Current state of coenzyme Q(10) production and its applications.

Coenzyme Q(10) (CoQ(10)), an obligatory cofactor in the aerobic respiratory electron transfer for energy generation, is formed from the conjugation of a benzoquinone ring with a hydrophobic isoprenoid chain. CoQ(10) is now used as a nutritional supplement because of its antioxidant properties and is beneficial in the treatment of several human diseases when administered orally. Bioprocesses have been developed for the commercial production of CoQ(10) because of its increased demand, and these bioprocesses depend on microbes that produce high levels of CoQ(10) naturally. However, as knowledge of the biosynthetic enzymes and the regulatory mechanisms modulating CoQ(10) production increases, approaches arise for the genetic engineering of CoQ(10) production in Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. This review focused on approaches for CoQ(10) production, strategies used to engineer CoQ(10) production in microbes, and potential applications of CoQ(10).

Pain and its treatment in patients with cancer in Korea.

Substantial pain is experienced by a lot of patients with cancer, and undertreated pain significantly undermines their quality of life. Despite international and national guidelines on cancer pain management, the practical effectiveness of management is still problematic. We did a prospective cross-sectional survey on pain prevalence, pain intensity, its impact on daily activity, and adequacy of pain management in 823 patients treated by medical oncologists and radiologic oncologists. At the time of the survey, 29.7% of the patients had pain that was moderate or severe. Performance status and tumor extent were significant predictors of pain presence and its intensity. Pain severity and the proportion of the patients whose function is impaired are highly associated. Among the patients with pain, only 37% rated pain relief as satisfactory. Forty-one percent of the patients with pain received inadequate pain management. Physicians did not adjust the analgesic prescription in about 53% of the patients who reported severe pain. These results demonstrate the alarming degree of undertreatment of pain in patients with cancer in Korea, and indicate the need to improve the management of cancer-related pain. Future research should elucidate the factors that impede adequate pain management in order to overcome obstacles to adequate treatment.