• Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research
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• v.95 no.5
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• pp.267-277
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• 2018

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze survival outcomes in 1,000 consecutive liver transplantations (LTs) performed at a single institution from 1993 to April 2017. Methods: The study population was divided into 2 groups based on donor type: deceased donor LT (DDLT; n = 181, 18.1%) and living donor LT (LDLT; n = 819; 81.9%), and into 3 periods based on the number of cases (first 300 cases, middle 300 cases, last 400 cases). Results: Infection was the most common cause of death, accounting for 34.8% (95 of 273). Mortality due to hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence occurred most frequently between 1 and 5 years after transplantation. Mortality rate by graft rejection was highest between 5 and 10 years after transplantation. And mortality by de novo malignancy occurred most frequently after 10 years after transplantation. The patient survival rates for the entire population at 5 and 10 years were 74.7%, and 68.6%, respectively. There was no difference in survival rate between the LDLT and DDLT groups (P = 0.188). Cause of disease, disease severity, case period, and retransplantation had a significant association with patient survival (P = 0.002, P = 0.031, P = 0.003, and P = 0.024, respectively). Conclusion: Surgical techniques and perioperative management for transplant patients have improved and undergone standardization. Controlling perioperative infection and managing patients with HCC as LT candidates will result in better outcomes.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.104-110
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• 2007

Streptococcus pyogenes, which is classified to Group A streptococcus (GAS), is one of the most common bacterial pathogens of the childhood infection. This organism can cause acute bacterial pharyngitis, impetigo, peritonsilar abscess or scarlet fever. It can also cause severe invasive diseases such as toxic shock syndrome, sepsis, septic arthritis, necrotizing pneumonia or necrotizing fasciitis. Usually, invasive GAS infections are accompanied by systemic symptoms and signs. Necrotizing pneumonia presents with acute fever, pleuritic chest pain and cough. The progress of disease is usually rapid and typically, pleural effusion develops in the early course of disease. Necrotizing fasciitis is relatively rare but once it has developed, it may be life threatening and cause necrosis of adjacent soft tissues with rapid progress. Clinical manifestations of parapharyngeal abscess are fever, dysphagia or bulging of pharyngeal wall. We experienced three cases of GAS infections which were presented atypically.

• ALGAE
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.249-265
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• 2014

As with land crops, cultivated algae are affected by various diseases ranging from large outbreaks of a disease to chronic epiphytes, which may downgrade the value of the final product. The recent development of intensive and dense mariculture practices has enabled some new diseases to spread much faster than before. A new disease is reported almost every year, and the impact of diseases is expected to increase with environmental change, such as global warming. We observed the incidence of diseases in two Pyropia sea farms in Korea from 2011 to 2014, and estimated the economic loss caused by each disease. Serious damage is caused by the oomycete pathogens, Pythium porphyrae and Olpidiopsis spp., which decreased the productivity of the Pyropia sea farms. In Seocheon sea farms, an outbreak of Olpidiopsis spp. disease resulted in approximately US $1.6 million in loss, representing approximately 24.5% of total sales during the 2012-2013 season. The damage caused by green-spot disease was almost as serious as oomycete diseases. An outbreak of green-spot disease in the Seocheon sea farms resulted in approximately US $1.1 million in loss, representing 10.7% of total sales in the 2013-2014 season in this area. However, the causative agent of green-spot disease is still not confirmed. "Diatom felt" is regarded as a minor nuisance that does not cause serious damage in Pyropia; however, our case study showed that the economic loss caused by "diatom felt" might be as serious as that of oomycete diseases. Bacteria and cyanobacteria are indigenous members of epiphytic microbial community on Pyropia blades, but can become opportunistic pathogens under suitable environmental conditions, especially when Pyropia suffers from other diseases. A regular acid wash of the Pyropia cultivation nets is the most common treatment for all of the above mentioned diseases, and represents approximately 30% of the total cost in Pyropia sea farming. However, the acid wash is ineffective for some diseases, especially for Olpidiopsis and bacterial diseases.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2007

Otitis media with effusion is known to be very common among children with cleft palate and is the common cause of acquired hearing loss in childhood. The purpose of the present study was to examine the anatomic variances, incidence and treatment of middle ear disease in children with cleft palate. In Korea, before 4-year-old age, the prevalence of otitis media was as high as 91.7%. Common treatments for otitis media were conservative or surgical treatment. The medical treatment options include the use of decongestants, antihistamines, antibiotics and mucolytics. Surgical treatment options include grommet insertion, myringotomy. Unlike the case for children without clefts, cleft patient has a higher incidence of recurrence, so surgical treatment between the age of 3 month and 6 month was recommended. The effect of palatoplasty on middle ear disease has remained controversial. Early and periodic evaluation on the symptomatic infection or significant of hearing loss was recommended.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.344-349
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• 2021

