Medicine
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Diet plays a crucial role as a modifiable risk factor related to the development of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its cluster. Constitution type of traditional Korean medicine has shown accuracy to predict the risk for MetS. We attempted to examine the association between nutritional status, pre-MetS, and its cluster in Korean adults by their constitution type. ⋯ Lower status of NQ had about 2 times higher risk of Pre-MetS (ORs: 1.855, 95% CI: 1.018-3.380) and abdominal obesity (ORs: 2.035, 95% CI: 1.097-3.775) in TE compared with higher status of NQ after controlling for covariates. Poor diet was a key contributor to the development of Pre-MetS and abdominal obesity in Korean adults with TE. Customized nutrition care and integrated medicinal approaches are strongly suggested to conduct optimal preventive care for people who are vulnerable to health risk.
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Appendicitis is a common intra-abdominal inflammatory disease, and morbidity increases with age when perforation occurs. Because, not all patients require emergency surgery, there have been numerous studies on factors for predicting perforated appendicitis. In this study, we aimed to confirm whether the delta neutrophil index (DNI) and the time from symptom onset to surgery are effective predictors for perforated appendicitis in different age groups. ⋯ In addition, the cutoff values have been determined and perforation occurred significantly in the group with a DNI value of 2.1 or higher and a symptomatic time of 33 hours or longer. DNI is effective in predicting perforation in patients with appendicitis compared with other inflammatory factors. Furthermore, the simultaneous measurement of symptomatic time and DNI is helpful in predicting perforation and determining whether emergency surgery is necessary.
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Observational Study
Exploration of simulation-based medical education for undergraduate students.
Over the past decades, extensive studies have underscored the growing importance of simulation-based medical education (SBME) for medical students. However, the underlying influence of SBME on undergraduate students is yet to be investigated. This work is a single-center cohort study involving 1178 undergraduate students who were divided into a control group and an SBME group. ⋯ The humanistic care (improvement rate: 69.2%) and doctor-patient communication (improvement rate: 56.3%) performances of these studies were vastly improved. The students in the SBME group tend to allocate more time to communicating with others. SBME is an effective teaching method that can improve the reflective capacity and communication skills of undergraduate medical students, thereby resulting in their relatively improved performance.
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To review the various quality of life (QoL) scales specific for chronic venous diseases (CVDs) and provide guidance and a reference for researchers to select the ideal measurement scale before studying QoL in patients with CVDs. The EBSCO, Ovid, PubMed, Wanfang, and CNKI databases were searched for the keywords "vein," "quality of life," and "scale/questionnaire," and various scales used to measure QoL in patients with CVDs. ⋯ The scales differed in dimension, reliability, validity, scoring method, evaluation method, and scope of application. The investigator should select the chronic venous disease QoL scale according to the research purpose and subjects, and then implement the scale to compare the specific aspects of QoL in patients with different CVDs.
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Although collaborative treatment by traditional Korean medicine doctors (KMDs) and medical doctors occurs, it is mainly done by referral. As no survey of the general public's preference for the type of collaboration has ever been conducted, we aimed to investigate Koreans' preferences for a collaborative treatment type. The responders were extracted by random digit dialing and then reextracted using the proportional quota sampling method by sex and age. ⋯ Respondents who were familiar with collaborative treatment but did not report any personal experience with it were more likely to prefer a one-stop treatment approach than those who were not familiar with collaborative treatment (adjusted odds ratio: 1.82; 95% confidence interval: 1.37-2.44). Koreans prefer a concurrent type of collaborative treatment system by KMDs and medical doctors. Therefore, efforts and support are needed to increase the application of the concurrent type of collaborative system.