Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Master of robotic surgery

 ‘Less cutting, more automation will certainly be the future of surgery’By Jung Min-ho, Kim Eil-chulOver the past 30 years, laparoscopic surgery ― a surgical technique performed by making only a few tiny incisions ― has changed both doctors’ and patients’ conventional ideas of surgery.Now, robotic surgery is revolutionizing the concept of minimally invasive surgery.“The efficacy of robotic surgery used to be doubted, but an increasing amount of data show that it is more effective and safer than laparoscopic surgery, which is the previous generation of machine-assisted surgery,” Kim Seon-hahn, a surgeon who specializes in colon and rectal cancer at Korea University Anam Hospital, said in an interview.“It is hard to predict how far robots will go from here, but less cutting and more automation will certainly be the future of surgery.”According to his study on 732 patients with rectal cancer at stages 1-3, those who received robotic surgery showed a higher five-year survival rate (91.3 percent) than those who received laparo

Mar 30, 2016

Dizziness requires proper diagnosis

By Lee Sung-hunMost of us at one point or another have felt lightheaded.It is quite common for patients to seek medical help when feeling dizzy and a whirling sensation after standing up following a long period of sitting or lying down.Often, the first instinct for such patients is to think that it is from eitheranemia or low blood pressure, but the truth is that dizziness can be caused by multiple factors, and thus requires proper diagnosis.If the dizziness is indeed caused by anemia, generally other symptoms will accompany the dizziness itself.Actually, the main symptom of anemia is fatigue.If you are suffering from fatigue, general weakness, pale skin and/or irregular heartbeats, anemia can be suspected. Medical tests including taking blood samples need to be conducted in order to diagnose the exact underlying cause for the anemia and to treat it accordingly.Dizziness caused by low blood pressure is called orthostatic (or postural) hypotension.It is a form of low blood pressure that happens with a sudden posture changes such as when you stand up from sitting down or lying down.The

Mar 29, 2016

In search for perfect preschool

So many things to consider when searching for that perfect preschool and among them is the playground.It can’t be too big or too small, but just that perfect size with the perfect complexity to keep the little ones excited, yet safe.  / Courtesy of Jane HanBy Jane HanAs far as starting school goes, my guiding philosophy has always been to keep the kids home till they turn four.I’m still all for my original plan, but it’s increasingly becoming more obvious that, for my girls, I’m just not enough.The twins not only have me, but they also have each other plus their baby sister, who sort of doubles as a human-sized Baby Alive, but multiple times a day, they still can’t help but look bored as heck.Sure, we do playdates, playgrounds and pretty much any and all local activities that are suitable for toddlers.But it seems like when children ― with all that energy and curiosity ― become of a certain age, they need to be challenged and stimulated in new and creative ways on a daily basis.What better way than good old school?And so the sear

Mar 29, 2016

Sufficient vitamin C intake keeps people healthy

Margreet Vissers, research professor of the Center for Free Radical Research and associate dean ofthe Department of Pathology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, makes a presentation aboutthe antioxidant and enzyme co-factor roles of vitamin C at the 5th International Symposium on VitaminC at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul, March 22. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Chung Hyun-chaeA pathology professor from New Zealand has recommended that people take enough vitamin C to stay healthy and prevent infection and chronic diseases. “If you are ill, you need to take additional vitamin C because your levels will drop rapidly as soon as you get something like a cold,” said Margreet Vissers, research professor at the Center for Free Radical Research and associate dean of the Department of Pathology at the University of Otago in New Zealand. “The reason for that is that the oxidants that your body has been making target vitamin C,” she told The Korea Times during an interview at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul, March 21. “The intake of vitamin C decreases the lengt

Mar 29, 2016

Sufficient vitamin C intake keeps people healthy

Multivitamins help boost brainpower

David O. Kennedy, biological psychology professor at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom,speaks about a link between water soluble vitamins and human brain function at the 5th InternationalSymposium on Vitamin C at The Plaza Hotel in Seoul, March 22. / Courtesy of Kwangdong PharmaceuticalBy Chung Hyun-chaeMultivitamins containing a full range of water soluble vitamins including vitamin B and C can contribute to boosting brainpower, according to David O. Kennedy, biological psychology professor at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom. “The functioning of the brain is entirely dependent on an adequate supply of water soluble vitamins, most of which are actively transported into, and concentrated in, brain tissue,” Kennedy said. “Vitamin C is particularly concentrated in the most metabolically active tissue.”He is also the director of the Brain Performance and Nutrition Research Centre at the British university. Kennedy noted that humans require 30 vitamins including vitamin A, D, E and K as well as nine water soluble vitamins including vitamin B

Mar 29, 2016

'Stem cells will bring end to Alzheimer's disease'

