• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 1984

The hospital wastewaters have to be so disposed as to prevent disease and to protect water resources from hazardous substances disinfectants, medicines, and chemicals. Polyvinylpyrrolidone-iodine complex (povidone-iodine) is widely used in the hospital as one of disinfectants. This study was carried out to manifest the effect of disinfectants in growth of activated sludge in treatment of the hospital wastewater by the activated sludge process. The results are as follow. 1. An average water quality of the hospital wastewater showed 7.2 in pH, 3.2 ppm in DO, 293.3 ppm in SS, 96.0 ppm in BOD, 151.1 ppm in COD, 0.4 ppm in povidone-iodine, 0.5 ppm in phenols, 5.4 ppm in surfactants, 1.6 ppm in o-phosphate, 4.6 ppm in $NH_3-N, 249\times 10^4$ counts/100 ml in coliform group organisms, and $1,369\times 10^2$ counts/ml in general counts of bacteria. And wastewater amounts discharged per bed was calculated 70 l/d/bed. 2. In batch culture activated sludge process, each of cresol and povidone-iodine was not effected in less than 0.1 ppm concentration, but the more concentration, the more inhibit the growth rate of activated sludge. In the mixture of two disinfectants, the growth was more inhibited the effect of single disinfectants. So that this reaction is considered as addition effect of two disinfectants. 3. The removal rates of the disinfectants-by continuous culture activated sludge process were 77.6% in 0.4 ppm povidone-iodine, and in BOD was 85.6%. 4. It is desirable that the hospital wastewater is planed in order to be discharged to two system separately, sewer from life system and wastewater from medical system. From those results, it has been concluded that the hospital wastewater has to be treated safely by the activated sludge process.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.34.1-34.8
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• 2023

Background: Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic substance that humans can be exposed to occupationally, and cases of hydrogen sulfide poisoning of workers in industrial sites are commonly reported. However, there have been no cases of poisoning of the public due to an unauthorized discharge of wastewater, so it is important to describe this incident. Case presentation: In a small village in Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea, accounts of a terrible stench had been reported. A 26-year-old man who lived and worked in a foul-smelling area was taken to the emergency room with a headache, dizziness, nausea, and repeated syncope. A subsequent police and Ministry of Environment investigation determined that the cause of the stench was the unauthorized discharge of 9 tons of wastewater containing hydrogen sulfide through a stormwater pipe while the villagers were sleeping. The patient had no previous medical history or experience of symptoms. Leukocytes and cardiac markers were elevated, an electrocardiogram indicated biatrial enlargement, left ventricular hypertrophy, and corrected QT interval prolongation. Myocardial hypertrophy was detected on a chest computed tomography scan, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was confirmed on echocardiography. After hospitalization, cardiac marker concentrations declined, symptoms improved, and the patient was discharged after 7 days of hospitalization. There was no recurrence of symptoms after discharge. Conclusions: We suspect that previously unrecognized heart disease manifested or was aggravated in this patient due to exposure to hydrogen sulfide. Attention should be paid to the possibility of unauthorized discharge of hydrogen sulfide, etc., in occasional local incidents and damage to public health. In the event of such an accident, it is necessary to have government guidelines in place to investigate health impact and follow-up clinical management of exposed residents.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.804-812
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• 2012

This study contemplated domestic and other country's effluent limitation standards and suggested a methodology to establish technology-base limitation value. Current effluent limitation regulates industrial point sources discriminated by discharge flow rate and by regional distinction in Korea. Discharged $BOD_5$ load from large-scale plants(flow rate above $2,000\;m^3/day)$ exceeds 50% of overall industrial wastewater, which present rationale for discrimination based on plant size. However, regional distinction and pollutant- specific regulation might be insufficient to meet practical effectiveness of wastewater management policy, due to the nearly same limitation. Water quality data and treatment methods were investigated in hospital industry. And their distribution of effluent $BOD_5$ concentrations was statistically analyzed to suggest limitation value. Effluent $BOD_5$ concentrations showed lognormal distribution and $95^{th}$ percentile was corresponded to 87.9 mg/L, which could be suggested as tentative effluent limitation in hospital industry. The $95^{th}$ percentile of log-transformed distribution showed similar value of 86.5 mg/L. This study demonstrated reasonable methodology for establishing effluent limitation reflecting wastewater characteristic and treatment technology in separately categorized industry.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.709-716
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• 2011

