Although the role of obesity-induced metabolic abnormalities in impaired lung function is well-established, the risk of impaired lung function among obese individuals without metabolic abnormalities, ...referred to metabolically-healthy obesity (MHO), is largely unexplored. Therefore, we evaluated the impact of MHO on lung function in a large health-screening cohort.
114,143 subjects (65,342 men, mean age and BMI: 39.6 years and 23.6) with health examinations in 2019 were divided into four groups as follows: metabolically healthy non-obese (MHNO), MHO, metabolically unhealthy non-obese (MUHNO), and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUHO). Metabolic health was defined as fewer than two metabolic syndrome components. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥25 kg/m2. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs), using MHNO as a reference, were calculated to determine lung function impairment.
Approximately one-third (30.6%) of the study subjects were obese. The prevalence of MHO was 15.1%. Subjects with MHO had the highest FEV1% and FVC% values but the lowest FEV1/FVC ratio (p<0.001). These results persisted after controlling for covariates. Compared with MHNO, the aORs (95% confidence interval) for FEV1% < 80% in MHO, MUHNO and MUHO were 0.871 (0.775-0.978), 1.274 (1.114-1.456), and 1.176 (1.102-1.366), respectively (P for trend = 0.014). Similarly, the aORs in MHO, MUHNO, and MUHO were 0.704 (0.615-0.805), 1.241 (1.075-1.432), and 1.226 (1.043-1.441), respectively, for FVC% < 80% (p for trend = 0.013). However, the aORs for FEV1/FVC<0.7 were not significantly different between groups (p for trend = 0.173).
The MHO group had better lung function than other groups. However, longitudinal follow-up studies are required to validate our findings.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Though elevated ferritin level and decreased lung function both predispose people to cardio-metabolic disease, few reports have investigated the association between them. Furthermore, it remains ...unclear whether the association reflects a change in iron stores or an epiphenomenon reflecting metabolic stress. Therefore, we looked for possible associations between ferritin, iron, and transferrin saturation (TSAT) and lung function to clarify the role of iron-related parameters in healthy men.
We conducted a cohort study of 42,927 healthy Korean men (mean age: 38.6 years). Percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1%) and forced vital capacity (FVC%) were categorized into quartiles. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (using the highest quartile as reference) were calculated for hyperferritinemia, high iron, and high TSAT after controlling for potential confounders.
The median ferritin level was 199.8 (141.5-275.6) ng/mL. The prevalence of hyperferritinemia (defined as >300 ng/mL) was 19.3%. Subjects with hyperferritinemia had lower FEV1% and FVC% than those with normal ferritin level with a slight difference, but those were statistically significant (99.22% vs.99.61% for FEV1%, p = 0.015 and 98.43% vs. 98.87% for FVC, p = 0.001). However, FEV1/FVC ratio was not significantly different between groups (P = 0.797). Compared with the highest quartile, the aORs for hyperferritinemia across decreasing quartiles were 1.081 (1.005-1.163), 1.100 (1.007-1.200), and 1.140 (1.053-1.233) for FEV1% (p for trend = 0.007) and 1.094 (1.018-1.176), 1.101 (1.021-1.188), and 1.150 (1.056-1.252) for FVC% (p for trend = 0.001). However, neither FEV1% nor FVC% was associated with iron or TSAT.
