• Oral Biology Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.208-215
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to identify the risk of dysphagia among patients that visited prosthodontics department, and evaluate the difference in risks arising from oral conditions and disease in order to preliminarily intervene the various influencing factors of dysphagia. A questionnaire was given to patients that were aged 65 years or older who visited the prosthodontics department between September to December 2017. The data was collected and analyzed using the t-test, $x^2-test$ and logistic regression analysis. The mean age of the patients was 75 years. Out of 300 patients, 206 patients (68.7%) had a risk of dysphagia. There were statistically significant differences between the -non-risk and risk groups, which included the number of natural teeth, total number of teeth including prosthesis, denture use, denture discomfort, number of tooth brushing, oral dryness, digestive system diseases, and musculoskeletal diseases. Among these, oral dryness was a risk factor while the total number of teeth, including natural teeth and prostheses, served as a protective factor. More than half of the elderly patients were at risk of dysphagia. Oral dryness is influenced by many factors and it should continuously be managed. Patients should fully recover their masticatory function by preserving the remaining teeth and compensating for the missing teeth. A dental practitioner should be fully aware of the risk of dysphagia in elderly patients and be able to intervene and offer proper patient health care in advance through treatment guidelines and education.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.18-32
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• 2002

Background : We developed a model for predicting premature discharge and identifying related factors. Methods : Prediction model was developed by data mining techniques. Basic data were collected from the total discharge data base of a university hospital in Chungnam Province during the period from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000. Results : 1. Among 22,873 patients, the number of patients discharged with usual discharge orders were 21,695 or 94.8%. The number of the prematurely discharged patients were 1,178 or 5.2%. 2. The primary reason for unusual discharge was transfer to other hospital. Move to a local hospital closer to their home and burdensome medical expenses were main reasons. 3. Predictability of each model was tested using the top 10 percent of patients with the highest probabilities of premature discharge. The neural network model was chosen as the most appropriate model for predicting prematurely discharged patients. 4. Ten percent of the total number of patients had been selected randomly to test the effectiveness of the neural network model. We have chosen the threshold of the neural network model as 0.7. The number of patients who were expected to discharge prematurely was 312. Among them, 241 had been discharged prematurely (77.2%). Conclusion : Of the several data mining techniques used, the neural network model was the most effective, It can be used to identify and manage the patients who are expected to discharge prematurely.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3673-3676
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• 2015

To observe and analyze the characteristic trend of cancer patients hospitalized for the first time in Shanxi Tumor Hospital from 2001 to 2010, clinical data including case number, age, gender, and frequency of different tumor occurrences were collected and statistically analyzed. Results: (i) From 2001 to 2010, the number of cancer patients hospitalized for the first time increased by 1.3-fold; (ii) The patient overall average age also increased from 51.8 to 54.4, for males from 55.5 to 58.7 and females from 48.4 to 51.1, respectively. (iii) Male patients accounted for 43-48% and females accounted for 52-57% of the total. The percentage of female patients was higher than that of male patients in every year and showed an upward trend over the years, while that of the males showed a downward trend (${\chi}^2=7.031$, p=0.008); (iv) Among the top 6 most common cancers, lung, cervical, esophageal, colorectal and breast cancers tended to increase over the years (p<0.05), but not gastric cancer (p=0.423). Conclusions: (i) The number of cancer patients hospitalized for the first time during the past 10 years increased year by year, and was higher for female than male; (ii) the average age of patients increased year after year and was greater for male than female; (iii) the number of patients with lung cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer increased over years.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1851-1855
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• 2016

Tamoxifen is a pharmacological estrogen inhibitor that binds to the estrogen receptor (ER) in breast cells. However, it shows an estrogenic effect in other organs, which causes adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The sulfotransferase 1A1 (SULT1A1) enzyme encoded by the SULT1A1 gene is involved in estrogen metabolism. Previous research has suggested that the SULT1A1 copy number is linked with the plasma estradiol (E2) concentration. Here, a total of 34 premenopausal breast cancer patients, selected from the Thai Tamoxifen (TTAM) Project, were screened for their SULT1A1 copy number, plasma E2 concentration and ADRs. The mean age was $44.3{\pm}11.1years$, and they were subtyped as ER+/progesterone receptor (PR)+ (28 patients), ER+/PR- (5 patients) and ER-/PR- (1 patient). Three patients reported ADRs, which were irregular menstruation (2 patients) and vaginal discharge (1 patient). Most (33) patients had two SULT1A1 copies, with one patient having three copies. The median plasma E2 concentration was 1,575.6 (IQR 865.4) pg/ml. Patients with ADRs had significantly higher plasma E2 concentrations than those patients without ADRs (p = 0.014). The plasma E2 concentration was numerically higher in the patient with three SULT1A1 copies, but this lacked statistical significance.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.69-73
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• 2014

