• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.114-120
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• 2011

Chronic inflammation has been implicated as one of the important etiological factors in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). To investigate the role of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the development of T2DM, we conducted a case-control study to assess the association between IL4/IL4R polymorphisms and disease risk. We firstly identified single nucleotide poly-morphisms (SNP) at IL4 and IL4RA loci by sequencing the loci in Korean participants. Case-control studies were conducted by genotyping the SNPs in 474 T2DM cases and 470 non-diabetic controls recruited from community-based cohorts. Replication of the associated signals was performed in 1,216 cases and 1,352 controls. We assessed effect of IL4 -IL4RA interaction on T2DM using logistic regression method. The functional relevance of the SNP associated with disease risk was determined using a reporter expression assay. We identified a strong association between the IL4 promoter variant rs2243250 and T2DM risk (OR=0.77; 95% CI, 0.67~0.88; p=$1.65{\times}10^{－4}$ in the meta-analysis). The reporter gene expression assay demonstrated that the presence of rs2243250 might affect the gene expression level with ~1.5-fold allele difference. Our findings contribute to the identification of IL4 as a T2D susceptibility locus, further supporting the role of anti-inflammatory cytokines in T2DM disease development.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.14-26
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• 2001

Objective : Stroke is a serious disease despite of the recent improvement in medical treatment. Hence, identification of modifiable risk factors for stroke is important. This case-control study was done to demonstrate that relation between risk factors(familial history of stroke, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and heart disease), lifestyle factors(alcohol drinking, psychologic stress, exercise, liking salty and hot foods) and the incidence of stroke. Methods : We interviewed 214 stroke patients(116 in men, 98 in women) as case group and 205 non-stroke patients(118 in men, 87 in women) as control group from January 1, 2001 to July 31, 2001 in oriental hospital of Kyung Hee medical center. We investigated risk factors, lifestyle factors of stroke in all patients and stroke-subtype of case group. Stroke-subtype consists of cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage. Results : The percentage of familial history in the case group was significantly higher than that of control group, especially in the patients of cerebral infarction. The most ordinary preceding disease was hypertension. And the preceding disease of hypertension, diabetes mellitus was associated positively with the risk of stroke. The percentage of exercise was significantly higher than that of control group. The percentage of alcohol drinking, psychologic stress within 1 week and liking salty and hot foods was higher in the case group. However, there was no significant difference between case and control group. Conclusion : According to the above results, we found that familial history of stroke, preceding disease(hypertension, diabetes mellitus) affected to the incidence of stroke and exercise might be predisposing risk factors for stroke.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.380-388
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• 2022

Background: Emerging infectious diseases, such as Middle East respiratory syndrome or coronavirus disease 2019, pose a continuous threat to public health, making a risk assessment necessary for infectious disease control and prevention. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the risk assessment methods for infectious diseases used by major foreign countries and organizations. Methods: We conducted an investigation and comparative analysis of risk assessment and risk determination methods for infectious diseases. The risk assessment tools included the strategic toolkit for assessing risks, influenza risk assessment tool, pandemic severity assessment framework, and rapid risk assessment methodology. Results: The most frequently reported risk elements were disease severity, antiviral treatment, attack rate, population immunity, and basic productive ratio. The risk evaluation method was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively by the stakeholders at each institution. Additionally, the final risk level was visualized in a matrix, framework, and x and y-axis. Conclusion: Considering the risk assessment tools, the risk element was classified based on the duplicate of each indicator, and risk evaluation and level of risk assessment were analyzed.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.781-784
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• 2014

Background: Although the cause in most cases of childhood leukemia is not known, the contribution of environmental risk factors in the context of genetic predisposition has been reported with inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to examine association of childhood leukemia with maternal factors especially during pregnancy, to help in avoiding risk factors. Materials and Methods: This case-control study included children younger than 18 years diagnosed with leukemia from 2008 to 2012. Controls were randomly selected and individually matched to cases with respect to age, sex, and residency. All variables were compared between cases and control to determine any significant association with leukemia. Results: Statistically significant associations between risk of childhood leukemia with mother's education (p=0.001), occupation (p=0.0005) and pesticides exposure (p=0.005) during pregnancy were found. However, there were no significant links with maternal age (p=0.090), history of fetal loss (0.85), history of radiography during pregnancy (p=0.400), history of drug intake (p=0.689) and infection (p=0.696) during pregnancy. Conclusions: The results showed increased risk of leukemia in children whose mothers were working in agriculture and were exposed to pesticides during pregnancy. The further study needs to be investigated to know association of various maternal risk factors with leukemia which remained unknown in this study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권9호
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• pp.5193-5198
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• 2013

The glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) have been considered risk factors for breast cancer, but association studies of breast cancer risk using simple GI and GL might be affected by confounding effects of the overall diet. A total of 357 cases and 357 age-matched controls were enrolled, and dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with 103 food items. GI and GL dietary patterns were derived by reduced rank regression (RRR) method. The GI and GL pattern scores were positively associated with breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women [OR (95%CI): 3.31 (1.06-10.39), p for trend=0.031; 9.24 (2.93-29.14), p for trend<0.001, respectively], while the GI pattern showed no statistically significant effects on breast cancer risk, and the GL pattern was only marginally significant, among premenopausal women (p for trend=0.043). The GI and GL pattern scores were positively associated with the risk of breast cancer in subgroups defined by hormone receptor status in postmenopausal women. The GI and GL patterns based on all food items consumed were positively associated with breast cancer.