Hyperferritinemia was associated with decreased lung function in healthy Korean men, but iron and TSAT were not. Longitudinal follow-up studies are required to validate our findings.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The inter-decadal variation of the positive relationship between the tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) and Korean precipitation during boreal summer season during 1900–2010 is examined. ...The 15-year moving correlation between the Tropical Atlantic SST (TAtlSST) index (SST anomalies from 30°S to 30°N and 60°W to 20°E) and Korean precipitation (precipitation anomalies from 35°–40°N to 120°–130°E) during June–July–August exhibits strong inter-decadal variation, which becomes positive at the 95% confidence level after the 1980s. Intensification of the linkage between the TAtlSST index and Korean precipitation after the 1980s is attributed to global warming via the increased background SST. The increase in the background SST over the Atlantic provides background conditions that enhance anomalous convective activity by anomalous Atlantic SST warming. Therefore, the overall atmospheric responses associated with the tropical Atlantic SST warming could intensify. The correlation between the TAtlSST index and Korean precipitation also exhibits strong inter-decadal variation within 1980–2010, which is over 0.8 during early 2000s, while it is relative low (i.e., around 0.6) during the early 1980s. The enhanced co-variability between the tropical and the mid-latitude Atlantic SST during the early 2000s indicates the intensification of TAtlSST-related Rossby wave source over the mid-latitude Atlantic, which excites stationary waves propagated from the Atlantic to the Korean peninsula across northern Europe and northeast Asia. This Rossby-wave train induces a cyclonic flow over the northern edge of the Korea, which intensifies southwesterly and results in precipitation over Korea. This observed decadal difference is well simulated by the stationary wave model experiments with a prescribed TAtlSST-related Rossby wave source over the mid-latitude Atlantic.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Climate Center (APCC) in-house model (Seamless Coupled Prediction System: SCoPS) has been newly developed for operational seasonal forecasting. SCoPS has ...generated ensemble retrospective forecasts for the period 1982–2013 and real-time forecasts for the period 2014–current. In this study, the seasonal prediction skill of the SCoPS hindcast ensemble was validated compared to those of the previous operation model (APEC Climate Center Community Climate System Model version 3: APCC CCSM3). This study validated the spatial and temporal prediction skills of hindcast climatology, large-scale features, and the seasonal climate variability from both systems. A special focus was the fidelity of the systems to reproduce and forecast phenomena that are closely related to the East Asian monsoon system. Overall, both CCSM3 and SCoPS exhibit realistic representations of the basic climate, although systematic biases are found for surface temperature and precipitation. The averaged temporal anomaly correlation coefficient for sea surface temperature, 2-m temperature, and precipitation from SCoPS is higher than those from CCSM3. Notably, SCoPS well captures the northward migrated rainband related to the East Asian summer monsoon. The SCoPS simulation also shows useful skill in predicting the wintertime Arctic Oscillation. Consequently, SCoPS is more skillful than CCSM3 in predicting seasonal climate variability, including the ENSO and the Arctic Oscillation. Further, it is clear that the seasonal climate forecast with SCoPS will be useful for simulating the East Asian monsoon system.
Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for the independent assessment of screening mammograms have not been well established in a large screening cohort of Asian women. We compared the performance ...of screening digital mammography considering breast density, between radiologists and AI standalone detection among Korean women.
We retrospectively included 89,855 Korean women who underwent their initial screening digital mammography from 2009 to 2020. Breast cancer within 12 months of the screening mammography was the reference standard, according to the National Cancer Registry. Lunit software was used to determine the probability of malignancy scores, with a cutoff of 10% for breast cancer detection. The AI's performance was compared with that of the final Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System category, as recorded by breast radiologists. Breast density was classified into four categories (A-D) based on the radiologist and AI-based assessments. The performance metrics (cancer detection rate CDR, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value PPV, recall rate, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve AUC) were compared across breast density categories.
Mean participant age was 43.5 ± 8.7 years; 143 breast cancer cases were identified within 12 months. The CDRs (1.1/1000 examination) and sensitivity values showed no significant differences between radiologist and AI-based results (69.9% 95% confidence interval CI, 61.7-77.3 vs. 67.1% 95% CI, 58.8-74.8). However, the AI algorithm showed better specificity (93.0% 95% CI, 92.9-93.2 vs. 77.6% 95% CI, 61.7-77.9), PPV (1.5% 95% CI, 1.2-1.9 vs. 0.5% 95% CI, 0.4-0.6), recall rate (7.1% 95% CI, 6.9-7.2 vs. 22.5% 95% CI, 22.2-22.7), and AUC values (0.8 95% CI, 0.76-0.84 vs. 0.74 95% CI, 0.7-0.78) (all P < 0.05). Radiologist and AI-based results showed the best performance in the non-dense category; the CDR and sensitivity were higher for radiologists in the heterogeneously dense category (P = 0.059). However, the specificity, PPV, and recall rate consistently favored AI-based results across all categories, including the extremely dense category.
