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Purpose of the study: Haptic technology, which can qualitatively expand virtual or augmented reality experiences beyond the sensation of the ear and eye, is realized by electrical and mechanical stimulation of afferent nerves or mechanoreceptors. In this review, researchers highlight the biological basis for sensation and suggest the advanced direction in the electric tactile-based haptic system using low impedance materials. Methodology: Conductive polymer called “Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)” was examined for chemical properties and biocompatibility. Main Findings: Study of PEDOT:PSS shows the superior property in terms of deformability and electrical performance for developing the low-impedance, skin-like haptic interfaces. Implications: To provide wear- comfort, skin-like technologies that impose a negligible physical burden on the user should be used. The mainstream of haptic technology involves the development of a system that could provide myriads of sensations to the skin through not only to the fingertips but also to some or all regions of the body. Novelty: Researchers also provide the strategy to impart skin-like property as well as low impedance using hydrogel polymer which is desirable in wearable haptic systems.

Background Two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) have been increasingly used in various intra-articular fractures including pilon fracture. However, no study has investigated intraobserver and interobserver reliabilities of pilon fracture classification using 3D CT images. Hypothesis (1) Intraobserver and interobserver agreements of fracture classifications and treatment recommendations will improve by using 2D CT images compared to using plain radiographs only; (2) agreements will improve by adding 3D CT images compared to adding 2D CT images; and (3) agreements of orthopedic residents rather than specialists will be influenced more by imaging modality. Materials and methods Ten orthopedic specialists and 10 residents completed a survey to classify the fractures according to the Ruedi-Allgower and AO/OTA classifications and to select treatment options using 25 pilon fracture images. The survey was conducted using plain radiographs, with 2D and 3D CT images introduced 3 and 6 weeks later, respectively. Kappa coefficients were calculated to determine reliabilities. Results Intraobserver reliabilities for fracture classifications in specialists significantly improved by using 2D images compared to using plain radiographs only. Addition of 3D CT did not significantly improve intraobserver reliabilities compared to those with 2D CT. Use of 2D CT images significantly improved overall interobserver agreement of both classifications, with the improvement being greater for residents. Use of 3D CT images did not improve the interobserver reliability of both classifications. Overall interobserver reliabilities for treatment recommendations did not significantly differ according to the imaging modality. However, interobserver agreement among residents significantly improved from slight agreement using radiographs only to fair agreement using 2D CT images. Discussion Intraobserver and interobserver reliabilities of pilon fracture classification and treatment recommendations did not improve between using 3D and 2D CT. Using 2D CT images improved the intraobserver and interobserver reliabilities of the fracture classifications in specialists and the interobserver reliabilities of the fracture classifications and the treatment recommendations in residents. Level of evidence IV, case control study.

Objectives: Regular uptake of mammogra­phy screening reduces the risk of advanced stage diagnosis of breast cancer (BC). How­ever, BC screening rates remain suboptimal among Korean American (KA) women. Using the Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Healthcare Services Utilization, this study examined factors associated with mammog­raphy screening among KA women aged 50 to 80 years in the state of Georgia, USA. Methods: We used purposive sampling to recruit study participants in the Atlanta met­ropolitan area from May 2015 to February 2016. A total of 303 KA women completed a cross-sectional, self-report survey about their sociodemographics, health care access information, knowledge, self-efficacy, deci­sional balance, and mammography history. Results: Descriptive analyses confirmed low rates of mammography screening in the participants. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that having a mammogram within the past year was associated with greater BC knowledge, higher scores of decisional balance and fewer annual health check-ups among KA women without any cancer history. Conclusions: The findings offer implica­tions for health policy aimed at increas­ing BC screening by leveraging enabling factors among medically underserved KA women at both structural and cultural levels. Ethn Dis .2019;29(Suppl 2):427-434; doi:10.18865/ed.29.S2.427

