• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 1997

The data collected to date indicate that sleep-related breathing disorders, including sleep-disordered breathing(sleep apnea) and underlying respiratory system diseases, are one of the important risk factors for cardiovascular dysfunction. Sleep-disordered breathing(sleep apnea) is now recognized as one of the leading causes of systemic hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, coronary heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, right heart failure, and stroke. Sleep may exert a profound effect on breathing in patients with underlying respiratory system disease including bronchopumonary diseases, chest wall abnormalities, central alveolar hypoventilation syndromes or respiratory neuromuscular disorders. Chronic hypoxia and hypercapnia in these patients may accelerate the development of long term cardiovascular complications such as cardiac arrhythmias, pulmonary hypertension, and right heart failure(cor pulmonale). Several recent studies reported that sleep-related breathing disorders are associated with long-term cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Careful assessment of respiratory and cardiovascular function in these patients is critical. Aggressive and highly effective treatment of sleep-related breathing disorders using tracheostomy, mechanical ventilation, nasal continuous positive airway pressure therapy(nCPAP), intercurrent oxygen therapy or other interventions can reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular dysfunction and the long-term mortality.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.123-134
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the number of patients with and without medical history transported to the emergency department due to changes in daily temperature and season. Methods: Data on emergency activity sheet and daily weather were collected from March 2016 to February 2017 in the city of Gyeonggi-do. In total, 13,531 patients were transferred to the emergency department in 119 ambulance. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 21). Results: The daily average number of patients transferred was the highest in August and September, i.e., the summer season. The higher the daily highest and lowest temperatures, higher the daily average number of patients transferred. In contrast, patients with medical history of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and pulmonary disease had a higher incidence of transfers in the winter season and on days with lower temperature. Conclusion: The results indicate that as people become more active during the summer when temperatures are high, the chances of daily emergencies increases, whereas patients with medical history are more likely to experience emergencies when the temperatures were lower. Hence, 119 ambulances will have to be prepared in advance to deal with this trend.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.293-298
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• 1985

Cor triatriatum is a rare congenital malformation of the heart in which a septum stretches in a transverse plane through the left atrium, thus creates two left atrial subchambers. The upper one connects with the pulmonary veins, and the lower connects with the left ventricles. Due to the rarity of, and difficulty in diagnosing car triatriatum, data on the surgery of the disease are of necessity and very limited. A case of cor triatriatum combined with atrial septal defect and persistent left superior vena cava was experienced in November, 1984 in Chonnam University Medical School. There was a transverse septum in the left atrium below atrial septal defect, all pulmonary veins were drained into the upper chamber of the left atrium which connected with the right atrium via atrial septal defect and the lower chamber via an oval opening[8mm] in the abnormal septum and the lower chamber was connected with the left atrial appendage, and the left ventricle via mitral valve. There was persistent left superior vena cava drained to left atrium and coronary sinus. The abnormal transverse septum within the left atrium was completely excised and the atrial septal defect was repaired with Woven Dacron patch. The post-operative course was not eventful and the patient was discharged to home with good result on the 15th postoperative day, and has been in good condition upto now.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.620-629
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• 1989

A clinical analysis of 138 cases of ventricular septal defect operated on from 1983 to June 1988 at the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, School of Medicine, Chung-nam National University was done. The following results were obtained. 1. The VSD were 27.6 % and 41.0 % respectively of 500 open heart surgery cases and 334 congenital heart disease. 2. The range of age when the VSD was repaired was 3 months to 45 years, the mean age was 10.4 years and the 53.6 % of patients were under 7 years. The sex ratio was 6:4 in males favor. 3. The two common symptoms were frequent upper respiratory infection and dyspnea whose frequency was 62.5 % and 58.7% respectively. 4. 52% of the patients was below 25 percentile of the standard body weight. 5. The most common chest PA findings were cardiomegaly and increased pulmonary vascularity. 6. On anatomical classification, perimembranous type was most common [65.5%], subpulmonary arterial type was 27.6 %, perimembranous plus subpulmonary arterial type was 3.4 % multiple VSD was 0.8 % and LV-RA defect was 2.6 %. 7. Associated cardiac anomalies were founded in 39 cases [35.5 %] and PDA and aortic valve prolapse were most common associated anomalies and extracardiac anomalies were founded in 6.7 % of patients. 8. Mean extracorporeal circulation time was 68 min. and mean aortic cross-clamping time was 42 min. 9. The postoperative complications developed in 26 % of patients and the most common one was minor wound infection. 10. Right bundle branch block developed in 54.8% of the patients who had right ventriculotomy, 40.0% of the patients who had right atriotomy and 10.5% of the patients who had pulmonary arteriotomy. 11. The overall operative mortality was 5.1 % and the operative mortality of the patients who body weigh under 10 Kg was 23.8%.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.8 s.265
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• pp.633-636
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• 2006

