• CELLMED
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.21.1-21.15
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• 2016

In Kenya, traditional knowledge on herbal medicine has remained a mainstream source of maintaining wellbeing for generations in many communities. However, the knowledge has been eroded in the course of time due to sociocultural dynamics virtually advanced by Christianity and formal education especially in the Kikuyu community. The study documented current ethnobotanical knowledge and threat to the traditional knowledge on medicinal plants among the Kikuyu community. A survey was carried out in Mathira, Tetu, Kieni, Othaya, Mukurweini, and Nyeri Town constituencies. Thirty practicing herbalists were purposively sampled; 5 per constituency. Data was obtained through semi - structured questionnaires and analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. A total of 80 ailments treated using 111 medicinal plant species distributed within 98 genera and 56 families were documented. Prevalent communicable diseases treated using herbal medicine included; gonorrhea (17.5%), malaria (15%), respiratory infections (12%), colds (10%) and amoebiasis (10%). Non-communicable diseases were; joint pains (11.1%), ulcers/hyperacidity (8.7%), high blood pressure (8.7%), intestinal worms (11.1%) and arthritis/gout (10%). Frequently harvested plant materials were; roots, barks and leaves. The study concluded that, traditional medicine practitioners in Nyeri County possessed wide knowledge of herbal medicine but this knowledge was on the verge of disappearing as it was largely a preserve of the aged generation. The study recommended massive campaign about the benefits of using herbal medicine in the study area. Further pharmacological studies are recommended on the mentioned plant species aimed at establishing their efficacy and safety as well as standardization as potential drugs.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.686-698
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• 2018

Objectives: The aim of this study was to report the current status of the Korean traditional medicine side effects described in domestic western medical journals in the past 10 years. Methods: We searched for domestic western medical papers about Korean traditional medicine side effects cases from January 1, 2008, to August 31, 2017. Results: Thirty papers were selected from 31 studies. The number of papers of side effects caused by acupuncture was 21 (70%), by herbal medication was 7 (23%) and by thread lifting was 2 (7%). The number of papers of side effects caused by Korean medical doctors was 20 (66.8%), by non-medical persons including patients was 2 (6.6%), by herbal pharmacists was 1 (3.3%), by multiple practitioners, including Korean medical doctors, was 1 (3.3%), and by unknown persons was 6 (20%). Reported side effects were mostly mild, except for death and severe side effects. Conclusions: Studies of Korean traditional medicine side effects are short, and in-depth studies of stability are needed. These studies will improve the safety of the Korean traditional medicine.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.620-629
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• 2014

Keloid scars are often considered aesthetically unattractive and frustrating problems that occur following injuries. They cause functional and cosmetic deformities, displeasure, itching, pain, and psychological stress and possibly affect joint movement. The combination of these factors ultimately results in a compromised quality of life and diminished functional performance. Various methods have been implemented to improve keloid scars using both surgical and non-surgical approaches. However, it has proven to be a challenge to identify a universal treatment that can deliver optimal results for all types of scars. Through a PubMed search, we explored most of the literature that is available about the intralesional injection treatment of hypertrophic scars and keloids and highlights both current (corticosteroid, 5-fluorouracil, bleomycin, interferon, cryotherapy and verapamil) and future treatments (interleukin-10 and botulinum toxin type A). The reference lists of retrieved articles were also analysed. Information was gathered about the mechanism of each injection treatment, its benefits and associated adverse reactions, and possible strategies to address adverse reactions to provide reliable guidelines for determining the optimal treatment for particular types of keloid scars. This article will benefit practitioners by outlining evidence-based treatment strategies using intralesional injections for patients with hypertrophic scars and keloids.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 2019

