Background: With growing elderly populations, management of patients with acute stroke is increasingly important. In South Korea, the Acute Stroke Quality Assessment Program (ASQAP) has contributed to improving the quality of stroke care and practice behavior in healthcare institutions. While the mortality of hemorrhagic stroke remains high, there are only a few assessment indices associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Considering the need to develop assessment indices to improve the actual quality of care in the field of acute stroke treatment, this study aims to investigate the current status of human resources and practices related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke through a nationwide survey. Methods: For the healthcare institutions included in the Ninth ASQAP of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), data from January 2022 to December 2022 were collected through a survey on the current status and practice of healthcare providers related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke. The questionnaire consisted of 19 items, including six items on healthcare providers involved in stroke care and 10 items on the care of patients with acute stroke. Results: In the treatment of patients with hemorrhagic stroke among patients with acute stroke, neurosurgeons were the most common providers. The contribution of neurosurgeons in the treatment of ischemic stroke has also been found to be equivalent to that of neurologists. However, a number of institutions were found to be devoid of healthcare providers who perform definitive treatments, such as intra-arterial thrombectomy for patients with ischemic stroke or cerebral aneurysm clipping for subarachnoid hemorrhage. The intensity of the workload of healthcare providers involved in the care of patients with acute stroke, especially those involved in definitive treatment, was also found to be quite high. Conclusion Currently, there are almost no assessment indices specific to hemorrhagic stroke in the ASQAP for acute stroke. Furthermore, it does not reflect the reality of the healthcare providers and practices that provide definitive treatment for acute stroke. The findings of this study suggest the need for the development of appropriate assessment indices that reflect the realities of acute stroke care.

Background: With growing elderly populations, management of patients with acute stroke is increasingly important. In South Korea, the Acute Stroke Quality Assessment Program (ASQAP) has contributed to improving the quality of stroke care and practice behavior in healthcare institutions. While the mortality of hemorrhagic stroke remains high, there are only a few assessment indices associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Considering the need to develop assessment indices to improve the actual quality of care in the field of acute stroke treatment, this study aims to investigate the current status of human resources and practices related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke through a nationwide survey. Methods: For the healthcare institutions included in the Ninth ASQAP of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), data from January 2022 to December 2022 were collected through a survey on the current status and practice of healthcare providers related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke. The questionnaire consisted of 19 items, including six items on healthcare providers involved in stroke care and 10 items on the care of patients with acute stroke. Results: In the treatment of patients with hemorrhagic stroke among patients with acute stroke, neurosurgeons were the most common providers. The contribution of neurosurgeons in the treatment of ischemic stroke has also been found to be equivalent to that of neurologists. However, a number of institutions were found to be devoid of healthcare providers who perform definitive treatments, such as intra-arterial thrombectomy for patients with ischemic stroke or cerebral aneurysm clipping for subarachnoid hemorrhage. The intensity of the workload of healthcare providers involved in the care of patients with acute stroke, especially those involved in definitive treatment, was also found to be quite high. Conclusion Currently, there are almost no assessment indices specific to hemorrhagic stroke in the ASQAP for acute stroke. Furthermore, it does not reflect the reality of the healthcare providers and practices that provide definitive treatment for acute stroke. The findings of this study suggest the need for the development of appropriate assessment indices that reflect the realities of acute stroke care.

Background: With growing elderly populations, management of patients with acute stroke is increasingly important. In South Korea, the Acute Stroke Quality Assessment Program (ASQAP) has contributed to improving the quality of stroke care and practice behavior in healthcare institutions. While the mortality of hemorrhagic stroke remains high, there are only a few assessment indices associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Considering the need to develop assessment indices to improve the actual quality of care in the field of acute stroke treatment, this study aims to investigate the current status of human resources and practices related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke through a nationwide survey. Methods: For the healthcare institutions included in the Ninth ASQAP of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), data from January 2022 to December 2022 were collected through a survey on the current status and practice of healthcare providers related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke. The questionnaire consisted of 19 items, including six items on healthcare providers involved in stroke care and 10 items on the care of patients with acute stroke. Results: In the treatment of patients with hemorrhagic stroke among patients with acute stroke, neurosurgeons were the most common providers. The contribution of neurosurgeons in the treatment of ischemic stroke has also been found to be equivalent to that of neurologists. However, a number of institutions were found to be devoid of healthcare providers who perform definitive treatments, such as intra-arterial thrombectomy for patients with ischemic stroke or cerebral aneurysm clipping for subarachnoid hemorrhage. The intensity of the workload of healthcare providers involved in the care of patients with acute stroke, especially those involved in definitive treatment, was also found to be quite high. Conclusion Currently, there are almost no assessment indices specific to hemorrhagic stroke in the ASQAP for acute stroke. Furthermore, it does not reflect the reality of the healthcare providers and practices that provide definitive treatment for acute stroke. The findings of this study suggest the need for the development of appropriate assessment indices that reflect the realities of acute stroke care.

