• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.384-389
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• 2023

Background: Exposure to welding fume is associated with adverse effects on worker health. The use of various control measures can reduce levels of exposure and the resulting health effects. However, little is known about the factors that may influence workers' use of control measures in the workplace and their perceived intervention needs. This study aimed to investigate workers' and other stakeholders' views on ways to improve the use of welding fume control measures in Australian workplaces. Methods: We conducted a series of online focus group discussions and individual interviews with participants who have some occupational involvement in welding, whether as workers, employers or industry representatives, union representatives, or regulators. A semi-structured question guide was used, and all discussions and interviews were recorded and transcribed for analysis. Results: Five focus group discussions and five individual interviews were conducted with a total of 21 participants. Three major themes emerged. The first addressed the current awareness of welding fume harms and concern about exposure; the second focussed on the current use of control measures, and barriers and facilitators to their use; and the last centred around intervention needs and the contents of a potential effective intervention. Conclusion: Improving the use of control measures to prevent exposure to welding fume requires knowledge around the barriers and facilitators of control, use, and the intervention needs of stakeholders. This study has provided such knowledge, which will facilitate the design and implementation of an intervention to reduce welding fume exposure and ultimately protect the health of workers.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Low-dose radiation exposure has received considerable attention because it reflects the general public's type and level of exposure. Still, controversy remains due to the relatively unclear results and uncertainty in risk estimation compared to high-dose radiation. However, recent epidemiological studies report direct evidence of health effects for various types of low-dose radiation exposure. In particular, international nuclear workers' studies, CT exposure studies, and children's cancer studies on natural radiation showed significantly increased cancer risk among the study populations despite their low-dose radiation exposure. These studies showed similar results even when the cumulative radiation dose was limited to an exposure group of less than 100 mGy, demonstrating that the observed excess risk was not affected by high exposure. A linear dose-response relationship between radiation exposure and cancer incidence has been observed, even at the low-dose interval. These recent epidemiological studies include relatively large populations, and findings are broadly consistent with previous studies on Japanese atomic bomb survivors. However, the health effects of low-dose radiation are assumed to be small compared to the risks that may arise from other lifestyle factors; therefore, the benefits of radiation use should be considered at the individual level through a balanced interpretation. Further low-dose radiation studies are essential to accurately determining the benefits and risks of radiation.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.233-238
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• 2023

This study was conducted to confirm the safety of the operator's radiation exposure in the micro PET-CT image acquisition experiment using the ¹⁸F-FDG. The usage of ¹⁸F-FDG and the exposure dose of handlers were measured at University B in Metropolitan City A, which uses ¹⁸F-FDG for micro PET-CT image acquisition. As a result of the measurement, the exposure dose is far below the effective dose limit of radiation workers, 50 mSv per year, and the equivalent dose limit of 500 mSv per year for hands, feet, and skin. has been measured Since these exposure doses can be further increased according to the number of times of use of ¹⁸F-FDG, it is judged that the exposure dose compared to the handling amount of ¹⁸F-FDG shown in this study can be used as reference data. In addition, as changed environments such as the use of materials other than unopened RI are occurring in education and research environments, such as the use of ¹⁸F-FDG at University B, radiation exposure with more interest in safety management by checking the factors of radiation exposure of the handler concerned We will always do our best to reduce it.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.353-364
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• 2016

Objectives: Determining the time activity patterns of urban populations is critical when performing an exposure assessment. The purposes of this study were to classify urban populations in Korea by their time activity patterns and to identify factors that influence these patterns. Methods: The time activity patterns of 31,634 and 20,263 individuals were obtained from two national databases collected in 2004 and 2009, respectively. The two largest metropolitan cities in Korea, Seoul and Busan, were selected for this analysis. For each city, multivariate linear regressions were performed to determine factors affecting the time spent in a residence and in transit. We also used cluster analysis to classify each urban population by activity pattern. Results: Nine distinctive activity patterns were identified in the Seoul and Busan populations, respectively, and the resulting classified population groups had specific characteristics. The identified patterns were similar for Seoul and Busan. The most significant factors affecting time spent in a residence were employment status, age, marriage status, education, and gender. Gender, education, employment status, and monthly income were significant factors affecting time spent in transit. Conclusion: These results indicate that, in addition to region, exposure scientists in Korea should consider classifying populations based on age, gender, and occupation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.412-422
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• 2009