AI-based software showed slightly lower sensitivity, although the difference was not statistically significant. However, it outperformed radiologists in recall rate, specificity, PPV, and AUC, with disparities most prominent in extremely dense breast tissue.
There has been inconsistent relationships between serum vitamin D levels and lung function in previous studies. However, previous studies included patients with medical diseases, affecting both ...vitamin D levels and lung function. Considering this view of potential confounders, we investigated if vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is linked to lung function in health screening examinee without overt medical conditions.
We conducted a cohort study on 68,457 healthy Koreans (36,759 males, mean age: 37.7 years) with a health examination in 2015. Measured forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were categorized in quartiles. To examine the relationships between VDD and lung function, adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for VDD were estimated by logistic regression.
Median vitamin D level was 14.9 ng/mL. The prevalence of VDD (defined as <20 ng/ml) was 74.5%. Compared with the highest quartile (Q4, reference), the aORs for VDD across decreasing quartiles (from Q3 to Q1) were 1.05, 1.06, 1.10 for FVC, and 1.07, 1.10, 1.10 for FEV1 (P for trend < 0.01 for both), in all subjects. Similarly, the aOR of having VDD for men also increased with decreasing quartiles of FVC and FEV1 in a dose-response manner (p for trend < 0.01 for both). However, neither FVC nor FEV1 was associated with VDD in women.
VDD was associated with decreased lung function in middle aged Korean men without overt medical conditions. VDD could be a modifiable risk factor for impaired lung function, in men but not in women.
Metabolic syndrome (MS) is related to lung dysfunction. However, its impact according to insulin resistance (IR) remains unknown. Therefore, we evaluated whether the relation of MS with lung ...dysfunction differs by IR.
This cross-sectional study included 114,143 Korean adults (mean age, 39.6 years) with health examinations who were divided into three groups: metabolically healthy (MH), MS without IR, and MS with IR. MS was defined as presence of any MS component, including IR estimated by HOMA-IR ≥ 2.5. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for lung dysfunction were obtained in MS, MS without IR, and MS with IR groups compared with the MH (reference) group.
The prevalence of MS was 50.7%. The percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1%) and forced vital capacity (FVC%) showed statistically significant differences between MS with IR and MH and between MS with IR and MS without IR (all P < 0.001). However, those measures did not vary between MH and MS without IR (P = 1.000 and P = 0.711, respectively). Compared to MH, MS was not at risk for FEV1% < 80% (1.103 (0.993-1.224), P = 0.067) or FVC% < 80% (1.011 (0.901-1.136), P = 0.849). However, MS with IR was clearly associated with FEV1% < 80% (1.374 (1.205-1.566) and FVC% < 80% (1.428 (1.237-1.647) (all p < 0.001), though there was no evident association for MS without IR (FEV1%: 1.078 (0.975-1.192, P = 0.142) and FVC%: 1.000 (0.896-1.116, p = 0.998)).
The association of MS with lung function can be affected by IR. However, longitudinal follow-up studies are required to validate our findings.
Constipation is one of the most common gastrointestinal (GI) disorders worldwide. The use of probiotics to improve constipation is well known. In this study, the effect on loperamide-induced ...constipation by intragastric administration of probiotics Consti-Biome mixed with SynBalance® SmilinGut (
PBS067,
LRH020,
subsp.
