Children have dynamic process of maturation and substantial changes in growth and development which eventually make the drug safety profiles different from adults. Medication errors (MEs) in pediatrics are reported to occur three times more likely than adults. The aims of this study were to identify the characteristics of pediatric MEs in Korea at national level and help raise awareness of risks from the MEs in pediatrics. We conducted a descriptive analysis with the pediatric ME reports in Korea Adverse Event Reporting System (KAERS) database from 1989 to 2012 and 208 ME reports in pediatrics were found. Based on KAERS database, the proportion of reported pediatric ME in adverse drug event (ADE) reports was 2.73 times (95% CI, 2.35-3.17) higher than that of adult ME. In 208 ME reports, we found a total of 236 ME-related terms within 19 types of MEs. The most common type of MEs was "accidental overdose" (n = 58, 24.6%), followed by "drug maladministration" (n = 50, 21.2%) and "medication error" (n = 41, 17.4%). After the narratives of ME reports were reviewed, we noticed that most of them did no harm to patients, but some cases were needed for medical treatment. Our data suggest that MEs in pediatrics are not negligible in Korea. We expect that this study would increase the awareness of the problem in pediatric MEs and induce the need for further development of an effective national ME preventing system in Korea.
Adult ; *Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems ; Child ; *Databases, Factual ; Humans ; Medication Errors/*statistics & numerical data ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Time Factors

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors influencing the wellness of call center employees. Methods: From December 2018 to October 2019, a cross-sectional study was conducted with 155 workers recruited from the call centers in Seoul, South Korea. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires were used to measure the following scales: Korean occupational stress scale, emotional labor scale, work-life balance scale and wellness scale. Using the SPSS 26.0 program, the descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results: The mean score of the wellness level of call center employees was 3.05 out of a maximum of 5.00. More wellness level of call center employees was associated with gender, psychiatric diagnosis, and call characteristics. A multiple regression analysis indicated that the total scores on the wellness scale were predicted by call characteristics, occupational stress and work-life balance, with an explanatory power of 42.2%. Conclusion Study findings show that it is necessary to promote wellness in call center workers with differentiated strategies according to call characteristics, occupational stress and work-life balance. This implies that it is necessary to understand the call characteristics and patterns of workers and to provide an innovative wellness program tailored to individual characteristics for an effective management of the emotional labor and occupational stress.

Objectives: Public health workers have been at the forefront of treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and managing the pandemic. The redeployment of this workforce has limited or interrupted other public health services, including testing for humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on HIVtesting and diagnosis in the Republic of Korea from 2016 to 2021, comparing data before and after the onset of COVID-19. Methods: Annual HIV testing data were collected from each institution through direct communication or from open-source databases. The annual number of new HIV cases was obtained from the official report of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Data on healthcare visits for HIV diagnosis or treatment were extracted from the open-source database of the National Insurance Health Service of Korea. Interrupted time series regression was conducted, stratified by institution type. Results: In 2020, HIV tests, diagnoses, and visits decreased. Notably, public health centers experienced a substantial reduction in 2020−2021 compared to previous years. The annual percentage change in HIV tests was −53.0%, while for HIV diagnoses, it was −31.6%. The decrease in visits for HIV was also most pronounced for public facilities: −33.3% in 2020 and −45.6% in 2021 relative to 2019. Conclusion The numbers of tests, diagnoses, and healthcare visits for HIV at public healthcenters in the Republic of Korea substantially decreased in 2020 and 2021. The impacts of thesechanges on the early diagnosis and treatment of HIV necessitate further monitoring.

The variant B.1.1.7 of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the RNA virus causing the pandemic more than a year worldwide, was reported from United Kingdom (UK) in late December 2020. It was reported that mortality increases by 65% and transmissibility increases by 70%, which may result in an increase of reproduction number to 1.13−1.55 from 0.75−0.85. To analyze the global increasing trend of the variant B.1.1.7, we extracted results of B.1.1.7 from GISAID on May 11 and May 12, 2021, and conducted a doseresponse regression. It took 47 days to reach 20% and 121 days to reach 50% among the sequence submitted from UK. In Korea, cases of B.1.1.7 have increased since the first report of three cases on December 28, 2020. Positive rate of B.1.1.7 in Korea was 21.6% in the week from May 9 to May 15, 2021. Detection rate of the variants is expected to increase further and new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are emerging, so a close monitoring and control would be maintained for months.

The variant B.1.1.7 of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the RNA virus causing the pandemic more than a year worldwide, was reported from United Kingdom (UK) in late December 2020. It was reported that mortality increases by 65% and transmissibility increases by 70%, which may result in an increase of reproduction number to 1.13−1.55 from 0.75−0.85. To analyze the global increasing trend of the variant B.1.1.7, we extracted results of B.1.1.7 from GISAID on May 11 and May 12, 2021, and conducted a doseresponse regression. It took 47 days to reach 20% and 121 days to reach 50% among the sequence submitted from UK. In Korea, cases of B.1.1.7 have increased since the first report of three cases on December 28, 2020. Positive rate of B.1.1.7 in Korea was 21.6% in the week from May 9 to May 15, 2021. Detection rate of the variants is expected to increase further and new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are emerging, so a close monitoring and control would be maintained for months.

