• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.277-285
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• 2016

Objectives: This study was performed in order to evaluate whether 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) could be detected among residents living near Camp Caroll in Waegwan and whether serum concentrations of dioxins, including 2,3,7,8-TCDD, and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are associated with length of residence. Methods: Study subjects totaled 113 (for dioxins) and 190 (for OCPs) adults who were selected from participants in a medical investigation. Serum concentrations of dioxins and OCPs were measured using HRGC/HRMS. Information on length of residence was obtained through questionnaires. Results: 2,3,7,8-TCDD was not detected in serum among all subjects. When length of residence was classified as a categorical variable, after adjusting for confounding variables, only residents living in Waegwan for 40 years or longer tended to have high total TEQ values and 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF with marginal significances. There was no dose-response relation between length of residence and serum concentrations of these chemicals. In multiple regression models with continuous values of the length of residence, total TEQ value and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF were positively associated with length of residence. However, they explained about 3-5% of total variations of serum concentrations of these compounds, while age, consumption of fatty fish, body mass index, alcohol drinking, and cigarette smoking were main variables affecting serum concentrations of dioxins or OCPs. Conclusions: In the current study, high concentrations of certain compounds were mainly observed among persons who lived in Waegwan for at least for 40 years without a dose-response relation. Therefore, it seems difficult to conclude that length of residence meaningfully contributed to the current serum concentrations of dioxins or OCPs among residents in Waegwan. However, considering the half-life of 2,3,7,8-TCDD and indirect exposure routes, the limitations of the current study design should be considered in the interpretation of the study findings.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2013

As the country's elderly people who are 65 years or older recently exceeded 10% of the total population with development of medical technology and improvement of living standards, Korea has turned into an aging society. Especially in Gyeonggi-do, as of late December 2012, elderly people who were 65 years or older were 1,135,242 persons, taking up 18.98% of the region's population and registering the largest number of elderly people in the nation's cities or provinces. Due to such a sharp rise in elderly population, support for the elderly is increasing the burden on families and communities. The study aims to take as its subjects elderly people staying at authorized elderly welfare facilities, who are weak in mind and body and have difficulty in daily life with disabilities, or adult day care facilities that take care of elderly people during the day or at night, examine the concept of adult day care facilities and instances in foreign countries, and study the status of the adult day care facilities located in Gyeonggi-do, their services, and safety by figuring out space arrangement based on program implementation. Spacial arrangement in program operation should satisfy fuction and purpose from the manager and user's perspective, and a desirable program operation should provide separate spaces for the elderly with Alzheimer's and those without Alzheimer's. Compared to residential care facilities, adult day care facilities incur less financial burden and, compared to other authorized services, have many right functions that can upgrade the quality of users and satisfy their desires. Major countries like Japan, the UK, and Sweden recognize the right functions of day and night care services and aggressively support and utilize adult day care facilities. For adult day care facilities, quality services should be developed and use and choices should be enhanced as regards services. Development of special programs for the elderly with dementia and stroke, instead of simple protective functions of a program, must be actively promoted, while manpower training is required for program operation, conveniences, and safety. By developing and providing space arrangement models that focus on efficiency, convenience, and safety of program operation, adult day care operation can be revitalized, while quality of elderly care may be enhanced and welfare budget can be saved.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

Objective : To estimate the socioeconomic costs of obesity in Korea,1998. Methods : The 1998 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(1998 NHNES) data was used and 10,880 persons who had taken health examinations were selected for study. Essential hypertension, NIDDM(non insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus), dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis, coronary heart disease, stroke were included as obesity related disease. The data of direct costs of obesity was obtained from the National Federation of Medical Insurance. The category of indirect costs was the loss of productivity caused by premature death and admission, time costs, traffic costs, nursing fees due to obesity. Multiple logistic regression model was developed to estimate prevalence odds ratio by obesity class adjusted demographic and socio-ecnomic factors and calculate PAF(Population Attributable Fraction) of obesity on obesity related disease. And we finally calculated the socioeconomic costs of obesity in relation to BMI with PAF. Results : The direct costs of obesity were 2,126 billion${\sim}965$ billion Won in considering out of pocket payment to uninsured services, and the indirect costs of obesity were 2,099 billion${\sim}1,086$ billion Won. Consequently, in considering out of pocket payment to uninsured services, the socioeconomic costs of obesity were 4.225 billion${\sim}2,050$ billion Won, which corresponded to about $0.094%{\sim}0.046%$ of GDP and $1.88%{\sim}0.91$ of total health care costs in Korea. Conclusions : Obesity represents a major health problem with significant economic implications for the society. This results are conservative estimates as far as all obesity related disease and all health care and indirect costs were not included due to missing information. further studies are needed to caculate socioeconomic costs of obesity more exactly.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 1972

