Objective: To evaluate effects of docosahexaenoic acid-enriched phosphatidylcholine (DHA-PC) on cytokine production induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: The culture supernatants of splenocytes exposed to DHA-PC along with LPS were harvested to determine the production of Th 1 (IFN-γ and IL-2) and Th2 [IL-4, IL-5, IL-6 and IL-12/IL-23(p40)] cytokines. Cytokines were measured using ELISA. Results: Co-administration of DHA-PC with LPS resulted in significantly lower IL-2 expression compared to that observed with administration of only LPS (P<0.01). Treatment with DHA-PC and LPS significantly increased IL-5 expression (P<0.01). Moreover, co-administration of DHA-PC with LPS significantly decreased IL-6 and IL-12/IL-23(p40) expressions compared to that observed with administration of only LPS (P<0.01). Conclusions: Our results suggest that DHA-PC inhibits pro-inflammatory cytokines [IL-2, IL-6 and IL-12/IL-23(p40)] expression on induction of inflammation.

PURPOSE: We experienced a patient with posttraumatic duplication of the sternoclavicular joint causing a protruding deformity, whose major complaint was aesthetic. The patients history, radiologic findings, and surgical treatment are reported. METHODS: A 41-year-old bus driver complained a bony prominence at the left medial clavicle, which had developed after a fracture. The patient was annoyed by the protrusion, which was even visible, when he was wearing a pullover. A three dimensional CT scan showed that the medial head was split into two portions, of which the anterior portion was protruding. In general anesthesia the anterior portion of the medial head was excised. RESULTS: The bony prominence was corrected successfully. Follow up three dimensional CT scans showed that the anterior cortex of the clavicle had regenerated completely at the resection line one year after the operation. CONCLUSION: Surgical interventions for complications after clavicular fracture are usually carried out, only if there is a limitation of function or if it is painful. We report of a patient with posttraumatic bifurcation of the medial clavicular head, most probably caused by malunion. Upon the patient's request, the deformity causing protrusion of the medial clavicular area was successfully resected for cosmetic reasons.
Adult ; Anesthesia, General ; Clavicle* ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head* ; Humans ; Sternoclavicular Joint ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge that people with epilepsy (PWE) have regarding the nature of epilepsy and its management, and also to identify the factors contributing to their knowledge of epilepsy. METHODS: We studied 79 consecutive PWE who visited the outpatient clinic of Seoul National University Hospital using a structured questionnaire consisting of 27 questions in 3 categories. The mean correct response rate was 61%, with 81% believing that brain cells die during a seizure, 29% considering it dangerous to take a bath or shower alone, and more than 70% believing that taking antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) will impair memory and damage the liver and kidneys. RESULTS: The mean overall correct-answer rate was significantly related to gender, length of education, type of seizures, and regularity of hospital visits (all p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The level of knowledge deviated significantly from the scientific data, especially in the causes of epilepsy, safety issues, and side effects of AEDs. A large-scale study should identify those PWE with the lowest knowledge of epilepsy, and then develop and implement suitable educational intervention programs to improve their knowledge.