Background: The present study aimed to provide basic data to establish a foundation for efficient operation of the organization by identifying the effects of factors related to moral sensitivity and psychological well-being on job engagement of clinical dental hygienists. Methods: This cross-sectional survey consisted of self-administration questionnaires. After the approval by the Institutional Review Board, a survey was conducted from September 2019 to November 2019, targeting dental hygienists with clinical experience of 1 year or more. A total of 189 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 for Windows. The data were analyzed using average standard deviation, t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Results: According to job-related characteristics, higher job engagement was associated with more amount of clinical experience, less turnover intention, higher positions, and occasional job fatigue. Job engagement was improved by increasing moral sensitivity and psychological well-being of clinical dental hygienists. The factors affecting job engagement revealed that along with clinical career, the sub-areas of job engagement, namely turnover intention, moral sensitivity, and psychological well-being had statistically significant influence on job engagement and the explanatory power of the model was approximately 44.8%. Conclusion Joy of working as a clinical dental hygienist, clinical career, turnover intention, moral sensitivity, and psychological well-being were confirmed as influencing factors that affected job engagement of clinical dental hygienists. It is necessary to establish an effective plan to improve job engagement by increasing moral sensitivity and psychological well-being of clinical dental hygienists.

PURPOSE: Incomplete Kawasaki disease (KD) is frequently associated with delayed diagnosis and treatment. Delayed diagnosis leads to increasing risk of coronary artery aneurysm. Anterior uveitis is an important ocular sign of KD. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in laboratory findings, including echocardiographic measurements, clinical characteristics such as fever duration and treatment responses between KD patients with and those without uveitis. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study with 110 KD patients from January 2008 to June 2013. The study group (n=32, KD with uveitis) was compared with the control group (n=78, KD without uveitis). Laboratory data were obtained from each patient including complete blood count (CBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), platelet count, and level of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, serum total protein, albumin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP). Echocardiographic measurements and intravenous immunoglobulin responses were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The incidence of uveitis was 29.0%. Neutrophil counts and patient age were higher in the uveitis group than in the control group. ESR and CRP level were slightly increased in the uveitis group compared with the control group, but the difference between the two groups was not significant. No significant differences in coronary arterial complication and treatment responses were observed between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Uveitis is an important ocular sign in the diagnosis of incomplete KD. It is significantly associated with patient age and neutrophil count.
Alanine Transaminase ; Aneurysm ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Blood Cell Count ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Coronary Vessels ; Delayed Diagnosis ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis* ; Echocardiography ; Fever ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Incidence ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; Neutrophils ; Platelet Count ; Prospective Studies ; Uveitis* ; Uveitis, Anterior

No abstract available.

Primary splenic tumors are rare and mainly found incidentally on radiologic studies. Among them, sclerosing angiomatoid nodular transformation (SANT) of the spleen is a new entity defined as a benign pathologic lesion. Most SANTs have no clinical symptoms and are occasionally accompanied by other splenic diseases such as malignancies. So, the exact diagnosis of the nature of the splenic tumor is mandatory for further treatment. But, preoperative diagnosis is not easy since it is difficult to obtain the tissue from the spleen for pathological study. Recently, laparoscopic splenectomy has become the more standard procedure for the spleen for diagnosis and treatment. Here, we report a rare case of SANT diagnosed following laparoscopic splenectomy.
Spleen ; Splenectomy ; Splenic Diseases

OBJECTIVE: It has been suggested that hysterectomy has a disturbing influence on bowel function, mainly constipation. We performed a prospective study to assess the changes of ano-rectal physiology after hysterectomy. METHODS: Fourteen consecutive patients were assessed before and two months after hysterectomy. A detail questionnaire was devised to allow assessment of bowel function and ano-rectal pressure test and balloon expulsion test were performed before and after hysterectomy. The parameters measured in ano-rectal pressure test included the minimal sensible volume, ano-rectal resting pressure, maximal squeezing pressure, recto-anal inhibitory reflex and balloon expulsion test. Data analysis was carried out by paired t-test. Statistical significance was inferred when the p value was<0.05. RESULTS: Among the fourteen patients, the straining in defecation was found in three patients after operation, other defication habits were not significantly changed after hysterectomy(P>0.05). There were no significant changes in ano-rectal pressure test after hysterectomy. The disturbance of balloon expulsion capacity was increased in four patients after hysterectomy(29%). CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that hysterectomy does not cause a decrease in ano-rectal pressure and rectal sensitivity, but has an adverse effect on rectal expulsion capacity in a some of patients.
Constipation ; Defecation ; Humans ; Hysterectomy* ; Physiology ; Prospective Studies ; Surveys and Questionnaire ; Reflex ; Statistics as Topic

Purpose: We compared cost-effectiveness parameters between inpatient and homebased hospice-palliative care services for terminal cancer patients in Korea. Methods: A decision-analytic Markov model was used to compare the cost-effectiveness of hospicepalliative care in an inpatient unit (inpatient-start group) and at home (home-start group). The model adopted a healthcare system perspective, with a 9-week horizon and a 1-week cycle length. The transition probabilities were calculated based on the reports from the Korean National Cancer Center in 2017 and Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service in 2020. Quality of life (QOL) was converted to the quality-adjusted life week (QALW).Modeling and cost-effectiveness analysis were performed with TreeAge software. The weekly medical cost was estimated to be 2,481,479 Korean won (KRW) for inpatient hospice-palliative care and 225,688 KRW for home-based hospice-palliative care. One-way sensitivity analysis was used to assess the impact of different scenarios and assumptions on the model results. Results: Compared with the inpatient-start group, the incremental cost of the home-start group was 697,657 KRW, and the incremental effectiveness based on QOL was 0.88 QALW. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of the home-start group was 796,476 KRW/QALW. Based on one-way sensitivity analyses, the ICER was predicted to increase to 1,626,988 KRW/QALW if the weekly cost of home-based hospice doubled, but it was estimated to decrease to -2,898,361 KRW/QALW if death rates at home doubled. Conclusion Home-based hospice-palliative care may be more cost-effective than inpatient hospice-palliative care. Home-based hospice appears to be affordable even if the associated medical expenditures double.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver diseases worldwide, with a global prevalence of approximately 30%. However, the prevalence of NAFLD has been variously reported depending on the comorbidities. The rising prevalence of obesity in both the adult and pediatric populations is projected to consequently continue increasing NAFLD prevalence. It is a major cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). NAFLD has a variety of clinical phenotypes and heterogeneity due to the complexity of pathogenesis and clinical conditions of its occurrence, resulting in various clinical prognoses. In this article, we briefly described the basic definition of NAFLD and classified the subtypes based on current knowledge in this field.

Portal hypertension is a clinical syndrome defined by an increased portal venous pressure. The most frequent cause of portal hypertension is liver cirrhosis, and many of the complications of cirrhosis, such as ascites and gastroesophageal variceal bleeding, are related to portal hypertension. Portal hypertension is a pathological condition caused by the accumulation of blood flow in the portal system. This blood flow retention reduces the effective circulation volume. To compensate for these changes, neurotransmitter hormone changes and metabolic abnormalities occur, which cause complications in organs other than the liver. A hepatic hydrothorax is fluid accumulation in the pleural space resulting from increased portal pressure. Hepatopulmonary syndrome and portopulmonary hypertension are the pulmonary complications in cirrhosis by deforming the vascular structure. Symptoms, such as dyspnea and hypoxia, affect the survival and the quality of life of patients. These lung complications are usually underestimated in the management of cirrhosis. This review briefly introduces the type of lung complications of cirrhosis.