• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.126-131
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• 2008

Immunosuppressive therapy after organ transplantation is routinely used to prevent rejection of the organ, because this decreases the risk of adverse events, infection, and malignancies. Recently, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), which is isolated from the dried bile of adult Chinese bears, has been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of acute rejection of liver allograft during early phase of liver transplantation. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of UDCA on the proliferation of splenocytes exposed to PMA plus ionomycin. Our results demonstrated that UDCA decreased the splenocytes' proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. The decreased cell proliferation was accompanied with the decreased secretion of cytokines such as IL-2, IFN-${\gamma}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$. In addition, the pretreatment of UDCA on splenocytes stimulated with PMA plus ionomycin decreased the mRNA levels of cytokines (IL-2, IFN-${\gamma}$ and TNF-${\alpha}$) and costimulatory molecules (B7.2 and PD-L1). These results suggest the beneficial effect of UDCA on organ transplantation by decreasing lymphocyte proliferation.

• 한국병원경영학회지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.85-106
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• 2001

Since physical damages caused by passive smoking had been widely recognized, the Korea parliament enacted the National Health Promotion Law on September, 1995. The law specified nonsmoking areas in all public facilities, including hospitals. But this law is not strictly enforced. The benefits of a nonsmoking policy can not be expected by the public. Even though hospitals should preserve a smoke-free-environment, most of hospitals are not under full controls against smoking. The purpose of this study is to identify factors related to smoking in general hospitals. Field study and surveys were simultaneously performed at study hospitals in Busan. 9 of 24 general hospitals were selected and survey was performed for 10 days by investigators during January of 2000. Nine hospitals had nonsmoking regulations, but only 8 hospitals had designated nonsmoking areas. Two hospitals among those hospitals had a nonsmoking committee. Patients' smoking rate was 35.0%, while hospital employees' smoking rate was 22.5%. The smoking rates of physicians, nurses, administrators and medical technicians were 45.38%, 0.85%, 31.73% and 40.70%, respectively. In the question of the severity of damages caused by passive smoke, only 29.2% of the smoking group considered smoking as a serious health risk, while 69.4% of non-smoking group did. Christian employee showed lower smoking rate compared to other employee did. Even though physicians should educate patients and other professions about smoking, physicians' smoking rate (45.4%) was higher than other professions. As a consequence, this study insists that general hospitals should enhance their nonsmoking policy and implement any practical policy for smoking free hospital environment.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• 제43권3호
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• pp.248-253
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• 2016

Background Financial, clinical, and psychological considerations have made same-day surgery an attractive option for a variety of procedures. This article aimed to analyse the postoperative results of same-day primary unilateral cleft nasolabial repair. Methods This study was performed from 2011 to 2014. Unilateral cleft lip patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were preoperatively classified as mild, moderate, and severe. All patients underwent same-day surgery and were discharged after satisfying the appropriate clinical criteria, receiving thorough counselling, and the establishment of a means of communication by phone. Postoperative outcomes were assessed and stratified according to preoperative severity and the type of repair. Results A total of 423 primary unilateral cleft lip patients were included. Fisher's anatomical subunit approximation technique was the most common procedure, followed by Noordhoff's technique. The postoperative outcome was good in 89.8% of cases, fair in 9.9% of cases, and poor in 0.2% of cases. The complication rate was 1.18% (n=5), and no instances of mortality were observed. The average hospital stay was 7.5 hours, leading to a cost reduction of 19% in comparison with patients who stayed overnight for observation. Conclusions Mild unilateral cleft lip was the most common deformity for which Fisher's anatomical subunit approximation technique was performed in most of the cases, with satisfactory postoperative outcomes. Refinements in the cleft rhinoplasty techniques over the course of the study improved the results regarding cleft nasal symmetry. Single-day primary unilateral cleft cheiloplasty was found to be a cost-effective procedure that did not pose an additional risk of complications.

