No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Copper* ; Humans ; Infant Formula* ; Infant* ; Zinc*

No abstract available.
Isoniazid* ; Poisoning*

No abstract available.
Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome*

PURPOSE: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is highly expressed in the airways of asthmatic patients. Asthmatic children are commonly exposed to parental smoking. We investigated the effect of environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) on VEGF levels in induced sputum of asthmatic children. METHODS: Sixty-nine asthmatic children were enrolled, who were hospitalized in the Pediatric Department of Korea University Hospital for acute asthma exacerbation. We interviewed their parents to assess ETS history with a questionnaire. We measured VEGF levels in induced sputum from asthmatic children by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and we also measured the concentrations of sputum ECP by radioimmunoassay. We compared sputum levels of VEGF and ECP between an ETS group and a non-ETS group. RESULTS: Of the 69 cases, 45 were in the non-ETS group and 24 were in the ETS group. The ETS group showed higher sputum VEGF levels than did the non-ETS group (P=0.001). Serum IgE levels were not related to the sputum levels of VEGF in the ETS group, and there was no association between serum levels of ECP and sputum levels of VEGF. CONCLUSION: When asthmatic children were exposed to family smoking, higher levels of VEGF were measured in their sputum. It seems that environmental smoking aggravates allergic airway inflammation. We suggest that parents of asthmatic children should make all efforts to stop smoking.
Asthma ; Child* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Inflammation ; Korea ; Parents ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Radioimmunoassay ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Sputum* ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*

No abstract available.
Cough* ; Diagnosis*

OBJECTIVE: It has been reported that the sleep apnea syndrome in the asthmatic patients is prevalent, however, the systematic study in this field using polysomnography has rarely been performed. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and the pulmonary function in asthmatic children. METHODS: This study enrolled 19 male and 12 female asthmatic children aged 6-13 years (average 8.2+/-1.7 years old). Complete overnight polysomnography and pulmonary function test were performed for the participants. RESULTS: Of the 31 asthmatic children, 21 (67.7%) met the diagnostic criteria of the pediatric sleep apnea and the average AHI was 1.7+/-1.5/h. The children with higher AHI showed poorer pulmonary function (FEV1/FVC ratio : p=0.002, FEV1%pred : p=0.047). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the prevalence of the pediatric sleep apnea could be very high among the asthmatic children and the severity of the sleep apnea correlates with the pulmonary function. However, the case-control study to compare the AHI between the asthma and control groups is absolutely necessary because few normative data are available for the children.
Aged ; Asthma ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Polysomnography ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Sleep Apnea Syndromes

PURPOSE: Asthma prevalence, morbidity, and mortality have been increasing in the whole world in recent years, especially among children. The estimated prevalence of asthma among children in the United States has been increased by almost 40% from 1981 to 1988, making asthma a predominant cause of morbidity in childhood. Recognition of the continued significant social and economic impact of asthma has led the medical community to consider new management strategies emphasizing patient education. Educating asthmatic children about the disease can have demonstrable long-term benefits, including improved independence and compliance as well as better control of asthma symptoms. The specialized asthma summer camps were developed in the late 1960s to provide pleasant camping experiences for the children perceived to be too ill to participate in regular camps. Despite the usefulness and the need of the asthma camp programs, there are a few asthma camp programs developed in Korea. METHODS: As an effort to develop the Korean camp programs for childhood asthma, this study proposes a model of 4-days-camp program for 20 patients who diagnosed as asthma. RESULTS: This successful exercise the model will achieve better control of childhood asthma by leading the patients to participate actively in their asthma treatment. CONCLUSION: Further studies are needed to investigate empirically the positive effects of asthma education programs in camp settings in terms of asthma exacerbations and school day absences due to asthma.
Asthma* ; Camping ; Child ; Compliance ; Education ; Humans ; Korea ; Mortality ; Patient Education as Topic ; Prevalence ; United States

PURPOSE: As the mobile internet spread, patients can access to health information via mobile applications. But this information must be a reliable for treatment. This study evaluated the quality of information of mobile applications that with atopic dermatitis. METHODS: On April 2014, the 98 mobile applications that had been searched on three application markets using the keywords, 'atopic dermatitis' etc. were enrolled. Thirty-one applications with information about atopic dermatitis written in Korean were surveyed. The informational quality of each application was examined using DISCERN tool and we also examined authorship, price, number of downloads. And we analyzed relations between these factors and informational quality. RESULTS: The mean score (+/-standard deviation) of overall rating of the publications of the 31 applications were 1.55 (+/-0.888) points. The overall quality of the publication was 'low' in 80.6% of applications, 'moderate' in 16.1%, 'high' in 3.2% of the applications we evaluated. There were no significant differences between the score of price of applications in all questions. However the mean score of group of downloads 1,000 and more were 2.25 (+/-1.035), significantly higher than group of downloads less than 1,000, 1.30 (+/-0.703) (P=0.043). CONCLUSION: The quality of mobile applications providing health information on atopic dermatitis needs significant improvement. Some guidelines and certifications of the mobile application are needed to provide health information about atopic dermatitis, association with experts.
Authorship ; Certification ; Consumer Health Information ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Mobile Applications* ; Publications