• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.782-793
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• 2022

The rise in chronic disease not only has a negative effect on people's lives, but it also increases the cost of medical care owing to the increased usage of medical care as health and medical technology improves, life expectancy rises, and rapid population ageing. In such context, this study examined the difference in the disease cost of hypertension according to demographic information and the effect of the initial diagnosis age and treatment period on the cost. This study used the Korean Health Panel Survey from 2010 to 2017, and selected subjects based on health insurance beneficiaries between the ages of 30 and under 80. With the selected data, the direct and indirect costs of disease loss were calculated according to the cost of illness approach, and we constructed a disease-loss ratio cohort considering the age of diagnosis and time of treatment for hypertension. From the results of the study, the annual cost of disease loss for hypertensive patients differed by gender by 110,107 won, and it was found that the cost increased by 1.8 times as the treatment time increased. In addition, when comparing disease loss ratios between the same age groups, it was found that the disease loss ratios between those in their 60s and 70s were affected by treatment time. This study confirmed that hypertension significantly affects the cost of the disease, and not only requires early diagnosis and management, but also preventive efforts to lower the incidence of hypertensive disease must be strengthened.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.1
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• pp.93-104
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• 2023

Life expectancy is increasing due to the aging of the population, which is in turn exacerbating problems such as the prevalence of various geriatric diseases. This study was established to provide basic data for the expansion of forest healing activities for the elderly by systematically analyzing the literature on how such activities affect this age group. For the collection of studies, the Korean databases RISS, KISS, Korea Med, and Science On were used, while PubMed, Cochrane Central, MDPI, and Google Scholar were used to identify reports published elsewhere. To assess the quality of the methodology used in the collected studies, the risk of bias was analyzed using Cochrane's RoB2 and RoBANS. Among 1,856 reports initially identified, 21 were finally selected for analysis in this study, which were limited to research papers on forest healing activities for the elderly published between 2000 and January 2022. In this review, the subjects were those aged 60 or older, with a total of 750 participants, ranging from at least 7 to a maximum of 88 per study. The analysis showed that the most frequently performed tests in each category were on depression as a psychological indicator in 7 studies, MMSE(Mini Mental State Examination) as a cognitive indicator in 2 studies, on blood pressure as a physiological indicator in 4 studies, on melatonin as a biochemical indicator in 2 studies, and on body fat and muscle strength as physical indicators in 3 studies. Of the 21 studies, 19 used two or more test items, with psychological indicators being most commonly measured. For the future application of forest healing activities for the elderly, various forest healing programs to prevent cognitive function decline should be developed and distributed, and follow-up studies should be continuously presented to provide the basis for forest healing activities.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.43-55
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• 2021

This study analyzed the efficiency of medical services in OECD member countries by dividing it into operational efficiency and quality efficiency. For this purpose, data from 2017-2019 OECD Health Statistics were used. As the analysis method, super efficiency was measured by applying an output-oriented Variable Returns to Scale (VRS) model. As a result of the analysis, Switzerland, Korea, and Italy were included in the high group of operational efficiency, Canada, Greece, Denmark, etc. in the medium group, and Belgium, Germany, and Spain in the low group. Based on quality efficiency, Norway, Switzerland, and Spain are in the high group, and Greece, Denmark, Mexico, etc. are in the medium group, and the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, etc. were included in the low group. As a result of comparative analysis of efficiency by OECD member countries as of 2018, it was found that Korea's operational efficiency was the most efficient and quality efficiency was inefficient. Korea (0.998) should improve life expectancy by 0.2 (0.2%) and subjective health perception by 44.2 (138.1%) by benchmarking Greece (0.422), Switzerland (0.207), and Spain (0.371) to improve quality efficiency. Unlike most previous studies that focused on operational efficiency, this study measured quality efficiency together and analyzed the efficiency of the medical service industry in each OECD member country. Through this, this study has implications in that it confirmed the international competitiveness of the domestic medical service industry and suggested ways to improve efficiency.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.165-187
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• 2023

