• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.90-95
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical therapists' perception of the use of gait measures, the frequency of the gait measures used, and also to identify the barriers that limit the use of these assessment tools. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Physical therapists from the Seoul, Gyeonggi area from March to July 2016 were included in the study. Over the course of 18 weeks, a cross-sectional study was conducted with a self-report questionnaire. A total of 700 questionnaires were distributed and 350 questionnaires (50%) were collected, however with the exclusion of 140 questionnaires due to non-consent, a total of 210 questionnaires (30%) were analysed. Results: Out of the 10 standardized assessment tools, the therapists showed the highest perception for the timed up and go test (TUG [n=153, 72.9%]) and they also had high perception for the 10 meters walk test (10MWT [n=149, 71.0%]), and 6-minute walk test (6MWT [n=123, 58.6%]). The respondents answered that the TUG (n=116, 55.2%), 10MWT (n=100, 47.6%), and 6MWT (n=51, 24.3%) was used the most often. On the contrary, only four (1.9%) therapists have used the Chedoke-McMaster stroke assessment and the Rivermead Mobility Index. The lack of time was considered as the most important barrier to the use of assessment tools in clinical practice. Conclusions: Through this study, it has been shown that the domestic physical therapists used the TUG and the 10MWT mainly due to high recognition and evaluation status; however, the lack of time was the greatest impediment to the clinical application of the gait assessment tools.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.35-45
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• 2005

Objectives : To investigate the applicability of thermography as severity measurement in the patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Methods : Data were obtained from 80 patiens with OA of the knee. They were asked to answer two disease-specific questionnaire (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) OA index. Lequesne's Functional Index (LFI)), one generic instrument (Korean Health Assessment Questionnaire (KHAQ)), VAS in order to assess the severity of disease, quality of life, and degree of pain and taken thermography in standardized environment. Results : The thermal difference between ipsilateral side and contralaterla side of lateral aspect of knee was correlated with that of medial aspect of knee, and the thermal difference of anterior thigh was correlated with that of lateral, medial aspect of knee and patella region. Age, duration of disease, duration of morning stiffness, sex, crepitus, and painful side of knee were not correlated with the thermal differences of each region. LFI, WOMAC, WOMAC pain subscale, WOMAC stiffness subscale, WOMAC physical function, KHAQ, VAS were not correlated with the thermal differences of each region. Conclusion : Futher study on the thermography on OA of the knee in population with appropriate severity grade and the standardization of analysis of thermographic data were recommended.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.101-107
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between acupuncture therapy on knee osteoarthritis and BMI. Methods : Data on assessment measurements of knee osteoarthritis and obesity were obtained from 31 patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis from May, 2011 to September, 2012. The assesment measurements consisted of body mass index(BMI), visual analogue scale(VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities(WOMAC) index. Statistical correlations among assessment measurements were evaluated by examining the Pearson's correlation coefficients. Results : 1. The average age of all patients was $58.87{\pm}9.48$(male : $63.67{\pm}11.34$, female : $57.72{\pm}8.86$). 2. The average BMI of all patients was $25.41{\pm}3.06kg/m^2$. According to clinical definition of obesity by Korean Society for the Study of Obesity, 25.81% of all patients was within normal weight, 25.81% was overweight, 38.71% was obesity and 9.67% was morbid obesity. 3. There were no significant correlations in statistics among assessment measurements. Conclusions : There is significant correlation between knee osteoarthritis and obesity according to many clinical and experimental researches. So more studies on correlation between knee osteoarthritis and obesity and development of assessment measurement are needed.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.203-211
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• 2010

