Kwan-gyu Song

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the diagnostic performance of lung ultrasound (US) in respect to high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) findings in patients with connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). METHODS: We searched the Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases, and performed a meta-analysis on the diagnostic accuracy of lung US according to B-lines (comet tail sign) and on the correlation coefficients between lu

Luteolin is a natural compound known for its anticancer effects on various human cancers by regulating signal transduction cascades. However, the effects of luteolin on human placental choriocarcinoma are not known. Results of the present study revealed that luteolin decreased viability of JAR and JEG-3 cells, which are valuable placental models, in a dose-dependent manner, and it induced apoptosis and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in JAR and JEG-3 cells. The results also suggested th

AIM: The aim of this study is to investigate whether TNF-α polymorphisms are associated with the responsiveness to anti-TNF-α therapy in patients with spondyloarthropathy, psoriasis, and Crohn's disease. METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis on the association between the TNF-α polymorphisms and responsiveness of patients. RESULTS: The meta-analysis indicated an association between the TNF-α -308 G allele (OR = 2.005; 95% CI: 1.417-2.838; p = 8.6 × 10(-5)), TNF-α -238 G allele (OR = 2.196; 95% C

The objective of this study was to determine whether the polymorphisms of the CTLA-4 exon 1 (+49) and promoter (-318) are associated with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its clinical features. Polymerase chain reaction of genomic DNA-restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to determine genotypes of the CTLA-4 exon 1 (+49) and promoter (-318) in 80 SLE patients and 86 healthy control subjects. The genotype distribution of the CTLA-4 exon 1 (+49) differed between

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the insertion (I) and deletion (D) of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) polymorphism confers susceptibility to psoriasis, vitiligo and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A meta-analysis was conducted on the association between the ACE I/D polymorphisms and psoriasis, vitiligo and RA. RESULTS: Fifteen studies comprising five on psoriasis, five on vitiligo and five on RA were available for the meta-analysis consisting

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the insertion (I) or deletion (D) of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) polymorphism confers susceptibility to sarcoidosis. METHODS: A meta-analysis on the associations between the ACE I/D polymorphism and sarcoidosis was conducted. RESULTS: Seventeen comparison studies consisting of 1556 cases and 2381 controls were available for the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis revealed a significant association between the D allele and sarcoidosi

Objective This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between circulating prolactin level and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to establish a correlation between plasma/serum prolactin levels and SLE activity. Methods We performed a meta-analysis comparing the plasma/serum prolactin levels in patients with SLE to controls, and examined correlation coefficients between circulating prolactin level and SLE disease activity. Results Twenty-five studies with a total of 1056 SLE patients and

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of sialography and salivary ultrasonography (US) for Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patients. METHODS: We searched Medline, Embase, and the Cochran library, and performed two meta-analyses on the diagnostic accuracy of sialography and salivary US in SS patients. RESULTS: A total of six studies including 488 patients and 447 controls from two European and four Asian studies were available for the meta-analysis. The pooled se