• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2014

Objective: To evaluate the clinical manifestations and causative drugs of the outpatient adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported by community pharmacy. Methods: From April 2013 to September 2013, all outpatient ADRs reported by community pharmacy to Regional Pharmacovigilance Center of Korean Pharmaceutical Association were included. The causality of ADRs was assessed by the criteria of WHO-Uppsala Monitoring Centre. The clinical features and the offending drugs were analyzed using the WHO-Adverse Reaction Terminology and the classification of American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information, respectively. Results: 2,826 (97.0%) of the total 2,912 ADRs had causal relationship. The 1,923 patients with mean age of 55.1 years and female fraction of 66.5% were included in the ADRs. Gastrointestinal (33.6%), nervous system (14.9%), and skin (13.5%) symptoms were common in ADRs. Analgesic drugs (19.7%), gastrointestinal drugs (17.7%), and central nervous system drugs (11.0%) were prevalent offending drugs. The leading causative generic drug was the complex of acetaminophen and tramadol. Among 203 ADRs by the nonprescription drugs, the most common clinical features were skin (37.4%) and gastrointestinal (23.6%) symptoms and the most prevalent offending drugs were analgesic drugs (40.0%) and mucocutaneous system drugs (16.3%). The combination of acetaminophen and chlorzoxazone was the leading causative generic in nonprescription drugs. Conclusion: In this study, gastrointestinal symptom was the most common manifestation and analgesic drug was the most common causative drug in outpatient ADRs reported by community pharmacy.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.49-56
• /
• 2013

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patterns of Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs and their interactions with prescription drugs in adults visiting a community pharmacy. Method: The subjects were 151 adults aged over 20 years visiting a community pharmacy in Asan-si from December 16th 2011 to February 1st 2012. We used a survey questionnaire. The survey inquired about the prevalence and the details of any OTC drug use and the characteristics of the study subjects. The drug interaction classification system from Lexicomp's Lexi-interact data fields was used to identify OTC drugs likely to have clinically significant interactions with prescription drugs. Results: The patterns of OTC drug use were related to thirties (from 30 to 40 years old), female gender, higher education, non-smoking, sometimes use of alcohol, and self-perceived normal health status. The most commonly used OTC drug category was antipyretic-analgesics (n=104, 53.3%), and the most commonly used ingredient was acetaminophen (n=67, 64.4%). The biggest motivation for taking OTC drugs was suggestion by pharmacists, reported by 55.6%. After reviewing each patient's prescription drugs and OTC drugs, 14 patients (36.8%) of 38 patients using prescription drugs were taking drug combinations with potential for clinically significant interactions. The concomitant use of OTC drugs with prescription drugs may lead to increased potentially harmful interactions. Conclusion: It is suggested that health-care professionals should be more aware of the potential and possible interactions and take into better account their patients' OTC drug use.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.117-128
• /
• 2011

In this paper, we present a novel approach for contents-based medication image retrieval from a medication image database using the shape classification and color information of the medication. One major problem in developing a contents-based drug image retrieval system is there are too many similar images in shape and color and it makes difficult to identify any specific medication by a single feature of the drug image. To resolve such difficulty in identifying images, we propose a hybrid approach to retrieve a medication image based on shape and color features of the medication. In the first phase of the proposed method we classify the medications by shape of the images. In the second phase, we identify them by color matching between a query image and preclassified images in the first phase. For the shape classification, the shape signature, which is unique shape descriptor of the medication, is extracted from the boundary of the medication. Once images are classified by the shape signature, Hue and Saturation(HS) color model is used to retrieve a most similarly matched medication image from the classified database images with the query image. The proposed system is designed and developed especially for specific population- seniors to browse medication images by using visual information of the medication in a feasible fashion. The experiment shows the proposed automatic image retrieval system is reliable and convenient to identify the medication images.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.61-74
• /
• 2015

Objectives: The main purpose of this study is to find a solution for modernized classification of herbal medicinal preparations in dual medical systems. Through this study, we expect to provide a reasonable foundation of herbal medicine for public health. Methods: We studied legal or technical terms of herbal medicinal preparations from the past regulations, and through this procedure, we could suggest clear definitions of terms for herbal medicinal preparations. We also investigated documents for approval of herbal medicinal preparation from US, EU(European union), The People's Republic of China, Japan, so that we can refer to them to revise regulation for appropriate use of herbal preparations. Results: In Korea pharmaceutical affairs act, any basis of 'Crude drugs' does not exist. But in some subordinary notifications, the way that they use the 'Natural product medicine' is used as a means of limiting basic rights of doctor or pharmacist of Korean medicine compared to doctor or pharmacist. At the same time, in subordinary notifications, provisions are vague and not enough for scientific evidence of Korean medicine. Thus, we re-categorized herbal medicinal preparations into new drugs, drugs made from herbal medicinal preparations and suggested requirements for drug approval. Conclusions: Instead of using the term 'Crude drug preparations', and we should use term 'Herbal medicinal preparations' in related act and notification. And also we suggest to amend subordinary regulations and documents for approval of herbal medicinal preparations. Through this, we can make herbal medicinal preparations be more industrialized.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.188-193
• /
• 2013

Anatoxin-a, saxitoxin and neosaxitoxin are produced by Aphanizomenon flos-aquae that is a sort of the cyanobacteria phylum. Therefore, it is not permitted for food materials in Korea. Traditionally, the classification of cyanobacteria has been based on morphological characters such as trichome width, cell size, division planes, shape, and the presence of character such as gas vacuole. But, some diagnostic features, such as gas vacuole or akinetes, can show variation with different environmental or growth conditions and even be lost during cultivation. Therefore, we developed detection method for functional foods containing Aph. flos-aquae by PCR. To design the primer, 16S rRNA region of Aph. flos-aquae, Spirulina laxissima, and Spirulina spp. registered in the GeneBank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) have been used and for comparative analysis, BioEdit ver. 7.0.9.0. was used. As a result, we was design AFA-F1/AFA-R1 (363 bp) primer for the differentiation Aph. flos-aquae from chlorella, spirulina, green tea, and spinach. Also, it could be distinguished chlorella and spirulina products those are made to contain 1% Aph. flos-aquae.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.14-22
• /
• 2006

It is anticipated that difficulties are encountered in comparing the use levels of food additives between Korean and Codex systems because of the differences in the use level pattern and food classification method. This study was attempted to construct comparison tables between Korean and Codex standards for benzoic acid, food red No. 2, sulfur dioxide and polysorbate as well as for soybean paste, hot soybean paste and intstant noodle. Difficulties were found to be due to the food category system in use levels by additives and due to the mixed pattern of use level setting in Korea in use levels by food commodities. The comparison tables proposed in this study will be utilized momentously by regulatory authorities and food processing industry. This study showed the necessity to pay attention in comparing the use levels of food additives by country and food commodity.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.561-578
• /
• 2012

This study was performed in order to compare a change in pharmaceutical expenditures per outpatient of clinic and to analyze factors relevant to a systems as part of evaluating policies for the incentive scheme to reduce total prescribed drug expenditure and for the drug utilization review system("DUR system" hereafter). For this, it had finally analytical subjects as 21,320 clinics nationwide without a change in location, clinics symbol and signed subject during both terms of the first half of 2010 and the first half of 2011. As a result, the odds ratio with reduction in pharmaceutical expenditures of clinic was statistically higher significantly in the shorter year number of opening clinic, in the larger number of doctors, when the classification of establishment is other, not individual, and when the signed subject is surgical division. Also, the odds ratio was significantly higher in the less patient number of clinic and in the lower ratio of patients aged over 65. Finally, the odds ratio was significantly high when a clinic had been located in DUR system demonstrative project area. Through this, a case of policy for improvement in doctor's autonomous prescription behavior like DUR system can be known to be effective for reduction in pharmaceutical expenditures. A future research on evaluation of policy for pharmaceutical expenditure management system will need to be performed in-depth analysis in consideration of diverse characteristics on the participatory entities.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.21-37
• /
• 2022

