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Background: We determined the cost-effectiveness of the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) intravitreal injection versus panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) for patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in South Korea. Methods: We simulated four treatment strategies using PRP and the anti-VEGF injection by constructing a Markov model for a hypothetical cohort of 50-year-old PDR patients: (1) PRP only; (2) anti-VEGF injection only; (3) PRP first; and (4) anti-VEGF injection first. Results: In this cost-effectiveness analysis, compared with only-PRP, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $95,456 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) for PRP first, $34,375 per QALY for anti-VEGF injection first, and $33,405 per QALY for anti-VEGF injection only from a healthcare perspective. From the societal and payer perspective, strategy (2) was more cost-saving and effective than (1). In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, only-PRP was cost-effective up to the willingness-to-pay (WTP) of about $42,000, while anti-VEGF injection only was cost-effective from a healthcare perspective. From the societal and payer perspectives, regardless of the value of WTP, anti-VEGF injection only was the most cost-effective strategy. Conclusion: In our study, the anti-VEGF injection for PDR was cost-effective from the payer and societal perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the risk factors for heel pressure injury in cardiovascular intensive care unit patients with the aim of laying the groundwork for preventive nursing interventions. We conducted a retrospective case‐control study of 92 patients who were admitted to the cardiovascular surgical or medical intensive care unit of a university hospital in South Korea between January and December 2017. Of these patients, 31 and 61 were included to the heel pressure injury group and the non‐heel pressure injury group, respectively. Data on their demographic, disease‐related, and intensive care unit treatment characteristics, as well as the degree of pressure injury, were collected from the hospital's electronic medical records using a standardized form. Cardiac surgery (P <.001), operation time (P =.001), use of a mechanical ventilator (P <.001), use of vasoconstrictors (P <.001), use of sedative drugs (P <.001), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment (P <.001) were identified as significant risk factors for heel pressure injury. A total of 22 patients (71%) from the heel pressure injury group developed deep tissue injury, and 16 patients (51.6%) who received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment developed heel pressure injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global burden of liver diseases, such as hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis, is substantial. In this study, we estimated utility weights of liver disease-related health states in the general population using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the standard gamble (SG) method.Methods: Depictions of standardized health states related to major liver diseases were developed based on patient education materials and previous publications. To fully reflect disease progression from diagnosis to prognosis, each health state comprised four parts: diagnosis, symptoms, treatment, and progression and prognosis. A total of 407 participants from the Korean general population evaluated the health states using the VAS and SG methods in computer-assisted personal interviews. After excluding illogical responses, mean utility weights were calculated for each health state.Results: The utility weights for health states were significantly different according to the existence of inconsistency in general. According to the VAS results, the health state with the highest utility was 'Chronic hepatitis B virus infection' (0.64), whereas the health state with the lowest utility was 'Hepatocellular carcinoma that requires palliative therapy' (0.17). Similarly, the SG results revealed that the health state with the highest utility was 'Chronic hepatitis B virus infection' (0.85), and the health state with the lowest utility was 'Hepatocellular carcinoma that requires palliative therapy' (0.40).Conclusions: The estimated utility weights in this study will be useful to measure the burden of liver diseases and evaluate cost-utility of programs for reducing the burden of liver diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recently, breast cancer incidence and prevalence has been increasing. Patients' health related quality of life is important considerations in the treatment of breast cancer. The EQ-5D-3L is one of most popular instruments to measure health related quality of life. This study was aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of EQ-5D-3L in post-operative breast cancer patients from Korea.Methods: A total of 827 patients visiting the ambulatory cancer center of 1 tertiary hospital after breast cancer surgery self-administered the EQ-5D-3L and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer (FACT-B). We evaluated