• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.327-333
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• 2021

Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) uses strong magnetic field to image the cross-section of human body and has excellent image quality with no risk of radiation exposure. Because of above-mentioned advantages, MRI has been widely used in clinical fields. However, the noise generated in MRI degrades the quality of medical images and has a negative effect on quick and accurate diagnosis. In particular, examining a object with a detailed structure such as brain, image quality degradation becomes a problem for diagnosis. Therefore, in this study, we acquired T2 weighted 3D data of multiple sclerosis disease using BrainWeb simulation program, and used quantitative evaluation factors to find appropriate slice thickness among 1, 3, 5, and 7 mm. Coefficient of variation and contrast to noise ratio were calculated to evaluate the noise level, and root mean square error and peak signal to noise ratio were used to evaluate the similarity with the reference image. As a result, the noise level decreased as the slice thickness increased, while the similarity decreased after 5 mm. In conclusion, as the slice thickness increases, the noise is reduced and the image quality is improved. However, since the edge signal is lost due to overlapped signal, it is considered that selecting appropriate slice thickness is necessary.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the disease-related knowledge, stress and quality of life for the patients with varicose veins. Methods: Data were collected via questionnaire from 138 patients with varicose veins in C University Hospital in Korea from November in Korea 2012 to August 2013. Results: Knowledge of the symptoms and diagnosis was the lowest. The scores from patients with disease-related knowledge tended to be low for both subjects over the age of 60 and subjects with low education (less than high school). The score for stress over complications was the highest. The level of stress is higher for women, subjects without spouses, subjects with higher severity of disease and patients who had been taking hormones in the past or are still taking hormones. The disease-related quality of life tended to be lower for women and subjects without spouses. 21% of the variance in quality of life was explained by the level of disease-related stress, disease severity and knowledge. Conclusion: Education and the management of nurses to improve disease-related knowledge for patients with varicose veins is highly recommended. Intervention, by reducing stress, is necessary to improve the quality of life for women, subjects without spouses, and subjects with higher severity of the disease.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.108-117
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify degrees of pain, menopause symptoms, and quality of life, and to identify factors influencing quality of life of patients with breast cancer who were on hormone therapy. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was utilized. Data were collected using questionnaires from 110 patients with breast cancer who had been on hormone therapy for 3 months or more and were being treated at a university hospital in Seoul. Data were analyzed using ${\chi}^2$-test, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression. Results: Mean age of the participants was 53.56 (SD=6.67) and 54 (51.4%) had stage 0 or I at the time of diagnosis. Most of the participants reported having pain and menopause symptoms (88.2% and 95.5% respectively). The mean score for quality of life was $87.84{\pm}21.17$. Pain, menopause symptoms and quality of life had strong correlations with each other (p<.005). Quality of life was explained by menopause symptoms (${\beta}$= -.71), economic status (${\beta}$=.20) and occupation (${\beta}$=.16). Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that menopause symptoms should be incorporated into oncologic nursing care to improve quality of life of patients with breast cancer on hormone therapy.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.243-253
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting the urinary incontinence (UI) prevalence and the quality of life among elderly adult women who are subject to home visiting healthcare services. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 400 women aged 60 or over who were registered for home health care services at one health center in Gangwon-do. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire consisting of UI severity, UI type, and the quality of life. The UI severity was assessed using International Consultation of Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF), the quality of life using Incontinence Quality of Life (I-QOL), and type of UI using Questionnaire for Urinary Incontinence Diagnosis (QUID). The data were analyzed by using x² test, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's Correlation, binary logistic, and multiple lineal regression. Results: The prevalence of UI is 51.7%. The mean score of ICIQ-SF was 9.70±4.04 for women with UI and 0.04±0.51 for women without UI (t=-33.67, p<.001). As the frequency of day time urination (OR=1.34), the subjective health status (OR=1.45), and the educational status (OR=0.90) were higher, the risk of UI prevalence was the higher. The factors affecting I-QOL were ICIQ-SF score, mixed UI, subjective health status, and nighttime urination (adjusted R²=.61). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that UI severity, mixed UI, subjective health status, and day time urination affected the quality of life. It suggests that the assessment for the severity and type of UI be needed to prevent UI or improve the quality of life of UI vulnerable elderly adult women.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.243-250
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• 2023

Chest X-ray is radiological examination for xeamining the lungs and haert, and is particularly widely used for diagnosing lung disease. Since the quality of these chest X-rays can affect the doctor's diagnosis, the process of evaluating the quality must necessarily go through. This process can involve the subjectivity of radiologists and is manual, so it takes a lot of time and csot. Therefore, in this paper, based on the chest X-ray quality assessment guidelines used in clinical settings, we propose a tool that automates the five quality assessments of artificial shadow, coverage, patient posture, inspiratory level, and permeability. The proposed tool reduces the time and cost required for quality judgment, and can be further utilized in the pre-processing process of selecting high-quality learning data for the development of a learning model for diagnosing chest lesions.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.73-83
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• 2022

