• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.129-155
• /
• 2008

The rate of antibiotics prescription for an acute airway infection significantly varies depending upon the diagnosis type, specialty, and the location of the hospital along with many other related factors. The objective of this study is to empirically investigate the possible relationship between the antibiotics prescription rates for an acute airway infection and the degree of competition in the hospital market regions of mainly the providers of primary medical care services such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics and otorhinolaryngology department. Using the data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) regarding the hospitals' antibiotics prescription rates for the acute airway infection and controlling for selected variables of demand and supply sectors, this study tries to figure out that the degree of competition in the hospital market, regardless of what type of competition indexes we employed, has a statistically significant effect on the variations of antibiotics prescription rate of the clinics in local areas. This result implies that as an economic consideration itself, the change in the degree of competition in the hospital market can play a crucial role influencing the treatment behaviors of the medical doctors. More specifically, this study reveals that as the degree of competition increases the antibiotics prescription rate goes up. This result means that if the market becomes more competitive in a specific region so that it might cause a reduction in doctor's income, doctors with rational decision-making process, recognize that the benefit created from inducing patients' seemingly unnecessary demand for medical care (income effect) would be higher than the costs associated with sustaining their targeted income (substitution effect). It is because that the doctors are more likely to prescribe antibiotics which create relatively higher margins than other medical care services in order to sustain their targeted income when the hospital market competition becomes tighter. Even though this study empirically confirms that antibiotics prescription can be affected by the economic incentives, it still raises following issues as limitations of the study: first issue is about the representativeness of the hospital regions segregated for this study, which might be weak in explaining whether these regions are mutually exclusive in reality. Patients actually consider the quality of services, transportation cost, time costs, and any other related factors choosing the doctors or hospitals, and in that sense, this study rules out 'border-crossing' in using the medical care services. Second issue arises in capturing the data of antibiotics prescription rate. Since we use the average rate for each medical institution, we cannot figure out the average rate for each patient so that we are not able to control for the variation of patients' medical conditions. It is because of the unavailability of data regarding each patient's medical condition from HIRA. Thirdly, since this study mainly analyzes the medical institutions providing primary care such as clinics, internal medicines, pediatrics, and otorhinolaryngology department, it is skeptical of whether those institutions can represent the hospital market in respective regions and truly reflect the degree of competition. It needs to extend the study areas and disease types as well as any micro data for future studies.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.261-268
• /
• 2004

Background : The resurgence of tuberculosis and outbreaks of multidrug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis have increased the emphasis for the development of new susceptibility testing of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis for the effective treatment and control of the disease. Conventional drug susceptibility testings, such as those using egg-based or agar-based media have some limits, such as the time required and difficulties in determining critical inhibitory concentrations, but these are still being used in many diagnostic laboratories because of no better lternatives, considering cost and accuracy. To overcome these limits, a rapid and simple method for new susceptibility testing, using live and dead assays, was applied for a bacterial cell viability assay to distinguish dead from live bacterial cells based on two-color fluorescence. Materials and Methods Strains : Forty strains were used in this study, 20 susceptible to all antituberculosis drugs and the other 20 resistant to the four first line antituberculosis drugs isoniazid, rifampicin, streptomycin and ethambutol. Antibiotics : The four antibiotics were dissolved in 7H9 broth to make the following solutions: $0.1{\mu}g\;isoniazid(INH)/m{\ell}$, $0.4{\mu}g\;rifampicin(RMP)/m{\ell}$, $4.0{\mu}g\;streptomycin(SM)/m{\ell}$ and $4.0{\mu}g\;ethambutol(EMB)/m{\ell}$. Results : Live and dead Mycobacterium tuberculosis cells fluoresced green and red with the acridin (Syto 9) and propidium treatments, respectively. These results are very well accorded with conventional drug susceptibility testing by proportional method on Lowensen-Jensen media (L-J) containing 4 drugs (INH, RMP, EMB and SM), showing a 93.7 % accordance rate in susceptible strains and 95% in resistant strains. Conclusion : The results of the drug susceptibility testing using the live and dead bacterial cell assay showed high accordance rates compared with the conventional proportion method on L-J. This finding suggests that the live and dead bacterial cell assay can be used as an alternative to conventional drug susceptibility testing for M. tuberculosis strains.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.98 no.1
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 2009

