• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.229-234
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• 2006

Objectives: Cardiovascular disease is one of the main causes of death and morbidity in Korea. In this study, the prevalence and incidence of developing hypertension in a male-workers' cohort were investigated during 3-years follow-up with a view to find the risk factors that affected the development of hypertension. Methods: Among the 5,374 people who participated in a routine health check up, 3,852 people with normal blood pressure and who had no history of hypertension were prospectively followed up for 3 years. The classification of hypertension was based on the JNC7 report (the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure). Life style factors and underlying diseases that were related to the risk factors of hypertension were collected by using a self-report questionnaires via the internet. Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 28.3% (1,520/5,374) at the first screening (2001). It was found that the incidence in 2004 of hypertension for the follow-up subjects (3,711) who had normal blood pressure in 2001 was 7.6 per 100 person-year. Multiple logistic regression analysis of the variables related to the risk factors of hypertension was carried out. The relative risks were 1.037 (95% CI=1.022-1.053) as the age increased 1 year and 1.039 (95% CI=1.023-1.055) as the body mass index increased $1kg/m^2$. The relative risk for the prehypertensive group was 2.501 (95% CI=1.986-3.149) compared to the normotensive group. These results showed that age, body mass index and the baseline blood pressure were significantly related to the incidence of hypertension. Conclusions: The incidence of hypertension was 7.6 per 100 person-year during follow-up. It was concluded that the risk factors for developing hypertension in the short-term were age, BMI, and prehypertension; Especially, this showed that it is necessary for prehypertensives to manage their body weight and blood pressure to prevent hypertension in middle-age by modifying their life style.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.179-184
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• 2013

Purpose: X-ray exposure should be clinically justified and each exposure should be expected to give patients benefits. Since dental radiographic examination is one of the most frequent radiological procedures, radiation hazard becomes an important public health concern. The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitude of Korean dentists about radiation safety and use of criteria for selecting the frequency and type of radiographic examinations. Materials and Methods: The study included 267 Korean dentists. Five questions related to radiation safety were asked of each of them. These questions were about factors associated with radiation protection of patients and operators including the use of radiographic selection criteria for intraoral radiographic procedures. Results: The frequency of prescription of routine radiographic examination (an example is a panoramic radiograph for screening process for occult disease) was 34.1%, while that of selective radiography was 64.0%. Dentists' discussion of radiation risk and benefit with patients was infrequent. More than half of the operators held the image receptor by themselves during intraoral radiographic examinations. Lead apron/thyroid collars for patient protection were used by fewer than 22% of dental offices. Rectangular collimation was utilized by fewer than 15% of dental offices. Conclusion: The majority of Korean dentists in the study did not practice radiation protection procedures which would be required to minimize exposure to unnecessary radiation for patients and dental professionals. Mandatory continuing professional education in radiation safety and development of Korean radiographic selection criteria is recommended.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.247-254
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• 2010

Purpose: To study the thickness of gluteal subcutaneous fat (SCF) and propose an adequate length for needle for gluteal intramuscular injections based on computed tomography (CT) measurements. Methods: The thickness of gluteal SCF were measured and studied for 568 patients who visited a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea between January 2007 and February 2009 for routine health screening and who had abdominopelvic CT. Results: The average thickness of gluteal SCF was $15.92{\pm}4.08mm$ in males and $24.90{\pm}5.47mm$ in females. The thickness of gluteal SCF differed significantly according to gender. The gluteal SCF thickness was greater than 20.4 mm for 54 (12.3%) of the 440 male patients and 99 (77.3%) of the 128 female patients. Conclusion: The most common syringe needle used for gluteal intramuscular injections in Korea is a 23 G, 25.4 mm-needle. The SCF thickness must be less than 20.4 mm in order to reach the dorsogluteal muscles to a depth of at least 5 mm if this 25.4 mm needle is used. In many patients, especially in female patients, the 25.4 mm needles will result in improper intramuscular injections with the injection being into the SCF. Therefore an appropriate needle should be selected by considering the gender and SCF thickness of patients receiving gluteal intramuscular injections.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.14 no.1_2
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• pp.29-36
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• 2011

