No abstract available.
Syringomyelia*

The lung and stomach are very unusual sites for teratoma. The histologic findings of intrapulmonary and gastric teratomas are not different from those arising in usual sites, such as the ovary or testis. However, preoperative diagnosis is sometimes difficult to make partly because of unusual location. We report here two cases of teratoma, one intrapulmonary teratoma and the other gastric. The intrapulmonary teratoma in our study had an endobronchial tumor growth, which rules out mediastinal teratoma. Meanwhile gastric teratomas usually present as a submucosal tumor and most cases are reported in infancy and childhood. Gastric teratoma in this study occurred in a 27-year-old man. To the best of our knowledge, this case of intrapulmonary teratoma is the eighth and the gastric teratoma is the first to be reported in Korea.
Adult ; Case Report ; Gastrectomy ; Human ; Lung Neoplasms/surgery ; Lung Neoplasms/radiography ; Lung Neoplasms/pathology* ; Male ; Middle Age ; Stomach Neoplasms/surgery ; Stomach Neoplasms/radiography ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology* ; Teratoma/surgery ; Teratoma/radiography ; Teratoma/pathology* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Epidemiological evidence suggests that the severity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is lesser and morbidity and mortality rates are lower in children than in adults. Although respiratory viral infections are major triggers of asthma exacerbations in children, the association between asthma and SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unclear. We describe a previously healthy 13-year-old male adolescent who developed severe acute asthma exacerbation following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. This case report describes new-onset asthma as severe exacerbation following COVID-19 infection and highlights the importance of ongoing surveillance of the wide spectrum of COVID-19 manifestations in children.

The records of 255 cyanide poisoning deaths obtained from National Forensic Service (NFS) headquarters, located in Seoul of Korea, from 2005 to 2010 were retrospectively reviewed. The mean age was 41.88 +/- 13.09 and range was 6~80 years (unknown in seven cases). The number of deaths of males and females were 200 and 53, respectively (unknown in two cases). The largest number of cases occurred in people aged 40-49 years (81 cases, 31.8%), followed by the age groups 30~39 years (51 cases, 20%), 50~59 years (44 cases, 17.2%) and 20~29 years (43 cases, 16.9%). The total number of deaths among other age groups (below 10, 10~19, 60~69, 70~79, over 80 years and unknown) were 36, representing only 14.1%. Of all cyanide poisoning deaths, 97.3% were due to suicide, and 14.5% of the total number who died received medical treatment. The most frequent site for ingestion was the person's own residence (120 cases, 47.1%) and the route of administration was mainly oral (252, 98.8%). From the total of 255 cyanide poisoning cases, white powders were submitted for analysis in 92 cases. Potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide occupied 51 and 41 cases, respectively. This study showed that poisoning deaths due to cyanide are one of the continuously reported public health problems in Korea. Enforcement of regulations and safety education to prevent cyanide poisoning should be carried out by the government.
Aged ; Eating ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Potassium Cyanide ; Powders ; Public Health ; Retrospective Studies ; Social Control, Formal ; Sodium Cyanide ; Suicide

PURPOSE: Most of the atopic dermatitis (AD) patients and their parents refuse topical treatment because of concern about generalized side effect due to systemic absorption of topical corticosteroids. Therefore, a large number of studies reported difficulty in properly controlling in AD. However, investigations of the percutaneous absorption of topical corticosteroids are still insufficient. METHODS: One hundred nine patients who visited our atopy clinic and diagnosed as AD by a physician from January 2005 to January 2012 were enrolled. We examined serum corticosteroid (clobetasol propionate, hydrocortisone) level by liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with a tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) method. RESULTS: We developed the LC-MS/MS method to determine corticosteroids (clobetasol propionate, hydrocortisone) in sera of AD patients. Also, we confirmed precision, accuracy, limit of detection, limit of quantification, absolute recovery, and relative recovery of the experimental methods. We could not detect clobetasol propionate or hydrocortisone in sera of 109 AD patients using the newly developed LC-MS/MS method. CONCLUSION: Regardless of age, the severity and illness duration of AD, clobetasol and hydrocortisone were not detected in sera. Although there are many other factors of determining systemic absorption of topical medications, our results showed that topical corticosteroids applied for several years in AD patients may be under the limit of detection in their sera by the LC-MS/MS method.
Absorption, Physiological ; Adrenal Cortex Hormones* ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Clobetasol ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Diethylpropion ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Limit of Detection ; Methods ; Parents ; Skin Absorption

PURPOSE: This study was performed to investigate the change in the causative organisms of bacterial meningitis and the prevalence of bacterial meningitis caused by antibiotics resistant strains in a single Korean tertiary center. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed medical records of patients who had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis from March 1999 to March 2010 at the Asan Medical Center. The bacterial meningitis was defined as the correlated clinical symptoms and the isolation of organisms from the cerebrospinal fluid culture. RESULTS: During the 11-year study period, we found 81 cases of CSF-culture proven bacterial meningitis. Streptococcus agalactiae (group B streptococcus, GBS) were most common bacteria accounting for 23 (28.3%) cases, followed by Streptococcus pneumoniae with 22 (27.2%), and Haemophilus influenzae with 8 (9.9%). After introduction of the vaccination, only one case of H. influenzae meningitis was documented. Seventeen of 18 (94.4%) cases of GBS were sensitive to the penicillin, whereas 82.4% (14/17) of S. pneumoniae were resistant to penicillin. Among the 17 cases of S. pneumoniae, 11 cases (64.7%) were multi-drug resistant strains but all were susceptible to vancomycin. CONCLUSION: In spite of the introduction of the vaccination, S. pneumoniae was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children older than two months. For pneumococcal meningitis, careful selection of antibiotics and ongoing research about antibiotics susceptibility will be needed due to multi-drug resistance.
Accounting ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteria ; Child ; Drug Resistance ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Haemophilus influenzae ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Medical Records ; Meningitis ; Meningitis, Bacterial ; Meningitis, Pneumococcal ; Penicillins ; Pneumonia ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus agalactiae ; Streptococcus pneumoniae ; Vaccination

