Ji Hye Kim

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Plasma-activated medium (PAM) — a liquid charged with reactive chemical species — kills most lung cancer cells effectively, but a subpopulation expressing the stem cell marker CD133 was found to be highly resistant. These resistant cells produced far more of an antioxidant enzyme called PRDX5, which neutralized the oxidative damage caused by PAM. Silencing PRDX5 genetically restored PAM sensitivity in these resistant cells and significantly reduced tumor growth in mice, identifying PRDX5 as a key vulnerability that could be targeted to prevent cancer stem cells from surviving plasma-based cancer therapy.

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Small robots face a fundamental engineering challenge: conventional batteries and motors don't shrink well. This paper describes a new light-activated fuel carrier molecule embedded in a flexible polymer that stores chemical energy within the robot's own body structure and releases it as a surface tension force when exposed to UV light, generating motion without any battery or motor. The approach was demonstrated in miniature swimmers, particle transporters, and hybrid robots combining this photochemical propulsion with magnetic steering.

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The EPIC-CAD trial tested whether patients with both atrial fibrillation and stable coronary artery disease fared better on the blood thinner edoxaban alone versus edoxaban combined with an antiplatelet drug. In this pre-specified sex analysis, edoxaban monotherapy significantly reduced major adverse events in men (64% lower risk) but showed no clear benefit over dual therapy in women, though the statistical test for a sex-treatment interaction did not reach significance. The results suggest that optimal antithrombotic treatment may differ by sex, warranting dedicated studies in women with this condition.

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Using a nationally representative U.S. hospital database of nearly 95 million inpatients from 2016 to 2020, this study found that 23.4% of patients staying three or more days developed a hospital-acquired infection (HAI), with rates rising over the five-year period. Older patients, women, Hispanic patients, low-income patients, and those covered by Medicare or Medicaid faced significantly higher risks. HAIs were strongly associated with higher in-hospital death rates, longer stays, and higher healthcare costs, with these burdens falling disproportionately on already vulnerable groups.

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Researchers developed a technique to physically write custom-shaped nanowires made from layered halide perovskite crystals — a class of materials with useful light-sensing and light-emitting properties — using a tiny droplet of precursor solution guided like a pen. The method allows different perovskite compositions to be joined in a single nanowire, creating junctions with tailored electronic properties, and these junctions showed reduced ion migration (a stability problem common in perovskites). Prototype photodetectors built from these structures worked without external power and responded quickly to light, demonstrating practical device potential.

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People with intellectual and developmental disabilities often show challenging behaviors specifically when transitioning between activities, and this meta-analysis reviewed 19 experiments testing interventions for this problem. Consequence-based approaches — such as reinforcing calm transitions — produced larger reductions in challenging behavior than strategies relying on advance warning signals like visual schedules. Overall treatment effects across all studies were not statistically significant, highlighting a need for larger and more rigorous research in this area.

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Blood protein levels were measured in 171 older adults over two years to identify markers that track the development or persistence of sarcopenia (progressive muscle loss with aging), then validated in a separate cohort of 93 people. Seven proteins consistently linked to sarcopenia across both groups — including LRG1, TIMP1, CST3, and LYZ — pointing to complement system activation, acute inflammation, and abnormal lipid metabolism as central biological drivers. These validated protein signatures could serve as blood-based biomarkers for early detection and as targets for future treatments.

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A 49-year-old woman developed what looked like severe kidney failure two weeks after laparoscopic hysterectomy, with markedly elevated creatinine, dangerously low sodium, and heavy protein in the urine. Rather than true kidney disease, the cause turned out to be urine leaking into the abdomen from a bladder tear, with the pooled urine being reabsorbed — a condition called pseudo-renal failure. Measuring creatinine in the abdominal fluid and performing a CT cystogram confirmed the diagnosis, and surgical repair of the bladder completely resolved all abnormal lab values.

