• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.205-211
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• 2024

Currently, with the development of technologies, X-ray examinations for medical examinations at hospital is increasing. This study was conducted to help reduce radiation exposure by measuring the exposure dose received by pediatric patients and the spatial dose of the X-ray room. Dosimeters were installed in the eyeball, thyroid gland, breast, gonads and 4 directions at a distance of 30 cm, 40 cm, 50 cm from the phantom. The dose was measured ten times each, before, and after the application of the bismuth shield under the examination conditions of the head, chest, and abdomen of pediatric patients. Under the condition of head examination, when a shielding was applied, the dose reduction rate was 68.58% for the eyeball, 72.88% for the thyroid, 84.2% for the breast, and 72.36% for the gonad. The chest examination showed reductions of 19.56% eyeball, 56.98% thyroid, 1.21% breast, and 0.68% gonad. The abdominal examination showed reduction rates of 2.6% eyeball, 10.67% thyroid, 19.85% breast, and 82.02% gonad. Spatial dose decreased by 62.25% at 30 cm, 61.16% at 40 cm, and 68.68% at 50 cm. When the bismuth shield was applied, there was a decrease in dose across all examinations, as well as a reduction in spatial dose. Continued research on the use of bismuth shields will help radiological technologists achieve their goal of dose reduction.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.165-187
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• 2023

The continuous increase in life expectancy and high interest in health has brought about significant changes in the use of health information by the public according to the development of information technology represented by the Internet and smartphones. As the medical market expands to the mobile health environment, many health-related apps have been created and distributed, but the acceptance rate is slow as it has become challenging to provide services due to various regulations. In this study, perceived value, perceived risk factors (psychological risk, risk of time-loss, legal risk), and perceived benefits (usefulness, interaction, autonomy) were derived and verified as factors that affect the acceptance resistance of personal health record apps based on the privacy calculation model. In addition, by analyzing the moderating effect of trust in the manufacturer, how the perceived risk and perceived benefit affect the perceived value was verified. A survey was conducted on Korean college students who recognized the personal health record apps but did not use them, and 127 samples were analyzed using structural equations. As a result of hypothesis verification, perceived value has a negative effect on acceptance resistance, perceived risk (risk of time-loss) has a negative effect on perceived value, and perceived benefits (usefulness, interaction, autonomy) were found to have a positive effect on perceived value. Trust in manufacturers has weakened the impact of perceived risks (legal risk) on perceived values. This study is expected to play an important role in maintaining a competitive advantage in the personal health record app market environment by identifying and proposing detailed criteria for reducing the acceptance resistance of personal health record apps.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.1
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• pp.54-69
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• 2022

Early detection of potential asymptomatic coronary artery disease is very important, as patients with sudden cardiac death often do not show symptoms such as chest pain or motor dyspnea. Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has long been unjustified as a screening tool for asymptomatic patients because of the risks posed by radiation exposure. However, there are still various opinions regarding the usefulness of CCTA for screening for coronary artery disease (CAD) in asymptomatic healthy individuals or patients. This review investigated the usefulness of coronary artery calcium score and CCTA as screening tests for CAD in asymptomatic healthy individuals or patients through various literature reviews. With the development of CT technology, recent studies have been conducted in asymptomatic CAD patients with a reduced radiation dose of less than 1 mSv. A total of 2.6% of asymptomatic subjects on CCTA found significant CAD over 70%, and it was concluded that screening CCTA for CAD showed prognostic power in predicting the future occurrence of CAD in asymptomatic people. However, after the completion of the current NIH SCOT-HEART 2 study, it may be possible to determine whether CCTA is appropriate as a screening tool for CAD in asymptomatic healthy individuals.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.529-540
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• 2023

