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Purpose@#We investigated the clinical features and risk factors associated with the onset of uveitis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. @*Methods@#A survey was conducted targeting patients with ankylosing spondylitis who have experienced uveitis. The questionnaire collected information on demographic characteristics, clinical features, and lifestyle-related risk factors for uveitis including stress, sleep quality, rest periods, eating habits, and intake of caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. Respondents were asked to recall their condition at the time of their most recent uveitis flare-up and rate it on a 5-point scale (1 = good to 5 = bad). @*Results@#The study included 47 patients with ankylosing spondylitis; the average age was 40.0 years, 68.1% were male, and 89.4% tested positive for human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27. The average treatment duration for uveitis was 5.2 weeks, with an average recurrence rate of 4.5 times. The most common symptom at the time of uveitis was eye redness (87.2%). The average scores for the surveyed risk factors were as follows: stress, 4.1 points; sleep, 3.1 points; rest, 3.4 points; eating habits, 2.9 points; caffeine intake, 3.3 points; alcohol intake, 2.4 points; and smoking, 2.5 points. No significant correlation was found between age, uveitis treatment duration, number of recurrences, and any of the surveyed scores. @*Conclusions@#Patients with ankylosing spondylitis appeared to experience higher levels of stress during episodes of uveitis; however, further investigation is needed.
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Background@#Contemporary data on vision impairment form an important basis for public health policies. However, most data on the clinical epidemiology of blindness are limited by small sample sizes and focused not on systemic conditions but ophthalmic diseases only. In this study, we examined the ten-year trends of blindness prevalence and its correlation with systemic health status in Korean adults. @*Methods@#This study investigated 10,000,000 participants randomly extracted from the entire Korean population (aged ≥ 20 years) who underwent a National Health Insurance Service health checkup between 2009 and 2018. Participants with blindness, defined as visual acuity in the better-seeing eye of ≤ 20/200, were identified. The prevalence of blindness was assessed, and the systemic health status was compared between participants with blindness and without blindness. @*Results@#The mean prevalence of blindness was 0.473% (47,115 blindness cases) and tended to decrease over ten years (0.586% in 2009 and 0.348% in 2018; P 1.5 mg/dL), and bilateral hearing loss. In addition, except for those aged 30–39 and 40–49 years, high fasting glucose (≥ 126 mg/dL) and low hemoglobin (male: < 12 g/dL, female: < 10 g/dL) were significantly correlated with prevalent blindness. @*Conclusion@#Our ten-year Korean nationwide population-based study suggested a gradual decrease in the prevalence of blindness and its association with specific systemic health status. These conditions might be the cause or consequence of blindness and can be used as a reference for the prevention and/or rehabilitation of blindness to establish public health policies.
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The targeting of DNA methylation in cancer using DNA hypomethylating drugs has been well known to sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapy and immunotherapy by affecting multiple pathways. Herein, we investigated the combinational effects of DNA hypomethylating drugs and ionizing radiation (IR) in human sarcoma cell lines both in vitro and in vivo. Clonogenic assays were performed to determine the radiosensitizing properties of two DNA hypomethylating drugs on sarcoma cell lines we tested in this study with multiple doses of IR. We analyzed the effects of 5-aza-dC or SGI-110, as DNA hypomethylating drugs, in combination with IR in vitro on the proliferation, apoptosis, caspase-3/7 activity, migration/invasion, and Western blotting using apoptosis- or autophagy-related factors. To confirm the combined effect of DNA hypomethylating drugs and IR in our in vitro experiment, we generated the sarcoma cells in nude mouse xenograft models. Here, we found that the combination of DNA hypomethylating drugs and IR improved anticancer effects by inhibiting cell proliferation and by promoting synergistic cell death that is associated with both apoptosis and autophagy in vitro and in vivo. Our data demonstrated that the combination effects of DNA hypomethylating drugs with radiation exhibited greater cellular effects than the use of a single agent treatment, thus suggesting that the combination of DNA hypomethylating drugs and radiation may become a new radiotherapy to improve therapeutic efficacy for cancer treatment.