Background: Cancer patients have been disproportionally affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with high rates of severe outcomes and mortality. Fever is the most common symptom in COVID-19 patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians may have difficulty in determining the cause of fever (COVID-19, another infection, or cancer fever) in cancer patients. Furthermore, there are no specific guidelines for managing cancer patients with fever during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of cancer patients with fever during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 328 cancer patients with COVID-19 symptoms (fever) admitted to five hospitals in Daegu, Korea from January to October 2020. We obtained data on demographics, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, chest computed tomography images, cancer history, cancer treatment, and outcomes of all enrolled patients from electronic medical records. Results: The most common COVID-19-like symptoms were fever (n=256, 78%). Among 256 patients with fever, only three (1.2%) were diagnosed with COVID-19. Most patients (253, 98.8%) with fever were not diagnosed with COVID-19. The most common solid malignancies were lung cancer (65, 19.8%) and hepatobiliary cancer (61, 18.6%). Twenty patients with fever experienced a delay in receiving cancer treatment. Eighteen patients discontinued active cancer treatment because of fever. Major events during the treatment delay period included death (2.7%), cancer progression (1.5%), and major organ dysfunction (2.7%). Conclusion: Considering that only 0.9% of patients tested for COVID-19 were positive, screening for COVID-19 in cancer patients with fever should be based on the physician's clinical decision, and patients might not be routinely tested.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2667-2671
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• 2013

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the western world and also ranks as the fifth-leading malignancy and death in Thailand. This study aimed to provide a present outlook of colorectal diseases among Thai patients with special emphasis on CRC in Hatyai, Songkhla, southern Thailand. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study covered ten year data of CRC, benign colorectal tumors and non-colorectal tumors from the Department of Pathology in Hatyai Hospital, Songkhla, Thailand, between years 2003-2012. Incidence rates based on age, gender, ten year incidence trends, and distribution of histopathological characteristics of patients were calculated and demonstrated. Results: Out of 730 biopsies, 100 cases were benign colorectal tumors, 336 were CRC and 294 were non-colorectal tumors. Colorectal tumors (both benign and CRC) (60.1%) were more common than non-colorectal tumors (39.9%). CRC (77.1%) were more common than benign colorectal tumors (32.9%). Colorectal tumors were mainly found in patients aged over sixty whereas non-colorectal and benign colorectal tumors were found in those under sixty (P=0.01). sAmong CRC, adenocarcinoma contributed about 97.3% of all cases with well differentiated tumors being the most frequent (56.9%). Both benign colorectal tumors and CRC were more commonly found in males (63%) than females (37%). The incidence trend of CRC demonstrated increase from 2003-2012. Conclusions: The incidence of CRC increased in Hatyai from 2003-2012. CRC tends to be more common in people older than sixty, thus, screening programs, cost-effective analysis of treatment modalities, and treatment protocols for the elderly should be examined. Proper implementation of preventive measures such as changing lifestyle factors might enhance control of colorectal disease.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.41-46
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• 2017

Purpose: Thin glomerular basement membrane nephropathy (TBMN) is, along with the IgA nephropathy, the most common cause of asymptomatic hematuria in Korean children. TBMN is usually a benign renal disease not requiring treatment and is associated with a good prognosis, but some cases hematuria is indicative of a state of progressive renal insufficiency. We aimed to retrospectively evaluate clinical manifestations and renal prognosis of patients with TBMN. Methods: Among the 428 renal biopsies performed on children at Yeungnam University Hospital between January 2000 and February 2017, 167 patients were diagnosed as having TBMN. We retrospectively investigated 167 pediatric patients and identified 59 children with follow-up duration >3 years. Results: Among 59 patients, there were 33 boys and 26 girls. Mean age of onset of hematuria was $7.18{\pm}2.64$ years, and mean time from onset of disease until a renal biopsy was performed was $2.48{\pm}2.10$ years. There were no clinical features or laboratory findings among studied children to indicate decreased renal function during follow-up; however, one case progressed to chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to an unknown cause. There were seven patients among these related a positive family history of hematuria or renal insufficiency. Concluson: Although almost all patients had normal renal functions during follow-up, there were one patient who progressed to CKD and seven patients with family history of hematuria or renal insufficiency. Moreover, four among the 428 patients over 17 years underwent repeat renal biopsies, which showed results different from their earlier biopsies.Thus, large-scales studies may be required to determine long-term prognosis of TBMN in children, and further evaluation for Alport syndrome in TBMN cases is essential.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.10
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• pp.931-937
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• 2007

The hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a rare disease of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, low platelet count and renal impairment. HUS usually occurs in young children after hemorrhagic colitis by shigatoxin-producing enterohemorrhagic E. coli (D+HUS). HUS is the most common cause of acute renal failure in infants and young children, and is a substantial cause of acute mortality and morbidity; however, renal function recovers in most of them. About 10% of children with HUS do not reveal preceding diarrheal illness, and is referred to as D- HUS or atypical HUS. Atypical HUS comprises a heterogeneous group of thrombomicroangiopathy (TMA) triggered by non-enteric infection, virus, drug, malignancies, transplantation, and other underlying medical condition. Emerging data indicate dysregulation of alternative complement pathway in atypical HUS, and genetic analyses have identified mutations of several regulatory genes; i.e. the fluid phase complement regulator Factor H (CFH), the integral membrane regulator membrane cofactor protein (MCP; CD46) and the serine protease Factor I (IF). The uncontrolled activation of the complement alternative pathway results in the excessive consumption of C3. Plasma exchange or plasma infusion is recommended for treatment of, and has dropped the mortality rate. However, overall prognosis is poor, and many patients succumb to end-stage renal disease. Clinical presentations, response to plasma therapy, and outcome after renal transplantation are influenced by the genotype of the complement regulators. Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), another type of TMA, occurs mainly in adults as an acquired disease accompanied by fever, neurologic deficits and renal abnormalities. However, less frequent cases of congenital or hereditary TTP associated with ADAMTS-13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease, with thrombospondin 1-like domains 13) gene mutations have been reported, also. Recent advances in molecular genetics better allow various HUS to be distinguished on the basis of their pathogenesis. The genetic analysis of HUS is important in defining the underlying etiology, predicting the genotype-related outcome and optimizing the management of the patients.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2015

It is widely accepted that Parkinson's disease(PD) is the most common cause of hypokinetic dysarthria, and its characteristics of 'short rushes of speech' have become more evident along with the severity of motor disorders. Speech alternate motion rates (AMRs) are particularly useful for observing not only rate abnormalities but also deviant speech. However, relatively little is known about the characteristics of 'short rushes of speech' in terms of AMRs of PD except for the perceptual characteristics. The purpose of this study was to examine which acoustic features of 'short rushes of speech' in terms of AMRs are a robust indicator of Parkinsonian speech. Numbers of syllabic repetitions (/pə/, /tə/, /kə/) in AMR tasks were analyzed through acoustic methods observing a spectrogram of the Computerized Speech Lab in 9 patients with PD. Acoustically, we found three characteristics of 'short rushes of speech': 1) Vocalized consonants without closure duration(VC) 76.3%; 2) No consonant segmentation(NC) 18.6%; 3) No vowel formant frequency(NV) 5.1%. Based on these results, 'short rushes of speech' may affect the failure to reach and maintain the phonatory targets. In order to best achieve the therapeutic goals, and to make the treatment most efficacious, it is important to incorporate training methods which are based on both phonation and articulation.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.242-245
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• 2005

The most common feature of neurodegenerative disease (i.e. Alzheimer's disease, AD) is the increased number of activated microglial cells nearby the pathogenic area of the brain, such as amyloid plaque in AD. An abnormality of protein regulation and an imbalance of clearance against ${\beta}-amyloid\;(A{\beta})$ produced amyloid precursor protein (APP) can turn microglia into the activated feature out of the ramified resting phase. We examined the possibility that ginsenoside Rb1 could attenuate the microglial activation induced by massive $A{\beta}$ that has known to induce a chronic inflammation, which is a major cause of AD by damaging neuronal cells (i.e. apoptosis or necrosis). Aggregated $A{\beta}42\;(5\;{\mu}M)$ peptide was used with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) ($10\;{\mu}g$) for a comparative control up to 48hours. We found that Rb1 reduced the production of nitric oxide as well as proinflammatory cytokines, such as $IL-1{\beta}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$.