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance and clinical outcomes of 2-mSv computed tomography (CT) and conventional-dose CT (CDCT), following radiology residents' interpretation of CT examinations for suspected appendicitis. Materials and Methods: Altogether, 3074 patients with suspected appendicitis aged 15-44 years (28 ± 9 years, 1672 females) from 20 hospitals were randomly assigned to the 2-mSv CT (n = 1535) or CDCT (n = 1539) groups in a pragmatic trial from December 2013 and August 2016. Overall, 107 radiology residents participated in the trial as readers in the form of daily practice after online training for 2-mSv CT. They made preliminary CT reports, which were later finalized by attending radiologists via addendum reports, for 640 and 657 patients in the 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups, respectively. We compared the diagnostic performance of the residents, discrepancies between preliminary and addendum reports, and clinical outcomes between the two groups. Results: Patient characteristics were similar between the 640 and 657 patients. Residents' diagnostic performance was not significantly different between the 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups, with a sensitivity of 96.0% and 97.1%, respectively (difference [95% confidence interval {CI}], -1.1% [-4.9%, 2.6%]; P = 0.69) and specificity of 93.2% and 93.1%, respectively (0.1% [-3.6%, 3.7%]; P > 0.99). The 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups did not significantly differ in discrepancies between the preliminary and addendum reports regarding the presence of appendicitis (3.3% vs. 5.2%; -1.9% [-4.2%, 0.4%]; P = 0.12) and alternative diagnosis (5.5% vs. 6.4%; -0.9% [-3.6%, 1.8%]; P = 0.56). The rates of perforated appendicitis (12.0% vs. 12.6%; -0.6% [-4.3%, 3.1%]; P = 0.81) and negative appendectomies (1.9% vs. 1.1%; 0.8% [-0.7%, 2.3%]; P = 0.33) were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Diagnostic performance and clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the 2-mSv CT and CDCT groups following radiology residents' CT readings for suspected appendicitis.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.16.1-16.20
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• 2022

The gastrointestinal tract is the first organ directly affected by fasting. However, little is known about how fasting influences the intestinal immune system. Intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) capture antigens, migrate to secondary lymphoid organs, and provoke adaptive immune responses. We evaluated the changes of intestinal DCs in mice with short-term fasting and their effects on protective immunity against Listeria monocytogenes (LM). Fasting induced an increased number of CD103⁺CD11b^- DCs in both small intestinal lamina propria (SILP) and mesenteric lymph nodes (mLN). The SILP CD103⁺CD11b^- DCs showed proliferation and migration, coincident with increased levels of GM-CSF and C-C chemokine receptor type 7, respectively. At 24 h post-infection with LM, there was a significant reduction in the bacterial burden in the spleen, liver, and mLN of the short-term-fasted mice compared to those fed ad libitum. Also, short-term-fasted mice showed increased survival after LM infection compared with ad libitum-fed mice. It could be that significantly high TGF-β2 and Aldh1a2 expression in CD103⁺CD11b^- DCs in mice infected with LM might affect to increase of Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells. Changes of major subset of DCs from CD103⁺ to CD103^- may induce the increase of IFN-γ-producing cells with forming Th1-biased environment. Therefore, the short-term fasting affects protection against LM infection by changing major subset of intestinal DCs from tolerogenic to Th1 immunogenic.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2024

Purpose: Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) who undergo dental procedures during radiotherapy (RT) face an increased risk of developing osteoradionecrosis (ORN). Accordingly, new tools must be developed to extract critical information regarding the dose delivered to the teeth and mandible. This article proposes a novel approach for visualizing 3-dimensional planned dose distributions on panoramic reconstruction computed tomography (pCT) images. Materials and Methods: Four patients with HNC who underwent volumetric modulated arc therapy were included. One patient experienced ORN and required the extraction of teeth after RT. In the study approach, the dental arch curve (DAC) was defined using an open-source platform. Subsequently, pCT images and dose distributions were generated based on the new coordinate system. All teeth and mandibles were delineated on both the original CT and pCT images. To evaluate the consistency of dose metrics, the Mann-Whitney U test and Student t-test were employed. Results: A total of 61 teeth and 4 mandibles were evaluated. The correlation coefficient between the 2 methods was 0.999, and no statistically significant difference was observed (P>0.05). This method facilitated a straightforward and intuitive understanding of the delivered dose. In 1 patient, ORN corresponded to the region of the root and the gum receiving a high dosage (approximately 70 Gy). Conclusion: The proposed method particularly benefits dentists involved in the management of patients with HNC. It enables the visualization of a 3-dimensional dose distribution in the teeth and mandible on pCT, enhancing the understanding of the dose delivered during RT.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.517-525
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• 2023

