• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.329-336
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• 2011

The female has previously been shown to be an independent risk factor for mortality and morbidity after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate gender differences of the perioperative outcomes in elderly patients underwent CABG. Data for seventy elderly patients (>70 years) that underwent CABG (between January 2005 and July 2011) were divided into two groups: male patients (n=33, male group) and female patients group (n=37, female group). Heights, body weights, body surface area and coronary artery obstruction rate (right coronary artery territory) in the female group were lower than those of the male group ($P$ <0.05). History of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, congestive heart failure and percutaneous coronary artery intervention in the female group was higher than that of the male group ($P$ <0.05). Total cholesterol and brain natriuretic peptide levels in the female group were higher than those of the male group ($P$ <0.05). Platelet count in the female group was higher than the male group at preoperative (Pre-OP) period ($P$ <0.05). Erythrocyte count, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels in the female group were lower than those of the male group at Pre-OP period ($P$ <0.05). But, erythrocyte count, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels in the female group were higher than those of the Male group at postoperative (Post-OP) period ($P$ <0.05). Left ventricular ejection fraction in the female group was higher than the male group at Post-OP period ($P$ <0.05). Hospital stay length in the female group was higher than the male group ($P$ <0.05). Post-OP bleeding volume and incidence of ventricular premature contraction in the female group were lower than those of the male group ($P$ <0.05). These results suggest that despite female gender have a greater risk factors and require a longer hospitalization than male, there was no significant difference incidence of mortality and complication.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania donovani is an endemic vector-borne disease in Sri Lanka. Over 2,500 cases have been reported since 2000 and the number of CL cases has dramatically increased annually. Total 57 clinically suspected CL patients attending the dermatology clinic in Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital were recruited from January to June 2015. Slit skin smears and skin biopsies were taken from each of the subjects. Clinical and epidemiological data were obtained using interviewer administered questionnaire. Forty-three (75.4%) patients among 57 were confirmed positive for L. donovani. The majority (77%) of infected patients was males, and the most affected age group was 21-40 years. Soldiers in security forces, farmers, and housewives were identified as high risk groups. The presence of scrub jungles around the residence or places of occupation (P=0.003), the presence of sandflies (P=0.021), and working outsides more than 6 hr per day (P=0.001) were significantly associated with CL. The number of lesions ranged from 1-3, and the majority (76%) of the patients had a single lesion. Upper and lower extremities were the prominent places of lesions, while the wet type of lesions were more prevalent in females (P=0.022). A nodular-ulcerative type lesion was common in both sexes. The presence of sandflies, scrub jungles, and outdoor activities contributed to spread of Leishmania parasites in an endemic pattern. Implementation of vector control programs together with health education with regard to transmission and prevention of CL are necessary to control the spread of this infection.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2006

Purpose : The prognosis of acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis(APSGN) has been reported to be favorable. However, several studies have reported that patients with nephrotic range proteinuria in the acute phase or persistent proteinuria may progress to chronic renal failure. To elucidate this further, we analyzed the features of proteinuria and its prognosis in pediatric patients with APSGN. Methods : A total of 48 children with APSGN admitted to our hospital between Jan. 2000 and Dec. 2004 were included. After discharge from the hospital, patients were regularly followed up every month by clinical evaluations and laboratory tests including routine urinalysis and quantification of proteinuria. Results : Age of the patients ranged from 3 to 15 years(median 5.8 years) at the time of disease onset. Proteinuria was present in 34(70.8%) patients and 5 of them showed heavy proteinuria. Proteinuria normalized within one month in most patients(82.3%) and there was no one with proteinuria after 6 months. Cyclosporine A(5 mg/kg/day in two divided doses) was given to 3 patients with massive proteinuria that lasted longer than 2 months and the result was complete remission within 4 months. Conclusions : Our data indicated that the prognosis of APSGN during childhood is excellent. Children with severe proteinuria or subnormal renal function in poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis had favorable prognosis without chronic renal failure, and children with crescentic formation also had favorable prognosis. Three patients who continued to have heavy proteinuria for more than 2 months received cyclosporine A and remission of proteinuria was achieved within a couple of months.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2017

