• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-39
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• 1985

This study was conducted to assess the morbidity and medical facilities utilization patterns of the residents in urban low income area. Study population included 2,002 family members of 468 households in the low income area (LA) of Nam-san 4 Dong, Jung Gu of Taegu city and 1,709 family members of 374 households in surrounding neighbourhood control area (CA). Well trained nursing school students interviewed mainly with housewives according to the pretested questionaire between July 1 and July 30, 1984. Age-sex distribution of the study population in LA was similar to that in CA. The average monthly income of a household in LA was 236,000 won and 356,000 won in CA. Educational level of the residents in LA was lower than that in CA; average years of school education of the 20 years old or above in LA was 6.9 years compared with 8.5 years in CA. The average family members per room in LA was 2.6 and 2.2 in CA, and proportion of Medicaid program beneficiary was 29.4% in LA and 1.9% in CA. Prevalence rate of illness during 15-day period was 131 per 1,000 population in LA and 71 in CA(p<0.01) and that of the chronic illness for 1 year was 134 per 1,000 population in LA and 89 in CA(p<0.01). The most common illness experienced during 15 days was respiratory disease(24.0% in LA ana 29.8% in CA) and followed by gastro-intestinal disorders(21.0% in LA, 20.6% in CA). Injury or poisoning was 10.3% in LA and 3.3% in CA. Castro-intestinal disorder was the most common chronic illness in both LA (22.7%) and CA (21.7%), and followed by musculoskeletal disease in LA and neuralgia in CA. Mean activity restricted days among the persons with illness during 15-day period was 4.0 days in LA and 2.2 days in CA. Among persons with illness during 15 days, 17.9% in LA and 11.6% in CA did not seek any medical treatment and the most frequently utilized medical facility was pharmacy in LA (35.5%) and local clinic or hospital OPD in CA (42.1%). Among persons with chronic illness, 15.2% in LA and 9.2% in CA did not seek for medical treatment, and residents in LA as well as residents in CA utilized local clinic or hospital OPD more frequently than pharmacy or drugstores, especially those who have medical insurance. The most common reason for not treating illness experienced during 15-day period and chronic illness was economical constraint in both LA and CA. The higher prevalence rate of illness during 15-day period and chronic illness in LA than that in CA seems to be highly correlated with their lower economic status and educational level and crowded living condition. The utilization pattern of medical facilities was associated with the medical security status. A program to improve the economic status and living condition should be integrated with the health program to promote the health of the population in low income area.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.125-129
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• 2016

Background: Patients with differentiated thyroid cancers (DTC) who receive radioactive iodine-131 (RAI) are released from isolation when their dose rate is below the regulatory requirements. The purpose of this study was establish predicting factors for early release from the isolation facility after RAI administration in patients with DTC. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study which included 96 (58 females and 38 males) patients with DTC who had received RAI from April 2013 till August 2015. The study was duly approved by the ethical committee of the institute. Patients who had complete information of primary tumor size (PTS), serum TSH, stimulated thyroglobulin level [sTg] with antibodies (IU/ml) at the time of RAI treatment were included. All had a normal serum creatinine level. To attain lower effective half-life good hydration and administration of soft laxative were ensured. Dose rate was measured (immediately, 24 h and 36 h) at 1 meter distance from anterior mid trunk and a dose rate <$50{\mu}Sv/h$ was considered as the releasing criterion. At 24 h 50 patients were released while the remaining 46 patients were released at 36 h. A post-ablative whole body scan (PA-WBIS) was performed 5-8 days after RAI ablation in all patients. Results: Patients released after 24 h were significantly younger, had smaller lesions with higher proportion of papillary cancer, lower sTg, lower sTg/TSH ratio and had received a lower dose of RAI as comapred to those who were discharged after 36 h. Serum TSH and gender were not found to have any significant correlation between two cohorts. ROC and multivariate analysis have shown age ${\leq}37years$, PTS ${\leq}3.8cm$, $RAI{\leq}150mCi$, $sTg{\leq}145ng/ml$ and $sTg/TSH{\leq}1.085$ as strong indepedent predictors for early release. Conclusions: We conclude that younger age (${\leq}37years$), smaller tumor size (${\leq}3.8cm$), lower RAI dose (${\leq}150mCi$), lower sTg (${\leq}145ng/ml$) and a lower sTg/TSH ratio (${\leq}1.085$) are significant independent predictors for release at 24 h after RAI treatment in DTC patients. Effective utilization of these factors could help the treating physicians to use limited number of internment facilities with higher throughput, lower cost and lower psychological stress to patients.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2021

