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Cytoskeleton-associated protein 2-like (CKAP2L) is a paralogue of cytoskeleton-associated protein 2 (CKAP2). We characterized the expression pattern, subcellular localization, and microtubule-stabilizing properties of human CKAP2L. The levels of both CKAP2L transcript and protein were cell cycle phase-dependent, peaking during the G2/M phase and relatively high in certain human tissues, including testis, intestine, and spleen. CKAP2L protein was detectable in all human cancer cell lines we tested. CKAP2L localized to the mitotic spindle apparatus during mitosis, as reported previously. During interphase, however, CKAP2L localized mainly to the nucleus. Ectopic overexpression of CKAP2L resulted in 'microtubule bundling', and, consequently, an elevated CKAP2L level led to prolonged mitosis. These findings support the mitotic role of CKAP2L during the human cell cycle.
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OBJECTIVE: Since the impact of the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic, the need for efficiency in medical services has become more urgent than ever. The digital treatment market is rapidly growing worldwide and digital therapeutics (DTx), a major part of the digital medical services, is also emerging as a new paradigm for treatment, with its industry growing rapidly as well. Increasing research is done on the effectiveness of mobile DTx in improving mental health conditions such as insomnia, panic, and depression. METHODS: This review paper investigates 1) the functions and characteristics of mobile digital mental health care applications for the treatment of anxiety symptoms, 2) extracts common attributes of the applications, and 3) compares them with existing traditional treatment mechanisms. RESULTS: Among the 20,000 mental health management applications that have been developed so far, 8 applications that are relatively widely used were selected and reviewed. Check-in, self-help tips, quick relief, journal, courses for practice are common features of the digital mental health care applications for anxiety and are also widely used feature in the cognitive behavioral therapy. CONCLUSION: Based on this review, we have proposed the essential elements and directions for the development of a Korean digital mental health care applications for anxiety disorders.
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Introduction: Since the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), public safety measures, including social distancing and school closures, have been implemented, precipitating psychological difficulties and heightened online activities for adolescents. However, studies examining the impact of the pandemic on adolescent mental health and their coping strategies in Asian countries are limited. Further, most studies have used survey measures to capture mental health challenges so far. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the psychological challenges South Korean adolescents experienced and their coping strategies during the pandemic using the Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Text mining (TM) technique on adolescents' social media texts/posts. Methods: The data were gathered from social media texts/posts such as online communities, Twitter, and personal blogs from January 1, 2019, to October 31, 2021. The 12,520,250 texts containing keywords related to adolescents' common psychological difficulties reported during the pandemic, including self-harm, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD), and insomnia, were analyzed by TM, NLP using information extraction, co-occurrence and sentiment analysis. The monthly frequency of the keywords and their associated words was also analyzed to understand the time trend. Results: Adolescents used the word "self-harm" in their social media texts more frequently during the second wave of COVID-19 (August to September 2020). "Friends" was the most associated word with "self-harm." While the frequency of texts with "Insomnia" stayed constant throughout the pandemic, the word "ADHD" was increasingly mentioned in social media. ADHD and insomnia were most frequently associated with ADHD medications and sleeping pills, respectively. Friends were generally associated with positive words, while parents were associated with negative words. Conclusion: During COVID-19, Korean adolescents often expressed their psychological challenges on social media platforms. However, their coping strategies seemed less efficient to help with their difficulties, warranting strategies to support them in the prolonged pandemic era. For example, Korean adolescents shared psychological challenges such as self-harm with friends rather than their parents. They considered using medicine (e.g., sleeping pills and ADHD medication) as coping strategies for sleep and attention problems.
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To cope with amphibian die-offs caused by ranavirus, it is important to know the underlying ranavirus prevalence in a region. We studied the ranavirus prevalence in tadpoles of two native and one introduced anuran species inhabiting agricultural and surrounding areas at 49 locations across eight provinces of South Korea by applying qPCR. The local ranavirus prevalence and the individual infection rates at infected locations were 32.6% and 16.1%, respectively, for Dryophytes japonicus (Japanese tree frog); 25.6% and 26.1% for Pelophylax nigromaculatus (Black-spotted pond frog); and 30.5% and 50.0% for Lithobates catesbeianus (American bullfrog). The individual infection rate of L. catesbeianus was significantly greater than that of D. japonicus. The individual infection rate of P. nigromaculatus was related to the site-specific precipitation and air temperature. The individual infection rate gradually increased from Gosner development stage 39, and intermittent infection was confirmed in the early and middle developmental stages. Our results show that ranavirus is widespread among wild amphibians living in agricultural areas of South Korea, and mass die-offs by ranavirus could occur at any time.
