• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find differences in the demographics of toxic exposed patients and substance between call based poison information data and hospital based poison information data. Methods: Seoul 1339 call-response data were used as call based poison data and toxic related injury surveillance data of the Korean center for disease control and prevention (KCDC) were used as hospital based poison data. Age, sex, the kind of exposed substance, reasons for exposure, and exposure routes were compared between two data sets. We analyzed the presence or not of documentation on the name and amount of exposed substance, symptoms after exposure in call based poison data. Results: Seoul1339 poison data included a total of 2260 information related to toxic exposure and KCDC poison data included 5650 poison cases. There was no difference in sexual distribution. Pediatric exposure and accidental exposure were more common in call based poison data. The most common exposed substances were household products in call based poison data and medicines in hospital based poison data, respectively. Documents regarding amount and time of toxic exposure and symptoms after toxic exposure were not recorded exactly in call based poison data. Conclusion: There were significant differences in age, reasons for toxic exposure, and the kinds of exposed substances. Poison information data from both pre-hospital and hospital must be considered.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.21-33
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• 2012

Purpose : This study aims to suggest application of patients DB to hospital marketing by performing market segmentation and selecting target market. Consequently help to establish suited strategy of marketing. Method : 14,072 patients hospitalized in a University Medical Center were recruited into this study. In order to classify the customer groups, cluster analysis was used with RFM(Recency, Frequency, Monetary) model, and 1-way ANOVA verified the differences among groups. And then, sociodemographical status, healthcare utilization and diagnosis(ICD-10) of each group were compared to draw a marketing strategy. Results : Four groups were classified through clustering analysis, and'high use and high profit' and'low use and high profit' groups were selected as a target market. The features of target market were as follows, the female proportion was high; used a private room; hospitalized through the emergency room; had operation; length of stay was long; had many comorbidity and cooperative treatment. There was difference in each feature of target market: as for the'high use and high profit' group, many patients were diagnosed with 'certain infectious and parasitic diseases'; and as for the'low use and high profit'group, the proportion of patients who purchased'industrial accident compensation insurance'and'auto insurance'was relatively high; many patients were diagnosed with'Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes'. Conclusion : It is needed to establish'positioning' strategy by monitoring and communicating with'high use and high profit' group. And for the case of'low use and high profit' group, it is necessary to make a follow-up management and lead them to have a medical check-up.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.12
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• pp.477-484
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• 2009

It is important for the strategy of service to provide the weather information in the environment that the smart clothing has been changed focusing on the consumer center. Recently, the various applications of smart clothing concept have been presented by researchers and developers. Among them, the smart clothing based on the sensors is most likely to gain the highest demand rate in the market. In this paper, we proposed the life weather index monitoring system using the wearable based smart cap. By wearing the proposed smart cap, the weather status is gathered and its signals are transmitted to the connected UMPC. It can be easily monitored in real time. To provide the life weather index according to the sensors, the weather index was analyzed in terms of 6 factors, such as, the heat index, the food poisoning index, the discomfort index, the ultraviolet index, the water pipe freeze possibility index, and the windchill temperature index. Ultimately, this paper suggests empirical application to verify the adequacy and the validity with the life weather index monitoring system. Accordingly, the satisfaction and the quality of services will be improved the smart clothing.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.290-297
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• 2009

In case of using Asymmetric Bipolar Pulsed DC (ABPD) power generator, thin film is efficiently deposited as ions are getting higher energy by suppressing target poisoning and electric arc. In this article, the mechanical properties of CNx thin films deposited on the STS 316L were compared with DC and ABPD power generators. The CNx thin films deposited with ABPD clearly improved wear resistance by higher ratio of sp3CN as compared with DC. Nb interlayer affected to increase the value of 10N of adhesion between CNx thin films and substrate. But, CNx thin films deposited with ABPD couldn't endure to wear load and decreased wear resistance as the films were too thinner than substrate. Nevertheless the higher substrate bias energy applied to perform the dense films, it wasn't shown benefits about the wear properties from DC sputtering. But, in case of using ABPD sputtering, the wear resistance was largely improved without changing morphology despite of thin films.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2004

Objectives : This study was carried out to understand the prevalence and risk factors of green tobacco sickness (GTS) among Korean tobacco harvesters. Methods : The authors conducted a questionnaire among the tobacco harvesters (1,064 persons from 555 out of 723 tobacco harvesting households) in Cheongsong-gun for 4 days from May 7 to 10, 2002. Results : The study subjects were 550 males and 514 females. The recognition and experience of GTS up until 2001 were 96.4% and 61.9%, respectively. The prevalence of GTS in 2001 was 42.5%, and was significantly higher in females than in males (59.0% vs. 26.6%, p<0.01). The incidence density of GTS according to the number of workdays in 2001 was 12.3 spells/100 person..days. The GTS symptoms reported by the tobacco harvesters in 2001 were dizziness in 441 cases (97.6%), nausea in 414 (91.6%), headache in 349 (77.2%) and vomiting in 343 (75.9%). The use of gloves, hat and wristlets, sweating at work and the number of working hours significantly increased the prevalence of GTS (p<0.05). Multiple logistic re- gression analysis was used to determine the factors significantly associated with GTS. Odds ratios for smoking, working over 10 hours and sweating at work were 0.26 (95% CI:0.19-0.35), 1.64 (95% CI:1.26-2.14) and 1.60 (95% CI:1.14-2.25), respectively. Of those who reported GTS in 2001, 311 cases (68.8%) underwent treatment from their local medical facilities. Conclusions : In Korea, there are many tobacco-harvesting households, and most may be stricken with GTS. More extensive epidemiological studies, including the incidence and associated risk factors, are expected and a surveillance system including measurements of cotinine in urine should be conducted.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2007

