Adverse Reactions After Intradermal Vaccination With JYNNEOS for Mpox in Korea.

In response to the Mpox domestic epidemic, South Korea initiated a nationwide vaccination program in May 2023, administering a 0.1 mL intradermal dose of JYNNEOS (Modified Vaccinia Ankara vaccine, Bavarian Nordic) to a high-risk group. To investigate the adverse reactions after intradermal JYNNEOS vaccination, an anonymous online survey was conducted at the National Medical Center from May 22 to July 31, 2023. Overall, 142 individuals responded. Over 80% of the respondents reported local reactions of predominantly mild severity. The predominant local reactions were pruritus, redness, and swelling; their incidence rates after the first dose were 66.2%, 48.1%, and 49.4%, respectively; the corresponding rates after the second dose were 69.2%, 60.6%, and 53.8%. Fewer respondents reported systemic symptoms. The most common systemic symptom was fatigue, the incidence rates of which after the first and second doses were 37.7% and 24.6%, respectively. Overall, the intradermally administered JYNNEOS vaccine appeared well tolerated.

Characteristics of anaphylaxis patients who visited emergency departments in Korea: Results from a national emergency department information system.

BACKGROUND: Anaphylaxis is an allergic disease with fatal respiratory or cardiovascular symptoms that require immediate emergency treatment. We aimed to understand the characteristics and frequency of emergency department (ED) visits of patients with anaphylaxis in Korea. METHODS: Between 2007 and 2013, using data from 147 ED from the National Emergency Department Information System in Korea, we retrospectively evaluated patients with a primary diagnosis of anaphylaxis. RESULTS: During the study, a total 23,313 patients visited the ED due to anaphylaxis. The number of patients with anaphylaxis who visited the ED increased from 3.0 per 100,000 population in 2007 to 11.6 per 100,000 population in 2013 (P<0.001). Overall, the frequency of anaphylaxis emergency department visits increased by 1.24 times each year (95% CI 1.23-1.25). The risk of visiting ED due to anaphylaxis by population-based age-specific group was highest in the 60-69 years old (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.96-2.70). Deaths from anaphylaxis increased by 1.35 times per year (95% CI 1.13-1.62). The causes of anaphylaxis were unknown (80.8%; 95% CI 80.35-81.38), drugs (8.9%; 95% CI 8.47-9.24), food (4.1%; 95% CI 3.87-4.39), bees (3.2%; 95% CI 3.02-3.48) and arthropods (2.3%; 95% CI 2.11-2.48). In 2009, drugs were the most common cause of anaphylaxis in November (35.5%), followed by food in May (15.5%) (P<0.001). Between July and September, stings from insects were the most common causes (P<0.001). By age, food was the most common cause in children aged <6 years (7.6%, <12 months; 9.0%, 1-6 years) and drugs in those aged ≥7 years. The 7-year overall mortality rate was 0.104 case per 1,000,000 population; men accounted for 77.8% of the deaths. By region, the number of cases was the highest in metropolitan areas, Gyeonggi and Seoul; however, the number of anaphylaxis cases per 100,000 population was the highest in Jeju and Gangwon. CONCLUSION: Based on ICD-10 codes, the number of ED visits due to anaphylaxis is increasing in Korea, and the incidence of anaphylaxis varies by region, season, and age.

Human transcription factor YY1 could upregulate the HIV-1 gene expression.

Gene expression in HIV-1 is regulated by the promoters in 5' long-terminal repeat (LTR) element, which contain multiple DNA regulatory elements that serve as binding sites for cellular transcription factors. YY1 could repress HIV-1 gene expression and latent infection. Here, however, we observed that virus production can be increased by YY1 over-expression and decreased under YY1 depleted condition by siRNA treatment. To identify functional domain(s) of YY1 activation, we constructed a number of YY1 truncated mutants. Our data show that full-length YY1 enhances the viral transcription both through U3 and U3RU5 promoters. Moreover, the C-terminal region (296-414 residues) of YY1 is responsible for the transcriptional upregulation, which could be enhanced further in the presence of the viral Tat protein. The central domain of YY1 (155-295 residues) does not affect LTR activity but has a negative effect on HIV-1 gene expression. Taken together, our study shows that YY1 could act as a transcriptional activator in HIV-1 replication, at least in the early stages of infection. [BMB Reports 2020; 53(5): 248-253].

The changes of prevalence and etiology of pediatric pneumonia from National Emergency Department Information System in Korea, between 2007 and 2014.

