• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.168-176
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• 2020

Objectives : Loneliness and poor sleep quality are common phenomena in old age and are associated with negative physical and mental health. However, little is known regarding the relation between loneliness and sleep quality. The aim of this study was to examine the association of loneliness and sleep quality among the elderly living alone. Methods : This is a cross-sectional study that enrolled 1,090 subjects who are the community-residing elderly living alone. Sociodemographic status, medical condition, cognition, mood disorder, sleep quality and levels of loneliness were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and a specific semi-structured interview conducted by trained nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data regarding sociodemographic variable and loneliness. Univariate and Multivariate regression analyses were applied to examine the association between loneliness and sleep quality after adjustment for multiple confounding variables. Results : The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) mean score of "lonely group" (9.2±4.2) was significantly higher than that of "not lonely group" (7.3±3.7) (student-t test, p<0.001). Loneliness was significantly associated with PSQI (standardized β=0.065, p=0.025), sleep disturbance (standardized β=0.086, p=0.005), use of sleep medication (standardized β=0.065, p=0.034) after adjustment for possible confounding variables including sex and mood disorder. Conclusions : Loneliness was associated with sleep disturbance and this finding implied negative impact of loneliness on sleep quality of older adults. Public health promotion efforts to reduce loneliness may improve sleep quality and mental health in the elderly living alone.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2019

Supplying stable electric power is one of the important objectives of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) because it is strongly related with improving living standards and income levels in the region. However, rural areas in many developing countries are not properly connected to national power grids, and even areas connected to national power grids are frequently blacked out due to limitations in power capacity. These lack of electric power is a major obstacle to improving income levels and improving living standards in those areas. The Korea-Tanzania Innovative and Energy Center (iTEC), which was established by Seoul National University in cooperation with the Nelson-Mandela Africa Institute of Science and Technology and Technology (NM-AIST) try to build a small solar power plant using a smart-off grid in rural area of Tanzania, where there is no electricity. 10 kW and 7 kW solar power plants are built in Mkalama Village in Kilimanajaro Region and Ngurdoto Village in Arusha Region to provide power to about 50 households each. In addition, smart monitoring systems were installed to collect data about status of power system and power consumption of each house. iTEC seeks for sustainable improvement the income level and quality of life of rural residents in developing countries through the construction of small solar power plants using smart-off grid, and the implementation of various connected projects.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.1 s.258
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• pp.35-41
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• 2006

Background: The radial arteries are being used more often for coronary artery bypass grafting, We tried to the endoscopic radial artery harvest to reduce the cosmetic problems and neurologic complications of the conventional open harvesting and report the techniques and early results. Material and Method: The 86 patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting between May 2003 and April 2005 had their nondominant radial artery endoscopically removed through a 2 cm incision at the wrist. The radial pedicle was dissected and was divided at antecubial area through a 5 mm counterincision. Result: The 23 patients complained of neuralgias on territory of superficial raidal none but no one complained of neuralgias on territory of lateral antebrachial cutaneous none. There was no functional impairment of the hand. There was no wound complication except a localized hematoma. All patients were contacted by telephone after postoperative 7.9$\pm$3.6 months. The 4 patients still complained of neuralgia. All the patients were satisfied with the aesthetics of the wounds. The multidetectional tomography was done on the 66 patients for the estimation of early patency of radial artery. There were 2 cases of stenosis and a case of occlusion. Conclusion: Endoscopic radial artery harvest had no functional impairment of the hand, lesser rate of neurologic complications and outstanding aesthetics. The results of early patency of the radial artery was similar to conventional methods. Therefore, we think that endoscopic radial artery harvest is the optimal procedure.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.98-104
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• 2012

