• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.74 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2013

Background: Aiming to improve outcome of lung transplantation (LTx) patients, we reviewed risk factors and treatment practices for the LTx recipients who experienced respiratory infection in the late post-LTx period (>1 month after LTx). Methods: We analyzed the clinical data of 48 recipients and donors from 61 LTx, who experienced late respiratory infections. Late respiratory infections were classified according to the etiology, time of occurrence, and frequency of donor-to-host transmission or colonization of the recipient prior to transplantation. Results: During the period of observation, 42 episodes of respiratory infections occurred. The organisms most frequently involved were gram (-) bacteria: Acinetobacter baumannii (n=13, 31.0%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=7, 16.7%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=4, 10.0%). Among the 42 episodes recorded, 14 occurred in the late post-LTx period. These were bacterial (n=6, 42.9%), fungal (n=2, 14.3%), viral (n=4, 28.5%), and mycobacterial (n=2, 14.3%) infections. Of 6 bacterial infections, 2 were from multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii and one from each of MDR P. aeruginosa, extended spectrum ${\beta}$-lactamase (+) K. pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infection-related death occurred in 6 of the 14 episodes (43%). Conclusion: Although the frequency of respiratory infection decreased sharply in the late post-LTx period, respiratory infection was still a major cause of mortality. Gram (-) MDR bacteria were the agents most commonly identified in these infections.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.6-17
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• 2000

Background : This study was attempted to provide a basic information necessary for the development of measures evaluating perceived discomfort of the patients under local anesthesia and the developments of nursing intervention and nursing standard. Method : The study subjects were a convenience sample of 100 surgical patients under local anesthesia. The researcher visited the patients directly and explained the purpose of the study to them. Then they were asked to fill out questionnaires which were developed and structured by the researcher, under their prior permission. Out patient's data were collected at recovery room after operation. Results : Factor analysis on measures evaluating the patients under local anesthesia showed that the measures consisted of eight factors including "explanation", "humane treatment", "motion limitation", "pain", "no togetherness", "waiting", "the environment of operating room", and "unkindness". When analyzing each of the factors regarding their degree of contribution to perceived discomfort, it was found that "waiting" was highest in terms of the degree. According to general chara-cteristics of the sampled patients, the factor of "explanation" contributed to perceived discomfort more in male patients than female ones. Regarding parts of medical examination, the patients of otorhinolaryngology felt perceived discomfort most because of the factor of "pain". Conclusion : To relieve perceived discomfort the patients under local anesthesia require providing individually systematized nursing services which can reduce perceived discomfort according to each of the factors. In doing so, an unlimited attention and much effort should be given to realize CQI reaching the dimension of increase in comfort as well as decrease perceived discomfort.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.270-276
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• 2020

Background: We investigated the impact of previous catheter ablation (CA) on the midterm outcomes of totally thoracoscopic ablation in patients with lone atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: Between February 2012 and July 2018, 332 patients underwent totally thoracoscopic ablation for the treatment of AF (persistent AF; n=264, 80%). The patients were stratified into CA (n=47, 14%) and non-CA (nCA; n=285, 86%) groups according to their CA history. Results: All the baseline clinical characteristics and risk factors were similar between the groups except for age, percentage of male patients, prevalence of paroxysmal AF, prior percutaneous coronary intervention, and left atrial volume index (LAVI). No significant intergroup differences were observed in the incidence of early and late complications. At late follow-up, normal sinus rhythm was observed in 92% (43 of 47) of the patients in the CA group and 85% (242 of 285) of the patients in the nCA group (p=0.268). The rate of freedom from AF recurrence at 5 years was 55.3%±11.0% in the CA group, which was similar to that in the nCA group (55.7%±5.1%, p=0.690). In Cox regression analysis, preoperative brain natriuretic peptide levels and LAVI were associated with AF recurrence, but CA history was not significant. Conclusion: Totally thoracoscopic ablation was safe and effective in treating AF irrespective of CA history. A history of CA did not appear to affect the procedural complexity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6919-6922
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• 2015

