• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2013

Many biobanks were established as biorepositories for biomedical research, and a number of biobanks were founded in the 1990s. The main aim of the biobank is to store and to maintain biomaterials for studying chronic disease, identifying risk factors of specific diseases, and applying personalized drug therapies. This report provides a review of biobanks, including Korean biobanks and an analysis of sample volumes, regulations, policies, and ethical issues of the biobank. Until now, the top 6 countries according to the number of large-scale biobanks are the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, and Italy, and there is one major National Biobank of Korea (NBK) and 17 regional biobanks in Korea. Many countries have regulations and guidelines for the biobanks, and the importance of good management of biobanks is increasing. Meanwhile, according to a first survey of 456 biobank managers in the United States, biobankers are concerned with the underuse of the samples in their repositories, which need to be advertised for researchers. Korea Biobank Network (KBN) project phase II (2013-2015) was also planned for the promotion to use biospecimens in the KBN. The KBN is continuously introducing for researchers to use biospecimens in the biobank. An accreditation process can also be introduced for biobanks to harmonize collections and encourage use of biospecimens in the biobanks. KBN is preparing an on-line application system for the distribution of biospecimens and a biobank accreditation program and is trying to harmonize the biobanks.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.50-54
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• 2018

Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions, because of their particular interpretation of the Old and New Testaments. When people with such religious convictions are in need of medical care, their faith and belief may become an obstacle for proper treatment, and pose legal, ethical, and medical challenges for the health care providers. We report two inherited metabolic disorder cases in South Korea where the infants died whilst under medical care because of parental refusal of blood transfusions for religious reasons. Case 1 had methylmalonic acidemia, Down syndrome and associated congenital cardiac anomalies requiring surgery. Case 2 had anemia and methylmalonic acidemia requiring dialysis to treat hyperammonemia and metabolic acidosis. For effective medical management, they needed life-saving blood transfusions. As a part of alternative treatment, Erythropoietin was administered in both cases. As a result, two babies died from their extremely low hemoglobin and hematocrit. The hemoglobin concentrations below 2.7 g/dL without cardiac problem and 5.4 g/dL with cardiac anomaly complicated by pulmonary hypertension are considered life-threatening hemoglobin threshold. The medical professional must respect and accommodate religious beliefs of the patients who can make informed decisions. However, when parents or legal guardians oppose medical treatment of their babies and incompetent care receivers on cultural and religious grounds, the duty to assist and save persons exposed to serious danger, particularly life-threatening events must come first.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.189-215
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• 2012

This paper reads Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) in light of the 18th-century understanding of 'sympathy' including those of Hume and Smith and also in light of what Michael Hardt in our century has called "affective labor." I argue that the imaginative capacity and "seeing" are crucial in understanding Smith's idea of 'sympathy.' By showing how the monster's ugliness precludes any human character from sympathizing with him, Mary Shelley exposes that Smith's idea of sympathy fails to maintain social harmony. Mary Shelley revises Smith's 'sympathy' and makes it more radical by suggesting that the active affective labor could bridge the epistemological distance lying between the agent concerned and the impartial spectator. I first read Smith's idea of sympathy as an imaginative capacity which is inevitably influenced by 'seeing' and visual perception. Then I analyze the scenes in which the creature in Frankenstein fails to acquire any human sympathy due to his ugliness, and show how the specular nature of 'sympathy' is disrupted when one party is visually ugly and deformed. I conclude that affective labor and active moral reflection on the part of the spectator need to be provided when the agent concerned is 'ugly' and thus challenges our habitual epistemological boundary. Shelley's re-evaluation of Smith's sympathy, thus, suggests that affective labor may not be something that women alone have to perform, but an ethical practice that concerns all human beings and that can transform the otherwise flawed human capacity for sympathy.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2022

The Randomized Control Trial (RCT) is the most well-established and widely used statistical methodology in clinical research; however, applying thorough RCT to cancer patients presents challenges such as ethical concerns, high costs, short clinical periods, and limitations in collecting various side effects. To address this issue, the propensity score matching method, which takes advantage of the benefits of observational research while compensating for the drawbacks of randomized control trials, is used in a variety of fields. In recent years, 28 studies on the effectiveness of Korean medicine on tumors have been conducted abroad using the Propensity Score Matching Method, but none have been conducted in Korea. The majority of studies have focused on liver cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, and stomach cancer, with endpoints such as survival time, incidence rate, quality of life, and treatment outcomes revealing statistical differences in how Korean medicine intervention affects treatment outcomes. As a result, well-established studies using the propensity matching score methodology should be useful in evaluating the impact of Korean medicine in oncology treatments.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.35.1-35.10
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• 2023

