This study aimed to identify prognostic factors of neurological outcomes, including developmental delay, cerebral palsy and epilepsy in late-preterm and term infants with perinatal asphyxia.

All late-preterm and term infants with perinatal asphyxia or hypoxic-ischemic insults who admitted the neonatal intensive care unit of Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital between 2006 and 2014 and were followed up for at least 2...

We investigated behavioral problems, attention problems, and cognitive function in children and adolescents born small for gestational age (SGA).

Forty-six SGA children born at term and 46 appropriate for gestational age (AGA) children born at term were compared. Psychiatric symptoms were examined with reference to the Korean-Child Behavior Checklist, Korean-Youth Self Report, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale (ADHD-RS). Cognitive...

This study investigated predictors of unresponsiveness to second-line intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment for Kawasaki disease (KD).

This was a single-center analysis of the medical records of 588 patients with KD who had been admitted to Asan Medical Center between 2006 and 2014. Related clinical and laboratory data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Eighty (13.6%) of the 588 patients...

Buckwheat allergy is one of the most severe types of food allergy in some countries, especially among children. However, few studies have investigated this condition. The aim of this study was to report the clinical and laboratory findings in Korean children with buckwheat allergy.

Thirty-seven subjects, aged 1 to 14 years, were enrolled by retrospective medical record review from January 2000...

Patients with unresectable, relapsed, or refractory osteosarcoma need a novel therapeutic agent. Metformin is a biguanide derivative used in the treatment of type II diabetes, and is recently gaining attention in cancer research.

We evaluated the effect of metformin against human osteosarcoma. Four osteosarcoma cell lines (KHOS/NP, HOS, MG-63, U-2 OS) were treated with metformin and cell proliferation was evaluated using...

This study examined the risk factors of a delayed diagnosis of acute appendicitis in children undergoing an appendectomy.

This retrospective study involved children aged below 18 years, who underwent an appendectomy. After dividing them into a delayed diagnosis group and nondelayed diagnosis group according to the time interval between the initial hospital visit and final diagnosis, the risk factors of delayed...

This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in children with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the effect of lifestyle intervention on NAFLD.

The clinical data of 86 children diagnosed with NAFLD were reviewed retrospectively. Forty-six patients belonged to the elevated ALT group and 40 to the normal ALT group. The clinical parameters of...

Venous angioma (VA) is the most common congenital abnormality of the intracranial vasculature. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between VA and epilepsy and to identify the characteristics of children with VA and epilepsy.

The records of all patients aged less than 18 years who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at Pusan National University Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Patients...

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical course of childhood immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and to assess the risk factors for developing chronic ITP.

The records of 64 children diagnosed with ITP from November 2005 and December 2014 at single center were retrospectively analyzed.

The median age at diagnosis and the median platelet count were 1 year (range, 1 month to 15 years)...

Although a significant number of reports on new therapeutic options for refractory Kawasaki disease (KD) such as steroid, infliximab, or repeated intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) are available, their effectiveness in reducing the prevalence of coronary artery lesions (CAL) remains controversial. This study aimed to define the clinical characteristics of patients with refractory KD and to assess the effects of adjuvant therapy...

To identify the relationship between dietary habits and childhood gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in preschool children.

We performed a questionnaire study to analyze the relationship between dietary habits and GERD in 85 preschool children with GERD and 117 healthy children of the same age.

Irregular and picky eating were more p–revalent in the GERD group than in the control group (odds ratio...

Recent reports showed that plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) could be a useful biomarker of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) unresponsiveness and coronary artery lesion (CAL) development in Kawasaki disease (KD). The levels of these peptides are critically influenced by age; hence, the normal range and upper limits for infants and children are different. We performed an age-adjusted analysis of plasma...

To compare different regimens of vitamin D with respect to its serum increment levels and bone mineral accrual in vitamin D-deficient children.

Children identified as being vitamin D deficient (serum levels<20 ng/mL) were divided into 3 treatment groups by stratified block randomization (group 1, 4,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 plus 50 mg/kg/day calcium for 12 weeks; group 2, 30,000 IU/wk of...

A limited number of studies have examined the link between F-wave abnormalities and clinical presentation in pediatric Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Therefore, this study examined the importance of F-wave abnormalities as a prognostic factor in pediatric GBS patients.

The records and electrodiagnostic studies (EDS) of 70 GBS patients were retrospectively evaluated, and divided into 2 groups according to the results of EDS....

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) leads to right ventricular failure (RVF) as well as an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance. Our purpose was to study the effect of sildenafil on right ventricular remodeling in a rat model of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced RVF.

