• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.784-792
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• 2022

Background/Aims: Patients with acute cholecystitis (AC) after metallic stent (MS) placement for malignant biliary obstruction (MBO) have a high surgical risk. We performed percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder aspiration (PTGBA) as the first treatment for AC. We aimed to identify the risk factors for AC after MS placement and the poor response factors of PTGBA. Methods: We enrolled 401 patients who underwent MS placement for MBO between April 2011 and March 2020. The incidence of AC was 10.7%. Of these 43 patients, 37 underwent PTGBA as the first treatment. The patients' responses to PTGBA were divided into good and poor response groups. Results: There were 20 patients in good response group and 17 patients in poor response group. Risk factors for cholecystitis after MS placement included cystic duct obstruction (p<0.001) and covered MS (p<0.001). Cystic duct obstruction (p=0.003) and uncovered MS (p=0.011) demonstrated significantly poor responses to PTGBA. Cystic duct obstruction is a risk factor for cholecystitis and poor response factor for PTGBA, whereas covered MS is a risk factor for cholecystitis and an uncovered MS is a poor response factor of PTGBA for cholecystitis. Conclusions: The onset and poor response factors of AC after MS placement were different between covered and uncovered MS. PTGBA can be a viable option for AC after MS placement, especially in patients with covered MS.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.656-665
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• 2024

Background/Aims: Although endoscopic ultrasound-guided hepaticogastrostomy (EUS-HGS) is performed globally, the procedure remains challenging. Guidewire manipulation is the most difficult step, and there are few reports on the factors associated with unsuccessful guidewire manipulation. This study aimed to assess the significance of the puncture angle on EUS images and identify the most effective guidewire rescue method for patients with unsuccessful guidewire manipulation. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 115 patients who underwent EUS-HGS between May 2016 and April 2022 at two centers. The puncture angle between the needle and the intrahepatic bile duct was measured through EUS movie records. Results: Guidewire manipulation was unsuccessful in 28 patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves identified an optimal puncture angle cutoff value of 85° (cutoff value, 85°; area under the ROC curve, 0.826; sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 81.6%). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that a puncture angle <85° was a significant risk factor for unsuccessful guidewire manipulation (odds ratio, 19.8; 95% confidence interval, 6.42-61.5; p<0.001). Among the 28 unsuccessful cases, 24 patients (85.7%) achieved successful guidewire manipulation using various rescue methods. Conclusions: The puncture angle observed on EUS is crucial for guidewire manipulation. A puncture angle of <85° was associated with unsuccessful guidewire manipulation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.4637-4642
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• 2016

Purpose: To evaluate palliative care for patients with gynecologic cancer in Japan. Materials and Method: A questionnaire asking facility characteristics, systems to coordinate palliative care, current status of end-of-life care, provision of symptom relief, palliative radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and cases of death from gynecological cancer, was mailed to facilities treating gynecologic cancer. Results: A total of 115 facilities (29.3% of the total) responded to the questionnaire. Of these, 33.0 (29.0%) had a palliative care ward. End-of-life care was managed by obstetricians and gynecologists in 72.0% of the facilities. The site where end-of-life care was provided was most often a ward in the department where the respondent worked. The waiting period for transfer to a hospice was 2 weeks or more in 52% of facilities. Before the start of primary treatment, pain control was managed by obstetrians and gynecologists in 98.0% of facilities. Palliative radiation therapy or chemotherapy was administered at 93.9% and 92.0% of facilities, respectively. Of the 115 facilities, 34.0 (29.6%) reported cases of death from gynecological cancer. There were 1,134 cases of death. The median time between the last cycle of chemotherapy and death was 85 days for all gynecological cancers. The proportion of patients receiving chemotherapy in the last 30 and 14 days of life were 17.4% and 7.1%, respectively. Conclusions: This large-scale survey showed characteristics of palliative care given to patients with gynecologic cancer in Japan. Assessment of death cases showed that the median time between the last cycle of chemotherapy and death was relatively short.

• Atmosphere
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.101-118
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• 2005

Atmospheric ozone changes temporally and spatially according to both anthropogenic and natural causes. It is essential to quantify the natural contributions to total ozone variations for the estimation of trend caused by anthropogenic processes. The aims of this study are to understand the intrinsic natural variability of long-term total ozone changes and to estimate more reliable ozone trend caused by anthropogenic ozone-depleting materials. For doing that, long-term time series for Seoul of monthly total ozone which were measured from both ground-based Dobson Spectrophotometer (Beck #124)(1985-2004) and satellite TOMS (1979-1984) are analyzed for selected period, after dividing the whole period (1979~2004) into two periods; the former period (1979~1991) and the latter period (1992~2004). In this study, ozone trends for the time series are calculated using multiple regression models with explanatory natural oscillations for the Arctic Oscillation(AO), North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO), North Pacific Oscillation(NPO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO), Quasi Biennial Oscillation(QBO), Southern Oscillation(SO), and Solar Cycle(SC) including tropopause pressure(TROPP). Using the developed models, more reliable anthropogenic ozone trend is estimated than previous studies that considered only QBO and SC as natural oscillations (eg; WMO, 1999). The quasi-anthropogenic ozone trend in Seoul is estimated to -0.12 %/decade during the whole period, -2.39 %/decade during the former period, and +0.10 %/decade during the latter period, respectively. Consequently, the net forcing mechanism of the natural oscillations on the ozone variability might be noticeably different in two time intervals with positive forcing for the former period (1979-1991) and negative forcing for the latter period (1992-2004). These results are also found to be consistent with those analyzed from the data observed at ground stations (Sapporo, Tateno) of Japan. In addition, the recent trend analyses for Seoul show positive change-in-trend estimates of +0.75 %/decade since 1997 relative to negative trend of -1.49 %/decade existing prior to 1997, showing -0.74 %/decade for the recent 8-year period since 1997. Also, additional supporting evidence for a slowdown in ozone depletion in the upper stratosphere has been obtained by Newchurch et al.(2003).

