• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2023

Background: Messaging surrounding skin cancer prevention has previously focused on the general public and emphasized how or when activities should be undertaken to reduce solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure. Generic messages may not be applicable to all settings, and should be tailored to protect unique and/or highly susceptible subpopulations, such as outdoor workers. The primary objective of this study was to develop a set of tailored, practical, harm-reducing sun safety messages that will better support outdoor workers and their employers in reducing the risk of solar UVR exposure and UVR-related occupational illnesses. Methods: We adapted a core set of sun safety messages previously developed for the general population to be more applicable and actionable by outdoor workers and their employers. This study used an integrated knowledge translation approach and a modified Delphi method (which uses a survey-based consensus process) to tailor the established set of sun safety messages for use for outdoor worker populations. Results: The tailored messages were created with a consideration for what is feasible for outdoor workers, and provide users with key facts, recommendations, and tips related to preventing skin cancer, eye damage, and heat stress, specifically when working outdoors. Conclusion: The resulting tailored messages are a set of evidence-based, expert- approved, and stakeholder-workshopped messages that can be used in a variety of work settings as part of an exposure control plan for employers with outdoor workers.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.35-45
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• 2005

Objectives : To investigate the applicability of thermography as severity measurement in the patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Methods : Data were obtained from 80 patiens with OA of the knee. They were asked to answer two disease-specific questionnaire (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) OA index. Lequesne's Functional Index (LFI)), one generic instrument (Korean Health Assessment Questionnaire (KHAQ)), VAS in order to assess the severity of disease, quality of life, and degree of pain and taken thermography in standardized environment. Results : The thermal difference between ipsilateral side and contralaterla side of lateral aspect of knee was correlated with that of medial aspect of knee, and the thermal difference of anterior thigh was correlated with that of lateral, medial aspect of knee and patella region. Age, duration of disease, duration of morning stiffness, sex, crepitus, and painful side of knee were not correlated with the thermal differences of each region. LFI, WOMAC, WOMAC pain subscale, WOMAC stiffness subscale, WOMAC physical function, KHAQ, VAS were not correlated with the thermal differences of each region. Conclusion : Futher study on the thermography on OA of the knee in population with appropriate severity grade and the standardization of analysis of thermographic data were recommended.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.824-832
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• 2024

Objective: To determine the preventive effect of changing gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) to reduce the recurrence of GBCA-associated acute adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Materials and Methods: This retrospective, observational, single-center study-conducted between January 2016 and December 2021-included 238743 consecutive GBCA-enhanced MRI examinations. We focused on a subgroup of patients who experienced acute GBCA-associated ADRs during any of these examinations and subsequently underwent follow-up GBCA-enhanced MRI examinations up until July 2023. The follow-up examinations involved either the same (non-change group) or different (change group) GBCAs compared to the ones that initially caused the acute ADR. Baseline participant characteristics, generic profile of the GBCAs, administration of premedication, history of prior ADR to iodinated contrast media, and symptoms of GBCA-associated acute ADRs were retrospectively analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression with generalized estimating equations and propensity score matching were used. Results: A total of 1042 instances of acute ADRs (0.44%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.41%-0.46%) were reported. Three-hundred and seventy-three patients underwent GBCA-enhanced MRI examinations after experiencing GBCA-associated acute ADRs within the study period; 31.9% (119/373) reexperienced acute ADRs at any of the follow-up examinations. The ADR recurrence was significantly lower in the GBCA change group than in the non-change group according to multivariable logistic regression (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.13-0.90; P = 0.03) and analysis with propensity score matching (14.3% [6/42] vs. 36.9% [31/84], respectively; OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.11-0.94; P = 0.04). A history of an ADR to iodinated contrast media (OR: 1.14, 95% CI: 0.68-1.90; P = 0.62) and premedication (adjusted OR: 2.09, 95% CI: 0.93-4.68; P = 0.07) were not significantly associated with GBCA-associated acute ADR recurrence. A separate analysis for recurrent allergic-like hypersensitivity reactions demonstrated similar results (adjusted OR: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.06-0.65; P < 0.01). Conclusion: Changing GBCAs may reduce the risk of GBCA-associated acute ADR recurrence.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.111-123
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• 2010

