Comparison of Overall Immunity Levels among Workers at Grape Orchard, Rose Greenhouse, and Open-Field Onion Farm

Background@#Occupational hazards in crop farms vary diversely based on different field operations as soil management, harvesting processes, pesticide, or fertilizer application. We aimed at evaluating the immunological status of crop farmers, as limited systematic investigations on immune alteration involved with crop farming have been reported yet. @*Methods@#Immunological parameters including plasma immunoglobulin level, major peripheral immune cells distribution, and level of cytokine production from activated T cell were conducted. Nineteen grape orchard, 48 onion open-field, and 21 rose greenhouse farmers were participated. @*Results@#Significantly low proportion of natural killer (NK) cell, a core cell for innate immunity, was revealed in the grape farmers (19.8 ± 3.3%) in comparison to the onion farmers (26.4 ± 3.1%) and the rose farmers (26.9 ± 2.5%), whereas cytotoxic T lymphocyte proportion was lower in the grape and the onion farmers than the rose farmers. The proportion of NKT cell, an immune cell implicated with allergic response, was significantly higher in the grape (2.3 ± 0.3%) and the onion (1.6 ± 0.8%) farmers compared with the rose farmers (1.0 ± 0.4%). A significantly decreased interferon-gamma:interleukin-13 ratio was observed from ex vivo stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of grape farmers compared with the other two groups. The grape farmers revealed the lowest levels of plasma IgG1 and IgG4, and their plasma IgE level was not significantly different from that of the onion or the rose farmers. @*Conclusion@#Our finding suggests the high vulnerability of workplace-mediated allergic immunity in grape orchard farmers followed by open-field onion farmers and then the rose greenhouse farmers.

A Patient with Neutropenia and Splenomegaly: A Case Report from Department of Family Medicine in Tertiary Hospital Center / 가정의학회지

Pancytopenia represents a unique challenge for primary care doctors and its etiological causes encompass various specialties, including hematology and rheumatology. Despite the existence of effective tests such as bone marrow biopsy and immunoassays to rule out the potential causes of pancytopenia, it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact diagnosis. In this case report, we have described such a ‘gray zone’ patient, who presented with pancytopenia, neutropenia, and splenomegaly, and was being treated for fungal pneumonia before being transferred to Severance Hospital (department of family medicine). As the patient had a 10-year history of multiple, long-term hospital admissions that were having a severely debilitating impact on the quality of life, we performed a partial splenic embolization as a potential cure for the symptoms. Although this induced acute blood count recovery, it failed to prevent eventual mortality from septic shock.

A Patient with Neutropenia and Splenomegaly: A Case Report from Department of Family Medicine in Tertiary Hospital Center / 가정의학회지

Pancytopenia represents a unique challenge for primary care doctors and its etiological causes encompass various specialties, including hematology and rheumatology. Despite the existence of effective tests such as bone marrow biopsy and immunoassays to rule out the potential causes of pancytopenia, it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact diagnosis. In this case report, we have described such a ‘gray zone’ patient, who presented with pancytopenia, neutropenia, and splenomegaly, and was being treated for fungal pneumonia before being transferred to Severance Hospital (department of family medicine). As the patient had a 10-year history of multiple, long-term hospital admissions that were having a severely debilitating impact on the quality of life, we performed a partial splenic embolization as a potential cure for the symptoms. Although this induced acute blood count recovery, it failed to prevent eventual mortality from septic shock.

What Kind of Stress Is Associated with Depression, Anxiety and Suicidal Ideation in Korean Employees?

Various types of stress affect mental health in the form of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and suicidal ideation. Recently, the increasing suicide rate in the working-age population has become a major mental health concern in Korea. Thus, we investigated what kind of stress influence depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in Korean employees. The study participants were 189,965 employees who attended health screenings and responded to the Center for Epidemiologic Study-Depression Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and a questionnaire on the major causes of stress and suicidal ideation. We investigated the major causes of stress by gender and age categories and used binary logistic regression to determine the impact of the causes of stress on depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. Of several stress causes, work-related stress was the most prevalent, regardless of age category and gender, followed by interpersonal relationships. However, interpersonal relationships and financial problems were the predominant causes of stress related to depression or suicidal ideation. This research suggests that despite the fact that work is the most common cause of stress for Korean employees, stress related to life problems other than work has a greater influence on the mental health of Korean employees.