Background: The treatment selection for the oral squamous cell carcinoma remains controversial. Radiation therapy or surgical excision of the lesion can be applied as the sole treatment or it can be used in combination with other treatment modalities. Radiotherapy is considered to be the safest of all the treatment modalities and can be used in several situations for oral and oropharyngeal cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival outcome differences in patients treated with radical and palliative radiotherapy as the primary treatment modality. Materials and Methods: The study included a total of 47 patients with oral cancer reporting to our hospital between years 2009 to 2010. The age group for the selected patients was more than 65 years, treated with radical and palliative radiotherapy with no prior surgical interventions. Patients were evaluated till Dec 2013 for overall survival time. Results: Twenty nine patients were treated with radical radiotherapy as main stay of treatment, out of which 21 died during the follow up time with median survival of $352{\pm}281.7$ days with 8 patients alive. All the 16 patients were dead who received palliative radiotherapy with a median survival time of $112{\pm}144.0$ days. Conclusions: This retrospective study showed improved overall survival time, loco regional control rates and reduced morbidity in patients treated with radical radiotherapy when compared to patients treated with palliative radiotherapy.

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.27-42
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• 2006

Many contemporary architectural avant gardes tend to use painting as a medium to create architecture which goes beyond the rationalized spatial conception of modem architecture represented by perspectivism. They produce non perspective drawings to represent spatial Ideas, and expand it through poetic imagination to create an unexpected architectural form and space. This paper attempts to analyze the historical origin and background of dominance of drawing in the production of architecture. It was with the invention of perspective that architectural representation became important tool for architectural production. Thereafter, drawing was considered prior to actual building and architecture was considered a three dimensional realization of two dimensional drawing. Modernist avant gardes such as Cubism shattered the rationalized pictorial space of perspective and found a new pictorial space. They tried to extend it to three dimensional space through parallel projection largely based on the Hildebrand's theory of pure visibility. However, due to the ambiguity of the position of the viewing subject, their attempts could not succeed in creating a new architecture. The new architectural avant garde of the 70's rediscovered the early 20th century avant gardes in their attempt to create a new architecture which can register the fragmented spatial condition of contemporary society, and used painting as a medium to create architecture. Their difference from the early avant gardes was that they used poetic imagination rather than parallel projection in the process of projecting three dimensional space and form from the painting. However, their architecture cannot escape the scopic field of perspectivism in that they rely on the picture plane and the distance between object and viewing subject. Therefore, I conclude that in order to create architecture which goes beyond the rationalized space of modern architecture, it is necessary to resort to other tradition of modern architecture than visual one.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.305-323
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• 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine breast shape and ratio of breast enlargement women prior to development of breast enlargement patient's bra. Background: Although there are many previous studies on women's breast that did not undergo breast augmentation surgery, no studies have examined the breast type and proportion of women with breast augmentation. Method: In this study, we analyzed ratios and angles with photographs taken before and after breast augmentation on the frontal and lateral views of the breast, UPF and projection were analyzed too. We also compared the pre-operative and post-operative rates with those of previous breast studies, as well as the post-operative breast types for the desirable breast types. Results: The length and width of the breast base and the height of the breast projection increased after the operation. The rate of increase in width is larger than the vertical distance in the breast base, and the rate of increase in height of the projection is larger than the increase in the width. Specifically, in the vertical distance, the rate of increase in the lower portion is larger than that in the upper portion. In the width, the rate of increase on the inside is larger than that on the outside. Conclusion: The angles of the static relationship with the projection increased and the angles of the minor relation decreased. The changes in the size of the breast were visually observed in the overlapping of the triangle shape before and after the surgery. The changes were composed of the line connecting the angle and the measurement points. The pre-operative upper pole fullness (UPF) was mostly 0 and - 1, but after the surgery, +1, 0, -1, +2 were distributed, while post-operative levels of projection were distributed in the order of level 3> level 1> level 2. In comparison with the desirable breast type, it was found that the anatomical type was a more natural breast type than the round type of implant. Application: These results can be useful as basic data for the breast analysis of breast enlargement patients and their bra patterns.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.34-46
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• 2018

Climate change has become a major risk factor for the co-evolving ecological and societal systems that are interconnected through biogeochemical cycles. As the increasing emission of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) has been attributed to the principal cause of climate change, more attention has been given to the exchange between terrestrial sources/sinks of GHG and the atmosphere. In this review, we abridged a brief history of the background of GHG monitoring and the development of chamber method for the GHG measurement particularly from agriculture. Based on the reviews of prior domestic studies that analyzed the emission characteristics of GHG using chamber method, we discussed the concerns and the ways to improve chamber measurement to establish better scientific database for climate change adaptation.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.59 no.12
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• pp.25.1-25.7
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• 2017