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Purpose@#We corrected the axial lengths of the macular and peripapillary significance maps using software embedded in a commercial spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) package. We evaluated the accuracy of glaucoma diagnosis in patients with high myopia, and the clinical implications. @*Methods@#Seventy eyes of 70 highly myopic patients with or without normal-tension glaucoma were retrospectively reviewed. The sensitivities and specificities of the color-coded significance maps were calculated using 1% (red) or 5% (yellow) as the abnormality criteria, and the values compared before and after axial length corrections performed using embedded SD-OCT software. @*Results@#At the 1% level of the normative database, we found no significant difference in specificity or sensitivity. At the 5% level, the increase in specificity was significant only for the inferotemporal sectors of the macular significance map. The specificity of the inferotemporal sector of the inner scan circle increased from 61.9 to 78.6% (p = 0.016) and that of the outer scan circle from 69 to 83.8% (p = 0.031). The specificities of the entire chart, the superior sector of the superior/inferior chart, and the 12-clockwise map increased significantly from 54.8 to 78.6% (p = 0.002), 59.5 to 76.2% (p = 0.039), and 59.5 to 76.2% (p = 0.002) respectively. @*Conclusions@#Clinicians should note that axial length correction of significance maps reduces the false-positive glaucoma diagnostic rates in highly myopic eyes. Correction of significance maps using embedded software may thus aid clinicians in the diagnosis of glaucoma in high myopic eyes.
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This study aimed to evaluate the perception of nutrition teachers about emergency meals in all schools affiliated with the Seoul Office of Education. The purpose of this study was to suggest the need for emergency meals and provide directions for future development, thereby assisting meal service sites. An online survey was conducted from May 26 to 31, 2021, analyzing 130 collected samples. The summary of the results is as follows: First, the nutrition teachers recognized the need for school meal services for the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases and considered the variance among school meal consumers. Also, they generally thought of emergency meals due to the need for social distancing and the decrease in the distribution of food. Secondly, in terms of the differences in the perception about emergency meals, nutrition teachers (45.4%) who have provided emergency meals (t=2.584, P＜0.05) were more aware of the need for emergency meals than nutrition teachers (54.6%) who had not provided emergency meals. Nutrition teachers conceived emergency meals to minimize the contact between people (45.6%) and to rectify the imbalance in nutrition (37.5). Next, emergency meal attributes were observed to be ranked in the order of convenience (3.49), safety (3.15), and satisfaction (2.88). Fourthly, although there were no meaningful differences in emergency meal attributes, there were statistically significant differences in the safety of the cooking process, menu familiarity, the low unit price compared to regular meals and the excellent satisfaction with nutrition provided (t=2.603, P＜0.05), (t=2.039, P＜0.05), (t=2.154, P＜0.05), (t=2.477, P＜0.05) respectively.
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Purpose@#A steady increase in Clostridioides difficile enteritis (CDE) has been reported recently.CDE is associated with intestinal dysbiosis, and vitamin D receptors are known to play an important role in this microbial imbalance as immunological regulators. We investigated the difference in vitamin D levels between children with CDE and those with other acute infectious enteritis. @*Methods@#This retrospective study was conducted on children below 18 years of age who visited the Gil hospital, underwent investigation to assess vitamin D levels, and had confirmed gastrointestinal infection between January 2015 and December 2018. Patients were divided into two groups: the “CDE group” (n=18) and the “other infectious enteritis group” (n=88); their clinical characteristics, other laboratory results, and vitamin D levels were analyzed. @*Results@#There was no difference in gender, age, and seasonal distributions between the CDE and other infectious enteritis groups. Other laboratory results were not significantly different between two groups, excluding serum albumin level (4.52±0.45 g/dL vs. 4.31±0.28 g/dL, p=0.011). The mean 25-hydroxy vitamin D level in the CDE group was higher than that in the control group (18.75±8.11 ng/mL vs. 14.50±6.79 ng/mL, p=0.021). @*Conclusion@#Vitamin D levels in the CDE group were lower than normal but higher than the other infectious enteritis group. These results suggested that CDE has a different mechanism or susceptibility associated with vitamin D in children, and even marginal changes in vitamin D levels can act as a risk factor for infection.
