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  1. Chua EW, Cree SL, Ton KN, Lehnert K, Shepherd P, Helsby N, et al.
    Front Pharmacol, 2016;7:1.
    PMID: 26858644 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2016.00001
    Whole-exome sequencing (WES) has been widely used for analysis of human genetic diseases, but its value for the pharmacogenomic profiling of individuals is not well studied. Initially, we performed an in-depth evaluation of the accuracy of WES variant calling in the pharmacogenes CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 by comparison with MiSeq(®) amplicon sequencing data (n = 36). This analysis revealed that the concordance rate between WES and MiSeq(®) was high, achieving 99.60% for variants that were called without exceeding the truth-sensitivity threshold (99%), defined during variant quality score recalibration (VQSR). Beyond this threshold, the proportion of discordant calls increased markedly. Subsequently, we expanded our findings beyond CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 to include more genes genotyped by the iPLEX(®) ADME PGx Panel in the subset of twelve samples. WES performed well, agreeing with the genotyping panel in approximately 99% of the selected pass-filter variant calls. Overall, our results have demonstrated WES to be a promising approach for pharmacogenomic profiling, with an estimated error rate of lower than 1%. Quality filters, particularly VQSR, are important for reducing the number of false variants. Future studies may benefit from examining the role of WES in the clinical setting for guiding drug therapy.
  2. Lee M, Son HJ, Kim NY, Kim SJ, Yu IK
    Malays J Pathol, 2019 Aug;41(2):201-206.
    PMID: 31427557
    We present a case of an undifferentiated subtype of non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (NK-SCC) with sarcomatoid features in the nasopharynx in a 69-year-old man who was difficult to diagnose due to spindle-shaped malignant cells. He was admitted because of a right nasal obstruction and right headache, and imaging revealed a heterogeneously enhanced irregularly shaped mass at the nasopharynx. Histopathologically, the tumour was partially organised, and the tumour cells were epithelioid or spindle-shaped. Initially, we erroneously diagnosed the tumour as an angiosarcoma owing to its false-negative immunoreaction for cytokeratins and a mistaken interpretation for CD31. After in situ hybridization for Epstein-Barr virus was positive, a consultation and additional immunostaining (including re-staining for cytokeratin with varying dilutions) were performed, and the diagnosis was revised to NK-SCC with sarcomatoid features. We believe that sarcomatoid features may be observed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and in this case, immunostaining using various epithelial markers is necessary and careful attention should be paid to the interpretation of immunostaining.
  3. Seo DC, Torabi MR, Kim N, Lee CG, Choe S
    Am J Health Behav, 2013 Mar;37(2):199-207.
    PMID: 23026101 DOI: 10.5993/AJHB.37.2.7
    OBJECTIVES: To compare the prevalence and correlates of cigarette smoking among East Asian college students.
    METHODS: Data were collected from college students (N=16,558) in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan (response rate: 78%).
    RESULTS: Religion was independently associated with college students' smoking in China (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.82) and South Korea (AOR = 0.80). Being a heavy drinker and having a higher exposure to secondhand smoke were associated with higher smoking rates (Ps < .001).
    CONCLUSIONS: The East Asian economies show a varied prevalence of college smoking but a similar pattern of relationship with its correlates.
    Study site: 21 institutions in 6 East Asian economies: 3 colleges each from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea; 4 colleges from Taiwan; and 5 colleges from China.
  4. Chi KN, Rathkopf D, Smith MR, Efstathiou E, Attard G, Olmos D, et al.
    J Clin Oncol, 2023 Jun 20;41(18):3339-3351.
    PMID: 36952634 DOI: 10.1200/JCO.22.01649
    PURPOSE: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) remains a lethal disease with current standard-of-care therapies. Homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene alterations, including BRCA1/2 alterations, can sensitize cancer cells to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibition, which may improve outcomes in treatment-naïve mCRPC when combined with androgen receptor signaling inhibition.

    METHODS: MAGNITUDE (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03748641) is a phase III, randomized, double-blinded study that evaluates niraparib and abiraterone acetate plus prednisone (niraparib + AAP) in patients with (HRR+, n = 423) or without (HRR-, n = 247) HRR-associated gene alterations, as prospectively determined by tissue/plasma-based assays. Patients were assigned 1:1 to receive niraparib + AAP or placebo + AAP. The primary end point, radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) assessed by central review, was evaluated first in the BRCA1/2 subgroup and then in the full HRR+ cohort, with secondary end points analyzed for the full HRR+ cohort if rPFS was statistically significant. A futility analysis was preplanned in the HRR- cohort.

