• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.338-349
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate recent clinical studies on the effects of acupuncture on dementia. Method: We searched RCTs (randomized controlled trials) using the database PubMed (2000-2018). Clinical RCT studies of acupuncture used to treat dementia in humans were included. Nine randomized controlled trials were included. Results: Various acupoints such as Baihui (GV20), Sishencong (EX-HN1), Fengchi (GB20), and Shenting (GV24) were used to treat symptoms. The studies reported a decrease in evaluation criteria, such as the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and activities of daily living (ADL), for measuring cognitive ability. The acupuncture process, the results for outcome measure, and the effectiveness of studies were analyzed. We then assessed "risk of bias." Conclusions: Through this review, we found that acupuncture is applicable for the treatment of dementia. This can be used for future study.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.73 no.3
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• pp.162-168
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• 2012

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease. Effective treatment is not currently available and the prognosis is poor. The aim of our study was to identify clinical predictors of survival in patients with IPF. Methods: By using medical record database of a university hospital, we reviewed the records of patients who had been diagnosed as having IPF from January 1996 through December 2007. Results: Among 89 patients considered as having interstitial lung disease (ILD) on computed tomography (CT) of the chest, 22 were excluded because of the diagnosis of other ILDs or connective tissue disease, and finally, 67 met the criteria of IPF. The mean age at the diagnosis of IPF was 70 years (range, 41~87 years) and 43 (64%) were male. The mean survival time following the diagnosis of IPF was 40 months (range, 0~179 months). Among them, 28 cases were diagnosed as the progressive state of IPF on the follow-up CT examination, and the mean duration between diagnosis of IPF and progression was 31 months. Multivariate analysis using Cox regression model revealed that body mass index (BMI) less than 18.5 $kg/m^2$ (p=0.030; hazard ratio [HR], 12.085; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.277~114.331) and CT progression before 36 months from the diagnosis of IPF (p=0.042; HR, 13.564; 95% CI, 1.101~167.166) were independently associated with mortality. Conclusion: Since low BMI at the diagnosis of IPF and progression on follow-up CT were associated with poor prognosis, IPF patients with low BMI and/or progression before 36 months following the diagnosis should be closely monitored.

• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.53
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• pp.341.1-341.11
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• 2018

Background: The converging epidemics of tuberculosis (TB) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have generated a significant public health burden, however, previous studies have been limited to a small number of patients. This nationwide cohort study aimed to assess the rate of developing active TB among patients receiving dialysis for ESRD. Methods: The Korean national health insurance database was used to identify patients receiving dialysis for new-onset ESRD during 2004-2013, who were propensity score matched to an equivalent number of non-dialysis subjects from the general population. The incidences of active TB in the ESRD and control cohorts were calculated for 2004-2013, and multivariable Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the ESRD-related risk of active TB. Results: During 2004-2013, 59,584 patients received dialysis for newly diagnosed ESRD. In the dialysis and control cohorts, 457 (0.8%) and 125 (0.2%) cases of active TB were detected, respectively. Patients with ESRD were associated with a significantly higher risk of active TB compared to the controls (incidence rate ratio, 4.80). The ESRD cohort had an independently elevated risk of active TB (adjusted hazard ratio, 4.39; 95% confidence interval, 3.60-5.37). Conclusion: We found that patients receiving dialysis for ESRD had an elevated risk of active TB. These results highlight the need for detailed and well-organised guidelines for active TB screening among patients with ESRD.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.628-644
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• 2021

