• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.100-108
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• 2021

In the oral cavity, there are hundreds of microbial species that exist as planktonic cells or are incorporated into biofilms. The accumulation and proliferation of pathogenic bacteria in the oral biofilm can lead to caries and periodontitis, which are typical oral diseases. The oral bacteria in the biofilm not only can resist environmental stress inside the oral cavity, but also have a 1,000 times higher resistance to antibiotics than planktonic cells by genes exchange through the interaction between cells in the oral biofilm. Therefore, if the formation of oral biofilm is suppressed or removed, oral diseases caused by bacterial infection can be more effectively prevented or treated. In particular, since oral biofilms have the characteristic of forming a biofilm by gathering several bacteria, quorum sensing, a signaling system between cells, can be a target for controlling the oral biofilm. In addition, a method of inhibiting biofilm formation by using arginine, an alkali-producing substrate of oral bacteria, is used to convert the distribution of oral microorganisms into an environment similar to that of healthy teeth or inhibit the secretion of glucosyltransferase by S. mutans to inhibit the formation of non-soluble glucans. It can be a target to control oral biofilm. This method of inhibiting or removing the oral biofilm formation rather than inducing the death of pathogenic bacteria in the oral cavity will be a new strategy that can selectively prevent or therapeutic avenues for oral diseases including dental caries.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.4
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• pp.876-888
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• 2021

Purpose The aim of this study was to compare the diameter and volume of liver metastases on CT images in relation to overall survival and tumor response in patients with gastric cancer liver metastases (GCLM) treated with chemotherapy. Materials and Methods We recruited 43 patients with GCLM who underwent chemotherapy as a first-line treatment. We performed a three-dimensional quantification of the metastases for each patient. An independent survival analysis using the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) was performed and compared to volumetric measurements. Overall survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier analysis and compared using Cox proportional hazard ratios following univariate analyses. Results When patients were classified as responders or non-responders based on volumetric criteria, the median overall survival was 23.6 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 8.63-38.57] and 7.6 months (95% CI, 3.78-11.42), respectively (p = 0.039). The volumetric analysis and RECIST of the non-progressing and progressing groups showed similar results based on the Kaplan-Meier method (p = 0.006) and the Cox proportional hazard model (p = 0.008). Conclusion Volumetric assessment of liver metastases could be an alternative predictor of overall survival for patients with GCLM treated with chemotherapy.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.5-8
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• 2005

Rotator interval should be as loose as possible, though not so loose as to break the shoulder mechanism. This region is a source of significant shoulder pathology resulting in patient discomfort and dysfunction. The clinical features fall into two categories. Rotator interval tightness is associated with impingement, contracture with adhesive capsulitis, and widening with anteroinferior, posterior or multidirectional instability. Coracoid impingement can cause damage to the structures of the rotator interval, Injury of the interval are associated with subscapularis tears as well as biceps tendinitis, fraying, subluxation, and dislocation. An understanding of the normal and pathologic anatomy can lead to successful diagnosis and treatment of lesions in the rotator interval.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.236-244
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• 2018

Taurine has been reported to prevent cardiovascular disease and improve liver function, diabetes, and platelet function. However, there are few studies on the effects of taurine in Koreans. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of basal doses of taurine on blood glucose, liver disease, and lipid diseases among Korean college students. The study included a taurine intake group and a control group; each group consisted of 15 students. Taurine was administered at a standard dose of 1,000 mg for 2 weeks postprandial. All subjects were excluded from medication or other food besides meals provided by the dormitory. The liver test gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) in the taurine group decreased to $23.53{\pm}25.73IU/L$ before intake and to $15.15{\pm}4.91IU/L$ after intake (P=0.186). Lipid metabolite triglyceride (TG) was $100.42{\pm}28.33mg/dL$ before intake and $80.22{\pm}17.08mg/dL$ after intake (P<0.05). Total cholesterol (T-Cho), low density cholesterol (LDL-C), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Consequently, taurine improved liver function and lipid metabolism. Hematologic tests showed a decrease in segmented neutrophil percentage and an increase in lymphocyte percentage. Thus, taurine also seems to be related to immunological function.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.7812-7819
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• 2015

Nursing students experienced anxiety and fear of building relationships with psychiatric patients due to lack of professional knowledge about metal illness and skill to take care of the patients. The simulation education is known as an effective teaching-learning method since being performed in a non-threatening environment similar to clinical setting. The purpose of this nonequivalent quasi-experimental study was to identify the effect of simulation on anxiety and self-confidence about the psychiatric-mental health nursing practice. The third year nursing students at a three year nursing program were participated in this study. For the experimental group (N=28) the simulation education using the standardized patient based on the scenario for patients with schizophrenia was performed, and for the control group (N=18), the debated education applying the case study same as for the experimental group was made in the class. Using SPSS, t-test and ANCOVA were analyzed to compare the anxiety and self-confidence between the experimental and control groups. As a result of the study, the anxiety score on psychiatric-mental health nursing clinical practice of the experimental group significantly decreased, compared to that of the control group, but the self-confidence score for the performance of psychiatric nursing care showed no significant differences between the groups. Accordingly the simulation education can be an effective educational method to reduce anxiety about psychiatric-mental health nursing clinical practice for nursing students.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.142-148
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• 2023

