PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the relation of trait anger and anger expression to blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression in middle-aged Korean women. METHODS: This descriptive correlational design was conducted using a convenient sample taken from the health center of K University Hospital located in Kyungki province, Korea. The subjects were 252 women aged 40 to 64 years. Spielberger's state trait anger expression inventory - Korean version and Beck's depression inventory were used for measuring trait anger, state anger, anger expression and depression. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson correlation, two-way ANOVA, and cluster analysis using a pc-SAS program. RESULTS: The anger expression types by cluster analysis were Anger out/in type, Low anger expression type, and Anger control type. The level of cholesterol and depression were significantly higher in women with high anger in and high trait anger. In addition, the level of depression was significantly higher in women with a high anger temperament. CONCLUSIONS: Trait anger and anger in might be related to cholesterol and depression in women. However, this study does not reveal the relation between blood pressure and trait anger and anger expression.
Middle Aged ; Humans ; Female ; *Expressed Emotion ; Depressive Disorder/physiopathology/*psychology ; *Blood Pressure ; Anger/*physiology ; Adult

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different remineralization agents on the shear bond strength (SBS) on enamel and to confirm remineralization capacity through quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF). Sixty non-carious human third molars were divided into eight groups based on remineralization agents agents (control, Tooth Mousse plusTM, Apapro, BGS-7 bioglass) and application time (24 h, 2 weeks). Enamel surfaces were prepared and treated with agents, followed by demineralization and remineralization. Quantitative Light-induced Fluorescence (QLF) assessed fluorescence loss and recovery. After adhesive application and composite restoration, shear bond strength (SBS) was measured. Statistical analysis included Shapiro-Wilk, ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, paired t-tests, Wilcoxon rank tests, and multiple comparison tests. SBS values did not show a significant difference between the groups according to the type and application time of the remineralization agents. QLF measurement, in the 24 h groups, showed no significant difference in the recovery amount between the groups. In the 2 week groups, a statistically significant difference was observed and the value was significantly higher in the BG group than that in the control group. There were no significant differences in the values based on the application time. Within the limitations of this study, bioactive glass showed higher remineralization ability than all the other experimental agents. The SBS was not affected by the remineralizing agent.

This erratum is being published to correct the printing error on page 517 of the article. Corrections for Fig. 1 and main text in page 519 are needed. The authors apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of antimicrobial prescribing for acute upper respiratory tract infections (URI) among pediatric outpatients and to identify the national patterns of its use from 2009 to 2011 in Korea. Using National Patients Sample database from 2009 to 2011, we estimated the frequency of antibiotics prescribing for URI in pediatric outpatients with diagnoses of acute nasopharyngitis (common cold), acute sinusitis, acute pharyngitis, acute tonsillitis, acute laryngitis/tracheitis, acute obstructive laryngitis/epiglottitis, and acute upper respiratory infections of multiple and unspecified sites. The proportions of each antibiotic class were calculated by year and absolute and relative differences were estimated. Also, we investigated daily amount of prescribed antibiotics per defined population according to the type of medical care institution, physician specialty, and geographic region. The overall antibiotic prescribing proportion was 58.7% and its annual proportion slightly decreased (55.4% in 2011 vs. 60.5% in 2009; adjusted odds ratio, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-0.83). Variations by the type of medical care institution were observed. Tertiary hospitals (45.0%) were less likely to prescribe antibiotics than primary care clinics (59.4%), hospitals (59.0%), and general hospitals (61.2%); they showed different tendencies in choosing antibiotics. Variations by physician specialty and region were also observed. Prevalence of antimicrobial prescribing for pediatric URI is still considered higher than that of western countries and varies by the type of medical care institution, physician specialty, and geographic region.
Acute Disease ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/*therapeutic use ; Databases, Factual ; Drug Prescriptions/*statistics & numerical data ; Hospitals ; Humans ; Odds Ratio ; Physicians/trends ; Practice Patterns, Physicians' ; Republic of Korea ; Respiratory Tract Infections/*drug therapy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) have different clinical and neuroimaging characteristics, but memory decline is usually present in both types. However, there have been few functional studies focused on the hippocampus in Alzheimer's disease. We therefore investigated the functional connectivity between the hippocampus and other brain regions using resting-state fMRI and compared the findings between EOAD and LOAD. METHODS: We recruited 13 patients with EOAD and 19 patients with LOAD at the early disease stage. Twenty-one young controls and ten old controls were also recruited. Each participant completed a standardized neuropsychological battery of tests and underwent T1-weighted structural MRI. fMRI data were acquired during the resting state using 3-T MRI. The functional connectivity to the hippocampus was calculated based on automated anatomical labeling templates. RESULTS: The functional connectivity from the hippocampus to other brain regions differed between patients with EOAD and LOAD. The LOAD patients showed decreased hippocampal connectivity to cortical regions, such as to the middle temporal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, postcentral cortex, supramarginal cortex, and rolandic operculum. In contrast, EOAD patients showed smaller functional changes of the cortical regions connected to the hippocampus, such as the middle frontal cortex. CONCLUSIONS: EOAD and LOAD patients exhibited different hippocampal connectivity. The memory decline in EOAD may be due to brain areas other than the hippocampus.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Brain ; Frontal Lobe ; Hippocampus* ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Memory ; Neuroimaging ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Temporal Lobe

