• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.3817-3822
• /
• 2016

Background: Lung cancer has long been a leading cause of cancer related death in both women and men worldwide. The focus of this study was to review clinicopathological features of Iranian patients diagnosed with lung cancer. Materials and Methods: Clinicopathological data of 1353 primary lung cancer patients diagnosed during 17 years (1997-2014) in the "National Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease" (NRITLD), Tehran, Iran, were retrospectively reviewed. Results: The median age of patients was 60 (mean: 58.95 years, range: 16-99) and adenocarcinoma was the most prevalent pathology (45.2%). Male/female ratio was 3.22 and 57.2% of patients were smokers (men 70.3%, women 15%). The majority (85.3%) were referred in advanced stages (stage IIIB and IV). Conclusions: Although some of our findings are in concordance with other studies in lung cancer but there are some discrepancies particularly in terms of smoking status and median age of Iranian patients. Further clinical and epidemiological studies are warranted to elucidate etiologic and factors other than smoking contributing to development of lung cancer such as environmental exposures or genetic predisposition.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.245-250
• /
• 2019

Newcastle disease (ND) is an infectious poultry disease that caused high mortality and reduced egg production. NDVs are regularly present in the domestic duck population. And ducks play a possible role in the maintenance and transmission of NDVs. While we were monitoring the Avian Influenza, NDVs were isolated from field samples by accident. So we analysed the biological and genetic characteristics of these viruses. Lentogenic NDVs were isolated from two farms among twenty breeder duck farms. The ages of ducks were 39 weeks old in the 'A' farm and 3~72 weeks old in the 'B' farm. And they were not inoculated with the NDVs vaccine. In the biological characteristics, the both viruses which separated from the farm 'A' and 'B' were thermostable. The amino acid sequence of a site from 112 to 119 in the fusion (F) protein was 'GKQGRLIG' which has monobasic motif in the samples of both farms. And this means the separated NDVs are lentogenic. Phylogenetic analysis was performed by entire nucleotide sequence of F protein. The virus strains from the A farm (MN095239) and the B farm (MN095240) belonged to class II genotype I. Using the analysis of whole F protein nucleic acid sequence, the MN095239 (GenBank) had homology with Ulster strain about 99.95% and the MN095239 (GenBank) had homology with KR/CK/KU_LBM255/09 strain about 99.89%. NDV surveillance is needed to investigate epidemiological relationship of domestic breeder duck isolates in Korea.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.5-29
• /
• 1994

In recent years, interests in health promotion have been stimulated by the epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases as lead ing causes of death, the aging of the population, rapidly escalating health care costs, and epidemiologic findings linking individual risk to morbidity and mortality. It is not surprising that the workplace has been targeted as a promising setting for health promotion. In Korea, national attention to the opportunities for workplace health promotion began in the first 1990s. But there is no in depth study to identify the relating factors to the health promotion program in the workplace. The objective of this study is behavioral and physical characteristics to find that in crease the person's risk for a range of health problems and to analysis other characteristics to influence the degree of his/her intention to change health behavior. In addition, this study is purposed to present the process of planning health promotion program in the workplace. To accomplish these objectives, one workplaces was selected. And 363 employees in those workplaces were served as subjects for the study. Major findings in this study are as follows. (1) They have many risk factors such as smoking, drinking, lack of sleep, law rate of regular exercise, irregular eating, stress. (2) Some of the health risk factors such as smoking, drinking, and stress have the negative correlation to the intention to change. (3) Among cognitive and socio-environmental factors, significant predictors to the intention are attitude and social support. (4) In the cluster analysis to segment the target population in to homogeneous unit, three clusters of lifestyle are specified. (5) Smoking cessation and exercise program are planned for the risk group to change their behavior.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.58 no.5
• /
• pp.172-177
• /
• 2015

