This study was to investigate the effect of the education about general nutrition knowledge on the acceptance of TV food advertisements in adolescents. Twenty hours of nutrition related education in home economics classes were done during 3 months, to conveniently selected 784 first grade middle school students living in large and small cities and rural areas of Chungnam Province. The education effects were evaluated through questionnaire surveys before and after the education and their comparative analysis. Average TV watching time was 2.92 +/- 1.66 hours per day, which was about one hour longer on weekends. Nearly half of the subjects watched TV mainly after 9 PM. After nutrition education, nutrition knowledge scores of total subjects were significantly increased from 7.73 +/- 2.16 to 10.25 +/- 2.51 with a full score of 16. Food attitude and food habit scores also significantly increased from 32.45 +/- 4.65 (full score 50) to 33.93 +/- 4.68 and from 36.20 +/- 5.70 to 37.29 +/- 5.87, respectively. The general acceptance of TV food advertisements scored 25.25 +/- 4.44 (full score 40) before education and 26.90 +/- 4.55 after education, which was significantly raised by the education. Acceptance scores of TV food advertisements showed significant positive relationships with the scores of nutrition knowledge, food attitudes, and food habits. In addition, TV watching time had negative relationships with nutrition knowledge, food attitudes, and food habits scores, but not with acceptance score of TV food advertisements. The above results suggested that school-based nutrition education improved slightly but significantly the attitude of accepting TV food advertisements maybe through increasing nutrition knowledge and making food attitudes and habits better. Nutrition education focused on the evaluation and acceptance of food advertisements are further needed to improve the TV food advertisement acceptance of adolescents.
Adolescent ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Education* ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Purpose: Recently, the prevalence of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease (EGID) has shown an increasing trend worldwide. As the diagnosis of EGID requires invasive endoscopy with biopsy, noninvasive markers for detecting EGID in suspected patients, particularly children, are urgently needed. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) beyond peripheral eosinophil counts in pediatric patients with EGID. Methods: Overall, 156 children diagnosed with EGID were enrolled and 150 children with functional abdominal pain disorder (FAPD) were recruited as controls. All participants underwent endoscopic biopsy in each segment of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and serum ECP measurement, as well as peripheral eosinophil percent and absolute eosinophil count. Results: Comparing EGID (n=156) with FAPD (n=150) patients, serum ECP levels were significantly higher in pediatric patients with EGID than in those with FAPD (25.8±28.6 µg/L vs. 19.5±21.0 µg/L, p=0.007), while there was no significant difference in peripheral eosinophil percent and absolute eosinophil counts between the two groups. Serum ECP levels were correlated with peripheral eosinophil percent (r=0.593, p<0.001) and the absolute eosinophil count (r=0.660, p<0.001). The optimal cutoff value of serum ECP for pediatric EGID was 10.5 µg/mL, with a sensitivity of 69.9% and a specificity of 43.4% with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.562. Conclusion The combination of serum ECP levels and peripheral eosinophil counts, when employed with appropriated thresholds, could serve as a valuable noninvasive biomarker to distinguish between EGID and FAPD in pediatric patients manifesting GI symptoms.

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the health status and reported resilience according to acculturation type among Chinese students in Korea. METHODS: The subjects were 386 Chinese students studying in three universities in Chungnam province. The data were collected by standardized questionnaires and SPSS/WIN 15.0 program was used to analyze the data with descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, and ANOVA. RESULTS: Subjects reported the following Acculturation type: integration (26.7%), assimilation (28.5%), separation (32.4%), and marginalization (12.4%). The reported resilience was significantly different according to economic status. The health status was significantly different according to religion and economic status. Acculturation type was significantly different according to age, educational level, length of stay, type of residency and economic status working style. The health status and resilience were significantly different according to acculturation type. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that integration of acculturation type is most useful to health status and resilience among Chinese students in Korea. Future studies need to examine acculturation type as coping strategy for foreign students' adaptation.
Acculturation ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Internship and Residency ; Korea ; Length of Stay ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the predictors of acculturative stress among Chinese students in Korea. METHODS: Between October and December 2009, two hundred one Chinese students from three universities located in Cungnam province, were included in the current study using a questionnaire survey. Data analysis was done using SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. RESULTS: The average score of acculturative stress was 38.50+/-6.97. There were significant differences in acculturative stress according to educational level, economic status, type of residence, speaking skill in Korean, listening skill in Korean, grade point average, satisfaction for studying abroad, and perceived health status. The acculturative stress was significantly correlated with depression, resilience and social support. The strongest predictor of acculturative stress among Chinese students was depression. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that developing programs to improve psychological health may provide a buffer against acculturative stress experienced by migrating Chinese students. Furthermore, more studies are needed to explore variables that influence on the international students' acculturation in Korea.
Acculturation ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Depression ; Humans ; Korea ; Statistics as Topic

Familial chylomicronemia syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by severe hypertriglyceridemia and fasting chylomicronemia. Causes of the syndrome include lipoprotein lipase (LPL) deficiency, apolipoprotein C-II deficiency, or the presence of inhibitors to LPL. We managed a 3-month-old girl who had recurrent acute pancreatitis caused by chylomicronemia. We report the first case of familial chylomicronemia in Korea caused by LPL deficiency in an infant with recurrent acute pancreatitis.
Fasting ; Humans ; Hyperlipoproteinemia Type I ; Hypertriglyceridemia ; Infant ; Korea ; Lipoprotein Lipase ; Lipoproteins ; Pancreatitis

