• 재활복지
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.141-161
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• 2016

This research is to anticipate problems of Ray's disabled experiment welfare vehicles for 17 drivers with disability, improving them. In addition it is to provide the criteria for ergonomic design based on perspective of drivers with disability by investigating 18 items of usability test. The results are as follows. First, satisfaction degree of Ray, disabled experiment welfare vehicle, was shown to be 3.88 which is higher than normal vehicles whose degree is 3.20. This showed that the disabled experiment welfare vehicle is the one with much improvement. Second, so as to develop a welfare vehicle it needs to take into account some factors including rear slope, wheelchair locker, seat belt, safety grip, and high roof. Third, in case of rear slope, high roof and width of manual or automatic wheel chairs should be considered and motor-operated device should also be taken into account for safety lockers, which make a wheelchair firmly fixed. Moreover, motor-operated seat and rear slope can be chosen for either of the disabled and the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.351-359
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• 2019

Neurocognitive testing commonly uses the MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) to evaluate the overall cognitive function of patients at outpatient clinics, but the MMSE has recently been extensively used in the SNSB II (Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery II) for making diagnoses. We retrospectively investigated the results of routine neurocognitive tests and the results of the blood tests of 120 elderly patients who had been referred to a South Central Medical Center from 2017 to 2018 and who had been examined at a public health center. These subjects' space-time capability was high on the sub-region of the global deterioration scale (GDS). GDS showed a significant increase as the Na decreased on the electrolyte analysis. The subjects' concentration, their language-based orientation for space and time, their memory, and their scores for the frontal lobe function on GDS showed statistically significant reductions (P<0.001) For the normal and abnormal groups according to the ALT and creatinine levels, the frontal/execute function areas showed statistically significant differences (P<0.001) as well as negative correlation between GDS and ALT (P<0.01). In conclusion, this study provides basic information to develop test items that are important for patient screening and diagnosis, and several routine blood chemistry factors provide basic information for diagnosing and assessing the status and progress of cognitively impaired patients.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.208-216
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• 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study aimed to investigate the status of renal function in patients with COVID-19. The study surveyed a total of 649 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at a hospital located in southern Gyeonggi Province, South Korea over a one month period in January 2021. The parameters analyzed were blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, sodium, potassium, chloride, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The BUN and creatinine of the COVID-19 patients were found to be higher than the normal reference range, specially in males, and in the elderly (60s and 80s or older). The serum electrolyte levels of the patients were observed to be within the reference intervals. Of the subjects, males over 80 years of age had a Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) of 60 mL/min/1.73 m² or less. Recent research suggests that some severe cases of COVID-19 are showing signs of kidney damage, even in those with no prior underlying kidney disease. Thus, assessment of kidney function using multiple indicators could help diagnose abnormal renal function in patients with COVID-19.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.164-171
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• 2021

Purpose: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Brain atrophy in this disease spectrum begins in the medial temporal lobe structure, which can be recognized by magnetic resonance imaging. To overcome the unsatisfactory inter-observer reliability of visual evaluation, quantitative brain volumetry has been developed and widely investigated for the diagnosis of MCI and AD. The aim of this study was to assess the prediction accuracy of quantitative brain volumetry using a fully automated segmentation software package, NeuroQuant^®, for the diagnosis of MCI. Materials and Methods: A total of 418 subjects from the Korean Brain Aging Study for Early Diagnosis and Prediction of Alzheimer's Disease cohort were included in our study. Each participant was allocated to either a cognitively normal old group (n = 285) or an MCI group (n = 133). Brain volumetric data were obtained from T1-weighted images using the NeuroQuant software package. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to investigate relevant brain regions and their prediction accuracies. Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that normative percentiles of the hippocampus (P < 0.001), amygdala (P = 0.003), frontal lobe (P = 0.049), medial parietal lobe (P = 0.023), and third ventricle (P = 0.012) were independent predictive factors for MCI. In ROC analysis, normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala showed fair accuracies in the diagnosis of MCI (area under the curve: 0.739 and 0.727, respectively). Conclusion: Normative percentiles of the hippocampus and amygdala provided by the fully automated segmentation software could be used for screening MCI with a reasonable post-processing time. This information might help us interpret structural MRI in patients with cognitive impairment.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.25-37
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• 2022

