• Title/Summary/Keyword: Outcomes Measurement

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Acupuncture Treatment of Adhesive Capsulitis of the Shoulder: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

  • Kim, Jung-Eun;Kim, Sung-Phil;Kim, Ae-Ran;Park, Hyo-Ju;Kwon, Ojin;Jung, So-Young;Cho, Jung-Hyo;Kim, Joo-Hee;Choi, Sun-Mi
    • Journal of Acupuncture Research
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.120-128
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    • 2018
  • Background: Adhesive capsulitis (AC) is a common condition that includes shoulder pain and limited movement. Despite more than 100 years of AC treatment, the most efficacious treatment remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using acupuncture for AC. Methods: Thirty participants with AC were randomly assigned to acupuncture (A) or sham acupuncture (SA) groups. The participants received 15 acupuncture sessions over 6 weeks, and follow-up occurred for an additional 4 weeks thereafter. The primary clinical outcome was the numeric rating scale (NRS) for shoulder pain 6 weeks from the baseline. Secondary outcomes included range of motion (ROM) in the shoulder, the shoulder pain and disability index (SPADI), the EuroQol-5 dimensions (EQ-5D), the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and the patient global impression of change (PGIC). Results: Thirty participants were enrolled out of 37 screened individuals. Recruitment was conducted between August 2014 until May 2015. A total of 28 participants (93%) completed the 6-week intervention, and 26 participants (87%) completed the study. NRS, ROM, SPADI, EQ-5D, PSQI, and PGIC scores improved in both the experimental group and the sham group after 6 weeks, but the difference between the groups was not statistically significant. Adverse events were reported by 12 participants, although these events were not associated with acupuncture. Conclusion: A future RCT for AC may be feasible with some modifications to the recruitment plan and the secondary outcome measurement methods.

A Comparative Study on Virtual Try-on Systems using Body Measurement Input

  • Lim, Ho-Sun;Istook, Cynthia
    • The International Journal of Costume Culture
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.118-129
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    • 2010
  • Digital technology introduced into the clothing and fashion industry is evolving to digital virtual fashions and consumer-centered mass-customized production systems. Today the application of such 3D virtual try-on systems is being expanded gradually in the clothing industry. This study purposed to make virtual avatars and virtual garments using OptiTex and V-stitcher virtual software and compared the appearance of the virtual garments put on the virtual avatars. For this, we created virtual avatars and virtual garments using body measurements obtained from jive subjects of top jive body shapes, respectively, using $[TC]^2$ body scanner. According to the results of comparing the outcomes of the two different virtual software systems, virtual avatar II of V-Stitcher tended to have a more round and lifted hip and the waist line at a higher position. In addition, the body curves and shapes of a virtual avatar affect the appearance of virtual garments. This study applied the same body measurements to virtual avatars and the same pattern to virtual garments, but when different kinds of virtual software were used, the virtual avatars and virtual garments showed different appearance and fit. This result may mean that when customers buy apparel products using different kinds of virtual try-on systems, their evaluation of appearance can vary depending on the virtual try-on system. Therefore, research needs to be made actively for the development and use of linkage programs that can reflect actual body measurements between virtual software systems and 3D body scanning systems.

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Measurement of Residential Volatile Organic Compound Exposure Through A Participant-Based Method (연구참여자에 의한 주택실내 휘발성 유기화합물 농도의 측정)

  • Hwang, Yun-Hyung;Lee, Ki-Young;Kim, Seo-Jin;Hong, Yun-Chul;Jun, Jong-Kwan;Cho, Soo-Hun
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.37 no.5
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    • pp.369-375
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    • 2011
  • Objectives: Exposure to hazardous chemicals during pregnancy may result incritical reproductive health outcomes. Indoor residential levels are significant component of personal exposure. The collection of residential exposure data has been hampered by the cost and participant burden of health studies of indoor air pollution. This study utilized a participant-based approach to collect volatile organic compounds concentration from homes. Methods: Four hundred thirteen women were recruited from three major hospitals in Seoul and Gyeongi Provence and 411 agreed to participate. A passive sampler (OVM 3500, 3M, USA) with instructions were given to the participants, as well as a questionnaire. They were asked to deploy the sampler in their homes for three to five days and return them viapre-stamped envelope. Results: Three hundred forty six participants returned the sampler. Among the returned samplers, three hundred samplers satisfied our monitoring quality criteria. The success rate of the monitoring method was 73%. The geometric mean of TVOC level was 429(2) ${\mu}g/m^3$. The TVOC guideline of 500 ${\mu}g/m^3$ was exceeded in 38% of the houses. The residential VOC levels were significantly associated with remodeling of the house. Conclusions: The results suggested that a participant-based sampling approach may be a feasible and costeffective alternative to exposure assessment involving home visits by a field technician.