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Purpose@#This study was implemented to develop and validate a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQ-FFQ) to assess the dietary intake of married migrant women in multicultural families. @*Methods@#The SQ-FFQ consisting of 41 food items was selected based on the information of frequently consumed foods from the preliminary studies on dietary intake survey for married migrant women or a Korean Health and Nutrition Examination survey. Thirty-five subjects who visited the Multicultural Family Support Center in Seoul and Daejeon area completed their three-day diet records and SQ-FFQ 2 times. The reproducibility and relative validity of SQ-FFQ were assessed by comparing the 1st and 2nd SQ-FFQ and by comparison with the three-day diet records, respectively. @*Results@#The reliability of SQ-FFQ, which was examined 1–2 weeks apart, showed no significant difference in the energy and macronutrient intake (carbohydrate, fat, protein), while the average intakes of vitamin A, riboflavin, calcium, and potassium were slightly higher in the 2nd than 1st SQ-FFQ. All correlation coefficients for the reliability for nutrients were statistically significant, ranging from 0.453 to 0.885. The mean intakes of energy, carbohydrate, vitamin C, thiamin, folate, vitamin B 12 , calcium, and sodium obtained from the SQ-FFQ were greater than those of the 3-day dietary records. The Spearman's correlation coefficient between the 2 methods was the highest for plant fat (r = 0.602; p < 0.001) and relatively higher for energy, carbohydrate, fat, and thiamin ranging from 0.512 to 0.599; and protein, riboflavin, niacin, folate ranging from 0.335 to 0.499, while no significant correlation was observed for vitamin A, C, calcium, iron, and sodium. @*Conclusion@#The developed SQ-FFQ for married migrant women in multicultural families in this study appears to be useful for estimating the nutritional status, particularly energy, carbohydrates, fat, and vitamin B group.
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Purpose@#A steady increase in Clostridioides difficile enteritis (CDE) has been reported recently.CDE is associated with intestinal dysbiosis, and vitamin D receptors are known to play an important role in this microbial imbalance as immunological regulators. We investigated the difference in vitamin D levels between children with CDE and those with other acute infectious enteritis. @*Methods@#This retrospective study was conducted on children below 18 years of age who visited the Gil hospital, underwent investigation to assess vitamin D levels, and had confirmed gastrointestinal infection between January 2015 and December 2018. Patients were divided into two groups: the “CDE group” (n=18) and the “other infectious enteritis group” (n=88); their clinical characteristics, other laboratory results, and vitamin D levels were analyzed. @*Results@#There was no difference in gender, age, and seasonal distributions between the CDE and other infectious enteritis groups. Other laboratory results were not significantly different between two groups, excluding serum albumin level (4.52±0.45 g/dL vs. 4.31±0.28 g/dL, p=0.011). The mean 25-hydroxy vitamin D level in the CDE group was higher than that in the control group (18.75±8.11 ng/mL vs. 14.50±6.79 ng/mL, p=0.021). @*Conclusion@#Vitamin D levels in the CDE group were lower than normal but higher than the other infectious enteritis group. These results suggested that CDE has a different mechanism or susceptibility associated with vitamin D in children, and even marginal changes in vitamin D levels can act as a risk factor for infection.
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Type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN) progresses with an increasingly inflammatory milieu, wherein various immune cells are relevant. Herein, we investigated the levels of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and their clinical implication in patients with T2DN. A total of 91 subjects (T2DN, n=80; healthy, n=11) were recruited and their PBMCs were used for flow cytometric analysis of polymorphonuclear (PMN-) and monocytic (M-) MDSCs, in addition to other immune cell subsets. The risk of renal progression was evaluated according to the quartiles of MDSC levels using the Cox model. The proportion of MDSCs in T2DN patients was higher than in healthy individuals (median, 6.7% vs. 2.5%). PMN-MDSCs accounted for 96% of MDSCs, and 78% of PMN-MDSCs expressed Lox-1. The expansion of PMN-MDSCs was not related to the stage of T2DN or other kidney disease parameters such as glomerular filtration rate and proteinuria. The production of ROS in PMN-MDSCs of patients was higher than in neutrophils of patients or in immune cells of healthy individuals, and this production was augmented under hyperglycemic conditions. The 4th quartile group of PMN-MDSCs had a higher risk of renal progression than the 1st quartile group, irrespective of adjusting for multiple clinical and laboratory variables. In conclusion, PMN-MDSCs are expanded in patients with T2DN, and may represent as an immunological biomarker of renal progression.