The frequency of fetal malformations accounts for around 3-5% and evaluation of the health of the fetus and screening for fetal malformations has become an important part of prenatal care. Improvements in prenatal diagnosis have allowed identification of malformation in fetuses during first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Prenatal ultrasonography has become routine part of antenatal examination. For development of imaging, the accuracy of diagnosis is getting higher and earlier diagnosis of congenital malformation, such as cleft lip and palate, can provide to parent counseling, and opportunity to prepare the further treatment. For the better understanding of congenital cleft lip diagnosis to the oral and maxillofacial surgeons, as healthcare providers, we reviewed around 19 english-written articles and summarized some knowledges of ultrasound findings in the prenatal cleft lip fetus.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.574-583
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• 2023

Purpose: Gastric cancer (GC) is among the most prevalent and fatal cancers worldwide. National cancer screening programs in countries with high incidences of this disease provide medical aid beneficiaries with free-of-charge screening involving upper endoscopy to detect early-stage GC. However, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused major disruptions to routine healthcare access. Thus, this study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the diagnosis, overall incidence, and stage distribution of GC. Materials and Methods: We identified patients in our hospital cancer registry who were diagnosed with GC between January 2018 and December 2021 and compared the cancer stage at diagnosis before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to age and sex. The years 2018 and 2019 were defined as the "before COVID" period, and the years 2020 and 2021 as the "during COVID" period. Results: Overall, 10,875 patients were evaluated; 6,535 and 4,340 patients were diagnosed before and during the COVID-19 period, respectively. The number of diagnoses was lower during the COVID-19 pandemic (189 patients/month vs. 264 patients/month) than before it. Notably, the proportion of patients with stages 3 or 4 GC in 2021 was higher among men and patients aged ≥40 years. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall number of GC diagnoses decreased significantly in a single institute. Moreover, GCs were in more advanced stages at the time of diagnosis. Further studies are required to elucidate the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and the delay in the detection of GC worldwide.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.129-140
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• 1994

The survey has for its object to detect prevalence rate of hypertension in target population, to find out the risk factor to hypertension, to detect the hypertensive patients cared pattern and therefore, to consider a effective counter plan for the long term about hypertension. The study, population of this survey was 894 out of 1013 target population from Feb. 1 1994 to March 31 1994 in Kyougsang-namdo Ulsan-gun Samnam-myoun. For these two month, check of blood pressure and direct measurement of height and weight was carried out by mass screening and home visiting and had an interview about risk factors for hypertension and cared pattern by questionnaire. The results of survey were as follows : 1. The prevalence rate of 894 study, population was 27.5% and 26.0% in man and 28.6% in women. 2. In male, the prevalence rate for age group, family history of hypertension, drinking, salt intake by risk factors were significant statistically. 3. In female, the prevalence rate for salt intake, body mass index by risk factors were significant statistically. 4. Motivation which was diagnosed as hypertension was that be examined for subjective symptoms of hypertension and routine check for health was only 25.0%, 9.1% and visiting to the hospital for other diseases, detect hypertension by chance was 65.9%. 5. The experience of treatment in prevalent cases was significant statistically in middle class of SES. And the place of treatment by risk factors could not be significant statistically in spite of the majority selected hospital generally. 6. The reasons of non-compliance in prevalent cases was restricting daily activities for its 45.5% most high and the interruption of treatment in prevalent cases was far from hospital geographically for its 47.6% most high 7. The preventive behavior about hypertensive by risk factors or general characteristics wasn't significant statistically. 8. Being treated or not in the near future about age group, SES, family history of the hypertension was significant statistically. And with regard to the place of treatment in the near future, in spite of the majority selected hospital generally, it wasn't significant statistically. 9. The reasons of non-compliance in incidence cases was restricting daily activities for its 46.8% most high. 10. The preventive behavior in the near future about age group, education level, SES, family history of hypertension was significant statistically.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.64-68
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• 2000

