Objective: Infertility, the inability to achieve pregnancy within a year despite normal attempts to conceive without contraception, causes psychosocial burden for individuals and couples. This review summarized the interrelationship between infertility and psychological stress and suggested various forms of psychological intervention for infertility. Methods: The PubMed, Google Scholar, and Korean Studies Information Service System databases were searched for English- and Korean-language articles published from 1990 to 2024. Results: Infertility leads to emotional distress from diagnosis to treatment. Also, psychological stress affects the trajectory of infertility. This distress may cause psychiatric illnesses, negatively affecting pregnancy. Psychotherapies, psychopharmacotherapies, and biological treatments can be used for the management of psychiatric illnesses in infertile patients. Digital therapeutics also have the potential to be a competitive treatment option. Conclusion Regular assessment and management of psychological stress in infertile couples are essential during the course of infertility treatment. Psychological intervention of infertile patients should be implemented according to a personalized plan that completely reflects the individual clinical characteristics.

Objective: Infertility, the inability to achieve pregnancy within a year despite normal attempts to conceive without contraception, causes psychosocial burden for individuals and couples. This review summarized the interrelationship between infertility and psychological stress and suggested various forms of psychological intervention for infertility. Methods: The PubMed, Google Scholar, and Korean Studies Information Service System databases were searched for English- and Korean-language articles published from 1990 to 2024. Results: Infertility leads to emotional distress from diagnosis to treatment. Also, psychological stress affects the trajectory of infertility. This distress may cause psychiatric illnesses, negatively affecting pregnancy. Psychotherapies, psychopharmacotherapies, and biological treatments can be used for the management of psychiatric illnesses in infertile patients. Digital therapeutics also have the potential to be a competitive treatment option. Conclusion Regular assessment and management of psychological stress in infertile couples are essential during the course of infertility treatment. Psychological intervention of infertile patients should be implemented according to a personalized plan that completely reflects the individual clinical characteristics.

Objective: Infertility, the inability to achieve pregnancy within a year despite normal attempts to conceive without contraception, causes psychosocial burden for individuals and couples. This review summarized the interrelationship between infertility and psychological stress and suggested various forms of psychological intervention for infertility. Methods: The PubMed, Google Scholar, and Korean Studies Information Service System databases were searched for English- and Korean-language articles published from 1990 to 2024. Results: Infertility leads to emotional distress from diagnosis to treatment. Also, psychological stress affects the trajectory of infertility. This distress may cause psychiatric illnesses, negatively affecting pregnancy. Psychotherapies, psychopharmacotherapies, and biological treatments can be used for the management of psychiatric illnesses in infertile patients. Digital therapeutics also have the potential to be a competitive treatment option. Conclusion Regular assessment and management of psychological stress in infertile couples are essential during the course of infertility treatment. Psychological intervention of infertile patients should be implemented according to a personalized plan that completely reflects the individual clinical characteristics.

Objective: Infertility, the inability to achieve pregnancy within a year despite normal attempts to conceive without contraception, causes psychosocial burden for individuals and couples. This review summarized the interrelationship between infertility and psychological stress and suggested various forms of psychological intervention for infertility. Methods: The PubMed, Google Scholar, and Korean Studies Information Service System databases were searched for English- and Korean-language articles published from 1990 to 2024. Results: Infertility leads to emotional distress from diagnosis to treatment. Also, psychological stress affects the trajectory of infertility. This distress may cause psychiatric illnesses, negatively affecting pregnancy. Psychotherapies, psychopharmacotherapies, and biological treatments can be used for the management of psychiatric illnesses in infertile patients. Digital therapeutics also have the potential to be a competitive treatment option. Conclusion Regular assessment and management of psychological stress in infertile couples are essential during the course of infertility treatment. Psychological intervention of infertile patients should be implemented according to a personalized plan that completely reflects the individual clinical characteristics.

Objective: Infertility, the inability to achieve pregnancy within a year despite normal attempts to conceive without contraception, causes psychosocial burden for individuals and couples. This review summarized the interrelationship between infertility and psychological stress and suggested various forms of psychological intervention for infertility. Methods: The PubMed, Google Scholar, and Korean Studies Information Service System databases were searched for English- and Korean-language articles published from 1990 to 2024. Results: Infertility leads to emotional distress from diagnosis to treatment. Also, psychological stress affects the trajectory of infertility. This distress may cause psychiatric illnesses, negatively affecting pregnancy. Psychotherapies, psychopharmacotherapies, and biological treatments can be used for the management of psychiatric illnesses in infertile patients. Digital therapeutics also have the potential to be a competitive treatment option. Conclusion Regular assessment and management of psychological stress in infertile couples are essential during the course of infertility treatment. Psychological intervention of infertile patients should be implemented according to a personalized plan that completely reflects the individual clinical characteristics.

