• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2018

Objectives : The aim of this study is to investigate correlation between degree of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and neurocognitive function along with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in Korean patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods : Participants were 115 elderly subjects diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment in this retrospective study. WMH in brain MRI were rated with standardized visual rating scales (Fazekas scales) and the subjects were divided into two groups according to Fazekas scale. Cognitive function was evaluated with Korean version of the consortium to establish a registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD-K), and BPSD was evaluated with Korean neuropsychiatric inventory (K-NPI). Independent t-test was performed to analyze the relationship between the degree of WMH and neurocognitive functions & BPSD. Results : Especially, the group with high severity of WMH showed significantly lower language fluency (p<0.05). In addition, the group with high severity of WMH showed significantly higher score in K-NPI. Conclusions : There was a significant association between WMH and neurocognitive test related with executive function. Moreover, WMH seems to affect BPSD severity. Evaluation of WMH would provide useful information in clinical settings.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.220-228
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• 2007

Purpose : We studied the value of clinical signs, laboratory findings and $^{99m}technetium$ dime-rcaptosuccinic acid(DMSA) scan in predicting the presence of vesicoureteral reflux(VUR) in children with first febrile urinary tract infection(UTI). Methods : A retrospective analysis of 84 hospitalized children with first febrile UTI was performed. They underwent DMSA scan and voiding cystourethrography(VCUG) during the acute phase, and were divided into three groups according to the results of the VCUG: absence of VUR, mild(grade I-II) and severe VUR(grade III-V). We studied the relation of VUR to age, gender, fever duration, causative organism, white blood cell count, serum C-reactive protein and result of DMSA scan. Results : Among 84 patients, 6 had mild and 17 had severe VUR. Thirty-eight had abnormal DMSA scan. results Patients with VUR were older than those without VUR(P<0.01). There was a lower probability of infection with Escherichia coli in patients with severe VUR than in those with mild and absent VUR(P<0.01). An abnormal DMSA scan correlated with the presence and severity of VUR(P<0.05). Severe VUR was present in 10.9% of patients with normal DMSA scan. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the DMSA scan in predicting the presence of VUR were 69.6%, 63.9%, 42.1%, and 84.8%, respectively. Conclusion : An abnormal DMSA scan correlated to the presence and severity of VUR, but the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of the DMSA scan were low. There-fore, patient with an abnormal DMSA scan requires a VCUG. In order to prevent missing the 10.9% of patients with severe VUR but normal DMSA scans, a VCUG should be performed in patient with normal DMSA scan.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.818-823
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• 2009

Purpose : We aimed to evaluate the frequency and characteristics of minor clinical manifestations of atopic dermatitis (AD) in Korean children to aid the diagnosis and treatment of AD. Methods : From April 2007 to December 2007, we enrolled 106 children (aged 1 month [infants] to 15 years) diagnosed with AD at the Pediatric Allergy Respiratory Center in Soonchunhyang University Hospital. Clinical manifestations were examined and laboratory findings (total and specific immunoglobulin E [IgE] levels and peripheral blood eosinophil count) were analyzed and compared. Results : Minor symptoms, in order of frequency, included xerosis (78.3%), aggravation due to environmental or emotional stress (43.4%), lichenification (35.8%), orbital darkening (34.0%), periauricular eczema (33.0%), and cutaneous infection (31.1%). Older children (${\geq}2$ years) showed more orbital darkening (P=0.01), horizontal crease (P=0.01), and lichenification (P=0.001) than infants. Patients with severe AD (scoring atopic dermatitis [SCORAD] score, ${\geq}40$) showed higher frequencies of xerosis (P= 0.04), cutaneous infection (P=0.03), ichthyosis (P=0.18), keratosis pilaris (P=0.02), pityriasis alba (P=0.07), recurrent conjunctivitis (P=0.02), orbital darkening (P=0.001), aggravation due to environmental or emotional stress (P=0.05), facial eczema (P=0.001), lichenification (P=0.001), and hand/foot eczema (P=0.04) than those with mild-to-moderate AD. Children with atopic eczema showed more facial eczema (P=0.01) and lichenification (P=0.04) than those with non-atopic eczema. Conclusion : The clinical manifestations of AD were similar to those established by Hanifin and Rajka. However, we need to develop our own diagnostic criteria for AD, because the frequencies shown by our subjects differed from those observed in other countries.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.623-637
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• 2004

