BACKGROUND: Skipping family gathered meals, because of lack of time due to increased academic demands, leads to nutritional imbalance and further contributes to obesity among children and teens. This study was conducted to underscore the importance of family gathered meals and to serve as a basis for reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity. METHODS: The relation between frequency of family gathered meals and body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) was assessed at 247 elementary students in Gyeonggi-do. Survey based on self reported questionnaire was conducted from April to May of 2013. Parental consents from participants were received and parents were asked to answer the questionnaire together with their children. The questionnaire included questions regarding anthropometric characteristics, socioeconomic informations, number and environmental characteristics of family gathered meals, and eating habits of their children. RESULTS: The average frequency of family gathered breakfast was 3.65+/-2.18 times/week, frequency of family gathered dinner was 6.10+/-1.54 times/week, and frequency of family eating-out was 1.64+/-1.43 times/week. Although the prevalence of family gathered breakfast among the participants was shown to be 51%, the prevalence of skipping breakfast was 14.2%, which was relatively high. The BMI-SDS increased in correlation with less frequent breakfast consumptions (P=0.015) and family gathered breakfasts (P<0.001), also with more frequent family gathered dinners (P=0.001) and family eating-outs (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The eating frequency of breakfast, family gathered breakfast, family gathered dinner, and the family eating-out is associated with BMI-SDS.
Adolescent ; Breakfast ; Child ; Eating ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Meals ; Obesity ; Parents ; Pediatric Obesity ; Prevalence ; Self Report ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Inter-individual pharmacokinetic variation of H2-receptor antagonist is related to genetic polymorphism of CYP2C19. We investigated the frequency of CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism and the treatment duration of cimetidine by CYP2C19 genotypes in functional dyspeptic patients without definite causes who were treated with cimetidine in Korea. One hundred subjects with functional dyspepsia participated in this study from March 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. They were tested by upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and treated for their dyspepsia with cimetidine. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP2C19 were genotyped using the Seeplex CYP2C19 ACE Genotyping system. There were no significant differences in the demographic, clinical, or laboratory findings among the CYP2C19 subgroups which are wild type homozygote (W/W), heterozygote (W/V), and variant homozygote (V/V). The frequencies of CYP2C19 subgroups were 33 (33%) in W/W, 49 (49%) in W/V, and 18 (18%) in V/V, respectively. The mean duration of cimetidine treatment (in weeks) was the shortest in the V/V among the CYP2C19 genotypes (W/W: 5.1+/-1.5, W/V: 4.0+/-1.7, V/V: 2.1+/-0.7; p<0.001). This study can also act as a basis for further investigation to identify the underlying genetic, epigenetic, or environmental factors in CYP2C19 enzyme activity.
Cimetidine ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; Cytochromes ; Dyspepsia ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Epigenomics ; Genotype ; Heterozygote ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Korea ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

PURPOSE: 'Programming' describes the process that stimulus at a critical period of development has lifelong effects. The fact that low birth weight links to the risk of elevated blood pressures in adult life is well known. This study aims to examine whether this link is evident in the newborn by investigating the relationship of the intrauterine growth indices and neonatal blood pressure(BP). METHODS: We studied 127 neonates who were born at Ewha Womans' Hospital and their mothers enrolled our cohort study during pregnancy. Data on the mothers and details of the birth records were tracked and collected from medical charts. Neonatal BP was measured within 24 hours after birth. RESULTS: Neonatal SBP was positively correlated to intrauterine growth indices; birth weight(BW)(r= 0.4), head circumference(HC)(r=0.4), and birth height(r=0.3). However, an inverse relationship existed, between HC/BW ratio and neonatal SBP(r=-0.4). After adjusting for the baby's sex, maternal BP, and gestational age, neonatal SBP still associated with intrauterine growth indices. SBP was 7 mmHg higher in the highest BW group(> or =90 percentiles) compared to the lowest group(<10 percentiles). On the other hand, SBP was 17 mmHg lower in the highest HC/BW group(> or =90 percentiles) compared in the lowest group(<10 percentiles). CONCLUSION: This study could not find the evidence that intrauterine growth retardation affect on elevated neonatal BP. It suggests that the initiating events of BP programming may occur during postnatal growth period. To identify the critical starting period that intrauterine growth retardation leads to elevated BP, a study tracking BP changes from birth to childhood is required.
Adult ; Birth Certificates ; Blood Pressure* ; Cohort Studies ; Critical Period (Psychology) ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; Gestational Age ; Hand ; Head ; Humans ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Mothers ; Parturition ; Pregnancy

Purpose: A near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging is a promising tool for cancer-specific image guided surgery. Human epidermal receptor 2 (HER2) is one of the candidate markers for gastric cancer. In this study, we aimed to synthesize HER2-specific NIR fluorescence probes and evaluate their applicability in cancer-specific image-guided surgeries using an animal model. Materials and Methods: An NIR dye emitting light at 800 nm (IRDye800CW; Li-COR) was conjugated to trastuzumab and an HER2-specific affibody using a click mechanism. HER2 affinity was assessed using surface plasmon resonance. Gastric cancer cell lines (NCI-N87 and SNU-601) were subcutaneously implanted into female BALB/c nu (6–8 weeks old) mice.After intravenous injection of the probes, biodistribution and fluorescence signal intensity were measured using Lumina II (Perkin Elmer) and a laparoscopic NIR camera (InTheSmart). Results: Trastuzumab-IRDye800CW exhibited high affinity for HER2 (KD =2.093(3) pM).Fluorescence signals in the liver and spleen were the highest at 24 hours post injection, while the signal in HER2-positive tumor cells increased until 72 hours, as assessed using the Lumina II system. The signal corresponding to the tumor was visually identified and clearly differentiated from the liver after 72 hours using a laparoscopic NIR camera. AffibodyIRDye800CW also exhibited high affinity for HER2 (KD =4.71 nM); however, the signal was not identified in the tumor, probably owing to rapid renal clearance. Conclusions Trastuzumab-IRDye800CW may be used as a potential NIR probe that can be injected 2–3 days before surgery to obtain high HER2-specific signal and contrast. Affibodybased NIR probes may require modifications to enhance mobilization to the tumor site.