• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.502-505
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• 2007

To estimate the soil quality of Miryang area, soil analysis were conducted according to the city and out of city of soil expenses at according to analysis components and heavy metal pollution of irradiation sampling sites. The through soil components the principal element about the 71% $SiO_2\;and\;Al_2O_3$, the pH of field area near the city center was lower than that of the other field area, which indicated that this acidification was probably attributed to the acid rain caused by the traffic exhaust gas such as $SO_x\;and\;NO_x$. Acidification was more severe in the field area than in the farming land. The concentration of five heavy metals such as Cu, Cd, Pb, As and Cr were found to be lower than the standard of soil pollution. An assessment using the SPI(Soil Pollution Index), which was developed to estimate an overall soil quality, was performed. Each SPS(Soil Pollution Score) were evaluated with the results of the data from this study. The soil quality of most area of Miryang land was determined to Class 1, which indicated that the soil was healthy.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was to determine the effects of a early exercise program on the pain, disability and balance after single-level lumbar discectomy. Methods: Forty patients were randomized into experimental(N=20) and control(N=20) groups. Three days after surgery, patients in the experimental group undertook a 4-week exercise program. Assessments were performed in all patients during the week before surgery and at 4 weeks after. The assessment included measures of back and leg pain(VAS), Oswestry disability index(ODI), stability index(SI) and weight distribution index(WDI). Results: At 4 weeks, VAS, ODI, SI, WDI were significantly reduced in both groups(p<.01). Also the experimental group was significantly reduced back and leg pain(VAS), ODI and WDI were better than the control group(p<.05). Conclusion: It seems that early exercise program is more effective in patients who undergo single-level lumbar discectomy.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.572-576
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• 2016

Soil quality assessment is an important tool for environmental management in an agricultural field. It can be used to evaluate the health of the soils and to establish the basis for sustainable urban agriculture and soil management. For this study, the chemical properties of the soils used for urban agriculture were examined. Results of the soil analysis for chemical properties were applied to soil quality assessment system, which is composed of principal component analysis, application to scoring function and derivation of soil quality index (SQI). Soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (T-N) were determined for minimum data set (MDS) according to principal component analysis. Based on the results of scoring for four indicators (pH, EC, OM, T-N), soil pH was the indicator that needs the most urgent management. Results of SQI derivation showed that many of the urban farms appeared to be insufficient score in comprehensive soil quality assessment. In conclusion, soil management practices based on scores derived from soil chemical indicators need to be carried out to maintain sustainable urban agricultural soil environment and to provide easy-to-understand information to urban farmers.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.48.1-48.6
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• 2019

Over the last decade, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have provided an unprecedented amount of genetic variations that are associated with various phenotypes. However, previous GWAS were mostly conducted in European populations, and these biased results for non-Europeans may result in a significant reduction in risk prediction for non-Europeans. An issue with the early GWAS was the winner's curse problem, which led to misleading results when constructing the polygenic risk scores (PRS). Therefore, more non-European population-based studies are needed to validate reported variants and improve genetic risk assessment across diverse populations. In this study, we validated 422 variants independently associated with glycemic indexes, liver enzymes, and type 2 diabetes in 125,872 samples from a Korean population, and further validated the results by assessing publicly available summary statistics from European GWAS (n = 898,130). Among the 422 independently associated variants, 284, 320, and 361 variants were replicated in Koreans, Europeans, and either one of the two populations. In addition, the effect sizes for Koreans and Europeans were moderately correlated (r = 0.33-0.68). However, 61 variants were not replicated in both Koreans and Europeans. Our findings provide valuable information on effect sizes and statistical significance, which is essential to improve the assessment of disease risk using PRS analysis.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-47
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• 2024

Background: Korea's population of children and adolescents has decreased by 2.88 million over the past decade and is expected to decline further due to the unprecedented low birth rate. In the fee-for-service compensation system, the decline in the pediatric population relates directly to the profit decrease in the pediatric clinics. This study analyzed whether the worsening profits of pediatric clinics impacted their closure. Methods: We built annual data for pediatric and other department clinics (internal medicine, otolaryngology, and family medicine) using the status of medical institute and health insurance claims data from 2012 to 2022. Then, we analyzed whether institutional variables such as annual profit and regional variables (Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the number of clinics per 100,000, etc.) affected the closure of clinics. The methods used in this study are descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis. Odds ratios for each variable were estimated by generalized estimating equations (GEE). Results: The closure rate of pediatric clinics was 2.66%-7.04% in 2012-2022, which was consistently higher than those of internal medicine, otolaryngology, and family medicine clinics. The profit gap per institution between the pediatric and the other clinics grew from 126 million won in 2012 to 245 million won in 2019. In the GEE analysis, profit decrease compared to the previous year with lower profit was the main factor that increased the closure of pediatric and other department clinics. After adjusting profit-related variables, the decrease in the pediatric population itself did not relate to the closure of pediatric clinics. The number of pediatric clinics or monopolies also did not affect the closure of pediatric clinics. Conclusion: The worsening profit is the crucial factor for the closure of pediatric clinics, while the pediatric population is decreasing. For this reason, it is necessary to actively seek ways to maintain a stable treatment system for children and adolescents.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.69-93
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• 2014

