• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.727-735
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• 2018

Targeting the radiological technologists working in Gyoungsangnam province, this study was performed to obtain the fundamental data to improve the competency and right awareness of the hospital infection management, and to educate infection management of radiological technologists by analyzing the status, awareness, and performance of the hospital infection management. During April 1, 2018 to April 31, 2015, after we sent out a total of 400 questionnaires for the survey to radiological technologists working at the clinic located in Gyoungsangnam province, 320 questionnaires suitable for research were analysis by using SPSS 18.0 statistical analysis software. As the hospital infection management factors, 5 items for hospital infection and 60 items of the awareness and performance for the hospital infection management were used. 60 items of the awareness and performance for the hospital infection management were consisted hand hygiene, personal hygiene and clothing, medical equipment and supplies, cleaning and waste, examination and environment. And as the sociodemographic characteristics, the gender, marriage, age, level of education, working organization, working period, and working department were used. Consequentially, the awareness for the hospital infection management($4.19{\pm}.60$) and the performance($4.22{\pm}.52$) were confirmed as high level. Using these results, the hospital infection management level of the radiological technologists working in Gyoungsangnam province was found to be high in arareness and performance of hospital infection management. There was a significant correlation between the degree of awareness and performance of radiological technologists for hospital infection management. Furthermore, in the multiple regression analysis of cognitive factors on performance, it was found that 66.1% explanatory power had a significant positive influence. In order to improve the awareness of hospital infection management of radiological technologist working in various departments, the infection management education and improvement of hospital work environment are necessary. And also, It is important to participate actively in hospital infection management and preventive education and to play a pivotal role in securing expertise in hospital infection management.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.248-329
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• 2019

Background: Though clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are an effective and widely used treatment method worldwide, they are as yet not widely accepted in Korea. Given that cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Korea, it is urgent that CR programs be developed. In 2008, the Government of Korea implemented CR programs at 11 university hospitals as part of its Regional Cardio-Cerebrovascular Center Project, and 3 additional medical facilities will be added in 2019. In addition, owing to the promotion of CR nationwide and the introduction of CR insurance benefits, 40 medical institutions nationwide have begun CR programs even as a growing number of medical institutions are preparing to offer CR. The purpose of this research was to develop evidence-based CPGs to support CR implementation in Korea. Methods: This study is based on an analysis of CPGs elsewhere in the world, an extensive literature search, a systematic analysis of multiple randomized control trials, and a CPG management, development, and assessment committee comprised of 33 authors-primarily rehabilitation specialists, cardiologists, and thoracic surgeons in 21 university hospitals and 2 general hospitals. Twelve consultants, primarily rehabilitation, sports medicine, and preventive medicine specialists, CPG experts, nurses, physical therapists, clinical nutritionists, and library and information experts participated in the research and development of these CPGs. After the draft guidelines were developed, 3 rounds of public hearings were held with staff members from relevant academic societies and stakeholders, after which the guidelines were further reviewed and modified. Results: CR involves a more cost-effective use of healthcare resources relative to that of general treatments, and the exercise component of CR lowers cardiovascular mortality and readmission rates, regardless of the type of coronary heart disease and type and setting of CR. Conclusion: Individualized CR programs should be considered together with various factors, including differences in heart function and lifestyle, and doing so will boost participation and adherence with the CR program, ultimately meeting the final goals of the program, namely reducing the recurrence of myocardial infarction and mortality rates.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.60-68
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• 2019

Objectives : The association between thyroid-related hormones and cognitive function has been controversial. The purpose of this study is to compare the levels of thyroid-related hormones in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Furthermore, we investigated the relationship between thyroid-related hormones and cognitive function. Methods : From January 2011 to December 2018, we retrospectively reviewed 105 patients who were diagnosed with AD and MCI by visiting a dementia clinic at Ilsan Paik Hospital. Thyroid-related hormones [triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)] was measured using chemiluminescent immunoassay. An independent sample t-test was performed to analyze the mean value of thyroid-related hormones in patients of AD and MCI. To investigate whether thyroid-related hormones correlate significantly with Global deterioration scale (GDS), Clinical dementia rating (CDR) and scores of each The Korean version of the consortium to establish a registry for Alzheimer's disease items, we conducted a partial correlation analysis with geriatric depression scale-Korean version (GDS-K) scores as covariates. Results : There was no significant difference in the mean serum T3, T4 and TSH levels between patients of the AD and the MCI, but the Construction Praxis Test (CPT) showed a significant positive correlation with the serum TSH concentration (p-value=0.004). Conclusions : In our study, the positive correlation between serum TSH level and the CPT associated with executive function was found to be helpful in understanding the association between thyroid-related hormones and the pathophysiology of dementia. Prospective studies in regard of the pathophysiology of thyroid-related hormones on cognitive function will be necessary in the future.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2019