Purpose: Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) pneumonia epidemics have occurred in 3- to 4-year cycles in Korea. We evaluated the epidemiologic characteristics of MP pneumonia in Daejeon, Korea, from 2003 to 2012. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 779 medical records of children (0-15 years of old) with MP pneumonia admitted to our institution and compared the data from 3 recent epidemics. Results: In 779 patients, the mean age and male-to-female ratio were $5.0{\pm}2.2$ years and 1:1, and most cases were observed in autumn. There were three epidemics during the study period, in 2003, 2006-2007, and 2011. In our comparison of the three epidemics, we found no differences in mean age, the male-to-female ratio, hospital stay, or the rate of seroconverters during hospitalization. All three epidemics began in early summer and peaked in September 2003 and 2011 and in October 2006 and then gradually decreased until the next year's spring season, although the 2006 epidemic extended further into 2007. The peak age groups in the children in 2003 and 2006 were 3-6 year-olds (57.5% and 56%, respectively), but in the 2011 epidemic, the peak group was 1-4 year-olds (46.5%). The proportion of the <2 years of age group was 20%, 15.7% and 28.8%, and >10 years of age group was 5.2%, 13.8%, and 14.8% of total patients, respectively. Conclusion: MP pneumonia outbreaks occurred every 3-4 years. The pattern of 3 recent epidemics was similar in demographic characteristics and seasonality with some variations in each outbreak.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.60 no.2
• /
• pp.195-204
• /
• 2017

Objective : This 2009-2011 nation-wide study of adult Koreans was aimed to provide characteristics, medical utilization states, and survival rates for newly diagnosed patients with primary nonmalignant and malignant spine tumors. Methods : Data for patients with primary spine tumors were selected from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. The data included their age, sex, health insurance type, co-morbidities, medical cost, and hospital stay duration. Hospital stay duration and medical costs per person occurring in one calendar year were used. In addition, survival rates of patients with primary malignant spine tumors were evaluated. Results : The incidence rate of a primary spine tumor increased with age, and the year of diagnosis ($p{\leq}0.0001$). Average annual medical costs ranged from 1627 USD (pelvis & sacrum & coccyx tumors) to 6601 USD (spinal cord tumor) for primary nonmalignant spine tumor and from 12137 USD (spinal meningomas) to 20825 USD (pelvis & sacrum & coccyx tumors) for a primary malignant spine tumor. Overall survival rates for those with a primary malignant spine tumor were 87.0%, 75.3%, and 70.6% at 3, 12, and 24 months, respectively. The Cox regression model results showed that male sex, medicare insurance were significantly positive factors affecting survival after a diagnosis of primary malignant spine tumor. Conclusion : Our study provides a detailed view of the characteristics, medical utilization states, and survival rates of patients newly diagnosed with primary spine tumors in Korea.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.259-268
• /
• 1998

It has been reported that among mushroom farmers, respiratory diseases such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis can be developed by inhalation of mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) spores. For the evaluation of respiratory symptoms among mushroom farmers, a questionnaire was made. The Questionnaire included general characteristics, past occupational histories, durations of the mushroom cultivation and characteristics of the symptoms. Following the questionnaire we interviewed the 72 mushroom farmers (12 males, 10 females) from Kyungbuk Province. We also examined white blood counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, eosinophil counts and total IgE counts for the 5 farmers. The results obtained are as follows. 1. The mean age among the 22 mushroom farmers was 46.9 years, and the mean duration of cultivation was 7.5 years. 2. Among the 22 mushroom farmers. 18 farmers (81.8 %) suffered from respiratory symptoms at work. The main symptom was coughing (100.0%), followed by chilling sensation (50.0 %), sputum (38.9 %) and sore throat (27.8 %). 3. Coughing and other associated symptoms occurred during work and disappeared after work or several days later when the exposure had been stopped. 4. Total IgE counts were elevated in all farmers examined the test. With above results, the respiratory symptoms that developed among mushroom farmers were typical patterns of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Epidemiological studies and preventive measures for mushroom farmers should be established.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.445-451
• /
• 2021