Purpose: To analyze the general characteristics and clinical aspects of the organochlorine intoxicated patients in Korea. Methods: We prospectively evaluated the organochlorine intoxicated patients visiting to the 38 emergency medical centers in Korea from the 1, Aug. 2005 to the 31, Jul. 2006. Results: There were 38 patients intoxicated by the organochlorine during the study periods. The mean age of patients was 55.1 years old. The mean amount of the organochlorine intoxicated is 246.1 mL. The most frequent place where the patients got and took the organochlorine was their home. Twenty eight patients(73.7%) intended to suicide. Nine patients out of 38 patients(23.7%) were died and they all intended to suicide. Conclusion: There were 38 patients intoxicated by the organochlorine during the study periods. The suicidal attempts and the number of the dead were higher in Korea than the developed countries.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 1993

The objective of this study is to review the role and function of the village health worker in the wake of the recent social changes in Korea. The stud}' also aimed at' elucidating' the characteristics of the village health worker organizations developed through community participation in this country. The study methods employed were: a review of literature and other existing information related to VHW's activities ; the use of Questionnaire and interview with VHW's on their activities in one selected county in 1992. The major findings obtained are as follows: 1. So far the community health care activities have been carried out by medical colleges, foreign aid agencies and religious organizations with a view to improving health care for the population in rural area. 2. The VHWs employed by the local community health services received remuneratiorin cash or in kind. However, presently no remuneration is paid to VHWs employed by the government village health projects. The training for VHWs is organized by County Health Center once a year for 1-2days regardless of pre-employment or refresher. 3. The needs of care for maternal and child health and family planning has been decline due to the decrease of the target population, but on the other hand, the needs of care by VHW for prevention of infectious diseases, health of the aging, management of geriatric diseases, prevention of poisoning of pesticides and environmental sanitation has beer increased. 4. It was felt strongly that the training for VHWs should be strengthened by means of developing a problem-solving oriented educational program in order to improve practical skills of VHWs.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.287-296
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• 2013

The aim of this study was to compare the regional difference of death from intentional self-harm. The analysis was based on data of intentional self-harm deaths (31,450) from the 2010-2011 vital statistics of Korea. The suicide rate (per 100,000 population) was 46.2 in male and 22.3 in female. Gender ratio (male / female) of suicide rate was 2.07, and Jeju province had the lowest gender ratio (1.82), and Chungbuk province had the highest gender ratio (2.42). In the age-gender standardized death rate (per 100,000) of self-harm by region, the highest suicide rate was observed in Gangwon province (44.8) and Chungnam province (44.3), and the lowest in Seoul metropolitan city (28.9) and Ulsan metropolitan city (29.2). There was a significant increase in the rate of suicide in city areas (odds ratio: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.08-1.13), county areas (1.62, 1.56-1.67) as compared with the rate of suicide in metropolitan areas. The commonest methods of suicide were hanging (53.7 percent), self-poisoning by pesticides (16.8 percent) and jumping from a height (14.3 percent). The methods used for suicide differed between rural (county) and urban areas (metropolitan city and city). In county areas, 43 percent of suicides used pesticides as compared to only 7-18 percent of those in urban areas. In urban areas, jumping was more common (13-17 percent vs. 6 percent). There were no difference in hanging between urban and rural areas. The odds ratio of death by pesticides was 9.86 in rural areas compared with death rate of metropolitan areas. The odds ratio of death by jumping was 0.59 in rural compared with death rate of metropolitan areas.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.278-285
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• 2012

Poultry products are an important source of Salmonella enterica. An effective way to reduce food poisoning due to Salmonella would be to breed chickens more resistant to infection. Unfortunately host responses to Salmonella are complex with many factors involved. To learn more about responses to Salmonella in young chickens of 2 wk old, a cDNA Microarray containing 13,319 probes was performed to compare gene expression profiles between two chicken groups under control and Salmonella infected conditions. Newly hatched chickens were orally infected with S. enterica serovar Enteritidis. Since the intestine is one of the important barriers the bacteria encounter after oral inoculation, intestine gene expression was investigated at 2 wk old. There were 588 differentially expressed genes detected, of which 276 were known genes, and of the total number 266 were up-regulated and 322 were down-regulated. Differences in gene expression between the two chicken groups were found in control as well as Salmonella infected conditions indicating a difference in the intestine development between the two chicken groups which might be linked to the difference in Salmonella susceptibility. The differential expressions of 4 genes were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR and the results indicated that the expression changes of these genes were generally consistent with the results of GeneChips. The findings in this study have lead to the identification of novel genes and possible cellular pathways, which are host dependent.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.2043-2048
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• 2015

Bacillus thuringiensis microbial insecticide products have been applied worldwide. Although a few cases of B. thuringiensis foodborne illness have been reported, little is known about the toxigenic properties of B. thuringiensis isolates. The aims of this study were to estimate the pathogenic potential of B. thuringiensis selected from microbial insecticide products, based on its possession of toxin genes and production of enterotoxins. Fifty-two B. thuringiensis strains selected from four kinds of microbial insecticide products were analyzed. PCR assay for detection of toxin genes and immunoassay for detection of enterotoxins were performed. The hemolysin BL complex as a major enterotoxin was produced by 17 (32.7%), whereas the non-hemolytic enterotoxin complex was detected in 1 (1.9%) of 52 B. thuringiensis strains. However, cytK, entFM, and ces genes were not detected in any of the tested B. thuringiensis strains. The potential risk of food poisoning by B. thuringiensis along with concerns over B. thuringiensis microbial insecticide products has gained attention recently. Thus, microbial insecticide products based on B. thuringiensis should be carefully controlled.