The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MRPA) have become a serious problem worldwide. The involvement of metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) in inducing carbapenem resistance is particularly acute. However, unlike other members of the Enterobacteriaceae genus, new clones of P. aeruginosa are constantly emerging and rapidly replacing previously prevalent dominant clones. Therefore, this study aimed to perform antimicrobial resistance gene analysis, integron gene cassette analysis using DNA sequencing, and plasmid transfer analysis by conjugation to investigate the antimicrobial resistance dynamics of 18 P. aeruginosa strains isolated from various medical samples at a general hospital in Busan from September 2017 to September 2019. All 18 strains showed extensively drug-resistant (XDR) phenotype and were resistant to most antibiotics, except colistin (100%) but were susceptible to aztreonam (22.2%) and ceftazidime (16.6%). Approximately 66.7% of the strains had Class 1 integrons showing various antimicrobial resistances. Notably, IMP-6 ST235 (66.7%), VIM-2 ST357 (16.7%), and IMP-1 ST446(16.7%) were identified. The identification of IMP-1-producing ST446, previously unreported in Korea, is noteworthy considering the emergence and prevalence of another MRPA high-risk clone.

• Journal of Platform Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.72-83
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• 2023

ChatGPT, commercial launch in late 2022, has shown successful results in various professional exams, including US Bar Exam and the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), demonstrating its ability to pass qualifying exams in professional domains. However, further experimentation and analysis are required to assess ChatGPT's scholastic capability, such as logical inference and problem-solving skills. This study evaluated ChatGPT's scholastic performance utilizing the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (KCSAT) subjects, including Korean, English, and Mathematics. The experimental results revealed that ChatGPT achieved a relatively high accuracy rate of 69% in the English exam but relatively lower rates of 34% and 19% in the Korean Language and Mathematics domains, respectively. Through analyzing the results of the Korean language exam, English exams, and TOPIK II, we evaluated ChatGPT's strengths and weaknesses in comprehension and logical inference abilities. Although ChatGPT, as a generative language model, can understand and respond to general Korean, English, and Mathematics problems, it is considered weak in tasks involving higher-level logical inference and complex mathematical problem-solving. This study might provide simple yet accurate and effective evaluation criteria for generative artificial intelligence performance assessment through the analysis of KCSAT scores.

• The Korean journal of internal medicine
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.458-468
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• 2024

Background/Aims: The SAMe-TT₂R₂ score is used for assessing anticoagulation control (AC) quality with warfarin. However, it is hard to apply SAMe-TT₂R₂ score in Asian patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), because it has not been proven in those populations. This study aimed to validate the SAMe-TT₂R₂ score in Asian patients with AF and suggest a modified SAMe-TT₂R₂ score for this population. Methods: We analyzed 710 Korean patients with AF who were using warfarin. The AC quality was assessed as the mean time in therapeutic range (TTR). Each component of SAMe-TT₂R₂ score was evaluated for the relationship with AC. Further clinical factors that predict AC were analyzed. Identified factors were re-assorted and constructed as SA₂Me-TTR scoring system. Results: Of the components of the SAMe-TT₂R₂ score, female, age, and rhythm control were associated with AC. Heart failure and renal insufficiency were newly identified factors associated with AC. The modified SA₂Me-TTR score was reconstructed with the relevant risk factors (S, female gender, 1 point; A, age < 60 yr, 2 points; Me, medical history of heart failure, 1 point; T, treatment for rhythm control, 1 point; T, history of stroke or transient ischemic attack, 1 point; R, renal insufficiency, 1 point). The modified SA₂Me-TTR score demonstrated an excellent relationship with the grading of AC. The modified SA₂Me-TTR score ≤ 1 identified patients with good AC (hazard ratio 2.46, 95% CI 1.75-3.47). Conclusions: The modified SA₂Me-TTR score was useful for guiding oral anticoagulants selection in Asian patients with AF.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.285-294
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• 2024

This study aims to provide basic data for improving academic self-efficacy by identifying the mediating effect of teacher support and the moderating effect of growth mindset in the impact of academic burnout on academic self-efficacy. The subjects of the survey were 300 college students majoring in stomatology and stomatology technology in Guangzhou Medical College who were intentionally sampled from a university in Guangdong, China. Data was collected using an online questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS PC+ Win. ver. 25.0 and SPSS PROCESS macro ver. 4.2. The statistical techniques used were descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and indirect effect and conditional direct effect analysis. The research results are as follows. First, academic burnout showed a significant negative correlation with teacher support, growth mindset, and academic self-efficacy. Teacher support showed a significant positive correlation with growth mindset and academic self-efficacy. Second, in the relationship between academic burnout and academic self-efficacy, teacher support played a mediating role, and growth mindset played a moderating role. To improve academic self-efficacy, this study proposed ways to utilize teacher support to offset and growth mindset to buffer the impact of academic burnout on academic self-efficacy.