Autophagy is necessary for the degradation of long-lasting proteins and nonfunctional organelles, and is activated to promote cellular survival. However, overactivation of autophagy may deplete essential molecules and organelles responsible for cellular survival. Lifelong calorie restriction by 40% has been shown to increase the cardiac expression of autophagic markers, which suggests that it may have a cardioprotective effect by decreasing oxidative damage brought on by aging and cardiovascular diseases. Although cardiac autophagy is critical to regulating protein quality and maintaining cellular function and survival, increased or excessive autophagy may have deleterious effects on the heart under some circumstances, including pressure overload-induced heart failure. The importance of autophagy has been shown in nutrient supply and preservation of energy in times of limitation, such as ischemia. Some studies have suggested that a transition from obesity to metabolic syndrome may involve progressive changes in myocardial inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, fibrosis, apoptosis, and myocardial autophagy.
Aging ; Apoptosis ; Autophagy ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Fibrosis ; Heart ; Heart Failure ; Inflammation ; Ischemia ; Nutritional Status ; Obesity ; Organelles ; Proteins ; Starvation

The National Health Information Portal (http://health.mw.go.kr), a collaborative project by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, was officially launched in January 2011. In the modern society, the internet and smart phones have been flooded with health information, in addition to the information available through traditional media such as newspapers, television, and radio broadcasting. The Korean Medical Association and the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences have expanded their work in several directions, including a monitoring project to correct wrong health information that is commonly used. Nevertheless, they are confronted with the fundamental problem that they are unable to keep up with the speed of production and diffusion of health information in modern society. This initiative of the National Health Information Portal led by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences is significant in that anyone with internet access can easily find proven health information. Unlike existing health information, the National Health Information Portal is structured to help improve understanding by presenting a variety of materials, such as cartoons, pictures, photos, and videos, as compared to simple documents or texts. In addition, it is constructed with a feedback system so that the consumer of the health information can directly and easily access specific content. Furthermore, the National Health Information Portal continues to strive to provide practical contents with mobile services like smart phone applications. We expect the National Health Information Portal to make a contribution to the prevention and treatment of disease by reducing unnecessary medical expenditures, and providing quality health information to society.
Diffusion ; Health Expenditures ; Internet ; Periodicals ; Television

Although several findings of historical writings have been made, the exact role of the thyroid was not known in the ancient times. From the middle of the nineteenth century, the anatomy and the physiological role of the thyroid were gradually elucidated, and diagnostic and therapeutic modalities were developed. It has been 100 years since Theodor Kocher was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in pathophysiology and surgery of the thyroid. Fifty years have passed since radioactive iodine was first used for the diagnosis and the treatment of hyperthyroidism in Korea. Today, thyroid cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancy in Korean women. However, the detailed history of the thyroid disease has not been introduced in Korea. The aim of this paper is to describe the historical perspectives of the thyroid disease, especially focusing on the development of the treatment. The common thyroid disease ere named after their discoverers, such as Graves and Hashimoto. It is meaningful to understand the historical background of the thyroid gland, because the important concepts in the area of endocrinology such as hormone replacement therapy, feedback mechanisms, and the use of isotopes were first established based on the research of the thyroid.
Female ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Thyroid Diseases/*history ; *Thyroid Gland/physiopathology/surgery ; Thyroid Neoplasms/history