© 2019 ASIS & T This study investigates motivations for self-archiving research items on academic social networking sites (ASNSs). A model of these motivations was developed based on two existing motivation models: motivation for self-archiving in academia and motivations for information sharing in social media. The proposed model is composed of 18 factors drawn from personal, social, professional, and external contexts, including enjoyment, personal/professional gain, reputation, learning, self-efficacy, altruism, reciprocity, trust, community interest, social engagement, publicity, accessibility, self-archiving culture, influence of external actors, credibility, system stability, copyright concerns, additional time, and effort. Two hundred and twenty-six ResearchGate users participated in the survey. Accessibility was the most highly rated factor, followed by altruism, reciprocity, trust, self-efficacy, reputation, publicity, and others. Personal, social, and professional factors were also highly rated, while external factors were rated relatively low. Motivations were correlated with one another, demonstrating that RG motivations for self-archiving could increase or decrease based on several factors in combination with motivations from the personal, social, professional, and external contexts. We believe the findings from this study can increase our understanding of users' motivations in sharing their research and provide useful implications for the development and improvement of ASNS services, thereby attracting more active users.

Despite being the poorest or second poorest participant, Vietnam performed much better than all other developing countries, and even ahead of wealthier countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., on the 2012 and 2015 PISA assessments. We provide a rigorous investigation of Vietnam's strong performance. After making various parametric and non-parametric corrections for potentially non-representative PISA samples, including bias due to Vietnam's large out-of-school population, Vietnam still remains a large positive outlier conditional on its income. Possible higher motivation of, and coaching given to, Vietnamese students only partly explains Vietnam's performance, and this is also the case for various observed household- and school-level variables. Finally, Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions indicate that the gap in average test scores between Vietnam and the other participating countries is due not to differences in students' and schools' observed characteristics, but instead to Vietnam's greater "productivity" of those characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Korean American (KA) women have experienced higher prevalence and lower survival rates of breast cancer (BC) than other ethnic groups in the United States. However, BC screening rates for KA women remain significantly lower than the national target (81.1%) specified by Healthy People 2020. Few studies have explained how the decision to adopt BC screening occurs and progresses and what factors contribute to this decision among KA women. This study used Weinstein’s Precaution Adoption Process Model (PAPM) as a theoretical framework to examine characteristics and factors associated with the decisional stage of mammography adoption. METHODS: A cross-sectional self-report survey was administered among KA women (N = 308) ages 50 to 80 from the Atlanta metropolitan area. A total of 281 KA women completed the survey, answering questions about socio-demographics, health-related information, mammography history, doctor recommendation, BC screening knowledge, self-efficacy for BC screening, decisional balance scores on attitudes and beliefs pertaining to mammography, and the seven-stage PAPM. RESULTS: KA women reported a low rate of mammography uptake with about 24% and 35% of the participants undergoing mammography within the last year and two years, respectively. KA women in stages 5 (decided yes), 6 (action), and 7 (maintenance) were likely to have increased screening-related knowledge, positive decisional balance, and regular medical check-up compared to those in stages 1 (unaware), 2 (unengaged), and 3 (deciding). CONCLUSION: This study highlights important factors that could potentially facilitate BC screening among KA women in Georgia. The findings also provide implications for interventions and practice for increasing mammography screening among medically underserved populations.

More than 20 percent of all school-aged children in the United States have vision problems, and low-income and minority children are disproportionately likely to have unmet vision care needs. Vision screening is common in U.S. schools, but it remains an open question whether screening alone is sufficient to improve student outcomes. We implemented a multi-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of vision screening, and of vision screening accompanied by eye exams and eyeglasses, provided by a non-profit organization to Title I elementary schools in three large central Florida school districts. We find that providing additional/enhanced screening alone is generally insufficient to improve student achievement in math and reading. In contrast, providing screening along with free eye exams and free eyeglasses to students with vision problems improved student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. We find, averaging over all students (including those without vision problems), that this more comprehensive intervention increased the probability of passing the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Tests (FCATs) in reading and math by approximately 2.0 percentage points. We also present evidence that indicates that this impact fades out over time, indicating that follow-up actions after the intervention may be necessary to sustain these estimated achievement gains.

