• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.55-61
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• 1997

This study was executed for the purpose of investigation of the EMFs exposures of personal and electronic environment. This study examines ELF-EMFs of electric appliances, subways and occupational and non-occupational human exposures, using EMDEX II (for 40 - 800Hz, Enertech Consultant, Inc.), from October 1995 to March 1996. Among the electric appliances examined, a massage unit showed the highest mean value of 247.07 $\mu$T, followed by an electric blanket of 5.24 $\mu$T. Indoor levels of EMF in subways exceerlcd 0.2 $\mu$T of the Swedish Guideline. The mean personal exposure levels of occupational group were 0.18 $\mu$T, while the personal EMF level of non-occupational group were 0.07 $\mu$T. Occupational group were exposed more highly while at work. However, the EMF levels during nonwork and sleep exposures between occuptional group and nonoccupational group were about the same. Estimates of time-intergrated exposure indicated that utility-specipic job classifications received about one-half or more of their total exposure on the job. Finally, this study would provide significant data for future research for exposure to magnetic fields, and more detailed study and research are necessary.

• 한국연초학회지
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• 제31권1호
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• pp.58-67
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• 2009

Biomarkers could be critical and useful tools for assessing the biological effects of smoking and detecting differences between potentially reduced exposure product (PREP) and conventional cigarettes. Smoking-related biomarkers can be classified into three categories as biomarkers of exposure, biomarkers of effects, and biomarkers of potential harm. When compared with the biomarkers of effects or harm, the biomarkers of exposure for chemical constituents of cigarette smoke are well established and characterized. In addition, they could offer the important information in understanding how cigarette smoke interacts with biological molecules and causes the disease to human. Therefore, we provide an overview of 6 biomarkers of exposure (Nicotine and nicotine metabolites, Carboxyhaemoglobin, NNAL (4-(methylnitrosoamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol) and NNAL - glucuronide, 3-Hydroxypropyl-mercapturic acid, and Monohydroxy-butenyl-mercapturic acids, and Urine mutagenicity) which were validated through extensive research and clinical experience. These reliable biomarkers could help identify the efficacy of PREP by predicting early toxicological effects and lead to improve it.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제4권3호
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• pp.123-135
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• 2013

Exposure to manganese (Mn) is associated with neurobehavioral effects. There is disagreement on whether commonly occurring exposures in welding, ferroalloy, and other industrial processes produce neurologically significant neurobehavioral changes representing parkinsonism. A reviewof methodological issues in the human epidemiological literature onMnidentified: (1) studies focused on idiopathic Parkinson disease without considering manganism, a parkinsonian syndrome; (2) studies with healthy worker effect bias; (3) studies with problematic statistical modeling; and (4) studies arising from case series derived from litigation. Investigations with adequate study design and exposure assessment revealed consistent neurobehavioral effects and attributable subclinical and clinical signs and symptoms of impairment. Twenty-eight studies show an exposure-response relationship between Mn and neurobehavioral effects, including 11 with continuous exposure metrics and six with three or four levels of contrasted exposure. The effects of sustained low-concentration exposures to Mn are consistent with the manifestations of early manganism, i.e., consistent with parkinsonism. This is compelling evidence thatMnis a neurotoxic chemical and there is good evidence that Mn exposures far below the current US standard of $5.0mg/m^3$ are causing impairment.

• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.123-132
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• 2021

Radiological impact analyses were carried out for a near-surface radioactive waste repository at Gyeongju in South Korea. The RESRAD-ONSITE code was applied for the estimation of maximum exposure doses by considering various exposure pathways based on a land area of 2,500 ㎡ with a 0.15 m thick contamination zone. Typical influencing input parameters such as shield depth, shield materials' density, and shield erosion rate were examined for a sensitivity analysis. Then both residential farmer and industrial worker scenarios were used for the estimation of maximum exposure doses depending on exposure duration. The radiation dose evaluation results showed that 60Co, 137Cs, and 63Ni were major contributors to the total exposure dose compared with other radionuclides. Furthermore, the total exposure dose from ingestion (plant, meat, and milk) of the contaminated plants was more significant than those assessed for inhalation, with maximum values of 5.5×10-4 mSv·yr-1 for the plant ingestion. Thus the results of this study can be applied for determining near-surface radioactive waste repository conditions and providing quantitative analysis methods using RESRAD-ONSITE code for the safety assessment of disposing radioactive materials including decommissioning wastes to protect human health and the environment.

