• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.68-74
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to provide an academic basis regarding the necessity of managing depression and stress among metabolic syndrome patients by understanding 5 components of metabolic syndrome, perceived stress, and degree of depression, and by investigating their association using the national nutrition survey reference. This study was conducted by using mental health surveys and health screening test data of the 5th (2010~2012) primitive data of the national health and nutrition survey. A total of 19,599 respondents over 19 years of age were selected for the final analysis. The level of depression and stress was set as the dependent variable to identify its connection with 5 components of the metabolic syndrome. For the stress recognition, none of the metabolic syndrome components showed a significant correlation. For experiencing the depression symptom, the fasting glucose among the factors showed a significant correlation (p<0.05) among the metabolic syndrome factors. When it falls within the criteria of fasting glucose of metabolic syndrome, it has a great probability of falling under the group who experienced greater depression symptoms. As a result of the analysis by controlling cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease which is tightly related with metabolic syndrome and depression, this study observed that glucose out of 5 metabolic syndrome components is related with depression.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.265-268
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• 2014

An adult female dog was presented for evaluation of mammary gland masses. Complete blood count and serum chemistry data were within normal limits. Fine-needle aspiration cytology of the mammary masses revealed clusters of malignant epithelial cells with clear cytoplasmic vacuoles. Based on histopathological findings, a diagnosis of lipid-rich mammary carcinoma was made. Approximately 5 weeks after surgical removal, the tumor recurred at the surgery site and metastasis to the tibia was detected. Due to the poor prognosis and deterioration of the condition, the dog was euthanized.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2020

Purpose: Though Korean healthcare services have been upgraded, infection and fire had been broken out in general hospitals. And higher concerns about quality assessment made it to clinical laboratory design guideline studies. So, this study investigates the facilities, equipment and personnel of laboratory medicine focusing on more than five hundred fifty bed hospital, and contributes to make guidelines for safety and efficiency in lab. Methods: Questionnaires to supervisor technologist and field surveys to medical laboratories in korean hospitals have been conducted for the data collection. 16 answers have been analysed statistically by MS Excel program. Results: Most of the sample tests such as hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology, transfusion, urinalysis, microbiology and molecular diagnosis are performed by more than 80% in large sized general hospital laboratory. In the test methods, automatic analyzers are used up to 80%, total laboratory automation up to 43% in clinical chemistry and immunology, and manual tests in all sorts of the test. There are placed in single lab or two and three labs above the ground, which are all in semi-open lab. There is some correlation with the number of specimens and the number of lab people depending on the number of hospital beds. Laboratory environment shows that work distance is good, but evacuation path width, visibility, separation of staff area from automatic analyzer, and equipment installations are needed to have more spaces and gears. Most of the infection controls are equipped with mechanical ventilation, air-conditioning, washbasin and wastewater separation, BSC installation and negative pressure lab room. Implications: Although the laboratory space area is calculated considering the number of hospital beds, type of tests and number of staff, hospital's expertise and the samples numbers per year should be taken into account in the planning of the hospital.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2022

Ginseng is an international herb that has been used for thousands of years. Two species most commonly applied and investigated in the ginseng family are Asian ginseng and American ginseng. The number of randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) has conspicuously increased, driven by the rapid development of ginseng. However, the reporting of RCT items of ginseng is deficient because of different trial designs and reporting formats, which is a challenge for researchers who are looking for the data with high quality and reliability. Thus, this study focused on providing an extensive analysis of these two species and examined the quality of the RCTs, based on the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guideline. Ninety-one RCTs conducted from 1980 to 2019 that were related to Asian ginseng and American ginseng used singly met our inclusion criteria. We found that the reporting quality of the two species has improved during the past 40 years. Publication date and sample size were significantly associated with the reporting quality. Rigorous RCTs designed for the species of ginseng are warranted, which can shed light on product research and development of ginseng in the future.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.110-117
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• 2018

In the present study, mec complex typing and SCCmec typing were performed to analyze the molecular genetic characteristics of 20 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from clinical specimens and 4 strains isolated from the ICU environments of secondary medical institutions in a Chungnam province, Korea, from June to July of 2017. Among a total of 20 MRSA strains isolated from clinical specimens, 8 cases (40%) were SCCmec type II, one case (5%) was SCCmec type IVa, and 11 cases (55%) were not-typeable in SCCmec type analysis. Among 4 MRSA isolates from the ICU environment, one strain did not have the mecA gene and 3 strains were typed as SCCmec types II, III, and IVa, respectively. Data from the present study showed that the origin of MRSA isolated from the clinical specimens was different from those from the ICU environment in most cases but the origin was concordant in one case. In this case, MRSA might be transmitted by healthcare workers to the ICU environment. Further study with a large number of cases and other hospital infection-related microorganisms will be needed. This continuous follow-up study might provide useful information on infection control in medical institutions.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.357-366
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• 2019

