• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2016

Background: The use of therapeutic materials based on new health technology has increased in recent years in the field of medicine, raising concerns for medical practitioners regarding increased spending on the new therapeutic materials amid the rapid population ageing and increase of chronic diseases in Korea. While therapeutic materials have significant importance in the health care system, they have not been given appropriate attention in the academic world of Korea. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that affect the growth of expenditure on therapeutic materials and to derive implications for an effective management considering the diversity of therapeutic materials. Methods: Using the claims data of the National Health Insurance Services, specific utilization patterns of groups of therapeutic materials in the middle classification level of Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2007 to 2014 were analyzed. Four categories (J5083: drug eluting coronary stent, D0302: nonmetallic anchor, K6014: gauze, K6023: gauze) that exhibit unique patterns with respect to price and volume were selected. Then, decomposition analysis was performed to identify the largest contributor to the spending growth by dividing the products into existing, new, and abandoned products for the period between 2010 and 2013. Results: The effect of new products had larger impact on spending growth than the effect of core items in drug eluting coronary stent (J5083) and nonmetallic anchor (D0302). In addition, existing products in general included items priced relatively lower when compared with another item manufactured by the same company. In the gauze category, however, existing products had the largest impact on expenditure and the effect of volume was greater than that in other categories. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that appropriate management measures classified by the characteristics of therapeutic materials are required for therapeutic materials pricing and reassessment in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.409-417
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• 2020

Background: It is well known that the distribution of therapeutic materials is very complex. However, it is not easy to demonstrate the concrete problems caused by distribution channels empirically. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the price of therapeutic materials according to the type of purchasing agency and the way in which medical institutions purchase therapeutic materials. Methods: This study compared the claimed prices and the maximum allowable prices for the items of therapeutic material used for general spinal surgery. Results: Ilsan Hospital, which purchased directly without a purchasing agent, had the lowest claimed prices, followed by a large professional purchasing agency, a foundation-related purchasing agency, and a general purchasing agency. In addition, the difference between the claimed prices and the maximum allowable prices according to the purchase type was larger in the expensive treatment materials, and in the case of the lower price treatment materials, it tended to converge to the maximum allowable prices. Conclusion: National health insurance spending for therapeutic materials are to be affected by the distribution channels of them. We proposed several ideas to rationalize the expenditure such as classification of therapeutic materials on the basis of price or other criteria.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.103-107
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• 2016

The use of nanovesicles (NVs) has contributed to nanotechnology in the development of new concept medicine to compete with diseases of deleterious and infectious to human health. Due to their properties of size, morphology, and biocompatibility NVs have great impact on public health especially in the development of new therapeutic and prophylaxis approaches in addition to the device for biosensors to diagnose human diseases. Recent data also strongly suggest that NVs are regarded as innovative materials in developing for vaccines and diagnostic tools. In this review, we focus on the basic concepts and recent applications of NVs to utilize or engineer them as therapeutic materials.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.7.2-7.2
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• 2009

Polyvalent nanoparticle-DNA conjugates exhibit a variety of unique features such as programmable assembly and disassembly, sharp melting transitons, intense optical properties, high stability, enhanced binding properties, and easy fabrication of the surface nature by chemical and physical modification. The unique properties of nanoparticle-DNA conjugates enable one to build up a number of versatile assay schemes for the detection of various targets. In addition, nanoparticle-RNA conjugates also demonstrate great promise of therapeutic applications in the context of RNA interference when combined with polymeric materials. In this presentation, representative examples of each aspect of nanoparticle-oligonucleotide conjugates will be discussed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.371-388
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• 2021

This research was designed to provide the materials helpful for art therapy education and art therapist training by exploring the intervention processes and professional competency factors of art therapists which facilitate therapeutic alliance through the art therapists' actual clinical experiences. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with 9 art therapists, and analysis of the materials was divided into 5 sections and 41 categories using Consensus Qualitative Analysis (CQR). According to study results, the art therapist's intervention process for the promotion of therapeutic alliance signifies the structuralization of a safe environment through basic items of consideration for a therapeutic alliance and the three dimensions of its composition, and the art therapist's professional capacity interacts with the art therapists intervention factor to directly and indirectly affect the therapeutic alliance. Subsequently, it is essential for art therapists to reinforce their professional abilities relevant to conceptualizing unique individual cases with clinical problems, sufficient clinical experiences, the ability to utilize art as therapeutic treatment, and efforts to maintain professional capabilities for therapeutic purposes. The significance of this research lies in presenting the materials to be used in educating and training the art therapists by deriving the developmental tasks necessary for structuralizing the facilitation of the therapeutic alliance and strengthening the professional expertise of the art therapist.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.118-120
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• 2002