Backgrounds : Stroke is characterized by loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain, and classified into hemorrhage and ischemia. Stroke is known to be affected by genetic factors and other diseases such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. However, the distinctive association between stroke and genetic variations has not discovered yet. Objectives : This study investigated the effects of fibrinogen level and genetic variations in FGA (Fibrinogen alpha chain) gene on stroke in Korean stroke patients and controls. Methods : DNA samples from 674 stroke patients diagnosed by Oriental medical hospitals and 267 controls were used in this study. Two common single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP) with high minor allele frequency(MAF), rs2070011G/A of promoter region and nonsynonymous rs6050A/G of exon 5 in FGA gene, were targeted for Taqman genotyping. Because the TOAST classification is important to the factors and symptoms of stroke, ischemic patients were further classified into five subtypes using diagnosis and clinical data. One-way ANOVA and chi-square test were used for clinical data and genetic association, respectively. Haploview v4.1 program was used for linkage disequilibrium(LD), haplotype and haplotype block analysis. Results : The levels of red blood cells and fibrinogen from clinical data were shown to be significant factors for the sub-groups of TOAST classification. No significant associations of stroke, hemorrhage, ischemic and subtypes of TOAST with rs2070011 and rs6050 of FGA gene were found(P > 0.05). However, rs2070011 in promoter region and nonsynonymous rs6050 in exon 5 which produce the amino acid change from threonine to alanine showed a haplotype block and three haplotypes of A-G, G-A, A-A, suggesting that rs2070011 and rs6050 might be co-segregated in generic recombination. Although A-A haplotype of stroke patients showed 64-69% low frequency compared to controls, there was no significant association between stroke and haplotype(P > 0.05). Conclusion : This study showed that there was no significant association between stroke and two SNP of rs2070011G/A and nonsynonymous rs6050A/G in FGA gene. However, these two SNP compose a haplotype block and three haplotypes of A-G, G-A, A-A. This finding suggests that rs2070011 and rs6050 are so close as to be positioned as linkage disequilibrium. Nevertheless, no significant association between haplotypes and stroke was found.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

Transplantation would be the only way to cure the end-stage organ failure involving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas. The replacement of the parts of the body damaged to lose its function or lost to trauma must be a dream of human-being. Human history is replete with chimeras, from sphinxes to mermaids, making one wonder if the ancients might actually have dreamed of what now is called 'xenotransplantation'. In the 20th century, the transplantation of organs and tissues to cure disease has become a clinical reality. The development in the fields of surgical techniques, physiology and immunology attributed to the successful transplantation in human. In the center of the successful transplantation lies the progress in understanding the cellular and molecular biology of immune system which led to the development of immunosuppressive drugs and the invention of the concept of immunological tolerance. The mandatory side effects of immunosuppressive drugs including infection and cancer forced us to search alternative approaches along with the development of new immunosuppressive agents. Among the alternative approaches, the induction of a state of immunologic tolerance would be the most promising and the most generic applicability as a future therapy. Recent reports documenting long-term graft survival without immunosuppression suggest that tolerance-based therapies may become a clinical reality. Last year, we saw the epoch making success of overcoming hyperacute rejection in porcine to primate xenotransplantation which will lead porcine to human xenotransplantation to clinical reality. In this review, I dare to summarize the development of transplantation immunology from the perspective of history.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.365-376
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• 2011

