• Title/Summary/Keyword: Improvement in quality of life

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Spinal cord stimulation in chronic pain: technical advances

  • Isagulyan, Emil;Slavin, Konstantin;Konovalov, Nikolay;Dorochov, Eugeny;Tomsky, Alexey;Dekopov, Andrey;Makashova, Elizaveta;Isagulyan, David;Genov, Pavel
    • The Korean Journal of Pain
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.99-107
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    • 2020
  • Chronic severe pain results in a detrimental effect on the patient's quality of life. Such patients have to take a large number of medications, including opioids, often without satisfactory effect, sometimes leading to medication abuse and the pain worsening. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is one of the most effective technologies that, unlike other interventional pain treatment methods, achieves long-term results in patients suffering from chronic neuropathic pain. The first described mode of SCS was a conventional tonic stimulation, but now the novel modalities (high-frequency and burst), techniques (dorsal root ganglia stimulations), and technical development (wireless and implantable pulse generator-free systems) of SCS are becoming more popular. The improvement of SCS systems, their miniaturization, and the appearance of new mechanisms for anchoring electrodes results in a significant reduction in the rate of complications and revision surgeries, and the appearance of new waves of stimulation allows not only to avoid the phenomenon of addiction, but also to improve the long-term results of chronic SCS. The purpose of this review is to describe the current condition of SCS and up-to-date technical advances.

A Case of Asthma-Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Syndrome Exacerbated After COVID-19 Infection (코로나19 감염으로 악화된 천식-만성폐쇄성폐질환 중복증후군 환자 치험 1례)

  • Mariah Kim;Hee-kyung Kang;So-jung Park;So-yeon Kim;Young-ju Yun;In Lee;Chang-woo Han;Jin-woo Hong;Jung-nam Kwon;Jun-yong Choi
    • The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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    • v.43 no.6
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    • pp.1229-1238
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    • 2022
  • Background: We present a case of asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease syndrome (ACOS), which has features of both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in a 63-year-old man treated with Korean medicine. Methods: For four weeks of hospitalization, the patient received acupuncture, Guarujisil-tang decoction, and herbal steam therapy. The main symptoms of ACOS, which are dyspnea, chest discomfort, and throat discomfort, were treated with acupuncture. Guarujisil-tang decoction and herbal steam therapy were administered to relieve cough and smooth the expectoration of mucus. Results: By the end of hospitalization, no significant change was observed in lung function. However, the patient's subjective symptoms, including dyspnea, chest discomfort, sore throat, and sweating, were improved. The patient's objective sign of opaque yellow mucus changed to clear mucus after the treatment. His scores for the quality of life questionnaire for adult Korean asthmatics and the modified Borg scale also showed improvement from 42 to 62 and from 3 to 1, respectively. Conclusions: Although we reported only one ACOS case, this study is significant in that case reports of ACOS treated with Korean medicine are rare. Further study is needed to confirm the effectiveness of Korean medicine in patients with ACOS.

Usefulness of cyclic thermal therapy and red blood cell scintigraphy in patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy

  • Kim, Minjoo;Kim, Eun-Mi;Oh, Phil-Sun;Lim, Seok Tae;Sohn, Myung-Hee;Song, Eun-Kee;Park, Keon Uk;Kim, Jin Young;Won, Kyoung Sook;Jeong, Hwan-Jeong
    • The Korean Journal of Pain
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    • v.34 no.4
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    • pp.427-436
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    • 2021
  • Background: Pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies have been used to treat patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). However, the effect of therapies in cancer patients has yet to be investigated comprehensively. We hypothesized that cyclic thermal therapy would improve blood flow and microcirculation and improve the symptoms driven by CIPN. Methods: The criteria of assessment were blood volume in region of interest (ROI) in the images, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Quality of Life Questionnaire-Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy 20 questionnaire scores. The blood volume was quantified by using red blood cell (RBC) scintigraphy. All patients were treated 10 times during 10 days. The thermal stimulations, between 15° and 41°, were repeatedly delivered to the patient's hands. Results: The total score of the questionnaires, the score of questions related to the upper limbs, the score of questions closely related to the upper limbs, and the score excluding the upper limbs questions was decreased. The blood volume was decreased, and the variance of blood volume was decreased. During cooling stimulation, the blood volume was decreased, and its variance was decreased. During warming stimulation, the blood volume was decreased, and its variance was decreased. Conclusions: We suggest that cyclic thermal therapy is useful to alleviate CIPN symptoms by blood circulation improvement. RBC scintigraphy can provide the quantitative information on blood volume under certain conditions such as stress, as well as rest, in peripheral tissue.