Genetic materials including DNA plasmid are effective delivery vehicle to express interesting gene efficiently and safely not to generate replication competent virus. Moreover, it has advantages to design a better vector and to simplify manufacturing and storage condition. To understand a possible pathogenic mechanism by a flavivirus, West Nile virus (WNV), WNV genome sequence was aligned to other pathogenic viral genome. Interestingly, WNV capsid (Cp) amino acid sequence has some homology to HIV-l Vpr protein. These proteins induce apoptosis in human cell lines as well as in vivo and cell cycle arrest. Therefore, DNA plasmid carrying apoptosis-inducing and cell cycle arresting viral proteins including a HIV-1 Vpr and a WNV Cp protein can be useful for anti-cancer therapeutic applications. This WNV Cp protein is an early expressed protein which can be a reasonable target antigen (Ag) for vaccine design. Immunization of a DNA construct encoding WNV Cp protein induces a strong Ag-specific humoral and Th1-type immune responses in animal. Therefore, DNA plasmid encoding apoptotic viral proteins can be useful tool for therapeutic and prophylactic applications.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.381-389
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• 2015

Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent intracellular degradation process that allows recycling of cytoplasmic constituents into bioenergetic and biosynthetic materials for maintenance of homeostasis. Since the function of autophagy is particularly important in various stress conditions, perturbation of autophagy can lead to cellular dysfunction and diseases. Accumulation of abnormal protein aggregates, a common cause of neurodegenerative diseases, can be reduced through autophagic degradation. Recent studies have revealed defects in autophagy in most cases of neurodegenerative disorders. Moreover, deregulated excessive autophagy can also cause neurodegeneration. Thus, healthy activation of autophagy is essential for therapeutic approaches in neurodegenerative diseases and many autophagy-regulating compounds are under development for therapeutic purposes. This review describes the overall role of autophagy in neurodegeneration, focusing on various therapeutic strategies for modulating specific stages of autophagy and on the current status of drug development.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2005

Depot system for local drug delivery using chitosan hydrogel has been developed to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and to prevent the severe side effect in whole body. Thus, we have prepared an injectable chitosan hydrogel containing liposomes to treat cancers clinically. Anionic liposomes incorporated to improve sustained release efficiency within chitosan hydrogel. The chitosan solution containing liposomes was designed to form a hydrogel complex at body temperature. The released behavior of doxorubicin from liposomes in chitosan hydrogel showed sustained-release caused by diffusion of doxorubicin from temperature responsive liposome into chitosan hydrogel. The chitosan hydorgel containing liposomes enhanced the therapeutic potency for the solid tumor in vivo system. Our results indicate that the liposomes in chitosan hydrogel represent a depot system for local drug delivery.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.21-28
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• 2011

As people have paid much attention to their health along with increased interest in high quality of living, they have managed their health in organized manners. Space is a physical field which directly and indirectly interacts with human life, there is a little research on its therapeutic aspect and it is only negatively applied for development of products and alternative medicine. This study aims to identify research trends and flows targeting previous research on therapeutic approaches in domestic space design and present basic materials on space design approaches in a therapeutic view, which will be helpful in ultimate development of space design in theories and practices. As a result, it was discovered that there were only a few papers which were searched with direct key words on curative environment, which indicates that specific studies as therapeutic approaches are insufficient. When the studies were analysed according to annual publications, research on residential welfare and medical space was active, and research on design methodology, design techniques, and design plans was active, but research on psychology, behaviors, laws and institutions was relatively insufficient, which indicates studies on physical and psychological aspects of space design are necessary. In conclusion, it is suggested that further studies on therapeutic environment for direct and specific persons should be defined and classified although there have been relevant studies in various fields.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2004

Purpose: To investigate the characteristics of the patients and therapeutic shoes for diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: Forty two diabetic patients who had their own therapeutic shoes which were prescribed somewhere else were studied from March 2003 to December 2003. There were 27 males and 15 females, and the mean age was 62.1 years (range, 49-72 years). Duration of diabetes was average 14 years (range, $6{\sim}30$ years), all had type 2 diabetes. Sensation was examined with 5.07 nylon monofilament. The route of purchasing the shoes, compliance to the prescribed shoes were investigated by interview. The shape of shoe, stiffness of upper, conformity of insole to the shape of the foot were recorded. In-shoe plantar pressure was measured in 15 patients. Results: Eighteen patients were insensate to the monofilament. Seven patients did not wear the therapeutic shoes, and only 18 of 35 patients were wearing the therapeutic shoes more than 6 hours a day. The shoes of 17 patients were prescribed by medical doctor and the rest were purchased by the recommendation of acquaintances or advertisement. Ulcer recurred in four of five patients to whom the shoe was prescribed by medical doctor and the cause of three recurrences were evident by just observing the foot and shoe. The therapeutic shoes were made from 11 different makers. Eight shoes were adequate for diabetic patients with respect to the material, shape of insole, type of shoe. In-shoe plantar pressure was examined in 15 patients and was less than 300 kPa in all patients. Conclusion: The therapeutic shoes for the diabetic patients need to be prescribed by medical doctor for selective patients with neuropathy or previous history of ulcer and follow-up examination is important to monitor the compliance of the patients and adequacy of the shoes.