• Title/Summary/Keyword: institutional evaluation

Search Result 341, Processing Time 0.031 seconds

Evaluation of response to stereotactic radiosurgery in patients with radioresistant brain metastases

  • Sayan, Mutlay;Mustafayev, Teuta Zoto;Sahin, Bilgehan;Kefelioglu, Erva Seyma Sare;Wang, Shang-Jui;Kurup, Varsha;Balmuk, Aykut;Gungor, Gorkem;Ohri, Nisha;Weiner, Joseph;Ozyar, Enis;Atalar, Banu
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
    • /
    • v.37 no.4
    • /
    • pp.265-270
    • /
    • 2019
  • Purpose: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and melanoma have been considered 'radioresistant' due to the fact that they do not respond to conventionally fractionated radiation therapy. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) provides high-dose radiation to a defined target volume and a limited number of studies have suggested the potential effectiveness of SRS in radioresistant histologies. We sought to determine the effectiveness of SRS for the treatment of patients with radioresistant brain metastases. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of our institutional database to identify patients with RCC or melanoma brain metastases treated with SRS. Treatment response were determined in accordance with the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Results: We identified 53 radioresistant brain metastases (28% RCC and 72% melanoma) treated in 18 patients. The mean target volume and coverage was 6.2 ± 9.5 mL and 95.5% ± 2.9%, respectively. The mean prescription dose was 20 ± 4.9 Gy. Forty lesions (75%) demonstrated a complete/partial response and 13 lesions (24%) with progressive/stable disease. Smaller target volume (p < 0.001), larger SRS dose (p < 0.001), and coverage (p = 0.008) were found to be positive predictors of complete response to SRS. Conclusion: SRS is an effective management option with up to 75% response rate for radioresistant brain metastases. Tumor volume and radiation dose are predictors of response and can be used to guide the decision-making for patients with radioresistant brain metastases.

Ergonomic Assessment for Manual Materials Handling of Livestock Feed by Elderly Farmers in Korea

  • Kim, Insoo;Lee, Kyung-Suk;Kim, Kyung-Ran;Chae, Hye-Seon;Kim, Sungwoo
    • Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
    • /
    • v.34 no.3
    • /
    • pp.279-291
    • /
    • 2015
  • Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate appropriate weight for aged farmers in manually handling livestock feed in bags using ergonomic methods. Background: In the livestock industry in South Korea, despite the trend of aging of labor manpower, heavy items are still manually handled in many farms. In particular, among stockbreeding works, the handling of feed in bags weighing 25~30kg is reported as a cause of frequent injuries and musculoskeletal system diseases. However, studies on the standard for recommended weight allowed considering the physical characteristics of aged farmers older than 60 years with greatly decreased physical strength and muscle strength are insufficient. Method: To evaluate appropriate weight for handling of heavy livestock feed in bags, physical techniques for measuring recognized levels of physical work loads, the NLE (NIOSH lifting equation) a method that is an observation type technique, and an ergonomic modeling technique to predict compressive force imposed on L5/S1 were used. Subjects who participated in the experiment were organized into two groups of males/females with mean age exceeding 60 years, and lifting tasks were evaluated for nine weight levels. Results: Based on the results of psychophysical measurement, females showed a tendency of more drastic increases compared to males when weight was over 19kg. The results of estimation of regression models for the weight, 18.0 kg ($r^2=0.97$) and 15.3kg ($r^2=0.97$) were evaluated as stable load for males and females, respectively. In addition, both the observation type evaluation and ergonomic model evaluation showed stable loads in a range of 15~18kg. Conclusion: Given the results of the study, the weight of the feed in bags currently distributed to farms can become a cause of not only overexertion but also farm work related disasters such as musculoskeletal disorders and safety accidents. Providing livestock feed in bags weighing not more than 19kg for aged farmers is judged desirable, and managerial improvement for this matter is considered necessary. Application: The results of the present study can be utilized as useful data for institutional improvement of the weight of livestock feed in bags.