The partial endocardial cushion defect including ostium primum atrial septal defect and anterior mitral leaflet cleft, presents less significant clinical symptoms than complete endocardial cushion defect. But, as mitral insufficiency develops, cardiomegaly, congestive heart failure, pulmonary arterial hypypertension appear. So, partial endocardial cushion defect has poor prognosis and is rarely seen in elderly patients. A 67 years old woman admitted at our hospital for operative treatment with partial endocardial cushion defect. She had increased pulmonary pressure of 45/22 mmHg, mean 32 mmHg. She had repair of ostium primum defect with patch, and the mitral valve was treated with valve replacement. Because advanced atrioventricular block developed postoperatively, she received permanent pacemaker.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2003

Purpose : Pulmonary vascular hypertension is a common problem in congenital heart disease, the most common cardiac condition in childhood. However, the mechanisms responsible for this pathologic change, treatment, and prevention are poorly understood. Therefore, we studied the gene expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) by using a hypoxic model of the pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. Methods : The main pulmonary artery and its proximal branches of a 6 wk old Fischer rat were excised. They were cut into multiple small pieces and suspended in DMEM medium supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum and incubated in 5% $CO_2$-95% air atmosphere. The smooth muscle cells were confirmed by immunostaining with smooth muscle myosin and ${\alpha}$-smooth muscle actin antibodies. The VEGF gene expression in the hypoxic group was compared with the one in control the group as well as the one in the starved group by RT-PCR and Northern blot hybridization. Results : There was no statistically significant difference among the control, hypoxic and starved groups. Conclusion : There are few studies of pulmonary vascular hypertension at the molecular level in Korea. Therefore, we studied the expression of VEGF gene in hypoxic pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells. Further studies will be needed to find the difference between newly born and adult rats, or human and rat pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells in gene expression. We hope that the study will lead to a better understanding of pulmonary vascular hypertension.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.83 no.3
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• pp.228-233
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• 2020

Background: The Bronchiectasis Health Questionnaire (BHQ) is a simple and repeatable, self-reporting health status questionnaire for bronchiectasis. We have translated the original version of the BHQ into Korean using a standardized methodology. The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of the Korean version of the BHQ (K-BHQ) with Korean patients. Methods: Stable state patients with bronchiectasis from two academic hospitals were enrolled in this study. The validity was assessed by investigating the relationship between the K-BHQ scores and the Korean version of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Assessment Test (K-CAT) scores. We also investigated the relationship between the K-BHQ scores and other variables of the modified Medical Research Council's (mMRC) dyspnea scale, lung function, and exacerbations. Results: A total of 126 patients with bronchiectasis were enrolled. The mean age was 64.3 (standard deviation [SD], 9.7). Women comprised 53.2% of the patients. The mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) was 60% of the predicted value (SD, 18.9%); the mean K-CAT score was 17.6 (SD, 9.1). The K-BHQ scores correlated strongly with the K-CAT scores (r=-0.656, p<0.001). There was significant correlation between the K-BHQ scores and the mMRC dyspnea scale (ρ=-0.409, p<0.001), FEV₁ (r=0.406, p<0.001), and number of exacerbations requiring hospitalization (ρ=-0.303, p=0.001). Conclusion: The K-BHQ is valid for assessing the health-related quality of life or health status of Korean bronchiectasis patients.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.92-102
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• 2018

