• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1277-1280
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• 2012

Aim: Studies have shown effects of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy on quality of life in cases of gynaecological cancer. Very few studies are available examining the quality of life of individuals in Turkey who have been diagnosed with gynaecological cancer and undergoing treatment. Method: This study was performed to evaluate the quality of life of such patients using the EORTC-QLQ-C30 Quality of Life Index. Chi-square Yates, Mann-Whitney-U tests and variance analysis used for statistical analizing. Results: The EORTC-QLQ-C30 Quality of Life Index mean points for "general well-being and quality of life" of the patients were found to be $60.5{\pm}25.0$. In the sub-groups of the Quality of Life Index determined fatigue ($60.1{\pm}24.8$), economic difficulties ($46.9{\pm}33.3$), pain and loss of appetite ($42.9{\pm}27.8$; $42.9{\pm}34.0$) and insomnia ($40.1{\pm}34.0$) were the symptoms most reported to have a negative effect on quality of life. Statistical significance was noted for marital status and income status (p<0.05) but not educational level. Conclusion:Determination of quality of life of women with a diagnosis of gynaecological oncological disease who are undergoing chemotherapy enables provision of a more comprehensive and higher quality of care.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.91-102
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• 2013

This study has an aim to analyze the effects of ADS on conjunctivitis patients among the residents of Seoul, Korea, between 2005 and 2008. For this purpose, the number of medical services provided to conjunctivitis patients on the days of windblown dust storms and the days without any windblown dust storms were analyzed by conducting paired t-test. The interactive effects of the ADS density and the accuracy of ADS forecast on the fluctuation of conjunctivitis cases were also investigated. The results showed that, even with an accurate forecast issued 24 hours prior to the event, the average number of medical services provided for conjunctivitis was higher on the index days than the comparison days. On the other hand, in cases of failure to provide an accurate forecast 24 hours prior to the ADS event, the number of conjunctivitis attacks reported was statistically significantly higher on the index days for 3~5 days after the occurrence of a dust storm in relation to the comparison days. We also found that the rate of increase in asthma treatments on the index days with low level of $PM_{10}$ concentration rather than high $PM_{10}$ level was more significant for all lag days. This study provides evidence that ADS events are significantly associated with conjunctivitis symptoms and the failure to forecast ADS events with low $PM_{10}$ level might aggravate conjunctivitis disease.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.52-64
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the utilization of health care of patients with lung cancer in Korea and identify determinants of these patients' health care utilization. Methods: This was a descriptive analytical study. The national medical fees claims data of patients with lung cancer were used. Using SPSS Statistics 20, the ${\chi}^2$-test and logistic regression were performed to determine the factors influencing health care utilization. Results: There were significant differences by sex, age, disease type, stage, comorbidity index, region of institutions, and type of institutions in the utilization of surgical procedures; by age, disease type, stage, comorbidity index, region of institutions, and type of institutions in the utilization of chemotherapy; and by age, stage, comorbidity index, region of institutions, and type of institutions in the utilization of radiotherapy. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that democratic and clinical characteristics of patients as well as institutional characteristics affect health care utilization of patients with lung cancer. Additional research is needed to determine the factors influencing health care utilization of patients with lung cancer.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.49-57
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• 2014

This research is about analysis and evaluation of biodiversity of Suwon's street tree, then understanding the problem of it and finally finding a solution. Because the increasing damage of the street trees by disease and insects, insecticide is applied to prevent further damage. However, this insecticide is found to be cancer genic and causing hygienic threat to civilians. Therefore, by gathering Suwon's internal statistics about Suwon's street tree, the trees are divided into three categories, tall evergreen trees, deciduous trees, shrubs following Frank's 30-20-10 theory(1990). Also, according to species diversity index, the problem of disease and insect is researched in terms of biodiversity, and here we suggests solutions to counter such problems. According to the results, the trees planted in Suwon was found to be 31 families, 43 genus and 58 species. The most used kinds, almost 85% of the whole species, are found to be Rhododendron indicum (L.) Sweet, Buxus koreana Nakai ex Chung & al, Euonymus japonicus Thunb, Ligustrum obtusifolium Siebold & Zucc. Besides these, the rest of 15% of street trees had little variety. Therefore, it is necessary to plant tree variously and equally in terms of biodiversity. If this Frank's 10-20-30 solution is not enough to completely solve coulure problem, then further research will be done on soil properties, and local features for improvement of Suwon street tress.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.229-242
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• 2023

