• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제54권11호
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• pp.443-455
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• 2011

Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) or infant mortality rate (IMR) are the rate of deaths per 1,000 live births at which babies of either less than four weeks or of one year of age die, respectively. The NMR and IMR are commonly accepted as a measure of the general health and well-being of a population. Korea's NMR and IMR fell significantly between 1993 and 2009 from 6.6 and 9.9 to 1.7 and 3.2, respectively. Common causes of infantile death in 2008 had decreased compared with those in 1996 such as other disorders originating in the perinatal period, congenital malformation of the heart, bacterial sepsis of newborns, disorders related to length of gestation and fetal growth, intra-uterine hypoxia, birth asphyxia. However, some other causes are on the increase, such as respiratory distress of newborn, other respiratory conditions originating in the perinatal period, other congenital malformation, diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism. In this study, we provide basic data about changes of NMR and IMR and the causes of neonatal and infantile death from 1983 to 2009 in Korea.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.78-85
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• 2008

In a search for new molecular pathways associated with asthma, we performed an mRNA differential display analysis using total RNA extracted from the tracheal tissues of ovalbumin (OVA)-challenged mice and sham controls. cDNAs corresponding to mRNAs for which expression levels were altered by OVA-challenge were isolate and sequenced. Twenty-eight genes differentially expressed in sham and OVA challenged mice were identified. A GenBank BLAST homology search revealed that they were related to cytoskeleton remodeling, transcription, protein synthesis and modification, energy production, and cell growth and differentiation. Two were selected for further characterization. Up-regulation of both the perinatal skeletal myosin heavy chain (skMHC) and fast skeletal muscle myosin light chain (skMLC) genes was confirmed by RT-PCR of trachea tissue from OVA challenged mice. Overexpression of skMLC protein was observed in the smooth muscle layers of OVA-challenged mice by immunohistochemistry, and the surface areas stained with skMLC antibody increased in the OVA-challenged mice. The overexpression of skMLC in murine asthma may be associated with the changes of bronchial smooth muscle.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.23-33
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• 2011

The etiology of thrombosis is multifactorial and involves the interaction of inherited and acquired risk factors. Many neonatal thromboembolic disorders are iatrogenic and their incidence is likely to increase as advancements are made in neonatal care. Among pediatric populations, neonates have the highest risk for thrombosis secondary to the unique developmental hemostatic system, inherited prothrombotic disorders, and perinatal clinical conditions. Central venous and arterial catheters present the greatest risk for developing thromboembolisms in neonates. Both venous and arterial thromboses have been reported in a variety of anatomic locations. Prompt identification and appropriate management of thromboembolisms is critical for avoiding life-threatening complications. To date, few data are currently available regarding the contribution of inherited and acquired prothrombotic disorders in the pathogenesis of neonatal thromboembolism. In particular, a lack of information about neonatal thromboembolism in Korea has inhibited the development of appropriate guidelines for diagnosing thromboembolisms in neonates. An overview of the current knowledge about the role of inherited and acquired risk factors for neonatal thromboembolism in the West and a detailed description of common neonatal thromboembolic diseases is reviewed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• 제32권1호
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• pp.38-42
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• 1999

1994년 9월에서 1997년 5월까지 신생아 호흡곤란을 보였던 환아들중 폐외 공기 누출을 나타내었던 48례를 대상으로 그 임상 양상을 분석하였는데 일차성 15례, 이차성 33례를 보였고, 순수 폐간질 기종이 19례, 다른 병변과 동반된 기흉이 19례 있었다. 정상 체중아가 많고 24시간내 증상 발현의 경우가 많았다. 폐 질환으로는 유리질 막증, 태변 흡입 증후군, 폐렴 등이 있었다. 25.2%의 원내 사망율을 보였고 유리질막증 환자에서 많았다.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.191-198
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• 2009

