Three Cases of Prevention Therapy to Reduce Perinatal HIV Transmission / 소아감염

In 2008, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated that about 430,000 children worldwide became infected with HIV, mostly through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or breast-feeding. The MTCT prevention program proved to be feasible and effective in reduction of perinatal HIV transmission. Three babies born from HIV-infected mothers were admitted to the National Medical Center in 2009. Only two women received antiretroviral (ARV) therapy during pregnancy, labor, and after delivery, and their infants received zidovudine (AZT) for 6 weeks. The outcome, after a follow-up period of 4 months to 16 months, was favorable in all patients. Thus, we emphasize the need for expansion of antenatal HIV screening of pregnant women, implemented for early HIV diagnosis and effective ARV therapy for reduction of perinatal HIV transmission.

Adverse Events Following Yellow Fever Vaccination in Korean Children / 소아감염

PURPOSE:Yellow fever, a mosquito-borne viral hemorrhagic fever, is one of the most lethal diseases. Recently there have been an increasing number of Korean children who have travelled to yellow fever endemic zones and were administered yellow fever vaccine (YFV). Therefore, we carried out this study to provide child travelers with safety information of YFV. METHODS:This study was conducted at the International Clinic of National Medical Center in Seoul between April 2007 and June 2008 for the evaluation of adverse events of YFV. One hundred twenty- five children received YFV (17-DD) and were prospectively monitored for adverse events through telephone interviews on day 3, 6, 9, 16, 23 and 30 after vaccination. RESULTS:Adverse events were observed in 31 (24.8%) of 125 child travelers who received the YFV. The mean age was 12.5+/-5.0 years. Sixty-six of the child travelers (52.8%) were males. The common adverse events were pain in 11 (8.8%), swelling in 8 (6.4%) and redness in 7 children (5.6%) at the injection site. The systemic adverse events included mild fever in 5 (4.0%), headache in 5 (4.0%), cough in 4 (3.2%), abdominal pain in 3 (2.4 %), and vomiting in 2 children (1.6%). Most of the adverse events were detected within 7 days of administration and there were no differences in adverse events by gender or age. All travelers who had complained of symptoms improved spontaneously or following symptomatic treatment. CONCLUSION:This study showed that YFV is well-tolerated and there were no reports of severe adverse events. Studies are ongoing to clarify the cause and risk factors for rare adverse events.

Papillary Thyroid Cancer: Clinicopathologic Characteristics and Factors of Contralateral Jugular Lymph Node Metastasis after Lymph Node Dissection / 대한내분비외과학회지

PURPOSE: Contralateral jugular lymph node metastasis (CJLNM) of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is rarely found during operative procedures. HoweverPTC is being diagnosed with increasing frequency and lymph node metastasis is now recognized as a factor of prognosis and recurrence. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the clinical and histological characteristics of papillary thyroid cancer and to determine the factors that lead to CJLNM. METHODS: Two-hundred patients with PTC were treated in our hospital between March 2005 and October 2006. A retrospective analysis of the patient's clinical and histological features and lymph node metastasis was conducted. RESULTS: The total ratio of CJLNM to PTC was approximately 7.5%, the male to female ratio was 1:6.5, and the mean tumor size was 14.93 mm. In addition, the multiplicity was 53.3% and the bilatrality was 53.3%. Further, there were 4 cases involving benign thyroid disease combined with goiter. In addition, the capsule invasion was 100%. Age under 40 years, bilaterality and capsule invasion were found to be significant clinicopathologic factors of CJLNM induced by PTC. CONCLUSION: A contralateral jugular lymph node biopsy of PTC may be considered in cases involving patients under 40 years of age with, bilaterality and capsular invasion.

