• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2020

There has been a growing concern and subsequent interest surrounding numerous reproductive toxic agents found in various working and non-working environments. Meanwhile, there have been many efforts in medical fields such as toxicology and epidemiology applying experimental studies to elucidate reproductive toxic agents' characterization and health effects. However, there remains insufficient research data and inadequate evidence in humans. Adverse reproductive outcomes vary from transient, moderate health effects to severely detrimental consequences, such as permanent infertility or childhood cancer of one's offspring. Furthermore, upon exposure to toxic agents, the latent period before reproductive health effects are observed is relatively short compared to other occupational diseases (e.g., occupational cancer); instant action is required once exposure to reproductive toxic agents is detected. Therefore, it is very important for workers and healthcare professionals to know about the reproductive toxic agents they are likely to be exposed to. In this review, we discuss the general epidemiology of reproductive health in Korea, and the information regarding these reproductive toxic agents.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.245-256
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• 2006

This research sought to survey oriental medicine diagnosis methods currently practiced, analyze their advantages and disadvantages, and work out clinical establish direction for oriental medicine diagnosis methods. Oriental medicine diagnosis methods currently practiced in the related circles are categorized into traditional Korean diagnosis methods and holistic auxiliary diagnosis methods. The traditional Korean diagnosis method focuses on treating diseases of traditional Korean health management methods which are based on the bodily self-viability capabilities according to the Orient's viewpoint of health. Under the diagnosis method, based on the cognition of maximizing the state of the bodily self-viability capabilities together with the characteristics of diseases, symptoms, pulse, first face-to-face patient observation, physical constitution, and life principle are managed according to form, color, pulse and symptom which divide the bodily viability capacities into inherent and acquired elements amid both elements interacting.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.131-144
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• 2006

For the purpose of preparing the fundamental data on working environment of small scale manufacturing industries and preventing the occupational diseases of workers in these industries, authors surveyed the status of working environment to several chemical substances and physical agents by types of industry and types of process in the small scale manufacturing industries with less than five workers in Gimhae including 235 workplaces, 14 types of industry and 25 types of process from January 2002 to December 2004. This measurement method was work environment measurement method (established in Ministry of Labor, Korea), analytical methods (2nd Ed.) of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and manual of analytical methods (4th Ed.) of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and collected data was analyzed by using SPSS 10.0 for windows, the results were as follows: 1. Noise generated in 14 types of industry and 22 types of process. an actual level of mean exposure (90.7 dB(A)) exceeded threshold limit values (TLVs) in manufacture of other transport equipment. An actual level of mean exposure (90.2dB) exceeded TLVs in the process of wire-drawing and 90.4dB in the process of wire-stranding. 2. Dusts of type I, II, III were generated in 9 types of industry and 8 types of process. Its mean concentration did not exceed TLVs. 3. Heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Cr, Ni) were generated in 7 types of industry and 7 types of process. Its mean concentration did not exceed TLVs. 4. 16 kinds of organic solvents were generated in 11 types of industry and 6 types of process. Its mean concentration did not exceed TLVs. As the above results, chemical substances and physical agents were generated in the several different types of industry and process of the manufacturing industry with less than five workers, and only mean level of noise was exceeded TLVs. In case of exceeding threshold limit values, improvement of work environment is actively needed, and work environment management should be performed continuously for prevention of an occupational diseases and work related diseases.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2017

The aim of this survey is to investigate the occupational musculoskeletal disease and stress levels of restaurant cooks and to provide a basic data of programs in order to prevent occupational diseases. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 220 subjects in Gangwon province. The results show that there was no significant difference in the degree of occupational musculoskeletal disease between male cooks and female cooks. However, western cuisine cooks were more likely to have a higher degree of occupational musculoskeletal disease than other cuisine cooks and showed a higher degree of occupational stress from work overload as well as irregular meal stresses. Cooks aged from 30 to 40 years showed a higher level of occupational musculoskeletal disease in the neck, shoulder, and hand/wrist compared to those in other age groups. The job tenure was related to the degree of musculoskeletal disease in knee. Additionally, the hours of working per day were statistically significantly related to musculoskeletal disease in the knee and to the occupational stress levels in irregular meals stress. The findings of this study suggest that it is essential to design customized education for cooks to lessen their occupational musculoskeletal diseases and stresses in order to ensure the health and safety of the culinary workers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Oriental Medical Informatics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.69-145
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• 2011

Characteristics Regarding Xiang Yao (Hyang Yag) Jiu Ji Fang Life Saving Local Botanical prescriptions in Medical Research Xiang Yao Jiu Ji Fang is Korea's most ancient extant medical manuscript. It was first published between 1232 and 1251 during the Goguryeo period (Gao Zong) by the (Jianghuadao Da Cang Du Jian) Great Storage Depository Under Capital Supervision. The entire work is divided into three scrolls named the front, middle and back parts. There is also an appendix titled Fangzhong Xiang Yao Mu Cao Bu 'Catalogue of Medicines in the Local Botanicals prescriptions' in one volume. The contents comprise discussion of internal medicine diseases, external medicine diseases, commentaries on sexually transmitted diseases, diseases caused by parasites and bugs, diseases of the five orifices, gynecological diseases and pediatric diseases, in all totaling fifty three types of disease. The prescriptions record 180 types of xiangyao or hyang yag-local botanicals representing the beginning of an independent Korean path of development. Owing to the development during the Goguryeo period of medical material left to us by history, investigation and research in the area of hyang yag local botanicals has bequeathed us methods used in the contemporary period. Through the related comprehensive annotated explanatory notes and documents, much analysis and discussion is taking shape.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.202-213
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• 2024