중증 만성 치주염과 1L-1B+3954 및 1L-1A+4845 유전자의 대립유전자 2 보유 유전자 다변성이 관련된다고 보고되었다. 그러나 이러한 1L-1 복합유전자 다변성과 만성 치주염 및 급진성 치주염과의 관련성에 대해서는 상반되게 보고되고 있는데 이는 인종적 배경과 질환특성의 차이에 기인한 것으로 보인다. 이 연구는 한국인에서 경도, 중등도와 중증의 만성 치주염 그리고 급진성 치주염 환자를 대상으로 하여 1L-1A+4845, 1L-1B+3954, 1L1B-511, 1L-1 RN intron 2 (VNTR) 유전자 다변성의 분포를 평가하고, 치주질환의 심도와 유형에 관련되는지 알아보고자 시행되었다. 전남대학교 병원 치주과에서 검진과 치료를 받은 100명의 치주질환자를 대상으로 하였고 질환군은 치주낭 깊이, 부착 소실, 골 소실을 기준으로 하여 경도, 중등도, 중증의 만성 치주염, 급진성 치주염군으로 분류하였다. 대조군으로는 전남대학교 병원 소아치과에 내원한 전신적으로 건강한 92명의 아동을 포함하였다. 각 대상 환자에서 채취된 협점막상피에서 genomic DNA를 얻어 1L-1A+4845, 1L-1B+3954, 1L-1B-511 genotype은 중합효소 연쇄반응을 시행한 후 제한 효소분해과정을 거쳐 전기영동 후 분리한 결과를 해석하였으며 1L-1 RN(VNTR) 유전형은 중합효소연쇄반응 후 분리한 결과를 해석하여 다음의 결과를 얻었다. 대립유전자 2 보유자 비율은 치주질환자에서 1L-1A+4845, 1L-1B+3954, 1L-1B-511, 1L-1 RN이 각각 61%, 13%, 76.6%, 34%였으며 대조군에서는 76.9%, 7.7%, 62.2%, 19.1%였다. 1L-1B+3954과 1L-1A+4845 대립유전자 2 보유자인 양성유전자형 비율은 경도, 중등도, 중증의 만성치주염, 급진성 치주염환자에서 각각 10%, 7.9%, 22.2%, 12% 였으며 치주질환자의 13%, 대조군의 7.7%에서 양성 복합유전자형(positive genotype)을 보였다. IL-1B-511 유전자 다변성은 치주질환자에서 대조군에 비하여 높았으며 급진성 치주염환자에서 대립유전자 2 보유자율이 유의하게 높았다(p<0.01). IL-1 RN intron 2 유전자 다변성은 중등도 및 중증 만성 치주염환자에서 대립유전자 2 보유자율이 유의하게 증가하였다. 이러한 결과는 IL-1 gene cluster의 유전형이 한국인에서도 치주염의 유형과 질환 심도에 관련될 수 있음을 시사하였다.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.157-163
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• 2019

This study determines the difference in prevalence of anemia and hemoglobin concentration between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and control groups in the elderly. Moreover, this study also examines the prevalence of anemia and hemoglobin concentration according to the severity of COPD in the elderly. Medical records of 8150 participants who answered the 7th National Health and Nutritional Survey conducted in 2016 were reviewed, and a total of 694 participants was included in the analysis. Participants were classified into two groups: COPD and control groups. Laboratory studies on hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cell concentration and prevalence of anemia were collected. Subgroup analysis was also conducted according to the severity of COPD. No significant differences were determined for the prevalence of anemia and hemoglobin concentration between both groups. Hemoglobin concentration was significantly higher in the COPD group. Although not statistically significant, there was a tendency for decrease in the prevalence of anemia and increase in the hemoglobin concentration as the severity of COPD increased. Our findings present specific data about the prevalence of anemia and hemoglobin concentration in elderly patients with COPD. Hence, we propose that occurrence of anemia in elderly patients with COPD requires further evaluation of the causes.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.638-643
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• 2005

Background : Several studies have shown considerable disagreement when using the $FEV_1$ and PEFR to assess the severity of an airflow obstruction. A differential classification of the severity of asthma would lead to serious differences in the evaluation and management of asthma. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the $FEV_1$ and PEFR in asthma patients with mild symptoms. Methods : In this study, the PEFR and $FEV_1$ were obtained from 92 adult asthma patients with mild symptoms attending an outpatient pulmonary clinic. The mean differences and the limits of agreement in the paired measurements of the $FEV_1$ and PEFR were calculated. Results : There was a considerable correlation between the $FEV_1$ and PEFR measurements when expressed as a % of the predicted values (r=0.686, p<0.01). The 95% limit of agreement (mean difference ${\pm}1.96SD$) between the $FEV_1$ % and PEFR % were acceptable(-27.4%~33.8%). In addition, the weighted ${\kappa}$(kappa) coefficient for the agreement between the $FEV_1$ % and PEFR % was 0.74 (95% CI, 0.63-0.81), indicating excellent agreement between the two measurements. Conclusion : The spirometer ($FEV_1$) and the Mini-Wright peak flow meter (PEFR) can be used interchangeably in adult asthma patients with mild symptom.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.222-230
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• 2018

