• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4859-4864
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a recombinant human epidermal growth factor (EGF)-based cream for the prevention of acute radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients receiving radiotherapy (RT). Materials and Methods: Between December 2012 and April 2013, 40 breast cancer patients who received postoperative RT were prospectively enrolled in this study and randomly assigned to receive human recombinant EGF-based cream (intervention group) or general supportive skin care (control group). The grade of radiation dermatitis and pain score were examined at weekly intervals during RT and 6 weeks after RT completion. Results: All patients completed the planned RT and complied well with instructions for applying the study cream and general supportive skin care. In the intervention group, radiation dermatitis of maximum grade 3, 2, and 1 developed in 3 (15%), 11 (55%), and 6 patients (30%), respectively. In comparison, in the control group, radiation dermatitis of maximum grade 3, 2, and 1 developed in 8 (40%), 10 (50%), and 2 patients (10%), respectively. The intervention group showed lower incidence of grade 3 radiation dermatitis than the control group (p=0.068 in univariate analysis and p=0.035 in multivariate analysis). There was no statistically significant difference in the maximal pain score between the two groups (p=0.934). Conclusions: This single-blind randomized preliminary study showed that recombinant human EGF-based cream can have a beneficial role in preventing or minimizing radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients. To confirm the results of our study, additional studies with a large sample size are required.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.204-212
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• 2012

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness and variance of a critical pathway (CP) for laparoscopic colon resection in colon cancer patients, and nurses'satisfaction with the CP. Methods: A CP for laparoscopic colon resection was applied to the CP-group that included 50 patients, who underwent elective colon resection between March and May, 2011. The non-CP group included 51 patients who had the same operation without the CP applied from March to May, 2010. Results: The means of length of hospital stay were 11.7 and 7.3 days (p<.001) and the lengths of postoperative hospital stay were 8.6 and 5.1 days (p<.001) in the non-CP group and CP group, respectively. There was no significant difference between two groups for total healthcare costs, pain score, complications, or emergency room visits within 30 days after discharge. By examining variances of the CP, there were 162 variances and the most frequent cause was patient's condition. Nurses'satisfaction with the use of CP was favorable and the mean score of satisfaction was 3.76 on the 5 point Likert scale. Conclusion: There are clear benefits to use of CP, resulting in standardized and effective patient care. In conclusion, analysis of variance data can assist in evaluating and revising CP for optimal care and reducing variances.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.129-139
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• 2016

Purpose - This paper examines the explanatory power of the agency theory in the determination of cash holdings for Korean retail firms. If the agency theory holds, a firm with strong corporate governance structure tends to have low cash holdings. A strong governance structure makes the CEO of this firm to behave in the interests of shareholders and thus the CEO has low incentive to stockpile cash holdings, which can be easily diverted for the CEO's own managerial purposes. We investigate this relationship between corporate governance structure and cash holdings, by using corporate governance scores as a proxy variable that captures the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanism. Research design, data, and methodology - We adopt the sample of publicly listed retail firms in KOSPI market from 2005 to 2013. Financial and accounting statements are gathered from the WISEfn database. We also use the corporate governance scores published by Korean Corporate Governance Service. The relationship between the corporate governance scores and cash holdings is cross-sectionally estimated based on the ordinary least square method. This estimation method is widely accepted in the existing literature. The sample of large conglomerates, Chebol, and the remainder firms are separately examined as well, to account for the distinctive internal financing environment in these large conglomerates. Results - We mainly contribute to the extant literature by providing empirical evidence against the agency theory of cash policy. Unlike the prediction of agency theory, we confirm statistically insignificant or even positive correlations between the set of corporate governance scores and cash-asset ratios. Almost all the major corporate governance attributes including total score, shareholder rights, board structure, and the quality of information disclosure do not show negative correlations with cash holdings, which poses a strong challenge to the validity of the agency theory in the determination of retail firms' cash holdings. Conclusions - This study presents interesting empirical results with respect to the cash policy in Korean retail firms. Consistent to prior studies, I verify that the agency theory only limitedly explains the level of cash holdings. Future studies may obtain more robust results by examining a longer sample period.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.202-208
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• 2003

