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BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: Poor adherence in patients taking warfarin may be one of the most common barriers to obtain favorable anticoagulation outcomes. This study was conducted to identify factors affecting medication adherence and their relationships with anticoagulation control in Korean patients taking warfarin. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional survey, 204 patients taking warfarin who had visited an outpatient clinic of a cardiovascular center located in Seoul, Korea, were included as research subjects. Medication adherence, knowledge about warfarin, self-efficacy, and patient understanding of the international normalized ratio (INR) were investigated. Participants' medical records were also reviewed to identify clinical characteristics including comorbid conditions, warfarin regimen, and INR. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: When medication adherence was defined as taking warfarin according to medical advice (frequency, dosage, time, and precautions), 56 (27.5%) of 204 respondents were adherent. The adherent group had a greater understanding about warfarin than the nonadherent group as measured by 10 survey items (7.20 ± 1.70 vs 6.56 ± 1.84; P < .05) and had significantly higher self-efficacy (P < .000). However, medication adherence was not associated with good anticoagulation level as measured by INR. The results show that knowledge about warfarin and self-efficacy exert significant influence on medication adherence, and yet medication adherence did not predict therapeutic anticoagulation control. Further studies are needed to identify factors predicting favorable anticoagulation control in patients taking warfarin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors undertook to investigate the diagnostic performance of high-resolution ultrasound (HRUS), and to compare the differential diagnostic and staging accuracies of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), HRUS, and multidetector computed tomography for gallbladder (GB) polypoid lesions and GB cancer.Endoscopic ultrasonography was considered the most sensitive diagnostic modality for GB polypoid lesions. However, recent technical advancements in other image modalities including conventional sonography (US) allow the production of comparable images.A total of 170 patients, with a more than 1-cm sized polypoid GB lesion, and without evidence of definite local invasion to adjacent organs during primary screening, were consecutively enrolled in this prospective, blind, comparative study. After excluding 26 patients with inappropriate medical histories, 144 patients were finally enrolled. All patients underwent surgical resection. Clinical diagnoses were compared with histopathologic findings by diagnostic modality.Of the 144 patients, there were 115 (79.8%) cases of benign GB polypoid lesions and 29 (20.2%) cases of GB cancers. Diagnostic sensitivities for malignancy were 90% for HRUS, 86% for EUS, and 72% for CT. When evaluating the abilities of these modalities to predict GB cancer depth of invasion, we excluded 2 unusual GB malignancies (melanoma and lymphoma), HRUS was found to have the highest diagnostic accuracy of 62.9%; EUS and CT had accuracies of 55.5% and 44.4%, respectively.The diagnostic accuracies of HRUS and EUS for the differential diagnosis of GB polypoid lesions were comparable. In view of patient comfort and no requirement for sedation, we consider that HRUS is likely to become an important diagnostic modality for the differential diagnosis and staging of GB polypoid lesions and early GB cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This retrospective, cross-sectional, and descriptive study aimed to analyze the trend of utilizing traditional Korean medicine services in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) and/or lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). In this study, based on the national patient sample data provided by Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the trend of Korean medicine service utilization was investigated, including the following information: demographic characteristics of the patients, the total expenditure, number of claim statements per category, medical care expenditure per category, and routes of visiting traditional Korean medicine institutions. The study population comprised patients who visited Korean medicine institutions at least once from January 2010 to December 2019, with LSS and LDH as the primary diagnosis. LDH patients who used traditional Korean medicine services for treatment increased by about 1.36 times. LDH and LSS patients under 45 years of age were more likely to be males, but women accounted for a higher percentage among those over 45 years of age. Overall, women accounted for a slightly higher percentage than their counterparts for both diseases. From details of treatments received that were extracted from the claims data, acupuncture treatment accounted for the highest percentage for both disorders. Moreover, 50.7% of the patients who visited Korean medicine institutions to treat the two diseases also visited conventional Western medicine institutions. These patients, who were diagnosed with their condition at a Korean medicine institution, visited a conventional institution and then returned; the conventional institutions were primarily used for examination (40.5%). Increased utilization of traditional Korean medicine services was confirmed among patients with LDH and/or LSS; in particular, a sharp increase was noted among patients with LSS. The results of this study will be useful as basic