• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.286-293
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• 2021

Objectives: Inorganic dust is known to be a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) regardless of smoking and pneumoconiosis. Adaptive and innate immunity, including lymphocyte infiltrate, are involved in the pathogenesis of COPD. The purpose of this study was to analyze the lymphocyte subsets in the blood of workers exposed to inorganic dust and confirm the influencing factors. Methods: The general characteristics of the subjects (n=107) were analyzed through a personal questionnaire. Diagnosis of COPD was established according to pulmonary function tests with FEV₁/FVC post bronchodilator lower than 70%, according to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines. For lymphocyte analysis, blood was stained with a fluorescent CD marker and analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: The increase in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes was associated with a decrease in age (𝛽=-0.273, p=0.008) and an increase in the cumulative smoking amount (𝛽=0.205, p=0.034). The increase in NK cells was associated with an increase in age (𝛽=0.325, p=0.001) and a decrease in cumulative smoking (𝛽=-0.220, p=0.019). The period of exposure to dust, %FVC predicted and %FEV₁/FVC, and the relative population of peripheral blood lymphocytes did not show a statistically significant relationship. Conclusions: CD4⁺ T lymphocytes and CD56⁺CD16⁺ NK cells in peripheral blood were more related to age and cumulative smoking than the duration of dust exposure. Age and smoking are major risk factors for the development of COPD, so it can be predicted that peripheral blood CD4⁺ T lymphocytes and CD56⁺CD16⁺ NK cells are related to the development of COPD in workers exposed to inorganic dust.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.10
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• pp.504-510
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• 2021

Population screening of newborns is an extremely important and informative diagnostic approach that allows early identification of babies who are predisposed to the development of a number of serious diseases. Some of these diseases are known and have effective treatment methods. Neonatal screening enables the early diagnosis and subsequent timely initiation of therapy. This helps to prevent serious complications and reduce the percentage of disability and deaths among newborns and young children. Primary immunodeficiency diseases and primary immunodeficiency syndrome (PIDS) are a heterogeneous group of diseases and conditions based on impaired immune system function associated with developmental defects and characterized by various combinations of recurrent infections, development of autoimmune and lymphoproliferative syndromes (genetic defects in apoptosis, gene mutation Fas receptor or ligand), granulomatous process, and malignant neoplasms. Most of these diseases manifest in infancy and lead to serious illness, disability, and high mortality rates. Until recently, it was impossible to identify children with PIDS before the onset of the first clinical symptoms, which are usually accompanied by complications in the form of severe coinfections of a viral-bacterial-fungal etiology. Modern advances in medical laboratory technology have allowed the identification of children with severe PIDS, manifested by T- and/or B-cell lymphopenia and other disorders of the immune system. This review discusses the main existing strategies and directions used in PIDS screening programs for newborns, including approaches to screening based on excision of T-cell receptors and kappa-recombination excision circles, as well as the potential role and place of next-generation sequencing technology to increase the diagnostic accuracy of these diseases.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2021

Pneumomediastinum is a very rare and potentially catastrophic complication of dental procedures. Its common causes are tooth extraction, endodontic treatment, and subgingival curettage using handpieces and high-pressure air/water syringes. We present a case of massive pneumomediastinum with subcutaneous emphysema in a 61-year-old female who underwent bone grafting into the maxilla for pretreatment of dental implantation using a syringe. The patient suffered from abrupt severe odynophagia and loss of consciousness. The patient transferred to emergency department and images work-up revealed a pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema on the entire face and neck. We performed conservative treatments including prophylactic antibiotics, oxygen inhalation, and fasting meals, and then discharge after 7 days uneventfully. The patient's syncope might be resulting from hypotension and pain shock induced by pneumomediastinum with a sudden chest compression. The pneumomediastinum could be resulting from concurrent perforation and massive air infiltration into the maxillary sinus during bone grafting. We suggest that pneumomediastinum needs prompt diagnosis and management because of the risk of airway obstruction when a patient present syncope in the dental room.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 2019