OBJECTIVES: Childhood allergic diseases are a major concern because they lead to a heavy economic burden and poor quality of life. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of childhood atopic dermatitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and the comorbidity of allergic diseases in Seoul, Korea. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey between May and October 2010 to evaluate the prevalence of childhood allergic diseases, including atopic dermatitis, asthma, and allergic rhinitis, using a questionnaire from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood group. Each questionnaire was completed by the parent or guardian of a child. RESULTS: In the 31,201 children studied, the prevalence of atopic dermatitis symptoms in the past 12 months was 19.3% in children 0 to 3 years of age, 19.7% in children 4 to 6 years of age, 16.7% in children 7 to 9 years of age, and 14.5% in children 10 to 13 years of age (p for trend < 0.001). The prevalence of asthma in these age groups was 16.5%, 9.8%, 6.5%, and 5.4%, respectively (p for trend < 0.001). The prevalence of allergic rhinitis in these age groups was 28.5%, 38.0%, 38.5%, and 35.9%, respectively (p for trend = 0.043). The percentage of subjects with both atopic dermatitis and asthma, both asthma and allergic rhinitis, or both atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis was 2.5%, 4.7%, and 8.7%, respectively. The prevalence of comorbid allergic diseases decreased with age (p for trend < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that the prevalence of some allergic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and asthma, was relatively high in very young children and that all of the principal allergic diseases in children often co-exist.
Asthma ; Child ; Comorbidity ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dermatitis, Atopic ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Parents ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life ; Rhinitis ; Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Hemimegalencephaly and tuberous sclerosis complex are distinct and rare conditions which are characterized by malformations of cortical developments. Hemimegalencephaly is a cerebral malformation of unknown pathophysiology characterized by asymmetry of the hemispheres and cortical dysplasia. Tuberous sclerosis complex(TSC) is an autosomal dominant neurocutaneous disorder characterized by the formation of hamartomatous lesion in multiple organ systems. While they are currently thought to be unrelated, there are similar cases in the literature and it is conceivable that an abnormality in early cortical development could lead to both conditions in an individual. We report here a first Korean case of unusual association of hemimegalencephaly and tuberous sclerosis complex with mutation in the TSC2 gene, who presented initially frequent partial seizures and infantile spasms.
Epilepsy ; Malformations of Cortical Development ; Neurocutaneous Syndromes ; Seizures ; Tuberous Sclerosis

Cough is one of the common symptoms, which is usually related to respiratory infections for children. This symptom is not considered crucial. Published data reported that the community prevalence of chronic cough in primary school children is 5%-10%, while the prevalence is likely to be higher in younger children. The cause of persistent cough should be investigated. There were significant differences in the causes and management for cough according to age. Chronic cough is defined as duration of 4 weeks or longer. Common culprits for chronic cough in children are different from those in adults. The authors reviewed articles about chronic cough of children to help improve the understanding and management for pediatric chronic cough.
Adult ; Child* ; Cough* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Tract Infections

Neuromyelitis optica(NMO) or Devic's syndrome is an uncommon clinical syndrome associating with unilateral or bilateral optic neuritis and transverse myelitis. It is rarely found in children and usually reported in adults with serious neurologic manifestations. We report a case of an 8-year-old girl with neuromyelitis optica whose first clinical manifestation was acute visual loss of both eyes. Initially the patient had been diagnosed with central retinal artery occlusion and optic neuritis by ophthalmologic examination, a brain magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid findings. She was treated with intravenous methylprednisolone pulse therapy and heparinization. Then the treatments were replaced with oral prednisolone and warfarin. At the fifteenth day after the start of oral prednisolone tapering, she visited our emergency room for voiding difficulty and paresthesia on both legs. A spinal magnetic resonance imaging revealed increased signal intensity in T2-weighted images from cervical to lumbar level, and neuromyelitis optica- IgG(NMO-IgG) was detected in the patient's serum. After we diagnosed her as having neuromyelitis optica, intravenous methylprednisolone and nine courses of daily plasmapheresis were tried. However, the patient still had visual loss, pain, and sensory loss below the sixth thoracic dermatome, and we tried maintenance therapy with intravenous rituximab. We report our case with reviews of the related literatures.
Adult ; Antibodies, Monoclonal, Murine-Derived ; Brain ; Child ; Emergencies ; Eye ; Heparin ; Humans ; Leg ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Methylprednisolone ; Myelitis, Transverse ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Neuromyelitis Optica ; Optic Neuritis ; Paresthesia ; Plasmapheresis ; Prednisolone ; Retinal Artery ; Retinal Artery Occlusion ; Warfarin ; Rituximab