• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.87-106
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• 2018

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the association between process quality of inpatient care and risk-adjusted, thirty-day potentially preventable hospital readmission (PPR) rates. Data Sources/Study Setting: This was an observational cross-sectional study of nonfederal acute-care hospitals located in two states California and Florida, discharging Medicare patients with a principal discharge diagnosis of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia January through December 31, 2007. Data were obtained from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Database of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare database, and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey of Hospitals. Study Design: The dependent variable of this study is condition-specific, risk-adjusted, thirty-day potentially preventable hospital readmission (PPR). 3M's PPR software was utilized to determine whether a readmission was potentially preventable. The independent variable of this study is hospital performance for process quality of inpatient care, measured by hospital adherence to recommended processes of care. We used multivariate hierarchical logistic models, clustered by hospitals, to examine the relationship between condition-specific, risk-adjusted, thirty-day PPR rates and process quality of inpatient care, after taking clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of patients and structural and operational characteristics of hospitals into account. Findings: Better performance on the process quality metrics was associated with better patient outcome (i.e., low thirty-day PPR rates) in pneumonia, but not generally in two cardiovascular conditions (i.e., heart failure and acute myocardial infarction). Practical Implication: Adherence to the process quality metrics currently in use by CMS is associated with risk-adjusted, thirty-day PPR rates for patients with pneumonia, but not with cardiovascular conditions. More evidence-based process quality metrics closely linked to 30-day PPR rates, particularly for cardiovascular conditions, need to be developed to serve as a guideline to reduce potentially preventable readmissions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.174-179
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• 1986

Augmentin is a formulation of amoxycillin trihydrate and potassium clavulanate, a fused beta-lactam molecule produced by the fermentation of Streptomyces clavuligerus. Most clinically important resistance is due to the production by bacteria of antibiotic destroying enzymes. In the case of penicillins and cephalosporins these enzymes are termed beta-lactamase as they destroy the beta-lectern ring of these antibiotics, completely inactivating them. The presence of clavulanic acid extends the spectrum of amoxycillin to include bet On clinical study of the intravenous Augmentin in the field of thoracic and cardiovascular surgical cases, we selected randomly 30 patients, 21 male and 9 female, age from 13 to 72, in the period from April to December 1985. Among the total 30 patients, 22 were preoperatively infected [11 thoracic empyema, 5 lobar pneumonia, 2 lung abscess, 2 bronchiectasis, one acute pyelonephritis with ureter stone and one rheumatic carditis], and 8 were not infected preoperatively [Table 1, 2]. Of the preoperatively infected group, 11 cases [50%] were culture positive [4 staphylococcus, 3 pseudomonas, 2 Serratia group, and one E. coli], and preoperatively non-infected group [8 cases] revealed expectedly negative findings on bacterial culture. All of the culture positive bacteria were sensitive to Augmentin on disc culture sensitivity test except one case of E. coli. Daily doses of intravenous Augmentin were 2.-1-6.0gm divided in 2-5 injections. Every injection administered [1.2gm at Augmentin dissolved in 20ml distilled water] slowly for more than 20 minutes. Duration of injection was variable according to the clinical conditions from minimum 5 to maximum 31 days. The results of antibiotic treatment with Augmentin and some other antibiotic combinations pre- and postoperatively were subgrouped as EXCELLENT, EFFECTIVE, and FAILURE. Clinical criteria of the therapeutic result were symptomatic, objective and laboratory improvement. 8 cases were excellent, 13 effective, and one failure among the preoperatively infected group, and all 8 cases of the preoperatively non-infected group were effective as pro;hylactive antibiotic therapy. Overall effective ratio was 97% in both subgroup. There was no side effect clinically and laboratory study including liver and kidney function test during and after the I.V. administration of Augmentin. Oral swallow tablets which were administered after discharge from hospital also revealed good effects with some degree of gastrointestinal trouble.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2022

Cardiovascular diseases is one of the leading causes of death in the world. The objectives of this study were to build various models using sociodemographic variables based on three variable selection methods and seven machine learning algorithms for the identification of hypertension and dyslipidemia and to evaluate predictive powers of the models. In experiments based on full variables and correlation-based feature subset selection methods, our results showed that performance of models using naive Bayes was better than those of models using other machine learning algorithms in both two diseases. In wrapper-based feature subset selection method, performance of models using logistic regression was higher than those of models using other algorithms. Our finding may provide basic data for public health and machine learning fields.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1732-1741
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• 2006