A Study of the Frequency of Food Purchase for Snacking and Its Related Ecological Factors on Elementary School Children / 대한지역사회영양학회지

In order to investigate food purchase frequency of elementary school children and its related ecological factors, 4314th, 5th and 6th grade elementary school children and their mothers, living in Seoul and Daejon, small city and rural area of Chungnam Province, were participated in this study. The subjects and their parents were surveyed by a selfrecording questionnaire about food purchase frequency and some ecological factors. Average height and weight of the subjects by gender and grade were similar to or a little bit more than the 1998 Korean Growth Standard. According to relative body weight, 30.6% and 10.8% of the subjects belonged to under-weight and obesity categories, respectively. Of the subjects, 46.9% used PC telecommunication or internet, 53.8% of them used it for less than an hour per day, and 46.4% watched TV for 2 to 4 hours a day. About 42% of the subjects spent 500 Won or less daily to buy snacks. A half of the subjects took snacks once a day because of hunger. Mothers' nutrition knowledge score was averagely 8.16 out of 13 full score and the average attitude score was 43.22 out of 50 full score. Foods purchased more than once a week were milk and yoghurt, cookies, ice-cream, ramyun, and gum in order. Family income, parents' education level, mothers' nutrition knowledge and food attitude score, students' snacking frequency and TV watching time showed significant correlations with purchase frequencies of some individual food items. In conclusion, the elementary school children considered taste most important rather than nutrition in buying snacks and most frequently bought carbohydrate foods and concentrated sugars except milk. Ecological factors such as mothers' nutritional knowledge and food attitude, TV watching time and snacking frequency had influenced the children's food purchase frequency. Accordingly, it is necessary to educate both children and their mothers about good food purchase and the importance of snacking.

A Needs Assessment to Develop Website Contents on Nutritional Information and Counseling for Teenagers / 대한지역사회영양학회지

A survey was conducted to investigate the current status of utilization of cyber nutritional information for teenagers and the reason for their need of such website content. In the four cities of Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju and Daegu, in September and October, 2000, 1262 secondary school students were randomly selected. Survey results are summarized as follows: The participants searched for nutritional information by means of internet/PC communication for 137.0 +/- 100.6 (Mean +/- S.D.) minutes per day, mainly for the purpose of playing games, entertainment, chatting, or doing homework. Of the participants, 4.5% searched for nutritional information by means of internet/PC communication primarily for doing homework, and secondarily for reasons related to their own health or diet. Their satisfaction levels with the web sites used to obtain nutritional information was average. Needs assessments regarding the content of the web sites and the screen design showed that the teenagers wanted simple, clearly explained content, current information, easy access, less complicated screens and more use of characters. Only 8.1% of the participants had received nutritional counseling by means of internet/PC communication and 91% of them used it less than once a month, showing the very low utilization of nutritional counseling. The teenagers' main reasons for using nutritional counseling were related to their homework or diets, and their satisfaction levels regarding the counseling were below average. Poorly understood answers, and slow responses were mentioned. They had high interests in 'Diet for better growth,' 'Acne and diet,' 'Dental health and diet,' and 'Adolescent development'. These topics are mostly related to appearance. In conclusion, it is necessary to provide for teenagers, on nutritional information web sites, simple and well organized information, including simple graphics and characters, appropriate for their gender and age, as well as counseling sites offering kind and satisfying responses.

Characteristic Analysis of Internet nutrition Counseling Served by the Korean Society of Community Nutrition / 대한지역사회영양학회지

An analysis for a period of 15 months (from September 2000 to November 2001), of the nutrition counseling internet site, "Dietnet" served by the Korean Society of Community Nutrition, showed the following results. Nutrition counseling was conducted without charge by 50 professionals, including professors in the food and nutritional areas, medical doctors, and dietitians. Counselees consisted of mostly females under 30 years of age. Although two thirds of the users of this site asked questions anonymously, they were very sincere. They asked questions mostly related to their own concerns, but there were quite a few inquiries about their parents or grandparents. There were significant differences in the counseling contents depending on the ages of the counselees. Teenagers showed the highest interest in height growth and weight control, whereas people in their twenties were mostly interested in diseases, foods, and weight control. Those over the thirty made inquiries mostly about diseases. The most frequent questions were relevant to gastrointestinal, circulatory and hepatic diseases. As indicated above, counseling questions included of a variety of both comprehensive and specific questions. There were also quite a few questions related to decisions on the correct usage of specific foods. Therefore, we recommend that more professionals, such as food science majors, medical doctors who practice western and oriental medicine, and other professionals who specialize in psychological behaviors related to weight control and infant food habits be recruited to serve the site more effectively and intensively. In light of the further need for internet sites with nutrition counseling and delivery of nutritional information to the public, nutritionists capable of managing websites are also required.