Annex I parties continued its consideration of how to address, the definitions, modalities, rules and guidelines for the treatment of Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol by the year of 2009. In the AWG-KP conference held in Accra, Ghana in 2008, four alternatives (gross-net carbon accounting, net-net with base year or base period accounting, net-net with forward looking baseline accounting, and land-based accounting method) for negotiations were decided in order to revise gross-net accounting method applied during the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. In this study, alternative scenarios are set in consideration with reporting system (voluntary or compulsory), discount factors and cap about these three alternatives except for the method of net-net with forward looking baseline accounting, and then estimates the Removal Unit (RMU) among the countries. In the case that article 3.4 activities under the Kyoto Protocol revises from voluntary reporting to mandatory reporting, it is estimated that the loss of RMU would be huge in Russia, Australia, New Zealand, as well as Canada potentially. Net-net with base year or base period carbon accounting and land-based carbon accounting method have big difference of RMU in accordance with the base year or the base period. So the more unfavorable the country with a lot of old-age forests was, the closer the base year or period comes to the commitment period in the context of RMU. If it is getting lowered for the current rate of 85% in discount factors, RMU is getting higher to the whole countries. Therefore in Korea with little potential for afforestation and reforestation, there was the most sensitive response to the change of discount factors. Post-2012 LULUCF hereafter, it is strongly expected for the succession of current carbon accounting system which is voluntary reporting of gross-net carbon accounting and the activity for article 3.4. Other carbon accounting method is hard to accept in aspect that there is big differentiated interests among the countries and it is required enormous cost and time to develop reliable method. Provide for Post-2012 mandatory greenhouse gas reduction, Korea needs to have a competitive negotiation strategies differentiated from Annex I countries. The most reliable alternative would be to lower the discounting factors about the activities for forest management.

• Journal of KIISE:Databases
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.102-116
• /
• 2006

Electronic catalogs (or e-catalogs) hold information about the goods and services offered or requested by the participants, and consequently, form the basis of an e-commerce transaction. Catalog management is complicated by a number of factors and product classification is at the core of these issues. Classification hierarchy is used for spend analysis, custom3 regulation, and product identification. Classification is the foundation on which product databases are designed, and plays a central role in almost all aspects of management and use of product information. However, product classification has received little formal treatment in terms of underlying model, operations, and semantics. We believe that the lack of a logical model for classification Introduces a number of problems not only for the classification itself but also for the product database in general. It needs to meet diverse user views to support efficient and convenient use of product information. It needs to be changed and evolved very often without breaking consistency in the cases of introduction of new products, extinction of existing products, class reorganization, and class specialization. It also needs to be merged and mapped with other classification schemes without information loss when B2B transactions occur. For these requirements, a classification scheme should be so dynamic that it takes in them within right time and cost. The existing classification schemes widely used today such as UNSPSC and eClass, however, have a lot of limitations to meet these requirements for dynamic features of classification. In this paper, we try to understand what it means to classify products and present how best to represent classification schemes so as to capture the semantics behind the classifications and facilitate mappings between them. Product information implies a plenty of semantics such as class attributes like material, time, place, etc., and integrity constraints. In this paper, we analyze the dynamic features of product databases and the limitation of existing code based classification schemes. And describe the semantic classification model, which satisfies the requirements for dynamic features oi product databases. It provides a means to explicitly and formally express more semantics for product classes and organizes class relationships into a graph. We believe the model proposed in this paper satisfies the requirements and challenges that have been raised by previous works.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.97-103
• /
• 2015

This study investigated changes in phenolic contents of different parts of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RV) according to extraction conditions. Bark and xylem parts of RV were extracted at 80, 100, 120, 140, and $160^{\circ}C$ for 1, 3, and 5 h, respectively. Major phenolic compounds (gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, fustin, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein) of RV were analyzed. The gallic acid, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein contents significantly increased as extraction temperature increased. Protocatechuic acid and fustin contents increased as increasing extraction temperature to $120^{\circ}C$ and decreased afterward. The gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, and butein contents of bark were higher than those of xylem extracts. The optimal extraction conditions of gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, fustin, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein were $160^{\circ}C/3h$ (380.22 mg%), $120^{\circ}C/1h$ (9.25 mg%), $100^{\circ}C/3h$ (206.97 mg%), $140^{\circ}C/5h$ (93.84 mg%), $140^{\circ}C/5h$ (16.07 mg%) and $160^{\circ}C/5h$ (1.49 mg%), respectively. These results suggest that the optimum extraction temperature and time considering RV extraction yield and cost are $140^{\circ}C$ and 3 h, respectively.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2011

