A multicenter study on anaphylaxis caused by peanut, tree nuts, and seeds in children and adolescents.

Peanut (PN) and tree nuts (TNs) are common causes of anaphylaxis in Western countries, but no information is available in Korea. To feature clinical characteristics of anaphylaxis caused by PN, TNs, and seeds, a retrospective medical record review was performed in 14 university hospitals in Korea (2009-2013). One hundred and twenty-six cases were identified, with the mean age of 4.9 years. PN, walnut (WN), and pine nut accounted for 32.5%, 41.3%, and 7.1%, respectively. The median values of specific IgE (sIgE) to PN, WN, and pine nut were 10.50, 8.74, and 4.61 kUA /l, respectively. Among 50 cases managed in the emergency department, 52.0% were treated with epinephrine, 66.0% with steroid, 94.0% with antihistamines, 36.0% with oxygen, and 48.0% with bronchodilator. In conclusion, WN, PN, and pine nut were the three most common triggers of anaphylaxis in Korean children, and anaphylaxis could occur at remarkably low levels of sIgE.

Epitaxial growth of graphene on 6H-silicon carbide substrate by simulated annealing method.

We grew graphene epitaxially on 6H-SiC(0001) substrate by the simulated annealing method. The mechanisms that govern the growth process were investigated by testing two empirical potentials, namely, the widely used Tersoff potential [J. Tersoff, Phys. Rev. B 39, 5566 (1989)] and its more refined version published years later by Erhart and Albe [Phys. Rev. B 71, 035211 (2005)]. Upon contrasting the results obtained by these two potentials, we found that the potential proposed by Erhart and Albe is generally more physical and realistic, since the annealing temperature at which the graphene structure just coming into view at approximately 1200 K is unambiguously predicted and close to the experimentally observed pit formation at 1298 K within which the graphene nucleates. We evaluated the reasonableness of our layers of graphene by calculating carbon-carbon (i) average bond-length, (ii) binding energy, and (iii) pair correlation function. Also, we compared with related experiments the various distance of separation parameters between the overlaid layers of graphene and substrate surface.