• Anxiety and mood
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2006

Objective : In this study, we investigated the prevalence of depression and its impact on the healthrelated Quality of life (HRQoL) of the patients with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) on Hemodialysis. Method : The Quality of life (QOL) of patients was evaluated by HRQoL Questionnaire, "Medical Outcome Survey 36-Item Short Form Health Survey Korean Version (SF-36-K)". The patients on Hemodialysis in ESRD, were chosen from the hemodialytic room at Wonkwang University and Jeongeup-Asan Hospital. The number of patients was 95 (64 from Wonkwang University Hospital and 31 from Jeongeup-Asan Hospital) and all of them were above 19 years old. We performed various investigations to find a statistical correlations between HRQoL and physical & psychosocial factors such as the demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics (hemoglobin level and albumin level etc), and the score of Beck's depressive inventory (BDI). Results : The HRQoL value of patients on hemodialysis in ESRD is far poorer than the HRQoL reference value of Koreans and Americans, who are in normal healthly. The prevalence of depressive symptoms by BDI of the ESRD patients on hemodialysis is 68.6%, and age and depression have negative correlations with HRQoL of the patients. However, education level, serum albumin level, and social support have positive correlations with HRQoL. The patient group with depression has significantly poorer HRQoL than the group without depression. Conclusion : The HRQoL of ESRD patients on hemodialysis is not good in both physical and mental aspects. The prevalence of depression is very high and depression has negative impact of HRQoL of patients. Based on our study, it is essential to accompany with therapeutic Strategy to improve the HRQoL of ESRD patients on hemodialysis.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2007

The chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (abbreviated CFIDS or CFS) is a disorder characterized by debilitating fatigue(over 6 months.), along with cognitive, musculoskeletal, and sleep abnormalities. The etiology of this illness is unlikely to be a single agent. Findings to date suggest that physiological and psychological factors work together to predispose and perpetuate the illness. Diagnosis is made difficult by the nonspecific clinical findings and no available diagnostic testing. With no known cause or cure for the chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome, treatment is based on relieving symptoms and improving the quality of life of affected patients. There is emerging evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome may be familial. In the future, studies will examine the extent to which genetic and environmental factors play a role in the development of chronic fatigue syndrome. Most patients with CFS have psychiatric problems such as a generalized anxiety disorder, or major or minor depression, therefore, these mental health disorders may be correlated with the pathophysiology of the CFS. The treatment for CFS must be individualized, due to the heterogeneity of the CFS population. Also the treatment of CFS is built on a foundation of patient-physician relationship, respect and advocacy.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.137-144
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• 2020

Delirium is among the most common mental disorders encountered in patients with a temporary cognitive impairment such as consciousness disorder, attention disorder, and poor speech, particularly among those who are older. Delirium is distressing for patients and families, can interfere with the management of symptoms such as pain, and is associated with increased elderly mortality. The purpose of this paper is to generate useful clinical knowledge that can be used to distinguish the outcomes of patients with delirium in long-term care facilities. For this purpose, we extracted the clinical classification knowledge associated with delirium using a local covering rule acquisition approach with the rough lower approximation region. The clinical applicability of the proposed method was verified using data collected from a prospective cohort study. From the results of this study, we found six useful clinical pieces of evidence that the duration of delirium could more than 12 days. Also, we confirmed eight factors such as BMI, Charlson Comorbidity Index, hospitalization path, nutrition deficiency, infection, sleep disturbance, bed scores, and diaper use are important in distinguishing the outcomes of delirium patients. The classification performance of the proposed method was verified by comparison with three benchmarking models, ANN, SVM with RBF kernel, and Random Forest, using a statistical five-fold cross-validation method. The proposed method showed an improved average performance of 0.6% and 2.7% in both accuracy and AUC criteria when compared with the SVM model with the highest classification performance of the three models respectively.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2003

Objective : There were few reports on the treatment of Adult-onset Still's disease and Diffuse cerebral dysfunction. This oriental medical treatment shows the possibility of healing Adult-onset Still's disease and Diffuse cerebral dysfunction, therefore we announce this. Methods : The acupuncture, herbal medicine, herbal acupucture(Jahageo, Nockyong) therapies were applied for treating this patient's chief symptom(chest discomfort, palpitation, rigidity, mentality change, global aphasia, dysphagia, coughing and sputum) Results : 1. Adult-onset Still's disease is a rare systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, characterised by salmon-colored rash, intermittent spiking high fever, arthralgia and variety of systemic features. This is one type of Juvenile arthritis. 2. Diffuse cerebral dysfunction is an anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and most cause of this is the hypoxia caused by hypotention or respiratory distress. 3. After oriental medical treatments, his chief symptoms were improved. Conclusion : The more study about oriental medical treatment on Adult-onset Still's disease and Diffuse cerebral dysfunction is needed.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.85-89
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to quantitatively assess the degree of myasthenia gravis (MG) affecting mental health through the results of multiphasic military personality inventory in late adolescence. Methods : We collected and analyzed the results of the military personality inventory for healthy controls and MG patients among the 19-year-old men who visited the Military Manpower Administration from February 2007 to January 2010. Military personality inventory invented for Korean military test has similar system to Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory. Results : Among validity scales, each score of faking good, faking bad and infrequency subscales showed no difference between healthy control and MG groups, respectively (t=-0.51, p=0.607 ; t=0.11, p=0.913 ; t=1.41, p=0.158). Among neurosis scales, the score of somatization subscale was higher (t=2.29, p=0.023) in MG group. Among psychopath scales, the score of schizophrenia subscale was lower in MG group (t=-2.38, p=0.018). Conclusions : According to MPI results, we can confirm that MG patients in late adolescence may be more concerned with their somatic symptoms than the control group, and that they may be more likely to abide by the regulation and be conventional in their behavior than the control group.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.1075-1083
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• 2018

