• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.12a
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• pp.87-94
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• 2005

Results from previous studies revealed that metal level in the body is related to certain types of diseases. For example. serum copper level with chronic heart failure, iron and transferrin in the blood serum with acute cerebral vascular diseases, Zn in the CNS, lead with neurotoxicity, hypertension, genetic damage, arsenic with cancer skin lesion, Al with neurobehavioral function (cognitive impairment and memory disorder), and etc. The rate of stroke has increased in recent years and several metals were found to be responsible for causing stroke. This study compared several blood metal concentrations between stroke and non-stroke patients. Patients with stroke (116 samples) and non-stroke (111 samples including lowback pain and others) participated in this study. Total of 227 blood samples were collected and participants completed questionnaires regarding age, gender, occupation, residence, alcohol, smoking, and etc. To be qualified into the stroke group, patients have never experienced stroke previously. Subjects only included ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage patients diagnosed by brain CT and brain MRI. Patients with high risk of metal exposure such as herbal intake and job related exposure were excluded. 10ml of blood samples were analyzed by ICP-MS method at the Center of Nature and Science at Sangji University. Metal geometric mean (SD) concentrations in blood of study subjects showed higher values, 2.64-36.12%, than WHO reference values in Mn, Ni, Hg, Se, and As. Metal concentration in blood of stroke patients non-adjusted for potential confounders was higher except for Hg and also higher except for Ni in adjusted for potential confounders. Co was significantly higher in stroke patients (p=0.002) than non-stroke patients adjusted for potential confounders. Regression coefficient values of stroke patients was 0.17-8.25 in each metals. Odd ratio of stroke patients had 0.96 (Ni)-2.68 (Co) compared to non-stroke cases. This result means that Co increase of 1 raises the risk ratio of stroke by 2.86 times. Based on the results, metal concentration in blood seems to affect incidence of stroke.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2006

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of classic heat stroke in Korea and to identify factors of prognosis for heat stroke by comparing a survival group with a non-survival group. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 27 patients with heat stroke who visited the Emergency Department of Kyungpook National University Hospital from March 2001 to February 2005. First, we divided the patients into two groups, the classic heat stroke group and the exertional heat stroke group, and compared them. Second, we compared the survival group with the non-survival group. Age, sex, cause, place where patients were found, underlying diseases, cooling time, performance of endotracheal intubation, initial Glasgow Coma Scale, initial vital sign, and laboratory findings were reviewed. Results: Five of 27 patients in heat stroke died. The classic heat stroke group had 20 patients. They were old and had more patients in the bathroom than the exertional heat stroke group had. The non-survival group showed lower blood pressure, lower initial GCS score, and higher respiratory rate than the survival group. In laboratory findings, the non-survival group also showed lower$HCO_3-$ level, lower albumin level, lower glucose level, more prolonged PT, and higher CK-MB level than the survival group. Delay in recognition of heat stroke and cooling were poor prognostic factors in heat stroke. Conclusion: The classic heat stroke group had patients who were old and found in the bathroom. Early recognition and treatment of heat stroke is important to reduce mortality. Cooling time, initial GCS score, mean arterial pressure, resipratory rate, $HCO_3-$, PT, CK-MB, and albumin seem to be meaningful when forming a prognosis for heat stroke patients.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2017

For many stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation therapy, there is a need for indicator for evaluating the body function in paretic and non-paretic regions of stroke patients quantitatively. In this paper, the function of muscles and cells in paretic and non-paretic regions of severe and mild hemiplegic stroke patients was evaluated using multi-channel bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy. The paretic and non-paretic regions of severe and mild stroke patients were quantitatively assessed by using bioelectrical impedance parameters such as prediction marker (PM), phase angle (${\theta}$), characteristic frequency ($f_c$), and bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA). The mean values of impedance vector were significantly discriminated in all comparisons (severe-paretic, severe-non-paretic, mild-paretic, and mild-non-paretic). The bioelectrical impedance parameters were proved to be a very valuable tool for quantitatively evaluating the paretic and non-paretic regions of hemiplegic stroke patients.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.437-448
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• 2018

