• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.9 no.9
• /
• pp.371-378
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this study is to classify the customers according to the characteristics of the relational benefits and to compare the performances of the sub-groups. As a result of the research, the group type according to the relational benefits was subdivided into 3 groups, and each group was named emotional relational group, continuous relational group and intermittent relational group considering customer characteristics. First, the emotional relational group is the group that emphasizes the empathy and assurance between the service provider and the customer, and the continuous relational group is the group with the highest social, confidence and economic benefits. The intermittent relational group was simply a transaction-oriented group. This implies that a differentiated customer management strategy is needed for each relational benefit group based on customer experience in medical services.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.128-135
• /
• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of overlaying titanium mesh (TM) with an adjunctive collagen membrane (CM) for preserving the buccal bone when used in association with immediate implant placement in dogs. Methods: Immediate implant placements were performed in the mesial sockets of the third premolars of five dogs. At one site the TM was attached to the fixture with the aid of its own stabilizers and then covered by a CM (CM group), while the contralateral site received only TM (TM group). Biopsy specimens were retrieved for histologic and histomorphometric analyses after 16 weeks. Results: All samples exhibited pronounced buccal bone resorption, and a high rate of TM exposure was noted (in three and four cases of the five samples in each of the TM and CM groups, respectively). A dense fibrous tissue with little vascularity or cellularity had infiltrated through the pores of the TM irrespective of the presence of a CM. The distances between the fixture platform and the first bone-implant contact and the bone crest did not differ significantly between the TM and CM groups. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the additional use of a CM over TM does not offer added benefit for mucosal healing and buccal bone preservation.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.393-396
• /
• 2009

Purpose: Low - molecular - weight dextran is one of the most frequently used antithrombotic agents in microvascular surgery, but there is controversy if it has the real benefit in the clinical aspects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect associated with postoperative use of low - molecular - weight dextran in breast reconstruction by free TRAM flap patients. Methods: From January 2002 to October 2008, we reconstructed 88 cases of postmastectomy deformity using the free TRAM flap. The 88 cases were divided into two groups : a group with no use of dextran(66 patients, control group, Group A) and a postoperative low - molecular weight dextran loaded group(22 patients, Group B). We assessed number of flap survival, rate of complication like hematoma or seroma, total amount of drainage from operative wound, duration of drainage, and amount of transfusion in each group. Results: There was no total flap loss and every flap was survived. Total amount of drainage for post - operative 5 days were 857 ml in group A and 1101 ml in group B. Drain was kept for average of 7.3 days in group A and 8.7 days in group B. Packed red cell transfusions were made in average of 3.3 units for group A and 3.0 units for group B. Group B showed significantly higher values in former 2 comparative parameters than group A. Conclusion: There was no definitive advantage of anticoagulants in elective free - flap surgery in terms of success rate. However, groups with using anticoagulants had the increased bleeding tendency in immediate postoperative period. The routine use of anticoagulants in elective free - flap surgery should be reconsidered with postoperatively less bleeding and early recovery.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.209-216
• /
• 2020

Background Perforator flaps have led to a revolution in reconstructive surgery by reducing donor site morbidity. However, many surgeons have witnessed partial flap necrosis. Experimental methods to increase inflow have relied on adding a separate pedicle to the flap. The aim of our study was to experimentally determine whether increasing blood flow in the perforator pedicle itself could benefit flap survival. Methods In 30 male Lewis rats, an extended posterior thigh perforator flap was elevated and the pedicle was dissected to its origin from the femoral vessels. The rats were assigned to three groups: control (group I), acute inflow (group II) and arterial preconditioning (group III) depending on the timing of ligation of the femoral artery distal to the site of pedicle emergence. Digital planimetry was performed on postoperative day (POD) 7 and all flaps were monitored using laser Doppler flowmetry perioperatively and postoperatively in three regions (P1-proximal flap, P2-middle of the flap, P3-distal flap). Results Digital planimetry showed the highest area of survival in group II (78.12%±8.38%), followed by groups III and I. The laser Doppler results showed statistically significant higher values in group II on POD 7 for P2 and P3. At P3, only group II recorded an increase in the flow on POD 7 in comparison to POD 1. Conclusions Optimization of arterial inflow, regardless if performed acutely or as preconditioning, led to increased flap survival in a rat perforator flap model.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.283-290
• /
• 2014

Background: This study aimed to examine the relationship between home-visit nursing services and health care utilization under the public long-term care insurance program in Korea. Methods: We analyzed the long-term care need assessment database and the long-term care and the health insurance claim databases of National Health Insurance Service between July 2011 and June 2012. The sample includes a total of 20,065 home-visit nursing recommended-older beneficiaries who use home-visit nursing and/or home-visit care, based on a standard benefit model developed by the Health Insurance Policy Institute of National Health Insurance Service. The beneficiaries were categorized into home-visit nursing use and non-use groups, and the home-visit nursing use group was again divided into high-use and low-use groups home-visit nursing, based on their total annual home-visit nursing expenditure. Two-part models and negative-binomial regression models were used for the statistical analysis. Results: The home-visit nursing use was negatively associated with the number of outpatient visit and cost, while adjusting for all covariates. The home-visit nursing use was also negatively associated with the inpatient cost among the high home-visit nursing use group. Conclusion: The findings implies home-visit nursing use prevents health care utilization. Further studies and policy strategies that can promote and strengthen home-visit nursing services under the public long-term care insurance are necessary in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.178-184
• /
• 2020

