Purpose: To determine subjective symptoms and medical history of patients with intermittent exotropia in a large study population. Methods: The Korean Intermittent Exotropia Multicenter Study (KIEMS) is a nationwide, observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study conducted by the Korean Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus including 5,385 patients with intermittent exotropia. Subjective symptoms and medical history of patients with intermittent exotropia were extracted by a comprehensive survey based on a self-administered questionnaire according to the study protocol of the KIEMS. Results: The mean age of symptom onset was 5.5 years. The most common symptom reported in patients with intermittent exotropia was photophobia (52.1%), followed by diplopia at near fixation (7.3%) and distance fixation (6.2%). Preterm birth was found in 8.8%, and 4.1% had perinatal complications. A family history of strabismus was present in 14.9%, and 5.5% of patients had a family member who underwent strabismus surgery. Conclusions The KIEMS is one of the largest clinical studies on intermittent exotropia. Intermittent exotropia frequently caused photophobia and diplopia, and patients with a family history was not uncommon.

PURPOSE: To report a case of non-glaucomatous retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defect associated with paravascular inner retinal defect (PIRD) in a patient with idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM).CASE SUMMARY: A 70-year-old male who was diagnosed with ERM in his right eye and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma in his left eye visited our clinic. His intraocular pressure was 14 mmHg in both eyes while using topical hypotensive medications in both eyes. His right eye showed no glaucomatous change of the optic disc head, and also no glaucomatous visual field defect on standard automated perimetry. Red-free fundus photography and swept-source optical coherence tomography showed an ERM and wedge-shaped RNFL defect starting from the PIRD, not the optic disc head. He was diagnosed with non-glaucomatous RNFL defect in the right eye and was told to stop using topical hypotensive medication for the right eye. After 2 years of discontinuing the medication, the IOP was within the normal range, the RNFL defect showed no progression, and the visual field remained stationary.CONCLUSIONS: A non-glaucomatous RNFL defect can develop in association with PIRD in patients with idiopathic ERM. Examinations for PIRD as well as evaluation of the optic disc head are therefore necessary in patients with ERM and RNFL defect.
Aged ; Epiretinal Membrane ; Glaucoma ; Head ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Male ; Nerve Fibers ; Photography ; Reference Values ; Retinaldehyde ; Tomography, Optical Coherence ; Visual Field Tests ; Visual Fields

PURPOSE: The purpose of this report is to organize the history of Korean Mothersafe, a professional teratology information center. Throughout its domestic and international activities, Mothersafe has firm role to write journals and books, to provide counseling, to run educational courses on maternal and fetal toxicology, and so on. This paper delineates the achievements in last ten years and discusses the vision of Mothersafe. METHODS: In order to formulate the accomplishments of Korean Mothersafe, the volume of counseling calls are carefully reviewed by their contents, counselees, and the consultation results, etc. Textbooks and journals based on the data from Mothersafe are evaluated. Other roles of the Mothersafe, such as hosting symposium and running public programs are also noted. RESULTS: Korean Mothersafe provided 76,555 counseling to 45,933 expectant women and 30,622 breast-feeding women. The database has total 52,130 enrollments from 2010 to 2019. A total of 33 papers are published regarding medication, alcohol, smoking, radiation, etc. A specialized book on maternal-fetal toxicology was published and teratology part of obstetrics textbook was updated. Education programs and symposiums were held and primary care programs for expectant parents are run by Mothersafe. CONCLUSION Korean Mothersafe has contributed to safe environments for numerous pregnant and breast-feeding women regarding medication, drinking, smoking, and other hazardous substances. The huge database provided evidence for researches, textbooks and seminars, etc. Korean Mothersafe is now facing a new challenge to go forward through social dynamics with many issues regarding prevention and continuance of pregnancy, abortion, and so on.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the 3rd leading cause of death in 2012 worldwide. It is particularly severe in the elderly, who are at risk of death by coughing, mucous hypersecretion, and finally breathlessness. Recently, anti-COPD drug development has increased, and many animal screening systems have been studied. Tobacco smoke animal models are the best known animal screening system, but have several preparation requirements, such as a tobacco smoke generator and a separate facility to prevent smoke release. Accordingly, we evaluated the properties of a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) murine model for COPD screening and the effect of the time elapsed from 0 to 72 hr after LPS intranasal instillation on various biomarkers of COPD severity, such as WBC and neutrophils in bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF), IgE in serum, histopathology in the lung, and cytokines (IL-8, TNF-α, IFN-γ, and TGF-β) and chemokines (CCL-2, CXCL1, CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11) in the respiratory system. Although from 48 hr after LPS treatment several factors which could be evaluated as biomarkers for COPD establishment such as WBC and neutrophil in BALF, IgE in serum, cytokines (IL-8, TNF-α, and IFN-γ), and chemokines (CCL-2, CXCL1, CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11) increased at 72 hr the increment of important factors for COPD establishment such as IgE, fibrosis in the lung, and cytokines (IL-8, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) was more clear. Based on our results, we concluded that the optimal time after LPS intranasal instillation is 72 hr.
Aged ; Animals ; Biomarkers ; Cause of Death ; Chemokines ; Cough ; Cytokines ; Dyspnea ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Lung ; Mass Screening ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Neutrophils ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Respiratory System ; Smoke ; Tobacco

