• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.363-368
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• 2007

Purpose : It has been reported that deep neck abscesses are recently increasing again. We analyzed pediatric cases with deep neck abscesses during the last several years to contribute to the treatment of the disease. Methods : The clinical data of 30 children under 16 years of age with deep neck abscess from February 2001 to July 2006 were analysed retrospectively. Results : The mean age was 9 years (2-16 years), and the male/female ratio was 19/11. Abscesses in the peritonsillar space were most common (57%), followed by the retropharyngeal (30%) and parapharyngeal (13%) spaces. Upper respiratory infection in 10 cases (33%), dental infection in four case (14%), cervical lymphadenitis in three case (10%) and sinusitis in two case (6%) contributed to the development of deep neck infections. The frequent symptoms were fever in 16 case (53%), sore throat in 15 case (50%), poor oral intake in 10 (33%), odynophagia in eight (27%), and neck pain in eight (27%). Unilateral tonsillar hypertrophy and displacement in 15 case (50%) were most common. Neck mass in 13 patients (43%), neck stiffness in three (10%) and trismus in three (10%) were also found. Bacteria were isolated in 8 among 10 pus cultures; Streptococcus species 7 and Micrococcus luteus 1. All of those bacteria except Micrococcus luteus were sensitive to penicillin G. Surgical intervention was applied to 12 cases (40%), and the remaining 18 patients (60%) were treated with antibiotics only. There were no differences between the two groups in the duration of admission and antibiotic treatment. No complicated cases were observed. Conclusion : Peritonsillar abscesses were most frequent. Upper respiratory infection was the most common predisposing factor, followed by dental infection and sinusitis. Symptoms of respiratory tract obstruction were not found. The most common pathogens were Streptococcus species. Deep neck abscesses in children, if diagnosed at the early stage, possibly can be treated by antibiotics only, without surgical intervention.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.495-502
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• 2010

Purpose : Sepsis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the newborn, particularly in preterm. The objective of this study was to analyze the incidence rate, causative pathogens and clinical features of neonatal sepsis in one neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for 6 years. Methods : This study was retrospectively performed to review the clinical and laboratory characteristics including sex, gestational age, birth weight, Apgar score, length of hospitalization, length of total parenteral nutrition, presence of central venous catheter, underlying diseases, laboratory findings, microorganisms isolated from blood culture, complications and mortality in 175 patients between January 2003 and December 2008. Results : 1) Sepsis was present in 175 of 3,747 infants for 6 years. There were more gram-positive organisms. 2) The gram-negatives were more prevalent in preterm. There were no significant differences of other clinical features between two groups. 3) Underlying diseases were found in 73.7%, and the most common disease was cardiovascular disease. The most common organisms of gram-positives and gram-negatives were methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Serratia marcescens. 4) There was statistically significant difference on platelet counts between two groups (P<0.05). 5) Complications were found in 18.3% and septic shock was the most common. MRSA was the most common pathogen in sepsis with complication. 6) The mortality rate was 7.4%. 7) There were differences in monthly blood stream infection/1,000 patient-days. Conclusion : The studies about the factors that can influence neonatal sepsis will contribute to decrease the infection rates in NICUs.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2016

Erythema nodosum (EN) is a painful skin disease characterized by erythematous tender nodules located predominantly over the extensor aspects of the legs. Various etiological factors, including infection, drug administration, and systemic illness have been implicated as causes of EN. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of rare infectious agents to cause EN in children. We report a case of a 7-year-old boy with context of respiratory illness and skin lesions with arthralgia. From stepwise approaches, IgM antibody against M. pneumoniae was positive with titers of 12.18, consistent with respiratory infection of M. pneumoniae and histopathology showed findings of septal and lobular inflammation without vasculitis consistent with EN. In addition, we reviewed the pathogenesis of this disease based on our case and the previous reports.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.56-65
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• 2021

Purposes: This study is to examine the causes of limitations of modern western science and philosophy through Ayurvedic thought, and to seek the path of holism for the development of national healing projects. Methods: Therefore, it was inferred that the background of modern Western civilization and the reality of the national healing project would share the flow. In order to examine this, the difference between the East and West's 'recognition of the body and the mind' and the 'perspective on the origin of existence' was examined, and the characteristics of the Ayurvedic five-element novel were examined. Results: Through that process, the "mind and body dualism" in the West and the absence of the "empty element( 空 Śunya)" in Western four-element novels were pointed out as the cause of the limitations. In the sense that the 'empty element' is an invisible world and an immaterial world, it was concluded that the absence of justice was a limitation of Western civilization and a problem of the reality of the national healing project. Conclusions: I hope that this study will lead to continuous research on Ayurvedic ideology and research in the field of natural healing, thus contributing to the development of national healing projects and leading to health, well-being, and self-healing of the people.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2010

