Purpose: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy for the treatment of dry eye with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted for 124 eyes of 62 patients with dry eye with MGD who underwent 3 IPL sessions at 3 week intervals. All patients underwent clinical examination before and during treatment as well as 3 weeks after the last treatment. Measured parameters include Meibomian gland expressibility (MGE), Meibomian gland secretion (MGS) score, tear meniscus height (TMH), noninvasive break-time (NIBUT), corneal staining score (Oxford scale), Ocular Surface Diseases Index (OSDI), and subjective ocular discomfort improvement. Results: Meibomian gland function (MGE, MGS), ocular surface parameters (NIBUT, Oxford scale) and dry eye symptom (OSDI, subjective ocular discomfort improvement) of patients were significantly improved from baseline to after the 1st IPL, and the 3rd IPL weeks (p < 0.05 for all). However, no significant difference in TMH was observed. Conclusions This study showed that IPL was a useful and effective treatment in patients of dry eye with MGD to stabilizes the tear film and improve meibomian gland function and ocular symptoms.

Purpose: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy for the treatment of dry eye with meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted for 124 eyes of 62 patients with dry eye with MGD who underwent 3 IPL sessions at 3 week intervals. All patients underwent clinical examination before and during treatment as well as 3 weeks after the last treatment. Measured parameters include Meibomian gland expressibility (MGE), Meibomian gland secretion (MGS) score, tear meniscus height (TMH), noninvasive break-time (NIBUT), corneal staining score (Oxford scale), Ocular Surface Diseases Index (OSDI), and subjective ocular discomfort improvement. Results: Meibomian gland function (MGE, MGS), ocular surface parameters (NIBUT, Oxford scale) and dry eye symptom (OSDI, subjective ocular discomfort improvement) of patients were significantly improved from baseline to after the 1st IPL, and the 3rd IPL weeks (p < 0.05 for all). However, no significant difference in TMH was observed. Conclusions This study showed that IPL was a useful and effective treatment in patients of dry eye with MGD to stabilizes the tear film and improve meibomian gland function and ocular symptoms.

Background: Although the optimal duration of breastfeeding remains unclear, breastfeeding is generally recommended exclusively for the first 6 months of life, which continues into late infancy. However, the awareness regarding the effects of long-term breastfeeding is relatively low compared with that of breastfeeding in early infancy. We aimed to investigate the growth and nutritional characteristics of the children with prolonged breastfeeding (PBF) over 1 year. Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on the data of children aged 12 to 23 months from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010–2020) conducted by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Data on anthropometric measurements, dietary behavior, and food and nutrient intake were extracted, and the association between PBF and growth, nutritional status, and dietary patterns were analyzed. Results: Of the 872 children with a birth weight of ≥ 2.5 kg in the final analysis, 34.2% continued breastfeeding over 12 months of age, and their median breastfeeding duration was 14.2 months. Children with PBF were more likely to have lower current body weight (P < 0.001) and weight gain (P < 0.001), lower daily protein (P = 0.012), calcium (P < 0.001), and iron (P < 0.001) intake per calorie compared with children weaned by 12 months of age or those who were never breastfed. Furthermore, they were started on complementary food at 6 months or later rather than 4–5 months (P < 0.001), consumed cow’s milk earlier (P = 0.012), and consumed probiotics as dietary supplements (P < 0.001) significantly less commonly. When comparing the intake of food groups, children with PBF had a significantly higher intake of cereals and grains (P = 0.023) and fruits (P = 0.020) and a significantly lower intake of bean products (P = 0.020) and milk and dairy products (P = 0.003). Conclusion Korean children who continued breastfeeding over 12 months of age showed distinct characteristics in terms of growth, nutritional status, and dietary patterns in the second year of life compared to children who did not. Long-term additional research on their growth and nutritional status may be needed; however, these findings are significant as important fundamental data for nutritional counseling to establish healthy PBF.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study is aimed at elucidating potential temporal associations between the occurrence of Kawasaki disease (KD) and various viral infections. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We obtained monthly patterns of KD from the seventh nationwide survey and viral detection data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2009 to 2011 and evaluated temporal correlations between them for each month. The respiratory viruses detected using a multiplex real-time-polymerase chain reaction kit were influenza virus (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, A/H5N1, and B), adenovirus, parainfluenza virus (type 1, 2, 3), respiratory syncytial virus (type A, B), human rhinovirus, human coronavirus (OC43/229E, NL63), human bocavirus, and enterovirus. RESULTS: We obtained data from a total of 13031 patients who were treated for acute KD from 87 hospitals with pediatric residence programs. During this survey, KD showed highest overall incidence in summer and winter seasons and lowest incidence in February and October. We received viral detection data for a total of 14267 patients. Viral detection was highest during winter and spring seasons. The most commonly detected virus was human rhinovirus (32.6%), followed by influenza virus (26.8%). The monthly incidence of KD showed significant correlation with the monthly overall viral detection (p=0.022, r=0.382). In particular, human bocavirus and enterovirus have significant correlations with monthly patterns of KD occurrence (p=0.032 and p=0.007, respectively) and influenza virus correlated with KD occurrence with borderline significance (p=0.063). CONCLUSION: The temporal association between monthly occurrence of KD and viral detection suggests the etiologic importance of precedent infection in the development of KD.
Adenoviridae ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Coronavirus ; Enterovirus ; Human bocavirus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Rhinovirus ; Seasons