• 한국지리정보학회지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.1-12
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• 2014

수관화는 대형산불의 주된 확산유형으로 빠른 확산속도와 높은 산불강도의 특성을 보이며 많은 피해를 입힌다. 이 연구에서는 수관화 피해를 사전에 예측하기 위해서 수관전소 피해를 입은 지역의 지형 임상 기상 특성을 분석하여 수관화확산확률식을 개발하였다. 영덕 울진 고령 예천에서 일어난 4개의 산불피해지를 대상으로 하였으며, 총 18개의 공간 변수를 구축한 뒤 기타연소지에 대한 수관전소지의 비를 이용하여 각 변수별 구간 가중치를 구하고 로지스틱 회귀모형을 이용하여 변수와의 상관계수를 산출하였다. 그 결과, 수관화확산확률은 임상이 침엽수림일 때, 250m 이상에서 고도가 높아질수록, 기복이 심할수록, 사면향은 남서 또는 남동사면일 경우, 능선일수록, 일사량이 많아질수록 높게 나타났다. 고도와 경사가 낮은 곳에서는 교란현상이 많이 나타나 일정한 패턴을 보이지 않았다. 이 확률식을 통해 수관화 위험지를 사전에 분석할 수 있고, 산불방지 숲가꾸기 지역 선정 및 진화 우선 지역 선정 등에 효과적으로 활용할 수 있을 것이다.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제36권7호
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• pp.1204-1214
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• 2006

Purpose: This retrospective study was done to evaluate the status of nosocomial urinary tract infections and to determine the risk factors and transmission route of causal IRPA through molecular epidemiology. Method: Two hundred ninety-nine of 423 patients admitted to the internal medicine and surgery ICU at a university hospital incity B had a positiveurine culture. Twelve of the 299 patients who had a urinary tract infection had IRPA strains. The data was collected from November 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005. The following results were obtained after the data was analyzed using percentile and UPGMA. Result: The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infections in the ICU was 10.8%. Therewere 16.8 cases of infection based on the period of hospitalization. There were 16.9 cases of infection based on the use of a foley catheter. The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infection in the ICU and urinary tract infections related to IRPA were higher in patients with the following characteristics: men, old age, admission through the emergency room, longer than seven days admission, severity of admitting causes, disturbance of consciousness, hydration less than 300cc in 24hours, a long course of antibiotics, a long period of foley catheterization and perineal care. Most of the microorganisms that caused the urinary tract infection were gram negative bacilli, among which P. aeruginosa was found in 70 patients (18.5%) and IRPA in 12 (4.0%). Among the 12 IRPA strains that were tested with PFGE, eight showed a dice coefficient higher than 80%, suggesting a genetic relationship. They were related with the period of hospitalization in the same ICU. These patients all received direct care for a urinary tract infection. Conclusion: Through these results, IRPA can be consideredas a contributing factors to urinary tract infections thus, active preventative measures are needed by the medical staff.

• 한국농공학회논문집
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• 제57권4호
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

The development of drought index that provides detailed-spatial-resolution drought information is essential for improving drought planning and preparedness. The objective of this study was to develop the concept of using satellite-based hybrid drought index called the Vegetation Drought Response Index in South Korea (VegDRI-SKorea) that could improve spatial resolution for monitoring local and regional drought. The VegDRI-SKorea was developed using the Classification And Regression Trees (CART) algorithm based on remote sensing data such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from MODIS satellite images, climate drought indices such as Self Calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index (SC-PDSI) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and the biophysical data such as land cover, eco region, and soil available water capacity. A case study has been done for the 2012 drought to evaluate the VegDRI-SKorea model for South Korea. The VegDRI-SKorea represented the drought areas from the end of May and to the severe drought at the end of June. Results show that the integration of satellite imageries and various associated data allows us to get improved both spatially and temporally drought information using a data mining technique and get better understanding of drought condition. In addition, VegDRI-SKorea is expected to contribute to monitor the current drought condition for evaluating local and regional drought risk assessment and assisting drought-related decision making.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.126-135
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to describe the type of claimed adverse events related to Korean Medicine practices in South Korea. Methods : Claims with regard to the Korean Medicine practice submitted to the Korea Medical Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Agency from April 2012 to December 2016 were collected. We analyzed claims that explicitly reported the type of Korean medicine intervention and were deemed as being adverse events as defined by the Korea Good Clinical Practice. Claims that did not mention the Korean medicine practice explicitly or those related to the patient's dissatisfaction to the service rather than adverse health outcomes were excluded. Types, related interventions and the suspected severity of claimed adverse events were summarized. Results : Of 197 claims obtained, 140 claim cases were eligible and 144 claimed events were deemed as possible adverse events of the Korean medicine practice. Pain(16%), local infection/inflammation(12%) and neurological symptoms(11%) were the most frequently reported types of claimed adverse events. Thirty-nine claimed serious adverse events(SAE) were identified, including pneumothorax(28.2%) and death(17.9%). Conclusions : A wide range of claimed adverse events were identified. Routine monitoring of claims data may provide undetected safety information with regard to the Korean medicine practice. High risk of misclassification of the intervention and claimed adverse events due to insufficient information is the main caveat of this study.