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.47-58
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• 2011

Nowaday OECD countries actively introduce the performance audit to evaluate the performance of public policies. Motivated by the current trend in practice, this paper presents performance audit indices and methodology developed for evaluating the transportation investment projects and policies. The main contribution of this study would be twofold:1) key performance indices, 5Es + 4Cs rule, and methodology of performance audit are derived from foreign (GAO, NAO) and domestic (BAI) audit reports; 2) checklists (key issues and focuses) of performance audit are suggested as ranks. It is also suggested that further studies are needed to maintain the indices and the methodology to achieve sustainable performance of transportation projects and policies.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.739-744
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• 2020

This study evaluates the erosive potential and effects of mixed alcohols by analyzing the pH, titratable acidity, and fluorescence loss degree (△F). Following alcohol groups were investigated: Soju, Calamansi+soju, Yakult+soju, Cola+soju, and Energy drink+soju. The ratio of soju:beverage in the alcohol mixtures was 7:3. Ed. Notes: The sentence lacks clarity. Please review if the edit correctly portrays the meaning. If not, please revise appropriately. Measurement of the pH and titratable acidity (the amount of 1M NaoH solution required to raise to pH 5.5 (TA5.5) and 7.0 (TA7.0)) of alcohols was achieved by stirring with pH meter. The erosive effect of the alcohol mixtures on bovine tooth (△F) after 1, 2, 4, and 6 hours exposure were analyzed by quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF-D). All the mixed alcohols in this study showed an acidic pH, lower than 4.5. The average pH of mixed alcohols was 3.17 ± 0.50 whereas the pH of Soju was 8.6 ± 0.01. The TA5.5 and TA7.0 values of the mixed alcohols were 0.5~18 and 0.5~23.5, respectively. △F of the three tested mixed alcohol groups (except yakult+soju group) were observed to increase in a time-dependent manner. The calamansi mixed alcohol had the highest acidity potential and erosive effect among the tested groups. Taken together, the results indicate that the mixed alcohols have a strong erosive effect and potential on dental enamel.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.381-394
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• 2022

Purpose: Gastric neoplasia is a common manifestation of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). This study aimed to elucidate the clinical characteristics, endoscopic features including fundic gland polyposis (FGPsis), and treatment outcomes of gastric neoplasms (GNs) in patients with FAP. Materials and Methods: A total of 35 patients diagnosed with FAP, including nine patients from four pedigrees who underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), were investigated regarding patient characteristics, GN morphology, and treatment outcomes. Results: Twenty-one patients (60.0%) had 38 GNs; 33 (86.8%) and 5 (13.2%) were histologically diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and adenoma, respectively. There were no specific patient characteristics related to GNs.Nodule-type GNs were more prevalent in patients with FGP than without (52.2% vs. 0.0%, P=0.002) in the upper body of the stomach. Conversely, depressed-type GNs were fewer in patients with FGPsis than in those without (13.0% vs. 73.3%, P<0.001). Slightly elevated-type GNs were observed in both groups (34.8% vs. 20.0%, P=0.538). Even within pedigrees, the background gastric mucosa and types of GNs varied. In total, 24 GNs were treated with endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and eight with endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). EMR was selected for GNs with FGPsis because of the technical difficulty of ESD, resulting in a lower en bloc resection rate (62.5% vs. 100%, P=0.014). Conclusions: Our study indicates the necessity of routine EGD surveillance in patients diagnosed with FAP. Notably, the morphology and location of GNs differed between patients with and without FGPsis. Endoscopic treatment and outcomes require more attention in cases of FGPsis.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.205-228
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• 2022

This study aimed to confirm the effect of social and relational behavior types of robots on human cognition in human-robot interaction. In the experiment, the participants evaluated trust in robots by watching a video on the robot Nao interacting with a human, in which the robot made an error and then made an effort to restore trust. The trust recovery behavior was set as three conditions: an internal attribution in which the robot acknowledges and apologizes for an error, a condition in which the robot apologizes for an error but attributes it externally, and a non-action condition in which the robot denies the error itself and does not take any action for the error. As the result, in all three cases, the error was perceived as less serious when the robot apologized than when it did not, and the ability of the robot was also highly evaluated. These results provide evidence that human attitudes towards robots can respond sensitively depending on the robot's behavior and how they overcome errors, suggesting that human perception towards robots can change. In particular, the fact that robots are more trustworthy when they acknowledge and apologize for their own errors shows that robots can promote positive human-robot interactions through human-like social and polite behavior.