Purpose: Spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) is a genetically heterogeneous disease for which more than 30 subtypes have been identified. However, 5 subtypes, SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, and SCA7, account for more than 60% of cases. In this study, we report the distribution of these 5 subtypes in Korean patients. Materials and Methods: Six hundred and thirty-eight unrelated patients with a presumptive diagnosis of SCA were included in this study. Trinucleotide (CAG) repeat number (TNR) repeat number was determined using fluorescently labeled primers and fragment analysis. Results: A total of 128 unrelated patients (20.1% of all individuals tested) tested positive for SCA subtypes, including SCA1 (5 patients, 3.9% of those testing positive), SCA2 (38 patients, 29.7%), SCA3 (30 patients, 23.4%), SCA6 (39 patients, 30.5%), and SCA7 (16 patients, 12.5%). The mean copy number of pathogenic TNR alleles was $45{\pm}8.5$ for SCA1, $42{\pm}3.1$ for SCA2, $72{\pm}5.4$ for SCA3, $23{\pm}1.5$ for SCA6, and $50{\pm}11.4$ for SCA7. TNR copy number was inversely correlated with onset age in SCA2, SCA6, and SCA7. Conclusion: SCA2, SCA3, and SCA6 are common SCA subtypes in Korean patients and could be screened as a first-line test. Expanded pathogenic allele size was associated with early onset age.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.361-367
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• 1991

This paper on the status of radiotherapy machine and related facilities, clinical activities and radiation safety management is based on the statistical data which collected through the questionaire sent to a total number of 37 hospitals holding the Department of Therapeutic Radiology in Korea. It is true that the quality of instruments installed in the hospitals equal to that of the instrument in the industrialized conuntries' hospitals. But the clinical specialists and physicists who can utilize such instruments fall short of the required number, which might be a main factor in hindering the development of therapeutic radiology of Korea. According to the nation-wide cancer statistics, we can estimate the number of annual cancer patients as 45,000 to 50,000. As a result, probably around 25,000 should receive radiation therapy. It is expected that in the future the number of cancer patients to whom radiation therapy should be applied will become twice as much as that of the cancer patients in 1990. Given such a condition, the problem facing the Korean Society of Therapeutic Radiology now is to increase the number of medical doctors and physicists.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.22 no.2 s.26
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• pp.189-196
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• 1989

In January 1988, district medical insurance plan was executed on a national scale in Korea. We conducted an evaluation of the impact of execution of district medical insurance plan on number of hospital patients: number of outpatients; and occupancy rate. This study was carried out by Box-Jenkins time series analysis. We tested the statistical significance with intervention component added to ARIMA model. Results of our time series analysis showed that district medical insurance plan had a significant effect on the number of outpatients and occupancy rate. Due to this plan the number of outpatients had increased by 925 patients every month which is equivalent to 8.3 percents of average monthly insurance outpatients in 1987, and occupancy rate had also increased by 0.12 which is equivalent to 16 percents of that in 1987.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.407-414
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• 2020