목 적: 만성 B형 간염 산모로부터 분만된 신생아에게 주산기 예방조치를 실시하면 모유수유는 권장되어져야한다. 그러나 실지로 국내에서는 높은 비율에서 산모들은 모유수유를 꺼리고 있다. 설문조사를 통하여 이 같은 현상이 초래되는 요인을 찾아보았다. 방 법: 질병관리본부가 주관하는 'B형간염수직감염예방사업'에 참여하여 등록된 만성 B형 간염 산모 중 보건소에서 혈액 채취를 위해 보건소를 방문하고 동의서에 서명을 얻은 경우를 대상으로 하였다. 검사 결과를 고지할 때 이들의 모유수유에 대한 인식을 조사하기 위하여 반송봉투와 함께 설문지를 발송하였다. 결 과: 설문지를 발송한 839명 중 주소 이전 등의 이유로 반송된 114명을 제외한 725명이 설문지를 모두 받았다고 가정할 때 응답율은 17% (125명)이었다. 응답자의 수유방법은 모유 65명(52%), 분유 60명(48%)이었다. 모유수유를 한 경우 가장 영향을 미쳤던 요인은 본인 및 가족의 결정 75%, 산부인과 의사 17%이었고, 분유수유를 한 경우는 산부인과 의사 57%, 본인의 결정 28%이었다. 모유수유와 주산기 예방조치 실패간의 관련성에 대한 인식은 '관련이 있다' 45%, '관련이 없다' 50%이었고, 관련이 있다고 했을 때의 관련 정도는 '어느 정도 관련이 있다'가 55%이었다. 모유수유를 한 경우 추후에 모유수유를 하겠다는 답변은 91%이었고, 분유수유를 하였지만 '모유수유가 주산기 예방조치 실패와 직접적인 관련이 없다'는 사실이 소개된다면 추후에는 모유수유를 선택하겠다는 경우가 78%이었다. 결 론: 모유수유가 B형 간염 주산기 예방조치의 실패와 직접적인 관련이 없음에도 불구하고 많은 숫자에서 모유수유를 하지 않고 있는데, 이러한 결정을 하게 된 경우의 대부분이 의료인에 의해서였다. 교육을 통한 의료인들의 개념전환과 국민홍보가 이루어져야할 것이다.

• 한국인구학
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.15-59
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• 1992

After world war II Japanese life expectancy has been improved remarkably, and reached the highest level in the world around late 1970's. The life expectancy of Korean has also shown tremendous improvement in recent years with about 20 year's gap from the Japanese. The reason of rapid improvement of life expectancy can be explained by changes in the structure of cause of death due to health system, living standard, social welfare, health behavior of individuals and so on. Korean in Japan is placed under different situations from both Korean in Korea and Japanese in these regards, and expected to show different picture of cause of death pattern. The objective of this study is the comparision of changing patterns of cause of death of three population groups, Korean in Japan, Korean in Korea and Japanese, and to investigate the reasons which effect to the structural difference of mortality cause with special emphasis on health ecological aspects. One of the major limitations of the Korean causes of death statistics is the under-registration which ranges about 10% of the total events, and inaccuracy of the exact cause of death. Some 20% of registered deaths were unable to classify by ICD. However, it is concluded that the Korean data are evaluated as sufficient to stand for over-viewing of trends of cause of death pattern. The evaluation is done by comparing data from registration and field survey over the same population sample. Population data of Korean in Japan differ between two sources of data; census and foreigner's registration. Correction is done by life table method under the assumption that age-specific mortality pattern would accord with that of the Japanese. The crude death rate was lowest among Korean in Japan, 5.7 deaths per 1,000 population in 1965. The crude death rates of Korean in Japan and Japanese are increasing recently influenced by age structure while Korean in Korea still shows decreasing tendency. The adjusted death rate is lowest among Japanese, followed by Korean in Japan, and Korean in Korea. The leading causes of death of Korean in Korea until 1960's was infectious diseases including pneumonia and tuberculosis. The causes of death structure changed gradually to accidents, neoplasm, hypertensive disease, cerebro-vascular disease in order. The main difference in cause of death between Korean and Japanese if high rate of liver diseases and diabetes for both Korean in Japan and Korea. A special feature of cause of death among Korean in Korea is remakably high rate of hypertensive disease, which is assumed to be caused by physicians tendency in choosing diagnostic categories. The low ischemic heart disease and high vasculo-cerebral disease are the distinctive characteristic of the three population groups compared to western countries. Specific causes of death were selected for detailed sex, age and ethnic group comparisons based on their high death rates. Cancer is the cause of death which showed most dramatical increase in all three population groups. In Korea 20.1% of all death were caused by cancer in 1990 compared with 10.5% in 1981. Cancer of the liver is the leading cause of cancer death among Korean in Japan for both sexes, followed by cancer of the lung and cancer of the stomach, while that of Korean in Korea is cancer of the stomach, followed by cancer of the liver and cancer of the lung for male. Causes of infant mortality were examined among the three population groups since 1980 on yearly bases. For both Japanese and Korean in Japan, leading cause of death ranks as conditions originating in the perinatal period, congenital anomalies, accidents and other violent causes. Trends since 1980 for these two population groups in the leading cause of infant mortality showed no changes. On the contrary, significant changes in leading cause of death structure in Korea were observed : the ranking of leading cause of death in 1981 were congenital asnomalies, pneumonia bronchitis, infectious disease, heart disease, conditions originating in the perinatal period, accident and other violent causes ; in 1990 the ranking shifted to congenital anomalies, accident, pneumonia bronchities, conditions originating in the perinatal period, infectious disease. The mortality rate by congenital anomalies in Korea continuously grew than any other causes. Larger increase ocurred during the 1990's