Objective: This study investigated the effect of purified Carthamus tinctorius (C. tinctorius) extracted with a hot water and ethanol method on adipogenic differentiation of mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal stem cells (mBMSCs). Methods: The C. tinctorius was extracted using hot water and ethanol. The samples were concentrated by a rotary evaporator and were then dried using a freeze-dryer. The mBMSCs were cultured and maintained in a minimum essential medium eagle alpha (${\alpha}-MEM$) supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% antibiotic antimycotic solution. To induce adipogenic differentiation, the cells were treated with Dulbecco's modified eagle's medium-low glucose (DMEM-LG) containing 1 mg/mL insulin, 1 mM dexamethasone, and 0.5 mM 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. To evaluate the adipogenic differentiation ability, oil-red O staining was performed after adipogenic differentiation for 21 days. The mRNA expression and protein level of adipogenic-related genes were quantified by quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting, respectively. Results: In the results of the MTT assay, no concentrations of C. tinctorius extracts showed toxicity on mBMSCs, so we fixed the treatment concentration of the extract at 100 ng/mL. In oil-red O staining, the water-C. tinctorius extract treatment significantly decreased adipogenic differentiation compared with the control and ethanol extract groups. The water-C. tinctorius extract group in particular showed reduced mRNA and protein expression of Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma ($Ppar{\gamma}$) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha ($C/ebp{\alpha}$), which are adipogenic-related transcription factors. Conclusion: These data suggest that extract of C. tinctorius decreased the adipogenic differentiation of mBMSCs, while only water-C. tinctorius extract had an effect on different adipogenesis in mBMSCs. The C. tinctorius will be a useful therapeutic reagent for the prevention of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, and osteoporosis.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.33-50
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was conducted to confirm validation and stability of concentration analysis method of pure melittin (Sweet Bee Venom-Sweet BV) extracted from the bee venom by utilizing protein isolation method of gel filtration. Methods : All experiments were conducted at Biotoxtech, a non-clinical studies authorized institution, under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). Standard solutions of melittin (SIGMA, USA) and test substances were dispensed and were analyzed with HPLC for Sweet BV to secure the validation of analysis. Results : 1. Measurement of system suitability of Sweet BV satisfied criterion of below 3%. 2. Confirming Linearity of Sweet BV in 10-200${\mu}g/m\ell$ solution yielded correlation coefficient (r) of 0.995 and accuracy of 85-115% which satisfy criterion. 3. Measurement of Specificity of Sweet BV didn't yield any substance affecting the peak of test substances, but detected at 21.22min verified as the test substance. 4. Confirming Intra-day of Sweet BV, accuracy and precision of 0.1, 100${\mu}g/m\ell$ were 105.70, 95.81 and 0.66, 0.73, respectively, satisfying both criteria of accuracy (85-115%) and precision (within 10%). 5. To measure Stability in autosampler, all samples used in Intra-day reproducibility sat in the autosampler for five hours and were re-analyzed. Both variability and precision satisfied the criteria. 6. Homogeneity of Sweet BV (0.1, 100${\mu}g/m\ell$) at upper, middle, and lower layers all satisfied the accuracy and precision criteria. 7. Stability of Sweet BV (0.1, 100${\mu}g/m\ell$) at room temperature for four hours and refrigerated for 7 days all satisfied the criterion. 8. For the measurement of Quality control, QC samples measured on the first and eighth day all satisfied accuracy and precision criteria. Conclusion : Above experiment data satisfies validation and stability of concentration analysis method of Sweet BV.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.244-251
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• 2010

Standardized parenteral nutrition is required to improve patient's safety, clinical appropriateness and to increase uniformity between institution and institutions. We assessed the consistency with the American society for parenteral and enteral nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.) practice guideline for PN by evaluating current practice process for parenteral nutrition formulation in inpatients pharmacies in Korea. Each question in this survey was based on 2007 A.S.P.E.N. recommendations of standard parenteral nutrition formulation, the American society of health-system pharmacists (ASHP), and the United State Pharmacopoeia (USP) Chapter 797 guideline for compounding parenteral nutritions. All 90 Korean society of hospital pharmacist (KSHP) member directors of pharmacy were requested to respond to the survey in order to compare the survey results to ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings (2002) in compliance with A.S.P.E.N. guideline. We had final response rate of 35.6%. 25 (100%) hospitals complied with this Garb guideline (response rate was 84.4%) which was the highest compliance. Only 17.9% of hospital pharmacies were actively involved in complications monitoring. Monitoring complications and efficacy were least in compliance with the A.S.P.E.N. guideline. 69.0% of Korean pharmacists adjusted medication dosage based on disease state or monitoring laboratory data in compliance with the A.S.P.E.N. guideline. Over 50% of the hospital pharmacies failed to provide and evaluate staff training in aseptic manipulation skills periodically. Korean hospital pharmacies need to comply with the standard practice guideline for compounding sterile preparation in order to provide better quality of parenteral nutrition service for specific patient population.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.361-373
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• 2011