Changes in the population structure caused by a decrease in the birthrate and an extension of life expectancy cause problems in utilization inefficiencies of closed schools and shortage welfare facilities for the aged. The closed schools have location characteristics that are close to the existing residence and facilities such as land and school buildings, so it is expected that the schools will be used as welfare facilities for the aged in the community. The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the facility characteristics of closed schools in northern Gyeonggi-Do and present the types of aged welfare facilities that can be built, providing basic data for developing customized aged welfare facilities. The results of this study are summarized as follows: 1) The proportion of aged people in northern Gyeonggi-Do is higher than in southern Gyeonggi-Do, but welfare facilities for the aged are insufficient, so it is necessary to expand welfare facilities for the aged in northern Gyeonggi-Do. 2) Urban areas such as Paju and Goyang City have a lot of residential proximity, Dongducheon and Yangju have a lot of residential proximity, while schools located in urban and rural areas such as Yeoncheon have a lot of residential proximity. 3) Closed schools in urban areas such as Goyang City and Paju City are desirable to use them as residential facilities for senior citizens, day and night protection and short-term protection facilities, while closed schools in Namyangju City, Pocheon City, and Gapyeong County are desirable to use them as senior citizen centers and medical welfare facilities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4683-4688
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• 2014

Background: Breast conservation treatment (BCT) has long been recognised to provide survival outcomes equivalent to mastectomy for the treatment of breast cancer. However, published reports of BCT rates in Asian communities are lower than those from Western countries. This study sought to investigate the eligibility and utilisation of BCT in a predominantly Asian population. Materials and Methods: All patients treated surgically by a single surgeon at a private medical facility between 2009 and 2011 were included in the study. Patients were deemed to have successful BCT if they underwent breast conserving surgery with pathologic clear margins and completed all recommended adjuvant treatment. Those who did not complete adjuvant treatment were excluded from the analysis. Results: Data from a total of 161 patients who underwent treatment during the study period were analysed. The mean age was 48.8 years. One hundred and six patients (65.8%) were of Chinese ethnicity, 12 were Indian (7.5%), 11 were Malay (6.8%), 18 were Caucasian (11.2%) and 14 (8.7%) were of other Asian ethnicity. One hundred and thirty-eight women (85.7%) underwent BCT. Of the 23 (14.3%) who underwent mastectomy, 8 (5.4%) elected to undergo a mastectomy despite being eligible for BCT. In total, it was assessed that 146 of 161 patients (90.7%) were eligible for BCT and utilisation was 94.5%. Conclusions: In this study, eligibility, utilisation of BCT and eventual successful breast conservation rates are similar to published rates in Western communities. Additional research is needed to investigate the reasons for the lower published BCT rates in Asian countries and determine ways to improve them.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 2019

Foreign body (FB) ingestion of children is a common pediatric emergency requiring medical attention. Pediatric emergency physicians and gastroenterologists often encounter nervous and distressed situations, because of children presenting with this condition in the common clinical practice. When determining the appropriate timing and indications for intervention, physicians should consider multiple patient- and FB-related factors. The utilization of a flexible endoscopy is considered safe and effective to use in these cases, with a high success rate, for the effective extraction of FBs from the gastrointestinal tract of a child. Additionally, a Foley catheter and a magnet-attached Levin tube have been used for decades in the case of FB removal. Although their use has decreased significantly in recent times, these instruments continue to be used for several indications. Using a Foley catheter for this purpose does not require special training and does not necessarily require sedation of the patient or fluoroscopy, which serve as advantages of utilizing this method for foreign object retrieval. An ingested magnet or iron-containing FB can be retrieved using a magnet-attached tube, and can be effective to retrieve an object from any section of the upper gastrointestinal tract that can be reached. Simple and inexpensive devices such as Foley catheters and magnetattached tubes can be used in emergencies such as with the esophageal impaction of disk batteries if endoscopy cannot be performed immediately (e.g., in rural areas and/or in patients presenting at midnight in a facility, especially in those without access to endoscopes or emergency services, or in any situation that warrants urgent removal of a foreign object).

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.390-398
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• 2012

This study examined the present condition of the closed elementary school in the Yeongi province, where much of the area will be transformed into the city of Se-Jong, and suggested the renewal plan in the future. Among the twelve(12) schools, eight(8) that have transferred to private sectors were analyzed in respect to lot size, present usage, surroundings, means of approach, and distance from the most populated area, ect.. Additionally, interview with the management official of school board was taken in place. The findings include: two(2) schools that are located nearer then others to the newly-born city can be rehabilitated as educational facility, such as training institute and cultural experience place. Other six(6) schools can be utilized as senior citizens' center, community center, medical substation, hobby farm, or even community warehouse.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.15-27
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• 2003