Objectives : This study aimed to investigate the correlations between neurological and psychiatric symptoms at two weeks after stroke. Methods : For 412 stroke patients, stroke severity was evaluated by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS), disability by the Barthel Index(BI) and modified Rankin Scale(mRS), cognitive function by the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination(K-MMSE), and muscle power by grip strength. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed by Symptom check list-90-Revision(SCL-90-R), consisted of nine symptom domains : Somatization, Obsessive-compulsive, Interpersonal sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic anxiety, Paranoid ideation, Psychoticism, and Additional items. The correlations between the neurological and psychiatric symptoms were investigated at the time of admission and before discharge(i.e. before and after treatment). Results : At the time of admission, NIHSS score was associated with scores on Phobic anxiety and Additional items ; and scores on BI and mRS were associated with Depression, Phobic anxiety and Additional items. At the time of discharge, NIHSS score was associated with scores on Somatization, Depression, Phobic anxiety, and Additional items ; scores on BI and mRS were associated with scores on Depression, Phobic anxiety and Additional items ; MMSE score was associated with Obsessive-compulsive, Depression, Phobic anxiety, and Additional items ; and grip strength was associated with Somatization, Depression, Anxiety and Additional items. Conclusions : More severe neurological symptoms were associated with higher psychiatric morbidity particularly in depression, phobic anxiety, sleep and appetite disturbance at acute stage of stroke. More intensive psychiatric care and intervention are needed for the high risk group.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.244-254
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• 2002

Purpose: This study investigated the differences between technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer (Tc-99m ECD) and technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime (Tc-99m HMPAO) uptake in the normal brain by means of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed age and sex matched 53 cases of normal brain SPECT. Thirty-two cases were obtained with Tc-99m ECD and 21 cases with Tc-99m HMPAO. There were no abnormal findings on brain MRIs. All of the SPECT images were spatially transformed to standard space, smoothed and globally normalized. The differences between the Tc-99m ECD and Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT images were statistically analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM'99) software. The differences bgetween the two groups were considered significant ant a threshold of corrected P values less than 0.05. Results: SPM analysis revealed significantly different uptakes of Tc-99m ECD and Tc-99m HMPAO in the normal brains. On the Tc-99m ECD SPECT images, relatively higher uptake was observed in the frontal, parietal and occipital lobes, in the basal ganglia and thalamus, and in the superior region of the cerebellum. On the Tc-99m HMPAO SPECT images, relatively higher uptakes was observed in subcortical areas of the frontal region, temporal lobe, and posterior portion of inferior cerebellum. Conclusion: Uptake of Tc-99m ECD and Tc-99m HMPO in the normallooking brain was significantly different on SPM analysis. The selective use of Tc-99m ECD of Tc-99m HMPAO in brain SPECT imaging appears especially valuable for the interpretation of cerebral perfusion. Further investigation is necessary to determine which tracer is more accurate for diagnosing different clinical conditions.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.119-129
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive and psychological characteristics of patients who visited psychiatric outpatient clinic with military service suitability issues. Methods : Since January, 2017 to September, 2018, patients were recruited from the department of psychiatry of university hospital. Participants were diagnosed using DSM-5 criteria by board certified psychiatrists. And each of participants tested with K-WAIS-IV, K-SCL-95 by clinical psychologist. The data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0. Results : The results indicated 24.6% of the patients have significantly low level of intellectual functioning. and 10.8% of the patients have borderline level of intellectual functioning, and 26.3% of them were below average. The results of psychological characteristics showed patients have cautious and potentially dangerous level of depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, and suicidal idea. And PTSD subscale's mean score was above problematic level. Next, we divided patients into two groups based on question of whether the patient is eligible to serve in the military service or not arises from recruitment process or army training center. But two group didn't differ significantly. And for further analyses, we also divided patients into two groups based on if they got single psychiatric diagnosis or more than one psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusions : The results indicated that group which has coexisting psychiatric disorders were more depressed, had higher level of anger and aggression, and had more serious levels of suicidal ideas than single psychiatric diagnosis group. The implications and limitations were discussed along with some suggestions for the future studies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.740-747
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• 2015