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of probiotic from pine needle microbes on growth performance, blood characteristics, carcass traits and economy of pigs. One hundred eighty pigs (L${\times}$Y${\times}$D, average body weight=75 kg) were grouped and housed with 15 animals per pen for 3 replications per each treatment. The ingredients and pine needle microbes mixed and fermented on anaerobic condition for 10 days to make the fermented diet. The basal diet was substituted with 0 (CON), 3 (T1), 5 (T2) and 10% (T3) of fermented diet, the pigs were fed for 42 days and slaughtered at the end of the trial to measure the carcass traits. Crude protein concentration of fermented diet on 10 day was higher (p<0.05) than that of on 0 day, while crude fiber concentration and pH were lower (p<0.05). The supplementation of fermented diet did not affect on growth performance and feed intake. Hemoglobin concentration of whole blood in T3 was higher (p<0.05) than that of CON, and hematocrit concentrations in CON and T1 were higher (p<0.05) than that of T2 and T3. The concentration of platelet was higher (p<0.05) in T1 than in T2 and T3. The CON had higher (p<0.05) total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations than the treatments, whereas lower (p<0.05) HDL-cholesterol concentration. Carcass weight and dressing in T1 and T3 were higher (p<0.05) than those of CON and T2. The backfat thickness was higher (p<0.05) in CON and T2 than in T3. The carcass grade and economy improved by supplementation of fermented diet compare to CON. In conclusion, the supplementation of fermented diet using probiotics from pine needle microbes could improve health and meat quality and reduce the feed cost of pigs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.29 no.10
• /
• pp.1607-1623
• /
• 2019

Sediment bioelectrochemical systems (SBESs) can be integrated into brackish aquaculture ponds for in-situ bioremediation of the pond water and sediment. Such an in-situ system offers advantages including reduced treatment cost, reusability and simple handling. In order to realize such an application potential of the SBES, in this laboratory-scale study we investigated the effect of several controllable and uncontrollable operational factors on the in-situ bioremediation performance of a tank model of a brackish aquaculture pond, into which a SBES was integrated, in comparison with a natural degradation control model. The performance was evaluated in terms of electricity generation by the SBES, Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and nitrogen removal of both the tank water and the tank sediment. Real-life conditions of the operational parameters were also experimented to understand the most close-to-practice responses of the system to their changes. Predictable effects of controllable parameters including external resistance and electrode spacing, similar to those reported previously for the BESs, were shown by the results but exceptions were observed. Accordingly, while increasing the electrode spacing reduced the current densities but generally improved COD and nitrogen removal, increasing the external resistance could result in decreased COD removal but also increased nitrogen removal and decreased current densities. However, maximum electricity generation and COD removal efficiency difference of the SBES (versus the control) could be reached with an external resistance of $100{\Omega}$, not with the lowest one of $10{\Omega}$. The effects of uncontrollable parameters such as ambient temperature, salinity and pH of the pond (tank) water were rather unpredictable. Temperatures higher than $35^{\circ}C$ seemed to have more accelaration effect on natural degradation than on bioelectrochemical processes. Changing salinity seriously changed the electricity generation but did not clearly affect the bioremediation performance of the SBES, although at 2.5% salinity the SBES displayed a significantly more efficient removal of nitrogen in the water, compared to the control. Variation of pH to practically extreme levels (5.5 and 8.8) led to increased electricity generations but poorer performances of the SBES (vs. the control) in removing COD and nitrogen. Altogether, the results suggest some distinct responses of the SBES under brackish conditions and imply that COD removal and nitrogen removal in the system are not completely linked to bioelectrochemical processes but electrochemically enriched bacteria can still perform non-bioelectrochemical COD and nitrogen removals more efficiently than natural ones. The results confirm the application potential of the SBES in brackish aquaculture bioremediation and help propose efficient practices to warrant the success of such application in real-life scenarios.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.717-721
• /
• 2011

