Validity of Three-dimensional Facial Scan Taken with Facial Scanner and Digital Photo Wrapping on the Cone-beam Computed Tomography: Comparison of Soft Tissue Parameters

Purpose@#The purpose of the study was to assess the validity of three-dimensional (3D) facial scan taken with facial scanner and digital photo wrapping on the cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). @*Materials and Methods@#Twenty-five patients had their CBCT scan, two-dimensional (2D) standardized frontal photographs and 3D facial scan obtained on the same day. The facial scans were taken with a facial scanner in an upright position. The 2D standardized frontal photographs were taken at a fixed distance from patients using a camera fixed to a cephalometric apparatus. The 2D integrated facial models were created using digital photo wrapping of frontal photographs on the corresponding CBCT images. The 3D integrated facial models were created using the integration process of 3D facial scans on the CBCT images. On the integrated facial models, sixteen soft tissue landmarks were identified, and the vertical, horizontal, oblique and angular distances between soft tissue landmarks were compared among the 2D facial models and 3D facial models, and CBCT images.Result: The results showed no significant differences of linear and angular measurements among CBCT images, 2D and 3D facial models except for Se-Sn vertical linear measurement which showed significant difference for the 3D facial models. The Bland–Altman plots showed that all measurements were within the limit of agreement. For 3D facial model, all Bland–Altman plots showed that systematic bias was less than 2.0 mm and 2.0° except for Se-Sn linear vertical measurement. For 2D facial model, the Bland-Altman plots of 6 out of 11 of the angular measurements showed systematic bias of more than 2.0°. @*Conclusion@#The facial scan taken with facial scanner showed a clinically acceptable performance. The digital 2D photo wrapping has limitations in clinical use compared to 3D facial scans.

Making Sense of Chronic Kidney Disease in Primary Care – Identification, Evaluation and Monitoring

@#Primary care providers are often the first to diagnose chronic kidney disease (CKD). CKD progression is associated with significant morbidity, mortality and cost to the public healthcare system. Prompt and appropriate initial evaluation of CKD, recognition of its complications, and instituting appropriate treatment will delay CKD progression and associated adverse outcomes.

Paraneoplastic relapsing minimal change disease associated with type A thymoma in an elderly patient: A case report and literature review

@#Thymoma is a rare mediastinal tumour that can be accompanied by different paraneoplastic syndromes. Here we report a case of Type A thymoma associated with relapsing minimal change disease (MCD). This case highlights: (1) The need to balance rapid prednisolone weaning against risk for relapse in an elderly patient at risk for steroid-induced complications. (2) The addition of calcineurin inhibitor in relapsed thymoma-related MCD, to achieve steroid sparing effects. Resection of the offending tumour and prompt immunosuppressive therapy are critical in getting best renal and overall outcomes in this rare entity

Reliability and Validity of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol for Public Hospitals in Korea / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to assess the applicability of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) for public hospitals in Korea. METHODS: In May 2016, 1500 admission claims were collected from Korean public district hospitals using stratified random sampling. Of these claims, 560 admissions to 37 hospitals were retrieved for analysis. Medical records administrators determined the appropriateness of admission using the criteria detailed in the AEP, and a physician separately assessed the appropriateness of admission based on her clinical judgment. To examine the applicability of the AEP, the concordance of the decisions made between a pair of AEP reviewers and between an AEP reviewer and a physician reviewer was compared. RESULTS: The results showed an almost perfect inter-rater agreement between the AEP reviewers and a moderate agreement between the AEP reviewers and the physician. The sensitivity and specificity of the AEP were calculated as 0.86 and 0.56, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the AEP could potentially be applied to Korean public hospitals as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the appropriateness of admissions.

Evaluation of different bioimpedance methods for assessing body composition in Asian non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with fluid retention, which increases total body water (TBW) and leads to changes in intracellular water (ICW) and extracellular water (ECW). This complicates accurate assessments of body composition. Analysis of bioelectrical impedance may improve the accuracy of evaluation in CKD patients and multiple machines and technologies are available. We compared body composition by bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) against multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis (BIA) in a multi-ethnic Asian population of stable, non-dialysis CKD patients. METHODS: We recruited 98 stable CKD patients comprising 54.1% men and 70.4% Chinese, 9.2% Malay, 13.3% Indian, and 8.2% other ethnicities. Stability was defined as no variation in serum creatinine > 20% over three months. Patients underwent BIS analyses using a Fresenius body composition monitor, while BIA analyses employed a Bodystat Quadscan 4000. RESULTS: Mean TBW values by BIS and BIA were 33.6 ± 7.2 L and 38.3 ± 7.4 L; mean ECW values were 15.8 ± 3.2 L and 16.9 ± 2.7 L; and mean ICW values were 17.9 ± 4.3 L and 21.0 ± 4.9 L, respectively. Mean differences for TBW were 4.6 ± 1.9 L (P < 0.001), for ECW they were 1.2 ± 0.5 L (P < 0.001), and for ICW they were 3.2 ±1.8 L (P < 0.001). BIA and BIS measurements were highly correlated: TBW r = 0.970, ECW r = 0.994, and ICW r = 0.926. Compared with BIA, BIS assessments of fluid overload appeared to be more associated with biochemical and clinical indicators. CONCLUSION: Although both BIA and BIS can be used for body water assessment, clinicians should be aware of biases that exist between bioimpedance techniques. The values of body water assessments in our study were higher in BIA than in BIS. Ethnicity, sex, body mass index, and estimated glomerular filtration rate were associated with these biases.

