Byungmin Choi

Nitric oxide (NO), synthesized from L-arginine by NO synthases, is a small, lipophilic, diffusible, highly reactive molecule with dichotomous regulatory roles in many biological events under physiological and pathological conditions. NO can promote apoptosis (pro-apoptosis) in some cells, whereas it inhibits apoptosis (anti-apoptosis) in other cells. This complexity is a consequence of the rate of NO production and the interaction with biological molecules such as metal ion, thiol, protein tyros

OBJECTIVE: In preterm infants, the rapid and accurate determination of the presence of a hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is extremely important, but this is often difficult. Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) measurement has been reported to be a helpful aid in the diagnosis of hemodynamically significant PDA in preterm infants. The aim of our study was to investigate the usefulness of a rapid BNP assay as a diagnostic marker of symptomatic PDA (sPDA) in preterm i

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in heme catabolism, which leads to the generation of carbon monoxide (CO), biliverdin, and free iron. One of 3 mammalian HO isoforms, HO-1, is a stress-responsive protein and known to modulate such cellular functions as cytokine production, cell proliferation, and apoptosis to protect organs and tissues from acute injury. Although nitric oxide (NO)-mediated cytoprotective effects against cytotoxicity induced by glucose deprivation have been wel

AIM: Sufficient sleep is an important factor in physical and mental health. Sleep duration can be affected by socio-economic status (SES). This study aimed to examine the association between sleep duration and SES in Korean adolescents. METHODS: This study was conducted with 1608 adolescents aged 12-18 years, based on data from the 2010 to 2012 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Sleep duration was self-reported in hours and three SES indicators were used: househol

This study was designed to investigate the effect of cAMP on ursolic acid-induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells. Ursolic acid decreased the viability of the cells in a dose-dependent manner, which was revealed as an apototic process characterized by ladder-pattern DNA fragmentation in agarose gel electrophoresis and segmented nuclei in DAPI-sulpharhodamin 101 staining. Ursolic acid-induced apoptosis of the cells was markedly inhibited by the addition of cAMP-elevating agents including DB-cAMP, CPT-cA

A high index of suspicion is necessary to establish the diagnosis for an AM in patients with anal symptoms, and S-100 and HMB-45 can be useful markers for an AM. Even with the small number of cases and the short follow-up, our data suggest that an APR for an AM may provide longer survival than a WE.

Abstract Background Bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) has recently been used in preterm infants with respiratory distress as an alternative to nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) because, theoretically, BiPAP is thought to be more effective than nCPAP. However, the results of some studies comparing nCPAP with BiPAP as the initial respiratory support were controversial. The aim of this study is to compare the clinical effectiveness and safety of nCPAP with BiPAP at gestationa

Treatment failure of HHFNC should be considered a risk for newborns of less than 34 weeks and infants with respiratory distress from RDS. Higher FiO₂ settings during HHFNC, and acidosis and hypercarbia after the application of HHFNC shown on blood-gas analysis may help identify high-risk newborns for other non-invasive ventilators or intubation.

Objective: Although symptomatic treatment is the most preferred treatment strategy for proven symptomatic patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), a considerable number of infants only received conservative treatment without any pharmacological or surgical interventions in the lower gestational age and lower birth weight group in Korea. We compared in-hospital outcomes of infants treated conservatively without any intervention and those of infants managed by other therapeutic strategies in extremely pret

BACKGROUND: Although many controversies exist regarding the risk of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions, half of preterm infants born at <32 weeks of gestational age receive such transfusions because of anemia of prematurity. Because of the costs and risks associated with multiple transfusions, it has been suggested that a large transfusion volume reduces the number of transfusions. However, there have been persistent concerns that RBC transfusion might lead to volume overload. METHODS: We examine