Osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures cause socioeconomic concerns, and medical system and policies appear insufficient to prepare for these issues in Korea, where the older adult population is rapidly increasing. Many countries around the world are already responding to osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures by adopting fracture liaison service (FLS), and such an attempt has only begun in Korea. In this article, we introduce the operation methods for institutions implementing FLS and characteristics of services, and activities of the FLS Committee for FLS implementation in the Korean Society for Bone and Mineral Research. In addition, we hope that the current position statement will contribute to the implementation of FLS in Korea and impel policy changes to enable a multidisciplinary and integrated FLS operated under the medical system.

Background: The interest in Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) has increased, and the choice of assays became wider since the first national survey in Korea on CDI diagnosis in 2015. We conducted a survey of the domestic CDI assays with more varied questions to understand the current situation in Korea. Methods: In April 2018, about 50 questions on the current status of CDI assays and details on implementation and perceptions were written, and a survey questionnaire was administered to laboratory medicine specialists in 200 institutions. Results: One-hundred and fifty institutions responded to the questionnaire, of which 90 (60.0%) including one commercial laboratory, performed CDI assays. The toxin AB enzyme immunoassay (toxin AB EIA), nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), and C. difficile culture, glutamate dehydrogenase assay, alone or in combination with other assays, were used in 75 (84.3%), 52 (58.4%), 35 (36.0%), and 23 (25.8%), respectively, and 65 (73.0%) institutions performed a combination of two or more assays. The sensitivity of toxin AB EIA was more negatively perceived, and that on specificity was more positively perceived. The perception of sensitivity and specificity of NAAT was mostly positive. Perception on the algorithm test projected it as useful but in need of countermeasures. Sixty-three (73.3%) institutions responded that they performed surveillance on CDI. Conclusion This study provides useful evidence on the current status of CDI laboratory diagnosis in Korea as well as on items that require improvement and is thought to aid in standardizing and improving the CDI laboratory diagnosis in Korea.

No abstract available.
Humans ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic* ; Steroids

In Korea, the Hospice, Palliative Care, and Life-sustaining Treatment Decision-making Act was enacted in February 2016 in order to ensure that the patient's self-determination in end-of-life care processes is respected. To enhance physicians' understanding of this act and to provide proper criteria for medical judgment in variety of clinical settings, consensus guidelines were published in November 2016. In this article, the characteristics of these guidelines and related issues regarding the definitions of ‘the end stage of disease’ and ‘last days of life’ and the criteria for medical judgment are presented and summarized. According to the guidelines, the term ‘end stage of disease’ refers to a state in which there is no possibility of a fundamental recovery and the symptoms are expected to worsen within months. The terms ‘the last days of life’ and ‘the final days of life’ refer to a state in which, despite treatment, the patient's condition is worsening and death is impending, with no possibility of recovery. The attending physician and another relevant specialist should both judge a patient's medical condition as either ‘end stage of disease’ for hospice/palliative care or ‘the last days of life’ for dying patient care according to the law. Caregivers should provide appropriate medical information to eligible patients for palliative or ‘end stage of disease’ care through advance care planning. Therefore, it is critically necessary that caregivers understand the legitimate process of hospice/palliative and dying patient care based on the patient's wishes and best interests. Physicians should apply these consensus guidelines to eligible patients considering their clinical course and the patients' wishes.
Advance Care Planning ; Caregivers ; Consensus ; Hospices ; Humans ; Judgment ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Palliative Care ; Patient Care ; Specialization