Depending on the intracellular buffering of calcium by chelation, zinc has the following two apparent effects on neuronal excitability: enhancement or reduction. Zinc increased tonic activity in the depolarized state when neurons were intracellularly dialyzed with EGTA but attenuated the neuronal activity when BAPTA was used as an intracellular calcium buffer. This suggests that neuronal excitability can be modulated by zinc, depending on the internal calcium buffering capacity. In this study, we elucidated the mechanisms of zinc-mediated alterations in neuronal excitability and determined the effect of calcium-related channels on zinc-mediated alterations in excitability. The zinc-induced augmentation of firing activity was mediated via the inhibition of small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels with not only the contribution of voltage-gated L-type calcium channels (VGCCs) and ryanodine receptors (RyRs), but also through the activation of VGCCs via melastatin-like transient receptor potential channels. We suggest that zinc modulates the dopaminergic neuronal activity by regulating not only SK channels as calcium sensors, but also VGCCs or RyRs as calcium sources. Our results suggest that the cytosolic calcium-buffering capacity can tightly regulate zinc-induced neuronal firing patterns and that local calcium-signaling domains can determine the physiological and pathological state of synaptic activity in the dopaminergic system.
Animals ; Calcium ; Calcium Channels, L-Type ; Cytosol ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; Egtazic Acid ; Electrophysiology ; Fires ; Neurons ; Potassium ; Rats ; Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel ; Transient Receptor Potential Channels ; Zinc

Purpose: The aim of this study was to measure the sodium content of the solid and liquid components of soup-based dishes (SBD) including Korean soup, stew, noodle/dumplings, and watery kimchi and to compare the sodium content in the dishes from home, schools, and restaurants in Seoul. Methods: The dishes were divided into 3 groups, namely home, restaurant and school food.We separated the dishes into solid and liquid to measure the weight, salinity, and sodium content. The sodium content of the dishes was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Results: The proportion of sodium content in the liquid component of SBD were 65.2%– 66.7% in soup, 49.8%–61.2% in stew, 48.7%–56.7% in noodle/dumpling, and 43.7%–73.2% in watery kimchi. The sodium content per 100 g of the whole dishes of the same kind from the schools was significantly lower than that from the restaurants and home. However, there was no significant difference in sodium content per 100 g of whole dishes between the restaurants and home. The sodium content per 100 g of liquid in the same kind of dishes from the schools was significantly lower than those from the restaurants and home, and that from home was significantly lower than from the restaurants. Conclusion The sodium content of the liquid in SBD accounted for at least about half of the total sodium content of the whole dishes. It is important to establish a separate database with the sodium content in the solid and liquid portions of SBD and to evaluate how much liquid and/or solid would be consumed to estimate individual sodium intake more accurately.Also, it should be noted that the sodium content varies with the origin of the dishes, whether dishes were from home, restaurants, or schools.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the students' levels of involvement in school lunch service and their satisfaction levels with the service. A survey was conducted with 5th and 6th grade elementary students eating school lunches. Out of 1,680 questionnaires distributed to the students from 14 schools, 1,254 complete questionnaires (74.6%) were analyzed. The questionnaire included two 5-point multi-item scales for measuring levels of involvement in and satisfaction with school lunch service, respectively. A factor analysis grouped 20 items measuring school lunch satisfaction into three factors: 'food satisfaction', 'nutrition & sanitation satisfaction', and 'service & environment satisfaction'. As a result of multiple regression analyses controlling the influence of such variables as students' grades, gender, school location, years and places of eating school lunches, students' levels of involvement in school lunch service was proven to be positively associated with levels of school lunch satisfaction overall, as well as satisfaction levels in regard to 'food', 'nutrition & sanitation', and 'service & environment', respectively. It was suggested that efforts such as nutrition education to increase students' levels of involvement in school lunches could be a useful strategy to improve students' satisfaction with school lunch service.
Eating ; Education ; Humans ; Lunch* ; Sanitation ; Weights and Measures

