Challenges Experienced by Korean Medical Students and Tutors During Problem-Based Learning: A Cultural Perspective

How people learn is influenced by the cultural contexts in which their learning occurs. This qualitative case study explored challenges Korean medical students and tutors experienced during their PBL sessions from a cultural perspective using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Twelve preclinical medical students and nine tutors from a large Korean medical school participated in interviews. The interview data were analyzed using the constant comparative method and classified according to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Twenty-two themes emerged within the following overarching categories: large power distance (6 themes), high uncertainty avoidance (6), individualism (3), collectivism (4), and masculinity/short-term orientation (3). This article discusses culturally responsive solutions with regard to each cultural dimension, which would help overcome these challenges and enhance the experiences of students and tutors with PBL

Ensuring the visibility and traceability of items through logistics chain of automotive industry based on AutoEPCNet Usage

Traceability in logistics is the capability of the participants to trace the products throughout the supply chain by means of either the product and/or container identifiers in a forward and/or backward direction. In today's competitive economic environment, traceability is a key concept related to all products and all types of supply chains. The goal of this paper is to describe development of application that enables to create and share information about the physical movement and status of products as they travel throughout the supply chain. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the development of RFID based track and trace system for ensuring the visibility and traceability of items in logistics chain especially in automotive industry. The proposed solution is based on EPCglobal Network Architecture

Integrative genome-scale metabolic analysis of Vibrio vulnificus for drug targeting and discovery

Chromosome 1 of Vibrio vulnificus tends to contain larger portion of essential or housekeeping genes on the basis of the genomic analysis and gene knockout experiments performed in this study, while its chromosome 2 seems to have originated and evolved from a plasmid.The genome-scale metabolic network model of V. vulnificus was reconstructed based on databases and literature, and was used to identify 193 essential metabolites.Five essential metabolites finally selected after the filtering process are 2-amino-4-hydroxy-6-hydroxymethyl-7,8-dihydropteridine (AHHMP), D-glutamate (DGLU), 2,3-dihydrodipicolinate (DHDP), 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DX5P), and 4-aminobenzoate (PABA), which were predicted to be essential in V. vulnificus, absent in human, and are consumed by multiple reactions.Chemical analogs of the five essential metabolites were screened and a hit compound showing the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 2 μg/ml and the minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 4 μg/ml against V. vulnificus was identified

Clinical Outcomes and Adverse Events of Gastric Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of the Mid to Upper Stomach under General Anesthesia and Monitored Anesthetic Care

Background/Aims Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of gastric tumors in the mid-to-upper stomach is a technically challenging procedure. This study compared the therapeutic outcomes and adverse events of ESD of tumors in the mid-to-upper stomach performed under general anesthesia (GA) or monitored anesthesia care (MAC). Methods Between 2012 and 2018, 674 patients underwent ESD for gastric tumors in the midbody, high body, fundus, or cardia (100 patients received GA; 574 received MAC). The outcomes of the propensity score (PS)-matched (1:1) patients receiving either GA or MAC were analyzed. Results The PS matching identified 94 patients who received GA and 94 patients who received MAC. Both groups showed high rates ofen bloc resection (GA, 95.7%; MAC, 97.9%; p=0.68) and complete resection (GA, 81.9%; MAC, 84.0%; p=0.14). There were no significant differences between the rates of adverse events (GA, 16.0%; MAC, 8.5%; p=0.18) in the anesthetic groups. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the method of anesthesia did not affect the rates of complete resection or adverse events. Conclusions ESD of tumors in the mid-to-upper stomach at our high-volume center had good outcomes, regardless of the method of anesthesia. Our results demonstrate no differences between the efficacies and safety of ESD performed under MAC and GA

Psychometric Validation of the Korean Version of Structured Interview for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (K-SIP)

For diagnosis and management of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the easily administered assessment tool is essential. Structured Interview for PTSD (SIP) is a validated, 17-item, simple measurement being used widely. We aimed to develop the Korean version of SIP (K-SIP) and investigated its psychometric properties. Ninety-three subjects with PTSD, 73 subjects with mood disorder or anxiety disorder as a psychiatric control group, and 88 subjects as a healthy control group were enrolled in this study. All subjects completed psychometric assessments that included the K-SIP, the Korean versions of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and other assessment tools. The K-SIP presented good internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.92) and test-retest reliability (r=0.87). K-SIP showed strong correlations with CAPS (r=0.72). Among three groups including PTSD patients, psychiatric controls, and normal controls, there were significant differences in the K-SIP total score. The potential cut-off total score of K-SIP was 20 with highest diagnostic efficiency (91.9%). At this point, the sensitivity and specificity were 95.5% and 88.4%, respectively. Our result showed that K-SIP had good reliability and validity. We expect that K-SIP will be used as a simple but structured instrument for assessment of PTSD

Ratiometric Fluorescent Probes for Hydrogen Peroxide from a Focused Library

Light shifting: Ratiometric fluorescent probes for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were developed through a focused library strategy. One of the probes in the library, showed a redshift of over 100nm and an increase of over 30-fold in the emission intensity ratio (see scheme). This probe was utilized to detect H2O2 generated during glucose oxidation.close2