Objectives: We evaluated the effectiveness of coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination in high-risk facilities in the Republic of Korea during the period when the highly transmissible Delta variant was prevalent. Additionally, we aimed to explore any disparities in vaccine effectiveness (VE) across various types of institutions, specifically distinguishing between non-medical and medical establishments. Methods: We examined 8 outbreak clusters covering 243 cases and 895 contacts from 8 highrisk facilities divided into 2 groups: group A (4 non-medical institutions) and group B (4 medical institutions). These clusters were observed from July 27, 2021 to October 16, 2021 for the attack rate (AR) and VE with respect to disease severity. A generalized linear model with a binomial distribution was used to determine the odds ratio (OR) for disease severity and death. Results: AR was notably lower in group B (medical institutions). Furthermore, VE analysis revealed that group A exhibited higher effectivity for disease severity and death than group B. The OR for disease severity was 0.24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03–2.16) for group A and 0.27 (95% CI, 0.12–0.64) for group B, with the OR for death at 0.12 (95% CI, 0.01–1.32) in group A and 0.34 (95% CI, 0.14–0.87) in group B. Conclusion Although VE may vary across institutions, our findings underscore the importance of implementing vaccinations in high-risk facilities. Customized vaccination programs, tailored response plans, and competent management personnel are essential for effectively addressing and mitigating public health challenges.

Coproporphyrin (CP)-I and CP-III are the markers of organic anion-transporting polypeptides’ (OATPs) activities, and they are porphyrin metabolites that originate from heme synthesis.Furthermore, CP-I and CP-III, which are OATP1B endogenous metabolites, have gradually attracted the attention of scientists and researchers in recent years. Previous studies have also observed CP-I and CP-III levels as clinical biomarkers for predicting OATP1B inhibition in drug–drug interaction studies. To establish an accurate ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method for the quantitation of CP-I and CP-III, we reviewed previous methodological publications and applied them to a clinical pharmacology study using a human urine matrix. We used 13.25 M formic acid as a working solution for internal standards (CP-I 15 N 4 and CP-III d8 ) to avoid isobaric interference. The calibration curve showed good linearity in the range of 1–100 ng/mL, with a correlation coefficient (R 2 ) higher than 0.996 in each validation batch. Both the between-run and within-run assays achieved good precision and accuracy, and we found that both CP-I and CP-III were stable in the prestudy validation. The method exhibited suitable dilution integrity, allowing for the re-analysis of samples with concentrations exceeding the upper limit of quantification through dilution.Overall, the application of the described method in a clinical study revealed that it can be utilized effectively to monitor drug–drug interactions mediated by OATP1B.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) rarely occurs in association with food allergy (FA), and the mechanism is not clearly explored. We herein report a rare case of egg protein-induced AP. A 5-year-old girl was brought to the hospital because of tongue pruritus and an increased level of egg white-specific immunoglobulin E. During an oral food challenge, she developed hives, abdominal pain and vomiting after ingestion of a cumulative of 610 mg of boiled egg white (70 mg of protein). After management with intramuscular injection of epinephrine and orally administered prednisolone and levocetirizine, her skin symptoms improved. The next day, blood tests showed elevated levels of amylase and lipase, and computed tomography revealed a swollen pancreas with a low-attenuated necrotic portion. She was diagnosed with AP and treated with food restriction, intravenous methylprednisolone and gabexate mesilate. The serum levels of amylase and lipase were reduced to normal levels on day 5 and her symptoms completely resolved on day 10. A suspicion of food-induced AP is required for correct diagnosis and proper management in children with FA when they manifest severe abdominal pain.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a heterogeneous disease with different age of onset, disease course, clinical symptoms, severity, and risk of comorbidity. The characteristics of children with AD also vary by age or country. However, little is known about the clinical characteristics of AD in Korean school-aged children and adolescents. Furthermore, there are few studies on phenotypic differences according to onset age. This study aimed to explore the clinical characteristics and phenotypes according to onset age and severity of AD in children and adolescents in Korea. Methods: AD patients aged 6–18 years who presented to 18 hospitals nationwide were surveyed.The patients were examined for disease severity by pediatric allergy specialists, and data on history of other allergic diseases, familial allergy history, onset age, trigger factors, lesion sites,treatment history and quality of life were collected. The results of the patient’s allergy test were also analyzed. The patients were classified into infancy-onset (< 2 years of age), preschoolonset (2–5 years of age), and childhood-onset (≥ 6 years of age) groups. Study population was analyzed for clinical features according to onset-age groups and severity groups. Results: A total of 258 patients with a mean age of 10.62 ± 3.18 years were included in the study. Infancy-onset group accounted for about 60% of all patients and presented significantly more other allergic diseases, such as allergic rhinitis and asthma (P = 0.002 and P = 0.001, respectively). Food allergy symptoms and diagnoses were highly relevant to both earlier onset and more severe group. Inhalant allergen sensitization was significantly associated with both infancy-onset group and severe group (P = 0.012 and P = 0.024, respectively). A family history of food allergies was significantly associated with infancyonset group (P = 0.036). Severe group was significantly associated with a family history of AD, especially a paternal history of AD (P = 0.048 and P = 0.004, respectively). Facial (periorbital, ear, and cheek) lesions, periauricular fissures, hand/foot eczema, and xerosis were associated with infancy-onset group. The earlier the onset of AD, the poorer the quality of life (P = 0.038). Systemic immunosuppressants were used in only 9.6% of the patients in the severe group. Conclusion This study analyzed the clinical features of AD in Korean children and adolescents through a multicenter nationwide study and demonstrated the phenotypic differences according to onset age and severity. Considering the findings that the early-onset group is more severe and accompanied by more systemic allergic diseases, early management should be emphasized in young children and infants.