Identification of Patients with Microscopic Hematuria who are at Greater Risk for the Presence of Bladder Tumors Using a Dedicated Questionnaire and Point of Care Urine Test - A Study by the Members of Association of Urooncology, Turkey

  • Turkeri, Levent;Mangir, Naside;Gunlusoy, Bulent;Yildirim, Asif;Baltaci, Sumer;Kaplan, Mustafa;Bozlu, Murat;Mungan, Aydin
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
    • /
    • v.15 no.15
    • /
    • pp.6283-6286
    • /
    • 2014
  • In patients with microscopic hematuria there is a need for better identification of those who are at greater risk of harbouring bladder tumors. The RisikoCheck(C) questionnaire has a strong correlation with the presence of urothelial carcinoma (UC) of the bladder and in combination with other available tests may help identify patients who require detailed clinical investigations due to increased risk of presence of bladder tumors. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of RisikoCheck(C) questionnaire together with NMP-22(R) (BladderChek(R)) as a point-of-care urine test in predicting the presence of bladder tumors in patients presenting with microscopic hematuria as the sole finding. In this multi-institutional prospective evaluation of 303 consecutive patients without a history of urothelial carcinoma (UC), RisikoCheck(C) risk group assessment, urinary tract imaging and cystourethroscopy as well as urine cytology and Nuclear Matrix Protein-22 (NMP-22 BladderChek) testing were performed where available. The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive values (PPV) for the risk adapted approach were calculated. All patients underwent cystoscopy, and tumors were detected in 18 (5.9%). Urine cytology and NMP-22 was positive for malignancy in 9 (3.2%) and 12 (7.5%) of patients, respectively. A total of 43 (14%) patients were in the high risk group according to the RisikoCheck(C) questionnaire. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire in detecting a bladder tumor was 61.5 % and 84.0 % in the high risk group. In patients with either a positive NMP-22 test or high risk category RisikoCheck(C), 23.6% had bladder tumors with a corresponding sensitivity of 54.2% and specificity of 88.6%. If both tests were negative only 3.3% of the patients had bladder tumors. The results of our study suggest that the efficacy of diagnostic evaluation of patients with microscopic hematuria may be further enhanced by combining RisikoCheck(C) questionnaire with NMP-22.

A Study on the Regulations of National R&D Performance Management System (국가연구개발 성과관리 법제 운영에 관한 소고)

  • Yoon, Chong-Min
    • Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
    • /
    • v.17 no.3
    • /
    • pp.519-539
    • /
    • 2014
  • In order to accomplish the successful performance management of the national research and development programs, it is necessary to establish the legal system that provide a institutional foundation and to set up and practice the relative substantial operating system. This paper aims to study the problems and improvement measures of the Performance Management System in National R&D Programs. For this purpose, the development of legal system on the performance management in national R&D programs was surveyed, the problems in existing laws and ordinances on the performance management were analyzed, and lastly the improvement measures on the legal system of the performance management were suggested. The legal system of performance management is being composed of and managed with The Framework Act On Science And Technology that prescribed the national science and technology policy direction, and Act On The Performance Evaluation And Management Of National Research And Development Projects, Etc. that prescribed the basic policies of performance management process and methods, and Regulations On The Management, Etc. Of The National Research And Development Projects that prescribed the concrete methodologies on performance management. Results of the study, it is necessary that the performance management laws and ordinances need improvement of Compatibility, the object and range of performance management system extend more widely to the whole field of national R&D programs in principle, and the performance management process and methods improve reasonably considering the goal and direction of national R&D policy.

The Evaluation on the Governance of Andong International Mask Dance Festival (안동국제탈춤페스티벌의 거버넌스 특성과 평가)

  • Hwang, Hwa-Seok;Lee, Chul-Woo
    • Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
    • /
    • v.18 no.2
    • /
    • pp.141-160
    • /
    • 2012
  • This paper evaluates the governance of the Andong International Mask Dance Festival. The evaluation focuses on mutual cross-assessment of agents engaging in governance relating to four elements: social justification, reliability, professionalism and transparency. Governance based on co-operative partnership was the essential factor leading to the mask festival's success. Governance of the Andong International Mask Dance Festival in 2011 was privately initiated governance having horizontal and open partnership among festival specialists, civil society organizations, regional business organizations, volunteers and local government, with the Andong Festival Tourism Foundation as the central figure. Three of governance elements were successfully carried through; the exception was transparency. The agents who gave more positive evaluations were those who played leading roles in planning and conducting events, as well as in assessing those events. The reasons for positively assessing the elements are the significance of the festival and the guarantee of agents' participation in social justification; the ability of agents, as well as cognitional and institutional trust in reliability; expert knowledge, capacity to suggest alternatives and duality of business in professionalism; and effective communication, the guarantee of opening of information and information sharing in transparency. To improve the effectiveness of governance, the system for allowing passive agents to contribute usefully should be strengthened. Mutual communication and sharing of information among agents, as well as between agents and residents, also should be more strongly reinforced.

  • PDF

A Review of Laws and Evaluation Criteria on Health, Nutrition, and Safety in Child Care Centers (어린이집 건강과 영양, 안전관리 현황과 과제)

  • Choi, Hye Jin;Nam, Mi Kyoung;Son, Won Kyoung
    • Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
    • /
    • v.10 no.2
    • /
    • pp.43-71
    • /
    • 2014
  • This study reviews recent trends of laws and evaluation criteria of heath, nutrition, and safety in child care centers, and addresses future research directions on them. To this end, we analyzed Child Care Laws, Child Care Acts, Child Care Program Accreditation Standards and Criteria, as well as master's theses, doctoral dissertations and journals that have been published on these issues since 1991. Through a comprehensive and critical review, we revealed three following findings in terms of child heath, nutrition, and safety. First, it is necessary to strengthen regulations for all children's heath, nutrition, and safety, or to discuss measures corresponding to those regulations to provide the best possible care to every child. Second, a careful examination of accreditation standards on health, nutrition and safety found that, although specific actions and criteria on these issues were already prepared, their implementation is not mandatory and the quality of provided health, nutrition and safety is not properly guaranteed. This finding shows that what is still necessary is to devise effective plans for handling institutional frameworks and processes of child care program accreditation standards. Third, among the three categories of health, nutrition, and safety, the topics on safety were found to be studied most frequently, whereas the other two topics were considered much less. It thus indicates that more research on health and nutrition are necessary.

Clinical Study on Pain Index, Radiological Evaluation and MMPI of Traffic Accident Patient (교통사고 환자의 MMPI 및 통증, 영상평가에 대한 임상연구)

  • Kim, Seong-Tae;Song, Min-Young;Kim, Dae-Hun;Lee, Eun-Ji;Kwon, Min-Goo;Sul, Jae-Uk;Kim, Sunjong;Bae, Giljun;Choi, Jin-Bong
    • Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
    • /
    • v.25 no.1
    • /
    • pp.77-85
    • /
    • 2015
  • This study analyzed the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphashic Personality Inventory), VAS (Visual Analogue Scale), cervical and lumbar curvature (Cervical angle, Ishihara Index, Lumbar angle, Ferguson angle) and satisfaction score of patient of traffic accident. About 59 cases of patients admitted to the Korean Medicine hospital, MMPI and pain levels (VAS) cervical and lumbar curvature (Cervical angle, Ishihara Index, lumbar angle, Ferguson angle) and satisfaction score were measured and statistically analyzed. Depending on the type of accident divided into two groups of In car TA and Out car TA. After hospitalization, patient's pain index was improved as a whole. Pain index and evaluation of the cervical and lumbar curvature, according to the accident types, the difference was not statistically significant. In the analysis of the MMPI validity scales, In car TA group was analyzed by 'V-shaped', Out car TA group was analyzed by umbrella- shaped, 'inverted V-shaped'. Clinical scales of out car TA group were analyzed by 3-1 profile compared to the In car TA group. Results of multiple regression analysis showed no association between factors and MMPI scales. In the case of a traffic accident patients, damage to the body, as well as emotional and psychological factors are thought to affect the condition or prognosis of patients. In the future, for the management and treatment of these parts will be needed to complement the academic or institutional.