This study examined the relative incidence of feline cutaneous tumors according to age, breed, sex, and site predilection for these tumors. Biopsy samples were examined and diagnosed from the histopathology. Over a 72-month period, from January 2013 to December 2018, 478 feline biopsy samples were received from veterinary practitioners across the nation. Of these, 232 (48.54%) cases were skin masses. Among them, 73.71% (171/232) were neoplastic lesions and 26.29% (61/232) were non-neoplastic. Twenty-two different types of cutaneous neoplasms were diagnosed as epithelial tumors (15.79%), mesenchymal tumors (83.63%), or melanocytic tumor (0.58%). The four most common tumors were mast cell tumor (60.23%), lipoma (5.85%), basal cell carcinoma (4.68%), and fibrosarcoma (4.68%), which comprised 75.44% of all tumor cases. Cutaneous tumors were located most commonly in the head of the cat (43.27%) and in the Korean shorthaired breed (75.44%). According to this study, cutaneous tumors were the most common tumor types in feline neoplasms in Korea. The incidence of cutaneous tumors was highest in Korean shorthaired cats, the most prevalent breed in Korea. Mast cell tumors are the most common skin neoplasm in Korea and can affect very young cats.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.683-692
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• 2013

Purpose: Car seats affect customer satisfaction greatly when the seats' design is changed because car holders are in close contact with the seats. However, the improvement of the current seats' design involves risks such as investment cost, and therefore it needs strategic operating measures from the perspective of customers. Until now, operations of seats' specification have been decided by technical-push rather than market-pull, and carried out based on professionals' experience without measuring customer satisfaction correctly. The purpose of this study is to present a systematic approach to measure customers' perception on the car seats using the Kano model and pairwise comparison technique. Methods: The authors derive 17 major functions of a car seat by analyzing major components of car seats, and conduct a survey of 141 adults who hold a car(s). Results: The results show that consumers perceive the adjustable functions of front seats as must-be while the same functions for rear seats are perceived as attractive. In particular, motor operated functions for both front and rear seats increase customer satisfaction greatly if they are presented. Conclusion: This study shows that how much customer (dis)satisfaction will increase if a function of car seats (non)fulfilled, and therefore, the results of this study will provide practitioners and R&D personnel in new automobile seats development projects with useful information.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10367-10374
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• 2015

Background: Cancer and non-communicable diseases are a major issue not only for the developed but also developing countries. Public health and primary care nursing offer great potential for primary and secondary prevention of these diseases through community and family-based approaches. Within Thailand there are related established educational curricula but less is known about how graduate practitioners enact ideas in practice and how these can influence policy at local levels. Aim: The aim of this inquiry was to develop family nursing practice in primary care settings in the Isaan region or Northeastern Thailand and to distill what worked well into a nursing model to guide practice. Materials and Methods: An appreciative inquiry approach involving analysis of written reports, focus group discussions and individual interviews was used to synthesize what worked well for fourteen family nurses involved in primary care delivery and to build the related model. Results: Three main strategies were seen to offer a basis for optimal care delivery, namely: enacting a participatory action approach mobilizing families' social capital; using family nursing process; and implementing action strategies within communities. These were distilled into a new conceptual model. Conclusions: The model has some features in common with related community partnership models and the World Health Organization Europe Family Health Nurse model, but highlights practical strategies for family nursing enactment. The model offers a basis not only for planning and implementing family care to help prevent cancer and other diseases but also for education of nurses and health care providers working in communities. This articulation of what works in this culture also offers possible transference to different contexts internationally, with related potential to inform health and social care policies, and international development of care models.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6819-6822
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• 2014

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a new scoring system in Korean patients with hematuria at high risk of bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 319 consecutive patients presenting with painless hematuria without a history of bladder cancer were analyzed, from the period of August 2012 to February 2014. All patients underwent clinical examination, and 22 patients with incomplete data were excluded from the final validation data set. The scoring system included four clinical parameters: age (${\geq}50$ = 2 vs. <50 =1), gender (male = 2 vs. female = 1), history of smoking (smoker/ex-smoker = 4 vs. non-smoker = 2) and nature of the hematuria (gross = 6 vs. microscopic = 2). Results: The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (95% confidence interval) of the scoring system was 0.718 (0.655-0.777). The calibration plot demonstrated a slight underestimation of bladder cancer probability, but the model had reasonable calibration. Decision curve analysis revealed that the use of model was associated with net benefit gains over the treat-all strategy. The scoring system performed well across a wide range of threshold probabilities (15%-45%). Conclusions: The scoring system developed is a highly accurate predictive tool for patients with hematuria. Although further improvements are needed, utilization of this system may assist primary care physicians and other healthcare practitioners in determining a patient's risk of bladder cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6547-6552
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• 2014

