• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.95-101
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• 2007

Recently, small-animal imaging technology has been rapidly developed for longitudinal screening of laboratory animals such as mice and rats. One of newly developed imaging modalities for small animals is an x-ray micro-CT (computed tomography). We have developed two types of x-ray micro-CT systems for small animal imaging. Both systems use flat-panel x-ray detectors and micro-focus x-ray sources to obtain high spatial resolution of $10{\mu}m$. In spite of the relatively large field-of-view (FOV) of flat-panel detectors, the spatial resolution in the whole-body imaging of rats should be sacrificed down to the order of $100{\mu}m$ due to the limited number of x-ray detector pixels. Though the spatial resolution of cone-beam CTs can be improved by moving an object toward an x-ray source, the FOV should be reduced and the object size is also limited. To overcome the limitation of the object size and resolution, we introduce zoom-in micro-tomography for high-resolution imaging of a local region-of-interest (ROI) inside a large object. For zoom-in imaging, we use two kinds of projection data in combination, one from a full FOV scan of the whole object and the other from a limited FOV scan of the ROI. Both of our micro-CT systems have zoom-in micro-tomography capability. One of both is a micro-CT system with a fixed gantry mounted with an x-ray source and a detector. An imaged object is laid on a rotating table between a source and a detector. The other micro-CT system has a rotating gantry with a fixed object table, which makes whole scans without rotating an object. In this paper, we report the results of in vivo small animal study using the developed micro-CTs.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.99-110
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• 2018

As interest in adolescent and children's health risks increases, there is an increase in subscriptions to indemnity private health insurance. The purpose of this study was to investigate determinants of purchasing indemnity private health insurance. We conducted panel logit regression analysis on the sample of 4,567 adolescent and children using Korean Health Panel data from 2009 to 2015. As a result, it was analyzed that the participation of private health insurance for children and adolescents was affected not only by the characteristics of children and adolescents (age, birth order, residence, disability) but also by the characteristics of father (indemnity, disability, chronic disease) and mother (age difference between her and her children, indemnity, unmet needs) and the economic level of households (income). In views of this study, it is necessary to continuously implement policies to strengthen the healthcare of children and adolescents in order to alleviate the anxiety about the health risks of children and the burden of medical expenses caused by late marriages and maternal births. In particular, it is necessary to consider policies for multi-child families and vulnerable classes.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.3-19
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to observe the efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources in Korea. For the empirical analysis, we constructed the dataset on age standardized mortality rate, the number of physician, specialist, surgery, medical institution, ratio of general hospitals of 16 provinces in Korea from 2006 to 2013. The panel probability frontier model is employed as an analysis method and considered heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation of the error in panel data. In addition, the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the 16 provinces, unemployment rate, elderly population ratio, GRDP per capita, and ratio of hospitals in comparison to the general hospitals are used to find the effect on the technical efficiency of clinical performance on supply and demand of medical resources. The results are as follows. First, for the clinical performance, the supply side of human resources such as doctors and specialists and the demand side factors such as chronic illness clinic per unit population have a significant influence, respectively. Second, the technical efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources of each input component was 59-70% in terms of clinical efficiency in each region. Third. estimates of technical efficiency of inputs that affect clinical performance showed a slight increase in all regions during the analysis period, but the increase trend decreased slightly. Fourth, the ratio of the elderly population and GRDP per capita have a positive influence on the technical efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources. The difference of each efficiency by region is due to the regional differences of the input medical resources and the combination of them and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the region. It is understood that the differences in technological efficiency due to the complexity of supply and demand of medical resources, demographic structure and economic difference affecting clinical performance by region are different.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.312-322
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• 2019

Background: Since 2003, Korea has consistently shown the highest suicide rate among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, and suicide remains the major cause of death. In particular, men are 2-3 times more likely to commit suicide than women, which called the 'gender paradox of suicide.' The areas with frequent suicide have spatially clustered patterns because suicide with a social contagion spreads around the neighborhood. The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was to estimate the hotspot areas of age-standardized male suicide mortality from 2008 to 2015. The second was to analyze the relationship between the hotspot areas and the regional characteristics for study years. Methods: The data was collected through the Korean Statistical Information Service. The study areas were 227 si gun gu administrative districts in Korea. The hotspot area was used as a dependent variable. Socio-demographic variables (number of marriages per 1,000 population, number of divorces per 1,000 population, and urbanization rate), financial variables (financial independence and social security budget), and health behaviors (EuroQol-5 dimension [EQ-5D], and depression experience rate) were used as independents variables. Results: The hotspot areas were commonly located in Gangwon-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Chungceongbuk-do. According to the results of panel logit regression, the number of divorces per 1,000 population, social security budget, and EQ-5D were statistically significant variables. Conclusion: The results of hotspot analysis showed the need for establishing a prevention zone of suicide using hotspot areas. Also, medical resources could be considered to be preferentially placed in the prevention zone of suicide. This study could be used as basic data for health policymakers to establish a suicide-related policy.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.215-224
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• 2023

Purpose: This study uses data from the 12th~17th Korea Welfare Panel (2017~2022) to analyze changes in depression scores due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the factors that influenced depression scores according to employment type. Methods: The difference in depression scores according to employment types before COVID-19 (12th~14th) and after COVID-19 (15th~17th) was analyzed. A fixed-effect model analysis was conducted before and after the occurrence of COVID-19. Results: After the outbreak of COVID-19, job satisfaction and family life satisfaction influenced the depression scores of regular wage workers. After the outbreak of COVID-19, annual income, health status, and satisfaction with family life affected the depression scores of non-regular wage workers. After the outbreak of COVID-19, leisure life satisfaction and family relationship satisfaction influenced the depression scores of self-employed. Self-esteem played a role as a control variable in lowering the depression scores of regular and non-regular workers, but did not play a role as a control variable for self-employed. Conclusion: Rather than the direct impact of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, social and economic changes resulting from policies implemented to prevent the spread affect workers' depression, and the impact varies depending on the type of employment. When implementing policies to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the future, policies that take employment type into consideration rather than uniform policies should be prepared, and measures for mental health also need to be prepared.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.413-418
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• 2008