This study is to identify how the social support influences the impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes as structural equation analysis reflects the health behavior and psychological path. It investigates participants who give consents to participate in the Korean Health Examine Cohort (KOEX), which collects surveys and biological samples at eight university hospitals nationwide. Of the 53,767 adults over 30 years of age enrolled in the 2nd to 7th KOEX study from 2004 to 2010 (1st to 7th), 18,618 participants with a history of chronic diseases related to type 2 diabetes, the main variable, were excluded. The number of participants were 34,316 with enough data on social support and diabetes, which are the main variables. The results show that social support affects health behaviors and lowers fasting blood sugar. Therefore, not only the management of risk factors of individuals, but also the practice of healthy behavior with the attention of social relations such as social support, etc., can prevent type 2 diabetes.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2005

The main obstacles for adopting a mobile health information system to existing hospital information system are the redundancy of clinical data and the additional workload for implementing the new system. To obtain a seamless communication and to reduce the workload of implementation, an easy and simple implementation strategy is required. We propose a mobile clinical information system (MobileMed) which is specially designed for the easy implementation. The key elements of MobileMed are a smart interface, an HL7 message server, a central clinical database (CCDB), and a web server. The smart interface module transfers the key information to the HL7 message server as new clinical tests data is recorded in the existing laboratory information system. The HL7 message server generates the HL7 messages and sends them to the CCDS. As a central database the CCDS collects the HL7 messages and presents them to the various mobile devices such as PDA. Through this study we might conclude that the architecture for the mobile system will be efficient for real-time data communication, and the specially designed interface will be an easy tool for implementing the mobile clinical information system.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2005

Status epilepticus is a medical emergency, so that rapid and vigorous treatment is required to prevent neuronal damage and systemic complication. Status epilepticus is generally defined as a continuous or intermittent seizure or an unconscious condition after the onset of seizure, lasting for 30 minutes or more. We report here the outcome of status epilepticus. We retrospectively reviewed medical record of 15 patients who were diagnosed with status epilepticus at the Asan Medical Center from January 2003 to February 2004. This outcome was evaluated considering various factors such as age of patients, history of seizures, neurologic impairment, etiology, mortality, return to baseline and initial electroencephalogram (EEG) findings. The range of age was between 1 to 79 years old and the longest duration of treatment was 118 days. Most patients were treated by using pentobarbital, midazolam, phenobarbital and other antiepileptic drugs. The overall mortality was 5 (33%) out of 15 patients. The mortality was related to etiology, underlying other medical conditions and initial EEG findings. 5 (55%) out of the 9 patients with acute etiology, 5 (71%) out of the 7 patients with a multifocal or burst-suppression EEG activity, and 3 (60%) out of the 5 patients with other medical disease were related to mortality. This data demonstrate high mortality due to status epilepticus. Mortality is related to etiology, other medical conditions and abnormalities on the initial EEG.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.65-77
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• 2005

Present article reviews about clinical pharmacology of mycophenolic acid (MPA), the active form of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), as widely used component of immunosuppressive regimens in the organ transplantation field. MMF, used alone or concomitantly with cyclosporine or tacrolimus, has approved in reducing the incidence of acute rejection and has gained widespread use in solid organ such as kidney, heart and liver transplantation. The application of MPA and development of MMF has shown a considerable impact on immunosuppressive therapy for organ transplantation as a new immunosuppressive agent with different mechanism of action from other drugs after early 1990s. In particular aspect, use of MMF, a morpholinoethyl ester of MPA, represented a significant advance in the prevention of organ allograft rejection as well as allograft and patient survival. In considering MMF clinical data, it is important to note that there is a strong correlation between high MPA area under curve(AUC) values and a low probability of acute allograft rejection. Individual trials have shown that MMF is generally well tolerated and revealed that MMF decreased the relative risk of developing chronic allograft rejection compared with azathioprine. Recent clinical investigations suggested that improved effectiveness and tolerability will results from the incorporation of MPA therapeutic drug monitoring into routine clinical practice, providing effective MMF dose individualization in renal and heart transplant patients. Therefore, MMF has a selective immunosuppressive effect with minimal toxicity and has shown to be more effective that other agents as next step of immunosuppressive agents and regimens that deliver effective graft protection and immunosuppression along with a more favorable side effect.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.99-115
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose for this study was to identify the present state of Clinical Nurses with Expanded Role (CNERs) and provide basic data to refine the roles of CNERs. In this study, CNREs refers to nurses who perform techniques traditionally done by doctors and use titles such as clinical nursing specialist, educator with consultation, research assistant, coordinator, physician assistant and special examiner. Method: This study was conducted from September 1 to November 12, 2007. Data from 684 nurses from 38 hospitals who responded to the questionnaire were analyzed with descriptive statistics using the SPSS 14.0 program. Results: The mean percentage of time spent was, for direct practice, 41.1%, for education and counseling, 22.8%, for consultation and coordination, 10.4%, for research, 6.8%, for administration, 8.9% and for other activities, 10.0%. The most frequently implemented CNERs, activities included consultation and education for patients and their families, counseling by telephone, history taking, physical examination, reading examination results, psychosocial assessment, managing treatment, input of prescriptions, and writing up patient records, Although not frequently performed, nurses in some fields carried out invasive procedures and prescribed medication and laboratory tests. Conclusion: Although the number of hospital CNERs are rapidly increasing, there is still confusion about the title and framework as well as standards. Furthermore, because some nurses are prescribing medication and laboratory tests as well as performing techniques not traditionally done by nurses, there is an absolute need for a legalized system and systematic education system for the safety of patients who are being cared by all CNERs.