Objective : Since the first discovery of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19), rapid and wide spread of the disease has been reported and the World Health Organization announced that a 'pandemic' has started. Up to date there is little known regarding the impact of this outbreak on spinal specialists' daily clinical practice. We intended to evaluate how COVID-19 has affected the number of spinal disease patients we meet and operate in daily practice. Methods : The de-identified data regarding number of patients visiting the spine clinic at a tertiary referral hospital and a secondary level hospital from January, February and March of 2017 to 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The number of out-patient department (OPD) visits, number of emergency room (ER) visits as well as number of surgeries performed during the reviewed period were collected and analyzed, comparing 2020 to the previous 3 years. Results : The number of daily OPD visits showed a steady decrease starting from January, and presented a statistically significant decrease by early March 2020, compared to the previous 3 years. During the same period, decrease in number of daily ER visits was statistically significant as well. The number of elective surgeries or number of surgeries for patients admitted via ER during COVID-19 outbreak remained similar to that of 2017-2019 suggesting, despite the decrease of patients visiting the hospital for spinal diseases, those whom required surgery still visited the hospital. The results were consistant among other hospital level. Conclusion : The outbreak of COVID-19 affected our daily practice as OPD and ER visits reduced but did not affect the number of surgeries. We believe that this report will be informative to spinal specialists worldwide fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2018

Background: Patients experience significant differences in aspects of mortality, quality of life, and costs between during the year of receiving liver transplant (LT) and the subsequent years (post-LT). This study aimed to estimate the medical utilization and cost of LT for patients compared to post-LT patients by using a recent National Patient Sample (NPS) data provided by the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA). Methods: This study used a subset of the 2015 HIRA-NPS. Patient claims data that included Z944 (Korean Standard Classification of Diseases code for LT status) were selected. Within the selected data, LT patients were identified based on whether the national health insurance number code of Q80 (procedure code for LT surgery) was included, and they were compared to post-LT patients. Results: In the analysis, 330 patients were included. The average cost per patient was $90,066{\pm}36,959$ thousand KRW and $10,557{\pm}9,668$ thousand KRW for LT and post-LT patients, respectively. Especially, LT patients' costs for injection/procedure, surgery/treatment, and examination were higher than other costs, being $35,983{\pm}18,115$ thousand KRW, $28,246{\pm}9,408$ thousand KRW, and $12,131{\pm}6,604$ thousand KRW, respectively. For inpatients, the average number of hospitalized days was $63.5{\pm}66.0$ days for LT patients and $22.3{\pm}35.1$ days for post-LT patients. Conclusion: Compared to post-LT patients, LT patients had higher costs, especially for injection/procedure, surgery/treatment, and examination. Additionally, the LT group had longer hospitalization duration and higher costs for their hospital admission, whereas they did not show a significant difference in number of visits and medical costs for outpatient-care.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2012

Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) has been used as a major treatment strategy for hematological malignancies. The number of CD34 positive cells in the harvested product is a very important factor for achieving successful transplantation. We studied the factors that can predict the number of CD34 positive cells in the harvested product of acute myelocytic leukemia (AML), multiple myeloma (MM) and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients after mobilizing them with chemotherapy plus G-CSF. A total of 73 patients (AML 19 patients, MM 28 patients, NHL 26 patients) with hematological malignancies had been mobilized with chemotherapy and granulocyte colony-stimulating growth factor from April, 2000 to February, 2012. Group's characteristics, checkup opinion of pre-peripheral blood on the day of harvest & outcome of PBSC were analyzed and evaluated using SPSS statistics program after grouping patients as below; group 1: CD34 cell counts < $2{\times}10^6/kg$ (n=16); group 2: $2{\times}10^6/kg{\leq}CD34$ cell counts < $6{\times}10^6/kg$ (n=32); group 3: CD34 cell counts ${\geq}6{\times}10^6/kg$ (n=25). We analyzed the clinical characteristics, the peripheral blood (PB) parameters and the number of CD34 positive cells in the PB and their correlation with the yield of CD34 positive cells collected from the mobilized patients. The total number of leukapheresis sessions was 263 (mean: 3.55 session per patient), and the mean number of harvested CD34 positive cells per patient was $7.37{\times}10^6/kg$. The number of CD34 positive cells in product was significantly correlated with the number of platelet and CD34 positive cells in peripheral blood (P<0.05). The number of PB CD34 positive cells was the best significant factor for the quantity of harvested CD34 positive cells on the linear regression analysis (P<0.05). Many factors could influence the mobilization of peripheral blood stem cells. Platelet count and PB CD34 positive cells count were the two variables which remained to be significant in multivariate analysis. Therefore, the number of platelet and CD34 positive cells in peripheral blood on the day of harvest can be used as an accurate predictor for successful peripheral blood stem cell collection.