In case of plastic film greenhouses cultivating fresh vegetables on paddy soil, soil characteristics must be considered as more important factor than any other factors. Generally after the four years of cultivation, soils tend to increase electrical conductivity value, nutrient unbalance and soil pests. As a result, degradation of agricultural products occurred, therefore it is necessary to improve soil conditions. In this study, yield and economic cost of cucumber were analyzed. The best soil conditions for cucumber cultivation were alluvial or valley in soil topology, moderately or poorly drainage in soil drainage classes, coarse loamy soil in texture. In addition, rich-sunlight and-deep groundwater would be proper for the cucumber cultivation. Good environmental managements of plastic film greenhouse were as follows. The temperature needed to be adjusted three times. The optimal daytime temperature could be $22{\sim}28^{\circ}C$, the one from 12 until night could be $14{\sim}15^{\circ}C$, and the temperature from 24 to sunrise could be $10{\sim}12^{\circ}C$. During plant growth period, soil moisture content was as low as 10~15%, and it needed to be maintained as 15~20% during reproductive growth period. To control pests, catch crop cultivation and solar treatment were carried out, after those EC was reduced and the root-knot nematode was controled too. Cucumber yield from the plot with improved soil managements increased to $158.4Mg\;ha^{-1}$, but plot with successive cropping injury yielded $140.3Mg\;ha^{-1}$. The income from the plot with improved soil managements was 215,676 thousand won $ha^{-1}$, the plot with successive cropping injury was 131,649 thousand won $ha^{-1}$. Income rate of each plot was 51.8% and 38.4%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.20 no.8
• /
• pp.618-626
• /
• 2019

Stem cell therapy is not expected to bestow any therapeutic benefit because of the low engraftment rates after transplantation.Various cell-carrying scaffolds have been developed in order to overcome this problem. When the scaffold is formed by 3-dimensional (3D) printing, it is possible to create various shapes of scaffolds for specific regions of injury. At the same time, scaffolds provide stem cells as therapeutic-agents and mechanically support an injured region. PCL is not only cost effective, but it is also a widely used material for 3D printing. Therefore, rapid and economical technology development can be achieved when PCL is printed and used as a cell carrier. Yet PCL materials do not perform well as cell carriers, and only a few cells survive on the PCL surface. In this study, we tried to determine the conditions that maximize the cell-loading capacity on the PCL surface to overcome this issue. By applying a plasma treated condition and then collagen coating known to improve the cell loading capacity, it was confirmed that the 3% collagen coating after plasma treatment showed the best cell engraftment capacity during 72 hours after cell loading. By applying the spheroid cell culture method and scaffold structure change, which can affect the cell loading ability, the spheroid cell culture methods vastly improved cell engraftment, and the scaffold structure did not affect the cell engraftment properties. We will conduct further experiments using PCL material as a cell carrier and as based the excellent results of this study.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.248-329
• /
• 2019

Background: Though clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for cardiac rehabilitation (CR) are an effective and widely used treatment method worldwide, they are as yet not widely accepted in Korea. Given that cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death in Korea, it is urgent that CR programs be developed. In 2008, the Government of Korea implemented CR programs at 11 university hospitals as part of its Regional Cardio-Cerebrovascular Center Project, and 3 additional medical facilities will be added in 2019. In addition, owing to the promotion of CR nationwide and the introduction of CR insurance benefits, 40 medical institutions nationwide have begun CR programs even as a growing number of medical institutions are preparing to offer CR. The purpose of this research was to develop evidence-based CPGs to support CR implementation in Korea. Methods: This study is based on an analysis of CPGs elsewhere in the world, an extensive literature search, a systematic analysis of multiple randomized control trials, and a CPG management, development, and assessment committee comprised of 33 authors-primarily rehabilitation specialists, cardiologists, and thoracic surgeons in 21 university hospitals and 2 general hospitals. Twelve consultants, primarily rehabilitation, sports medicine, and preventive medicine specialists, CPG experts, nurses, physical therapists, clinical nutritionists, and library and information experts participated in the research and development of these CPGs. After the draft guidelines were developed, 3 rounds of public hearings were held with staff members from relevant academic societies and stakeholders, after which the guidelines were further reviewed and modified. Results: CR involves a more cost-effective use of healthcare resources relative to that of general treatments, and the exercise component of CR lowers cardiovascular mortality and readmission rates, regardless of the type of coronary heart disease and type and setting of CR. Conclusion: Individualized CR programs should be considered together with various factors, including differences in heart function and lifestyle, and doing so will boost participation and adherence with the CR program, ultimately meeting the final goals of the program, namely reducing the recurrence of myocardial infarction and mortality rates.