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When the eye socket floor breaks from a blunt impact, the fracture normally absorbs energy and protects the eyeball — a natural "fuse" effect. Using a computer model of the human head, this study compared how titanium mesh versus two types of bioresorbable (dissolving) plates behaved during a simulated impact after orbital floor repair. The flexible bioresorbable plates absorbed more energy within the implant itself and transmitted about 3.5% less force to the eye than titanium mesh, suggesting that choosing a more compliant material for orbital repair may better preserve the eye's natural protection.

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A computational method that maps herbal medicine compounds to disease pathways was combined with laboratory testing in human liver cells to predict which herbal extracts are toxic to the liver. Six of seven tested herbs — including common traditional medicine plants — were correctly predicted to cause liver cell damage, showing hallmarks of toxicity including cell death, mitochondrial damage, and elevated liver enzymes, while one herb predicted as low-risk showed minimal harm. The approach offers a scalable, testable framework for safety screening of herbal medicines before clinical use.

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Two antiviral drugs used to treat chronic hepatitis B — tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) — were compared for their ability to prevent liver cancer in 1,364 previously untreated patients followed for five years. Patients taking TAF developed liver cancer at roughly one-third the rate of those on TDF, an approximately 71% reduction in risk after statistical adjustment. While the study's observational design and small number of cancer events require cautious interpretation, the findings support larger studies to confirm whether TAF offers a meaningful cancer prevention advantage.

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The Korean Rectal Cancer Multidisciplinary Committee released updated clinical practice guidelines for rectal cancer (version 2.0), incorporating recent advances in imaging, surgery, radiation, and systemic therapy. The guidelines were developed through a structured evidence review using the GRADE methodology, with input from multiple specialist societies, and are designed to reflect both international evidence and the practical realities of South Korea's healthcare system. They are intended to support consistent, evidence-based decision-making across the full spectrum of rectal cancer treatment.

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Researchers evaluated how well existing ICU mortality scoring systems performed in 482 adult patients at a Korean tertiary hospital, and tested whether adding the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) — a measure of chronic illness burden — improved prediction accuracy. The CCI-adjusted APACHE II score and the SAPS III score outperformed standard models, and mechanical ventilation, cardiac arrest requiring resuscitation, kidney replacement therapy, and blood cancers were the strongest independent predictors of death. The study reinforces that accounting for pre-existing chronic conditions improves ICU survival forecasting.

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South Korea is redesigning its nursing licensing exam to test integrated clinical competency rather than subject-by-subject knowledge, with a new exam format planned for 2028. This study used a Delphi consensus process with nursing education experts to map licensing exam domains onto seven core nursing competencies and develop a symptom-based clinical reasoning teaching model using headache as a representative clinical problem. The resulting framework gives nursing programs a concrete blueprint for restructuring curriculum around patient-centered reasoning.

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Standard allergen immunotherapy for house dust mite allergy requires many injections over years and carries a risk of allergic reactions. This study tested whether encapsulating the key dust mite allergen (Der p 1) in biodegradable nanoparticles and giving them intravenously could desensitize allergic mice more efficiently. The nanoparticle vaccines reduced nasal symptoms, shifted the immune response away from allergy (lower IL-4, IL-5, IL-13) toward tolerance (higher IL-10, IFN-gamma), and strongly activated regulatory T cells, pointing to a faster and safer alternative to conventional immunotherapy.

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Ruthenium-106 plaques are used in eye cancer radiotherapy, but their curved shape makes accurate radiation dose measurement difficult with standard flat dosimeters. A flexible film dosimeter conforming to the plaque's curved surface was developed and tested, and its dose measurements matched manufacturer-certified reference values within about 3% across three different plaque types. This tool offers a practical solution for the radiation safety checks required before and during clinical use of these eye cancer treatments.