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Anuros , Infecções por Vírus de DNA , Ranavirus , Animais , Anuros/virologia , Infecções por Vírus de DNA/epidemiologia , Infecções por Vírus de DNA/veterinária , Prevalência , Rana catesbeiana/virologia , Ranavirus/isolamento & purificação , Ranidae/virologia , República da Coreia/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Cervical epidural anesthesia (CEA) is generally not used during upper-arm vascular surgery for hemodialysis in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, despite its advantages. The Quality of Recovery-40 questionnaire (QOR-40) has been validated as a tool for assessing the degree of recovery after surgery. We hypothesized that CEA could provide a better outcome on the QOR-40 than general anesthesia after upper-arm vascular surgery for hemodialysis in ESRD patients.We divided anesthetic methods into general anesthesia and CEA. The QOR-40 was administered to 70 patients on the night before surgery and at 24âhours after surgery. Additional data, including consumption of opioid analgesics, occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, and scores on a numeric rating scale (NRS) were collected.The total QOR-40 scores of the two groups differed significantly (Pâ=â.024) on postoperative day 1. Opioid consumption (Pâ=â.005) and occurrence of postoperative nausea (Pâ=â.019) in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) were significantly lower in the CEA group, whose NRS scores were significantly lower in the PACU (Pâ<â.001) and at postoperative day 1 (Pâ=â.016).Assessment of postoperative quality of recovery after upper-arm vascular surgery in ESRD patients showed that the CEA group had significantly better total QOR-40 and NRS scores. CEA could be used as an alternative anesthetic technique for upper-arm vascular surgery for hemodialysis in ESRD patients to improve the quality of recovery.
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Período de Recuperação da Anestesia , Anestesia Epidural/métodos , Anestesia Geral/métodos , Braço/irrigação sanguínea , Braço/cirurgia , Derivação Arteriovenosa Cirúrgica , Falência Renal Crônica/terapia , Diálise Renal , Adulto , Idoso , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Prospectivos , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Phase-lag entropy (PLE) was recently described as a measurement of temporal pattern diversity in the phase relationship between two electroencephalographic signals from prefrontal and frontal montages. This study was performed to evaluate the performance of PLE for assessing the depth of sedation. METHODS: Thirty adult patients undergoing upper limb surgery with a brachial plexus block were administered propofol by target-controlled infusion. The depth of sedation was assessed using the Observer's Assessment of Alertness/Sedation (OAA/S) scale. The effect-site concentration (Ce) of propofol was initially started at 0.5 µg/ml and was increased in increments of 0.2 µg/ml until an OAA/S score of 1 was reached. Three minutes after the target Ce was reached, the PLE, bispectral index (BIS), and level of sedation were assessed. Correlations between the OAA/S score and PLE or BIS were determined. The prediction probabilities (Pk) of PLE and BIS were also analyzed. RESULTS: The PLE values were closely correlated with the OAA/S scores (Spearman's Rho = 0.755; P < 0.001) to an extent comparable with the correlation between the BIS and OAA/S score (Spearman's Rho = 0.788; P < 0.001). The Pk values of PLE and BIS were 0.731 and 0.718, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: PLE is a new and reliable consciousness monitoring system for assessing the depth of sedation induced by propofol, which is comparable with the BIS.
