The association between peptic ulcer diseases and mental health problems: A population-based study: a STROBE compliant article.

This study aimed to investigate the association between the prevalence of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and mental health problems, such as severe stress, depressive mood, and suicidal ideation.The population-based cross-sectional study was comprised of 14,266 subjects participating in the fourth annual Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination survey from 2007 to 2009. The participants were divided into 2 groups according to the self-reported questionnaires: the PUD group and the non-PUD group. The association between PUD and mental health problems, such as severe stress, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and psychological counseling history, were evaluated by using multivariate analysis and logistic regression.Among the 14,266 participants over 19-years old, 813 participants (5.6%) had PUD. Compared to the non-PUD group (n = 13,453), the PUD group had a significantly higher percentage of males, current smokers, and heavy drinkers, lower education status, lower income, and greater presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and mental health problems, including severe stress, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and psychological counseling history. After adjustment for lifestyle and medical and environmental factors, mental health problems were found to be associated with a significantly higher risk for PUD.Psychological problems, such as severe stress, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and psychological counseling, were associated with PUD prevalence.

In vitro augmented photodynamic bactericidal activity of tetracycline and chitosan against Clostridium difficile KCTC5009 in the planktonic cultures.

Infection with Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) causes a severe colitis with high recurrence. Treatment of C. difficile infection (CDI) is based on antibiotics in spite of the increase of resistance. To interrupt the vicious cycles such as new antibiotics treatment and appearance of resistance strains, photodynamic therapy (PDT) might be a possible alternative therapy for CDI. Tetracycline (TC) has been used as a broad spectrum antibiotic with low risk of CDI and a photosensitizer (PS) in PDT. In vitro PDT against C. difficile was conducted using UVA and TC as a PS before in vivo study. To enhance the photodynamic antibacterial activity of TC, we applied chitosan as a boostering agent. Bactericidal effects after PDT, were measured by counting viable cells, DNA damage and membrane integrity. At 1mg/mL of TC, chitosan treatment combined with PDT, increased the bactericidal effect by >10,000-fold of the effect of PDT alone. Membrane damage and cellular DNA damage demonstrated by EMA-qPCR were also greater in the group treated with PDT+chitosan than in that treated PDT alone. The present study showed that PDT using a combination of TC and chitosan is an effective method for killing C. difficile.

Genomic evidence of reactive oxygen species elevation in papillary thyroid carcinoma with Hashimoto thyroiditis.

Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been proposed as a risk factor for the development of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT). However, it has yet to be proven that the total levels of ROS are sufficiently increased to contribute to carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that if the ROS levels were increased in HT, ROS-related genes would also be differently expressed in PTC with HT. To find differentially expressed genes (DEGs) we analyzed data from the Cancer Genomic Atlas, gene expression data from RNA sequencing: 33 from normal thyroid tissue, 232 from PTC without HT, and 60 from PTC with HT. We prepared 402 ROS-related genes from three gene sets by genomic database searching. We also analyzed a public microarray data to validate our results. Thirty-three ROS related genes were up-regulated in PTC with HT, whereas there were only nine genes in PTC without HT (Chi-square p-value < 0.001). Mean log2 fold changes of up-regulated genes was 0.562 in HT group and 0.252 in PTC without HT group (t-test p-value = 0.001). In microarray data analysis, 12 of 32 ROS-related genes showed the same differential expression pattern with statistical significance. In gene ontology analysis, up-regulated ROS-related genes were related with ROS metabolism and apoptosis. Immune function-related and carcinogenesis-related gene sets were enriched only in HT group in Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. Our results suggested that ROS levels may be increased in PTC with HT. Increased levels of ROS may contribute to PTC development in patients with HT.

Renal artery thrombosis secondary to sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation in acute pyelonephritis.

There are some reports of renal vein thrombosis associated with acute pyelonephritis, but a case of renal artery thrombosis in acute pyelonephritis has not been reported yet. Here we report a case of renal artery thrombosis which developed in a patient with acute pyelonephritis complicated with sepsis-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). A 65-year-old woman with diabetes was diagnosed with acute pyelonephritis complicated with sepsis. Escherichia coli was isolated from both blood and urine cultures. When treated with antibiotics, her condition gradually improved. She suddenly complained of severe right flank pain without fever in the recovery phase. A computed tomography scan revealed right renal artery thrombosis with concomitant renal infarction. Prophylactic anticoagulation therapy was not suggested because of sustained thrombocytopenia and increased risk of bleeding. Flank pain resolved with conservative treatment and perfusion of infarcted kidney improved at the time of discharge. To our knowledge, this is the first case of renal artery thrombosis related to acute pyelonephritis with sepsis-induced DIC.

Three cases of non-surgical treatment of stent loss during percutaneous coronary intervention.

Percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting is widely used for ischemic heart disease. Because stent loss, which occurs rarely during the procedure, might have dire consequences, such as bleeding, stent embolism, acute myocardial infarction, emergency coronary artery bypass graft, and death, appropriate treatment is needed as soon as stent loss occurs. We report three cases of stent loss which were successfully treated with three different non-surgical methods.

Ischaemic enteritis in a patient with chronic renal failure: diagnosis and management decisions.

Ischaemic enteritis is rare in patients with chronic renal failure not on dialysis. Here we report a case of ischaemic enteritis in an 81-year-old woman with chronic renal failure secondary to hypertension (not dialysis dependent) who presented with acute onset of abdominal pain, non-bloody diarrhoea and subsequent oliguria. The abdominal CT with angiography showed diffuse segmental wall thickening and decreased perfusion of the long segment of the ileum, with decreased enhancement of the vessels that supply the distal ileum. The clinical diagnosis of ischaemic enteritis was made. The patient responded initially to total parenteral nutrition and intravenous antibiotics. After the initiation of haemodialysis, because of the oliguria, the ischaemic enteritis progressed to bowel infarction, and an open laparotomy was performed. This report illustrates some of the difficult therapeutic decisions in a patient with ischaemic enteritis and chronic renal failure.