Journal of Korean medical science
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Jun 2022
Development of the Korean Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio as a Tool for Benchmarking Antimicrobial Use in Each Hospital.
The Korea National Antimicrobial Use Analysis System (KONAS), a benchmarking system for antimicrobial use in hospitals, provides Korean Standardized Antimicrobial Administration Ratio (K-SAAR) for benchmarking. This article describes K-SAAR predictive models to enhance the understanding of K-SAAR, an important benchmarking strategy for antimicrobial usage in KONAS. ⋯ We developed a model to predict antimicrobial use rates in Korean hospitals, and the model was used as the denominator of the K-SAAR.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Jun 2022
Case ReportsTwo Case Reports of Life-Threatening Croup Caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 Variant in Pediatric Patients.
Croup is a common upper airway infection characterized by a barking cough, stridor, and hoarseness. It is usually caused by viral infection. A small number of croup caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been reported in children before the omicron variant surge. ⋯ Both patients were discharged without complications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of life-threatening croup produced by the omicron BA.2 variant and confirmed by RT-PCR. We suggest that this SARS-CoV-2 variant may cause severe croup that may not improve with conventional treatment, even in children without underlying diseases.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Jun 2022
MicroRNA Expression in Plasma of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients.
Patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) have a poor prognosis and there are no effective clinical biomarkers. Recently, stable microRNAs detected in the blood have been suggested as potential biomarkers in various cancers. Therefore, we investigated whether plasma microRNAs could be feasible biomarkers for ESCC. ⋯ Our study demonstrated that plasma miR-21, miR-31, and miR-375 could be potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of ESCC. Particularly, plasma miR-31 and miR-375 showed high sensitivity and specificity for differentiating ESCC patients from healthy controls.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Jun 2022
Percutaneous Bone-Anchored Hearing Implant: Is It Clinically Useful in Korean?
The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical effectiveness of Ponto in Korea, a recently released percutaneous bone-anchored hearing implant. ⋯ The Ponto bone-anchored hearing system showed significant clinical benefit in Korean patients with conductive and mixed hearing loss and SSD.
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J. Korean Med. Sci. · Jun 2022
Immunogenicity of COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis: The Efficacy of a Mix-and-Match Strategy.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the immunogenicity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis. ⋯ ESRD patients on hemodialysis receiving the mix-and-match strategy (ChAdOx1-BNT162b2) have COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity comparable to healthy individuals receiving two doses of ChAdOx1.