• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.85 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2022

Background: Although it is known that inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) use may increase the risk of respiratory infection, its influence on the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remains unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between ICS use and the positivity of SARS-CoV-2 infection among patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Methods: Nationwide data of 44,968 individuals with chronic respiratory diseases tested for SARS-CoV-2 until May 15, 2021 were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service in Korea. The positivity of SARS-CoV-2 infection was retrospectively analysed according to the prescription, type, and dose of ICS taken one year before SARS-CoV-2 test. Results: Among 44,968 individuals tested, 931 (2.1%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2. A total of 7,019 patients (15.6%) were prescribed ICS one year prior to being tested for SARS-CoV-2. Low, medium, and high doses of ICS were prescribed in 7.5%, 1.6%, and 6.5% of total cases, respectively. Among types of ICS, budesonide, fluticasone, beclomethasone, and ciclesonide were prescribed in 3.7%, 8.9%, 2.3%, and 0.6% of total cases, respectively. A multivariate analysis showed no significant increase in infection with ICS use (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.66-1.03). Moreover, there were no associations between the positivity of infection and the dose or type of ICS prescribed. Conclusion: Prior ICS use did not increase the positivity for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, different doses or types of ICS did not affect this positivity.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.259-261
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• 2010

Human Gnathostoma hispidum infection is extremely rare in the world literature and has never been reported in the Republic of Korea. A 74-year-old Korean man who returned from China complained of an erythematous papule on his back and admitted to our hospital. Surgical extraction of the lesion and histopathological examination revealed sections of a nematode larva in the deep dermis. The sectioned larva had 1 nucleus in each intestinal cell and was identified as G. hispidum. The patient recalled having eaten freshwater fish when he lived in China. We designated our patient as an imported G. hispidum case from China.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.480-490
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• 2019

Nowadays, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) has just implemented at few hospitals for Outpatient Department (OPD). OPD is the diversified data, it includes demographic and diseases of patient, so it need to be clustered in order to explore the hidden rules and the relationship of data types of patient's information. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for unsupervised clustering of patient's demographic and diseases in OPD. Firstly, we collect data from a hospital at OPD. Then, we preprocess and transform data by using powerful techniques such as standardization, label encoder, and categorical encoder. After obtaining transformed data, we use some strong experiments, techniques, and evaluation to select the best number of clusters and best clustering algorithm. In addition, we use some tests and measurements to analyze and evaluate cluster tendency, models, and algorithms. Finally, we obtain the results to analyze and discover new knowledge, meanings, and rules. Clusters that are found out in this research provide knowledge to medical managers and doctors. From these information, they can improve the patient management methods, patient arrangement methods, and doctor's ability. In addition, it is a reference for medical data scientist to mine OPD dataset.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.588-600
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• 2019

Each year Malaria affects over 200 million people worldwide. Particularly, African continent is highly hit by this disease. According to many researches, this continent is ideal for Anopheles mosquitoes which transmit Malaria parasites to thrive. Rainfall volume is one of the major factor favoring the development of these Anopheles in the tropical Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). However, the surveillance, monitoring and reporting of this epidemic is still poor and bureaucratic only. In our paper, we proposed a method to fast monitor and report Malaria instances by using Social Network Systems (SNS) and precipitation volume in Nigeria. We used Twitter search Application Programming Interface (API) to live-stream Twitter messages mentioning Malaria, preprocessed those Tweets and classified them into Malaria cases in Nigeria by using Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm and compared those Malaria cases with average precipitation volume. The comparison yielded a correlation of 0.75 between Malaria cases recorded by using Twitter and average precipitations in Nigeria. To ensure the certainty of our classification algorithm, we used an oversampling technique and eliminated the imbalance in our training Tweets.

• Korean Architects
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• s.482
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• pp.14-19
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• 2009

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2008

Purpose: The isolated exercise therapy and its effect for the treatment of posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD) is not well known. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical effect of stretching and strengthening exercise program on the patients' muscle function and range of motion, pain and gait in the management of the early stage PTTD. Materials and Methods: From October 2006 to March 2007, 14 patients with early stage PTTD (stage I or IIa) without surgical intervention were randomly assigned into two groups and we analyzed their clinical results. All patients were female and one who have sprained the same ankle during the program and one who withdrew from the program due to her private reason were excluded. At the last, the exercise group (EG) was seven and the control group (CG) was five. Mann-Whitney U test was used for the comparison of pain, ROM, muscle power, AOFAS score and 5 minute walking test of both groups. Wilcoxon-signed rank test was used for the comparison between the pre and post exercise program in EG. Results: The pain was significantly reduced in EG compare to CG and only the dorsiflexion was significantly increased in EG in the analysis of ROM. The dorsi flexion and plantar flexion power were significantly increased in EG. Conclusion: Our 6 weeks stretching and strengthening exercise program showed noticeably improved clinical result, and therefore it is recommended as one of the useful treatment option in the management of early stage PTTD.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.169-172
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• 2010

