The present research compared empathy for real people with empathy for fictional characters. 95 university students (53 men, 42 women) ages 18-22 years (M = 19.5, SD = 1.9) completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Fictional IRI. The IRI is a widely used measure of human empathy, and the Fictional IRI contains items from the original IRI that have been modified to investigate empathy for fictional characters. Empathy for characters in fictional stories was found to correlate statistically significantly with empathy for real people on all but a few factors. The results of the present study indicate that empathy for real people and empathy for fictional characters are similar, suggesting that the Fantasy subscale of the IRI, which is limited to fictional stories, should be reconsidered.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Severe atopic dermatitis (AD) may lead to various complications such as hypoproteinaemia. We describe the case of a 7-month-old male infant with severe AD complicated with protein-losing enteropathy (PLE). He was diagnosed with AD at 2 months of age; however, because of familial steroid phobia, topical corticosteroids were not administered. At 7 months of age, he was admitted to our hospital for decreased feeding, diarrhoea, reduced urine volume and recurrent vomiting. Class 3 topical corticosteroid treatment was initiated. On day 3, eczema had almost resolved. However, serum protein levels had not improved; oliguria persisted and oedema worsened. Serum albumin scintigraphy revealed radioisotopes in the distal duodenum, leading to PLE diagnosis. Systemic prednisolone and albumin were administered, with no PLE relapse after discontinuation. To our knowledge, only two infant PLE cases associated with AD were reported to date. PLE should be considered in patients with severe AD and persistent hypoproteinaemia.