Drug repositioning, one of the methods of developing new drugs, is a useful way to discover new indications by allowing drugs that have already been approved for use in people to be used for other purposes. Recently, with the development of machine learning technology, the case of analyzing vast amounts of biological information and using it to develop new drugs is increasing. The use of machine learning technology to drug repositioning will help quickly find effective treatments. Currently, the world is having a difficult time due to a new disease caused by coronavirus (COVID-19), a severe acute respiratory syndrome. Drug repositioning that repurposes drugsthat have already been clinically approved could be an alternative to therapeutics to treat COVID-19 patients. This study intends to examine research trends in the field of drug repositioning using machine learning techniques. In Pub Med, a total of 4,821 papers were collected with the keyword 'Drug Repositioning'using the web scraping technique. After data preprocessing, frequency analysis, LDA-based topic modeling, random forest classification analysis, and prediction performance evaluation were performed on 4,419 papers. Associated words were analyzed based on the Word2vec model, and after reducing the PCA dimension, K-Means clustered to generate labels, and then the structured organization of the literature was visualized using the t-SNE algorithm. Hierarchical clustering was applied to the LDA results and visualized as a heat map. This study identified the research topics related to drug repositioning, and presented a method to derive and visualize meaningful topics from a large amount of literature using a machine learning algorithm. It is expected that it will help to be used as basic data for establishing research or development strategies in the field of drug repositioning in the future.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.41-52
• /
• 2023

With the international change in the medical device market owing to the development of innovative medical engineering and the use of various raw materials, a systematic and rational medical device classification system is needed to safely manage newly developed medical devices. This study aims to improve the domestic medical device classification system by proposing product establishment and segmentation. It is based on medical device products from the United States and Europe that are only available in foreign systems and are more subdivided than domestic products. This study analyzes and compares the domestic and foreign medical device classification systems by examining laws, guidelines, and analysis reports in Korea, the United States, and Europe. In accordance with product establishment and segmentation criteria, products subject to improvement are presented. This study contributes to safely managing medical devices that do not fit with the current classification system and to solving the confusion caused by the lack of international harmony in product classification systems.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.327-333
• /
• 2013

Background: Antihistamine and anti-allergy medications are widely used during pregnancy. Reading label information is one of the easiest ways to get safety information. But there are content gaps among countries. Objective: To compare the risk level and the recommendation level of antihistamine/anti-allergy drug's label information in pregnant women among Korea, the USA, the UK, and Japan. Method: Study drugs of antihistamine/anti-allergy medications were selected according to Korea drug classification codes. Based on the label information of selected product, risk level was classified into 5 categories as follows: 'Definite', 'Probable', 'Possible', and 'Unlikely', 'Unclassified' according to the level of evidence. Recommendation level was classified into 4 categories as follows: 'Contraindicated', 'Cautious', 'Compatible', and 'Unclassified'. Frequency and proportion were presented according to the each category. To estimate agreement of each category among 4 countries, percent agreement and kappa (k) coefficient were calculated. Results: Total 13 drug ingredients were selected for antihistamine/anti-allergy medications. In risk level, Korea (46%) and Japan (69%) were mostly classified in the category of 'Unclassified', but 'Unlikely' category was more frequent in the UK (62%) and the USA (46%). In recommendation level, the proportion of 'Contraindicated' was highest in Korea (46%) compared to other countries. In contrast, the category of 'Cautious' was 77%-85% in the USA, the UK, and Japan. The percent agreement for risk level was highest in the USA-UK (54%). The recommendation level of Korea-USA showed lowest agreement for percent agreement (46%) and kappa coefficient (k=0.02). Conclusion: We confirmed the differences among safety information provided by four different countries. 'Contraindicated' was more likely in Korea compared with other countries.