Effect of Urban Planning on Spatial Equity - An Analysis on the Accessibility Change to Urban Cultural Facilities by Income Class Factor in the Daejeon Metropolitan City Using GIS - (도시계획사업이 공간적 형평성에 미치는 효과 - GIS를 이용한 대전광역시 도로건설사업의 소득계층간 접근성 변화 분석 -)

  • Leem, Youn-Taik;Seo, Chang-Woo;Lee, Sang-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.23-34
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    • 2012
  • As the quality of life grows, the role of cultural facilities in urban areas is becoming more important. However, due to various reasons, the location of these facilities shows the geographical imbalance between urban regions. Even though provision of road network can improve this kind of urban problem, in many countries, the provision of urban infrastructure plays a role which is magnifies the cultural gap between regions and socio-economic classes. The findings of this study are as follows. First of all, the inequality of accessibility to cultural facilities is shown over the period. Cross-sectional data shows that the higher the income of a region, the higher the accessibility index(AI) of the zone to cultural facilities at any time. Next, the provision of road network contributes the improvement of AI of high income region. Finally the provision of new facilities has a tendency that these kind of facilities are located to make AI of high income zone better. It means that the decision making by city government intensifies the geographical inequality. This result would be very useful in the decision making process for determining the number and the location of cultural facilities and other similar urban infrastructure as well. Also it will be helpful for the selection of optimal location which considered not only physical distances but also social equalities.

A Case Study of Japanese Local Self-Governments Universal Design Policy (일본 자치체의 유니버설디자인 정책 사례연구)

  • Lee, Ho-Soong
    • Archives of design research
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    • v.19 no.1 s.63
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    • pp.27-38
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    • 2006
  • Recently, in each local self-governments Japan, the importation of universal design policy is actively being expanded as a plan to maximize living satisfaction of.citizens within the region. This research investigates the background on how the local self-governments ended up importing the universal design administrative policy, investigates the policies which each self governing bodies have been promoting and presents necessary stipulations following those policies. When we sum up the necessity of promoting universal design by local self-governments, although the we carry various problems in the promoting process in the settlement of provincial era and promoting substantiality of it, we can point out the low birth rate phenomenon, progression of aged people's society, diversification of values as a result of social and economic maturity, etc. as social and economic background. For people's values, as they escape from the economic they attach great importance to economic supremacy, they respect culture, environment, etc. with higher level than economic aspect and the improvement of life's quality is becoming important. Meanwhile, the universal design which is known to many users as a usable design concept as reach to a point where it is getting attention as a basic concept of 21st century design. Today, each of local self-governments in Japan are making various efforts for unperturbed importation and application of universal design to local communities through homepage, universal design guideline or report, various workshops, etc. Especially, there are universal design policies of public areas, facilities, manufacture of other products and information for the contents of the policy. The enforcement of universal design policy puts importance in 1) the process of planning, alteration, policy scheme and decision making 2) the process of policy's enforcement 3) the probation process of all processes and I could find out that equal participation of roles by local citizens, citizen's organizations, companies with the administration hasn't been adopted for each of these processes.

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A Comparative Study on the Nutrient Intake and Dietary Behavior according to Nutrition Quotient Grade of Adolescents in Some Areas of the Seoul Metropolitan Area (수도권 일부 지역 청소년의 영양지수 등급에 따른 영양소 섭취와 식행동 실태 비교 연구)

  • Seo Young Choi;Hye Ji Seo;Ji-Yun Hwang;Min-Ah Kim;Sung-Min Yook;Young-Suk Lim;Ji Soo Oh;Hye-Young Kim;Jieun Oh
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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    • v.39 no.1
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    • pp.53-63
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    • 2024
  • This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the nutrition quotient and the dietary intake of adolescents. A total of 393 adolescents were surveyed to evaluate their Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents (NQ-A) scores and dietary intake. The average age of the survey subjects was 15 years and the average NQ-A score of the subjects was 49.11±13.35. There was no significant difference in the NQ-A scores according to gender and age. The average dietary diversity score was 3.77±0.85, and it was significantly higher in boys than in girls (p< .05) with the scores of 12-14-year-old students being significantly higher than those aged 15-18 years (p< .01). The results of comparing the percentage of recommended intake or adequate intake and the mean adequacy ratio (MAR) according to the NQ-A grade, showed that the 'High' grade had a significantly higher intake percentage of vitamin B1, B12, folate, phosphorus, iron and a significantly higher MAR (p< .05). From a long-term perspective, efforts to improve dietary habits are deemed necessary to meet an individual's nutritional requirements. Adolescents themselves should develop proper eating behaviors and acquire suitable dietary management skills to enhance their nutritional status, ultimately contributing to an improvement in their quality of life.

