• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.283-288
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• 2024

Purpose: Given the growing use of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans, this study assessed radiation exposure from these scans in the context of national guidelines and recommended dose limits. Materials and Methods: The current literature was reviewed to quantify the benefit of opportunistic diagnosis of carotid artery calcification relative to the potential risk of radiation-induced cancer. Results: The average radiation from CBCT at its largest field of view and highest resolution possible amounts to a reasonable but still low ionizing radiation exposure. This exposure is comparable to 22 days of background radiation and is notably lower than the radiation exposure from medical CT scans. According to the risk assessment analysis, the risk of stroke events involving internal and external carotid artery calcification (CAC) was 202 and 67 per 100,000 individuals, respectively. In contrast, the estimated risk of radiation-induced cancer associated with CBCT was notably lower, at 0.6 per 100,000. Conclusion: The present study advocates for a comprehensive assessment of CBCT scans encompassing the areas of the internal and external carotid arteries by a knowledgeable professional, given the potential advantages of early detection of vascular abnormalities. Dental professionals who take scans involving these areas need to be mindful of reporting these findings and refer patients to their primary care physician for further investigation.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.81-91
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• 2012

Many risk factors exist for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). This study utilized a multivariate projection technique to identify which risk factors were predictive of CINV in clinical practice. A single-centre, prospective, observational study was conducted from January 2007~July 2010 in Singapore. Patients were on highly (HECs) and moderately emetogenic chemotherapies with/without radiotherapy. Patient demographics and CINV risk factors were documented. Daily recording of CINV events was done using a standardized diary. Principal component (PC) analysis was performed to identify which risk factors could differentiate patients with and without CINV. A total of 710 patients were recruited. Majority were females (67%) and Chinese (84%). Five risk factors were potential CINV predictors: histories of alcohol drinking, chemotherapy-induced nausea, chemotherapy-induced vomiting, fatigue and gender. Period (ex-/current drinkers) and frequency of drinking (social/chronic drinkers) differentiated the CINV endpoints in patients on HECs and anthracycline-based, and XELOX regimens, respectively. Fatigue interference and severity were predictive of CINV in anthracycline-based populations, while the former was predictive in HEC and XELOX populations. PC analysis is a potential technique in analyzing clinical population data, and can provide clinicians with an insight as to what predictors to look out for in the clinical assessment of CINV. We hope that our results will increase the awareness among clinician-scientists regarding the usefulness of this technique in the analysis of clinical data, so that appropriate preventive measures can be taken to improve patients' quality of life.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4927-4935
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• 2015

Northeastern India is a major nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) high risk-area although the rest of the country has very low incidence. A case-control study of 105 NPC cases and 115 controls was conducted to identify the potential risk factors for NPC development in this region. Information was collected by interviewer about socio-demographic characteristics, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary history, occupational history, and a family history of cancer. Epstein-Barr viral load was assayed from the blood DNA by real time PCR. Associations between GSTs genotypes, cytochrome P450 family including CYP1A1, CYP2E1 and CYP2A6 polymorphisms and susceptibility to relationship between the diseases were studied using PCR-RFLP assay. Results indicate that Epstein-Barr virus load was significantly higher in patients compared to controls (p<0.0001). Furthermore, concentration of blood EBV-DNA was significantly higher in advanced stage disease (Stage III and IV) than in early stage disease (Stage I and II) (p<0.05). Presence of CYP2A6 variants that reduced the enzyme activity was significantly less frequent in cases than controls. Smoked meat consumption, exposure to smoke, living in poorly ventilated house and alcohol consumption were associated with NPC development among the population of Northeastern India. Thus, overall our study revealed that EBV viral load and genetic polymorphism of CYP2A6 along with living practices which include smoked meat consumption, exposure to smoke, living in poorly ventilated houses and alcohol consumption are the potential risk factors of NPC in north eastern region of India. Understanding of the risk factors and their role in the etiology of NPC are helpful forpreventive measures and screening.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2019

While research findings suggest that the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is the leading cause of economic loss in Korean poultry industry with an estimated cumulative impact of $909 million since 2003, identifying the environmental and anthropogenic risk factors involved remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to identify areas at high risk for potential HPAI outbreaks according to the likelihood of HPAI virus detection in wild birds. This study integrates spatial information regarding HPAI surveillance with relevant demographic and environmental factors collected between 2003 and 2018. The Maximum Entropy (Maxent) species distribution modeling with presence-only data was used to model the spatial risk of HPAI virus. We used historical data on HPAI occurrence in wild birds during the period 2003-2018, collected by the National Quarantine Inspection Agency of Korea. The database contains a total of 1,065 HPAI cases (farms) tied to 168 unique locations for wild birds. Among the environmental variables, the most effective predictors of the potential distribution of HPAI in wild birds were (in order of importance) altitude, number of HPAI outbreaks at farm-level, daily amount of manure processed and number of wild birds migrated into Korea. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the 10 Maxent replicate runs of the model with twelve variables was 0.855 with a standard deviation of 0.012 which indicates that the model performance was excellent. Results revealed that geographic area at risk of HPAI is heterogeneously distributed throughout the country with higher likelihood in the west and coastal areas. The results may help biosecurity authority to design risk-based surveillance and implementation of control interventions optimized for the areas at highest risk of HPAI outbreak potentials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.811-816
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• 2022