Objective: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) requires time-dependent reperfusion therapy, and early recognition of AIS is important to patient outcomes. This study was conducted to identify the clinical features and risk factors of AIS patients that are missed during the early stages of diagnosis. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed AIS patients admitted to a hospital through the emergency department. AIS patients were defined as ischemic stroke patients who visited the emergency department within 6 hours of symptom onset. Patients were classified into two groups: an activation group (A group), in which patients were identified as AIS and the stroke team was activated, and a non-activation group (NA group), for whom the stroke team was not activated. Results: The stroke team was activated for 213 of a total of 262 AIS patients (81.3%), while it was not activated for the remaining 49 (18.7%). The NA group was found to be younger, have lower initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores, lower incidence of previous hypertension, and a greater incidence of cerebellum and cardio-embolic infarcts than the A group. The chief complaints in the A group were traditional stroke symptoms, side weakness (61.0%), and speech disturbance (17.8%), whereas the NA group had non-traditional symptoms, dizziness (32.7%), and decreased levels of consciousness (22.4%). Independent factors associated with missed stroke team activation were nystagmus, nausea/vomiting, dizziness, gait disturbance, and general weakness. Conclusion: A high index of AIS suspicion is required to identify such patients with these findings. Education on focused neurological examinations and the development of clinical decision tools that could differentiate non-stroke and stroke are needed.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.239-250
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a 2-week somatosensory stimulation program on cognitive function and ADL of patients with brain damage. Methods: The sample consisted of two groups of patients with stroke: 10 patients with a mean age of 59.0 years who were treated with somatosensory stimulation, and 9 patients with a mean age of 51.78 years, who were not treated with somatosensory intervention. A nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design was used to assess the functional recovery after stroke. Instruments used in this study were MMSE-K for cognitive function and FIM for ADL. Results: The hypothesis 1 that "Patients with stroke who were treated with the somatosensory stimulation program will show higher MMSE-K score than that of the non-treatment group" was supported(Z = -2.390, p = .017). The hypothesis 2 that "Patients with stroke who were treated with the somatosensory stimulation program will show higher FIM score than that of the non-treatment group", however, was partially supported(social cognition: Z = -2.204, p = .045). Conclusion: Somatosensory stimulation was effective to patients with stroke in improving their cognitive function. These findings suggest that somatosensory input can be adopted to nursing intervention for functional recovery after stroke.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.15-26
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• 2012

Objective : Only a few studies have investigated the life expectance and health related quality of life (HRQOL) about stroke patients. The purpose of this study is to analyze the life expectancy, preference based quality of life(QOL) and quality adjusted life years(QALYs) of stroke patients. Methods : We used data of 10,533 adults from 4th Korean national health and nutritional examination survey 2009 for evaluating HRQOL of stroke patients. We also analyzed the life expectancy for stroke patients using life table from national public health data. Finally we calculated the QALYs with and without stroke conditions and assumed the difference of QALYs. Results : The mean age of stroke patients was assumed to be 65. Lower income and less educated groups were prone to be exposed to the stroke conditions. Common comorbidities of stroke patients were ischemic heart attack, hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. The proportions of participants who reported problems in each of the five EQ-5D dimensions increased significantly at chronic stroke group. Participants with chronic stroke conditions had an almost 6-fold higher risk of impaired health utility(the lowest quartile of EQ-5D utility score) compared with non stroke participants, after adjustment of age, gender, income, education, comorbidity variables. The differences of life expectancy and QALYs between non-stroke and stroke group from the age of 65 till death were assumed to be 0.767 year and 3.103 QALYs. Conclusions : Although the authors analyzed the affecting factors of QOL and assumed the differences of life expectance and QALYs about stroke patients using domestic national data and statistic references, well designed cohort studies should be needed to prove the causal effects of affecting factors and to assume more correct QALY differences.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.94-101
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• 2017

This study is to compare and analyze the bioelectrical impedance values on the upper extremity (affected and non-affected side) in hemiplegic stroke patients. Experimental subjects were 24 stroke patients with hemiplegia undergoing stroke rehabilitation between October to November, 2015. Prediction marker, resistance, reactance, and phase angle were measured in the upper extremity (affected and non-affected side) of hemiplegic stroke patients, using MultiScan 5000, and then they were expressed as quantified values. The affected and non-affected side of upper extremity in stroke patients with hemiplegia exhibited significant differences in prediction marker, reactance, and phase angle (p<0.05). There were significant differences in the impedance values at the affected and non-affected side of hemiplegic stroke patients. Thus, the possibility of evaluating stroke patients undergoing clinical rehabilitation therapy was suggested.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.69-78
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• 2001