Background: Cancer is a major life event that imposes huge economic and mental burdens on patients and families. In addition, the diagnosis of cancer also causes significant family discordance that can lead to marital problems such as divorce or separation. The aim of this study was to investigate the association and any related gender differences between cancer diagnosis and marital disruption among cancer survivors. Materials and Methods: We used the recent cross-sectional Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ($4^{th}$ and $5^{th}$; Years 2008-2012). The study participants were 623 married cancer survivors over the age of 19. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate odds ratios. Results: After adjusting for socioeconomic status and health-related behaviors, the odds ratio of marital disruption among female cancer survivors compared with male cancer survivors was 3.94 (95%CI 1.30-11.94; p=0.02). The odds ratio of marital disruption for the below-average economic level compared with the above-average economic level was 5.64 (95%CI: 1.03-31.02; p=0.05). When compared with the non-smoking cancer survivors, the smoking cancer survivors had an OR of marital disruption equal to 2.94 (95%CI: 1.08-8.00; p=0.03). Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the odds of marital disruption among female cancer survivors are higher than those among their male couterparts. Medical practitioners should be sensitive to early signs of marital discord in couples affected by a cancer diagnosis. Early identification and psychosocial intervention might reduce the frequency of divorce and separation and thus improve quality of life and quality of care for cancer survivors.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.179-196
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• 2009

As consumers are more conscious about the preferred traits and branding in restaurant selection, restaurant practitioners are getting more interested in the traits which constitute and influence consumers' brand association. Dining selection is known to be a complicated psychological process that consumers undergo, incorporating social and cultural values, personal tastes, and other psychological factors. This study was designed to investigate the specific non-food traits perceived by consumers in fine restaurant selection. Also, it prioritized those examined traits. Building on exploratory qualitative research, results from 11 interviews through focus group sessions were utilized in data analysis. Content analysis of the interviews enabled categorization of the associations. The categorized variables were utilized for empirical data analysis of conjoint analysis. First, the results suggested five superior traits such as atmosphere, price, customer relations, employee competence, and convenience of systems in fine restaurant brand association. Second, they were prioritized in the order of atmosphere, price, consumer relations, employee competence, and convenience. Finally this study provided practical implications for fine restaurant professionals in linking consumers' psychologically networked traits to brand selection.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.437-445
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• 2015

Objective: The aims of this study are to investigate the trends of intellectual property in order to identify the ergonomic approaches on musculoskeletal disorders, harmful factors of musculoskeletal disorders, and to find the potential applicability of motion capture technology. Background: Ergonomic posture assessment tools often showed interrater variance, though the usage is easy and practical in industrial fields. Moreover new technologies such as motion capture showed the potential applicability in posture assessment. So ergonomists and practitioners became interested in the intellectual properties on musculoskeletal disorder and motion capture technology. Method: Intellectual properties were collected with the combination of keywords such as ergonomic, musculoskeletal disorder, and motion capture using the KIPRIS (Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service). Collected intellectual properties were classified into ergonomic area and non-ergonomic area, except unexamined intellectual properties. This study investigated the trend of application of intellectual properties and the probability of using motion capture technology. Results: Few intellectual properties with ergonomic approach on musculoskeletal disorders were founded, despite many products for rehabilitation and sports. One hundred twenty five patents in 1105 patents on musculoskeletal disorders and 138 patents in 1908 patents on motion capture technology were classified into the patents that ergonomic approach can be applied. The patents related to ergonomics area are rapidly increasing after 2010, and there are good opportunities for ergonomists to apply the patents. Conclusion: This study found opportunities on novel methodology in detecting the harmful factors of musculoskeletal disorders, and that the motion capture technology is applicable in ergonomic posture assessment. Application: The results of this study can help ergonomists prepare the ergonomic patents, and can show the potential use of motion capture technology in detecting the harmful posture of musculoskeletal disorders.