• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.1694-1701
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• 2013

Distributed video coding technique(DVC) is needed for several applications with low bit rate or low encoding resources. However, since conventional DVC schemes have performance limitations and so as one of the several methods to overcome this problem and to improve the coding efficiency, DVC scheme with the moving information of side information has been developed. Based on this system, in this paper, an efficient reliability estimation is introduced to evaluate the blocks composing of side information and send these blocks location to the encoder side. Then, these enable the encoder to selectively encode and to improve the coding performance. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme performs better than the conventional coding scheme.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of postoperative pain control by intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV) to the effectiveness of postoperative pain control by continuous intra-lesional infusion of local anesthetics (IL) with or without an interscalene brachial plexus block (ISB) after arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Materials and Methods: We designed this prospective randomized case-controlled double-blind study, and allocated 84 consecutive patients to four groups according to postoperative analgesic method, i.e., Group IV, Group ISBIV, Group IL, and Group ISB-IL after arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Postoperative pain, side effects and supplemental analgesics were recorded at 1 hour and then at every 8 hours for 2 days. Result: The demographic and clinical characteristics of four groups were identical statistically. Interscalene block (Group ISB-IV, Group ISB-IL) was found to be effective at relieving pain and at reducing supplemental analgesic amounts at 1 and 8 hours postoperatively (p<0.05). Patients in the Group ISB-IL had less pain at 16 and 48 hours postoperatively than the other groups (p<0.05). Continuous intra-lesional infusion (Group IL, Group ISB-IL) was superior in reducing analgesic-related side effects (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that a combination of an interscalene brachial plexus block and continuous intralesional infusion of ropivacaine is an effective and safe method of postoperative pain control in patients after arthroscopic shoulder surgery.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.219-227
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• 2009

In H.264/AVC, if each block is quantized with a adaptive quantization parameter(QP) regardless of the characteristics of a block, it could be the deterioration of the picture quality. In this paper, an adaptive block-based QP selection method is proposed in order to improve picture quality by utilizing the bit amounts of the zigzag-scanned integer transform coefficients of the neighboring blocks and changing the QP value in the current block. The proposed method works in the same way as the encoder and decoder without transmitting the change of QP value to the decoder side. The experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a gain of about $0.1\sim0.3dB$ compared with H.264/AVC.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.158-163
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• 2011

Background: Although a brachial plexus block can be used to provide anesthesia and analgesia for upper extremity surgery, its effects using $MgSO_4$ on postoperative pain management have not been reported. The aim of this study was to evaluate brachial plexus block using $MgSO_4$ on postoperative analgesia. Methods: Thirty-eight patients who were scheduled to undergo upper extremity surgery were randomly allocated into two groups: patients receiving axillary brachial plexus block with 0.2% ropivacaine 20 ml and normal saline 2 ml (group S) or 0.2% ropivacaine 20 ml and $MgSO_4$ 200 mg (group M). Before extubation, the blocks were done and patient controlled analgesia was started, and then, the patients were transported to a postanesthetic care unit. The postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS), opioid consumption, and side effects were recorded. Results: The two groups were similar regarding the demographic variables and the duration of the surgery. No differences in VAS scores were observed between the two groups. There was no statistically significant difference in opioid consumption between the two groups. Nausea was observed in three patients for each group. Conclusions: Axillary brachial plexus block using $MgSO_4$ did not reduce the level of postoperative pain and opioid consumption.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.809-814
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• 1997

Continuous epidural pain block with a local anesthetic agents is a commonly employed technique for pain relief after thoracotomy. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the continuous epidural pain block in 19 patients undergoing elective lateral or posterolatrral thoracotomy with control group(n=19) from November 1994 to July 1995, Epidural lidocaine and morphine mixtures were injected via an epidural catheter as a bolus after operation, and then bupivacaine and morphine mixtures were injected continuously following 5 or 6 days. The pain score, upper arm elevation(ROM score), and respiratory rate were significantly changed(P<0.05) from 30min after injection. The CO2 tension of arterial blood was decreased significantly(P<0.05) from 2hr after injection. The postoperative hospital days were decreased significantly(P<0.05). Side effects of the epidural pain block were urinary retention(n= 10), urticaria(n=2) and a case of headache. There was no postoperative lung atelectasis. We conclude that the continuous epidural pain block is good for prevention of the postoperative lung complication and early recovery after thoracotomy.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 1999

Background: Preoperative blocking of surgical nociceptive inputs may prevent sensitization of central nervous system (CNS) and reduce postoperative pain. The stress responses to surgical trauma consist of increase in catabolic hormones and decrease in anabolic hormones. We studied whether preoperative low dose epidural bupivacaine and morphine could affect postoperative pain, changes plasma cortisol, and serum glucose. Methods: Thirty patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy were randomly assigned to one of three groups. General anesthesia was induced in all patients and after that, epidural blocks were done except the control group (n=10) patients. Preoperative block group (n=10) received 0.5% bupivacaine 50 mg and morphine 2 mg epidurally as a bolus before operation and followed by 0.1% bupivacaine $5\;mghr^{-1}$ and morphine $0.2\;mghr^{-1}$ for 10 hours. Postoperative block group (n=10) received the same doses of bupivacaine and morphine under the same method postoperatively. Postoperative pain relief was provided with i.v. fentanyl through Patient-Controlled-Analgesia Pump. Postoperative pain by visual analogue scores (VAS), analgesic requirement (first requirement time, total amounts used), side effects, plasma cortisol level and serum glucose level were compared. Results: Until postoperative 6 hrs, VAS of control group was higher than those of the epidural groups. No difference was observed in VAS between the two epidural groups. First analgesics requirement time and total amounts of used analgesics were not different between the two epidural groups, but first analgesic requirement time of preoperative block group was significantly prolonged compared with control group. Plasma cortisol and serum glucose levels were not different among groups. Conclusions: Low dose preoperative epidural bupivacaine and morphine could not reduce postoperative pain, plasma cortisol level and serum glucose level compared with postoperative block group.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.444-450
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• 2007