Non-human primate (NHP) research faces challenges due to zoonosis risk and complex veterinary management yet lacks standardized guidelines for animal care. Therefore, we developed an advanced veterinary management protocol for NHP quarantine, anesthesia, and postoperative care. Three female 4 to 5-year-old cynomolgus monkeys were anesthetized and underwent various tests, including body weight, temperature, blood tests, urinalysis, microbiological monitoring, and physical and dental examinations. Ivermectin and medicated baths were administered to eradicate ectoparasites and endoparasites, and testing was repeated 30 days later. Following quarantine, we performed computed tomography and anesthesia maintenance for mastoidectomy. To relieve pain and maintain body weight, we administered tramadol intramuscularly 4 times/day for 3 days and meloxicam subcutaneously twice daily for 14 days. Feed replacements were provided. During the 33-day quarantine period, physical examinations revealed no abnormalities indicative of infectious diseases, and no specific clinical symptoms were observed. Through a preliminary test of anesthesia time, we selected ketamine 4 mg/kg + medetomidine 50 ㎍/kg for short experiments such as computed tomography, and ketamine 8 mg/kg + medetomidine 50 ㎍/kg for intubation. Ten days after mastoidectomy, NHPs consumed 100 kcal/kg and recovered their body weight. This study offers advanced veterinary management guideline for NHP research. Such protocols can lead to more standardized and ethical practices in NHP research, thereby enhancing the quality of studies on NHPs and the translation of findings to human health and disease.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.181-192
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• 2024

With the introduction of generative artificial intelligence(AI) tools such as OpenAI's Sora into the global film industry, including Hollywood, there has been a simultaneous emergence of innovations in film production as well as various crises. These changes are spreading throughout the entire film production process, including scriptwriting, casting, editing, and acting. This study analyzes the impact of AI on the film industry, particularly Hollywood, and explores how this technology might bring about changes in Korean cinema. AI technologies applied in the film industry offer benefits such as reducing production time and costs. However, they also pose threats to many filmmakers and actors who rely on the traditional production methods, leading to ethical and legal issues. In Hollywood blockbuster films, AI technology is used to create realistic visual effects, analyze scripts, and suggest optimal shooting angles. While these applications improve the qualitative level of films, they also reduce the human resources required in traditional film production processes. The impact on the Korean film industry is also noteworthy. Some Korean film production companies are leveraging AI to create films in a more creative and efficient manner. Efforts are being made to analyze audience data using AI and develop storylines that appeal to a larger audience. However, these technological changes are controversial among many Korean filmmakers who prefer traditional production methods. This study provides an in-depth discussion on whether the adoption of AI in the film industry can bring about positive innovation or inevitably lead to crises. It analyzes how AI technology is transforming traditional roles in the film industry and what new opportunities and challenges this change generates within the industry. Additionally. This study highlights the differences in technology adoption between Hollywood and Korean film industry and explores how each industry is embracing these technological changes.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.836-848
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• 2019

This paper aims at providing a critical view over the cybernetics theory especially of first generation on which the artificial intelligence heavily depends nowadays. There has been a commonly accepted thought that the conception of artificial intelligence could not has been possible without being influenced by N. Wiener's cybernetic feedback based information system. Despite the founder of contemporary cybernetics' ethical concerns in order to avoid an increasing entropy phenomena(social violence, economic misery, wars) produced through a negative dynamics of the western modernity regarded as the most advanced form of humanism. In this civilizationally changing atmosphere, the newly born cybernetic technology was thus firmly believed as an antidote to these vices deeply rooted in humanism itself. But cybernetics has been turned out to be a self-organizing, self-controlling mechanical system that entails the possibility of telegraphing human brain (which are transformed into patterns) through the uploading of human brain neurons digitalized by the artificial intelligence embedded into computing technology. On this background emerges posthuman (or posthumanism) movement of which concepts have been theorized mainly by its ardent apostles like N. K. Hayles, Neil Bedington, Laurent Alexandre, Donna J. Haraway. The converging of NBIC Technologies leading to the opening of a much more digitalizing society has served as a catalyst to promote the posthuman representations and different narratives especially in the contemporary visual arts as well as in the study of humanities including philosophy and fictional literature. Once Bruno Latour wrote "Modernity is often defined in terms of humanism, either as a way of saluting the birth of 'man' or as a way of announcing his death. But this habit is itself modern, because it remains asymmetrical. It overlooks the simultaneous birth of 'nonhumaniy' - things, or objects, or beasts, - and the equally strange beginning of a crossed-out God, relegated to the sidelines."4) These highly suggestive ideas enable us to better understand what kind of human beings would emerge following the dazzlingly accelerating advancement of artificial intelligence technology. We wonder whether or not this newly born humankind would become essentially Homo Artificialis as a neuronal man stripping off his biological apparatus. However due to this unprecedented situation humans should deal with enormous challenges involving ethical, metaphysical, existential implications on their life.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.113-145
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• 2010

