• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.88-99
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• 2021

Objective : The treatment of choice for spinal epidural abscess (SEA) generally is urgent surgery in combination with intravenous antibiotic treatment. However, the optimal duration of antibiotic treatment has not been established to date, although 4-8 weeks is generally advised. Moreover, some researchers have reported that bacteremia is a risk factor for failure of antibiotic treatment in SEA. In this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics of SEA accompanied by bacteremia and also determined whether the conventional 4-8 weeks of antibiotic treatment is sufficient. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and radiological data of 23 patients with bacterial SEA who underwent open surgery from March 2010 to April 2020. All patients had bacteremia preoperatively and underwent weeks of perioperative antibiotic treatments based on their identified organisms until all symptoms of infection disappeared. All patients underwent microbiological studies of peripheral blood, specimens from SEA and concomitant infections. The mean follow-up duration was 35.2 months, excluding three patients who died. Results : The male : female ratio was 15 : 8, and the mean age was 68.9 years. The SEA most commonly involved the lumbar spinal segment (73.9%), and the mean size was 2.9 vertebral body lengths. Mean time periods of 8.4 days and 16.6 days were required from admission to diagnosis and from admission to surgery, respectively. Concomitant infections more frequently resulted in delayed diagnosis (p=0.032), masking the symptoms of SEA. Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly identified pathogen in both blood and surgical specimens. Seventeen patients (73.9%) showed no deficits at the final follow-up. The overall antibiotic treatment duration was a mean of 66.6 days, excluding three patients who died. This duration was longer than the conventionally advised 4-8 weeks (p=0.010), and psoas or paraspinal abscess required prolonged duration of antibiotic treatment (p=0.038). Conclusion : SEA accompanied by bacteremia required a longer duration (>8 weeks) of antibiotic treatment. In addition, the diagnosis was more frequently delayed in patients with concomitant infections. The duration of antibiotic treatment should be extended for SEA with bacteremia, and a high index of suspicion is mandatory for early diagnosis, especially in patients with concomitant infections.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2021

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) typically has a good prognosis, but it frequently metastasizes to the regional lymph nodes. Although survival impact of lymph node metastasis is not clear, complementary treatment is generally added after surgery when lymphatic metastasis exists. Several previous studies have reported that the multifocal PTC is associated with poor prognosis and requires selective neck dissection to prevent regional lymph node metastasis, but they are under controversy. In this study, we present a 24-year-old female patient, diagnosed as PTC with intrathyroidal spread and regional lymph node metastases. Intrathyroidal spread of PTC can only be observed microscopically and is believed to have the similar origin of unicentric multifocal PTC. As multifocal PTC is highly associated with regional lymph node metastasis and requires an additional treatment, PTC with intrathyroidal spread may follow a similar clinical course and treatment plan. Here we report the case with a brief literature review and expect its attribution to further academic interest of treatment choice.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.154-164
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to describe clinical nurses' lived experiences of workplace verbal violence through qualitative research using descriptive phenomenology. Methods: Six female Korean nurses who had less than 5 years of clinical experience and had experienced verbal violence in the workplace within the past year participated in the study. Data were collected through one-on-one in-depth interviews with the participants and analyzed using Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Results: A total of 27 codes, eight themes, and four theme clusters were derived from the participants' statements. The four theme clusters of the clinical nurses' experiences of verbal violence in the workplace were as follows: "tip of the iceberg," "beyond me and my control," "fear and resignation," and "personal burden." The participants recognized that nurses experienced verbal violence daily, and that the causes of and responses to verbal violence were determined by external situational factors rather than nurses' individual problems. This suggests that nurses felt that they had no choice but to personally cope with verbal violence and bear the consequences due to systematic indifference and silence about verbal violence experienced by clinical nurses. Conclusion: The findings show that verbal violence was pervasive and unmerited, yet often endured at the cost of a personal burden to nurses. A clear definition of verbal violence and education for employees are needed, and a reporting system should be established to report all forms of violence regardless of the severity of the incident.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.5-13
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• 2011

