• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.137-142
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• 2006

Our records include two cases of DIC in snakebite patients. One patient, who was 48-years old, was bitten in his left ankle 3 days before admission to our hospital. Initial symptoms were painful swelling, extensive ecchymosis, and persistent bleeding at the bite site. He visited and was admitted to a local hospital, but his condition did not improve with supportive care that included a single dose of antivenin. He was transferred to our hospital. His condition was compatible with DIC. We tried multi-dose antivenin therapy and blood product transfusion. At the seventh hospital day, the patient's symptoms were completely resolved. The other patient, who was 75 years old, was bitten in his right thumb. Initial symptoms were painful swelling of the right arm and persistent bleeding at the bite site, and within minutes of hospital admission, the patient experienced massive hematochezia. We peformed laboratory tests, the results of which were compatible with DIC, and the next day a sigmoidscopic examination showed ischemic colitis. We administered multi-dose antivenin therapy and blood product tranfusion. At the third hospital day mild anemia still existed, but the patient's clinical condition was improved. No signs or symptoms of gastrointestinal bleeding were observed. In these two cases, multi-dose antivenin therapy and transfusion effectively resolved symptoms of DIC. Platelet concentrate transfusion was required only for acute thrombocytopenia. After resolution of DIC, platelet counts were returned to normal ranges within a few days. The authors propose that multidose antivenin therapy and coagulation factor transfusion might be useful for improving coagulopathy in snakebite patients.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of intravenous lipid emulsion as well as adverse events in acute poisoning patients. Methods: Literature was accessed through PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of science, and KoreaMed. All forms of literatures relevant to human use of intravenous lipid emulsion for acute poisoning were included. Cases reports or letters without description of clinical outcomes for each case were excluded. The literature search was conducted by two investigators in March, 2015, with publication language restricted to English and Korean. The effect, onset time, and adverse event of lipid emulsion and final outcome of each case were analyzed. Results: Eighty-one published articles were included, excluding articles whose title and abstract were not relevant to this study. No articles were classified as high level of evidence. Sixty-eight case reports were identified, consisting of 25 local anesthetics and 43 other drugs, such as tricyclic antidepressants and calcium channel blockers. Although most cases described significant clinical improvements, some of them showed no beneficial effect or worsening of clinical course. Several adverse events including hyperamylasemia and laboratory interference were reported. Conclusion: Although there were many case reports illustrating successful use of lipid for various drug poisonings, the effect cannot be estimated due to significant possibility of publication bias. Therefore, lipids might be considered in severe hemodynamic instability resulting from lipophilic drug poisoning, however further studies should follow to establish the use of lipid as the standard of care.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.28-43
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• 2023

Background: High-fidelity meteorological data is a prerequisite for the realistic simulation of atmospheric dispersion of radioactive materials near nuclear power plants (NPPs). However, many meteorological models frequently overestimate near-surface wind speeds, failing to represent local meteorological conditions near NPPs. This study presents a new high-resolution (approximately 1 km) meteorological downscaling method for modeling short-range (< 100 km) atmospheric dispersion of accidental NPP plumes. Materials and Methods: Six considerations from literature reviews have been suggested for a new dynamic downscaling method. The dynamic downscaling method is developed based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.6.1, applying high-resolution land-use and topography data. In addition, a new subgrid-scale topographic drag parameterization has been implemented for a realistic representation of the atmospheric surface-layer momentum transfer. Finally, a year-long simulation for the Kori and Wolsong NPPs, located in southeastern coastal areas, has been made for 2016 and evaluated against operational surface meteorological measurements and the NPPs' on-site weather stations. Results and Discussion: The new dynamic downscaling method can represent multiscale atmospheric motions from the synoptic to the boundary-layer scales and produce three-dimensional local meteorological fields near the NPPs with a 1.2 km grid resolution. Comparing the year-long simulation against the measurements showed a salient improvement in simulating near-surface wind fields by reducing the root mean square error of approximately 1 m/s. Furthermore, the improved wind field simulation led to a better agreement in the Eulerian estimate of the local atmospheric dispersion. The new subgrid-scale topographic drag parameterization was essential for improved performance, suggesting the importance of the subgrid-scale momentum interactions in the atmospheric surface layer. Conclusion: A new dynamic downscaling method has been developed to produce high-resolution local meteorological fields around the Kori and Wolsong NPPs, which can be used in short-range atmospheric dispersion modeling near the NPPs.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2001

