• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.304-315
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• 2012

Today, suicide by self-poisoning of prescribed or non-prescribed drugs on purpose has been increasing and is a major cause of mortality. It is very important to treat promptly and properly for saving the lives from those suicides. There is neither an organization such as poison control center nor measurement in S. Korea, though. The object of this study was to evaluate information of frequently used substances for suicide attempt in S. Korea. Our results also can provide healthcare provider including pharmacists and doctors, etc and contribute to increasing health and welfare for Korean. From June $1^{st}$ 2006 to April $30^{th}$ 2012, we retrospectively studied patients visiting emergency room due to suicide attempt. We collected information of underlying disease, history of past medical condition and suicide attempt, ingredient and getting route of ingesting substances, emergency treatment, and outcome by reviewing electronic medical record. We also evaluated actual treatment of self-poisoning and made guide information about antidote medication for S. Korean healthcare provider. Among total 242 cases of suicidal attempts, cases ingesting substances including prescription, non-prescription drugs and agricultural chemicals were 86.4%. The most frequently used drugs for suicide attempt were sedatives-hypnotics (53.6%), followed by analgesics (16.7%) and antidepressants (12.4%). Analgesics including acetaminophen and aspirin were most in teenagers but sedatives-hypnotics including benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine (zolpidem) and antihistamine were most in other ages including elderly people. Most frequently used antidote was activated charcoal (62.7%) and specific antidotes for some substances (acetaminophen, aspirin, agricultural chemicals) were also treated properly, accompanying with medication for supportive care. In conclusion, the most used substances for suicide attempt were sedatives-hypnotics and treatments for self-poisoning in emergency room were appropriate based on existing references. Therefore, information of frequently used substances and antidote reflecting these results will be useful for South Korean healthcare provider.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.137-144
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• 2020

Delirium is among the most common mental disorders encountered in patients with a temporary cognitive impairment such as consciousness disorder, attention disorder, and poor speech, particularly among those who are older. Delirium is distressing for patients and families, can interfere with the management of symptoms such as pain, and is associated with increased elderly mortality. The purpose of this paper is to generate useful clinical knowledge that can be used to distinguish the outcomes of patients with delirium in long-term care facilities. For this purpose, we extracted the clinical classification knowledge associated with delirium using a local covering rule acquisition approach with the rough lower approximation region. The clinical applicability of the proposed method was verified using data collected from a prospective cohort study. From the results of this study, we found six useful clinical pieces of evidence that the duration of delirium could more than 12 days. Also, we confirmed eight factors such as BMI, Charlson Comorbidity Index, hospitalization path, nutrition deficiency, infection, sleep disturbance, bed scores, and diaper use are important in distinguishing the outcomes of delirium patients. The classification performance of the proposed method was verified by comparison with three benchmarking models, ANN, SVM with RBF kernel, and Random Forest, using a statistical five-fold cross-validation method. The proposed method showed an improved average performance of 0.6% and 2.7% in both accuracy and AUC criteria when compared with the SVM model with the highest classification performance of the three models respectively.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.28-41
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• 2003

Background : Because unplanned readmissions to intensive care unit(ICU)might be related with undesirable patient outcomes, we investigated the pattern of and reason for unplanned ICU readmission to provide baseline data for reducing unplanned returns to ICU. Methods : The subjects included all patients who readmitted to ICU during the same hospitalization at a tertiary referral hospital between January 1st and June 30th 2002. Quality improvement(QI) nurse collected the data through medical records and a medical director reviewed the data collected. Results : 1) The average unplanned ICU readmission rate was 5.6%(gastroenterology 14.6%, pediatrics 12.7%, pulmonology 11.9%, neurosurgery 6.3%, general surgery 5.3%, chest surgery 3.9%, and cardiology 3.3%). 2) Among the unplanned readmissions, more than 50% of cases were from patients older than 60 years, and the main categories of diagnose at hospital admission were neurologic disease(29.9%) and cardiovascular disease(27.6%). 3) Of unplanned ICU readmissions, 41.8% had recurrence of the initial problems, 44.8% had occurrence of new problems. And 9.7% required post-operative care after unplanned operations. 4) The most common cause responsible for unplanned ICU readmission were respiratory problem(38.3%) and cardiovascular problem(14.3%). 5) About 40% of unplanned ICU readmission occurred within 3 days after ICU discharge. 6) Average length of stay of the readmitted patients to ICUs were much longer than that of non-readmitted patients. 7) Hospital mortality rate was much higher for unplanned ICU readmitted patients(23.6%) than for non-readmitted patients(1.5%) (P<0.001). Conclusions : This study showed that the unplanned ICU readmitted patients had poor outcomes(high morality and increased length of stay). In addition study results suggest that more attention should be paid to patients in ICU with poor respiratory function or elderly patients, and careful clinical decisions are required at discharged from ICU to general ward.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.748-758
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• 1998