• 한국산업융합학회 논문집
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• 제23권4_2호
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• pp.569-581
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• 2020

Since the dehydration packages of offshore plant deal directly with oil & gas, there is a great risk of fire and explosion during operation. Therefore, this study performed risk assessment through HAZard & OPerability (HAZOP) for solid desiccant dehydration package that can remove water component of natural gas in offshore floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities below 0.1 ppmv. The risk matrix was determined by dividing the likelihood and the severity into five levels separately by asset, life, environment and reputation. The piping & instrumentation diagram (P&ID) of the dehydration package was divided into 9 nodes. Total 22 deviations were assessed in consideration of the adsorption and desorption conversion cycle. A risk assessment based on deviations revealed 14 major hazards. Three representative types of hazards were open/close failure of the control valve, control failure of the heater, and abnormal operation of the regeneration gas cooler. Finally, we proposed the installation of additional safety devices to improve safety against these major hazards, such as safety instrumented functions, alarms, etc.

• 한국안전학회지
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• 제36권3호
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• pp.24-30
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• 2021

Heat is generated during the synthesis and mixing process of chemical compounds due to a change in activation energy during the reaction. A runaway reaction occurs when sufficient heat is not removed during the heat control process within a reactor, rapidly increasing the temperature, reaction speed, and rate of heat generation inside the reactor. A risk assessment was executed using an RC-1 (Reaction Calorimeter) during Friedel-Crafts acylation. Friedel-Crafts acylation runs the risk of rapid heat generation during Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing; it was used to confirm the risk of a runaway reaction at each synthesis stage and during the mixing process. This study used experimental data to develop a safety efficiency improvement plan to control the risks of runaway and other exothermic reactions, which was implemented at the production site of a chemical plant.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.43-47
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• 2012

Recently, regulatory bodies quite often encourage to adopt risk-based inspection (RBI) and management programs because they can enhance safety simultaneously with deregulation in Korea. RBI is an integrated methodology that factors risk into inspection and maintenance decision making. This paper describes an example of how to use known risk assessment codes (API 580, API 581 BRD) to address such safety analysis requirements for risk management in the refining industry. Specifically, this paper reports the methodology and the results of implementation to the Crude Distillation Unit(CDU) plant of refinery units using the $KGS-RBI^{TM}$ program, developed by the Korea Gas Safety Corporation in reference of API Codes and ASME PC (Post Construction) with a suitable consideration of Korean situation. The results of the risk and reliability assessment using $KGS-RBI^{TM}$ program are useful in determining whether the detected defects are tolerable or required to be repaired. The subsequent decisions are to manage the future inspection, repair and maintenance planning in the risk reduction control.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권6호
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• pp.2879-2886
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• 2012

In order to thoroughly analyze risk factors of breast cancer (BC) in premenopausal Uruguayan women, a case-control study was carried out at the Pereira Rossell Women's Hospital, Montevideo, where 253 incident BC cases and 497 frequency-matched healthy controls were interviewed on menstrual and reproductive story, were administered a short food frequency questionnaire and undertook a series of body measurements necessary to calculate body composition and somatotype. Odds ratio (OR) coefficients were taken as estimates of relative risk derived from unconditional logistic regression. Among the classical risk factors, only the family history of BC in first degree relatives was significantly associated with risk of premenopausal BC (OR=2.20, 95% CI 1.33-3.62). Interestingly, this risk factor was found to be stronger in women of ages >40 (OR=4.05, 95% CI 2.10-7.81), late menarche (OR= 2.39, 95% CI 1.18-4.85), early age for their first delivery (OR=3.02, 95% CI 1.26-7.22), short time between menarche and first delivery (OR=3.22, 95% CI 1.29-8.07), and with high parity (OR=4.10, 95% CI 1.79-9.36), although heterogeneity was detected only for age and parity. High consumption of red meat was positively associated with the disease risk (OR=2.20, 95% CI 1.35-3.60), in the same way as fried foods (OR=1.79, 95% CI 1.12-2.84). Conversely, a high intake of plant foods displayed a protective effect (OR=0.41, 95% CI 0.26-0.65). Except for hypertension (OR=1.55, 95% CI 1.03-2.35), none of the analyzed components of metabolic syndrome were associated to BC risk. Particular increases of risk for premenopausal BC were found for family history in first degree relatives in certain subsets derived from the menstrual-reproductive history. Preventive strategies could broaden their scope if new studies confirm the present results, in view of the limited prevention measures that premenopausal BC currently has.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.115-124
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• 2018

Background: Substantial empirical research has shown conflicting results regarding the influence of organizational external factors on construction risk management, suggesting the necessity to introduce a moderator into the study. The present research confirmed whether rules and regulations matter on the relationships between organizational external factors and construction risk management. Methods: Based on discouragement and organizational control theory, this research examined the effects of organizational external factors and rules and regulations on construction risk management among 238 employees operating in construction companies in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria. A personally administered questionnaire was used to acquire the data. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results: A significant positive relationship between organizational external factors and construction risk management was asserted. This study also found a significant positive relationship between rules and regulations and construction risk management. As anticipated, rules and regulations were found to moderate the relationship between organizational external factors and construction risk management, with a significant positive result. Similarly, a significant interaction effect was also found between rules and regulations and organizational external factors. Implications of the research from a Nigerian point of view have also been discussed. Conclusion: Political, economy, and technology factors helped the construction companies to reduce the chance of risk occurrence during the construction activities. Rules and regulations also helped to lessen the rate of accidents involving construction workers as well as the duration of the projects. Similarly, the influence of the organizational external factors with rules and regulations on construction risk management has proven that most of the construction companies that implement the aforementioned factors have the chance to deliver their projects within the stipulated time, cost, and qualities, which can be used as a yardstick to measure a good project.