PURPOSE: Understanding changes in pathogen and pneumonia prevalence among pediatric pneumonia patients is important for the prevention of infectious diseases. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data of children younger than 18 years diagnosed with pneumonia at 117 Emergency Departments in Korea between 2007 and 2014. RESULTS: Over the study period, 329,380 pediatric cases of pneumonia were identified. The most frequent age group was 1-3 years old (48.6%) and the next was less than 12 months of age (17.4%). Based on International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision diagnostic codes, confirmed cases of viral pneumonia comprised 8.4% of all cases, pneumonia due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae comprised 3.8% and confirmed cases of bacterial pneumonia 1.3%. The prevalence of confirmed bacterial pneumonia decreased from 3.07% in 2007 and 4.01% in 2008 to 0.65% in 2014. The yearly rate of pneumococcal pneumonia also decreased from 0.47% in 2007 to 0.08% in 2014. A periodic prevalence of M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MP) was identified. CONCLUSION: The increased number of patients with pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, pleural effusion, and empyema in 2011 and 2013-2014 resulted from an MP epidemic. We provide evidence that the frequency of confirmed cases of bacterial pneumonia and pneumococcal pneumonia has declined from 2007 to 2014, which can simultaneously reflect the effectiveness of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Correction to: HiComet: a high-throughput comet analysis tool for large-scale DNA damage assessment.

After publication of the original article [1], it has been found that the author affiliations have been accidentally left out in the PDF. The full affiliations can be found in this correction.

Understanding of the functional role(s) of the Activating Transcription Factor 4(ATF4) in HIV regulation and production.

The activating transcription factor (ATF) 4 belongs to the ATF/CREB (cAMP Response Element Binding bZIP [Basic Leucine Zipper]) transcription factor family, and plays a central role in the UPR (Unfolded Protein Response) process in cells. The induction of ATF4 expression has previously been shown to increase the replication of HIV-1. However, the detailed mechanism underlying this effect and the factors involved in the regulation of ATF4 function are still unknown. Here, we demonstrate first that knocking out ATF4 using siRNA shows a strong negative effect on HIV-1 production, indicating that ATF4 is a functional positive cellular factor in HIV-1 production. To determine the mechanism by which ATF4 regulates the HIV-1 life cycle, we assessed the effect of the overexpression of wild type ATF4 and its various derivatives on HIV-1 LTR-mediated transcriptional activation and the production of HIV-1 particles. This effect was studied through co-transfection experiments with either reporter vectors or proviral DNA. We found that the N-terminal domains of ATF4 are involved in HIV-1 LTR-mediated transcriptional activation, and thus in HIV-1 production. [BMB Reports 2018; 51(8): 388-393].

Investigation of functional roles of transcription termination factor-1 (TTF-I) in HIV-1 replication.

Transcription termination factor-1 (TTF-I) is an RNA polymerase 1-mediated transcription terminator and consisting of a C-terminal DNA-binding domain, central domain, and N-terminal regulatory domain. This protein binds to a so-called 'Sal box' composed of an 11-base pair motif. The interaction of TTF-I with the 'Sal box' is important for many cellular events, including efficient termination of RNA polymerase-1 activity involved in pre-rRNA synthesis and formation of a chromatin loop. To further understand the role of TTF-I in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-I virus production, we generated various TTF-I mutant forms. Through a series of studies of the over-expression of TTF-I and its derivatives along with co-transfection with either proviral DNA or HIV-I long terminal repeat (LTR)-driven reporter vectors, we determined that wild-type TTF-I downregulates HIV-I LTR activity and virus production, while the TTF-I Myb-like domain alone upregulated virus production, suggesting that wild-type TTF-I inhibits virus production and trans-activation of the LTR sequence; the Myb-like domain of TTF-I increased virus production and trans-activated LTR activity. [BMB Reports 2018; 51(7): 338-343].

HiComet: a high-throughput comet analysis tool for large-scale DNA damage assessment.

BACKGROUND: DNA damage causes aging, cancer, and other serious diseases. The comet assay can detect multiple types of DNA lesions with high sensitivity, and it has been widely applied. Although comet assay platforms have improved the limited throughput and reproducibility of traditional assays in recent times, analyzing large quantities of comet data often requires a tremendous human effort. To overcome this challenge, we proposed HiComet, a computational tool that can rapidly recognize and characterize a large number of comets, using little user intervention. RESULTS: We tested HiComet with real data from 35 high-throughput comet assay experiments, with over 700 comets in total. The proposed method provided unprecedented levels of performance as an automated comet recognition tool in terms of robustness (measured by precision and recall) and throughput. CONCLUSIONS: HiComet is an automated tool for high-throughput comet-assay analysis and could significantly facilitate characterization of individual comets by accelerating its most rate-limiting step. An online implementation of HiComet is freely available at https://github.com/taehoonlee/HiComet/ .

Investigation of function and regulation of the YB-1 cellular factor in HIV replication.

Y-box binding protein 1 (YB-1) is a member of the cold-shock domain (CSD) protein superfamily. It participates in a wide variety of cellular events, including transcription, RNA splicing, translation, DNA repair, drug resistance, and stress responses. We investigated putative functions of YB-1 in HIV-1 replication. Functional studies using overexpression or knockdown of YB-1 in conjunction with transfection of proviral DNA showed that YB-1 enhances virus production. We found YB-1 regulates HIV-1 production by stimulating viral transcription using HIV-1 LTR sequence U3RU5 with Luciferase assay. We also identified a specific region from amino acids 1 to 324 of YB-1 as necessary for the participation of the protein in the production of virions. [BMB Reports 2018; 51(6): 290-295].

