• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.295-303
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• 2014

Objectives It is very important to diagnose Sasang Constitution (SC) correctly. The aim of this study was to reveal the concordance and validity of the specialists in Sasang Constitutional Medicine (SCM). Methods Three experts who had more than 5 years of experience and used more than 90% of Sasang Constitutional prescription in clinical practice of SCM participated in this study. The data composed of body shape, face, voice, temperament and physio-pathological symptoms were collected in the Korea Constitutional Multicenter Bank and 81 subjects' data were extracted randomly. The experts reviewed all 81 subjects data independently. Kappa analysis was conducted. Results 1) The concordance is from 52.5% to 68.4% among three experts. 2) The validity between individual expert and gold standard is from 54.3% to 63% and Kappa's coefficients are from 0.283 to 0.421. 3) The validity is from 68.5% to 70.7% when two or three experts agree the Sasang constitution independently and 75.7% when all of experts agree it. Conclusions The concordance and validity of experts in SCM seems to be moderate. We think further study is needed.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.79-83
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• 1997

The term laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) refers to the backflow of food or stomach acid back up into the larynx (the voice box) or the pharynx (the throat). Esophagopharyngeal reflux is suggested as an etiologic factor in laryngeal disease. To examine a possible esophageal basis for laryngopharyngeal symptoms, we studied 48 patients with persistent laryngopharyngeal symptoms, and 12 relative control subjects. Patients were evaluated for cervical symptoms by questionnaire and underwent gastrofiberoscopy, fiberoptic laryngoscopy, esophageal manometry and 24-hour ambulatory double-probe pH monitoring. We found LPR in fourteen out of 48 patients with cervical symptoms (29%). The LPR group consisted of nine men and five women. The symptoms that LPR patients complained were throat lump sensation, hoareness, sore throat, throat clearing, chronic coughing and dysphagia in order of frequency, and they were not different significantly from non-LPR patients. The laryngoscopic findings in LPR patients were posterior erythema, laryngeal edema and diffuse erythema, and there was also no significant difference between LPR group and non-LPR group. There was statistically significant correlation between LPR and gastroesophageal reflux (GER). We concluded that there is no pathognomonic symptoms or laryngoscopic findings in diagnosis of LPR, and 24-hour ambulatory double-probe pH monitoring is an essential diagnostic tool in LPR.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

Human vocal cords vibrate as quickly as 100-250 times per second, so it is impossible to observe them with normal endoscopic diagnostic equipment. High-speed videolaryngoscopy (HSV) allows the visualization of non-periodic vibratory motion of vocal fold beyond the limitation of videostroboscopy. New developed post-processing methods that converts HSV to two-dimensional videokymography (2D VKG) using U-medical image-processing software can provide quantitative information on vocal fold mucosa vibration. Multifunctional laryngeal examination system is composed of 3 kinds of examinations such as HSV, 2D scanning digital kymography (2D DKG) and line scanning digital kymography (DKG). Evaluation of entire vocal cord vibratory pattern in each cord is possible using 2D DKG and a faster and more reliable quantitative information can be obtained. As this system is used in clinical and research, it is expected to bring much advances to the diagnosis of voice disorders. In this review, I will introduce the principles and advantages on examination of the vocal fold vibration, which is in the spotlight recently, and proceed with the literature review.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.1319-1330
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• 2021

A 56-year-old male patient with a sudden onset of tremor and involuntary movement of right upper and lower extremities, head, and voice was diagnosed as having a drug-induced tremor, with valproic acid being the culprit drug. The patient had undergone admission treatment at an internal Korean medicine department with herbal medicine according to constitutional diagnosis, acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, and rehabilitation. The change in the severity of tremor was assessed with the Fahn Tolosa Marine scale. After discharge, the patient took herbal medicine for two more months. After 20 days of admission and 2 months of treatment with herbal medicine, the patient's tremor improved. In this case, the patient with valproic acid-induced tremor showed improvement in symptoms after 20 days of hospitalization and further reduction of tremor and improvement of quality of life were confirmed through follow-up for 2 months.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.115-118
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• 2022

Fibrolipomas are a rare microscopic variant of lipomas, characterized by mature adipose tissue interspersed with dense fibrous connective tissue. These lesions are rarely observed in the head and neck region and represent <0.6% of all benign tumors of the larynx and hypopharynx. Their clinical presentation depends on the location and size of lesions. Patients present with variable symptoms; however, fibrolipomas of the larynx and hypopharynx are clinically important because these tumors can cause unpredictable airway obstruction, particularly during general anesthesia induction. We present a case of a hypopharyngeal fibrolipoma in a 61-year-old patient with frequent dyspnea, dysphagia, and muffled voice. Laryngoscopy revealed a well-demarcated pedunculated ovoid mass involving the larynx. We performed laryngomicrosurgery using a carbon dioxide laser for surgical excision and subsequent evaluation confirmed the diagnosis of fibrolipoma. We report a case of hypopharyngeal fibrolipoma, together with a literature review.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2024