The continuous increase in life expectancy and high interest in health has brought about significant changes in the use of health information by the public according to the development of information technology represented by the Internet and smartphones. As the medical market expands to the mobile health environment, many health-related apps have been created and distributed, but the acceptance rate is slow as it has become challenging to provide services due to various regulations. In this study, perceived value, perceived risk factors (psychological risk, risk of time-loss, legal risk), and perceived benefits (usefulness, interaction, autonomy) were derived and verified as factors that affect the acceptance resistance of personal health record apps based on the privacy calculation model. In addition, by analyzing the moderating effect of trust in the manufacturer, how the perceived risk and perceived benefit affect the perceived value was verified. A survey was conducted on Korean college students who recognized the personal health record apps but did not use them, and 127 samples were analyzed using structural equations. As a result of hypothesis verification, perceived value has a negative effect on acceptance resistance, perceived risk (risk of time-loss) has a negative effect on perceived value, and perceived benefits (usefulness, interaction, autonomy) were found to have a positive effect on perceived value. Trust in manufacturers has weakened the impact of perceived risks (legal risk) on perceived values. This study is expected to play an important role in maintaining a competitive advantage in the personal health record app market environment by identifying and proposing detailed criteria for reducing the acceptance resistance of personal health record apps.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.477-482
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• 2023

The subclavian vein is an uncommon route for tunneled hemodialysis catheter (tHDC) placement because of its potency for future dialysis access. However, when favored access routes have been exhausted because of repeated catheterization or limited life expectancy, the subclavian vein can be used for urgent hemodialysis. A subclavian catheterization has a technical problem. The subclavian vein often forms a right angle with the vena cava, and advancing stiff peel-away sheath can cause a vascular injury. However, raising the patient's arm can alter the position of the guidewire and, therefore, change the angle of the vein favorable for tHDC placement. Herein, we report two patients who underwent subclavian catheterization; one experienced an injury to the superior vena cava after undergoing the conventional procedure, whereas the other patient with raised arm during the catheterization procedure had safe catheter placement.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2024

Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder. It is caused by mutations in the α-galactosidase A gene, which results in deficient or absent activity of α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A). This leads to a progressive accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) in various tissues. Manifestations of Fabry disease include serious and progressive impairment of renal and cardiac function. In addition, patients experience pain, gastrointestinal disturbance, transient ischaemic attacks, and strokes. Additional effects on the skin, eyes, ears, lungs, and bones are often seen. Reduced life expectancy and deadly consequences are being caused by cardiac involvement. Chaperone therapy or enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) are two disease-specific treatments for FD. Thus, early detection of FD is critical for decreasing morbidity and mortality. Globotriaosysphingosine (lyso-Gb3) for identifying atypical FD variants and highly sensitive troponin T (hsTNT) for detecting cardiac involvement are both significant diagnostic indicators. This review aimed to offer a basic resource for the early diagnosis and update on the diagnosis of having FD. We will also provide a general diagnostic algorithm and information on ERT and its accompanying treatments.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2000

Purpose : Spine is one of the most common sites of the metastatic bone tumors. Conservative management such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy has been preferred in most cases. However, the neurologic deficit has not been usually improved, and the quality of life was poor. The purpose of this study was to show the efficacy of the surgical treatments for metastatic spinal tumors in terms of postoperative improvements of neurologic deficit and survival time. Materials and Methods : Authors have reviewed the literatures and analyzed 14 patients of metastatic spinal tumors who were received operative treatments between August 1991 and June 1999 at the our department of orthopaedic surgery. Results : The most frequent primary tumor was breast cancer in women and lung cancer in men. The thoracic region was the most common site. There was a preponderance of females over males, and the age ranged between 4th and 8th decade. The indications of surgical treatment comprised instability, progressive neurologic findings, resistance to radiotherapy, pathological fracture, long life expectancy( >6weeks), isolated metastasis and need for pathological diagnosis. The degree of preoperative neurological deficit might influence on the improvement of clinical symptoms after surgery. Conclusion : The surgical treatment reduced the neurological deficit and pain regardless of the operative methods. In the early stage of neurological deficit, the surgical treatment was important for better prognosis. Recently early active operative treatment was performed for metastatic spinal tumor to minimize the intractable pain and to prevent the progression of the neurologic deficit. Early intervention can improve the quality of life and long term survival.

