Purpose: This study aimed to understand the relationships between depression, post-traumatic stress, job demands, and social and organizational support among nurses working at general hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the factors influencing depression. Methods: Data were collected from 240 nurses using a self-reported questionnaire between April 28 and May 7, 2023. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé’s test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: The mean scores for depression and post-traumatic stress were 15.49 and 17.90, respectively. Approximately 43% nurses experienced depression. Depression was positively related to job demands and post-traumatic stress and negatively related to social and organizational support. Multiple regression showed that post-traumatic stress (β=.33, p<.001), social support (β=-.30, p<.001), and job demands (β=.21, p<.001) explained 26.4% of the variance for nurses’ depression. Conclusion These findings indicate that efforts are needed to mitigate depression and post traumatic stress among nurses, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs that can enhance social support and reduce post-traumatic stress and job demands are needed to prevent and decrease depression. In particular, hospitals and the government must prepare for national disasters, such as new infectious diseases, to reduce job demands.

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the relationships between depression, post-traumatic stress, job demands, and social and organizational support among nurses working at general hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the factors influencing depression. Methods: Data were collected from 240 nurses using a self-reported questionnaire between April 28 and May 7, 2023. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé’s test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: The mean scores for depression and post-traumatic stress were 15.49 and 17.90, respectively. Approximately 43% nurses experienced depression. Depression was positively related to job demands and post-traumatic stress and negatively related to social and organizational support. Multiple regression showed that post-traumatic stress (β=.33, p<.001), social support (β=-.30, p<.001), and job demands (β=.21, p<.001) explained 26.4% of the variance for nurses’ depression. Conclusion These findings indicate that efforts are needed to mitigate depression and post traumatic stress among nurses, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs that can enhance social support and reduce post-traumatic stress and job demands are needed to prevent and decrease depression. In particular, hospitals and the government must prepare for national disasters, such as new infectious diseases, to reduce job demands.

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the relationships between depression, post-traumatic stress, job demands, and social and organizational support among nurses working at general hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the factors influencing depression. Methods: Data were collected from 240 nurses using a self-reported questionnaire between April 28 and May 7, 2023. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé’s test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: The mean scores for depression and post-traumatic stress were 15.49 and 17.90, respectively. Approximately 43% nurses experienced depression. Depression was positively related to job demands and post-traumatic stress and negatively related to social and organizational support. Multiple regression showed that post-traumatic stress (β=.33, p<.001), social support (β=-.30, p<.001), and job demands (β=.21, p<.001) explained 26.4% of the variance for nurses’ depression. Conclusion These findings indicate that efforts are needed to mitigate depression and post traumatic stress among nurses, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs that can enhance social support and reduce post-traumatic stress and job demands are needed to prevent and decrease depression. In particular, hospitals and the government must prepare for national disasters, such as new infectious diseases, to reduce job demands.

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the relationships between depression, post-traumatic stress, job demands, and social and organizational support among nurses working at general hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the factors influencing depression. Methods: Data were collected from 240 nurses using a self-reported questionnaire between April 28 and May 7, 2023. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé’s test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression. Results: The mean scores for depression and post-traumatic stress were 15.49 and 17.90, respectively. Approximately 43% nurses experienced depression. Depression was positively related to job demands and post-traumatic stress and negatively related to social and organizational support. Multiple regression showed that post-traumatic stress (β=.33, p<.001), social support (β=-.30, p<.001), and job demands (β=.21, p<.001) explained 26.4% of the variance for nurses’ depression. Conclusion These findings indicate that efforts are needed to mitigate depression and post traumatic stress among nurses, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs that can enhance social support and reduce post-traumatic stress and job demands are needed to prevent and decrease depression. In particular, hospitals and the government must prepare for national disasters, such as new infectious diseases, to reduce job demands.

BACKGROUND: The skin, a vital organ protecting against microorganisms and dehydration, undergoes structural decline with aging, leading to visible issues such as wrinkles and sagging. Reduced blood vessels exacerbate vulnerability, hindering optimal cellular function and compromising skin health. Polydioxanone (PDO) biomaterials address aging concerns but produce acidic byproducts, causing inflammation. Inorganic particles and nitric oxide (NO) play crucial roles in inhibiting inflammation and promoting skin regeneration. Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) contribute to intercellular communication, offering the potential to enhance cell functions. The study proposes a method to enhance PDO-based medical devices by incorporating inorganic particles and immobilizing EVs, focusing on facial rejuvenation, anti-inflammatory response, collagen formation, and angiogenesis.METHOD: PDO composites with inorganic particles such as magnesium hydroxide (MH) and zinc oxide (ZO) were prepared and followed by EV immobilization. Comprehensive characterization included biocompatibility, anti-inflammation, collagen formation ability, and angiogenesis ability. RESULTS: Bulk-modified PDO composites demonstrated even dispersion of inorganic particles, pH neutralization, and enhanced biocompatibility. EVs immobilized on the composite surface exhibited spherical morphology. Inflammationrelated gene expressions decreased, emphasizing anti-inflammatory effects. Collagen-related gene and protein expressions increased, showcasing collagen formation ability. In addition, angiogenic capabilities were notably improved, indicating potential for skin rejuvenation. CONCLUSION The study successfully developed and characterized PDO composites with inorganic particles and EVs, demonstrating promising attributes for medical applications. These composites exhibit biocompatibility, anti-inflammatory properties, collagen formation ability, and angiogenic potential, suggesting their utility in skin rejuvenation and tissue engineering. Further research and clinical validation are essential.

