• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.442-453
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• 2021

Purpose: The objective of this study is to suggest desirable direction of Korean accident investigation organization by analyzing the operation status and way of overseas developed countries' investigation agency. Method: To accomplish the objective of this study, we were examined four main characteristics of accident investigation agencies of the U.S., Japan, and Sweden, focusing on (1); the background of the establishment, (2);organizational structure, (3);major tasks and functions, (4); accident investigation procedures. Result: First, the purpose of its establishment and task is to prevent recurrence of disasters and accidents, at the same time, administrating and researching duties such as legal system, policy, recommending improvement and conducting scientific disaster-cause analysis to contribute safety for the government. Second, it is operated as an independent organization under the president, not belonging to the ministry, in order to enable fair investigation in an impartial position. Third, it has the authority to be recognized for its expertise in the results of investigation. In other words, it is operated as a permanent organization with professional personnel, and secures authority through the accident research with indepth investigation and high-quality recommendations. Conclusion: The overseas investigation agencies rapidly manage and coordinate their operational practices in order to resolve national requirements and social conflicts with fairness, accuracy and expertise in accident investigations. In order to prevent the recurrence of similar events, Korea needs to efficiently reconstruct its investigative functions distributed by each government department. In addition, institutional improvement is needed to make general adjustments at the national level, organize and operate control tower for when the accident has happened.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.644-663
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the safety of iodine intake based on ingestion levels and urinary iodine excretion of women of childbearing age (15-45 years old) using data from the 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Methods: Iodine intake was calculated using the 24 hours dietary recall method and urinary iodine excretion. The iodine nutrition database for the analysis of dietary iodine intake was constructed using the food composition database of the Rural Development Administration (RDA), the Korean Nutrition Society (KNS), the Ministries of Food and Drug Safety, China and, Japan. The World Health Organization (WHO) evaluation criteria and hazard quotient (HQ) calculated using biomonitoring equivalents (BE) were applied to evaluate the safety of the iodine intake. Results: Of the study subjects, 15.22% had a urinary iodine concentration level of less than 100 ㎍/L, which was diagnosed as deficient, and 48.16% had an excessive iodine concentration of over 300 ㎍/L. Urinary iodine concentration was 878.71 ㎍/L, iodine/creatinine was 589.00 ㎍/g, and iodine/creatinine was significantly higher at the age of 30-45 years. The dietary iodine intake was 273.47 ㎍/day, and the iodine intake calculated from the urinary iodine excretion was 1,198.10 ㎍/day. Foods with a high contribution to iodine intake were vegetables, seafood, seaweed and processed foods. The HQ was 1.665 when the urinary iodine content was > 1,000 ㎍/L. Conclusion: The results of this study implicate that the urinary iodine concentration, rather than the dietary iodine intake, is more appropriate to evaluate the iodine status under the current situation that a comprehensive iodine database for Koreans has not been established.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.315-327
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• 2023

Purpose: Oxaliplatin, a component of the capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (XELOX) regimen, has a more favorable toxicity profile than cisplatin in patients with advanced gastric cancer (GC). However, oxaliplatin can induce sensory neuropathy and cumulative, dose-related toxicities. Thus, the capecitabine maintenance regimen may achieve the maximum treatment effect while reducing the cumulative neurotoxicity of oxaliplatin. This study aimed to compare the survival of patients with advanced GC between capecitabine maintenance and observation after 1st line XELOX chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Sixty-three patients treated with six cycles of XELOX for advanced GC in six hospitals of the Catholic University of Korea were randomized 1:1 to receive capecitabine maintenance or observation. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), analyzed using a two-sided log-rank test stratified at a 5% significance level. Results: Between 2015 and 2020, 32 and 31 patients were randomized into the maintenance and observation groups, respectively. After randomization, the median number of capecitabine maintenance cycles was 6. The PFS was significantly higher in the maintenance group than the observation group (6.3 vs. 4.1 months, P=0.010). Overall survival was not significantly different between the 2 groups (18.2 vs. 16.5 months, P=0.624). Toxicities, such as hand-foot syndrome, were reported in some maintenance group patients. Maintenance treatment was a significant factor associated with PFS in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 0.472; 95% confidence interval, 0.250-0.890; P=0.020). Conclusions: After 6 cycles of XELOX chemotherapy, capecitabine maintenance significantly prolonged PFS compared with observation, and toxicity was manageable. Maintenance treatment was a significant prognostic factor associated with PFS.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.434-441
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• 2007