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the self-administered questionnaire for Korean radiation workers. Methods: From May 24, 2016, to June 30, 2017, 20,608 participants completed the questionnaire, providing information on sociodemographics, lifestyle, work history and practices, medical radiation exposure, and medical history, which was linked to the National Dose Registry and the National Cancer Registry. The validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using the responses of 20,608 workers, and reliability was evaluated using the responses of 3043 workers who responded to the survey twice. Results: Responses concerning demographic characteristics and lifestyle showed reliability with a moderate-to-high agreement (kappa: 0.43-0.99), whereas responses concerning occupation and medical radiation exposure had a wide range of agreement (kappa: 0.05-0.95), possibly owing to temporal variability during employment. Regarding validity, responses to the question about the first year of employment had an excellent agreement with the national registry (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.9); however, responses on cancer history had a wide range of agreement (kappa: 0.22-0.85). Conclusion: Although the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were not distinguished by demographic characteristics, they tended to be low among participants whose occupational radiation exposure was minimal. Overall, the information collected can be reliable for epidemiological studies; however, caution must be exercised when using information such as medical exposure and work practices, which are prone to temporal variability.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.603-607
• /
• 2018

This study was carried out to determine the pathogen-causing diarrhoea in sheep Ovis aries in the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Area, China. A trophozoite was identified as species of ciliate alveolates infecting the sheep based on morphological characteristics examined by microscope. It was mostly spherical, colourless and transparent, with many vesicles. Macronucleus and contractile vacuoles could not be distinguished. Size of the trophozoite was $80-180{\times}70-150{\mu}m$ and its surface was covered with cilia. Molecular analysis based on sequences of 18S rRNA and ITS genes confirmed the ciliate species as Balantidium coli. According to the literature, there have been many epidemiological investigations of B. coli infection in pigs, monkeys and humans. To our knowledge, this was the first report of B. coli infections in sheep in the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Area of China, or eleswhere around the world. Importantly, the sheep case was rare but raised our concern that B. coli may spread across species and expand its host range.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
• /
• v.9 no.9
• /
• pp.195-200
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of National Health Insurance claim data and to construct a pilot medical episode data considering it. In this study, the trends of respiratory disease (ICD10: J00-J99) cardiovascular disease (ICD10: I00-I99) from the day of onset of treatment to re-admission after admission were confirmed in Seoul, and the largest decrease was observed when the no-treatment period was 0 day. The data reduction rate when the no-treatment period is 0 day is judged to be due to the monthly separation claim of the health insurance claim data. Also, the result that there is a tendency of monthly separation request according to the type of medical treatment. Through this study, we constructed epidemic data for the pilot medical treatment considering the characteristics of the claim data of health insurance, and based on this, it can be used as a data processing method for calculating basic epidemiological information.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.22-29
• /
• 2022

Background: A comprehensive, traceable, and easy-to-understand radiation risk indicator is desired for radiological protection. The early-onset hypothesis could be used for this purpose. Materials and Methods: An indicator for early death (IED) was developed and calculated using the epidemiological dataset from the 14^th Report of the Life Span Study (LSS) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By clarifying the calculation process, IED for all-cause mortality was estimated. In addition, the characteristics of IED for solid cancer mortality and cardiovascular mortality as well as those of men and women, and their dependence on age at exposure were investigated for detailed analysis. Results and Discussion: The IED for all-cause mortality was estimated to be approximately 4 years for an acute radiation exposure of 1 Gy regardless of the fitting dose range. The cumulative death rate for all solid cancers also indicated the early-death tendency (approximately 7-10 years at 1 Gy). Although, there is a slight difference in the characteristics of the risk obtained from the LSS study and this study, it is considered that the IED in a unit of years can also be used to show the overall picture of risk due to radiation exposure. Conclusion: We developed and calculated the indicator for early death, IED, for the cumulative mortality rate of all causes of death, all solid cancers, and circulatory diseases. The quantitative values of IED were estimated to be 4 years for all causes of death, 7-10 years for all solid cancers. IED has an advantage for intuitively understanding the meaning of radiation risk since it can be obtained by a simple and traceable method.