• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3123-3129
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• 2016

Background: Cancer is the fourth leading cause of death in Sabah Malaysia with a reported age-standardized incidence rate was 104.9 per 100,000 in 2007. The incidence rate depends on non-mandatory notification in the registry. Under-reporting will provide the false picture of cancer control program effectiveness. The present study was to evaluate the performance of the cancer registry system in terms of representativeness, data quality, simplicity, acceptability and timeliness and provision of recommendations for improvement. Materials and Methods: The evaluation was conducted among key informants in the National Cancer Registry (NCR) and reporting facilities from Feb-May 2012 and was based on US CDC guidelines. Representativeness was assessed by matching cancer case in the Health Information System (HIS) and state pathology records with those in NCR. Data quality was measured through case finding and re-abstracting of medical records by independent auditors. The re-abstracting portion comprised 15 data items. Self-administered questionnaires were used to assess simplicity and acceptability. Timeliness was measured from date of diagnosis to date of notification received and data dissemination. Results: Of 4613 cancer cases reported in HIS, 83.3% were matched with cancer registry. In the state pathology centre, 99.8% was notified to registry. Duplication of notification was 3%. Data completeness calculated for 104 samples was 63.4%. Registrars perceived simplicity in coding diagnosis as moderate. Notification process was moderately acceptable. Median duration of interval 1 was 5.7 months. Conclusions: The performances of registry's attributes are fairly positive in terms of simplicity, case reporting sensitivity, and predictive value positive. It is moderately acceptable, data completeness and inflexible. The usefulness of registry is the area of concern to achieve registry objectives. Timeliness of reporting is within international standard, whereas timeliness to data dissemination was longer up to 4 years. Integration between existing HIS and national registration department will improve data quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.298-309
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• 2019

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate stages of safety and health culture change through a reflection on 40 years of hearing conservation history at a multinational company. Methods: The target workplaces were multinational companies with more than 1,000 employees. The research used the clinical case study and system analysis methods based on direct observation of the research from 1994 to 2009. The latter method performed an analysis of the equilibrium state of the cross-section in the given period and the longitudinal profile of the change during the given period. Results: The stages of cultural change are divided into five stages and summarized as follows. In the first stage, workplace noise was not widely recognized as a hazard, while in the second stage, the measurement of noise levels and audiometric testing were conducted under the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Act (KOSHA). The driving force for change in the second stage was the amendment of the KOSHA. In the third stage, noise came to be recognized as a hazard factor through awareness training. The driving force of change during the third stage was the strong executive power exerted by the audit of the industrial hygiene program from the US head office. In the fourth step, there was a change to actually reduce noise. The driving force in this stage was a change in company executives' risk perception resulting from lawsuits over noise-induced hearing loss and the task force team activities for culture change based on the action learning protocol. At the fifth stage, a 'buy quiet policy' was institutionalized. The management's experience that noise reduction was difficult was the motivation to manage noise from the time of purchase of equipment. Conclusions: The activities of a hearing conservation program are determined by the improvement of the legal system and by the way it is enforced. Noise control activities to reduce noise areas may be possible through the shared risk perception of noise-induced hearing loss and by a change agent role as a facilitator to implement noise control.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.127-138
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• 2005

This is to examine the OTC regulatory system of Korea in comparison with those of Japan, UK and US, and suggest the possible regulatory actions to harmonize it to international standards. Individual countries have their own regulatory requirements and processes far OTC application based on established drug monographs and safety profiles from clinical experiences. Categories of OTC drug monographs are being expanded with transparent establishment procedure according to detailed guidelines, and public opinions as well as professional experts for assessing appropriateness of wide usage without physician's prescription. In line with trend of self-medication worldwide, the number of OTC drugs is increasing and more efficient and professional drug review is underway in the separate OTC division in regulatory agency. For improving OTC regulatory system in Korea, settlement of optimal drug classification policy and management for encouraging OTC drug use, development of more detailed and specific guidelines for OTC drug application, expansion of OTC drug monographs, transparent process for OTC monographs establishment, and establishment of OTC division in health authority, are suggested.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.165-175
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• 2004

Food is very important for human being. It is not easy for us to enjoy good life because the situation of food is not good in Korea. The self-sufficient food rate is very low and most of food which we take was produced by industrial agriculture. Food of this kind has some problems with respect to the health of consumer, agriculture, environment and community. In order to secure the true food which is safe and environmentally sound, producers, consumers and community have to work together. Producers must engage in environmental agriculture. They must produce the true food and need to know regional consumers. Consumers must pay attention to the regional agriculture and must participate the production of true food. Local government must open farmers' markets for direct marketing between farmers and consumers. NGOs should educate and organize the producers and consumers.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.441-448
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• 2007