The aim of this paper is to investigate composition of fatty acids in sweat on purpose of latent fingerprint detectant developing and crime evidence searching. Fingerprint from 5 male donors (aged 29-50 years) were collected. We identified fatty acid components on sweat using methylester mixture (37species) as standard fatty acid and analyzed them by GC-FID. As donor was aged, the level of total fat was found to decrease markedly (aged 20-30 years: 56.4-72.0 %, aged 50 years : 32.4-45.4 %). We identifided 28 species fatty acid, primarilly C16:0(palmitic acid), C16:1 (palmitoleic acid), C18:1n9c(oleic acid), C18:0 (stearic acid), C14:0 (tetradecanoic acid) and all sweats were found to contain C12:0 (lauric acid), C15:0 (pentadecanoic acid), C18:2n6c (linoleic acid), C18:2n6t (linolelaidic acid), C20:0 (arachidic acid), C24:0/C20:5n3 (lignoceric acid/eicosapentaenoic acid), but with differing frequencies and at varying levels. C14:1 (myristoleic acid), C15:1 (pentadecenoic acid), C21:0 (heneicosanoic acid), C22:1n9 (erucic acid) were often observed in sample. Ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid was from 0.94:1 to 2.6:1. And decrease of total fatty acids components caused by loss of saturated fatty acid and monounsaturated fatty acid. In case of sweat amino acids, we detected serine ($0-31.9{\mu}L/mL$), threonine ($0-26.2{\mu}L/mL$), glycine ($0-18.9{\mu}L/mL$) and 20-30 years old, highly protein intake ratio individuals increased (10 times) than 50 years old. We observed greatly individual characterization of amino acid compounds in sweat.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.880-890
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• 2020

Objective: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are known to be at risk of osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between thoracic vertebral bone density measured on chest CT (D_Thorax) and clinical variables, including survival, in patients with COPD. Materials and Methods: A total of 322 patients with COPD were selected from the Korean Obstructive Lung Disease (KOLD) cohort. D_Thorax was measured by averaging the CT values of three consecutive vertebral bodies at the level of the left main coronary artery with a round region of interest as large as possible within the anterior column of each vertebral body using an in-house software. Associations between D_Thorax and clinical variables, including survival, pulmonary function test (PFT) results, and CT densitometry, were evaluated. Results: The median follow-up time was 7.3 years (range: 0.1-12.4 years). Fifty-six patients (17.4%) died. D_Thorax differed significantly between the different Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease stages. D_Thorax correlated positively with body mass index (BMI), some PFT results, and the six-minute walk distance, and correlated negatively with the emphysema index (EI) (all p < 0.05). In the univariate Cox analysis, older age (hazard ratio [HR], 3.617; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.119-6.173, p < 0.001), lower BMI (HR, 3.589; 95% CI, 2.122-6.071, p < 0.001), lower forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) (HR, 2.975; 95% CI, 1.682-5.262, p < 0.001), lower diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide corrected with hemoglobin (DL_CO) (HR, 4.595; 95% CI, 2.665-7.924, p < 0.001), higher EI (HR, 3.722; 95% CI, 2.192-6.319, p < 0.001), presence of vertebral fractures (HR, 2.062; 95% CI, 1.154-3.683, p = 0.015), and lower D_Thorax (HR, 2.773; 95% CI, 1.620-4.746, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with all-cause mortality and lung-related mortality. In the multivariate Cox analysis, lower D_Thorax (HR, 1.957; 95% CI, 1.075-3.563, p = 0.028) along with older age, lower BMI, lower FEV₁, and lower DL_CO were independent predictors of all-cause mortality. Conclusion: The thoracic vertebral bone density measured on chest CT demonstrated significant associations with the patients' mortality and clinical variables of disease severity in the COPD patients included in KOLD cohort.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.349-355
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• 2016