research data for clinicians, researchers, and policy makers., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Patient safety is a critical and long-standing issue in nursing research. The purposes of this study were to explore the knowledge structure of patient safety and to provide a direction for future research by offering new perspectives and a theoretical clarification of patient safety in nursing. Keyword network analysis was performed by extracting keywords from abstracts of 6072 published articles. To reflect nursing perspectives, focus group interviews were conducted and Kim's typology consisting of four domains was used as the framework of analysis. Visualized knowledge structure showed avoiding medication error and preventing pressure ulcers or falls remain important topics within this research field. The distribution of core keywords as per four domains was in the following order: practice, client, environment, and client-nurse domain. Within the client domain, patients' harm-related core keywords were limited to physical harm. The detailed knowledge structure consisted of five themes: patient, preventable patient harm, practice, error, and environment. It comprised risk assessment for patients' characteristics and environmental elements surrounding patient and nursing practice, and risk management using information as knowledge-based nursing practice. Regarding further research, we suggest a multidimensional approach to patient harm, and the utilization of the client-nurse relationship and information systems as strategies for patient safety., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder which has considerable effect to patient's quality of life and social functioning. Its main symptoms include recurrent abdominal pain and/or bloating associated with abnormal stool form or frequency. The recommendable treatment of IBS is a medication including loperamide, cimetropium, tricyclic antidepressants, and selective serotonin receptor inhibitors, but it has limited effects and several side effects dissatisfy IBS patients. As an alternative therapy, Xiaoyao-san (XYS) is gaining interest for IBS patients. XYS, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has wide scope of indications and it can be prescribed for various gastrointestinal disorders in TCM syndromes but there has been no systematic review on IBS. Therefore, this review aims on systematically validating the curative effect of XYS on IBS., Methods: Electronic databases, manual search, and contact to author e-mail will be used for searching randomized controlled trials about the use of XYS for IBS. We will select studies by the predefined criteria and collect the data on study participants, interventions, control groups, outcome measurement, adverse events, and risk of bias. Primary outcome will be the efficacy rate, and secondary outcomes will be the IBS-centered indices (abdominal pain score, abdominal distension score, diarrhea or constipation score, bowel symptom severity scale), index about quality of life, and adverse events. Review Manager software and Cochrane Collaboration "risk of bias" tools will be used for meta-analysis and assessment of risk of bias., Results: This review will identify the clinical evidence of XYS's effectiveness and safety for IBS according to formal evaluation aspects., Conclusion: This review will further support the evidence-based usage of XYS for IBS treatment., Ethics and Dissemination: No ethical approval is required since there is no personal information collection and patient recruitment., Trial Registration Number: Research Registry; reviewregistry986., Competing Interests: The authors declare that no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Scoliosis is a spinal deformity and is diagnosed as Cobb angle being greater than 10°. Because it is accompanied with structural dysfunction, it can cause pain, worsen the patient's general health and quality of life. The prevalence of scoliosis has been increasing and many treatments, including surgical treatment and conservative treatment, such as observation, bracing, physiotherapy, and Chuna manual therapy (CMT), have been suggested. CMT is a manual therapy in Korean medicine that provides effective stimulation to the patient's body structure to treat structural dysfunction. After Korean national health insurance's coverage of CMT in 2019, the application of CMT for scoliosis has increased, and many studies have been reported. There have been attempts to elucidate the effectiveness of CMT on scoliosis; however, its effectiveness still remains unconfirmed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of CMT on scoliosis., Methods: The published randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effectiveness and safety of CMT for scoliosis will be searched for in multiple electronic databases without the limitation of country and language. Data on characteristics of studies, interventions, comparators, outcome measures, results, and information for assessment of study quality will be extracted. The primary outcome will be the Cobb angle and the secondary outcomes will be the scales of pain, function, quality of life and disability, and adverse events. Data synthesis and analysis will be conducted using the Review Manager software for Windows (RevMan ver. 5.3.; Copenhagen; The Nordic Cochrane Center, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2014). Subgroup analysis to identify the differences between different CMT maneuvers will also be performed. For risk of bias assessment, the "risk of bias" tool from Cochrane Collaboration will be used., Results: This study will present the clinical evidence on the effectiveness