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Anticonvulsants ; Baths ; Brain ; Education ; Epilepsy* ; Kidney ; Liver ; Memory ; Seizures ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The relationship between dietary practices and juvenile delinquency was studied using a dietary survey. Subjects were selected from juvenile delinquents who were under the supervision of the Seoul Probation Office of the Ministry of Justice. The study group consisted of 52 male and 52 female delinquents. As a control group, 104 exemplary high school students were selected in Seoul. A questionnaire was designed to find out the subjects' general characteristics, dietary habits, lifestyle, eating behavior, food frequency, and nutrient intake using the 24-hour recall method. Compared to the exemplary students, the juvenile delinquents were significantly different in education level, family status, monthly allowance, residence status, breast fed, parents' education level, parents' concern. In dietary habits, fifty-eight percent of the juvenile delinquents ate 2 or fewer meals per day, preferred to eat with friends, and liked hot tasting foods. The juvenile delinquents consumed more ion drinks (OR=9.26 CI: 3.83-22.37), rameon (OR=7.67 CI: 3.21-18.33), cola (OR=6.75 CI: 2.91-15.69), soft drinks (OR=6.12 CI: 2.53-14.81), steamed korean sausage (OR=5.34 CI:2.31-12.32), hamburger (OR=5.15 CI: 1.91-13.87), kimbab (OR=3.63 CI: 1.76-7.46), ddokbokgi (OR=3.17 CI: 1.58-6.38), candy (OR=3.08 CI: 1.41-6.73), white rice (OR=2.59 CI: 1.19-5.64), hotdog (OR=2.52 CI: 1.31-4.86), and less rice mixed with grains (OR=0.02 CI: 0.01-0.05), tangerine (OR=0.06 CI: 0.02-0.20), milk (OR=0.29 CI: 0.14-0.60), roasted fish (OR=0.32 CI: 0.28-0.99, anchovy (OR=0.35 CI: 0.17-0.72), seaweed (OR=0.37 CI: 0.16-0.83), and tofu (OR=0.48 CI: 0.23-0.99) than the exemplary students. With respect to the juvenile delinquents, the nutrient intakes lower than 75% of the Korean RDA were for riboflavin (75.0%) and calcium (47.9%) among the boys, and calcium (46.9%) and iron (60.4%) among the girls. To prevent juvenile delinquency, nutritional education and well-balanced school food service meals should be emphasized so as to improve the management of dietary practices.
Breast ; Calcium ; Candy ; Carbonated Beverages ; Edible Grain ; Cola ; Education ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Food Habits ; Food Services ; Friends ; Humans ; Iron ; Juvenile Delinquency ; Korea* ; Life Style ; Male ; Meals ; Milk ; Organization and Administration ; Riboflavin ; Seaweed ; Seoul ; Social Justice ; Soy Foods ; Steam ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: Noise reduction using wavelet thresholding of multitaper estimators (WTME) and geometric approach to spectral subtraction (GASS) can improve speech quality of noisy sound for speech coding strategy. This study used Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) to assess the performance of the WTME and GASS for speech coding strategy. METHODS: This study included 25 Mandarin sentences as test materials. Environmental noises including the air-conditioner, cafeteria and multi-talker were artificially added to test materials at signal to noise ratio (SNR) of -5, 0, 5, and 10 dB. HiRes 120 vocoder WTME and GASS noise reduction process were used in this study to generate sound outputs. The sound outputs were measured by the PESQ to evaluate sound quality. RESULTS: Two figures and three tables were used to assess the speech quality of the sound output of the WTME and GASS. CONCLUSION: There is no significant difference between the overall performance of sound quality in both methods, but the geometric approach to spectral subtraction method is slightly better than the wavelet thresholding of multitaper estimators.
Clinical Coding ; Cochlear Implants ; Noise ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Speech Production Measurement

