The global shortage of healthcare personnel, especially in low- and middle-income countries, has raised concerns about the quality and availability of medical education across these economies. Therefore, standardization and accreditation of medical education are essential to ensure the competence of healthcare professionals. This study reports the first-ever application of the set of standards developed by the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) to assess a Vietnamese medical school. Under this initiative, the Accreditation Standards of KIMEE 2019 (ASK 2019) was implemented under the auspices of a Korea International Cooperation Agency Development Project. This study compared the evaluation results of a Vietnamese medical school’s performance with that of accredited Korean medical schools. The findings revealed both strengths and areas requiring significant improvement and underscore the need for Vietnam to develop its own contextually appropriate accreditation system.

Geographic information systems are useful tools for analyzing and explaining the changing spatial structures of medical services. This study identified underserved areas for out-ofhospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) using a geospatial methodology and provided a visual map of the spatial imbalances of OHCA. This study used geocoding of OHCA locations, emergency medical service (EMS) incidents, and administrative districts to demonstrate a technique for identifying underserved areas for EMS-assessed OHCA. We created a 1 km hexa-grid across Jeju Island and calculated the OHCA ratio (OHCA cases/total EMS incidents) for each grid. Underserved areas were detected through a hexagrid-based geospatial analysis (Getis-Ord Gi* statistics). A total of 366,155 EMS incidents occurred during the study period. Among these, 6,806 were EMS-assessed OHCA cases. An analysis of 1,903 overlapping grids revealed that the mean distance between grids with OHCA was 28.0±15.8 km. The mean EMS-assessed OHCA ratio (EMS-assessed OHCA cases/total EMS incidents) for each grid was 0.021±0.059. Based on the Getis-Ord Gi* OHCA ratio, 118 hot spot grids (z-score≥1.96) and 19 cold spot grids (z-score≤-1.96) were identified. This study proposed a geospatial methodology to define and identify underserved areas of EMS-assessed OHCA cases using hexa-grid-based hot- and cold-spot analysis.

The present article provides a comprehensive review of Jeju lava seawater (JLS), a unique underground water resource from Jeju Island, Korea, renowned for its distinct mineral composition. Herein, its biological effects and potential underlying mechanism(s) of action are summarized, with a particular focus on the pivotal roles of its mineral components. Many studies have indicated that JLS possesses potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimelanogenic properties, along with beneficial effects on metabolic disorders, skin health, and joint conditions. These diverse effects are attributed to its rich profile of macro-minerals (e.g., magnesium, calcium, potassium) and trace elements (e.g., zinc, selenium, vanadium, germanium), which synergistically modulate key cellular pathways, including nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, mitogen-activated protein kinases, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells, and adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase. Current applications include cosmetics, functional foods, and balneotherapy, supported by robust safety data from genotoxicity and oral toxicity studies. Although preclinical evidence is compelling, further large-scale human clinical trials are essential to fully establish its therapeutic potential and optimize its application across various health domains.

Visual impairment due to glaucoma is irreversible; therefore, understanding its burden is important for implementing appropriate preventive measures. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of visual impairment in patients with glaucoma. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with glaucoma attending Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from May 1, 2022 to November 30, 2022. Visual acuity of 383 glaucomatous eyes from 275 patients was assessed using the Snellen illiterate acuity chart. Visual acuity at presentation and previous diagnoses were reviewed from the patient’s medical charts during the current checkup. Objective and subjective refractive measurements were performed for patients with a visual acuity of 6/18 or worse. Data collected using a validated structured questionnaire were cleaned, imported into Epinfo, and then exported to SPSS ver. 22. Descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Cofactors with a P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Of the 383 eyes of 275 patients with glaucoma, approximately 38.12% (146/383) were visually impaired. Additionally, 35.28% (97/275) had visual impairment in at least one eye due to glaucoma, whereas 7.64% (21/275) were blind at initial presentation due to glaucoma. In the multivariable binary logistic regression analysis, age, duration of treatment, treatment adherence, distance from the hospital, laterality, and intraocular pressure at presentation were identified as factors significantly associated with visual impairment in patients with glaucoma. The burden of visual impairment in patients with glaucoma is high. Therefore, creating awareness, conducting glaucoma screening, and counseling patients about the importance of treatment adherence are important for reducing the burden of visual impairment due to glaucoma.

Excess of pyridoxine, in contrast to other nutrients, may result in neuropathy. Case reports are sparse, and little is known about the clinical and electrophysiological findings. Eight patients with pyridoxine-induced neuropathy were investigated, and a review of the literature was undertaken. Nerve conduction studies showed axonal sensory or sensorimotor polyneuropathy. And the blood levels of vitamin B6 were markedly elevated. After discontinuation of vitamin supplements, all patients showed no significant improvement in clinical and electrophysiological findings. Supplementation with pyridoxine at doses greater than 50 mg/day for extended durations may be harmful and should be discouraged.

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a systemic necrotizing vasculitis that predominantly affects small vessels of the body. The two most common ANCAs are myeloperoxidase ANCA and proteinase 3 ANCA. Neurological manifestations are frequent in patients with AAV, including peripheral neuropathy, meningitis, and stroke. AAV-associated ischemic stroke usually affects small vessels supplying the white matter or brainstem. This case report details the presentation and treatment course of a 70-year-old man with rapidly progressive multiple intracranial large artery involvement attributed to myeloperoxidase ANCA-associated vasculitis. Despite treatment with high-dose steroids and a rituximab infusion, the patient developed new speech difficulties and respiratory distress, and brain imaging confirmed new stroke lesions with progressive multiple intracranial large cerebral artery involvement. The patient died from SARS-CoV-2 infection 4 months after the diagnosis. This case emphasized the rare presentation of rapidly progressive large vessel involvement in a patient with myeloperoxidase ANCA-associated vasculitis despite active immunotherapy.

The purpose of this study is to determine the issues of supplementation and improvement to prepare for the outbreak of new infectious diseases such as new variants of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to guide work for a strategic new response to infectious disease. Public officials of Jeju Special Self-governing Province and health personnel responding to COVID-19, working at six public health centers in Jeju-do region were administered a survey about additional preparations to be made in the future, based on the period when COVID-19 was treated legally as a first-class infectious disease. Frequency analysis was conducted on the collected data. The Likert 5-point scale and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the scores for effective response to emerging infectious diseases according to demographics. Among the important factors identified for effective response to new infectious diseases, ‘facilitation of cooperation with public institutions’ and ‘facilitation of cooperation with private institutions’ had the highest scores. In the future, when a patient presents with a new infectious disease, the step that needs to be supplemented in each phase of the public health center’s response is ‘immediate response team operation’. Further, public health centers responded that ‘expansion of dedicated personnel related to infectious diseases’ needs to be improved to respond to new infectious diseases. Along with the results of this study, considering the difficulties experienced by health personnel responding to new infectious diseases in preparation for future outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and to respond effectively, detailed and clear guidelines for responding to quarantine of patients of new infectious diseases will be needed.