Abstract Aim This study examined the serum antibody response of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) vaccines in solid and hematologic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Levels of various inflammatory cytokines/chemokines after full vaccination were analyzed. Methods Forty‐eight patients with solid cancer and 37 with hematologic malignancy who got fully vaccinated either with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 messenger RNA (mRNA) or vector vaccines or their combination were included. After consecutively collecting blood, immunogenicity was assessed by surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT), and cytokine/chemokines were evaluated by Meso Scale Discovery assay. Results Seropositivity and protective immune response were lower in patients with hematologic cancer compared to those with solid cancers, regardless of vaccine type. Significantly lower sVNT inhibition was observed in patients with hematologic cancer (mean [SD] 45.30 [40.27] %) than in those with solid cancer (mean [SD] 61.78 [34.79] %) ( p = 0.047). Heterologous vector/mRNA vaccination was independently and most markedly associated with a higher sVNT inhibition score ( p < 0.05), followed by homologous mRNA vaccination. The mean serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)‐1α, and MIP‐1β were significantly higher in patients with hematologic cancers compared to those with solid cancers after the full vaccination. In 36 patients who received an additional booster shot, 29 demonstrated increased antibody titer in terms of mean sVNT (%) (40.80 and 75.21, respectively, before and after the additional dose, p < 0.001). Conclusion Hematologic cancer patients receiving chemotherapy tended to respond poorly to both COVID‐19 mRNA and vector vaccines and had a significantly lower antibody titer compared to those with solid cancers.
Probabilistic safety assessments (PSA) have been used for several decades to visualize the risk level of commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs). Since the role of a human reliability analysis (HRA) is to provide human error probabilities for safety critical tasks to support PSA, PSA quality is strongly affected by HRA quality. Therefore, it is important to understand the underlying limitations or problems of HRA techniques. For this reason, this study conducted a survey among 14 subject matter experts who represent the HRA community of domestic Korean NPPs. As a result, five significant HRA issues were identified: (1) providing a technical basis for the K-HRA (Korean HRA) method, and developing dedicated HRA methods applicable to (2) diverse external events to support Level 1 PSA, (3) digital environments, (4) mobile equipment, and (5) severe accident management guideline tasks to support Level 2 PSA. In addition, an HRA method to support multi-unit PSA was emphasized because it plays an important role in the evaluation of site risk, which is one of the hottest current issues. It is believed that creating such a catalog of prioritized issues will be a good indication of research direction to improve HRA and therefore PSA quality.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) has emerged as a significant opportunistic pathogen in the era of immunosuppression. Among patients with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), CMV has become an increasingly important cause of gastrointestinal disease. Almost cases of CMV peritonitis are due to CMV colitis with or without bowel perforation. However, primary CMV peritonitis combined without CMV colitis is very rare. We report the first case of primary CMV peritonitis not accompanied by CMV colitis or bowel perforation in a patient who underwent allogeneic HSCT from unrelated donor. Diagnosis of primary CMV peritonitis was made by computed tomography of abdomen, colonoscopy, peritoneal biopsy, and real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for CMV. Thereafter, he was treated successfully with intravenous ganciclovir. Key words: Cytomegalovirus; Peritonitis; Stem cell transplantation
Purpose: This article aims at evaluating the results of treatment which excise the intradural extramedullary tumor using surgical microscope, mainly concerned by the field of orthopaedic surgery. Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was carried out on 11 cases who were operated on for the excision of intradural extramedulary tumor in two hospitals from June 2001 to May 2007. Of the 11 cases, there were 3 males, and 8 females with an average age of 62.4 (33-78) years. Average follow-up period is 18.8 (1-78) months. Patients were diagnosed by MRI and pathological diagnosis was analyzed. The clinical evaluation was made by the index of VAS (visual analogue scale) and CooperEpstein grade. Results: 7 cases were Schwannoma and 4 cases were meningioma. The VAS take a favorable turn from average 9.4 before practice to final follow-up 2.4, and the Cooper-Epstein grade take a favorable turn from average 2.4 to final follow-up 0.7 Conclusion: A fine result of excision of the intradural extramedullary tumor with using surgical microscope could be acquired even in the field of orthopedic surgery.
Purpose: This study evaluated the operability for disease of lumbar intervertebral disc (LID) of practi- tioners and pay doctors of orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons by examining their websites. Materials and Methods: From March 2006 to April 2006, we searched the internet using the key words orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery, with NAVER as the portal site. There were 68 homepages of orthopedic hospitals and physician's offices (OHP) and 27 homepages of neurosurgical hospitals and physician's offices (NHP). Each homepage was visited in order to survey the operability for disease of an intervertebral disc and the number of board of orthopedists and neurosurgeons. Statistical analysis was carried out using a chi-square test. Results: In 45.6% (31/68) of OHP and 85.2% (23/27) of NHP, the operation for LID was performed and there was significant difference (p<0.001). In 16.2% (11/68) of OHP, neurosurgeons employed by OHP performed the operation for spinal disorders. In 29.4% of OHP, the orthopedic surgeon performed the operation for LID. Orthopedists were employed in 51.9% of NHP. NHP were significantly higher than OHP in the cases in whom the orthopedists and neurosurgeons worked together in a single hospital (p<0.001). Conclusion: In 70% of OHP, surgery for LID was not performed. A survey about reasons for not performing operation for LID and improvement of that reasons should be carried out by the medical association.
'%3e%3cg id='b'%3e%3cpath id='a' stroke='%23000' stroke-width='2' d='M-6-25H6m-12 3H6m-12 3H6'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' y='44'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' d='M0 17v10'/%3e%3ccircle r='12' fill='%23cd2e3a'/%3e%3cpath fill='%230047a0' d='M0-12A6 6 0 0 0 0 0a6 6 0 0 1 0 12 12 12 0 0 1 0-24z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg transform='rotate(-123.69)'%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23b'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' d='M0-23.5v3M0 17v3.5m0 3v3'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)