This was a retrospective study that compared the characteristics of patients with decreased mental status (DMS) during their stays in an emergency department (ED) with that of patients with alert mental status (AMS). The participants in this study consisted of 90 patients with DMS who were staying in an ED along with 100 randomly selected patients with AMS. The DMS group contained more instances of cerebrovascular disease, liver disease, diabetes, and hypertension compared to the AMS group (p=0.001, p=0.003, p<0.001, and p=0.002, respectively). With regard to triage, the DMS group had higher severity than the AMS group (p<.001). The final diagnosis for the DMS group was as follows: 64.9% neurological and 63.3% related to the digestive system, which differed from that of the AMS group (p<.001). Fifty-six (62.2%) patients with DMS had their statuses discovered by nurses, while nine patients in the DMS group had received cardiopulmonary resuscitation. These results suggest that ED nurses frequently assess the consciousness of patients who they suspect may have neurologic or digestive diseases and are classified as high severity, even when the patients are alert.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.423-431
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the classification of the severity of contrast media side effects based on the patient's body information using artificial intelligence techniques to be used as basic data to reduce the degree of contrast medium side effects. The data used in this study were 606 examiners who had no contrast medium side effects in the past history survey among 1,235 cases of contrast medium side effects among 58,000 CT scans performed at a general hospital in Seoul. The total data is 606, of which 70% was used as a training set and the remaining 30% was used as a test set for validation. Age, BMI(Body Mass Index), GFR(Glomerular Filtration Rate), BUN(Blood Urea Nitrogen), GGT(Gamma Glutamyl Transgerase), AST(Aspartate Amino Transferase,), and ALT(Alanine Amiono Transferase) features were used as independent variables, and contrast media severity was used as a target variable. AUC(Area under curve), CA(Classification Accuracy), F1, Precision, and Recall were identified through AdaBoost, Tree, Neural network, SVM, and Random foest algorithm. AdaBoost and Random Forest show the highest evaluation index in the classification prediction algorithm. The largest factors in the predictions of all models were GFR, BMI, and GGT. It was found that the difference in the amount of contrast media injected according to renal filtration function and obesity, and the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome affected the severity of contrast medium side effects.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.68-76
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• 2012

Objectives: Sleep disorders cause changes of autonomic nervous system (ANS) which affect cardiovascular system. Primary insomnia (PI) makes acceleration of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) tone by sleep deficiency and arousal. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) sets off SNS by frequent arousals and hypoxemias during sleep. We aimed to compare the changes of heart rate variability (HRV) indices induced by insomnia or sleep apnea to analyze for ANS how much to be affected by PI or OSAS. Methods: Total 315 subjects carried out nocturnal polysomnography (NPSG) were categorized into 4 groups - PI, mild, moderate and severe OSAS. Severity of OSAS was determined by apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). Then we selected 110 subjects considering age, sex and valance of each group's size [Group 1 : PI (mean age=$41.50{\pm}13.16$ yrs, AHI <5, n=20), Group 2 : mild OSAS (mean age=$43.67{\pm}12.11$ yrs, AHI 5-15, n=30), Group 3 : moderate OSAS (mean age $44.93{\pm}12.38$ yrs, AHI 16-30, n=30), Group 4 : severe OSAS (mean age=$45.87{\pm}12.44$ yrs, AHI >30, n=30)]. Comparison of HRV indices among the four groups was performed with ANCOVA (adjusted for age and body mass index) and Sidak post-hoc test. Results: We found statistically significant differences in HRV indices between severe OSAS group and the other groups (PI, mild OSAS and moderate OSAS). And there were no significant differences in HRV indices among PI, mild and moderate OSAS group. In HRV indices of PI and severe OSAS group showing the most prominent difference in the group comparisons, average RR interval were $991.1{\pm}27.1$ and $875.8{\pm}22.0$ ms (p=0.016), standard deviation of NN interval (SDNN) was $85.4{\pm}6.6$ and $112.8{\pm}5.4$ ms (p=0.022), SDNN index was $57.5{\pm}5.2$ and $87.6{\pm}4.2$ (p<0.001), total power was $11,893.5{\pm}1,359.9$ and $18,097.0{\pm}1,107.2ms^2$(p=0.008), very low frequency (VLF) was $7,534.8{\pm}1,120.1$ and $11,883.8{\pm}912.0ms^2$ (p=0.035), low frequency (LF) was $2,724.2{\pm}327.8$ and $4,351.6{\pm}266.9ms^2$(p=0.003). Conclusions: VLF and LF which were correlated with SNS tone showed more increased differences between severe OSAS group and PI group than other group comparisons. We could suggest that severe OSAS group was more influential to increased SNS activity than PI group.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.192-197
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• 2006

Purpose : Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) is a key cytokine for controlling vascular permeability and angiogenesis, which is one of the major findings in airway remodeling. However, it is not well known if it is associated with acute lower respiratory tract disease such as lobar pneumonia. The aim of this study is to compare serum VEGF levels in patients with asthma according to its severity and duration of cough, and to compare its levels with children with lobar pneumonia. Methods : Using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the serum VEGF levels were measured in 16 mild asthmatics, 14 moderate to severe asthmatics, six children with lobar pneumonia, and 22 control subjects. The asthmatics were also classified into three groups according to the duration of cough. Serum VEGF levels were compared in each group. Results : Serum VEGF levels were significantly increased in the children with moderate to severe asthma and lobar pneumonia compared to the children with mild asthma and control subjects. Serum VEGF levels were higher in children with chronic coughs of more than two weeks than in children with coughs lasting less than two weeks. Serum levels of VEGF showed positive correlations with blood platelet and white blood cell counts. Conclusion : VEGF increased according to the severity of asthma and duration of cough in children with asthma. It may play an important role not only in chronic airway inflammation, but also in the acute inflammation in children with lower respiratory tract disease.