• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.247-255
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• 2014

Objectives: We reviewed the CAREX (CARcinogen EXposure) program designed to estimate the prevalence of occupational exposure to carcinogens and summarized the advantages and limitations of this program. Methods: All literature, including reports on CAREX and the use of CAREX, were reviewed. The keyword search term was CAREX. Additional articles were identified from references cited in articles and reviewed. Results: An exposure information system, CAREX was developed based on data from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health of Finland and from the US. CAREX has been applied in several countries, including in the EU, in order to estimate national exposure patterns to carcinogens. The initial exposure assessment carried out through CAREX was aimed at estimating exposures over the period of 1990-1993. To estimate the number of workers exposed to carcinogens by using CAREX, reference exposure prevalence from Finland and the United States was computed, which was then reviewed and corrected by national experts. Finally the overall number of workers exposed to carcinogens can be estimated. We found that CAREX has been used in a total of 18 countries. No Asian country has used CAREX. Conclusions: CAREX can be applied not only to estimate the number of workers exposed to carcinogens in Korea, but also to identify high-risk industries with workers most exposed to carcinogens.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

Purpose : This study was to identify the incidence, trend, and situation of the unexpected sudden death of elementary, middle, and high school students in school for 17 years from 1988 to 2004 in seoul. Methods : We used the data of The Seoul Safety Mutual aid Association in seoul. Subjects were 53 unexpected sudden death in school from elementary, middle, and high school students, and we explored the gender, month, a day of the week, year, contents of situation, and medical certificate of death. Statistic analysis were chi-square test, Cochran-Armitage trend test, and the tool was SAS 9.1.Results : There were 53 unexpected sudden death students(male 42 and female 11). The incidence of male students was higher than that of female during 16 years except in 1995. The incidence occurred in middle school students were 31 (58.5%) of 53 and were also most frequent in middle school students in both of male and female students. In 1990, the incidence was 8(15.1%) students, 6(11.3%) in 1992 , and 5(9,4%) in 2000 respectively. The frequency of unsuspected sudden death in March was 11(20.8%) of 53 students, 11 (20.8%) in September, 7(13.2%) in October. In Thursday, it was 12(22.6%) of 53 students. Only 14(26.4%) students of 53 died during general life, but 39(73.6%) were related to excercise. The diagnosis of 14 students died during general life were cardiac arrest 7(50.5%), brain disorder 3(21.4%) which were based on medical certificate. But the diagnosis of 39 students died during or after excercise were brain disorder including cerebral hemorrhage 9(23.1%), heart disease 9(23.1%), cardiac arrest 8(20.5%), and unknown 6(15.4%), respectively. Conclusion : The incidence of unexpected sudden death were more frequent in male students, in middle school, and in excercise-related situation and the trend was similar for 17 years. Therefore, to prevent the unexpected sudden death, it needs to further study substantially the risk factors of unexpected sudden death including past history, life-style, nutrition and development, family history, and learning environment.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.339-342
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• 2017

Residual endosulfan in an agricultural environment has been reported, although endosulfan was listed to persistent organic pollutants and banned. To produce the safe crop from endosulfan residue risk, the plant uptake potential of endosulfan from soil to crop should be studied. In here, the plant uptake potentials of endosulfan in various crops were surveyed and ranged from 0.002-4.460. And the bioconcentration factors (BCF) of total endosulfan in carrot and spinach were calculated from the pot experiment. The BCFs in carrot and spinach were 0.285 and 0.040-0.047 respectively. Endosulfan sulfate was contributed to over 42.8% of the crop residue as a major contributor among the three endosulfan congeners in both of carrot and spinach.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2006

