• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.27-38
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• 2020

Background : The study aimed at examining the awareness and satisfaction level of Korean medicine treatment of musculoskeletal patients and non-musculoskeletal patients. Method : The frequency and percentage were calculated to identify the overall characteristics, and to identify the characteristics of the respondents who visited the hospital to treat musculoskeletal diseases and those who visited for the treatment of non-musculoskeletal diseases, the correlation between the variables was analyzed using the chi-square analysis (χ2-test). Furthermore, analysis items were compared depending on detailed diseases within the musculoskeletal disorder (lumbar pain, sprains, arthritis, frozen shoulders, spondylitis, disc) Result : Respondents who used Korean medicine for the purpose of treating musculoskeletal diseases had answered that costs involved in Korean medicine was expensive, and answered that herbal decoction was the preferred Korean medicine treating method for expanding health insurance benefits. Regarding the safety awareness of Korean medicinal herbs, responses that said it was safe was high, and their willingness to use and recommend Korean medicine in future was also high. Respondents who used Korean medicine for the purpose of treating musculoskeletal diseases said they were overall satisfied along with the attitude of Korean medical doctors, treatment results, and costs of treatments. Conclusion : The study was aimed at securing basic data to indirectly identify the national demand for Korean medicine, through investigating the level and degree of differences that exist in the perception and satisfication level and further find a point where policy intervention is possible in future.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.163-170
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• 2022

Background: Personal mobility devices (PMDs) have become an increasingly popular transport modality globally. With increasing social interest in and demand for PMDs, the number of individuals visiting emergency departments with PMD-related injuries has also increased annually. This study aimed to evaluate injury patterns and treatment costs for patients treated in the department of plastic surgery in a trauma center. Methods: In this retrospective study, data concerning patients with PMD-related injuries from January 2017 to December 2021 were reviewed. The data retrieved included age, sex, alcohol consumption, helmet use, the type of impact, onset of injury, place of first visit, type of injury, admission status, operation status, and treatment cost. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the effects of various factors on cost. Results: Data were collected from 93 patients. Until 2019, the annual number of PMD-related accidents was less than 10; however, this number increased sharply in 2020. The average cost of hospitalization was USD 7,698 whereas the average cost of non-hospitalization was USD 631. Only fractures had a significant association with total cost in linear regression analysis (p< 0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of PMD use and related injuries requiring plastic surgery during the study period showed significant health and financial costs both to the patients involved and to society. This cost could be reduced through stricter regulations concerning PMD use, advocating the use of protective gear, and promoting greater awareness of safety measures and of the consequences of PMD-related accidents.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the experience and perception of using Korean medicine treatments for patients with mental disorders. Methods: The method of a qualitative analysis was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The researchers developed the survey questionnaires with consultation from psychiatrists from various university hospitals. Before conducting interviews, an IRB was approved KHSIRB-21-131 (RA), and the Hankook Research Company managed the interviews. The question composition comprised 11 questions based on symptoms and treatment situations accompanying treatment due to mental distress, perception of Korean medicine, awareness of treatment costs, and awareness of treatment costs. Results: A total of six patients were interviewed. Each interviewee took 90 minutes to answer questions. Through the analysis of the data, the patients comprised four categories: characteristics, awareness of Korean medicine, awareness of Western treatment, and daily life due to mental disorder. The experience and perception of patients using Korean medicine showed positive attitudes. There was an opinion among patients that Korean medicine treatment was less dependent on drugs, and had fewer side effects, than Western medicine. Some patients said that Korean medical treatment is expensive and burdensome medical expenses. Some patients were not aware of the application of insurance to mitigate medical expenses. Conclusions: Based on the findings of the study, it is urgent to expand the application of insurance benefits to Korean medicine.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.51-59
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• 2023

Purpose: We evaluated the status of patients enrolled in South Korea's pediatric palliative care pilot project based on the experience of a single center. This study examined factors related to end-of-life services and differences in medical costs. Methods: The medical records of 120 patients referred by a pediatric palliative care team were analyzed retrospectively. Data from July 1 to February 28, 2022 were collected and analyzed using the chi-square test and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Volunteer programs and psychological support (100%), family support and education (99.2%), and financial support through institutional linkage (62.5%) were provided to the participants. In the deceased group, there were no significant differences in general characteristics, which included age, gender, primary disease, religion, duration of hospitalization in an intensive care unit (ICU) and non-intensive care unit (non-ICU). However, the ICU group had fewer opportunities to access individual pain and physical symptom management than the non-ICU group and there were limitations in linking with external resources. Medical expenses were significantly different for the ICU group, with a 3-times higher average cost than the non-ICU group. Conclusion: Although an individualized approach is needed for each patient in pediatric palliative care, psychosocial care is essential. In addition, if early intervention for end-of-life pediatric patients is available from a palliative care team, the cost burden of medical care for patients and their families should be minimal.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.32-41
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• 2016