Objective : This study was designed to compared with the effect of body acupuncture and 8 constitution acupuncture by pain Disability Index(PDI) and Visual Analogue Scale(VAS). Methods : Body acupuncture group consists of 10 patients and 8 Constitution acupuncture group consists of 10 patients. The degree of improvement was evaluated by PDI and VAS after 2 weeks treatment. PDI consists of seven items and they are scored as 10 points per each item. Results : After 2 weeks treatment there was no significant difference between the two groups in PDI scores, each PDI item's score and VAS score. Conclusions : The effect of 8 constitution acupuncture is not statistically different form that of body acupuncture on neck pain. Further study is needed about the effectiveness of 8 constitution acupuncture.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.36-49
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the pain management education on pain of the terminal cancer patients at home. For evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention modified Patient Outcome Questionnaire (APS, 1995) including patients concerns with cancer pain management, pain intensity, and interference of daily activities related to pain were measured before and after the education in control group and experimental group and the differences were compared with each other. Satisfaction with pain management was measured after the intervention. Pain management education was delivered to 16 experimental group patients by home care nurses, who were provided with 3-hour education on cancer pain management by one of the researchers. Pain management education included common misconceptions about cancer pain control and pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions and emphasis was put on the importance of pain reports and patients' active participation in pain management. The results of the study were as follows. Patients concerns with pain management were decreased more greatly in the experimental group than those of the control group. The worst, average, and present pain intensities during the last 24 hours were decreased more greatly in the experimental group, and total score and each subcategory of the interference of daily living, except walking, were decreased more greatly in the experimental group. And satisfaction score with total pain management and nurses response to the pain reports were higher in the experimental group. The results of this study suggest that pain management education given to the patients by home care nurses is a very useful intervention to improve pain of the cancer patients at home. This positive result is thought to derive from patients' active pain report and participation in pain control and the use of powder form sustained release morphine for breakthrough pain control in part. Further studies with increased sample size from more institutions are recommended and early introduction of short acting morphine is strongly suggested for effective cancer pain control.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.43-51
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• 2018

PURPOSE: Stroke patients have limited ankle range of motion and balance problems. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Kaltenborn orthopedic manual therapy, Evjenth-hamberg stretching, and combination of both on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion and dynamic balance ability in stroke patients. METHODS: Thirty patients were placed in three groups, each of which received different treatments: Kaltenborn orthopedic manual therapy (15 mins), Evjenth-hamberg stretching (15 mins), or Kaltenborn orthopedic manual therapy with Evjenth-hamberg stretching (30 mins). Each group received three exercise sessions per week during four weeks. To determine its effectiveness of interventions an evaluation was carried out. ankle dorsiflexion range of motion was gauged using a tiltmeter application, and dynamic balance ability was measured using the Berg balance scale. RESULTS: All groups revealed significant improvements in ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, Berg Balance Scale (BBS) score before and after the intervention, and Kaltenborn orthopedic manual therapy with Evjenth-hamberg stretching group showed a significant improvement in ankle dorsiflexion range of motion and BBS score in comparison to other groups. CONCLUSION: We found out that each individual method was effective in ankle dorsiflexion range of motion, dynamic balance ability in stroke patients, and the combined method was more effective.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.187-195
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this case report was to evaluate the effectiveness of Hwangryunhaedok-tang pharmacupuncture on three patients diagnosed as cervical vertigo. Methods: Three patients were diagnosed as cervical vertigo with cervical sprain, resulting from an alteration of the neck proprioceptive afferents of the upper cervical spine. Hwangryunhaedok-tang pharmacoacupuncture was injected in the patients once daily for 10 days. The symptom change of dizziness was checked daily before and after treatment by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score. The cervical pain and patient satisfaction were checked by the NRS (Numerical Rating Scale), NDI (Neck Disability Index), and the EQ-5D (EuroQol-Five Dimensions). Results: After the treatment, there was significant decrease in the value of the VAS score, measurement of dizziness, as well as the value of the NRS, NDI, a measure of pain. Also, the life quality measured by the EQ-5D improved. Conclusions: The results indicated that the Hwangryunhaedok-tang pharmacupuncture may have an effect on cervical vertigo with cervical pain.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.809-814
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• 1997

