• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2010

서 론: 중환자실에서 집중적 인슐린 요법에 의한 평균혈당강하는 사망률을 감소시키는 것으로 나타났으나 이로 인한 저혈당 및 혈당변동은 새로운 문제로 대두되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 혈당과 관련한 여러 요인들이 사망에 미치는 영향을 규명하고 적정 혈당치를 확인하고자 하였다. 연구방법: 2008년 2월부터 7월 사이인 6개월 동안 서울아산병원 외과계 중환자실에서 4일 이상 재실한 18세 이상의 성인 환자를 대상으로 전자 의무기록 조사를 통해 후향적으로 연구가 진행되었다. 연구를 위해 환자의 인구학적 특성, 수술의 종류, 중환자실에서의 재실기간, 사망여부, 스테로이드 사용 유무, 기계적 인공호흡기의 사용유무, 신대체요법의 사용유무, 혈당치, 재실기간 중 스테로이드 사용유무와 인슐린 양, 입원 후 첫 24시간 동안의 포도당 주입속도, 입원 후 2일 이내와 그 이후에 발생한 균혈증 감염, APACH II와 SOFA 점수를 조사하였다. 혈당수치는 각각의 환자에서 중환자실 입실 후 가장 처음 측정된 혈당, 재실기간 중 가장 높은 혈당과 가장 낮은 혈당수치를 조사하였고 중환자실 전체 재실기간 동안 혈당수치의 평균과 변동계수를 계산하였다. 이상의 혈당관련지표를 포함한 인자들이 일차 종속변수인 사망에 어떠한 영향을 주는지를 환자를 생존군과 사망군으로 나누어 분석하였고 ROC (receiver operator characteristic) 곡선을 사용하여 혈당지표와 APACH 및 SOFA 점수의 cut-off치를 구하여 이로부터 단변량 및 다변량 분석을 시행하였다. 결 과: 연구에 포함된 환자는 170명 이었고 그 중 23명이 연구 기간 중 중환자실에서 사망하였다. 생존자에 비해 사망자의 최대혈당은 유의적으로 높았고 최소혈당치는 유의적으로 낮아 높은 변동계수를 보였다. ROC곡선으로부터 산출된 혈당치들의 cut-off 수치는 최소혈당치 70 mg/dL, 변동계수 25%, 최대혈당치 250 mg/dL, 평균혈당치 150 mg/dL이었다. 다변량분석에서 최소혈당이 70 mg/dL 보다 큰 경우가 낮은 경우에 비해 오즈비가 0.922(95% 신뢰구간 0.881-0.965)로 유의성 있게 낮았으며 변동계수가 25% 보다 높은 집단의 경우 그보다 낮은 집단에 비해 오즈비가 1.121(95% 신뢰구간 1.017-1.236)로 유의성 있게 높았다. Kaplan-Meier 생존분석 결과 최소혈당치 70 mg/dL와 변동계수 25%에 따라 생존기간에 유의성 있는 차이가 나타났다.(각각 P < 0.001, P < 0.05) 결 론: 고혈당 발생의 감소뿐 아니라 최소혈당치를 70 mg/dL 이상으로 유지하면서 변동을 최소화하는 것이 외과계 중환자실에서의 사망률감소를 위한 중요한 요인임을 알 수 있었다.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.634-651
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• 2021

Dynamic X-ray (DXR) is a functional imaging technique that uses sequential images obtained by a flat-panel detector (FPD). This article aims to describe the mechanism of DXR and the analysis methods used as well as review the clinical evidence for its use. DXR analyzes dynamic changes on the basis of X-ray translucency and can be used for analysis of diaphragmatic kinetics, ventilation, and lung perfusion. It offers many advantages such as a high temporal resolution and flexibility in body positioning. Many clinical studies have reported the feasibility of DXR and its characteristic findings in pulmonary diseases. DXR may serve as an alternative to pulmonary function tests in patients requiring contact inhibition, including patients with suspected or confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 or other infectious diseases. Thus, DXR has a great potential to play an important role in the clinical setting. Further investigations are needed to utilize DXR more effectively and to establish it as a valuable diagnostic tool.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

This study reviewed the trends and prospect of the market for veterinary medical devices in Korea. The registration of veterinary medical devices has sharply increased since 2013, and a total of 2,133 products from 348 companies were registered by 2018. Of these products, the proportion of the instrument, in vitro diagnostic (IVD) reagents, medical only used for animal and supplies were 51.6%, 35.7%, 7.6% and 5.1%, respectively. The sales amount of veterinary medical devices is approximately 95.8 billion won in 2017. The sales of domestic consumption and imports were 53.9 and 41.9 billion won, respectively. They are increasing 14.9% (CAGR) in the domestic consumption, and 44.0% (CAGR) in the export from 2011 to 2017, respectively. The proportion of IVD reagents, instrument, medical only used for animal and supplies were 54.2%, 41.0%, 3.8%, and 1.0%, respectively. The top 10 items with high sales were IVD reagents for clinical immunochemistry, visceral function testing instrument, hematological testing apparatus, syringes, IVD reagents for molecular genetics, etc. They are widely used from 3,926 animal hospitals in 2017. This study suggested that registration and sales of veterinary medical devices have gradually increased since 2013 as the demand of health care services for various animals. Therefore, the veterinary medical devices industry is expected to grow in the future.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.270-277
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• 2015