This study was performed to investigate food safety of 18,446 distribution foods in the northern Gyeongii area from 2010 to 2014 year. Food safety analysis was conducted by using Korean food code and food additives code. Fail determination about standards and specifications was 184 cases of 18,446 distribution foods, which represented about 1.00% fail rate of total cases. In the case of collected by food sanitation inspector, fail determination was 124 cases of 13,706 foods and showed about 0.90% fail rate. In the case of requested for food safety inspection, fail determination was 42 cases of 3,419 foods and showed about 1.23% fail rate. Results of fail determination by years, 61 cases (about 1.66%) detected fail among 3,683 foods in 2010 year, 37 cases (about 0.96%) detected fail among 3,863 foods in 2011 year, 44 cases (about 1.18%) detected fail among 3,721 foods in 2012 year, 25 cases (about 0.68%) detected fail among 3,669 foods in 2013 year, and 17 cases (about 0.48%) detected fail among 3,510 foods in 2014 year. In distribution of fail rate by month, september was showed the highest fail rate at 2.54% compared with other months. Fail determination by type of foods showed that 23 cases of perilla oil detected fail in 204 foods (about 11.27%), 32 cases of sesame oil detected fail in 394 foods (about 8.12%), 9 cases of pickles detected fail in 177 foods (about 5.08%), and 10 cases of red pepper powder detected fail in 283 foods (about 3.53%). For analysis of fail determination by examination items, microorganism was 28 fail cases (15.22%) and that was the highest level among examination items, linolenic acid and acid value were 27 fail cases (14.67%), iodine value was 19 fail cases (10.33%), content amount was 16 fail cases (8.70%), and sulfur dioxide was 9 fail cases (4.89%). In conclusion, the result of this study indicate that various fail determination items were detected of distribution foods on the market during the past five years and it was showed to higher hazard occurrence potential due to food. Therefore, more strict food safety control will be need for improving human health by prevent food health problem and ensure food safety.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.322-334
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• 2024

This study investigated the content of heavy metals (Pb, Cd, As, and Hg) and SO₂ and conducted a risk assessment of 1,340 samples of 60 herbs used for food and medicine in Seoul between 2019 and 2023. The analysis was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), a mercury analyzer, and the Monier-Williams method. The mean values and ranges of the heavy metals were as follows: Pb, 0.327 mg/kg (not detectable [ND]-36.933); Cd, 0.083 mg/kg (ND-1.700); As, 0.075 mg/kg (ND-2.200); and Hg, 0.004 mg/kg (ND-0.047). Pb exceeded the permissible limit of 36.933 mg/kg in one sample of Poria Sclerotium. Cd exceeded the permissible limit of 1.700 mg/kg and 0.650 mg/kg in the two samples of Chrysanthemi Zawadskii Herba. The mean and range of SO₂ was 0.75 mg/kg (ND-192.00), with two samples of Gastrodiae Rhizoma exceeding the permissible limit at 192.00 mg/kg and 42.00 mg/kg. Pb was highest in the perithecium (1.377 mg/kg), followed by Cd in the cortex (0.156 mg/kg) and caulis (0.144 mg/kg), As in leaves (0.149 mg/kg), and Hg in the herba (0.009 mg/kg) and leaves (0.009 mg/kg). SO₂ was the highest in the rhizomes (4.12 mg/kg). The Pb, Cd, and Hg levels did not differ significantly between the domestic, Chinese, and imported products; however, As and SO₂ levels were the highest in the Chinese products. As a result of the risk assessment, all the margins of exposure (MOE) values of Pb, except for Poria Sclerotium, were ≥1, indicating that most samples were safe. The hazard index (HI) for Cd, As, and Hg were <100%, indicating a safety level for food and medicine. In addition, the HI for SO₂ did not exceed 1 for any of the items, indicating safe levels.