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BACKGROUND@#Uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has proven safe and effective for pulmonary wedge resection and lobectomy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of uniportal VATS segmentectomy by comparing its outcomes with those of the multiportal approach at a single center.@*METHODS@#The records of 84 patients who underwent VATS segmentectomy from August 2010 to August 2018, including 33 in the uniportal group and 51 in the multiportal group, were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed.@*RESULTS@#Anesthesia and operative times were similar in the uniportal and multiportal groups (215 minutes vs. 220 minutes, respectively; p=0.276 and 180 minutes vs. 198 minutes, respectively; p=0.396). Blood loss was significantly lower in the uniportal group (50 mL vs. 100 mL, p=0.013) and chest tube duration and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the uniportal group (2 days vs. 3 days, p=0.003 and 4 days [range, 1–14 days] vs. 4 days [range, 1–62 days], p=0.011). The number of dissected lymph nodes tended to be lower in the uniportal group (5 vs. 8, p=0.056).@*CONCLUSION@#Our preliminary experience indicates that uniportal VATS segmentectomy is safe and feasible in well-selected patients. A randomized, prospective study with a large group of patients and long-term follow-up is necessary to confirm these results.
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Surgical management of interrupted aortic arch (IAA) with systemic outflow tract obstruction is clearly a challenge. If both ventricles are adequate, the Yasui operation is a useful option. Otherwise, a staged approach through initial hybrid palliation and delayed biventricular repair, tailored to the degree of obstructed outflow, serves to avoid a high-risk neonatal procedure. Herein, we present a patient with IAA and severe systemic outflow tract obstruction whose treatment involved hybrid palliation, followed by a Yasui operation.
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Surgical management of interrupted aortic arch (IAA) with systemic outflow tract obstruction is clearly a challenge. If both ventricles are adequate, the Yasui operation is a useful option. Otherwise, a staged approach through initial hybrid palliation and delayed biventricular repair, tailored to the degree of obstructed outflow, serves to avoid a high-risk neonatal procedure. Herein, we present a patient with IAA and severe systemic outflow tract obstruction whose treatment involved hybrid palliation, followed by a Yasui operation.
Subject(s)
Humans , Aorta, ThoracicABSTRACT
PURPOSE: We detected retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defects using a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (CSLO) with both blue and green laser sources and evaluated image quality based on laser wavelength. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational case study. Blue and green CSLO images of 181 eyes with suspected glaucoma were evaluated and compared. Three independent observers identified the presence of RNFL defects and determined which CSLO imaging source provided superior visibility of the defect. After assessing the defect imaging by laser source, demographics and image quality indices of optical coherence tomography between blue better and green better groups were analyzed. RESULTS: Both blue and green CSLO showed high discriminating ability for RNFL defects. The discriminating ability of blue CSLO was significantly greater than that of green CSLO (p = 0.004). Among eyes with a detectable RNFL defect, 61.8% were better visualized with the blue laser compared to the green laser. Compared with the blue better group, the green better group was significantly older (p = 0.009), had a greater proportion of females (p = 0.005), had poorer best-corrected visual acuity (p = 0.001), more severe cataracts (p = 0.001), lower signal strength (p = 0.003), and poor image quality indices (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Both blue and green CSLO imaging was useful for detecting RNFL defects, but blue CSLO was superior to green CSLO in quality of RNFL defect imaging in most patients with clear media.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Cataract , Demography , Glaucoma , Nerve Fibers , Ophthalmoscopes , Ophthalmoscopy , Retinaldehyde , Retrospective Studies , Tomography, Optical Coherence , Visual AcuityABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has proven safe and effective for pulmonary wedge resection and lobectomy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of uniportal VATS segmentectomy by comparing its outcomes with those of the multiportal approach at a single center. METHODS: The records of 84 patients who underwent VATS segmentectomy from August 2010 to August 2018, including 33 in the uniportal group and 51 in the multiportal group, were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS: Anesthesia and operative times were similar in the uniportal and multiportal groups (215 minutes vs. 220 minutes, respectively; p=0.276 and 180 minutes vs. 198 minutes, respectively; p=0.396). Blood loss was significantly lower in the uniportal group (50 mL vs. 100 mL, p=0.013) and chest tube duration and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the uniportal group (2 days vs. 3 days, p=0.003 and 4 days [range, 1–14 days] vs. 4 days [range, 1–62 days], p=0.011). The number of dissected lymph nodes tended to be lower in the uniportal group (5 vs. 8, p=0.056). CONCLUSION: Our preliminary experience indicates that uniportal VATS segmentectomy is safe and feasible in well-selected patients. A randomized, prospective study with a large group of patients and long-term follow-up is necessary to confirm these results.