Heart rate variability (HRV) in electrocardiogram (ECG) is an important index for understanding the health status of heart and the autonomic nervous system. Most HRV analysis approaches are based on the proper heart rate (HR) data. Estimation of heart rate is thus a key process in the HRV study. In this paper, we report an innovative method to estimate the heart rate. This method is mainly based on the concept of periodicity transform (PT) and instantaneous period (IP) estimate. The method presented is accordingly called the "PT-IP method." It does not require ECG R-wave detection and thus possesses robust noise-immune capability. While the noise contamination, ECG time-varying morphology, and subjects' physiological variations make the R-wave detection a difficult task, this method can help us effectively estimate HR for medical research and clinical diagnosis. The results of estimating HR from empirical ECG data verify the efficacy and reliability of the proposed method.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.89-91
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• 1999

Fresnel-Kirchhoff's Integration enables us to achieve the diffraction pattern for the triangle stop. We have arranged the integral variables on the generalized coordinates and unlike the rectangularity or circle, the center of mass of the triangle does not have the symmetric position on the origin of the coordinates. Hence the solution for the system shows a difficulty for the expression in the simple formula which we see in the case of the rectangularity or circle.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2005

The concentrations of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) in the ambient air were measured at various point(Source, source boundary) in Seongseo industrial complex during May to November 2003. Air samples were collected in Silcocan canister $(1{\ell},\;6{\ell})$ and analyzed using a cryogenic preconcentration system and GC/MSD. We identified 37 species by the US EPA(TO-14 method). The result showed a variety distribution of the con­centration, Higher concentrations of BTX, Styrene, 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene, 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene were observed at the sampling sites. They seemed to be emitted from the facility of wastewater treatment, reaction tank of chemistry factory and facility of Tenter. The concentrations of VOCs contents in Seongseo industrial complex were generally higher than those in Yeosu complex and Ulsan complex, although those were similar in Sihwa­Banwol complex.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.106-122
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• 1995

Industrialization has given humanity many benefits, such as material abundance and conveniences. However, it has also caused detrimental side effects to the environment which are becoming a global problem. During the 1960's, the national economic scale in Korea was expanded and personal lifestyles rapidly improved. These improvements also caused environmental problems such as water contamination. Water contamination caused by old, worn water pipes, harmful materials and deposits from the water purification processes decreased the tap water quality, causing unpleasant odors and tastes. Due to poor maintenance of the reservoir facilities of tap water quality, citizens lost their faith in the water quality. In the long term, it made us worry about the health of our nation's citizens (6,16).

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2011

Under the Enforcement Rules of the National Health Promotion Act, smoking areas in coffee shops in Korea should be divided off from other areas. The effect on indoor air quality of different division types for smoking areas was evaluated. Using real-time monitors, fine particulate matter <2.5 ${\mu}m$ in diameter ($PM_{2.5}$) concentrations were measured simultaneously in the smoking and non-smoking areas of 30 coffee shops in Seoul. Average $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in smoking and non-smoking areas were 132 ${\mu}g/m^3$ and 52 ${\mu}g/m^3$, respectively; significantly different. Average $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations in non-smoking areas were 39 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in the glass-wall type and 64 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in the separate-floor type. These $PM_{2.5}$ levels were above the US national ambient air quality standard of 35 ${\mu}g/m^3$. Although indoor $PM_{2.5}$ levels in non-smoking areas were reduced by the division, the rates of reduction were not significantly different by division type. Our results demonstrated that $PM_{2.5}$ from smoking areas can infiltrate into non-smoking areas. Therefore, a complete indoor smoking ban in coffee shops is the only way to protect customers and workers in non-smoking areas.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2006

Phenytoin is an anti-epileptic. It works by slowing down impulses in the brain that cause seizures. The recent microarray technology enables us to understand possible mechanisms of genes related to compounds which have toxicity in biological system. We have studied that the effect of a compound related to hepatotoxin in vitro system using a rat whole genome microarray. In this study, we have used a rat liver epithelial cell line WB-F344 and phenytoin as a hepatotoxin. WB-F344 was treated with phenytoin for 1 to 24 hours. Total RNA was isolated at times 1, 6 and 24h following treatment of phenytoin, and hybridized to the microarray containing about 22,000 rat genes. After analysis with clustering methods, we have identified a total of 1,455 differentially expressed genes during the time course. Interestingly, about 1,049 genes exhibited differential expression pattern in response to phenytoin in early time. Therefore, the identification of genes associated with phenytoin in early response may give important insights into various toxicogenomic studies in vitro system.