The wide deep penetrating wound of maxillofacial region should be early closed under emergency general anesthesia for the prevention of complications of bleeding, infection, shock & residual scars. But, if the emergency general anesthesia wound be impossible because of pneumoconiosis, obstructive pulmonary disease & hypovolemic shock, early primary closure should be done under local anesthesia by use of much amount of the anesthetic solution. The maximum dose of dental lidocaine (2% lidocaine with 1 : 100,000 epinephrine) is reported to 7 mg/kg under 500 mg (13.8 ampules) in normal adult. But the maximum permissible dose of dental lidocaine can be changed owing to the general health, rapidity of injection, resorption, distribution & excretion of the drug. The blood level of overdose toxicity is above $4.0{\mu}g/ml$ in central nervous & cardiovascular system. The injection of dental lidocaine 1-4 ampules is attained to the blood level of $1{\mu}g/ml$ in normal healthy adult. The duration of anesthetic action in the dental 2% lidocaine hydrochloride with 1 : 100.000 epinephrine is 45 to 75 minutes and the period to elimination is about 2 to 4 hours. Therefore, authors selected the following anesthetic methods that the first injection of 6 ampules is applied into the deeper periosteal layer for anesthetic action during 1 hour, the second injection into the deeper muscle & fascial layer, the third injection into the superficial muscle and fascial layer, the fourth injection into the proximal skin & subcutaneous tissue and the fifth final injection into the distal skin & subcutaneous tissue. The total 26-28 ampules of dental lidocaine were injected into the wound as the regular time interval during 5-6 hours, but there were no systemic complications, such as, agitation, talkativeness, convulsion and specific change of vital signs and consciousness.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 2011

Altered consciousness may be the first clinical sign of a serious medical problem that requires immediate and intensive therapy to maintain life. There are many causes of the loss of consciousness in the dental office setting, such as, vasodepressor syncope, drug administration or ingestion, orthostatic hypotension, epilepsy, hypoglycemic reaction, acute adrenal insufficiency, cerebrovascular accident, hyperglycemic reaction, acute myocardial infarction, acute allergic reaction and hyperventilation. This is a case report of syncope and coma during endodontic treatment of a maxillary third molar under local infiltration anesthesia in multiple medically compromised patient. The main cause was thought to be hypoglycemic reaction. The patient was transferred to the medical emergency room and cared properly by the emergency medical physicians. The prognosis was good.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.91-111
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to compare 119 emergency medical services (EMS) in South Korea and Japan to provide essential data for EMS improvement in South Korea. Methods: Recent data and regulations on firefighting and EMS in South Korea and Japan were analyzed and compared. Results: South Korea follows a centralized approach to EMS, whereas Japan operates with autonomous bodies that establish their own criteria. Japan considers more regional variables than South Korea. In South Korea, there are shortages in fire station deployment among the 119 emergency medical resources in certain regions, leading to significant regional disparities. South Korea has a larger population served by its 119 emergency medical resources with a higher workload and dispatch numbers than Japan. The percentage of non-transported patients among the total number of dispatches was higher in South Korea. Conclusion: Increasing the number of medical professionals and ambulances per population to the level of Japan to reflect local conditions and include various underlying variables such as daytime population, aging, and emergency dispatch conditions in the deployment of 119 emergency resources, and to reduce the deployment gap between regions, will contribute to improving the performance of the South Korea EMS system.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.10-18
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• 2009

Purpose: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning is an important medical emergency in Korea, but the factors leading to its serious manifestation are not well studied. Methods: We conducted a 5-year retrospective study of 98 carbon monoxide poisoned patients who visited the emergency departments of the Medical Center between December 2004 and March 2009. We categorized the patients into those exhibiting only local symptoms (group 1) and those showing systemic symptoms and complications (group 2). We compared the general characteristics as well as the clinical and laboratory findings between both groups. Results: The male to female ratio was 1.18. The most common systemic symptom was a mental change (43.9%), while the most common complication was rhabdomyolysis (31.6%). Poisoned area closed private room in group 2 were 23 (41.8%) cases and burning region in group 2 were 16(29.1%) cases (p=0.956). Individuals who were accidentally poisoned comprised of 43 (78.2%) cases while those that attempted suicidal poisoning comprised 12 (21.8%) cases (p=0.016). The most common symptom at arrival was mental change 33 (60.0%) cases in group 2. The mean time exposed to carbon monoxide was 43$\pm$3.97 hours in group 1 and 55$\pm$10.11 in group 2 (p=0.012). The patient's age, context of poisoning, symptom at arrival, and time exposed to the poison were found to be significant risk factors for complications by logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Carbon monoxide poisoning is an emergency medical condition and the risk factors involved in the development of serious complications must be evaluated.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.12-16
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• 2014