Purpose: We aimed to test the validity of the EQ-5D (Euro-Quality of Life-5 Dimension), a brief and simple instrument, in measuring health related quality of life in the patients with osteoarthritis. Methods: 183 participants attending the education programs for osteoarthritis patients at the Health Centers located in Seoul and Gyunggi province area during the periods of June to December in 2009 were interviewed with the EQ-5D and KWOMAC (Korean version of Western Ontario and McMaster Scale). The data were analysed with Spearman correlation coefficents and t-test by using of SPSS/WIN 12.0 version. Results: There was a negative correlation between knee pain, stiffness and difficulty in usual activity of sub category items of KWOMAC and EQ-5Dindex, while there was no correlation between these categories and EQ-VAS. Moreover, as a result of comparing the score of physical function measured by KWOMAC according to the severity degree of the EQ-5Dindex, the group of advanced stage having moderate and severe symptoms reported significantly higher scores of physical function than those of groups having no health problems. Conclusion: The EQ-5D is an acceptable and valid instrument for measuring health-related quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.105-118
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• 2001

Incident detection rate and false alarm rate are the key measures tot estimating the performance of automatic incident detection algorithms. It is, however inherently very difficult to improve the two measures simultaneously. The main purpose of this study is to present some methods for solving the problem. For this, an incident detection algorithm has been designed in this study. The algorithm is consisted of two functions, one for detecting incident and another for detecting congestion. A logic for distinguishing non-recurrent congestion from recurrent congestion was employed in the algorithm. The new algorithm basically requires speed, flow, and occupancy data for defining incident situation, but the algorithm is able to perform this task without one of the three parameters. The performance of the algorithm has been evaluated by using the field data collected from Interstate Highway 880 in Bay Area, California. The empirical analysis results are very promising and thus, the algorithm proposed may be very useful for the analysts. This paper presents some empirical test results for the performance of California incident detection algorithm, only for the reference purpose.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.645-652
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• 2016

Toxocara vitulorum has been rarely reported in yaks at high altitudes and remote areas of Sichuan Province of Tibetan Plateau of China. The current study was designed to investigate the prevalence, associated risk factors, and phylogenetic characteristics of T. vitulorum in yak calves on the Qinghai Tibetan plateau. Fecal samples were collected from 891 yak calves and were examined for the presence of T. vitulorum eggs by the McMaster technique. A multivariable logistic regression model was employed to explore variables potentially associated with exposure to T. vitulorum infection. T. vitulorum specimens were collected from the feces of yaks in Hongyuan of Sichuan Province, China. DNA was extracted from ascaris. After PCR amplification, the sequencing of ND1 gene was carried out and phylogenetic analyses was performed by MEGA 6.0 software. The results showed that 64 (20.1%; 95% CI 15.8-24.9%), 75 (17.2; 13.8-21.1), 29 (40.9; 29.3-53.2), and 5 (7.6; 2.5-16.8) yak calves were detected out to excrete T. vitulorum eggs in yak calve feces in Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, and Gansu, respectively. The present study revealed that high infection and mortality by T. vitulorum is wildly spread on the Qinghai Tibetan plateau, China by fecal examination. Geographical origin, ages, and fecal consistencies are the risk factors associated with T. vitulorum prevalence by logistic regression analysis. Molecular detection and phylogenetic analysis of ND1 gene of T. vitulorum indicated that T. vitulorum in the yak calves on the Qinghai Tibetan plateau are homologous to preveiously studies reported.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2021

This study's purpose is to report the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatment to posterior cruciate ligament tear patients due to traffic accident. 2 patients were treated with Korean medicine by acupuncture, pharmacopuncture and herbal medication. We assessed the knee pain and functional improvement by using numeric rating scale (NRS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities arthritis (WOMAC) index and EuroQol-5 dimension (EQ-5D) index. After treatment, NRS decreased from 6 to 2 in case 1 and from 5 to 3 in case 2. EQ-5D index chaged from 0.465 to 0.72 in case 1 and from 0.719 to -0.171 in case 2. WOMAC index decreased from 82 to 13 in case 1 and from 55 to 54 in case 2. NRS improved in both cases, but WOMAC index and EQ-5D index improved in only one case. Korean medicine treatment could be helpful for posterior cruciate ligament tear traffic accident patients. However, further clinical studies are needed to clarify the effectiveness to the patients with old age, degeneration and accompanying injury.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.113-128
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• 2019

