Background: and Purpose: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is an underdiagnosed condition in children, and its assessment tools have focused on older children. We aimed to develop a parental questionnaire for cerebral visual impairment (PQCVI) for screening CVI in young children. Methods: The PQCVI comprised 23 questions based on a modified version of Houliston and Dutton’s questionnaire for older children. The PQCVI with neurocognitive function tests was applied to 201 child–parent pairs with typically developing children younger than 72 months (age 32.4±20.1 months, mean±standard deviation). The children were classified into six age groups. The normative data, cutoff scores, and internal reliability were assessed and item analysis was performed. We referred to the total score for all questions as the cerebral visual function (CVF) score. Results: The normative data showed that the CVF score and the scores corresponding to ventral-stream and dorsal-stream visual functions plausibly increased with age. The scores rapidly reached 90% of their maximum values up to the age of 36 months, after which they increased slowly. Cronbach’s alpha for all questions across all age groups was 0.97, showing excellent consistency. The item difficulty and item discrimination coefficients showed that the questions were generally adequate for this age stage. Conclusions The PQCVI items produced reliable responses in children younger than 72 months. The rapid increase in scores before the age of 3 years supports the importance of early identification of CVI. Following additional clinical verification, the PQCVI may be useful for CVI screening.

Background: and Purpose: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is an underdiagnosed condition in children, and its assessment tools have focused on older children. We aimed to develop a parental questionnaire for cerebral visual impairment (PQCVI) for screening CVI in young children. Methods: The PQCVI comprised 23 questions based on a modified version of Houliston and Dutton’s questionnaire for older children. The PQCVI with neurocognitive function tests was applied to 201 child–parent pairs with typically developing children younger than 72 months (age 32.4±20.1 months, mean±standard deviation). The children were classified into six age groups. The normative data, cutoff scores, and internal reliability were assessed and item analysis was performed. We referred to the total score for all questions as the cerebral visual function (CVF) score. Results: The normative data showed that the CVF score and the scores corresponding to ventral-stream and dorsal-stream visual functions plausibly increased with age. The scores rapidly reached 90% of their maximum values up to the age of 36 months, after which they increased slowly. Cronbach’s alpha for all questions across all age groups was 0.97, showing excellent consistency. The item difficulty and item discrimination coefficients showed that the questions were generally adequate for this age stage. Conclusions The PQCVI items produced reliable responses in children younger than 72 months. The rapid increase in scores before the age of 3 years supports the importance of early identification of CVI. Following additional clinical verification, the PQCVI may be useful for CVI screening.

At the request of the authors, the NRF-support number in ‘Acknowledgements’ is modified.

Unfortunately, the original version of this article had errors in the data displayed in flow diagram.

OBJECTIVES: C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory biomarker, has been widely used as a preclinical marker predictive of morbidity and mortality. Although many studies have reported a positive association between CRP and mortality, uncertainty still remains about this association in various populations, especially in rural Korea. METHODS: A total of 23 233 middle-aged participants (8862 men and 14 371 women) who were free from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and acute inflammation (defined by a CRP level ≥10 mg/L) were drawn from 11 rural communities in Korea between 2005 and 2011. Blood CRP concentration was analyzed as a categorical variable (low: 0.0-0.9 mg/L; intermediate: 1.0-3.0 mg/L; high: 3.1-9.9 mg/L) as well as a continuous variable. Each participant’s vital status through December 2013 was confirmed by death statistics from the National Statistical Office. Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the independent association between CRP and mortality after adjusting for other risk factors. RESULTS: The total quantity of observed person-years was 57 975 for men and 95 146 for women, and the number of deaths was 649 among men and 367 among women. Compared to the low-CRP group, the adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality of the intermediate group was 1.17 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.98 to 1.40) for men and 1.27 (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.61) for women, and the corresponding values for the high-CRP group were 1.98 (95% CI, 1.61 to 2.42) for men and 1.41 (95% CI, 1.03 to 1.95) for women. Similar trends were found for CRP evaluated as a continuous variable and for cardiovascular mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Higher CRP concentrations were associated with higher mortality in a rural Korean population, and this association was more prominent in men than in women.
C-Reactive Protein* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; Rural Population ; Uncertainty