Background: Korea set up a new diagnosis-related group as a demonstration project in 2009. The new diagnosis-related group was reformed in 2016. The main purpose of the study is to identify the effect of reform on coverage of national health insurance. Methods: This study collected inpatient data from a hospital that contains medical information and cost from 2015 July to 2016 June. The dependent variable was the coverage of national health insurance. The dependent variable was divided by total, internal medicine partition, surgical partition, and psychiatric partition. To analyze the effect of the reform, this study conducted an interrupted time series analysis. The final sample included 23,695. Results: The health insurance coverage of internal medicine has the highest, followed by surgery and psychiatry. The health insurance coverage of bundle payment is higher than that of unbundled payment. The proportion of bundled payment and non-benefit decreased and the proportion of unbundled payment increased. The coverage of national health insurance significantly increased after policy reform in internal medicine partition (p-value=0.0356). Conclusion: The results of the study imply that policy reform enhanced the coverage of national health insurance in internal medicine. The government needs to monitor side effects such as an increase of unbundled payment.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.237-244
• /
• 2016

Background: Ginsenoside Rg3 and arginine-fructose (Arg-Fru) are known as the hypotensive compounds of Panax ginseng; however, their efficacy on antihypertension has not been reported yet to our best knowledge. Thus, hypotensive components-enriched fraction of red ginseng (HCEF-RG) was prepared from fine root concentrate (FR) and their antihypertensive effects were investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Methods: Male SHRs were divided into six groups: control (Wistar Kyoto, SHR); FR 500; FR 1,000; HCEF-RG 500; and HCEF-RG 1,000; samples (mg/kg body weight) were orally administered every day for 8 wk. Blood pressure was monitored at 1 wk, 2 wk, 3 wk, 4 wk, 6 wk, and 8 wk by tail cuff method. At 8 wk after samples administration, mice were killed for the measurement of renin activity (RA), angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibition, angiotensin II, and nitric oxide (NO) levels in plasma. Results: HCEF-RG with four-fold more Rg3 and 24-fold more Arg-Fru contents was successfully prepared from reacted mixtures of FR and persimmon vinegar (12 times against FR, v/v) at $80^{\circ}C$ for 18 h. Both FR 1,000 and HCEF-RG 1,000 showed lowered systolic blood pressure than SHR control group and HCEF-RG 1,000 group exhibited a significant decrease in diastolic blood pressure. RA was significantly lowered in all treated groups, while angiotensin II did not affect by FR and HCEF-RG treatment. However, angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibition and NO in FR 1,000 and HCEF-RG 1,000 were significantly increased compared with SHR control group. Conclusion: HCEF-RG is more effective and useful for alleviating hypertension than FR, implying the health benefit of Rg3 and Arg-Fru.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.270-281
• /
• 2011

Purpose: This study was done to determine if osteoarthritis (OA) patients living in rural Korea would have a benefit from a structured group program focused on self-help strategies. Methods: A hundred and twenty-six patients with OA were recruited from nine Primary Health Care Posts. The experimental group received a 6-week self-help education program while the control group received usual care. T-tests and c2-tests were used to determine the homogeneity between the experimental and control groups. Independent sample t-tests were performed to determine the effect of the treatment program. To guard against such likelihood, the level of significance of t-test was determined by Bonferroni correction within the study constructs. When significant group differences were found in study variables at baseline, analysis of covariances (ANCOVAs) were used for group comparisons of outcome variables. Results: The experimental group reported more significant improvement in fatigue, difficulty with physical activity, depression, quality of life, self-efficacy, and health behaviors than did the control group. The experimental group also showed improvements in range of motion and muscle strength as compared to the control group. Conclusion: A self-help group education program was an effective and powerful strategy to promote physical and psychosocial health in OA patients

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.109-119
• /
• 2015

The interaction between wireless sensors such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud is a new paradigm of communication virtualization to overcome resource and efficiency restriction. Cloud computing provides unlimited platform, resources, services and also covers almost every area of computing. On the other hand, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) has gained attention for their potential supports and attractive solutions such as IoT, environment monitoring, healthcare, military, critical infrastructure monitoring, home and industrial automation, transportation, business, etc. Besides, our virtual groups and social networks are in main role of information sharing. However, this sensor network lacks resource, storage capacity and computational power along with extensibility, fault-tolerance, reliability and openness. These data are not available to community groups or cloud environment for general purpose research or utilization yet. If we reduce the gap between real and virtual world by adding this WSN driven data to cloud environment and virtual communities, then it can gain a remarkable attention from all over, along with giving us the benefit in various sectors. We have proposed a Pub/Sub-based sensor virtualization framework Cloud environment. This integration provides resource, service, and storage with sensor driven data to the community. We have virtualized physical sensors as virtual sensors on cloud computing, while this middleware and virtual sensors are provisioned automatically to end users whenever they required. Our architecture provides service to end users without being concerned about its implementation details. Furthermore, we have proposed an efficient content-based event matching algorithm to analyze subscriptions and to publish proper contents in a cost-effective manner. We have evaluated our algorithm which shows better performance while comparing to that of previously proposed algorithms.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• v.7 no.6
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of husbands' help on postpartum depression and self-efficacy of mothers, to investigate what to fix of research design and to examine the feasibility of following experimental study. There was no significant difference in the general characteristics of two groups, which consisted 10 pairs of postpartum mothers and husbands, respectively, confirming the homogeneity of between groups. The prevalence of postpartum depression was 45% in the subjects who were measured at 1 week postpartum, and the average performance of the husbands' help in the experimental group was 3.2 out of 4 points. In the Mann-Whitney U Test, the husbands' help lowered the mean rank of postpartum depression in the experimental group(p<.001), and the mean rank of self-efficacy was higher than the control group, but there was no significant difference. In the process of this study, it was confirmed that, on the side of postpartum mothers of control group had burdens of responding to the questionnaire without the benefit of treatment so it is necessary to revise the design of following experimental study.