Communication with others plays an important role in human social interaction and information exchange in modern society. However, some individuals have difficulty in communicating due to dysarthria. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective diagnostic techniques for early treatment of the dysarthria. In the present study, we propose a mobile device-based methodology that enables to automatically classify dysarthria type. The light-weight CNN model was trained by using the open audio dataset of Korean patients with dysarthria. The trained CNN model can successfully classify dysarthria into related subtype disease with 78.8%~96.6% accuracy. In addition, the user-friendly mobile application was also developed based on the trained CNN model. Users can easily record their voices according to the selected inspection type (e.g. word, sentence, paragraph, and semi-free speech) and evaluate the recorded voice data through their mobile device and the developed mobile application. This proposed technique would be helpful for personal management of dysarthria and decision making in clinic.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.405-408
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• 2007

건강관리 및 유지에 대한 현대인들의 관심이 증대되면서 삶의 질 향상을 추구하는 고령화 사회에서 성인병 및 만성질환은 매우 위험한 요인이 되고 있는 실정이다. 특히 심장 질환은 3대 사망률 중 한 부분을 차지하고 있을 정도로 위협적이며 비전염성 만성질환 중 하나이다. 그러나 모든 질환에 대한 대처 방법이 동일하듯이 조기 진단에 의한 질환 예방이 무엇보다 중요하다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 심장 질환자의 음성 신호를 획득하여 다양한 음성분석학적 요소 추출 및 분석을 통해 심장 질환과의 연관성을 파악하고자 한다. 이를 위해 본 논문에서는 기존의 음성 분석 요소에 대한 1차 실험을 검증하고 추가 음성 분석 요소들에 대한 2차 실험을 행하여 각각의 분석 요소들과 음성에 대한 형태학적 특징을 시각화하여 편리하게 심장 질환을 진단하는 기법들을 제시하고자 한다.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.407-413
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• 2011

Distinguishing aphasia in stroke patients and observing the subtle linguistic characteristics associated with it primarily requires the use of instruments that provide reliable assessment results. Additionally, examiners should be fully aware of how to use those instruments. This study examined 46 stroke patients for aphasia and assessed the reliability of their diagnoses according to examiners whose medical fields were different from each other. Furthermore, a comparison was made between the reliability before training and that after training. To this end, 46 stroke patients were tested for aphasia and in terms of their speech disorder degree by 3 groups, each of which consisted of 12 professionals (3 SLP, 3 neurologist, and 3 nurse). In the result, a rating of 'acceptable' was given for speech intelligibility tasks and the voice quality of /ah-/ prolongation, and other sub-tests were marked as 'good-excellent' by the experts with different areas of medical expertise. For the tasks marked as 'acceptable', the subjects were video-trained for 3 weeks and the differences were compared before and after their training. Consequently, the differences in the examiners' ratings in the speech intelligibility tasks showed a significant decrease and the accuracy of their voice quality ratings showed a significant increase. In the result of research on the correlation between the accuracy of the sub-test ratings and the amount of clinic experience, speech therapists developed more accuracy in rating a picture description task and a speech intelligibility task as their experience accumulated. Meanwhile, doctors and nurses showed more accurate ratings in picture description tasks with greater clinical experience. The results of this study suggest that assessing the neurologic-communicative disorders of stroke patients requires ongoing training and experience, especially for speech disorders. It was also found that the rating reliability in this case could be improved by training.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartB
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• v.15B no.4
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• pp.301-306
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• 2008

Recently, various health care methods for infants have been suggested in the impending era of low birth rate society. We propose, in this context, an early diagnosis method for common infant respiratory diseases. Particularly, the method is regarding infant cold and infant pneumonia. Firstly, sounds of infant crying, only expressing means of infants, among the infant cold group and the infant pneumonia group are compared and examined to find the differences from those among the healthy infant group. For this, the link between infected organs and articulatory organs is investigated. Also, resulting wave forms and frequency bandwidths among each group are compared and analyzed, by using the spectrum for a component voice, to diagnose the infant cold and pneumonia. Finally, the effectiveness of this method is verified through the experiments.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2011

Pheochromocytomas are neuroendocrine tumors of chromaffin cell that originate in the paraganglia of the adrenal medulla. Approximately 10% of pheochromocytomas are found in the extra-adrenal paraganglia and are called paragangliomas. However, cases of middle mediastinal paragangliomas are very rare. In this case, the patient presented with a voice change and a headache. A middle mediastinal soft tissue mass with marked enhancement was detected on computed tomography of the chest. The 24-hour urine catecholamine level was markedly elevated. The middle mediastinal mass was biopsied via mediastinoscopy and the resulting immunohistochemical staining was compatible with a diagnosis of middle mediastinal paraganglioma. The mass was resected surgically and the symptoms were relieved.