Continuous epidural pain block with a local anesthetic agents is a commonly employed technique for pain relief after thoracotomy. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the continuous epidural pain block in 19 patients undergoing elective lateral or posterolatrral thoracotomy with control group(n=19) from November 1994 to July 1995, Epidural lidocaine and morphine mixtures were injected via an epidural catheter as a bolus after operation, and then bupivacaine and morphine mixtures were injected continuously following 5 or 6 days. The pain score, upper arm elevation(ROM score), and respiratory rate were significantly changed(P<0.05) from 30min after injection. The CO2 tension of arterial blood was decreased significantly(P<0.05) from 2hr after injection. The postoperative hospital days were decreased significantly(P<0.05). Side effects of the epidural pain block were urinary retention(n= 10), urticaria(n=2) and a case of headache. There was no postoperative lung atelectasis. We conclude that the continuous epidural pain block is good for prevention of the postoperative lung complication and early recovery after thoracotomy.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.3-9
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• 2017

Background: Many hyaluronic acid (HA)-based anti-adhesive agents have been commercialized for clinical use in the pharmaceutical market. But their efficacy in arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs remains elusive. To determine their efficacy, we performed a comparative analysis of the effects of two hyaluronate/carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)-based anti-adhesive agents, Protescal and Guardix. Methods: We recruited a total of 256 patients who had received an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair at our hospital between January 2014 and March 2015. Among them, 96 patients fulfilled the study's selection criteria and were enrolled as the final population sample. Thirty patients who had received a postoperative injection of Protescal were allocated into Group A. Another 30 patients who had received a postoperative injection of Guardix were allocated into Group B. As controls, 36 patients who did not receive any injection were allocated into Group C. The patients included in this study were aged between 19 and 75 years. For the clinical assessment, we measured the following clinical parameters-the visual analogue scale for pain (PVAS), the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, and the constant score, as well as passive range of motions (ROMs)-at three time-points (preoperatively, 2-month postoperatively, and 6-month postoperatively). Results: We found that Group A compared to Group B tended to show a swifter recovery in passive anterior elevation and in internal rotation by the 2-month postoperative follow-up, but the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusions: We found that the effects of HA/CMC-based injections were minimal after arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.328-334
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aimed to validate the effectiveness of a recently proposed difficulty index for removal of impacted mandibular third molars based on extraction time and suggest a modified difficulty index including the presence of pathologic conditions associated with third molars. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 65 male patients younger than 25 years with third molars. Extraction time was calculated from start of the incision to the last suture. The difficulty scores for third molars were based on spatial relationship (1-5 points), depth (1-4 points), and ramus relationship (1-3 points) using cone-beam computed tomography. The difficulty index was defined as follows: I (3-4 points), II (5-7 points), III (8-10 points), and IV (11-12 points). The modified difficulty score was calculated by adding one point to the difficulty score if the third molar was associated with a pathologic condition. Two modified difficulty indices, based on the presence of pathologic conditions, were as follows: the half-level up difficulty index (HDI) and the one-level up difficulty index (ODI) from the recently proposed difficulty index. Results: The correlations between extraction time and difficulty index and or modified difficulty indices were significant (P<0.001). The correlation coefficient between extraction time and difficulty index was 0.584. The correlation coefficients between extraction time and HDI and ODI were 0.728 and 0.764, respectively. Conclusion: Extraction time of impacted third molars exhibited a moderate correlation with difficulty index and was strongly correlated with the modified indices. Considering the clinical implications, the difficulty index of surgical extraction should take into consideration the pathologic conditions associated with third molars.