Radiation Doses and Quality Assurance in Cone Beam CT(CBCT) (임상가를 위한 특집 4 - CBCT 검사법의 정도관리 및 선량)

  • Choi, Yong-Suk;Kim, Gyu-Tae;Hwang, Eui-Hwan
    • The Journal of the Korean dental association
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    • v.52 no.3
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    • pp.153-163
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    • 2014
  • 3-dimensional information for anatomic stucture plays a role as integral part in clinical aspect of dental practice. CBCT(cone beam computed tomography) has been accepted as useful diagnostic tool offering Volume data and images for evaluating teeth and jaws in lower radiation dose than conventional CT. CBCT equipment is essential for the quality assurance of it to ensure continued satisfactory performance and result of adequate images. Dental practitioner and oral and maxillofacial radiologist should have a responsibility and critical thinking to deliver this technology to patients in a responsible way, so that diaganostic value is maximised and radiation doses kept as low as resonably achievable. CBCT imaging modality should be used only after a review of the patient's health and imaging history and the completion of a thorough clinical examination. Clinical guidelines are systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances Dental practitioners should prescribe CBCT imaging only when they expect that the diagnostic yield will benefit patient care, enhance patient safety or improve clinical outcomes significantly. Knowledge of patient dose is essential for clinicians who are making the decision regarding the justification of the exposure. There are some limitation in the measurement of patient dose in CBCT for the approval and adaptation of conventinal methodolgy in CT. It is also important to ensure that doses are optimised and in line with any national and international guidelines. The higher radiation doses of CBCT compared with conventional radiography, mean that high standards must be maintained. The Quality Assurance(QA) programme should entail surveys and checks that are performed according to a regular timetable. QA programme should be maintained by staff to ensure adherence to the programme and to raise its importance among staff.

The Effects of the Psychological Learning Environment by Science Teachers on Students' Science Achievement (과학교사에 의해 조성되는 심리적 학습환경이 학생들의 과학 성취도에 미치는 효과)

  • Lee, Jae-Chon;Kim, Beom-Ki
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.315-328
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    • 1999
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of psychological learning environment generated by science teachers upon students' affective perceptions and cognitive learning. The subjects of the study were consist of 2.693 students from secondary school. The students' perception were examined by the tools of PLEIS(Psychological Learning Environment Instrument by Science teacher). SAMS(Science Anxiety Measurement Scale). HARS(High schools' s Attitude Related Science). and ALWSS(Attitude toward Laboratory Work Scale in Secondary school). and cognitive learning outcomes assessed to TIPS II (Test of Integrated Process Skills II ) and science test score. The results of this study suggest that positive psychological learning environment by science teacher should be offered to students for the improvement of science achievement. and learning environment will be used as an instrument of self assessment for improving science teaching strategy. Understanding of relationship among psychological learning environment, affective perception and cognitive learning will be helpful to the design of science teaching and learning process.

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Feasibility Study of Patient Specific Quality Assurance Using Transit Dosimetry Based on Measurement with an Electronic Portal Imaging Device

  • Baek, Tae Seong;Chung, Eun Ji;Son, Jaeman;Yoon, Myonggeun
    • Progress in Medical Physics
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.54-60
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    • 2017
  • This study was designed to measure transit dose with an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) in eight patients treated with intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and to verify the accuracy of dose delivery to patients. The calculated dose map of the treatment planning system (TPS) was compared with the EPID based dose measured on the same plane with a gamma index method. The plan for each patient was verified prior to treatment with a diode array (MapCHECK) and portal dose image prediction (PDIP). To simulate possible patient positioning errors during treatment, outcomes were evaluated after an anthropomorphic phantom was displaced 5 and 10 mm in various directions. Based on 3%/3 mm criteria, the $mean{\pm}SD$ passing rates of MapCHECK, PDIP (pre-treatment QA) for 47 IMRT were $99.8{\pm}0.1%$, $99.0{\pm}0.7%$, and, respectively. Besides, passing rates using transit dosimetry was $90.0{\pm}1.5%$ for the same condition. Setup errors of 5 and 10 mm reduced the mean passing rates by 1.3% and 3.0% (inferior to superior), 2.2% and 4.3% (superior to inferior), 5.9% and 10.9% (left to right), and 8.9% and 16.3% (right to left), respectively. These findings suggest that the transit dose-based IMRT verification method using EPID, in which the transit dose from patients is compared with the dose map calculated from the TPS, may be useful in verifying various errors including setup and/or patient positioning error, inhomogeneity and target motions.

