• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.35-40
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• 2022

Objectives: Restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) are a core symptom in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The complexity of behavioral patterns has called for the creation of phenotypically homogeneous subgroups among individuals with ASD. The purpose of this study was 1) to investigate the different types of RRBs and 2) to explore whether subgroups created by RRBs would show unique levels of functioning in toddlers and young children with ASD. Methods: A total of 313 children with ASD, aged 12-42 months were included in the analysis. The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised was used to obtain information on the different types of RRBs by grouping 15 items into six categories. The Vineland Adaptive Behaviors Scale, a parent-reported questionnaire, was used to measure adaptive functioning. A portion of the children were analyzed separately for verbal-related RRBs based on their expressive language level. Two-step cluster analysis using RRB groups as features was used to create subgroups. Analysis of covariance while covarying for age and language was performed to explore the clinical characteristics of each cluster group. Results: Sensory-related RRBs were the most prevalent, followed by circumscribed interests, interest in objects, resistance to change, and repetitive body movements. A subset of the children was analyzed separately to explore verbal-related RRBs. Four cluster groups were created based on reported RRBs, with multiple RRBs demonstrating significant delays in adaptive functioning. Conclusion: Heterogeneity of RRBs emerges at a young age. The different patterns of RRBs can be used as valuable information to determine developmental trajectories with better implications for treatment approaches.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.293-309
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• 2022

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of predicting the degree of smartphone overdependence based on mobile phone usage patterns. Design/methodology/approach - In this study, a survey conducted by Korea Internet and Security Agency(KISA) called "problematic smartphone use survey" was analyzed. The survey consists of 180 questions, and data were collected from 29,712 participants. Based on the data on the smartphone usage pattern obtained through the questionnaire, the smartphone addiction level was predicted using machine learning techniques. k-NN, gradient boosting, XGBoost, CatBoost, AdaBoost and random forest algorithms were employed. Findings - First, while various factors together influence the smartphone overdependence level, the results show that all machine learning techniques perform well to predict the smartphone overdependence level. Especially, we focus on the features which can be obtained from the smartphone log data (without psychological factors). It means that our results can be a basis for diagnostic programs to detect problematic smartphone use. Second, the results show that information on users' age, marriage and smartphone usage patterns can be used as predictors to determine whether users are addicted to smartphones. Other demographic characteristics such as sex or region did not appear to significantly affect smartphone overdependence levels. Research implications or Originality - While there are some studies that predict smartphone overdependence level using machine learning techniques, but the studies only present algorithm performance based on survey data. In this study, based on the information gain measure, questions that have more influence on the smartphone overdependence level are presented, and the performance of algorithms according to the questions is compared. Through the results of this study, it is shown that smartphone overdependence level can be predicted with less information if questions about smartphone use are given appropriately.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.387-395
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• 2022

Purpose: Toxins produced by Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) can cause enteritis and diarrhea. Although the number of pediatric CDI cases is increasing, the clinical management of pediatric CDI, including patient characteristics and prognosis, remains unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the background and clinical course of patients with CDI and evaluate the reliability of diagnostic tests in a tertiary pediatric hospital in Japan. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of children diagnosed with CDI between 2011 and 2021 at the Saitama Children's Medical Center in Saitama, Japan. Results: During the study period, 1,252 C. difficile antigen/toxin tests were performed, and 37 patients were diagnosed with CDI. The main underlying diseases among the patients were hematological and malignant disorders and gastrointestinal diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (59.4%). Two patients (5.4%) had an unremarkable medical history. Among the 37 patients, 27 (73.0%) were immunocompromised, 25 (67.6%) had a history of antibiotic use within the past two months, and 6 (16.2%) were negative on the initial test but were positive on the second test. Finally, 28 patients (75.7%) required primary antibiotic therapy only, and two patients with IBD required additional antibiotic therapy as secondary treatment. Conclusion: The number of pediatric patients with CDI is increasing. Both a comprehensive interview, including underlying diseases and history of antibiotic use, and an understanding of the features of clinical examinations should be emphasized to appropriately diagnose and treat CDI.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-102
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: Temporal bone fracture (TBF) is a common occurrence in cases of head trauma. Although the incidence of temporal bone concussion (TBC) has increased in cases of head trauma, it has not been extensively studied. We assessed the characteristics of TBF and TBC in patients with head trauma. Subjects and Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 432 patients with head injury who visited our hospital between January 2011 and April 2016. Of these patients, 211 who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Their clinical characteristics, causes of injury, and hearing function were analyzed. Results: Among the 211 patients, 157 had TBFs and 54 had TBCs. Ear symptoms were more common among patients with TBF than among those with TBC. Car accidents were the most common cause of both TBF and TBC, but assault and sports injuries were more common among patients with TBC than among those with TBF. The occurrence of facial palsy in both cases of TBF and TBC. Hearing loss was observed among 35 patients with TBF and 11 patients with TBC. However, patients with TBF showed conductive hearing loss with an air-bone gap. Hearing function of these patients with TBF recovered with a reduced air-bone gap, but the patients with TBC showed little recovery. Conclusions: Emergency physicians should focus more on temporal bone injury in patients with head trauma. Therefore, an early complete diagnostic battery, which includes high-resolution computed tomography, audiometric tests, neurologic examination, and vestibular tests, be performed in patients with head trauma.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-102
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• 2019

