• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.73-79
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• 2012

Purpose: The association of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, deletions and copy number with progressive changes in patients with some glomerular disease and end-stage renal disease have been reported. In this study, we performed mtDNA mutation analysis in children with IgA nephropathy to investigate its role in progressive clinical course. Methods: Seven children with IgA nephropathy were involved in this study. MtDNA isolated from platelet was amplified by PCR and sequenced entirely. Results: The mean age at renal biopsy was $11.5{\pm}2.2$ year and the mean age at latest evaluation was $17.9{\pm}3.2$ year. The mean follow-up period were $7.8{\pm}3.1$ years. Patients was divided into 2 groups according to the amount of proteinuria at presenting manifestation. Group 2 patients were nephrotic syndrome. Renal function reveals within normal range in all patients. In group 2 patients, the mean serum albumin level was significantly lower than those of group 1 ($3.7{\pm}0.6g/dL$ vs. $4.7{\pm}0.2g/dL$, P=0.0241) and the mean total cholesterol level was significantly higher than those of group 1 ($222.7{\pm}35.7mg/dL$ vs. $148.3{\pm}29.1mg/dL$, P=0.0283). In Group 2 patients, total amount of protein of 24 hour collected urine also significantly higher than those of group 1 ($1,466.0{\pm}742.5mg$ vs. $122.5{\pm}48.1mg$, P=0.0135). Pr/Cr ratio in random urine sample was also higher in group 2 than those of group 1 but the statistical significance was not noted ($1.8{\pm}1.6$ vs. $0.2{\pm}0.2$, P=0.0961). Deletion of mtDNA nt 8272-8281 were observed in two patients, one patient in each groups, respectively. This is noncoding lesion. No patients demonstrated the mtDNA mutations. Conclusions: We have identified a deletion of mtDNA nt 8272-8281 in two children with IgA nephropathy. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of mitochondrial function in the progressive change of IgA nephropathy.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.1-32
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• 2005

The optimum population of a society or country can be defined as 'the population growth path that maximizes the welfare level of the society over the whole generations of both the present and the future, under the paths allowed by its endowments of production factors such as technology, capital and labor'. Thus, the optimum size or growth rate of population depends on: (i) the social welfare function, (ii) the production function, and (iii)demographic economic interrelationship which defines how the national income is disposed into consumption(birth and education of children included) and savings on the one hand and how the demographic and economic change induced thereby, in turn, affect production capacities on the other. The optimum population growth path can, then, be derived in the process of dynamic optimization of (i) under the constraints of (ii) and (iii), which will give us the optimum population growth rate defined as a function of parameters thereof. This paper estimates the optimum population growth rate of Korea by: specifying (i), (ii), and (iii) based on the recent development of economic theories, solving the dynamic optimization problem and inserting empirical estimates in Korea as the parametric values. The result shows that the optimum path of population growth in Korea is around TFR=1.81, which is affected most sensitively, in terms of the size of the partial elasticity around the optimum path, by the cost of children, share of capital income, consumption rate, time preference, population elasticity of utility function, etc. According to a survey implemented as a follow up study, there are quite a significant variations in the perceived cost of children, time preference rate, population elasticity of utility across different socio-economic classes in Korea, which implied that, compared to their counterparts, older generation and more highly educated classes prefer higher growth path for the population of Korea.