Purpose: Infectious ileocecitis is an infection confined to the ileocecal area and one of the most common causes of pediatric abdominal pain. This study was performed to demonstrate the clinical features of infectious ileocecitis in children. Methods: The medical records and radiologic findings of 37 patients with ileocecitis diagnosed by ultrasonography and/or computed tomography, who were admitted to Pusan National University Hospital from January 2004 and July 2008, were reviewed retrospectively. Viral gastroenteritis and secondary ileocecitis were excluded. Results: The mean age of the patients was 4.8${\pm}$3.4 years. One-half of the patients were preschool children. The chief complaint was abdominal pain (75.7%), diarrhea (10.8%), and vomiting (8.1%). Accompanying symptoms were fever (56.8%), vomiting (21.6%), and diarrhea (16.2%). The mean duration of abdominal pain, fever, diarrhea, and vomiting was 3.8${\pm}$2.1, 3.0${\pm}$1.9, 3.4${\pm}$1.9, and 2.4${\pm}$2.3 days, respectively. The frequency of diarrhea and vomiting was 5.8${\pm}$2.2 and 4.0${\pm}$2.8 per day, respectively. Diagnosis was made by abdominal ultrasonography in 22 patients (59.5%), abdominal CT in 2 patients (5.4%), and both modalities in 13 patients (35.1%). Besides the radiologic finding of thickening of the bowel wall, mesenteric lymphadenitis (59.5%), ascites (5.4%), and both mesenteric lymphadenitis and ascites (16.2%) were revealed. The mean duration of illness was 7.5${\pm}$5.0 days. There were no specific laboratory findings, and culture studies with stool or blood were negative. All of the patients recovered completely without specific treatment. Conclusion: Infectious ileocecitis has acute appendicitis-mimicking symptoms, but is self-limited within a few days, thus unnecessary treatment and work-up is avoided. However, distinguishing infectious ileocecitis from appendicitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and mesenteric lymphadenitis is important.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.6 no.4 s.26
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• pp.80-90
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• 2005

Activity durations retain probabilistic and stochastic natures due to diverse factors causing the delay or acceleration of activity completion. These natures make the final project duration to be a random variable. These factors are the major source of financial risk. Extending the Stochastic Project Scheduling Simulation system (SPSS) developed in previous research; this research presents a method to estimate how the final project duration behaves when activity durations change randomly. The final project cost is estimated by considering the fluctuation of indirect cost, which occurs due to the delay or acceleration of activity completion, along with direct cost assigned to an activity. The final project cost is estimated by considering how indirect cost behaves when activity duration change. The method quantifies the amount of contingency to cover the expected delay of project delivery. It is based on the quantitative analysis to obtain the descriptive statistics from the simulation outputs (final project durations). Existing deterministic scheduling method apply an arbitrary figures to the amount of delay contingency with uncertainty. However, the stochastic method developed in this research allows computing the amount of delay contingency with certainty and certain degree of confidence. An example project is used to illustrate the quantitative analysis method using simulation. When the statistical location and shape of probability distribution functions defining activity durations change, how the final project duration and cost behave are ascertained using automated sensitivity analysis method

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.169-181
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• 2018

Under the constantly intensifying global competition environment, many companies are exploring new business opportunities in the field of social innovation using creating shared value. In seeking social innovation, it is a key starting point of social innovation to clarify the problem to be solved and to grasp the cause of the problem. Among the many problem solving methodologies, design thinking is getting the most attention recently in various fields. Design Thinking is a creative problem solving method which is used as a business innovation tool to empathize with human needs and find out the potential desires that the public does not know, and is actively used as a tool for social innovation to solve social problems. However, one of the difficulties experienced by many of the design thinking project participants is that it is difficult to analyze the observed data efficiently. When analyzing data only offline, it takes a long time to analyze a large amount of data, and it has a limit in processing unstructured data. This makes it difficult to find fundamental problems from the data collected through observation while performing design thinking. The purpose of this study is to integrate qualitative data analysis and quantitative data analysis methods in order to make the data analysis collected at the observation stage of the design thinking project for social innovation more scientific to complement the limit of the design thinking process. The integrated methodology presented in this study is expected to contribute to innovation performance through design thinking by providing practical guidelines and implications for design thinking implementers as a valuable tool for social innovation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.221-239
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• 2005

