Heart failure (HF) is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in South Korea, imposing substantial physical, emotional, and financial burdens on patients and society. Despite the high burden of symptom and complex care needs of HF patients, palliative care and hospice services remain underutilized in South Korea due to cultural, institutional, and knowledge-related barriers. This position statement from the Korean Society of Heart Failure emphasizes the need for integrating palliative and hospice care into HF management to improve quality of life and support holistic care for patients and their families. By clarifying the role of palliative care in HF and proposing practical referral criteria, this position statement aims to bridge the gap between HF and palliative care services in South Korea, ultimately improving patient-centered outcomes and aligning treatment with the goals and values of HF patients.

Background: Postoperative fever is common. However, it can sometimes indicate severe complications such as sepsis or pneumonia. Intensive care unit (ICU) patients who have undergone abdominal surgery have a higher risk of postoperative fever due the physical severity of this type of surgery. Nevertheless, determining when more aggressive or invasive management of fever is necessary remains a challenge. Methods: We analyzed the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV and MIMIC-IV-Note databases, which are open critical care big databases from a single institute in the United States. From this, we selected ICU patients who developed fever after intra-abdominal surgery and classified these patients into two groups using cluster analysis based on diverse variables from the MIMIC-IV databases. Following this cluster analysis, we assessed differences among the identified groups. Results: Of 2,858 ICU stays after intra-abdominal surgery, 331 postoperative fever cases were identified. These patients were clustered into two groups. Group A included older patients with a higher mortality rate, while group B consisted of younger patients with a lower mortality rate. Conclusions Postoperative ICU patients with a fever could be classified into two distinct groups, a high-risk group and low-risk group. The high-risk patient group was characterized by older age, higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, and more unstable hemodynamic status, indicating the need for aggressive management. Clustering postoperative fever patients by clinical variables can support medical decision-making and targeted treatment to improve patient outcomes.

As the prevalence of myopia has recently increased, there is growing interest in interventions to slow myopia progression. The choroid, the rearmost and largest part of the uveal layer, is a tissue rich in blood vessels located between the retina and the sclera. Recent advancements in diagnostic equipment have enabled direct imaging of the choroid, leading to increased research on its role in both normal and pathological conditions. Regarding myopia, it has been reported that; 1) the choroidal thickness decreases as the degree of myopia and axial length increase, 2) in the case of moderate to high concentrations of atropine or orthokeratology lenses, which are known to slow myopic progression, choroidal thickening is accompanied from the early stages of application, and 3) the mechanism by which choroidal thickening slows myopia progression is also being actively investigated. As a result, the choroid is being recognized as a therapeutic target for developing new interventions to slow myopia progression. Additionally, the increase in choroidal thickness has been reported as a predictive factor for the subsequent myopia progression, suggesting its potential role as a biomarker for assessing the likelihood of future myopia progression.

The Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging-Practical Tutorial (ASCI-PT) is an instructional initiative of the ASCI School designed to enhance educational standards. In 2021, the ASCI-PT was convened with the goal of formulating a consensus statement on the assessment of coronary stenosis and coronary plaque using coronary CT angiography (CCTA). Nineteen experts from four countries conducted thorough reviews of current guidelines and deliberated on eight key issues to refine the process and improve the clarity of reporting CCTA findings. The experts engaged in both online and on-site sessions to establish a unified agreement. This document presents a summary of the ASCI-PT 2021 deliberations and offers a comprehensive consensus statement on the evaluation of coronary stenosis and coronary plaque in CCTA.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of the postoperative spherical equivalent (SE) and astigmatism on the uncorrected near/distance visual acuity (UNVA/UDVA) in monofocal intraocular lens (IOL)-implanted pseudophakic eyes. Methods: Of the eyes that underwent successful cataract surgery and monofocal IOL implantation from January 2020 to September 2021 by a single surgeon, eyes with postoperative astigmatism ≤ 1.5 diopters (D) and -0.75 D ≤ SE < +0.25 D were included. Eyes implanted with a toric IOL or with a best corrected visual acuity under 20/25 were excluded. This was a cross-sectional study, and the correlation of SE/astigmatism and UNVA/UDVA at 1 month postoperatively was analyzed retrospectively. The eyes were divided into mini-myopia (-0.75 D ≤ SE < -0.25 D) and emmetropia (-0.25 D ≤ SE < 0.25 D) groups according to the SE. Results: This study included 118 eyes (86 patients). The UNVA was significantly better in the mini-myopia group than in the emmetropia group (p = 0.009), without a significant difference in UDVA (p = 0.412). Dividing the range into 0.5 D units according to the degree of astigmatism, no significant difference was observed in UNVA/UDVA between the mini-myopia and emmetropia groups in eyes with astigmatism ≤ 1.0 D. However, the mini-myopia group had a significantly better UNVA (p = 0.03), without a significant difference in UDVA (p = 0.879) in eyes with astigmatism > 1.0 D or ≤ 1.5 D. Conclusions In non-toric monofocal IOL-implanted pseudophakic eyes with postoperative residual astigmatism of ≤ 1.5 D, especially in eyes with astigmatism > 1.0 D and ≤ 1.5 D, the mini-myopia group had a significantly better UNVA compared to the emmetropia group, without a significant difference in UDVA.