    RESULTS: Median rPFS in the BRCA1/2 subgroup was significantly longer in the niraparib + AAP group compared with the placebo + AAP group (16.6 v 10.9 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.79; P = .001). In the overall HRR+ cohort, rPFS was significantly longer in the niraparib + AAP group compared with the placebo + AAP group (16.5 v 13.7 months; HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.96; P = .022). These findings were supported by improvement in the secondary end points of time to symptomatic progression and time to initiation of cytotoxic chemotherapy. In the HRR- cohort, futility was declared per the prespecified criteria. Treatment with niraparib + AAP was tolerable, with anemia and hypertension as the most reported grade ≥ 3 adverse events.

    CONCLUSION: Combination treatment with niraparib + AAP significantly lengthened rPFS in patients with HRR+ mCRPC compared with standard-of-care AAP.

    [Media: see text].

  5. Mori H, Schol J, Geeraerts A, Huang IH, Jandee S, Gonlachanvit S, et al.
    J Clin Med, 2020 Oct 01;9(10).
    PMID: 33019626 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9103189
    BACKGROUND: The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has high infection and mortality rates, and has become a pandemic. The infection and mortality rates are lower in Asian countries than in European countries. This study aimed to conduct a survey on the effects of COVID-19 on the capacity to perform gastrointestinal motility tests in Asian countries compared with European countries.

    METHODS: We used the questionnaire previously established by our team for researchers in European countries. The correlation between the decreased rate of gastrointestinal motility and function tests, and the infection/mortality rates of COVID-19 and stringency of a government's interventions in each country was analysed and protective measures were assessed.

    RESULTS: In total, 58 gastroenterologists/motility experts in Asian countries responded to this survey. The infection/mortality rates of COVID-19 and Stringency Index had a significant impact on the testing capacity of oesophageal manometry and catheter-based pH monitoring. In European countries, most facilities used filtering facepiece 2/3 (FFP2/3) masks during oesophageal motility studies. Meanwhile, in Asian countries, most facilities used surgical masks.

    CONCLUSION: The total infection and mortality rates of COVID-19 can affect the rate of gastrointestinal motility testing and the type of protective equipment that must be used.

  6. Cho YH, Seo JB, Lee SM, Kim N, Yun J, Hwang JE, et al.
    Eur Radiol, 2021 Oct;31(10):7316-7324.
    PMID: 33847809 DOI: 10.1007/s00330-021-07747-7
    OBJECTIVES: To apply radiomics analysis for overall survival prediction in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and evaluate the performance of the radiomics signature (RS).

    METHODS: This study included 344 patients from the Korean Obstructive Lung Disease (KOLD) cohort. External validation was performed on a cohort of 112 patients. In total, 525 chest CT-based radiomics features were semi-automatically extracted. The five most useful features for survival prediction were selected by least absolute shrinkage and selection operation (LASSO) Cox regression analysis and used to generate a RS. The ability of the RS for classifying COPD patients into high or low mortality risk groups was evaluated with the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.

    RESULTS: The five features remaining after the LASSO analysis were %LAA-950, AWT_Pi10_6th, AWT_Pi10_heterogeneity, %WA_heterogeneity, and VA18mm. The RS demonstrated a C-index of 0.774 in the discovery group and 0.805 in the validation group. Patients with a RS greater than 1.053 were classified into the high-risk group and demonstrated worse overall survival than those in the low-risk group in both the discovery (log-rank test, < 0.001; hazard ratio [HR], 5.265) and validation groups (log-rank test, < 0.001; HR, 5.223). For both groups, RS was significantly associated with overall survival after adjustments for patient age and body mass index.

    CONCLUSIONS: A radiomics approach for survival prediction and risk stratification in COPD patients is feasible, and the constructed radiomics model demonstrated acceptable performance. The RS derived from chest CT data of COPD patients was able to effectively identify those at increased risk of mortality.

    KEY POINTS: • A total of 525 chest CT-based radiomics features were extracted and the five radiomics features of %LAA-950, AWT_Pi10_6th, AWT_Pi10_heterogeneity, %WA_heterogeneity, and VA18mm were selected to generate a radiomics model. • A radiomics model for predicting survival of COPD patients demonstrated reliable performance with a C-index of 0.774 in the discovery group and 0.805 in the validation group. • Radiomics approach was able to effectively identify COPD patients with an increased risk of mortality, and patients assigned to the high-risk group demonstrated worse overall survival in both the discovery and validation groups.

