• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.236-240
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• 2018

Crop yield is critically related to the physiological responses and disease resistance of the crop, which could be strongly affected by high temperature conditions. We observed the changes in the growth of barley under higher than ambient air-temperature conditions using a temperature gradient field chamber (TGFC) during winter and spring. Before the stem extension stage of barley growth, Cladosporium sp. spontaneously appeared in the TGFC. The severity of disease became serious under warmer temperature conditions. Further, the stomata closed as the severity of the disease increased; however, stomatal conductance at the initial stage of disease was higher than that of the normal leaves. This was likely due to the Iwanov effect, which explains that stressed plants rapidly and transiently open their stomata before longer-term closure. In this study, we tested three optical methods: soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) chlorophyll index, photochemical reflectance index (PRI), and maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm). These rapid evaluation methods have not been used in studies focusing on disease stress, although some studies have used these methods to monitor other stresses. These three indicative parameters revealed that diseased barley exhibited lower values of these parameters than normal, and with the increase in disease severity, these values declined further. Our results will be useful in efficient monitoring and evaluation of crop diseases under future warming conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2672-2679
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• 2012

The study was done to provide basic data of medical quality evaluation after developing the comorbidity disease mortality measurement modeled on the severity-adjustment method of AMI. This study analyzed 699,701 cases of Hospital Discharge Injury Data of 2005 and 2008, provided by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We used logistic regression to compare the risk-adjustment model of the Charlson Comorbidity Index with the predictability and compatibility of our severity score model that is newly developed for calibration. The models severity method included age, sex, hospitalization path, PCI presence, CABG, and 12 variables of the comorbidity disease. Predictability of the newly developed severity models, which has statistical C level of 0.796(95%CI=0.771-0.821) is higher than Charlson Comorbidity Index. This proves that there are differences of mortality, prevalence rate by method of mortality model calibration. In the future, this study outcome should be utilized more to achieve an improvement of medical quality evaluation, and also models will be developed that are considered for clinical significance and statistical compatibility.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.439-446
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• 2020

Purpose: The evidence for an association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and obesity is conflicting. Therefore, we set out to review the body mass index (BMI) at presentation of IBD to understand if the rise of the obesity rate in the general population, lead to an increase of obesity in patients with IBD at the time of diagnosis. Methods: Retrospective review of all patients with IBD seen at Children's Hospital and Medical Center from January 1st 2010 to December 31st 2014. From the initial visit and endoscopy, we obtained: age; sex; BMI; disease phenotype; disease severity. Results: We had a total of 95 patients, 35 patients were excluded due to incomplete data or referral being made after diagnosis was made. 28 were males and 32 were females, Age range was 2-17 years. A 37 had Crohn's disease, 19 ulcerative colitis, and 4 indeterminate colitis. Disease severity in 19 cases was mild, 29 moderate and 12 severe. BMI distribution was as follows-obese (5.0%), overweight (6.7%), normal weight (65.0%), mild malnutrition (8.3%), moderate malnutrition (15.0%), severe malnutrition (1.7%). Conclusion: Our data is consistent with other series. Showing most children had a normal BMI, regardless of disease severity or phenotypes. One confounding factor is the possibility of delay in referral to GI. This could mean some obese children may fall in the normal BMI range at the time of diagnosis due to ongoing weight loss. Future studies should include prospective cohort studies, comparing incidence of IBD in obese and non-obese patients, severity at presentation, duration of symptoms, and clinical outcomes.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.267-275
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical availability of ankle-brachial index(ABI) according to severity of cardiovascular disease. The subjects of this study were the patients who had ABI in a general hospital. In this study, total 441 patients were enrolled for analysis. Electric medical records were reviewed to investigate the result of ABI and severity of cardiovascular disease measured vessel disease and Gensini score. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0 program. Subjects with $ABI{\leq}0.90$ and > 0.90 were classified as having abnormal and normal ABI. There were significant differences in vessel disease categorization($x^2=4.731$, p=.030) and Gensini score(t=2.351, p=.019) between two groups. Therefore, ABI is an effective and non-invasive tool for the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease with high severity. ABI is a valuable predictive index of ischemic heart disease.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.42-51
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• 2018

