The Korean society has gone through a dramatic change in its population, with rapidly increasing number of multicultural families through international marriages since 1990s. This study investigated the differences between multicultural families and Korean families in three areas related to dietary behaviors: diet-related behaviors and perception, and food preferences. A cross-sectional analysis was performed in 500 Koreans from Korean families and 104 couples from the multicultural families with Vietnamese wives. More subjects from multicultural families grew up in the countryside, received less education and also had lower income than the subjects from Korean families. Multicultural families ate traditional Korean meals more often at home and dined out less often than Korean families. The multicultural families focused more attention on nutritional aspects of their diets than Korean families. The Vietnamese wives in multicultural families favored Vietnamese foods but they rarely ate those foods in Korea despite an easy accessibility to Vietnamese ingredients. In conclusion, the multicultural families had more traditional Korean dietary patterns than Korean families, which could have been influenced by their socioeconomic factors. Further research with a quantitative analysis is needed in future studies to understand the effect of dietary patterns on nutritional status and quality of life in multicultural and Korean families.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diet ; Family Characteristics ; Food Preferences ; Humans ; Korea ; Marriage ; Meals ; Nutritional Status ; Quality of Life ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Spouses

Objectives: The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to investigate whether non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was associated with incident bone mineral density (BMD) decrease. Methods: This study included 4536 subjects with normal BMD at baseline. NAFLD was defined as the presence of fatty liver on abdominal ultrasonography without significant alcohol consumption or other causes. Decreased BMD was defined as a diagnosis of osteopenia, osteoporosis, or BMD below the expected range for the patient’s age based on dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratio of incident BMD decrease in subjects with or without NAFLD. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to the relevant factors. Results: Across 13 354 person-years of total follow-up, decreased BMD was observed in 606 subjects, corresponding to an incidence of 45.4 cases per 1000 person-years (median follow-up duration, 2.1 years). In the model adjusted for age and sex, the hazard ratio was 0.65 (95% confidence interval, 0.51 to 0.82), and statistical significance disappeared after adjustment for body mass index (BMI) and cardiometabolic factors. In the subgroup analyses, NAFLD was associated with a lower risk of incident BMD decrease in females even after adjustment for confounders. The direction of the effect of NAFLD on the risk of BMD decrease changed depending on BMI category and body fat percentage, although the impact was statistically insignificant. Conclusions NAFLD had a significant protective effect on BMD in females. However, the effects may vary depending on BMI category or body fat percentage.

BACKGROUND: The number of internet users is increasing rapidly and internet addiction among adolescents has become a serious public health problem in Korea. In the light of behavioral addiction, this study was aimed to identify the associations between the risk of internet addiction and other problem behaviors which can lead to addiction, such as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, drug abuse, and sexual intercourse among a nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents. METHODS: Data from the 2010 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (respondents, 73,238) were analyzed. Risk of internet addiction was assessed by the 'Korean Internet Addiction Proneness Scale for Youth-Short Form: Self Report' which was developed by the Korean National Information Society Agency in 2008. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the odds ratios of problem behaviors among adolescents at high risk for internet addiction and adolescents at low risk for internet addiction. RESULTS: The odds of smoking experience, drug abuse experience, and sexual intercourse experience were significantly higher among boys at high risk for internet addiction compared to boys at low risk for internet addiction. Among girls at high risk of internet addiction, the odds of smoking experience, drinking experience, and drug abuse experience were significantly higher compared with girls at low risk of internet addiction. CONCLUSION: The risk of internet addiction was associated with cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, drug abuse, and sexual intercourse experience among Korean adolescents.
Adolescent ; Alcohol Drinking ; Behavior, Addictive ; Coitus ; Drinking ; Humans ; Internet ; Korea ; Light ; Logistic Models ; Odds Ratio ; Public Health ; Risk-Taking ; Sexual Behavior ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Substance-Related Disorders

