Background
The effect of novel tobacco products, such as electronic cigarettes (EC) and heated tobacco products (HTP), on allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma is not well known.
Objective
To evaluate ...the health effect of novel tobacco products on asthma and AR.
Methods
This study was conducted using large survey data on Korean middle and high school students. The relationship between current asthma/AR and novel tobacco products user status was evaluated. In order to compare the combined effects of conventional cigarette (CC), EC, and HTP use on current allergic diseases, the participants were classified into 18 groups based on CC (current, former, and never), EC (current, former, and never), and HTP (ever and never) status.
Results
A total of 60,040 participants representing 2,850,118 Korean adolescents were analyzed. Of all participants, 6.7%, 2.7%, and 2.9% were current CC, current EC, and ever HTP users, respectively. Current CC and ever HTP use was significantly associated with current asthma and AR in adjusted models. Current EC showed association with current AR but the association with asthma disappeared in the adjusted model. Among 18 groups, the groups including current CC use showed higher risk of current AR and asthma than never HTP‐never EC‐never CC group. The odds ratio of current asthma especially increased more in those who used EC and/or HTP with CC concurrently than those in the never HTP‐never EC‐current CC user group.
Conclusion
Using EC and/or HTP in adolescents might enhance the adverse effect of CC on AR and asthma.
Among Korean adolescents aged from 12 to 18 years old, 6.7% and 2.7% currently use conventional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, respectively and 2.9% ever used heated tobacco products. The use of conventional cigarette, electronic cigarette, and heated tobacco product, respectively and in combination increases the risk of allergic rhinitis and asthma in Korean adolescents. The use of heated tobacco product especially enhances the impact of conventional cigarettes on allergic rhinitis and asthma.
Some western countries recently have shown a slowdown in the incidence of allergic diseases after worldwide increasing trends, but there are few data from Asian populations concerning changing trend ...of allergic diseases. We evaluated the recent trends in the prevalence of asthma and other allergic diseases in Korea.
From the database of Korean National Health Insurance, a nationwide diagnostic data from 2009 to 2014 were extracted and the national prevalence was analyzed.
The prevalence per 1000 people of atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and asthma in 2014 was 19.0, 133.1, and 36.3, respectively. The prevalence of three diseases was highest in the age group under 10 as, 95.0, 384.1, and 132.1 per 1000 people, while the prevalence in the over-10-year-group was only 11.6, 109.5, and 27.3, respectively. The prevalence of atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis gradually decreased with older age, but the prevalence of asthma showed a re-increasing pattern from the age group 30–39 and reached another peak for the age group 70–79. During the study period, the prevalence of asthma and atopic dermatitis showed decreasing tendency. In contrast, the prevalence of allergic rhinitis steadily increased until 2013, especially in the age group under 10.
The national prevalence of atopic dermatitis, and asthma did not show noticeable increase any more in Korea. However, the prevalence of allergic rhinitis still on the rise until recently, especially in the age group under 10. This is the first report in Asia suggesting a slowdown of the incidence of allergic diseases.
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Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are life-threatening diseases; however, it is hard to estimate their incidence due to the rarity of these diseases. We evaluated ...the incidence of SJS and TEN using a nationwide administrative database.
We used a national medical insurance review system (Health Insurance Review and Assessment) database which contained the claim data of the entire nation from 2009 to 2013 to estimate the accurate incidence of SJS and TEN in Korea. The diagnostic codes of L511 (SJS) or L512 (TEN) from the International Classification of Diseases-10th revision were used to define the target study population. We also retrospectively followed up a 2011 SJS and TEN cohort for 24 months in order to assess the in-hospital mortality, related complications and total claims cost due to SJS and TEN.
A total of 1,167 (938 SJS and 229 TEN) cases were newly diagnosed from 2010 to 2013. The age- and sex-standardized annual incidences estimated in this study were 3.96 to 5.03 in SJS and 0.94 to 1.45 in TEN per million. There was no significant change in annual incidence throughout the study periods. When analyzed by 10-year age groups, the annual incidence was the lowest in group 20-29 years and the highest in group 70 for both SJS and TEN. Based on the 2011 cohort analysis, the in-hospital mortality were 5.7 and 15.1% for SJS and TEN, respectively. The mortality increased with age, particularly, after 40 years of age. Among the complications related with SJS or TEN, ocular sequelae was the most common (43.1 and 43.4% of SJS and TEN patients, respectively) followed by urethral sequelae (5.7 and 9.4% of SJS and TEN patients, respectively).
Overall, our data suggest that SJS, and TEN are infrequent but constantly arise throughout the years.
Drug-induced anaphylaxis is a fatal medical condition whose incidence has been increasing continuously. Due to differences between genetic backgrounds and health care systems, different populations ...may be prone to various causative drugs. Using the Health Insurance Service and Assessment Service database, we investigated culprit drugs for drug-induced anaphylaxis and common medication risk factors in the Korean general population. We collected medical prescription histories within 3 days prior to anaphylaxis between January 2011 and December 2019 from the HIRA database. Designed as a case-crossover study, the attributable visits (case visits) were matched to medical visits (control visits) with the drug sets for each visit. We collected a list of medication risk factors for anaphylaxis and calculated the risk ratio of each agent using the chi-square test and conditional logistic regression analysis. A total of 159,473 individuals were listed in the database with a diagnosis of anaphylaxis in the HIRA from 2011 to 2019. After evaluating the suitability of control visits for matching with a case visit, 8168 subjects and 767 drugs were analyzed. The chi-square analysis identified 31 drugs as potential risk factors for drug-induced anaphylaxis in Korea. After applying a conditional logistic regression analysis for each agent, 5 drugs were found to be the common medication risk factors for drug-induced anaphylaxis: cefaclor, iopromide, iohexol, iomeprol, and tolperisone. We found 5 medication risk factors that showed the highest risk of drug-induced anaphylaxis and their degree of risk using an objective methodology in the Korean general population.