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes on alpine skiers' body composition, anaerobic power, isokinetic knee strength and muscle balance ratio (hamstring to quadriceps [HQ] ratio) before and after winter season. METHODS: The subjects of this study was 22 elite alpine skier, aged 16–20 years. Participants were divided into two groups (male, 12; female, 10). The study conducts a periodization training program in the winter season for 4 months. The data processing of this study was analyzed by paired t-test, using SPSS 21.0 statistics program. RESULTS: There was significance on fat free mass in male group (p < 0.05); there was significance on anaerobic power and average power in female group (p < 0.01), and fatigue index significantly increased in male group (p < 0.05). There was significance on extension power of male group and flexion power of female group in 30°/sec. There was significance on extension power of both groups in 180°/sec (p < 0.05). There was significant increase on flexion power of male group in 240°/sec (p < 0.01). There was significant increase on H/Q% of female right side in 30°/sec (p < 0.01). There was significance on right side of both groups in 180°/sec (p < 0.05). There were significances on right and left side of both groups in 240°/sec (male, p < 0.01; female, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Therefore, this study suggests that the periodization training should be important to maintain and to develop seasonal condition of alpine skiers.
Body Composition* ; Education ; Fatigue ; Female ; Humans ; Knee ; Male ; Seasons*

Since the COVID-19 pandemic first began in December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus has continuously evolved with many variants emerging across the world. These variants are categorized as the variant of interest (VOI), variant of concern (VOC), and variant under monitoring (VUM). As of September 15, 2021, there are four SARS-CoV-2 lineages designated as the VOC (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta variants). VOCs have increased transmissibility compared to the original virus, and have the potential for increasing disease severity. In addition, VOCs exhibit decreased susceptibility to vaccineinduced and infection-induced immune responses, and thus possess the ability to reinfect previously infected and recovered individuals. Given their ability to evade immune responses, VOC are less susceptible to monoclonal antibody treatments. VOCs can also impact the effectiveness of mRNA and adenovirus vector vaccines, although the currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines are still effective in preventing infection and severe disease. Current measures to reduce transmission as well as efforts to monitor and understand the impact of variants should be continued. Here, we review the molecular features, epidemiology, impact on transmissibility, disease severity, and vaccine effectiveness of VOCs.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic first began in December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus has continuously evolved with many variants emerging across the world. These variants are categorized as the variant of interest (VOI), variant of concern (VOC), and variant under monitoring (VUM). As of September 15, 2021, there are four SARS-CoV-2 lineages designated as the VOC (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta variants). VOCs have increased transmissibility compared to the original virus, and have the potential for increasing disease severity. In addition, VOCs exhibit decreased susceptibility to vaccineinduced and infection-induced immune responses, and thus possess the ability to reinfect previously infected and recovered individuals. Given their ability to evade immune responses, VOC are less susceptible to monoclonal antibody treatments. VOCs can also impact the effectiveness of mRNA and adenovirus vector vaccines, although the currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines are still effective in preventing infection and severe disease. Current measures to reduce transmission as well as efforts to monitor and understand the impact of variants should be continued. Here, we review the molecular features, epidemiology, impact on transmissibility, disease severity, and vaccine effectiveness of VOCs.

As soon as the first case of the omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was reported in November 2021, it quickly spread worldwide with the emergence of several subvariants. Compared to previous variants, omicron was heavily mutated, especially for those in the Spike (S) protein and its receptor-binding domain. These mutations allowed the viruses to evade immune responses (i.e., previous infections and vaccine-elicited) and increase in transmissibility. Although vaccine effectiveness is decreased for omicron, boosters remain effective for protecting against severe diseases. Also, bivalent vaccines have been developed to increase vaccine effectiveness. Interestingly, although omicron is highly infectious, it has less morbidity and mortality compared to previously identified variants, such as delta. Additionally, the mutations that allow the virus to evade immune responses also allow it to evade many of the monoclonal antibodies developed at the beginning of the pandemic for treatment. Here, we reviewed the omicron variant’s epidemiology, genetics, transmissibility, disease severity, and responsiveness to vaccine and treatments.

As soon as the first case of the omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was reported in November 2021, it quickly spread worldwide with the emergence of several subvariants. Compared to previous variants, omicron was heavily mutated, especially for those in the Spike (S) protein and its receptor-binding domain. These mutations allowed the viruses to evade immune responses (i.e., previous infections and vaccine-elicited) and increase in transmissibility. Although vaccine effectiveness is decreased for omicron, boosters remain effective for protecting against severe diseases. Also, bivalent vaccines have been developed to increase vaccine effectiveness. Interestingly, although omicron is highly infectious, it has less morbidity and mortality compared to previously identified variants, such as delta. Additionally, the mutations that allow the virus to evade immune responses also allow it to evade many of the monoclonal antibodies developed at the beginning of the pandemic for treatment. Here, we reviewed the omicron variant’s epidemiology, genetics, transmissibility, disease severity, and responsiveness to vaccine and treatments.