Objectives: This study was performed to investigate the associations between the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and inflammatory markers. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis was performed using data from 1578 Koreans aged 40-69 years residing in a rural area. We investigated associations between MetS and circulating high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), white blood cells (WBC) and adiponectin. MetS was defined using the criteria proposed by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III). Results: Increased WBC counts and hs-CRP levels and decreased adiponectin levels were observed in subjects with MetS. WBC, hs-CRP and adiponectin levels linearly deteriorated with an increase in the number of MetS components (all ptrend <0.005). Finally, adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for the risk of MetS by increase/decrease in 3 inflammatory markers were calculated by multivariate logistic regression analyses. In terms of changes in inflammation markers, in men, the adjusted ORs (95% confidence interval) were 1.15 (1.01-1.31) for WBC, 1.64 (1.02-2.64) for hs-CRP, and 0.19(0.08-0.45) for adiponectin, whereas corresponding adjusted ORs (95% Cls) in women were 1.27 (1.15-1.40), 0.98 (0.67-1.42), 0.09 (0.04-0.18), respectively. Conclusions: Serum adiponectin levels and WBC counts were found to be strongly associated with MetS in both sexes. However, hs-CRP lost its significance after adjusting for BMI and other inflammatory markers in women. This study shows that inflammatory response is associated with MetS in the Korean population. Further prospective studies are necessary to confirm the contribution made by inflammatory markers to the development of MetS.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.89-104
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• 2017

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to find the determinants for non-participation in health screenings among the disabled. Methods : We used 2014-15 Korea Health Panel data and analyzed 1,073 people with disabilities older than 19 years to investigate the two-year health screening participation rates. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze the factors affecting non-participation in health screenings. Results : Of the 1,073 people with disabilities who were analyzed, 29.8% and 27.1% participated in NHI mass screenings and cancer screenings, respectively. In both screenings, non-participation rates were higher in people aged 19-49 and lower in people aged 50 -69 than those aged 70 or older; higher in people with lower education, higher in people with private health insurance; higher in people with fewer chronic diseases; and higher in people with severe disability ratings. Conclusions : People with disabilities should be provided with more appropriate preventive care services according to their disability types and severity compared to people without disabilities.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.12-21
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this secondary data analysis study was to compare what factors influenced individual's satisfaction with emergency medical services (EMS). Methods: Data were obtained from the Korea Health Panel Survey 2013 with 20,641 participants. A total sample of emergency room (ER) users (n=1,709) aged 20 and over were selected and divided into two age groups, one for 1,046 adults and the other for 663 elderly. Participants' responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ${\chi}^2$ test and logistic regression. Results: Among adults and elderly who were transferred to other hospitals instead of being admitted or returned to their homes reported less satisfaction (${\chi}^2=10.18$, p=.006). Further, the adults who perceived their arrival to the ER as not delayed (${\chi}^2=3.74$, p=.049) or visited the ER for treatment for illness (${\chi}^2=5.32$, p=.021) reported more satisfaction than those who perceived their ER service being delayed or visited the ER for accident or poisoning. The elderly who visited ER by non-ambulance reported higher satisfaction than those who arrived by ambulance (${\chi}^2=14.15$, p<.001). Conclusion: In both adults and the elderly, satisfaction of EMS can be increased by avoiding transferring patients to other hospital. For adults to be satisfied with EMS, efficient and rapid EMS might be needed to avoid delay in ER arrival, especially for adults with accidents or poisoning.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.268-276
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• 2018

This study examined the effects of indemnity private health insurance on the medical utilization among the Korean adults. The used data were the 2014 survey data of Korea Health Panel, and the number of subjects was 11,436. Authors employed instrumental variable regression model where the instrument variables for controlling for endogeneity of indemnity were the purchasing of private pension and number of family members. The results showed that the number of outpatient visits and the number of hospitalizations for indemnity private health insurance subscribers were higher than non-subscribers. The number of household members and the private pension variables were proved to be appropriate as instrumental variables. This paper recommends the Korean government to monitor and evaluate the effects of indemnity private health insurance on the medical utilization in order to improve the efficiency of health care finance.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.664-676
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• 2018

This study used raw data from the Korea Medical Panel Survey for 2014 to analyze the factors affecting the cost of medicine expenditure. A total of 3,107 people with medical expenses were selected for the final analysis. Analysis methods were frequency analysis, crossover analysis, regression analysis and t-test. The significance level of all tests was p = .05. The prescription cost was 72.4%, the minimum cost was 84 won, the maximum cost was 270,653 won, and the highest amount was 'over 3,000 won~less than 10,000 won' (31.7%). The general pharmaceuticals cost was 81.8%, the minimum cost was 800 won, the maximum cost was 2,718,000 won, and the highest amount was 'less than 20,000 won' (31.4%). The herbal medicine cost was 9.4%, the minimum cost was 4,000 won, the maximum cost was 2,700,000 won, and the highest amount was 'over 100,000 won' (37.8%). The medicines expenditure was the maximum cost was 2,760,093 won, and the highest amount was 'over 100,000 won' (27.0%). Factors affecting medicine expenditure were gender, marital status, income quintile, easement, and subjective health status.