Duplicate publication rate decline in Korean medical journals.

The purpose of this study was to examine trends in duplicate publication in Korean medical articles indexed in the KoreaMed database from 2004 to 2009, before and after a campaign against scientific misconduct launched by the Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors in 2006. The study covered period from 2007 to 2012; and 5% of the articles indexed in KoreaMed were retrieved by random sampling. Three authors reviewed full texts of the retrieved articles. The pattern of duplicate publication, such as copy, salami slicing (fragmentation), and aggregation (imalas), was also determined. Before the launching ethics campaign, the national duplication rate in medical journals was relatively high: 5.9% in 2004, 6.0% in 2005, and 7.2% in 2006. However, duplication rate steadily declined to 4.5% in 2007, 2.8% in 2008, and 1.2 % in 2009. Of all duplicated articles, 53.4% were classified as copies, 27.8% as salami slicing, and 18.8% as aggregation (imalas). The decline in duplicate publication rate took place as a result of nationwide campaigns and monitoring by KoreaMed and KoreaMed Synapse, starting from 2006.

Duplicate Publications in Korean medical journals indexed in KoreaMed.

Duplicate publication is considered unethical. It has several negative impacts. To estimate the frequency and characteristics of duplicate publications in Korean medical journals, we reviewed some portion of Korean journal articles. Among 9,030 articles that are original articles indexed in KoreaMed from January to December 2004, 455 articles (5%) were chosen by random sampling. PubMed, Google scholar, KMbase, and KoreaMed were searched by two librarians. Three authors reviewed titles, abstracts, and full text of index articles and suspected articles independently. Point of disagreement were reconciled by discussion. Criteria for a duplicate publication defined by editors of cardiothoracic journals and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors were used. A total of 455 articles were evaluated, of which 27 (5.93%) index articles were identified with 29 duplicate articles. Among 27 index articles, 1 was quadruple publication and 26 were double publications. Of 29 duplicated articles, 19 were classified as copy, 4 as fragmentation, and 6 as disaggregation. The proportion of duplicate publications in Korean medical journals appears to be higher than expected. Education on publication ethics to researchers is needed.

Basal cell adenoma in the parotid gland: CT and MR findings.

Basal cell adenoma is a rare benign salivary gland epithelial tumor, usually involving the parotid gland. We report CT and MR findings of three cases with basal cell adenoma occurring in the parotid gland. The three cases presented here demonstrate a well-circumscribed tumor, which showed a cystic and solid, or the pure solid mass. They were well enhanced after contrast matter injection. The solid portion of the mass was isoattenuated at CT, with intermediate signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted MR images. Its cystic portion was hyperintense on both T1- and T2-weighted MR images. It had a hypointense rim on T2-weighted image.

Tuberculous pleural effusion: new pulmonary lesions during treatment.

PURPOSE: To evaluate patients who have a paradoxical response (development of new opacities) to treatment for tuberculous pleural effusion not related to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 16 patients, follow-up chest radiographs (n = 16) and initial (n = 2) and follow-up (n = 9) computed tomographic (CT) scans of the chest were retrospectively reviewed by two radiologists. Patient records (n = 16) and results of percutaneous needle aspiration and/or biopsy (n = 6) were reviewed by one radiologist. RESULTS: Eighteen episodes of new lesion development were identified on radiographs in 16 patients. Each episode showed single (nine of 18 episodes, 50%) or multiple (nine of 18 episodes, 50%) nodules, most of which were in the peripheral lung (16 of 18 episodes, 89%) ipsilateral to the side of previous effusion (17 of 18 episodes, 94%). On CT scans, all lesions were peripheral pulmonary nodules, not round atelectasis. Needle aspiration and/or biopsy of the lesions showed findings consistent with tuberculosis in all six patients. Lesions usually evolved within 3 months after the start of medication (13 of 18 episodes) and finally disappeared (15 episodes) or left residual opacities (three episodes) 3-18 months later, with continuation of medication. CONCLUSION: New lung lesions that develop during medication for tuberculous pleural effusion should be considered a transient worsening that ultimately improves with continuation of medication.

Low-dose spiral CT: application to surface-rendered three-dimensional imaging of central airways.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to assess the utility of low-dose spiral CT for three-dimensional imaging of the central airways. METHOD: Spiral CT was performed in 15 patients using two tube currents (50 and 240 mA), producing 30 CT data sets. Surface-rendered virtual bronchoscopy (VB) and shaded surface display (SSD) images were assessed by three radiologists for image quality. The radiologists were also asked to compare 15 matched pairs each of 50 and 240 mA VB and SSD images, blindly select the 240 mA image, and record differences in diagnostic quality between the matched images. RESULTS: No significant difference in image quality was noted with 50 or 240 mA. Only 51.1% of 240 mA SSD and 51.1% of 240 mA VB images were correctly identified. Differences in diagnostic quality, noted in 84.4% of SSD and 33% of VB image pairs, were not ascribed to image noise. CONCLUSION: Image quality of surface-rendered three-dimensional images of the central airways is preserved using a lower tube current.