• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3635-3639
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• 2013

Background: Conclusive evidence exists about associations between several life-threatening diseases and passive smoking. The objective of our study was to investigate the prevalence of passive smoking among Iranian dental students, to assess their attitudes towards tobacco control programs, and to explore the association between these two and tobacco use. Methods: In eight randomly selected dental schools, all fourth-year students were surveyed by means of a self-administered anonymous questionnaire in December 2010. The Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) questionnaire served as the data collection instrument. Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) was assessed during the previous week. Chi-square test, logistic regression, and linear regression served for statistical analyses. Results: The response rate was 84% (325 students, 66% female). Exposure to ETS was reported by 74% of the participants. Men were significantly more exposed to ETS at home, and in other places than were women. Most of the students agreed on queried tobacco control policies. The lowest agreement (72%) was for banning smoking in coffee shops and teahouses. A logistic regression model showed that adjusted for gender, passive smoking at home is significantly associated with current tobacco use. A linear regression model suggested that the total score of attitudes is significantly associated with passive smoking at home, passive smoking in other places, tobacco use experience, and current tobacco use. Conclusions: The study reports high exposure to ETS among dental students, and its association with current tobacco use and attitudes towards tobacco control.

• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 2000

Twenty-first century coming of health care in our country is in a situation of much conflict because the relationship between nurses and doctors is seen in terms of a traditional and vertical structure. Accordingly. it is very difficult to find collaboration amongst individuals of these two professions. Now nursing is trying to find independence and autonomy by carrying out independent professional skills. This study on collaboration and the obstacles hindering its pursuit. The strategies of collaboration to give better health care quality are as follows; First, a program for professionals should be developed to enhance professional knowledge and technology and train nursing professionals so that nursing can be acknowledged as a profession with a power to carry out on independent job. Second, collaboration reduces expenses and results in satisfactory performances of duty, high productivity, low incidence of medical accident, and higher satisfaction of the patient. Therefore the leader in the higher position should take positive stance for collaboration and help create a cooperative situation through the development of practical orders for collaboration. opening cooperative wards, and meeting for collaboration. Third, a collaboration model should be introduced into the courses of the nursing and medical school curriculum, which would influence job atmosphere after graduation. Fourth, nurses should have pride in their jobs as professionals and have confidence in their professional skill, knowledge and ability. Nurses should make an effort to share responsibility and have independence and autonomy. Fifth, common people as well as doctors know little about professional practice and the role of nurses, so a publicity campaign is also required.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.132-152
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to identify and evaluate interprofessional education (IPE) interventions for healthcare professional students in East Asian countries. Methods: The reporting of this study followed the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. A literature search was conducted using seven electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklists were also used to appraise the quality of the included studies. The outcomes of IPE interventions were classified based on a modified Kirkpatrick model. Results: This review included 30 studies predominantly conducted in Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. The prevalent research design was a one-group pre-posttest design, and most IPE interventions occurred as single events. Approximately 70% of the studies involved students from two healthcare professions, mainly nursing and medicine. Simulations, group discussions, and lectures have emerged as the most common teaching methodologies, with almost half of the studies leveraging a combination of these techniques. The IPE content primarily focused on interprofessional teamwork, communication, and clinical patient care situations; these included the management of septic shock. The effectiveness of the IPE interventions was mainly evaluated through self-reported measures, indicating improvements in attitudes, perceptions, knowledge, and skills, aligning with Level 2 of the modified Kirkpatrick model. Nonetheless, the reviewed studies did not assess changes in the participants' behavior and patient results. Conclusion: IPE interventions promise to enhance interprofessional collaboration and communication skills among health professional students. Future studies should implement rigorous designs to assess the effectiveness of IPE interventions. Moreover, when designing IPE interventions, researchers and educators should consider the role of cultural characteristics in East Asian countries.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2015

Background: Shift work has been associated with occupational stress in health providers and in those working in some industrial companies. The association is not well established in the law enforcement workforce. Our objective was to examine the association between shift work and police work-related stress. Methods: The number of stressful events that occurred in the previous month and year was obtained using the Spielberger Police Stress Survey among 365 police officers aged 27-66 years. Work hours were derived from daily payroll records. A dominant shift (day, afternoon, or night) was defined for each participant as the shift with the largest percentage of total time a participant worked (starting time from 4:00 AM to 11:59 AM, from 12 PM to 7:59 PM, and from 8:00 PM to 3:59 AM for day, afternoon, and night shift, respectively) in the previous month or year. Analysis of variance and covariance were used to examine the number of total and subscale (administrative/professional pressure, physical/psychological danger, or organizational support) stressful events across the shift. Results: During the previous month and year, officers working the afternoon and night shifts reported more stressful events than day shift officers for total stress, administrative/professional pressure, and physical/psychological danger (p < 0.05). These differences were independent of age, sex, race/ethnicity, and police rank. The frequency of these stressful events did not differ significantly between officers working the afternoon and night shifts. Conclusion: Non-day shift workers may be exposed to more stressful events in this cohort. Interventions to reduce or manage police stress that are tailored by shift may be considered.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2017

