Objective: Disaster survivors often experience negative impacts on their mental health, but some may also exhibit posttraumatic growth, overcoming adversity, and finding positive outcomes. This study aimed to identify psychological factors influencing posttraumatic growth (PTG) among students who survived the Sewol ferry disaster. Methods: The study used a longitudinal design. Data were collected at 6-month intervals between high school graduation and 6 years after the ferry disaster. Data were obtained from 48 adolescents who completed self-report measures of rumination, meaning in life, coping, PTG, family adaptability and cohesion. Generalized estimating equation models were fitted to 11 waves of follow-up data. Results: Intrusive rumination (coefficient [coef]=0.165; p<0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.081–0.250) and deliberate rumination (coef=0.554; p<0.001; 95% CI 0.376–0.732) were significantly associated with PTG. Concerning meaning in life, the presence of meaning (coef=0.312; p<0.001; 95% CI 0.189–0.435) and the search for meaning (coef=0.216; p=0.001; 95% CI 0.093–0.340) were also significantly associated with PTG. Finally, the problem-focused (coef=0.682; p=0.011; 95% CI 0.153–1.210) and emotion-focused (coef=0.736; p=0.009; 95% CI 0.186–1.285) coping strategies both showed significant associations with PTG. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that rumination, meaning in life, and adaptive coping (including cognitive and emotional coping) were protective factors for mental health problems among adolescents who survived the Sewol ferry disaster. These psychological factors may promote PTG over time.

With the increasing use of CAD-CAM (computer-aided design-computer-aided manufacturing) methods for prosthesis fabrication, utilization of virtual articulators in CAD software has also increased. Among the various methods of positioning the maxilla in a virtual articulator, there are techniques that utilize CBCT (cone-beam computed tomography) or facial scans without the use of a facebow.In this case, a full-mouth rehabilitation was planned for a patient who exhibited multiple crown fractures and occlusal plane disharmony through maxillary complete denture and mandibular fixed prosthetic restoration. Radiopaque markers were added to the duplicated maxillary temporary denture to take closed-mouth impression, which was then scanned and positioned on the CBCT. On CBCT, hinge axis connecting the medial poles of both mandibular condyles along with the Frankfort horizontal plane was designated and utilized to perform virtual articulator mounting. Maxillary complete denture and mandibular fixed prostheses were fabricated, resulting in satisfactory aesthetic and functional outcomes.

Objective: Disaster survivors often experience negative impacts on their mental health, but some may also exhibit posttraumatic growth, overcoming adversity, and finding positive outcomes. This study aimed to identify psychological factors influencing posttraumatic growth (PTG) among students who survived the Sewol ferry disaster. Methods: The study used a longitudinal design. Data were collected at 6-month intervals between high school graduation and 6 years after the ferry disaster. Data were obtained from 48 adolescents who completed self-report measures of rumination, meaning in life, coping, PTG, family adaptability and cohesion. Generalized estimating equation models were fitted to 11 waves of follow-up data. Results: Intrusive rumination (coefficient [coef]=0.165; p<0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.081–0.250) and deliberate rumination (coef=0.554; p<0.001; 95% CI 0.376–0.732) were significantly associated with PTG. Concerning meaning in life, the presence of meaning (coef=0.312; p<0.001; 95% CI 0.189–0.435) and the search for meaning (coef=0.216; p=0.001; 95% CI 0.093–0.340) were also significantly associated with PTG. Finally, the problem-focused (coef=0.682; p=0.011; 95% CI 0.153–1.210) and emotion-focused (coef=0.736; p=0.009; 95% CI 0.186–1.285) coping strategies both showed significant associations with PTG. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that rumination, meaning in life, and adaptive coping (including cognitive and emotional coping) were protective factors for mental health problems among adolescents who survived the Sewol ferry disaster. These psychological factors may promote PTG over time.

With the increasing use of CAD-CAM (computer-aided design-computer-aided manufacturing) methods for prosthesis fabrication, utilization of virtual articulators in CAD software has also increased. Among the various methods of positioning the maxilla in a virtual articulator, there are techniques that utilize CBCT (cone-beam computed tomography) or facial scans without the use of a facebow.In this case, a full-mouth rehabilitation was planned for a patient who exhibited multiple crown fractures and occlusal plane disharmony through maxillary complete denture and mandibular fixed prosthetic restoration. Radiopaque markers were added to the duplicated maxillary temporary denture to take closed-mouth impression, which was then scanned and positioned on the CBCT. On CBCT, hinge axis connecting the medial poles of both mandibular condyles along with the Frankfort horizontal plane was designated and utilized to perform virtual articulator mounting. Maxillary complete denture and mandibular fixed prostheses were fabricated, resulting in satisfactory aesthetic and functional outcomes.

Objective: Disaster survivors often experience negative impacts on their mental health, but some may also exhibit posttraumatic growth, overcoming adversity, and finding positive outcomes. This study aimed to identify psychological factors influencing posttraumatic growth (PTG) among students who survived the Sewol ferry disaster. Methods: The study used a longitudinal design. Data were collected at 6-month intervals between high school graduation and 6 years after the ferry disaster. Data were obtained from 48 adolescents who completed self-report measures of rumination, meaning in life, coping, PTG, family adaptability and cohesion. Generalized estimating equation models were fitted to 11 waves of follow-up data. Results: Intrusive rumination (coefficient [coef]=0.165; p<0.001; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.081–0.250) and deliberate rumination (coef=0.554; p<0.001; 95% CI 0.376–0.732) were significantly associated with PTG. Concerning meaning in life, the presence of meaning (coef=0.312; p<0.001; 95% CI 0.189–0.435) and the search for meaning (coef=0.216; p=0.001; 95% CI 0.093–0.340) were also significantly associated with PTG. Finally, the problem-focused (coef=0.682; p=0.011; 95% CI 0.153–1.210) and emotion-focused (coef=0.736; p=0.009; 95% CI 0.186–1.285) coping strategies both showed significant associations with PTG. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that rumination, meaning in life, and adaptive coping (including cognitive and emotional coping) were protective factors for mental health problems among adolescents who survived the Sewol ferry disaster. These psychological factors may promote PTG over time.

