Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is defined as the occurrence of spontaneous wheals, angioedema, or both for >6 weeks in the absence of specific causes. It is a common condition associated with substantial disease burden both for affected individuals and societies in many countries, including Korea. CSU frequently persists for several years and requires high-intensity treatment; therefore, patients experience deteriorations in quality of life and medication-associated complications. During the last decade, there have been major advances in the pharmacological treatment of CSU and there is an outstanding need for evidence-based guidelines that reflect clinical practice in Korea. The guidelines reported here represent a joint initiative of the Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Korean Dermatological Association, and aim to provide evidence-based guidance for the management of CSU in Korean adults and children. In Part 1, disease definition, guideline scope and development methodology as well as evidence-based recommendations on the use of antihistamines and corticosteroids are summarized.

Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is defined as the occurrence of spontaneous wheals, angioedema, or both for >6 weeks in the absence of specific causes. It is a common condition associated with substantial disease burden both for affected individuals and societies in many countries, including Korea. CSU frequently persists for several years and requires high-intensity treatment; therefore, patients experience deteriorations in quality of life and medication-associated complications. During the last decade, there have been major advances in the pharmacological treatment of CSU and there is an outstanding need for evidence-based guidelines that reflect clinical practice in Korea. The guidelines reported here represent a joint initiative of the Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology and the Korean Dermatological Association, and aim to provide evidence-based guidance for the management of CSU in Korean adults and children. In Part 1, disease definition, guideline scope and development methodology as well as evidence-based recommendations on the use of antihistamines and corticosteroids are summarized.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of fermented soybean (FS) extract on adipocyte differentiation and fat accumulation using cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes. MATERIALS/METHODS: 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with FS and nonfermented soybean (NFS) extract during differentiation for 10 days in vitro. Oil red O staining was performed and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) activity was measured for analysis of fat accumulation. Expressions of adipogenic genes were measured. RESULTS: Soluble extract of soybean fermented with Aspergillus oryzae GB107 contained higher levels of low-molecular-weight protein than conventional soybean protein did. FS extract (50 microg/ml) inhibited adipocyte differentiation and fat accumulation during differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes for 10 days in vitro. Significantly lower GPDH activity was observed in differentiated adipocytes treated with the FS extract than those treated with NFS extract. Treatment with FS extract resulted in decreased expression levels of leptin, adiponectin, and adipogenin genes, which are associated with adipogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: This report is the first to demonstrate that the water-soluble extract from FS inhibits fat accumulation and lipid storage in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Thus, the soybean extract fermented with A. oryzae GB107 could be used to control lipid accumulation in adipocytes.
Adipocytes* ; Adipogenesis ; Adiponectin ; Aspergillus oryzae* ; Glycerolphosphate Dehydrogenase ; Leptin ; Oryza ; Soybeans*

Apicoectomy ; Busan ; Classification ; Dentigerous Cyst ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Jaw ; Male ; Methods ; Observational Study ; Odontogenic Cysts ; Prevalence ; Radicular Cyst ; Retrospective Studies ; Surgery, Oral ; Tooth

The aim of the study was to investigate pig reference families, generated from Korean native pigs (KNP) that were crossed with Yorkshire (YS) breeds, which were used to evaluate genetic markers to select breeding animals with superior pork quality. A set of five candidate genes (PRKAG3, MC4R, CAST, ESR, and PRLR) was analyzed for association with pork quality traits. PRKAG3 (I199V) SNP genotypes were significantly associated with muscle moisture, protein, and fat contents. The MC4R D298N polymorphism was significantly associated with meat tenderness and color traits. The CAST polymorphism was significantly associated with muscle moisture and crude protein traits. These three genes have been associated with pork quality traits in other pig populations, and some of our results are consistent with earlier studies. In addition, two reproductive candidate genes (ESR and PRLR) did not have significant associations. These results suggest that further study is warranted to investigate and develop more DNA markers associated with pork quality in our KNP-crossed pig families.
Animals ; Breeding ; DNA ; Genetic Markers ; Genotype ; Humans ; Meat ; Muscles ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Swine

PURPOSE: We investigated the clinicopathologic information of patients with gastric cancer with multiple primary cancers (GC-MPC) of three or more sites. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 1995 and 2009, 105,908 patients were diagnosed with malignancy at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Health System. Of these, 113 (0.1%) patients with MPC of three or more sites were registered, and 41 (36.3%) of these were GC-MPC. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data and overall survival using the medical records of these 41 GC-MPC patients. We defined synchronous cancers as those occurring within 6 months of the first primary cancer, while metachronous cancers were defined as those occurring more than 6 months later. RESULTS: Patients with metachronous GC-MPC were more likely to be female (p=0.003) and young than patients with synchronous GC-MPC (p=0.013). The most common cancer sites for metachronous GC-MPC patients were the colorectum, thyroid, lung, kidney and breast, while those for synchronous GC-MPC were the head and neck, esophagus, lung, and kidney. Metachronous GC-MPC demonstrated significantly better overall survival than synchronous GC-MPC, with median overall survival durations of 4.7 and 14.8 years, respectively, and 10-year overall survival rates of 48.2% and 80.7%, respectively (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Multiplicity of primary malignancies itself does not seem to indicate a poor prognosis. The early detection of additional primary malignancies will enable proper management with curative intent.
Breast ; Esophagus ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Kidney ; Lung ; Medical Records ; Neck ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Survival Rate ; Thyroid Gland

