• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.151-155
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• 2010

Allergen extracts from dust mites and cockroaches commonly found in Korean homes were used to evaluate their enzymatic activity as they are believed to influence allergenicity. Allergen extracts were prepared from 3 dust mite species (Dermatophagoides farinae, D. pteronyssinus, and Tyrophagus putrescentiae) and 3 cockroach species (Blattella germanica, Periplaneta americana, and P. fuliginosa) maintained in the Korea National Arthropods of Medical Importance Resource Bank. Proteins were extracted in PBS after homogenization using liquid nitrogen. The activities of various enzymes were investigated using the API Zym system. No significant difference in phosphatase, lipase, or glycosidase activity was observed among the 6 allergen extracts, but much difference was observed in protease activity. Protease activity was assessed in more detail by gelatin zymography and the EnzChek assay. Extract from T. putrescentiae showed the highest protease activity, followed by those of the cockroach extracts. Extracts from D. farinae and D. pteronyssinus showed only weak protease activity. Gelatinolytic activity was detected mainly in a 30-kDa protein in D. farinae, a 28-kDa protein in D. pteronyssinus, a > 26-kDa protein in T. putrescentiae, a > 20-kDa protein in B. germanica, and a > 23-kDa protein in P. americana and P. fuliginosa. The information on various enzymatic activities obtained in this study may be useful for future studies. In particular, the strong protease activity found in cockroach extracts could contribute to sensitization to cockroach allergens, which is known to be associated with the development of asthma.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.360-369
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate public preferences regarding allocation principles for scarce medical resources in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, particularly in comparison with the recommendations of ethicists. Methods: An online survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1509 adults residing in Korea, from November 2 to 5, 2020. The degree of agreement with resource allocation principles in the context of the medical resource constraints precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic was examined. The results were then compared with ethicists' recommendations. We also examined whether the perceived severity of COVID-19 explained differences in individual preferences, and by doing so, whether perceived severity helps explain discrepancies between public preferences and ethicists' recommendations. Results: Overall, the public of Korea agreed strongly with the principles of "save the most lives," "Koreans first," and "sickest first," but less with "random selection," in contrast to the recommendations of ethicists. "Save the most lives" was given the highest priority by both the public and ethicists. Higher perceived severity of the pandemic was associated with a greater likelihood of agreeing with allocation principles based on utilitarianism, as well as those promoting and rewarding social usefulness, in line with the opinions of expert ethicists. Conclusions: The general public of Korea preferred rationing scarce medical resources in the COVID-19 pandemic predominantly based on utilitarianism, identity and prioritarianism, rather than egalitarianism. Further research is needed to explore the reasons for discrepancies between public preferences and ethicists' recommendations.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.167-172
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• 2022

In clinical practice, the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a challenge. The goal of this study was to evaluate the reliability and impact of adenosine deaminase (ADA) enzyme testing as a biochemical marker in the continued management of suspected tuberculosis in a limited resource setting hospital. The retrospective data were collected from 2018 to 2021 and comprised the results of all ADA test assays done in the laboratory. All types of body fluids received for ADA testing were analyzed. Over the course of two years, 1461 samples for ADA assay testing were received. The average age of the study population was 56.69±11.7 years, with males accounting for the majority of the subjects (55.72%). Pleural fluid (N=817, 55.92%) was the most common type of sample received for the ADA assay. 114 (13.95%) of the 817 pleural fluid samples were found to be positive. A survey was conducted to obtain physician's response regarding reliability on ADA testing. 100% of them reported the supportive role of ADA levels in the workup of patients with suspected tuberculosis. In a limited resource setting, the ADA test, in conjunction with clinical and other laboratory findings, can help physicians to initiate early treatment in hospitals for the benefit of patients.