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between premonitory urge, tic severity, and comorbidities in children and adolescents with chronic tic disorders. Methods : In this study, scales for tic symptoms, premonitory urge, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and ADHD symptoms were repeatedly measured twice in 26 children and adolescents aged 10 to 18 years with chronic tic disorders. Correlations between scales were confirmed through repeated measures correlation analysis, and causal relationships between scales were confirmed through regression analysis using a linear mixed model. Results : The degree of premonitory urges showed a significant positive correlation with the severity of tic symptoms, the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and the severity of ADHD symptoms. The ADHD symptoms showed a significant positive correlation with the severity of tic symptoms. These results were the same even in children and adolescents with tic disorders who were not diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Additionally, premonitory urges were found to have a significant positive effect on the severity of tic symptoms. Conclusions : These results may be helpful in treating tic disorders and can be used in future tic disorder research considering developmental trajectory.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.113-120
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• 2018

Angiography and CT angiography are used widely for the examination of vascular diseases, but the diagnosis of such diseases is made mostly by the subjective judgment of the inspector. This paper proposes a method for detecting the suspicious regions of stenosis and aneurysm in the inner surfaces of 3D blood vessel models reconstructed from medical images. Initially, the 3D curve-skeletons of the blood vessel models and the contours at the nodes of the curve-skeletons were generated. Next, the 3D curve-skeletons were divided into a set of branches and the areas of normal contours of nodes located in each branch were calculated. The nodes whose contours contain suspicious regions were detected by taking into account the average area, maximum and minimum areas, and the area difference between the adjacent normal contours. The diagnosis of stenosis and aneurysm can be supported by properly visualizing the suspicious regions detected. The suspicious regions of the disease were identified by implementing and testing it using several data sets of human blood vessels, highlighting the usefulness of the proposed method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.337-343
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• 2020

An enlarged spleen can be caused by infections, cirrhosis and other liver diseases, blood diseases characterized by abnormal blood cells, problems with the lymph system, immune diseases, or other conditions. Therefore, knowing the normal size of the spleen is helpful for the diagnosis of spleen and may be useful for follow-up. Ultrasonographic examination may be considered normal size if the maximum length is less than 12 cm and less than 5 cm in thickness, but may vary depending on sex and race. We aimed to present the normal range of spleen size by measuring the spleen size by ultrasonography in 20's normal adult Korean. The length of the male spleen was 10.95±1.07 cm and the width was 4.48±0.61 cm. The female length was 9.20±1.30 cm and the width was 3.55±0.44 cm. There was a significant difference (p<0.001). The spleen length increased with increasing height (r=.57) and there was a significant positive linear relationship with increasing spleen length as body weight increased(r=.63). In normal adults, 5 men and 2 women had a spleen length of more than 12 cm and 2 men with a size exceeding 13 cm.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 1997

It has been shown that both rest and stress myocardial perfusion imagings with technetium agents can be performed on the same day using two different doses injected within few hours. The purpose of this study was to compare the two protocols (stress-rest and rest-stress) in detecting coronary artery diseases. One hundred and sixty patients (101 males, 59 females, mean age $57{\pm}9$ years) and 120 patients (79 males, 41 females, mean age $59{\pm}10$ years) underwent stress-rest myocardial perfusion SPECT and rest-stress myocardial perfusion SPECT, respectively. All of them underwent both myocardial perfusion SPECT and coronary angiography within 1 month. A coronary stenosis was considered significant when it compromised the luminal diameter by ${\geq} 50%$. The chi square test was used to compare differences in sensitivity, specificity and accuracy between the two groups. The overall sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of stress-rest protocol were 99%, 35% and 68%, respectively. Those of rest-stress protocol were 96%, 47% and 78%, respectively. There was no difference between the two protocols in identifying individual diseased coronary artery branches. Therefore, one day stress-rest and rest-stress myocardial SPECT using $^{99m}Tc$ agents were comparable and were very sensitive tests in detecting coronary artery diseases.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 1998

Purpose: $^{99m}Tc$-tetrofosmin(TF) is a recently proposed myocardial imaging agent which has similar biokinetic characteristics to $^{99m}Tc$-sestamibi(MIBI). The aim of this study was to compare TF and MIBI myocardial perfusion SPECTs in detecting coronary artery disease. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty patients(101 males, 59 females, mean age $57{\pm}9yr$) who had undergone both myocardial perfusion SPECT(M-SPECT) and coronary angiography within 1 month were studied. M-SPECT was performed using TF in 115 patients and MIBI in 45 patients. Stress-rest one day protocol was used in all patients. A coronary stenosis was considered significant when the luminal diameter ${\geq}$50% was compromised. The chi square test was used to compare differences in sensitivity and specificity between the two groups. Results: There was no difference in age and diseased coronary artery branches between the two groups. There were more male patients in TF group: Male-to-female ratios of TF and MIBI groups were 78:37 and 23:22, respectively(p<0.05). The overall sensitivity of TF study was 92% and specificity 36%. The overall sensitivity and specificity of MIBI study were 93% and 30%, respectively. There was no difference between TF and MIBI groups in identifying individual diseased coronary artery branches. Conclusion: One day stress-rest myocardial SPECT using either TF or MIBI was comparable and was a very sensitive test in detecting coronary artery disease.