Obesity is chronic disease which influenced on health severly. The causes of obesity have been known as life change, lack of excercise, genetic factor, mental and social economic factors. Especially the obesity of women increased the risk of the diseases such as DM, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and infertility. The limitations of the widely used negative definition of health as the absence of disease and WHO's 1946 definition of health as total social, psychological and physical well-being have long been recognized (WHO 1958). The Quality of Life (QoL) includes functional ability, the degree and quality of social and community interaction, psychological well-being as somatic sensation and life satisfaction. I investigated to compare the differences between obese women (n=63), non-obese women (n=37) in clinic and general women (n=43, control) on baseline characteristics and WHO QoL-BREF. The purpose of this study is to assist the diagnosis and treatment of obesity. WHO QoL-BREF is self administered type which consisted of 26 questions. The prospective question is calculated with 5 scores by Likert's method. The results are as follows : The means of physical, psychological, social, overall and total scores of QoL were significant among BMI group (P<0.05). The score of control group (BMI < 25) was higher than other groups significantly (P<0.05). In multiple regression analysis, the variable of high school/below middle school was significant in environmental and overall domain of QoL scores (P<0.05). The variable of college/below middle school was significant in environmental, overall domain and total score of QoL scores (P<0.05). The variable of above university/below middle school was significant in physical health, environmental, overall domain and total score in QoL scores (P<0.05). The variable of Health perception (moderate/bad) was positively significant in physical health, environmental, overall domain and total score of QoL scores (P<0.05). The variable of Health perception (good/bed) was positively significant in physical health, environmental, social, overall domain and total score of QoL scores (P<0.05). The variable as BMI non-=obese women/control was negatively significant in social domain of QoL scores (P<0.05). Above the results, It suggests that the variable as BMI did't affect on the QoL in patients and control, but the variables as education and health perception affected on the QoL scores. Further study is required to conduct QoL differences between before and after treatment of obese patients.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2016

This work introduces techniques experienced for the electrocardiogram(ECG) visual analysis, able to characterize the major parameters and events with clinical relevance for heart failure management and cardiovascular risk assessment. In particular, it includes approaches for ECG data visual processing such as the variable charts, graphs base on the complex MIT-BIH ECG database. Through the experienced this works of ECG database visualization, so many researcher more easily access the complex ECG database and can intuitionally understand the meanings via a variable ECG visualized data.

• Journal of Interdisciplinary Genomics
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.24-30
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• 2022

Klinefelter's syndrome (KS) is a syndrome with extra X chromosome(s), in XY individuals, characterized by gynecomastia, small testes, and infertility. Additional X chromosomes can be present as variable karyotypic forms, including mosaicism (47,XXY/46,XY). The reported prevalence of KS ranges from one in 500 to one in 1,000 live males, but is probably underestimated. The classic phenotype is small, firm testes and infertility resulting from seminiferous tubule dysgenesis and androgen deficiency. The spectrum of KS includes tall stature with relatively long legs and arm span, decreased body hair, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, poor motor skills, and other important medical issues, such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, certain neoplasia. The increased risk of certain medical problems in KS can be attributed to a direct effect of the extra X chromosome, the combined action of multiple genomic and epigenetic factors, or the hormonal imbalances. Typically, chromosome analysis is not ordered for adult patients with general medical conditions, except for suspected cases of hematologic and lymphoid disorders. Even though it was found during work-up for certain disorders in adult patient, most physicians do not suspect KS or consider its impact. Therefore, understanding the pathophysiology and variable manifestation in KS is necessary, and discussions with multidisciplinary teams will help to diagnose and treat males with KS.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.62-78
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• 2023

As the majority of incidentally detected lesions in the anterior mediastinum is small nodules with soft tissue appearance, the differential diagnosis has typically included thymic neoplasm and prevascular lymph node, with benign cyst. Overestimation or misinterpretation of these lesions can lead to unnecessary surgery for ultimately benign conditions. Diagnosing mediastinal cysts using MRI serves as a problem-solving modality in distinguishing between surgical and nonsurgical anterior mediastinal lesions. The pitfalls of MRI evaluation for anterior mediastinal cystic lesions are as follows: first, we acknowledge the limitation of T2-weighted images for evaluating benign cystic lesions. Due to variable contents within benign cystic lesions, such as hemorrhage, T2 signal intensity may be variable. Second, owing to extensive necrosis and cystic changes, the T2 shine-through effect may be seen on diffusion-weighted images (DWI), and small solid portions might be missed on enhanced images. Therefore, both enhancement and DWI with apparent diffusion coefficient values should be considered. An algorithm will be suggested for the diagnostic evaluation of anterior mediastinal cystic lesions, and finally, a management strategy based on MRI features will be suggested.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.398-406
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• 2000