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Lewy body dementia involves toxic protein clumps in brain neurons and overactivation of supporting brain cells called astrocytes. Applying very low-intensity ultrasound to the brain in mice with the disease reduced astrocyte overactivation, decreased toxic protein deposits, blocked inflammatory signaling through the TRPA1-TLR2 pathway, and restored memory and spatial learning — with no signs of brain damage after long-term use. The findings establish a non-invasive ultrasound approach as a potential disease-modifying therapy for Lewy body dementia.

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Among 2,209 South Korean lung cancer patients with EGFR gene mutations, 53 (2.4%) had a specific variant called exon 20 insertion, which is notoriously resistant to standard targeted therapies. These patients had a median survival of only 14 months compared to 31 months for patients with the more common EGFR mutations. The study also found that next-generation DNA sequencing detected nearly half of exon 20 insertion cases that standard PCR testing missed, highlighting the need for more comprehensive testing in this patient group.

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Researchers analyzed gene expression data from liver cancer tumors treated with sorafenib — a standard drug for advanced liver cancer — and developed a 50-gene signature called KUSS50 to predict which patients would benefit from the drug. When validated in two independent clinical trial datasets, KUSS50 identified sorafenib-responsive tumors with over 87–90% specificity. Tumors predicted to benefit showed signs of heightened ferroptosis (a form of cell death), suggesting a biological reason for their sorafenib sensitivity and a potential way to further improve treatment.

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Conventional wireless body sensors operate at high radio frequencies that can cause electromagnetic interference, tissue heating, and signal degradation in biological environments. This paper presents a low-frequency wireless sensing platform (WiLECS) that uses an ion gel combined with a miniaturized circuit to convert mechanical pressure into electrical signals at frequencies below 1 MHz, avoiding these problems. As a proof of concept, the device wirelessly measured blood pressure in artificial arteries with simulated plaque buildup, demonstrating clinical-level resolution.

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Researchers measured brain activity using EEG in healthy young adults while they tasted extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) versus refined olive oil, and also chemically characterized each oil's flavor compounds. EVOO, which had richer bitter and grassy notes, activated more brain regions and produced stronger high-frequency brainwave activity than refined oil. However, with only six participants, the results are preliminary and cannot yet support firm conclusions about the neural basis of olive oil flavor perception.

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Standard blood tests measure total calcium, but only the ionized (free) fraction is biologically active. In 637 dialysis patients tracked over time, recurrent episodes of low ionized calcium — even when total calcium appeared normal (so-called hidden hypocalcemia) — were associated with more than a fourfold higher risk of major cardiovascular events including heart attack and stroke. This means relying solely on total calcium measurements in dialysis patients may miss a treatable risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

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This systematic review and meta-analysis pooled data from 10 studies examining whether ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) — a technique that measures muscle stiffness — correlates with standard clinical spasticity scales in stroke patients. The overall correlation was moderate, and SWE performed better when muscles were measured in a stretched position and when compared against the Modified Tardieu Scale rather than the Modified Ashworth Scale. The findings support using SWE as a complementary measurement tool for muscle stiffness after stroke, not as a replacement for clinical assessment.

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Clinicians identified visible pulsation of the eardrum — a rare finding during ear examination — in 34 adult patients over nearly three years and worked to find the underlying cause. Middle ear fluid was the most common explanation (62% of cases), often accompanied by a pulse-synchronous ringing in the ear, while a healed eardrum perforation accounted for another quarter. Less common but more serious causes included vascular abnormalities and a brain tissue herniation into the ear canal, underscoring that this finding warrants imaging to rule out significant pathology.

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A Korean birth cohort of 505 children had blood levels of PFAS chemicals and heavy metals measured at ages 2, 4, and 6 years, and lung function tested at ages 8 and 10. Higher exposure to PFAS-dominant chemical mixtures at age 2 was linked to lower airflow in small airways, while heavy metal-dominant exposure at age 2 was linked to a reduced ratio of breathing capacity — both measured years later. The results highlight age 2 as a critical window when reducing exposure to these widespread environmental chemicals may protect future lung health.

