• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2012

Objectives: Controversy regarding the relationship between exposure to Agent Orange and disease has progressed for more than four decades, both at home and abroad. Recently, the allegation by US veteran Steve House of the burial of Agent Orange at the US Army base Camp Carroll located in Waegwan-eup, Korea, has emerged. We reviewed published articles and reports related to Agent Orange. Methods: Articles and reports were collected online using the keywords 'agent orange' and 'health' and then reviewed. Results: A number of epidemiologic studies have reported disease outcomes due to exposure to Agent Orange, while others were unable to establish a link to the injuries of veterans of the Vietnam War. This can be explained by the fact that accurate exposure assessment should be carried out since exposure misclassification in epidemiologic studies can affect estimates of risk. In the case of the burial of Agent Orange at Camp Carroll, an exposure pathway could be through underground water supplies, which differs from the cases of Vietnam and Seveso in Italy. Conclusion: There still remains a dispute among academics regarding the relationship between exposure to Agent Orange and disease, although Agent Orange is a highly toxic chemical. This dispute indicates that accurate exposure pathway and exposure assessment is needed.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.47-57
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an electric heating pad on abdominal pain and anxiety during the colonoscopy procedure. Method: Data were collected from 70 adult patients (experimental group (35), control group (35)) who underwent colonoscopy in a general hospital in Seoul, South Korea between January 6 and May 4 2006. For the experimental group the electric heating pad was applied from 20 minutes before the test through the whole procedure. Objective pain was measured during the test, and subjective pain, state anxiety, blood pressure and pulse rate were measured after the procedure. Results: The experimental group with the electric heating pad reported significantly lower subjective pain and anxiety than did the control group. There were no significant differences in objective pain between experimental and control groups. Patients with an electric heating pad showed significantly lower systolic and diastolic pressure than did those in the control group. There was no significant difference in pulse rate between the groups. Conclusion: Use of an electric heating pad was efficient in reducing subjective pain and anxiety among patients undergoing colonoscopy. This is a convenient and useful nursing intervention to reduce anxiety and pain among patients having a colonoscopy.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify factors affecting nursing performance of delirium among general hospital clinical nurses. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study and conducted from July 20 to July 30 2015, with a sample consisting of 167 registered nurses in three general hospitals. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21.0. Results: Nursing performance of delirium had significant positive correlations with knowledge about delirium (r=.25, p=.001), self-confidence in caring for patients with delirium (r=.45, p<.001) and nursing work environment (r=.29, p<.001). In this study, factors affecting nursing performance of delirium were self-confidence in caring for patients with delirium (${\beta}=.33$, p<.001), nursing work environment (${\beta}=.26$, p<.001), experience in nursing education about delirium(${\beta}=.18$, p=.007) and clinical experience (${\beta}=.18$, p=.007). The factors explained 32% of nursing performance of delirium. Conclusion: This study's results can be used as basic data to develope educational programs related to delirium care through continuing education and to improve work environments in developing strategies to enhance nursing performance for patients with delirium.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.339-347
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• 1996

Prior to the advent of microvascular surgery, conventional prosthetic rehabilitation offered limited success to re-establish the physiological function in oromaxillofacial reconstruction. Microvascular surgery provided a new frontier and there are multitude of flaps. Each flap has the benefits and limitation for the application to various defects. Advantage of the scapular flaps over other reconstructive methods include the ability to design multiple cutaneous panels on a separate vascular pedicle allowing improvement in three-dimensional relationship and osseointegrated implants can be palced to restore occlusal and masticatory function. Here I present the detailed description of the important surgical anatomy as well as graft dissection and clinical application of free vascularized scapular flap.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.75 no.3
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• pp.125-127
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• 2013

In this paper, we describe 72-year-old female patient without evidence of malignant disease presented with significantly elevated serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 levels by respiratory infections. She was diagnosed with respiratory infections due to Mycobacterium avium complex and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The serum CA 19-9 levels remarkably increased (1,453-5,300 U/mL; reference range, <37 U/mL) by respiratory infection and abruptly decreased (357-534 U/mL) whenever infection was controlled by specific treatments. This case suggests that serum CA 19-9 levels may be used as a diagnostic marker to indicate new or resistant infections to previous antibiotics in chronic lung diseases without significant changes in chest X-ray findings.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.19-24
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• 2004