• Journal of Computing Science and Engineering
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2016

With the application and development of biomedical techniques such as next-generation sequencing, mass spectrometry, and medical imaging, the amount of biomedical data have been growing explosively. In terms of processing such data, we face the problems surrounding big data, highly intensive computation, and high dimensionality data. Fortunately, cloud computing represents significant advantages of resource allocation, data storage, computation, and sharing and offers a solution to solve big data problems of biomedical research. In order to improve the efficiency of resource management in cloud computing, this paper proposes a clustering method and adopts Radial Basis Function in order to compress comprehensive data sets found in biology and medicine in high quality, and stores these data with resource management in cloud computing. Experiments have validated that with such a data-compression-based resource management in cloud computing, one can store large data sets from biology and medicine in fewer capacities. Furthermore, with reverse operation of the Radial Basis Function, these compressed data can be reconstructed with high accuracy.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.109-119
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• 2020

Soil-transmitted helminths and Schistosoma haematobium affect more than 3 billion people globally and mainly occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The present study assessed the overall infection status of a 1716-student cohort of schoolchildren in Zanzibar and applied mass drug administration (MDA) to the cohort from 2007 to 2009. Schools in Pemba, Zanzibar, had a much higher prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections than those in Unguja, and the Chaani, Ghana, and Machui schools of Unguja exhibited high S. haematobium infection rates. The MDA program only partially controlled parasite infections, owing to high rates of re-infection. The infection rate of S. haematobium across all 10 schools, for example, was only reduced by 1.8%, and even this change not significant, even though the S. haematobium infection rates of the Chaani and Mzambarauni schools were significantly reduced from 64.4 and 23.4%, respectively, at the first screening, to 7.3 and 2.3% at the last screening. The overall infection rate of Ascaris lumbricoides was reduced from 36.0% at the first screening to 22.6% at the last screening. However, the infection rates for both Trichuris trichiura and hookworm were generally unaffected by MDA. In the future, parasite control programs should involve strategically designed MDA schedules and holistic intervention (e.g., sanitation improvement, hygiene behavior changes, and control of intermediated hosts).

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1-25
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• 2007

Relative value scales introduced in 2001 remarkably improved health insurance fee schedule, but current relative value scales have many problems. In the beginning the government intended to introduce 'resource based relative value scales(RBRVSs)' like USA, but political adjustment of RBRVS studied in 19.17 weakened the relationship between relative value scale and resource consumption. So unbalance of health insurance fees are existing till now. Also relative value was not divided to physician work and practice expense, and malpractice fee was not divided separately. To correct the unbalance of current relative value scales, the refinement project of health insurance relative value scales started in 2003. The project team divided relative value scales into three components, which are physician work, practice expense, malpractice fee. Physician work was studied by professional organizations like Korean medical association. To develop the practice expense relative value, project team organized clinical practice expert panels(CPEPs) composed of physicians, nurses, and medical technicians. CPEPs constructed direct expense data like labor costs, material costs, equipment costs about each medical procedures. The practice expense relative values of medical procedures were developed by the allocation of the institution level direct & indirect costs according to CPEPs direct costs. Institution level direct & indirect costs were collected in 21 hospitals, 98 medical clinics, 53 dental clinics, 78 oriental clinics, and 46 pharmacies. The malpractice fee relative values were developed through the survey of malpractice related costs of hospitals, clinics, pharmacies. Putting together three components of relative values in one scale, the final relative values were made. The final relative values were calculated under budget neutrality by medical departments, that is, total relative value score of a department was same before and after the revision. but malpractice fee relative value scores were added to total scores of relative values. So total score of a department was increased by the malpractice fee relative value score of that department This project failed in making 'resource based' relative value scales in the true sense of the word, because the total relative value scores of medical departments were fixed. However the project team constructed the objective basis of relative value scale like physician's work, direct practice expense, malpractice fee. So step by step making process of the basis, the fixation of total scores by the departments will be resolved and the resource based relative value scale will be introduced in true sense.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.62-86
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• 2001

