• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.316-323
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• 2008

= ABSTRACT = Objectives : Incheon metropolitan city has set a model program of community partnership for hypertensive or diabetic patients detection and follow-up since 2005. This study examines the effects of the model on the compliance and the control of blood pressure or blood sugar level Methods : Telephone-surveys were done for 140 persons selected from 408 patients who were detected newly as hypertensive or diabetic patients at Gangwha-Gun and Seo-Gu in Incheon between January 1st and August 31th in 2006, and finally completed in 110 patients(78.6%). Survey questionnaires included socio-demographic(age, gender, and educational level), health behavioral (smoking, drinking, physical activity, and diet), and therapy-related (registration state, compliance, blood pressure or blood sugar control) variables. Odds ratio and 95% CI were derived from logistic regression model. Results : Registered group exhibited high compliance and well managed blood pressure or blood sugar level. The odds ratio of registration were 5.55(95% CI:1.83~16.89) for compliance and 3.78(95% CI:1.43~9.99) for blood pressure or blood sugar control after adjusting for age, gender, disease, and area Conclusions : It is independently related to compliance and blood pressure or blood sugar control whether the patient is registered or not. To control hypertension or diabetes mellitus in terms of compliance and control state, a community-based registration program through community partnership could be a powerful tool.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.251-257
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• 2024

Background Plastic surgery has developed to benefit in a variety of challenging areas formerly handled by other disciplines. Medical students do not have a clear picture of plastic surgery as a career due to lacking scope, clinical practice, and understanding of plastic surgery as a clinical area of expertise, including general practitioners, nursing staff, medical trainees, and the general public, and misconceptions about the extent of reconstructive and plastic surgery. Methods A cross-sectional observational study was conducted on Kuwait University Medical students (2nd-7th Years) over a period of 1 month. A questionnaire and a consent form were provided to eligible students. The inclusion criteria were Kuwait University Medical students from 2nd to 7th Years with signed consent form. The response was collected via email sent in coordination with the Vice Dean of Student Affairs in the Faculty of Medicine. Using statistical package for the social sciences, responses were statistically analyzed. Pearson's chi-square test was used to calculate p-values, where p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results A total of 244 eligible medical students, 121 males and 123 females, were included in the study, with a mean age of 21 (±2) years. Similarly, 126 (51.6%) were preclinical students (2nd-4th-year students), while 118 (48.4%) were clinical students (5th-7th-year students). About 79.8% of medical students believed that plastic surgery plays an essential role in trauma management, whereas 9.2% did not consider plastic surgery significant for trauma management. This study found that only 15.5% of medical students were interested in enrolling in plastic surgery residency after graduation, while 47.1% of students did not consider plastic surgery residency after graduation. However, 37.4% were uncertain. The two most driving factors in deciding on plastic surgery residency were expected income (61.8%) and lifestyle (14.3%). Conclusion Improving medical students' education quality can enhance their perception and awareness of plastic surgery. Students should be taught the broader scope of plastic surgery. The inclusion of formal training during undergraduation is the essence of time and should be added to or improved during plastic surgery rotations with more emphasis on reconstructive and hand/peripheral nerve surgery. Student-led interest groups can be a useful tool for educating students about their specialty.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 1974

Data from this study support the View that the following factors are not sufficiently important in Korea to invalidate the relationships observed between age of marriage and fertility: (1) Premarital pregnancy and common law marriage, (2) shortening of birth intervals in late marriages, (3) adverse effects of very eary marriage in reproductive capacity, and (4) postponement of first pregnancy among early marriages. Thirteen variables which were considered to be potential predictors of fertility were studied to determine their influence on three indices of fertility. Age of marriage and family planning praetice are the strongest predictors and account for about 10% and 7% of the total variance, respectively. Seven other factors each account for an intermediate amount of variability; these are ideal number of children, rural versus urban study area, education, aspiration for daughter, index of exposure to mass media, economic index of respondent's home at survey, and residence before marriage. The remaining variables have no consistently significant relationship to fertility. Most of the relationships appear to be stable and consistent over time; others appear to be changing. The latter group include those variables which are associated with modernization indices of family planning practice, mass media exposure. and aspiration for daughters. Thus, the index of family planning practice is of limited significance for the $40{\sim}49$ age group but is the most important variable for the $20{\sim}29$ year women. The relationship is a direct one for the two age groups between 30 and 49 years which suggests that these groups already had high fertility when family planning services became available and that this high fertility then became an inducement to acccept contraception. The pattern of relationship is not yet clear for the $20{\sim}29$ year group. Similar interactions are observed for the other indices of modernity and are discussed. The thirteen variables together can account for a maximum of about 40% of the variance in the number of live births in the age group $30{\sim}39$, and for lesser amounts of variance in other age and fertility groupings.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1575-1580
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• 2009

