• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.26-35
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• 1991

From January 1984 to June 1990, 188 patients have undergone cardiac valve replacement [114 MVR, 27 AVR, 47 Multiple valve replacement] with the St. Jude Medical prosthesis. The early mortality rate was 6.9%. The most common cause of early death was low output syndrome. There were no cases of valve-related early death. The risk factors for early death were advanced preoperative NYHA functional class [> IV], and prolonged ECC and ACC time. The 175 early survivors were followed-up for a total 372.7 patient-year over a period of 2 to 74 months [Mean $\pm$SD: 25.6$\pm$18.6 months]. During follow up, 12 patient died and late mortality rate was 6.9%. There were three valve-related late deaths: two were due to valve thrombosis and one was due to hemorrhage. Most late deaths [58%, 7/12] were from cardiac non-valvular causes. Valve-related complications occurred at a linearlized rate of 3.5% /pt-yr. Embolism occurred at a rate of 0.8% /pt-yr. There were three cases of valve thrombosis [0.8% /pt-yr: two fatal]. Hemorrhage due to anticoagulant occurred in 5 patients and a rate of 1.3% pt-yr [one fatal]. Five-year actuarial survival rate was 86.5 $\pm$5.1% and 97% of patient were in NYHA functional class I or II at three months postoperatively.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.150-155
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• 2018

End-of-life care competencies have been perceived as important and essential, so it has been suggested that end-of-life care be studied in undergraduate medical education. However, end-of-life care curriculum has mostly focused on acquisition of knowledge and skills rather than attitudes. Therefore, we aimed to explore whether education about death affects medical students' attitudes towards care for dying patients and perception of death anxiety, meaning in life, and self-esteem. A total of 15 first- or second-year medical students were surveyed with questionnaires before and after completing a 6-week death education course. Paired data analysis showed that participants' attitudes towards caring for terminally ill patients and their caregivers improved significantly (t=-2.84, p=0.013) with an effect size of 0.73. In contrast, no significant changes were found in death anxiety, meaning in life, or self-esteem. All participants agreed that formal teaching about death and dying must be encouraged in medical schools. Our results suggest that death education may positively influence attitudes towards end-of-life care. Although replication with larger samples is necessary, this preliminary finding may support the importance of developmentally appropriate end-of-life care education in medical schools.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.402-408
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• 2003

A quantitative method was suggested for estimating damages in fishery production due to the diffusion and deposition of suspended silt and clay by various construction processes in tidal flat fishing grounds. Marine populations are maintained through the process of spawning, growth, recruitment, natural death and death by fishing each year. All of the year classes of the population in a fishery ground could be affected when damages occur by human activities such as land filling or reclamation. The propose of this study is to calculate damages in terms of fishery production using a quantitative population dynamic method. If the maximum age in the population is $X_\lambda,$ the starting year of damage is $t_s,$ and the ending year of damage is $t_e,$ the number of year classes damaged is $t_{s-n\lambda}-t_e,$ Many year classes present in the year $t_s,$ and so if damages occur, they Influence all the year classes which are present in the population. Damaged year classes in year $t_e$ would still be in the population until the year $t_{e+n\lambda}$, where $n_{\lambda}$ is the oldest age class. If the expected yield of a year class is constant, the total yield from year classes in the fishing ground during the construction periods can be calculated as follows: $Y_\Phi=[(t_e-t_s+1)+n_c]{\cdot}Y_E+\sum\limits^{n_\lambda-n_c}_{l=1}\;\sum\limits^{n_\lambda-n_c}_{l=i}\;Y_{n_c+i}$ This method was applied for damage estimation in the production of Ruditapes philippinarum in a tidal flat fishing ground.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.281-295
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• 1978

