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BACKGROUND We evaluated clinical and nutritional outcomes according to multidisciplinary team involvement in nutrition support in a regional trauma intensive care unit (TICU). METHODS We retrospectively compared the outcomes for 339 patients admitted to the TICU for >5 days depending on nutrition support team (NST) involvement (n=176) and non-NST involvement (n=163). RESULTS The mean age and injury severity score (ISS) were 57.3±16.7 years and 18.6±9.7, respectively. Fifty-three patients (15.6%) had shock on admission and 182 (53.7%) underwent surgery during TICU admission. Some patients were admitted to neurosurgery (46%), general surgery (35.4%), and other (18.6%) departments. There were significant differences in the ISS, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, shock on TICU admission, and initial laboratory results. After propensity score matching, the total delivered/required caloric ratio and total delivered/required protein ratio were significantly higher in the NST group than in the non-NST group (calorie: 80.4% vs. 66.7%, P=0.007; protein: 93.1% vs. 68.3%, P

This paper proposes a direct-linked Zeta (DLZ) converter as a highly efficient step-up and step-down converter. It consists of the conventional Zeta converter components plus auxiliary diode and switch which form an additional power path which directly delivers input power to output load. The DLZ converter can directly deliver much of the input power to the output with little switching and conduction losses, and reduce circulating current in circuit components, thereby reducing switching losses and conduction losses of switches and diodes, winding resistive losses of inductors. The power delivery efficiency of the DLZ converter (96.1%) is 4.4% greater than that of the conventional Zeta converter (91.7%). This result demonstrates that the proposed DLZ converter can be used for highly efficient step-up and step-down converters.

Background A cross-sectional study has reported that nickel allergy is associated with endometriosis. However, causal studies of this association are limited. Objective The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of nickel allergy in women with and without endometriosis. Methods We used a National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sample cohort dataset that included approximately 1 million individuals from South Korea; the data were obtained between January 01, 2002, and December 31, 2013. We selected the endometriosis group according to diagnosis code (N80.X), surgery codes, and drug codes during the years 2009~2013. The controls were randomly matched to the endometriosis patients at a ratio of 4:1 by age and socioeconomic status. Patients with nickel allergy were defined in the cohort dataset as those with a simultaneous diagnosis code (L23.0) and patch test code during 2002~2008. Results In total, 4,985 women were selected from the NHIS cohort database and divided into an endometriosis group (997 women) and a control group (3,988 women). The number of patients with nickel allergy in the endometriosis group was eight (0.8%), and that in the control group was thirteen (0.3%). After adjustment for age and socioeconomic status, the rate of nickel allergy in was higher in the endometriosis group than in the control group [odds ratio: 2.474; 95% confidence interval: 1.023~5.988; p = 0.044]. Conclusions We found that nickel allergy is a risk factor for endometriosis.

Background: Maternal thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy has been associated with adverse outcomes for both the mother and child. For this reason, it is important to understand thyroid status in pregnant women. However, there are relatively few published studies that examine thyroid function tests (TFT) and thyroid autoimmunity in non-Western pregnant women. Methods: Serum samples were longitudinally collected throughout pregnancy from 108 Korean women. TFT, thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab), and thyroglobulin antibodies (Tg-Ab) testing was performed. The impact of gestational age on TPO-Ab and Tg-Ab levels was evaluated and gestational age-specific reference intervals for TFT were established in antibody negative women. Results: In the first trimester, TPO-Ab and Tg-Ab were positive in 13.9% and 16.7% of women, respectively. For antibody positive women, median autoantibody levels for TPO-Ab and Tg-Ab dropped from first trimester to near term (133.7–10.5 IU/mL, and 162.1–21.9 IU/mL, respectively). Antibody status influenced thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) during the first trimester, and TSH, free T4 (FT4) and total T4 (TT4) in the early second trimester. Later in gestation, no significant differences in TFT were found based on antibody status. Gestational age-specific reference intervals for TFT were calculated in antibody negative women. Conclusions: Laboratory evidence of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is common in this population of pregnant Korean women. Antibody status influences TFT values in the first and early second trimester. Thyroid autoantibody status and titer change in an individual-specific manner throughout pregnancy. Gestational age-specific reference intervals should be utilized for interpretation of TFT results in pregnant women.