• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2015

Objectives: Achieving adequate anesthesia with inferior alveolar nerve blocks (IANB) is of great importance during dental procedures. The aim of the present study was to assess the success rate of two anesthetic agents (bupivacaine and lidocaine) for IANB when treating teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Materials and Methods: Sixty volunteer male and female patients who required root canal treatment of a mandibular molar due to caries participated in the present study. The inclusion criteria included prolonged pain to thermal stimulus but no spontaneous pain. The patients were randomly allocated to receive either 2% lidocaine with 1:80,000 epinephrine or 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine as an IANB injection. The sensitivity of the teeth to a cold test as well as the amount of pain during access cavity preparation and root canal instrumentation were recorded. Results were statistically analyzed with the Chi-Square and Fischer's exact tests. Results: At the final step, fifty-nine patients were included in the study. The success rate for bupivacaine and lidocaine groups were 20.0% and 24.1%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups at any stage of the treatment procedure. Conclusions: There was no difference in success rates of anesthesia when bupivacaine and lidocaine were used for IANB injections to treat mandibular molar teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Neither agent was able to completely anesthetize the teeth effectively. Therefore, practitioners should be prepared to administer supplemental anesthesia to overcome pain during root canal treatment.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.386-392
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• 2015

Data in a image compression codec are processed with a specific regular block size. The processing order of block sized data is changed in specific function blocks and the data is packed in memory and read by a new sequence. To maintain a regular throughput rate, double buffering is normally used that interleaving two block sized memory to do concurrent read and write operations. Single buffering using only one block sized memory can be adopted to the simple data reordering, but when a complicate reordering occurs, irregular address changes prohibit from implementing adequate address generating for single buffering. This paper shows that there is a predictable and recurring regularity of changing address access orders within a finite updating counts and suggests an effective method to implement. The data reordering function using suggested idea is designed with HDL and implemented with TSMC 0.18 CMOS process library. In various scan blocks, it shows more than 40% size reduction compared with a conventional method.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2015

Background: Maintenance of adequate vascular access for hemodialysis is important in patients with end-stage renal disease. Once arteriovenous fistula (AVF) occlusion occurs, the patient should be treated with rescue therapy. This study was performed to evaluate the results of a rescue therapy for AVF occlusion. Methods: From January 2008 to December 2012, 47 patients who underwent surgical rescue therapy for AVF occlusion after graft AVF formation, were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided into two groups, namely the graft repair group (group A, n=19) and the thrombectomy group (group B, n=28). Postoperative results of both groups were analyzed retrospectively. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical characteristics between the two groups. In terms of the duration of AVF patency after the first rescue therapy, group A showed a longer AVF patency duration than group B ($24.5{\pm}21.9$ months versus $17.7{\pm}13.6$ months), but there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.310). In terms of the annual frequency of AVF occlusion after the rescue therapy of group A was lower than that of group B (0.59 versus 0.71), but there was no statistically significant difference (p=0.540). The AVF patency rates at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years after the first rescue therapy in group A were 52.6%, 31.5%, 21.0%, and 15.7%, respectively, and those in group B, they were 32.1%, 25.0%, 17.8%, and 7.14%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference (p=0.402). Conclusion: Graft repair revealed comparable results. Although there was no statistically significant difference, the patent duration and annual frequency of AVF occlusion of group A were better than those of group B. Therefore, graft repair is considered as a safe and useful procedure for maintaining graft AVF.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.220-230
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was a cross-sectional study comparing differences in self-management knowledge, self-management, physiologic indexes, and symptoms experience for two methods of dialysis. Methods: Participants were 90 patients on hemodialysis and 91 on peritoneal dialysis at A hospital. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups for knowledge of self-management. A comparison of the categories in the evaluation of self-management showed that patients in the peritoneal dialysis group took better care of their dialysis access route (F=17.61, p<.001) and dialysis schedule (F=4.30, p=.040). The physiologic indexes between the two dialysis groups showed that hemoglobin levels were higher in the hemodialysis group (F=5.28, p=.023). The product of serum calcium and phosphate was higher in the peritoneal dialysis group (F=11.42, p=.001). Serum sodium level was also higher in the peritoneal dialysis group (t=5.36, p<.001) while serum albumin level (t=-3.36, p=.001) and mean arterial blood pressure (t=-2.50, p=.013) were higher in hemodialysis patients. There were no significant differences in the proportion of uncomfortable experiences between the two groups. Conclusion: Medical personnel should consider differences in self-management knowledge/self-management, physiologic indexes, and symptoms experience for hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis populations, and should provide adequate education accordingly and promote behavioral change to improve physiologic indexes and reduce symptoms.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.15-23
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• 2019

