OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors related to the disclosure patterns of sexual abuse in children and adolescent victims. METHODS: A sample of 153 children and adolescents who visited the Sunflower children's Center (Incheon) between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012 were analyzed. The medical records of the victims were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Ninety (58.8%) subjects made a disclosure of sexual abuse voluntarily. The revelation was most commonly made to a parent. The severity and duration of sexual abuse were related to the disclosure patterns. In addition, the group that displayed below average intelligence, particularly subjects in the group with borderline intellectual functioning, tended to disclose their history of abuse less voluntarily than the subjects with normal intelligence. CONCLUSION: The current study provides insight into the factors that affect disclosure patterns in children and adolescent sexual abuse victims. To prevent sexual abuse, we suggest that special legal assistance and social concern be required for children and adolescents with borderline intellectual functioning.
Adolescent* ; Child Abuse, Sexual ; Child* ; Disclosure* ; Helianthus ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Medical Records ; Parents ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Offenses*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the characteristics of victim and sexual abuse on posttraumatic psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents with a history of sexual abuse. METHODS: A total of 137 children and adolescents were recruited from the Seoul Sunflower Children Center, a nation-funded sexual violence victim protection center, from January 2009 to December 2013. We collected the demographic data of the victims and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) from victims. We hypothesized victims' age, sex, and intelligence quotient, and the characteristics of sexual abuse as the affecting factors of posttraumatic psychiatric symptoms. Descriptive analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were performed for analysis of demographic data, TSCC scores, and psychiatric symptoms. RESULTS: The victims' age and the characteristics of sexual abuse were significantly related to the traumatic distress of sexual abuse. R-square was 23% for anxiety, 39% for depression, 21% for posttraumatic stress, and 37% for dissociation on TSCC. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that victims' age, type, frequency and duration of exposure, and disclosure of sexual abuse are significant affecting factors on posttraumatic psychiatric symptoms in children and adolescents. Exploration of psychiatric symptoms other than posttraumatic symptoms, and relations between pretraumatic and posttraumatic psychiatric symptoms is needed through collection of larger samples.
Adolescent* ; Anxiety ; Checklist ; Child Abuse, Sexual ; Child* ; Depression ; Disclosure ; Helianthus ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Psychopathology ; Seoul ; Sex Offenses*

The Kayser-Fleischer ring, a characteristic finding in Wilson's disease, occurs in the corneal periphery and is usually yellow-brown but may by red, blue, green, ormixture of any these colors. The Kayser-Fleischer ring, copper deposition at the level of the posterior position of Descemet's membrane, is about 1 to 3mm in width and extends to the limbus without a lucid interval. In addition to involvement of Descemet's membrane, one may find anterior subcapsular sunflower cataract in Wilson's disease. The authors have recently experienced two cases of Wilson's disease. One case, a 17-year-old boy, has Kayser-Fleischer rings and anterior subcapsular sunflower cataracts in both eyes and the other, a 17-year-old aldolescent male, has dense yellow-green colored Kayser-Fleischer rings in both eyes. Both cases have been treated with penicillamine(1gr/day) and low copper diet. After treatment, clinical manifestations have been improved markedly but the Kayer-Fleischer rings have not disappeared yet.
Adolescent ; Cataract ; Copper ; Descemet Membrane ; Diet ; Helianthus ; Hepatolenticular Degeneration ; Humans ; Male

Butanol production from acid hydrolysate of Jerusalem artichoke juice by Clostridium acetobutylicum L7 was investigated, and it was found that natural components of the hydrolysate were suitable for solvent production with the species. With batch fermentation using the medium containing 48.36 g/L total sugars, 8.67 g/L butanol was produced at 60 h, and the ratio of butanol to acetone to ethanol was 0.58:0.36:0.06, which were similar to the fermentation with fructose as carbon source, but both of these two fermentations were slower than that with glucose as carbon source, indicating the fructose transport of the species might not be effective as that for glucose. When the total sugars of the medium were increased to 62.87 g/L, the residual sugars increased slightly from 3.09 g/L to 3.26 g/L, but butanol production of the fermentation system was improved significantly, with 11.21 g/L butanol produced and the ratio of butanol to acetone to ethanol at 0.64:0.29:0.05, which illustrated that an excess in sugars enhanced the butanol biosynthesis of the species by compromising its acetone production. When the sugar concentration of the medium was further increased, much more sugars were remained unconsumed, making the process economically unfavourable.
Butanols ; metabolism ; Clostridium acetobutylicum ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Helianthus ; chemistry ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods

Jerusalem artichoke tubers with inulin as major component are potential feedstock for fuel ethanol production, and Kluyveromyces cicerisporus Y179 expressing high level of inulinase is suitable for ethanol production with this feedstock by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation approach. In this article, the impact of inoculum, aeration and temperature on ethanol production by the yeast was studied. The experimental results illustrated that inoculum with different levels and seed collected at different cultivation times had negligible effect, while anaerobic conditions enhanced ethanol production, and more ethanol was produced by the yeast at 30 degrees C than at 37 degrees C or 42 degrees C. The medium using Jerusalem artichoke tuber meal as sole component with 22% (W/V) total sugars was inoculated with 36 h-precultured seed at 10% (V/V), and the batch fermentation was conducted in a 5 L fermentor at 30 degrees C with a stirring speed of 300 r/min under anaerobic conditions. After 144 h, 12.3% (V/V) ethanol was produced and the yield of ethanol from sugars was 86.9% of its theoretical one, with 93.6% sugars consumed. These results indicate that K. cicerisporus Y179 is a promising candidate for industrial ethanol production using Jerusalem artichoke tuber feedstock.
Ethanol ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Glycoside Hydrolases ; metabolism ; Helianthus ; chemistry ; Industrial Microbiology ; methods ; Kluyveromyces ; metabolism

