• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.297-303
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• 2019

Background: Absorbable plates are widely used in open reduction and internal fixation surgeries for facial bone fractures. Absorbable plates are made of polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactic acid (PLA), polydioxane (PDS), or various combinations of these polymers. The degradation patterns of absorbable plates made from different polymers and clinical courses of patients treated with such plates have not been fully identified. This study aimed to confirm the clinical courses of facial bone fracture patients using absorbable plates and compare the degradation patterns of the plates. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted for 47 cases in 46 patients who underwent open reduction and internal fixation surgery using absorbable plates to repair facial bone fractures. All surgeries used either PLA/PGA composite-based or poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA)/hydroxyapatite (HA) composite-based absorbable plates and screws. Clinical courses were confirmed and comparisons were conducted based on direct observation. Results: There were no naturally occurring foreign body reactions. Post-traumatic inflammatory responses occurred in eight patients (nine cases), in which six recovered naturally with conservative treatment. The absorbable plates were removed from two patients. PLA/PGA compositebased absorbable plates degraded into fragments with non-uniform, sharp surfaces whereas PLLA/HA composite-based absorbable plates degraded into a soft powder. Conclusion: PLA/PGA composite-based and PLLA/HA composite-based absorbable plates showed no naturally occurring foreign body reactions and showed different degradation patterns. The absorbable plate used for facial bone fracture surgery needs to be selected in consideration of its degradation patterns.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2007

Purpose: This master‘s thesis to evaluate the grade of life after medication a Dangguijakyak-san(pasabu) and Gyejibongnyeong-hwan(cheongwal) with in postmenopausal women get lowering quality of life caused by vasomotor symptoms with hot flush. Methods: A subject who signing on the clinical trial written consent by self-will is registered this clinical trial after decided suitable by selection and exception standard, after take a medical experiment and checkup according to clinical trial plan. Registered subject should valuated by settled schedule after take the testing medicine 1,2 during thirty-day. In this period, a subject allocated at relatively better suited experimental group by oriental doctor after consideration of general efficacy and nature of a medicine at second visiting. Results: The result of comparison in the remedial value with sixteen patients who ended the experiment is like next list. 1. There's no regarded difference of comparison in general conditions between two patient groups. 2. There's no regarded difference during observation period before take medicine. 3. By period of measurement, there's something regarded differences most of patients of two parts after taking medicine. 4. There's no regarded difference at alteration phase of each standard according to kind of medicine. 5. There's no abnormal views reflected at allergy, Laboratory and Physical Examination during experiment. Conclusion: This experiment evidence a Dangguijakyak-san and Gyejibongnyeong-hwan can help for improvement generally life quality of postmenopausal women and certify safety of herbs.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.360-364
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and radiographic characteristics of idiopathic bone cavity (IBC) to determine the effect of surgical intervention on the process of healing. Materials and Methods: All cases diagnosed with IBC during the period of 2011 to 2020 at our Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery were searched. Ninety cases were retrieved. The features evaluated were sex, age, contour of the lesion, number of teeth involved, site, history of trauma, and postoperative healing pattern. The significance of differences was assessed by Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. Results: The female:male ratio showed no predilection toward either sex (0.9:0.8). The mean age of the collected sample was 22.05±14.38 years, and the age ranged from 10 to 58 years. All cases presented in the mandible and showed well-circumscribed radiolucency. Margins were either scalloped or round in shape, and the size varied from one tooth to six teeth involvement. Seventy cases involved three or fewer roots. Three cases showed bilateral lesion. Four cases had a history of trauma at the area of the lesion. Fifty-one cases were followed for six months after surgery, and all showed increased bone density at the lesion. Conclusion: There is no definitive radiological or clinical feature of IBC. Considering the diversity of clinical and radiological features, such a diagnosis relies primarily on surgical findings of an empty bone cavity with no epithelial lining. Our data suggest that surgical intervention be the first choice of treatment as opposed to observation.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.135-144
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• 2021