Effect of inorganic coagulants dosing on the performance of electro-chemical process was studied when treating hospital wastewater having low electrolyte concentration. It is thought that adding inorganic coagulants caused increase in concentration of electrolyte and this caused increase in free chloride concentration and consequently, caused increase in indirect oxidation effect. Thus, COD removal efficiencies more than doubled in percentage terms at the 2 hrs of reaction time and current density of $1.76A/dm^2$ compared with the results obtained from the parallel experiments without adding inorganic coagulants. T-N removal efficiencies approximately doubled in percentage terms at the 2 hrs of reaction time and 700 ppm of coagulants addition and applied current density of $1.76A/dm^2$ due to the increase of free residual chlorine such as HOCl caused by increase of electrolyte concentration through the addition of inorganic coagulants. Under the same experimental condition, more than 90% of T-P removal efficiencies was obtained. The reason can be explained that increase of chemical adsorption rate between phosphate and insoluble metal compounds caused by dissolved oxygen generated from anode by the increased electrolyte concentration through inorganic coagulants addition make a major role in improving T-P removal efficiencies. It can be concluded that inorganic coagulants addition as the supplemental agent of electrolyte is effective way in improving organic and nutrient salt removal efficiency when treating hospital wastewater having low electrolyte concentration.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.299-307
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• 2018

This study survey research of infection control, wastewater management, and instrument disinfection according to characteristic at Daegu, Gyeongbuk Province In 2012 and 2017, the same 114 dental clinics to identify the infection management behavior and prevent infection of dental medical institutions. Scored mean 3.37 points on 8 items of infection control, 95.5% in "records of the patient's medical history", 1.8% in "presence of a wastewater facility." Scored 94.7% in "disinfection of metal trays", 17.5% in "storage from a spitting receptacle in the waste bin and commissioned management.", Scored higher in of infection control, wastewater management and instrument disinfection according to general characteristics and dental characteristics in 2017 than in 2012. Points were higher dental hygienist, University graduation, Type of duty was counseling and management, hospital or higher, Number of dentist(dental hygienist, chair, patient) was high. Therefore raise a need for infection control into consideration the dental characteristics and education and promotion regardless of the hospital size.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.167-175
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• 2007

There are some positive effects by the introduction of PACS(Picture Archiving Communication System). This study is to analyze the mutual relation between before and after of the introduction of PACS in terms of the environment effect. It is supposed to cause the reduction of developing and fixing wastewater according to the increase in the rate of a non-film. This study will also show the amount of wastewater. Target places were the department of image medicine(diagnostic radiation) of the general hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do, which are equiped with full PACS. The authors examined questionnaires on the number of projection, the number of indirect projection, the amount of the film used, the number of radiation image CD loan, the amount of the developing and fixing solution used, the change of the amount of fixing wastewater. According to the analysis, we analyzed the change of the amount of developing and fixing solution per a film and the change of the amount of developing and fixing wastewater which is supposed to be reduced proportionally by the introduction of PACS. We got conclusion as below after analyzing 8 hospitals except the largest and the least amount of examination, film used, developing and fixing solution and the amount of developing and fixing wastewater in order to decrease the deviation from 10 general hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do. We compared data one year before adopting PACS Versus 3 years after adopting PACS. 1. The frequences of examination increased to 7,357.7 cases per month but the amount of film used decreased to 90%, from 42,774.4 to 4,181.88 after adopting the PACS. 2. 3 years after adopting PACS, monthly average amount of developing solution used decreased to 92% and the monthly average amount of fixing solution decreased to 86%. 3. Monthly average amount of developing solution used per film increased to 1.49 times and fixing solution increased as much as three times. 4. Monthly average wastewater for developing decreased to 88% and wastewater for fixing decreased up to 87%. 5. Monthly average wastewater for developing per film increased to 3.77 times and wastewater for fixing increased to 3.85 times. Although the amount of film used and the amount of developing and fixing wastewater affected by the reduction of the developing and fixing solution became less on the whole by introduction of PACS, they did not decrease proportionally. Moreover the amount of the developing and fixing solution used and the amount of developing and fixing wastewater per a film increased. That means the expectation for an environmental improvement differs from the actual condition.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.73-84
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• 2020

