• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.114-124
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• 2021

Background: In this study, we aimed to investigate the interaction effects of individual socioeconomic status and regional deprivation on the onset of diabetes complications and diabetes-related hospitalization among type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort data from 2002 to 2013 were used. A total of 50,954 patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes from 2004 to 2012 and aged 30 years or above were included. We classified patients into six groups according to individual income level and neighborhood deprivation: 'high in advantaged,' 'high in disadvantaged,' 'middle in advantaged,' 'middle in disadvantaged,' 'low in advantaged,' and 'low in disadvantaged.' We calculated hazard ratios (HR) of onset of diabetes complication and diabetes-related hospitalization using the Cox proportional hazard model, with the reference group as diabetes patients with high income in advantaged regions. Results: In terms of the interaction effects of individual income level and regional socioeconomic level, even with the same low individual income level, the group with a high regional socioeconomic level (low in advantaged) showed low HRs for the onset of diabetes complication (HR, 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.00-1.08) compared to the 'low in disadvantaged' group (HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.05-1.16). In addition, the 'high in advantaged' group showed slightly higher HRs for the onset of diabetes complication (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.00-1.11) compared to the 'low in advantaged' and it appeared to be associated with slight mitigation of the risk of diabetes complication. For the low-income level, the patients in disadvantaged regions showed the highest HRs for diabetes-related hospitalization (HR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.19-1.41) compared to the other groups. Conclusion: Although we need to perform further investigations to reveal the mechanisms that led to our results, interaction effects individual socioeconomic status and regional deprivation might be associated with on onset of diabetes complications and diabetes-related hospitalization among type 2 diabetes patients.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.205-212
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• 2018

Objectives: The main purpose of this study was to quantify the risk of mortality linked to various regimens of hypertonic peritoneal dialysis (PD) solution. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients using home-based PD was carried out. The prescribed regimen of glucose-based PD solution for all patients, determined on the basis of their individual conditions, was extracted from their medical chart records. The primary outcome was death. The treatment regimens were categorized into 3 groups according to the type of PD solution used: original PD (1.5% glucose), shuffle PD (1.5 and 2.5% glucose), and serialized PD (2.5 and 4.5% glucose). Multivariate analysis (using the Weibull model) was applied to comprehensively examine survival probabilities related to the explanatory variable, while adjusting for other potential confounders. Results: Of 300 consecutive patients, 38% died over a median follow-up time of 30 months (interquartile range: 15-46 months). Multivariate analysis showed that a treatment regimen with continued higher-strength PD solution (serialized PD) resulted in a lower survival rate than when the conventional strength solution was used (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.6 to 4.6, p<0.01). Five interrelated risk factors (age, length of time on PD, hemoglobin levels, albumin levels, and oliguria) were significant predictors contributing to the outcome. Conclusions: Frequent exposure to high levels of glucose PD solution significantly contributed to a 2-fold higher rate of death, especially when hypertonic glucose was prescribed continuously.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.206-215
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• 2014

Objectives: The hospital standardized mortality ratio (HSMR) has been widely used because it allows for robust risk adjustment using administrative data and is important for improving the quality of patient care. Methods: All inpatients discharged from hospitals with more than 700 beds (66 hospitals) in 2008 were eligible for inclusion. Using the claims data, 29 most responsible diagnosis (MRDx), accounting for 80% of all inpatient deaths among these hospitals, were identified, and inpatients with those MRDx were selected. The final study population included 703 571 inpatients including 27 718 (3.9% of all inpatients) in-hospital deaths. Using logistic regression, risk-adjusted models for predicting in-hospital mortality were created for each MRDx. The HSMR of individual hospitals was calculated for each MRDx using the model coefficients. The models included age, gender, income level, urgency of admission, diagnosis codes, disease-specific risk factors, and comorbidities. The Elixhauser comorbidity index was used to adjust for comorbidities. Results: For 26 out of 29 MRDx, the c-statistics of these mortality prediction models were higher than 0.8 indicating excellent discriminative power. The HSMR greatly varied across hospitals and disease groups. The academic status of the hospital was the only factor significantly associated with the HSMR. Conclusions: We found a large variation in HSMR among hospitals; therefore, efforts to reduce these variations including continuous monitoring and regular disclosure of the HSMR are required.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.185-190
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• 2014

Influence of loneliness on human survival has been established epidemiologically, but genomic research remains undeveloped. We identified 34 loneliness-associated genes which were statistically significant for high-lonely and low-lonely individuals. With the univariate Cox proportional hazards regression model, we obtained corresponding regression coefficients for loneliness-associated genes fo individual cancer patients. Furthermore, risk scores could be generated with the combination of gene expression level multiplied by corresponding regression coefficients of loneliness-associated genes. We verified that high-risk score cancer patients had shorter mean survival time than their low-risk score counterparts. Then we validated the loneliness-associated gene signature in three independent brain cancer cohorts with Kaplan-Meier survival curves (n=77, 85 and 191), significantly separable by log-rank test with hazard ratios (HR) >1 and p-values <0.0001 (HR=2.94, 3.82, and 1.78). Moreover, we validated the loneliness-associated gene signature in bone cancer (HR=5.10, p-value=4.69e-3), lung cancer (HR=2.86, p-value=4.71e-5), ovarian cancer (HR=1.97, p-value=3.11e-5), and leukemia (HR=2.06, p-value=1.79e-4) cohorts. The last lymphoma cohort proved to have an HR=3.50, p-value=1.15e-7. Loneliness-associated genes had good survival prediction for cancer patients, especially bone cancer patients. Our study provided the first indication that expression of loneliness-associated genes are related to survival time of cancer patients.