Nowadays, it is surely the quack which stands as one of the most controversial, problematic. the quack has been a consistent target of contested public protection strategies in the past few centuries in many countries. Recently, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly utilized and accepted by patients and providers throughout the health care system in the world, most accounts attribute this growing acceptability to the shortcomings of conventional medicine, the appeal of CAM's core beliefs, and the growing body of research indicating that CAM actually works. However, the governments of western countries have called for measures to ensure that the public are protected from incompetent and dangerous practitioners. Common to these controversies has been a suggestion to ban, exclude or limit the medical practice of those deemed to be damaging rather than improving the health of individuals as a measure of public protection. This article describes the experiences of western counties' health care system which is moving in a more pluralistic direction. By examining the ways in which regulatory efforts in the countries have come to address what is invariably described as a growing interest in CAM, this study show how the problem of CAM/quackery today is increasingly located in an ethical field of practitioner competency, qualifications, conduct, responsibility and personal professional development, regardless of the form of therapy in question. Many countries developed a series of measures and strategies to contain the acceptance of CAM groups, such as insisting on scientific evidence of safety and efficacy, resisting integration of CAM with conventional medicine and opposing government support for research and education. In a sense, those countries' movements serve to protect not only patients, but the dominant position of medicine and its allied professions, and to maintain existing jurisdictional boundaries within the healthcare system. The popular support for CAM will require that health professional stakeholders continue to address the challenges this poses, and at the same time protect their position at healthcare system. To cope with the quack, professional body, public sector and health authorities should consider the safety of consumers of healthcare and responding to the demands of the community for CAM therapies as well as the claims of the established healthcare professions. Finally, some implications for future health care were suggested.

• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.44-57
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• 2019

'Vision Zero' is a fundamental response to rapidly increasing number of traffic accidents. It was first introduced in Sweden in the late 20th century and is spreading worldwide. 'Vision Zero' criticizes an existing traffic safety policy that presupposes a reasonable human beings. It suggests that traffic safety policies should be on the possibility of making mistakes by irrational beings. Under the ethical vision that human life and health cannot be exchanged for any other social benefits, the policy issue should allow to make zero out the death rate and serious injuries of traffic accidents while allowing minor injuries. 'Vision Zero' argues that the government should design an environment in which individual mistakes never lead to fatal accidents. 'Vision Zero', which shows a different perspective from existing policies regarding safety ultimate goal, is spreading from traffic safety to other areas such as health, safety and well-being. This study examines the implication of the Korea's school safety policy from the perspectives of 'Vision Zero' on the five areas : "for what", "from what", "by what", "by whom", and "how". The study is intended to establish a new directions and challenges of school safety policy in Korea through an analytical discussions on 'Vision Zero'.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.135-166
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• 2014

'Creative Economy' has been announced as the new paradigm of socio-economic development strategy of newly elected President Geun-Hye Park's administration. By explicitly defining people as a major player in creative activity, it seems to depart from expert-driven or science & technology-focused development paradigms of previous administrations. Yet, its interpretation and operation in terms of government policy does not seem to show any differences. This study aims to explicate the nature of Creative Economy as a development paradigm by clarifying the differences between people's creativity and that of scientists and engineers through extensive literature review. People can contribute to the creative activity not just as users but also as living persons who make everyday yet independent choices based on their humanistic, philosophical, ethical and experiential capabilities which are clearly different from the sources of scientists' & engineers' creativity. People's creative activity does involve value judgement about life and can often accelerate the system innovation or transition by changing consumer behaviour and lifestyle, and hence destruct technological lock-in user lock-in of the existing system. People's creativity can thus present 'User/Field-driven Innovation Paradigm which clearly differs from existing expert- or science & technology-driven innovation paradigm. The Creative Economy with focus on people's creativity therefore faces new socio-economic development challenges of fulfilling the User/Field-driven Innovation Paradigm.