The purposes of this study were to analyze gait patterns of patients with chronic lumboscaral radiculopathy and to investigate gait parameters which can reflect a functional deficit in relation to the level of lumbosacral radiculopathy. The study population consisted of 25 patients of chronic lumbosacral radiculopathy and 25 healthy control subjects. Conventional physical examinations and three-dimensional gait analyses were performed on all participants. The data were analyzed using an independent sample t-test. The results were as follows: (1) In the patients' group, cadence, walking velocity, stride length and double support time were less than in the control group (p<.05). (2) In the patients' group, maximum flexion of hip, maximum flexion of loading response, maximum flexion of swing phase on the knee and maximum plantar flexion of pre-swing were less than the control group (p<.05). Using three-dimensional gait analysis, we could identify specific gait parameters to reflect a functional deficit related to the level of lumbosacral radiculopathy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.250-258
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• 1986

From Aug. 1984 to May 1986, 116 cases of cardiovascular surgery including 85 cases of open heart surgery were performed at Korea Veterans Hospital. There were 108 congenital anomalies and 8 acquired valvular heart diseases. Among 108 congenital malformations 92 operations were done for acyanotic group, and 16 operations for cyanotic group. Thirteen cases of open heart surgery for infants or small children under 10kg of body weight were performed, which occupied 15.3 percent of total open heart surgery done in the same period. Common congenital cardiovascular anomalies were ventricular septal defect [40.7%], patent ductus arteriosus [29.6%], tetralogy of Fallot [12.[%], atrial septal defect [11.1%], and pulmonary stenosis [1.9%] in order of frequency. Valve replacement using lonescu-Shiley or Carpentier-Edwards valve was performed for 8 cases of acquired mitral valve disease, and valve replacement using St. Jude valve was done for a case of patent ductus arteriosus with severe mitral insufficiency. There was no mortality in acyanotic congenital malformations and acquired valve lesions, and 5 cases of mortality in cyanotic congenital malformations. Overall mortality was 4.3 percent for total cases and 5.9 percent for 85 cases of open heart surgery.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2016

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to analyze the status of oral health in relation to the acknowledgement of oral health trouble and oral health habits. Methods : This study was conducted after IRB was received, on 273 patients who had received health screenings between October-1, 2014 and January-31, 2015 at a general hospital in Busan. Results : Regarding the status of oral health in relation to the acknowledgement of oral health trouble, the rates of dental caries and periodontal disease were higher when the patients knew the reasons for trouble about the oral hygiene. With regard to oral health habits, our results showed that the more frequently the patients ate sugary snacks per day, the probability of experiencing periodontal disease was higher than for the patients who did not eat sugary snacks. Our results also, showed that the occurrence of dental caries is very much dependent upon whether a patient had experienced education on toothbrushing. Conclusions : Patients need to become more aware of their oral health through education. A program that emphasizes the importance of preventive oral health behaviors and the maintenance of correct oral health behavior should be developed.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.342-347
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• 2011

Healthy worker effect (HWE) refers to the consistent tendency for actively employed individuals to have a more favorable mortality experience than the population at large. Although HWE has been well known since the 1970s, only a few studies in occupational epidemiology have attempted to fully define and evaluate HWE. HWE can be separated into effects on the initial hiring into the workforce (healthy worker hire effect) and those on continuing employment (healthy worker survival effect). In this review, we summarize the methods for minimizingor adjusting for the healthy worker effect available in occupational epidemiology. It is noteworthy that healthy worker survival effect appears complicated, considering that employment status plays simultaneous roles as a counfounding variable and intermediate variable, whereas healthy worker hire effect may be adjusted by incorporating health status at baseline into the statistical model. In addition, two retrospective cohort studies for workers in the semiconductor industry and Vietnam veterans in Korea, respectively, were introduced, and their results were explained in terms of healthy worker effect.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.445-449
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• 2002

An 18-year-old female was admitted because of dyspnea at rest. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan and fiberoptic bronchoscopy demonstrated a polypoid tumor in the left main bronchus, 0.5cm distal from the carina. Surgical resection of the tumor was performed, along with. A pathological evaluation and the immunohistochemical findings led to the diagnosis of a glomus tumor, which originated from the bronchus, an area where this type of tumor has rarely been reported.