Lee Hyeon

Background There are limited data regarding the relationship between interstitial lung disease (ILD) and the natural course of COVID-19. In this study, we investigate whether patients with ILD are more susceptible to COVID-19 than those without ILD and evaluate the impact of ILD on disease severity in patients with COVID-19. Methods A nationwide cohort of patients with COVID-19 (n=8070) and a 1:15 age-, sex- and residential area-matched cohort (n=121 050) were constructed between 1 January 2020

INTRODUCTION: Chronic systemic corticosteroid (CS) therapy is associated with an increased risk of mortality in patients with many chronic diseases. However, it has not been elucidated whether chronic systemic CS therapy is associated with increased mortality in patients with asthma. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of chronic systemic CS therapy on long-term mortality in adult patients with asthma. METHODS: A population-based matched cohort study of males and females aged ≥18

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is often accompanied by multiple comorbidities, which are associated with an increased risk of exacerbation, a poor health-related quality of life, and high mortality. However, differences in comorbidity profile by race and ethnicity in COPD patients have not been fully elucidated. METHODS: Participants aged 40 to 79 years with spirometry-defined COPD from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2007-2012) and f

Pervasive healthcare monitoring using body sensors and wireless sensor networks is a rapidly growing area in healthcare monitoring applications. Several issues arise in these systems, such as complex distributed data processing, data fusion, unreliable data communication, and uncertainty of data analysis in order to successfully monitor patients in real time. In this paper, we introduce some of the important issues in healthcare monitoring with focus on software problems such as reliability, net

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I has been recognized to play critical roles in the pathogenesis of asthma, whereas IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 blocks crucial physiologic manifestations of asthma. IGF-I enhances subepithelial fibrosis, airway inflammation, airway hyperresponsiveness, and airway smooth muscle hyperplasia by interacting with various inflammatory mediators and complex signaling pathways, such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1, and the hypoxia-inducible factor/vascular endothe

Understanding the aetiology and characteristics of patients with bronchiectasis is vital for developing strategies to reduce the burden of disease; however, geographical variations in these characteristics, which may have important implications for diagnosis and treatment,1, 2 make it difficult to formulate a uniform strategy for investigation. Here, we describe the burden of illness and treatment among Korean bronchiectasis patients and compare the results with those from three geographically a

Sphingosine is a major storage compound in Niemann-Pick type C disease (NP-C), although the pathological role(s) of this accumulation have not been fully characterized. Here we found that sphingosine kinase (SphK) activity is reduced in NP-C patient fibroblasts and NP-C mouse Purkinje neurons (PNs) due to defective vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels. Sphingosine accumulation due to inactivation of VEGF/SphK pathway led to PNs loss via inhibition of autophagosome-lysosome fusion in

There are limited data regarding whether mortality is higher in patients with non cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (bronchiectasis) than in those without bronchiectasis. Using 2005-2015 data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, we evaluated hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in the bronchiectasis cohort relative to the matched cohort. The effect of comorbidities over the study period on the relative mortality was also assessed. All-cause mortality was significantly higher in t

BACKGROUND: Few studies have comprehensively evaluated the risk of lung cancer in tuberculosis survivors with consideration of smoking status and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, little is known about lung cancer risk factors in tuberculosis survivors. METHODS: This population-based cohort study enrolled tuberculosis survivors (n = 75 467) between 2010 and 2017 and 1:1 age- and sex-matched controls. Subjects were followed up for 1 year from the date of tuberculosis diag

Niemann-Pick type C (NP-C) disease exhibits neuronal sphingolipid storage and cerebellar Purkinje neuron (PN) loss. Although it is clear that PNs are compromised in this disorder, it remains to be defined how neuronal lipid storage causes the PN loss. Our previous studies have shown that bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) transplantation prevent PN loss in NP-C mice. The aim of the present study was therefore to examine the neuroprotective mechanism of BM-MSCs on PNs. We found

These findings suggest that longer diabetes duration is associated with development of TB, showing a dose-response association. Among participants with new-onset diabetes, incident TB was more common among those with FPG levels greater than or equal to 202 mg/dL.

BACKGROUND: When assessing long-term tuberculosis (TB) mortality, few studies addressed the impact of behavior habits and socioeconomic status. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate long-term TB mortality and risk factors while accounting for potential confounders. METHODS: This cohort study included TB survivors (n = 82 098) aged ≥20 years between 2010 and 2017, and 1:1 age- and sex-matched controls (n = 82 098). The participants were followed up for death 1 year after study enrollment until December

Abstract Rationale It remains unclear whether non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis increases the risk of lung cancer, because smoking history was not considered in previous studies. Objectives To evaluate whether participants with bronchiectasis have a higher risk of incident lung cancer than those without bronchiectasis with information on smoking status. Methods This was a population-based cohort study of 3,858,422 individuals who participated in the 2009 National Health Screening Program. We ev