ObjectiveChronic ‘latent’ infection by Toxoplasma gondii is common and most of the hosts have minimal symptoms or they are even asymptomatic. However, there are possible mechanisms by which T. gondii may affect human behavior and it may also cause humans to attempt suicide. This article aimed to investigate the potential pathophysiological relationship between suicide attempts and T. gondii infection in Korea.MethodsOne hundred fifty-five psychiatric patients with a history of suicide attempt and 135 healthy control individuals were examined with enzyme-linked immunoassays and fluorescent antibody technique for T. gondii seropositivity and antibody titers. The group of suicide attempters was interviewed regarding the history of suicide attempt during lifetime and evaluated using 17-item Korean version of Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Korean-Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS).ResultsImmunoglobulin G antibodies were found in 21 of the 155 suicide attempters and in 8 of the 135 controls (p=0.011). The Toxoplasma-seropositive suicide attempters had a higher HAMD score on the depressed mood and feeling of guilt subscales and a higher total score than the seronegative suicide attempters. T. gondii seropositive status was associated with higher C-SSRS in the severity and lethality subscales. T. gondii IgG seropositivity was significantly associated with higher STAI-X1 scores in the suicide attempters group.ConclusionSuicide attempters showed higher seroprevalence of T. gondii than healthy controls. Among the suicide attempters, the T. gondii seropositive and seronegative groups showed several differences in the aspects of suicide. These results suggested a significant association between T. gondii infection and psychiatric problems in suicidality.

Under unpredictable wireless communication environments such as a battlefield, uncompressed video data is easy to restore and more effective to decipher than compressed video data when there are lots of errors in the received data. This paper proposes a wireless uncompressed video transmission system to ensure image quality even under a low signal to noise ratio (SNR). It utilizes a method of transmitting data asymmetrically on the basis of the image information in the wireless communication system using multiple antennas. The proposed algorithm is applied to the IEEE 802.11ac system and can improve about 5dB in terms of the peak signal to noise ratio under the SNR environment of 10 dB or less compared to an existing algorithm. From the simulation results, the proposed method is very suitable for wireless video surveillance systems that should provide video streams with a certain level of quality even under severe conditions.

Identification of mite and tick bite sites provides important clinical information. The predominant mite species in Korea associated with scrub typhus are Leptotrombidium pallidum and Leptotrombidium scutellare The most abundant tick species is Haemaphysalis longicornis To date, there has been no comparative study on preferred bite sites between mites and ticks in humans. This study included a review of medical records and a field study. For mite bite sites, eschars were checked on 506 patients with scrub typhus, confirmed by indirect immunofluorescence assay or nested polymerase chain reaction on the 56-kDa type-specific antigen gene of Orientia tsutsugamushi Tick bite sites were identified and marked on a diagram for 91 patients who experienced tick bites within the previous year through a field epidemiological investigation. The mite and tick bite sites in Koreans were compared. The most frequently observed mite bite sites were the anterior chest, including the axillae (29.1%) and the abdominal region, including the inguinal area (26.1%). Tick bite sites were most frequent on the lower extremities (33.0%), followed by the abdominal region, including the inguinal area (26.4%), and upper extremities (26.4%). The distribution was significantly different between mite and tick bite sites (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in the mite bite (P = 0.001), but not tick bite sites (P = 0.985), between men and women. This is the first report on the differences between tick and mite bite sites, and may help clinicians reach a rapid diagnosis of mite- or tick-borne infection.

Objective Attention-deficit and poor impulse control have frequently been observed in major depressive disorder (MDD) and attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Altered event-related potential (ERP) performance, such as GoNogo tasks, has been regarded as a neurocognitive process associated with attention and behavioral inhibition. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Nogo ERP and adult ADHD in MDD.Methods A total of 64 participants with MDD (32 comorbid with ADHD) and 32 healthy controls aged 19–45 years were recruited; they performed GoNogo paradigms during electroencephalogram measurement. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) were evaluated. Clinical measures and GoNogo ERP were compared between three groups: depression with ADHD, depression without ADHD, and healthy controls.Results MDD subjects with ADHD showed significantly decreased Nogo P3 amplitude at frontal electrode, compared with those without ADHD and healthy controls. MDD subjects with ADHD showed significantly longer Nogo N2 latency at frontal and frontocentral electrodes, compared with those without ADHD and healthy controls. In MDD subjects with ADHD, the Nogo P3 amplitude at the frontal electrode was negatively correlated with the ASRS score and inattention. The Nogo N2 latency at the frontal electrode was positively correlated with false alarm rate.Conclusion The decreased Nogo P3 amplitude in the frontal area might be a potential biological marker for inattention in depressed patients with ADHD.

This study was examined the effects of social capital influenced on health related quality of life of old-old-elderly of more than 70-year-old. The subjects were 258 people of old-old-elderly of more than 70-year-old who dwell in M city. The first, October 15 to November 15, 2013, the second, December 1 to 30, 2014 were surveyed. The data were analyzed with SPSS Statistics 18.0 and the structural equation modeling of AMOS 21.0. The Sobel test was conducted to analyze the statistical significance of the mediated effects. The factors of health-related quality of life were influenced significantly by gender, education level, whether or not exercise, amount of sleeping time, family can be a help request, relatives can be a help request, general trust. In the results of the test of the research model, social capital was found to directly affect health behavior, and health behavior was found to directly affect health related quality of life. Therefore, social capital was found to indirectly affect health related quality of life. Social capital of old-old elderly of more than 70-year-old can be recognized as one of the factors influencing their health related quality of life. The results suggest that policy should be established to increasing the level of social capital and improved the health related quality of life