Abstract Agaricus bisporus (white button mushroom; WBM) contains high levels of dietary fibers and antioxidants including vitamin C, D, and B12 ; folates; and polyphenols that may provide beneficial ...effects on cardiovascular and diabetic diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the hypothesis that intake of the fruiting bodies of WBM regulates anticholesterolemic and antiglycemic responses in rats fed a hypercholesterolemic diet (0.5% cholesterol; 14% fat) and rats with type 2 diabetes induced by injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (50 mg/kg body weight), respectively. The STZ-induced diabetic male Sprague-Dawley rats fed the Agaricus bisporus powder (ABP; 200 mg/kg of body weight) for 3 weeks had significantly reduced plasma glucose and triglyceride (TG) concentrations (24.7% and 39.1%, respectively), liver enzyme activities, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase (11.7% and 15.7%, respectively), and liver weight gain ( P < .05). In hypercholesterolemic rats, oral feeding of ABP for 4 weeks resulted in a significant decrease in plasma total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (22.8% and 33.1%, respectively) ( P < .05). A similar significant decrease in hepatic cholesterol and TG concentrations was observed (36.2% and 20.8%, respectively) ( P < .05). Decrease in TC, LDL, and TG concentrations was accompanied by a significant increase in plasma high-density lipoprotein concentrations. It was concluded that A bisporus mushroom had both hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activity in rats.
Symptom perception and quality of life (QOL) are important domains for properly managing severe asthma. This study aimed to assess the relationship between airway structural and parenchymal variables ...measured using chest computed tomography (CT) and subjective symptom perception and QOL in patients with severe asthma enrolled in the Korean Severe Asthma Registry.
This study used CT-based objective measurements, including airway wall thickness (WT), hydraulic diameter, functional small airway disease (fSAD), and emphysematous lung (Emph), to assess their association with subjective symptom (cough, dyspnea, wheezing, and sputum) perception measured using the visual analog scale, and QOL measured by the Severe Asthma Questionnaire (SAQ).
A total of 94 patients with severe asthma were enrolled in this study. The WT and fSAD% were significantly positively associated with cough and dyspnea, respectively. For QOL, WT and Emph% showed significant negative associations with the SAQ. However, there was no significant association between lung function and symptom perception or between lung function and QOL.
Overall, WT, fSAD%, and Emph% measured using chest CT were associated with subjective symptom perception and QOL in patients with severe asthma. This study provides a basis for clarifying the clinical correlates of imaging-derived metrics and for understanding the mechanisms of respiratory symptom perception.
•Symptom perception and QOL are important domains for managing severe asthma.•There has been a growing focus on CT in the assessment of severe asthma.•CT-based objective measurements include WT, fSAD% and Emph.•WT and fSAD% were significantly positively associated with cough and dyspnea.•WT and Emph% showed significant negative associations with the QOL.
Ethnic differences exist in relation to culprit drugs for Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). We wanted to determine culprit drugs for SJS and TEN in Korean ...population.
To evaluate culprit drugs for SJS and TEN by applying an algorithm for assessment of drug causality for epidermal necrolysis (ALDEN) in a nationwide administrative database.
We used the claims database, which included claims data for the entire South Korean population. A retrospective cohort study was conducted by collecting subjects who were first diagnosed with SJS and TEN in 2011. All drugs prescribed to the subjects were reviewed and scored according to the ALDEN score. Drugs with an ALDEN score ≥2 were considered culprit drugs.
A total of 187 subjects were included in the culprit drug analysis; 33 very probable, 101 probable, and 57 possible culprit drugs were identified for SJS and TEN according to the ALDEN score. The most frequently suspected culprit drug was allopurinol (19 cases), followed by carbamazepine (17 cases), lamotrigine (13 cases), amoxicillin (9 cases), and dorzolamide (9 cases). Most cases (78.8%, 52 of 66) associated with the use of allopurinol, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, dorzolamide, and methazolamide occurred between 13 and 44 days after initiating the drug.
We applied the ALDEN score to the claims database to identify possible culprit drugs for SJS and TEN in South Korea. This approach could shed light on research and policymaking for drug adverse reactions.
•Pseudomonas putida KT2440 can metabolize 2,3-butanediol as a sole carbon source.•2,3-butandiol was converted to mevalonate by engineered P. putida KT2440 successfully.•atoB gene expression and ...aeration optimization enhanced the mevalonate production.
Biological production of 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BDO), a C4 platform chemical, has been studied recently, but the high cost of separation and purification before chemical conversion is substantial. To overcome this obstacle, we have conducted a study to convert 2,3-BDO to mevalonate, a terpenoid intermediate, using recombinant Pseudomonas putida and this biological process won’t need the separation and purification process of 2,3-BDO. The production of mevalonate when 2,3-BDO was used as a substrate was 6.61 and 8.44 times higher than when glucose and glycerol were used as substrates under the same conditions, respectively. Lower aeration contributed to higher yields of mevalonate in otherwise identical conditions. The maximum mevalonate production on the shaking flask scale was about 2.21 g/L, in this study (product yield was 0.295, 27% of theoretical yield (1.10)). This study was the first successful attempt for mevalonate production by P. putida using 2,3-BDO as the sole carbon source and presented a new metabolic engineering tool and biological process for mevalonate synthesis.
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