and safety of CMT on scoliosis., Conclusion: This study will propose useful evidence for treatment, further research, and health policies in the future., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a common symptom that affects almost 80% of the global population. LBP manifests as diverse pathologies and has different causes. The focus of this paper is nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) wherein the pain lasts for more than 12 weeks, and for which there is no definite cause. Although there are various treatment options for NSCLBP, including medication and exercise, each option has its own limitations. Although electroacupuncture (EA) has been known to have useful analgesic effects on chronic LBP, there is no systematic review (SR) on EA in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to systematically review and validate the effectiveness and safety of EA for NSCLBP., Methods: We will search for randomized controlled trials on the use of EA for NSCLBP in multiple electronic databases, manual searches, and contacting authors. We will screen and select studies according to the predefined criteria and extract the data needed for this SR. The primary outcome will be the pain index (Visual Analog Scale and Numeric Rating Scale), and the secondary outcomes will be the functional status (Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire), patient-centered outcomes, and adverse events. We will perform a meta-analysis using Review Manager software (Version 5.3; Copenhagen; The Nordic Cochrane Center, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2014) and assess the risk of bias using Cochrane Collaboration "risk of bias" tools and the quality of evidence using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation., Results: Our SR will investigate the effectiveness and safety of EA on NSCLBP., Conclusion: Our SR will support the published clinical evidence of the usage of EA for NSCLBP to assess the effectiveness and safety of EA., Trial Registration Number: INPLASY; INPLASY2020120039., Competing Interests: The authors declare that no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: Scoliosis is a disease that affects all age groups and alters the three-dimensional deviation of the spinal axis. It is diagnosed when Cobb angle presents over 10 degrees and the reasons include aging, traumatic injuries, unknown origin, and disorders of congenital, neurological, musculoskeletal, and connective tissue. Scoliosis treatments are divided into surgical and conservative options. Surgery can correct the curved spine but has associated risks and economic burden. Conservative treatments, particularly bracing, prevent the progression of scoliosis, but still remains potential ingredient of curvation and patients poor compliance. Recent studies reported that various types of acupuncture can improve the curvation and the associated pain. However, there has been no systematic review on this issue. Therefore, this study will review the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture on scoliosis., Methods: Searching randomized controlled trials about the use of acupuncture for scoliosis will be performed using multiple electronic databases, manual search, and contact to authors e-mail if needed. We will select studies by the pre-defined criteria and summarize the data on study participants, interventions, control groups, outcome measurement, adverse events, and risk of bias. The primary outcome will be the Cobb angle, which is objective, and the secondary outcomes are associated with patient-centered indices (pain, functional status, and quality of life), which are subjective and adverse events. We will use Review Manager software (Version 5.3; Copenhagen; The Nordic Cochrane Center, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2014) to perform a meta-analysis and Cochrane Collaboration "risk of bias" tools to assess the risk of bias., Results: Our study will investigate the clinical evidence on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture on scoliosis., Conclusion: Our study will be informative to scoliosis patients, clinicians, policy makers, and researchers working with conservative management for scoliosis.

Background: Hypertension and ischemic heart disease are major causes of adult mortality. Related interventions to manage these conditions are important to implement during long, symptom-free periods. The recent proliferation of smartphones has spawned numerous health interventions that rely on mobile applications., Purpose: This systematic review was designed to summarize and analyze research on interventions using mobile applications for patients with hypertension and ischemic heart disease., Methods: We searched for related studies published from January 2006 to August 2017 on MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and three Korean databases. Seventeen studies were identified and evaluated against eligibility criteria that included a focus on patients with hypertension or ischemic heart disease and a discussion of the detailed effects of a mobile-app-based intervention. All of the identified studies were evaluated qualitatively using a methodology checklist., Results: Twelve of the 17 studies were deemed as of acceptable quality according to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network quality assessment. According to the National Institutes of Health quality assessment tool, one article was of fair quality and four articles were of poor quality. Monitoring, education, and reminders were identified as application interventions. The effects of the app interventions were analyzed according to physiological