Mentoring by faculty advisors is closely related to the personal and professional outcomes of doctoral students. However, few researchers have examined the characteristics of faculty mentors. To deal with this lack of research, the author attempted to explore the characteristics of faculty mentors from the perspective of Library and Information Science (LIS) doctoral students in the United States. In the study, the author combined interviews and a survey to examine the characteristics of faculty mentors. The interview and survey findings present a list of characteristics that are comprehensive and specific to LIS doctoral education. Specifically, the author describes a faculty mentor as a well-rounded person who possesses both professional and interpersonal characteristics. In addition, the findings show some aspects in which the current advising/mentoring could improve. The current study offers a guideline for the accomplishment of doctoral mentoring at a concrete level, rather than vaguely recommending that faculty advisors support the professional and psychosocial development of their students. In a following paper, the author will relate background characteristics of doctoral students to their perception of mentors.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: Korean Americans (KAs) report suboptimal colorectal cancer (CRC) screening adherence. This study investigated factors that enable KAs to adhere to CRC screening guidelines using Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Utilization. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey using self-report measures of CRC screening behaviors. SAMPLE AND METHODS: Purposive sampling was used to recruit 433 KAs aged 50–75 from the Atlanta metropolitan area who completed questionnaires measuring predisposing (i.e., gender, age, marital status, educational attainment), enabling (income, health insurance, regular annual check-ups, doctor recommendation, English proficiency, CRC knowledge, self-efficacy for CRC screening, decisional balance in CRC screening), and need (family cancer history, self-reported health status) factors associated with CRC screening. FINDINGS: A multiple logistic regression model including all 14 predictor variables revealed that several enabling factors (i.e., income, regular annual health check-ups, doctor’s recommendation, self-efficacy, and decisional balance) independently predicted increased CRC screening adherence in KAs. No predisposing or need factors independently predicted CRC screening. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOSOCIAL PROVIDERS OR POLICY: To increase CRC screening adherence among KAs, psychosocial interventions should target on improving their self-efficacy and decisional balance regarding CRC screening, while policy interventions should focus on promoting health providers’ CRC screening recommendations during routine health check-ups.

BACKGROUND The internet has emerged as a main venue of health information delivery and health-related activities. However, few studies have examined how health literacy determines online health-related behavior. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the current level of health-related information-seeking using the internet and how health literacy, access to technology, and sociodemographic characteristics impact health-related information-seeking behavior. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study through a survey with Minnesotan adults (N=614) to examine their health literacy, access to technology, and health-related information-seeking internet use. We used multivariate regression analysis to assess the relationship between health-related information-seeking on the internet and health literacy and access to technology, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS Better health literacy (β=.35, SE 0.12) and greater access to technological devices (eg, mobile phone and computer or tablet PC; β=.06, SE 0.19) were both associated with more health-related information-seeking behavior on the internet after adjusting for all other sociodemographic characteristics. Possession of a graduate degree (β=.28, SE 0.07), female gender (β=.15, SE 0.05), poor health (β=.22, SE 0.06), participation in social groups (β=.13, SE 0.05), and having an annual health exam (β=.35, SE 0.12) were all associated with online health-related information-seeking. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that access to online health-related information is not uniformly distributed throughout the population, which may exacerbate disparities in health and health care. Research, policy, and practice attention are needed to address the disparities in access to health information as well as to ensure the quality of the information and improve health literacy.

Background The internet has emerged as a main venue of health information delivery and health-related activities. However, few studies have examined how health literacy determines online health-related behavior. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the current level of health-related information-seeking using the internet and how health literacy, access to technology, and sociodemographic characteristics impact health-related information-seeking behavior. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study through a survey with Minnesotan adults (N=614) to examine their health literacy, access to technology, and health-related information-seeking internet use. We used multivariate regression analysis to assess the relationship between health-related information-seeking on the internet and health literacy and access to technology, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Results Better health literacy (β=.35, SE 0.12) and greater access to technological devices (eg, mobile phone and computer or tablet PC; β=.06, SE 0.19) were both associated with more health-related information-seeking behavior on the internet after adjusting for all other sociodemographic characteristics. Possession of a graduate degree (β=.28, SE 0.07), female gender (β=.15, SE 0.05), poor health (β=.22, SE 0.06), participation in social groups (β=.13, SE 0.05), and having an annual health exam (β=.35, SE 0.12) were all associated with online health-related information-seeking. Conclusions Our findings indicate that access to online health-related information is not uniformly distributed throughout the population, which may exacerbate disparities in health and health care. Research, policy, and practice attention are needed to address the disparities in access to health information as well as to ensure the quality of the information and improve health literacy.