Objectives: This study analyzed, through network analysis and data mining analysis, the relationship between herbs used in osteoporosis prescriptions, diversified the analysis of osteoporosis-related prescriptions, and analyzed the combination of herbs used in osteoporosis-related prescriptions. Methods: The prescriptions used in osteoporosis treatment and experiments were established by conducting a full survey of the papers published by the OASIS site. A database for osteoporosis-related prescriptions was established, herbs were extracted, and the frequency of frequent herbs and prescriptions were investigated using Excel (MS offices ver. 2013). Using the freeware R version 4.0.3 (2020-10-10), igraph, and arules package, network analysis was performed in the first second of prescription composition. Results: Among the osteoporosis-related prescriptions, the most studied prescriptions are as follows.: Yukmijihwang-tang (六味地黃湯) and Samul-tang (四物湯). In the osteoporosis prescription network, herbs with connection centrality, proximity centrality, mediation centrality, and eigenvector centrality appeared in the order of Rehmanniae Radix Preparata, Angelicae Gigantis Radix, Poria Sclerotium, Paeoniae Radix, and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. After extracting the herbal combination network, including the corresponding herbs, and clustering it, it can be divided into drugs of the Yukmijihwang-tang (六味地黃湯) series and the Samul-tang (四物湯). Conclusions: This study could assist researchers in diversifyingy formula analysis in future studies. Moreover, the herbal combination used in osteoporosis prescriptions could be used to search for osteoporosis prescriptions in other databases or to create a new prescription.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.279-292
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• 2021

Objectives: Analyze papers on the effect of acupuncture on cancer pain from a macroscopic point of view, suggesting global trends and future research directions to promote acupuncture treatment for cancer pain. Methods: By filtering the papers searched for (acupuncture) AND (cancer pain) in the Web of Science database, 351 papers were selected and analyzed by year, field, journal, institution, author, and keyword. Results: Most papers were published in 2020, and research was active in the field of complementary and alternative medicine. Research on the effects of acupuncture in cancer pain has been active in cancer centers and university hospitals, research has been active in various countries. The most frequently mentioned keywords in the titles and abstracts were acupuncture, pain, and quality of life. The latest top 5 keywords were inhibitor-induced arthralgia, acupuncture therapy, risk factors, opioids, and recovery. Conclusions: Acupuncture treatment has the potential to reduce pain and improve quality of life in cancer patients, and it should be actively studied in the future.

• The Journal of the Society of Stroke on Korean Medicine
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2011

Background : Prevalence of spasticity because of stroke are 40% patients after 12 month. Spasticity caused decrease of range of motor, motor function, and active daily living. Electroacupuncture widely used stroke. But it is been studied by systematic review between spasticity and electroacupuncture. This study is aimed to efficacy of electroacupuncture for spasticity because of stroke. Methods : We had used pubmed(www.pubmed.com) and cochrane library(www.thecochranelibrary.com) database. Limits are'human','randomized controlled trial'and'all adult 19+ years'in pubmed. The period was until 15, september, 2011. We used MeSH(Medical Subject Headings terms. The search words were'stroke'[mesh],'muscle spasticity'[mesh and 'electroacupuncture'[mesh]. In cochrane library, we used spasticity and electroacupuncture in cochrane library. We found 19 studies. But only 3 studies were included for inclusion criteria. Results : The appropriate 3 studies were different from subject, acupoint, duration of treatment, endpoint and etc. But these studies were effective for spasticity because of stroke. Conclusion : These studies were not meta analysis because of heterogeneity. But the above results might explain the electroacupuncture were effective for spasticity and further study needed to verify and standard electroacupuncture study for spasticity.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.835-845
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• 2022

Objective: To analyze the characteristics and trends of scientific publications on thyroid ultrasound (US) from 2001 to 2020, specifically examining the differences among disciplines. Materials and Methods: The MEDLINE database was searched for scientific articles on thyroid US published between 2001 and 2020 using the PubMed online service. The evaluated parameters included year of publication, type of document, topic, funding, first author's specialty, journal name, subject category, impact factor, and quartile ranking of the publishing journal, country, and language. Relationships between the first author's specialty (radiology, internal medicine, surgery, otorhinolaryngology, and miscellaneous) and other parameters were analyzed. Results: A total of 2917 thyroid US publications were published between 2001 and 2020, which followed an exponential growth pattern, with an annual growth rate of 11.6%. Radiology produced the most publications (n = 1290, 44.2%), followed by internal medicine (n = 716, 24.5%), surgery (n = 409, 14.0%), and otorhinolaryngology (n = 171, 5.9%). Otorhinolaryngology and internal medicine published significantly more case reports than radiology (p < 0.001, each). Radiology published a significantly higher proportion of publications on imaging diagnosis (p < 0.001 for all) and a significantly lower proportion of publications on biopsy (p < 0.001 for all) than the other disciplines. Publications produced by radiology authors were less frequently published in Q1 journals than those from other disciplines (p < 0.005 for internal medicine and miscellaneous disciplines and < 0.01 for surgery and otorhinolaryngology). China contributed the greatest number of publications (n = 622, 21.3%), followed by South Korea (n = 478, 16.4%) and the United States (n = 468, 16.0%). Conclusion: Radiology produced the most publications for thyroid US than any other discipline. Radiology authors published more notably on imaging diagnosis compared to other topics and in journals with lower impact factors compared to authors in other disciplines.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 2023