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Music therapy (MT) is increasingly used in neonatal intensive care units, but this perspective article argues that evidence for its long-term effectiveness in preterm infants remains weak. The authors outline five major barriers: incomplete understanding of how premature auditory systems develop, noisy NICU environments, inconsistent delivery methods across studies, the medical complexity of preterm infants, and insufficient attention to parental involvement and staff attitudes toward MT. Addressing these gaps through standardized protocols and better study designs is essential before firm conclusions can be drawn.

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Three dogs with complete heart block — where electrical signals fail to travel from the upper to lower heart chambers — developed enlarged hearts and reduced cardiac function as a result of the chronically slow heart rate. After permanent pacemakers were implanted to restore a normal heart rate, all three dogs improved clinically and their hearts shrank back toward normal size over follow-up periods ranging from months to over four years. The cases document that slow-heart-rate-induced heart enlargement is reversible in dogs when the underlying rhythm disorder is corrected.

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This study compared two ultrasound elastography methods for telling apart intact from ruptured epidermal cysts in 194 patients confirmed by surgery. Shear wave elastography (SWE) detected significantly lower stiffness values in ruptured cysts, distinguishing them from intact ones, while strain elastography did not show a meaningful difference between the two. SWE is therefore the more useful pre-operative imaging tool for planning whether and how to surgically remove epidermal cysts.

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South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is developing underwater habitats as a new frontier, and this paper establishes a formal psychological and physical selection procedure for choosing crew members for underwater missions. Drawing on selection frameworks from extreme environments like space and polar expeditions, the authors propose a two-phase process: first screening out candidates with health risks, then selecting in those best suited to the specific psychological and physical demands of living underwater. The framework provides a starting point that will need validation through actual missions.

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A new drug candidate called MKI-3 was developed to inhibit MASTL, a protein that controls cell division and is frequently overactive in cancer. MKI-3 blocked MASTL with nanomolar potency, disrupted the cell division machinery, and triggered cancer cell death in multiple breast cancer lines including hard-to-treat triple-negative breast cancer, while showing no toxicity in mice. This work advances MASTL as a validated cancer drug target and MKI-3 as a lead compound for further development.

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Chalinasterol, a sterol compound found in seaweed, was tested as a potential treatment for early alcoholic liver disease in liver cells and in mice given alcohol. It did not reduce fat production or oxidative stress directly, but it activated AMPK, a cellular energy sensor, which in turn boosted fat-burning (beta-oxidation) and reduced fat buildup in liver cells, while also lowering liver injury markers in the blood. The compound shows promise as a preventive approach for early-stage alcohol-related liver damage before it becomes irreversible.

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Researchers used EEG to measure brain complexity during an attention task in 126 people with major depression, comparing those who had attempted suicide to those who only had suicidal thoughts. People who had made a suicide attempt showed reduced brain signal complexity in frontal areas early in the task (100–190 milliseconds after a stimulus), a pattern distinct from those with suicidal ideation alone. This electrical brain signature could eventually serve as an objective biological marker to help clinicians differentiate between these two groups.

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Using a nationwide Korean health insurance dataset of over 17,000 adults with type 1 diabetes, this study compared those who used continuous glucose monitors (CGM) against matched non-users. CGM users had 60% lower rates of diabetic ketoacidosis, 72% lower cardiovascular disease rates, and 62% lower all-cause mortality; severe low blood sugar episodes were also dramatically reduced after patients started using CGM. The data make a strong case that CGM use in type 1 diabetes prevents both life-threatening emergencies and long-term complications.

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Two bacterial isolates from the genus Sphingomonas were found to naturally produce astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant carotenoid valued in aquaculture, supplements, and cosmetics. Genomic analysis confirmed both strains carry complete gene clusters for astaxanthin biosynthesis, and the extracted pigment showed strong antioxidant activity in laboratory tests. The strains are presented as promising microbial factories for sustainable, cost-effective astaxanthin production.