In general, labiolingual or buccolingual widths of residual alveolar bone are insufficient in edentulous area, because of alveolar resorption. Horizontal augmentation is bone graft procedure with a view to reinforcing horizontally insufficient bone quantity for installation of implants. The standard method is taking appropriate amount of block bone from intraoral or extraoral autogenous bone, and solid fixation with screws or mini-plate on labial or buccal side of residual alveolar bone. The purpose of this study is to discuss clinical usefulness of horizontal augmentation with autogenous block bone by observation and analysis of course of 41 implants installed to 12 patients by horizontal augmentation in Seoul National University Bundang Hospital from July, 2002 to December, 2005. The mean age of patients is 52.7, from 19 to 70, and the number of men and women is each 2 and 10. Block bone was taken from symphysis, body, ramus of mandible or iliac bone. And 6 types of implants were installed simultaneously or not, the diameters of implants are from 3.3 to 5.5mm, the lengths are from 8 to 15mm. The operator added artificial bone grafting material and optionally covered with membrane. The mean periods of observation after operation and final prosthetics were 28.6 and 17.0 months. As a result, 40 among 41 implants survived, the survival rate was 97.6%. Average 0.9mm crestal resorption was observed at final point of time by periapical view of each patients. Major complication related to the procedure was numbness in 7 patients.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.274-282
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• 2022

Introduction: This study reports the effect of herbal medicine (Samulanshin-tang-gamibang) and acupuncture on complete atrioventricular (AV) block. Case presentation: A 63-year-old female with complete AV block was experiencing dyspnea, palpitation, dizziness, headache, bradycardia, and insomnia, and she was treated with Samulanshin-tang-gamibang and acupuncture for 12 days. To evaluate the treatment, a numeric rating scale (NRS) and the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification was used. The patient's NRS scores decreased from 6 to 2 for dyspnea and palpitation and from 5 to 1 for dizziness and headache. Her NYHA Class improved from Class II to Class I. No side effects were observed during treatment. Conclusion: This study suggests that herbal medicine and acupuncture may be effective in relieving symptoms caused by complete AV block. However, the long-term effects of the treatment were not observed, and so further studies are still needed.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2022

Background: Several therapeutic methods have been proposed for frozen shoulder syndrome. These include suprascapular nerve block, a simple and cost-effective technique that eliminates the need for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy. Methods: This was a clinical trial that included patients with unilateral shoulder joint stiffness. Patients were divided into three groups: those treated with isolated physiotherapy for 12 weeks (PT group), those treated with a single dose intra-articular injection of corticosteroid together with physiotherapy (IACI group), and those treated with a suprascapular nerve block performed with a single indirect injection of 8-mL lidocaine HCL 1% and 2 mL (80 mg) methylprednisolone acetate together with physiotherapy (SSNB group). The variables assessed were age, sex, side of involvement, dominant limb, presence of diabetes, physical examination findings including erythema, swelling, and muscle wasting; palpation and movement findings; shoulder pain and disability index (SPADI) score; and the visual analog scale (VAS) score pre-intervention and at 2-, 4-, 6-, and 12-week post-intervention. Results: Ninety-seven patients were included in this survey (34 cases in the PT group, 32 cases in the IACI group, and 31 cases in the SSNB group). Mean age was 48.55±11.06 years. Fifty-seven cases were female (58.8%) and 40 were male (41.2%). Sixty-eight patients had a history of diabetes (70.1%). VAS and SPADI scores and range of mototion degrees dramatically improved in all cases (p<0.001). Results were best in the SSNB group (p<0.001), and the IACI group showed better results than the PT group (p<0.001). Conclusions: Suprascapular nerve block is an effective therapy with long-term pain relief and increased mobility of the shoulder joint in patients with adhesive capsulitis.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.93-97
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• 2001

Facial nerve palsy is not a serious disease, but it can be both upsetting and disabling for patients. More than half of the lesions of facial nerve palsy fall into the category termed Bell's palsy. It is very rare to find a representative case of bilateral Bell's palsy. Here we report the changes of infrared thermographic findings in bilateral Bell's palsy treated with a stellate ganglion block (SGB). A 45-year-old female patient who had a right facial palsy which developed 2 weeks before. Steroid administration and acupuncture was not effective and so she was referred to pain clinic. The right facial palsy was cured after 19th right SGB. Twenty eight days after the onset of the right facial palsy, left facial palsy also developed and cured completely with a left SGB. Serial infrared thermograms were performed. The hypothermias on the affected side improved symmetrically by the end of the treatment.