• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.199-204
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• 2009

Objective : This study was done to evaluate the correlation between carpal tunnel pressure (CTP), electrodiagnostic and ultrasonographic findings in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Methods : CTP was measured during endoscopic carpal tunnel release (ECTR) for CTS using Spiegelberg ICP monitoring device with parenchymal type catheter. Neurophysiologic severity and nerve cross sectional area were evaluated using nerve conductive study and ultrasonography (USG) before ECTR in all patients. Results : Tests were performed in a total of 48 wrists in 39 patients (9 cases bilateral). Maximum CTP was $56.7{\pm}19.3$ mmHg ($Mean{\pm}SD$) and $7.4{\pm}3.3$ mmHg before and after ECTR, respectively. No correlation was found between maximum CTP and either neurophysiologic severity or nerve cross sectional area, whereas we found a significant correlation between the latter two parameters. Conclusion : CTP was not correlated with neurophysiologic severity and nerve cross sectional area. Dynamic, rather than static, pressure in carpal tunnel might account for the basic pathophysiology of CTS better.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.114-124
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• 2014

For classifying fire damaged areas and analyzing burn severity of two large-fire areas damaged over 100 ha in 2011, three methods were employed utilized supervised classification, unsupervised classification and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). In this paper, the post-fire imageries of SPOT were used to compute the Maximum Likelihood (MLC), Minimum Distance (MIN), ISODATA, K-means, NDVI and to evaluate large-scale patterns of burn severity from 1 m to 5 m spatial resolutions. The result of the accuracy verification on burn severity from satellite images showed that average overall accuracy was 88.38 % and the Kappa coefficient was 0.8147. To compare the accuracy between burn severity and field survey at Uljin and Youngduk, two large fire sites were selected as study areas, and forty-four sampling plots were assigned in each study area for field survey. The burn severities of the study areas were estimated by analyzing burn severity (BS) classes from SPOT images taken one month after the occurrence of the fire. The applicability of composite burn index (CBI) was validated with a correlation analysis between field survey data and burn severity classified by SPOT5, and by their confusion matrix. The result showed that correlation between field survey data and BS by SPOT5 were closely correlated in both Uljin (r = -0.544 and p<0.01) and Youngduk (r = -0.616 and p<0.01). Thus, this result supported that the proposed burn severity analysis is an adequate method to measure burn severity of large fire areas in Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.87 no.3
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• pp.368-377
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• 2024

Background: Bronchiectasis is a chronic respiratory disease that leads to airway inflammation, destruction, and airflow limitation, which reflects its severity. Impulse oscillometry (IOS) is a non-invasive method that uses sound waves to estimate lung function and airway resistance. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of IOS in predicting the severity of bronchiectasis. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the IOS parameters and clinical characteristics in 145 patients diagnosed with bronchiectasis between March 2020 and May 2021. Disease severity was evaluated using the FACED score, and patients were divided into mild and moderate/severe groups. Results: Forty-four patients (30.3%) were in the moderate/severe group, and 101 (69.7%) were in the mild group. Patients with moderate/severe bronchiectasis had a higher airway resistance at 5 Hz (R5), a higher difference between the resistance at 5 and 20 Hz (R5-R20), a higher resonant frequency (Fres), and a higher area of reactance (AX) than patients with mild bronchiectasis. R5 ≥0.43, resistance at 20 Hz (R20) ≥0.234, R5-R20 ≥28.3, AX ≥1.02, reactance at 5 Hz (X5) ≤-0.238, and Fres ≥20.88 revealed significant univariable relationships with bronchiectasis severity (p<0.05). Among these, only X5 ≤-0.238 exhibited a significant multivariable relationship with bronchiectasis severity (p=0.039). The receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting moderate-to-severe bronchiectasis of FACED score based on IOS parameters exhibited an area under the curve of 0.809. Conclusion: The IOS assessed by the disease severity of FACED score can effectively reflect airway resistance and elasticity in bronchiectasis patients and serve as valuable tools for predicting bronchiectasis severity.