known-group validity using differences in the EQ-5D-3L index and EQ-VAS score according to demographic and clinical data. The discriminatory ability of the EQ-5D-3L was determined by comparing the mean FACT-B subscale scores between subjects with no problems and subjects with moderate or severe problems in each EQ-5D-3L dimension. Construct validity was evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficients among the EQ-5D-3L index and FACT-B subscales, respectively. Reliability was assessed in terms of test-retest reliability using Cohen's kappa value and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).Results: The EQ-5D-3L index and EQ-VAS score were higher in the educated, current radiotherapy and unmarried groups. The correlation of EQ-5D-3L index and subscales for the FACT-B was highest in physical well-being (r = 0.553) and lowest in social well-being (r = 0.199). For reliability, the Kappa values' range was from 0.32 to 0.70, and ICCs of the EQ-5D-3L index and EQ-VAS scores were 0.70 and 0.48, respectively.Conclusions: This study indicated that the EQ-5D-3L could be a valid health related quality of life instrument for postoperative breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kim, J.C.; Lee, H.J.; Choi, J.Y.; Kim, S.K. and Jung, H.S. 2020. Topographical change in coastal areas arising from soil erosion in the Riparian zone. In: Jung, H.-S.; Lee, S.; Ryu, J.-H., and Cui, T. (eds.), Advances in Geospatial Research of Coastal Environments. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 102, pp. 101-106. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Sedimentary inputs into coastal estuaries because of activities upstream can lead to rapid bathymetric and topographical changes, which may affect coastal functions such as habitat or fisheries. In South Korea, the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project was initiated in 2008 to address environmental problems arising from dredging and land reclamation, and a number of ecological parks were created. This study analyzed: 1) the land cover of each period using land cover maps before (2007), immediately after the project (2012), and after five years (2017); 2) the average annual amount of soil loss from the riparian zone of the Nakdong River using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE); and 3) the change in the area of barrier islands in the estuary of the Nakdong River from 2008 to 2017. In order to generate the factors required for RUSLE, various spatial data, such as land cover maps, national spatial information, aerial photographs, a soil map, and average annual precipitation data were used. The results showed the percentage of annual soil loss from classes 4, and 5 (severe and very severe levels of soil erosion, respectively) increased immediately after the project finished in 2012 but decreased by 2017. The digitized aerial photographs confirmed that the area of Maenggeummeori-do, one of the barrier islands located in the estuary of the Nakdong River, decreased by more than 20 % as sediment inputs declined. Thus, it was confirmed that changes in soil loss in riparian zones arising from river maintenance projects can affect the area of barrier islands in coastal estuaries. Through this study, it was revealed that large-scale river refurbishment projects indirectly affected soil erosion in the waterfront area of the Nakdong River, which eventually affected the area change of the barrier island at the mouth of the Nakdong River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly fatal viral disease affecting pigs. It is caused by the ASF virus (ASFV), and causes serious economic losses to the swine industry worldwide, including in Korea. Commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits for detecting anti-ASFV antibodies are used for the diagnosis and surveillance of ASF. In this study, an ELISA was developed to detect anti-ASFV antibodies using two recombinant proteins, p22 and p30, from genotype II ASFV. Recombinant transmembrane domain-deleted p22 (p22∆TM) and p30 were expressed in E.coli vector system pET32a and mixed for use as antigens in indirect ELISA. The p22∆TM/p30-based indirect ELISA was validated using 31 sera from genotype I ASFV-infected pigs and 1133 sera from uninfected pigs. Area under the curve of this test was 0.999 [95 % concentration interval 0.992–1.000], and sensitivity and specificity were 93.5 % and 99.8 %, respectively. The between run coefficient of variation for internal quality control serum was 6.61 %. In the seroconversion analysis, the p22∆TM/p30-based indirect ELISA showed equal or better ability to detect antibodies in pigs experimentally challenged with ASFV p72 genotypes I and II (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the p22∆TM/p30-based indirect ELISA is a reliable diagnostic method for detecting anti-ASFV antibodies. • Recombinant transmembrane domain-deleted p22 (p22∆TM) and p30 antigen-based indirect ELISA was developed to detect anti-ASFV antibodies in pigs. • The p22∆TM/p30-based indirect ELISA showed equal or better ability to detect antibodies in pigs experimentally challenged with ASFV p72 genotypes I and II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]