This study was conducted to assess exposure to musculoskeletal disorder(MSD) risk factors in hospital personnel who performed non-routinized work tasks. A tool ("PATH-KOSHA" version) was newly revised from PATH(Posture, Activity, Tools and Handling) method and uploaded into a personal digital assistant(PDA). The version was used, on a basis of direct-observation, to collect PATH data at the 2 hospital settings in different regions. Job analysis was performed to get various information (e.g., work and rest time, task type) as well. The data collected were visually checked for data cleaning and stored for future data analysis. A total of 1,992 PATH observations were made for 37 hospital workers. Exposure levels varied across 18 items of the MSD risk factors. The highest percent time spent on non-neutral postures was 53% for wrist deviation, followed by 47%(pinch grip), 35%(trunk posture), 23%(neck posture), and 20%(shoulder/arm posture). The highest percent time spent among hand activity level(HAL) variables was 55% for HAL-cat2 (HAL: 3.3 - <6.7). The percent time of items with respect to both loads with more than 5kg and contact stress was less than 4%. Vibration was not exposed in the study workers. Different aspects were discussed for findings. The study results showed that wrist deviation was highest in percent time spent on awkward posture while HAL-cat2 was highest in hand repetition. The study suggests that distal upper extremity posture and HAL should be primarily addressed and controlled in non-routinized work including the hospital settings.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.210-216
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• 2017

Objectives: One way to prevent deaths due to rabies is the timely utilization of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Therefore, in addition to an understanding of the epidemiological distribution of animal bites, it is necessary to explore the factors leading to delays in PEP initiation. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Iran in 2011, and included 7097 cases of animal bites recorded at the Rabies Treatment Center of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences using the census method. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with delays in PEP. Results: Among the patients studied, 5387 (75.9%) were males. The prevalence of animal bites in Fars province was 154.4 per 100 000 people. Dogs were the most frequent source of exposure (67.1%), and the most common bitten part of the body was the hands (45.5%). A delay in the initiation of PEP was found among 6.8% of the studied subjects. This delay was more likely in housewives (odds ratio [OR], 4.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.12 to 10.23) and less likely in people with deep wounds (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.43 to 0.97). Conclusions: Although all animal bite victims received complete PEP, in some cases, there were delays. Further, the type of animal involved, the depth of the bite, and the patient's occupation were the major factors associated with a delay in the initiation of PEP for rabies prevention.

• Journal of odor and indoor environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.315-321
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• 2018

Phthalate is an endocrine disruptor that interferes with homeostasis and developmental regulation. It is highly toxic to the environment and is associated with various diseases of the human body. Using biological samples from 140 adult subjects, to evaluate the influencing factors which are related to contaminant concentration levels, we used correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. Lastly, in order to analyze the health effects related to exposure to phthalates, we conducted a risk assessment by estimating acceptable daily intake exposure according to the influential factors. When we compared the concentration level according to influential factors, in general, the subjects who had engaged in home remodeling work had higher urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations levels than the subjects who had not engaged in home remodeling work. We can confirm statistically significant differences in DBP metabolites. In addition, we can confirm the concentration appeared higher in the categories such as using air freshener, sofa and foods. Through conducting a risk assessment of DEHP, BBzP, DiBP, and DnBP by using data on phthalate metabolite concentration in urine, it was found that the average concentration of all metabolites did not exceed TDI.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.321-327
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• 2003

Differences between the principles for the radiological protection of man and the environment are compared. The derived levels of exposure for man and biota recommended by the international agencies with dose rates for chronic radiation producing effects at different levels of biological organization were given in terms of the biological effects. Cytogenetic effects on plants after an exposure to ionizing radiation at low doses alone and in combination with other factors are discussed. A wide range of experimental data were analysed and the general conclusions were extracted to cover the topics such as non-linearity of dose response, synergistic and antagonistic effects of the combined exposure of different factors, radiation-induced genomic instability, and the phenomena of radioadaptation.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1988.07a
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• pp.418-421
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• 1988

Holographic interferometry is applied in dental research to study the motion of teeth and the deformation of the associated facial structure. We consider double exposure holographic interferometry which has limiting factors such as the stability of fringes, the recording time, the amount of exposure, the localization of fringes and sensitivity. These factors are taken into account to make interferogram. The resulting interferogram gives fringe pattern which is analyzed qualitatively to determine the relative rotation and the deformation of the facial structure.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.281-290
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• 2014

Tooth eruption disturbance is seen commonly in mixed dentition or early permanent dentition. During this period of time, children experience the growth and development of craniofacial skeleton and dentition, so the impaction and eruption disturbance of permanent teeth make many problems in oral and maxillofacial areas. Eruption guidance of impacted tooth is not simple because many factors related to impaction are considered. Several factors such as etiology, tooth development stage, location of impacted teeth or eruption pathway, patient cooperation, etc. need to be taken into consideration in deciding the management of the impacted tooth. In the present study, it was assessed the etiology and impaction status of impacted tooth through various cases, and try to explain the treatment method to guide eruption by surgical exposure.