• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.102-110
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• 2010

Personal exposure relies on characteristics of time activity patterns of the population of concern as human activities impact the timing, location, and level of personal exposure. The information about time spent in microenvironments plays a critical role for personal exposure to air pollutants. It is useful to determine the precise times of the day that the subjects are in certain locations or engaging in specific activities because exposure to some air pollutants can depend on temporal trends. This study investigated time activity pattern for workers of Korean population over 19 years old with 8,778 workers in weekday. The residential indoor times were 12 hours. Time activity was different by gender and the mean times stayed at home in weekday were 12.9 hours in female and 11.42 hours in male, respectively. The major factors on residential indoor time and workplace time were age, monthly income, occupation and industry type, work position, education, and gender. Considering shorter than those in other countries, Korean workers spent less time at home after the working hours. Determinants of time activity pattern need to be taken into account in exposure assessment, epidemiological analyses, exposure simulations, as well as in the development of preventive strategies. Since there are substantial difference of Korean worker activity pattern, this information can be critical for exposure assessment in Korea.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.339-344
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• 2018

Humans received an exposure dose of 2.4 mSv of natural radiation per year, of which the contribution of spacecraft accounts for about 75%. The crew of the aircraft has increased radiation exposure doses based on cosmic radiation safety management regulations There is no reference to air passengers. Therefore, in this study, we measured the radiation exposure dose received in the sky at high altitude during flight, and tried to compare the radiation exposure dose received by ordinary people during flight. We selected 20 sample specimens, including major tourist spots and the capital by continent with direct flights from Incheon International Airport. Using the CARI-6/6M model and the NAIRAS model, which are cosmic radiation prediction models provided at the National Radio Research Institute, we measured the cosmic radiation exposure dose by the selected flight and departure/arrival place. In the case of exposure dose, Beijing was the lowest at $2.87{\mu}Sv$ (NAIRAS) and $2.05{\mu}Sv$ (CARI - 6/6M), New York had the highest at $146.45{\mu}Sv$ (NAIRAS) and $79.42{\mu}Sv$ (CARI - 6/6M). We found that the route using Arctic routes at the same time and distance will receive more exposure dose than other paths. While the dose of cosmic radiation to be received during flight does not have a decisive influence on the human body, because of the greater risk of stochastic effects in the case of frequent flights and in children with high radiation sensitivity Institutional regulation should be prepared for this.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.99-127
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• 1998

The purposes of this study are first, to plan communication strategies for promoting the 1st National Science Festival and other events of the April 1997's Science Month in Koreas; second, to monitor communication activities done for those events; third, to evaluate effects of communication activities. Both the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Korea Science Foundation were arranged to execute our planned communication strategies. Basically we utilized the three sequences of human behavioral condition : Exposure, attention, and cognition. For planning, we suggested concrete communication strategies for each sequence, for example, first, those for bringing exposure to every event, second, those for bringing attention to the event, and third, those for bringing cognition of the event. Those communication strategies were suggested to use specifics of newspapers, television programs, radio programs, commercial and corporate magazines, electric visual sign advertisements on the street, and computer communication. For monitoring and evaluation, we used the same three sequences as the criteria. For example, we monitored and evaluated how much exposure, attention or cognition an event got or which specific medium contributed to exposure to, cognition of an event. For monitoring, graduate students were dispatched to examine each event through watching and interviewing. For evaluation, about 950 of event participants and non-participants were surveyed by means of face-to-face interview. Overall, we found that newspaper articles and television programs contributed a lot to people's exposure to events of the April 1997's Science Month. Especially, newspaper played a major role of heightening exposure. However, most events and/or their science and technology content failed to get salient attention and its following active cognition. The 1st National Science Festival attracted much exposure, but had some problems of disorder and commercialism. This sharp increase of exposure and some attention were believed to have reinforced people's, especially event participants' positive opinion of science and technology which is part of scientific culture.