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of using digital pictures to assess individuals' nutrient intakes from school lunch. The subjects for the study were 29 male students and 40 female students from two classes in a middle school located in Daejeon Metropolitan City, Korea. The school lunch service was self-operated and the students were allowed to portion the foods by themselves. The teacher in charge of each class took digital pictures of every student's lunch plate that was tagged with an i.d. number, before and after eating for two consecutive days. The researchers estimated the amount of food, which an individual actually consumed by comparing pre- and post-pictures of their plate with reference food pictures for better visual estimation of the food amounts. Individual energy and nutrient intakes were calculated using CAN-Pro (ver 3.0) using the food intake data visually estimated from the digital pictures and school lunch recipes. The teachers in charge reported that about 10~15 additional minutes were needed to take the pictures used for the study and this additional time did not place much burden on the service process during the lunch period. The results showed that the students' actual energy and nutrient intakes from the same school lunch menus were quite varied as the serving portions were not regulated and left-overs were not prohibited. This pilot study suggests that examination of individual nutrient intake using digital picture is a feasible method in the context of school lunch service.
Eating ; Fees and Charges ; Female ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; Korea ; Lunch ; Male ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; Ophthalmoplegia ; Pilot Projects

Wernicke's encephalopathy is a serious neurological disorder caused by thiamine deficiency that is characterized by the triad of ocular abnormalities, ataxia, and global confusional state. It is most often seen in alcoholics, but it can be seen in disorders associated with malnutrition and with prolonged intravenous feeding without appropriate vitamin supplementation. We report the case of a 51-year-old man with acute alcoholic pancreatitis and chronic alcoholism with an intraperitoneal abscess, who presented with Wernicke's encephalopathy. He was initially treated by fasting, intravenous fluid replacement, and intermittent vitamin infusion for 3 weeks. After subsequently starting a high carbohydrate oral diet, the patient developed diplopia, orientation disturbance, ataxia, a confusional state, and nystagmus. His neurologic signs and symptoms normalized gradually after intravenous thiamine supplementation.
Abscess ; Alcoholics ; Alcoholism ; Ataxia ; Diet ; Diplopia ; Fasting ; Humans ; Malnutrition ; Middle Aged ; Nervous System Diseases ; Neurologic Manifestations ; Orientation ; Pancreatitis, Alcoholic ; Parenteral Nutrition ; Thiamine ; Thiamine Deficiency ; Vitamins ; Wernicke Encephalopathy

Successful treatment is very high in patients with first episode schizophrenia (FES). On the other hand, the problem is a frequent relapse often caused by non-compliance. The non-compliance rate in patients with FES is 40–60% within 1 year. The causes of non-compliance are diverse, such as poor insight, drug side effects, attitude of caregiver, social stigma, etc. Clinicians should be able to provide appropriate psychosocial intervention and long acting injectable antipsychotics (LAI) to overcome non-compliance. Recently, there is solid and accumulating evidence demonstrating superiority of LAI over oral medication in terms of reducing relapse or rehospitalization. In particular, a substantial portion (approximately 30–50%) of patients and caregivers prefer LAI to oral medication. Shared decision-making is the process that clinicians and patients/caregiver should go through in order to obtain the full benefits from LAI.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Caregivers ; Compliance ; Decision Making ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Hand ; Humans ; Recurrence* ; Schizophrenia* ; Social Stigma

Pregnant women with diabetes are at greater risk for adverse outcomes, such as miscarriage, macrosomia, and preterm birth. Advances in the care of diabetes have reduced maternal and perinatal mortality rates to the levels expected in nondiabetic pregnancies. Lifestyle modification such as medical nutritional therapy and exercise is a first step in therapy for gestational diabetes. Rapid-acting insulin analogs (lispro, aspart) are comparable in safety and superior in glucose control to regular human insulin. Because the safety of long-acting insulin analogs (glargine, detemir) in pregnancy has not firmly established, the use of human insulin is preferred over basal insulin. Among the oral hypoglycemic agents, metformin and glyburide might be considered as alternative therapies.
Abortion, Spontaneous ; Administration, Oral ; Complementary Therapies ; Diabetes, Gestational ; Female ; Glucose ; Glyburide ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; Insulin ; Insulin, Long-Acting ; Insulin, Short-Acting ; Life Style ; Metformin ; Perinatal Mortality ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women ; Premature Birth ; Resin Cements