Introduction: Acknowledging the global issue of diseases potentially caused by overwork, this study aims to develop an AI model to help workers understand the connection between cerebrocardiovascular diseases and their work environment. Materials and methods: The model was trained using medical and legal expertise along with data from the 2021 occupational disease adjudication certificate by the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance and Prevention Service. The Polyglot-ko-5.8B model, which is effective for processing Korean, was utilized. Model performance was evaluated through accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F1-score metrics. Results: The model trained on a comprehensive dataset, including expert knowledge and actual case data, outperformed the others with respective accuracy, precision, sensitivity, and F1-scores of 0.91, 0.89, 0.84, and 0.87. However, it still had limitations in responding to certain scenarios. Discussion: The comprehensive model proved most effective in diagnosing work-related cerebrocardiovascular diseases, highlighting the significance of integrating actual case data in AI model development. Despite its efficacy, the model showed limitations in handling diverse cases and offering health management solutions. Conclusion: The study succeeded in creating an AI model to discern the link between work factors and cerebrocardiovascular diseases, showcasing the highest efficacy with the comprehensively trained model. Future enhancements towards a template-based approach and the development of a user-friendly chatbot webUI for workers are recommended to address the model's current limitations.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 2010

Objectives: To quantify disability level in salespeople with concurrent low back pain (LBP) and to determine the relative associations between demographic, occupational, psychosocial and clinical factors and back disability. LBP is the most common cause of work-related disability in people under 45 years of age and the most expensive cause of work-related disability, in terms of workers' compensation and medical expenses. Evidence suggests high prevalence of LBP in salespeople. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in which 184 saleswomen with a current episode of self-reported LBP working in a large up-scale department store filled out a battery of 6 self-administered questionnaires and received a standardised physical examination. Results: Saleswomen with concurrent LBP had low disability levels. Factors significantly associated with disability were pain intensity, measured by a visual analogue scale, in the past week (p < 0.001), physical and mental health status (p < 0.001, p = 0.003, respectively), fear avoidance scores for both work and physical activities (p = 0.031, p = 0.014, respectively), past history of LBP (p = 0.019), and self-reported frequency of pushing or pulling objects placed in high positions during work (p = 0.047). A significant level (45%) of the variance in disability status was explained by these variables. Conclusion: In clinical management of LBP workers who required prolonged standing, such as salespeople, clinicians should look for modifiable risk factors associated with disability. Specific measures need to be taken to prevent disability due to LBP among salespeople.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.114-120
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• 2009

In this study, we employed the idea that disease-related proteins tend to be work as an important factor for architecture of the disease network. We initially obtained 43 atopy-related proteins from the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and then constructed atopy-related protein interaction network. The protein network can be derived the map of the relationship between different disease proteins, denoted disease interaction network. We demonstrate that the associations between diseases are directly correlated to their underlying protein-protein interaction networks. From constructed the disease-protein bipartite network, we derived three diseasomal proteins, CCR5, CCL11, and IL/4R. Although we use the relatively small subnetwork, an atopy-related disease network, it is sufficient that the discovery of protein interaction networks assigned by diseases will provide insight into the underlying molecular mechanisms and biological processes in complex human disease system.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2000

The study was curried out to collect information to establish a framework for nutrition education for the prevention of chronic degenerative disease. We analyzed differences in diet quality, food habits and health status of workers by work condition. Anthrometric parameters of height, weight and body fat were measured and biochemical parameters including glucose, total cholesterol, GOT, GPT and hemoglobin were determinded for 194 subjects. To assess the nutrient intake and diet quality of workers, dietary intake was measured by the day 24-hour recall method, Average daily nutrient intake, except for phos-phorous and vitamin C was lower than Korean RDA. The obesity related behavior score was significantly better in laborers than in office workers, while chronic degenerative diseases related to food habit score was significantly better in laborers than in office workers, while chronic degenerative diseases related to the food habit score was beet in offices workers than in laborers. Blood pressure, blood glucose levels were significantly higher in laborer than in office workers. Dietary variety score (DVS) food composition group score(FCGS), mean adequacy ratio(MAR) of office worker were better than those of labor workers. When diet quality was evaluated by FCGS(food composition group score) 16.0% of the subjects acquired 5 points and 14.4% of the subjects acquired 2 points.　MAR and INQ showed a significantly positive correlation with DVS and FCGS . This results indicated that the onset possibility of hypertension and diabetes mellitus among chronic degenerative disease was higher in laborers than in office workers, while the onset possibility of obesity was higher in office workers than in laborers. In conclusion the overall diet quality of office workers is betters than that of laborers, therefore, nutrition education for prevention of chronic degenerative disease of industrial workers needs to be more focused on the improvement of the health status of laborers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2023.11a
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• pp.49-50
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• 2023

Asbestos is a building material that has been actively used because of its excellent durability and heat resistance until 2009, when it was found to be a first-class carcinogen and prohibited in Korea. Currently, asbestos dismantling is an essential process in demolition of old buildings. Workers are likely to be exposed to asbestos in the process of dismantling and removing them, which causes various occupational diseases, suggesting related laws and work standards to ensure the safety of asbestos dismantling process. Accordingly, prior studies have been conducted to analyze the level of asbestos exposure and influencing factors occurring during work, but most of them are mainly concerning health issue while research on process risks considering field characteristics and safety aspects of the work processes is still insufficient. Therefore, this study aims to derive the process risks affecting the safety of workers based on the survey results of asbestos dismantling companies, and further proposed a cost calculation model taking those risks into account.