Objectives : It is known that cigarette smoking is associated with increased risk of both thrombotic and hemorrhagic stroke. However, in Korea, especially in the academic world of Korean Medicine, there is a lack of study about the relation between cigarette smoking and stroke. We carried out a case-control study to clarify the relation between cigarette smoking and stroke. Method : We interviewed 441 stroke patients (236 men, 205 women) as a case group and 432 non-stroke patients (208 men, 224 women) as a control group. We investigated the smoking pattern of all patients and stroke-subtype of the case group. Smoking pattern is classed into two (Class I), four (Class II) and five groups (Class III). Class I consists of current non-smokers and current smokers. Class II consists of non-smokers, former smokers, current light smokers and current heavy smokers. Class III consists of never smoked, secondhand smokers, former smokers, Current light smokers and current heavy smokers. Stroke-subtype consists of cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage. Results : The percentage of current smokers of case group is higher significantly than that of control group. The number of cigarettes smoked per day is associated positively with the risk of stroke. According to our study, generally cigarette smoking is related with ischemic stroke. The percentage of secondhand smokers of the case group is lower than that of the control group. According to our study, characteristically secondhand smoking is associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Conclusions : From the above results we found that cigarette smoking is an important risk factor of stroke - especially cerebral infarction - and the number of cigarettes smoked per day is associated positively with the risk of stroke. Characteristically according to our study, secondhand smoking is associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Overall we conclude that cigarette smoking may be an important preventable factor for stroke.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.526-534
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare muscle activities of stroke patients and healthy participants during bimanual tasks. Design: A cross sectional study. Methods: A total of 25 participants (13 hemiparetic stroke patients and 12 healthy participants) were recruited. The muscle activities using electromyogram (EMG) during bimanual tasks were collected from the following muscles: extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL), biceps brachii (BB), and triceps brachii (TB). The bimanual tasks included eight tasks consisted of (1) raising the wrists up and down, (2) supinating and pronating the palms, (3) touching the shoulder with fingertips, (4) drawing vertical dot, (5) reaching for a cup and bring it in to drink, (6) drawing a circle outward and (7) inward, and (8) grasping the fingers. The EMG data collected from the muscles of paretic and non-paretic sides of stroke patients and the average from both sides of healthy subjects were normalized and compared after calculating the percentage of maximal isometric voluntary contraction. Results: The ECRL, BB and TB of the paretic side of the stroke patients showed relatively greater muscle activity compared to the non-paretic side as well asaverage of the healthy subject duringall tasks (p<0.05). In addition, the ECRL showed the highest muscle activity during most of the tasks. All of the non-paretic side musclesfrom stroke patients showed higher muscle activity compared to those of healthy subjects. Conclusions: The current study showed that muscle activities of upper extremity varied between paretic and non-paretic sides of stroke patients during bimanual tasks. Interestingly, the non-paretic side muscle activities were also different from those of normal participants.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.138-147
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare motivation for rehabilitation, family support and adherence to rehabilitation and identify factors predicting adherence to rehabilitation between depressive and non-depressive stroke patients. Methods: Stroke patients admitted to rehabilitation hospitals (n=159) participated in the study. Data were collected through self-reported questionnaires including general characteristics, depression, motivation for rehabilitation, family support and adherence to rehabilitation. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, $x^2$ test, Pearson correlation coefficients and logistic regression using the SPSS/WIN 21.0 program. Results: 62.9% of the subjects were identified as depressive patients. Motivation for rehabilitation (F=48.18, p=.020) and adherence to rehabilitation (F=9.68, p=.002) in depressive stroke patients were significantly lower than non-depressive stroke patients. Family support also in depressive group was lower than non-depressive group but there was no statistical significance (F=2.35, p=.127). Motivation for rehabilitation (OR=11.46), family support (OR=1.05) and onset period (less than 2 year)(OR=3.61) predicted the good adherence to rehabilitation in depressive stroke patients. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that health professionals need to identify factors affecting adherence to rehabilitation and provide a nursing intervention considering the depression especially when caring for stroke patients.