Esophageal perforation is one of the most grave prognostic problems among thoracic and general surgical emergencies which necessitate urgent operative measures. In Korea,there are still many persons ingesting lye for suicidal attempt and thoracic surgeons in Korea have more chances to deal with lye burned esophagus with or without instrumental perforation than those in Western countries. Main cause of esophageal perforation in Korea is instrumental perforation in patients with lye stricture of the esophagus during diagnostic endoscopy or therapeutic bouginage. Other causes are corrosion of the esophagus due to ingestion of caustic agents, pathologic perforation, surgical trauma, stab wound and spontaneous rupture of the esophagus in our series. Therapeutic measures are various,and depend on duration of perforation, severity of its complications, pathology of perforated portion of the esophagus and degrees of inflammation at the point of perforation. The most important therapeutic measures are prevention of this grave condition during esophagoscopy, bouginage and surgical procedures on lungs and mediastinal structures and to make early diagnosis with prompt therapeutic measures. During the period of January, 1959, to December, 1971, the authors experienced 65 cases ofesophageal perforation including acquired esophagorespiratory fistula at Dept. of Chest Surgery, the National Medical Center in Seoul, and obtained following results in the series. 1. Female were 35 cases, and peak age incidence was 2nd and 3rd decades of life. 2. Among 65 cases, 43 were corrosive esophagitis or benign stricture of the esophagus due to caustic agents, 7 were patients with esophageal cancer. and there were 5 cases of esophageal perforation developed after pneumonectomy or pleuropneumonectomy. 3. Causes of perforation are instrumental perforation in 45, acute corrosion in 7, pathologic perforation in 7, surgical trauma in 3, stab wound in 2 cases, and one spontaneous rupture of the esophagus. 4. Most frequent sites of esophageal perforation were upper and mid thoracic esophagus, and 8 were cases with cervical esophageal perforation. 5. Complications of esophageal perforation were mediastinitis in 42, empyema or pneumothorax in 35, esophagorespiratory fistula in 12, retroperitoneal fistula or abscess in 5,pneumoperitoneum in 3, and localized peritonitis in 1 case. 6. Cases with malignant esophagorespiratory fistula were only 3 in the series which is predominant cause of acquired esophagorespiratory fistula in Western countries. 7. Various therapeutic measures were applied with mortality rate of 27.7% in the series. 8. In usual cases early treatment gave better prognosis, and least mortality rate in cases with perforation in mid thoracic esophagus. 9. Main causes of death were respiratory complications,acute hemorrhage with asphyxia, and septic complications. 10. Esophageal perforation developed after pneumonectomy gave more difficult therapeutic problems which were solved in only 1 among 5 cases.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.3-26
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• 2005

In recent years, there is growing concern about the potential use of biological agents in war or acts of terrorism accompanied an increased realization that rapid preparedness and response are needed to prevent or treat the human damage that can be caused by these agents. The threat is indeed serious, and the potential for devastating numbers of casualties is high. The use of agents as weapons, even on a small scale, has the potential for huge social and economic disruption and massive diversion of regional and national resources to combat the threat, to treat primary disease, and to clean up environmental contamination. Biological weapons are one of weapons of mass destruction (or mass casualty weapons, to be precise. since they do not damage non-living entities) that are based on bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi or toxins produced by these organisms. Biological weapons are known to be easy and cheap to produce and can be used to selectively target humans, animals, or plants. Theses agents can cause large numbers of casualties with minimal logistical requirements (in wide area). The spread of disease cannot be controlled until there is awareness of the signs of infection followed by identification of agents; and if the organism is easily spread from person to person, as in the case of smallpox, the number of casualties could run into the tens of thousands. Biological weapons could be used covertly, there can be a lot of different deployment scenarios. A lot of different agents could be used in biological weapons. And, there are a lot of different techniques to manufacture biological weapons. Terrorist acts that make use of Biological Agents differ in a number of ways from those involving chemicals. The distinction between terrorist and military use of Biological Weapon is increasingly problematic. The stealthy qualities of biological weapons further complicate the distinction between terrorism and war. In reality, all biological attacks are likely to require an integrated response involving both military and civilian communities. The basic considerations when public health agencies establish national defence plan against bioterrorism must be 1) arraying various laws and regulations to meet the realistic needs, 2)education for public health personnels and support of concerned academic society, 3)information collection and cooperative project with other countries, 4)Detection and surveillance(Early detection is essential for ensuring a prompt response to biological or chemical attack, including the provision of prophylactic medicines, chemical antidotes, or vaccines) and 5) Response(A comprehensive public health response to a biological or chemical terrorist event involves epidemiologic investigation, medical treatment and prophylaxis for affacted persons, and the initiation of disease prevention or environmental decontamination measures). The purpose of this paper is providing basic material of preparedness and response for biological terrorism in modern society.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.266-272
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• 2011

