Departments of family medicine at some general hospitals find it difficult to hold regular conferences because they have a small number of faculty members. The recent technological development of videoconferencing has made it possible for these small departments to regularly participate in the conferences held by departments with a larger number of faculty members. The objective of this study was to show the level of satisfaction with and acceptance of our videoconferencing system. One presenting site and four receiving sites participated in the videoconferences, which were held every Monday for three weeks. There were no significant differences in the levels of satisfaction with the videoconferences between faculty at the presenting site and faculty at the receiving sites. In contrast, residents at the receiving sites rated most items related to satisfaction with the videoconferences lower than residents at the presenting site. There were no changes between the pre-test and post-test scores of residents both at the presenting site and at the receiving sites. Despite its limitations, the advantages of joint-videoconferencing among several departments of family medicine were comfort level, time-saving, increasing the number of participants, promoting discussion, and provoking thought.

Ji-Hye Jung, Ji-In Kang, Hyun-Sook Kim To the Editor: We found an error in our published article: Ji-Hye Jung, Ji-In Kang, Hyun-Sook Kim. Effect of quercetin on impaired immune function in mice exposed to irradiation. Nutr Res Pract 2012;6:301-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.4162/nrp.2012.6.4.301 The funding acknowledgment in this article was omitted as published. Additional acknowledgment is as follow: This work was supported by the Sookmyung Women’s University Research Grants 2010 and also supported by BK21. The authors apologize for any inconvenience this mitake may have caused.

The Framingham risk score (FRS) has been used to assess the risk of a cardiovascular event and to identify patients for risk factor modifications.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of the FRS with dietary intake and inflammatory biomarkers.We conducted a cross-sectional study of 180 men (49.2 ± 10.2 years) with MS.Serum levels of high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and adiponectin were examined.Participants were asked to complete the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) using the previous 1 year as a reference point.The absolute cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk percentage over 10 years was calculated to estimate the FRS, which was classified as low risk (< 10%), intermediate risk (10-20%), and high risk (> 20%).Mean intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids was lower in subjects who had > 20% FRS than in subjects who had < 10% FRS (3.7 ± 1.9 g/day vs. 4.7 ± 1.9 g/day; P < 0.05).Significant differences in the Index of Nutritional Quality of protein, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B1, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin C were observed between the > 20% FRS group and the < 10% FRS group (P < 0.05).IL-6 concentrations were significantly lower in subjects with a < 10% FRS than in subjects who were 10-20% FRS or > 20% FRS (0.91 ± 0.26 vs. 1.48 ± 033 vs. 2.72 ± 0.57 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.05).IL-6 and dietary intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids together explained 6.6% of the variation in FRS levels in a stepwise multiple regression model.Our results provide some evidence that dietary intake in the higher CVD risk group was inferior to that in the lower risk group and that dietary fat intake and IL-6 were associated with FRS and MS in Korean men.

Few studies have shown the correlation between metabolic syndrome and bone mineral density (BMD). The main pathogenic mechanisms of metabolic syndrome rely on chronic low-level inflammatory status and oxidative stress. There are few studies that examine the gender-specific effects of inflammation and antioxidants on BMD. In this study, we evaluated the relative contribution of these factors in patients with metabolic syndrome. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 67 men and 46 postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome; metabolic syndrome was defined as having three or more metabolic syndrome risk factors. BMD, body fat mass, and lean body mass were evaluated. We also examined the levels of high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), adiponectin, vitamin E, and C in serum. Log-transformed hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in lumbar spine osteoporotic subjects than in normal subjects for women but not for men. There was no significant difference between the normal group and the osteoporotic group in other inflammatory markers. Stepwise regression analyses for BMD of the lumbar spine showed that lean body mass and vitamin E were significant determinants in men. Lean body mass and log-transformed hs-CRP were significant determinants in women Analysis for BMD of the femoral neck showed that lean body mass was a significant determinant for both men and women. There was no significant factor among the inflammatory markers or antioxidant vitamins affecting the femoral neck BMD for either gender. In conclusion, while hs-CRP is an independent predictor of the BMD of the lumbar spine in women, vitamin E showed profound effects on BMD in men but not women with metabolic syndrome.

Elevated serum concentration of inflammation markers is known as an independent risk factor of metabolic syndrome (MS) and dietary intake is an important factor to control MS. The purpose of this study was to investigated the hypothesis that inflammatory indices are associated with dietary intake and diet quality index-international (DQI-I) in subjects with MS. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 156 men and 73 postmenopausal women with MS, defined by three or more risk factors of the modified Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. Serum levels of high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), adiponectin were examined and nutrients intake and DQI-I were assessed using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. The total DQI-I score was significantly higher in female subjects (65.87 ± 9.86) than in male subjects (62.60 ± 8.95). There was a positive association between hs-CRP and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake (p < 0.05) and a negative association between adiponectin and lipid (p < 0.05), total sugar (p < 0.01), and total fatty acids (p < 0.05). When the subjects were divided into 5 groups by quintile according to serum adiponectin and hs-CRP level, there was no association between DQI-I score and hs-CRP levels. Moderation score of DQI-I was significantly higher in highest quintile group than the lower quintile groups. Therefore, our results provide some evidence that dietary intake and diet quality are associated with inflammation markers and dietary modification might be a predictor to decrease risk for metabolic syndrome complications. However further research is needed to develop the dietary quality index reflecting the inflammatory change by considering the dietary habit and pattern of Koreans. (Korean J Community Nutr 16(1) : 51~61, 2011)