Objectives: This study was conducted to compare the medical care patterns of hypertensive patients between rural and urban areas. Methods: We selected one rural county(Region A where there were 19 public health centers; one health center, 8 health sub-centers and 10 community health posts) and two urban districts(Region B and C where there was no health sub-center and community health post) in Daegu city. Region B had similar socioeconomic characteristics with rural county A while region C had different characteristics. The medical insurance records of 14,422 incident patients (2,501 in region A, 4,873 in region B and 7,048 in region C) with diagnostic code of hypertension from September 1998 to August 1999 were reviewed. Incident patient was defined as a patient who had no record of medical fee claim for hypertension to the national health insurance corporation in past 6 months and visited a medical facility for hypertension for the first time. The data for annual visit days, annual prescription days and annual total medical expenses were abstracted. The medical care pattern was categorized by the number of annual visit days and prescription days. The most proper care group was defined as the patient who visited 6-15 days with 240 prescription days or more in a year. Results: The type of medical facilities for the most visit was clinics, 373.% and it was followed by general hospitals, 28.2%; public health centers, 24.7%; and hospitals, 9.8% in region A(p<0.05). In region B, it was clinics, 63.1% and followed by general hospitals, 27.6%; health center, 5.2%; and hospitals, 4.1%(p<0.05). In region C, it was clinics, 53.8% and followed by general hospitals, 35.0%; health center, 6.3%; and hospitals, 4.9%(p<0.05). Annual mean total medical expenses per patient was highest in region C(won195,993) and followed by region A(won191,683) and region B(won178,713). The proportion of the most proper care group was 7.7% in region A, 5.2% in region B and 6.7% in region C(p<0.05). According to the type of medical facilities for the first visit, the proportion of the most proper care group was highest(14.7%) in the patients of public health centers, and it was followed by general hospitals, 8.8%; clinics, 3.6%; and hospitals, 2.0% in region A(p<0.05). In region B, it was highest in general hospitals, 9.7% and followed by hospitals, 4.0%; health center, 3.6%; and clinics, 3.4%(p<0.05). In region C, it was highest in general hospitals, 10.1% and followed by clinics, 5.2%; hospitals, 4.1%; and health center, 3.1%(p<0.05). Conclusions: The proportion of proper care for hypertension was higher in rural area and it was attributed to the care of health center, sub-centers and community health posts which appeared to follow patients better than hospitals and clinics.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.10 no.9
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• pp.206-214
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• 2020

This study analyzed the impact of direct and indirect subsidies on profitability in general hospitals in Korea. The data were collected from medical institution accounting information disclosure system of 270 general hospitals from 2016 to 2018. The analysis index used the ratio of net profit to business revenue for profitability, and Subsidies index the ratio of subsidies to business revenue(state subsidies for facility investment purposes, Fund related to essential business, research revenue and contribution revenue). According to the study, the ratio of state subsidies, which are direct subsidies, was very high at 57.30 percent for public institution hospitals. ratio of Fund related to essential business, which is a tax reduction effect with indirect subsidies, had the highest at 6.69 percent for Private University Hospitals. which are Indirect subsidies for deficit or operational assistance, research revenue ratio had the highest 2.8 percent for National University Hospitals, contribution revenue ratio had the highest 36.4 percent for public institutions. As a result of looking at the impact of subsidies on profitability, Nation University Hospitals had the lower the ratio of Fund related to essential business and the ratio of research revenue, the higher the net profit ratio of Business revenue. Medical Corporation Hospitals and Foundation Hospitals had the higher the ratio of Fund related to essential business to business revenues, the higher the net profit ratio of business revenue. These results mean that profitability may fluctuate depending on the utilization of funds related to essential business.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2020

Cell migration is a central process for recovering from wounds triggered by physical distress besides embryogenesis and cancer metastasis. Wound healing assay is widely used as a fundamental research technique for investigation of two-dimensional cell migration in vitro. The most common approach for imitating physical wound in vitro is mechanical scratching on the surface of the confluent monolayer by using sharp materials. The iron metal pin with a suspension spring for fine adjustment of the orthogonal contact surface between the scratching point and the individual bottom of multi-well plate with planar curvatures were adopted for the creative invention of a 96-well plate wound maker. While classic tips drew diverse and zigzag scratching patterns on the confluent monolayer, our wound maker displayed synchronized linear wounds in the middle of each well of a 96-well plate that was seeded with several cell lines. Given that several types of multi-well plates commercially available are compatible with our lab-made wound maker for creating uniform scratches on the confluent monolayer for the collective cell migration in wound healing assay, it is certain that the application of this wound maker to the real-time wound healing assay in high content screening (HCS) is superior than utilization of typical polypropylene pipette tips.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.4 s.55
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• pp.721-732
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• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate the status of pregnancy and delivery and relationship among knowledge, attitude and practice about pregnancy and delivery in poor country, Nepal. A questionnaire survey by interviewer was conducted to examine the general characteristics, knowledge about pregnancy and delivery, attitude about pregnancy and delivery, the rate of prenatal care and delivery condition of women who had an experience of delivery during last year$(1994.4.13\sim1995.4.12)$ at a rural area, nepal(Dolakha Bazar Area). The major findings are as follows ; Among respondents, 87.5 percentage never had health education and the degree of knowledge about pregnancy and delivery was low. Among respondents, 56.6 percentage had the attitude that they didn't want antenatal care, 42.8 % of respondents answered that they wouldn't visit hospital or health center when vaginal bleeding occurred and 82.9% thought that the delivery itself was dirty. The proportion of women who experienced antenatal care was 28.3%, the proportion of health facilities delivery was 5.3%, which was very low and 82.6% of home delivery case didn't sanitate the tool to cut the umbilical cord. The women who had positive attitude about antenatal care and health facility utilization experienced more antenatal care and health facilities delivery. On consideration of above findings, health education for pregnancy and delivery is required to improve mother-child health status in poor country. To make efficient health education, the target population group, such as the uneducated, inhabitants far from health center or medical facility, must be chosen. To help the poor countries in medical field, the study on health status and its related factors on these countries like this article would be required.