Even though continuous management and supervision of reinforcement of policies to safeguard accidents at workplace and work sites were implemented. Accident prevention activities such as inspection and diagnosis are urgently required to induce a preliminary investigation to identify the risk factors for each type of work, before the work task to eliminate risks at the worksites. Since safety inspections at work sites were generally conducted through visual inspections, the results of safety inspections may vary depending on the findings and proficiency of the safety officers. The results of those inspections may have loopholes to prevent potential accidents at work. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a risk identification checklist that can effectively perform safety inspections to prevent accidents at work sites. This study initially analyzed the previously developed accident checklist to identify current complications and issues in safety checklists. Based on the findings of major industrial accidents over the past three years, the relationship between accident, workplace, and work type were analyzed refereeing the safety inspection standards. A risk recognition-checklist was developed to provide basic data on identifying risk factors, and inspection guidance at work sites. To prepare for potential accidents by identifying and taking countermeasures to mitigate the high risk and serious accidents at sites by the guidelines of the checklist. The developed inspection checklist has been practically used by experts at work sites to perform safety inspections, and it has been verified its suitability, and feasibility, to prevent or mitigate workplace accidents, including securing the safety and health of field workers. The role of the developed safety checklist has been considered effective at worksites.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.125-138
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• 2022

Purpose: Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a widely utilized technique to measure product reliability by identifying potential failure modes. Even though FMEA techniques have been studied, the form of Risk Priority Number (RPN) used to evaluate risk priority in FMEA is still questionable because of its shortcomings. In this study, we suggest common RPN(cRPN) to resolve shortcomings of the traditional RPN and show the extensibility of cRPN. Methods: We suggest cRPN which is based on Cobb-Douglas production function, and represent the various application on weighting risk factors, weighted RPN in a mathematical way, and show the possibility of statistical approach. We also conduct numerical study to examine the difference of the traditional RPN and cRPN as well as the potential application from the analysis on marginal effects of each risk factor. Results: cRPN successfully integrates previously suggested approaches especially on the relative importance of risk factors and weighting RPN. Moreover, we analyze the effect of corrective actions in terms of econometric analysis using cRPN. Since cRPN is rely on the reliable mathematical model, there would be numerous applications using cRPN such as smart factory based on A.I. techniques. Conclusion: We propose a reliable mathematical model of RPN based on Cobb-Douglas production function. Our suggested model, cRPN, resolves various shortcomings such as consideration of the relative importance, the effect of combinations among risk factors. In addition, by adopting a reliable mathematical model, quantitative approaches are expected to be applied using cRPN. We find that cRPN can be utilized to the field of industry because it is able to be applied without modifying the entire systems or the conventional actions.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.287-294
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• 2024

Radiation oncology departments are at high risk for potential radiation safety incidents. This study aimed to identify risk factors for these incidents using the P-mSHEL (Patient, Management, Software, Hardware, Environment, and Liveware) model and to evaluate potential accident types through Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). FMEA identified seven accident types with high Risk Priority Number (RPN). A total of 56 detailed risk factors were classified using the P-mSHEL model, and measures to prevent radiation safety incidents were implemented. The effect of these preventive measures on workers' safety perception was confirmed through two indicators (FMEA and safety perception). After implementing the preventive measures, the FMEA analysis showed that the highest reduction in RPN was for A-6 (radiation exposure while other patients/guardians are present) with a reduction rate of 33.3%, followed by B-3 (radiation exposure while staff are present) with a reduction rate of 33.3%. Overall safety perception significantly improved after the preventive measures (4.17±0.35) compared to before (2.76±0.33) (p<0.05), with notable increases in both employee safety culture (3.93±0.51) and patient safety culture (3.73±0.62) (p<0.05). This study identified risk factors in radiation oncology departments. Continuous management, maintenance, and fostering a strong safety culture are crucial for preventing incidents. Regular problem identification and collaboration with relevant departments are essential for maintaining safety standards.

• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.21-26
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• 2005

[ $\cdot$ ] Occupational safety and health is a key component of responsible nanotechnology $\cdot$ Nanotechnology challenges conventional approaches to addressing occupational safety and health risk $\cdot$ Nanomaterials and devices of concern include those capable of entering the body and causing harm as a result of their nanostructure $\cdot$ Proactive risk assessment and management requires extensive strategic research $\cdot$ Current knowledge provides a staring point for addressing risk

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.15-26
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• 2002

The quantitative evaluation method of the safety management cost was suggested to prevent a gas accident as a major industrial accident. In a gas governor station, process risk assessments such as the fault tree analysis(FTA) and the consequence analysis were performed. Based on process risk assessments, potential accident costs were estimated and the cost-benefit analysis(CBA) was performed. From the cost-benefit analysis for five classification items of safety management cost, the order of the cost/benefit ratio was estimated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2002.11b
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• pp.174-174
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• 2002

Metallothioneins (MTs) are known to be induced by heavy metals in various organs of different species and represent a potential biomarker of aquatic contamination by heavy metals. In this work, cloning and sequencing of a metallothionein gene in crucian carp (Carassius auratus) was done and sensitivities and specificities of the gene expressions were compared.(omitted)