Serum uric acid in Korean children and adolescents: reference percentiles and association with metabolic syndrome.

PURPOSE: To establish age/sex-specific reference intervals for serum uric acid and to examine the associations between serum uric acid level and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in Korean children and adolescents. METHODS: We analyzed data for 1,349 subjects aged 10 to 19 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016-2017. RESULTS: The mean uric acid levels were 5.9±1.3 mg/dL (interquartile range, 5.0-6.8 mg/dL) in males and 4.6±0.9 mg/dL (interquartile range, 3.9-5.2 mg/dL) in females. The mean uric acid level increased significantly from 10-13 years of age in males, but not in females. The overall prevalence of MetS was 5.9% (7.3% in males and 4.3% in females; P=0.022). The prevalences of MetS in the lowest, second, third, and highest quartiles of uric acid level were 4.4%, 3.3%, 6.1%, and 15.2%, respectively, in males (P for trend <0.001) and 1.9%, 0.0%, 4.1%, and 10.9%, respectively, in females (P for trend <0.001). Compared with the lowest quartile of uric acid level, the odds ratio (with 95% confidence interval) for MetS in the highest quartile was 2.897 (1.140-7.361) in males and 5.173 (1.459-18.342) in females. Subjects in the highest quartile exhibited increased risk for abdominal obesity and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in both sexes. CONCLUSION: Serum uric acid level is positively associated with MetS and its components abdominal obesity and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness among Elementary School Students in Korea during the 2016-2017 Seasons: a Cross-Sectional Survey.

BACKGROUND: Annual vaccination is the principal way to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with influenza. In the 2016-2017 influenza seasons, the influenza epidemic appeared to exhibit a different pattern from the previous years. Because of the unusual trend, the incidence of influenza-like patients among school-aged children had increased, causing doubts about the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the influenza vaccine among elementary school students in Korea. METHODS: The study was conducted in elementary schools in each province of Korea in cooperation with the Student Health Policy Division of the Ministry of Education. Each Provincial Office of Education of Korea, except for Jeju, randomly selected one to two elementary schools for each District Office of Education. A total of 2,739 elementary school students were enrolled and vaccination and influenza infection status were collected from the subjects' parents through questionnaires, from February 13th to 21st in 2017. Vaccine effectiveness was defined as calculating the infection rate of influenza among the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups and determining the decreased infection rate of the vaccinated group relative to the unvaccinated group, while adjusting for time of vaccination and infection. RESULTS: Adjusting for the interval between vaccination and infection, vaccine effectiveness of influenza was 17.6% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.6% to 28.9%), 22.5% (95% CI, 10.3% to 33%), and 28.7% (95% CI, 17.5% to 38.3%) at 2 or more weeks, 3 or more weeks, and 4 or more weeks after vaccination, respectively. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, considering the time required for adequate immunogenicity, the 2016-2017 seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness in Korean elementary school students was 17.6%-28.7%, which was less effective than that of previous years.

Early Menarche is a Risk Factor for Short Stature in Young Korean Females: An Epidemiologic Study

Objective: To assess the association between age at menarche and adult height [and body mass index (BMI)] in young Korean females and also to investigate whether early menarche (<12 years) is a risk factor for short stature and obesity in young Korean females. Methods: Data on 1148 females aged 18-30 years and 612 mother (612 pairs of mothers and daughters) from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2015) were analyzed. Results: Among 1148 females, 256 (22.3%) had early menarche. Their stature was approximately 0.445 cm shorter when menarche had occurred one year earlier. The prevalence of short stature (≤153 cm) and obesity (BMI ≥25) was higher in females with early menarche compared to those with later menarche (short stature: 10.5% vs 6.4%, obesity; 20.7% vs 13.1%, all p<0.001). In multivariate regression, the odds ratio (OR) for short stature was 2.62 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.26-5.44] after adjusting for current age and mother's height. OR for obesity was 1.74 (95% CI: 0.98-3.07) after adjusting for age and maternal BMI. Conclusion: Final height in girls is influenced by age of menarche. Early menarche increased the risk for adult short stature in young Korean females.

Transcriptional activation of pref-1 by E2F1 in 3T3 L1 cells.

The E2F gene family appears to regulate the proliferation and differentiation of events that are required for adipogenesis. Pref-1 is a transmembrane protein that inhibits adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells. In this study, we found that the expression of pref-1 is regulated by the transcription factor E2F1. The expression of pref-1 and E2F1 was strongly induced in preadipocytes and at the late differentiation stage. Using luciferase reporter assay, ChIP assay and EMSA, we found that the -211/-194 region of the pref-1 promoter is essential for the binding of E2F1 as well as E2F1-dependent transcriptional activation. Knockdown of E2F1 reduced both pref-1 promoter activity and the level of pref-1 mRNA. Taken together, our data suggest that transcriptional activation of pref-1 is stimulated by E2F1 protein in adipocytes.