• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.65-77
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• 2020

Objectives: This study investigated the average number of drinkers in Korea, the number of high-risk drinkers, the average amount of alcohol consumed by high-risk drinkers, and the types of alcohol consumed according to the characteristics of the group of dependent drinkers. Methods: The results were obtained by analyzing the following data: The Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health; Country Profile 2014; WHO Country Profile 2014; Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2014, Korean Statistical Information Service; National Tax Statistics-Liquor Tax; Gallup Drinking Frequency Survey 2015 Results: This study found that a large proportion of drinkers in Korea are already high-risk drinkers, and even among drinkers, alcohol consumption was highly biased. It was reported that 49.8% of men in the problem, abuse, and dependence groups accounted for 92.4% of total alcohol consumption among the male population. Notably, the 9.6% of men making up the dependent group consumed more than 30% of the alcohol ingested among males. Women had significant variations within groups that were considered high-risk and exhibited a large share of alcohol consumption in the problem (10.0% of the female population), abuse (1.8% of the female population), and dependence (1.5% of the female population) groups, constituting 72.8% of total alcohol consumption. The average amount of alcohol consumed by drinkers in Korea seems to have exceeded the level of intake by high-risk groups. Alcohol-dependent groups consumed 900.7 mL of soju, 405.2 mL of table wine, and 2,043.8 mL of beer, which is very similar to the consumption average of 2,031 mL of beer and 895.2 mL of soju in the drinking group. Conclusion: It has been shown that men's dependence on alcohol is serious, and it is possible to infer that alcohol consumption in some vulnerable groups is very high. As the average alcohol intake among alcohol-dependent groups and ordinary drinkers is very similar, it is highly likely that the drinker is an alcohol-dependent consumer in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.941-948
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk of malnutrition and its relationship with depression and perceived health status. Methods: A total number of 154 elderly over 60 years participated in the study through a community elderly center. The risk of malnutrition was measured by NSI (Nutritional Screening Initiative), depression by CES-D, and health status by a self-rated Likert scale. Results: About one fourth (22.7%) of the subjects had a high risk, and 31.2% had a moderate risk of getting malnutrition. Regarding depression, 34.4% (53 elderly) of the subjects had a high risk. Overall health status had a mean of 3.46 within the range of 1 to 5. In relation to demographic factors, female elderly (${\chi}^2=6.68$, p= .04), aged younger than 75 years old (${\chi}^2=8.60$, p= .01), and having co-morbidity (F=9.81, p= .001) were significantly related to a high risk of malnutrition. Having a higher depression score, higher number of co-morbidity, and lower perceived health status were significantly related to a higher risk of becoming malnourished. Conclusion: The elderly's risk of getting malnutrition was significantly related to their depression and perceived health status. With these findings nursing interventions focusing on these factors should be developed in order to improve the elderly's multidimensional well-being.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2023

The prevalence of diabetes continues to increase worldwide, and the problem is also important in Korea, and about 14% of Korean adults have diabetes. Alcohol consumptions are increasing rapidly around the world and are recognized as one of the major problems in the country. Alcohol consumption is an environmental factor previously known to be associated with the risk of developing diabetes. Alcohol consumption can cause problems in the endocrine system and gastrointestinal function, and oxidative stress of acetaldehyde, an ethanol metabolite, can damage beta cells in the pancreas. In the present study, we found the effect of alcohol intake on fasting blood sugar and the difference between men and women in the risk of diabetes according to alcohol intake. In men, the high-drinking group had a higher risk of diabetes than the non-drinking group (OR, 1.41; P=0.058). In women, the Moderate-drinking group had a lower risk of diabetes compared to the non-drinking group (OR, 0.42; P=0.039). The high-drinking group had a higher risk of diabetes than the non-drinking group (OR, 2.97; P=0.034). The group that consumed more than the WHO's daily alcohol intake risk standard tended to have a higher risk of diabetes than the group that did not (OR, 5.48; P=0.001). This study suggest that moderate alcohol consumption reduce the risk of developing diabetes, and high alcohol consumption increase the risk of developing diabetes.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.308-313
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• 2013

Among 179 specimen diagnosed with ASCUS but did not go through biopsy or other tests, 26 cases (14.52%) showed positivity in HPV Hybrid Capture II Test. There were 25 cases of HPV high risk factor(+), marking 13.96%, and 3 cases of low risk factor(+) at 1.67%. According to cytology manifestation, patients with over LSIL can increase their complete recovery rate with continuous tests, but most patients diagnosed ASCUS do not go through any tests at all. It is considered that in order to prevent and start early treatment on cervical cancer, the HPV Hybrid Capture II Test must be enforced to patients diagnosed with ASCUS. Negative patients should go through routine screening, and positive patients should receive treatment after colposcopy.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.69-77
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• 2003