Subject(s)
Humans , Anesthesia , Chest Tubes , Follow-Up Studies , Ion Transport , Length of Stay , Lymph Nodes , Mastectomy, Segmental , Operative Time , Prospective Studies , Retrospective Studies , Thoracic Surgery, Video-AssistedABSTRACT
We report the case of a 16-year-old male patient who was involved in a traffic accident and transferred to the emergency department with mild chest pain. We initially did not find evidence of tracheal injury on computed tomography (CT). Within an hour after presentation, the patient developed severe dyspnea and newly developed subcutaneous emphysema and pneumoperitoneum were discovered. Abdominal CT showed no intra-abdominal injury. However, destruction of the right main bronchus was identified on coronal images of the initially performed CT scan. Emergency exploratory surgery was performed. The amputated right main bronchus was identified. End-to-end tracheobronchial anastomosis was performed, and the patient recovered without any complications.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Humans , Male , Accidents, Traffic , Bronchi , Bronchial Diseases , Chest Pain , Dyspnea , Emergencies , Emergency Service, Hospital , Pneumoperitoneum , Rupture , Subcutaneous Emphysema , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To characterize the development of glaucoma, age of glaucoma onset, and treatments for patients with a facial port-wine stain (PWS). METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 58 patients (116 eyes) with facial PWS between January 2000 and August 2016. We noted patients' age at the initial examination, cup-to-disc ratio, corneal diameter, occurrence of ocular hypertension, development of glaucoma, age of glaucoma onset, and treatments. We compared the clinical features of eyes that developed glaucoma with those that did not develop glaucoma. Among those eyes with glaucoma, we investigated the differences between eyes that underwent surgery and those that did not undergo surgery. RESULTS: Among the 58 patients with a facial PWS (116 eyes), glaucoma was diagnosed in 38 patients (46 eyes; 39.66%). Of these, 26 patients (27 eyes; 58.69%) underwent glaucoma surgery. PWS-associated glaucoma usually developed by the age of 2 years (85.61%). In all patients, glaucoma developed on the same side of the face as the PWS. Of the 58 patients, 19 (32.76%) showed neurological symptoms, including seizures, developmental delays, intellectual disabilities, or hemiplegia, and 32 (55.17%) were diagnosed with Sturge-Weber syndrome. The mean number of glaucoma surgeries was 1.55 ± 0.93. The initial surgery included trabeculectomy (7 eyes), trabeculotomy (5 eyes), combined trabeculotomy/trabeculectomy (13 eyes), and aqueous drainage device insertion (2 eyes). The mean age at the first surgery was 35.14 ± 50.91 months. In 18 of 27 eyes (66.67%), the postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) was controlled to below 21 mmHg, but 9 eyes (33.33%) showed elevated IOP and required a reoperation. CONCLUSIONS: PWS can be accompanied by ocular hypertension or glaucoma, so patients require regular ophthalmic examinations. When glaucoma occurs, it often does not respond to medication, making it difficult in some cases to control the IOP, so appropriate glaucoma surgery is necessary.