Purpose Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is an important index for evaluation of renal function, renal disease diagnosis and progress monitoring. Therefore, accurate measurement of GFR is clinically important. Among the factors that affect the GFR result, there have been many discussions on the methods such as the correction of the kidney depth, net syringe count, and the method of setting the ROI. However there has been no consideration of counting in the most basic factors like height and weight measurement. In this study, we investigate how height and weight changes affects the result of GFR and review the importance of standardized body measurements. Materials and Methods Fifty patients who underwent GFR test were randomly sampled and examined for changes in height and body weight within one month. From the normal patients without renal disease to the patients with severely decreased GFR, we applied the GFR formula of Gate with varying height and weight. Results: The result showed variation of the height at maximum three centimeters and six kilograms of weight. The first calculation of GFR was done with fixed height value and control variable as weight. Weight was incremented by one kilogram each time up to six kilograms. The GFR showed increased result with increasing weight. The result of GFR showed ten percent increase with six kilograms of weight increase. On the other hand, when height value was incremented by one centimeter up to three centimeters showed decreased GFR result with fixed weight value. Up to three centimeters of height increase showed two percent of decreased GFR with fixed weight. Conclusion This study showed varying GFR result when height and weight changes. Therefore it is clinically crucial not only to maintain and manage body measuring instrument but also to have a standardized measurement methods to derive accurate measured values and to achieve reproducibility.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.195-202
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• 2019

At the department of prosthodontics, the elderly patients with severely atrophied alveolar ridge who have been wearing complete dentures for a long period frequently visit the clinic. In general, the open-mouth impression technique for manufacturing a mandibular complete denture to secure primary support on buccal shelf area has been prevalent. In addition, for securing retention and stability of mandibular denture, we should consider diagnosis, oral function, denture border, occlusal plane, teeth arrangement, and patient training, etc.. But in edentulous patients with severe alveolar bone atrophy, it may hardly secure retention and stability of mandibular complete denture. To promote these, some of clinicians are making an attempt manufacturing the mandibular complete dentures using closed-mouth impression technique based on several reports that compare various impression techniques including open-mouth and closed-mouth impression technique. This case report suggests closed-mouth impression technique may promote retention and stability of mandibular complete denture and compares between the two impression techniques clinically.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2021

Purpose: To profile various clinical characteristics of sleep bruxism (SB) patients with idiopathic facial pain (IFP) in the orofacial region. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 28 SB patients among 210 patients with IFP complaints. The profiles were evaluated using patient charts including gender, age, pain duration, pain location, pain intensity and affected areas by pain. Results: SB with IFP occurred more often in females (85.7%) than males (14.3%). The mean age at presentation was 48.9 years. The most common IFP sites of SB patients were the right maxilla (28.6%) and the right mandible (25.0%). The pain complaints occurred mostly in 2 teeth or areas (50.0%), followed by 1 area (28.6%) and then in ≥ 3 teeth or areas (21.4%). The mean pain intensity was 5.9 on a visual analogue scale from 0 to 10. The pain was spontaneous in 20 patients (71.4%), and the mean pain duration was 24.4 months. Conclusion: Identification of clinical characteristics of SB patients with IFP could be useful in the diagnosis of various IFP patients and beneficial in decreasing unnecessary care to reduce IFP. Further studies with larger number of subjects and extended duration are required for more systemized diagnostic methods and development of future treatment guidelines.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.307-312
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• 2021

In nuclear medicine, radioactive isotope tracers are administered to the human body to obtain and evaluate disease morphological information and biological function information. Dose calibrator is a device used to measure the radioactivity of a single nuclide in medical institutions. Administration of the correct dose to the human body acts as an important factor in diagnosis and treatment, and measurement through a dose calibrator before administration is the most important factor. Dose calibrator performs daily quality control after installation in each medical institution. Quality control is a means of guaranteeing quality control after installation, and is essential for improving the quality of treatment and promoting patient safety. Therefore, accurate and standardized performance evaluation methods should be established. In this study, 3D printing was used for quantitative evaluation of quality control by increasing the accuracy and standardization of quality control. When the 3D printer was installed and reproducibility was tested, the error range of the expected value and reading value decreased by 0.302% in the F-18 nuclide and 0.09% in the ^99mTc-pertechnate nuclide than when the 3D printer was installed. The error rate for other nuclides was also found to have a low error rate for reproducibility tests when 3D printing was installed.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2021