The goal of this study was to examine which factors influence consumers' demands to reveal the identity of GMO(Genetically Modified Organism) food, risk perception, and decision-making to purchase it. Consumers perceived its risk, and demanded labeling to identify it. Not many consumers wanted to buy GMO food. The results also revealed as follows. First, the level of demand to label for identifying GMO food were high among female consumers, consumers with negative attitude, and consumers severly perceived its risk. The level of perceived risk was high among consumers who were old and had high income, exercised their own healthy programs, showed negative attitude toward GMO food, and demanded strongly for labelling. Second, old consumers, consumers with high income, consumers concerning more about health, consumers with negative attitude and strong demand to label for identifying GMO food were more likely to perceive risk highly for GMO food. Third, consumers' attitudes and the level of perceived risks for GMO food significantly influenced the decision-making to purchase GMO food. However, other variables turned out not to affect consumers' decision-making to purchase it.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.143-151
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was to investigate the relations and odds ratio between hs-CRP and the risk factors of metabolic syndrome according to glucose intolerance and diabetes among the residents of a rural community. Methods: The subjects include 1,968 adults aged from 40 to 70 who were divided into four groups and a diabetes group according to glucose intolerance to compare the relations and risk ratio between hs-CRP and the risk factors of metabolic syndrome. Results: The results reveal that the greater the subjects' glucose intolerance was, the higher their hs-CRP became and the more risk factors of metabolic syndrome they had. The impaired glucose tolerance group showed 1.7 times higher blood pressure than the control group. The diabetes group showed a high odds ratio with 2.3 times higher blood pressure, 2.2 times higher abdominal obesity, and 2.4 times higherW/Ht than the control group. And the odds ratio increased significantly by 1.7 times in the hs-CRP intermediate risk group and 2.5 times in the high risk group compared with the control group. Conclusion: Considering the study results, it is very important to monitor abdominal obesity, blood pressure and the intermediate and high risk group of hs-CRP in order to reduce the contraction of cardiovascular diseases.

• Architectural research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.105-112
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to establish a method for assessing a building's risk against disaster, tentatively named the Korean integrated disaster evaluation simulator (K-IDES). Based on previous studies, FEMA's risk management series and FEMA IRVS are selected as case studies for developing a frame work of K-IDES, through the comparative analysis of domestic building design guides, codes, and special acts related to disasters, in order to develop a risk assessment methodology for quantitative results. The assessment method consists of a classification system and calculating risk, and a simulation applying the developed checklist in K-IDES to similar types of high-rise buildings will be conducted to validate its accuracy. The final goal is to systemize an integrated risk management in a high-rise building against disasters for the purpose of recognizing vulnerable areas from the beginning of the design process and reinforcing it from potential threats after construction.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.203-206
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• 2017

The seroprevalence of human toxoplasmosis has been increasing in Korea, and it is controversial whether cats are an important infection source or not. This study was performed to evaluate the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in a high risk group (cat sitters) and to determine the possible importance of cats as an infection source in Korea. Risk factors, including the age, sex, and diet of cat sitters, their contact experience and contact frequency with stray cats, and origin, number, and outdoor activity of their pet cats, were analyzed using structured questionnaires. A total of 673 serum samples from people who have frequent contact with cats (high risk group) and 1,114 samples from general people (low risk group) were examined for specific IgG antibodies against T. gondii by ELISA. The results revealed that the overall seroprevalence of T. gondii infection was 7.4% (n=1,787). The seroprevalence among low risk group was 8.0% (89/1,114), whereas that among high risk group was rather lower 6.4% (43/673), though this difference was statistically not significant (P=0.211). Among the risk factors, only the outdoor activity of pet cats was important; people having cats with outdoor activities revealed 2 times higher seroprevalence than people having cats with only indoor activities (P=0.027). In conclusion, the seroprevalence of T. gondii was not significantly different between the high risk group and low risk group, and the importance of cats as a source of infection in Korea is questionable.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.275-288
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• 2023

Based on the crucial role of high-speed railway bridges (HSRBs) in the safety of high-speed railway operations, it is an important approach to mitigate earthquake hazards by proceeding with seismic risk assessments in their whole life. Bridge seismic risk assessment, which usually evaluates the seismic performance of bridges from a probabilistic perspective, provides technical support for bridge risk management. The seismic performance of bridges is greatly affected by the degradation of material properties, therefore, material damage plays a nonnegligible role in the seismic risk assessment of the bridge. The effect of material damage is not considered in most current studies on seismic risk analysis of bridges, nevertheless. To fill the gap in this area, in this paper, a nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis has been carried out by establishing OpenSees finite element model, and a seismic vulnerability analysis is carried out based on the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method. On this basis, combined with the site risk analysis, the time-dependent seismic risk analysis of an offshore three-span HSRB in the whole life cycle has been conducted. The results showed that the seismic risk probabilities of both components and system of the bridge increase with the service time, and their seismic risk probabilities increase significantly in the last service period due to the degradation of the material strength, which demonstrates that the impact of durability damage should be considered when evaluating the seismic performance of bridges in the design and service period.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.505-513
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• 2023

Hydrogen infrastructure is expanding. High-capacity hydrogen refueling stations offer advantages because they can refuel a variety of light and heavy-duty vehicles, and multi-port refueling technology is developing to reduce charging time for heavy-duty vehicles. In this study, we suggest directions to lower the risk by analyzing the risk factors for each process involved in the installation of a high-capacity multi-port hydrogen refueling station in Changwon city. We conducted both qualitative and quantitative risk assessments of the equipment to evaluate the station. A hazard and operability study was performed for qualitative risk assessment, and PHAST/SAFETI were used for quantitative risk assessment. Quantitative risk assessment was used to calculate the consequence analysis of the facility to ensure secure design prior to station development and to predict individual and societal risks in various scenarios. As a result, the station's risk level was determined to be as low as reasonably practicable.