Tetanus has high lethality and can cause serious complication, so it is very important to have a quick and exact checkup and treatment. In this study, we conducted a study about clinical characteristics and types of tetanus patients in Daegu Emergency Medical Center and we studied possibility of Tetanos Quick Stick (TQS) as a selective check up to treat tentanus by comparing the results of local checkup kit measured from tetanus quick stick developed to check up tetanus antibody titer and results measured from ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay). The result of the study showed that tetanus happens more to males, and by looking at season, tetanus happened most in summer (from June-August) as 19 cases (45.3%), and when patients come to the emergency medical center, the diagnosis name was electrolyte imbalance 14 cases (33.3%), peripheral nerve 11 cases (26.2%), Meningitis 8 cases (19.0%), drug addiction 7 cases (16.7%), and the patients who are diagnosed as tetanus at the beginning of hospitalization was 2 cases (4.8%). The result of TQS usefulness by comparing with ELISA, in TQS, 42 people was positive and 478 people was negative. it was positive when the result was over 0.1 IU/mL, 48 people was ELISA positive while 472 people was negative. TQS checkup has accuracy of 98%, sensitivity of 83.3%, specificity of 99.5%, positive predictability of 95.2% and negative predictability of 98.3%. The evaluation of current immunity statuses of tetanus patients is available for TQS checkup, and it has an advantage of preventing side effects coming from the injection of unnecessary vaccine and immunoglobulin, and it is thought that it can give help to emergency checkup and treatment at the beginning.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.10
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• pp.253-258
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• 2020

This study analyzed, the characteristics of ambulatory care sensitive conditions(ACSCs) in patients visiting emergency departments(EDs) and compared characteristics according to two age groups (adults aged 19-64 years and, elderly people aged ≥65 years). By accessing data from the National Emergency Department Information System(NEDIS) from January 1 to December 31, 2018, we examined the proportions of different ED types and ACSCs, length of stay(LOS) in the ED, LOS hospital, and hospital admission rates. Regarding the types of EDs, we found that the proportion of local emergency medical centers was high(P<0.001). Regarding the rates of different ACSCs, 31.7% of adults were treated for gastroenteritis, a high proportion of the elderly people(48.2%) were diagnosed with and treated for pneumonia(P<0.001). The LOS in the ED was longer in elderly people for all diseases categories, except for congestive heart failure and diabetes(P<0.001). The LOS in the hospital was also significantly longer in elderly people for all ACSCs(P<0.05), and the admission rate was significantly higher in elderly people for all diseases, except for diabetes(P<0.01). Thus, analyzing the ED visits made by patients with ACSCs will need to strengthen the health-care policy to induce treatment centered on outpatient.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2018

Purpose: On November 15, 2012, sales of OTC (Over-The-Counter) drugs began at convenience stores, which changed the accessibility of some drugs. As a result, the exposure and access patterns of these drugs could have changed. In this study, we reviewed the changes in the characteristics of drug poisoning patients because of the reposition of nonprescription drugs according to the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate changes in characteristics of drug poisoning patients between 2008 and 2016. A registry was developed by an emergency medical center in a local tertiary teaching hospital, and patients who visited the center were enrolled in this registry. We compared two periods, from 2008 to 2012 (Pre OTC) and from 2013 to 2016 (Post OTC), for type of intoxicant, time from poisoning to visiting the emergency center, intention, psychiatric history, previous suicidal attempt, alcohol status, and emergency room outcomes. The primary outcome was the number of patients who took acetaminophen and NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Secondary outcomes were ICU admission rate, mortality rate, and number of patients who visited the ER when the pharmacy was closed after taking acetaminophen and NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Results: Among 1,564 patients, 945 and 619 patients visited the emergency room during pre and post OTC periods. The number of patients with acetaminophen and NSAIDs poisoning decreased from 9.2% to 6.1% (p=0.016). The ICU admission rate and mortality rate in the emergency room did not show significant results in the relevant patient groups, and so was the number of patients visiting ER when the pharmacy was closed taking acetaminophen and NSAIDs. Conclusion: Despite the sales of nonprescription drugs at convenience stores, the number of acetaminophen and NSAIDs poisoning patients decreased.