Objective: This study aimed to establish the basic veterinary clinical skills required to ensure graduates of Korean veterinary universities have the day-one competency to independently perform their professional duties. Methods: The Education Committee of the Korean Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, composed of veterinary school professors and an experienced veterinarian in the clinic, reviewed domestic and international veterinary education-related materials to define basic clinical skills. Results: The Korean Veterinarian Entrustable Professional Activities (KVEPA) was introduced, followed by the subsequent development of 54 essential clinical skills based on the KVEPA. Conclusions and Relevance: The veterinary basic clinical skills established through this study can be used as a specific guide for clinical education in Korean veterinary school, and is expected to play an important role in meeting the needs of the educational sector of the veterinary education accreditation standards.

The Asian Society of Cardiovascular Imaging-Practical Tutorial (ASCI-PT) is an instructional initiative of the ASCI School designed to enhance educational standards. In 2021, the ASCI-PT was convened with the goal of formulating a consensus statement on the assessment of coronary stenosis and coronary plaque using coronary CT angiography (CCTA). Nineteen experts from four countries conducted thorough reviews of current guidelines and deliberated on eight key issues to refine the process and improve the clarity of reporting CCTA findings. The experts engaged in both online and on-site sessions to establish a unified agreement. This document presents a summary of the ASCI-PT 2021 deliberations and offers a comprehensive consensus statement on the evaluation of coronary stenosis and coronary plaque in CCTA.

Competencies are defined as an observable and assessable set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Graduation competencies, which are more comprehensive, refer to the required abilities of students to perform on-site work immediately after graduation. As graduation competencies set the goal of education, various countries and institutions have introduced them for new veterinary graduates. The Korean Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges has recently established such competencies to standardize veterinary education and enhance quality levels thereof. The purpose of this study is to describe the process of establishing graduation competencies as well as their implication for veterinary education in Korea.Graduation competencies for veterinary education in Korea comprise 5 domains (animal health care and disease management, one health expertise, communication and collaboration, research and learning, and veterinary professionalism). These are further divided into 11 core competencies, and 33 achievement standards, which were carefully chosen from previous case analyses and nation-wide surveys. Currently, graduation competencies are used as a standard for setting clear educational purposes for both instructors and students. Establishing these competencies further initiated the development of detailed learning outcomes, and of a list of basic veterinary clinical performances and skills, which is useful for assessing knowledge and skills. The establishment of graduation competencies is expected to contribute to the continuous development of Korean veterinary education in many ways. These include curriculum standardization and licensing examination reform, which will eventually improve the competencies of new veterinary graduates.

Acupuncture is recognized as a component of alternative medicine and is increasingly used worldwide. Many studies have shown the various effects of acupuncture around the eyes for ophthalmologic or nonophthalmologic conditions. For ophthalmologic conditions, the effect of acupuncture on dry eye syndrome, glaucoma, myopia, amblyopia, ophthalmoplegia, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, blepharospasm, and blepharoptosis has been reported. Recently, several studies on dry eye syndrome have been reported and are in the spotlight. However, given the variety of study designs and reported outcomes of periocular acupuncture, research is still inconclusive, and further studies are required. In addition, although a systematic and reliable safety assessment is required, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no reports of a literature review of ocular complications resulting from periocular acupuncture. This review collected cases of ocular injury as severe adverse events from previously published case reports of periocular acupuncture. A total of 14 case reports (15 eyes of 14 patients) of adverse events published between 1982 and 2020 were identified. This review article provides a summary of the reported cases and suggestions for the prevention and management of better visual function prognosis.