OBJECTIVES: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is one of the most important work related musculo-skeletal diseases in Korea. However, there are few epidemiologic studies on the work-related CTS (WR-CTS). This study aimed to investigate the epidemiologic characteristics of WR-CTS in Korea. METHODS: Data obtained from the"CTS Surveillance System". Physician case-reports in the surveillance were used to document patterns of WR-CTS by age, gender, occupation, sign, symptom, working history. RESULTS: Six hundred and seventy-two cases of WR-CTS were ascertained. of which 314 with complete information on occupational history were analyzed. It has been estimated that as many as 72% of all CTS cases are work-related. The highest proportion of WR-CTS was observed in 'elementary occupation workers', followed by 'skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers'. The distributions of WR-CTS cases were similar with respect to age, obesity, and past medical history. The proportion of WR-CTS was higher in females. There was no significant difference in physical examination findings between WR-CTS and non WR-CTS cases. Repetitive work and the inappropriate hand posture seemed to be the risks for WR-CTS. CONCLUSION: WR-CTS is a significant public health problem. The CTS surveillance system is quite useful to elucidate the characteristics of WR-CTS, but it remains of limited use in targeting specific industries and occupations for intervention.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Fisheries ; Forestry ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea* ; Obesity ; Occupations ; Physical Examination ; Posture ; Public Health

Dengue fever/dengue shock syndrome is an acute febrile illness caused by a Flaviviridae virus. Dengue virus infection can cause a wide spectrum of illness, and disease is characterized by sudden onset of high fever, chill, severe headache, skin rash, general malaise and thrombocytopenia with hemoconcentration. Dengue fever is endemic in most tropical areas of world, including the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Tourists to these areas are liable to infection. We experienced a Korean female who returned to Korea from Myanmar in severely ill state. She was confirmed serologically to be inblieted with Dengue shock syndrome. In spite of intensive medical care, she died of Dengue shock syndrome. We emphasize that favorable prognosis depends mainly on the early recognition and treatment of shock.
Africa ; Asia, Southeastern ; Caribbean Region ; Dengue Virus ; Dengue* ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fever ; Flaviviridae ; Headache ; Humans ; Korea ; Myanmar* ; Prognosis ; Severe Dengue* ; Shock ; South America ; Thrombocytopenia

Dengue fever/dengue shock syndrome is an acute febrile illness caused by a Flaviviridae virus. Dengue virus infection can cause a wide spectrum of illness, and disease is characterized by sudden onset of high fever, chill, severe headache, skin rash, general malaise and thrombocytopenia with hemoconcentration. Dengue fever is endemic in most tropical areas of world, including the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Tourists to these areas are liable to infection. We experienced a Korean female who returned to Korea from Myanmar in severely ill state. She was confirmed serologically to be inblieted with Dengue shock syndrome. In spite of intensive medical care, she died of Dengue shock syndrome. We emphasize that favorable prognosis depends mainly on the early recognition and treatment of shock.
Africa ; Asia, Southeastern ; Caribbean Region ; Dengue Virus ; Dengue* ; Exanthema ; Female ; Fever ; Flaviviridae ; Headache ; Humans ; Korea ; Myanmar* ; Prognosis ; Severe Dengue* ; Shock ; South America ; Thrombocytopenia

PURPOSE: This study was to observe whether the apoptotic function of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) is induced in human gastric epithelial dysplasia and gastric adenocarcinoma according to the role of FasL expression. MATENRIALS AND METHODS: A total of 56 gastric epithelial dysplasia and gastric adenocarcinoma patients were enrolled in this study: 9 cases of gastric epithelial dysplasia, 18 cases of early gastric carcinomas (EGC) and 29 cases of advanced gastric carcinomas (AGC). Immunohistochemical staining was performed for FasL and CD45, and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) method was used to detect cell death in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. RESULTS: 1) Positive reactions of FasL to neoplastic cells were 88.9% (8/9) in gastric epithelial dysplasia, 83.3% (15/18) in EGC, and 75.9% (22/29) in AGC. 2) Expression of TIL was decreased in the FasL positive region and was increased in the FasL negative region, and significant expression of TIL was observed in the AGC group (P=0.001). 3) Expression of apoptotic TIL was very similar to the FasL expression, and 100% expression was observed in gastric epithelial dysplasia group. 4) Expression of apoptotic TIL was increased in the FasL positive region and decreased in the FasL negative region, and significant apoptotic expression was observed in the gastric epithelial dysplasia and EGC groups (P=0.0420, P=0.0263, respectively). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that FasL is a prevalent mediator of immune privilege in epithelial dysplasia and cancer of the stomach.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Apoptosis* ; Cell Death ; DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase ; Humans ; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating ; Stomach Neoplasms