Purpose: To evaluate the efficiency of the electronic foot function index (eFFI) through a prospective, random based, multi-institutional study. Materials and Methods: The study included 227 patients ranging in age from 20 to 79 years, visited for surgery in different 15 institutes, and agreed to volunteer. The patients were assigned randomly into a paper-based evaluated group (n=113) and tablet-based evaluated group (n=114). The evaluation was done on the day of hospital admission and the method was changed on the second day of surgery and re-evaluated. PADAS 2.0 (https://www.proscore.kr) was used as an electronic evaluation program. Results: There were no differences in age and sex in both groups. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) evaluation revealed an eFFI ICC of 0.924, showing that both results were similar. The evaluation time was shorter in the tablet-based group than the paper-based group (paper vs tablet, $3.7{\pm}3.8$ vs $2.3{\pm}1.3minutes$). Thirty-nine patients (17.2%) preferred to use paper and 131 patients (57.7%) preferred the tablet. Fifty-seven patients (25.1%) found both ways to be acceptable. Conclusion: eFFI through tablet devices appears to be more constant than the paper-based program. In addition, it required a shorter amount of time and the patients tended to prefer the tablet-based program. Overall, tablet and cloud system can be beneficial to a clinical study.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to develop a smartphone based voice therapy program for patients with voice disorders. Contents of voice therapy were collected through analysis of mobile contents related to voice therapy in Korea, experts and users' demand survey, and the program was developed using Android Studio. Content needed for voice therapy was collected through analysis of mobile contents related to voice therapy. The user satisfaction evaluation for application was conducted for five patient with functional voice disorders. The results showed that the mobile contents related to voice therapy in Korea were mostly related to breathing, followed by voice and singing, but only 13 applications were practically practiced for voice therapy. Expert and user demand surveys showed that the patients and therapists both had a high need for content that could provide voice training in places other than the treatment room. Based on this analysis, 'Home Voice Trainer', an smartphone based voice therapy program, was developed. Home Voice Trainer is an application for voice therapy and management based on Android smartphones. It is designed to train voice therapy activities at home that have been trained offline. In addition, the records of voice training of patients were managed online so that patients can maintain voice improvement through continuous voice consulting even after the end of voice therapy. User evaluations show that patients are satisfied with the difficulty and content of voice therapy programs provided by home voice trainers, but lack of a portion of user interface, such as the portion of home button and interface between screens. Further study suggests the clinical application of home voice trainer to the patients with voice disorders. It is expected that the development study and the clinical application of smart contents related to voice therapy will be actively conducted.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1273-1280
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• 2019

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly population, and damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells due to oxidative stress contributes to the development of AMD. Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer is one of the most widely used herbal medicines for the treatment of various diseases in Asian countries. Although recent studies indicated that treatment with G. uralensis can protect cells from oxidative stress, its mechanisms in RPE cells remain unknown. We evaluated the effect of a G. uralensis ethanol extract (GU) on $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative injury in ARPE-19 RPE cells. The GU pretreatment attenuated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation induced by $H_2O_2$, which was associated with induced expression of nuclear factor erythroid-derived-2-like 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). GU also suppressed $H_2O_2$-induced DNA damage and mitochondrial dysfunction. The inhibitory effect of GU on $H_2O_2$-induced apoptosis was associated with the protection of caspase-3 activation. Overall, GU appeared to protect RPE cells from oxidative injury by inhibiting DNA damage and reducing apoptosis. Further studies are needed to determine the regulation of Nrf2-mediated HO-1 expression, but our results suggest the possibility of using GU to reduce the risk of AMD.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.126-136
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• 2021

