• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2020

Purpose: To determine the long-term efficacy of the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, infliximab (IFX) and adalimumab (ADA), in pediatric luminal Crohn's disease (CD) by performing a systematic literature review. Methods: An electronic search was performed in Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from inception to September 26, 2019. Eligible studies were cohort studies with observation periods that exceeded 1 year. Studies that reported time-to-event analyses were included. Events were defined as discontinuation of anti-TNF therapy for secondary loss of response. We extracted the probabilities of continuing anti-TNF therapy 1, 2, and 3 years after initiation. Results: In total, 2,464 papers were screened, 94 were selected for full text review, and 13 studies (11 on IFX, 2 on ADA) met our eligibility criteria for inclusion. After 1 year, 83-97% of patients were still receiving IFX therapy. After 2 and 3 years the probability of continuing IFX therapy decreased to 67-91% and 61-85%, respectively. In total, 5 of the 11 studies subgrouped by concomitant medication consistently showed that the probabilities of continuing IFX therapy in patients with prolonged immunomodulator use were higher than those in patients on IFX monotherapy. Conclusion: This review of real-world evidence studies confirms the long-term therapeutic benefit of IFX therapy in diverse cohorts of children with luminal CD. Moreover, it supports the view that combination therapy with an immunomodulator prolongs the durability of IFX therapy in patients who previously failed to recover following first-line therapy. The limited number of time-to-event studies in patients on ADA prevented us from drawing definite conclusions about its long-term efficacy.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.294-302
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• 2017

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to investigate the agreement between medical history questionnaire data and claims data and to identify the factors that were associated with discrepancies between these data types. Methods: Data from self-reported questionnaires that assessed an individual's history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, stroke, heart disease, and pulmonary tuberculosis were collected from a general health screening database for 2014. Data for these diseases were collected from a healthcare utilization claims database between 2009 and 2014. Overall agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa values were calculated. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with discrepancies and was adjusted for age, gender, insurance type, insurance contribution, residential area, and comorbidities. Results: Agreement was highest between questionnaire data and claims data based on primary codes up to 1 year before the completion of self-reported questionnaires and was lowest for claims data based on primary and secondary codes up to 5 years before the completion of self-reported questionnaires. When comparing data based on primary codes up to 1 year before the completion of selfreported questionnaires, the overall agreement, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa values ranged from 93.2 to 98.8%, 26.2 to 84.3%, 95.7 to 99.6%, and 0.09 to 0.78, respectively. Agreement was excellent for hypertension and diabetes, fair to good for stroke and heart disease, and poor for pulmonary tuberculosis and dyslipidemia. Women, younger individuals, and employed individuals were most likely to under-report disease. Conclusions: Detailed patient characteristics that had an impact on information bias were identified through the differing levels of agreement.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.183-187
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• 2004

Black spot disease on sweet persimmon (Diospyros kaki cv. Fuyu) was found from the farmer's refregerated ware house located in Dong-eup, Changwon city, Gyeongnam province, Korea, 2002. The typical symptoms of the disease was appeared black spot on surface of fruits. Colonies of causal fungus were developed velvety and later turned olivaceous black to sooty black in color on PDA. Conidia were pale brown to golden brown in color and ovoid, obclavate to obpyriform, rarely ellipsoid in shape. and were 12∼46 ${\times}$ 6∼12 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in size. Septa were 3∼5 transvers, 1∼2 longitudinal or oblique. Conidia were mostly beakless and generated chains by means of secondary conidiophores. Conidiophores were pale to mid brown in color and 42∼95 ${\times}$ 3∼5 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in size. The optimum temperature for growth of the fungus was about 25∼3$0^{\circ}C$. This is the first report on the black spot of sweet persimmon caused by Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler in Korea.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.317-321
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• 2012

Plants are the promising reservoirs for natural products with their diverse secondary metabolites. Many invasive plants have been introduced in Korea, which adversely affect on the native ecosystem but holds difficulty removing them due to their proliferation. In this study, we evaluated disease control efficacy of methanol extracts from four invasive plant species against 7 representative crop pathogens. Methanol extract of Phytolacca americana effectively suppressed rice blast, tomato gray mold, and tomato late blight in a dose dependent manner. The methanol extract of Amorpha fruticosa also exhibited potent antifungal activity against pepper anthracnose in a concentration dependent way. These data suggest that the extracts of P. americana and A. fruticosa can be developed as plant disease protection agents against rice blast, tomato gray mold, tomato late blight, and pepper anthracnose. Furthermore, more extensive research will be required to identify and isolate active compounds from problematic invasive plant species to develop valuable agrochemicals.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.300-307
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• 2013

This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of leaf rot and leaf ring spot, caused by Rhizoctonia solani in Chinese cabbage under seedling nursery and cultivation greenhouses. Symptoms of leaf rot and leaf ring spot were found in three Chinese cabbage cultivars, Brassica campestris subsp. pekinensis, 'Ryeokgwang', 'Daetong', and 'CR mat'. In Hwacheon, the disease incidence was 73.8% in the seedling stage of the Chinese cabbage. In Icheon, the symptoms were observed on the upper leaves of the Chinese cabbage cultivar, 'Norangmini' with 20.5% of disease incidence. The symptoms appeared as primary lesions consisting of small, circular necrotic ring spots with gray color, 1.4-3.0 mm in diameter, accompanied by secondary rot lesions with large irregular borders of leaves. The color of mycelial mat of 20 isolates was dark brown and light brown. The average hyphal diameter of all the isolates was within 5.01-11.12 ${\mu}m$. Among the 20 strains isolated from Chinese cabbage, 16 isolates and four isolates anastomosed with the AG-1 (IB) and AG-1 (IC), respectively. Twenty isolates tested were only virulent on foliage parts of Chinese cabbage leaves but were avirulent on stem parts of the plants. Based on the mycological characteristics and pathogenicity test on host plants, the fungus was identified as Rhizoctonia solani.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.127-135
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• 2017