Background: Police work is generally sedentary although there may be situations that require physical endurance and strength, such as foot chases and arresting suspects. Factors such as excessive body fat can impede an officer's physical ability to deal with such occurrences. Our objective was to examine associations between officers' body fat percentage (BF%) and performance on a standardized fitness protocol. Methods: Data were obtained from fitness screening among 1,826 male and 115 female officers in a large US police agency. The screening consisted of a 2.4-km run, push-ups, sit-ups, and sit-and-reach test. Sex-specific body fat percentages were estimated from skinfold thickness measured using calipers. Linear regression models were used to examine unadjusted and adjusted mean scores of fitness tests across BF% tertiles. Results: The prevalence of overall fitness was 4.3 times greater in male officers and 3.6 times greater in female officers having the lowest BF% tertile compared with the highest tertile (30.3% vs 7.1% and 46.0% vs 12.8%, respectively). BF% was linearly and positively associated with the time of 2.4-km run (p < 0.001), and linearly and inversely associated with the number of push-ups (p < 0.001), sit-ups (p < 0.001), and the distance of sit-and-reach (p < 0.001) in men. Similar associations were observed in women with the exception of sit-and-reach (p = 0.122). Associations were independent of age, race/ethnicity, rank, and duty station. Conclusion: Overall, BF% was inversely associated with fitness levels in male and female officers. Future longitudinal studies should be initiated to explore the potentially causal relationship between BF% and fitness in law enforcement officers.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.222-225
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• 2018

Health policy is a historical product in the process of development, including the political and economic factors of the state as well as the social and cultural elements of the country. Bioethics began to debate the ethical questions that arise in the overall process of life's birth and death, and gradually evolved by presenting ethical directions for various social phenomena. Especially, according to the moral awakening of 'scientific medicine' which caused in some human problems in the rapidized scientific society from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, as a result of distress including the concept of various social relations, it is possible to say that it has reached the bioethics. Although health policy and bioethics are different in terms of starting and concept, they can be found in common with social, cultural, and political diversity in the times. In 2004, 'Bioethics Law' was enacted through the issue of research ethics in the life sciences. Therefore, in order to examine ethical aspects of current health policy direction and major issues, it can be divided into before and after enactment of 'Bioethics Law' in 2004. The authors would like to examine how the evolution of the ethical viewpoint on the health policy has changed in line with the enactment of the 'Bioethics Law' and how it is trying to solve it from an ethical point of view. Through the various events that took place in the 1990s and the 2000s, various discussions on bioethics were conducted in Korea. Prior to the enactment of the 'Bioethics Law,' ethical judgments of professions, distribution of healthcare resources, if the discussion focused on the ethical judgment of abortion, and the various events that appeared in the early 2000s became the beginning to inform that the ethical debate about the life, death, and dignity of human beings began in earnest in Korea with the enactment of the 'Bioethics Law.' Since then, 'Hospice and Palliative care Law' which was enacted in 2017, is based on the fact that the health policy of our country focuses on the treatment of the past diseases, health promotion, and delivery of health care services. It was an opportunity to let them know that even the quality problems were included. Therefore, considering the various circumstances, the ethical issue facing Korea's health care system in the future is the change of the demographic structure due to aging and what is to be considered as the beginning and the process of life in the overall process of life. It is the worry about how to die and when it sees as death. This has far exceeded the paradigm of traditional health care policies such as disease prevention and management and health promotion, and calls for innovative policy response at the national level that reflects the new paradigm, which in many cases creates a predictable ethical environment. And health policy should be shifted in the direction of future ethical review considering sustainability in the development process of future health care rather than coercive management.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 2013