Objectives To evaluate the pattern identification tool for knee osteoarthritis and to investigate the relationship between pattern identification tool and knee ROM (range of motion), VAS (visual analog scale) and WOMAC (Western Ontario & McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index). Methods We studied 50 patients who are diagnosed as degenerative osteoarthritis. With one patient dropping out, total of 49 patient went through pattern identification tool. Re-test of the pattern identification tool was implemented after about a week. The reliability was analyzed by calculating ICC (intraclass correlation coefficient). Also, reliability of each pattern identification score was calculated along with influence factor and correlation between knee ROM, VAS and WOMAC. Results Reliability of the pattern identification tool was evaluated as 'poor agreement beyond chance' with ICC value of 0.396. Reliablility of each pattern identification score was calculated and four out of five were measured 'good' with one 'moderate' reliability. Two of inter-item consistency were 'good', two were 'acceptable' and one was 'questionable'. Correlation between each pattern identification and knee ROM showed 'clear negative linear relationship' with two patterns. VAS showed 'clear positivie linear relationship' with all five patterns. WOMAC showed 'positivie linear relationship' with all five patterns. Conclusions According to the results, pattern identification tool for knee osteoarthritis seems to have meaningful relationship with other agnedas. Also, further research is needed to develop the tool.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.123-138
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• 2022

Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of the chuna combination treatment for patients who complain of functional impairment and pain even 3 months after total knee arthroplasty. Methods 24 patients who had 3 months of surgery and who had knee joint pain with a score of 4 or higher on the numerical rating scale (NRS) for more than a week were selected as subjects. The test group received usual care and Chuna treatment and the control group received the administration of drugs as usual care. And then the clinical efficacy and safety were compared and evaluated. Follow-up was performed 1 month after the end of treatment. Results As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the primary parameter Korean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (K-WOMAC) showed statistical significance in the amount of change in visit 2-visit 10 (V2-V10) in the pain domain and in the amount of change in visit 2-follow 1 (V2-FU1) in the functional domain and total score domain. The secondary parameter (NRS, risk of fall, and range of motion) showed a tendency to decrease in the degree of discomfort, but statistical significance could not be confirmed. Conclusions Because this study did not have enough study subjects, it is difficult to use the results as confirmatory evidence. However, it was confirmed that the 4-week Chuna treatment had a significant effect and safety in patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. Therefore, this study is meaningful as a prior research data to prepare confirmatory evidence in the future.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.45-52
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of HT008 on pain relief and functional improvement in participants with mild knee osteoarthritis (OA) in comparison with that of glucosamine sulfate. Methods : This randomized double-blind trial was conducted at Kyung Hee University Medical Center in Seoul where participants with knee pain for more than 6 months and degenerative osteoarthritis were enrolled. The 100 participants were received either HT008 or glucosamine sulfate 750 mg twice daily for 8 weeks and evaluated at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks after the treatment. We primarily evaluated the differences between two groups with respect to changes in the visual analogue score (VAS) for pain, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain score from baseline to week 8. Secondarily the difference between and within two groups with respect to changes in WOMAC stiffness and physical function score, and Lequesne Functional Severity Index (LFI) were also evaluated. Results : At week 8, treatment with HT008 resulted in a significant reduction of the VAS for pain and WOMAC pain scores compared to the glucosamine sulfate (both p=0.003). Patients receiving HT008 experienced statistically significantly greater improvements in WOMAC physical function scores and LFI (p = 0.014 and p=0.016, respectively) than glucosamine sulfate-treated group. The within-group change in WOMAC physical function and stiffness, and LFI during the 8-week intervention revealed significant improvements in HT008-treated group. Conclusions : HT008 treatment allows significant pain reduction and functional improvement compared with glucosamine sulfate. These data confirm HT008 as an effective and safe symptomatic drug for knee OA.