This study is focused on guard major collegians who are composed of factor in medical emergency system. In the case of cardiac failure, it is to make its basic data develop its education program of CPR which can increase the patient's survival rate before his hospitalization. The subject of study is composed of 120 persons who are 94 boy-collegians(78.3%) and 26 girl-collegians(21.7%) in sex and 66 first-grade collegians(55.0%) and 54 second-grade collegians(45.0%) in a school year. There is significant difference in the practices of artificial respiration and the thorax pressure after the education of basic CPR in sex(p<0.01). The practices of artificial respiration in boy-collegians($93.72{\pm}4.21$) is higher than in girl-collegians($82.31{\pm}6.36$) and the practices of thorax pressure in boy-collegians($92.45{\pm}4.44$) is higher than in girl-collegians($88.08{\pm}6.49$). The satisfaction degree of boy-collegians($4.33{\pm}0.59$) is higher than that of girl-collegians($3.73{\pm}0.67$) after theory & practice education of basic CPR(p<0.01). It is necessary to develop the education program and educate its knowledge & technology in proportion to collegians characteristics of sex and school year. Also, education authorities should develop a subject of the accident provided the practical education of CPR for guard major collegians.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.231-244
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• 2020

Background: As the population is aging, chronic diseases and depression are becoming the main problems in a country's healthcare system. In this study, we aimed to explore the associations between chronic diseases and depression among the elderly in South Korea. Methods: We analyzed 9,975 (men, 4,147; women, 5,828) respondents obtained from the 2014 National Survey of Living Conditions and Welfare Needs of Korean Older Persons. Our dependent variable was either 1 or 0 according to whether a respondent had depression or not, where depression was defined when the Short Form of Geriatric Depression Scale score was 8 or more points. Variables of interest were 24 types of chronic diseases and covariates included various socio-demographic and health behavior characteristics. We performed Rao-Scott chi-square tests and hierarchal logistic regression analyses by gender, reflecting the characteristics of the survey. Results: A significant difference was found in the proportion of having depression between genders (men 18.9% vs. women 23.4%). According to fully adjusted, multivariable analyses, for elderly men, relative to those without any chronic disease, the odds ratio of depression was 1.56 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-2.22) in the stroke patients group and 1.82 (95% CI, 1.01-3.25) in the osteoporosis patients group. For elderly women, the odds ratio was 1.96 (95% CI, 1.28-3.00) in the fracture/dislocation and aftereffects patients group and 1.30 (95% CI, 1.03-1.64) in the group of patients with other diseases. Conclusion: Even after being adjusted for diverse characteristics, some chronic diseases were significantly associated with depression in the elderly and the association differed between genders. Therefore, public health and medical interventions are needed to manage such chronic diseases together with curing depression symptoms.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.381-389
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• 2003