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine the relation of self-reported adult attachment style, perceived parental rearing styles and anger in undergraduate students. METHOD: The six hundred and fifty undergraduate students participating in this descriptive correlational design study were conveniently sampled from K University and S College located in Seoul, Korea. The instruments were Spielberger's state-trait anger expression inventory - Korean version(Chon, Han, Lee & Spielberger, 1997), the instrument for measuring attachment styles by Hazen and Shaver (1987), and Hong's instrument for measuring parental rearing style(2001). Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square-test, ANOVA, and cluster analysis using pc-SAS(version 8.0e) program. RESULTS: The mean scores for trait anger and anger-in were higher in undergraduate students with insecure and ambivalent attachment style compared to students with a secure attachment style. The mean score for anger-control was highest in undergraduate students with a secure attachment style. The parental rearing styles by cluster analysis were grouped as Neglect, Permissive, Democratic, and Protective-control. The mean scores for trait anger, anger-in, and anger-out were higher in undergraduate students with 'Neglect' parental rearing style than in those with 'Democratic' and 'Protective-control' rearing styles. CONCLUSION: Trait anger and anger expression might be related to an attachment style and/or a parental rearing style.
Adult* ; Anger* ; Humans ; Korea ; Parenting ; Parents* ; Seoul

This study investigated the secular trend of anthropometric parameters of 2,153 high school students in one urban and one rural area in Korea. The cross-sectional data was collected in 1996 and 2005 in Seoul and Gyung-gi province. As a result, the height of boys has increased by 2cm, whereas the weight has increased by 6.3kg from 1996 to 2005. By contrast, those parameters, including height or weight, did not change in girls. The prevalence of obesity has been more than doubled from 9.3% in 1996 to 20.5% in 2005 in boys; while that of girls was almost same for the same period (1998, 11.1%; 2005, 11.4%). In particular, the greater increase of obesity among boys was found in urban, which implicates the importance of environmental factor in determining weight gains among adolescents. This result emphasizes that the tailored intervention is strongly warranted, in particular among boys residing in urban area.
Adolescent* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Seoul ; Weight Gain

Purpose: This study investigated the use of synthetic computed tomography (CT) images derived from cone beam CT (CBCT) scans to analyze dose changes in breast cancer patients undergoing treatment and to evaluate the optimal timing for implementing adaptive radiotherapy. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on five breast cancer patients treated with tomotherapy-based volumetric-modulated arc therapy at Yongin Severance Hospital. Each patient received 15 fractions, with doses of 320 centigray (cGy) to the high-dose planning target volume (PTV) and 267 cGy to the low-dose PTV. Planning CT images were acquired using the Aquilion scanner, andCBCT images were captured with the VersaHD linear accelerator’s on-board imager. These imageswere registered in RayStation using a hybrid deformable image registration method to generate synthetic CT images. Dose distributions were reanalyzed using the synthetic CT images, and dose-volume histogram parameters, including the dose to 95% of the volume (D95 ) and mean dose (Dmean ) for the PTV, as well as D95 , Dmean , the percentage of the volume receiving at least 5 Gy (V5 ) and 10 Gy (V10 )for organs-at-risk (OARs), were extracted using MATLAB to assess dose changes during treatment. Results: For the original plans, the mean D95 for PTV high across all patients was 287.13±31.32cGy, while for PTV low, it was 245.53±6.21 cGy. In contrast, the adaptive plans yielded a mean D95of 298.17±12.37 cGy for PTV High and 247.25±4.23 cGy for PTV low. The ART Plan may lead to increased dose exposure in certain structures, such as the spinal cord, while providing targeted improvements in reducing radiation exposure in specific OARs (e.g., contralateral breast and esophagus). Conclusions Synthetic CT images generated from CBCT scans provide a fast and efficient means of quantifying dose changes, supporting precise patient care through interfractional evaluation.Future studies will aim to apply this method to other organs and larger patient cohorts.

Purpose: This study investigated the use of synthetic computed tomography (CT) images derived from cone beam CT (CBCT) scans to analyze dose changes in breast cancer patients undergoing treatment and to evaluate the optimal timing for implementing adaptive radiotherapy. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on five breast cancer patients treated with tomotherapy-based volumetric-modulated arc therapy at Yongin Severance Hospital. Each patient received 15 fractions, with doses of 320 centigray (cGy) to the high-dose planning target volume (PTV) and 267 cGy to the low-dose PTV. Planning CT images were acquired using the Aquilion scanner, andCBCT images were captured with the VersaHD linear accelerator’s on-board imager. These imageswere registered in RayStation using a hybrid deformable image registration method to generate synthetic CT images. Dose distributions were reanalyzed using the synthetic CT images, and dose-volume histogram parameters, including the dose to 95% of the volume (D95 ) and mean dose (Dmean ) for the PTV, as well as D95 , Dmean , the percentage of the volume receiving at least 5 Gy (V5 ) and 10 Gy (V10 )for organs-at-risk (OARs), were extracted using MATLAB to assess dose changes during treatment. Results: For the original plans, the mean D95 for PTV high across all patients was 287.13±31.32cGy, while for PTV low, it was 245.53±6.21 cGy. In contrast, the adaptive plans yielded a mean D95of 298.17±12.37 cGy for PTV High and 247.25±4.23 cGy for PTV low. The ART Plan may lead to increased dose exposure in certain structures, such as the spinal cord, while providing targeted improvements in reducing radiation exposure in specific OARs (e.g., contralateral breast and esophagus). Conclusions Synthetic CT images generated from CBCT scans provide a fast and efficient means of quantifying dose changes, supporting precise patient care through interfractional evaluation.Future studies will aim to apply this method to other organs and larger patient cohorts.