• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.171-179
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• 2023

This study was conducted to evaluate the association between knowledge of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), perception of infection control and practice of infection control among dental hygienists. The questionnaires consisted of 9 demographic questions, 10 questions about COVID-19 knowledge, and 36 questions about perception and practice of infection control. The study analyzed 120 participants' data gathered from May 1 to May 31, 2021. For data analysis, T-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation were used. As a result, COVID-19 knowledge was 6.59 out of 10, the perception of infection control was 3.57 out of 4 and the practice of infection control was 3.55 out of 4. The COVID-19 knowledge(r=0.485) and perception of infection control(r=0.614) were significantly positively related to practice of infection control. To improve the practice of infection control in the dental field, education of infection control should be mandatory for dental hygienists. Also, the practice of infection control following "Dental Infection Control Standard Policy & Procedure" must be mandatory.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.127-135
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• 2020

Coronavirus is generally known to cause minor respiratory diseases in animals and humans. However, some coronavirus genus is reported to cause animal-to-human interspecies infection. Since the end of 2019, a new type of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection is spreading rapidly throughout the world, leading to the declaration of the pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Despite various clinical studies to counter COVID-19 infection, the total confirmed cases and death rates are still accumulating. To break down this new threat, we should pay attention to newly revealed information based on scientific facts. In this review, we introduced the clinical characteristics, diagnostic methods, and treatment of patients infected with COVID-19. Moreover, we highlighted the correlation between COVID-19 severity and patients with underlying diseases. Potential risks associated with COVID-19 can be differed depending on the condition of patients and can cause pulmonary complications. Therefore, lung capacity exams are expected to help predict the progression of the disease along with previously established detection methods such as molecular diagnostics and immunoassay. Although physiological research hasn't yet been emphasized to evaluate COVID-19 infection, this review is expected to be valuable to give new inspiration to deal with COVID-19 which might strike again in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.183-187
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• 2022

Dysphonia is well known as one of the otolaryngological symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. The vocal changes of the COVID-19 condition have been reported in terms of parameters of multi-dimensional voice assessment, including acoustic analysis, auditory-perceptual evaluation, and psychometric assessment. However, there has not been a daily followup study in patients with acute COVID-19 infection. In this study, a 41-year-old male performed daily voice recordings of vowel phonation and passage-reading tasks during the self-quarantine period of one week. Compared to the normal voice status of the prepandemic period, voice abnormalities peaked on day two after the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection and recovered after one week.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.263-272
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• 2022

This study investigated small and medium-sized hospital workers' knowledge of COVID-19, the infection-control-related fatigue and stress levels, and the factors that impacted their performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 137 hospital workers from four small and medium-sized hospitals in S and C cities. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a t-test, analysis of variance(ANOVA), Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis. Small and medium-sized hospital workers' knowledge of COVID-19 revealed a correct answer rate of 66%. An average of 3.00 points out of 4 for infection control performance and 3.32 and 3.17 points out of 5 for infection-control-related fatigue and stress, respectively, were found. The level of knowledge regarding COVID-19 significantly differed by age and marriage (p<0.05), while infection control performance significantly differed by age, marriage, and infection control education experience (p<0.05). Infection-control-related fatigue and stress differed depending on the COVID-19 control education experience, economic and social prejudice, and fear of discrimination. There were positive correlations between knowledge and infection control performance, and infection control performance and infection-control-related fatigue and stress (p<0.001). This study showed that the factors that affected small and medium-sized hospital workers' performance included knowledge of "environmental management," "difficulties due to new role requirements," "presence or absence of infection education experience," "job type," and "age." These results suggest that practical and detailed education programs should be systematically developed and implemented for effective infection control.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2022