Purpose: Although ultrasonography is the gold standard of diagnosing intussusception, plain abdomen radiograph (AXR) is often used to make differential diagnosis for pediatric patients with abdominal pain. In intussusception patients, we aimed to analyze the AXR and clinical data to determine the characteristics of early AXR findings associated with diagnosis of intussusception and recurrence after reduction. Methods: Between January 2011 and June 2018, 446 patients diagnosed with intussusception based on International Classification of Diseases-10 code of K56.1 were admitted. We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 398 patients who received air reduction; 51 of them have recurred after initial reduction. We evaluated six AXR features including absent ascending colon gas, absent transverse colon gas, target sign, meniscus sign, mass, and ileus. Clinical data and AXR features were compared between single episode and recurrence groups. Results: Two groups did not show significant differences regarding clinical data. Mean time to recurrence from air reduction was 3.4±3.2 days. Absent ascending colon gas (63.9%) was the most common feature in intussusception, followed by mass (29.1%). All of six AXR features were observed more frequently in the recurrence group. Absent transverse colon gas was the most closely associated AXR finding for recurrence (odds ratio, 2.964; 95% confidence interval, 1.327-6.618; p=0.008). Conclusion: In our study, absence of ascending colon gas was the most frequently seen AXR factor in intussusception patients. Extended and careful observation after reduction may be beneficial if such finding on AXR is found in intussusception patients.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.1211-1222
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the opinions of experts on abdominal examinations in Korean Medicine included in the curriculum of the College of Korean Medicine. Methods: Among Korean doctors, 14 experts on abdominal examinations were interviewed; the experts included 9 professors of Korean internal medicine, 1 expert in diagnostics of Korean Medicine, 1 primary care Korean medicine doctor, and 3 executives of a (former) Korean association of the abdomen. The interview consisted of questions regarding recognition of the clinical importance of abdominal examinations, how to perform abdominal examinations, the most frequent abdominal examination findings encountered in clinical practice, and the definition of some of the abdominal examination findings. Results: Most interviewees recognized abdominal examinations as important and used them in clinical practice. Opinions on additions and corrections were collected regarding observation items, posture, method, and order during abdominal examinations. Abdominal examination findings that were common clinically were abdominal fullness (腹滿), epigastric stuffness (心下痞鞕), abdominal tenderness, epigastric fullness (心下滿), and rib distention (胸脇苦滿). The answers to the question related to the definitions of abdominal examination findings included consent and supplementary opinions regarding definitions of deficiency-excess, cold-heat, abdominal tenderness, tension of abdominal muscles, succession sounds, and borborygmus; these were mainly selected based on abdominal symptoms that are highly quantifiable. Conclusions: In the future, based on the results of this study, additional research related to the drafting of a standard abdominal examination in Korean medicine should be conducted to provide an opportunity to increase the reliability of Korean medicine diagnosis.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.10-15
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• 2004

Purpose: In the treatment of aortic aneurysm, endovascular stent-graft application has become an established method of treatment. To observe the outcomes of the procedure as the size change of aneurysm in relation with endoleak, a retrospective analysis was done for the consecutive cases who undertook the procedure. Materials & Method: Stent-graft was applied to the aortic aneurysm in 33 patients. The location of the aneurysm was thoracic in 11 patients and abdominal in 22 patients. CT angiographic was done for the follow-up evaluation to analyze the aneurysm size and the presence of endoleak. Results: Technical success rate was 97% (32/33). The primary success rate without endoleak was 84% (28/33). The secondary success was 90% (30/33). During the follow-up period of 3 months to 7years and 6months in 26 patients, a secondary endoleak developed in 5 cases. Post-implantation syndrome developed in 17 cases (51%). Among the 14 cases with follow-up imaging data for size, endoleak was negative in 10 cases. The aneurysm decreased in 5 cases, stable in size in 4 cases and enlarged in one case (10%).Among the 4 cases with endoleak positive, the aneurysm enlarged in two cases (50%). Conclusion: In the stent-graft application for aortic aneurysm, there is high chance of decrease of aneurysm size in those cases with endoleak negative. However, the aneurysm may increase and eventually rupture in the cases with en do leak positive. Close observation with CT angiography is necessary for the evaluation for the presence of endoleak and size change.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2021.04a
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• pp.59-59
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• 2021

Stachys sieboldii Miq. (SSM) and Acorus gramineus Soland. (AGS) have been used as traditional medicines for thousands of years in parts of Asia, including Korea, China, and Japan. Recent researches on SSM and AGS have documented a wide spectrum of therapeutic properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, neurodegenerative disease effects. However, the toxicity and safety of SSM and AGS, and their mixture (medicinal herber mixture, MHMIX) were not confirmed. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the acute toxicity and safety of SSM, AGS and MHMIX. SSM, AGS and MHMIX were orally administered at a dose of 5,000 mg/kg in ICR mice. Animals were monitored for the mortality and changes in the body weight, clinical signs and gross observation during the 14 days after dosing, upon necropsy. We also measured parameters of organ weight, clinical chemistry, and hematology. No dead and no clinical signs were found during the experiment period after administration of a single oral dose of SSM, AGS and MHMIX. There were no adverse effects on clinical signs, body weight, or organ weight and no gross pathological findings in any treatment group. Therefore, LD50 value of SSM, AGS and MHMIX may be over 5,000 mg/kg and it may have no side toxic effect to ICR mice. The results on the single-dose toxicity of SSM, AGS and MHMIX indicate that it is not possible to reach oral dose levels related to death or dose levels with any harmful side effects.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2023