Current Status and Improvement Measures for the Port State Control of Foreign Vessels in Domestic Port Calls (국내 기항 외국적 외항선 항만국통제 현황 및 개선방안)

  • Jeong, Kyu-Min;Hwang, Je-Ho;Kim, Si-Hyun
    • Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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    • v.46 no.4
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    • pp.338-343
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    • 2022
  • As the revitalization of the global maritime industry continues, the number of foreign ships navigating the maritime territories of maritime neighboring countries has rapidly increased. However, large-scale marine accidents have occurred, caused by the insufficient establishment of a system for management and operation relative to vessels' safety-condition. To address that, the IMO has granted the right to exercise port state control, especially for foreign vessels, to countries with jurisdiction over maritime territories with strengthening regulations and guidelines. In particular, the Republic of Korea, as a member of the TOKYO MOU, is conducting PSC, but as of 2020, the proportion of foreign ships was three times higher than that of national ships that called in domestic ports. However, the inspection rate was low at 9% which has not met the recommended level by the TOKYO MOU. Thus, this study conducted an IPA analysis as well as content analysis, by collecting the practical opinions and views of PSCO through objective questionnaires and written expert interviews, for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of domestic PSC. As a result, it was derived that the importance and performance related to human factors such as life on board, working environment, and response to safety accidents should be improved in to raise the quality of PSC inspection. Additionally, the work environment and performance of PSC in domestic ports for foreign vessels could be improved, if multifaceted support bases are established, for administrative unification of related tests for PSC, recruitment of PSCO, activation of the defection-reporting system, reorganization of the PSC execution group, etc.

Study on the Introduction of Safety Management Level Evaluation System for Shipping Company by Imitation Strategy (모방전략을 이용한 해운선사 안전관리 수준 평가제도 도입방안 연구)

  • Kim, Hwa-Young
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.19 no.4
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    • pp.366-374
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    • 2013
  • Maritime transportation circumstance is changing rapidly in accordance with the increase of cargo volume between countries and increase of marine leisure activities by improvement of quality of life. And the circumstance for ship operation is also changing due to aging of seafarers and increasing of foreign seafarers. To cope with such changes in maritime environment well, it requires higher safety management skills from shipping companies, the main subject in charge of the safety matter. In this paper, we analyzed domestic and foreign similar system, and then applied imitation strategies for introduction of an unific evaluation and management system that was consist of marine accidents, port state control, ISM Code and so on from shipping companies. We defined that the imitation industry and system are converted accident ration of construction industry and traffic safety excellence company of road transportation, and then extracted relevant law, evaluation index, incentive system as a imitation subject. We also proposed scheme that introduction of basis law, and evaluation tool with marine accidents ratio, port state control & ism code result, and incentives such as immunity of safety inspection or reduction of commission for introduction of company's safety management level evaluation system. Finally, we proposed the imitation timing and plan in stages for system's sustainable development through the prompt introduction and continuous enforcement.

Studies on the Improvement of Packaging of Retorted Samgyetang (레토르트 삼계탕의 포장 개선을 위한 연구)

  • Lee, Jin-Hwan;Lee, Keun-Taik
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.49-54
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    • 2009
  • The effects of filling temperatures of broth and degassing method on the residual oxygen content and gas composition in the pouch and physical strength of packaging material for Samgyetang depending on the contamination of broth on the sealing layer and sterilization process were investigated. The residual oxygen content in the broth and the oxygen proportion in the headspace of package were decreased with the increase of broth temperature at filling into the pouch from 50 to 100. When the products were packaged as air-contained (Air), manually squeezed the upper side of package out to minimize the headspace (Degas) and flushed with nitrogen gas ($N_2$-Flushing) while maintaining the broth temperatures of Samgyetang at 50 or 85. The residual oxygen content and oxygen proportion were increased in the order of $N_2$-Flushing

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Welfare Activation Strategy for a Urban Park Users (도시공원 이용자들을 위한 공원복지 활성화전략 -부산도시공원 이용자를 중심으로-)

  • Kim, Kyo-Jung
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.12 no.10
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    • pp.195-204
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    • 2012
  • The purpose of this study is to suggest the improvement plan for the welfare in the park through the empirical test on the park facilities, which are the hardware, and the service contents, which are the software, in the urban parks of Busan. Therefore, to identify the welfare of the parks in Busan, this study took 7 urban parks as samples according to the plate method of experts, and conducted the questionnaire survey from 1,500 persons using these parks. The IPA analysis results on the importance and the satisfaction of the users on the form of use, facilities and the contents of the park are as follows. First, the convenient facilities, which are the hardware of the park, are represented as a intensive management item. Second, the importance and the satisfaction for all the facilities and the contents of each park are significant differences. according to the location of each park and the characteristics of each principal park users. Such results mean that the Busan urban park operation does not satisfy the expectation of the park users for the welfare facilities in the parks. Therefore, it implies that to activate the urban parks and to improve the quality of life than the present, the aceessibility of the local residents to the information should be reinforced through the development of contents to reflect the region and the desires of the users and through building and managing the homepage of the urban parks.