Benthic invertebrate fauna in the islets of Namuseom and Bukhyeongjeseom off Busan

AbstractThis study was conducted to examine the benthic invertebrate fauna inhabiting in the subtidal zone in and around the islets of Namuseom and Bukhyeongjeseom off the coast of Busan by SCUBA diving in September 2013. As a consequence, it was confirmed that a total of 6 phyla, 14 classes, 20 orders, 46 families, and 73 species of zoobenthos inhabit in and around those islets. The total number of species surveyed by taxon during the study is 22 species of Arthropoda (30%), 20 species of Mollusca (27%), 15 species of Cnidaria (21%), 10 species of Echinodermata (14%), four species of Poridera (5%), and two species of Chordata

A study on fire design accidental loads for aluminum safety helidecks

AbstractThe helideck structure must satisfy the safety requirements associated with various environmental and accidental loads. Especially, there have been a number of fire accidents offshore due to helicopter collision (take-off and/or landing) in recent decades. To prevent further accidents, a substantial amount of effort has been directed toward the management of fire in the safety design of offshore helidecks. The aims of this study are to introduce and apply a procedure for quantitative risk assessment and management of fires by defining the fire loads with an applied example. The frequency of helicopter accidents are considered, and design accidental levels are applied. The proposed procedures for determining design fire loads can be efficiently applied in offshore helideck development projects

Measuring Anxiety in Patients With Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease: Rasch Analysis of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), composed of two 20-item subscales (STAI-state and STAI-trait), has been increasingly used to assess anxiety symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the clinimetric attributes of the STAI under the statistical framework of the item-response theory (IRT) have not been fully elucidated within this population to date. We performed an IRT-based Rasch analysis of the STAI outcomes of patients with de novo PD from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative database. The unidimensionality, Rasch model fit, scale targeting, separation reliability, differential item functioning, and response category utility of the STAI were statistically evaluated. A total of 326 (209 males, 117 females) patients without cognitive dysfunction were enrolled in our study. The original versions of the STAI-state and STAI-trait had acceptable separation reliability but lacked appropriate response category functioning, exhibited scale off-targeting, and several items demonstrated poor fit to the Rasch model. The response categories were reduced from four to three, and the rescored three-point TASI-trait demonstrated a marked improvement in clinimetric properties without a significant impact on unidimensionality and separation reliability. The rescored three-point version of the STAI-state required the additional removal of four misfitting items in order to improve the Rasch model fit. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the measurement properties based on the IRT of the STAI in patients with PD. Our Rasch analysis identified the components requiring possible amendments in order to improve the clinimetric attributes of the STAI

Post-operative rehabilitation using a digital healthcare system in patients who had undergone rotator cuff repair: protocol for a single-center randomized controlled trial

Background : Operative repair of a rotator cuff tear requires up to 12 weeks of post-operative (post-op) home-based rehabilitation. Maintaining patients’ compliance in the post-op rehabilitation program is a pivotal component for generating successful outcomes. By developing a post-op rehabilitation-oriented digital healthcare system and applying it in patients who had undergone rotator cuff repair, we aim to increase the efficacy of the rehabilitation program and raise patients’ compliance levels. Here, we present a protocol developed for comparing the efficacy of rehabilitation using a newly developed augmented reality (AR)-based digital healthcare system with that of conventional rehabilitation for post-op rehabilitation of rotator cuff repair. Methods : This study will recruit a total of 115 patients who had undergone rotator cuff repair within 3 days after surgery. Patients will be randomly allocated to rehabilitation using an AR-based digital healthcare system (digital group) or conventional rehabilitation (conventional group). Patients in both groups will perform brochure-based exercises from the immediate post-op period to post-op 6 weeks. From post-op 6 weeks to 12 weeks, patients in the digital group will use the AR-based system for post-op exercises, whereas patients in the conventional group will continue brochure-based rehabilitation exercises. The primary outcome will be scores on the Simple Shoulder Test at post-op 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes include numeric rating scale scores for pain, measures of range of motion and muscle strength of the affected shoulder, grip strength of the affected arm, scores on the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand test, the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index, and the EuroQoL-5D-5L quality-of-life measure. Analyses will be conducted using an intention-to-treat approach. Discussion : This study will examine the effectiveness of an AR-based digital healthcare system for post-op rehabilitation in the patients after rotator cuff repair. The study will add evidence for the application of digital healthcare systems in post-op rehabilitation. Trial registration : ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04511377. Registered on 10 August 2020.This research is supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number : HI19C0781). The funding source has no role in the design of this study and its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or decision to submit results