Reliability and Validity of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol for Public Hospitals in Korea / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES@#This study was conducted to assess the applicability of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) for public hospitals in Korea.@*METHODS@#In May 2016, 1500 admission claims were collected from Korean public district hospitals using stratified random sampling. Of these claims, 560 admissions to 37 hospitals were retrieved for analysis. Medical records administrators determined the appropriateness of admission using the criteria detailed in the AEP, and a physician separately assessed the appropriateness of admission based on her clinical judgment. To examine the applicability of the AEP, the concordance of the decisions made between a pair of AEP reviewers and between an AEP reviewer and a physician reviewer was compared.@*RESULTS@#The results showed an almost perfect inter-rater agreement between the AEP reviewers and a moderate agreement between the AEP reviewers and the physician. The sensitivity and specificity of the AEP were calculated as 0.86 and 0.56, respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Our findings suggest that the AEP could potentially be applied to Korean public hospitals as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the appropriateness of admissions.

Emergency Department Visits Can Be Reduced by Having a Regular Doctor for Adults with Diabetes Mellitus: Secondary Analysis of 2013 Korea Health Panel Data

Chronic diseases pose a major challenge to population health worldwide. Diabetes is a major chronic disease that is managed overwhelmingly in primary care. There is an increasing recognition of the role that primary care physicians play to achieve high-quality care for patients with diabetes. By analyzing 2013 Korean Health Panel data, the authors aimed to determine the current status of having a regular doctor (RD) for adults (aged 18 years or older) with diabetes. In addition, the association of having a RD with the experience of emergency department (ED) visits was determined in this study. Among adults with diabetes, those with RD accounted for 41.0%. The older the age group and the higher the Charlson comorbidity index score, the higher the percentage of adults with diabetes had RD. Even for those with RD, coordination of care was very poor (positive answer: 27.1%). After adjustment for confounding variables, those having (vs. not having) a RD (odds ratio [OR], 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35–0.94), especially those whose RDs delivered good comprehensiveness of care (OR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.26–0.84) or worked at a primary care clinic (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.22–0.81), and those whose longitudinal relationship with a RD was 5 years or less (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.22–0.91) were less likely to have ED visits within the last year. In conclusion, health care policies that promote having a RD who delivers high-quality primary care could decrease unnecessary ED visits by diabetic adults. This can partly reduce ED overcrowding in Korea.

Intervention Planning Using a Laser Navigation System for CT-Guided Interventions: A Phantom and Patient Study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the accuracy, efficiency and radiation dose of a novel laser navigation system (LNS) compared to those of free-handed punctures on computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty punctures were performed using a phantom body to compare accuracy, timely effort, and radiation dose of the conventional free-handed procedure to those of the LNS-guided method. An additional 20 LNS-guided interventions were performed on another phantom to confirm accuracy. Ten patients subsequently underwent LNS-guided punctures. RESULTS: The phantom 1-LNS group showed a target point accuracy of 4.0 +/- 2.7 mm (freehand, 6.3 +/- 3.6 mm; p = 0.008), entrance point accuracy of 0.8 +/- 0.6 mm (freehand, 6.1 +/- 4.7 mm), needle angulation accuracy of 1.3 +/- 0.9degrees (freehand, 3.4 +/- 3.1degrees; p < 0.001), intervention time of 7.03 +/- 5.18 minutes (freehand, 8.38 +/- 4.09 minutes; p = 0.006), and 4.2 +/- 3.6 CT images (freehand, 7.9 +/- 5.1; p < 0.001). These results show significant improvement in 60 punctures compared to freehand. The phantom 2-LNS group showed a target point accuracy of 3.6 +/- 2.5 mm, entrance point accuracy of 1.4 +/- 2.0 mm, needle angulation accuracy of 1.0 +/- 1.2degrees, intervention time of 1.44 +/- 0.22 minutes, and 3.4 +/- 1.7 CT images. The LNS group achieved target point accuracy of 5.0 +/- 1.2 mm, entrance point accuracy of 2.0 +/- 1.5 mm, needle angulation accuracy of 1.5 +/- 0.3degrees, intervention time of 12.08 +/- 3.07 minutes, and used 5.7 +/- 1.6 CT-images for the first experience with patients. CONCLUSION: Laser navigation system improved accuracy, duration of intervention, and radiation dose of CT-guided interventions.

Differences in Maternal Hair Heavy Metal and Mineral Levels between Preterm Delivery and Full-term Delivery / 대한주산의학회잡지

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies on the effects of heavy metal exposure on adverse birth outcomes are still inconsistent. Heavy metal exposure would be related to decreased birth weight and a shortened gestational age. The aim of this work was to investigate maternal hair heavy metal concentrations in relation to gestational age at delivery. METHODS: A total of 52 maternal hair samples were collected at the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gil hospital, Korea. Delivery before 37 weeks of gestation was defined as preterm and delivery after 37 weeks of gestation was defined as full-term delivery. We gathered the specimens from maternal hair approaching delivery. 23 samples were taken from preterm delivered mothers and 29 samples from full term delivered mothers. We evaluated maternal specimen by hair tissue mineral analysis to measure heavy metal concentrations accumulated for more than several months. All statistical analyses were performed with Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon W test. RESULTS: Heavy metal was revealed in pregnant women's hair but there was not a significant correlation between levels of heavy metal and gestational age at delivery. Compared numbers of preterm delivery and full-term delivery by stratified by heavy metal concentrations did not have significant correlation. CONCLUSIONS: This study does not show any strong relationship between delivery outcome and heavy metal measured by hair tissue mineral analysis. Further prospective studies with serial measures of cord blood heavy metal level and hair its levels may be required.