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제58권4호
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• pp.117-122
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• 2015

Global developmental delay (GDD) is a relatively common early-onset chronic neurological condition, which may have prenatal, perinatal, postnatal, or undetermined causes. Family history, physical and neurological examinations, and detailed history of environmental risk factors might suggest a specific disease. However, diagnostic laboratory tests, brain imaging, and other evidence-based evaluations are necessary in most cases to elucidate the causes. Diagnosis of GDD has recently improved because of remarkable advances in genetic technology, but this is an exhaustive and expensive evaluation that may not lead to therapeutic benefits in the majority of GDD patients. Inborn metabolic errors are one of the main targets for the treatment of GDD, although only a small proportion of GDD patients have this type of error. Nevertheless, diagnosis is often challenging because the phenotypes of many genetic or metabolic diseases often overlap, and their clinical spectra are much broader than currently known. Appropriate and cost-effective strategies including up-to-date information for the early identification of the "treatable" causes of GDD are needed for the development of well-timed therapeutic applications with the potential to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.96-106
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• 2003

Advances in neonatal care system and research have resulted in an increased survival rate among low birth weight infants in the industrialized countries. Recent Korean neonatal mortality and morbidity statistics, and current status of Korean neonatal intensive care facilities were reviewed here for the sake of future improvement and research. Morbidity statistics revealed that perinatal diseases accounted for 80％ of the death of premature infants implying the possibility of its reduction by the vigorous prenatal care service in future.On the basis of extensive studies of nutritional support and growth rate of premature infants, commercial formulas for premature infants have been developed and various aspects of feeding techniques are standardized. However, problem of growth deficit of premature infants remains unsolved as medical problem. NICU specialists are challenged with the tasks of prenatal education or provision of care that minimizes the neurodevelopmental problems seen in preterm infants, various short-term outcome researches have been reported and those are reviewed here to promote research interest in the field of neonatal nursing. Systemic long-term outcome studies are also awaited in Korea for the formulation of welfare policy in future. Nursing science has to embrace all these interdisciplinary studies as their own research field in collaboration with neonatologist, nutritionist, rehabilitation therapist, social workers and teachers.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.156-164
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• 2018

Environmental contaminants are one of the important causal factors for development of various human diseases. In particular, the perinatal period is highly vulnerable to environmental toxicants and resultant dysregulation of fetal development can cause detrimental health outcomes potentially affecting life-long health. Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs), emerging environmental pollutants, are man-made organic molecules, which are widely used in diverse industries and consumer products. PFCs are non-degradable and bioaccumulate in the environment. Importantly, PFCs can be found in cord blood and breast milk as well as in the general population. Due to their physicochemical properties and potential toxicity, many studies have evaluated the health effects of PFCs. This review summarizes the epidemiological and experimental studies addressing the association of PFCs with neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity. While the relationships between PFC levels and changes in neural and immune health are not yet conclusive, accumulative studies provide evidence for positive associations between PFC levels and the incidence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and reduced immune response to vaccination both in children and adults. In conclusion, PFCs have the potential to affect human health linked with neurological disorders and immunosuppressive responses. However, our understanding of the molecular mechanism of the effects of PFCs on human health is still in its infancy. Therefore, along with efforts to develop methods to reduce exposure to PFCs, studies on the mode of action of these chemicals are required in the near future.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.118-128
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the health concerns of parents regarding their premature infants and to identify changes in these concerns during perinatal period and after discharge. Methods: This was a retrospective study performed at a single tertiary center that enrolled 119 premature infants who were discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and visited the outpatient pediatrics department between December 2018 and October 2021. Data on the concerns of 176 parents regarding enrolled premature infants' health from before birth to 1 week after NICU discharge were obtained from outpatient records. The t test and with the chi-squared test were used to analyze the data for this study. Results: The consistently greatest focus of parents' health concerns was the respiratory system. The second focus of parents' health concerns before discharge was the central nervous system. However, during the first week after NICU discharge, the gastrointestinal system was the second-most frequent focus of parents' health concerns among parents of infants without diseases related to prematurity and infants with older gestational ages. Conclusion: The results of this study offer insights into the health concerns among parents of premature infants. Parental health concerns about premature infants vary over time, from before birth to post-discharge, necessitating supportive interventions to enhance parental understanding of their child's health status.