In this study, the correlation between clinical changes and RSIV genome copy number was investigated to determine the quantitative criteria for the characteristics of RSIV infection. The rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus) was intraperitoneally injected with three different doses (1.0×10¹, 1.0×10³ and 1.0×10⁵ viral genome copies/fish) as low, medium, and high doses, respectively. The clinical signs (spleen enlargement, death) observation and real-time PCR were conducted at 5, 10 and 14 days post-injection. During the experiment, spleen index as a quantitative indicator for spleen enlargement was continuously increased in the medium- (up to 2.26) and high-dose (up to 4.99) challenge groups, respectively. Notably, when the spleen index was over 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0, a positive correlation was revealed with average viral genome copy numbers of 2.51, 3.37, 4.97 and 5.43×10⁷ viral genome copies/mg, respectively. Moreover, the threshold of spleen index over 1.5 was 1.0×10⁶ viral genome copies/mg, while the thresholds of spleen index over 2.0 and dead was 2.51×10⁷ viral genome copies/mg and the thresholds of spleen index over 2.5 and 3 was 3.98×10⁷ viral genome copies/mg. These findings suggest the possibility of quantitatively analyzing the characteristics and development process of RSIV infection.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.84-96
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• 2018

Objective: This is aprospective clinical case study that includes the administration of Ahnjeonbaekho-tang (AJBHT) to patients who have suffered from Graves' disease for the 8 weeks of the clinical research. Methods: Without administration of an antithyroid drug, AJBHT was administered 3 times a day for 8 weeks. In Case 1, AJBHT without modification was administered and in Case 2, in accordance with the patients' symptoms, a dose of Gypsum Fibrosum was increased by 4g from the beginning of week 2, and further increased by 16 g, for a total of 20 g between week 6 and week 8. Body mass index (BMI), thyroid function test (TFT), thyroid autoantibody test, complete blood cell count (CBC), and blood chemistry (BC) tests were conducted at an interval of 4 weeks, for a total of 3 times during the study. The clinical manifestations, a spectrum of symptoms of the patients, was observed by Wayne's Index, Euro-QOL-5 Dimension (EQ-5D), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: In both cases, an acceptable significance of reduction of value in T3, fT4, Thyroid stimulating antibody (TSAb) and Thyroid stimulating hormone receptor antibody (TSH-R-Ab) was observed. After treatment, in TFT, T3 decreased by 31.66%, fT4 decreased by 32.82% in Case 1, and T3 decreased by 43.42%, and fT4 decreased by 37.32% in Case 2. In the thyroid autoantibody test, TSAb decreased by 7.59%, and TSH-R-Ab decreased by 53.19% in Case 1, and TSAb decreased by 33.45%, TSH-R-Ab decreased by at least 7.75% in Case 2. Besides this, there was a decreasing trend of Wayne's index, and a loss of typical symptoms of hyperthyroidism also declared the efficacy. Conclusion: From these results, AJBHT is very effective in the regulation of TFT and improving the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and is also expected to be an effective alternative to antithyroid drugs for patients who have side effects or drug intolerance.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.60 no.6
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• pp.667-675
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• 2017

Objective : Total resection without consecutive postoperative whole brain radiation therapy is indicated for patients with a single or two sites of brain metastasis, with close follow-up by serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, we explored the effectiveness, usefulness, and safety of this follow-up regimen. Methods : From January 2006 to December 2015, a total of 109 patients (76 males, 33 females) underwent tumor resection as the first treatment for brain metastases (97 patients with single metastases, 12 with two metastases). The mean age was 59.8 years (range 27-80). The location of the 121 tumors in the 109 patients was supratentorial (n=98) and in the cerebellum (n=23). The origin of the primary cancers was lung (n=45), breast (n=17), gastrointestinal tract (n=18), hepatobiliary system (n=8), kidney (n=7), others (n=11), and unknown origin (n=3). The 121 tumors were totally resected. Follow-up involved regular clinical and MRI assessments. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after tumor resection were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier methods based on clinical prognostic factors. Results : During the follow-up, MRI scans were done for 85 patients (78%) with 97 tumors. Fifty-six of the 97 tumors showed no recurrence without adjuvant local treatment, representing a numerical tumor recurrence-free rate of 57.7%. Mean and median RFS was 13.6 and 5.3 months, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed the cerebellar location of the tumor as the only statistically significant prognostic factor related to RFS (p=0.020). Mean and median OS was 15.2 and 8.1 months, respectively. There were no significant prognostic factors related to OS. The survival rate at one year was 8.2% (9 of 109). Conclusion : With close and regular clinical and image follow-up, initial postoperative observation without prompt postoperative radiation therapy can be applied in patients of brain metastasi(e)s when both the tumor(s) are completely resected.