/ Courtesy of Samsung Medical CenterNoted neurologist believes his research team is on the brink of breakthroughBy Jung Min-ho, Kim Eil-chulDespite the huge amount of money and effort that have gone into Alzheimer’s research, the disease remains incurable, and current treatments bring only temporary relief but cannot significantly slow its progression.Scientists still do not know how the disease develops in the first place. However, they do know now that one of the disease’s hallmarks is sticky protein clumps, or amyloid plaques, in the brain. The plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are prime suspects in damaging and killing nerve cells, which eventually creates voids in the brain.Thus, it is widely assumed that removing the plaques from the brain will alleviate symptoms of the disease such as memory loss and language impairment.Over the past two decades, scientists in collaboration with global pharmaceutical firms have been trying hard to develop drugs that can eliminate amyloid plaques from an affected brain, but have not yet been able to do so.Na Duk-lyul, a renowned n

Mar 27, 2016

'Stem cells will bring end to Alzheimer's disease'

Hospital of the future

Seung Ki-bae, the president of Seoul and Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospitals, said he will make the hospitals as “an integrated biomedical platform that can embrace anything and everything about the field.” /Korea Times 'St. Mary’s Hospital will grow beyond a healing place' By Jung Min-ho, Kim Eil-chulThe hospital of the future may not look like a hospital at all. It will use more technologies in almost all areas; triage and surgery, for example, may be done entirely by an artificial intelligence (AI) device.But important changes will happen in the hospital’s purposes and functions, according to Seung Ki-bae, the president of Seoul and Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospitals.“In the future, big hospitals will turn into something like biomedical platforms that can embrace anything and everything about the field,” he said in an interview. “Their primary function will change from providing medical care to sharing research ideas and results.”In other words, hospitals will serve as a platform for other entities (such as research institutions

Mar 20, 2016

(326) Artificial intelligence and human life

By Janet Shin The five matches between South Korean professional go player Lee Se-dol and AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence (AI) computer program owned by Google, drew great attention from all over the world. As Lee lost the first three games, people started to shiver, feeling as if the representative of humanity was being defeated by the machine in a game, both of which were invented and developed by mankind. Although Lee defended the dignity of humankind by winning the fourth game, it evoked a rather fearful concern about humans living in a technological society that is advancing so rapidly that people find it hard to catch up.How do I see this event? Some people asked my opinion as a saju practitioner. Well, it may sound irrelevant between saju and AI. Big data analytics, deep learning, Google DeepMind and so on have already become an indispensable part of our everyday lives. After I googled the prices of flight tickets to Europe, pop-ups introducing various travel agencies, tourist attractions and the cost of airline tickets always appear on my computer screen as soon as I

Mar 17, 2016

(326) Artificial intelligence and human life

Diaper be gone

By Jane Han Wouldn’t it be great if kids magically potty trained themselves overnight?My husband and I would really have these random conversations about our fantasies of the twins dropping their diapers all by themselves.Yes, that’s how big of an issue potty is in this house right now.A week into serious potty training, I can confidently say that potty training is definitely one of the most involved and stressful events for parents.I tried “loosely” training the girls a few times starting when they were 20 months, but each time, I gave up only after a few hours and just enough accidents, convincing myself that they just weren’t “ready.”Maybe if I pressed on for a few days, they may have trained sooner. Maybe.Well, now that the girls are turning three in just three months, I honestly found myself getting rushed to rush my toddlers out of their diapers.And so the training began yet again. But this time, much more rigid and scheduled.I first did a test run with both Ellen and Ann, but my mommy analysis told me that Ann wasn’t ready f

Mar 15, 2016

Viral infection may cause facial palsy

By Lee Seung-hun Spring is right around the corner, although it may not seem like it because of the cold temperatures.One day it is too warm for a jacket in the evening, and the very next day a freezing cold morning breeze makes you dig out the winter coats again.The large fluctuations in the day-to-day temperatures mean that our overall immune system may not function as well as it should.Also, during this time of the year, there are a higher number of patients suffering from facial nerve palsy, which makes the face appear asymmetrical. According to a report by the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service that analyzed records over the past five years, the number of patients who visited an Oriental hospital or clinic increased from 61,000 in 2010 to 120,000 in 2014 —a whopping 95 percent uptick. Facial nerve palsies can be categorized into two classes: the central nervoustype and a peripheral nerve type.As all muscles are controlled by the opposite hemispheres of the brai

Mar 15, 2016

Others

Others

Master of robotic surgery

Dizziness requires proper diagnosis

In search for perfect preschool

Sufficient vitamin C intake keeps people healthy

Multivitamins help boost brainpower

'Stem cells will bring end to Alzheimer's disease'

Hospital of the future

(326) Artificial intelligence and human life

Diaper be gone

Viral infection may cause facial palsy

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