In Korea, the Hospice, Palliative Care, and Life-sustaining Treatment Decision-making Act was enacted in February 2016 in order to ensure that the patient's self-determination in end-of-life care processes is respected. To enhance physicians' understanding of this act and to provide proper criteria for medical judgment in variety of clinical settings, consensus guidelines were published in November 2016. In this article, the characteristics of these guidelines and related issues regarding the definitions of ‘the end stage of disease’ and ‘last days of life’ and the criteria for medical judgment are presented and summarized. According to the guidelines, the term ‘end stage of disease’ refers to a state in which there is no possibility of a fundamental recovery and the symptoms are expected to worsen within months. The terms ‘the last days of life’ and ‘the final days of life’ refer to a state in which, despite treatment, the patient's condition is worsening and death is impending, with no possibility of recovery. The attending physician and another relevant specialist should both judge a patient's medical condition as either ‘end stage of disease’ for hospice/palliative care or ‘the last days of life’ for dying patient care according to the law. Caregivers should provide appropriate medical information to eligible patients for palliative or ‘end stage of disease’ care through advance care planning. Therefore, it is critically necessary that caregivers understand the legitimate process of hospice/palliative and dying patient care based on the patient's wishes and best interests. Physicians should apply these consensus guidelines to eligible patients considering their clinical course and the patients' wishes.

BACKGROUND: In cirrhotic patients, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is associated with poor outcomes. Diastolic wall strain (DWS) is a new index of left ventricular diastolic function that correlates with the myocardial stiffness. In this study, we aimed to determine whether DWS calculated from preoperative transthoracic echocardiography can predict the survival of liver transplantation recipients. METHODS: A total of 981 patients who underwent liver transplantation were enrolled. We collected the clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic data retrospectively. The left ventricular posterior wall thickness at end-systole (LVPWs) and end-diastole (LVPWd) were measured using M-mode imaging. DWS was calculated as follows: DWS = (LVPWs – LVPWd) / LVPWs. As previously reported, DWS ≤ 0.33 was defined as low DWS and DWS > 0.33 was defined as normal DWS. The primary outcome of this study was 2-years survival after liver transplantation. RESULTS: The 2-years mortality rate following liver transplantation was higher in low DWS group than normal DWS group (14.6% vs.10.0%, P = 0.038). In univariate Cox regression analysis, age, model for end-stage liver disease score, Child-Turcotte-Pugh score, creatinine, b-type natriuretic peptide, heart rate, left ventricular end-diastolic volume index, left ventricular stroke volume index, left ventricular ejection fraction, E/A ratio, e′, E/e′ ratio, and DWS were associated with 2-years survival after liver transplantation. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, DWS was an independent predictor of 2-years survival after adjusting significant univariate covariates. CONCLUSIONS: This study results indicated that the DWS is an independent prognostic predictor in liver transplantation recipients.
Creatinine ; Diastole ; Echocardiography* ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Mortality ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke Volume ; Survival Rate*

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the performance of four commercial nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs: Xpert C. difficile, BD MAX Cdiff, IMDx C. difficile for Abbott m2000, and Illumigene C. difficile) for direct and rapid detection of Clostridium difficile toxin genes. METHODS: We compared four NAATs on the same set of 339 stool specimens (303 prospective and 36 retrospective specimens) with toxigenic culture (TC). RESULTS: Concordance rate among four NAATs was 90.3% (306/339). Based on TC results, the sensitivity and specificity were 90.0% and 92.9% for Xpert; 86.3% and 89.3% for Max; 84.3% and 94.4% for IMDx; and 82.4% and 93.7% for Illumigene, respectively. For 306 concordant cases, there were 11 TC-negative/NAATs co-positive cases and 6 TC-positive/NAATs co-negative cases. Among 33 discordant cases, 18 were only single positive in each NAAT (Xpert, 1; Max, 12; IMDx, 1; Illumigene, 4). Positivity rates of the four NAATs were associated with those of semi-quantitative cultures, which were maximized in grade 3 (>100 colony-forming unit [CFU]) compared with grade 1 (<10 CFU). CONCLUSIONS: Commercial NAATs may be rapid and reliable methods for direct detection of tcdA and/or tcdB in stool specimens compared with TC. Some differences in the sensitivity of the NAATs may partly depend on the number of toxigenic C. difficile in stool specimens.
Bacterial Proteins/genetics ; Bacterial Toxins/genetics ; Clostridium Infections/*diagnosis/microbiology ; Clostridium difficile/*genetics/isolation & purification ; DNA, Bacterial/*analysis/metabolism ; Enterotoxins/genetics ; Feces/*microbiology ; Humans ; *Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: Detailed profiles of acute hypothermia and electrocardiographic (ECG) manifestations of arrhythmogenicity were examined to analyze acute hypothermia and ventricular arrhythmogenic potential immediately after portal vein unclamping (PVU) in living-donor liver transplantation (LT). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed electronically archived medical records (n = 148) of beat-to-beat ECG, arterial pressure waveforms, and blood temperature (BT) from Swan-Ganz catheters in patients undergoing living-donor LT. The ECG data analyzed were selected from the start of BT drop to the initiation of systolic hypotension after PVU. RESULTS: On reperfusion, acute hypothermia of < 34degrees C, < 33degrees C and < 32degrees C developed in 75.0%, 37.2% and 11.5% of patients, respectively. BT decreased from 35.0degrees C +/- 0.8degrees C to 33.3degrees C +/- 1.0degrees C (range 35.8degrees C-30.5degrees C). The median time to nadir of BT was 10 s after PVU. Difference in BT (DeltaBT) was weakly correlated with graft-recipient weight ratio (GRWR; r = 0.22, P = 0.008). Compared to baseline, arrhythmogenicity indices such as corrected QT (QTc), Tp-e (T wave peak to end) interval, and Tp-e/QTc ratio were prolonged (P < 0.001 each). ST height decreased and T amplitude increased (P < 0.001 each). However, no correlation was found between DeltaBT and arrhythmogenic indices. CONCLUSIONS: In living-donor LT, regardless of extent of BT drop, ventricular arrhythmogenic potential developed immediately after PVU prior to occurrence of systolic hypotension.
Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Arterial Pressure ; Catheters ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Hypotension* ; Hypothermia ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Medical Records ; Portal Vein ; Reperfusion* ; Retrospective Studies ; Transplants*