• Proceedings of The Korean Society of Health Promotion Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.89-109
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• 2004

The Korean Government has produced the Health Plan 2010 aimed at setting up healthy Korea objectives, policies on preventing chronic diseases, reshaping the country's health and medical infrastructure. The policy goal targets the people's healthy life expectancy at 75 by 2010, and includes healthy life practice measures including health education, health improvement services, and disease management measures, in achieving the objectives. Also, the plan provides life cycle-based health improvement and disease prevention services, as well as pushes ahead with projects with greater ripple effects in each area. To this end, the government is simultaneously pushing to operate an experts-centered health promotion committee and establishing the infrastructure including the augmentation of national health improvement funds. Through its Health Plan 20 I 0, the Korean Government will exert efforts to achieve its policy objectives as addressed in the measures by enhancing the national potential health and providing systematic disease prevention services.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.605-614
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• 2022

Two major problems currently threaten human survival on Earth: climate change and the rapid aging of the population in developed countries. Climate change is a result of the increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere due to the increase in the use of fossil fuels owing to economic and transportation development. The rapid increase in the age of the population is a result of the rise in life expectancy due to the development of biomedical science and technology and the improvement of personal hygiene in developed countries. To avoid irreversible global climate change, it is necessary to quickly transition from the current fossil fuel-based economy to a zero-carbon renewable energy-based economy that does not emit GHGs. To achieve this goal, the dairy and livestock industry, which generates the most GHGs in the agricultural sector, must transition to using low-carbon emission production methods while simultaneously increasing consumers' preference for low-carbon diets. Although 77% of currently available arable land globally is used to produce livestock feed, only 37% and 18% of the proteins and calories that humans consume come from dairy and livestock farming and industry. Therefore, using edible insects as a protein source represents a good alternative, as it generates less GHG and reduces water consumption and breeding space while ensuring a higher feed conversion rate than that of livestock. Additionally, utilizing the functionality of medicinal insects, such as silkworms, which have been proven to have certain health enhancement effects, it is possible to develop functional foods that can prevent or delay the onset of currently incurable degenerative diseases that occur more frequently in the elderly. Insects are among the first animals to have appeared on Earth, and regardless of whether humans survive, they will continue to adapt, evolve, and thrive. Therefore, the use of various edible and medicinal insects, including silkworms, in industry will provide an important foundation for human survival and prosperity on Earth in the near future by resolving the current two major problems.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.34
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• pp.327-337
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• 2018

Korea is rapidly becoming an aging society as much as it takes the first place among OECD countries, and as the life expectancy of Korea gradually increases, the proportion of the elders in society increases. Accordingly, the happiness of the elders is contributed to the overall social atmosphere and happiness, however, the lower quality of life of the elders due to physical, psychological and social changes can be developed into social problems such as depression and rising suicide rate. As a result, there is a social interest in improving the quality of life and satisfaction of the elders, and the senior citizen center is receiving renewed attention as a form of welfare facility that can play a pivotal role in the social activities of the elders. In recent years, efforts to improve the environment of the senior citizen center have been made due to the growing role of it, however, there is a controversy over whether the quality of the indoor environment is user-friendly or not due to the limitations of material resources and human resources. It is considered that the quality of the color environment should be improved in the senior citizen center in the way that the color environment is not only an indoor environmental factor which gives high psychological and mental effects to users but also a way to improve the environmental satisfaction at the lowest cost. Previous studies on the facilities related to the elders have been actively carried out, but they were very sporadic and there was very little information about the color environment in the related laws or in the guideline presented by cities. It is necessary to integrate guidelines that are scattered within a comprehensive range without any specific target in order to grasp the current status of the color environment and to properly evaluate it. In addition, considering that the senior citizen center is an important leisure facility for the elders that functions in a residential area with a nationwide network, the results of this study are expected to contribute to the environmental improvement of existing senior citizen center which will be activated in the future by enabling the improvement of psychological satisfaction of the elders.