Background: With growing elderly populations, management of patients with acute stroke is increasingly important. In South Korea, the Acute Stroke Quality Assessment Program (ASQAP) has contributed to improving the quality of stroke care and practice behavior in healthcare institutions. While the mortality of hemorrhagic stroke remains high, there are only a few assessment indices associated with hemorrhagic stroke. Considering the need to develop assessment indices to improve the actual quality of care in the field of acute stroke treatment, this study aims to investigate the current status of human resources and practices related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke through a nationwide survey. Methods: For the healthcare institutions included in the Ninth ASQAP of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), data from January 2022 to December 2022 were collected through a survey on the current status and practice of healthcare providers related to the treatment of patients with acute stroke. The questionnaire consisted of 19 items, including six items on healthcare providers involved in stroke care and 10 items on the care of patients with acute stroke. Results: In the treatment of patients with hemorrhagic stroke among patients with acute stroke, neurosurgeons were the most common providers. The contribution of neurosurgeons in the treatment of ischemic stroke has also been found to be equivalent to that of neurologists. However, a number of institutions were found to be devoid of healthcare providers who perform definitive treatments, such as intra-arterial thrombectomy for patients with ischemic stroke or cerebral aneurysm clipping for subarachnoid hemorrhage. The intensity of the workload of healthcare providers involved in the care of patients with acute stroke, especially those involved in definitive treatment, was also found to be quite high. Conclusion Currently, there are almost no assessment indices specific to hemorrhagic stroke in the ASQAP for acute stroke. Furthermore, it does not reflect the reality of the healthcare providers and practices that provide definitive treatment for acute stroke. The findings of this study suggest the need for the development of appropriate assessment indices that reflect the realities of acute stroke care.

A new En score of the proficiency test (PT) is formulated; it is applicable when a correlation exists between the reference and participant’s values. Based on the uncertainty propagation rule given in ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 (GUM:1995), the En score covering the correlation case is newly developed for the PT. The new En score will be applied in a future PT organized by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) dosimetry team. The new En score will enhance measurement traceability and contribute to improving the quality management system of participants in the KRISS PT by avoiding performance underestimation.

Background/Aims: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) play a crucial role in managing laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), but the optimal dosing regimen remains unclear. We aim to compare the effectiveness of the same total PPI dose administered twice daily versus once daily in LPR patients. Methods: We conducted a prospective randomized controlled trial at a tertiary referral hospital, enrolling a total of 132 patients aged 19 to 79 with LPR. These patients were randomly assigned to receive either a 10 mg twice daily (BID) or a 20 mg once daily (QD) dose of ilaprazole for 12 weeks. The Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) and Reflux Finding Score (RFS) were assessed at 8 weeks and 16 weeks. The primary endpoint was the RSI response, defined as a reduction of 50% or more in the total RSI score from baseline. We also analyzed the efficacy of the dosing regimens and the impact of dosing and duration on treatment outcomes. Results: The BID group did not display a higher response rate for RSI than the QD group. The changes in total RSI scores at the 8-week and 16-week visits showed no significant differences between the 2 groups. Total RFS alterations were also comparable between both groups.Each dosing regimen demonstrated significant decreases in RSI and RFS. Conclusions Both BID and QD PPI dosing regimens improved subjective symptom scores and objective laryngoscopic findings. There was no significant difference in RSI improvement between the 2 dosing regimens, indicating that either dosing regimen could be considered a viable treatment option.

In Walker’s nonmetric method, the nuchal crest serves as the representative region for indicating sexual dimorphism in cranial bones. However, the accuracy of sex estimation using the nuchal crest is lower than that using other anatomical regions. Furthermore, because of the protruding processes and structurally challenging features characterized by uneven and rough surfaces, there is a lack of metric methods for sex estimation, making quantification challenging. In this study, we aimed to validate a derived metric method for sex estimation by reconstructing the nuchal crest region in threedimensional (3D) images obtained from computed tomography scans of cranial bones and compare its accuracy with that of the nonmetric method. A total of 648 images were collected, with 100 randomly selected for use in the nonmetric method.We applied our metric method to the remaining 548 images. Our findings showed that the surface area of the nuchal crests was greater in male individuals than in female individuals. The nuchal crest surface area quantified by the metric method increased the accuracy of sex estimation by 48% compared with that by the nonmetric method. Our metric method for sex estimation, which quantifies the nuchal crest surface area using 3D images of the skull, led to a high sex estimation accuracy of 93%. Future studies should focus on proposing and quantifying new measurement methods for areas showing sexual characteristics in the skull that are difficult to measure, thereby enhancing the accuracy and reliability of sex estimation in human skeletal identification across various fields.

In Walker’s nonmetric method, the nuchal crest serves as the representative region for indicating sexual dimorphism in cranial bones. However, the accuracy of sex estimation using the nuchal crest is lower than that using other anatomical regions. Furthermore, because of the protruding processes and structurally challenging features characterized by uneven and rough surfaces, there is a lack of metric methods for sex estimation, making quantification challenging. In this study, we aimed to validate a derived metric method for sex estimation by reconstructing the nuchal crest region in threedimensional (3D) images obtained from computed tomography scans of cranial bones and compare its accuracy with that of the nonmetric method. A total of 648 images were collected, with 100 randomly selected for use in the nonmetric method.We applied our metric method to the remaining 548 images. Our findings showed that the surface area of the nuchal crests was greater in male individuals than in female individuals. The nuchal crest surface area quantified by the metric method increased the accuracy of sex estimation by 48% compared with that by the nonmetric method. Our metric method for sex estimation, which quantifies the nuchal crest surface area using 3D images of the skull, led to a high sex estimation accuracy of 93%. Future studies should focus on proposing and quantifying new measurement methods for areas showing sexual characteristics in the skull that are difficult to measure, thereby enhancing the accuracy and reliability of sex estimation in human skeletal identification across various fields.

A new En score of the proficiency test (PT) is formulated; it is applicable when a correlation exists between the reference and participant’s values. Based on the uncertainty propagation rule given in ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 (GUM:1995), the En score covering the correlation case is newly developed for the PT. The new En score will be applied in a future PT organized by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) dosimetry team. The new En score will enhance measurement traceability and contribute to improving the quality management system of participants in the KRISS PT by avoiding performance underestimation.