Objective: Facial nerve palsy is caused by damage to the seventh cranial nerve. It is the main symptom of facial muscle paralysis on the affected side. If the patient cannot receive proper treatment, severe permanent impairments, both physical and mental, may result, so this disease must be treated appropriately. In this study, a patient with facial nerve palsy was admitted to a Korean medicine hospital for treatment. This case study reports on the patient's progress and the effects of the treatment. Methods: We treated the patient with herbal medicines, acupuncture, herbal acupuncture therapy, and physical therapy. The House-Brackmann Grading System and a weighted regional grading system were used to assess symptom changes. Results: The patient with facial nerve palsy was hospitalized for 50 days and recovered from symptoms without significant problems in the face or to motor function. Conclusion: This case report demonstrates the possibility of treating facial nerve palsy using Korean medicine.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.183-189
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• 2003

Hysterical aphonia is one of the frequent symptoms in conversion disorders. If it has a recent onset, a manifest induced factor, and a good premorbid adaptation, and another mental disorder is not accompanied, its prognosis is good. We report one case of hysterical aphonia that was bad prognosis. This patient was suffering traumatic event before and after onset, and major depressive disorder was accompanied. Having hysterical aphonia, the patient who had no progress after over an years medicine therapy and often felt strong suicidal urge, was successfully treated by TFT(Thought field therapy) and oriental medicine therapy. Several case studies on hypnotic cure of hysterical aphonia has been reported but they are uncommon internally and have good prognosis. In addition, there were no relevant studies concerning alternative therapy and oriental medication. Our case report is focused on treatment through these methods.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2018

Purpose: Methamphetamine is an ongoing illegal drug problem worldwide, and its use in South Korea has spread over the last few years. In this study, a clinical review of patients who visited emergency medical centers with positive methamphetamine tests was conducted. Methods: Patients underwent methamphetamine screening based on physician suspicion over a period of 13 years. Their patient characteristics, clinical features, and drug administration properties were described. Results: A total of 297 patients were included, with 19 positive methamphetamine results. Patient age ranged from 21 to 84, with a mean of 37.52. Additionally, 13 were male and 6 were female. The mean BP, PR, RR were 131/82 mmHg, 94/min, 20/min. Saturation levels were all over 95%. Five patients had a psychiatric history. Patient showed varied symptoms ranging from mental changes to chest discomfort. In addition, seven showed abnormal electrocardiography findings and one showed elevated cardiac enzyme levels. Other laboratory results revealed no significantly abnormal results. Six patients also suffered from related trauma. The majority of patients consumed the methamphetamine orally, with unknown motivation at unknown locations. Most were transported by 119 and six patients co-ingested other drugs. Conclusion: Patients who showed positive results to a methamphetamine screening test in Korea visited the emergency medical center mostly by 119 and were unaware of or reluctant to reveal the fact that they had ingested methamphetamine. Emergency physicians should be more aware of the possibility that a patient may have consumed methamphetamine.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to describe about elders with dementia, their families, and their living environment by visiting the households where demented elders resided. The findings will be used as a basis to develop future individualized adjustment programs for demented elders and their families living in communities. The study participants were 64 demented elders and their families who were registered to a dementia counseling center at Nam-Gu community health center located in Inchon, Korea. Data were collected for two months, from May to June 2001. The length of data collection for each home visit ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Conclusion are as follows based on these study findings: Those demented elders had more than one chronic health problem in addition to their pre-existing dementia condition. Two thirds of the demented elders were not receiving any specific treatment for dementia. They showed a moderate level of independence in basic ADL, but were mostly residing at home because of lack of ability to perform more delicate and complicate routine daily activities by themselves. In addition, the primary caregivers were not well adjusted to the care-giving activities for their demented family members due to the lack of knowledge and information about dementia. The caregivers were mostly women including daughters-in-law, woman spouses and daughters, over a half of whom perceived their physical and mental health status as poor. Their image toward the demented elders was considerably negative. while their level of knowledge on dementia was moderate. The burden for the care-giving was high, whereas their coping method was passive. As the difference in image toward elderly before and after the onset of dementia in their family member increases, the caregiver burden also increased. The main resource of social support for the caregivers was their children. The caregivers showed high level of needs for knowledge and information on dementia, and day care service was the most preferred type of service by the caregivers. There was lack of safety in the living environments for the demented elders and their families, and in the surrounding environments to prevent dementia-related symptoms. Considering that home-based family care-giving is the most culturally appropriate model of providing care for the demented elders in Korea, we need to develop and apply an individualized adjustment program for the demented elders and their families.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.104 no.4
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• pp.657-667
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• 2015

This study examined the effectiveness of 'Forest Therapy (FT)' from the biological, neurocognitive and psychosocial perspectives. Adolescents who were classified as potential internet addicts took part in a FT program for two (once or twice) or three days. Before and after participating the program, Serum Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Comprehensive Attention Test (CAT), Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), and State Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were measured. It was found that FT led to positive consequences, indicated by increased serum BDNF, improved CAT performance, reduced internet use desire, greater resilience, and better social relationship. In addition, FT was partially effective in alleviating state anxiety level, when the participants were classified in accordance with FT exposure lengths. Overall, this study provides evidence that FT reduces symptoms related to internet addiction and promotes various qualities required for well-being.