Objective : Through the bibliographic analysis method, the flow of research is grasped from a macroscopic point of view and the connection system of key words is conducted. The purpose of this is to provide basic data for conducting research on aging anxiety and lifestyle. Methods : Among the bibliographic analysis methods, a citation analysis method that identifies the association based on the number of citations and a simultaneous appearance word analysis method that identifies the association based on the number of keywords appeared was used. VOSviewer was used to cluster and chart the analyzed information. Results : The frequency of occurrence of papers by year showed a gradual increase until 2017 and a rapid increase from 2018. In the field of research paper study, research was most actively conducted in the field of psychiatry. In the citation analysis, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom showed high correlation with each other, and as a result of conducting simultaneous word analysis on major keywords, words with high association with aging anxiety were found to be depression. Conclusion : This study is meaningful in that it grasped the flow of aging anxiety and lifestyle research from a macroscopic point of view using a bibliographic analysis method. Based on this, it is expected to understand the importance of lifestyle from the preventive point of view of aging and to be used as basic data for intervention and related education.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.111-122
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• 2023

Objective : To identify the effect of lifestyle risk factors on the daily activities and cognition of the older adults in the community using the National Health Insurance Corporation 2015 geriatric cohort database. Methods : Lifestyle risk factors were defined as body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking, vigorous exercise, moderate exercise, and walking, and basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) and cognitive function variables were included in the analysis. ADL and cognitive function according to sex and age were analyzed using a t-test and one-way ANOVA. The correlation between lifestyle risk factors, ADL, and cognitive function was analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze their influence. Results : The factors affecting basic ADL (BADL) were sex and walking exercises, with an explanatory power of 1.7%. Instrumental ADL (IADL) included age, drinking, and walking exercises, with an explanatory power of 2.6%. Cognitive function included sex, age, BMI, vigorous exercise, and walking, with an explanatory power of 5.3%. Conclusion : Lifestyle risk factors partially affected BADLs/IADLs and cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults. This suggests the need to systematically manage lifestyle risk factors to improve and maintain the healthy lives of older adults facing biological aging.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.89-100
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• 2024

Purpose : The objective of this study was to determine the major factors influencing the onset of diabetes and prediabetes and for collection of the basic data required to reduce the prevalence of diabetes and plan for administration of an effective health care system. By classifying the level of blood sugar management according to three categories: normal, prediabetes, and diabetes diagnosis, and determining the causes of diabetes in consideration of various variables, we will conduct an analysis of the main factors to be addressed for effective management of blood sugar and for preparation of basic data for use in early management. Methods : In this study, an analysis of raw data from the 8th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey collected over a period of three years from 2019 to 2021, including 8,110 subjects in 2019, 7,359 subjects in 2020, and 7,090 subjects in 2021 was performed. A total of 22,559 subjects were aged 19 years or older, and 15,821 subjects were classified as subjects for inclusion in the final analysis. In the analysis, categorical variables were tested for difference, analysis of continuous variables using regression was performed, and analysis of influencing factors was performed using multinomial logistic analysis. Result : Significant factors related to the onset of diabetes and prediabetes included age (p<.001), marital status (p<.001), occupation (p<.001), hypertension (p<.001), dyslipidemia (p<.001), cardiovascular disease (p=.008), alcohol (p=.030) smoking (p=.005), systolic blood pressure (p<.001), diastolic blood pressure (p<.001), body mass index (p<.001) and waist circumference (p=.037), blood triglycerides (p<.001), and blood cholesterol (p<.001). Conclusion : Diabetes, a complex disease affected by a variety of diseases, requires active management from the prediabetes stage, and providing an appropriate level of medical information and services to elderly individuals without family support is considered a long-term health care system requirement in Korean society where the demographic structure is changing. In particular, determining the causes of prediabetes and development of a preventive approach to administering the health care system will be important for efficient management of diabetic patients.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1265-1272
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• 2020