• 대한지역사회영양학회지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.192-205
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• 2023

Objectives: Previous studies have evaluated the association between mercury exposure and obesity but have yielded mixed conclusions. The aim of this study was to systematically review and summarize scientific evidence regarding the association between mercury exposure and obesity in the human population. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct for articles related to mercury exposure and obesity. Meta-analyses of the highest and lowest categories of mercury levels were evaluated using a random effects model. Begg's test was used to detect publication bias. Results: A total of 9 articles were included. The pooled random effects odds ratio (OR) for mercury exposure and obesity of all 9 studies was 1.66 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-2.38). This positive association was evident in adults (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.02-2.54) and among studies with Asian populations (OR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.53-2.59), but not among those with North America/African populations (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.50-1.65). Conclusions: The present meta-analysis identified a positive association between mercury exposure and obesity. These findings suggest that toxic environmental metals such as mercury may be an important risk factor for obesity along with dietary habits and lifestyles.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제14권1_2호
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• pp.35-43
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• 1999

A number of disinfection by-products (DBPs) are formed as a result of the addition of chlorine into the public water supply and some of them have been suggested to cause adverse health effects on humans. However, the estimation of human ingestion exposure to each DBP has been performed simply by multiplying the concentration of a chemical in the cold tap water by the volume of water consumed during a given period of time. However, a questionnaire concerning water consumptions administered to sixty people residing in Chunchon showed that the volume of tap water consumed accounted for approximately 70% of the total volume of water consumed and that of heated water represented approximately 94% of tap water ingested. Heating durations for water-containing foods (e. g., soups and pot stews) and heated beverages (e. g., barley tea) were grouped into 10, 20, 30, and 35 minutes. Based on these time frames, an aluminum pot containing one liter of tap water was heated for the above respective time periods using a gas range to determine the variations of the concentrations of individual DBPs by heating. The pH and total residual chlorine were measured before and after heating. Collected water samples were carried to the laboratory and analyzed for eight DBPs and total organic carbon. Chloroform, bromodichloromethane, chloral hydrate, 1, 2-dichloro-2-propanone, 1, 1, 1-trichloropropanone, and dichloroacetonitrile were not detected following heating for 10 minutes and longer. The concentration of dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) was elevated with heating duration, resulting in the averages of 2.0, 3.1, 4.7, and 12 times the initial concentration, respectively, for 10, 20, 30, and 35 minute heating periods. On the other hand, the concentration of trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) decreased with heating duration, with 0.65, 0.40, 0.34, and 0.19 times lower than the initial concentration. Therefore, it is suggested that ingestion exposure to DCAA increases with heating duration but that ingestion exposure to TCAA decreases. In addition, while the amount of DCAA was elevated at the initial time periods (10 or 20 minutes) and then slowly decreased, that of TCAA was rapidly decreased. In conclusion, water-heating processes during cooking influence the concentrations of individual DBPs in the tap water, with lower levels for volatile DBPs and TCAA, and higher levels for DCAA. Therefore, concentration change needs to be taken into consideration in the estimation of human ingestion exposure to DBPs.

• 치과방사선
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.293-303
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• 1992

Generally the patient's absorb dose and readability of radiograms are affected by the exposure time and kVp of which are related with the radiographic density and contrast The investigator carried studies to know the adequate level of exposure time and kVp to obtain the better readability of radiograms. In these studies dried human mandible with selfcuring acrylic resins attached with aluminum step wedge was used and readability of radiograms were compared with each other by videodensitometry among various combination sets of the exposure time, such as 5, 6, 8, 12, 15, 19, 24, 30, 38, 48 and 60, and varing level of kVp, such as 60, 65, 70, 80 and 90 respectively. The obtained results were as follows: 1. As exposure time and kVp were increased, radiographic density of radiograms was increased. 2. The subject contrast was increased where aluminum step wedge was thin and reduced in the reversed condition. At the thin aluminum step wedge, subject contrast was increased at the condition of lower kilovoltage than that of higher kilovoltage. 3. In the case of non-constant radiographic density, the radiographic contrast was reduced with the increment kilovoltage. The radiographic contrast was increased in the lower kilovoltage with the longer exposure time and the higher kilovoltage with the shorter exposure time. 4. At the condition of short exposure time, better readability of each reading item was obtained with the increment of the kilovoltage but at the opposite condition increasing exposure time worsened readability of radiograms. Since X-ray machine in the current dental clinics is fixed between the range of 60-70kVp and 10mA, good radiograms can be obtained by varied exposure time. But according to the conclusion of these studies, better radiograms can be obtained by using filtered high kVp and then the absorb dose to patient and exposure time can be reduced.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.169-176
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• 2004

ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) is composed of exhaled mainstream smoke (MS) from the smoker, sidestream smoke (SS) emitted from the smoldering tobacco between puffs and contaminants that diffuse through the cigarette paper and mouth between puffs. These emissions contain both vapor phase and particulate contaminants. ETS is a complex mix of over 4,000 compounds. This mix contains many known or suspected human carcinogens and other toxic agents. More of these toxic compounds are found in SS than in MS. Workplace exposure to ETS can result in significant smoke intake, and passive smoke exposure may be related to impair respiratory function and an increase risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers. For nonsmokers sharing a work environment with cigarette smokers, the workplace must be considered hazardous independently of any specific industrial toxic exposure. The risk is particularly important when a high percentage of the workers smoke or where smokers and nonsmokers work in poorly ventilated areas. Nicotine is converted in the body to cotinine; cotinine therefore can be used as an indirect measure of a person's recent exposure to tobacco smoke. Levels of nicotine in hair and levels of cotinine in body fluids (saliva and urine) have been shown to increase with increasing environmental nicotine levels and with self-reported ETS exposure. The measurement of nicotine or cotinine in hair may be more appropriate for longer-term exposure to tobacco. The purpose of this study is to comparing airborne nicotine levels and hair cotinine level in restaurant workers. Concentration of airborne nicotine and hair nicotine (and cotinine) is closely related to exposed frequency of sidestream smoke in the workplace. Nicotine in hair is a better predictor of airborne nicotine than hair cotinine. Hair nicotine can be a useful tool to assess ETS exposure interventions. It may have limiting levels of ETS exposure by placing regulatory restrictions on smoking in workplaces and in public spaces.

• 한국생활과학회지
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.699-710
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• 2007

The study purposes to explore the effects of individual characteristics and home environments of children on their bilingual language aquisition, that is, to examine whether their English language competency is different from their Korean language competency depending on those variables. Thus English or Korean language competency of children who had had early exposure in English learning were studied in terms of child's individual characteristics such as age, gender, exposure period to English, intelligence, and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries, and home environments such as parental age, educational level, income level, their perceived English competency, their perceived significance of English and Korean language, and the frequency of using English at home. 72 children who went to English kindergarten were tested with Peabody Pictures Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) in Korean version and in English version respectively. The results show that child's intelligence and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries influence their Korean language competency. Also child's age, exposure period to English and experiences of visiting English-speaking countries influence their English language competency. Moreover their mother's educational background, father's English fluency, mothers' English fluency, and the frequency of using English at home influence child's English language competency, whereas any variables did not influence child's Korean language competency. Accordingly, child's English and Korean language competencies are related to each other.

• 한국의학물리학회지:의학물리
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.29-34
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• 2020

Purpose: The interaction of various substances inserted into the human body and radiation can confirm the radiation enhancement effect. A Leksell frame inserted into the human body for gamma knife treatment will cause not only pain and inconvenience to the patient, but also additional exposure to the patient's normal tissues. In this study, we attempt to confirm the additional exposure caused by the interaction of the Leksell frame and thermoplastic mask, and ⁶⁰Co used for gamma knife treatment. Methods: A ⁶⁰Co energy of 1.17, 1.33 MeV is applied using Monte Carlo simulation, and fixation screws and thermoplastic mask are fabricated using aluminum and titanium alloy, and Carbon compounds. Results: Results show a dose enhancement of up to 396.27% higher compared with that without a Leksell frame and up to 391.25% in thermoplastic mask. Conclusions: Hence, appropriate treatment methods and materials must be used to reduce additional exposure to normal tissues.