Objectives : This study was aimed to evaluate the correlation between changes in disease severity and serum total IgE or eosinophil count in individual patients of atopic dermatitis depending on the change of severity. Methods : We performed a retrospective chart review of 8 cases of atopic dermatitis who underwent blood tests more than five times. Disease severity was assessed by objective SCORing of Atopic Dermatitis index (OSI). Blood tests include serum total IgE, eosinophil counts, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (SCr). In each subject, on the day that the blood test was performed, OSI was also assesed by a same physician. Correlation between OSI and total IgE or eosinophil count was analysed by nonparametric correlation analysis. Results : There was a statistically significant positive correlation between OSI and total IgE in three cases and a positive correlation between OSI and eosinophil count in two cases. In other three cases, there were no significant correlation. There were no cases that OSI correlated with total IgE and eosinophil count at the same time. In all cases, AST, ALT, BUN and SCr were stable. Conclusions : We suggest that total IgE and eosinophil count may reflect the severity of atopic dermatitis differently in individual patients. We also suggest that total IgE and eosinophil counts may be used as biomarkers to predict the severity of atopic dermatitis in some patients depending on the underlying pathology.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2008

The purpose of the study was to investigate nutritional status of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and to find out the differences according to the stages of disease. From March to October, 2006, 41 stable male patients of mild to severe COPD patients were recruited from Seoul National University hospital. The patients' of body weight and fat free mass were assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The nutritional status of the patients was also assessed by 3-day recall, index of nutritional quality (INQ), dietary diversity score (DDS), dietary variety score (DVS), food group index pattern and dietary quality index (DQI). The total of 41 patients were classified into three groups, stage I, stage II and stage III groups according to the classification of Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) standard. The mean age of the patients in each stage were 67.2-66.9 years showing no significant difference. The ratio of $FEV_1$/FVC were $57.5{\pm}7.3$, $46.9{\pm}7.6$ and $38.2{\pm}6.8%$, respectively showing significant differences according to the stages of disease. The fat free mass of the stage II ($48.2{\pm}4.7kg$) and III ($47.3{\pm}4.5kg$) was significantly lower than that of stage I ($53.1{\pm}6.9kg$) patients. There were significant correlation of fat free mass with $FEV_{1}$, and BMI (body mass index) with $FEV_{1}$/FVC ratio (p < 0.05). COPD patients showed the diet-related clinical symptoms of anorexia, dyspnea, dyspepsia, and chewing difficulty. Daily intakes of calorie, K, vitamin $B_2$ and folate of the patients were very low ($83.8{\pm}20.7%$, $58.9{\pm}14.4%$, $70.7{\pm}19.6%$ and $74.4{\pm}10.2%$, respectively) however, they did not significantly different according to the stages of disease. Daily intake of calcium was significantly lower in the stage III patients (p < 0.05). The mean scores of dietary variety score was significantly lower in the stage III patients (p < 0.001). Dietary quality index of the patients were not different among the stages of disease and the scores indicated poor quality of diet. As a summary, we found that body fat free mass, regularity of exercise, frequency of having snacks and dietary variety score were significantly associated with the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.248-256
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• 2014

Purpose: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children has become an important public health issue because of its high prevalence and severity. Several noninvasive methods for estimating NAFLD are under investigation. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of serum ferritin as a biomarker of severity of pediatric NAFLD patients. Methods: A total of 64 NAFLD patient were enrolled from Severance Children's Hospital from March 2010 to February 2013. Serum ferritin levels, liver related laboratory tests, liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (2-dimensional [2D] proton density-fat fraction) and NAFLD severity markers were compared between obese group and overweight group. Correlation analyses were performed between serum ferritin and laboratory values including NAFLD severity markers. Results: In obese group, serum ferritin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total bilirubin, international normalized ratio (INR), MRI 2D proton density-fat fraction, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) to platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis- 4 (FIB-4) (an index score calculated from platelet count, ALT, AST and age) were significantly higher than those of overweight group. NAFLD severity markers, APRI and FIB-4, and liver specific important laboratory values, AST, ALT, INR, cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein show significant correlation with serum ferritin in NAFLD patients. Conclusion: Serum ferritin concentrations could be a candidate of useful severity marker in the pediatric NAFLD patients.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.27-36
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• 2011