Purpose: This study investigated the validity of the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) as a predictor of periodontal disease (PD) over a 12-year period. Methods: Nationwide representative samples of 149,785 adults aged ${\geq}60$ years with PD (International Classification of Disease, 10th revision [ICD-10], K052-K056) were derived from the National Health Insurance Service-Elderly Cohort during 2002-2013. The degree of comorbidity was measured using the CCI (grade 0-6), including 17 diseases weighted on the basis of their association with mortality, and data were analyzed using multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression in order to investigate the associations of comorbid diseases (CDs) with PD. Results: The multivariate Cox regression analysis with adjustment for sociodemographic factors (sex, age, household income, insurance status, residence area, and health status) and CDs (acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, cerebral vascular accident, dementia, pulmonary disease, connective tissue disorders, peptic ulcer, liver disease, diabetes, diabetes complications, paraplegia, renal disease, cancer, metastatic cancer, severe liver disease, and human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]) showed that the CCI in elderly comorbid participants was significantly and positively correlated with the presence of PD (grade 1: hazard ratio [HR], 1.11; P<0.001; grade ${\geq}2$: HR, 1.12, P<0.001). Conclusions: We demonstrated that a higher CCI was a significant predictor of greater risk for PD in the South Korean elderly population.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.4 s.273
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• pp.247-255
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• 2007

Background: Lung injury that follows bypass has been well described. It is manifested as reduced oxygenation and lung compliance and, most importantly, increased pulmonary vascular resistance reactivity; this is a known cause of morbidity and mortality after repair of congenital heart disease. Injury to the pulmonary vascular endothelium, and its associated alterations of endothelin-1, is considered to be a major factor of bypass-induced lung injury. Removing endothelin-1 after bypass may attenuate this response. This study measured the concentration of serum and peritoneal effluent endothelin-1 after performing bypass to determine if endothelin-1 can be removed via peritoneal dialysis. Material and Method: From March 2005 to March 2006, 18 patients were enrolled in this study Peritoneal catheters were placed at the end of surgery. Serum samples were obtained before and after bypass, and peritoneal effluents were obtained after bypass. Endothelin-1 was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Result: In the patients with a severe increase of the pulmonary artery pressure or flow, the mean preoperative plasma endothelin-1 concentration was significantly higher than that in the patients who were without an increase of their pulmonary artery pressure or flow (4.2 vs 1.8 pg/mL, respectively, p<0.001). The mean concentration of plasma endothelin-1 increased from a preoperative value of $3.61{\pm}2.17\;to\;5.33{\pm}3.72 pg/ml$ immediately after bypass. After peritoneal dialysis, the mean plasma endothelin-1 concentration started to decrease. Its concentration at 18 hours after bypass was significantly lower than the value obtained immediately after bypass (p=0.036). Conclusion: Our data showed that the plasma endothelin-1 concentration became persistently decreased after starting peritoneal dialysis, and this suggests that peritoneal dialysis can remove the circulating plasma endothelin-1.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.511-516
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• 1992

Background: It is well known that cigarette smoking is the risk factor of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and ischemic heart disease. But there are few reports about the immediate effect of cigarette smoking on the cardiopulmonary functions. The serum level of carbon monoxide increases during cigarette smoking. It is known that carbon monoxide increases respration rate, heart rate and cardiac output, with decrease in maximal oxygen consumption. So we have studied to determine the immediate effects of cigarette smoking on the cardiopulmonary function during exercise. Method: Thirteen healthy smoking male subjects were included in this study. Each subject was undertaken pulmonary function test and incremental exercise test on two separate days, one without smoking (control) and the other after smoking three cigarettes per hour for five hours. The order of the two tests was randomized. Results: 1) The mean age of the subjects was $25{\pm}4.9$ year-old and the mean smoking history was $6{\pm}5$ pack years. 2) The mean blood level of carbon monoxide on the smoking day was higher than that on the nonsmoking day ($5.97{\pm}1.34%$ vs. $1.45{\pm}0.83%$; p<0.01). 3) The mean maximal oxygen consumption on the smoking day was lower than that on the nonsmoking day ($2.09{\pm}0.32$ L/min vs. $2.39{\pm}0.32$ L/min; p<0.05). 4) The mean anaerobic threshold on the smoking day was lower than that on the nonsmoking day ($1.33{\pm}0.24$ L/min vs. $1.53{\pm}0.20$ L/min; p<0.05). 5) The mean heart rate at rest on the smoking day was higher than that on nonsmoking day ($84.38{\pm}11.06$ beats/min vs. $75.46{\pm}5.83$ beats/min; p<0.05). But the means of maximal heart rate on both days were not different. 6) The pulmonary function tests were similar on both days. Conclusion: There was no change in pulmonary function test, but the maximal oxygen consumption and anaerobic threshold were decreased on the smoking day. So it was concluded that cigarette smoking impaired the cardiovascular functions immediately during exercise.