PURPOSE: In the present study, the etiological trends in male central precocious puberty (CPP) were examined, and annual distribution was evaluated. METHODS: Seventy-one male CPP subjects who started puberty before 9 years of age were included in this study. All individuals were diagnosed as having CPP at Samsung Medical Center between 2001 and 2016. Chronological age at puberty onset, diagnosis of CPP, bone age, weight (kg), height (cm), puberty stage, brain magnetic resonance imaging findings, testosterone level, basal gonadotropin level, and gonadotropin level after gonadotropin releasing hormone stimulation were analyzed. RESULTS: The 71 patients were divided into 2 groups: idiopathic (group I) and organic (group II) when the lesion was identified as associated with the central nervous system (CNS) or when the patient received chemotherapy for non-CNS tumors before CPP diagnosis, respectively. Forty-four cases (62%) were idiopathic, and 27 (38%) were organic. The proportion of idiopathic CPP was higher than that of organic CPP during the study period. In 51.9% of organic cases, puberty started before 8 years of age, whereas it started after that age in 93.2% of the idiopathic cases. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, among all male CPP cases, 62% were idiopathic. The probability of idiopathic CPP prevalence was higher in males when the puberty onset was after 8 years of age with no history of cranial radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
Adolescent ; Brain ; Central Nervous System ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone ; Gonadotropins ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male* ; Prevalence ; Puberty ; Puberty, Precocious* ; Radiotherapy ; Testosterone

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop hypotheses on trends in malaria incidence in North Korea using malaria incidence among South Korean visitors to North Korea. METHODS: The number of South Korean tourists who visited Mount Kumgang from 2000 to 2008 and the number of South Korean employees at the Kaesong Industrial Complex from 2005 to 2015 were obtained from the Korean Statistical Information Service. The number of malaria cases among South Koreans who visited North Korea was obtained from a previous report. The incidence of malaria per 100,000 person-years was calculated using these data and compared with the malaria incidence in North Korea derived from published articles. RESULTS: A high incidence of malaria in 2001 and a sharp decline in the following years were observed in both South and North Korean data. Since then, North Korean data showed a relatively low and stable incidence, but the incidence among South Koreans visiting North Korea increased in 2006. Considering the trends in mass primaquine preventive treatment, floods, and economic growth rate, the incidence of malaria may have increased in North Korea in 2006. Since 2009, the incidence of malaria decreased gradually according to both South and North Korean data. CONCLUSIONS The trends of malaria incidence in North Korea could be reflected through its incidence among South Koreans who visited North Korea. For future inter-Korean collaboration aiming to eradicate malaria, we propose that a North Korean malaria monitoring system be established applying this method.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop hypotheses on trends in malaria incidence in North Korea using malaria incidence among South Korean visitors to North Korea. METHODS: The number of South Korean tourists who visited Mount Kumgang from 2000 to 2008 and the number of South Korean employees at the Kaesong Industrial Complex from 2005 to 2015 were obtained from the Korean Statistical Information Service. The number of malaria cases among South Koreans who visited North Korea was obtained from a previous report. The incidence of malaria per 100,000 person-years was calculated using these data and compared with the malaria incidence in North Korea derived from published articles. RESULTS: A high incidence of malaria in 2001 and a sharp decline in the following years were observed in both South and North Korean data. Since then, North Korean data showed a relatively low and stable incidence, but the incidence among South Koreans visiting North Korea increased in 2006. Considering the trends in mass primaquine preventive treatment, floods, and economic growth rate, the incidence of malaria may have increased in North Korea in 2006. Since 2009, the incidence of malaria decreased gradually according to both South and North Korean data. CONCLUSIONS The trends of malaria incidence in North Korea could be reflected through its incidence among South Koreans who visited North Korea. For future inter-Korean collaboration aiming to eradicate malaria, we propose that a North Korean malaria monitoring system be established applying this method.