The Recommended Dietary Allowances(RDAs, Nutrient standards), dietary guidelines, and food guides, each define aspects for a healthy diet in different ways. The RDA and food guide for Koreans were first established in 1962 by the Food and Nutrition Committee of the Korea FAO Association. The committee released the RDA and suggested ways to intake the recommended nutrients. Every five years, the committee has added more data and released revisions. The latest edition of the RDA is the 6th revision. In the beginning, the concept of basic food groups was emphasized as basic data for planning means based on RDA. In the 5th revision, the basic food groups and dietary guideline for public health from the Ministry of Health and Welfairs(December, 1990) suggests that, 1) Eat a variety of foods with a recommended fat intake equaling or less than 20% of total calories ; 2) Maintain ideal body weight and prevent obesity ; 3) Eat foods low in salt. Salt intake should not exceed 10g ; 4) Do not drink too much ; 5) Eat regularly and enjoy meals. After these guidelines were established, the first nutritonal education efforts guidelines were developed in 1984. Despite broad possibilities for application, they had limited use, mainly as a nutritional assessment and food balance sheet preparation. They were not well utilized in public nutritional education and nutritonal policy through the media because of the weakness of the government's food and nutriton policy. Also a lack of administrative support and dietitians in the health department and administrative organizations was partly to blame. In regard to public health and nutrition status, life expectancy has increased 10 years since the 70's and the elderly population increased threefold in 1995 compared to 1960. The common causes of death in 1996 by 19 Chapters classification, were first disease of the circulatory system ; the second, neoplasms ; the third, external causes fo mortality ; the forth, diseases of the digestive system ; and the fifth, respiratory system diseases, In food intake, grain and complex starch intake has decreased while fruit and animal foods have considerably increased. Therefore, energy from carbohydrates has decreased while energy from protein and fat has increased. Energy intakes from protein, fat and carbohydrates were respectively 12.5, 7.2 and 80.3% in 1969 but 16.1, 19.1 and 64.8% in 1995. 62.9% of the householes had the fat energy less than 20%, while 37.1% had the fat energy above 20%. The only intakes of vitamin A and calcium were below RDA levles. Therefore, nationwide attention should be focused on public nutriton education and public activities with supplementation of the RDAs, according to the food guide and the dietary guideline.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2011

Background: The aim of the study was to describe the characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of critically ill patients with pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 at a major medical center in Korea. Methods: This retrospective observational study examined critically ill adult patients with pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009, who were admitted to the AMC between August and December 2009. Results: 27 patients with confirmed pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Asan Medical Center (AMC). The median age (IQR) was 59 years (41~67), and 66.7% of the patients were older than 51 years. A total of 81.5% of the patients had 2 or more co-morbidities. The median time (IQR) from symptom onset to presentation was 2 days (1~4), and the median time from presentation to ICU admission was 0 days (0~1.5). All patients received oseltamivir (300 mg/day) and 13 patients received triple combination therapy (oseltamivir, amantadine, ribavirin). Twelve patients required mechanical ventilation on the first day of ICU admission. A total of 6 patients (22.2%) died within 28 days of admission. The patients who died had significantly higher acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores at presentation. There were no significant differences in age, co-morbidities, or antiviral regimens between survivors and non-survivors. Conclusion: Critical illness related to pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 was common in elderly patients with chronic co-morbidities. All patients were given high-dose oseltamivir or triple combination antiviral therapy. Nonetheless, patients with critical illnesses associated with pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 had a death rate of 22.2%.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.64-67
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• 2014