There is a lack of evidence on the impact of pharmacist interventions in diabetes care in South Korea. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pharmacist counseling on clinical and humanistic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. An uncontrolled before-and-after study was conducted at the outpatient diabetes clinic in a teaching hospital in Gyeongnam, South Korea between January 2 and November 30, 2014. A total of 37 patients were enrolled. During the study periods, the participants and pharmacists met every 2 weeks via follow-up telephone calls in addition to face-to-face meetings upon returning for care visit. At each meeting, a structured patient counseling was performed and the average duration of each meeting was 15~30 minutes. The participants were requested to record daily self-care activities. At the end of this study, patients' satisfaction on pharmacist care was evaluated using the questionnaire developed by us. Compared to baseline, significant reductions (mean${\pm}$standard deviation, p<0.05) in HbA1c were observed at each follow-up period: $-0.32{\pm}0.72%$ from baseline to 3 months; $-0.52{\pm}0.76%$ from baseline to 6 months; $-0.72{\pm}0.76%$ from baseline to 9 months. Over the same follow-up period, the proportions of patients achieving target HbA1c (defined as HbA1c<6.5%) were 3.1%, 10.3%, and 20%, respectively. The proportions of patients who never missed a dose during the same follow-up period were 43.8%, 31.0%, and 20.0%, respectively. The results from the patient satisfaction survey indicated that pharmacist counseling improved patients' knowledge about diabetes and possible drug interactions. Especially, the information on a healthy diet and lifestyle was the most satisfying. To conclude, follow-up telephone calls combined with face-to-face meetings improved clinical and humanistic outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.69-78
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• 2019

Pain therapy often entails gastrointestinal adverse events. While opioids are effective drugs for pain relief, the incidence of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) varies greatly from 15% to as high as 81%. This can lead to a significant impairment in quality of life, often resulting in discontinuation of opioid therapy. In this regard, a good doctor-patient relationship is especially pivotal when initiating opioid therapy. In addition to a detailed history of bowel habits, patient education regarding the possible gastrointestinal side effects of the drugs is crucial. In addition, the bowel function must be regularly evaluated for the entire duration of treatment with opioids. Furthermore, if the patient has preexisting constipation that is well under control, continuation of that treatment is important. In the absence of such history, general recommendations should include sufficient fluid intake, physical activity, and regular intake of dietary fiber. In patients of OIC with ongoing opioid therapy, the necessity of opioid use should be critically reevaluated in terms of an with acceptable quality of life, particularly in cases of non-cancer pain. If opioids must be continued, lowering the dose may help, as well as changing the type of opioid. If these measures do not suffice, the next step for persistent OIC is the administration of laxatives. If these are ineffective as well, treatment with peripherally active ${\mu}$-opioid receptor antagonists should be considered. Enemas and irrigation are emergency measures, often used as a last resort.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-43
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• 1999

Over the last 50 years, a number of antibiotic agents have been developed and clinically used in the area of infectious diseases. Due to antimicrobial resistance problems and increasing health care costs, the rational use of antibiotics has been required. As a drug of choice to treat infections caused by MRSA, vancomycin has been extensively prescribed since the late 1970's. Recently, reports of vancomycin-resistant organisms such as VRE and VRSA have been increased to draw medical concerns. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the rational use of vancomycin and the appropriateness of the Restrictional Program of Antibiotic Utilization (RPAU) which has been operated at Samsung Medical Center. A retrospective chart review was performed in 132 hospitalized patients treated with vancomycin in the surgery departments from. January to June 1998. The guidelines of ASHP and HICPAC for vancomycin were modified and used as our criteria to determine the vancomycin DUE. In one hundred out of the patients, uses of vancomycin were approved by the Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) based on the RPAU. Vancomycin was appropriately used in $62.5\%$ of the 100 patients according to the criteria of justification of use, while $60.0\%,\;60.0\%,\;79.0\%,\;and\;51.0\%$ of the patients showed appropriate according to those of lab reports such as applicable culture obtained, pretreatment SCr, WBC and serum drug concentration monitoring, respectively. Although the rest 32 patients were not approved to receive vancomycin by the DID, twenty two percent continued receiving vancomycin treatment. This might result from the fact that the RPAU was started not before the use of antibiotics but in the middle of antimicrobial therapy. Continual education should be provide to the related health professionals and the RPAU should be simultaneously modified in order to increase the rate of appropriate uses of antibiotics.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.243-249
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• 2020