Background and Objectives: Temporal bone fracture (TBF) is a common occurrence in cases of head trauma. Although the incidence of temporal bone concussion (TBC) has increased in cases of head trauma, it has not been extensively studied. We assessed the characteristics of TBF and TBC in patients with head trauma. Subjects and Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 432 patients with head injury who visited our hospital between January 2011 and April 2016. Of these patients, 211 who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Their clinical characteristics, causes of injury, and hearing function were analyzed. Results: Among the 211 patients, 157 had TBFs and 54 had TBCs. Ear symptoms were more common among patients with TBF than among those with TBC. Car accidents were the most common cause of both TBF and TBC, but assault and sports injuries were more common among patients with TBC than among those with TBF. The occurrence of facial palsy in both cases of TBF and TBC. Hearing loss was observed among 35 patients with TBF and 11 patients with TBC. However, patients with TBF showed conductive hearing loss with an air-bone gap. Hearing function of these patients with TBF recovered with a reduced air-bone gap, but the patients with TBC showed little recovery. Conclusions: Emergency physicians should focus more on temporal bone injury in patients with head trauma. Therefore, an early complete diagnostic battery, which includes high-resolution computed tomography, audiometric tests, neurologic examination, and vestibular tests, be performed in patients with head trauma.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.703-725
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• 2023

Objectives: This study investigated Korean medicine doctors' perspectives on clinical practice patterns in the process of developing Korean medicine clinical practice guidelines for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Methods: A questionnaire was developed for Korean medicine doctors. A total of 323 oriental medicine doctors participated in the survey, which was live for a total of 9 days from September 22, 2022, to September 30, 2022. Results: Regarding awareness of treatments for benign prostatic hyperplasia, 63.8% of respondents showed high awareness of Korean medical treatments. However, items such as diagnostic criteria (17.7%), evaluation methods (17.0%), and Western medical treatments (22.9%) showed low recognition rates. In clinical practice, 76.2% of respondents were found to treat five or fewer patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia per month, and the average treatment period was 1 to 3 months for most at 41.2%. Korean medicine doctors diagnosed benign prostatic hyperplasia based on clinical features. The main interventions used were acupuncture, herbal medicine (prescription medicine), and moxibustion. This study has several limitations because of the low response rate for this survey; therefore, the participants are not representative of all Korean medicine doctors. In addition, because the study was conducted broadly on various topics related to benign prostatic hyperplasia, sufficient quality management was not carried out. Further studies that include a larger sample size and more in-depth studies on benign prostatic hyperplasia are needed. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop appropriate and reasonable Korean medicine clinical practice guidelines for benign prostatic hyperplasia.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.451-466
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• 2023