An Estimated Closeness Centrality Ranking Algorithm and Its Performance Analysis in Large-Scale Workflow-supported Social Networks

  • Kim, Jawon;Ahn, Hyun;Park, Minjae;Kim, Sangguen;Kim, Kwanghoon Pio
    • KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.1454-1466
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    • 2016
  • This paper implements an estimated ranking algorithm of closeness centrality measures in large-scale workflow-supported social networks. The traditional ranking algorithms for large-scale networks have suffered from the time complexity problem. The larger the network size is, the bigger dramatically the computation time becomes. To solve the problem on calculating ranks of closeness centrality measures in a large-scale workflow-supported social network, this paper takes an estimation-driven ranking approach, in which the ranking algorithm calculates the estimated closeness centrality measures by applying the approximation method, and then pick out a candidate set of top k actors based on their ranks of the estimated closeness centrality measures. Ultimately, the exact ranking result of the candidate set is obtained by the pure closeness centrality algorithm [1] computing the exact closeness centrality measures. The ranking algorithm of the estimation-driven ranking approach especially developed for workflow-supported social networks is named as RankCCWSSN (Rank Closeness Centrality Workflow-supported Social Network) algorithm. Based upon the algorithm, we conduct the performance evaluations, and compare the outcomes with the results from the pure algorithm. Additionally we extend the algorithm so as to be applied into weighted workflow-supported social networks that are represented by weighted matrices. After all, we confirmed that the time efficiency of the estimation-driven approach with our ranking algorithm is much higher (about 50% improvement) than the traditional approach.

Evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life among Patients with Cervical Cancer in Indonesia

  • Endarti, Dwi;Riewpaiboon, Arthorn;Thavorncharoensap, Montarat;Praditsitthikorn, Naiyana;Hutubessy, Raymond;Kristina, Susi Ari
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.8
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    • pp.3345-3350
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    • 2015
  • Background: Evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in cervical cancer patients is important in order to design the interventions for improving patient outcomes. Reports of HRQOL among cervical cancer patients in Indonesia are limited. Moreover, measurement using EQ-5D-3L is to our best knowledge has hitherto not been performed. This study aimed to examine the HRQOL of cervical cancer patients in Indonesia using EQ-5D-3L. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by interviewing cervical cancer patients using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. Percentages of patients who reported having problems in each dimension of EQ-5D as well as EQ-5D index score (utility) were calculated. Results: Our findings indicated that the most frequent reported problems were pain/discomfort (67.8%) followed by anxiety/depression (57.5%). The mean of EQ-5D VAS was 75.8 (SD=17.0). The mean (SD) utility scores were 0.85 (0.19), 0.76 (0.20), 0.71 (0.21), and 0.77 (0.13) for cervical cancer patients in stage I, II, III, and IV, respectively. Conclusions: Cervical cancer significantly affects patient HRQOL. Efforts should be made to improve the quality of life of cervical cancer patients especially in terms of pain /discomfort and anxiety/depression reduction.

A Study on the Development of Evaluation Measures and Indicators for Foreign Research Information Centers (외국학술지지원센터(FRIC) 평가지표 개발에 관한 연구)

  • Oh, Dong-Geun;Yeo, Ji-Suk;Choi, Sung-Yeol
    • Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.99-116
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    • 2012
  • This study recommends the evaluation measures and indicators to evaluate the operations and performance of each Foreign Research Information Centers (FRIC) established to support the effective and efficient use of the foreign academic journals at the national level. The indicators are comprised by 3 major sections, subdivided into 35 sub-indexes. Each of indicators is scored according to the weights derived from the AHP survey to the related researchers and the practitioners. As a result, total score of 1,000 is distributed to 3 major sections of operational strategy section (190), operational systems section (440), and operational outcomes (370). Based on the evaluation indicators, measure dictionary is developed, followed by preliminary tests both by the parent organization and by each centers, in order to check the feasibility of the measurement.

Association of vitamin D deficiency with clinical outcomes in critically ill Korean children

  • Jhang, Won Kyoung;Kim, Da Hyun;Park, Seong Jong
    • Nutrition Research and Practice
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.12-19
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    • 2020
  • BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vitamin D is a pleiotropic hormone that affects various body organ systems. We evaluated the prevalence of a vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and its potential role in the clinical condition of critically ill Korean children. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Patients under 18 years old with a 25(OH) vitamin D measurement on the first day of PICU admission were included from among the children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of our tertiary children's hospital between October 2017 and January 2019. RESULTS: A total of 172 pediatric patients were enrolled. The mean 25(OH) vitamin D level was 17.5 ± 12.8 ng/mL. There was a 65.1% prevalence of VDD (25(OH) vitamin D level < 20 ng/mL). VDD was associated with age at PICU admission, gastrointestinal/hepatobiliary disorders, International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis disseminated intravascular coagulation (ISTH DIC) score, pediatric multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (pMODS) score and with several laboratory test findings including hemoglobin, platelet, C-reactive protein, serum albumin, total bilirubin, prothrombin time, and anti-thrombin III levels. Most of these parameters also showed significant linear correlations with the 25(OH) vitamin D level (P < 0.05). However, no statistically meaningful association was found between VDD and other clinical conditions such as the need for a mechanical ventilator, requirement for vasoactive drugs, duration of the PICU and hospital stays, or PICU mortality. CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of VDD in critically ill Korean children. There were significant associations between the 25(OH) vitamin D level and gastrointestinal/hepatobiliary disorders, the pMODS score and with coagulation related factors. Further large-scale studies with more specific subgroup analyses are required to more precisely assess the clinical implications of VDD in critically ill pediatric patients.