The study was investigated for verifying the rate of diagnosis influencing factors for chronic diseases the people living in the Dong and Myeon in Sejong city. This study was secondary analysis based on the data from the Community Health Survey(2013-2015), totaling 1,067 people. The data were analyzed using a hierarchical logistic regression. The results showed that the probability of getting diagnosed with chronic diseases was 7.34 times higher for men than for women in the people living in the Dong. Also the group with less than three days of walking was 2.2 times higher than the other group who walked more than 3days. However, smoking group in the people living in the Myeon was 1.19 times higher than non-smoking group. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that it is necessary to develop a differentiated chronic disease prevention health care program adequate to Sejong city dweller.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.180-186
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• 2015

Purpose: Bile duct dilatation is a relatively common sonographic finding; nevertheless, its clinical significance in children is controversial because little research has been done in the area. Therefore, we investigated the natural course and clinical significance of biliary duct dilatation in children. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 181 children (range, 1-day-old to 17-year-old) in whom dilatation of the intrahepatic duct and/or common hepatic duct and/or common bile duct was detected by abdominal ultrasonography at the Severance Children's Hospital between November 2005 and March 2014. We reviewed and analyzed laboratory test results, clinical manifestations, and clinical course in these patients. Results: Pediatric patients (n=181) were enrolled in the study and divided into two groups. The first group included 59 subjects, without definitive cause of bile duct dilatation, who did not require treatment; the second group included 122 subjects, with definitive cause of bile duct dilatation or underlying biliary disease, who did require treatment. In the first group, 24 patients (40.7%) showed spontaneous resolution of bile duct dilatation, 20 patients (33.9%) showed no change, and 15 patients (25.4%) were lost to follow-up. In the second group, 31 patients were diagnosed with choledochal cysts, and 91 patients presented with biliary tract dilatations due to secondary causes, such as gallbladder or liver disease, post-operative complications, or malignancy. Conclusion: Biliary dilatation in pediatric patients without symptoms, and without laboratory and other sonographic abnormalities, showed a benign clinical course. No pathologic conditions were noted on follow-up ultrasonography.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2020

Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is a rare disease in healthy people but a potentially fatal opportunistic infection by Pneumocystis jirovecii in immunocompromised patients with organ transplantation. We present three cases of PCP after kidney transplantation in pediatric patients. First case was a 4-year-old boy diagnosed with Denys-Drash syndrome and received living-donor kidney transplantation from his mother at age of 1. Second case was a 19-year-old male, with polycystic kidney disease, who received kidney transplantation from his mother at the age of 18. Third case was a 19-year-old female with chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology, who received kidney transplantation from her father at age of 15. These three patients who were on immunosuppressive therapy and completed of routine PCP prophylaxis for 6 months had presented with cough and dyspnea more than 1 year after transplantation. Chest x-ray all showed diffuse haziness of both lung fields, and bronchoalveolar lavage from bronchoscopy revealed Pneumocystisjirovecii infection. All patients showed clinical resolution with intravenous trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) therapy for at least 3 weeks and had continued secondary prophylaxis for another 6-12 months. This report suggests that clinicians should have suspicion for the possibilities of opportunistic infection such as PCP after kidney transplantation in children.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1771-1777
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• 2012

The impact of anatomic resection (AR) as compared to non-anatomic resection (NAR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a factor for preventing intra-hepatic and local recurrence after the initial surgical procedure remains controversial. A systematic review and meta-analysis of nonrandomized trials comparing anatomic resection with non-anatomic resection for HCC published from 1990 to 2010 in PubMed and Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Science Citation Index were therefore performed. Intra-hepatic recurrence, including early and late, and local recurrence were considered as primary outcomes. As secondary outcomes, 5 year survival and 5 year disease-free survival were considered. Pooled effects were calculated utilizing either fixed effects or random effects models. Eleven non-randomized studies including 1,576 patients were identified and analyzed, with 810 patients in the AR group and 766 in the NAR group. Patients in the AR group were characterized by lower prevalence of cirrhosis, more favorable hepatic function, and larger tumor size and higher prevalence of macrovascular invasion compared with patients in the NAR group. Anatomic resection significantly reduced the risks of local recurrence and achieved a better 5 years disease-free survival. Also, anatomic resection was marginally effective for decreasing the early intra-hepatic recurrence. However, it was not advantageous in preventing late intra-hepatic recurrence compared with non-anatomic resection. No differences were found between AR and NAR with respect to postoperative morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization. Anatomic resection can be recommended as superior to non-anatomic resection in terms of reducing the risks of local recurrence, early intra-hepatic recurrence and achieving a better 5 year disease-free survival in HCC patients.

• 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.