Objectives: To investigate the association between psychological distress and obesity among law enforcement officers (LEOs) in the United States. Methods: Self-reported data on psychological distress based on six key questions were obtained from LEOs who participated in the National Health Interview Survey (2004-2010). We used Prochaska's cut-point of a Kessler 6 score ${\geq}5$ for moderate/high mental distress in our analysis. Mean levels of body mass index (BMI) were compared across three levels of psychological distress. Results: The average age of LEOs (n = 929) was 39.3 years; 25% were female. Overall, 8.1% of LEOs had moderate or high psychological distress; 37.5% were obese (BMI ${\geq}30$). Mean BMI increased with increasing psychological distress (no distress, BMI = $27.2kg/m^2$; mild distress, $27.6kg/m^2$; and moderate/high distress, $33.1kg/m^2$; p = 0.016) after adjustment for age, race, income, and education level among female officers only. Physical activity modified the association between psychological distress and BMI but only among male LEOs (interaction p = 0.002). Among male LEOs reporting low physical activity, psychological distress was positively associated with BMI ($30.3kg/m^2$ for no distress, 30.7 for mild distress, 31.8 for moderate/high distress; p = 0.179) after adjustment, but not significantly. This association was not significant among males reporting high physical activity. Conclusion: Mean BMI significantly increased as psychological distress increased among female LEOs. A longitudinal study design may reveal the directionality of this association as well as the potential role that physical activity might play in this association.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.15-26
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• 2020

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the education status, knowledge, and perception of oral care among senior nursing students from Republic of Korea who completed all four curricular courses of Introduction to Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Adult Nursing and Gerontological Nursing in order to provide basic data for effective oral care of inpatients. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted for 137 senior nursing students in the Seoul and Gangwon regions who were selected by convenience sampling. The questionnaire consisted of questions about the perception of oral care. A frequency analysis was conducted to analyze education status, perception, and general characteristics of participants. In addition, independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to assess differences in the knowledge level according to the characteristics of the students. A p-value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. Results: The study results revealed that 63.5% of the respondents received education on oral care, with 67.8% of them receiving the education during their regular curriculum. Of the responders who said they received education, 41.4% said that education was not enough. Furthermore, the majority of respondents (56.9%) considered dental hygienists to be most suitable for the administration of oral care for inpatients. Conclusion: This study revealed nursing students' positive perceptions of the importance of oral care and dental hygienists'performance of oral care for inpatients. Consideration should be given to healthcare workers in various professions for improving oral health in inpatients, as well as for further study of oral care in the curriculum.

• ALGAE
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.147-161
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• 2015

Brown algal extracts have long been used as feed supplements to promote health of farm animals. Here, we show new molecular insights in to the mechanism of action of a fucose containing polymer (FCP) rich fraction from the brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum using the Caenorhabditis elegans-Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 infection model. FCP enhanced survival of C. elegans against pathogen stress, correlated with up-regulation of key immune response genes such as: lipases, lysozyme (lys-1), saponin-like protein (spp-1), thaumatin-like protein (tlp-1), matridin SK domain protein (msk-1), antibacterial protein (abf-1), and lectin family protein (lfp). Further, FCP caused down regulation of P. aeruginosa quorum sensing genes: (lasI, lasR, rhlI, and rhlR), secreted virulence factors (lipase, proteases, and elastases) and toxic metabolites (pyocyanin, hydrogen cyanide, and siderophore). Biofilm formation and motility of pathogenic bacteria were also greatly attenuated when the culture media were treated with FCP. Interestingly, FCP failed to mitigate the pathogen stress in skn-1, daf-2, and pmk-1 mutants of C. elegans. This indicated that, FCP treatment acted on the regulation of fundamental innate immune pathways, which are conserved across the majority of organisms including humans. This study suggests the possible use of FCP, a seaweed component, as a functional food source for healthy living.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.201-215
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• 2015

The Korean Institute of Dental Education and Evaluation (KIDEE) was established in 2007 to provide the quality assurance in dental education. The KIDEE has been recognized by The Ministry of Education from Jan. 2015 for 5 years. KIDEE had accredited basic dental education programs of all 11 Korean dental schools. The dental accreditation system was introduced to encourage the improvement for dental schools, to ensure the quality of dental practice and most of all, to establish an internationally compatible system of evaluation and accreditation. The accreditation system in Korea is supported by voluntary service of many dental professionals and contribute to improve the quality of dental education program in all institutions. The accreditation by KIDEE let the students and the dentists be taught with assured education program and the all Koreans be cared by the qualified dentists. A quality education system thus provides a sufficient number of qualified dental health professionals to meet the workforce needs of the nation. Ultimately, this should result in quality oral health care for the public. Finally, by specifying the competencies of graduates, the standards will define the scope of dental practice. This may serve to define the profession of dentistry and differentiate it from other health professions, or to differentiate among the specialties in dentistry in the case of advanced dental education programs.