• 대한치과교정학회지
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• 제47권6호
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• pp.401-413
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• 2017

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the occlusal outcome and duration of fixed orthodontic therapy from clinical trials in humans with the Objective Grading System (OGS) proposed by the American Board of Orthodontics. Methods: Nine databases were searched up to October 2016 for prospective/retrospective clinical trials assessing the outcomes of orthodontic therapy with fixed appliances. After duplicate study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment according to the Cochrane guidelines, random-effects meta-analyses of the mean OGS score and treatment duration were performed and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: A total of 34 relevant clinical trials including 6,207 patients (40% male, 60% female; average age, 18.4 years) were identified. The average OGS score after treatment was 27.9 points (95% CI, 25.3-30.6 points), while the average treatment duration was 24.9 months (95% CI, 24.6-25.1 months). There was no significant association between occlusal outcome and treatment duration, while considerable heterogeneity was identified. In addition, orthodontic treatment involving extraction of four premolars appeared to have an important effect on both outcomes and duration of treatment. Finally, only 10 (39%) of the identified studies matched compared groups by initial malocclusion severity, although meta-epidemiological evidence suggested that matching may have significantly influenced their results. Conclusions: The findings from this systematic review suggest that the occlusal outcomes of fixed appliance treatment vary considerably, with no significant association between treatment outcomes and duration. Prospective matched clinical studies that use the OGS tool are needed to compare the effectiveness of orthodontic appliances.

• 한국임상약학회지
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.44-54
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• 2017

Background: Mental health issues such as stress and depression have been regarded as major social problems in Korea. We investigated the relationship between stress and depression with unmet medical needs (UMN). Methods: Using the nationwide database of 2010 Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (K-NHANES), subjects aged 19 years or above were selected (n=6,055). In the K-NHANES questionnaire, subjects were asked about their UMN experience, severity of stress, and perceived depression lasting at least 2 weeks over the past year. The effects of stress and depression on UMN were analyzed in 4 models established by adding predisposing, enabling and need factors in a step-wise fashion. The risks for UMN were also assessed according to the causes of UMN. Results: Individuals who felt stress 'very often' (odds ratio (OR) 3.28, 95% CI=2.23-4.86) and 'often' (OR 2.53, 95% CI=1.93-3.31) and who experienced depression (OR 1.68, 95% CI=1.35-2.10) reported significantly elevated UMN rates, and these effects were substantial especially for the individuals who had UMN due to economic constraint. Females, lower education level, lower income, unemployed status, and negative perceptions about health status were found to be additional risk factors for UMN. Conclusion: Our results confirmed the risks of stress and depression on UMN. It is strongly advisable to create initiatives to improve mental health, particularly stress and depression, and to fulfill individuals' medical utilization needs.

• 기본간호학회지
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.200-208
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of first onset of constipation during the rehabilitation stage and risk factors for constipation in patients with cerebral vascular disease (CVD). Methods: Participants for this retrospective study were 214 CVD patients admitted to rehabilitation units. First onset of constipation and factors influencing constipation such as dependency level were recorded for 14 days during the rehabilitation stage. Survival analysis with Cox proportional hazard model and descriptive statistics were conducted. Results: Age, patients' severity, types of diet, and dependency level were different between constipation and non-constipation groups. In survival analysis, 99% of participants developed constipation within 14 days after admission to rehabilitation units. Median constipation occurrence time was 7.4 days. Patients who were immobile and had tube feedings were more likely to develop constipation 4.07 times (95% CI: 1.018~16.301, p=.047) and 2.09 times (95% CI: 1.001~4.377, p=.050) respectively compared to patients who were independent and had a regular diet, respectively. Conclusion: Most CVD patients experienced constipation within 2 weeks after entering the rehabilitation stage. Constipation was linked to types of diet and dependency level. These factors associated with constipation should be considered when caring for patients in rehabilitation.