Subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma (SPLTCL) which is similar to lobular panniculitis is a subtype of skin lymphoma that is characterized by pleomorphic T cells and benign macrophages. The simultaneous presence of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is the most important and adverse prognostic factor in SPLTCL. SPLTCL is a rare disease with no well-established standard treatment. We report a child with SPLTCL and HLH, who were successfully treated with the modified NHL (non-Hodgkin lymphoma)-BFM(Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster)-90 and HLH-2004 protocols. Patient had persistent fever and subcutaneous masses. SPLTCL with HLH was diagnosed by immunohistochemistry, radiology and laboratory results. SPLTCL with HLH has shown high mortality when treated with a combination of intensive anticancer drugs. Thus, we first administered dexamethasone and etoposide. After this, when we used the modified protocol of NHL-BFM-90 and HLH-2004, patient showed complete resolution of the subcutaneous masses and features of HLH, except for persistent hyperferritinemia. We tried etanercept to reduce high serum ferritin with some effects. In children with diagnosis of SPLTCL with HLH, initiation of immediate and appropriate treatment affects prognosis. Thus, prompt initiation of the agents that can simultaneously control underlying disease as well as secondary HLH could have lead to successful results.

The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) is a widely used generic measure for assessing quality of hospital care in many countries. However, the validity of HSMR as a quality indicator is still controversial. We critically reviewed characteristics of HSMR and suggested how to use HSMR as a quality indicator in the Korean setting. The association between HSMR and other quality measures of hospital care is inconclusive. In addition current HSMR model has shortcomings in risk adjustment because of the lack of clinical data, accuracy of disease coding, coding variation among hospitals, end-of-life care issues, and so on. Therefore, HSMR should be used as an indicator for improvement, not for judgement such as public reporting and pay-for-performance. More efforts will be needed to tackle practical and methodological weaknesses of HSMR in the Korean setting.
Clinical Coding ; Korea* ; Mortality* ; Quality of Health Care ; Risk Adjustment

Maternal and child health is an important issue throughout the world. Given their impact on maternal and child health, nutritional issues need to be carefully addressed. Accordingly, the effect of maternal, child, and nutritional disorders on disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) should be calculated. The present study used DALYs to estimate the burden of disease of maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disorders in the Korean population in 2012. For this purpose, we used claim data of the Korean National Health Insurance Service, DisMod II, and death data of the Statistics Korea and adhered to incidence-based DALY estimation methodology. The total DALYs per 100,000 population were 376 in maternal disorders, 64 in neonatal disorders, and 58 in nutritional deficiencies. The leading causes of DALYs were abortion in maternal disorders, preterm birth complications in neonatal disorders, and iron-deficiency anemia in nutritional deficiencies. Our findings shed light on the considerable burden of maternal, neonatal, and nutritional conditions, emphasizing the need for health care policies that can reduce morbidity and mortality.
Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Child ; Child Health ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Korea* ; Malnutrition ; Mortality ; National Health Programs ; Nutrition Disorders* ; Premature Birth

Summary measures of population health (SMPHs) have been used to estimate the burden of diseases. Among various type of SMPHs, disability adjusted life year (DALY) and healthy life expectancy (HALE) have been calculated in the global and national burden of disease studies. In order to calculate DALY and HALE, disability weight is an essential element. Disability weights quantify the level of disability for health states or diseases and have values between 0 (full health) to 1 (being dead). In this study, we reviewed the main disability weights studies and determined their meaning and limitations. Furthermore, we provided the whole process of typical disability weight study and reviewed key issues as follows: health state or disease description development, panel composition, valuation method, validation of disability weight, cross-cultural variability in health state or disease, and so on. The results from this study will be helpful to conduct future disability weight studies for adapting disability weights and developing new methodologies.
Life Expectancy ; Quality-Adjusted Life Years ; Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to understand and explore perception of healthy adults and chronically ill adults on health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: Data were collected by open questions using a focus group discussion for healthy adults (N=6) and in-depth interviews for chronically ill adults (N=6). Previously developed 34 HRQoL items also were offered and participants were asked to select the five most important HRQoL items among them. RESULTS: Findings were elicited along the following themes: health, HRQoL, health maintenance strategies, and elements affecting health. The definition on "being healthy" by healthy participants had a variety of standards and required several conditions to be fulfilled. Whereas chronically ill adults have more flexible perception about the coexistence of health and disease. Health dimensions were thought to affect each other, and physical and mental health dimension were selected as the most important items. As for the five most important HRQoL items, both group participants selected mental health dimension than physical or social health dimensions. Health maintenance strategies were similar in both groups except more healthcare service use in chronically ill adults. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the difference of perception on health and HRQoL between health group and disease group in Korea. It can be used for developing the HRQoL assessment tool reflecting the perception of Korean people.
Adult ; Chronic Disease ; Delivery of Health Care ; Focus Groups* ; Humans ; Korea ; Mental Health ; Quality of Life*