Robust design (RD) has emerged as a key feature in process design and development for more than twenty years. Many researchers and industrial engineers around the world have invested their intensive efforts to develop and apply RD in many fields in order to improve quality of output products. However, there is also room for improvement. The primary objective of this research is to determine "robust formulation" of a medicine by checking its gelation index. In order to achieve this target, based on the nature of problem, at first, a customized experimental format is designed for obtaining data. Second, time-depended responses based models are developed by the proposed inverse problem (IP) methodology. Third, an RD model based on mean square error (MSE) concept is introduced for time-depended responses. Finally, the proposed approach is illustrated by a case study while comparing obtained results to the response surface methodology (RSM) approach.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effects of anesthetic information on preoperative state anxiety, plasma glucose, cortisol and epinephrine for patients under tonsillectomy and to provide generic data with anesthetic nursing intervention. Method: Data were collected from 60 patients who had tonsillectomy from November 1, 2003 to April 30, 2004. The group were divided into experimental group and control group: an experiment group of 30 patients was provided with an anesthetic information prepared by the researchers; a control group of another 30 patients was provided with general information. Data were analyzed through chi-squared test, t-test, repeated measure ANOVA using SPSS Program(version 12.0). Result: There were no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in pre-operative state anxiety, glucose and cortisol. However, there were statistically significant difference between the above two groups in pre-operative pre-operative blood pressure(p=.001), heart beat(p=.000), and epinephrine(p=.035). Conclusion: The authors, with the results of this study, concluded that the preoperative anesthetic information for patients under tonsillectomy had direct effect on lessening pre-operative anxiety.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.207-216
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the effects of preoperative information on postoperative state anxiety, plasma cortisol, and pain for patients under total knee arthroplasty, and to provide generic data with nursing intervention for total knee arthroplasty. Methods: Data were collected from 34 patients who had total knee arthroplasty from January 3, 2003 to January 15, 2004. An experiment group of 17 patients was provided with pre-operative information prepared by the researchers; a control group of another 17 patients was provided with general information. Data were analyzed through Chi-squared test, t-test, paired t-test and ANCOVA using SPSS WIN 11.0. Results: There was no significant differences between the experiment group and the control group in post operative state anxiety(p=.612). However, there was statistically a significant difference between the above two groups in post operative plasma cortisol(p=.012). There was a statistically significant difference between the above two groups in post operative pain(p=.041). Conclusion: According to the results of the study, the authors concluded that the preoperative information for patients under total knee arthroplasty had the effect on the decrease of postoperative plasma cortisol and pain.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2015

Background & Methods: The purpose of this research is to estimate the efficiency of the pharmaceutical firms and the determinants of their efficiency. Stochastic frontier analysis(SFA) and panel study are applied to the data of 60 domestic pharmaceutical firms from 2006 to 2012. Results & Conclusion: First, the result of the stochastic frontier analysis shows that overall efficiency of the pharmaceutical firms is increasing as time goes by. However, if firms are classified by the scale, the larger firms show more efficiency and if classified by the degree of innovativeness, the innovative firms show more efficiency compared to the non-innovative firms. This evidences show that the scale and R&D investment have significant relationships with the efficiency of the pharmaceutical firms. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the national level of investment for the fundamental researches to vitalize R&D of the new drugs. Second, the result of estimation of the determinants of efficiency shows that the firms with larger sales promotion expenses and entertainment expenses have less efficiency compared to the other firms. This can be explained by the structural characteristics of the small generic pharmaceutical firms. Therefore, the government had better make the pharmaceutical firms to reduce sales promotion and entertainment expenses and increase R&D expenses by introducing systems such as global budgeting system on medicine or reference pricing system.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.45 no.2 s.142
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• pp.145-148
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• 2007

Only a few cases of Acanthocephala infections have been reported in humans, and Moniliformis moniliformis is the most common species around the world. We report here a case of infection with M. moniliformis, which passed in the stool of a 2-year-old girl in Iran. The patient had abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and facial edema. According to her mother, the patient had habit of eating dirt and once a cockroach was discovered in her mouth. In stool examination, eggs of M. moniliformis were not found. She was treated with levamisole and the clinical symptoms reduced within 2 weeks. The specimen contained 2 pieces of a female worm with a total length of 148 mm lacking the posterior end. The spiral musculature of the proboscis receptacle and the shape of the trunk allowed its generic determination. Previously 2 cases of M. moniliformis infection were reported in Iran. This is the 3rd case of M. moniliformis infection in Iran.