Many researchers have suggested careful application of bibliometric indicators to research evaluation because of many factors including disciplinary norms that influence the publication and citation behaviors of researchers. Although some researchers have examined different bibliometric patterns across disciplines, relatively few scholars have focused on whether research performance should be evaluated in a uniform manner across research domains within a single discipline, especially in a multi-disciplinary fields such as library and information science (LIS). In order to ascertain whether such subject-specific differences exist in the LIS field, we conducted a bibliometric study that examined the publication and citation patterns across subject areas of LIS research in Korea. The analysis of our study data, which consisted of 6,838 citations to 1,986 domestic papers published between 2001 and 2010 by 163 LIS faculty members in Korea, revealed some evidence of bibliometric pattern differences across subject areas. In particular, we found that the authors in Bibliographic Studies, who were almost twice as productive as authors in other subject areas, received the lowest citation counts, which might be attributed to their different publishing and citing behaviors. Publication and citation patterns across subject areas of LIS papers and observation of the possible effect of sub-disciplinary culture on citing behaviors suggest the need for subject-specific assessment of multidisciplinary research discipline such as LIS. In future studies, we will investigate different publication and citation behaviors of authors by subject areas.

Bibliometric analysis for research performance evaluation can generate erroneous assessments for various reasons. Application of the same evaluation metric to different domains, for instance, can produce unfair evaluation results, while analysis based on incomplete data can lead to incorrect conclusions. This study examines bibliometric data of library and information science (LIS) research in Korea to investigate whether research performance should be evaluated in a uniform manner in multi-disciplinary fields such as LIS and how data incompleteness can affect the bibliometric assessment outcomes. The initial analysis of our study data, which consisted of 4,350 citations to 1,986 domestic papers published between 2001 and 2010 by 163 LIS faculty members in Korea, showed an anomalous citation pattern caused by data incompleteness, which was addressed via data projection based on past citation trends. The subsequent analysis of augmented study data revealed ample evidence of bibliometric pattern differences across subject areas. In addition to highlighting the need for a subject-specific assessment of research performance, the study demonstrated the importance of rigorous analysis and careful interpretation of bibliometric data by identifying and compensating for deficiencies in the data source, examining per capita as well as overall statistics, and considering various facets of research in order to interpret what the numbers reflect rather than merely taking them at face value as quantitative measures of research performance.

This study investigates the effect of parental aspirations gap on children’s educational attainment between 2007 and 2014, using two waves of Indonesian Family Life Survey data. The aspirations gap is measured by the difference between one’s future reference point and his or her current life evaluation reported by each household head and spouse. The results show that boys whose fathers report a moderate level of the aspirations gap achieve substantially longer schooling years than the mean level of their same age cohort. Furthermore, the relationship is found to be inversely U-shaped, implying that an excessive aspirations gap discourages investment in children’s human capital. An increasing aspirations gap of parents is also found to impede the educational attainment of children in poor families, which are more vulnerable to shocks that are found to increase the gap. Overall, the results of this paper shed light on the role of parental aspirations gap in the link between socioeconomic status of family and educational outcomes of children in Indonesia, where the gap of the poor is found to increase faster than the rich.

This study examined changes in citation index scores and rankings of thirty-five chemistry faculty members at Seoul National University using different co-authorship credit allocation models. Using 1,436 Web of Science papers published between 2007 and 2013, we applied the inflated, fractional, harmonic, network-based allocation, and harmonic+ models to calculate faculty’s h-, R-, and normalization of h- and R- index scores and rankings. The harmonic+ model, which is based on our belief that contribution of primary authors should be the same regardless of collaboration, is designed to minimize the penalty for research collaboration imposed by harmonic and NBA models by boosting the contribution of collaborating primary authors to be on the equal footing with single authors. Although citation rankings by different models are correlated with each other within the same type of citation indicator, rankings of many faculty members changed across models, suggesting the importance of an accurate and relevant authorship credit allocation model in the citation assessment of researchers. The study also found that authorship patterns in conjunction with citation counts are important factors for robust authorship models such as harmonic and NBA, and harmonic+ model may be beneficial for collaborating primary authors. Future research that reexamines the models with updated empirical data would provide further insights into the robustness of the models.

