• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.78 no.3
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• pp.227-231
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• 2015

Background: Diagnostic methods for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) have recently advanced. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in TB diagnostic tests that prompted the initiation of anti-TB treatment over time in South Korea, an industrialized country with an intermediate TB burden. Methods: Patients diagnosed with pulmonary TB in the first halves of 2005 and 2013 at a tertiary referral hospital were included. Diagnostic methods that prompted the initiation of anti-TB treatment were compared between the 2 groups of patients. Results: A greater proportion of patients were diagnosed with pulmonary TB using bronchoscopy in 2013 than in 2005 (26.7% vs. 6.6%, respectively; p<0.001), while the proportion of patients clinically diagnosed with pulmonary TB was lower in 2013 than in 2005 (24.7% vs. 49.0%, respectively; p<0.001). Additionally, more patients started anti-TB treatment based on positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results for Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA in 2013 than in 2005 (47.3% vs. 7.9%, respectively; p<0.001). Conclusion: The initiation of treatment for pulmonary TB in South Korea has become more frequently based on PCR and the use of bronchoscopic specimens.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.377-381
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• 2014

Microscopy is considered as the gold standard for malaria diagnosis although its wide application is limited by the requirement of highly experienced microscopists. PCR and serological tests provide efficient diagnostic performance and have been applied for malaria diagnosis and research. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic performance of nested PCR and a recently developed an ELISA-based new rapid diagnosis test (RDT), NovaLisa test kit, for diagnosis of malaria infection, using microscopic method as the gold standard. The performance of nested-PCR as a malaria diagnostic tool is excellent with respect to its high accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and ability to discriminate Plasmodium species. The sensitivity and specificity of nested-PCR compared with the microscopic method for detection of Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and P. falciparum/P. vivax mixed infection were 71.4 vs 100%, 100 vs 98.7%, and 100 vs 95.0%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA-based NovaLisa test kit compared with the microscopic method for detection of Plasmodium genus were 89.0 vs 91.6%, respectively. NovaLisa test kit provided comparable diagnostic performance. Its relatively low cost, simplicity, and rapidity enables large scale field application.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.245-253
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• 2020

Purpose: This study investigated the prevalence of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ-OA) using the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders image analysis criteria, assessed the severity of incidental osteoarthritic changes affecting the TMJ, and evaluated the correlations of sex and age with the prevalence and severity of TMJ-OA. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study assessed 145 randomly selected cone-beam computed tomography scans (261 TMJs) from the authors' institutional maxillofacial radiology archive following the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The criteria described by Ahmad et al. were used to determine whether each TMJ was affected by OA, and the severity of the osteoarthritic changes was scored for each joint based on the method described by Alexiou et al. The chi-square, McNemar, Bhapkar chi-square, and Stuart-Maxwell chi-square tests were applied to evaluate the significance of the relationships between variables(age and sex). Results: Sixteen TMJs (6.1%) had no OA, 74 (28.6%) were indeterminate for OA, and 171 (65.5%) had OA. Flattening and sclerosis were observed in 86.6% and 12.3% of cases, respectively, while resorption was observed in 7.3% of the joints. Only 21 (8.1%) of the examined TMJs had subchondral cysts. Erosion of the articular eminence was observed in 58 (22.1%) cases, while sclerosis and resorption were found in 68 (25.9%) and 16 (6.1%) TMJs, respectively. Conclusion: Female patients had a higher prevalence and severity of TMJ-OA than male patients. The prevalence and severity of TMJ-OA increased with age, with peaks in the fifth and seventh decades of life.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-11
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• 2022

Purpose : This study was conducted to assess the status of sarcopenia and locomotive syndrome in the Korean elderly population over 65 years of age by applying the recently updated screening tool for diagnostic evaluation of sarcopenia and locomotive syndrome. Methods : Sarcopenia and locomotive syndrome (LS) were diagnosed and evaluated in 210 Korean elderly people over 65 years of age. There were 36 patients in the "sarcopenia group", 164 in the "locomotive syndrome group", and 10 in the "normal group". The collected data were analyzed using the chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results : The diagnostic evaluation of sarcopenia and LS showed the presence of sarcopenia in 9.05 % of males and 8.10% females among the Korean elderly population over 65 years of age. Prevalence of stage 1 locomotive syndrome (LS 1) was 95.24 %; stage 2, (LS 2) 36.19 %; and stage 3 (LS 3), 16.19 % among the study population. Both the sarcopenia diagnostic indicator and the LS evaluation indicators showed significant differences between the three groups. All the subjects in the sarcopenia group had LS; further, on comparison of the detailed composition ratio of each patient with LS, the prevalence of LS in the sarcopenia group was found to be: LS 1 41.67 %, LS 2 41.67 %, and LS 3 16.67 %, whereas in the LS group, it was found to be: LS 1 66.46 %, LS 2 16.46 %, and LS 3 17.07 %. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant. Conclusion : It was confirmed that sarcopenia is correlated with LS incidence. This suggests that the evaluation of motor LS can be used as a tool for the early diagnosis and prevention of sarcopenia in cases of functional decline due to aging in the elderly population.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2023

