• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 2016

Objectives: In this study, we examined the validity of Clostridium difficile culture results as a proxy measure of Clostridium difficile infection, and inferred the epidemiologic characteristics of Clostridium difficile infection by tracking the trends of Clostridium difficile culture results. Methods: We reviewed the medical records to figure out the actual possibilities of Clostridium difficile infection of those with positive or negative results of Clostridium difficile culture during the time span from January 2012 to March 2012. We calculated the positive and negative predictive value of Clostridium difficile culture results for Clostridium difficile infection. Furthermore, epidemiologic characteristics of Clostridium difficile infection in a tertiary general hospital in 2012 were analyzed. Result: The estimated positive predictive value of Clostridium difficile culture tests for Clostridium difficile infection was 100%, and the estimated negative predictive value was around 94.4~99.3% depending on the cutoff value of possibility of Clostridium difficile infection. A total of 622 cases were identified as Clostridium difficile infection in a tertiary general hospital in 2012 and there were 4.9 patients with Clostridium difficile infection per 1,000 inpatients. Conclusion: In conclusion, we identified that Clostridium difficile culture results can be used as a proxy measure of Clostridium difficile infection.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.353-360
• /
• 2012

Mastitis is a highly morbid disease that requires detection at the subclinical stage. Tropical countries like India mainly depend on milch buffaloes for milk. The present study was conducted to investigate whether the trace minerals viz. copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), cobalt (Co) and manganese (Mn) and enzyme activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in riverine buffalo milk can be used as an indicator of subclinical mastitis (SCM) with the aim of developing suitable diagnostic kit for SCM. Trace elements and enzyme activity in milk were estimated with Atomic absorption Spectrophotometer, GBC 932 plus and biochemical methods, respectively. Somatic cell count (SCC) was done microscopically. The cultural examination revealed Gram positive bacteria as the most prevalent etiological agent. A statistically significant (p<0.01) increase in SCC, Fe, Zn, Co and LDH occurred in SCM milk containing gram positive bacterial agents only. ALP was found to be elevated in milk infected by both gram positive and negative bacteria. The percent sensitivity, specificity and accuracy, predictive values and likelihood ratios were calculated taking bacterial culture examination and $SCC\geq2{\times}10^5$ cells/ml of milk as the benchmark. Only ALP and Zn, the former being superior, were found to be suitable for diagnosis of SCM irrespective of etiological agents. LDH, Co and Fe can be introduced in the screening programs where Gram positive bacteria are omnipresent. It is recommended that both ALP and Zn be measured together in milk to diagnose buffalo SCM, irrespective of etiology.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.448-457
• /
• 2012

The predictive ability for off-flavor development and quality change of ground beef was evaluated using a microbial time temperature indicator (TTI). Quality indices such as off-flavor detection (OFD) time, color, pH, volatile basic nitrogen (VBN), aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) counts, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts were measured during storage at 5, 10, 15, and $25^{\circ}C$, respectively. Arrhenius activation energies (Ea) were estimated for temperature dependence. The Ea values for TTI response (changes in titratable acidity (TA)), VBN, AMB counts, LAB counts, and freshness, which is defined based on OFD time for quality indices of ground beef, were 106.22 kJ/mol, 58.98 kJ/mol, 110.35 kJ/mol, 116.65 kJ/mol, and 92.73 kJ/mol, respectively. The Ea of microbial TTI was found to be closer to those of the AMB counts, LAB counts, and freshness. Therefore, AMB counts, LAB counts, and freshness could be predicted accurately by the microbial TTI response due to their Ea similarity. The microbial TTI exhibited consistent relationships between its TA change and corresponding quality indices, such as AMB counts, LAB counts, and freshness, regardless of storage temperature. Conclusively, the results established that the developed microbial TTI can be used in intelligent packaging technology for representing some selected quality indices of ground beef.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.7
• /
• pp.910-918
• /
• 2012

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a primary air pollutant as an indicator of air quality released from motor vehicle combustion. A comparative study of the distributions of CO concentration with no heat source in two tunnel models open and closed at both end sides is simulated with a commercial CFD code. The tunnel models are used to investigate the CO concentration distributions at three Reynolds numbers, which are computed by the inlet velocities of 0.3, 0.6 and 1.0 m/s. For a better tunnel design, the CFD predictive approaches are available in qualitatively studying the distributions of CO concentration. In the case of the tunnel open at both end sides in sixty seconds, the total CO concentrations are approximately twenty eight percent higher than those in the closed case.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.50 no.5
• /
• pp.485-503
• /
• 2015