Backgrounds/Aims: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) can be classified as intrahepatic CCA or extrahepatic CCA (eCCA). We intended to analyze and reports the survival outcomes for eCCA. Methods: Surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) registry, site recode C24.0, was used to select cases of eCCA from 2000 to 2018. Patients with incomplete data or ages <18 years were excluded. Results: Male (52.69%) and White race (77.99%) predominated. Compared with 2000-2006, survival increased in 2013 (adjusted hazard ratio [HRadj]: 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.58-0.70; p < 0.01). Surgery with chemoradiotherapy (HRadj: 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.7; p < 0.01) and surgery with chemotherapy (HRadj: 0.72, 95% CI 0.62-0.83; p < 0.01) improved survival over surgery alone. Compared with surgery without lymph node (LN) removal, surgery of four or more regional LN reduced the risk of death by 58% (HRadj: 0.42, 95% CI 0.36-0.51; p < 0.01). Compared with patients without surgery, patients who underwent bile duct excision (HRadj: 0.82, 95% CI 0.72-0.94; p < 0.01), simple or extended lobectomy (HRadj: 0.85, 95% CI 0.75-0.95; p = 0.009), and hepatectomy (HRadj: 0.80, 95% CI 0.72-0.88; p < 0.01) significantly improved survival. Patients with distal CCA had a 17% higher survival than perihilar CCA (HRadj: 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.92; p < 0.01) and LN dissection was equally beneficial for both subgroups (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Surgery with chemoradiotherapy has a proven increase in the 5-year survival of the eCCA. LN resection, bile duct excision, lobectomy, and hepatectomy have better outcomes.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.758-771
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• 2023

Background and Objectives: Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major potential cause of embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS). However, identifying AF remains challenging because it occurs sporadically. Deep learning could be used to identify hidden AF based on the sinus rhythm (SR) electrocardiogram (ECG). We combined known AF risk factors and developed a deep learning algorithm (DLA) for predicting AF to optimize diagnostic performance in ESUS patients. Methods: A DLA was developed to identify AF using SR 12-lead ECG with the database consisting of AF patients and non-AF patients. The accuracy of the DLA was validated in 221 ESUS patients who underwent insertable cardiac monitor (ICM) insertion to identify AF. Results: A total of 44,085 ECGs from 12,666 patient were used for developing the DLA. The internal validation of the DLA revealed 0.862 (95% confidence interval, 0.850-0.873) area under the curve (AUC) in the receiver operating curve analysis. In external validation data from 221 ESUS patients, the diagnostic accuracy of DLA and AUC were 0.811 and 0.827, respectively, and DLA outperformed conventional predictive models, including CHARGE-AF, C2HEST, and HATCH. The combined model, comprising atrial ectopic burden, left atrial diameter and the DLA, showed excellent performance in AF prediction with AUC of 0.906. Conclusions: The DLA accurately identified paroxysmal AF using 12-lead SR ECG in patients with ESUS and outperformed the conventional models. The DLA model along with the traditional AF risk factors could be a useful tool to identify paroxysmal AF in ESUS patients.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.3942-3949
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• 2010

Since existing Nate-on Messenger application stores users' personal information in the database of its server, it is extremely venerable to internal threats, not to mention the communication data being transmitted without any safety measures. To solve such problematic areas of the existing application, we have developed a safer messenger application. The messenger application proposed in this paper discloses only the least required personal information of its users and the rest of the personal information is safely encrypted in the database using private passwords. This protective measure prevents the administrator or a third party from misusing the information since he/she will not be able access the information. In addition, users will be able to freely and safely communicate using this new messenger since transmitted data will also be encrypted.