2023, Vol.36, No.2

Anatomy & Biological Anthropology 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.33

pISSN : 2671-5651 / eISSN : 2671-566X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/aba

The emergence and spread of unknown pathogens, such as COVID-19, have become a major concern in recent years due to their potential to cause pandemics and threaten our quality of life. Many pathogens can trigger chronic inflammation in various organs, which is a long-term and uncontrolled immune response that can develop many other diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, ocular disease, pulmonary disease, metabolic syndrome and autoimmune disease. Immune cells, particularly macrophages and T lymphocytes, exhibit complex phenotypes in chronic inflammation, highlighting the need for the development of safe drugs or treatments that are based on a better understanding of the exact mechanisms and related immune systems involved. This review provides a brief overview of the inflammatory response and associated diseases in several organs, with the ultimate goal of aiding the development of effective strategies for managing chronic inflammatory diseases and emerging pathogens.

As traditional face-to-face educations have been threatened under Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, variant and more flexible teaching and learning methods should be considered in anatomy education with cadavers. We received a grant from “University Innovation-Support Project” in Jeju National University with a title “Education improvement with virtual reality (VR) in medical science”, and MDBOX VR with head-mounted display was introduced in 2022. In the University, students had learned anatomy with textbooks, lecture notes, cadavers, E-anatomy (e-anatomy.or.kr), and applications (including Complete Anatomy and Human Anatomy Atlas) as well as MDBOX VR. Students used the MDBOX VR without teachers’ intervention during the regular course of “Human Body: Structure and Function-I” (gross anatomy and neuroanatomy), and learner experience was freely answered on lecture evaluation questionnaire. Learners preferred textbooks, lecture notes, and cadavers to MDBOX VR for anatomy learning. Learners agreed to that MDBOX VR is able to make them understand each movement or 3-D structures, but disagreed to that MDBOX VR will eventually replace the dissection course. Despite the pros and cons of MDBOX VR, learner experience was summarized as “less realistic than cadavers, less convenient than the applications”. Although this survey on VR showed conflicting results in anatomy learning, the era requires integrating virtual teaching and learning in medical education. Anatomists should consider the proper teaching methods using the technology-based blended learning with VR.

Despite the significant importance of anatomy education facilitated by anatomical gifts, there remains a death of data concerning the demographic characteristics of domestic body donors in Korea. This study aims to compare the demographic features, including death count, age, gender, causes of death, and location, by analyzing a database comprising 149,487 deceased individuals from Chungcheongbuk-do and 151 anatomical gift donors from Chungbuk National University Medical School spanning the years 2008 to 2021. Notably, the number of donated cadavers has seen a 1.7% increase, rising from 13 in 2008 to 22 in 2021. Among the donors, males accounted for 63.6%, while females constituted 36.4%. In terms of age distribution, the 70s represented 30.5%, followed by the 80s at 29.8%, and the 60s at 18.5%. Notably, the region with the highest proportion of donors was Chungju city among the six analyzed regions. Leading causes of death among donors included neoplasms (23.2%), unspecified clinical and laboratory findings (21.2%), and respiratory system diseases (19.2%). Hospitals were the predominant location of death for donors, accounting for 70.2%. These results are expected to serve as essential foundational data for education and research endeavors pertaining to anatomical gifts in Korea. Moreover, it is our hope that a comprehensive management system will be established to further foster anatomical gift donation in the country.