BACKGROUND: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is one of the most common inherited kidney diseases and a frequent cause of end-stage renal failure. Generally accepted indications of nephrectomy in ADPKD cases are recurrent pyelonephritis, cyst hemorrhage, pain refractory to medical management and massively enlarged kidneys. Although pretransplant nephrectomy has been applied in these patients, evidence of the benefits of this strategy is lacking. METHODS: ADPKD patients transplanted from cadaveric or living donors were reviewed retrospectively regard to posttransplant complications and outcomes. We compared operative time, hospital day, serum creatinine at discharge and at 1year after transplantation, complication, rejection and graft loss. RESULTS: Between February 1995 and March 2008, 24 patients with end stage ADPKD received kidney transplantation at our hospital. 14 patients underwent simultaneous bilateral nephrectomy (Group I), 10 patients underwent pretransplant sequential nephrectomy (Group II). The mean operative time was 5.87+/-1.17, 9.52+/-2.67 hours in Group I and II, respectively (P=0.001). The mean hospital stay was different between Group I and II at 20.8+/-6.0, 42.8+/-17.6 days, respectively (P<0.001). Overall posttransplant complications were more frequent in the sequential nephrectomy (43% vs 80%); however, the difference was not statistically significant. Also about rejection, graft loss, there are no statistically significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Our data imply that there is no higher morbidity or mortality when performing simultaneous bilateral nephrectomy during renal transplantation in patients with renal failure due to ADPKD. Therefore if bilateral nephrectomy is performed as an adjunct to transplantation, it is tolerable to be done at the same time as renal grafting.
Cadaver ; Creatinine ; Graft Rejection ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Kidney ; Kidney Diseases ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Length of Stay ; Living Donors ; Nephrectomy ; Operative Time ; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant ; Pyelonephritis ; Rejection (Psychology) ; Renal Insufficiency ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplants

Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) is a relatively rare disease which is characterized by multiple gas-filled cysts in the wall of gastrointestinal tract. It is associated with a number of clinical conditions including organ transplantation. We report a 8-year-girl of PCI without definite symptom who was taken liver transplantation after Kasai operation due to biliary atresia. On radiologic finding revealed the multiple clustered localized collection of gas in the ascending and transverse colon. She was asymptomatic and pneumatosis is discovered incidentally on abdominal X-ray at 3 months after liver transplantation. She was taken no specific treatment and discharged. The patient is currently well 6 months post- discharge with the improved abdominal radiographs.
Biliary Atresia ; Colon, Transverse ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Organ Transplantation ; Pneumatosis Cystoides Intestinalis* ; Rare Diseases ; Transplants

PURPOSE: Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease characterized by bronchial hyperresponsiveness and reversible airway obstruction. Bronchial challenge with methacholine or adenosine-5'-monophosphate (AMP) has been used to diagnose asthma. Recently, measurement of exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) can also be used for the diagnosis of asthma. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic value for asthma between challenge with methacholine or AMP and eNO in children with chronic nonspecific respiratory symptoms. METHODS: One hundred thirty-three children who have chronic nonspecific respiratory symptoms were enrolled. Bronchial challenge with methacholin and AMP were performed, and eNO was measured in all subjects. Subjects were defined as asthma based on the clinical symptoms and bronchodilator response during follow-up of at least 3 months after test. RESULTS: Thirty-three subjects (34%) were finally diagnosed as asthma among 97 patients after 3-month follow-up. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the diagnosis of asthma were 0.903 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.838-0.969; P<0.001) for methacholline challenge, 0.867 (95% CI, 0.783-0.950; P<0.001) for AMP challenge, and 0.588 (95% CI, 0.467-0.709, P=0.156) for eNO measurement. The cutoff values of these tests were methacholine PC20 (provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second) 12.0 mg/mL (sensitivity, 87.9%; specificity, 82.8%), AMP PC20 566.2 mg/mL (sensitivity, 84.8%; specificity, 85.9%), and eNO 18.5 ppb (sensitivity, 45.5%; specificity, 71.9%). CONCLUSION: Measurement of eNO may be inferior to challenge with methacholine and AMP for the diagnosis of asthma in children.
Airway Obstruction ; Asthma* ; Bronchial Provocation Tests ; Child ; Diagnosis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Humans ; Methacholine Chloride* ; Nitric Oxide* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Primary retroperitoneal mucinous cystadenocarcinoma is a very rare malignancy. To date, 51 cases have been reported, including 3 in pregnant women. Herein, we report magnetic resonance findings of a 31-year-old Korean woman (15 weeks and 3 days pregnant) with primary retroperitoneal mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. On abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a mass was identified in the retroperitoneal area with a nodular lesion showing heterogeneous signal intensity and focal wall thickening on T1- and T2-weighted images. Exploratory laparotomy and tumor excision were performed. Histological examination revealed primary retroperitoneal mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. The patient subsequently underwent total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and omentectomy for metastatic mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of both ovaries 15 months after her initial surgery.
Adult ; Cystadenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Laparotomy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Mucins ; Ovary ; Pregnant Women ; Retroperitoneal Neoplasms