The purpose of the current study was to examine the risk factors of young children’s smartphone addiction in a longitudinal study design. Data collected from 313 participants (mean age, 4.5 ± 0.82 years; male, 49.8%) over 4 years for Kids Cohort for Understanding of Internet Addiction Risk Factors in Early Childhood were analyzed in this study. Mixed effect models were used to evaluate the influence of various variables on the repeated measures of smartphone addiction tendency in young children over time. The multi-level analysis showed that parents’ lack of control over children’s smartphone use (t = −4.523; 95% confidence interval [CI], −7.32, −1.72), and parents’ higher smartphone addiction proneness (t = 6.340;95% CI, 0.23, 0.440) predicted higher smartphone addiction tendency in young children.The responsibility of the parents to prevent their children from becoming addicted to smartphones should start in a very early age when they start using the smartphones.

PURPOSE: T cell-mediated immune responses, and particularly activation of polyfunctional T cells that simultaneously produce multiple cytokines, are necessary for the control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In the present study, we examined if DNA immunization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resuscitation-promoting factor B (RpfB) elicits polyfunctional T cell responses in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were immunized intramuscularly three times, at 3-week intervals, with RpfB-expressing plasmid DNA. For comparison, protein immunization was performed with recombinant RpfB in control mice. After immunization, RpfB-specific T cell responses were assessed by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay and intracellular cytokine staining (ICS), and T cell polyfunctionality was assessed from the ICS data. RESULTS: RpfB DNA immunization induced not only humoral immune responses, but also CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses. Immunodominant T-cell epitopes were identified within RpfB by assays with overlapping peptides. RpfB DNA immunization elicited a polyfunctional CD8+ T cell response that was dominated by a functional phenotype of IFN-gamma+/TNF-alpha+/IL-2-/CD107a+. CONCLUSION: RpfB DNA immunization elicits polyfunctional CD8+ T cell responses, suggesting that RpfB DNA immunization might induce protective immunity against tuberculosis.
Animals ; Complement Factor B* ; Cytokines ; DNA* ; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte ; Immunity, Humoral ; Immunization* ; Interferon-gamma ; Mice ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis* ; Peptides ; Phenotype ; Plasmids ; T-Lymphocytes ; Tuberculosis ; Vaccines, DNA

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of food allergy, with a focus on oral allergy syndrome (OAS) in a population of children and to investigate relevant allergen sensitization associated with these adverse reactions. Methods: This study involved 1,660 children (aged 4 to 13 years) experiencing seasonal allergy symptoms, who were enrolled in the 2015 prospective Seongnam Atopy Project (SAP 2015) in a South Korean municipality. Parents completed a structured questionnaire to assess children with OAS, collecting information on the duration, severity, and factors related to symptoms. Skin prick tests (n = 498) and blood sampling (n= 464) were performed to measure allergic sensitizations, total eosinophil counts, and levels both total immunoglobulin E (IgE) and birch-specific IgE. Results: The prevalence of OAS among the children enrolled in this study was 4.4% (95% confidence interval, 3.7%–5.1%). The most common symptom was mouth itching (n= 106, 65.0%), and the primary food allergen associated with symptoms was kiwi (n= 48, 29.5%). Peanut sensitization (14.8% vs. 57.1%, P< 0.001) and sensitization to other nut products (15.6% vs. 47.6%, P= 0.001) were linked to a higher incidence of systemic reactions. Conclusion The prevalence of 4.4% underscores the significant health impact of OAS, especially in children experiencing food allergy-related symptoms. Notably, common allergens, such as kiwi, and the potential for additional systemic reactions associated with this condition highlight the importance of raising awareness.

Ribavirin is an antiviral drug used in combination with pegylated interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Recently, ribavirin was reported to inhibit the suppressive activity of regulatory T (Treg) cells. In the present study, we re-evaluated the effect of ribavirin on Foxp3+CD4+CD25+ Treg cells from normal donors. First, we examined the expression of CTLA-4 and CD39, which are known to play a role in the suppressive function of Treg cells. We found that ribavirin treatment did not modulate the expression of CTLA-4 and CD39 in Treg cells. We also studied the effect of ribavirin on Treg cells in the presence of IFN-alpha; however, the expression of CTLA-4 and CD39 in Treg cells was not changed by ribavirin in the presence of IFN-alpha. Next, we directly evaluated the effect of ribavirin on the suppressive activity of Treg cells in the standard Treg suppression assay, by co-culturing CFSE-labeled non-Treg CD4+ T cells with purified Treg cells. We found that ribavirin did not attenuate the suppressive activity of Treg cells. Taken together, while ribavirin reversed Treg cell-mediated suppression of effector T cells in the previous study, we herein demonstrate that ribavirin does not impair the suppressive activity of Treg cells.
Hepacivirus ; Humans ; Interferon-alpha ; Ribavirin ; T-Lymphocytes ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; Tissue Donors

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate the Korean version of the clinician-administered KSADSCOMP, which is the recently updated, web-based computerized version of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for school-age children (KSADS). Methods: A total of 71 participants (mean age=12.04±3.86 years, female=29.57%) participated in the study. A child-adolescent psychiatrist established a diagnosis for the participant after a thorough psychiatric interview with the participant and the parent. Researchers who were blind to the diagnoses administered the clinician-administered KSADS-COMP to the parents and participants. The gold-standard diagnoses made by child-adolescent psychiatrists were compared to the current diagnoses generated by the clinician-administered KSADS-COMP. Percent agreement, Cohen’s Kappa, Gwet’s first-order agreement coefficient (AC1), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were calculated. Results: Gwet’s AC1, our preferred measure of agreement, showed excellent range between 0.78 and 1. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value and negative predictive value also showed high scores. Conclusion The current study demonstrated excellent criterion validity of the Korean version of the clinician-administered KSADSCOMP, though the small sample size could be a limitation. The current study was the first study to examine the criterion validity of the KSADS-COMP. Due to its readily usable format and efficient and accurate diagnostic process, widely-use of KSADS-COMP is expected.