Objective: We investigated the prevalence of pneumonia in novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients using chest radiographs to identify the characteristics of those with initially negative chest radiographs, who were positive for pneumonia on follow-up. Materials and Methods: Retrospective cohort data of 236 COVID-19 patients were reviewed. Chest radiography was performed on admission, with serial radiographs obtained until discharge. The 'positive conversion group' was defined as patients whose initial chest radiographs were negative but were positive for pneumonia during follow-up. Patients with initially positive chest radiographs were defined as the 'initial pneumonia group.' Patients with negative initial and follow-up chest radiographs were defined as the 'non-pneumonia group.' Clinical and laboratory findings were compared between groups, and predictors of positive conversion were investigated. Results: Among 236 patients, 108 (45.8%) were in the non-pneumonia group, 69 (29.2%) were in the initial pneumonia group, and 59 (25%) were in the positive conversion group. The patients in the 'initial pneumonia group' and 'positive conversion group' were older, had higher C-reactive protein (CRP) and lactate dehydrogenase levels, and lower absolute lymphocyte counts than those in the 'non-pneumonia group' (all p < 0.001). Among patients with negative initial chest radiographs, age ≥ 45 years (odds ratio [OR]: 3.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.76-8.75, p = 0.001), absolute lymphocyte count < 1500 cells/μL (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.03-4.89, p = 0.041), and CRP > 0.5 mg/dL (OR: 3.91, 95% CI: 1.54-9.91, p = 0.004) were independent predictors for future development of pneumonia. Conclusion: More than a half of COVID-19 patients initially had normal chest radiographs; however, elderly patients (≥ 45 years of age) with abnormal laboratory findings (elevated CRP and low absolute lymphocyte counts) developed pneumonia on follow-up radiographs.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.30-41
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• 2022

Background and Purpose: In this study we aimed to find the association between neuropsychological performance and body mass index (BMI) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In addition, we investigated the effects of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype in the relationship between the BMI and cognition in MCI. Methods: We enrolled a cohort of 3,038 subjects with MCI aged 65-90 from the Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea and a dementia cohort of the Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital. MCI patients were classified into three subgroups according to the Asian standard of BMI. We compared cognitive performances between groups by one-way analysis of variance. To investigate the effects of the APOE genotype, we used multivariate linear regression models after adjusting for possible confounders. Results: Even though normal BMI groups were younger, had more females, and had less comorbidities, the higher BMI groups had better cognitive functions. Among subjects with APOE ε4 carriers, there was a positive relationship between the BMI and the memory task alone. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that higher BMI in patients with MCI were associated with better cognitive performance. The effects of the APOE ε4 genotype in the associations between BMI and cognition were distinguishing. Therefore, according to physical status, APOE ε4 genotype-specific strategies in the assessments and treatments may be necessary in elderly patients with MCI.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.235-240
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• 2024

We designed this study because it is necessary to take health care from middle age for to healthy old age. The purpose of this study was to confirm the effect of middle-aged women on the walking mechanism by applying an exercise program that can achieve the maximum effect through simple exercise regardless of time and place. A total of 20 subjects were selected from middle-aged women aged 45 years or older, with 10 calf-enhancing exercise groups and 10 control groups. As a result of comparing before and after exercise in the calf-enhancing exercise group, the step length left and right, and double support, step time, and speed were improved. As a result of comparing the walking mechanisms of the calf-enhancing exercise group and the non-exercise group after exercise, the step length left and right, and step time left and right were improved. The positive effect of the walking mechanism was shown through the calf-enhancing exercise regardless of time and place. In particular, it is judged that the stride was widened, resulting in an increase in the speed of walking due to the strength of the lower extremities and the shortening of the one-foot support section, resulting in meaningful results. In future studies, it is considered desirable to present measurement data for each life cycle by evaluating all ages, such as adolescents and the elderly, and to provide it as basic data for causing social problems due to lack of normal exercise.