Doctoral students rely on their peers as important information sources. However, information behavior studies in academic settings most often describe peers as intermediaries who simply assist individuals’ information seeking for academic resources. To address this issue, the authors interviewed six LIS doctoral students at Florida State University in order to explore the types of peer relationships and information sharing between LIS doctoral students. The preliminary findings confirmed the existence of close, social/academic, and other peers that can be categorized as special, collegial, and information peers using Kram and Isabella's continuum of peer relationships. In addition, it was found that work-related and everyday life information is shared in all three types of peer relationships, while relational strength influences the scope and depth of information sharing. Future work will investigate the role of peers as mentors and agents of socialization in academic settings, and will further address the types of information shared as part of such mentoring relationships.

We investigated how bibliometric indicators such as publication count and citation count affect the assessment ofresearch performance by computing various bibliometric scores of the works of Korean LIS faculty members andcomparing the rankings by those scores. For the study data, we used the publication and citation data of 159 tenure-track faculty members of Library and Information Science departments in 34 Korean universities. The study resultsshowed correlation between publication count and citation count for authors with many publications but the oppo-site evidence for authors with few publications. The study results suggest that as authors publish more and morework, citations to their work tend to increase along with publication count. However, for junior faculty members whohave not yet accumulated enough publications, citations to their work are of great importance in assessing theirresearch performance. The study data also showed that there are marked differences in the magnitude of citationsbetween papers published in Korean journals and papers published in international journals.

Citation analysis, in addition to peer review, is one of the popular methods to assess faculty research performance. In some disciplines, the validity of citation counts for evaluating research has been proven by many studies. However, it should be used cautiously when different disciplines are concerned, because citation practices may vary across disciplines. Although there have been studies that have examined the different citation practices across disciplines, relatively little research has investigated the citation rates of subject areas within a single discipline. This study explores the citation rates of subject areas in library and information science (LIS) in Korea. The preliminary results of this study will provide the rationale for further work, analyzing the causes of different citation patterns in a discipline. Ultimately, the study could provide useful implications for understanding and using the citation counts in assessing research performance.

This study assesses research patterns and trends of library and information science(LIS) in Korea by applying bibliometric analysis. For the study, 2,400 peer-reviewed publications from 2001 to 2010(including conference proceedings) published by 159 LIS professors in Korea were analyzed by year, author, affiliation and journal. The study findings showed an increasing trend in collaboration(52.75% of total publications with single authors and 47.25% with multiple authors) among LIS professors in Korea, robust publication patterns of Korean LIS faculty(average 1.51 publications per year), and an increasing number in foreign publications(170 publications). The study results also suggested an internationalization of LIS in Korea. Specifically, the study found a higher rate of Korean LIS faculty with foreign degrees than in previous years as well as a higher publication rate of professors with international degrees. The analysis of publication patterns conducted by the study, which is a first step in our aim to establish a multi-faceted approach for assessing the impact of scholarly work, will be followed up with analysis of references and citations to evaluate the quality of publications.

A large and reliable citation database is necessary to identify and analyze citation behavior of Korean researchers in science and technology. Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) built the Korea Science Citation Database (KSCD), and have provided Korea Science Citation Index (KSCI) and Korea Journal Citation Reports (KJCR) services. In this article, citing behavior of Korean scientists on Korean journals was examined by using the KSCD that covers 459 Korean core journals. This research dealt with (1) statistical numeric information of journals in KSCD, (2) analysis of document types cited. (3) ratio of domestic to international documents cited and ratio of citing different disciplines. (4) analysis on immediacy index, peak time, and half-life of cited documents, and (5) analysis on impact of journals based on KJCR citation indicators. From this research, we could find the immediacy citation rate (average 2.36%), peak-time (average 1.7 years) and half-life (average 5.2 years) of cited journals in Korea. We also found that the average journal self-citation rate is more than 50% in every field. In sum, citing behavior of Korean scientists on Korean journals was comprehensively identified from this research.