Various adult diseases (cerebral apoplexy, athymiait, etc.) result from hypertension, blood circulation disturbance and increment of HBP. In early diagnosis of these diseases, MRI, X-ray and PET have been used rather aim for treatment than for a prevention of disease. Since. cerebral apoplexy and athymiait could appear to the regular/irregular persons, it is very important to measure HBP which has connection with cerebral blood flow state. HBP has more diagnosis elements than that of BP. So, we can diagnose accurate hypertension by measuring of HBP. But, existing sphygmomanometers and automatic BP monitors can not measure HBP, and can not execute complex function(measuring of BP/HBP, blood flow improvement). Purpose of this paper is to develop a system and algorithm which can measure BP/HBP for accurate diagnosis. Also, we extracted diagnosis factors by correlativity analysis of BP/HBP. Maximum pressure of HBP corresponds to 62% that of BP, Minimum pressure of HBP corresponds to 46% that of BP. Therefore, we developed the multi-function automatic blood pressure monitor which can measure BP/HBP and improve cerebral blood flow state.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.141-153
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• 2015

This paper is an attempt to analyze the comparative advantage of Busan Port to China. For this, we use the market comparative advantage index, which is a version of the revealed comparative advantage index. The market comparative advantage index (MCA) uses trade patterns to identify the sectors in which a region has a comparative advantage, in this case by comparing Busan Port's trade profile with the world average (China). The indices are calculated at the commodity level of the HS four-digit classification. The export data used in this study are obtained from the Korea International Trade Association. Exports to China accounted for almost one third of Korean exports in 2014. There are, however, structural differences among the main export items of Busan Port. This paper, therefore, employs MCA indices to reveal the behaviors of the ten main export items, which are "HS3920-other plates/sheets/film/foil of plastics," "HS7606-aluminum plates/sheets/strip," "HS8479-unspecified machines/medical appliances," "HS8486-machines for semiconductor devices or wafers," "HS8529-parts for transmission apparatus for television," "HS8703-motor vehicles for the transport of persons," "HS8708-parts of motor vehicles," "HS9001-optical fibers," and "HS9013-liquid crystal devices." The study shows that export competitiveness of nine items increases, the exception being HS8703. However, China's import ratios of seven of the nine items for which the MCA indices go up are on the decrease, which means that it would be hard to expand the export market for these seven items, despite the higher MCA indices. Since the shares of the port's total exports to China of HS3907, HS8486, HS8529, HS9001, and HS9013 in total exports to China increase together with China's import ratio decreasing, these items may have promising export markets. MCA increases of HS7606 and HS8479 are attributable to China's lower import ratio, rather than a higher export share, so higher MCA indices do not guarantee higher export competitiveness for these items.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.126-142
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• 1997

For last four or five years, the number of Korean students have gone on increasing awfully. After the year 1997 when they will flow in, our field and government will be undergone a big shock and social problems. Therefore, thorough grasping and the method of provision is expeced to need. 1. The situation, According to the data published from the year 1993 to 1997, their results are great different. But recent Korean embassy in China examined the situation of the Korean students, whose result was investigated as follows: about 1500 persons, their average age is 24 to 44, the ratio of male and female students is 3 to 1, that of their academic background which is a graduate of university : that of college : that of highschool is 1.6 : 1 : 4.7, and that of their class attitude which is direct : common : indirect appears the percents 30.4 : 52.8 : 16.8. 2. The controversial points (1) A lowering of standards on Chinese medical treatment is expected by the imprudent studying abroad without qualification. And because of excessive production of herb doctors, the amount of treatment may be above people's demand. Besides owing to the impossibility of prediction on the number the counterplans of our government may fall into utler confusion. (2) The curriculum, the teaching schedule and contents are so different that the graduates seem not to be given real education of chinese medicine from the point of Korean view. (3) In the wrong national examination, the important thought of china, and the system of WTO in Korea, when China will become mighty rival above problems contain the negative sides. 3. The counterplans - what should be performed soon. (1) Illegal contents about studying abroadl in China ought to inform sidely that students might not go on increasing. Before they form nam-power, the government and the field of chinese medicine should cope with such a situation together. (2) The law of regulation about agents should be legislated and they should be surpervised. (3) The exact numbers of students, their situation, and the present condition of each university should be examined. (4) After investigating the problems of the present system of national test, its enforcement and many counterplans is requisite. (5) The cooperating confrontation with the conference of dentistry is in need. (6) Since the problems are possibility to be developed to diplomatic questions, the effort of both nations is needful. - what need middle of long time. (1) The effort that suppress the more establishment of the college of oriental medicine is necessary. (2) After comparing with the system of foreign test, the government should make the system of test in accord with the mutualism and the principle of indiscrimination among nations and cope with such a many issues thoroughly.