The aim of this research was to develop a climate change vulnerability index at the district level (Si, Gun, Gu) with respect to the health care sector in Korea. The climate change vulnerability index was esimated based on the four major causes of climate-related illnesses : vector, flood, heat waves, and air pollution/allergies. The vulnerability assessment framework consists of six layers, all of which are based on the IPCC vulnerability concepts (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) and the pathway of direct and indirect impacts of climate change modulators on health. We collected proxy variables based on the conceptual framework of climate change vulnerability. Data were standardized using the min-max normalization method. We applied the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) weight and aggregated the variables using the non-compensatory multi-criteria approach. To verify the index, sensitivity analysis was conducted by using another aggregation method (geometric transformation method, which was applied to the index of multiple deprivation in the UK) and weight, calculated by the Budget Allocation method. The results showed that it would be possible to identify the vulnerable areas by applying the developed climate change vulnerability assessment index. The climate change vulnerability index could then be used as a valuable tool in setting climate change adaptation policies in the health care sector.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.5-18
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• 2019

Purpose: Frailty is associated with an increased risk of adverse health outcomes. We aimed to review the relationships between frailty and health outcomes in community-dwelling Korean elderly individuals. Methods: Whittemore and Knafls' framework for conducting integrative reviews was used. PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and six Korean databases were searched. For analysis, the study included articles written in English and Korean published between January 1960 and June 2018. Of the total 1,488 studies found in the databases, we analyzed 15 studies that met the quality of the evaluation criteria. Results: The prevalence of frailty in Korean elderly individuals ranged from 6.5% to 11.7% when divided into three levels of frailty. The health outcomes assessed in relation to frailty were divided into five domains: quality of life, physical health, psychosocial health, health behavior, and health care quality. Frailty was negatively associated with all five domains. Conclusions: Our study suggested that nurses should be aware of the limitations in the physical and cognitive functions of frail elderly individuals and provide tailored interventions for Korean elderly individuals. Furthermore, a large-scale study is needed to develop the Korean model of the frailty assessment tool and to verify the conceptual model of this study.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.772-781
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• 2012

In order to supply the reference data to define the quality of life of the rural agricultural elderly population in the simplified steps, the data were collected by personal visits to 232 elder people over 65 (89 males and 143 females) in Sunchang area. The survey was conducted with written questionnaires concerning the quality of life, health-related habits, basic physical functions and cognitive behavior. The prevalence of the degenerative diseases were assessed by anthropometric and biochemical determinations. The averaged overall quality of life represented by EQ-5D index with Nam's model was calculated to be $0.865{\pm}0.1509$, and the percentages of people below the average were 38% (low QOL group) and 62% (high QOL group) were found to be the above the average. Generally, the subjects with male gender, higher educational background, higher self-rated health status, higher social activities were belonged to the high QOL group. The high QOL group had higher scores of daily living activities KADL and IADL, and lower risks in cognitive functions K-MMSE and depression scale GDS. There was no statistically significant correlation between biochemical indexes of blood and cognitive function and EQ-5D scores when the results were adjusted for age and gender. There were significant differences in nutritional assessment determined by the MNA between the high and low QOL groups. The low QOL group showed inferior nutritional status. The rapidly measurable factors of the quality of life of rural elderly were turned out to be physical activity scores and the simplified nutritional status measurement.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with panic disorder using EQ-5D and EQ-VAS, and to examine the relationship between health-related quality of life and clinical outcomes following treatment. Methods : 29 patients with panic disorder were recruited from the Seoul Metropolitan area and 20 patients were followed up after two months of outpatient treatment. The Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) was used to assess the severity of the panic disorder and the changes in symptoms. HRQoL was assessed with EQ-5D and EQ-VAS at baseline and at two months of treatment. Results : All enrolled panic disorder patients showed significantly impairment of HRQoL in view of the subscales of EQ-5D, EQ-VAS index scores. The severity of PDSS was correlated the HRQoL in the panic patients. After treatment, the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS index scores showed significant improvement. Conclusion : Panic disorder patients suffer from lower HRQoL as well as from symptoms of the disorder. They showed clinical improvement and a restored HRQoL with treatment. These outcomes suggest using the EQ-5D, EQ-VAS such as the HRQoL in the assessment of patients with panic disorder is essential.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.210-218
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the nutritional status of elderly individuals according to their household types and to investigate the predictors of their nutritional status. Methods: This study, which was a descriptive research study, involved physical measurements, surveys, and biochemical tests in 87 elderly individuals living in the community. Using SPSS/Win 24.0, logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the general characteristics, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), mini nutritional assessment (MNA) score, and biochemical indicators in elderly individuals according to the household type. Results: Elderly individuals living with family members had higher MNA scores than those of elderly individuals living alone, while showing lower levels of systolic blood pressure and fasting blood sugar. The results of the logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors were MNA scores (odds ratio (OR)=1.81, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.36-2.42), systolic blood pressure (OR=0.96, 95% CI=0.92-1.00), and fasting blood glucose (OR=0.94, 95% CI=0.90-0.99). Conclusion: It was confirmed that elderly individuals living alone need differentiated nutrition intervention, since the results showed that they had lower nutritional levels and improper nutritional management than that in elderly individuals living with family members.