Causes of a Low Measles Seroprevalence among Young Healthcare Workers in Korea.

Background: Sporadic measles outbreaks have continued to occur in Korea, mainly in adults in their 20s and 30s, most notably in 2014 and 2019. We here evaluated the possible causes of a low seroprevalance of measles by testing young healthcare workers (HCWs).

Materials And Methods: This study was conducted in a 2,743-bed tertiary-care hospital in Seoul between 2020 and 2021.

Reduced endothelial function in the skin in Southeast Asians compared to Caucasians.

Background: The reaction of vascular endothelial cells to occlusion and heat in Southeast Asian Indians (SAI) compared to Caucasians (C) has not been studied, although genetic differences are found in endothelial cells between the races.

Material/methods: Ten C and Ten SAI (<35 years old) male and female subjects participated. There was no difference in the demographics of the subjects except that the SAI group had been in the United States for 6 months; C was natives to the US.

The effect of moist air on skin blood flow and temperature in subjects with and without diabetes.

Background: Endothelial function is known to be impaired in response to heat in people with diabetes, but little has been done to see how air humidity alters the skin blood flow response to heat.

Methods: Seventeen male and female subjects were divided in two groups, one with type 2 diabetes and the other the control subjects without diabetes, age-matched to the diabetes group. All subjects participated in a series of experiments to determine the effect of the warming of the skin by air on skin temperature and skin blood flow.

The interrealtionship between locally applied heat, ageing and skin blood flow on heat transfer into and from the skin.

In response to a thermal stress, skin blood flow (BF) increases to protect the skin from damage. When a very warm, noxious, heat source (44 °C) is applied to the skin, the BF increases disproportionately faster than the heat stress that was applied, creating a safety mechanism for protecting the skin. In the present investigation, the rate of rise of BF in response to applied heat at temperatures between 32 °C and 40 °C was examined as well as the thermal transfer to and from the skin with and without BF in younger and older subjects to see how the skin responds to a non-noxious heat source.