This Paper assesses the relative efficiency of public library services by examining the relationship between library inputs and library outputs in library systems. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, this study derives efficiency scores in the provision of library services for 21 public libraries in Seoul. The data are survey observations for 2002. We employ total holdings, total serials, and total acquisitions as inputs, and total circulations and reader visits as outputs. The result shows that the subject libraries operate at just $71\%$ efficiency, i.e., inputs could be reduced by one-three without sacrificing output if all libraries were as efficient as the benchmark 4 identified by DEA. Too many total collections are the main source of inefficiency.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.372-385
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• 1999

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the causes and pathologic process of chronic non-productive cough as an isolated symptom with a normal spirometry and chest radiograph by investigating clinicopathologic findings. Method: We studied 25 adults with chronic non-productive cough over a 3-week period with a normal chest radiograph and pulmonary function tests without any other symptoms. Clinical assessment, cough score, chest and sinus radiograph, pulmonary function tests, methacholine challenge, allergic skin prick test, and bronchoscopy for bronchial biopsies were performed. Subjects were then treated with prednesolone 20 to 30 mg/day for 1 to 2 weeks. Results: The experimental group was divided into two subgroups-those infiltrated with eosinophils, and those infiltrated with lymphocytes depending on eosinophil and lymphocyte counts, both of which were respectively higher than those of the control group. Eosinophils infiltrated group had mean numbers of eosinophil of 89.8 $cells/mm^3$ while control group's mean was 0.4 $cells/mm^2$(p=0.005). Lymphocyte infiltrated group was 4 patients whose mean was 84.3 $cells/mm^2$ with 28.4 $cells/mm^2$ of control group(P=0.026). In addition, the mean thickness of the basement membrane of experimental group was $14.20{\pm}5.20{\mu}m$ in contrast of control group whose mean was $3.50{\pm}1.37{\mu}m$(P=0.001). With the methacholine challenge test, 7 of the 21 eosinophil infiltrated subjects were diagnosed with cough variant asthma ; the other 14 with eosinophilic bronchitis. Three subjects with eosinophilic bronchitis were atopic positive (21.4%) with the skin prick test In the lymphocyte dominant group, all four subjects were diagnosed with lymphocytic bronchitis. Cough score was improved after steroid treatment in 22 of 25 subjects in the experimental group (88.0%). Conclusion: These results suggest chronic non-productive cough as an isolated symptom with a normal spirometry and chest radiograph was associated with airway inflammation by eosinophil and lymphocyte infiltration. The causes for chronic non-productive cough were eosinophilic bronchitis, cough variant asthma, and lymphocytic bronchitis(written in frequency). They further suggest that therapeutic treatment with steroids can provide effective symptomatic relief.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.489-497
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• 2002

Purpose : The objectives of this study were to investigate the causes of chronic cough and to establish the appropriate diagnostic approach to chronic cough in children. Methods : One hundred and thirty two cases of chronic cough were prospectively evaluated. They visitors to pediatric chronic cough clinics at Kang-nam saint Mary's Hospital of Catholic University from August 2000 to July 2001 for 12 months. Careful history taking by questionnaire, physical examination, radiologic studies of chest and sinus, hematologic and immunologic studies, allergic skin tests, and methacholine challenge tests were performed. Color doppler(CD) ultrasonography were performed and compared with simultaneous 24 Hr. esophageal pH monitoring to diagnose gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD). Results : Age distributions were demonstrated that nine in infants, 82 in early childhood, 38 in late childhood, and three in adolescence. Common causes of chronic cough were bronchial asthma in 40 cases, chronic sinusitis in 22 cases, GERD in seven cases, bronchial asthma combined with sinusitis in 28 cases, bronchial asthma combined with GERD in 14 cases, psychogenic cough in two. cases, foreign body in one case, chronic bronchitis in one case, and bronchiolitis in one case. Comparing with 24 Hr. pH monitoring, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of CD ultrasonography were 88%, 69%, 85 %, and 73% respectively. Conclusion : The most common causes of chronic cough in children were bronchial asthma, sinusitis and GERD in order. We suggest that CD ultrasonography can be used as a good, convenient screening method for patients with suspected GERD in outpatient settings.