Subject(s)
Humans , Drainage , Glaucoma , Hemiplegia , Intellectual Disability , Intraocular Pressure , Medical Records , Ocular Hypertension , Port-Wine Stain , Reoperation , Retrospective Studies , Seizures , Sturge-Weber Syndrome , TrabeculectomyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate the depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using data obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey V-2 (KNHANES V-2) conducted in 2011. METHODS: This was a population-based, cross-sectional study that selected 329 participants from the fifth KNHANES (2011) who were diagnosed with AMD by an ophthalmologist based on fundus photography. The prevalence of depressive symptoms and the health-related QOL (using EuroQol indices) in this cohort were also estimated. Factors associated with depressive symptoms, including socioeconomic status, QOL indices, and associated chronic diseases, were investigated using multivariate regression models. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms were observed more frequently in AMD patients than in non-AMD controls (p = 0.013). Among the total 329 AMD participants, 65 (19.8%) had depressive symptoms. There were 16 males (24.6%) and 49 females (75.4%). Upon multivariate analysis, significant factors found to be associated with depressive symptoms were female gender (odds ratio [OR], 2.082; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.001 to 4.330), being in the “dependent” group for activities of daily living (OR, 4.638; 95% CI, 2.061 to 10.435), and having “some problems” in the “anxiety-depression” dimension of the EQ-5D (OR, 7.704; 95% CI, 1.890 to 31.408). CONCLUSIONS: Female gender and being dependent on others for activities of daily living increased the association of depressive symptoms in this cohort of AMD participants. Screening for depressive symptoms in East Asian AMD patients with these characteristics should be an important component of their care.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Activities of Daily Living , Asian People , Chronic Disease , Cohort Studies , Cross-Sectional Studies , Depression , Korea , Macular Degeneration , Mass Screening , Multivariate Analysis , Nutrition Surveys , Photography , Prevalence , Quality of Life , Social ClassABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Questionnaire-based diagnostic criteria for atopic dermatitis (AD) have been proposed to detect the major group of AD with flexural dermatitis. We aimed to develop novel, questionnaire-based diagnostic criteria for childhood AD, which can detect more comprehensive AD including non-flexural type. METHODS: The draft version of questionnaire to detect childhood AD was prepared to be used for preliminary hospital- (n=1,756) and community-based (n=1,320) surveys. From analysis, the Reliable Estimation of Atopic dermatitis of ChildHood (REACH) was derived and verified in derivation (n=1,129) and validation (n=1,191) sets by community-based surveys. RESULTS: The REACH consists of 11 questions including 2 major and 9 minor criteria. AD is diagnosed as the major group of 'eczema on the antecubital or popliteal fossa' to fulfill the 2 major criteria (2M), and the minor group of 'eczema on the non-antecubital or popliteal fossa' to fulfill the 1 major plus 4 or more minor criteria (1M+4m). In the validation set, the overall 1-year AD prevalence by the REACH was estimated as 12.3% (95% CI, 10.5%-14.2%), and the REACH showed a sensitivity of 75.2%, a specificity of 96.1%, and an error rate of 6.4%. The REACH demonstrated better diagnostic performance than the ISAAC in terms of the number of misclassification (10.0%). CONCLUSIONS: We propose the REACH as new full, questionnaire-based diagnostic criteria for childhood AD in epidemiological surveys. Further studies are warranted to validate the REACH in different populations or countries in the context of large-scale, epidemiological surveys.
Subject(s)
Dermatitis , Dermatitis, Atopic , Prevalence , Sensitivity and SpecificityABSTRACT
STUDY DESIGN: A case report. OBJECTIVES: To report a rare case of atypical spinal tuberculosis. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: In spinal tuberculosis, non-contiguous multifocal involvement and isolated involvement of posterior elements of the spine have been considered atypical features. There have been a few reports of each of these atypical features but no reports have described spinal tuberculosis with both of these atypical features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 39-year-old man presented with back pain and progressive weakness of both lower extremities. He was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis from the cervical to sacral spine, showing multifocal non-contiguous involvement with multiple abscesses on magnetic resonance imaging. Notably, in the thoracic spine area, isolated involvement of posterior elements was found with an epidural abscess compressing the spinal cord. He underwent a total laminectomy of the thoracic spine and multiple abscesses were drained with pigtail catheter insertions into the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. RESULTS: At the 8-month follow-up, the patient's neurologic status had improved to Frankel Grade D, and the patient was able to walk with the support of a walker. At the 3-year follow-up, the patient had recovered completely without any neurologic deficit. CONCLUSIONS: Since atypical spinal tuberculosis may show various patterns, examination of the entire spine is important for early diagnosis. Treatment should be provided properly from minimally invasive procedures to open surgery depending on the extent of structural instability and neurologic deficit.