The feasibility of virtual otoscopy (VO) imaging was evaluated in five dogs with experimentally induced otitis media, two control dogs, and two canine patients with otitis media. VO images of the tympanic cavity and ossicles were generated with commercially available software using raw computed tomography (CT) data. Eight out of 10 ears inoculated with pathogen exhibited obvious clinical signs associated with otitis externa. CT images revealed soft tissue density material occupying the tympanic bulla compatible with otitis media in three dogs with experimentally induced otitis media and two patients. No remarkable features were observed on the radiographs. Four different VO views (ear canal, tympanic bulla, eustachian tube, and ossicular chain) were created. Promontory, cochlea window, tympanic, and septum bulla as well as ossicles were easily and clearly distinguished except for the incus and stapes of the clinical patients. VO images were not more suitable than images created with conventional CT for accurately diagnosing otitis media in this study. However, it appears that VO could be more feasible for assessing the complex structure of the inner ear in dogs with fluid-filled tympanic cavities since fluid accumulation within the tympanic bulla did not affect the evaluation of bony tissue in the middle ear on VO images.
Animals ; Blister ; Cochlea ; Dogs ; Ear ; Ear, Inner ; Ear, Middle ; Eustachian Tube ; Incus ; Otitis Externa ; Otitis Media ; Otoscopy ; Stapes

Objective: This study examined the validity of the European Quality of Life-5 dimensions, 3-Level version (EQ-5D-3L) in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF) and compared the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of these patients with that of the general population in Korea. Methods: Study participants completed several questionnaires, such as the EQ-5D-3L, 12-item short-form health survey version 2.0 (SF-12v2), Roland-Morris disability questionnaire (RMQ), and Pain Numeric Rating Scale (Pain NRS). Spearman’s correlation analyses of the questionnaire results were conducted to examine the discriminant and convergent validity of the EQ-5D-3L. Finally, EQ-5D-3L results from study participants were compared with those from the comparison group of the general population that were match-sampled according to age and sex from the 2013 Korean National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. Results: Spearman’s correlation coefficients between EQ-5D-3L and pain NRS, SF-12v2, and RMQ were statistically significant. The coefficients between the relevant dimensions, such as mobility in the EQ-5D-3L and physical functioning in the SF-12v2, were higher than those between irrelevant ones. Problems reported by study participants in each dimension of EQ-5D-3L showed statistically significant lower scores in pain NRS, PCS, and MCS from the SF-12v2 and RMQ scores. In comparison with the general population, the problems reported in the patient group were statistically higher than those reported by the general population. Conclusion This study showed that EQ-5D-3L will be useful for patients with OVCF in Korea because it could be valid. The HRQOL of patients with OVCF was very low in all dimensions of the EQ-5D-3L.

Background: There is limited information on the clinical characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. Methods: We performed a retrospective case series of patients with COVID-19 enrolled from February 22 to March 26, 2020. Forty cases of COVID-19 were confirmed using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction among patients who underwent screening tests and were consecutively hospitalized at Ulsan University Hospital, Ulsan, Korea.The final follow-up date was May 19, 2020. All COVID-19 cases in Ulsan were included.Demographic and epidemiological information, comorbidities, clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory and radiologic findings, medications, treatments, outcomes, and main durations of patients with COVID-19 were compared according to supplemental oxygen requirement. Results: Forty patients were included (median age, 30 years; interquartile range [IQR], 25–57 years; 58% female). Six (15%) patients required supplemental oxygen. The prevalence of asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was 5% and that of presymptomatic infection was 13%. Cough, fever, myalgia, rhinorrhea or nasal congestion, and diarrhea were the screening criteria for diagnosing symptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections. Sputum production, chest discomfort, a large number of symptoms, abnormal procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels, and abnormal chest X-ray or chest computed tomography findings were more common in patients requiring supplemental oxygen than in those not requiring supplemental oxygen. Overall mortality rate was 3% (1/40). Four patients (10%) were readmitted after testing positive by reversetranscription polymerase chain reaction again. Incubation period was 5 days (IQR, 4–6 days), and the duration of viral shedding was 21 days (IQR, 14–28 days; maximum, 51 days). Conclusion The prevalence of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection was 5%, which is much lower than that previously reported. This finding suggests that careful interviews and follow-ups should be performed to identify SARS-CoV-2 infections. Cough, fever, myalgia, rhinorrhea or nasal congestion, and diarrhea are adequate screening criteria for covering all symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further evaluation is required to create representative screening criteria for COVID-19.

This study was conducted to assess time-sensitive magnetic resonance (MR) changes in canine blood using low-field MR. Arterial and venous blood samples were collected from eight healthy beagle dogs. Samples were placed in 5-mL tubes and imaged within 3 hours of collection at 1 day intervals from day 1 to day 30. The following sequences were used: T1-weighted (T1W), T2-weighted (T2W), fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), short tau inversion recovery (STIR), and T2-star gradient-echo (T2*-GRE). Visual comparison of the images revealed that four relatively homogenous blood clots and twelve heterogeneous blood clots developed. The margination of the clot and plasma changed significantly on day 2 and day 13. On day 2, heterogeneous blood clots were differentiated into 2 to 3 signal layers in the T2W, T1W, and especially the STIR images. Hypointense signal layers were also detected in the blood clots in STIR images, which have T2 hypo, FLAIR hypo, and T1 hyper intense signals. In all images, these signal layers remained relatively unchanged until day 13. Overall, the results suggest that hematomas are complex on low-field MRI. Accordingly, it may not be feasible to accurately characterize hemorrhages and predict clot age based on low-field MRI.
Animals ; Blood/*diagnostic imaging ; Blood Coagulation ; Blood Physiological Phenomena ; Dogs ; Female ; Hematoma/diagnostic imaging ; Hemorrhage/diagnostic imaging ; *Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Thrombosis/diagnostic imaging ; Time