Background: Despite the increased use of direct-acting oral anticoagulants, warfarin is still recommended as first-line therapy in patients with mechanical valves or moderate to severe mitral stenosis. Anticoagulation management services (AMSs) are warranted for patients receiving warfarin therapy due to the complexity of warfarin dosing and large interpatient variability. To overcome limited health care resources, we developed a messenger app-based chatbot that provides information to patients taking warfarin. Methods: We developed "WafarinTalk" as an add-on to the open-source messenger app KakaoTalk. We developed the prototype chatbot after building a database containing seven categories: 1) dosage and indications, 2) drug-drug interactions, 3) drug-food interactions, 4) drug-diet supplement interactions, 5) monitoring, 6) adverse events, and 7) precautions. We then surveyed 30 pharmacists and 10 patients on chatbot reliability and on participant satisfaction. Results: We found that 80% of the pharmacists agreed on the consistency of chatbot responses and 44% agreed on the appropriateness of chatbot. Furthermore, 47% of pharmacists said that they were willing to recommend the chatbot to patients. Of the seven categories, information on drug-food interaction was the most useful; 90% of patients said they were satisfied with the chatbot and 100% of patients said they were willing to use it when they were unable to see a pharmacist. We updated the prototype chatbot with feedback from the survey. Conclusion: This study showed that warfarin-related information could be provided to patients through a messenger application-based chatbot.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2023

Background: Globally, the number of patients with aspergillosis is increasing, and the mortality rate remains high. This study aimed to investigate prescribing patterns of antifungal drugs for patients with aspergillosis in South Korea using real-world data. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed using National Patient Sample (NPS) data collected by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) during 2011-2020. The use of antifungal drugs in patients with aspergillosis was investigated. Results:A total of 1374 patients were identified: 333 patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) (24.2%), 436 patients with other PA (31.7%), 73 patients with other forms of aspergillosis (5.3%), and 532 patients with unspecified aspergillosis (38.7%). The odds of receiving an antifungal prescription were higher for IPA than for other PA (aOR, 0.233; p<0.001), and higher for hematologic malignancies than for respiratory disorders other than cancer or infections (aOR, 10.018; p<0.001). During each hospitalization period, 56.1% (97/173) and 6.4% (11/173) of IPA hospitalizations received voriconazole and itraconazole monotherapy, respectively, whereas 44.3% (27/61) and 27.9% (17/61) of other PA hospitalizations received itraconazole and voriconazole monotherapy, respectively. Among outpatients with IPA, 67.5% (85/126) and 26.2% (33/126) received voriconazole and itraconazole alone, respectively, whereas among outpatients with other PA, 86.1% (68/79) and 12.7% (10/79) received itraconazole and voriconazole alone, respectively, during the year. Conclusion: In Korea, voriconazole monotherapy was preferred in IPA inpatients, and itraconazole monotherapy was preferred in other PA inpatients. In the ambulatory care settings for IPA and other PA, itraconazole monotherapy was preferred.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.119-126
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• 2017

Background: As the demands of pharmacist's role and quality performance have increased, the verification of pharmacist's ability has been required. In this study, we aimed to select appropriate items for assessment of pharmacist's knowledge, attitude and performance. Methods: Based on the pharmacist job analysis, we selected duties and tasks in consideration of applying pharmacy practical examination through brainstorming of internal researchers and group discussion with experts. Survey was conducted to evaluate the tasks according to the criteria detailed below: Realistic, Understandable, Measurable, Behavioral and Achievable (RUMBA). The subjects included professors at colleges of pharmacy and instructors of institutional or community pharmacy settings. Results: Nine duties including 41 tasks were drawn for the survey through primary internal researchers. Of the 90 respondents, 95.6% were professors or preceptors who was engaged in practical training, and 62.2% had more than five years of practical experience. As a result of survey and discussion with expert panel, selected seven duties were selected as followings: 'Patient (customer) reception', 'Drug preparation and distribution', 'Patient care', 'Administration', 'Patient counseling', 'Non-prescription medication counseling', and 'Provision of drug information'. The final 20 tasks from seven duties were chosen to assess skills that a pharmacist should be able to perform. Conclusion: This is the first study to select the items that can be included in pharmacist practical examination in the future, based on the RUMBA criteria. As a next step, it is necessary to study how to implement these items.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2006

Microsystems create new opportunities for conventional cell analysis by combining microfluidics and flow cytometry. This article describes recent developments in conventional flow cytometers and related microfluidic flow cytometers to detect, analyze, and sort cells or particles. Flow cytometry strongly consisted of fluidics, optics and electronics requires a large space to equip various components, which are mostly the fluidic components such as compressor, fluid handling system. Adopting microfluidics into flow cytometry enables volume- and power-efficient, inexpensive and flexible analysis of particulate samples. In this paper, we review various efforts that take advantage of novel techniques to build microfluidic cell analysis systems with high-speed analytical capability. Highly integrated microfluidic cytometry shows great promise for basic biomedical and pharmaceutical research, and robust and portable point-of-care devices could be used in clinical settings.