BACKGROUND: In patients with HIV, CD4+ T cell count and viral load are the main laboratory tests performed to assess clinical management. However, they require extensive resources. In this study, we aimed to determine whether hematological parameters measured using a hematology analyzer are useful as surrogate markers of CD4+ T cell count and viral load in HIV-infected patients. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 14 HIV-naïve, 105 HIV-treated, and 103 uninfected individuals. Hematological parameters were measured using the ADVIA 2120i hematology analyzer (Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, USA). RESULTS: In HIV-naïve and -treated patients, the percentage of large unstained cells (%LUCs) was 2.5±1.6% and 1.9±0.7%, respectively, compared to 1.6±0.5% in HIV-uninfected controls. The %LUCs was higher in HIV patients with low CD4⁺ T cell count below 200/μL (2.4±1.0%) or high viral load ≥200 copies/mL (2.4±0.8%) than in other infected groups. Significant differences in lymphocyte count were observed between the HIV-naïve (1.5±0.6×10⁹/L) and uninfected (2.0±0.6×10⁹/L) groups as well as between HIV patients with CD4⁺ T cells ≥500/μL (2.5±0.6×10⁹/L) and other infected groups. Neutrophil count varied between high viral load (3.0±1.4×10⁹/L) and low viral load (3.7±1.3×10⁹/L) groups. The CD4⁺ T cell count correlated with lymphocyte count (r=0.642, P<0.0001) and %LUCs (r=-0.287, P=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: %LUCs, lymphocyte count, and neutrophil count are probable surrogate markers of CD4⁺ T cells and viral load.
Biomarkers ; Cell Count ; Delivery of Health Care ; Disease Progression* ; Hematology ; HIV Infections* ; HIV* ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Count ; Neutrophils ; T-Lymphocytes ; Viral Load

PURPOSE: Although there are over 40,000 licensed radiological technologists (RTs) in Korea, job competency standards have yet to be defined. This study aims to clarify the job competency of Korean RTs. METHODS: A task force team of 11 professional RTs were recruited in order to analyze the job competency of domestic and international RTs. A draft for the job competency of Korean RTs was prepared. A survey was then conducted sampling RTs and the attitudes of their competencies were recorded from May 21 to July 30, 2016. RESULTS: We identified five modules of professionalism, patient management, health and safety, operation of equipment, and procedure management and 131 detailed job competencies for RTs in Korea. “Health and safety” had the highest average score and “professionalism” had the lowest average score for both job performance and importance. The content validity ratios for the 131 subcompetencies were mostly valid. CONCLUSION: Establishment of standard guidelines for RT job competency for multidisciplinary healthcare at medical institutions may be possible based on our results, which will help educators of RT training institutions to clarify their training and education.
Advisory Committees ; Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Humans ; Korea* ; Licensure ; Professionalism ; Republic of Korea ; Specialization* ; Technology, Radiologic ; Work Performance

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a T-lymphocyte-mediated autoimmune disease that is characterized by inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS). Although many disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are presumed effective in patients with MS, studies on the efficacy and safety of DMTs for preventing MS relapse are limited. Therefore, we tested the immunosuppressive anti-inflammatory effects of oral-formulated tacrolimus (FK506) on MS in a mouse model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The mice were randomly divided into 3 experimental groups: an untreated EAE group, a low-dose tacrolimus-treated EAE group, and a high-dose tacrolimus-treated EAE group. After autoimmunization of the EAE mice with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, symptom severity scores, immunohistochemistry of the myelination of the spinal cord, and western blotting were used to evaluate the EAE mice. After the autoimmunization, the symptom scores of each EAE group significantly differed at times. The group treated with the larger tacrolimus dose had the lowest symptom scores. The tacrolimus-treated EAE groups exhibited less demyelination and inflammation and weak immunoreactivity for all of the immunization biomarkers. Our results revealed that oral-formulated tacrolimus inhibited the autoimmunization in MS pathogenesis by inactivating inflammatory cells.
Animals ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Biomarkers ; Blotting, Western ; Central Nervous System ; Demyelinating Diseases ; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental* ; Humans ; Immunization ; Immunohistochemistry ; Inflammation ; Mice* ; Multiple Sclerosis ; Myelin Sheath ; Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein ; Neuromyelitis Optica ; Recurrence ; Spinal Cord ; Tacrolimus*

Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is a systemic vasculitis involving the small vessels with distinct clinical features. The etiology of HSP is diverse, and viral infection is one of the many predisposing factors. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection mostly affects immune-suppressed patients, but rarely patients with normal immunity can also be affected. Authors experienced a case of HSP patient, with underlying small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) with CMV duodenitis. This is a rare case of HSP diagnosed in SCLC patient with predisposing factor of CMV infection.
Causality ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Duodenitis* ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Purpura* ; Systemic Vasculitis

No abstract available.
Ships*

BACKGROUND: Recently, a new automated inoculating instrument, Previ Isola(R) (bioMerieux, France) was introduced. Although there are many evaluation reports about the inoculation of urine and body fluid samples using Previ Isola(R), no evaluation has been reported for blood samples. The objectives of this study were to evaluate this instrument for the inoculation of blood samples and to compare the microbiological results with the manual loop-to-plate method. METHODS: From March 2014 to July 2014, a total of 296 non-duplicate blood samples showing positive signals on the BacT/Alert 3D system were obtained, and both manual and automated methods were used for sample inoculation. Results of the two methods were compared according to five aspects: the culture result, number of single colonies, morphology of colonies, number of re-inoculations, and time required for inoculation. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of Previ Isola(R) were 98.9% and 96.6%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 99.6% and 90.3%, respectively, and the total concordance rate was 98.6%. For Previ Isola(R) and the manual methods, the number of average usable single colonies per plate was 25 and 16, the number of re-inoculations was 60 and 62, and the inoculation time for 15 blood samples was 30 min and 75 min, respectively. The morphology of colonies showed no differences between the two methods. CONCLUSIONS: The automated inoculation instrument, Previ Isola(R), showed relative good concordance with manual method, with high sensitivity and high specificity for blood sample inoculation. Previ Isola(R) may be useful for inoculating specimens including blood samples.
Automation ; Body Fluids ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Sensitivity and Specificity