We made a mistake in our recently published article.

BACKGROUND: South Korea has experienced problems with excessive pharmaceutical expenditures. In 2010, the South Korean government introduced an outpatient prescription incentive program to effectively manage pharmaceutical expenditures. Therefore, we examined the relationship between the outpatient prescription incentive program and pharmaceutical expenditures. METHODS: We used data from the Korean National Health Insurance claims database, which included medical claims filed for 22,732 clinics from 2011–2014 to evaluate associated pharmaceutical expenditures. We performed multiple regression analysis and Poisson regression analysis using generalized estimating equation models to examine the associations between outpatient prescription incentives and the outcome variables. RESULTS: The data used in this study consisted of 123,392 cases from 22,372 clinics (average 5.4 periods follow-up). Clinics that had received outpatient prescription incentives in the last period had better cost saving and Outpatient Prescribing Costliness Index (OPCI) (received: proportion of cost saving, β=6.8179; p-value <0.0001; OPCI, β=−0.0227; p-value <0.0001; reference=non-received). Moreover, these clinics had higher risk in the provision of outpatient prescription incentive (relative risk, 2.772; 95% confidence interval, 2.720 to 2.824). The associations were higher in clinics that had separate prescribing and dispensing programs, or had professional staff. CONCLUSION: The introduction of an outpatient prescription incentive program for clinics effectively managed problems with rapid increases of pharmaceutical expenditures in South Korea. However, the pharmaceutical expenditures still increased in spite of the positive impact of the outpatient prescription incentive program. Therefore, healthcare professionals and health policy makers should develop more effective alternatives (i.e., for clinics without separate prescribing and dispensing programs) based on our results.
Cost Savings ; Delivery of Health Care ; Health Expenditures ; Health Policy ; Health Services Research ; Humans ; Korea* ; Motivation* ; National Health Programs ; Outpatients* ; Prescriptions*

BACKGROUND: South Korea has experienced problems with excessive pharmaceutical expenditures. In 2010, the South Korean government introduced an outpatient prescription incentive program to effectively manage pharmaceutical expenditures. Therefore, we examined the relationship between the outpatient prescription incentive program and pharmaceutical expenditures. METHODS: We used data from the Korean National Health Insurance claims database, which included medical claims filed for 22,732 clinics from 2011–2014 to evaluate associated pharmaceutical expenditures. We performed multiple regression analysis and Poisson regression analysis using generalized estimating equation models to examine the associations between outpatient prescription incentives and the outcome variables. RESULTS: The data used in this study consisted of 123,392 cases from 22,372 clinics (average 5.4 periods follow-up). Clinics that had received outpatient prescription incentives in the last period had better cost saving and Outpatient Prescribing Costliness Index (OPCI) (received: proportion of cost saving, β=6.8179; p-value <0.0001; OPCI, β=−0.0227; p-value <0.0001; reference=non-received). Moreover, these clinics had higher risk in the provision of outpatient prescription incentive (relative risk, 2.772; 95% confidence interval, 2.720 to 2.824). The associations were higher in clinics that had separate prescribing and dispensing programs, or had professional staff. CONCLUSION: The introduction of an outpatient prescription incentive program for clinics effectively managed problems with rapid increases of pharmaceutical expenditures in South Korea. However, the pharmaceutical expenditures still increased in spite of the positive impact of the outpatient prescription incentive program. Therefore, healthcare professionals and health policy makers should develop more effective alternatives (i.e., for clinics without separate prescribing and dispensing programs) based on our results.
Cost Savings ; Delivery of Health Care ; Health Expenditures ; Health Policy ; Health Services Research ; Humans ; Korea* ; Motivation* ; National Health Programs ; Outpatients* ; Prescriptions*

