<b><i>Background:</i></b> Most of children with cow’s milk (CM) and hen’s egg allergies are known to outgrow their diseases with time, but recent studies have demonstrated that children tend to continue to have allergic symptoms in adolescence and adulthood. The aim of this study was to investigate the natural course of CM and egg allergies in Korean children and analyze prognostic factors. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In this retrospective study, we reviewed data of children with CM allergy and with egg allergy using medical records and parental telephone interviews. Diagnosis of CM or egg allergy was based on positive oral food challenge test or convincing history of allergic symptoms in combination with positive allergen-specific IgE. Acquisition of tolerance was defined by the absence of allergic symptoms after reintroduction of the offending foods. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Half of the children outgrew CM allergy at a median age of 8.7 years. CM-specific IgE level at the first reaction was a significant prognostic factor for oral tolerance in CM allergy (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). The median age to acquire oral tolerance in 50% of patients with egg allergy was 5.6 years. Egg-specific IgE level at the first reaction and family history of allergic diseases significantly affected the prognosis in children with egg allergy (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.05). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Half of Korean children with CM and egg allergies had symptom resolution at 8.7 and 5.6 years of age, respectively. Our results also suggest that CM- and egg-specific IgE levels at the first reaction are the most significant prognostic factors in predicting acquisition of oral tolerance.

Objective: To evaluate the prognostic implications of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with a focus on those with targetoid appearance based on the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS), as well as known microvascular invasion (MVI) features. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 242 patients (190 male; mean age, 57.1 years) who underwent surgical resection of a single HCC (≤ 5 cm) as well as preoperative gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI between January 2012 and March 2015. LI-RADS category was assigned, and the LR-M category was further classified into two groups according to rim arterial-phase hyperenhancement (APHE). The imaging features associated with MVI were also assessed. The overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and their associated factors were evaluated. Results: Among the 242 HCCs, 190 (78.5%), 25 (10.3%), and 27 (11.2%) were classified as LR-4/5, LR-M with rim APHE, and LR-M without rim APHE, respectively. LR-M with rim APHE (vs. LR-4/5; hazard ratio [HR] for OS, 5.48 [p = 0.002]; HR for RFS, 2.09 [p = 0.042]) and tumor size (per cm increase; HR for OS, 6.04 [p = 0.009]; HR for RFS, 1.77 [p = 0.014]) but not MVI imaging features (p > 0.05) were independent factors associated with OS and RFS. Compared to the 5-year OS and RFS rates in the LR-4/5 group (93.9% and 66.8%, respectively), the LR-M with rim APHE group had significantly lower rates (68.0% and 45.8%, respectively, both p < 0.05), while the LR-M without rim APHE group did not significantly differ in the survival rates (91.3% and 80.2%, respectively, both p > 0.05). Conclusion: Further classification of LR-M according to the presence of rim APHE may help predict the postoperative prognosis of patients with a single HCC.

BackgroundTreatment success rates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remain unsatisfactory, and long-term use of second-line anti-TB drugs is accompanied by the frequent occurrence of adverse events, low treatment compliance, and high costs. The development of new efficient regimens with shorter treatment durations for MDR-TB will solve these issues and improve treatment outcomes.MethodsThis study is a phase II/III, multicenter, randomized, open-label clinical trial of non-inferiority design comparing a new regimen to the World Health Organization-endorsed conventional regimen for fluoroquinolone-sensitive MDR-TB. The control arm uses a conventional treatment regimen with second-line drugs including injectables for 20–24 months. The investigational arm uses a new shorter regimen including delamanid, linezolid, levofloxacin, and pyrazinamide for 9 or 12 months depending on time to sputum culture conversion. The primary outcome is the treatment success rate at 24 months after treatment initiation. Secondary outcomes include time to sputum culture conversion on liquid and solid media, proportions of sputum culture conversion on liquid media after 2 and 6 months of treatment, treatment success rate according to pyrazinamide resistance, and occurrence of adverse events grade 3 and above as evaluated by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. Based on an α = 0.025 level of significance (one-sided test), a power of 80%, and a < 10% difference in treatment success rate between the control and investigational arms (80% vs. 70%) when the anticipated actual success rate in the treatment group is assumed to be 90%, the number of participants needed per arm to show non-inferiority of the investigational regimen was calculated as 48. Additionally, assuming the proportion of fluoroquinolone-susceptible MDR-TB among participants as 50%, and 5% loss to follow-up, the number of participants is calculated as N/( 0.50 × 0.95), resulting in 102 persons per group (204 in total).DiscussionThis trial will reveal the effectiveness and safety of a new shorter regimen comprising four oral drugs, including delamanid, linezolid, levofloxacin, and pyrazinamide, for the treatment of fluoroquinolone-sensitive MDR-TB. Results from this trial will provide evidence for adopting a shorter and more convenient treatment regimen for MDR-TB.Trial registrationClincalTrials.gov, NCT02619994. Registered on 2 December 2015.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-018-3053-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In this paper, we introduce a continuous-time risk model where the surplus follows a diffusion process with positive drift while being subject to two types of claims. We assume that the sizes of both types of claims are exponentially distributed and that type I claims occur more frequently, however, their sizes are smaller than type II claims. We obtain the ruin probability that the level of the surplus becomes negative, by establishing an integro-differential equation for the ruin probability. We also obtain the ruin probabilities caused by each type of claim and the probability that the level of the surplus becomes negative naturally due to the diffusion process. Finally, we illustrate a numerical example to compare the impacts of two types of claim on the ruin probability of the surplus with that of the diffusion process in the risk model.