Purpose: As the medical laboratories in general hospitals have made an efforts on quality management and employee health, they recognized the need of design guideline for clinical laboratory. As laboratories are prohibited to patients, their environments are becoming more congested and deteriorated as time goes by. So, this study investigates the current status of facility and equipment of laboratory medicine focusing on less than three hundred patient bed hospitals, and searches the improving matters. Methods: Questionnaires to technologist captains and field surveys to medical laboratories in korean hospitals have been conducted for the data collection. 18 answers have been analysed statistically by MS Excel program. Results: The result of this study can be summarized into followings. Clinical laboratory functions are all hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology, transfusion and urine microscopy, and except for three including microbiology for infection and bio safety level. Average man power of lab are 12.3 man including lab director and captain. Patient bed number, space area and total specimen numbers are not correlated with each other, but specimen numbers and employee number are correlated with. Work space distances are usually good, but exit distances are not adequate for escape owing to obstacles. Specimen delivery system by courier, test method by automatic analyzer, access floor for exposed plumbing and electricities are more practical. Open lab layed out in the center and lab support layed peripheral in space diagram. Lab space configuration by SD method showed that lab support area and employee support area are dissatisfied. Implications: Specialized hospital and yearly total specimen numbers are related to the space area and organization for laboratory planning and design.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2023

Background: Mobile applications (apps) on dietary supplements can increase consumers' access to information. However, it can lead to indiscriminate use of dietary supplements. This study aims to systematically review dietary supplement apps released in English and Korean and evaluate the quality of those apps. Methods: Through the app stores, apps on dietary supplements were systemically searched and examined. Two independent evaluators evaluated the apps and presented a mean score using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). The correlation between MARS scores, user and evaluator ratings, and the number of secondary features of the apps were analyzed. Results: Of the 2,772 dietary supplement apps identified, 17 apps were included according to the selection criteria. The mean MARS score was 3.28 (standard deviation: 0.29) out of 5. Apps had higher scores in aesthetics and functionality dimensions, while engagement and information dimensions had lower scores. There was a positive correlation between the number of app downloads and information among MARS dimensions. The subjective evaluation also correlated with the information dimension. There was a positive correlation between the secondary features of the apps and MARS total score as well as the engagement dimension. Conclusion: The dietary supplement apps need to be managed at a higher level of quality to provide safe and reliable information to consumers. Especially, quality on information and engagement dimensions can be improved. Involvement of healthcare professionals in the app development, management with adequate referencing of information, and use of secondary features for enhanced user engagement can be helpful.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.503-515
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• 2022