  7. Yun J, Cho YH, Lee SM, Hwang J, Lee JS, Oh YM, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2021 07 26;11(1):15144.
    PMID: 34312450 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-94535-4
    Heterogeneous clinical manifestations and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affect patient health risk assessment, stratification, and management. Pulmonary function tests are used to diagnose and classify the severity of COPD, but they cannot fully represent the type or range of pathophysiologic abnormalities of the disease. To evaluate whether deep radiomics from chest computed tomography (CT) images can predict mortality in patients with COPD, we designed a convolutional neural network (CNN) model for extracting representative features from CT images and then performed random survival forest to predict survival in COPD patients. We trained CNN-based binary classifier based on six-minute walk distance results (> 440 m or not) and extracted high-throughput image features (i.e., deep radiomics) directly from the last fully connected layer of it. The various sizes of fully connected layers and combinations of deep features were experimented using a discovery cohort with 344 patients from the Korean Obstructive Lung Disease cohort and an external validation cohort with 102 patients from Penang General Hospital in Malaysia. In the integrative analysis of discovery and external validation cohorts, with combining 256 deep features from the coronal slice of the vertebral body and two sagittal slices of the left/right lung, deep radiomics for survival prediction achieved concordance indices of 0.8008 (95% CI, 0.7642-0.8373) and 0.7156 (95% CI, 0.7024-0.7288), respectively. Deep radiomics from CT images could be used to predict mortality in COPD patients.
  8. Muh F, Kim N, Nyunt MH, Firdaus ER, Han JH, Hoque MR, et al.
    PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2020 06;14(6):e0008323.
    PMID: 32559186 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008323
    Malaria is caused by multiple different species of protozoan parasites, and interventions in the pre-elimination phase can lead to drastic changes in the proportion of each species causing malaria. In endemic areas, cross-reactivity may play an important role in the protection and blocking transmission. Thus, successful control of one species could lead to an increase in other parasite species. A few studies have reported cross-reactivity producing cross-immunity, but the extent of cross-reactive, particularly between closely related species, is poorly understood. P. vivax and P. knowlesi are particularly closely related species causing malaria infections in SE Asia, and whilst P. vivax cases are in decline, zoonotic P. knowlesi infections are rising in some areas. In this study, the cross-species reactivity and growth inhibition activity of P. vivax blood-stage antigen-specific antibodies against P. knowlesi parasites were investigated. Bioinformatics analysis, immunofluorescence assay, western blotting, protein microarray, and growth inhibition assay were performed to investigate the cross-reactivity. P. vivax blood-stage antigen-specific antibodies recognized the molecules located on the surface or released from apical organelles of P. knowlesi merozoites. Recombinant P. vivax and P. knowlesi proteins were also recognized by P. knowlesi- and P. vivax-infected patient antibodies, respectively. Immunoglobulin G against P. vivax antigens from both immune animals and human malaria patients inhibited the erythrocyte invasion by P. knowlesi. This study demonstrates that there is extensive cross-reactivity between antibodies against P. vivax to P. knowlesi in the blood stage, and these antibodies can potently inhibit in vitro invasion, highlighting the potential cross-protective immunity in endemic areas.
  9. Gwee KA, Bergmans P, Kim J, Coudsy B, Sim A, Chen M, et al.
    J Neurogastroenterol Motil, 2017 Apr 30;23(2):262-272.
    PMID: 27764907 DOI: 10.5056/jnm16095
    Background/Aims: There is a need for a simple and practical tool adapted for the diagnosis of chronic constipation (CC) in the Asian population. This study compared the Asian Neurogastroenterology and Motility Association (ANMA) CC tool and Rome III criteria for the diagnosis of CC in Asian subjects.
    Methods: This multicenter, cross-sectional study included subjects presenting at outpatient gastrointestinal clinics across Asia. Subjects with CC alert symptoms completed a combination Diagnosis Questionnaire to obtain a diagnosis based on 4 different diagnostic methods: self-defined, investigator's judgment, ANMA CC tool, and Rome III criteria. The primary endpoint was the level of agreement/disagreement between the ANMA CC diagnostic tool and Rome III criteria for the diagnosis of CC.
    Results: The primary analysis comprised of 449 subjects, 414 of whom had a positive diagnosis according to the ANMA CC tool. Rome III positive/ANMA positive and Rome III negative/ANMA negative diagnoses were reported in 76.8% and 7.8% of subjects, respectively, resulting in an overall percentage agreement of 84.6% between the 2 diagnostic methods. The overall percentage disagreement between these 2 diagnostic methods was 15.4%. A higher level of agreement was seen between the ANMA CC tool and self-defined (374 subjects [90.3%]) or investigator's judgment criteria (388 subjects [93.7%]) compared with the Rome III criteria.
    Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the ANMA CC tool can be a useful for Asian patients with CC.