Objective : The purpose of this clinical research was to analyze the correlation between disease severity and disease specific quality of life adjusted by general quality of life measure in adult patients with atopic dermatitis attending Wonkwang Univ. Sanbon Oriental Medical Center. Methods : A total of 35 patients participated in atopic dermatitis clinical trial from June 1st, 2010 to June 30th, 2011 were included in this study. SCORing Atopic Dermatitis(SCORAD) index, Dermatologic Life Quality Index(DLQI), Health Utility Index III(HUI-III) and EuroQoL 5-Dimension(EQ-5D) have been estimatied. Baseline statistical analysis and normality test were done by using Student t-test, Shapiro-Wilk test and ladder test. Pearson analysis and Spearman analysis were conducted to examined the correlation of each variables. Hierachial regression analysis was performed using related variables. Statistical significance was achieved if the probability was less than 5%. Results : There were statistically significance between DLQI and SCORAD index, and also between DLQI and EQ-5D. However there was no significant between DLQI and HUI-III. In the hierachial regression analysis, after adjusting for demographic variables (gender, age) and general quality of life (EQ-5D), SCORAD index significantly predict the intensity of disease specific quality of life (DLQI). Conclusions : We confirmed the correlation between SCORAD index and DLQI, and developed the inference for regression equation of DLQI using SCORAD index, EQ-5D and demographic variables.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.327-335
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• 2022

Background: The pathophysiology of fibromyalgia (FM) involves many mechanisms including central nervous system sensitization theory, autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction, and recently small fiber neuropathy. While the small fiber neuropathy itself can cause ANS dysfunction and neuropathic pain (NP), it is still unknown whether ANS problems have an association with severity of disease and NP in patients with FM. The aim of this study was to evaluate ANS dysfunction in FM patients and to explore possible associations of ANS dysfunction with disease severity and NP. Methods: Twenty-nine FM patients and 20 healthy controls were included in this cross-sectional study. Participants were tested using sympathetic skin responses (SSR) and R-R interval variation analyses for sympathetic and parasympathetic ANS dysfunction, respectively. Disease severity and somatic symptoms of patients with FM were evaluated using the ACR-2010 scales and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, and NP symptoms were evaluated using the Pain Detect Questionnaire and Douleur Neuropathique questionnaire. Results: FM patients were found to have ANS dysfunction characterized by increased sympathetic response and decreased parasympathetic response. SSR amplitudes were found to be correlated with a more severe disease. Although nonsignificant, NP severity tended to be associated with a decrease in sympathetic and parasympathetic activities. Conclusions: ANS dysfunction may play a role in the pathophysiology of FM. The trend of decreased ANS functions in FM patients exhibiting NP contradicts the notion that FM is a sympathetically maintained NP and may be explained with small fiber involvement.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.126-136
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to develop a severity-adjustment model for predicting mortality in acute stroke patients using machine learning. Using the Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey from 2006 to 2015, the study population with disease code I60-I63 (KCD 7) were extracted for further analysis. Three tools were used for the severity-adjustment of comorbidity: the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), the Elixhauser comorbidity index (ECI), and the Clinical Classification Software (CCS). The severity-adjustment models for mortality prediction in patients with acute stroke were developed using logistic regression, decision tree, neural network, and support vector machine methods. The most common comorbid disease in stroke patients were hypertension, uncomplicated (43.8%) in the ECI, and essential hypertension (43.9%) in the CCS. Among the CCI, ECI, and CCS, CCS had the highest AUC value. CCS was confirmed as the best severity correction tool. In addition, the AUC values for variables of CCS including main diagnosis, gender, age, hospitalization route, and existence of surgery were 0.808 for the logistic regression analysis, 0.785 for the decision tree, 0.809 for the neural network and 0.830 for the support vector machine. Therefore, the best predictive power was achieved by the support vector machine technique. The results of this study can be used in the establishment of health policy in the future.