This paper addresses the development of craft production in the Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1500 to 300 B.C.) of south-central Korea. Specialized craft production of greenstone ornaments, groundstone daggers, red-burnished pottery, and bronze objects was coeval with the onset of intensive agriculture. We examine the nature of this production in the settlement of Daepyeong, where social differentiation increased diachronically, notably in the Late Middle Mumun (700–550 B.C.). Specialized craft production appears to have originated as a supplement to intensive agriculture in the Early Middle Mumun (850–700 B.C.), when a mix of corporate and network strategies of competition between leaders existed but social differences between community members was deemphasized and consumption of prestige artifacts was limited. Evidence suggests that full-time leaders used the production and distribution of greenstone ornaments and long groundstone daggers in an incipient network strategy to gain power for themselves and their supporters in the Late Middle Mumun.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical effect and safety of thread embedding acupuncture (TEA) in patients with facial nerve palsy sequelae. This was a retrospective observational study on 82 patients treated with TEA from January 2021 to May 2022. The Facial Disability Index (FDI) reported by patients and Sunnybrook Facial Grading System scores assessed by clinical practitioners were used to evaluate the intensity of facial movements, functional problems, and psychosocial status. One-way repeated measure analysis of variance showed that the Sunnybrook Facial Grading System scores improved significantly following the 2nd to 6th TEA treatments (Txs). FDI scores also showed significant increases except for the 4th Tx. Additionally, the physical scores improved significantly among the subscales of FDI, but the social/well-being scores did not. There were no reported serious adverse events or adverse events requiring medical Tx. TEA is a safe Tx that has a clinically cumulative effect, in terms of patient-oriented self-assessment of functional problems and objective facial movements, for treating facial nerve palsy sequelae.

Background: Lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (LHIVD) is a frequently presented condition/disease in Korean medical institutions. In this study, the economics of thread embedding acupuncture (TEA) was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial comparing TEA with sham TEA (STEA).Methods: This economic evaluation was analyzed from a limited social perspective, and the per-protocol set was from a basic analysis perspective. The cost-effectiveness analysis was based on the change in visual analog scale score, and the cost-utility analysis was based on the quality-adjusted life years. The final results were expressed as the average cost-effectiveness ratio and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, and furthermore sensitivity analysis was performed to confirm the robustness of the results observed.Results: The cost-effectiveness analysis showed that TEA was 9,908 won lower than STEA, while the decrease in 100 mm visual analog scale score was 8.5 mm greater in the TEA group compared with the STEA group (p > 0.05). The cost-utility analysis showed that TEA was 9,908 won lower than STEA, while the quality-adjusted life years of TEA was 0.0026 years higher than STEA (p > 0.05). These results were robust in the sensitivity analysis, but were not statistically significant.Conclusion: In treating LHIVD, TEA appeared to have cost-effectiveness and cost-utility compared with STEA. However, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of cost, effectiveness, and utility indicators. Therefore, results must be interpreted prudently; this study was the 1^st to conduct an economic evaluation of TEA for LHIVD.

Arterial thromboembolism is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates in cats. Definitive diagnosis requires advanced imaging modalities, such as computed tomography angiography (CTA) and contrast-enhanced (CE) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). However, CTA involves exposure to a large amount of ionized radiation, and CE-MRA can cause systemic nephrogenic fibrosis. Non-contrast-enhanced (NE) MRA can help accurately diagnose vascular lesions without such limitations. In this study, we evaluated the ability of NE-MRA using three-dimensional electrocardiograph-gated fast spin-echo (3D ECG-FSE) and 3D time-of-flight (3D TOF) imaging to visualize the aorta and external iliac arteries in clinically healthy cats and compared the results with those obtained using CE-MRA. All 11 cats underwent 3D ECG-FSE, 3D TOF, and CE-MRA sequences. Relative signal intensity (rSI) for quantitative image analysis and image quality scores (IQS) for qualitative image analysis were assessed; the rSI values based on the 3D TOF evaluations were significantly lower than those obtained using 3D ECG-FSE (aorta 3D TOF: 0.57 ± 0.06, aorta 3D ECG-FSE: 0.83 ± 0.06, P < 0.001; external iliac arteries 3D TOF: 0.45 ± 0.06, external iliac arteries 3D ECG-FSE:0.80 ± 0.05, P < 0.001) and similar to those obtained using CE-MRA (aorta: 0.58 ± 0.05, external iliac arteries: 0.57 ± 0.03). Moreover, IQS obtained using 3D TOF were significantly higher than those obtained using 3D ECG-FSE (aorta 3D TOF: 3.95 ± 0.15, aorta 3D ECG-FSE: 2.32 ± 0.60, P < 0.001; external iliac arteries 3D ECG-FSE: 3.98 ± 0.08, external iliac arteries 3D ECG-FSE: 2.23 ± 0.56, P < 0.001) and similar to those obtained using CE-MRA (aorta: 3.61 ± 0.41, external iliac arteries: 3.57 ± 0.41). Thus, 3D TOF is more suitable and produces consistent image quality for visualizing the aorta and external iliac arteries in clinically healthy cats and this will be of great help in the diagnosis of FATE.