Esophageal cancer has a poor prognosis, because the progression rate is faster compared to that of other cancers, Up to 30-40% of cases are inoperable at diagnosis, and most cases occur in the elderly. By this time, surgery has been regarded as the treatment of choice in patients suffering esophageal cancer and recent improvements in surgical techniques and perioperative management have significantly increased the resection rate and reduced the operative mortality. And Although the combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy has been reported to be an effective treatment for esophageal cancer, most cases show only partial remission. Moreover, radiation therapy alone or chemotherapy alone has limited efficacy. We report a rare case of an 80-year-old man who presented with a chief complaint of dysphasia and was diagnosed with advanced esophageal cancer, with a review of the literature. Considering his advanced age, generally poor performance status, and the risk of fistula development after radiation therapy due to indentation of esophageal cancer into the main bronchus, palliative, rather than therapeutic, chemotherapy was performed, and complete remission was obtained.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.251-261
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• 2014

Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been found to be superior, in terms of hospital mortality and long-term outcome, compared with thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the clinical benefits of primary PCI have not been precisely evaluated in elderly patients.1,974 patients (Group I: n=1,018, $age{\geq}65years$, $73.8{\pm}5.99years$; Group II: n=956, age<65years, $52.8{\pm}7.96years$) who underwent primary PCI for AMI at Chonnam National University Hospital between 2006 and 2010 were analyzed according to their clinical, angiographic characteristics for hospital and one-year survival. Group I had a higher percentage of women, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, multi-vessel disease and lower prevalence of current smoking, hyperlipidemia, familial history than Group II. Culprit lesions were at the left anterior descending artery, left circumflex artery, right coronary artery and left main artery in 42.8% vs. 45.0%, 34.1% vs. 29.6%, 14.6% vs 14.6, 2.7% vs. 1.6%, respectively (p=0.007). Stent diameter was smaller in group I ($3.17{\pm}0.39$ vs. $3.29{\pm}0.42mm$, p=0.001). In-hospital mortality was higher in group I (8.4 vs. 1.9%, p<0.001). There were significant differences in the rates of major adverse cardiac events between the two groups during one-year clinical follow-up (20.1 vs.14.0%, p<0.001). On multiple logistic regression analysis, systolic blood pressure<100mmHg, serum $creatinine{\geq}1.3mg/dL$, Killip class> I, multivessel disease, left ventricular ejection fraction <40% and cerebro vascular disease were independent predictors of one-year motality in patients over 65 years after PCI.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2008