• Medical Lasers
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.187-189
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• 2020

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a material that generates free radicals through the ionization of air. Despite the application in various medical fields, the efficacy and safety of CAP on post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation due to atopic dermatitis have not been reported. Herein, we report the improvement in post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation of atopic dermatitis, after CAP treatment of three sessions weekly, 10 minutes per session. We examined the clinical severity indexes before and after treatment, including the Investigator's Global Assessment, modified Atopic Dermatitis Antecubital Severity, Eczema Area and Severity Index, and pruritus visual analogue scores. Our results indicate that CAP alleviates the post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and clinical severity of atopic dermatitis, and effectively improves the atopic skin lesion without severe safety issues. We believe that the previously reported anti-bacterial effects and production of interleukin-6 after CAP treatment are probably responsible for the underlying mechanisms leading to clinical improvement.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-48
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• 1994

Noncompliance with treatment is a serious problem in the management of hypertension. We explored self-reported medication taking compliance behavior of 194 high blood pressure patients using modified health belief model hypothesizing interaction between model components. Data were collected from patients resistered hwachon community hypertension control program during February, 1993. Bivariate analysis showed perceived severity of complication, present symptom experience(p<0.05), perceived severity of hypertension and education leve(p<0.01) were significantly related to treatment experience. Logit analysis revealed that perceived severity of hypertension, perceived benefits of treatment, perceived barriers to treatment and interaction term between perceived severity of hypertension and perceived benefits of treatment contributed treatment experience. Health education from mass media was siglificantly related to continuity of treatment. We also concluded that the inclusion of interaction effects between health belief model components and the use of patient group as analysis unit lead to better study results.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.2
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• pp.60-76
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to analysis level on family caregiver's burden for the elderly with senile dementia in a rural area and to choose priority care group, thereby facilitating the development of interventions to reduce the caregiver's burden. For this purpose, data were collected by questionaire from June 10 to October 8, 1994. The instruments for data collection were Caregiver Burden Inventory by Novak(1989) and Zarit et al(1982), severity of dementia by Hughes Scales (1982), ADL by Lawton (1971), patients' family caregiving activity by pre-survey and reference review(Lee, 1993 ; Jang, 1990 ; Yoo, 1982). The subjects were 60 family caregiver of senile dementia in a rural area. The data was analysed by the use of t-test, ANOVA, correlation and multiple regression. The results were as follows : 1. Total burden was evaluated over average, the mean of family burden was 61.24. 2. Significant variables which were correlated to the family caregiver's burden were the severity of dementia(F=30.52, p<0.001), ADL(F=5.43, p<0.01), PADL(F=6.14, p<0.01), caregiver's health status(F=6.05, p<0.01), a view of patient's prognosis(F=4.08, p<0.05), the number of hours per day spent on caregiving(F=19.64, p<0.001), level of intimacy of caregiver and patients(F=7.16, p<0.001), the frequency of caregiving activity(F=5.31, p<0.01). 3. ADL was the most important predictor to family caregiver burden(R2=0.6611). In addition to this, the severity of dementia, level of intimacy of caregiver and patient, relationship with the patient accounted for 79% of family caregiver burden. 4. The criteria of priority care group were as follows ; the mean of family caregiver burden was above 58, above of moderate ADL, the number of hours per day spent on caregiving above of 8 hours, above of moderate dementia. By the the severity of dementia, number of priority care group, mild dementia was 10(43.4%), moderate dementia 23 (92.0%), sever dementia 12(100.0%).

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6B
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• pp.561-569
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• 2010

In this study, the impact of climate change on extreme drought events is investigated by comparing drought severity-area-duration curves under present and future climate. The depth-area-duration analysis for characterizing an extreme precipitation event provides a basis for analysing drought events when storm depth is replaced by an appropriate measure of drought severity. In our climate-change impact experiments, the future monthly precipitation time series is based on a KMA regional climate model which has a $27km{\times}27km$ spatial resolution, and the drought severity is computed using the standardized precipitation index. As a result, agricultural drought risk is likely to increase especially in short duration, while hydrologic drought risk will greatly increase in all durations. Such results indicate that a climate change vulnerability assessment for present water resources supply system is urgent.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.149-159
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• 2024