This study aims at evaluating geomorphological classification systems to predict the occurrence of landslides in mountainous region in Korea. Geomorphological classification systems used in this study are Catena, TPI, and Geomorphons. Study sites are Gapyeong-gun, Hoengseong-gun, Gimcheon-si, Yeoju-si/Yicheon-si in which landslide occurrence data were collected by local governments from 2001-2014. Catena method has objective classification standard to compare among regions objectively and understand the result intuitively. However, its procedure is complicated and hard to be automated for the general public to use it. Both TPI and Geomorphons have simple procedure and GIS-extension, therefore it has high accessibility. However, the results of both systems are highly dependent on the scale, and have low relevance to geomorphological formation process because focusing on shape of terrain. Three systems have low compatibility, therefore unified concept are required for broad use of landform classification. To assess the effectiveness of prediction on landslide by each geomorphological classification system, 50% of geomorphological classes with higher landslide occurrence are selected and the total landslide occurrence in selected classes are calculated and defined as 'predictive ability'. The ratio of terrain categorized by 'predictive ability' to whole region is defined as 'vulnerable area ratio'. An indicator to compare three systems which is predictive ability divided by vulnerable area ratio was developed to make a comprehensive judgment. As a result, Catena ranked the highest in suitability.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.117-124
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate possible differences in the location of the inferior alveolar canal in male and female Egyptians. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study involved the evaluation of 210 CBCT scans of Egyptian individuals (18-70 years old). The inferior alveolar canal was localized by measuring 8 linear dimensions: 2 for the vertical localization of the mental foramen (superior and inferior to the mental foramen), 4 at the first molar bifurcation for the vertical and horizontal localization of the inferior alveolar canal (superior, inferior, buccal, and lingual to the inferior alveolar canal), and 2 for the horizontal localization of the mandibular foramen (anterior and posterior to the mandibular foramen). The measurements were statistically analyzed via comparative analysis, stepwise logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Six of the 8 measured distances differed to a statistically significant extent between the sexes. Regression analysis suggested a logistic function with a concordance index of 84%. The diagnostic accuracy capabilities of the linear measurements as sex predictors were calculated using ROC analysis, and the 6 best predictors for sex determination were selected and ranked from highest to lowest predictive power. Moreover, combining these 6 predictors increased the predictive power to 84%. Conclusion: The location of the inferior alveolar canal in the Egyptian population varies significantly by sex; accordingly, this anatomic landmark could be used as a reliable indicator of sexual dimorphism.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.49-65
• /
• 2008

The single-item question of self-assessed health status has consistently been reported to be associated with mortality in some developed countries, even after controlling for a wide range of health measurements and known risk factors for. mortality. It was intended in this study to find out whether or not such a relationship would also be valid in Korea. This study examined the effect of point of reference year on. the, predictive validity of self-assessed health for mortality in 6-year follow-up period. we need to test the validity of the self-assessed health, as an indicator for assessing health status using Cox's proportional hazard model. For the analysis, we used the data from the 2nd (1999) to the 7th survey of "Korean Labor and Income Panel Study," and assessed relative risk of death based on subjective health state by tracing 11,366 people who replied to the question of self-assessed health state in the 2nd year. According to the result, those who reported poor self assessed health state in the 2nd year showed a relatively high death rate, and their relative risk of death was significantly higher. Such a relationship was accentuated if the predictive value of the 2nd survey result would be replaced by the average of the cumulative data on the past six years. Thus, it can be concluded that self-assessed health state is valid as an index for assessing Korean people's health status.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.6149-6154
• /
• 2015

Background: There is no suggested molecular indicator for the determination of which patients will benefit from anti-angiogenetic treatment in metastatic colorectal cancers. Materials and Methods: In this study, VEGF and $HIF-1{\alpha}$ expression and their clinical significance were studied in tumor tissues of patients with colorectal cancer receiving bevacizumab-based treatment. VEGF and $HIF-1{\alpha}$ were assessed by immunohistochemistry in the primary tumors of 53 metastatic colorectal cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in combination with first line bevacizumab. Results: The clinical benefit rate in the low-VEGF expression group was 38%, while it was 62% in the high expression group. While the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 10 months in the high-VEGF expression group, it was 8 months in the low-VEGF expression group (p = 0.009). The median overall survival (OS) was found to be 26 months vs 15 months. Thus, when VEGF was strongly expressed it was in favor of that group and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.03). High VEGF expression rate was an independent factor that correlated with OS or PFS (p=0.016 and 0.009, respectively). Conclusions: The data showed that VEGF may have predictive value for determining the treatment of CRC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.8
• /
• pp.4847-4851
• /
• 2013

Objectives: To evaluate accuracy of FDG-PET CT in prediction of persistent disease in head and neck cancer cases and to determine prognostic value of metabolic tumor response. Materials and Methods: Between 2009 and 2011, 46 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck receiving PET-CT were treated with definitive radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy. There were 29 nasopharyngeal, 11 hypopharyngeal, 3 oropharyngeal and 3 laryngeal cancer patients, with a median age of 50.5 years (range 16-84), 32 males and 14 females. All patients were evaluated with PET-CT median 3-5 months (2.4-9.4) after completion of radiotherapy. Results: After a median 20 months of follow up, complete metabolic response was observed in 63% of patients. Suspicious residual uptake was present in 10.9% and residual metabolic uptake in 26.0% of patients. The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of FDG-PET-CT for detection of residual disease was 91% and 81%, 64% and 96% respectively. Two year LRC was 95% in complete responders while it was 34% in non-complete responders. Conclusions: FDG PET CT is a valuable tool for assessment of treatment response, especially in patients at high risk of local recurrence, and also as an indicator of prognosis. Definitely more precise criteria are required for assessment of response, there being no clear cut uptake value indicating residual disease. Futhermore, repair processes of normal tissue may consume glucose which appear as increased uptake in control FDG PET CT.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.49-54
• /
• 2020

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of Accura to that of the T-scan for indicating occlusal contacts. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Twenty-four subjects were selected. Their maxillary dental casts were scanned with a model scanner. The Stereolithography files of the casts were positioned to align with the occlusal plane. Occlusal surfaces of every tooth were divided into three to six anatomic regions. T-scan and Accura recordings were made during two masticatory cycles. The T-scan and Accura images were captured at the maximum bite force and overlapped to the cast. Photographs of interocclusal records were used as the reference during overlap. The occlusal contacts were counted to compare the T-scan and Accura. McNemar's test was used for statistical significance and the corresponding P-values were calculated from a chi-square distribution with one degree of freedom. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of Accura were calculated relative to the T-scan values as a control. RESULTS. No statistical differences (P>.05) were found between the T-scan and Accura methods. The accuracy of Accura was 75.8%, sensitivity was 82.1%, specificity was 60.1%, PPV was 82.9%, and NPV was 60.1%. CONCLUSION. Accura could be another possible option as a computerized occlusal analysis system for indicating occlusal contacts at maximum intercuspation.