Background: Rabbit breeding with high performance imported ones would be of benefit for genetic diversity and improvement of performance in domestic rabbit breeds. The rearing of more productive rabbit breeds could be pathway to improve the productivity and reduce the production cost. Maternal nutritional status exert a great influence on reproductive functions of does, which may expand from conception, through gestation and parturition and development of kits to puberty. Methods: Four breeds of rabbit were evaluated for their parturition, weaning and pubertal differences among the rabbit population in Ibadan, Nigeria. The breed consist of Fauve De Bourgogne (FDB), Chinchilla (CHA), British Spot (BS) and New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits. A total of 60 bucks and 360 does consisting of 15 bucks and 90 does per breed were mated in 6 mating cycles, three each of natural mating and artificial insemination. All does were synchronized for estrus with 20 IU pregnant mare serum gonadotropin 48 h prior to mating. The does after parturition were assessed for milk yield (g) and kit survival rate (%) till weaning, weight changes of kits from birth to puberty. At puberty, the pubertal age (days) and weight (g) of the offspring were assessed. Result: Results obtained reveals that British Spot doe had highest milk yield among the breeds which significantly increased growth of kit and weight at weaning in British Spot rabbits. Survival rates of Chinchilla kits were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than Fauve de Bourgogne, British Spot and New Zealand White kits. Puberty attainment of the rabbits indicates that British spot does and Fauve de Bourgogne bucks are early maturing. Conclusion: Chinchilla shows high kit survivability and British spot has highest milk yield among the four breeds of rabbit.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.755-764
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• 2017

The current review seeks to highlight the concerns that have been raised on pre-slaughter stress, contributing factors and its consequent effects on cattle behavioural responses and the quality of beef; inter-linking the activities involved from birth to slaughter. Such information is crucial in light of the consumer concerns on overall animal welfare, quality of meat and food security. Slaughter animals are exposed to different conditions during production and transportation to abattoirs on a daily basis. However; the majority of studies that have been done previously singled out different environments in the meat production chain, while conclusions have been made that the welfare of slaughter animals and the quality of meat harvested from them is dependent on the whole chain. Behaviour is a critical component used to evaluate the animals' wellbeing and it has been reported to have an effect on product quality. Apart from the influence of on-farm, transportation and abattoir conditions, the genetic background of the animal also affects how it perceives and responds to certain encounters. Stress activates the animals' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity, triggering release of various stress hormones such as catecholamines and cortisol, thus glycogen depletion prior slaughter, elevated ultimate pH and poor muscle-meat conversion. Pre-slaughter stress sometimes results to cattle attaining bruises, resulting to the affected parts of the carcass being trimmed and condemned for human consumption, downgrading of the carcass and thus profit losses.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1747-1749
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• 2015

Background: Esophageal cancer is one of the major health concerns in Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand. However, only a limited number of studies have been reported from this region. This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence, clinical characteristics and survival rate of esophageal cancer in Thailand. Materials and Methods: Clinical information, histological features and endoscopic findings were collected from a tertiary care center in central region of Thailand between September 2011- November 2014 and reviewed. Results: A total of 64 esophageal cancer patients including 58 men and 6 women with mean age of 62.6 years were enrolled. Common presenting symptoms were dysphagia (74%), dyspepsia (10%) and hematemesis (8%). Mean duration of symptoms prior to diagnosis was 72 days. Esophageal stenosis with contact bleeding was the most common endoscopic finding (55.6%). The location of cancer was found in proximal (16%), middle (50%) and distal (34%) esophagus. Squamous cell carcinoma was far more common histology than adenocarcinoma (84.2% vs 10.5%). However, esophageal adenocarcinoma was significantly more common than squamous cell carcinoma in distal area of esophagus (100% vs 22.9%; p=0.0001, OR=1.6, 95%CI=1.1-2.2). Esophageal cancer stages 3 and 4 accounted for 35.2% and 59.3% respectively. Overall 2-year survival rate was 20% and only 16% in metastatic patients. Conclusions: Most esophageal cancer patients in Thailand have squamous cell carcinoma and nearly all present at advanced stage with a grave prognosis. Screening of high risk individuals and early detection might be important keys to improve the survival rate and treatment outcome in Thailand.