Soyun Kim

OBJECTIVE: A pilot study was performed to examine the efficacy of indoor gardening on sleep, agitation and cognition of dementia patients. METHOD: Twenty-three institutionalized dementia patients who had sleep disturbance and/or agitation participated in a 5-week study protocol of 1 week of baseline and 4 weeks of treatment. The study design was a one group repeated measures study. For the first and fifth week of the study period, sleep patterns, agitation, and cognition were evaluated using a s

Cell division and cell differentiation are intricately regulated processes vital to organ development. Cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) are master regulators of the cell cycle that orchestrate the cell division and differentiation programs. Cdk1 is essential to drive cell division and is required for the first embryonic divisions, whereas Cdks 2, 4 and 6 are dispensable for organogenesis but vital for tissue-specific cell development. Here, we illustrate an important role for Cdk4 in regulating e

To date, the architecture of supraspinatus (SP) and its relation to joint position has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to quantify the dynamic architecture of the distinct regions of SP using ultrasound (US). Seventeen subjects (8 M/9 F), mean age 36.4 +/- 12.7 years, without tendon pathology were recruited. The SP was scanned in relaxed and contracted states. For the contracted state, SP was scanned with the shoulder actively abducted to 60 degrees and the glenohumeral join

We examined the constitutional provisions on the right to health in the Western Pacific region countries and compared universal health coverage (UHC) achievement. In 9 of the 11 countries, the constitution had provisions related to health rights, of which 7 countries also included details related to the health care system. Additionally, 5 countries also had provisions for the vulnerable. The countries with weak state obligation and no clear provisions on health rights (China and Laos) all record

BACKGROUND: Metformin, the most widely used drug for type 2 diabetes, has recently attracted attention with regard to its antitumor activity. However, clinical studies have yielded conflicting results regarding the association between metformin and thyroid cancer development, despite its antitumor effect in preclinical studies. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study using the Korean National Health Insurance claim database. Matched populations of 128,453 metformin users and 128,453 non-us

are glucose-intolerant, primarily due to defects in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Accompanying this loss of secretion are defects in β-cell metabolism and perturbed mitochondrial structure. Persistent insulin secretion defects culminate in progressive deficits in β-cell proliferation, reduced β-cell mass, and diabetes. These outcomes may be mediated directly by the loss of CDK2, which binds to and phosphorylates the transcription factor FOXO1 in a glucose-dependent manner. Further, we id

Partial (50%-60%) pancreatectomy for benign pancreatic tumors had a major metabolic consequence, especially in patients with prediabetes and high insulin resistance. In this setting, prolonged diabetes-free survival was observed in patients who underwent IAT when a high islet yield per gram of pancreas was achieved.

Despite the wide and daunting array of cross-cultural obstacles that the formulation of a global policy on advance directives will clearly pose, the need is equally evident. Specifically, the expansion of medical services driven by medical tourism, just to name one important example, makes this issue urgently relevant. While ensuring consistency across national borders, a global policy will have the additional and perhaps even more important effect of increasing the use of advance directives in

Objective There is some evidence that lung function and chronic kidney disease (CKD) may be related. We evaluated the impact of lung function on the development of CKD in a large-scale longitudinal study. Method Retrospective longitudinal analyses were conducted among subjects who participated in comprehensive health check-ups at least four times during 7 years (between 2006 and 2012). We investigated the development of CKD during the follow-up period according to lung function status. Results T

Using a 3-day CGMS was advantageous for improving glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes and may help these patients to optimize glycemic control in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate the feasibility of using administrative data to screen adverse events in Korea. METHODS: We used a diagnosis-related groups claims data set and the information of the checklist of healthcare quality improvement (a part of the value incentive program) to verify adverse events in fiscal year 2018. Adverse events were identified using patient safety indicator (PSI) clusters and a present on admission indicator (POA). The PSIs consisted of 19 cluste

This study aimed to compare the usage of Western medicine and traditional Korean medicine for treating joint disorders in Korea. Data of claims from all medical institutions with billing statements filed to HIRA from 2011 to 2014 for the four most frequent joint disorders were used for the analysis. Data from a total of 1,100,018 patients who received medical services from 2011 to 2014 were analyzed. Descriptive statistics are presented as type of care and hospital type. All statistical analyses

This study was conducted to investigate whether baseline lung function or change in lung function is associated with the development of metabolic syndrome (MS) in Koreans. We analyzed clinical and laboratory data from 3,768 Koreans aged 40-60 years who underwent medical check-ups over a six-year period between 2006 and 2012. We calculated the percent change in forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) over the study period. We tested for an association between baseli