This study provides analysis of the effectiveness of domestic marketing strategies of the Korean coffee shop "Caffe Bene". It bases its evaluation on statistical outputs of 'choice attributes,' "market segmentation," demographic characteristics," and "satisfaction differences." The results are summarized in four points. First, five choice attributes were extracted from factor analysis: price, atmosphere, comfort, taste, and location; these are related to coffee shop selection behavior. Based on these five factors, cluster analysis was conducted, with statistical results classifying customers into three major groups: atmosphere oriented; comfort oriented; and taste oriented. Second, discriminant analysis tested cluster analysis and showed two discriminant functions: location and atmosphere. Third, cross-tabulation analysis based on demographic characteristics showed distinctive demographic characteristics within the three groups. Atmosphere oriented group, early-20s, as women of all ages was found to be 'walking down the street 'and 'through acquaintances' in many cases, as the cognitive path, and mostly found the store through 'outdoor advertising', and 'introduction'. Comfort oriented group was mainly women who are students in their early twenties or professionals, and appeared as a group to be very loyal because of high recommendation to other customers compared to other groups. Taste oriented group, unlike the other group, was mainly late-20s' college graduates, and was confirmed, as low loyalty, with lower recommendation activity. Fourth, to analyze satisfaction differences, one-way ANOVA was conducted. It shows that groups which show high satisfaction in the five main factors also show high menu satisfaction and high overall satisfaction. This results show that segmented marketing strategies are necessary because customers are considering price, atmosphere, comfort, taste, location when they choose coffee shop and demographics show different attributes based on segmented groups. For example, atmosphere oriented group is satisfied with shop interior and comfort while dissatisfied with price because most of the customers in this group are early 20s and do not have great financial capability. Thus, price discounting marketing strategies based on individual situations through CRM system is critical. Comfort oriented group shows high satisfaction level about location and shop comfort. Also, in this group, there are many early 20s female customers, students, and self-employed people. This group customers show high word of mouth tendency, hence providing positive brand image to the customers would be important. In case of taste oriented group, while the scores of taste and location are high, word of mouth score is low. This group is mainly composed of educated and professional many late 20s customers, therefore, menu differentiation, increasing quality of coffee taste and price discrimination is critical to increase customers' satisfaction. However, it is hard to generalize the results of study to other coffee shop brand, because this study have researched only one domestic coffee shop, Caffe Bene. Thus if future study expand the scope of locations, brands, and occupations, the results of the study would provide more generalizable results. Finally, research of customer satisfactions of menu, trust, loyalty, and switching cost would be critical in the future study.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.46-70
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• 1987

The survey with questionnaire were conducted to grasp the actual condition of four cautious drugs-antibiotics, sedative hypnctics, mincr tranquilizer, analeptics-self -medication behavior through drugstore use and to analyze the primary factors connected with it. The following six objectives were established. 1) To catch the reason why the man who medicate himself buy four cautious drugs at a drugstore, and to know the choice motive of each drug purchased. 2) To grasp the distribution of four cautious drug taken by the man who medicate himself and to analyse the reason of taking the drug. 3) To find out whether the buyer has taken the same drug past and to know the duration and the frequency. 4) To grasp the degree of recognition about four cautious drugs and the attitude toward continuous taking them. 5) To analyze the degree of recognition about the influence on human body and the attitude of medication behavior. 6) To know "the experience of side-effects" and to grasp the kind of the side-effects. The data were collected from 15 drugstores with 677 respondents in seoul from August 17 to september 21, 1987. The following results were obtained. 1) The reasons for drugstore use were first, "for easy access and convenience" (53.7%) second, "for the slightness of illness" (19.9%) third "for the cheap price" (13.2%). According to that result, the factor of "the easy access of drugstore" was most influential. In case of the poor, the factor "for the cheap price "was revealed second (37.3%). And "for the slightness of illness" was second reason in the medically insured (22. 9%), "for the cheap price" was second reason in the others (29%). 2) The kind of drugs purchased were antibiotics (62.8%), analeptics(17.2%), minor tranquilizer(13.3%) and sedative hypnotics (6.7%) on the whole. In teenagers, besides antibiotics the percentage of taking analepits came second (42.4%) and it was revealed that the percentage of sedative hypnotics, minor tranquilizer increase with age. But in proportion to the increase of age, the taking of analeptis decreased. 3) The choice motives of each drug purchased were all different. In case of antibiotics "recommendation of pharmacist" was 39.6%, sedative hypnotics "recommendation of pharmacist" and "my own judgement", 28.9%, respectively, minor tranquilizer "my own judgement", 35.2%. and in case of analeptics "my oun judgement" was most common with 53.5%. 4) The reasons for taking drugs were as follows. antibiotics was taken for the inflammation mitigation of a wound and a swelling (38.5%), sedative hypnotics for the removal of insomnia (97.5%), minor tranquilizer because of restlessness and qloominess(39.3%), and analeptics for the shortening of sleeping hours (35.1%). 5) Those experienced in taking four cautious drugs were 78.2% on the average. It was revealed that antibiotics use duration was "from one week to one month" (38.9%), the frequency was "rarely" (62.1%), sedative hypnotics and minor tranquilizer; "More than three years", (35.7%, 30.4%), respectively, "Somtimes", (43.8%, 35%), respectively. analeptics ; "from one year to three years", (27.6%), "Sometimes", (42.7%). 6) In regard to the source of information in taking drugs, 35.3 percent of male were relied on "recommendation of pharmacist", 32.6 percent of female "my own judgement", There was a difference between below the middle school graduates and over the high school graduates Thease were relied on "recommendation of pharmacist" first, those "my own judgement" first. And "my own judgement" was the first source of specialist(40%), labours(41.4%), salesman(43.5%), and jobless men(36.8%), "recommendation of ralatives on friends" was the first source of students (30.4%), "recommendation of pharmacist" was the first soure of teachers, administrative office workers (39%) and housewives (40.7%). 7) The degree of recognition about four cautious drugs was as follows. "know a little" was (43.0%), "don't know" (30.2%), "know" (26.8%), respectively. In regard to the attitude toward continuous taking them, it was revealed that "I will take it according to circumstamces" was first (56.2%), " I will not take it as possible" was first(56.2%), "I dont know well" (12.9%), "I will take it continuously" (8.3%). 8) About the influence on human body, "if proper, it is effect" was common attitude toward antibiotics (43.6%), "Probably bad influence on the health" was first toward the other drugs (46.2%), In terms of the degree of observance to taking-time and dose of drugs, "suitably" was first (37.3%), "relatively correctly" second (27%), "correctly" (17%). 9) The percentage of four cautious drugs side-effects was 27.5 on the average. The kind of side-effects were eruption and urticaria (28.5%), heart acceleration and so forth. (25.4%), headache and Giddiness, dyspepsia (23%), respectively.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.760-765
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• 2005

