• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.228-235
• /
• 1999

Objectives: Despite the importance of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) transmission through heterosexual contact, the features of heterosexual transmission has not been well studied in Korea. So we conducted a cross sectional study to determine the transmission rates in married couples and assess risk factors for male to female heterosexual transmission of HIV. Methods: 169 HIV-infected males and their female sex partners were recruited from 1985 to tune 1998. We examined female sex partner's HIV infection status and interviewed male index partners and their female sex partners about demographic characteristics and sexual practices. We analysed heterosexual transmission rate by epidemiologic characteristics, disease status and sexual practices. And we assessed risk factors for HIV infection by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results: 30 female sex partners were infected at enrollment, yielding an transmission rate of 17.8%. Among couples who had used condoms consistently, none of the female sex partners was infected with HIV. In univariate analysis the significant risk factors were full blown AIDS status (OR=4.1, 95% CI: 1.49-11.43) and low CD4 T cell count of index partners at enrollment (OR=7.8, 95% CI: 2.19-27.80). In multivariate analysis HIV-1 RNA levels was significant risk factor when adjusted by CD4 T cell courts and mean sexual contacts per month (OR=19.2, 95% CI: 1.03-357.59) Conclusion: The risk of male to female heterosexual transmission increased with advanced stages of HIV infection in the index male partners.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.30
• /
• pp.2.1-2.9
• /
• 2015

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the association between presence of depression symptoms and the exposure level to insecticides among aged population in rural area, determined via measured levels of urinary 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), after controlling for socioeconomic confounding factors. Methods Using a cross-sectional study design, we randomly recruited participants for our study (161 male and 239 female) from rural areas of Asan, Chungnam, Korea. Environmental risk factor exposure was assessed using a questionnaire, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze urinary 3-PBA levels. We used a logistic regression analysis to assess the association of urinary 3-PBA levels with the presence of self-reported depression symptoms. Results After controlling for creatinine levels, the median (interquartile range) concentration of 3-PBA was approximately 1.5 times (p<0.05) higher among female (1.54 [0.90 to 2.35]) ${\mu}g/g$) than among male (1.06 [0.64 to 1.81] ${\mu}g/g$). Our study found that among female participants, the unit increase in 3-PBA levels exhibited a likely positive association (odds ratio, 1.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.25) with an increased risk of presence of self-reported depression symptoms, after adjusting for socioeconomic insurance type, daily physical condition, marital status, smoking status, and age. Conclusions Given our finding of a potential association between the presence of self-reported depression symptoms and 3-PBA levels, precautions should be considered to minimize exposure to insecticides and thus protect the health of aged residents in rural areas.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.410-419
• /
• 1999

This study sought to figure out women's functional status after childbirth under the Sanhujori. Functioal status was defined as the women's readiness to assume infant care responsibilities and resume her usual activities including household, social and community, self-care and occupational activity. A convenience sample of 211 women who are in the postpartal period of the range from 1 week to 3 months above and residing in Seoul. Korea was studied from January, 1997 to December, 1998 for two years. Mean age of respondents was 29.9 years and mean of the present postpartal period was 7.5 weeks. The present postpartal period was of 5-8 weeks 26.5%, 3-4weeks 26.1%, 9-12 week 23.7% and below 2 weeks 7.1%, 32.7% of women had a job and the mean period of return to job was 2.76 weeks. During Sanhujori the non professional care giver was family members from women's maiden home 73.5% and only 2% of husband. The period women needed for the recovery from now was 5.39 weeks and it means that women need 12.9weeks for recovery after childbirth. For the present subjective health status after childbirth, bad was 20.2%, good 18.3 and average 61.5% and for the recovery status, completely recovered 29.5%, slightly 61.8% and rarely 8.7%. The mean of functional status at the 7.5weeks was baby care activity 3.65, household 2.57, self-care 2.46, occupational 2.44 and social 1.53 in rank. Except baby care the functional status was generally low or very low. The related factors to the functional status were the period and subjective evaluation of Sanhujori women experienced, the present period of postpartum, and subjective feeling of recovery. This result strongly reflects the effects of Sanhujori culture and Sanhujori per se on women's postpartal life including functional status and reconfirmed the relationship between health status and the experience of Sanhujori after delivery as the previous findings from various study showed. It provides a challenge to the professional care givers to research further on the effects of Sanhujori on the health status, health recovery after abortion or delivery from the various aspects through the cross-sectional and longitudinal research for the refinement of the reality of Sanhujori not only as cultural phenomenon but as an inseparable factor influencing in women's postpartal healthy adaptation and for the appropriateness of intervention and quality of care for desirable health outcome.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.2707-2711
• /
• 2014

Introduction: Smoking prevalence among the medical students is high in China. Therefore, understanding the smoking motivations of medical students is crucial for smoking control, but currently there are no scales questionnaires customized for probing the smoking motivations of medical students. This aim of study was to test and modify a questionnaire for investigating smoking motivations among medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,125 medical students at Xuzhou Medical College in China in 2012.The model fit and validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the reliability was tested by single-item reliability, composite reliability, and item-total correlation. Results: The prevalence of smoking was 9.84 % among study population. In the modified scales, the global fit indices identified a CFI value of 0.96, TLI was 0.96, and the RMSEA was 0.063. CFA supported the two dimensional structure of the instrument. The average variance extracted ranged from 0.45 to 0.62. All single-item reliability scores were greater than 0.20, and the composite reliability ranged from 0.74 to 0.91. Conclusion: Modified scales could be the preliminary instrument used in evaluating the smoking motivations of medical students. However, it should be further assessed using other forms and methods of validity and reliability, additional motivations of smoking, and the survey of other medical colleges in China.

• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 2007

Among numerous policy influencers' and researchers' advices and policy suggestions, there is little opposition to the proposition that technology is essential to the economic development. The role of technology has never been more emphasized than today in Korea as in any other countries. The effects of the government's innovation policy on corporate R&D activities and more broadly the economic welfare of a whole nation are widely recognized with intuitional and empirical evidence. That is, various R&D incentives reduce the marginal cost of a firm's R&D efforts, inducing as much increase of its R&D investment to result in a better chance to acquire target technology. This paper examines the impact of R&D incentives on the technological outcomes by analyzing individual firms' investment behaviors subject to the government's R&D incentive policies. An econometric model of technological outcomes is estimated on a project level with cross-sectional data. "Probit model" is employed for estimations. Special attention was given to the effectiveness of R&D programs by estimating policy impact by types of investment. The data were collected from 928 different R&D projects completed between 1987 and 1993. With the single equation approach, we were able to find that the structure of investment is a far more significant factor in technological outcomes than the total amount of investment. The analysis also shows that the two types of firms' matching investment, in-kind and cash, do not bear a complementary, but a substitutive relations to each other. It also reconfirms the proposition that R&D incentives increase firm's financial investment. Despite many supportive studies emphasizing the cooperation between innovation performers, it is also found that the larger the number of institutions involved in a project, the less likely it leads to a technological success, And meeting the proposed deadlines without postponing is estimated to be a good barometer to predict the outcome of an R&D project. Also the probabilities of success for major variables are represented for policy implications, after calculating marginal effects.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.200-213
• /
• 2000

Lasers have given dentistry a new rapid, economic, and accurate technique for metal joining. Although laser welding has been recommended as an accurate technique, there are some limitations with this technique. For example, the two joining surfaces must have a tight-fitting contact, which may be difficult to achieve in some situations. The tensile samples used for this study were made from a custom-made pure titanium and type III gold alloy plates. 27 of 33 specimens were sectioned perpendicular to their long axis with a carborundum disk and water coolant. Six specimens remained and served as the control group. A group of 6 specimens was posed as butt joints in custom parallel positioning device with a feeler gauge at each of three gaps : 0.00, 0.25. and 0.50mm. All specimens were then machined to produce a uniform cross-sectional dimension, none of the specimens was subjected to any subsequent form of heat treatment. Scanning electron microscopy was performed on representative tested specimens at fractured surfaces in both the parent metal and the weld. Vickers hardness was measured at the center of the welds with a micropenetrometer using a force of 300gm for 15 seconds. Measurement was made at approximately $200{\mu}m\;and\;500{\mu}m$ deep from each surface. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe's test was calculated to detect differences between groups. The purpose of this study is to compare the strength and properties of the joint achieved at various butt Joint gaps by the laser welding of type III gold alloy and pure titanium tensile specimens in an argon atmosphere. The results of this study were as follows : 1. When indexing and welding pure titanium, there was no decrease in ultimate tensile strength as compared with the unsectioned alloys for indexing gaps of 0.00 to 0.50mm, although with increasing gap size may come increased distortion (p>0.05). 2. When indexing and welding type III gold alloy, there were significant differences in ultimate tensile strength among groups with weld gaps of 0.00mm, 0.25 and 0.50mm, and the control group. Group with butt contact without weld gap demonstrated a significant higher ultimate tensile strength than groups with weld gaps of 0.25 and 0.50mm (p<0.05). 3. When indexing and welding the different metal combination of type III gold alloy and pure titanium, there were significant differences in ultimate tensile strength between groups with weld gaps of 0.00, 0.25, and 0.50mm. However, the mechanical properties of the welded joint would become too brittle to be acceptable clinically (p<0.05). 4. The presence of large pores in the laser welded joint appears to be the most important factor in controlling the tensile strength of the weld in both pure titanium and type III gold alloy.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.223-232
• /
• 2015