This study was carried out to evaluate changes in the meat quality and antioxidation activity in the loin and ham of Korean Native Black Pigs (KNBP) during frozen storage at −18℃ for 150 days. The pH value of the loin was decreased as storage days progressed, while the pH value of the ham showed no consistent changes with storage days. The lightness (L*) of the loin did not show any significant reduction until day 120, whereas L* of the ham was significantly declined throughout the storage period (p<0.05). The redness (a*) values of the loin and ham were significantly decreased as storage progressed. The water holding capacity of the loin was decreased by day 30 and that value was maintained until the end of storage. The initial total numbers of microorganisms in the loin and ham were 4.88 and 5.16 Log CFU/g, respectively and these numbers were significantly decreased by day 30 (p<0.05). The levels of 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (a measurement of lipid oxidation) in the loin and ham ranged from 0.057-0.069 and 0.052-0.087 mg MDA/kg meat, respectively, until storage day 150. Volatile basic nitrogen values of the loin and ham ranged from 15.13-16.55 and 16.05-16.23 mg%. Oxygen radical absorbance capacities and carnosine contents of the loin and ham were significantly decreased during frozen storage for 3 months (p<0.05). In summary, the meat quality of the loin and ham from KNBP was somewhat decreased during frozen storage. However, the levels of antioxidants and dipeptides with antioxidant activity were significantly decreased in pork loin and ham during frozen storage.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2019

Objectives : Many of the patients with type 2 diabetes are associated with sleep problems, and the rate of insomnia is known to be higher in the general population. The aims of this study were to know the frequency and clnical characteristics of insomnia, and related variables to insomnia in patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Methods : For 99 patients from 18 to 80 years of age (65 males and 34 females) with type 2 diabetes, interviews were performed. Total sleep time and sleep latency was evaluated. Insomnia was evaluated using the Korean Version of the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI-K). Severity of depressive symptoms were evaluted using the Korean version of the Hamilton Depression Scale (K-HDRM). According to the cutoff score of 15.5 on the ISI-K, subjects were divided into the group of type 2 diabetics with insomnia (N=34) and those without insomnia (N=65) at first, and then statistically analyzed. Results : TInsomnia could be found in 34.34% of type 2 diabetics. Type 2 diabetics with insomnia had significantly more single or divorced (respectively 11.8%, p<0.05), higher total scores of the K-HDRS ($11.76{\pm}5.52$, p<0.001), shorter total sleep time ($5.35{\pm}2.00hours$, p<0.001), and longer sleep latency ($50.29{\pm}33.80minutes$, p<0.001). The all item scores of the ISI-K in type 2 diabetics with insomnia were significantly higher than those in type 2 diabetics without insomnia, that is, total ($18.38{\pm}2.69$), A1 (Initial insomnia) ($2.97{\pm}0.76$), A2 (Middle insomnia) ($3.06{\pm}0.69$), A3 (Terminal insomnia) ($2.76{\pm}0.61$), B (Satisfaction) ($3.18{\pm}0.72$), C (Interference) ($2.09{\pm}0.97$), D (Noticeability) ($2.12{\pm}1.09$) and E (Distress) ($2.21{\pm}0.81$) (respectively p<0.001). Variables associated with insomnia in type 2 diabetics were as following. Age had significant negative correlation with A3 items of the ISI-K (${\beta}=-0.241$, p<0.05). Total scores of the K-HDRS had significant positive correlation, while total sleep time had significant negative correlation with all items of the ISI-K (respectively p<0.05). Sleep latency had significant positive correlation with total,, A1, B and E item scores of the ISI-K (respectively p<0.05). Conclusions : Insomnia was found in about 1/3 of type 2 diabetics. According to the presence of insomnia, clinical characteristics including sleep quality as well as quantity seemed to be different. Because depression seemed to be correlated with insomnia, clinicians should pay attention to early detection and intervention of depression among type 2 diabetics.