Multiplex PCR of nasopharyngeal aspirates detected viruses and atypical bacteria in 75.3% (219/291) of infants with acute respiratory infections from July 2010 to June 2013. Frequent viruses were human rhinovirus (29.9%), parainfluenza virus (21.7%), respiratory syncytial virus (17.9%), and human metapneumovirus (10.3%). Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Bordetella pertussis were detected in 3.4% and 0.3%, respectively.
Bacteria ; Bordetella pertussis ; Humans ; Infant* ; Metapneumovirus ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae ; Paramyxoviridae Infections ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Respiratory Tract Infections* ; Rhinovirus

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of nondiabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and to find a clinical significance of renal biopsy and immunosuppressive treatment in such a patient. METHODS: Renal biopsy results, clinical parameters, and renal outcomes were analyzed in 75 diabetic patients who underwent kidney biopsy at Chungnam National University Hospital from January 1994 to December 2010. RESULTS: The three most common reasons for renal biopsy were nephrotic range proteinuria (44%), proteinuria without diabetic retinopathy (20%), and unexplained decline inrena lfunction (20.0%). Ten patients (13.3%) had only diabetic nephropathy (Group I); 11 patients (14.7%) had diabetic nephropathy with superimposed nondiabetic nephropathy (Group II); and 54 patients (72%) had only nondiabetic nephropathy (Group III). Membranous nephropathy (23.1%), IgA nephropathy (21.5%), and acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (15.4%) were the three most common nondiabetic nephropathies. Group III had shorter duration of diabetes and lesser diabetic retinopathy than Groups I and II (P = 0.008).Group II had the lowest baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (P = 0.002), with the greatest proportion of renal deterioration during follow-up (median 38.0 months, P < 0.0001). The patients who were treated with intensive method showed better renal outcomes (odds ratio 4.931; P = 0.01). Absence of diabetic retinopathy was associated with favorable renal outcome in intensive treatment group (odds ratio 0.114; P = 0.032). CONCLUSION: Renal biopsy should be recommended for type 2 diabetic patients with a typical nephropathy because a considerable number of these patients may have nondiabetic nephropathies. And intensive treatment including corticosteroid or immunosuppressants could be recommended for type 2 diabetic patients with nondiabetic nephropathy, especially if the patients do not have diabetic retinopathy.
Biopsy ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Diabetic Nephropathies ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; Glomerulonephritis, Membranous ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Diseases* ; Kidney* ; Nephritis, Interstitial ; Proteinuria