Purpose: Though Korean healthcare services have been upgraded, infection and fire had been broken out in general hospitals. And higher concerns about quality assessment made it to clinical laboratory design guideline studies. So, this study investigates the facilities, equipment and personnel of laboratory medicine focusing on more than five hundred fifty bed hospital, and contributes to make guidelines for safety and efficiency in lab. Methods: Questionnaires to supervisor technologist and field surveys to medical laboratories in korean hospitals have been conducted for the data collection. 16 answers have been analysed statistically by MS Excel program. Results: Most of the sample tests such as hematology, clinical chemistry, immunology, transfusion, urinalysis, microbiology and molecular diagnosis are performed by more than 80% in large sized general hospital laboratory. In the test methods, automatic analyzers are used up to 80%, total laboratory automation up to 43% in clinical chemistry and immunology, and manual tests in all sorts of the test. There are placed in single lab or two and three labs above the ground, which are all in semi-open lab. There is some correlation with the number of specimens and the number of lab people depending on the number of hospital beds. Laboratory environment shows that work distance is good, but evacuation path width, visibility, separation of staff area from automatic analyzer, and equipment installations are needed to have more spaces and gears. Most of the infection controls are equipped with mechanical ventilation, air-conditioning, washbasin and wastewater separation, BSC installation and negative pressure lab room. Implications: Although the laboratory space area is calculated considering the number of hospital beds, type of tests and number of staff, hospital's expertise and the samples numbers per year should be taken into account in the planning of the hospital.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2008

Purpose: In general, We discharged radioactive wastewater and sewages less than $8.1{\times}10^{-13}$ Ci/ml in a exclusive water-purifier tank. Our hospital operating three exclusive water-purifier tank for radioactive wastewater and sewages of 60 tons capacity respectively. In order to meet the criteria it need a enough decay more than 125 days per each exclusive tank. However, recently we fell into the serious situation that decay period was decreased remarkably, owing to the wastewater amount increased rapidly by enlarge the therapy ward. For that reason, in this article, I'd like to say the way that reducing of radioactive wastewater and sewages rationally. Materials and Methods: From January, 2006 to October, four hundred and two cases were analyzed. They were all hospitalized during 3 days and 2 nights. We calculated the average amount of water used (include toilet water used, shower water used, washstand water used, $\cdots$), each exclusive water-purifier tank's decay period, as well as try to search the increased factors about water-purifier tank inflow flux by re-analysis of the procedure of radioisotope therapy step by step. Results: We could increase each exclusive water-purifier tank's decay period from 84 days to 130 days through the improvement about following cause: (1) Improvement of conventional toilet stool for excessive water waste $\rightarrow$ Replacement of water saving style toilet stool (2) Prevention of unnecessary shower and wash (3) Stop the diuretics taking during hospitalization (4) Analysis of relationship between water intakes and residual dose of body (5) Education about outside toilet utilization before the administration (6) Changed each water-purifier tank's maximum level from85% to 90% Conclusion: The originality of our efforts are not only software but hardware performance improvements. Incidentally the side of software's are change of therapy procedures and protocols, the side of hardware's are replacement of water saving style toilet stool and change of each water-purifier tank's maximum level. Thus even if a long lapse of time, problem such as return to the former conditions may not happen. Besides, We expect that our trials become a new reasonable model in similar situation.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 2018

During the course of investigation of indigenous prokaryotic species in Korea, a total of 30 bacterial strains belonging to the phylum Firmicutes were isolated from diverse environmental sites such as soil, avian feces, wastewater treatment plants, fermented vegetables, seawater, algae, sea cucumber, octopus and tidal flat sediment. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that each strain showed high sequence similarity (${\geq}98.7%$) to the closest type strain and formed a robust phylogenetic clade with the most closely related species in the phylum Firmicutes. To date, there is no official record of these 30 species in Korea. Therefore, we report 26 species of 12 genera in the order Bacillales and 4 species of 4 genera in the order Lactobacillales which have not been reported in Korea. Morphological and biochemical characteristics, isolation sources and NIBR deposit numbers are described in the species descriptions.