Background: In rotator cuff repair, the long head of the biceps tendon (LHB) is commonly used as graft material. However, factors influencing LHB tear severity are poorly understood, and predicting grade II LHB tears is challenging. This study aimed to identify these factors preoperatively. Methods: The demographics, medical parameters, and pain severity of 750 patients who underwent arthroscopic surgery from January 2010 to February 2021 were evaluated to determine the factors associated with LHB tear severity and grade II tears. Both overall and large-to-massive rotator cuff tear (RCT) cohorts underwent ordinal and binary logistic regression analyses. Predictive accuracy for grade II LHB tears was determined using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results: In the overall cohort, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) >1 mg/L (P<0.001), subscapularis tear (P<0.001), hypothyroidism (P=0.031), and the tangent sign (P=0.003) were significantly associated with LHB tear severity, and hs-CRP>1 mg/L, subscapularis tear, and Patte retraction degree were significantly associated with grade II LHB tears (P<0.001). In the large-to-massive RCT cohort, hs-CRP>1 mg/L, hypertension, and age ≥50 years (P<0.05) were significantly associated with LHB tear severity, and hs-CRP>1 mg/L (P<0.001) and hypertension (P=0.026) were significantly associated with grade II LHB tears. In both cohorts, hs-CRP >1 mg/L demonstrated good predictive accuracy for grade II LHB tears (AUCs: 0.72 and 0.70). Conclusions: Serum hs-CRP >1 mg/L is associated with LHB tear severity and serves as a reliable predictor of grade II LHB tears, facilitating preoperative assessment of the LHB as potential graft material in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. serves as a reliable predictor of grade II LHB tears, facilitating preoperative assessment of the LHB as potential graft material in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Level of evidence: III.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.111-118
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• 2014

PURPOSES: The purposes are to analyze the pedestrian accident severity and to develop the accident models by arterial road function. METHODS: To analyze the accident, count data and ordered logit models are utilized in this study. In pursuing the above, this study uses pedestrian accident data from 2007 to 2011 in Cheongju. RESULTS : The main results are as follows. First, daytime, Tue.Wed.Thu., over-speeding, male pedestrian over 65 old are selected as the independent variables to increase pedestrian accident severity. Second, as the accident models of main and minor arterial roads, the negative binomial models are developed, which are analyzed to be statistically significant. Third, such the main variables related to pedestrian accidents as traffic and pedestrian volume, road width, number of exit/entry are adopted in the models. Finally, Such the policy guidelines as the installation of pedestrian fence, speed hump and crosswalks with pedestrian refuge area, designated pedestrian zone, and others are suggested for accident reduction. CONCLUSIONS: This study analyzed the pedestrian accident severity, and developed the negative binomial accident models. The results of this study expected to give some implications to the pedestrian safety improvement in Cheongju.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.4-4
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• 2020

Three wildfires severely damaged local towns and forests in Gangwon-do, South Korea in 2019 April 4-5. Local hydrological regime could be greatly altered by the wildfires, therefore it is important to assess its damage (e.g. area and severity) and also resultant changes in hydrological fluxes. We retrieved the Normalized-Burned Ratio (NBR) index using remote-sensing data (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 500-m 8-day surface reflectance data), and delineated the damaged-area based on the difference in the NBR (dNBR) before and after the wildfires. We then estimated changes in the annual evapotranspiration (AET) in 2019 using the MODIS evapotranspiration data (500-m 8-day). It was found that the damaged-area of the three wildfires was 29.50 km^2 in total, which take up 1.00-6.19% area of five catchments. It was estimated that the AET would be decreased as 0.05-1.56% over those five catchments, as compared to the pre-fire AET (2004-2018). The impact of the wildfires on the catchment AET was less severe than expected (i.e. up to 1.56%) mostly because two big wildfires were distributed across two catchments respectively (i.e. four catchments for the two wildfires) and the other wildfire was small and not severe. This study highlights the importance of assessing the area and severity of a wildfire when estimating its impact on the local hydrological cycle.