Objectives In this study, the authors evaluated the correlation between levels of serum lipid, homocysteine, and folate with volumes of hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum, and in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) type. Methods The study recruited patients who visited the dementia clinic of Haeundae Paik Hospital in Korea between March 2010 and June 2014. Among those, patients who had taken the neurocognitive test, brain magnetic resonance imaing, tests for serum lipid, homocysteine, folate, and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping and diagnosed with aMCI or AD were included for analysis. Bilateral hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, amygdala and corpus callosum were selected for region of interest (ROI). The cross-sectional relationships between serum lipid, homocysteine, folate and ROI were assessed by partial correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Results In patients with aMCI, old age (> 80) and APOE ${\varepsilon}4$ carrier were associated with AD [odds ration (OR) : 12.80 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) : 2.25-72.98 and OR : 4.48 ; 95% CI : 1.58-12.67, respectively]. In patients with aMCI or AD, volumes and thickness of ROI were inversely correlated with levels of serum lipid and homocysteine. In multiple linear regression analyses, higher total cholesterol level was related to lower left, right hippocampus volume and left amygdala volume ; higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was related to lower right entorhinal cortex thickness ; higher homocysteine level was related to lower corpus callosum volume. Conclusions Higher serum lipid and homocysteine levels are associated with decreased volume of hippocampus, amygdala, corpus callosum and entorhinal cortex thickness in patients with aMCI or AD. These findings suggest that serum lipid and homocysteine levels are associated with AD as a modifiable risk factor.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.270-274
• /
• 2016

The effect of the rib angle-of-attack on heat transfer in the convergent channel with ${\vee}/{\wedge}$-shaped ribs was examined experimentally. Four differently angled ribs (a = $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, and $90^{\circ}$) were placed to only the one sided wall. The ribbed wall was manufactured with a fixed rib height (e) of 10 mm and rib spacing (p)-to-height (e) ratio of 10. The convergent channel had a length of 1,000 mm and a cross-sectional areas of $100mm{\times}100mm$ at inlet and $50mm{\times}100mm$ at exit. The measurement was conducted for the Reynolds numbers ranging from 22,000 to 75,000. The results show that the Nusselt number is generally higher at higher Reynolds number and that an angle-of-attack of $45^{\circ}$ at the ${\wedge}$-shaped rib produces the greatest Nusselt number.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.399-407
• /
• 2012

To evaluate age and gender differences in the relation of cardiovascular risk factors, cognitive impairment, and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis from aged people using by a cross sectional method. Sixty-nine healthy elders living in the community who had not previously undergone carotid ultrasonography were included. We conducted life style surveys, and cognitive function tests including Korean-mini-mental state examination (K-MMSE) and clinical dementia rating-Korean. Various biomarkers from blood were assessed; fasting insulin-like growth factor-1, lipid-profile, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, total homocysteine, glucose, insulin, Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) for insulin resistance index, vitamin B12, and folate level. Carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT), and plaques were measured using carotid ultrasonography and aortic ultrasonography, a valid index of atherosclerosis. For the elderly subjects (aged 65-82 years), cognition impairment was more prevalent in females while subclinical atherosclerosis was more prevalentin males. Increased C-IMT has been kept in males, and C-IMT shows increasing trend and the peak at about 80 year-old in females with increasing age. The significant correlations between C-IMT and many vascular risk factors including age, triglyceride, abnormal homocysteinein male, and K-MMSE, insulin, HOMA index and abnormal aortic ultrasonography in female were different in each gender, with the exception of homocysteine (p<0.05). This data suggests that there were differences of age and gender characteristics in terms of subclinical atherosclerosis, cognitive impairment and vascular risk factors in community-living elders. Further larger and longitudinal studies across entire age are required to better understand the effects of risk factors on subclinical atherosclerosis.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.335-342
• /
• 2005

This study was undertaken to investigate possibility of the allogenic type I collagen inducing osteoinduction or osteoconduction at critical sized bone defect in the rabbit. Twenty Newzealand white rabbit, weighted from 2.8 kg to 3.5 kg, were used in this study. The skull was exposed and two bony defects were created with diameter of 10 mm. Group I(n=10), the bony defects was grafted from the other side bone. Group II(n=10), the bony defects was grafted by the allogenic type I collagen with bone morphogenic protein(BMP). Group III(n=10), the bony defects was grafted by the allogenic type I collagen only. Group IV(n=10), the bony defects was lefted with no grafts. The grafted bones and allogenic type I collagen were investigated with radiologic densitometry, histologic analysis and immunohistochemistry after 12 weeks. No major difference was observed in the gross finding between Group I, II, III, but dura mater was exposed in bony defect,the Group IV. The radiologic study demonstrated more bony opacity in the Group I, but the other groups did not demonstrate a significant difference. In the histologic study, grafted bone edge was completely consolidated with original bone in group I and new bone ingrew into the grafted allogenic type I collagen(group II, III),but there is no bone regeneration from the original bony edge in the group IV. The percent of the new bone formation by cross-sectional area was considered statistically significant at a p value of less than 0.05(p<0.05). In the immunohistochemistry study about BMP antibodies, the group IV demonstrated osteogenic activity in front of advancing original bone edge, in which the osteoblast stained strongly for BMP antibodies, but other group does not demonstrated any osteoblastic expression. There was no immunologic rejection. In conclusion, this results do not demonstrate that the allogenic type I collagen is useful for bone substitute, but the characters of the collagen, such as pliability, easy-handling, sponge-like structure, are useful in interpositional bone graft substitutes. The further evaluation of long term results about the resorption, immunologic tissue reaction, response of applied tissue growth factor to the allogenic collagen is needed.