This study investigated the relationship between calculated immature granulocyte (IG) counts and the severity of sepsis. Coagulation parameters, fibrinolytic indices, bacterial isolation rates in blood cultures, and mortality were observed in 237 patients with suspected sepsis. The difference in leukocyte subfractions (delta neutrophil index; DN) identified by a cytochemical myeloperoxidase reaction and by a nuclear lobularity assay was determined with a blood cell analyzer (ADVIA 120, Siemens, Inc.). DN was strongly correlated with manual IG counts (r = 0.75, p0.05). Patients with high DN (40%) averaged 40% lower in platelet count, 26% prolongation of prothrombin time (PT), and 35% diminution of antithrombin III (AT III) activity, vs those with low DN (5-20%). Overt disseminated intravascular coagulation was more prevalent as the DN increased, and reached a peak in patients with DN40%. DN values were closely associated with PT (r = 0.35, p0.05), AT III activity (r = -0.36, p0.05), and platelet count (r = -0.27, p0.05). Positive blood culture rate averaged 3.5-fold higher in patients with DN40% vs the subgroup with low DN of 5-10%. The mortality rate of patients with DN40% markedly exceeded the mortality rate of patients with DN of 5-10% (79% vs 15%, p0.05). Thus, DN has implications for the severity of sepsis and may be valuable to assess the prognosis of patients with suspected sepsis.

Invasive techniques for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection require an endoscopic examination which is expensive and inconvenient and may cause complications. Stool cultures for H. pylori or a direct detection of H. pylori antigen in stools by PCR are expensive, tedious, and have a low sensitivity. We recently used an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect H. pylori antigen in stool specimens. A total of 41 patients were seen at Inha University Hospital, Inchon, Korea between September and October 1998. There were 26 men and 15 women who had an average age of 37.6 years which ranged from 5 to 71 years in the present study. All of these patients came to the hospital complaining of an upper abdominal discomfort and were subjected to endoscopy and biopsies. Fifteen had a gastric ulcer, 13 had a duodenal ulcer, 1 had an early gastric cancer, and there were 12 chronic gastritis patients as shown by endoscopy. The biopsy specimens were examined by histology, CLO test, and cultures and these results were used as gold standards. Stool specimens were tested for the H. pylori antigen by EIA. A dual wavelength cut-off of 0.100 that was recommended by the manufacturer gave a good performance (87.1% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value, 71.4% negative predictive value, and a 90.2% efficiency). But the adjusted cut-off value using the receiver operating characteristic curve improved the performance of the test (using the cut-off value of 0.024, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and efficiency were 100%, 90.0%, 96.9%, 100%, and 97.6% respectively). Re-evaluation of the cut-off value may be needed for Korean patients. This technique is non-invasive, rapid, easy-to-use, and shows good performance characteristics for diagnosis of H. pylori infections. Therefore, this technique may be a substitute for gastric endoscopy especially in children and some patients who are unable to tolerate an endoscopic examination and it may be substituted for a serologic test in epidemiological research.

Purpose: Antimicrobial resistance monitoring could be a useful source of information for treating and controlling nosocomial infections. We analyzed antimicrobial resistance data generated by Korean Hospitals and by a commercial laboratory in 2005 and 2007. Materials and Methods: Susceptibility data for 2005 and 2007 were collected from 37 and 41 hospitals, respectively, and from one commercial laboratory. Intermediate susceptibility was not included in the calculation of resistance rates. Results: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (64%), third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (29%), fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli (27%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (33%), and Acinetobacter spp. (48%), and amikacin-resistant P. aeruginosa (19%) and Acinetobacter spp. (37%) were prevalent in hospitals in 2007. A gradual increase of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium and imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. was observed. Higher incidences of thirdgeneration cephalosporin-resistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae and imipenemresistant P. aeruginosa were found in the commercial laboratory than in the hospitals. Conclusion: Methicillin-resistant S. aureus, third-generation cephalosporin-resistant K. pneumoniae, and fluoroquinolone-resistant E. coli, P. aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. remain prevalent in Korea, while the incidence of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium and imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. has increased gradually. The higher prevalences of third-generation cephalosporinresistant E. coli and K. pneumoniae, and imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa in the commercial laboratory are a new concern.