BL050; Roelmi HPC),
UALp-05 (Chr. Hansen),
DDS-1 (Chr. Hansen), and
CKDB027 (Chong Kun Dang Bio) to rats was evaluated. To induce constipation, 5 mg/kg loperamide was intraperitoneally administered twice a day for 7 days to all groups except the normal control group. After inducing constipation, Dulcolax-S tablets and multi-strain probiotics Consti-Biome were orally administered once a day for 14 days. The probiotics were administered 0.5 mL at concentrations of 2 × 10
CFU/mL (G1), 2 × 10
CFU/mL (G2), and 2 × 10
CFU/mL (G3). Compared to the loperamide administration group (LOP), the multi-strain probiotics not only significantly increased the number of fecal pellets but also improved the GI transit rate. The mRNA expression levels of serotonin- and mucin-related genes in the colons that were treated with the probiotics were also significantly increased compared to levels in the LOP group. In addition, an increase in serotonin was observed in the colon. The cecum metabolites showed a different pattern between the probiotics-treated groups and the LOP group, and an increase in short-chain fatty acids was observed in the probiotic-treated groups. The abundances of the phylum
, the family
and the genus
were increased in fecal samples of the probiotic-treated groups. Therefore, the multi-strain probiotics used in this experiment were thought to help alleviate LOP-induced constipation by altering the levels of short-chain fatty acids, serotonin, and mucin through improvement in the intestinal microflora.
Lung dysfunction and high apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A-I (apoB/apoA-I) ratio are both recognized risk factors for cardiovascular disease. However, few studies have examined the association ...between the apoB/ApoA-I ratio and lung function. Therefore, we investigated whether this ratio is associated with decreased lung function in a large healthy cohort.
We performed a cohort study on 68,418 healthy Koreans (34,797 males, mean age: 38.1 years) who underwent a health examination in 2019. ApoB/apoA-I ratio was categorized into quartiles. Spirometric values at the fifth percentile in our population were considered the lower limit of normal (LLN), which was used to define lung function impairment. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), using the lowest quartile as the reference, were estimated to determine lung function impairment.
Mean apoB/apoA-I ratio was 0.67 ± 0.21. Subjects with the highest quartile of this ratio had the lowest predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV
%) and forced vital capacity (FVC%) after controlling for covariates (
< 0.001). However, FEV
/FVC ratio was not significantly different among the four quartiles (
= 0.059). Compared with the lowest quartile (Q1, reference), the aORs (95% CI) for FEV
% < LLN across increasing quartiles (from Q2 to Q4) were 1.216 (1.094-1.351), 1.293 (1.156-1.448), and 1.481 (1.311-1.672) (
for trend < 0.001), respectively. Similarly, the aORs for FVC% < LLN compared with the reference were 1.212 (1.090-1.348), 1.283 (1.147-1.436), and 1.502 (1.331-1.695) with increasing quartiles (
for trend < 0.001). However, the aORs for FEV
/FVC < LLN were not significantly different among groups (
for trend = 0.273).
High apoB/apoA-I ratio was associated with decreased lung function. However, longitudinal follow-up studies are required to validate our findings.
The present study evaluated 168 childcare facilities from 6 cities in South Korea to assess exposure to organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) in children through 4 major pathways (indoor air, indoor ...dust, surface wipe of indoor objects, and hand wash water of children). The Excess Cancer Risk (ECR) was calculated based on the Cancer Potency Factor (CPF) and Age Dependent Adjustment Factor (ADAF) in adults. Dichlorvos residues were detected in the indoor air, indoor dust, surface wipes of indoor objects, and the hand wash water of children at frequencies of 47.4, 90, 100, and 100%, respectively. After revision based on the ADAF, total cancer risk in the 50th percentile was 3.99×10−3 for inhalation, oral intake, and dermal contact in children ages 3 to 4 and 4.63×10−4 in kindergarteners ages 5 to 6. Inhalation was the primary pathway of pesticide exposure in children in childcare facilities. Children ages 3 to 4 in daycare centers had a Hazard Quotient (HQ) of 0.5 for dichlorvos, which was 50% lower than the risk criterion level of 1 but was higher than the 95% percentile with a HQ of 1.9. This study postulates that children in childcare facilities may be exposed to specific OPs.
► We examined pesticide exposure for children in 168 childcare facilities from 6 cities in South Korea ► Chlorpyrifos and dichlorvos were detected through major pathways at high frequencies. ► ECR was calculated for children at the facilities based on CPF and ADAF. ► Total cancer risk in the 50th percentile was noteworthy for inhalation in children at the facilities. ► Children in the facilities had the HQ score higher than the 95th percentile with a HQ of 1.9.
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