BACKGROUND: For many drugs, dosing scalars such as ideal body weight (IBW) and lean body mass are recommended over the use of total body weight (TBW) during weight-based dose calculations. Doses based on TBW are frequently used, and this may cause under- or over-dosing. Because dexmedetomidine (DEX) overdosing could increase the incidence of side effects, and spinal anesthesia may increase sensitivity to a sedative agent, determining an appropriate dose is critical. METHODS: Eighty patients were randomly divided into 2 groups, the IBW and TBW groups. Patients received a loading dose of DEX 1 µg/kg IBW or TBW for 10 min, followed by a continuous infusion at 0.5 µg/kg/h IBW or TBW after the induction of spinal anesthesia. The patients' vital signs, bispectral index (BIS), peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, time to reach a BIS of 80, airway obstruction score, and coughing were monitored and recorded at 0, 10, 30, and 50 min after the start of the loading dose injection. RESULTS: The changes in BIS, airway obstruction score, the incidence of side effects, and time to reach a BIS of 80 did not show statistically significant differences between the two groups. However, airway obstruction and/or coughing occurred in both groups, and the average BIS in both groups was lower than the target BIS of 60-80 at 30 and 50 min. CONCLUSIONS: A loading dose of DEX 1 µg/kg for 10 min, and a maintenance dose of DEX 0.5 µg/kg/h of either IBW or TBW, may induce excessive sedation, airway obstruction, and/or coughing under spinal anesthesia.
Airway Obstruction* ; Anesthesia, Spinal* ; Body Weight ; Capillaries ; Consciousness Monitors ; Cough ; Dexmedetomidine* ; Humans ; Ideal Body Weight ; Incidence ; Oxygen ; Vital Signs

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of three different culture media on the development of canine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. Canine cloned embryos were cultured in modified synthetic oviductal fluid (mSOF), porcine zygote medium-3 (PZM-3), or G1/G2 sequential media. Our results showed that the G1/G2 media yielded significantly higher morula and blastocyst development in canine SCNT embryos (26.1% and 7.8%, respectively) compared to PZM-3 (8.5% and 0%) or mSOF (2.3% and 0%) media. In conclusion, this study suggests that blastocysts can be produced more efficiently using G1/G2 media to culture canine SCNT embryos.
Animals ; Blastocyst/cytology ; Cloning, Organism/*veterinary ; Culture Media/metabolism ; Dogs/*embryology ; Embryo Culture Techniques/*veterinary ; *Embryonic Development ; Nuclear Transfer Techniques/*veterinary

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to develop and evaluate the effect of a metabolic syndrome prevention program using mobile application for university students. METHODS: A pretest-posttest design with content analysis as a triangulation method was used. The participants were 49 university students. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi2-test, t-test and Fisher's exact test with the SPSS WIN 18.0 program. RESULTS: The application consisted of six main menus as follows: 'basic education', 'nutrition education', 'exercise education', 'meal diary', 'exercise checkup', and 'tips'. The experimental group had higher recognition about metabolic syndrome prevention than the control group (F=7.919, p=.007). Understanding of metabolic syndrome among participants was mostly related to chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes in relation to the importance of eating habits and exercising. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that metabolic syndrome prevention education using mobile application is necessary and would be useful for university students.
Chronic Disease ; Eating ; Education ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Mobile Applications* ; Obesity

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted naturalistically in order to observe the long-term effects of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications on growth rates among Korean school-aged boys with ADHD. METHODS: Participants in the study were boys with ADHD aged 6 to 11 years who have taken ADHD medication, methylphenidate (extended release) or atomoxetine. They attended scheduled visits monthly or bimonthly for clinical assessment with measurement of height and weight. In this study, 35 boys with ADHD (mean age at baseline=7.90+/-1.77 years ; mean age at endpoint= 12.54+/-1.91 years) were included, with a mean follow-up period of 4.64 years (+/-1.62 years), ranging from 2 to 9.7 years. Height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) measurements were converted to "age-corrected Z-scores" using data from Growth Charts provided by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007. RESULTS: Age-corrected endpoint growth parameters (height, weight, BMI Z-scores) did not differ significantly from the baseline values (height t=0.027 ; weight t=-0.61 ; BMI t=-1.86, in paired t-test). Especially high correlation was observed between the baseline and endpoint height Z-scores (r=0.876, p<.001), for which the coefficient of determination r2 was 0.767, meaning that the amount of variability in endpoint height Z-scores explained by the baseline height Z-scores was 76.7%. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that the long-term effects of ADHD medications on growth parameters to be tolerable in Korean school-aged boys with ADHD.
Body Mass Index ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Growth Charts ; Methylphenidate ; Atomoxetine Hydrochloride

Among exocrine pancreatic tumors, adenosquamous carcinoma is a rare, aggressive subtype with a poor prognosis and a high potential for metastases compared with its more conventional glandular counterpart, adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. We herein describe the imaging findings of pancreatic adenosquamous cell carcinoma with solitary liver metastasis showing different imaging features and also review the previous literature to recognize characteristic imaging features of pancreatic adenosquamous cell carcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; Liver* ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Pancreas ; Prognosis