Oxidative stress causes injury to and degeneration of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. It is involved in several retinal disorders and leads to vision loss. In the present study, we investigated the effect of 14 kinds of natural compounds and two kinds of synthetic compounds on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage in human PRE cell lines (ARPE-19). From among them, we selected five kinds of compounds, including auranofin, FK-509, hemistepsin A, honokiol, and spermidine, which have inhibitory effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated cytotoxicity. In addition, we found that four kinds of compounds (excluding auranofin) have protective effects on H2O2-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Furthermore, the expression of phosphorylation of histone H2AX, a sensitive marker of DNA damage, was markedly up-regulated by H2O2, whereas it was notably down-regulated by FK-506, honokiol, and spermidine treatment. Meanwhile, five kinds of candidate compounds had no effect on H2O2-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, suggesting that the five candidate compounds have protective effects on oxidative stress-induced cellular damage through the ROS-independent pathway. Taken together, according to the results of H2O2-mediated cellular damage―such as cytotoxicity, apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and DNA damage―spermidine and FK-506 are the natural and synthetic compounds with the most protective effects against oxidative stress in RPE. Although further studies on the identification of the mechanism responsible are required, the results of the present study suggest the possibility of using spermidine and FK-506 to suppress the risk of retinal disorders.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 2020

Objectives : Postpartum depression is known to occur in 10-15% of mothers. The concentration of cytokine varies depending on stress, depression, pregnancy and general medical conditions. We hypothesized that the concentration of cytokines may be related to reproduction and childbirth, and that women with postpartum depression would show alterations in cytokines levels. Methods : A total of 104 pregnant women were selected as subjects, and 60 non-pregnant women were selected as normal controls. Symptoms of depression were evaluated in the pregnant study subjects using the diagnostic criteria outlined in the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). The pregnant subjects were divided into three groups perinatal non-depression controls (n=61), postpartum depression-recovery (n=18), and postpartum depression (n=25). Results : The plasma concentration of TGF-β1, IGF-1 was higher in the pregnant group than in non-pregnant controls (TGF-β1 ; p<0.01, IGF-1 ; p=0.026). At 24 weeks of pregnancy and 6 weeks of delivery, there were no significant differences in the plasma concentration of TGF-β1, IGF-1, β-NGF, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IFN-γ, TNF-α between the three groups. There was no statistically significant difference in all three groups during the course of depression in pregnant women. Conclusions : This study found significant difference in plasma cytokines concentrations between non-pregnant controls and perinatal non-depression controls.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.143-154
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• 2020

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive and psychological characteristics of patients with military service suitability issues compared to the general psychiatric outpatients. Methods : 108 patients who visited psychiatric clinic center due to military service suitability issues and 80 general psychiatric patients were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry of university hospital. ANCOVA and chi-equare test were used to examine differences between two groups. Furthermore, we utilized paired t-test to compare the scrore within military group depending on when they performed the psychological assessment. Results : There were no significant differences between military group and general outpatient group in WAIS-IV scores. However, military group scored remarkably higher than control group on validity scales, F-r and Fp-r whereas they scored lower on validity scale, K-r. Furthermore, military group showed significantly higher on BDI and MMPI-2-RF, EID, RCd, RC2, RC3, COG, HLP, SFD, NFC, STW, SAVE, SHY, DSF, NEGE-r, INTR-r. As a result of comparison within the military group following the periods of assessment, military group did not show the significant differences on the overall scales of MMPI-2-RF. Conclusions : The present study showed that military group tends to report their psychological distress more exaggeratedly. In addition, they had significantly elevated not only emotional distress such as depression and anxiety but interpersonal problem. The implications and limitations were discussed along with some suggestions for the future studies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2022

Background and Objectives Globus pharyngeus is one of the most common symptoms of patients visiting otorhinolaryngology out-patient clinic, and usually long-lasting, difficult to treat, and frequently recurrent. Mucomyst^®, N-acetyl cysteine is an inhalation agent mainly used for mucolysis and reducing inflammation in airway via antioxidative effect. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of inhaled Mucomyst^® treatment in patients with globus pharyngeus refractory to proton pump inhibitor (PPI). Materials and Method We prospectively evaluated the efficacy of Mucomyst^® in relieving symptoms of globus pharyngeus refractory to PPI in nine medical centers. Three hundred and three patients enrolled and finally 229 patients finished the inhaled Mucomyst^® therapy for 8 weeks. We analyzed the change of Reflux Symptom Index (RSI), Reflux Finding Score (RFS), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for globus, and Globus Pharyngeus Symptom Scale (GPS) after use of Mucomyst^® for 4 and 8 weeks. Results The GPS, RSI, RFS, and VAS score significantly decreased serially in patients who finished 8 week-inhalation treatment. The GPS improvement gap was significantly correlated with initial GPS (p<0.001) in multiple regression analysis. Conclusion Inhaled Mucomyst^® therapy was effective for the reduction of both subjective and objective findings in refractory globus patients. This study might suggest new treatment option for patients with globus. However, further thorough studies would be needed to assess the real effect of inhaled Mucomyst^® treatment as a standard treatment for globus.