• The Journal of Small Business Innovation
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.49-68
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• 2017

Platform finance is emerging as an alternative finance for SMEs by suggesting a new funding source based on a new technology named FinTech. The essence of this business is the adapting ICT challenges to the financial industry that can adequately reflect risk assessment using Big Data and effectively meet individual risk-return preference. Thus, this is evolving as an alternative to existing finance in the form of P2P loans for Micro Enterprises and supply-chain finance for SMEs that need more working capital. Platform finance in Korea, however, is still at an infant stage and requires policy support. This can be summarized as follows: "Participation of institutional investors and the public sector," meaning that public investors provide seed money for the private investors to crowd in for platform finance. "Negative system in financial regulations," with current regulations to be deferred for new projects, such as Sandbox in the UK. In addition, "Environment for generous use of data," allowing discretionary data sharing for new products," and "Spreading alternative investments," fostering platform finance products as alternative investments in the low interest-rate era.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.116-122
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• 2023

In addition to analyzing the hydrogen economy trends of the international community (Korea, the United States, Europe, Japan, etc.), which is being promoted to realize a carbon-neutral society, this study compared and analyzed the differences between the gaseous hydrogen refueling station, which is a key hydrogen-using facility close to the people, and a liquefied hydrogen refueling station that is scheduled to be built in the future. In addition, SAFETI, a quantitative risk assessment program, was used to analyze the safety of liquefied hydrogen refueling stations and In consideration of the individual and societal risks and the ranking of risks by facility, which are conditional allowable areas, a plan to improve safety such as facility layout was proposed

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.173-183
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the mental health-related quality of life (MHQoL) of Korean workers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 192 Korean pay workers who worked in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province, Korea. Data were collected from May 15 to July 2, 2019, through selfreported questionnaires. The survey had a total of 87 questions including individual, organizational, and psychosocial factors. MHQoL was measured using short form-36 version 1. Data were divided into four domains of MHQoL and analyzed using a hierarchical linear regression model. Results: From the hierarchical linear regression analysis, when the psychosocial factors were included in the regression model, the R² change in the four domains of MHQoL increased significantly by 19~47%. A common predicting factor associated with the four domains of MHQoL was identified as perceived stress symptoms. Other factors affecting MHQoL showed slight differences in each domain. Conclusion: Based on the study results, it is necessary to monitor the psychosocial symptoms to improve MHQoL of Korean workers. Considering each factor affecting the four areas of MHQoL, workplace-based interventions to improve MHQoL should be provided to workers.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.99-106
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• 2007

Tower crane is a large construction equipment which is extremely tall for its section when it is erected, with its high slenderness ratio, and it has a heavy load by itself due to large lifting stuff to handle. In line with the construction projects in these days which increasingly tend to become higher, larger and complex, the stuff and height subject to lifting are also getting larger and higher, which has also increased the risk of disastrous accidents. A stable foundation design thus to deal with the increasing self load becomes more important. When a typhoon Maemi swept the nation in 2003, as many as 43 tower cranes fell down or collapsed, causing a severe damage to the people and the properties. Considering such fatal damages, a technical evaluation of the stability to prevent the safety accident with the tower crane must be very crucial. Tower cranes operation in domestic construction sites, in fact, have been simply dependent on personal experience and intuition of the engineers. Particularly when it comes to the foundation design, it mostly depends on manufacturer's recommendation. The study hence was intended to develop the fundamental measures for granting the objective stability, instead of following the individual's experience only. The simulation model recommended in the study is expected to make a good commitment to achieving an effective lifting work as well as preventing the safety accident.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.61-75
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• 2020

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to examine the efficiency of the foreign exchange markets in Korea, Japan and China. Design/methodology/approach - This study collected 1327 observations each of the daily closing exchange rates of the three currencies against the US dollar for the sample period from January 1, 2015 to January 31, 2020, based on the tests for autocorrelation, unit root tests and GARCH-M(1,1) model estimation. Findings - We have found that the autocorrelation test indicates the lack of autocorrelation and unit root test confirms the existence of unit roots in all times series of the three currencies, respectively. The GARCH-M(1,1) test results, however, suggest that the exchange rates do not follow a random walk process. In conclusion, the recent spot foreign exchange markets in Korea, Japan and China are believed to be informationally inefficient. Research implications or Originality - These findings have practical implications for both individual and institutional investors to be able to obtain excess returns on their investments in the foreign exchange markets in three countries by using appropriate risk management, portfolio strategy, technical analysis, etc. This study provides the first empirical examination on the foreign exchange market efficiency in the three biggest economies in Asia including China, which has been excluded from research due to its exchange rate regime.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.709-725
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• 2024

This study utilized the raw data from the Community Health Survey (2023) to compare differences in body function, activity, participation, environment, personal factors, and suicidal ideations between elderly individuals aged 65 and older living alone and those living with families in Korea. The study subjects consisted of 80,618 elderly individuals aged 65 and older. Cross-tabulation analysis χ²-test), independent sample t-test, and logistic regression analysis were conducted. The results indicated that for both elderly individuals living alone and those living with families, age(p<.001), smoking(p<.001), stress(p<.001), depression experience(p<.001), and falls experiences(p<.001) were risk factors that increased suicidal ideations. Conversely, educational level(p<.05), income level(p<.001), subjective health status(p<.001), social participation(p<.001), economic activity(p<.001), community environment(p<.001), and social relationships were protective factors that reduced suicidal ideations. These findings demonstrate that demographic characteristics and individual health status significantly influence suicidal ideation in the elderly, while social factors contribute to a decrease in suicidal ideation. Furthermore, considering the differences found between elderly individuals living alone and those living with families regarding hypertension and gender, differentiated interventions for suicide prevention are necessary.