Tai Chi is a slow and gentle exercise which is suitable for obese women with chronic diseases. Tai Chi can improve the health of a senior without exacerbating existing impairments, including obese patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different types of Tai Chi exercise on blood variables (glucose, cholesterol, TG, HDL, LDL, cortisol) and physical fitness (muscle strength, flexibility, muscle endurance, agility, balance). Thirty obese women were recruited from a public health center. They were divided into Yang style (YS: n=15) and 12 (12KS: n=15). The Tai Chi exercise group participated in a training program for 12 weeks (3times/week). There was significant improvement in muscle strength, flexibility, and muscle endurance in both groups. Agility was significantly increased in YS, more than in 12KS. However, there was no improvement in balance in both groups. There was significant improvement in cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and cortisol in both groups. However there was no improvement in blood glucose levels in either group. From the results, there was no significant difference in either Tai Chi exercises. The Tai Chi exercise program was effective in improving cholesterol related variables and physical fitness, except balance, in both groups. Further study is needed in this area.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 2016

Background: Glycemic control is an effective way to reduce the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, but more than half of the adults with diabetes in Korea are improperly controlling their glycemic levels. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors associated with poor glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients. Methods: This study analyzed 1,261 subjects ${\geq}30years$ old diagnosed with type 2 diabetes who participated in the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2012). Poor glycemic control rates were defined as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level ${\geq}7%$. To shed light on the causes of poor glycemic control, socio-demographics, diabetes severity, health status, and health behavior factors were adjusted and logistic regression was done. Results: Of the total 1,261 patients, 53.0% of patients with type 2 diabetes had HbA1c ${\geq}7%$. After running a logistic regression model, the odds ratio of poor glycemic control was higher in high school graduates than elementary school graduates; in people living in Chungcheong and Jeolla/Jeju than those living in Seoul; in the group with diabetes for over 5 years had diabetes less than 5 years; in a group with insulin and oral hypoglycemic agent treatment than non-treatment; in a group with hypertriglyceridemia than without hypertriglyceridemia; and in the group with slept less than 6 hours slept 7-8 hours. Conclusion: We need a comprehensive public health policy to reduce the poor glycemic control rates in type 2 diabetes patients. We should recognize the education levels, duration of diabetes, diabetes treatment, hypertriglyceridemia, and sleep duration were associated with poor glycemic control.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.117-127
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• 2009

Purpose: Adequate health-related information provided by health professionals may help cancer patients overcome their uncertain situation and manage their healthcare. To provide information effectively, there is a need to understand the content of the patients' essential information. The purpose of this study was to identify recent informational needs of postoperative gastric cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 190 postoperative gastric cancer patients who attended the Stomach Cancer Patients' Day ceremony (18 November 2008) held by the Stomach Cancer Center of Samsung Medical Center with the use of a questionnaire which measured informational needs. A questionnaire with 37 items was comprised of domains of diagnostic tests, cancer therapy, prognosis, follow-up, sexual activity, stomach cancer-related information, and 7 single items. Results: The priorities of informational needs were the domains of prognosis, ways of healthcare during treatment (a single item), follow-up, stomach cancer-related information, cancer therapy, and diagnostic tests (in descending order). Items related to prognosis, diet, and management of their healthcare ranked in the top 10 informational need scores. As age decreased, the degree of informational needs about diagnostic tests, cancer therapy, sexual activity, and stomach cancer-related information increased. Conclusion: We suggest that prognosis-related information based on the accumulated institutional therapeutic outcomes and objective prognosis data should be incorporated in the current education program. Health professionals should provide comprehensible information content to cancer patients and caregivers and encourage patients to participate in their therapy with a more positive attitude.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.466-470
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• 2007