Background: Protection of the brain is a major concern during thoracic aortic surgery using hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA). This study compares the surgical outcomes of two different cerebral protection methods in thoracic aortic surgery using HCA: retrograde cerebral protection (RCP) and antegrade cerebral protection (ACP). Material and Method: We retrospectively reviewed data on 146 patients who underwent thoracic aortic surgery from May 1995 to February 2007 using either RCP (114 patients, Group 1) or ACP (32 patients, Group 2) during HCA. There were 104 dissections (94 acute and 10 chronic) and 42 aneurysms (41 true aneurysms and 1 pseudoaneurysm), and all patients underwent ascending aortic replacement. There were 33 cases of hemiarch replacement, 5 of partial arch replacement, and 21 of total arch replacement. Result: The two groups were similar in preoperative and operative characteristics, but Group 2 had more elderly (over 70 years old) patients (34.4% vs. 10.5%), more coronary artery diseases (18.8% vs. 4.4%), more total arch replacements (46.9% vs. 5.3%) and longer HCA time ($50{\pm}24$ minutes vs. $32{\pm}17$ minutes) than Group 1. The operative mortality was 4.4% (5/114) and 3.1% (1/32), the incidence of permanent neurologic deficits was 5.3% (6/114) and 3.1% (1/32), and the incidence of temporary neurologic deficits was 1.8% (2/114) and 9.4% (3/32) in Groups 1 and 2, respectively. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in operative mortality, postoperative bleeding, or neurologic deficits (permanent and temporary). Conclusion: The early outcomes of aortic surgery using HCA were favorable and showed no statistical difference between RCP and ACP. However, the ACP patients endured longer HCA times and more extended arch surgeries. ACP is the preferred brain protection technique when longer HCA time is expected or extended arch replacement is needed.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.3-19
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to observe the efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources in Korea. For the empirical analysis, we constructed the dataset on age standardized mortality rate, the number of physician, specialist, surgery, medical institution, ratio of general hospitals of 16 provinces in Korea from 2006 to 2013. The panel probability frontier model is employed as an analysis method and considered heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation of the error in panel data. In addition, the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the 16 provinces, unemployment rate, elderly population ratio, GRDP per capita, and ratio of hospitals in comparison to the general hospitals are used to find the effect on the technical efficiency of clinical performance on supply and demand of medical resources. The results are as follows. First, for the clinical performance, the supply side of human resources such as doctors and specialists and the demand side factors such as chronic illness clinic per unit population have a significant influence, respectively. Second, the technical efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources of each input component was 59-70% in terms of clinical efficiency in each region. Third. estimates of technical efficiency of inputs that affect clinical performance showed a slight increase in all regions during the analysis period, but the increase trend decreased slightly. Fourth, the ratio of the elderly population and GRDP per capita have a positive influence on the technical efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources. The difference of each efficiency by region is due to the regional differences of the input medical resources and the combination of them and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the region. It is understood that the differences in technological efficiency due to the complexity of supply and demand of medical resources, demographic structure and economic difference affecting clinical performance by region are different.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 1985

Femur neck fracture is well known as one of the major death cause after trauma in elderly patients, and unsolved fracture due to its frequent association with complications such as avascular necrosis and nonunion. Through meticulous evaluation of the patient, hip and surgeon's experiences, reduction of mortality and morbidity as well as rapid recovery of the patient to the preinjury social and ambulatory status without local complications and revision after treatment is urgently needed. Many factors about this fracture In itself were noted, but we have analyzed 18 femur neck fractures of the patients older than 50 years preliminarily according to age, fracture pattern, osteoporosis, etiology and method of treatment with its delay in association with major complications especially avascular necrosis and nonunion. The results are as follows; 1. Of these 18 fractures, 11 were in females, 8 were caused by minor trauma such as slip-down accident and 4 were associated with definite osteoporosis according to the Sing's classification. 2. Fracture pattern of these 18 are undisplaced in 4, displaced subcapital in 11, displaced transcervical in 3. 11 fractures in the patients older than 60 year are composed of 3 undisplaced or impacted fractures and 8 displaced subcapital fractures. 3. These 18 fractures were treated by closed reduction and Internal fixation with multiple pins in 13, and hemiarthroplasty in 4, but one was not treated to die after discharge from hospital. 4. 4 undisplaced or impacted fractures and 3 displaced transcervical fractures were not associated with any complications such as avascular necrosis or nonunion. But 4 of 6 displaced subcapital fractures were complicated by avascular necrosis, 3 of which were reduced in the varus position within 1 week, and the other was reduced in the good position on 1 week after trauma. There was no complication in 2 displaced subcapital fractures reduced in valgus position within 3 days after trauma. According to the above results, the prognosis of the femur neck fracture is dependent upon the fracture pattern and delay in its treatment. So it is inevitable to reduce the fracture in anatomical or valgus position as early as possible. But the arthroplasty may be needed in displaced subcapital fractures delayed for several days, with its reluction in extreme varus position or impossible and with pre-existing disease in the same hip Joint (total hip replacement).