Last year in this department 100 cases of open heart surgery were done annually. This year 200 cases of open heart surgery were scheduled. During the first 6 months of this year 112 open heart surgery cases were done with 13 deaths [11.6%]. There were 72 cases of cougenital malformation with 9 operative deaths [12.5%], consisting of 23 acyanotic cases with one death [4.5%] and 49 cases of cyanotic cases with 8 deaths [16.3%]. Out of 40 tetralogy of Fallot, 6 cases expired [15%]. For 39 cases of acquired valvular heart disease and one Ebstein anomaly valves were replaced with 4 operative deaths [10%]. Single valve replacement in 33 with 3 operative deaths and double valve replacement in 7 cases with one death were noted. Two patients expired among 28 mitral valve replacement cases [7.1%]. Among 7 double valve replacement patients, consisting of 3 mitral and aortic and 4 mitral and tricuspid valve replacement one case expired. In a case of Ebstein anomaly, tricuspid valve was replaced with plication of atrialized right ventricle successfully. The operative result was excellent.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-40
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• 1987

When the men die, uniform changes progress. Many investigators have studied about the time after death, but it's very difficult to measure the time elapsed since death, particularly in highly decomposed or probably skeletonized bodies. But the teeth are very stable to the changes of physical and chemical properties and their changes are very slow. At this point of view, the author studied this theme as one of the pioneers in our country. In this study, the author observed the degree of the dentinal expansion and the crack of enamel and cementum of the teeth which had been extracted from December, 1983 to September, 1987. The teeth were extracted from the male and female who was 18 to 85 year old. The results are followed; 1. The degree of dentinal expansion increased rapidly until 7 months with high degree and then decreased slowly. 2. The equation of regression for representing x as the degree of the dentinal expansion and y as the time elapsed since death, is y = 29.43-1.13x (p<0.05) 3. The crack of the enamel surface seemed to begin at 1 year from extraction and to increase apparently before or after 20 months. 4. The crack of the cementum began at 3 months from extraction and dendrite crack began at 16 months from extraction. After this, the crack increase continuously and the rate of cracking were more rapid as compared with that of enamel. 5. It seems to be useful to measure the time elapsed since death using the degree of dentinal expansion and the crack of enamel and cementum, particularly in the old bodies after death.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.319-330
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• 2024

The present study aimed to investigate the death years of conifers to verify the time difference between landslide occurrence in 2011 and tree mortality near Chibanmok and Jangteomok shelters in the Jirisan National Park. Furthermore, abrupt growth reduction was also investigated to verify the living conditions when they were living. For the study, tree-ring analysis was conducted by selecting 14 living Abies koreana near the landslide area and 7 dead ones in the landslide area in the Chibanmok site, and 13 living conifers (7 Picea jezoensis, 5 A. koreana, and 1 Pinus koraiensis) near landslide area and 4 dead ones (2 P. jezoensis and 2 A. koreana) in landslide area in the Jangteomok site. Using the tree-ring samples from living A. koreana 137-year long chronology (1885-2021) was established for the Chibanmok site and 364- and 65-year long P. jezoensis (1658-2021) and A. koreana (1957-2021) chronologies was built for the Jangteomok site. Through the synchronization test between the tree-ring time series from dead conifers and the corresponding chronologies, it was verified that the death of conifers in the landslide areas occurred after 2011, when the landslide happened, except for only one tree. It was further verified through the abrupt growth reduction test that the growth condition of dead conifers before the landslide in 2011 was satisfactory.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 1999

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to identify hospice volunteers' perception of the death. Methods : This study was conducted with 327 adults who registered for the hospice volunteer education program in Severance Hospice Center from 1996 through 1999. The 4-years data was collected through a self-reporting questionnaire constructed and revised by the authors. The questionnaire was classified into 5 categories. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS/W. Results : 1) Hospice volunteers were mostly female(93.9%) with an average age of 48 years. The majority(82.6%) of the participants were Protestant. 2) From the 4-years data over 90 percent of participants thought of death as a process of life and responded positively to these three items : 'Death is a temporary separation from family', 'I will die in peace', 'Faith in God results in a freedom from fear of death'. 3) Age were statistically relevant to the following items: 'I often read the obituaries in the newspaper', 'Dying is a tragedy', and 6 items were significantly related to religion: 'I rarely think of dying unexpectedly', 'Death is a temporary separation from family'. 'Dying is a tragedy', 'We have to do our best to prolong life by use of modem medical technology', 'I feel comfortable thinking of death and dying, 'Faith in God results in a freedom from fear of death'. The finding that religiosity was related to perception of death is consistent with other reports. And $40{\sim}50$ year old Protestant women had more positive perception of death than $20{\sim}30$ year old women. Conclusion : The findings indicated an importance of considering the age and religiosity when we educate the hospice volunteers. And that will be a important basic-data to develope program for hospice volunteers.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.260-265
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• 2013