Objective: Little is known about the effects of using different expert-determined reference standards when evaluating the performance of deep learning-based automatic detection (DLAD) models and their added value to radiologists. We assessed the concordance of expert-determined standards with a clinical gold standard (herein, pathological confirmation) and the effects of different expert-determined reference standards on the estimates of radiologists' diagnostic performance to detect malignant pulmonary nodules on chest radiographs with and without the assistance of a DLAD model. Materials and Methods: This study included chest radiographs from 50 patients with pathologically proven lung cancer and 50 controls. Five expert-determined standards were constructed using the interpretations of 10 experts: individual judgment by the most experienced expert, majority vote, consensus judgments of two and three experts, and a latent class analysis (LCA) model. In separate reader tests, additional 10 radiologists independently interpreted the radiographs and then assisted with the DLAD model. Their diagnostic performance was estimated using the clinical gold standard and various expert-determined standards as the reference standard, and the results were compared using the t test with Bonferroni correction. Results: The LCA model (sensitivity, 72.6%; specificity, 100%) was most similar to the clinical gold standard. When expert-determined standards were used, the sensitivities of radiologists and DLAD model alone were overestimated, and their specificities were underestimated (all p-values < 0.05). DLAD assistance diminished the overestimation of sensitivity but exaggerated the underestimation of specificity (all p-values < 0.001). The DLAD model improved sensitivity and specificity to a greater extent when using the clinical gold standard than when using the expert-determined standards (all p-values < 0.001), except for sensitivity with the LCA model (p = 0.094). Conclusion: The LCA model was most similar to the clinical gold standard for malignant pulmonary nodule detection on chest radiographs. Expert-determined standards caused bias in measuring the diagnostic performance of the artificial intelligence model.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.501-505
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• 2014

In recent years, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have been widely used for malaria detection, primarily because of their simple operation, fast results, and straightforward interpretation. The Asan $EasyTest^{TM}$ Malaria Pf/Pan Ag is one of the most commonly used malaria RDTs in several countries, including Korea and India. In this study, we tested the diagnostic performance of this RDT in Uganda to evaluate its usefulness for field diagnosis of malaria in this country. Microscopic and PCR analyses, and the Asan $EasyTest^{TM}$ Malaria Pf/Pan Ag rapid diagnostic test, were performed on blood samples from 185 individuals with suspected malaria in several villages in Uganda. Compared to the microscopic analysis, the sensitivity of the RDT to detect malaria infection was 95.8% and 83.3% for Plasmodium falciparum and non-P. falciparum, respectively. Although the diagnostic sensitivity of the RDT decreased when parasitemia was ${\leq}500\;parasites/{\mu}l$, it showed 96.8% sensitivity (98.4% for P. falciparum and 93.8% for non-P. falciparum) in blood samples with parasitemia ${\geq}100\;parasites/{\mu}l$. The specificity of the RDT was 97.3% for P. falciparum and 97.3% for non-P. falciparum. These results collectively suggest that the accuracy of the Asan $EasyTest^{TM}$ Malaria Pf/Pan Ag makes it an effective point-of-care diagnostic tool for malaria in Uganda.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.355-362
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• 2005

Constipation is very common phenomenon during childhood that accounts approximately 3% of general pediatric outpatient visits and up to 25% of visit to the pediatric gastroenterologist. The diagnosis of functional constipation is based on the historical features and absence of physical abnormalities. Most infants and children with chronic constipation require no diagnostic tests. Constipation and subsequent fecal retention behavior often begins soon after experience of painful defecation. The effective management of childhood chronic constipation consist of education, prolonged support by physicians and parents, medications, and long term follow up.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 1994

A proposed test statistic is obtained by multiplying constant weights by the Neumann smooth type statistic discussed by Eubank and Hart(1993) in order to observe the effect of weight. It has very good results of power studies. Another advantage of this test is that it simultaneously provides an important diagnostic tools that can be used in many cases to determine how the model should be adjusted.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.282-283
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• 2002

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.373-391
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• 2000

This paper investigates the existence of a long-run relationship between world oil price and consumer price index for Korea during 1983~1999. The cointegration and error correction modelling approaches have been applied. Empirical results suggest that there exists a long-run relationship among world oil prices. consumer prices, M2 and a production gap variable. The dynamic behavior of the relationship has been investigated by estimating a error correction model, in which the error correction term have been found significant. The error correction model has also been found to be robust as it satisfy almost all relevant diagnostic tests.