The rats were distributed randomly into 3 groups. The control (C) group, the monocrotaline (M) group (MCT 60 mg/kg) and the...

Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in young children may progress to severe active tuberculosis (TB) disease and serve as a reservoir for future transmission of TB disease. There are limited data on interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) performance in young children, which our research aims to address by investigating the usefulness of IGRA for the diagnosis of LTBI.

We performed a tuberculin skin...

Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia occurs in various immunocompromised patients. Despite the prophylaxis strategies in clinical practice, certain patients develop P. jirovecii pneumonia. This study was performed to investigate pediatric cases with P. jirovecii pneumonia in a single center.

We identified pediatric patients younger than 19 years with microbiologically confirmed P. jirovecii pneumonia from January 2000 to February 2014. A retrospective chart review...

Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) is a 65-kDa acute phase protein, derived from the liver, which is present in high concentrations in plasma. Data regarding the association between circulating plasma LBP levels and obesity-related biomarkers in the pediatric population are scarce. We aimed to determine whether there was a difference in plasma LBP levels between overweight/obese and normal-weight adolescents and to assess...

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) occurs in pediatric patients when reflux of gastric contents presents with troublesome symptoms. The present study compared the effects of omeprazole and ranitidine for the treatment of symptomatic GERD in infants of 2-12 months.

This study was a clinical randomized double-blind trial and parallel-group comparison of omeprazole and ranitidine performed at Children Training Hospital in Tabriz, Iran....

The recent increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases is hypothetically attributed to immune dysregulation in turn caused by a reduction in exposure to sunlight. We explored relationships between birth season, sunlight exposure, exercise duration, and an allergic disease.

We performed a questionnaire-based survey on allergic diseases among elementary school students. Birth time was categorized according to the season (summer and...

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical features of children who have survived a water submersion incident, and to identify risk factors for prognosis.

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who experienced submersion between January 2005 and December 2014. The patients were classified into 2 groups, according to complications, and prognostic factors were evaluated.

During the study period, 29 children...

Severe aplastic anemia (SAA), a fatal disease, requires multiple transfusion, immunosuppressive therapy, and finally, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) as the definitive treatment. We hypothesized that iron overloading associated with multiple transfusions and HSCTrelated complications may adversely affect cardiac function. Left ventricular (LV) function was assessed in children after HSCT for SAA.

Forty-six consecutive patients with a median age of 9.8...

This study aimed to evaluate the correlation, according to postnatal age, between plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and echocardiographic parameters for the assessment of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in preterm infants with respiratory distress.

We enrolled 42 preterm infants with respiratory distress who underwent serial echocardiographic evaluation with simultaneous plasma BNP measurements until ductal closure. The correlations between BNP levels...

Medium-dose (1 g/kg) intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is effective in the majority of patients with Kawasaki disease (KD) but some patients who do not respond to medium-dose IVIG are at high risk for the development of coronary artery lesions (CALs). The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical predictors associated with unresponsiveness to medium-dose IVIG and the development of...

There are no specific tests for diagnosing Kawasaki disease (KD). Additional diagnostic criteria are needed to prevent the delayed diagnosis of incomplete Kawasaki disease (IKD). This study compared the frequency of coronary artery lesions (CALs) in IKD patients with and without anterior uveitis (AU) and elucidated whether the finding of AU supported the diagnosis of IKD.

This study enrolled patients diagnosed...

To identify the effects of modified parenteral nutrition (PN) and enteral nutrition (EN) regimens on the growth of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

The study included VLBW infants weighing <1,500 g, admitted to Chungnam National University Hospital between October 2010 and April 2014, who were alive at the time of discharge. Subjects were divided according to 3 periods: period 1...

Acute pyelonephritis (APN) is a serious bacterial infection that can cause renal scarring in children. Early identification of APN is critical to improve treatment outcomes. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a prognostic marker of many diseases, but it has not yet been established in urinary tract infection (UTI). The aim of this study was to determine whether NLR is a...

Acute respiratory infection, particularly pneumonia, is the most common cause of hospitalization and death among children in developing nations. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of children and adolescents with pneumonia who visited Emergency Department (ED) in South Korea in 2012.

We analyzed National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) records from 146 EDs in South Korea for all pediatric patients...

To evaluate the diagnostic value of the Vesikari Scoring System (VSS) as an early predictor of pathogens in children with acute gastroenteritis (AG).

In this retrospective study, the VSS score, absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were analyzed in 107 hospitalized children with AG, aged 6 months to 17 years. Patients were divided into nonspecific, viral, and bacterial...