    Study site in Malaysia: Gastroenterology clinic, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  10. Goh KL, Choi MG, Hsu WP, Chun HJ, Mahachai V, Kachintorn U, et al.
    J Gastroenterol Hepatol, 2014 Dec;29(12):1969-75.
    PMID: 24990817 DOI: 10.1111/jgh.12655
    Data on patient satisfaction with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are scarce in Asia. The perspectives of Asian patients with GERD and their satisfaction with PPI therapy were investigated.
  11. Ghoshal UC, Sachdeva S, Ghoshal U, Misra A, Puri AS, Pratap N, et al.
    Indian J Gastroenterol, 2022 Oct;41(5):483-507.
    PMID: 36214973 DOI: 10.1007/s12664-022-01292-x
    In the clinical setting, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a frequent, but under-diagnosed entity. SIBO is linked to various gastrointestinal (GI) and non-GI disorders with potentially significant morbidity. The optimal management of SIBO is undefined while there is a lack of published consensus guidelines. Against this background, under the auspices of the Indian Neurogastroenterology and Motility Association (INMA), formerly known as the Indian Motility and Functional Diseases Association (IMFDA), experts from the Asian-Pacific region with extensive research and clinical experience in the field of gut dysbiosis including SIBO developed this evidence-based practice guideline for the management of SIBO utilizing a modified Delphi process based upon 37 consensus statements, involving an electronic voting process as well as face-to-face meetings and review of relevant supporting literature. These statements include 6 statements on definition and epidemiology; 11 on etiopathogenesis and pathophysiology; 5 on clinical manifestations, differential diagnosis, and predictors; and 15 on investigations and treatment. When the proportion of those who voted either to accept completely or with minor reservations was 80% or higher, the statement was regarded as accepted. The members of the consensus team consider that this guideline would be valuable to inform clinical practice, teaching, and research on SIBO in the Asian-Pacific region as well as in other countries.
  12. Pascale JV, Wolf A, Kadish Y, Diegisser D, Kulaprathazhe MM, Yemane D, et al.
    Adv Pharmacol, 2023;97:229-255.
    PMID: 37236760 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apha.2023.01.002
    Vascular function is dynamically regulated and dependent on a bevy of cell types and factors that work in concert across the vasculature. The vasoactive eicosanoid, 20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) is a key player in this system influencing the sensitivity of the vasculature to constrictor stimuli, regulating endothelial function, and influencing the renin angiotensin system (RAS), as well as being a driver of vascular remodeling independent of blood pressure elevations. Several of these bioactions are accomplished through the ligand-receptor pairing between 20-HETE and its high-affinity receptor, GPR75. This 20-HETE axis is at the root of various vascular pathologies and processes including ischemia induced angiogenesis, arteriogenesis, septic shock, hypertension, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction and cardiometabolic diseases including diabetes and insulin resistance. Pharmacologically, several preclinical tools have been developed to disrupt the 20-HETE axis including 20-HETE synthesis inhibitors (DDMS and HET0016), synthetic 20-HETE agonist analogues (20-5,14-HEDE and 20-5,14-HEDGE) and 20-HETE receptor blockers (AAA and 20-SOLA). Systemic or cell-specific therapeutic targeting of the 20-HETE-GPR75 axis continues to be an invaluable approach as studies examine the molecular underpinnings activated by 20-HETE under various physiological settings. In particular, the development and characterization of 20-HETE receptor blockers look to be a promising new class of compounds that can provide a considerable benefit to patients suffering from these cardiovascular pathologies.
  13. Goh KL, Choi MG, Hsu PI, Chun HJ, Mahachai V, Kachintorn U, et al.
    J Neurogastroenterol Motil, 2016 Jul 30;22(3):355-66.
    PMID: 26932927 DOI: 10.5056/jnm15150
    Although gastroesophageal reflux disease is not as common in Asia as in western countries, the prevalence has increased substantially during the past decade. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is associated with considerable reductions in subjective well-being and work productivity, as well as increased healthcare use. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are currently the most effective treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease. However, there are limitations associated with these drugs in terms of partial and non-response. Dexlansoprazole is the first PPI with a dual delayed release formulation designed to provide 2 separate releases of medication to extend the duration of effective plasma drug concentration. Dexlansoprazole has been shown to be effective for healing of erosive esophagitis, and to improve subjective well-being by controlling 24-hour symptoms. Dexlansoprazole has also been shown to achieve good plasma concentration regardless of administration with food, providing flexible dosing. Studies in healthy volunteers showed no clinically important effects on exposure to the active metabolite of clopidogrel or clopidogrel-induced platelet inhibition, with no dose adjustment of clopidogrel necessary when coprescribed. This review discusses the role of the new generation PPI, dexlansoprazole, in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Asia.
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