Changes in the soil physical property and the topographic condition derived from agricultural activities like as farming activities, land clearance and cutting down resulted in environmental and economic problems including the outflow of nutrient from farms and the water pollution. Several theories on the soil conservation have been developed and reviewed to protect soil erosion in the regions having a high risk of erosion. This study was done using the USLE model developed by Wischmeier and Smith (1978), and model for the slope length and steepness made by Desmet and Govers (1996), and Nearing (1997) to evaluate the potential of the soil erodibility. Therefore, several results were obtained as follows. First, factors affecting the soil erosion based on the USLE could be extracted to examine the erosion potential in farms. Soil erodibility (K), slope length (L), and slope steepness (S) were used as main factors in the USLE in consideration of the soil, not by the land use or land cover. Second, the soil erodibility increased in paddy soils where it is low in soil content, and the very fine sandy loam exists. Analysis of the slope length showed that the value of a flat ground was 1, and the maximum value was 9.17 appearing on the steep mountain. Soil erodibility showed positive relationship to a slope. Third, the potential soil erodibility index (PSEI) showed that it is high in the PSEI of the areas of steep upland and orchard on the slope of mountainous region around Dokjigol mountain, Dunji mountain, and Deummit mountain. And the PSEI in the same land cover was different depending on the slope rather than on the physical properties in soil. Forth, the analysis of land suitability in soil erosion explained that study area had 3,672.35ha showing the suitable land, 390.88ha for the proper land, and 216.54ha for the unsuitable land. For unsuitable land, 8.71ha and 6.29ha were shown in fallow uplands and single cropping uplands, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.241-250
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• 2018

Recently, negative effects on human health such as disease caused by harmful environment have been dealt with seriously. In particular, studies on the effect of radon exposure, which is known as a primary carcinogen in lung cancer due to radioactive materials, have been actively studied. In Korea, since January 1, 2018, radon measurement is mandatory when building a new apartment, so it is necessary to measure the radon concentration and submit it to the local government and it should be posted where residents can see it. Radon has only recommended standards for multi-use facilities, but now it has decided to set recommendation standards for private homes. Therefore, it should now be possible to manage the radon in the environmental impact assessment phase as well as in the Post-environmental Impact Assessment. It should be possible to share health information such as the radon concentration and the risk of radon, and participation of health experts in the environmental impact assessment stage is required. Soil, air quality, hygiene and aerial items should be improved to take into account the effects of radon on human health during the environmental impact assessment process. If the level value of conncentration of radon shows above the recommended level, then alternative measures should be prepared and mitigation measures should be prepared as well.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.23-33
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• 2020

As the scale of the economy expands, the number of cases of damage in enclosed spaces such as tunnels is increasing due to the accident of transportation vehicles of dangerous substances such as explosive flammable materials that have increased rapidly. In the case of road tunnels in particular, in the aspect of protection against the long-winding trend and the environment in the downtown area, the number of cases of passing through the downtown area increases, and securing the safety of structures against unexpected extreme disasters such as explosions during tunnel passage is very urgent. For this reason, developed countries are already conducting a review of internal bombardment, but there are almost no evaluation and countermeasures for explosion risk in Korea. Therefore, in this study, in order to evaluate the explosion safety of road tunnels, a boiling liquid explosive explosion (BLEVE), which is considered to have the greatest explosion load among vehicles driving on the road, is set as a reference explosion source, and the equivalent TNT explosion load is used for simulation of the explosion. A method of conversion was presented. In addition, by applying the derived explosion load, dynamic behavior simulation was performed by assuming various variables for the tunnel, and the explosion safety of the tunnel was analyzed.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.5 no.2 s.10
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• pp.97-127
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• 2005

While science museums, whose functions consist traditionally in collecting, preserving, researching, and displaying science-related objects, present scientific knowledge, figures, or tools in the historical context, science centers give more emphases on science education by exposing interactive exhibits to their visitors. However, neither objects-oriented exhibits nor hands-on technologies can provide museum visitors with the full insight into modem science in terms of its complicated relationships to politics, economy, culture, art, risk, and environment. This paper argues that for the 21st century we need to establish a new kind of science museum through the critical examination of its previous kinds - science museums and science centers. In the first part of this paper, the history of the first and second generations of science museums, including their recent trends in science centers, in the West will be elaborated. Secondly, the development of national science museums in Korea will be discussed specifically for the understanding of Korean science museums. The next part of this paper will seek for the possibilities of the third generation of science museums through three examples, which show interdisciplinary, contextual, and institutional approaches to change science museums or science centers. Fourthly, the social function of science museums as 'forum' will be discussed in relation to promoting public 'participation' of science as well as public 'understanding' of science. As a conclusion, some practical suggestions and conceptual guidelines will be proposed for the future Korean national science museum.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to analysis total number of 123 SSI programs by SSI criteria. The criteria was consisted of subject, school level, starting point, scientific evidence, social content, use of scientific knowledge, level of conflict of interest, and evaluation and reflection. The results of the analysis are as follows. First, elementary school programs were the most and middle school programs were relatively few. Second, starting point was mainly in the actual situation, the fiction and nonfiction situation, and the situation including the controversy and conflict was less than 10%. Third, it was based on scientific evidence but mainly influenced by individual values and perceptions. Fourth, social contents were developed mainly in ethics/morality/value, political/social life/economy, environment contents. Fifth, the use of scientific knowledge mainly consisted of scientific decision making, scientific critical thinking, and information search. However, science inquiry, risk assessment, and cost effectiveness were less than 10%. Scientific inquiry is the essential factor of science education, and one of core competencies of national science curriculum. SSI program should be able to experience various kinds of conflicts, and to evaluate and reflect through reflection.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.13-13
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• 2018