Purpose : We studied the changes in antibiotic sensitivity to the causative organisms of urinary tract infection(UTI), in order to provide useful information on the choice of adequate drugs in the treatment of UTI. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed the major causative organisms and their antibiotic sensitivities in 69 patients diagnosed with UTI in the Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Cheil Hospital from 2002 to 2003. Results : The frequency of UTI was the highest in infants younger than 1 year of age(88.4 percent). The male to female ratio was 3.05 : 1. Escherichia coli was the most frequent organism(78.3 percent), followed by Klebsiella(11.6 percent), Pseudomonas(2.9 percent), Proteus(2.9 percent), Enterobacter, Morganelle, and Enterococcus(1.4 percent) in descending order. Antibiotic sensitivity of gram negative organisms was above 90 percent against imipenem, amikacin, 80 percent against aztreonam, cefepime, ceftriaxone, 50-70 percent against gentamicin, trimethoprime-sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX), and 23 percent against ampicillin(23.4 percent). Conclusion : Antibiotict sensitivity of gram negative organisms was high to amikacin and third generation cephalosporins but low to ampicillin, gentamicin and TMP/SMX. The use of ampicillin or TMP/SMX, as the first choice of the empiric and prophylactic treatment for UTI, should be reconsidered and investigated further.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1291-1299
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• 2001

Objectives : The authors present a retrospective analysis of 14 patients treated for spinal cord hemangioblastoma (SCH) between Dec. 1986 and Mar. 2000. This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the difference of the functional outcomes associated with the extent of surgical removal of SCH. Methods : Eleven patients were male and three patients were female. Their mean age was 37.2 years that ranged from 19 to 62 years. Preoperative magnetic resonance(MR) imaging of the spine was performed in all cases, and preoperative angiography in eleven cases. They were followed from 15 months to 161 months(median follow-up period, 47 months), and we investigated the change of neurological symptoms and functional outcomes with radiological features, especially on MR imaging. Results : Six patients were accompanied by von Hippel-Lindau disease, and three of them had multiple CNS tumors. Thirteen patients had intramedullary tumor, and the remaining one had extradural. Syringomyelia around the tumor was observed in ten cases. All patients underwent surgical removal, and gross total removal(GTR) was achieved in ten cases. Preoperative embolization was performed in four cases. In four patients who were treated with preoperative embolization, intraoperative loss of blood was minimal and GTR was possible. One patient developed a transient swallowing difficulty postoperatively without permanent postoperative neurological deficits. In three of four patients in whom GTR was not possible, their functional outcomes were worsened postoperatively. The functional status at discharge was improved in seven patients, stationary in four patients, and worse in three. At the last follow-up(15-161 months), one of four patients who had been stationary at discharge showed improvement but, the rest did not show any change. All patients who showed neurological improvement were patients with GTR, and the patients with GTR had significant better outcome than those without GTR(p=0.015). Conclusion : Surgical treatment, and especially, GTR is considered as treatment of choice for spinal cord hemangioblastoma. Preoperative embolization may prevent intraoperative bleeding and improve surgical outcome.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.442-448
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• 2000