Purpose: Active prevention is an essential component in reducing the development of pressure sores. For the high-risk patient group, following the certified pressure sore screening scale as well as educating the patient and the nurses who care for them can lead to optimal management of these patients. Applying a risk assessment scale along with a prevention strategy can reduce medical costs and length of stays at the hospital. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a new pressure sore risk assessment scale based on the universally recommended Braden scale and our prevention program. Methods: From June to August, 2003, our pressure ulcer risk assessment scale was applied to a total of 1882 patients admitted to the experimental group (intensive care unit, neurosurgery, general surgery, and oncology units). It was based on Braden scale. We analysed sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value and ROC curve to evaluate its efficacy. Pressure ulcer prevention program was composed of patient's education using protocol and specific nursing care. The incidence of pressure ulcers was also measured during the 3 months period, and those were compared to the control group of 1789 patients from March to May, 2002. Results: 118(6.27%) of the experimental group were high-risk with an incidence of pressure ulcers measuring 4 (0.21%). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of our scale were 100%, 94%, 4%, 100%, respectively, and AUC(area under the curve) was 0.992. In the control group, the incidence of pressure ulcers was 11(0.61%). Statistical analyses using chisquared tests with a significance level of 5%, the results were such that ${\chi }^2=3.6482$(p=0.0561). The results proved to be statistically significant in borderline. Conclusion: The results from this study proved that pressure sore risk assessment scale based on Braden scale has an excellent efficacy, and shows that our pressure ulcer prevention program is partially effective in reducing pressure ulcer incidence.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.195-207
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• 1996

In other to study functional capacity of the daily living activity and depression in the rural 394 people(154 men and 250 women), over 65 year old, who are living in Koryung County of Kyungpook Province were interviewed using questionnaire during the period February 14 to March 30 1996. The percentage of ADL dependent patient who cannot perform one item or more was 20.1% in men and 22.5% in women. The percentage of IADL dependent people who cannot perform one item or more was 72.1% in men and 56.2% in women. The prevalence of depression in female(68.8%) was higher than that in male(59.1%). There was statistically significant association between ADL score and other variables(sex, age religion, living with spouse, family resident, living expenses, self-rated health status, leisure, satisfactory of pocket money, drinking)(p<0.05). There was statistically significant association between IADL and other variables(age, education, living with spouse, family resident, living expenses, satisfactory of pocket money, smoking, self-rated health status)(p<0.05). The prevalence of depression in dependent elderly was significantly related with ADL in both genders(p<0.05), however, not related with IADL. In conclusion, the functional capacity dependency and the prevalence of depression in the rural elderly was high and depression was significantly related with ADL score.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2018

This study evaluated the various qualifications that can be linked to employment similar to the medical laboratory technology major. The qualifications for employment outside the medical laboratory technology major are industrial health instructor, doping control officer, audiologist, sign language interpreter, health education specialist, claim adjuster, Korea life underwriter, administrative manager, hospital administrator, insurance review manager, and hospital coordinator. The qualifications for employment similar to the medical laboratory technology major include the clinical research coordinator, clinical research associate, anatomist, analytical chemistry analysts, hazardous materials industry engineers, biotechnologist, biosafety managers, biotechnology technicians, medical device quality officers, animal care nurse, industrial engineer hazardous material, bioprocess engineer, biosafety officer, certified technology consultant, director of medical device quality control, laboratory animal technician, animal nursing technician, and cruise medical manager. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a social analysis survey of the various qualifications currently held by medical technologists. In addition, it will be necessary to investigate the current status of medical technologists working in other fields. In the future, medical technologists should expand the scope of their work through efforts to strengthen their individual work capacity, share cases, and strengthen their expertise.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4073-4081
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• 2012

This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of arthritis and to identify subgroups with high prevalence rates of arthritis. Study subjects were 18,406 Korean adults aged 19 and more from the 4th (2007-2009) Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys data. Annual self-reported prevalence and its rate ratios by demographic and behavioral factors were calculated using SAS 9.2 with survey procedure. The result was as follows. The crude prevalence of arthritis was 11.7% (osteoarthritis 10.2% and rheumatoid arthritis 1.7%). The prevalence was increased by age strata (2.4% in 19-44 aged, 16.4% in 45-64, 38.3% in 65 and more). After adjusting for age, we found the subgroups with high prevalence: older people, women, residents in non-apartment area, separated and divorced people, people with low education, people with several occupations (agricultural and fishery workers, elementary occupations, and unemployed), people with low household incomes, people with medical aid, and people with higher BMI. Those subgroups may be target populations in community health programs to control the disability from arthritis.