Alternaria is a ubiquitous fungal genus, widely distributed in the environment and a range of different habitats. It includes both plant pathogenic and saprophytic species, which can affect crops in the field or cause post-harvest spoilage of plant fruits and kernels. Numerous Alternaria species cause damage to agricultural products including cereal grains, fruits and vegetables, and are responsible for severe economic losses worldwide. Most Alternaria species have the ability to produce a variety of secondary metabolites, which may play important roles in plant pathology as well as food quality and safety. Alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tenuazonic acid (TeA), tentoxin (TEN) and altenuene (ALT) are considered the main Alternaria compounds thought to pose a risk to human health. However, food-borne Alternaria species are able to produce many additional metabolites, whose toxicity has been tested incompletely or not tested at all. Both alternariols are mutagenic and their presence in cereal grain has been associated with high levels of human esophageal cancer in China. TeA exerts cytotoxic and phytotoxic properties, and is acutely toxic in different animal species, causing hemorrhages in several organs. The possible involvement of TA in the etiology of onyalai, a human hematological disorder occurring in Africa, has been suggested. Altertoxins (ALXs) have been found to be more potent mutagens and acutely toxic to mice than AOH and AME. Other metabolites, such as TEN, are reported to be phytotoxins, and their toxicity on animals has not been demonstrated up to now. Vegetable foods infected by Alternaria rot are obviously not suitable for consumption. Thus, whole fresh fruits are not believed to contribute significantly with Alternaria toxins to human exposure. However, processed vegetable products may introduce considerable amounts of these toxins to the human diet if decayed or moldy fruit is not removed before processing. The taxonomy of the genus is not well defined yet, which makes it difficult to establish an accurate relationship between the contaminant species and their associated mycotoxins. Great efforts have been made to organize taxa into subgeneric taxonomic levels, especially for the small-spored, food associated species, which are closely related and constitute the most relevant food pathogens from this genus. Several crops of agricultural value are susceptible to infection by different Alternaria species and can contribute to the entry of Alternaria mycotoxins in the food chain. The distribution of Alternaria species was studied in different commodities grown in Argentina. These food populations were characterized through a polyphasic approach, with special interest in their secondary metabolite profiles, to understand their full chemical potential. Alternaria species associated with tomato, bell pepper, blueberry, apples and wheat cultivated in Argentina showed a surprisingly high metabolomic and mycotoxigenic potential. The natural occurrence of Alternaria toxins in these foods was also investigated. The results here presented will provide background for discussion on regulations for Alternaria toxins in foods.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.607-612
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• 2013

Soil ecological risk assessment requires terrestrial toxicity data based on trophic levels including plants, earthworms, nematodes, and springtails. To expand the trophic levels, it is needed to consider primary producer algae, nearly distributed in terrestrial environment, as representative terrestrial test species. In this study, we collected research cases focused on soil-related test species and exposure media from SCI papers, and analyzed exposure media, test species, test chemicals, and other test methods, for reviewing research trends of soil-related algal toxicity. Up to now, in the soil-related algal toxicity, test species were 8 cases (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus bijugatus, Chlorococcum infusionum, Scenedesmus subspicatus, Nostoc linckia, Synechococcus elongatus, and Chlorococcum sp.) and endpoints were cell count or photosynthetic pigment content. Also, 5 of exposure media were liquid medium, soil extracts, porewater, agar medium, and soil. Most of papers used algae isolated from natural soils or soil extracts. There were only one case for assessing algal toxicity in soil medium. More researches regarding algal toxicity in soil environments need to be conducted consistently.