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Bloqueio do Plexo Braquial/métodos , Entropia , Propofol/administração & dosagem , Extremidade Superior/cirurgia , Adulto , Idoso , Anestésicos Intravenosos/administração & dosagem , Monitores de Consciência , Eletroencefalografia/métodos , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
Tumor associated microtubule associated protein (TMAP), also known as cytoskeleton associated protein 2 (CKAP2) is a mitotic spindle-associated protein whose expression is cell cycle-regulated and also frequently deregulated in cancer cells. Two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against TMAP/CKAP2 were produced: B-1-13 and D-12-3. Interestingly, the reactivity of mAb D-12-3 to TMAP/CKAP2 was markedly decreased specifically in mitotic cell lysate. The epitope mapping study showed that mAb D-12-3 recognizes the amino acid sequence between 569 and 625 and that phosphorylation at T596 completely abolishes the reactivity of the antibody, suggesting that the differential reactivity originates from the phosphorylation status at T596. Immunofluorescence staining showed that mAb D-12-3 fails to detect TMAP/CKAP2 in mitotic cells between prophase and metaphase, but the staining becomes evident again in anaphase, suggesting that phosphorylation at T596 occurs transiently during early phases of mitosis. These results suggest that the cellular functions of TMAP/CKAP2 might be regulated by timely phosphorylation and dephosphorylation during the course of mitosis.
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Proteínas do Citoesqueleto/metabolismo , Mitose/fisiologia , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/metabolismo , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Anticorpos Monoclonais/metabolismo , Anticorpos Monoclonais/farmacologia , Ciclo Celular/fisiologia , Células Cultivadas , Proteínas do Citoesqueleto/química , Proteínas do Citoesqueleto/imunologia , Proteínas do Citoesqueleto/fisiologia , Mapeamento de Epitopos , Células HeLa , Humanos , Camundongos , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Fosforilação , Homologia de Sequência de Aminoácidos , Treonina/metabolismoRESUMO
Measurement of RNA can be used to study and monitor a range of infectious and non-communicable diseases, with profiling of multiple gene expression mRNA transcripts being increasingly applied to cancer stratification and prognosis. An international comparison study (Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance (CCQM)-P103.1) was performed in order to evaluate the comparability of measurements of RNA copy number ratio for multiple gene targets between two samples. Six exogenous synthetic targets comprising of External RNA Control Consortium (ERCC) standards were measured alongside transcripts for three endogenous gene targets present in the background of human cell line RNA. The study was carried out under the auspices of the Nucleic Acids (formerly Bioanalysis) Working Group of the CCQM. It was coordinated by LGC (United Kingdom) with the support of National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA) and results were submitted from thirteen National Metrology Institutes and Designated Institutes. The majority of laboratories performed RNA measurements using RT-qPCR, with datasets also being submitted by two laboratories based on reverse transcription digital polymerase chain reaction and one laboratory using a next-generation sequencing method. In RT-qPCR analysis, the RNA copy number ratios between the two samples were quantified using either a standard curve or a relative quantification approach. In general, good agreement was observed between the reported results of ERCC RNA copy number ratio measurements. Measurements of the RNA copy number ratios for endogenous genes between the two samples were also consistent between the majority of laboratories. Some differences in the reported values and confidence intervals ('measurement uncertainties') were noted which may be attributable to choice of measurement method or quantification approach. This highlights the need for standardised practices for the calculation of fold change ratios and uncertainties in the area of gene expression profiling.
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During mitosis, regulation of protein structures and functions by phosphorylation plays critical roles in orchestrating a series of complex events essential for the cell division process. Tumor-associated microtubule-associated protein (TMAP), also known as cytoskeleton-associated protein 2 (CKAP2), is a novel player in spindle assembly and chromosome segregation. We have previously reported that TMAP is phosphorylated at multiple residues specifically during mitosis. However, the mechanisms and functional importance of phosphorylation at most of the sites identified are currently unknown. Here, we report that TMAP is a novel substrate of the Aurora B kinase. Ser627 of TMAP was specifically phosphorylated by Aurora B both in vitro and in vivo. Ser627 and neighboring conserved residues were strictly required for efficient phosphorylation of TMAP by Aurora B, as even minor amino acid substitutions of the phosphorylation motif significantly diminished the efficiency of the substrate phosphorylation. Nearly all mutations at the phosphorylation motif had dramatic effects on the subcellular localization of TMAP. Instead of being localized to the chromosome region during late mitosis, the mutants remained associated with microtubules and centrosomes throughout mitosis. However, the changes in the subcellular localization of these mutants could not be completely explained by the phosphorylation status on Ser627. Our findings suggest that the motif surrounding Ser627 ((625) RRSRRL (630)) is a critical part of a functionally important sequence motif which not only governs the kinase-substrate recognition, but also regulates the subcellular localization of TMAP during mitosis.