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The impacts of prophylactic central compartment neck dissection (pCCND) on the prognosis of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) are controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between nodal factors of pCCND and the prognosis of PTC patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1754 patients who underwent thyroidectomy with pCCND were retrospectively reviewed. Nodal factor was defined as the number of metastatic lymph node (MLN), lymph node yield (LNY) and lymph node ratio (LNR). In regarding the cutoff of nodal factors, patients were categorized as low/high MLN, LNR and LNY group. The correlation of clinicopathologic characteristics including nodal factors and recurrence free survival (RFS) were anlalyzed. RESULTS: Of these, 1195 patients underwent thyroidectomy with unilateral pCCND and 559 patients underwent total thyroidectomy with bilateral pCCND. During follow-up, 45 (2.57%) patients showed recurrent disease. Of these, 19 patients underwent bilateral pCCND and 26 cases were unilateral pCCND. Gross extrathyroidal extension (ETE), high MLN and LNR showed statistically significant on RFS in univariate analysis in unilateral pCCND. In multivariate analysis, gross ETE and high LNR were independent risk factor of recurrence in unilateral pCCND. In bilateral pCCND, larger tumor size, minimal ETE, high MLN and LNR were significant correlation with RFS in univariate analysis. However, in multivariate analysis, multiple larger tumor and high LNR showed significant correlation with RFS. LNY was not statistically significant in both unilateral and bilateral pCCND. CONCLUSION: In regarding nodal factors, high LNR was only independent risk factor to worse RFS in both unilateral and bilateral pCCND in cN0 PTC patients.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neck Dissection ; Neck ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroidectomy

Background: As the population rapidly ages, older adults are increasingly likely to experience mobility problems. This study aims to explore the characteristics related to an elderly person’s willingness to live in a nursing home if they have mobility problems Methods: This study analyzed data from 9,917 older adults (5,976 young-old and 3,941 old-old) obtained from the 2020 National Survey of Older Koreans. The dependent variable was the intended place of residence for older adults with mobility problems.Independent variables included various characteristics: (1) sociodemographic and social support, (2) health and functional status, and (3) residential environment. Rao-Scott chi-square tests and survey logistic regression analyses were performed for the young-old and old-old, respectively. Results: The intention to live in a nursing home was significantly different between the young-old (30.4%) and the old-old (34.7%) (p=0.009). According to fully adjusted multivariable analyses, for the young-old, the odds ratio of intending to live in a nursing home was significantly higher in social security benefit recipients (1.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06–1.97) compared to other individuals. The odds ratio was higher in unmarried (divorced, separated, widowed, or never-married) individuals for both young-old (1.41; 95% CI, 1.22–1.63) and old-old (1.34; 95% CI, 1.09–1.65) age groups, compared to their respective married counterparts. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that in an aging society, health and social policies should be designed considering the different characteristics of the elderly to improve their health, function, and quality of life.

Arginine methylation has been implicated in the signal transduction pathway leading to cell growth. Here we show that a regenerating rat liver following partial hepatectomy exhibited elevated methyltransferase activity as shown by increased methylation of a subset of endogenous proteins in vitro. The 20-kDa protein was shown to be a major cytosolic protein undergoing methylation in regenerating hepatocytes. Methylation of the 20-kDa protein peaked at 1 d following partial hepatectomy, which gradually declined to a basal level within the next 14 d. Likewise, methylation of exogenously added bulk histones followed the similar time kinetics as the 20-kDa protein, reflecting time-dependent changes in methyltransferase activity in regenerating hepatocytes. Presence of exogenously added bulk histone in the in vitro methylation assay resulted in dose-dependent inhibition of methylation of the 20-kDa protein. All the histone subtypes tested, histone 1, 2A, 2B, 3 or 4, were able to inhibit methylation of the 20-kDa protein while addition of cytochrome C, a-lactalbumin, carbonic anhydrase, bovine serum albumin, and g globulin minimally affected methylation of the 20-kDa protein. Since methylation of the 20-kDa protein preceded proliferation of hepatocytes upon partial hepatectomy, it is tempting to speculate that the methylated 20-kDa protein by activated histone-specific methyltransferase may be involved in an early signal critical for liver regeneration.
Animals ; Cytoplasm/*chemistry ; *Hepatectomy ; Histones/metabolism ; Humans ; Liver Regeneration/*physiology ; Methylation ; Methyltransferases/metabolism ; Protein Isoforms/metabolism ; Proteins/*metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Signal Transduction/physiology ; Subcellular Fractions/chemistry/metabolism