Objective: This study examined the factors influencing the mental health and stress of individuals during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A total of 600 participants were enrolled in this anonymous questionnaire survey that included questions on their demographic profiles and experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Stress Scale for Korean People (CSSK), Warwick– Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Insomnia Severity Index, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support were used. Data were analyzed using multiple regression to identify the factors affecting the total CSSK scores and the scores of each of the three CSSK subscales. Results: Multiple regression analyses revealed that the severity of insomnia, sex, degree of income decline, occupation, religion, education level, marital status, residential status, level of social support, and degree of depression and anxiety had significant relationships with COVID-19-related stress. Conclusion We identified factors affecting stress and mental health in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings may be helpful in providing an individualized approach to managing the mental health of the public. We expect that the results of this study will be used to screen high-risk individuals vulnerable to stress and to establish policies related to the public health crisis.

Objective: Young adults putting off marriage and having less children have become recent trends in many modern societies. Yet less is known about the psychological factors underlying the drastically low marriage and fertility rates. We hypothesized that childhood maltreatment experience may have a negative association with one’s marriage and childbearing intention. Methods: A total of 1,004 college students (mean age of 20.8±2.3 years, 56.1% female) completed self-questionnaires including sociodemographic information, marriage and childbearing intention, Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of childhood trauma on marriage and childbearing intentions after controlling for sociodemographic variables and depression. Results: 29.7% had no intention to get married and 40.4% had no intention to have children in the future. The prevalence of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse was 33.1%, 18.5%, and 22.3%, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed that female (p<0.001), poor health status (p=0.001), and childhood emotional abuse (p=0.01) were independent predictors of no desire to get married. Female (p<0.001), poor health status (p<0.001), and childhood emotional abuse (p=0.038) were also predictors of no desire to have children. Conclusion Childhood emotional abuse may be the most damaging form among other types of childhood maltreatment because it can occur more pervasively and persist for a longer period, causing extensive damage to a child’s emotional, social and cognitive development. Raising awareness regarding the life-long consequences of childhood emotional abuse and the need to prevent and detect childhood emotional abuse should be emphasized.

Objective: This study investigated the effect of suicide prevention education on attitudes toward suicide among police officers. Methods: We used an anonymous questionnaire for 518 officers and surveyed the demographic profiles and examined attitudes toward suicide utilizing the Attitudes Towards Suicide Scale (ATTS) (1=totally agree, 5=totally disagree). Our study divided participants into two groups, based on whether or not they had received suicide prevention education, and examined the differences in attitudes toward suicide between the groups. Results: Of the total population, 247 (47.7%) officers had received suicide prevention education. The education group thought suicide as a predictable matter, disagreeing significantly more with the ATTS factor ‘suicide is unpredictable’ (3.36 vs. 3.35; p=0.001) compared with the no education group. Also, the education group more perceived suicide as a cry for help and at the same time disagreed more with the notion ‘suicidal thoughts will never disappear’ (2.08 vs. 2.26; p=0.025, 3.2 vs. 3.05; p=0.035, respectively). Conclusion Officers with experience in suicide prevention education showed more positive attitude toward suicide and suicide prevention. These findings suggest a need to organize more opportunities of suicide prevention educations, such as making the training mandatory for police officers.

Objective: Subjective reports of patients with insomnia often show a discrepancy with their objective assessments of sleep. We aimed to assess subjective-objective sleep discrepancy in subjects with insomnia disorder as well as the psychological factors associated with the discrepancy. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of the baseline data of a randomized controlled study on 110 adults aged 18 years to 59 years with insomnia disorder. Subjective reports on sleep and the objective measures acquired by an overnight polysomnography were used to measure the sleep discrepancy. Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), beck anxiety inventory (BAI), and Global Assessment of Recent Stress (GARS) were used to evaluate the psychological factors associated with the sleep discrepancy. Results: Mean total sleep time (TST) discrepancy of the participants was -81.65±97.41 minutes. Multivariable logistic regression analyses revealed that age (adjusted OR=1.07, 95% CI=1.01–1.13, p=0.027), years of education (adjusted OR=0.69, 95% CI=0.48–0.91, p=0.017), and smartphone addiction proneness (adjusted OR=1.14, 95% CI=1.04–1.27, p=0.008) were independent predictors of TST misperception. Mean sleep onset latency (SOL) discrepancy of the participants was 41.28±45.01 minutes. Only anxiety was an independent predictor of SOL misperception (adjusted OR=1.16, 95% CI=1.05–1.31, p=0.006). Conclusion The present study provides empirical evidence to increase our understanding of the various factors that are associated with subjective-objective sleep discrepancy. Screening insomnia patients with smartphone addiction proneness may help predict the potential discrepancy between the patients’ subjective reports and objective measures of sleep duration.