factors, cognitive and behavioral factors, and psychological factors. Of the seven studies that measured blood pressure in patients with hypertension, five studies reported that the app-based interventions reduced blood pressure. Two of three studies showed a significant decrease of body mass index in patients with ischemic heart disease after the app-based interventions compared to the control group. Five of seven studies reported a significant change in medication adherence. Several studies showed different outcomes according to the disease, but the limited number of eligible studies was insufficient to demonstrate a conclusive effect., Conclusions: To ensure the long-term effects of mobile-application-based interventions, healthcare professionals should consider the functions of mobile applications. Moreover, because the focus of these interventions may differ based on the nature of the disease, it is recommended that the composition of interventions be tailored to the specific disease.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major degenerative disease that affects the elderly. The global prevalence of OA is increasing annually. However, current treatments are unable to halt the progress of OA. At present, pharmacological treatments such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors control the pain; however, there may be side effects to these medications. We hypothesized that Cortex Eucommiae (CE; Eucommia ulmoides Oliver) extract, which is used as a dietary supplement, may slow down or prevent OA., Methods: This is a protocol for a 12-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CE extract in subjects with mild OA. One-hundred subjects with mild OA will be recruited and randomly divided in a 1:1 ratio into 2 groups. One group will receive CE extract for 12 weeks and the other group will receive placebo for 12 weeks. Outcomes will be evaluated by using the visual analog scale (VAS), Korean-Western Ontario and McMaster Universities index (K-WOMAC), Korean-Short Form health survey-36 score (KSF-36), and laboratory test results., Discussion: This clinical trial is expected to provide evidence of the efficacy and safety of CE extract as a treatment for mild OA., Trial Registration: Clinical Trials.gov NCT03744611, registered on November 12, 2018, at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03744611.

Background: Lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (LHIVD) is a frequent disease among patients attending Korean medicine hospitals, and it is associated with considerable medical expenses for the patients. Although several recent randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have reported that thread-embedding acupuncture (TEA) has a more favorable therapeutic effect on LHIVD than other types of acupuncture or other treatments, the evidence remains limited because these trials used poor assessment methods and had a high risk of bias. This study aims to evaluate the evidence for the effectiveness and safety of TEA for LHIVD. In this article, we describe our methods and plan for a systematic review., Methods: We will conduct an electronic search of the following databases from their inception to May 2018: MEDLINE; EMBASE; COCHRANE; China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) (a Chinese database); CiNii and J-STAGE (Japanese databases); and KoreaMed, Korean Medical Database (KMbase), Korean Studies Information Service System (KISS), National Digital Science Library (NDSL), Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS). RCTs investigating any type of TEA will be included. The risk of bias in each study will be evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Risk ratios or mean differences with 95% confidence intervals will be used to show the effects of TEA if it will be possible to conduct a meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses will also be conducted in this study., Ethics and Dissemination: Ethical approval is not necessary as this paper does not involve patient data. The review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal or presented in a conference., Trial Registration Number: PROSPERO CRD42019133060.

Background: In South Korea, a few patients with low back pain (LBP) are currently being treated with a combination of traditional Korean medicine (KM) and Western medicine (WM). Although a recent research has reported results regarding patient satisfaction and exploratory effectiveness, evidence of comparative effectiveness still needs to be reviewed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of KM and WM collaborative treatment (CT) compared with that of sole treatment (ST) for patients with LBP in Korea., Method/design: This multisite, prospective observational comparative effectiveness research study is part of a nationwide pilot project for KM and WM collaboration launched by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. The duration of the study is 8 weeks, and the target number of inclusion is 360 patients. Participants receive treatment according to their treatment plan, and a researcher conducts investigations thrice, every 4 weeks. In the final analysis, the merged data from the participants' questionnaire responses, hospital medical records, and administrative data, and Health Insurance Review and Assessment service data will be compared between the CT and ST groups., Discussion: This study will provide clinical and economic information about CT for LBP, which might be a milestone for establishing future polices about this collaboration in Korea., Trial Registration: The study protocol has been registered with the Clinical Research Information Service (KCT0002827).