Background: CLSI provides a guideline only for a agar dilution method of testing clarithromycin susceptibility for Helicobacter pylori. This study was to evaluate a disk diffusion method for clarithromycin and amoxicillin. Methods: One hundred and forty clinical isolates of H. pylori isolated from May 2005 to May 2007 were tested by the CLSI agar dilution method and a disk diffusion method using 2μg (2CLR) and 15μg (15CLR) clarithromycin disks and 2μg (2AMX) and 10μg (10AMX) amoxicillin disks. The interpretation criteria used for the disk diffusion method were established by linear regression and error rate-bounded method for disk diffusion zone of inhibition (DDZ) compared to MIC. Results: Resistance and intermediate rates to clarithromycin were 21.4% and 1.4%, respectively. A number of isolates with MIC 0.5, 1, and 2 (μg/mL) to amoxicillin were 7, 2, and 1, respectively. For 2CLR and 15CLR, the coefficients of determination (R) between MIC and DDZ were 0.931 and 0.923 (P< 0.001), respectively, and the criteria for resistance/ susceptibility were 12/28 mm for 2CLR and 23/39 mm for 15CLR. For 2AMX and 10AMX, the R between MIC and DDZ were 0.478 and 0.421 (P< 0.001), respectively, and the criteria for resistance with breakpoint of 2μg/mL were 21 mm for 2AMX and 32 mm for 10AMX. All isolates had DDZ

Background: The entrance of microbes into blood stream results in rapid spreading of infection through circulation system progressing to sepsis with accompanying fever, leukocytosis and circulatory collapse necessitating prompt recognition and treatment. We calculated the difference between white blood cell counts measured in myeloperoxidase and basophil channel, designated as “delta neutrophil”, and found that the value correlates the progression of sepsis. Methods: We categorized patients who were referred for automatic blood cell analysis according to the calculated value of delta neutrophil and analyzed positive rate of blood culture, mortality and laboratory data including hemoglobin, platelet count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen, fibrinogen degradation product, D-dimer, ESR, CRP. Delta neutrophil values were calculated as above mentioned from measured values from automatic blood cell analyzer, ADVIA® 120 automated Hematology System (Bayer Diagnostics, New York, USA). Among 1781 patients selected, those with delta neutrophil value less then 5 were categorized as group I, 5 to 10 as group II, 10 to 20 group III, 20 to 30 group IV, 30 to 40 group V, 40 to 50 group VI and greater than 50 as group VII, arbitrarily. Patients with hematologic malignancy or with Gynecologic malignancy were excluded in this study. Results: The mortality and blood culture rate in group VII were 75.0% and 57.1% and in group VI 76% and 46.7%, group V 46.2% and 37.9%, respectively. On the contrary for group I the mortality and isolation rate were 3.3% and 17.1%. (The means of hemoglobin concentration for group I and II were 13.2 g/dL and 12.1 g/dL compared with 10.5 g/dL and 10.2 g/dL in group VI and VII.) With regard to consumptive coagulopathy, the means of platelet count were 263,700/mL and 259,200/mL in group I and II while those for group VI and VII were 107,200/mL and 112,600/mL. Antithrombin activities were 5.20 % and 7.98% in group VII and VI in contrast to 66.6% and 75.8% for group I and II. Conclusion: The categorization by delta neutrophil value correlated with the isolation rate of bacteria from blood culture and mortality. The delta neutrophil value is expected to provide useful information for following up progression of sepsis.

To clarify the diabetic complications mediated by increased platelet activity, we undertook a study of the mean platelet component (MPC), as determined by an automated hematologic analyzer (ADVIA 120, Bayer). Prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and fibrinogen were also measured to investigate blood viscosity abnormalities. MPC was determined in 100 healthy controls and in 100 diabetic patients, the latter of which were subdivided into no diabetic retinopathy (DR) (n = 25), nonproliferative DR (n = 30), and proliferative DR (n = 45) groups. The mean MPC level was 26.9 g/dl in the control group and 22.5 g/dl in the diabetic patients (p < 0.05). PT and aPTT were similar for the diabetic patients and the controls; however, their corresponding fibrinogen levels were significantly different between the two groups(3.26 +/- 1.14 g/L vs. 4.21 +/- 2.35 g/L, p < 0.05). Our results suggest that platelet hyperfunction in diabetic patients may be implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy.