• 한국동물생명공학회지
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.13-16
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• 2022

The use of animals heavily impacts the mental health of researchers performing the animal experiments. The animal researchers need to take care of animals but also give pain and sacrifice them at the same time. This circumstance can cause a variety of mental stress to the researchers. The stress generated in the laboratory would not only negatively affect the management of animals and the research results, but also would harm the researchers' physical and mental health. Because the feeling of sympathy for animals is a natural feature of humanity, psychological stress following a laboratory animal's death after use is not surprising. It is necessary to revise the relevant laws based on understanding the difficulties of animal researchers in society and to develop related educational programs at the national level to help the psychology and emotions of researchers who conduct animal experiments.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• 제49권sup1호
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• pp.20-27
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• 2016

Background: This study analyzed the association between the volume of heart surgeries and treatment outcomes for hospitals in the last five years. Methods: Hospitals that perform heart surgeries were chosen throughout Korea as subjects using from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The treatment outcome of the heart surgeries was defined as the mortality within 30 postoperative days, while the annual volume of the surgeries was categorized. Logistic regression was used as the statistical analysis method, and the impacts of the variables on the heart surgery treatment outcomes were then analyzed. Results: The chance of death of patients who received surgery in a hospital that performed 50 or more surgeries annually was noticeably lower than patients receiving operations from hospitals that performed fewer than 50 surgeries annually, indicating that the chance of death decreases as the annual volume of heart surgeries in the hospital increases. In particular, the mortality rate in hospitals that performed more than 200 surgeries annually was less than half of that in hospitals that performed 49 or fewer surgeries annually. Conclusion: These results indicate that accumulation of a certain level of heart surgery experience is critical in improving or maintaining the quality of heart surgeries. In order to improve the treatment outcomes of small hospitals, a support policy must be implemented that allows for cooperation with experienced professionals.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.393-399
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• 2019

Objective: This study investigates the impact of multimorbidity on work through a literature review of longitudinal studies. Methods: A systematic review was carried out in the databases Lilacs, SciELO, PAHO, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane. There were no restrictions regarding the year of publication or language to maximize the identification of relevant literature. The quality of studies was assessed by the protocol STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE). Results: An initial database search identified 7522 registries, and at the end of the analysis, 7 manuscripts were included in the review. Several studies have demonstrated direct and indirect impacts of multimorbidity on the health of workers. For this, the number of missed days due to health-related issues was evaluated, as well as the reduction in work productivity of the unhealthy worker, vulnerability of the worker with multimorbidity regarding higher indices of dismissal and recruitment difficulties, and incidence of early retirement and/or receipt of benefits due to disabilities. Conclusions: Multimorbidity has a negative impact on work, with damages to quality of life and work productivity, worsening the absenteeism/presenteeism indices, enhancing the chances of temporary or permanent leaves, and lowering employability and admission of individuals with multimorbidity.

• 근관절건강학회지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.192-202
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the predictive relationships between predictors [(difficulty on daily activities due to arthritis, falls, and pain, grip strength, and activities of daily living (ADLs)], and perceived health in community-living older adults in Korea. Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey design was used. Data were obtained from Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing conducted in 2006. A stratified sample was selected of 5,545 older adults who were over 60 years old for analysis of this study. Descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson's correlations, and multiple regressions were used. Result: Mean age was 70.27 years (SD=7.27) ranged from 60 and 105 years old. Perceived health was significantly associated with grip strength, and ADL. With multiple regression, all main variables explained 22.1% for perceived health. Difficulty on daily activities due to pain was the strongest predictor on perceived health. Grip strength, ADLs, gender, and difficulty on daily activities due to arthritis and falls were also significant predictors on perceived health. Conclusion: When developing nursing intervention to improve perceived health in older adults, their difficulties on daily activities, grip strength, and ADLs should be assessed.

• 한국식품영양학회지
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.297-304
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• 2017

Although adolescents' obesity prevalence increases recently in Korea due to Westernized dietary life, according to social and economic development, and physical activity decline, distorted body image and improper dietary habits are prevalent, because of excessive obsession with weight control, deriving from psychological impacts including appearance supremacy. This study conducted a survey on health oriented awareness and attitude related with dietary habits targeting adolescents, such as high school students and college students, younger than 24, from May 11 to May 29, 2015. In this study, 280 questionnaire copies were collected out of 300 distributed questionnaire copies, and used 269 copies as analysis data, except 11 copies of which responses were inadequate. The results of this study are as follows: First, the high school students showed higher dietary regularity than the college students. Especially, 95.5% of the college students showed very high irregularity of lunch, compared with just 4.5% of the high school students. Second, the adolescents showed distorted perceived body image in comparison with body mass index (BMI). As a result of examining BMI relationship, according to one's own perception on body type, 28.6% of the respondents perceived themselves fat, despite normal BMI, and 40.4% of the respondents perceived themselves normal, despite low BMI. Third, health behavior activities level was higher, as the regularity of breakfast (B=1.093), lunch, (B=0.650), and dinner (B=0.765) was higher. The variable affecting the most ( ${\beta}=0.372$) was the regularity of breakfast. As interest in weight control was higher, health behavior activities was lower. Because over-interest in weight control may be linked with improper dietary habits or weight control, a caution is needed. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as the basic data for the policy and health-oriented program development to improve adolescents' health behavior practice.

• 대한가정학회지
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• 제43권8호
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• pp.55-68
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of negative life events on mental health and to explore possible main and moderating effects of spousal support on mental health with a focus on gender differences. The data for this study were taken from a nationwide random sample of 1,504 married men and women ranging in age from 30 to 59 through structured questionnaires. The data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN program which was used to calculate frequency, mean, 1-test, multiple regressions. The main results were as follows: First, by examining mental health of Korean men and women, women were more likely than men to experience higher levels of depression. Second, there was no gender difference in the sum of experience of negative life events, therefore the date of this study did not support the differential exposure hypothesis. In addition, men perceived more support from their spouses than women. Third, results show that especially the event concerning with job/financial problems has negative impacts on mental health of both men and women, and vulnerability to undesirable life events was not found. Fourth, spousal support is associated with better mental health regardless of gender, and it reduces the harmful effects of life events concerning with job/financial area for both men and women. Also, spousal support reduces the magnitude of the harmful effects of life events concerning with health of men. This study focused on the impact of negative life events and the couple process. It was possible to explore the strength of social support provided from spouse of most importance to the individuals. These results affirm the importance of supportive relationships between couples as a buffer, mitigating harmful effects of negative life events on mental health.

• 한국물환경학회지
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.144-154
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• 2007

The acute and chronic toxicity of ambient and effluent water discharged to Lake Shihwa were investigated by using Vibrio fischeri, Daphnia magna and Oryzias latipes. Physicochemical characteristics including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and nine heavy metals in a total of 15 water samples were evaluated and were satisfied with relevant Korean Water Quality Standards (KWQS) except for Hg in one sample. Acute toxicity was observed in five samples collected from three sampling locations. When impacts on reproduction and growth after chronic exposure were evaluated with D. magna, all the samples showed significant chronic effects. Reproduction appeared relatively more sensitive endpoint. In 21 days chronic tests on O. latipes, survival, mean egg number per female per day, hatching success rate and time to hatch were affected by increasing sample concentration. The organ-level changes such as gonadosomatic index (GSI), and hepatosomatic index (HSI), and molecular biomarker of vitellogenin (Vtg) induction that evaluated with O. latipes increased as exposure concentrations increased. It is noteworthy that the samples that did not exceed the KWQS resulted in acute and chronic toxicities. The results suggested that numeric criteria based on physicochemical parameters may not be protective of aquatic ecosystem. Acute and chronic toxicity tests with organisms representing different trophic groups should be supplemented in order to provide adequate level of environmental protection.

• 한국직업건강간호학회지
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.145-155
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of customer violence experiences, protection systems, and monitoring systems on the subjective health status of salespersons and electronic machine repairers. Methods: A total of 934 persons were sampled nationwide, including 582 salespersons and 352 electronic machine repairers, from March 2~30, 2020 and asked to fill out a self-reported questionnaire. Results: The findings show that electronic machine repairers were more exposed to customer violence and had a weaker protection system than salespersons. They also experienced severe control from management through a monitoring system. The regression analysis revealed that verbal violence had a negative impact on the subjective health status of electronic machine repairers (p=.021). A worker protection system had significant effects on the improved subjective health status of salespersons (p=.009). Depression and fatigue had negative impacts on the subjective health status of both salespersons (depression: p<.001, fatigue: p<.001) and electronic machine repairers (depression: p<.001, fatigue: p=.002). Conclusion: These findings put a greater emphasis on the need for worker protection systems to prevent workplace violence and a health promotion program to manage depression and fatigue in workplaces.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.53-74
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• 2024