• Journal of electromagnetic engineering and science
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.151-157
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• 2015

The increasing use of mobile phones has raised public concern about the possible biological effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure on the human brain. To investigate the potential effect of RF-EMF exposure on the brain, we examined the behaviors and hippocampal morphology of C57BL/6 mice after sub-chronic exposure to RF-EMFs with a relatively high SAR level (5.0 W/kg). We applied a 2-hour daily exposure of WCDMA 1,950 MHz using a reverberation chamber that was designed for whole-body exposure for 60 days. In the behavioral tests, RF-EMF did not alter the physical activity or long-term memory of mice. Moreover, no alteration was found in the neuronal and glial cells in the hippocampus by RF-EMFs. In this study, we showed that sub-chronic whole body RF exposure did not produce memory impairment and hippocampal morphological alteration in C57BL/6 mice.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.26
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• pp.7.1-7.9
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between crude oil exposure and physical symptoms among residents participating in clean-up work associated with the Hebei Spirit oil spill, 2007 in Korea. Methods: A total of 288 residents responded to a questionnaire regarding subjective physical symptoms, sociodemographic characteristics and clean-up activities that occurred between two and eight weeks after the accident. Additionally, the urine of 154 of the respondents was analyzed for metabolites of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals. To compare the urinary levels of exposure biomarkers, the urine of 39 inland residents who were not directly exposed to the oil spill were analyzed. Results: Residents exposed to oil remnants through clean-up work showed associations between physical symptoms and the exposure levels defined in various ways, including days of work, degree of skin contamination, and levels of some urinary exposure biomarkers of VOCs, metabolites and metals, although no major abnormalities in urinary exposure biomarkers were observed. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of a relationship between crude oil exposure and acute human health effects and suggests the need for follow-up to evaluate the exposure status and long-term health effects of clean-up participants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.393-405
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• 2018

Objective: This study examines the types of hazardous factors in the working environment and the time-trend for their exposure levels over 10 years (2007 to 2016). Study Design and Method: The types of hazardous factors and exposure levels were drawn from the 19 measurement reports on the working environment over 10 years at a shock absorber manufacturing facility. Risk assessment of the types of factors and time-trend of exposure levels were evaluated using the factors and exposure levels. Results: A total of 34 hazardous factors were evaluated. The types were noise, 15 organic compounds, seven kinds of acid sand alkalis, eight kinds of heavy metals, and three other compounds. Special management materials used were nickel, hexavalent chrome, and sulfuric acid. Human carcinogens (1A) used were trichloroethylene, nickel, and sulfuric acid. There were six types of substances belonging to the IARC's 2B (body carcinogens) classification or higher, including, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethyl benzene, and trichloroethylene. No detection was found for 627 out of the 2065 total measurements in 19 exposure survey reports, representing 30.4%. Organic solvents, acid and alkali products, and heavy metals showed continuous low exposure concentrations. Noise, welding fumes, and the evaluation of mixed solvents show a gradual decrease in geometric mean and maximum over the time-trend of 10 years. Conclusions: In the case of a shock absorber manufacturing facility, the hazardous factors of noise and the evaluation of mixed solvents still indicate high concentrations exceeding the exposure limits and necessitate reduction studies. These two factors and welding fumes showed a continuous decrease in their ten-year tendency. Organic compounds, acids/alkalis, and heavy metals were managed smoothly in a work environment of continuous low concentrations.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.5.1-5.10
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• 2022