Consolidated bioprocessing technology can be used for Kluyveromyces marxianus YX01 to produce ethanol from Jerusalem artichoke, which is one of the potential processes to produce biofuel from non-cereal crops. In this study, we combined the aeration rate with the substrate concentration to conduct cross-over experiments for K. marxinaus YX01, and studied ethanol fermentation and the influence of inulin enzyme activity. The substrate concentration had a little repressive effect on ethanol productivity. When substrate concentration reached 250 g/L under anaerobic conditions, ethanol concentration was 84.8 g/L, and ethanol yield was reduced from 86.4% (50 g/L substrate concentration) to 84.7% of the theoretical value. Aeration rate could accelerate K. marxinaus YX01 ethanol fermentation, but reduced ethanol yield. When substrate concentration reached 250 g/L under aeration at 1.0 vvm, ethanol yield was reduced from 84.7% under anaerobic conditions to 73.3% of the theoretical value. With increased concentration of the carbon source and reduced aeration rate, the inulinase of K. marxinaus YX01 reduced and the concentration of glycerol increased, however, the acetic acid increased with the increased concentration of the carbon source and aeration rate. When substrate concentration reached 250 g/L under anaerobic conditions, inulinase activity was only 6.59 U/mL; when substrate concentration reached 50 g/L under aeration at 1.0 vvm, inulinase activity was 21.54 U/mL.
Ethanol ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Glycoside Hydrolases ; metabolism ; Helianthus ; metabolism ; Inulin ; metabolism ; Kluyveromyces ; classification ; metabolism ; Substrate Specificity

A unique one-step ethanol fermentation process was developed with the inulinase-producing strain Kluyveromyces marxianus YX01. Firstly, the impact of temperature on ethanol fermentation was investigated through flask fermentation, and the temperature of 35 degrees C was observed to be the optimum to coordinate inulinase production, inulin saccharification and ethanol fermentation. And then, the impact of aeration and substrate concentration was studied through batch fermentation in the 2.5 L fermentor, and the experimental data indicated that the average ethanol fermentation time was decreased at the aeration rates of 50 mL/min and 100 mL/min, but higher ethanol yield was obtained under non-aeration conditions with more substrate directed to ethanol production. The ethanol concentration of 92.2 g/L was achieved with the substrate containing 235 g/L inulin, and the ethanol yield was calculated to be 0.436, equivalent to 85.5% of its theoretical value. Finally, Jerusalem artichoke grown in salina and irrigated with seawater was fermented without sterilization treatment, 84.0 g/L ethanol was obtained with the substrate containing 280 g/L dry Jerusalem artichoke meal, and the ethanol yield was calculated to be 0.405, indicating the Jerusalem artichoke could be an alternative feedstock for grain-based fuel ethanol production.
Bioreactors ; microbiology ; Ethanol ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Helianthus ; metabolism ; Kluyveromyces ; metabolism ; Seawater ; Temperature

A mixture of fructose and glucose was developed to simulate the hydrolysate of Jerusalem artichoke tubers, the fructose-based feedstock suitable for butanol production. With the initial pH of 5.5 without regulation during mixed-sugar fermentation, as high as 23.26 g/L sugars were remained unconverted, and butanol production of 5.51 g/L were obtained. Compared with either glucose or fructose fermentation, the early termination of mixed-sugar fermentation might be caused by toxic organic acids and the low pH. When the pH of the fermentation system was controlled at higher levels, it was found that sugars utilization was facilitated, but less butanol was produced due to the over-accumulation of organic acids. On the other hand, when the pH was controlled at lower levels, more sugars were remained unconverted, although butanol production was improved. Based on these experimental results, a stage-wise pH regulation strategy, e.g., controlling the pH of the fermentation system at 5.5 untill the OD620 reached 1.0, and then the pH control was removed, was developed, which significantly improved the fermentation performance of the system, with only 2.05 g/L sugars unconverted and 10.48 g/L butanol produced.
Acetone ; metabolism ; Butanols ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Fructose ; metabolism ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Helianthus ; metabolism ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration

Jerusalem artichoke (JA) mainly consists of inulin. In many experimental studies, inulin has been shown to be beneficial for decreasing glucose level. Therefore, JA is lately attracting wide attention as an anti-diabetic food. Therefore, many patients ingest JA in extract form. However, there are no published clinical studies in patients with diabetes to demonstrate benefit from the use of inulin-type fructans. We experienced a diabetes inpatient with acute hyperglycemia associated with JA. We could not control the patient's blood glucose in spite of addition and increment of insulin. We found that she had taken extracts of JA and recommended cessation. After discontinuing JA extracts, her blood glucose was well controlled in spite of discontinuation of insulin. Thus, in this patient, JA had actually increased blood glucose. We suggest that JA may be dangerous for use in diabetic patients.
Blood Glucose ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Fructans ; Glucose ; Helianthus* ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia* ; Inpatients ; Insulin ; Inulin

0.05). However, serum IL-6 levels significantly decreased in the flaxseed oil group compared to the sunflower oil group (p = 0.017). No side effect was observed during the study due to the use of sunflower and flaxseed oils. We observed that consumption of flaxseed oil improved serum IL-6 levels but had no effect on oxidative stress and coagulation score in patients with MetS. Further studies are needed to confirm the veracity of our results.TRIAL REGISTRATION: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials Identifier: IRCT2015012020737N1]]>
Chronic Disease ; Diet ; Energy Intake ; Flax ; Helianthus ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-6 ; Linseed Oil ; Oxidative Stress