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The experimental drug CU104 was tested in two mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease and in human intestinal cell lines. It reduced gut inflammation by blocking the NF-kB and IRF signaling pathways, stabilizing the protein scaffold (actin) that holds intestinal and blood vessel barrier cells together, and reducing immune cell infiltration into inflamed tissue. These findings identify CU104 as a candidate IBD therapy that works through a distinct mechanism from most current treatments.

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Researchers measured carbon fixation — the process by which microbes convert carbon dioxide into organic matter — across a north-south ocean transect in the western Indian Ocean, from the surface down to 800 meters depth. In nutrient-poor open-ocean zones, carbon fixation occurring in darkness (not driven by sunlight) was often equal to or greater than sunlight-driven photosynthesis when measured across the full water column. This means standard ocean carbon budget estimates, which focus only on the sunlit surface layer, are likely significant underestimates in tropical open-ocean environments.

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When a lens inside the eye slips out of position (subluxation), it can block fluid drainage and cause a sudden dangerous spike in eye pressure. This study followed 22 eyes treated by removing the displaced lens and anchoring an artificial replacement directly to the wall of the eye using a four-point technique, with at least two years of follow-up. All eyes reached a safe pressure level without needing glaucoma surgery, though more than half still required pressure-lowering eye drops long-term.

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This review covers the emerging field of biohybrid neural interfaces, where living cells and tissues are incorporated into brain-computer interface devices rather than relying solely on metal or synthetic electrodes. The key limitation of current implanted brain sensors — that they degrade over time as the brain's immune system attacks them — could be addressed by using living biomaterials that adapt to and integrate with neural tissue. The authors frame the path forward as converging laboratory dish electrode systems with implantable brain interfaces, organized around cell sources, improved in vitro platforms, and cell-based living electrodes for use in the brain.

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Patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (an inflammatory blood vessel disease) frequently develop dangerous narrowing of the windpipe and airways, requiring repeated balloon dilation procedures. Reviewing 56 patients treated at Johns Hopkins over 11 years, the study found that the drug leflunomide was associated with 68% fewer dilation procedures compared to periods without it, while other immunosuppressants like rituximab showed no statistically significant benefit. These results make a case for prospective trials of leflunomide specifically for airway disease in this condition.

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This multicenter study compared colorectal cancer surgery patients managed with the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol against those treated at similar and lower-tier hospitals without it. ERAS patients left the hospital in under 5 days on average, compared to nearly 9 and 13 days in the non-ERAS groups. Crucially, ERAS neutralized the influence of patient age, disease severity, and surgical complexity on recovery time, meaning the protocol levels the playing field across diverse patient groups.

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Researchers tested a propolis extract made using microwave-assisted processing on human skin cells undergoing stress-induced and age-related deterioration. The extract reduced damaging reactive oxygen species, suppressed markers of cellular aging, improved wound closure, and activated two key cellular pathways — NRF2 (an antioxidant defense regulator) and Wnt/beta-catenin-TERT (linked to cell renewal and telomere maintenance). These results position the extract as a potential active ingredient in anti-aging skincare products.

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A 30-year-old man with no prior illness developed recurring blackouts and leg weakness caused by isolated neurosarcoidosis, a rare brain inflammation that mimics tumors or infections. Brain and spine MRI showed multiple enhancing lesions, and a biopsy confirmed granulomatous inflammation with no infection or cancer. Adding PET/CT scanning revealed that some lesions were metabolically active while others were not, demonstrating that combining the two imaging methods gives doctors a more complete picture than MRI alone.

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A nationwide survey of emergency physicians in South Korea found that nearly 15% showed signs of moderate-to-severe depression, driven not by raw workload hours but by perceived staff shortages, verbal abuse, poor sleep, and irregular eating habits. Being married and having good overall wellness were protective. These findings point to specific, addressable factors—workplace safety, sleep support, and social connection—that hospital systems can target to protect physician mental health.