PURPOSE: This study was performed to evaluate the current status of food allergy (FA) and to analyze the relationship between allergy to individual foods and other allergic diseases in elementary school children. METHODS: We performed a questionnaire survey for FA, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis using International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaires. A total of 1,929 students in 3 elementary schools were enrolled. RESULTS: A total of 324 students (16.8%) had ever suffered from FA symptoms more than once. Only 64 out of 324 students (19.8%) were diagnosed with FA by doctors. The presence of soy allergy was associated with the increased risk of bronchial asthma (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 5.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.87 to 18.59). The presence of egg (aOR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.04 to 3.52) and wheat allergy (aOR, 5.45; 95% CI, 1.94 to 15.36) were associated with the increased prevalence of allergic rhinitis. The allergic symptoms to fruits/tomato was associated with the increased risk of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis symptoms (aOR, 2.98; 95% CI, 1.18 to 7.47). The allergic symptoms to egg (aOR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.22 to 4.29), wheat (aOR, 4.91; 95% CI, 1.86 to 12.95), and shrimp/crab (aOR, 2.48; 95% CI, 1.37 to 4.49) were associated with the presence of atopic dermatitis. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of FA of elementary school students in Bucheon-city was 16.8%. A significant positive association between the suspected foods and the other allergic diseases was found. Soy allergy was significantly correlated to having bronchial asthma and fruits/tomato allergy correlated with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.
Asthma ; Child ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Food Hypersensitivity ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Odds Ratio ; Ovum ; Prevalence ; Rhinitis ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial ; Triticum ; Wheat Hypersensitivity ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: To report the causes and patterns of death among infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) over a 13-year period. In addition, we analyzed trends regarding the type of end-of-life care provided. METHODS: All of the neonates who died at the Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2014, were identified. The causes and circumstances of death were extracted from individual medical records. Trends in mortality were compared between two time periods: 2002 to 2007 and 2008 to 2014. RESULTS: Of the 5,223 admissions to our NICU, 97 neonates died. The overall mortality rate was 1.9%. The most common cause of death was sepsis (15%). At a lower gestational age, infants died of extreme prematurity and complications of prematurity. Among term infants, the principal cause of death shifted to hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and asphyxia. A total of 63 infants (64.9%) received maximal intensive care, and 34 infants (35%) had redirection of intensive care. During this period, the proportion of death after redirection of care increased from 30.6% to 39.6%. Infants decided to forgo life-sustaining care before death had significantly lower gestational ages and lower birth weights (30.5 vs. 27.1 weeks, P=0.005; 1,528 vs. 1,063 g, P=0.025). CONCLUSION: Infection remained an important cause of death for neonate, particularly for preterm infants. The proportion of infants who had redirectoin of care before death was increased, suggesting that quality-of-life should be considered an important factor in the decision-making process for the infant, parents, and medical staff.
Asphyxia ; Birth Weight ; Cause of Death ; Gestational Age ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Critical Care ; Intensive Care, Neonatal* ; Medical Records ; Medical Staff ; Mortality ; Parents ; Sepsis ; Terminal Care

No abstract available.
Anaphylaxis* ; Basophils*

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to evaluate the difference of clinical characteristics of pneumonia in children caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae, according to their chest radiographic patterns. METHODS: We analyzed medical records of 921 children who were admitted to Soonchunhyang University Buchon Hospital due to M. pneumoniae pneumonia from January 2008 to December 2011. Enrolled children were divided into 2 groups by radiological patterns: lobar/lobular pneumonia group (group 1) and broncho/interstitial pneumonia group (group 2). RESULTS: The number of patients in group 1 was 295 (32%) and in group 2, 626 (68%). Lobar/lobular pneumonia occurred in older children compared to broncho/interstitial pneumonia (mean age, 6.4 years vs. 4.2 years; P=0.00). Group 1 had significantly longer durations of fever and hospitalization than group 2. The frequency of pleural effusion was significantly higher in group 1. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein values were higher in group 1. Coinfections with respiratory viruses were more frequent in group 2. The history of allergic diseases were more common in group 2 (P=0.006). In 2011, lobar/lobular pneumonia was more frequent and the duration of fever was longer compared with 2008-2010. CONCLUSION: In M. pneumoniae pneumonia, patients with lobar/lobular pneumonia were more older and had more severe clinical features and laboratory findings. Because there was an outbreak with severe clinical course in 2011, we wonder that the outbreak was related to the macrolide resistant M. pneumoniae. Careful attention about clinical course and consequences of patients with lobar/lobular pneumonia is required.
Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Child ; Coinfection ; Fever ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae* ; Mycoplasma* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumonia* ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma* ; Radiography, Thoracic