The proliferation of health misinformation gained momentum amidst the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). People stuck in their homes, without work pressure, regardless of health concerns towards personal, family, or peer groups, consistently demanded information. People became engaged with misinformation while attempting to find health information content. This study used the content analysis method and analyzed 1,154 misinformation stories from four prominent signatories of the International Fact-Checking Network during the pandemic. The study finds the five main categories of misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These are 1) the severity of the virus, 2) cure, prevention, and treatment, 3) myths and rumors about vaccines, 4) health authorities' guidelines, and 5) personal and social impacts. Various sub-categories supported the content characteristics of these categories. The study also analyzed the emotional valence of health misinformation. It was found that misinformation containing negative sentiments got higher engagement during the pandemic. Positive and neutral sentiment misinformation has less reach. Surprise, fear, and anger/aggressive emotions highly affected people during the pandemic; in general, people and social media users warning people to safeguard themselves from COVID-19 and creating a confusing state were found as the primary motivation behind the propagation of misinformation. The present study offers valuable perspectives on the mechanisms underlying the spread of health-related misinformation amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. It highlights the significance of discerning the accuracy of information and the feelings it conveys in minimizing the adverse effects on the well-being of public health.

• 한국무역상무학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국무역상무학회 2006년도 제35회 하계 정기세미나
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• pp.45-72
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• 2006

The Equator Principles are a set of voluntary environmental and social guidelines for ethical project finance. These principles commit banks and other signatories to not finance projects that fail to meet these guidelines. The principles were conceived in 2002 on an initiative of the International Finance Corporation and launched in 2003. Since then, dozens of major banks have adopted the Principles, and with these banks among them accounting for more than three quarters of all project loan market volume the Principles have become the de facto standard for all banks and investors on how to deal with potential social and environmental effects of projects to be financed. While regarding the Principles an important initiative, NGOs have criticised the Principles for not producing real changes in financing activities and for allowing projects to go through that should have been screened out by the Principles, such as the Sakhalin-II oil and gas project in Russia. In early 2006, a process of revision of the principles was begun. The Equator Principles state that endorsing banks will only provide loans directly to projects under the following circumstances: - The risk of the project is categorized in accordance with internal guidelines based upon the environmental and social screening criteria of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). - For all medium or high risk projects (Category A and B projects), sponsors complete an Environmental Assessment, the preparation of which must meet certain requirements and satisfactorily address key environmental and social issues. - The Environmental Assessment report addresses baseline environmental and social conditions, requirements under host country laws and regulations, applicable international treaties and agreements, sustainable development and use of renewable natural resources, protection of human health, cultural properties, and biodiversity, including endangered species and sensitive ecosystems, use of dangerous substances, major hazards, occupational health and safety, fire prevention and life safety, socio-economic impacts, land acquisition and land use, involuntary resettlement, impacts on indigenous peoples and communities, cumulative impacts of existing projects, the proposed project, and anticipated future projects, participation of affected parties in the design, review and implementation of the project, consideration of feasible environmentally and socially preferable alternatives, efficient production, delivery and use of energy, pollution prevention and waste minimization, pollution controls (liquid effluents and air emissions) and solid and chemical waste management. - Based on the Environmental Assessment, Equator banks then make agreements with their clients on how they mitigate, monitor and manage those risks through an 'Environmental Management Plan'. Compliance with the plan is required in the covenant. If the borrower doesn't comply with the agreed terms, the bank will take corrective action, which if unsuccessful, could ultimately result in the bank canceling the loan and demanding immediate repayment. - For risky projects, the borrower consults with stakeholders (NGO's and project affected groups) and provides them with information on the risks of the project. - If necessary, an expert is consulted. The Principles only apply to projects over 50 million US dollars, which, according to the Equator Principles website, represent 97% of the total market. In early 2006, the financial institutions behind the Principles launched stakeholder consultations and negotiations aimed at revising the principles. The draft revised principles were met with criticism from NGO stakeholders, who in a joint position paper argued that the draft fails by ignoring the most serious critiques of the principles: a lack of consistent and rigorous implementation.