Background: The first large coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak outside China occurred in Daegu. In response, we developed infection prevention measures for surgical patients during the outbreak at our hospital and retrospectively reviewed the outcomes of COVID-19-related surgical patients. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 118 COVID-19-related surgical patients and monitored their clinical outcomes until March 31, 2021. We also interviewed healthcare workers who participated in their perioperative care at Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital. The perioperative management guidelines for COVID-19-related patients were prepared through multidisciplinary discussions, including the infection control department, surgical departments, and anesthesiology department before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Results: One standard operating room was temporarily converted to a negative-pressure room by increasing the exhaust air volume, creating a relative pressure of -11.3 Pa. The healthcare workers were equipped with personal protective equipment according to the patient's classification of the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The 118 COVID-19-related patients underwent emergent surgery in the negative-pressure room, including three COVID-19-confirmed patients and five COVID-19-exposed patients. Conclusion: All surgeries of the COVID-19-related patients were performed without specific adverse events or perioperative COVID-19 transmission. Our experience setting up a negative-pressure operating room and conservative perioperative protocol to prevent COVID-19 transmission will help plan and execute infection control measures in the future.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.1-12
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• 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the western countries with advanced medical technology failed to contain coronavirus. This fact triggered our research question of what factors influence the clinical outcomes like infection rates and case mortality rates. This study aims to identify the determinants of COVID-19 related infection rates and case mortality rates. We considered three sets of independent variables: 1) socio-demographic characteristics; 2) cultural characteristics; 3) healthcare system characteristics. For the analysis, we created an international dataset from diverse sources like World Bank, Worldometers, Hofstede Insight, GHS index etc. The COVID-19 related statistics were retrieved from Aug. 1. Total cases are from 95 countries. We used hierarchical regression method to examine the linear relationship among variables. We found that obesity, uncertainty avoidance, hospital beds per 1,000 made a significant influence on the standardized COVID-19 infection rates. The countries with higher BMI score or higher uncertainty avoidance showed higher infection rates. The standardized COVID-19 infection rates were inversely related to hospital beds per 1,000. In the analysis on the standardized COVID-19 case mortality rates, we found that two cultural characteristics(e.g., individualism, uncertainty avoidance) showed statistically significant influence on the case mortality rates. The healthcare system characteristics did not show any statistically significant relationship with the case mortality rates. The cultural characteristics turn out to be significant factors influencing the clinical outcomes during COVID-19 pandemic. The results imply that the persuasive communication is important to trigger the public commitment to follow preventive measures. The strategy to keep the hospital surge capacity needs to be developed.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.15 no.sup1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has put focus on the importance of a healthy immune system for recovery from infection and effective response to vaccination. Several nutrients have been under attention because their nutritional statuses showed associations with the incidence or severity of COVID-19 or because they affect several aspects of immune function. Nutritional status, immune function, and viral infection are closely interrelated. Undernutrition impairs immune function, which can lead to increased susceptibility to viral infection, while viral infection itself can result in changes in nutritional status. Here, we review the roles of vitamins A, C, D, and E, and zinc, iron, and selenium in immune function and viral infection and their relevance to COVID-19.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.19-32
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was aimed to identify the influencing factors on the COVID-19 infection prevention behavior of adults residing in Gyeongsangnam-do by examining relationships between anxiety, health belief and COVID-19 infection prevention behavior. Methods: The participants of this study were recruited from a website, and the total number of participants was 186. The self-report questionnaires were distributed during July 2020. Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed the significant factors affecting the COVID-19 infection prevention behavior of adult residing in Gyeongsangnam-do were perceived barriers(��=-3.68, p<.001), perceived benefits(��=3.39, p=.001), perceived susceptibility(��=2.83, p=.005), sex(��=2.59, p=.010). The total explanatory power of the study variables for COVID-19 infection prevention behavior was 35.0%(F=17.61, p<.001). Conclusions: Based on these findings, in order to promote COVID-19 infection prevention behavior, there is needed to reduce obstacles for carrying out infection prevention behaviors, and develop multi-faceted promotional strategies for infection prevention behaviors.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.675-683
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aimed to verify the relations of COVID-19 infection-related knowledge, dental infection control performance, and psychosocial health of dental hygienists. Methods: From the data was analyzed through the frequency analysis, t-test, one way ANOVA, and pearson's correlation analysis with a total of 198 dental hygienists using SPSS Statistics 21.0. Results: The correct answer rate for knowledge about COVID-19 was higher with a bachelor's degree or higher. Thus, when the level of education was higher, the performance was also high (p<0.01). COVID-19 infection control performance was highly shown in case of high age (4.43) (p<0.05) and the married (4.42) (p<0.01). Infection control performance was high when they had an educational experience of COVID-19 infection control (4.46), and when the infection control guidebooks were equipped in their workplaces (p<0.001). Degree of psychosocial health of research subjects was shown in the order of potential stress (60.6%), high-risk stress (23.7%), and healthy (15.7%). Infection control performance was higher, the psychosocial health was healthy. Conclusions: For the response to COVID-19 infectious disease and the preparation for mutated viruses and new infectious diseases in the future, it would be necessary to establish the concrete measures for establishing the strict infection control system for dental clinics and also enhancing the psychosocial health of dental hygienists.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2022

In December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in China and spread rapidly around the world, infecting millions of people. Cases of COVID-19 infection were observed to lead to viral pneumonia. Thirty-five patients admitted to the Gyeonggi Medical Center, South Korea, between November 2020 to January 2021, were found to have been infected with the influenza virus A and B, which cause symptoms similar to COVID-19. The records of these patients and those of COVID-19 patients who visited the hospital for medical examination were compared. The study patients included thirty patients with COVID-19 and/or influenza, five of those with influenza alone. A group of 121 patients without infection was used as control. Patients with COVID-19 and influenza had significantly higher lactate dehydrogenase levels than the patients with COVID-19 alone. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was higher in patients with COVID-19 alone than in other groups. Significant clinical outliers were observed in the COVID-19 and influenza infection group compared with the COVID-19 alone group. These results are expected to play an important role in the analysis of the hematological data of infected patients and the comparison of simultaneous and single infection data to determine clinical symptoms and other signs. These results may also assist in the development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.