Erratum: Blood flow-improving activity of methyl jasmonate-treated adventitious roots of mountain ginseng / 한국실험동물학회지

In this article, So-Young Park is inadvertently omitted from the listed author names. In the Acknowledgement section, funding source is incorrectly cited and has been changed upon request of authors.

Blood flow-improving activity of methyl jasmonate-treated adventitious roots of mountain ginseng / 한국실험동물학회지

Ginsenosides from Panax ginseng are well known for their diverse pharmacological effects including antithrombotic activity. Since adventitious roots of mountain ginseng (ARMG) also contain various ginsenosides, blood flow-improving effects of the dried powder and extract of ARMG were investigated. Rats were orally administered with dried powder (PARMG) or ethanol extract (EARMG) of ARMG (125, 250 or 500 mg/kg) or aspirin (30 mg/kg, a reference control) for 3 weeks. Forty min after the final administration, carotid arterial thrombosis was induced by applying a 70% FeCl₃-soaked filter paper outside the arterial wall for 5 min, and the blood flow was monitored with a laser Doppler probe. Both PARMG and EARMG delayed the FeCl₃-induced arterial occlusion in a dose-dependent manner, doubling the occlusion time at high doses. In mechanism studies, a high concentration of EARMG inhibited platelet aggregation induced by collagen in vitro. In addition, EARMG improved the blood lipid profiles, decreasing triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Although additional action mechanisms remain to be clarified, it is suggested that ARMG containing high amount of ginsenosides such as Rg₃ improves blood flow not only by inhibiting oxidative thrombosis, but also by modifying blood lipid profiles.

Anti-atherosclerotic effects of perilla oil in rabbits fed a high-cholesterol diet / 한국실험동물학회지

Anti-atherosclerosis effects of perilla oil were investigated, in comparison with lovastatin, in rabbits fed a high-cholesterol diet (HCD). Hypercholesterolemia was induced in rabbits by feeding the HCD containing 0.5% cholesterol and 1% corn oil, and perilla oil (0.1 or 0.3%) was added to the diet containing 0.5% cholesterol for 10 weeks. HCD greatly increased blood total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins, and caused thick atheromatous plaques, covering 74% of the aortic wall. Hyper-cholesterolemia also induced lipid accumulation in the liver and kidneys, leading to lipid peroxidation. Perilla oil not only attenuated hypercholesterolemia and atheroma formation, but also reduced fat accumulation and lipid peroxidation in hepatic and renal tissues. The results indicate that perilla oil prevents atherosclerosis and fatty liver by controlling lipid metabolism, and that it could be the first choice oil to improve diet-induced metabolic syndrome.

Application of the hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPSC) to dentistry / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: The topic of patient safety has recently gained attention across healthcare institutes. Building a broad awareness of patient safety issues among dental care personnel, thus establishing a sound patient safety culture, has beneficial prophylactic effects on the quality assurance of dental care services. This study examines the adequacy and validity of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) questionnaire developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for application to Korean dental care institutes. METHODS: The HSOPSC, which is a self-administered questionnaire survey, was administered to dental care workers who participated in the 2011 Dental Care Quality Assurance Symposium. The reliability and construct validity of the questionnaire were tested using STATA 11.0; factor, reliability, and correlation analyses were performed. RESULTS: Awareness of patient safety was dealt with in 10 subareas comprising 38 items. The 10 subareas were included patient safety policy at the institute level, open communication, patient safety-related expectations and behaviors of managers, frequency of reporting on patient safety-related incidents, and teamwork within the department. Both the construct validity and internal consistency of each factor were confirmed to be adequate. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the adequacy test for the application of this questionnaire to dental care institutes revealed that most items had a certain level of validity and reliability. However, it is necessary to reflect upon the specificity of dental care services to assess patient safety culture within dental care institutes more accurately.

Measuring the efficiency of dental hospitals with measurement of the service quality / 대한구강보건학회지

OBJECTIVES: Traditional nonparametric efficiency analysis was based on the relationship between the quantitative input and output measures. This study performed nonparametric efficiency analysis, which uses the results of dental hospital accreditation with quantitative output measures. METHODS: Data came from 35 hospitals between 2008 and 2010 that participated in the demonstration projects of dental hospital accreditation. The study employed two-stage double bootstrapping (TSDB) method to overcome the shortcomings and biased results of the traditional Data Envelope Analysis (DEA). Input measures included staffs, dental hygienists, other chair-side assistants, and administrative personnel, as well as dental equipment (dental chairs). Production measures were total revenues and the number of patients that visited the participating hospitals. We considered the environmental variables, which would affect the efficiency score of dental hospitals, dental hospital types, accreditation scores, and patients' satisfaction scores. RESULTS: There was a large split between the traditional DEA scores and TSDB scores. A total of 22 out of 35 hospitals had perfect efficiency in the traditional method, but none of those showed 100% efficiency in the TSDB. Overall efficiency score was the highest in the dental facility of general hospitals (71% mean efficiency), and dental teaching hospitals were the lowest (55% mean efficiency score). The factors that affected the efficiency of dental hospitals were the types of the dental hospital and the accreditation score. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional DEA scores had biased estimates and tended to be higher. The study found that organizational efforts for improving service qualities and patient safety would affect the efficiency, as well as the accreditation results.