Gastrointestinal cancer (GC) is a prevalent malignant tumor of the digestive system that poses a severe health risk to humans. Due to the specific organ structure of the gastrointestinal system, both endoscopic and MRI diagnoses of GIC have limited sensitivity. The primary factors influencing curative efficacy in GIC patients are drug inefficacy and high recurrence rates in surgical and pharmacological therapy. Due to its unique optical features, good biocompatibility, surface effects, and small size effects, nanotechnology is a developing and advanced area of study for the detection and treatment of cancer. Because of its deep location and complex surgery, diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal cancer is very difficult. The early diagnosis and urgent treatment of gastrointestinal illness are enabled by nanotechnology. As diagnostic and therapeutic tools, nanoparticles directly target tumor cells, allowing their detection and removal. XGBoost was used as a classification method known for achieving numerous winning solutions in data analysis competitions, to capture nonlinear relations among many input variables and outcomes using the boosting approach to machine learning. The research sample included 300 GC patients, comprising 190 males (72.2% of the sample) and 110 women (27.8%). Using convolutional neural networks (CNN) and artificial neural networks (ANN)-EXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), the patients mean± SD age was 50.42 ± 13.06. High-risk behaviors (P = 0.070), age at diagnosis (P = 0.037), distant metastasis (P = 0.004), and tumor stage (P = 0.015) were shown to have a statistically significant link with GC patient survival. AUC was 0.92, sensitivity was 81.5%, specificity was 90.5%, and accuracy was 84.7 when analyzing stomach picture.

• ALGAE
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.75-96
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• 2024

Rhodomonas (Cryptophyceae) and species assigned to this genus have undergone numerous taxonomic revisions. This also applies to R. marina studied here as it was originally assigned as a species of Cryptomonas and later considered a variation of R. baltica, the type species. Despite being described more than 130 years ago, R. marina still lacks a comprehensive characterization. Light and electron microscopy were employed to delineate a strain from western Greenland. The living cells were 18 ㎛ long and 9 ㎛ wide, elliptical in shape with a pointed to rounded posterior and truncated anterior in lateral view. Two sub-equal flagella emerged from a vestibulum, where also a furrow extended. In transmission electron microscopy, the furrow was associated with a tubular gullet and the pyrenoid embedded in a deeply lobed chloroplast. The chloroplast contained DNA in perforations and was surrounded by starch grains. A tubular nucleomorph was enclosed within the pyrenoid matrix. In scanning electron microscopy, the inner periplast consisted of rectangular plates with rounded edges and posteriorly these were replaced by a sheet-like structure. The water-soluble pigment was Crypto-Phycoerythrin type I (Cr-PE 545). A phylogenetic inference based on SSU rDNA confirmed the identity of strain S18 as a species of Rhodomonas as it clustered with congeners but also Rhinomonas, Storeatula, and Pyrenomonas. These genera formed a monophyletic clade separated from a diverse assemblage of other cryptophyte genera. To further explore the phylogeny of R. marina a concatenated phylogenetic analysis based on the SSU rDNA-ITS1-5.8S rDNA-ITS2-LSU rDNA region was performed but included only closely related species. The secondary structure of nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 was predicted and compared to similar structures in related species. Using morphological and molecular signatures as diagnostic features the description of R. marina was emended.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.4
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• pp.808-829
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• 2022

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be diagnosed noninvasively on multiphasic CT and MRI based on its distinctive imaging findings. These features include arterial phase hyperenhancement and washout on portal or delayed phase images. However, radiologists face significant diagnostic challenges because some HCCs exhibit atypical imaging characteristics. In addition to many HCC-mimicking lesions, such as arterioportal shunts, combined HCC-cholangiocarcinoma, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and hemangioma present a challenge for radiologists in actual clinical practice. The ability to distinguish HCCs from mimickers on initial imaging examinations is crucial for appropriate management and treatment decisions. Therefore, this pictorial review presents the imaging findings of atypical HCCs and HCCs mimicking malignant and benign lesions and discusses important clues that may help narrow down the differential diagnosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.6
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• pp.1504-1510
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• 2020

In this case report, we present the radiologic and pathologic findings of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) in the male breast. It is well known that a high-risk lesion such as ADH is a precursor of breast cancer in females. However, the clinical significance of these lesions in the male breast is still uncertain because male breasts mainly consist of ducts without lobule formation, unlike the female breast. To our knowledge, imaging findings of ADH in the male breast have not been reported previously, except for a few studies on the pathologic findings of these lesions. Through this paper, we would like to present the possible imaging features of this high-risk lesion in the male breast and review the related literature.