Breast cancer has been the most common cancer among Korean women since 2001 and will continue to increase for the next 20 years, at the least. Many of the established risk factors are linked to the exposure to female hormones: breast cancer risk is increased by early menarche, late menopause, nulliparity and later first full-term pregnancy, and obesity in postmenopausal women. In addition, other established risk factors such as alcohol consumption and family history of breast cancer are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Physical activity, breast feeding, higher number of children, and fruit and vegetable consumption seem to reduce breast cancer risk. Smoking also probably increases the risk. Both oral contraceptives in premenopausal women and hormonal replacement therapy in postmenopausal women may increase risk. Above-mentioned risk and protective factors were reported in Korean populations and the breast cancer risk by those factors is similar to that in western population. Currently, a study is being done in Korea to examine the associated risk, and population attributable risk of genetic variants in high penetrance genes including BRCA 1 and 2 and breast cancer risk among Koreans will be reported soon. Other studies conducted in Korea that investigated low penetrance genes have already been published. While the individual risk was small, there was an effect from interaction with environmental factors. Numerous Korean studies about these risk factors helped to establish a model to predict individual breast cancer risk that is utilized in the Personalized Preventive and Predictive medicine.
Alcohol Drinking ; Breast ; Breast Feeding ; Breast Neoplasms ; Child ; Contraceptives, Oral ; Female ; Fruit ; Humans ; Korea ; Menarche ; Menopause ; Motor Activity ; Obesity ; Parity ; Penetrance ; Pregnancy ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vegetables

BACKGROUND: Thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) is increasingly used to reduce stress response, pain and pulmonary complication of patients under coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). However, effects of TEA on blood flow of grafted coronary artery are scarcely noticed. Imbalance between blood flow of grafted coronary artery and myocardial oxygen demand can bring about perioperative myocardial ischemia. Thus we evaluated the effect of TEA on blood flow of coronary grafts. METHODS: Twenty seven patients with triple-vessel coronary artery disease under CABG were recruited. Left internal mammary artery, radial artery, and great saphenous vein were anastomosed to left anterior descending artery, obtuse marginalis, and posterior descending artery, respectively. Before surgery, an epidural catheter was inserted. Total intravenous anesthesia was undertaken using fentanyl, midazolam and vecuronium. After grafts anastomosis, blood flow of grafted coronary artery was measured using transit-time flowmeter (TTFM) before weaning from CPB. And then, mixture of 2% lidocaine 10 ml, fentanyl 50microgram and bicarbonate 1 mEq was injected via epidural catheter. Under the constant pump flow, the blood flow of grafted coronary artery before, 10 and 20 minutes after drug administration were measured using TTFM. RESULTS: The blood flow of coronary artery grafts was similar in three time interval, irrespective of grafted artery. There are no significant differences in changes in coronary blood flow associated with epidural lidocaine injection among 3 types of grafted artery. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that there are no significant effects of TEA on blood flow of newly grafted coronary artery after CABG.
Anesthesia, Epidural ; Anesthesia, Intravenous ; Arteries* ; Catheters ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels* ; Fentanyl ; Flowmeters ; Humans ; Lidocaine* ; Mammary Arteries ; Midazolam ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Oxygen ; Radial Artery ; Saphenous Vein ; Tea ; Transplants* ; Vecuronium Bromide ; Weaning

This article was published with an error.

Due to the aging population and tremendous changes in life style over the past decades, cancer has been the leading cause of death in Korea. The incidence rate of breast cancer is the second highest in Korea, and it has shown an annual increase of 6.8% for the past 6 years. The major risk factors of breast cancer in Korean women are as follows: Early menarche, late menopause, late full-term pregnancy (FTP), and low numbers of FTP. Height and body mass index increased the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women only. There are ethnic variations in breast cancer due to the differences in genetic susceptibility or exposure to etiologic agent. With the epidemiological evidences on the possibility of further increase of breast cancer in Korea, the Korean Government began implementing the National Cancer Screening Program against breast cancer in 2002. Five-year survival rates for female breast cancer have improved significantly from 78.0% in early 1993-1995 to 90.0% in 2004-2008. This data indicate that improvement of the survival rate may be partially due to the early diagnosis of breast cancer as well as the increased public awareness about the significance of early detection and organized cancer screening program. The current primary prevention programs are geared towards strengthening national prevention campaigns. In accordance with the improvement in 5-year survival rate, the overall cancer mortality has started to decrease. However, breast cancer death rate and incidence rates are still increasing, which need further organized effort by the Korean Government.
Aging ; Body Mass Index ; Breast ; Breast Neoplasms ; Cause of Death ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Formycins ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Life Style ; Menarche ; Menopause ; Pregnancy ; Primary Prevention ; Ribonucleotides ; Risk Factors ; Survival Rate

This study was aimed at investigating the possible effects of phytoceramide (Pcer) on learning and memory and their underlying mechanisms. Phytoceramide was orally administered to ICR mice for 7 days. Memory performances were assessed using the passive avoidance test and Y-maze task. The expressions of phosphorylated cAMP response element binding protein (pCREB), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were measured with immunoblot. The incorporation of 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) in hippocampal regions was investigated by using immunohistochemical methods. Treatment of Pcer enhanced cognitive performances in the passive avoidance test and Y-maze task. Immunoblotting studies revealed that the phosphorylated CREB and BDNF were significantly increased on hippocampus in the Pcer-treated mice. Immunohistochemical studies showed that the number of immunopositive cells to BrdU was significantly increased in the hippocampal dentate gyrus regions after Pcer-treatment for 7 days. These results suggest that Pcer contribute to enhancing memory and BDNF expression and it could be secondary to the elevation of neurogenesis.
Animals ; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor* ; Bromodeoxyuridine ; Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein ; Dentate Gyrus ; Hippocampus* ; Immunoblotting ; Learning ; Memory* ; Methods ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Neurogenesis