Purpose: The authors have experienced various lesions that simulate ganglion of the foot on the ultrasonography. The purpose of this study is to evaluate ultrasonographic findings of soft tissue lesions, which were interpreted as ganglion but confirmed as different lesions in the foot. Materials and Methods: We reviewed a database of patients with ganglion on the ultrasonography from two different institutions. There were 109 patients who underwent both ultrasonography and surgical confirmation. Twenty one lesions were identified, of which initial interpretation on the ultrasonography included ganglion which pathology revealed to be different lesions. All images were evaluated by one musculoskeletal radiologist, regarding size, margins, internal echogenicity of lesions, and presence of posterior enhancement. Results: Of 21 lesions, there were 6 fibrous tumors including fibroma, giant cell tumor of tendon sheath, and fibromatosis, 3 hemangiomas, 2 epidermal inclusion cysts, 2 chondromas, 2 angioleiomyomas, 1 trichilemal cyst, 1 neurofibroma, 1 granular cell tumor, 1 neurilemmoma, 1 neuromyxoma, and 1 nodular hidradenoma. Mean size of the lesion was 1.1 cm. Margins were smooth in 10, mild lobulation in 8 and marked lobulation in 3 lesions. Lesions were hypoechoic in 16, anechoic in 4 and isoechoic in 1 case. Posterior acoustic enhancement was definitely present in 5 lesions. Conclusion: On the ultrasonography, various soft tissue lesions of the foot may be confused with ganglion. During surgical resection care should be given even to a simple ganglion as it might turn up to be a solid lesions such as fibrous tumors.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2005

Purpose: The frequency of carbon monoxide poisoning has been decreased in the interior of the Korea. But occasionally it is occurred and the risk of exposure is high in working place so far. Because of the characteristics of gas, the detection of exposure and poisoning could be delayed and fatality is high. We should apprehend of carbon monoxide poisoning. So we would report analysis of patients with carbon monoxide poisoning. Methods: A retrospective review of CO poisoned patients visited emergency department from January 2000 to December 2004 was conducted. Results: 24 patients were enrolled. Their average of age was $37.6\pm20.9$ years old and COHb was $19.4\pm13.32\%$. The blood level of initial COHb and mental status on arrival were not correlated each other. The blood level of initial COHb and loss of consciousness were not correlated, too. Initial electrocardiography (EKG) was not correlated with cardiac enzymes such as CK-MB and troponin I. But base excess was correlated with mental status on arrival and complication such as rhabdomyolysis. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy was correlated with base excess and mental status on arrival. Conclusion: The clinical features of carbon monoxide poisoning are nonspecific. For proper diagnosis, it is important that we should consider patient's environment and take patient's history carefully. The blood level of initial COHb does not reflect severity of poisoning accurately. So We should determine the treatment of choice depending on patient's status.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Reports
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.51-56
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• 2019

Although the incidence of gallbladder cancer is relatively low, Korea is one of the countries with the highest incidences of gallbladder cancer in the world. Gallbladder cancer is also often diagnosed in an advanced state, and has poor prognosis. A gallstone is one of the major risk factors for gallbladder cancer and a majority of epidemiological studies support correlation between cholelithiasis and gallbladder cancer. Clear mechanism, however, regarding how gallstones cause gallbladder cancer is not known. In this article, results of studies about the relationship between gallstone and gallbladder cancer were thoroughly reviewed. Also, it was discussed whether prophylactic cholecystectomy is necessary to prevent gallbladder cancer in asymptomatic gallstone patients without other risk factors such as a gallbladder polyp or porcelain gallbladder.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2019

Klebsiella pneumoniae causes that liver abscess mostly, also spread to pneumonia, meningitis, urinary tract infections. Septic arthritis caused by K. pneumoniae is a quite rare and has not been reported in Korea. Therefore, the authors report a case of the septic arthritis in the knee joint caused by K. pneumoniae in a patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus and osteoarthritis of the knee that successfully treated by early detection and arthroscopic synovectomy.