Objectives: With the recent advances and increasing use of imaging techniques in examination of the neck, the incidence of incidentally discovered thyroid carcinoma has been increasing. This study was carried out to evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics of incidental thyroid carcinomas and to find optimal therapeutic strategies for these lesions. Materials & Methods: From Jan. 1988 to Aug. 1998, 1,053 patients were operated on for thyroid cancer, of whom 127(12.1%) had incidentally discovered thyroid cancers which were identified during routine health checkups(n=40), diagnostic procedures for unrelated medical conditions(n=39) and mass screening for thyroid cancer(n=48). The preoperative diagnosis was obtained by ultrasound-guided FNAB and the extent of surgery was determined based on frozen section examinations, as well as prognostic factors and gross findings at the time of surgery. Results: There were 6 men and 121 women with a mean age of 45.9 years. Histopathological diagnosis included papillary carcinomas(n=1l9), follicular carcinomas(n=6), poorly differentiated carcinoma(n=l) and medullary carcinoma(n=1). Thirty patients(23.6%) had multifocallesions. The mean diameter of the tumors was 1.1 cm(0.2-3.4 cm). Capsular invasions were found in 53 patients(41.7%) and nodal metastases in 41(32.3%). The surgical procedures used were: 90 less-than total thyroidectomies and 37 total thyroidectomies with central neck node dissection. Lateral neck dissection was added in 5 patients. According to TNM staging, 79 patients(63.2%) were at stage I, 15(12.0%) at stage II, 31(24.8%) at stage III and 0(0.0%) at stage IV. By AMES scoring system, 102 patients(81.6%) were in the low-risk group and 23(18.4%) in the high-risk group. And by MACIS scoring system, 103(86.6%) of 119 papillary thyroid cancer patients were less than 6. Conclusions: The clinicopathological characteristics of incidentally discovered thyroid carcinomas are similar to ordinary thyroid carcinomas. The treatment of choice should be individualized based on the particular clinical situation encountered, as in ordinary thyroid carcinomas.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.332-336
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• 2012

Purpose: The third molar extraction is one of the mostly performed procedures in the department of oral and maxillofacial surgery. In most of dental clinic or hospital, the third molar extraction used to be frequently performed in an office-based surgery, and most patients did not have specific medical history with young ages. Medical history taking are dependent on the only way by asking to the patients about their individual conditions. Therefore, as the specialists of the oral and maxillofacial surgery in the field of dentistry, we suggest a new policy that the preoperative lab must be performed routinely before extraction of the third molar. Methods: This study is based on 1,096 patients who have been managed with third molar extractions, from March 2008 to September 2011 by a single surgeon. The preoperative lab, including complete blood count, coagulation panel, chemistry and serology, was performed before any surgical procedures. The results were informed to the patients regardless of their abnormalities, and any abnormalities related to the surgical procedures, such as platelet count and coagulation factors, were checked and corrected safely. Results: Through the preoperative blood test, systemic diseases that the patients had not recognized before, such as anemia, leukopenia, fatty liver and chronic renal disease, were identified. Patients with acute or chronic leukemia, Hepatitis B, and HIV positive, were also detected as a small number. Also, the possibilities of the cross-infection between dentists and patients or between patients and patients, and any other emergency situations can be prevented; as well as the public health condition can be improved, too. The patients were satisfied with low cost preventive blood test and high quality of medical services. Conclusion: Therefore, routine medical lab testing, including history taking are needed before an office-based minor surgery, such as third molar extractions, and these results were suggested as a new policy in the field of dentistry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.2
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• pp.360-371
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• 2022

Purpose This study aimed to assess the factors influencing aortic unfolding (AU) defined by aortic width on coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan and determine the normal limits for AU. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, we measured AU in 924 asymptomatic subjects who underwent CAC scanning during routine health screening from June 2015 to June 2018. Multivariate regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors influencing AU. After the exclusion of subjects with risk factors associated with AU, 283 subjects were included in the analysis of normal values of AU. Mean AU, standard deviation, and upper normal limit were calculated. Results Sex, age, CAC score, body mass index, body surface area, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, plasma creatinine, and smoking were significantly associated with AU. The mean AU was 102.2 ± 12.8 mm for men and 93.1 ± 10.7 mm for women. AU increased with advancing age (9.6 mm per decade). Conclusion AU determined from a single measurement on CAC scans was associated with cardiovascular risk factors. The normal limits of AU were defined by age, sex, and body surface area in low-risk subjects in this study.