In five regions of Korea, a total of 963 hot pepper powder samples were analyzed for 113 pesticides and one synergist using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. For three years, sampling was performed every producing day in production plants according to ISO 24153 : 2009 methods. The limit of detection and limit of quantification ranges were 0.17-1.46 and 0.52-4.44 µg kg −1 , respectively. The recovery ranges were 62.8-128.6% when spiked with 10 and 100 µg kg −1 of pesticides. Certified reference materials, such as chlorfenapyr and indoxacarb, were used for the validation of the analytical method. In total, 21 pesticides and one synergist were detected. Six pesticides, chlorfenapyr, indoxacarb, chlorantraniliprole, cypermethrin, difenoconazole, and pendimethalin, were detected at more than 50%, and nine pesticides, cyhalothrin, fenvalerate, picoxystrobin, deltamethrin, pyridalyl, propiconazole, iprodione, prochloraz, and bifenthrin, were detected at more than 10%. All monitoring results were under the Korean maximum residue limit.

Encephalitis is a clinical syndrome resulting from the inflammation of the brain parenchyma [1,2]. It presents with neurological dysfunctions, such as altered consciousness. The global incidence of encephalitis was reported to be 4.3 million cases in 2015, of which 150,000 patients had died [3,4]. Encephalitis is caused by direct in-Purpose: Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is considered as a first-line therapy for autoimmune encephalitis. However, its effectiveness in viral encephalitis has yet to be evaluated. Therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of IVIg therapy for pediatric viral encephalitis. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 35 pediatric patients who were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected viral encephalitis. Twenty patients (57.1%) were treated with IVIg in conjunction with conventional therapy (IVIg-treated group), and 15 patients (42.9%) were treated with conventional therapy (non-IVIg-treated group). We compared the clinical characteristics of the groups at admission and their clinical outcomes. Results: Compared to the non-IVIg-treated group, the IVIg-treated group had more critical clinical features at admission, with a lower score on the pediatric Glasgow Coma Scale (mean±standard deviation, 9.1±2.3 vs. 10.8±2.7, P=0.025), longer fever duration (3.5±2.2 days vs. 1.8±1.1 days, P=0.022), and higher incidence of magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities (14/19 [73.7%] vs. 3/15 [20.0%], P=0.002). Nevertheless, the clinical outcomes of the IVIg-treated group were comparable to those of the non-IVIg-treated group in terms of mortality rate (1/20 [5.0%] vs. 0/15 [0%]), neurological deficits at discharge (2/20 [10.0%] vs. 1/15 [6.7%]), and occurrence of epilepsy (5/20 [25.0%] vs. 2/15 [13.3%]). Fourteen (70.0%) and 13 (85.7%) patients in the IVIg-treated and the non-IVIg-treated groups, respectively, achieved complete recovery without any neurological complications. Conclusion: IVIg may be considered as a potential immunomodulating agent when treating critical pediatric viral encephalitis to improve neuropsychological outcomes.

In this study, the nutritional components (moisture, fat, protein, ash) value of military hardtack was collected and analyzed to control the mixing ratio of rice and flour. Hardtack from 4 factories was analyzed by 3 testing organizations certified by the Korean Ministry Food and Drug Safety. In addition, the accuracy and collaborative study possibility of each organization were evaluated in Q-test and HorRat. Also, other hardtack groups with different mixing ratios were compared to quality control of hardtack by I-MR charts. As a result, the HorRat and Q-test values of test organizations were 0.5-6.2 and 0.08-0.91, respectively. The quality of hardtack by the factories was similar. However, for accurate management of the mixing ratio, suggesting both upper and lower limit requirements of the nutritional components is necessary.