Electroencephalography (EEG) is used for the diagnosis of epilepsy and testing the brain function. Clinical technologists are responsible for recording EEG without artifacts in accordance with the international 10~20 electrode system. Training on these techniques requires practical education. In the case of EEG, however, it is difficult for trainees to find the correct location of the electrode. Therefore, this study compared the time spent to locate the electrode attachment between traditional tape and the newly developed band. The time spent for sitting position patients using the band (196.7±61.8s) was 1084.3 s faster than the tape (1,281.0±457.4s) (P<0.001). Furthermore, the spend time spent for lying position patients using the band (200.2±49.3s) was 1217.7s faster than the tape (1417.9±482.3s) (P<0.001). Measurements using the band showed fewer differences due to various factors, such as position, practical experience, and gender. The newly developed band can locate the correct electrode attachment position quickly and efficiently, which has been a difficult problem in EEG practical education. In addition, this band is expected to be applied widely by new clinical technologists in the clinical field. Nevertheless, more study will be required to verify the accuracy of the location of the attaching electrode.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.41-50
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• 2020

Since cracks in concrete structures expedite corrosion of reinforced concrete over a long period of time, regular on-site inspections are essential to ensure structural usability and prevent degradation. Most of the safety inspections of facilities rely on visual inspection with naked eye, so cost and time consuming are severe, and the reliability of results differs depending on the inspector. In this study, a portable measuring device that can be used for safety diagnosis and maintenance was developed as a device that measures the width and length of concrete cracks through image analysis of cracks photographed with a camera. This device captures the cracks found within a close distance (3 m), and accurately calculates the unit pixel size by laser distance measurement, and automatically calculates the crack length and width with the image processing algorithm developed in this study. In measurement results using the crack image applied to the experiment, the measurement of the length of a 0.3 mm crack within a distance of 3 m was possible with a range of about 10% error. The crack width showed a tendency to be overestimated by detecting surrounding pixels due to vibration and blurring effect during the binarization process, but it could be effectively corrected by applying the crack width reduction function.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.94-106
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• 2022

Purpose: Laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy with double-tract reconstruction (LPG-DTR) is a function-preserving procedure performed for treating upper early gastric cancer (EGC). However, few studies have compared the outcomes of LPG-DTR with those of laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG). This study aimed at comparing the short-term outcomes of LPG-DTR between LTG and upper EGC. Materials and Methods: For upper-third EGC, a multicenter, prospective, randomized trial was performed to compare those who underwent LPG-DTR with those who underwent LTG. Short-term outcomes, including clinicopathologic results, morbidity, mortality, and postoperative courses, were evaluated using a full analysis set based on the intention-to-treat principle and the per-protocol set. Results: Of the patients, 138 who fulfilled the criteria were randomized to each group. One patient in the LPG-DTR group withdrew consent. Sixty-eight patients underwent LPG-DTR and 69 underwent LTG. The operative time (LPG-DTR=219.4 minutes; LTG=201.8 minutes; P=0.085), estimated blood loss (LPG-DTR=76.0 mL; LTG=66.1 mL; P=0.413), and the morbidity rate (LPG-DTR=23.5%; LTG=17.4%; P=0.373) between the groups were not significantly different. No mortality occurred in either of the study groups. Two weeks post operation, the Visick scores for postprandial symptoms, including reflux symptoms, were not significantly different between the groups (P=0.749). Laboratory findings on postoperative day 5 were not significantly different between the groups. Conclusions: The short-term outcomes of LPG-DTR for upper EGC were comparable to those of LTG.