Sinusoidal hemangioma is a rare variant of cavernous hemangioma. Clinically, it develops in adults and predominantly in females, and presents as a solitary painless subcutaneous nodule. Histological finding of the sinusoidal hemangioma shows a well-circumscribed lobular architecture in the subcutaneous tissue. The lobulated mass is composed of dilated sinusoidal thin-walled vascular channels, which have a pseudopapillary pattern and back-to-back arrangement without much intervening stroma. We report a case of sinusoidal hemangioma which can be differentiated from the other vascular tumors and has never been reported in Korea.
Adult ; Female ; Hemangioma* ; Hemangioma, Cavernous ; Humans ; Korea ; Subcutaneous Tissue

In this study, we investigated where the sex differences of object-location binding memory performance were influenced by the cognitive load. We used the fractal objects version of the ‘What was where?’ task to measure object memory, location memory and objection-location binding memory. Cognitive load was controlled by task difficulty presented two sessions: one session randomly displayed three or four fractal objects (Session 34) and the other session four or five objects (Session 45). The results showed that females outperformed males on object-location binding memory. Interestingly, even when the four object trials were compared between Session 34 and Session 45, in which we believed that the level of difficulty was similar while cognitive load varied, the swap error of males was significantly increased in Session 45 compared to females. In conclusion, there may be sex differences in object-location binding memory and the males could be more sensitive about the cognitive load than females.
Female ; Fractals ; Humans ; Male ; Memory* ; Sex Characteristics*

BACKGROUND: We tried to see if the change in subcellular distribution of estrogen receptor alpha(ER-alpha) was occurring in the senescent or differentiated cells. And if any, we also tried to observe the similarities or differences of distribution changes in ER-alpha in these two groups. METHODS: By treatment with 3'-Azido-3'-deoxythymidine(AZT, Sigma-Aldrich, USA, 1micrometer) on PC12 pheochromocytoma cells line(ATCC CRL-1721). Immunohistochemistries with anti-ER-alpha antibody were also performed on the cells without treatment of AZT, with treatment of 74 days and 140 days. The same staining was also done on the arti-ficially differentiated cells induced by nerve growth factor(50ng/ml) for 5 days. The distribution of ER-alpha in these two cell groups were compared by confocal laser microscope. RESULTS: Senescent PC12 cells treated with AZT showed the changes in morphologies or cell sizes, comparing with normal counterparts. Subcellular localization of ER-alpha in cytoplasmic compartment increased in the cells treated with AZT during much longer duration. Same change in subcelluar distribution was also identified in the cells treated with NGF. In fully differentiated cells, we could find the presence of ER-alpha mainly in the cytoplasmic compartment. However, as to the organelles expressing ER-alpha, senescent and differentiated cells showed differences; mainly expressed in mitochondria in differentiated cells; but expressed diffused in cytoplasm in senescent cells. CONCLUSION: We could see the similarities in subcellular distribution of ER-alpha in the artificially senescent and differentiated neuronal cells. Increase in cytoplasmic expression of ER-alpha in cytoplasm was found in much senescent or differentiated cells. Considering that cell proliferation decrease both in senescence and differentiation, increase in ER-alpha in cytoplasmic compartment might be caused by decrease in cell proliferation of these two changes. This means that estrogen might play a role in inhibiting cell proliferation via its increased receptors within cytoplasmic compartment. In addition, we also found the differences in organelles expressing ER-alpha in both cases, suggesting that minor differences in mechanism for action of estrogen in both cases of senescent and differentiated cells. Estrogen might play a major role through mitochondria in cell differentiation; but not in cell senescence.
Aging ; Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Size ; Cells, Cultured ; Cytoplasm ; Estrogens ; Mitochondria ; Nerve Growth Factor ; Neurons ; Organelles ; PC12 Cells ; Pheochromocytoma ; Zidovudine

Local allergic rhinitis (LAR) is a localized nasal allergic response in the absence of systemic atopy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of LAR in Korean rhinitis patients compared to allergic rhinitis (AR) and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR). A total of 304 rhinitis patients were enrolled from November 2014 to March 2016. A skin prick test, serum total and specific immunoglobulin E, and a nasal provocation test (NPT) with house dust mite (HDM) were performed on all patients. Subjects also documented changes in rhinitis symptoms before and after NPT. Seventy-four patients with nasal hyper-reactivity and 80 patients with subclinical allergy were excluded. AR was diagnosed in 69 (46.0%) patients, NAR in 75 (50.0%) patients, and LAR to HDM in 6 (4.0%) patients. The average medication score and disease duration of each group were 14.5 points and 77.6 months in AR, 12.1 point and 51.1 months in NAR, and 17.7 point and 106.0 months in LAR, respectively. There were no significant differences in the baseline nasal symptom score of the three groups. However, after NPT with HDM, the score of rhinitis, itching, and obstructive were 4.83±1.47 vs. 1.95±2.53, 3.00±2.10 vs. 1.45±2.06, and 5.50±1.38 vs. 2.57±2.84 in LAR and NAR, respectively (p<0.05). LAR patients had longer duration of disease and tended to be older and have higher medication score than other rhinitis patients.
Dust* ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E ; Immunoglobulins ; Nasal Provocation Tests ; Prevalence* ; Pruritus ; Pyroglyphidae* ; Rhinitis ; Rhinitis, Allergic* ; Skin

Eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EG) is a rare disease characterized by massive eosinophilic infiltration of gastrointestinal tissue, peripheral eosinophilia, and nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms. The mucosal type of EG commonly presented with malabsorption and anemia. However, the role of food allergy as a stimulus to EG has not yet been clearly defined. A 27-year-old man was referred to the Emergency Department with dyspepsia and leg swelling. The initial laboratory test should as follows: hemoglobin level, 6.4 g/dL; white blood cell count, 7,400/microL with 24.4% of eosinophil fraction; serum total protein, 3.9 g/dL; albumin level, 2.8 g/dL. Gastric endoscopy ruled out gastrointestinal bleeding showed multiple nodular raised lesions on the gastric antrum, which revealed increased eosinophilic infiltration (above 100/high power field). He had experienced nausea whenever eating beef, porks or fish. High serum specific IgE levels to offending foods (beef, 0.82 kU/L; pork, 0.83 kU/L; egg white, 0.40 kU/L; egg yolk, 0.54 kU/L; milk, 0.81 kU/L) were noted. He was instructed strictly to avoid food allergens with oral prednisolone therapy. Approximately 6 months after offending food restriction, the eosinophil count fell down to 400/microL, the hemoglobin level was returned to 11.5 g/dL and the serum albumin level was increased to 4.1 g/dL. We report a case of EG caused by multiple food allergy which leads to malabsorption and iron-deficiency anemia.
Adult ; Allergens ; Anemia* ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Dyspepsia ; Eating ; Egg White ; Egg Yolk ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Endoscopy ; Eosinophilia ; Eosinophils* ; Food Hypersensitivity* ; Gastroenteritis* ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Leg ; Leukocyte Count ; Malabsorption Syndromes ; Milk ; Nausea ; Prednisolone ; Pyloric Antrum ; Rare Diseases ; Serum Albumin

In experimental sutureless muscle surgery with tissue adhesives, current materials have inadequate adhesive strength in the early postoperative period.We performed a modified muscle surgery using a stitch combined with Tisseel (Immuno AG, Vienna, Austria)in order to evaluate the adhesive strengh as a replacement for conventional suture techniques in muscle surgery. Thirty eyes of 15 rabbits were used.We recessed superior and inferior rectus muscles by three different methods, Tisseel only, a stitch with Tisseel, and a stitch only, in each group of 5 rabbits.Conjunctival incisions were closed with the remaining Tisseel in 7 rabbits, and with vicryl in 8 rabbits. Tensile strength of the scleral reattachment site was measured and conjunctival closure was examined by slit-lamp biomicroscopy, at intervals of 1 hour, 12 hours, 1 day, 3 days and 5 days. The strengths of a stitch with Tisseel at each interval were 83.25 +/-1 4 .0 6 gm, 137.50 +/-22.88 gm, 169.75 +/-23.95 gm, 151.50 +/-41.99 gm, and 265.50 +/- 25.01 gm, respectively.The strengths of Tisseel alone were 61.50 +/-2 0 .2 1 gm, 101.50 +/-11.00 gm, 113.25 +/-28.69 gm, 120.50 +/-18.36 gm, and 222.75 +/- 57.67 gm.They were 52.25 +/-24.85 gm, 89.50 +/-16.05 gm, 130.75 +/-21.98 gm, 1 5 3 .7 5 +/-30.35 gm, and 261.50 +/-60.47 gm at each interval in rabbits with a stitch alone. These results showed that the tensile strengths of a stitch with Tisseel were stronger than those of the other two methods up to 1 day after surgery.Even at postoperative 12 hours, the strength was more than 130 gm which was strong enough for scleral attachment.All of the conjunctival closures with Tisseel were well maintained without any complication up to 5 days, the same as vicryl sutures. In conclusion, this study revealed that muscle attachment to the sclera by a stitch with Tisseel was simpler and safer than classical sutures with reduced risk of sclera perforation.Its strong tensile strength at early postoperative days suggests that the method might be considered as an alternative method to classical reattachment using suture material and also that conjunctiva could be closed with Tisseel remnant.
Adhesives ; Conjunctiva ; Fibrin Tissue Adhesive ; Muscles ; Polyglactin 910 ; Rabbits* ; Sclera ; Suture Techniques ; Sutures ; Tensile Strength ; Tissue Adhesives*