Background: This study was aimed at reducing depression and improving the quality of life and oral health of the elderly Koreans by elucidating the effect of depression on their life quality and oral health. Methods: Original data from the 8th National Health and Nutrition Survey (2019) were analyzed and implemented. The elderly (age≥65years) Koreans were enrolled. The oral health status was determined using the Decayed, Missing, Filled Teeth (DMFT) index and subjective self-report. The quality of life was quantified as the sum of score of each item in the Euro Qol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) and Health-related Quality of Life Instrument with 8 Items (HINT-8). The t-test, one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed to statistically compare the quality of life, oral health status, and oral health status according to the depression status. Results: EQ-5D and HINT-8 scores differed significantly with the history of depression, current depression, stress perception, depression for 2 weeks, and annual suicidal intention (p≤0.05). The DMFT index score differed significantly with the depression diagnosis and depression for 2 weeks (p≤0.05). EQ-5D, HINT-8, and DMFT index differed significantly with all oral health behavior variables (p≤ 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study could serve as a basis to formulate oral health programs for the elderly to reduce depression and improve the quality of life.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3779-3784
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• 2012

Real-time process monitoring and diagnosis of industrial processes is one of important operational tasks for quality and safety reasons. The objective of fault diagnosis or identification is to find process variables responsible for causing a specific fault in the process. This helps process operators to investigate root causes more effectively. This work assesses the applicability of combining a nonlinear statistical technique of kernel Fisher discriminant analysis with a preprocessing method as a tool of on-line fault identification. To compare its performance to existing linear principal component analysis (PCA) identification scheme, a case study on a benchmark process was performed to show that the fault identification scheme produced more reliable diagnosis results than linear method.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.264-271
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the symptoms of allergic rhinitis among university students and assess their quality of life (QOL) in order to establish an effective program for university students with allergic rhinitis. Methods: The data were collected in May, 2012 in a university school health center. The collected data were analyzed in terms of frequency, percentage and mean for the symptom types and QOL among 131 university students with allergic rhinitis. An independent t-test was conducted to determine differences in QOL according to general and disease related characteristics. Results: Symptoms were reported in the following order: nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing, and nasal itching respectively. The mean score of QOL of the participants was 2.24 (5 point). Nasal symptoms such as rhinorrhea (M=3.16) and nasal obstruction (M=3.12) had the highest score and affected QOL badly in the item analysis. QOL differed according to the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis history, skin test reaction, some symptoms and allergens. Conclusion: To establish an effective management program for increasing QOL among university students with allergic rhinitis, symptom management methods for nasal obstruction and rhinorrhea should be included in the program.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2017

PURPOSE: Central post-stroke pain (CPSP), a chronic pain condition of stroke patients, can impair activities of daily living and worsen the quality of life (QOL), thereby negatively influencing the rehabilitation process. However, CPSP remains an underestimated complication of stroke. This study aimed to describe the prevalence and types of new-onset chronic pain and to identify the relation between pain and QOL in stroke patients. METHODS: All patients hospitalized because of a diagnosis of stroke were included. Questionnaire was used. Pain intensity was measured using Numerical rating scale (NRS), and pain characteristics were assessed using DN4. QOL was measured using SF-36. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the characteristics and pain data, and chi-square test was used to compare QOL categorical data between the nociceptive and neurological pain groups. RESULTS: CPSP development was reported by 34% of the post-stroke pain patients. Perceived QOL was low in both groups, especially with respect to the physical functioning, bodily pain, physical-role functioning, emotional-role functioning, and mental health domains. However, no significant difference was observed in QOL between the nociceptive and neurological pain groups (p<.05). CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that CPSP is a common and disabling complication that is difficult to treat, often decreases QOL, and may negatively affect rehabilitation treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1905-1909
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• 2013

Objective: The aim of the current study was to evaluate changes in treatment outcomes in terms of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and symptom burden at zero, one, three, and six months after an initial diagnosis of colorectal cancer. The demographic and clinical characteristics that account for outcome changes in patients were investigated using a repeated measures framework. Methods and Materials: A cohort study was performed of 134 colorectal cancer patients followed from diagnosis to 6 months post-treatment in Central Taiwan. HRQoL and symptoms were assessed at diagnosis and one, three, and six months thereafter. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Colon (FACT-C) questionnaire, VAS pain, and the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) were used for data collection. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) was applied for statistical analysis. Results: The majority of the patients were male (55%) and married (91.5%). The mean age was 60.4 years (SD = 11.71). Most were diagnosed stage III and IV colorectal cancer (54.5%). All underwent surgery; some also received chemotherapy (CT) or concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT). The results of the GEE showed that overall, the HRQoL, pain, and symptoms of the patients significantly improved over the treatment period. Patients with stage IV disease who had received surgery and CCRT showed the worst HRQoL. Females, patients with comorbidity, and stage IV patients had higher pain scores over time. Female and stage IV patients had more severe physical symptoms, whereas stage II and IV patients had worse psychological symptoms over time. Conclusion: The patients' HRQoL, pain, and symptoms significantly improved over the 6-month treatment period. Certain patient and clinical variables accounted for changes in treatment outcomes regarding HRQoL and symptom burden in colorectal cancer patients.