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the seasonal variation of death from intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation and suffocation (HSS: Korean Standard Classification of Diseases-6 code: X70) using the 2011 death registry data. Methods: The analysis was based on data of 8,359 HSS deaths from 2011 national vital statistics in Korea. Daily, weekly, and monthly death pattern on HSS were used to examine the relationship seasonal variation and HSS deaths. Results: A total of 8,359 HSS deaths occurred in 2011, with a mean age of 50.6 years. The HSS death rate (per 100,000) was 25.5 in male and 10.8 in female. In one day 17.6 males and 8.0 females occurred HSS death on average. The number of HSS death per day was the highest on 8th June (45 deaths), and lowest on 1st February (7 deaths) during the period. The variations of daily HSS death showed wide fluctuation from a peak of 34 to 45 deaths (29th May to 9th June) to a trough of 17-26 deaths (10th-13th September: the Korean thank-giving consecutive holidays), 13-20 deaths (2nd-5th February: the new year's day by the lunar calendar) and 8-9 deaths (24th-25th December: Christmas holidays). There were no significant difference between gender and seasonal variation (month, season, and week). Conclusion: The mean number of HSS death per day was highest in June (30.6 deaths), and months with the lowest number of deaths was January and December (range, 19.4 to 19.6 deaths). HSS death were more prevalent during summer and spring and were less likely to occur during winter. On Saturdays (21.0 deaths), the number of HSS death per day was the lowest, and Monday (27.9 deaths) was the highest. HSS death was less likely to occur on holidays (21.4 deaths). There was significant seasonal variation in HSS death by weekly and monthly (p<0.01).

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.4-14
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• 2004

Background : To examine the problems involved in writing practice of death certificates, we compared the determination of underlying cause of death for vital statistics using recorded underlying cause of death in issued death statistics. Methods : We collected 688 mortality certificates issue in year of 2,000 from 3 university hospitals. And we also collected vital statistics from ministry of statistics. The causes of death were coded by experienced medical record specialists. And causes of death determined at ministry of statistics for national vital statistics were mapped to causes of death recorded at each death certificates. The rate that underlying causes of death for vital statistics were derived from underlying causes of death recorded at issued death certificates were analysed. Results : 64.5% of underlying cause of death for could be derived from underlying cause of death recorded at issued death certificates, 8.6% derived from intermediate cause of death, and 3.9% derived from direct cause of death. In 23% of cases, underlying cause of death could not be derived using issued death certificates. The rate that underlying cause of death for vital statistics could be derived from underlying cause of death recorded at death certificates was different between 3 university hospitals. And the rate was also different between death certificates and postmortem certificates. We classified the causes of death using 21 major categories. The rate was different between diseases or conditions that caused death too. Conclusion : When we examined the correctness of death certificate writing practice using above methods, correctness of writing could not be told as satisfactory. There was difference in correctness of writing between hospitals, between death certificates and postmortem certificates, and between diseases and conditions that caused death. With this results, we suggested some strategy to improve the correctness of death certificate writing practice.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.71-82
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate paramedic students' awareness and attitude toward a do not resuscitate (DNR) order and death. Methods: This research was conducted among 421 students from the Department of Emergency Medical Technology in a 4-year college located in the Chungcheong and Daejeon districts, from May 14 to 22, 2014. Data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS 21.0. Results: The mean level of attitude toward death was 2.17. The paramedic students with clinical experience showed a positive attitude toward death, of whom 72.0% answered that a DNR order is necessary. The mean level of attitude toward DNR was 2.88. The paramedic students with clinical experience showed a positive attitude toward a DNR order. They indicated that sanctity of life should be respected rather than extending ineffective treatment and that patients' decisions on DNR should be respected. The students who had more knowledge about DNR and felt the necessity of DNR had a positive attitude about death and DNR. Conclusion: Paramedic students need systematic education for proper recognition and values establishment about death and DNR.