The age-related characteristics of adults with asthma who visited emergency departments in Korea from 2007 to 2012.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the patterns of emergency department (ED) visits of patients with asthma is important for disease control and prevention of exacerbations. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of adult patients who visited EDs because of their asthma. METHODS: Patients with asthma, ages ≥19 years old, who visited 117 EDs throughout Korea between January 2007 and December 2012 were identified in the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) data base using the International Classification of Disease, 10th revision, codes J45 (asthma) and J46 (status asthmaticus). RESULTS: A total of 97,835 adult patients with asthma visited 117 EDs throughout Korea during the study period. There was a slight female preponderance (male-to-female ratio, 1:1.09). The number of patients aged 70-79-years-old was 28,031 (28.7%), the highest among the patients with asthma. ED visits showed a seasonal distribution, with most occurring in winter and spring, followed by autumn. The seasonal distribution varied by age; most patients ages 19-49 years presented in autumn (September), whereas those patients ages ≥50 years presented to the ED most often in winter. Overall, 65.5% of patients were admitted to the hospital, including 12.6% admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Overall, 209 patients (0.2%) died. The rates of hospital admission to general wards and ICUs were highest in those patients ≥70 years old; this group also had the highest mortality rate. CONCLUSION: In this nationwide study, which spanned 6 years, of adult patients with asthma, we observed an age-specific seasonal pattern of ED visits. Identifying the causes of age-related deterioration and seasonal visits to the ED will help prevent asthma symptoms and reduce medical costs.

Viral RNA in Blood as Indicator of Severe Outcome in Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection.

We evaluated the diagnostic and clinical usefulness of blood specimens to detect Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus infection in 21 patients from the 2015 outbreak in South Korea. Viral RNA was detected in blood from 33% of patients at initial diagnosis, and the detection preceded a worse clinical course.

Analysis of the utilization of existing test data for phase-in substance registration under the Act on the Registration and Evaluation, etc. of Chemical Substances.

OBJECTIVES: Approximately 2000 phase-in substances are subject to registration according to the Act on the Registration and Evaluation, etc. of Chemical Substances (KREACH), and the expected testing cost is 2.06 trillion Korean won assuming all the test data required for registration are acquired. The extent to which these enormous test costs can be reduced depends on the availability of existing data that can be used to meet the requirements of the K-REACH we examined the current availability of test data that can be used for chemical substance registration. METHODS: We analyzed the possibility of utilizing the existing test data obtained from 16 reference databases for 369 of 518 kinds of phase-in substances subject to registration that were reported in last October 2014. RESULTS: The physical and chemical properties were available for 57.1% of substances, whereas data regarding human hazards and environmental hazards were available at considerably lower rates, 8.5% and 11.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Physical and chemical properties were available for a fairly high proportion, whereas human hazards and environmental hazards were reported for considerably fewer substances.

Robust classification of DNA damage patterns in single cell gel electrophoresis.

Single cell gel electrophoresis, also known as comet assay, has been widely used for assessing the effect of genotoxicity and detecting DNA damage of individual eukaryotic cells. There exist established imaging techniques for cometassay analysis, but these platforms have limitations such as required user interventions, low throughput, and weakness to noise caused by incomplete dyeing of fluorescent materials and other experimental errors. To resolve these, we propose a novel procedure for analyzing comet assay images, which considers various DNA damage patterns and classifies them in a robust manner. We tested our approach with twenty golden data sets containing over 300 comets and achieved satisfactory classification accuracy.

Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide regulates interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-23 expression via SIRT1 modulation in human periodontal ligament cells.

Increased interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-23 levels exist in the gingival tissue of periodontitis patients, but the precise molecular mechanisms that regulate IL-17 and IL-23 production remain unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the role of SIRT1 signaling on Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-17 and IL-23 production in human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs). IL-17 and IL-23 production was significantly increased in LPS-treated cells. LPS treatment also led to the upregulation of SIRT1 mRNA and protein expression. LPS-induced IL-17 and IL-23 upregulation was attenuated by pretreatment with inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and NF-κB, as well as neutralizing antibodies against Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 and 4. Sirtinol treatment (a known SIRT1 inhibitor) or SIRT1 knockdown by small interfering RNA blocked LPS-stimulated IL-17 and IL-23 expression. Further investigation showed that LPS decreased osteoblast markers (i.e., ALP, OPN, and BSP) and concomitantly increased osteoclast markers (i.e., RANKL and M-CSF). This response was attenuated by inhibitors of the PI3K, p38, ERK, JNK, NF-κB, and SIRT1 pathways. These findings, for the first time, suggest that human periodontopathogen P. gingivalis LPS is implicated in periodontal disease bone destruction and may mediate IL-17 and IL-23 release from hPDLCs. This process is dependent, at least in part, on SIRT1-Akt/PI3K-MAPK-NF-κB signaling.