Developmental anomalies arising from the branchial apparatus include cysts, external sinuses, internal sinuses, and complete fistulas. Second branchial cleft cysts are by far the most common among these anomalies. It may occur at any age, being most common in the third decade, and more frequent in the male than in the female. It usually presents a smooth, round, nontender fluctuant mass located between the level of the tragus and the clavicle along the anteromedial border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. It is lined by respiratory or squamous epithelium unless inflammation is present. The considerable amount of lymphoid tissue may be found beneath the epithelium. The treatment of choice of branchial cleft cyst is surgical excision. If the lesion is acutely infected, however, it is essential to relieve the infection prior to the surgery. This report deals with two cases of second branchial cleft cyst. In case 1, the cyst had rapidly increased in size over pregnant period. In case 2, the patient presented the swelling in the left neck, and had the history of incision and drainage because of misdiagnosis as submandibular space abscess. The infection was treated by antibiotic therapy in the first place, and then complete surgical excision was made. There was no evidence of any recurrence or complications for these $3{\sim}4$ years.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.297-308
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• 1989

These are two case reports of recurrent ossifying and cemento-ossifying fibroma in a year or 5 months following conservative treatment. Ossifying fibroma or cemento-ossifying is a relatively uncommon benign fibro-osseous tumor of the jaws, and is generally believed to originate from periodontal ligaments. In recent, it is not demanded more differentiation of ossifying, cementifying and cemento-ossifying fibroma due to the thought that these lesions represent a spectrum of the same disease process rather than separate entities. The tumor commonly presents as an asymptomatic mass lesion and is usually well-circumscribed clinically so that conservative surgical excision has been the treatment of choice, but on occasion extended surgical procedures may become necessary, especially for those tumors which demonstrate rapid expansions and are poorly encapsulated (either initially or when recurrent) and when tumor growth is progressed aggressively or recurrent. En-bloc resection of mandible with iliac bone and inferior alveolar nerve graft was performed in case 1, recurrent cemento-ossifying fibroma of 32-year old male patient, and extended surgical enucleation of mass including normal marginal bone was done in case 2, recurrent ossifying fibroma of 72-year old female patient. By follow-up check of the patients, we obtained good result without any sings of recurrence.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.3-7
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• 1996

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) is a disease whose primary initial treatment is radiation. Results of radiation therapy in early stage disease is promising; however, in stage IV disease, the best reported five-year survival is only about 30%. In patients with post-radiation recurrent disease, radiation controls only a small portion of patients, as well as being associated with significant radiation injury. In this paper we discuss the use of salvage treatment modalities for post-radiation recurrence. A retrospective chart review and analysis of salvage treatment results were performed for 39 patients with recurrent post-radiation NPC and positive cervical lymph nodes during the period beginning 1985 until 1995. Mean age of these patients was 52.3$\pm$10.37 years and male: female ratio was 1.8 : 1. Twenty patients were treated with salvage treatment, and ten patients were treated by salvage chemotherapy. A total of nine patients underwent surgical salvage treatment, including neck dissection(6), transnasal laser surgery and booster radiotherapy(2), and primary surgery(1). Salvage treatment were effective in reducing patients' pain in twenty patients (51.3%) and prolonging life in nine patients(23.1%); however, recurrence of disease within six months and/or residual disease by clinical or radiologic exam was noted in all patients receiving salvage radiotherapy, chemotherapy, laser surgery with radiotherapy, and primary site surgery. In the group undergoing salvage neck dissection, three patients(50%) were disease free for at least two years. Of the different modalities, radiotherapy was associated with the best quality of life while catastrophic salvage surgery resulting in insignificant prolongation of life was associated with the poorest quality of life. We conclude that salvage surgery is the optimal choice of treatment for regional recurrence such as nodal failure, however palliative salvage therapy could be preferred in other cases with recurrent post-radiation NPC.