1. Objectives: The purpose of this study was done to learn the Sasang constitutional distribution and to find out if there are differences in the type of diseases and symptoms according to the Sasang constitution in Japan. 2. Methods: We collected data from 366 patients who visited the Department of Oriental Medicine, Keio University and recruited 132 healthy persons in Tokyo, Japan. For sasang constitution diagnosis, they all have done SSCQ-P(Sasang Constitution Questionaire for Patients) questionnaire. and a sasang constitution specialist diagnosed the sasang constitution of them. And We classify the diseases and symptoms of 313 patients according to KCD(Korean Standard Classification of Diseases) and learn the prevalences of diseases and symptoms according to Sasang Constitution. 3. Results: 1) Among the total 498 subjects, distributional rate of Taeyangin, Soyangin, Taeeumin, and Soeumin were 2.0%, 26.3%, 29.9%, and 41.8%. Among the 366 patients, distributional rate of Taeyangin, Soyangin, Taeumin, and Soeumin were 0.8%, 27.3%, 28.7%, and 43.2%. Among the 132 healthy group, distributional rate of Taeyangin, Soyangin, Taeeumin, and Soeumin were 5.3%, 23.5%, 33.3%, and 37.9%. 2) The prevalences of 'V.Mental and behavioural disorders', 'XI.Diseases of the digestive system', 'XV.Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium' and 'feeling of coldness(X VIII.Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, NEC)' of Soeumin were significantly higher than those of the other constitutions.(p-value<0.05) 4. Conclusions: The distributional rate of Sasangin of Japanese was different from that of Korean and especially the distributional rate of Soeumin of Japanese was significantly higher than that of Korean. There were significant differences on the prevalences of some diseases and symtoms according to KCD in Soeumin.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.742-751
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of home care nursing services provided by community health nurses and to identify barriers to the services. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with three types of community health care nurses. Participants were 257 nurses, 46 of whom were hospital based home care nurses, 176 were community based visiting nurses, and 35 were long term care insurance based visiting nurses. A structured questionnaire on 7 domains of home care nursing services with a 4-point Likert scale was used to measure activities and barriers to care. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 21.0 program. Results: Hospital based home care nurses showed a high level of service performance activity in the domain of clinical laboratory tests, medications and injections, therapeutic nursing, and education. Community based visiting nurses had a high level of service performance in the reference domain. Long term care insurance based visiting nurses showed a high level of performance in the service domains of fundamental nursing and counseling. Conclusion: The results show that although health care service provided by the three types of community health nurse overlapped, the focus of the service is differentiated. Therefore, these results suggest that existing home care services will need to be utilized efficiently in the development of a new nursing care service for patients living in the community after hospital discharge.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.256-263
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• 2011

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the physical and psychological health status of North Korean defector children and identify associated factors. The participants in the study were 103 children ranging in age from 7 to 14 years old. Physical health status was evaluated through height and weight measurements as well as clinical laboratory results. Psychological health status was assessed using structured survey interviews. Data were analyzed utilizing Pearson correlation coefficients, t-test, ANOVA, and descriptive statistics. On arrival in South Korea, 19% of the children did not meet the child growth standards of South Koreans for height and 15% for weight. However, twelve weeks after, these percentages had decreased significantly. It found that 38.5% of children presented mild posttraumatic reaction and 40.4% presented moderate reaction. Scores for externalizing and internalizing behavior problems were $0.38{\pm}0.30$ and $0.59{\pm}0.36$ respectively. Posttraumatic reaction was higher in girls (t=0.41, p=.03), and boys showed higher externalizing problems (t=2.04, p=.04). Externalizing problems were correlated with gender and internalizing problems were associated with posttraumatic reactions and externalizing problems. The findings indicate that North Korean defector children need timely developmental assessments and tailored intervention programs to meet child growth standards need to be developed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.674-678
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• 2005

A 78-year-old man was admitted to our hospital as a result of dyspepsia with a 2-month duration. Upon admission, the laboratory data showed a marked elevation in amylase activity in both the serum and urine. The pancreas and salivary glands were considered unlikely to have any clinical involvement in the hyperamylasemia. The chest PA revealed a right side pleural effusion, and the chest CT showed a heterogeneous enhancing mass on the subcarinal area. The patient was diagnosed bronchoscopically with a poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The amylase isoenzyme patterns indicated the salivary types, but lung cancer was strongly suspected to be the source. In most cases, lung cancers with hyperamylasemia have been diagnosed as adenocarcinomas. A squamous cell carcinoma is quite rare. We report an interesting case of squamous cell lung cancer with hyperamylasemia.