Background: and Purpose Recent studies suggested an increased incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We evaluated the volume of CVT hospitalization and in-hospital mortality during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the preceding year. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study of 171 stroke centers from 49 countries. We recorded COVID-19 admission volumes, CVT hospitalization, and CVT in-hospital mortality from January 1, 2019, to May 31, 2021. CVT diagnoses were identified by International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD-10) codes or stroke databases. We additionally sought to compare the same metrics in the first 5 months of 2021 compared to the corresponding months in 2019 and 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04934020). Results: There were 2,313 CVT admissions across the 1-year pre-pandemic (2019) and pandemic year (2020); no differences in CVT volume or CVT mortality were observed. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT volumes compared to 2019 (27.5%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 24.2 to 32.0; P<0.0001) and 2020 (41.4%; 95% CI, 37.0 to 46.0; P<0.0001). A COVID-19 diagnosis was present in 7.6% (132/1,738) of CVT hospitalizations. CVT was present in 0.04% (103/292,080) of COVID-19 hospitalizations. During the first pandemic year, CVT mortality was higher in patients who were COVID positive compared to COVID negative patients (8/53 [15.0%] vs. 41/910 [4.5%], P=0.004). There was an increase in CVT mortality during the first 5 months of pandemic years 2020 and 2021 compared to the first 5 months of the pre-pandemic year 2019 (2019 vs. 2020: 2.26% vs. 4.74%, P=0.05; 2019 vs. 2021: 2.26% vs. 4.99%, P=0.03). In the first 5 months of 2021, there were 26 cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), resulting in six deaths. Conclusions During the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, CVT hospitalization volume and CVT in-hospital mortality did not change compared to the prior year. COVID-19 diagnosis was associated with higher CVT in-hospital mortality. During the first 5 months of 2021, there was an increase in CVT hospitalization volume and increase in CVT-related mortality, partially attributable to VITT.

Background: Velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) therapy for cleft palate (speech therapy alone, speech therapy using speech aids, or combined therapy such as speech therapy using a pharyngeal flap), is more effective in younger patients than in adult patients. Speech therapy is known as very difficult for patients who still have VPI as an adult. Because of the possibility of subsequent speech disorders, the timing of surgery for cleft palate is accelerating. Herein, we present a case of an adult with articulation disorder due to VPI who was treated by speech therapy and a speech-aid prosthesis.Case presentation: A woman who underwent cleft palate surgery at 8 years of age still had difficulty with articulation due to VPI as a 24-year-old adult because of a lack of continuous speech therapy. We decided to use a speech-aid application using palatal lift, and a reduction program was conducted four times, along with simultaneous speech therapy, over a period of 1 year and 7 months. During the therapy period, she was able to speak normally within a relatively short period of time, and after implementation of the reduction program, the therapy was completed by completely removing the device. Long-term observations have shown normal speech function without recurrence, even after the device was removed. Conclusion As seen in this case, speech therapy using speech aids can show a good result for adult patients with cleft palate who missed the usual timing for the treatment of articulation disorders, depending on the situation. Therefore, it is hereby reported as a therapy option worthy of consideration.

Background: Cyst enucleation, which extracts only the tumor with the application of Carnoy’s solution (CS), has been suggested as a conservative treatment with a low recurrence rate and morbidity. However, there has been a concern that CS’s contact with inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) can cause neurons to degenerate and cause sensory dysfunction. The purpose of this retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the neurosensory function after surgical treatment with or without the application of CS. Methods: While controlling the effects of sex, age, follow-up period, and invasion size of the tumor, we performed the binary logistic regression analysis to examine whether or not the sensory function of the patients who were treated with CS (n = 19) for the cyst enucleation procedure was significantly different from those who were not treated with CS (n = 58) at the end of the follow-up period. Results: The logistic regression result showed that the use of CS was not significantly related to the normalness of sensory function at the end of the follow-up period. Rather, the invasion size of the cyst was significantly associated with sensory dysfunction. Conclusions CS may be used for patients who are diagnosed with OKC and UAM without much fear of its impact on sensory dysfunction. However, a small number of patients who were treated with CS experienced severe sensory damage and did not recover at the end of the follow-up period, suggesting the need for further analysis of these patients.

This paper describes a community effort to improve earlier versions of the full-text corpus of Genomics & Informatics by semi-automatically detecting and correcting PDF-to-text conversion errors and optical character recognition errors during the first hackathon of Genomics & Informatics Annotation Hackathon (GIAH) event. Extracting text from multi-column biomedical documents such as Genomics & Informatics is known to be notoriously difficult. The hackathon was piloted as part of a coding competition of the ELTEC College of Engineering at Ewha Womans University in order to enable researchers and students to create or annotate their own versions of the Genomics & Informatics corpus, to gain and create knowledge about corpus linguistics, and simultaneously to acquire tangible and transferable skills. The proposed projects during the hackathon harness an internal database containing different versions of the corpus and annotations.

This paper describes a community effort to improve earlier versions of the full-text corpus of Genomics & Informatics by semi-automatically detecting and correcting PDF-to-text conversion errors and optical character recognition errors during the first hackathon of Genomics & Informatics Annotation Hackathon (GIAH) event. Extracting text from multi-column biomedical documents such as Genomics & Informatics is known to be notoriously difficult. The hackathon was piloted as part of a coding competition of the ELTEC College of Engineering at Ewha Womans University in order to enable researchers and students to create or annotate their own versions of the Genomics & Informatics corpus, to gain and create knowledge about corpus linguistics, and simultaneously to acquire tangible and transferable skills. The proposed projects during the hackathon harness an internal database containing different versions of the corpus and annotations.