The accelerated aging population may lead to the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and increase in medical costs as well. The aim of this study is to investigate the association with prevalence of metabolic abnormalities and its components in urban/rural area among Korean elderly. We examined the association between metabolic abnormalities and urban/rural area with data from the 2009 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects were 1,622 elderly aged 65 years or over. The sixty percent of Korean elderly reside in urban and 40 % in rural. Rural residents were significantly lower income and less educated than urban residents. But there was no significant different in nutritional factors. They showed significantly 26% lower likelihood of having metabolic syndrome (0.578-0.950, p=0.018) compared with urban residents. Urban residents were associated with higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome than rural residents. This results will contribute to develop strategy for prevention metabolic syndrome for Korean elderly according to urban/rural area.

• Ceramist
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.293-301
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• 2018

Paper-based analytical devices (${\mu}PAD$) are highly advantageous for portable diagnostic systems owing to their low costs and ease of use. ${\mu}PADs$ are considered as the best candidates for realizing the World Health Organization (WHO) ASSURED criteria: affordable, sensitive, specific, user-friendly, rapid and robust, equipment-free, and deliverable to end users. However, they have several limitations such as low sensitivity and accuracy. This article reports a mini review for a micro-fluidic paper-based analytical devices (${\mu}PAD$), especially for addressing low sensitivity and accuracy issues.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.87-101
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• 2010

Software as a service (SaaS) is one of the most-talked about trends in IT. Unlike traditional perpetual licensing model, software applications are sold on subscription bases and services are provided over web by the vendors. It is said that SaaS can make vendors to invest more on R&D than on marketing while offering its customers better quality software applications at lower costs. By empirically comparing vendors providing their software applications either by SaaS or by traditional perpetual licensing model, we examine whether or not SaaS really increases overall customer benefits in terms of cost efficiency, software quality, and customization. We show that SaaS may not provide better quality or cost efficient software applications than perpetual licensing does. Then we provide two practical tools which are useful for customers to evaluate whether SaaS is better than perpetual licensing for the purposes of software applications they want to adopt.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.46-50
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• 2011

Wind energy, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely distributed, clean, and produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation. However, the construction of wind farms is not universally welcomed because of their visual impact, competing land use, comprising human health impacts, building and crop damage, loss of amenities and ecological impact, impact on wildlife, danger to birds, safety hazard, aesthetics and noise. Offshore wind power, in particular, offers a huge potential to generate clean energy. However, the envisaged massive expansion of wind farms in oceans is already causing severe environmental conflicts. Wind farms cause further harm to already threatened oceans. Wind power has negligible fuel costs, but a high capital cost. The expansion of climate-friendly wind energy use both onshore and offshore can only be successful it the legal and organizational conditions undergo some clear improvements.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.241-248
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• 2014

The accuracy and noninvasive nature of the doubly labeled water (DLW) method makes it ideal for the study of human energy metabolism in free-living conditions. However, the DLW method is not always practical in many developing and Asian countries because of the high costs of isotopes and equipment for isotope analysis as well as the expertise required for analysis. This review provides information about the theoretical background and practical aspects of the DLW method, including optimal dose, basic protocols of two-and multiple-point approaches, experimental procedures, and isotopic analysis. We also introduce applications of DLW data, such as determining the equations of estimated energy requirement and validation studies of energy intake.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.337-342
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• 2012

The medical industries are integrated with information technology with mobile devices and wireless communication. The advent of mobile healthcare systems can benefit patients and hospitals, by not only providing better quality of patient care, but also by reducing administrative and medical costs for both patients and hospitals. Security issues present an interesting research topic in wireless and pervasive healthcare networks. As information technology is developed, many organizations such as government agencies, public institutions, and corporations have employed an information system to enhance the efficiency of their work processes. For the past few years, healthcare organizations throughout the world have been adopting health information systems (HIS) based on the wireless network infrastructure. As a part of the wireless network, a mobile agent has been employed at a large scale in hospitals due to its outstanding mobility. Several vulnerabilities and security requirements related to mobile devices should be considered in implementing mobile services in the hospital environment. Secure authentication and protocols with a mobile agent for applying ubiquitous sensor networks in a healthcare system environment is proposed and analyzed in this paper.