Background: This randomized trial evaluated the effect of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) based on fentanyl mixed with either propacetamol or an equivalent volume of normal saline on postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in highly susceptible patients undergoing spinal surgery., Materials and Methods: One hundred eight nonsmoking female patients were randomly and evenly allocated to receive IV-PCA with either propacetamol (4 g) or normal saline mixed to fentanyl (20 μg/kg). Primary study outcome was PONV incidence at 24 hours postsurgery. Secondary outcomes were nausea severity, pain intensity (100-mm visual analog scale), use of rescue antiemetics and analgesics, patient satisfaction, and adverse events at 6, 12, and 24 hours postsurgery., Results: Postsurgery, the propacetamol versus normal saline group had lower PONV incidence at 24 hours (41% vs. 66%, P=0.011); pain intensity at rest and rescue analgesic requirements at 6 to 12 hours (30±15 vs. 41±19, P=0.008; and 25% vs. 49%, P=0.036, respectively) and at 12 to 24 hours (25±15 vs. 35±17, P=0.008; and 19% vs. 42%, P=0.044, respectively); and higher patient satisfaction score (6.4±1.4 vs. 5.7±1.8, P=0.028)., Conclusions: In patients undergoing spinal surgery and at risk of developing PONV, continuous IV-PCA based on propacetamol mixed to fentanyl, relative to fentanyl alone, effectively reduced the incidence of PONV, pain intensity at rest, and additional use of rescue analgesics with higher patient satisfaction.

Silicon nanopore membranes (SNMs) with compact geometry and uniform pore size distribution have demonstrated a remarkable capacity for hemofiltration. These advantages could potentially be used for hemodialysis. Here, we present an initial evaluation of the SNM's mechanical robustness, diffusive clearance, and hemocompatibility in a parallel plate configuration. Mechanical robustness of the SNM was demonstrated by exposing membranes to high flows (200 ml/min) and pressures (1,448 mm Hg). Diffusive clearance was performed in an albumin solution and whole blood with blood and dialysate flow rates of 25 ml/min. Hemocompatibility was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry after 4 hours in an extracorporeal porcine model. The pressure drop across the flow cell was 4.6 mm Hg at 200 ml/min. Mechanical testing showed that SNM could withstand up to 775.7 mm Hg without fracture. Urea clearance did not show an appreciable decline in blood versus albumin solution. Extracorporeal studies showed blood was successfully driven via the arterial-venous pressure differential without thrombus formation. Bare silicon showed increased cell adhesion with a 4.1-fold increase and 1.8-fold increase over polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated surfaces for tissue plasminogen factor (t-PA) and platelet adhesion (CD41), respectively. These initial results warrant further design and development of a fully scaled SNM-based parallel plate dialyzer for renal replacement therapy.

Objectives: To investigate the efficiency of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents employing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF121)/rGel conjugated MnFe2O4 nanocrystals for imaging of neovasculature using a bladder tumor model., Materials and Methods: VEGF121/rGel was conjugated to MnFe2O4 nanoparticles (MNPs). The targeting efficiency and detection capability of the VEGF121/rGel-MNPs were investigated in both KDR-deficient (253JB-V) and KDR-overexpressing (PAE/KDR) cells using MRI. The internalization of VEGF121/rGel-MNPs into cells was confirmed by electron microscopy. Their phosphorylation ability and cytotoxicity were compared with unconjugated VEGF121/rGel. The orthotopic tumor mice were established by implanting low KDR-expressing 253JB-V cells into the bladder dome. After tail-vein injection of VEGF121/rGel-MNPs, the MR signal enhancement of intratumoral vessels by VEGF121/rGel-MNPs was observed and inhibition test using VEGF121 was also conducted. Ex vivo MR imaging of tumor tissue, and a fluorescence immunostaining study was also performed., Results: The water-soluble VEGF121/rGel-MNPs (44.5 ± 1.2 nm) were stably suspended in the biologic media and exhibited a high relaxivity coefficient (423 mMs). They demonstrated sufficient targeting capability against KDR-overexpressing PAE/KDR cells, as confirmed by dose-dependent MR images and VEGF121 inhibition tests. The phosphorylation activity of KDR and cytotoxicity of VEGF121/rGel-MNPs were evaluated. VEGF121/rGel-MNPs successfully targeted the tumor and provided accurate anatomic details through (i) acquisition of clear neoangiogenic vascular distributions and (ii) obvious enhancement of the MR signal in T2*-weighted images. Immunostaining and blocking studies demonstrated the specific targeting ability of VEGF121/rGel-MNPs toward intratumoral angiogenesis., Conclusions: Synthesized VEGF121/rGel-MNPs as targeted MR imaging contrast agents can be specifically delivered to tumors and bind to KDR-expressing angiogenic tumor vessels.