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Whether indoor painting aggravates preexisting allergic diseases remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the impact of new classroom painting on aggravation of asthma, allergic rhinitis ( AR), and atopic dermatitis ( AD) in children. Studied school was previously painted with conventional water-based paint 20 years ago and had natural ventilation system. We identified a total of 172 children aged 10-12 years with allergic diseases in 17 classrooms, which were allocated to newly painted rooms with low-volatile organic compounds ( VOC), water-based paint, or existing rooms. After painting, there was no intervention or internal airflow to influence indoor air environment in both classrooms. We prospectively assessed the symptom severity and serious events of allergic diseases between both classrooms at baseline and after one and eight weeks after painting. At one and eight weeks, there were no significant changes in the Childhood Asthma Control Test scores, the fractional nitric oxide levels, lung function in asthmatic children in either classroom. There were also no significant changes in the severity score of AR or AD, or serious events in all allergic diseases. These findings suggest classroom painting with this new paint at the levels encountered in this study might not be a major aggravating factor for school-aged children with allergic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (F- HLH or FHL) is a potentially fatal immune dysregulation syndrome with a heterogeneous genetic background. Most recently, STXBP2 has been identified as the causative gene of type 5 FHL ( FHL5) with a worldwide distribution. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of FHL5 in Korea. About 50 Korean pediatric patients with HLH who lacked pathogenic mutations in PRF1, UNC13D, or in STX11 from the previous series of 72 patients with HLH were analyzed for STXBP2 mutations by conventional sequencing analyses. As a result, we found one patient with two novel mutations of STXBP2: c. 184A>G and c. 577A>C. c. 184A>G (p. Asn62Asp) was located within a highly conserved region of the STXBP2 protein and predicted to be deleterious. c. 577A>C in exon 7 resulted in incomplete splicing mutation with exon 7 skipping concurrent with exon 7-retained transcript with p. Lys193Gln substitution. The frequency of FHL5 was ∼1% (1/72) in Korean pediatric patients with HLH. This is the first study on FHL5 in Korea, and the data from a nationwide patient cohort provide another piece of genetic profiles of FHL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Periostin is a matricellular protein, and its synthesis in airway epithelial cells and lung fibroblasts is induced by interleukin ( IL)-4 and IL-13. The significance of periostin as a biomarker of TH2-induced airway inflammation, and (importantly) as a measure of the response to TH2-targeted therapy, has recently been emphasized. We explored the relationship between periostin and airway hyperresponsiveness ( AHR) in asthmatic children. Methods The study included 83 children aged 6-15 years in an asthmatic group ( n = 54) and healthy controls ( n = 29). We measured the periostin levels in serum and performed methacholine and mannitol provocation challenges. The responses to mannitol were expressed as the provocative dose causing a 15% fall in the FEV1 (the PD15 dose). Results Of the 54 subjects with asthma, all had positive methacholine bronchial provocation test ( BPT) results and 38 had positive mannitol BPT results. Children with asthma had significantly higher periostin levels than controls [76.0 (65.0-91.8) vs 71.0 (57.5-80.0) ng/mL; P = 0.017]. Periostin levels were significantly correlated with both the methacholine PC20 and mannitol PD15 values. Conclusion Serum levels of periostin, a new biomarker induced by IL-13, were higher in asthmatic children, and were associated with AHR to methacholine and mannitol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of herbicide dose on rice-weed competition were investigated to develop a combined model, which can be utilised to estimate an optimum herbicide dose for a given weed density in paddy rice cultivation. Field studies were conducted in Suwon for rice- Echinochloa crus-galli competition and Iksan for rice- Eleocharis kuroguwai during 2007. The competitive effect of the weeds E. crus-galli and E. kuroguwai decreased with increasing doses of flucetosulfuron and azimsulfuron, respectively, in the same manner as the standard dose-response curve. The combination of the rectangular hyperbolic model and the standard dose-response curve adequately described the complex effects of herbicide dose and weed competition on rice yield. Parameter estimates were used with the model to predict rice yield and estimate the doses of flucetosulfuron and azimsulfuron required to restrict rice yield loss caused by E. crus-galli and E. kuroguwai, respectively, to an acceptable level. For a rice yield of 5.0 t ha−1, the model recommended flucetosulfuron doses of 8.7, 13.4 and 20.1 g a.i. ha−1 when infested with E. crus-galli at 12, 24 and 48 plants m−2 respectively. For a rice yield of 5.2 t ha−1, the model recommended azimsulfuron doses of 3.9, 7.5 and 12.6 g a.i. ha−1 when infested with E. kuroguwai at 24, 48 and 96 plants m−2 respectively. The theoretical outputs of the combined model appear robust and indicate there are opportunities for reduced herbicide use in the field. These now require evaluation under field conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The purposes of this study were to isolate and characterize stem cells from inflamed pulp tissue of human functional deciduous teeth ( iSHFD) and to evaluate the influence of fibroblastic growth factor-2 (FGF-2) on the regenerative potential. Materials and methods We successfully isolated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from the inflamed dental pulp tissue of human deciduous teeth and demonstrated that their regenerative potential could be enhanced by the application of FGF-2 (20 ng ml−1) during ex vivo expansion. Isolated stem cells expanded in FGF-2 were characterized using a colony-forming assay, proliferation, migration, in vitro differentiation, in vivo ectopic transplantation assay, and gene expression profiling. Results MSCs isolated from the inflamed pulp tissue of functional deciduous teeth potentially possess the qualities of those from human exfoliated deciduous teeth. FGF-2 applied to iSHFD during expansion enhanced the colony-forming efficiency of these cells, increased their proliferation and migration potential, and reduced their differentiation potential in vitro. However, the ectopic transplantation of iSHFD/FGF-2 in vivo increased the formation of dentin-like material. Conclusion FGF-2 expansion of stem cells from inflamed pulp tissues of human deciduous teeth can be a good source of stem cells for future clinical applications and a novel way of using discarded inflamed tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new allele, HLA-C*03:280 differs from C*03:04:01 by one nucleotide substitution at codon 35 (CGG→CAG). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new allele, HLA-C*03:04:36, differs from C*03:04:01:01 by one nucleotide substitution at codon 207 (GGC→GGT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]