Purpose: The electronic frailty index (eFI), which is derived from electronic health records, has been recommended as screening tool for frailty due to its accessibility and ease of use. The objective of this systematic review was to identify the prevalence of frailty assessed by the eFI and its influence on health outcomes in older adults with chronic diseases. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, SCOPUS, Cochrane, Google search, and nursing journals in Korean from January 2016 to December 2022. Results: Twelve studies were analyzed. The eFI score, based on routine clinical data, was associated with adverse health outcomes. The most frequent outcome studied was mortality, and the eFI was associated with increased mortality in nine studies. Other outcomes studied included hospitalization, length of stay, readmission, and institutionalization in relation to hospital care usage, and cardiovascular events, stroke, GI bleeding, falls, and instrumental activities of daily life as health conditions. Conclusion: Early identification of frailty in older adults with chronic diseases can decrease the burden of disease and adverse health outcomes. The eFI has a good discriminative capacity to identify frail older adults with chronic diseases.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.161-169
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of speech intelligibility of spontaneous speech and the vowel space parameters in patients with Parkinson's disease. Ten PD patients (M=5, F=5) and a corresponding control group of ten normal adults participated in this study. Firstly, subjects were asked to tell a story about their hometown and youth in order to analyze speech intelligibility. Secondly, the subjects were also asked to repeat four vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/, /e/) five times in order to compare their vowel spaces. The results were as follows: (1) the speech intelligibility of the PD group was lower than that of the control group. (2) Four parameters including vowel area, vowel articulatory index, formant centralization ratio, F2i/F1u ratio were significantly different in each group. For instance, vowel area and F2 ratio were wider and higher, respectively. As a result, a decrease in speech intelligibility of patients with PD is likely to show different types of errors from the normal group. The results of this research are meaningful in a sense that they could provide the objective standard of speech intelligibility and vowel space parameters.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and test an explanatory model of dyspnea in patients with chronic lung disease (CLD). Methods: Participants were 181 patients with CLD, recruited from the outpatient pulmonary clinic of one university hospital in Korea. Data were collected using questionnaires, as well as measurement of 6-minute walking distance (6MWD), oxygen saturation ($SpO_2$), FEV1% predicted, and Body Mass Index (BMI). Results: The results indicated a good fit between the proposed dyspnea model and the collected data [$x^2$=91.27, p= .13, $x^2$/d.f.=1.17, Normal Fit Index= .934]. Oxygenation ($SpO_2$, = -.530), self-efficacy (= -.429), anxiety (= .253), depression (= .224), exercise endurance (6MWD, = -.211), and pulmonary function (FEV1% predicted, = -.178) had a direct effect on dyspnea (all p< .05) and these variables explained 74% of variance in dyspnea. BMI, smoking history, and social support had an indirect effect on dyspnea. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that comprehensive nursing interventions should focus on recovery of respiratory health and improvement of emotions, exercise ability, and nutritional status. From this perspective, pulmonary rehabilitation would be an effective strategy for managing dyspnea in patients with CLD.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.95-105
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• 2006

The primary goal of therapeutic intervention in dysarthric speakers is to increase the speech intelligibility. Decision of critical features to increase the intelligibility is very important in speech therapy. The purpose of this study is to know the effects of pitch increasing training (PIT) on speech of a subject with Parkinson's disease (PD). The PIT program is focused on increasing pitch while a vowel is sustained with the same loudness. The loudness level is somewhat higher than that of the habitual loudness. A 67-year-old female with PD participated in the study. Speech therapy was conducted for 4 sessions (200 minutes) for one week. Before and after the treatment, acoustic, perceptual and speech naturalness evaluation was peformed for data analysis. Speech and voice satisfaction index (SVSI) was obtained after the treatment. Results showed Improvements in voice quality and speech naturalness. In addition, the patient's satisfaction ratings (SVSI) indicated a positive relationship between improved speech production and their (the patient and care-givers) satisfaction.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.282-286
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• 2010

Objective : The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of lumbar disc herniation surgery for low back pain on the erectile functioning. Methods : Thirty-eight patients, with age ranging from 22 to 56 years, who had presented with pain due to herniated lumbar discs were included in the study. International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) Short Form questionnaire was used to evaluate the erectile functioning. Patient visits on the 1st week,1st month and 3rd month postoperatively were analyzed. Pain scores were also noted together with side effects and the complications of the surgery. Results : Of the 38 patients, 18 patients had reported erectile dysfunction; 10 patients mild and 8 patients moderate erectile dysfunction. Twenty patients did not report erectile problems. The herniation levels mostly were L5-S1 in 12 (31.6%). Overall, erectile dysfunction rates have improved in 31.7% of those previously with erectile dysfunction in a 3 month period after the surgery. Best results were obtained in those patients with mild erectile dysfunction preoperatively. Conclusion : Mild erectile dysfunction together with radiculopathy tends to improve after lumbosacral disc surgery. Moderate and severe erectile dysfunction may be related to a more severe nerve injury or to vascular and/or psychiatric factors. An evaluation of erectile functioning should routinely be performed in patients with lumbosacral disc disease both for data accumulation and for medico legal causes since the documentation of the correlation between erectile dysfunction and lumbosacral disc disease is still lacking.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2021

Background: Muscle undergoes change continuously with aging. Sarcopenia, in which muscle mass decrease with aging, is associated with various diseases, the risk of falling, and the deterioration of quality of life. Obesity and sarcopenia also have a synergy effect on the disease of the older adults. Objects: This study examined the risk factors for sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity, and sarcopenia without obesity and developed prediction models. Methods: This machine-learning study used the 2008-2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys in the analysis. After data curation, 5,563 older participants were selected, of whom 1,169 had sarcopenia, 538 had sarcopenic obesity, and 631 had sarcopenia without obesity; the remaining 4,394 were normal. Decision tree and random forest models were used to identify risk factors. Results: The risk factors for sarcopenia chosen by both methods were body mass index (BMI) and duration of moderate physical activity; those for sarcopenic obesity were sex, BMI, and duration of moderate physical activity; and those for sarcopenia without obesity were BMI and sex. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of all prediction models exceeded 0.75. BMI could predict sarcopenia-related disease. Conclusion: Risk factors for sarcopenia-related diseases should be identified and programs for sarcopenia-related disease prevention should be developed. Data-mining research using population data should be conducted to enhance the effectiveness of early treatment for people with sarcopenia-related diseases through predictive models.