This paper presents the development of seismic fragility curves for a precast reinforced concrete bridge instrumented with a structural health monitoring (SHM) system. The bridge is located near an active seismic fault in the Dominican Republic (DR) and provides the only access to several local communities in the aftermath of a potential damaging earthquake; moreover, the sample bridge was designed with outdated building codes and uses structural detailing not adequate for structures in seismic regions. The bridge was instrumented with an SHM system to extract information about its state of structural integrity and estimate its seismic performance. The data obtained from the SHM system is integrated with structural models to develop a set of fragility curves to be used as a quantitative measure of the expected damage; the fragility curves provide an estimate of the probability that the structure will exceed different damage limit states as a function of an earthquake intensity measure. To obtain the fragility curves a digital twin of the bridge is developed combining a computational finite element model and the information extracted from the SHM system. The digital twin is used as a response prediction tool that minimizes modeling uncertainty, significantly improving the predicting capability of the model and the accuracy of the fragility curves. The digital twin was used to perform a nonlinear incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) with selected ground motions that are consistent with the seismic fault and site characteristics. The fragility curves show that for the maximum expected acceleration (with a 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years) the structure has a 62% probability of undergoing extensive damage. This is the first study presenting fragility curves for civil infrastructure in the DR and the proposed methodology can be extended to other structures to support disaster mitigation and post-disaster decision-making strategies.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.332-339
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• 2023

Background: The aim of the study was to test the validity and reliability of the Perceived Future Decent Work Securement Scale for Turkish nursing students. Methods: A cross-sectional, methodological study design was used. The study was carried out at three nursing undergraduate programs in Turkey during the academic year of 2020-2021 with 336 senior nursing students. Language validity and content validity analyses were performed for the scale adaptation, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for construct validity. The reliability of the scale was determined using the test-retest and Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient. Results: The scale-content validity index score was 0.988. In CFA, all goodness-of-fit indices verified the acceptable fit of the model; its root mean square error of approximation was 0.076; the normed fit index was 0.909; the standardized mean square residual was 0.097; the relative fit index was 0.881; the goodness-of-fit index was 0.915; the adjusted goodness-of-fit index was 0.872 and χ²/df = 2.932. The overall reliability was α = 0.86. The item-total correlations of the scale were above the acceptable level, and the test-retest analysis had a high correlation. The access to healthcare (14.68, SD 3.53) obtained the highest average score, and the adequate compensation (8.52, SD 3.76) was the lowest rated by the senior nursing students. Conclusion: The Perceived Future Decent Work Securement Scale is a valid and reliable scale to assess nursing students' future decent work securement.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2024

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the clinical profile, survival at discharge, and proportion of children with acute liver failure (ALF) meeting the criteria for, yet surviving without, liver transplantation (LT). Methods: Medical case records of children aged >28 days to ≤15 years over a period of 7 years, identified from pediatric admission and discharge registers, were screened. Children satisfying the criteria for ALF were included in this study. Results: A total of 71 records meeting the pediatric ALF (PALF) criteria were included. The survival rate at discharge was 61% (n=44). A considerable proportion of children satisfied the King's College Criteria (KCC) (56.3%) and the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) criteria (7%) for LT at admission. Nonetheless, the survival rate in the absence of LT was 42.5% in children who satisfied the KCC and 20% in those who met the EASL criteria. Infection (29.5%) and paracetamol overdose (19.7%) were the major identifiable causes of PALF. Hepatitis A was the most common infection identified. No significant predictors of poor outcomes were identified in multivariable analysis. Conclusion: Our study highlights the changing survival rates and the clinical and etiological profiles of patients with PALF. In areas with poor access to LT services, survival in these children could be improved through early referral to centers with adequate intensive care facilities. Preventing ALF and referring patients to LT services are paramount to reducing mortality.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.66-76
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• 2023

The government recently implemented policies to improve transportation for the disabled passengers. On the other hand, metropolitan public transport still lacks adequate services for these individuals. Many new cities lack urban rail lines and focus on high-floor buses for expansion. Wheelchair users can only access to double-decker low-floor seat express buses for intercity travel. This study examined the necessity and rationale for introducing low-floor seat buses by estimating the user's willingness to pay through a contingent valuation method. Two methods for eliciting the willingness to pay were adopted: open-ended and dichotomous choice questions. The binomial logit model was used to estimate the willingness to pay. The results indicated that the general public is willing to pay an additional 126.7 Korean won, while the disabled passengers are willing to pay an additional 117.5 Korean won. When translated into annual economic benefits, this amounts to approximately 35 billion Korean won.