This study purports to Investigate the determinant of job satisfaction and the organizational commitment of medical insurance review nurses working at Korean hospitals. The independent variables contain three groups of determinants: organizational characteristics variables(job autonomy, work unit control, role variety, role ambiguity, role conflict, workload, resource inadequacy, coworker support, supervisor support, distributive justice, promotional chances, job security, and job hazard), environmental variables(job opportunity, spouse support, and parent support), and psychological variables (met expectation, work involvement, positive affectivity, and negative affectivity). The sample used in this study consisted of 445 medical insurance review nurses from 89 hospitals nationwide. Data were collected with self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results of the study are as follows : 1) the following variables, listed in order of size, have significant effects on job satisfaction : role ambiguity(－), distributive justice(＋), work involvement(＋), role variety(＋), met expectation(＋), negative affectivity(－), job autonomy(＋), and positive affectivity(＋). 2) the following variables, listed in order of size, have significant effects on organizational commitment: met expectation(＋), work involvement(.＋), distributive justice(＋), job security(＋), role variety(＋), positive affectivity(＋), negative affectivity(－), resource inadequacy(＋), and tenure(－). 3) the variance of job satisfaction and organizational commitment explained by the variables used in the study are 30.0% and 39.1% respectively. 4) In comparison to the results of other studies on the determinants of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of clinical nursing staff working at hospitals, the results of this study indicate that three variables of distributive justice, work involvement, and role variety are especially important for improving the level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of medical insurance review nurses.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.229-240
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• 2008

Purpose: To develop the patient classification system based on the resource utilization for reimbursement of long-term care hospitals in Korea. Method: Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) conducted a survey in July 2006 that included 2,899 patients from 35 long-term care hospitals. To calculate resource utilization, we measured care time of direct care staff (physicians, nursing personnel, physical and occupational therapists, social workers). The survey of patient characteristics included ADL, cognitive and behavioral status, diseases and treatments. Major category criteria was developed by modified delphi method from 9 experts. Each category was divided into 2-3 groups by ADL using tree regression. Relative resource use was expressed as a case mix index (CMI) calculated as a proportion of mean resource use. Result: This patient classification system composed of 6 major categories (ultra high medical care, high medical care, medium medical care, behavioral problem, impaired cognition and reduced physical function) and 11 subgroups by ADL score. The differences of CMI between groups were statistically significant (p<.0001). Homogeneity of groups was examined by total coefficient of variation (CV) of CMI. The range of CV was 29.68-40.77%. Conclusions: This patient classification system is feasible for reimbursement of long-term care hospitals.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.331-342
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• 2016

The great attention has been shown the importance of human resource management in medical institutions. At this point, studies have stressed employees' psychological factors for maximizing their job performance and minimizing their turnover intention and burnout. This study, therefore, empirically examines the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between emotional labor, burnout, and turnover intention of medical institutions, focusing on nurse practitioners to contribute to hospital management for developing valuable strategies in the human resource sector of medical employees. The empirical results demonstrate: 1) the relationship between emotional labor and burnout of nurse practitioners is mediated by social support; and 2) the relationship between emotional labor and turnover intention of them is mediated by social support. This research results show that more understanding of nurse practitioners' psychological factors in response to decrease their burnout and turnover intention for developing human resource management of nurse organizations. Furthermore, the study could suggest efficient management ways of hospital through interdisciplinary human resource management in terms of business administration and psychology.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.157-172
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• 2024

Purpose: Ensuring prompt and consistent 119 emergency services for all citizens is crucial and requires every region to adhere to prescribed deployment standards Methods: This study assessed the compliance with 119 emergency resource deployment standards in 229 districts (si-gun-gu) by analyzing data from 18 fire headquarters as of December 31, 2022. Results: At the Sigun-gu level, 16 areas (7%) did not meet the fire station standards. Among the 229 si-gun-gu, 25 (10.9%) failed operational ambulance standards, and 114 (49.8%) did not meet the 119 first responder standards. Areas lacking fire station standards had lower financial self-sufficiency and higher elderly and single-person elderly household proportions (p<.05). Areas not meeting ambulance standards had lower proportions of these populations, but higher financial self-sufficiency. In addition, areas that did not meet the 119 first-responder standards had greater financial autonomy (p<.05). Areas meeting only basic fire station standards had higher proportions of elderly and single-person households and lower financial self-sufficiency. Areas meeting only ambulance standards had lower financial autonomy, whereas those meeting only emergency medical technician standards had lower financial self-sufficiency and a higher elderly proportions (p<.05). Conclusion: Si-gun-gu, with a large elderly population and poor finances, often fails to meet fire station standards and meets only the basic criteria. Continuous monitoring and targeted management are crucial for reducing disparities in 119 resource allocation and improving the overall deployment.