinic keratosis exhibited higher odds ratios for rheumatoid arthritis (1.336; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.161-1.537)) and psoriasis (1.513; 95% CI 1.435-1.595) compared with the control group on multivariate analysis. However, the proportions of Behçet's disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and multiple sclerosis in the actinic keratosis group were not statistically significant.

In a previous study, we found that higher waist circumference (WC) and higher body mass index (BMI) both increase the risk of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). The aim of this study was to determine whether WC and BMI also increase the duration of CSU. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards models to determine the hazard ratio (HR) for longer disease duration (longer than 3 years) according to WC and BMI. A total of 52,667 subjects were enrolled and their mean age was 54.5. After adjustments for other confounding variables the high WC/high BMI group had 1.062 times higher HR (95% CI, 1.028–1.098) than the normal WC/normal BMI group. Interestingly, the high WC/normal BMI group showed a significantly higher HR (1.053; 95% CI, 1.008–1.101) than the normal WC/normal BMI group, but not the normal WC/high BMI group (0.998; 95% CI, 0.951–1.046). Taken together, our results suggest that high WC rather than high BMI is a predictive risk factor for the longer disease duration of CSU.

Superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD3), a well-known antioxidant has been shown to possess immunomodulatory properties through inhibition of T cell differentiation. However, the underlying inhibitory mechanism of SOD3 on T cell differentiation is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the effect of SOD3 on anti-CD3/CD28- or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and ionomycin (ION)-mediated activation of mouse naive CD4+ T cells. Our data showed that SOD3 suppressed the expression of activation-induced surface receptor proteins such as CD25, and CD69, and cytokines production. Similarly, SOD3 was found to reduce CD4+T cells proliferation and suppress the activation of downstream pathways such as ERK, p38, and NF-κB. Moreover, naïve CD4+T cells isolated from global SOD3 knock-out mice showed higher expression of CD25, CD69, and CD71, IL-2 production, proliferation, and downstream signals compared to wild-type CD4+T cells. Whereas, the use of DETCA, a known inhibitor of SOD3 activity, found to nullify the inhibitory effect of SOD3 on CD4+T cell activation of both SOD3 KO and wild-type mice. Furthermore, the expression of surface receptor proteins, IL-2 production, and downstream signals were also reduced in Th2 and Th17 differentiated cells upon SOD3 treatment. Overall, our data showed that SOD3 can attenuate CD4+T cell activation through modulation of the downstream signalings and restrict CD4+T cell differentiation. Therefore, SOD3 can be a promising therapeutic for T cell-mediated disorders.

Honey bees are both important pollinators and model insects due to their highly developed sociality and colony management. To better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying honey bee colony management, it is important to investigate the expression of genes putatively involved in colony physiology. Although quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) can be used to quantify the relative expression of target genes, internal reference genes (which are stably expressed across different conditions) must first be identified to ensure accurate normalisation of target genes. To identify reliable reference genes in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies, therefore, we evaluated seven candidate genes (ACT, EIF, EF1, RPN2, RPS5, RPS18 and GAPDH) in samples collected from three honey bee tissue types (head, thorax and abdomen) across all four seasons using three analysis programmes (NormFinder, BestKeeper and geNorm). Subsequently, we validated various normalisation methods using each of the seven reference genes and a combination of multiple genes by calculating the expression of catalase (CAT). Although the genes ranked as the most stable gene were slightly different on conditions and analysis methods, our results suggest that RPS5, RPS18 and GAPDH represent optimal honey bee reference genes for target gene normalisation in qRT-PCR analysis of various honey bee tissue samples collected across seasons.

International audience; Air pollutants and agricultural pesticides can be environmental stressors to pollinators. In this study, to investigate the expression of detoxification-related genes and heavy metal concentrations in honey bees and honey possibly exposed to environmental stresses, we collected samples from apiaries located in mountainous, agricultural, and urban areas. Compared with the mountainous and agricultural areas, the mercury and lead concentrations were highest in honey and bees collected from urban areas. In addition, the expression levels of CYP9Q1, CYP9Q2, CYP9Q3, and genes encoding catalase and superoxide dismutase were markedly higher in urban bees than those from agricultural and mountainous areas, discreetly indicating that the notable induction of the detoxification metabolism in urban bees might be because of heavy metal pollutant exposure. Our study suggests that honey bees actively respond to environmental stressors, such as heavy metals derived from urban areas.

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is predominantly found in overripe, rotten, fermenting, or decaying fruits and is constantly exposed to chemical stressors such as acetic acid, ethanol, and 2-phenylethanol. D. melanogaster has been employed as a model system for studying the molecular bases of various types of chemical-induced tolerance. Expression profiling using Illumina sequencing has been performed for identifying changes in gene expression that may be associated with evolutionary adaptation to exposure of acetic acid, ethanol, and 2-phenylethanol. We identified a total of 457 differentially expressed genes that may affect sensitivity or tolerance to three chemicals in the chemical treatment group as opposed to the control group. Gene-set enrichment analysis revealed that the genes involved in metabolism, multicellular organism reproduction, olfaction, regulation of signal transduction, and stress tolerance were over-represented in response to chemical exposure. Furthermore, we also detected a coordinated upregulation of genes in the Toll- and Imd-signaling pathways after the chemical exposure. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis revealed that the expression levels of nine genes within the set of genes identified by RNA sequencing were up- or downregulated owing to chemical exposure. Taken together, our data suggest that such differentially expressed genes are coordinately affected by chemical exposure. Transcriptional analyses after exposure of D. melanogaster with three chemicals provide unique insights into subsequent functional studies on the mechanisms underlying the evolutionary adaptation of insect species to environmental chemical stressors.

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea grants funded by the Koreas Government (Nos. NRF-2015R1C1A2A01054767 and 2018R1D1A1B07044100).