Background: Cardiac atrium is an endocrine gland secreting a family of natriuretic peptides. The secretion of atrial natriuretic peptide(ANP) had been shown to be controlled by variable factors. The change in atrial dynamics have been considered as one of the most prominent stimuli for the stimulation of ANP secretion. Hypoxic stress has been shown to increase cardiac ANP secretion. However, the mechanism by which hypoxia increases ANP secretion cardiac ANP secretions. However, the mechanism by which hypoxia increases ANP secretion has not to be defined. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was tow-fold: to develop a protocol to defined the effect of hypoxia on ANP secretion in perfused beating rabbit atria and to clarify the mechanism responsible for the accentuation by hypoxia of ANP secretion. Material and Method: Experiments have been done in perfused beating rabbit atria. ANP was measured by radioimmunoassay. Result: Hypoxic stimulus with nitrogen decreased atrial stroke volume. The decrease in atrial stroke volume recovered basal level during the period of recovery with oxygen. ANP secretion and the concentration of perfusate ANP in terms of extracellular fluid(ECF) translocation which reflects the rate of myocytic release of ANP were increased by hypoxia and returned to basal levels during the recovery. Changes in ECF translocation paralleled by hypoxia and returned to basal levels during the recovery. Changes in ECF translocation paralleled to that of atrial stroke volume. At the start of recovery in atrial storke volume, ECF tranalocation incrased for several minutes. The above responses were stable and reproducible. Glibenclamide treatment prevented the recovery in atrial stroke volume. Increments by hypoxia of ANP secretion and ANP concentration were suppressed by glibenclamide. Conclusion: These results indicate that hypoxia incrased atrial myocytic ANP release and that the mechanism responsible for the accentuation is partially related to the change in K+ATP channel activity.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.610-614
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• 2009

Background: Several trials have reported on whether adjuvant chemotherapy for resected stage IB non-small cell lung cancer is needed. The aim of our study was to investigate prognostic factors for recurrence to help identify patients who should receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Material and Method: We reviewed the cases of 48 stage IB non-small cell lung cancer patients between 1997 and 2006. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis was performed with the log rank test and multivariate analysis was done using Cox's proportional hazard model. Result: The median follow-up time was 48 months. The overall survival rate was 55.9%, and the disease-free survival rate was 48.6%. Of 8 variables, two factors, visceral pleural invasion and Iymphovascular invasion, were prognostic factors of disease-free survival (univariate analysis). Visceral pleural invasion was a significant prognostic factor in multivariate analysis, and overall survival in com-pared one or more variable such as visceral pleural invasion or, and lymphovascular invasion with the other variables. Conclusion: Visceral pleural invasion was identified as a poor prognostic factor and it may help select which patients will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to more comprehensive follow-up.

• Healthcare Informatics Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.346-358
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• 2018

Objectives: The association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and mortality or serious cardiovascular events over a long period of time is not clearly understood. The aim of this observational study was to estimate the clinical effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on an outcome variable combining mortality, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and cerebrovascular insult (CVI) during a follow-up period of 15.5 years ($186{\pm}58$ months). Methods: The data set consisted of 978 patients with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ${\geq}5.0$. One-third had used CPAP treatment. For the first time, a data-driven causal Bayesian network (DDBN) and a hypothesis-driven causal Bayesian network (HDBN) were used to investigate the effectiveness of CPAP. Results: In the DDBN, coronary heart disease (CHD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and diuretic use were directly associated with the outcome variable. Sleep apnea parameters and CPAP treatment had no direct association with the outcome variable. In the HDBN, CPAP treatment showed an average improvement of 5.3 percentage points in the outcome. The greatest improvement was seen in patients aged ${\leq}55$ years. The effect of CPAP treatment was weaker in older patients (>55 years) and in patients with CHD. In CHF patients, CPAP treatment was associated with an increased risk of mortality, AMI, or CVI. Conclusions: The effectiveness of CPAP is modest in younger patients. Long-term effectiveness is limited in older patients and in patients with heart disease (CHD or CHF).