With the increasing use of CAD-CAM (computer-aided design-computer-aided manufacturing) methods for prosthesis fabrication, utilization of virtual articulators in CAD software has also increased. Among the various methods of positioning the maxilla in a virtual articulator, there are techniques that utilize CBCT (cone-beam computed tomography) or facial scans without the use of a facebow.In this case, a full-mouth rehabilitation was planned for a patient who exhibited multiple crown fractures and occlusal plane disharmony through maxillary complete denture and mandibular fixed prosthetic restoration. Radiopaque markers were added to the duplicated maxillary temporary denture to take closed-mouth impression, which was then scanned and positioned on the CBCT. On CBCT, hinge axis connecting the medial poles of both mandibular condyles along with the Frankfort horizontal plane was designated and utilized to perform virtual articulator mounting. Maxillary complete denture and mandibular fixed prostheses were fabricated, resulting in satisfactory aesthetic and functional outcomes.

Background/Aims: Although important, clinically significant liver fibrosis is often overlooked in the general population. We aimed to examine the prevalence of clinically significant liver fibrosis using noninvasive tests (NITs) in the general population. Methods: We collected data from four databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, and KoreaMed) from inception to June 13, 2023. Original articles reporting the prevalence of clinically significant liver fibrosis in the general population were included. The Stata metaprop function was used to obtain the pooled prevalence of liver fibrosis with NITs in the general population. Results: We screened 6,429 articles and included 45 eligible studies that reported the prevalence of clinically significant liver fibrosis in the general population. The prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis, using the high probability cutoff of the fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, was 2.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–3.7%). The prevalence of significant liver fibrosis, advanced liver fibrosis, and liver cirrhosis, assessed using vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) among the general population, was 7.3% (95% CI, 5.9–8.8%), 3.5% (95% CI, 2.7–4.5), and 1.2% (95% CI, 0.8–1.8%), respectively. Region-based subgroup analysis revealed that the highest prevalence of advanced fibrosis using the high probability cutoff of the FIB-4 index was observed in the American region. Furthermore, the American region exhibited the highest prevalence of significant liver fibrosis, advanced liver fibrosis, and liver cirrhosis, using VCTE. Conclusions Previously undiagnosed clinically significant liver fibrosis is found in the general population through NITs. Future research is necessary to stratify the risk in the general population.

Background: s/Aims: Liver stiffness measurement (LSM) using vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE) can assess fibrotic burden in chronic liver diseases. The systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine whether LSM using VCTE can predict the risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. Methods: A systematic literature search of the Ovid-Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane, and KoreaMed databases (from January 2010 to June 2023) was conducted. Of the 1,345 individual studies identified, 10 studies that used VCTE were finally registered. Hazard ratios (HRs) and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were considered summary estimates of treatment effect sizes of ≥11 kilopascal (kPa) standard for HCC development. Meta-analysis was performed using the restricted Maximum Likelihood random effects model. Results: Among the ten studies, data for risk ratios for HCC development could be obtained from nine studies. When analyzed for the nine studies, the HR for HCC development was high at 3.33 (95% CI, 2.45–4.54) in CHB patients with a baseline LSM of ≥11 kPa compared to patients who did not. In ten studies included, LSM of ≥11 kPa showed the sensitivity and specificity for predicting HCC development were 61% (95% CI, 50–71%) and 78% (95% CI, 66–86%), respectively, and the diagnostic accuracy was 0.74 (95% CI, 0.70–0.77). Conclusions The risk of HCC development was elevated in CHB patients with VCTE-determined LSM of ≥11 kPa. This finding suggests that VCTE-determined LSM values may aid the risk prediction of HCC development in CHB patients.

Background/Aims: The Fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) is a noninvasive test widely used to rule out advanced liver fibrosis (AF) in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, its diagnostic accuracy in NAFLD patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is controversial due to the high prevalence of AF in this population. Methods: Research focusing on the diagnostic accuracy of FIB-4 for liver fibrosis as validated by liver histology in NAFLD patients with T2DM was included, and 12 studies (n=5,624) were finally included in the meta-analysis. Sensitivity, specificity, hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC), positive predictive values (PPVs), and negative predictive values (NPVs) at low cutoffs (1.3–1.67) and high cutoffs (2.67–3.25) for ruling in and out AF were calculated. Results: At low cutoffs, the meta-analysis revealed a sensitivity of 0.74, specificity of 0.62, and HSROC of 0.75. At high cutoffs, the analysis showed a sensitivity of 0.33, specificity of 0.92, and HSROC of 0.85, suggesting FIB-4 as useful for identifying or excluding AF. In subgroup analyses, high mean age and F3 prevalence were associated with lower sensitivity. The calculated NPV and PPV were 0.82 and 0.49 at low cutoffs, whereas the NPV was 0.28 and the PPV was 0.70 at high cutoffs. There were insufficient estimated NPVs <0.90 at a hypothesized prevalence of AF >30% at an FIB-4 cutoff range of 1.3–1.67. Conclusions Collectively, FIB-4 has moderate diagnostic accuracy for identifying or excluding AF in NAFLD patients with T2DM, but more evidence must be accumulated due to the limited number of currently reported studies and their heterogeneity.