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Background/aims The efficacy and safety of mepolizumab in patients with severe eosinophilic asthma has been evaluated in a global clinical trial programme. This post hoc analysis assesses the efficacy and safety of mepolizumab in Korean patients. Methods Data from Korean patients in the Phase III, placebo-controlled, randomised DREAM (MEA112997/NCT01000506) and MENSA (MEA115588/ NCT01691521) studies were included. Patients ≥ 12 years old with severe eosinophilic asthma received mepolizumab (DREAM: 75, 250 or 750 mg intravenously [IV]; MENSA: 75 mg IV or 100 mg subcutaneously [SC]), or placebo every 4 weeks for 52 weeks (DREAM) or 32 weeks (MENSA). The primary outcome was the rate of clinically significant asthma exacerbations. Secondary outcomes included forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ) and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores (MENSA only). Blood eosinophil counts (BEC) and safety were assessed throughout. Results Reductions in the rate of clinically significant asthma exacerbations were observed with the approved (100 mg SC) and bioequivalent (75 mg IV) doses of mepolizumab in Korean patients who participated in DREAM and MENSA. In MENSA, trends for improvements from baseline at week 32 in pre-bronchodilator FEV1 (75 mg IV group), ACQ-5 and SGRQ scores (in both treatment groups) were seen versus placebo in Korean patients. Incidence of on-treatment adverse events was similar in Korean patients versus non-Korean patients as were observed reductions from baseline in BEC. Conclusions Mepolizumab treatment provided clinical benefits for Korean patients with severe eosinophilic asthma; the safety profile is consistent with the overall population.

Among many types of low-dimensional inorganic nanostructures, nanostructured MnO2 provides unique advantages in designing and synthesizing efficient electrode and catalyst materials for novel energy storage technologies. The low cost, high redox potential, theoretically high energy storage capacity, environmentally friendliness, and rich deposits provide MnO2 nanomaterials with a high level of economic feasibility for various renewable energy-related applications, like electrodes for metal-ion batteries/metal–sulfur batteries/metal–O2 batteries/supercapacitors and electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution/oxygen reduction/CO2 reduction/N2 fixation. In this review, a wide spectrum of the energy-related applications of diverse nanostructured MnO2 materials is systematically surveyed along with versatile synthetic methods of these metal oxides and chemical design strategies to improve their electrochemical functionalities. Future research perspectives for nanostructured MnO2 materials are provided to offer insightful directions for the exploration of next-generation energy storage/conversion systems.

Conclusion. There is high prevalence of lower airway diseases in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and frequently co-existing lower airway diseases have not been diagnosed before. Objectives. To examine the prevalence of lower airway diseases in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. Methods. Seventy-three consecutive patients with chronic rhinosinusitis were enrolled in this prospective study. With routine physical examination, spirometry and methacholine bronchial provocation test were performed and chest simple radiograph or chest computed tomography was taken. Results. Thirty patients (41.1%) had lower airway diseases. There were 8 patients with asthma, 5 with asymptomatic bronchial hyperresponsiveness, 11 with small airway disease, 2 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 4 with bronchiectasis. Of these 30 patients, 21 patients (70.0%) were first diagnosed as having lower airway diseases in this study.

The aim of this study was to describe the CT and sonographic findings of hepatic visceral larva migrans of Toxocara canis.Fifty-four patients (44 men, 10 women; age range, 30-80 years; mean age, 53 years) with serologically confirmed visceral larva migrans of Toxocara canis underwent evaluation of the liver with CT (n = 25), sonography (n = 48), or both. Two radiologists used consensus for retrospective evaluation of CT and sonographic findings. Correlation between the presence and severity of hepatic abnormalities on images and the degree of peripheral eosinophilia was assessed.Seventeen (68%) of 25 patients who underwent CT had single or multiple ill-defined, oval or elongated, small, low-attenuating lesions in the liver. Eighteen (38%) of 48 patients who underwent sonography had single or multiple small, poorly defined, oval or elongated, hypoechoic scattered focal lesions in the liver. In the 19 patients who underwent both CT and sonography, the two techniques had no significant difference in rate of detection of hepatic lesions (p = 0.375, McNemar test). The lesion numbers on CT and sonography showed excellent linear correlation (r = 0.844, p = 0.001) by Pearson's correlation test. An independent samples t test showed that eosinophil count and percentage in the peripheral blood were significantly higher in patients with hepatic lesions on CT and sonography than in patients without lesions.CT and sonographic findings of hepatic visceral larva migrans of T. canis are multiple, ill-defined, oval or elongated, small, nodular lesions scattered in the liver parenchyma. The presence of hepatic lesions on images was associated with higher peripheral eosinophil count and percentage.

Cough lasting3 weeks has been defined as chronic cough. However, it might be more persuasive to divide cough into subacute, lasting 3 to 8 weeks, and chronic, lasting8 weeks. We evaluated the causes and clinical courses of subacute cough, and the value of the bronchoprovocation test and induced sputum examination (IS).Nonsmoking patients with cough of 3 to 8 weeks duration were enrolled into the study. Patients with dyspnea, basal FEV1 of70% predicted, abnormal findings on a plain chest radiograph or physical examination were excluded. We prescribed an antihistamine-decongestant for patients who were suspected to have postinfectious cough or postnasal drip. If patients had positive results on a bronchoprovocation test or IS, therapy with inhaled corticosteroids was substituted according to an algorithmic approach.One hundred eighty-four patients (77 men and 107 women) were evaluated; the mean age of the study group was 47.5 years. Eighty-nine of 184 patients had postinfectious cough. Cough resolved without treatment in 62 patients. Twenty-nine of 43 patients with positive bronchoprovocation test results had cough-variant asthma.Postinfectious cough was the most common cause of subacute cough. The spontaneous resolution of cough was frequent in patients with subacute cough. Unless asthma was strongly suspected, the performance of the bronchoprovocation test could be delayed until after empirical treatment had been administered.

Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) is a rare multi-system vasculitis; some cases have been reported in Korea. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical features, treatment outcome, and long-term follow-up of CSS from a single Korean medical center. Between 1995 and 2004, seventeen patients were diagnosed with CSS at the Department of Medicine of the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. The diagnosis of CSS is based on the classification criteria of the American Collage of Rheumatology. All patients had asthma. As in other case series, the lung, peripheral nervous system, and skin were the most commonly involved organs. During the active stage of the disease, most of the patients exhibited peripheral blood eosinophilia and an elevated serum eosinophil cationic protein level. Ten patients were treated with pulses of methylprednisolone followed by tapering and cyclophosphamide, and the others were treated with corticosteroids alone. The outcomes after long-term follow-up were generally good. One patient who was refractory to initial treatment died of heart failure during the follow-up period. CSS was highly variable in its presentation and course. The manifestations may range from mild symptoms to life-threatening conditions. The outcome after long-term follow-up was as good as that of previous studies.

Toxocariasis is one of the causes of eosinophilia in peripheral blood and provokes eosinophilic infiltration in internal organs. Extended studies on the prevalence and clinical characteristics of toxocariasis have been rare. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of toxocariasis in unknown eosinophilia and to analyze the efficacy of toxocara enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We evaluated patients presenting with peripheral blood eosinophilia (500 cells/microl oror =10% of white blood cell count). After checking drug histories and the presence of allergic diseases and parasitic infections, specific serum IgG antibody to Toxocara canis larval antigen was measured by ELISA. Liver and lung involvement was also evaluated. One-hundred and three patients were evaluated, and the mean age was 50.9 years old. Seventy patients (68.0%) were diagnosed as having toxocariasis. The patients who had a history of raw liver eating had a higher incidence, and the patients with liver involvement had higher serum eosinophil cationic protein values. The eosinophil count was normalized in 7 of 16 treated patients and in 25 of 54 untreated patients. The mean improvement duration was 12 months. We concluded that the prevalence of toxocariasis was high in patients with unknown eosinophilia, and the toxocara ELISA was essential for evaluation of the causes of unknown eosinophilia.

To fabricate a reliable device using Cu interconnect technology, it is important to form an initial pattern profile with a good sidewall surface roughness at via bottom due to barrier step coverage issues. However, if Ar sputter etch clean is used at via contact clean prior to barrier deposition, this induces a Cu redeposition on the via sidewall. This redeposited Cu can lead to the degradation by sidewall morphology and finally the reliability issues due to poor barrier step coverage. In this study, we evaluate the reactive preclean process (RPC) as an alternative technology to overcome the disadvantages of sputter clean and discuss the effectiveness of RPC on the removal of Cu oxide in Cu dual damascene interconnect.

The back illuminated image sensor is quickly advancing as a solution to some of the problems that limit imager performance as pixel sizes decrease. Several examples of back illuminated sensors have been demonstrated in previous publications and the first announcements of mass produced BSI sensors were recently made by major sensor companies[1–5]. Along with the inherent optical advantages of back illumination, including the ability to capitalize on lower f# lenses, there are challenges that arise from implementing BSI architectures in high volume in a cost effective manner. CMOS image sensor have a light receiving element, a digital control block, and a peripheral circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter are arranged at a limited area within a chip. Because an area ratio of a pixel array per a chip area is limited, an amount of light that one light receiving element can collect is reduced and noise is increased, causing various problems such as image loss. Complex 3-D integration structures have many technologically relevant applications such as decreasing optical crosstalk in CMOS image sensor. Back-illuminated imaging is receiving an increasing interest as a solution to some of the problems that limit imager performance as pixel size decreases. The amount of available light per pixel decreases as pixel size decrease. Optical advantages of back illumination (BSI) can be decreased in pixel sizes continually and driven by system cost, die size. It can be increased in picture resolution and total camera module size. The dense vertical interconnection of multiple circuit layers have been developed using a three-dimensional(3D) circuit integration technology including wafer bonding, wafer thinning, deep Si etching process.

Purpose : In this study, the risk factors of failure of ibuprofen treatment in preterm infants with hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (hsPDA) were investigated. Methods : Among 403 preterm infants (

We experienced a case of occupational pollinosis induced by the radish (Raphanus sativus) and Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris, cabbage) pollen in 33-year old woman. She had worked at the Korean National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) for 7 years and visited our allergic clinic due to cough, rhinorrhea, sputum, and dyspnea for 2 months. She had involved in the process of artificially pollinating radish and cabbage flowers directly for 1.5 years. Especially dyspnea and paroxysmal nocturnal cough were developed at those nights after the exposure of pollens. Her pulmonary function was normal. Her methacholine PC 20 was 7.69 mg/ml. Total peripheral eosinophil count was 170/ul and serum total Ig E level was 313 IU/ml. Allergy skin prick test showed positive responses to D.F (3+), D.P (4+), Japanese cedar (4+), Hop J (4+) and serum specific IgE detected by CAP-FEIA showed at D.F (class 3), D.P (3), and Japanese cedar (1). Skin prick test to the extracts (1:20 w/v) of radish and cabbage pollens showed strong positive responses (3+) and specific IgE to radish and cabbage pollen extracts were detected by ELISA. On IgE immunoblotting radish pollen extracts showed diffuse binding bands between 13kD and 8kD and cabbage pollen extracts noted two bands at 19kD and between 13kD and 8kD. There was strong cross allergenecity between radish and cabbage pollen on IgE-ELISA inhibition but radish and cabbage pollen did not show any cross reactions with pollens of oak tree and Hop j and D.F.