MELAS(mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and sroke like episodes) is a major subgroup of heterogeneous mitochondrial encephalopathy. Recent advances in molecular genetics revealed specific mutations in the mitochondrial DNA causing MELAS. We described clinical and molecular genetic findings of a 13-year-old boy with MELAS syndrome associated IDDM(insulin dependent diabetes mellitus). For molecular genetic studies, DNAs from peripheral blood nucleated cells were used. And the A-->G substitution at the nt position 3,243 in the mitochodrial tRNAleu(UUR) gene in a heteroplasmic fashion was confirmed in the patient and his mother, which supporting maternal transmission. The mother had no neuromuscular syndromes but was diabetic. The islet cell antibody was abscent in both the patient and his mother, proving an indirect evidence of beta cell destruction was caused by the definite mitochondrial DNA itself. The association of MELAS syndrome and IDDM has been reported very rarely, and this is the first case report in Korea.
Acidosis, Lactic ; Adolescent ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1* ; DNA ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; Humans ; Islets of Langerhans ; Korea ; Male ; MELAS Syndrome* ; Molecular Biology ; Mothers ; Muscular Diseases

PURPOSE: The recently developed method of rapid immunohistochemistry (IHC) was applied to the intraoperative examination of sentinel lymph node (SLN) because as their routine frozen-section examination is liable to yield a false-negative results. This study is devoted to establish a reliable protocol for rapid IHC of SLN. METHODS: Between August 2004 and April 2005 a retrospective study was performed. SLNs from 50 breast cancer patients with clinically negative SLN were examined intraoperatively using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) stain and immunostain for cytokeratin by rapid IHC assay. After examination of the frozen section, the SLNs were paraffin embedded and serially sectioned at 5 micrometer intervals. RESULTS: The median age and tumor size of the patients was 61.0 years and 1.4 cm (6% Tis, 70% T1, and 24% T2), respectively. The total number of dissected SLN was 112, with a mean of 2.2 (range, 1~4) SLNs per patient. Seven SLNs were found to be positive from metastasis in permanent pathological sections. Of these, 5 were stained by both intraoperative rapid IHC and H&E stain while one was not stained at all. The remaining SLN was initially stained with only the rapid IHC assay. The mean turn around time of the rapid IHC was less than 20 minutes, with sensitivity, true negative value, true positive values and accuracy of 85.7, 99.1, 100, and 99.1% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The rapid IHC was a very sensitive and rapid technique for the intraoperative detection of metastatic involvement of SLNs, whitch may be helpful at increasing the accuracy of detecting the micro-metastasis of sentinel lymph nodes during an operation.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Frozen Sections ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry* ; Keratins ; Lymph Nodes* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Micrometastasis ; Paraffin ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: Among the inducible AmpC beta-lactamase-producing members of the family Enterobacteriaceae such as Enterobacter spp., Citrobacter spp., Serratia spp., and Morganella morganii (ECSM), the prevalence of ESBL-producing isolates are increasing. However, there have been only a limited number of studies that have investigated the prevalence for ESBL-production in blood isolates of these organisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective observational study to evaluate the prevalence for ESBL production among ECSM blood isolates. All consecutive blood isolates in the Samsung Medical Center were included from Oct 2006 to Mar 2008. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed by broth microdilution method. ESBLs were confirmed by double-disk synergy test and ESBL phenotypes were determined by PCR. RESULTS: The 124 isolates (94 Enterobacter spp., 18 Citrobacter spp., 8 Serratia spp. and 4 Morganella spp.) were investigated. Among 124 ESCM isolates, 30 isolates (24.2%) showed ESBL-producing activity. Derepressed or partially derepressed AmpC mutants and derepressed AmpC mutants with ESBL production accounted for 36.3% (45/124) and 16.9% (21/124), respectively. Of ESBL producers, the most prevalent ESBL was SHV-12 (5/24, 20.8%). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of ESBL-producing isolates is high in Enterobacter spp., Serratia marcescens and Citrobacter spp. clinical isolates. It suggested that routine screening test for ESBLs among Enterobacteriacae blood isolates with inducible AmpC beta-lactamase should be needed.
Bacterial Proteins ; beta-Lactamases ; Citrobacter ; Enterobacter ; Enterobacteriaceae ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Morganella ; Morganella morganii ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Serratia ; Serratia marcescens

New supplements with preventive effects against skin photodamage are receiving increasing attention. This study evaluated the anti-photoaging effects of salmon nasal cartilage proteoglycan (SPG), acting as a functional material for skin health. We administered SPG to in vitro and in vivo models exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation and assessed its moisturizing and anti-wrinkle effects on dorsal mouse skin and keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts cell lines. These results showed that SPG restored the levels of filaggrin, involucrin, and AQP3 in the epidermis of UVB-irradiated dorsal skin and keratinocytes, thereby enhancing the keratinization process and water flow. Additionally, SPG treatment increased the levels of hyaluronan and skin ceramide, the major components of intercellular lipids in the epidermis. Furthermore, SPG treatment significantly increased the levels of collagen and procollagen type 1 by down-regulating matrix metalloproteinase 1, which play a crucial role in skin fibroblasts, in both in vitro and in vivo models. In addition, SPG strongly inhibited mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) signaling, the including extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38. These findings suggest that dietary SPG may be an attractive functional food for preventing UVB-induced photoaging. And this SPG product may provide its best benefit when treating several signs of skin photoaging.