Background: Some epidemiological studies have estimated exposure among flight attendants with and without breast cancer. However, it is difficult to find a quantitative evaluation of occupational exposure factors related to cancer development individually in the case of breast cancer in flight attendants. That is, most, if not all, epidemiological studies of breast cancer in flight attendants with quantitative exposure estimates have estimated exposure in the absence of individual flight history data. Case presentation: A 41-year-old woman visited the hospital due to a left breast mass after a regular check-up. Breast cancer was suspected on ultrasonography. Following core biopsy, she underwent various imaging modalities. She was diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type (estrogen receptor positive in 90%, progesterone receptor positive in 3%, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu equivocal) with histologic grade 3 and nuclear grade 3 in the left breast. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was administered to reduce the tumor size before surgery. However, due to serious chemotherapy side effects, the patient opted for alternative and integrative therapies. She joined the airline in January, 1996. Out of all flights, international flights and night flights accounted for 94.9% and 26.2, respectively. Night flights were conducted at least four times per month. Moreover, based on the virtual computer program CARI-6M, the estimated dose of cosmic radiation exposure was 78.81 mSv. There were no other personal triggers or family history of breast cancer. Conclusions: This case report shows that the potentially causal relationship between occupational harmful factors and the incidence of breast cancer may become more pronounced when night shift workers who work continuously are exposed to cosmic ionizing radiation. Therefore, close attention and efforts are needed to adjust night shift work schedules and regulate cosmic ionizing radiation exposure.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2015

The aim of the present study was to assess whether exposure to the combination of an extremely low frequency magnetic field (ELF-MF; 60 Hz, 1 mT or 2 mT) with a stress factor, such as ionizing radiation (IR) or $H_2O_2$, results in genomic instability in non-tumorigenic human lung epithelial L132 cells. To this end, the percentages of G2/M-arrested cells and aneuploid cells were examined. Exposure to 0.5 Gy IR or 0.05 mM $H_2O_2$ for 9 h resulted in the highest levels of aneuploidy; however, no cells were observed in the subG1 phase, which indicated the absence of apoptotic cell death. Exposure to an ELF-MF alone (1 mT or 2 mT) did not affect the percentages of G2/M-arrested cells, aneuploid cells, or the populations of cells in the subG1 phase. Moreover, when cells were exposed to a 1 mT or 2 mT ELF-MF in combination with IR (0.5 Gy) or $H_2O_2$ (0.05 mM), the ELF-MF did not further increase the percentages of G2/M-arrested cells or aneuploid cells. These results suggest that ELF-MFs alone do not induce either G2/M arrest or aneuploidy, even when administered in combination with different stressors.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2010

Aflatoxin $B_1$, a known human carcinogen, is the member of aflatoxin subfamily that is most frequently found in contaminated foods. Epidemiological studies have suggested that aflatoxins may be associated with human liver cancer and acute hepatitis. Recently it was reported that the traditional medical herbs sold in domestic markets are contaminated with aflatoxins. Long-term administration of these contaminated medicines could result in adverse health effects. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the levels of exposure to aflatoxin in people who ingest traditional herbal medicines. Blood samples were collected, before and after the herbal medicine intake, from 151 subjects who visited the hospital. The metabolite of aflatoxin $B_1$ in blood, aflatoxin $B_1$-albumin (aflatoxin $B_1$-lysine), is reportedly an appropriate internal exposure indicator, and its levels in the collected bloods were therefore analyzed using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The analytical method of aflatoxin $B_1$-lysine in blood was firstly optimized in Korea and the levels were detected below quantification limits (2 pg/mg albumin) in this study population. Consequently, the exposure levels of aflatoxin $B_1$ by ingestion of herbal medicines were low but it is important to monitor routinely due to the possibility of risk on the aflatoxin exposure.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.132-140
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• 2009

For human exposure assessment of UHF RFID system, electric field distribution of commercial 900[MHz] RFID antenna was measured and analyzed. Also, SAR(Specific Absorption Rate) of RFID antenna was calculated by simulation, and compared with basic restrictions in EMF guidelines. For EMF exposure assessment according to EN and IEC standards, the reader was tested for the normal operation, and electric field from RFID antenna was measured at various distances and angles. For electric field measurement, narrow band isotropic electric field probe was used, and the measurements were made at 0.3, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5[m] for every 15[$^{\circ}$] angle from the antenna. Also, the rationale for measurement distance in EN and IEC standards is analyzed from the measurement results.