The application and development of the Evaluation Indicators in accordance with the Planning Stages of Low-Carbon City -in relevance with the stage of urban planning establishment, design and operation of urban structure, management and maintenance- (저탄소 도시계획의 단계별 평가지표 설정 및 적용 연구 -도시계획 수립, 설계 및 운영, 유지·관리 단계를 중심으로-)

  • Oh, Deog-Seong;Sung, Jae-Wook;Lee, Seo-Jeong
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
    • /
    • v.14 no.9
    • /
    • pp.4560-4571
    • /
    • 2013
  • Current global issue of climate change is growing and greenhouse gases occur in most cities. To solve the problem of climate change, the city should be changed to low-carbon structure. Low-carbon city planning is a step-by-step plan from the initial establishment, from design and operation of urban structure, to maintenance and management should be considered as an integrated whole process. Under this background, this study evaluated the whole process of low-carbon urban planning ways. For this step, divided into three steps and eight divisions, 30 sub-indicators are derived. Through domestic and foreign cases analysis studies and survey of the relevant experts, results were derived. In order to improve these points, in the intial planning establishment stage, planning of urban policy and institutional steps should be made and the plan should be appropriate to the local characteristics. In the design and operation of urban structure stage, detailed and feasible approach is needed and maintenance and management stage, participation of various stakeholders, including establishing governance and management practices could see the need.

A study on indicator & criteria for assessment of river environmental naturalness -focused on biological characteristics (하천환경 자연도의 평가지표 및 기준 연구 - 생물적 특성을 중심으로)

  • Chun, Seung Hoon
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
    • /
    • v.52 no.spc2
    • /
    • pp.765-776
    • /
    • 2019
  • The purpose of this study is to provide the legal and institutional guidelines and standards that can be used in the whole river restoration project and to analyze and evaluate the performance of the river project. We constructed an assessment system of four biological taxa that can represent the river environments, namely, evaluation indexes and standards of vegetation and birds, benthic invertebrates and fishes. Specifically, the assessment indicator and criteria of biological characteristics are summarized, so that in case of vegetation community, vegetation diversity, vegetation complexity, and vegetation naturalness can be quantitatively assessed through the combination of three indices. Based on the scientific basis of the advanced techniques, benthic invertebrates, fishes, and birds were proposed to quantitatively evaluate assessment grades according to the classification of biological data. In order to evaluate biological characteristics, which are a part of river environmental naturalness, we proposed a comprehensive biological index and evaluation grade applying the weight of these four biological taxa, and it clearly reflects the characteristics of river environment in test bed.

Evaluation and Improvement Directions of Laws and Regulations Related to Space and Environmental Planning Toward Extended Application of LID in Korea (저영향 개발(LID) 확대 적용을 위한 공간·환경 계획 관련 법·제도 평가 및 개선방향)

  • Son, Cheol Hee;Baek, Jong In;Ban, Yong Un
    • Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
    • /
    • v.34 no.4
    • /
    • pp.49-60
    • /
    • 2018
  • To restore urban water cycle, it is necessary to improve domestic laws and regulations related to LID(Low Impact Development), which has been successfully applied to foreign countries. Thus, this study has intended to evaluate domestic legal systems related to space and environmental planning and to suggest directions to improve laws and regulations related to space and environmental planning toward extended application of LID in Korea. To reach this goal, this study has analyze the legal and institutional status of the foreign countries where LID has currently been applied, to derive the factors that laws and institutions are required to support LID based on the above analysis, to evaluate domestic laws and regulations related to space and environmental planning, and to suggest directions to improve the laws and regulations. After the evaluation, this study has found the following results. First, it was found that the concept and basic principles of LID and LID planning and associated methods were no longer mirrored in the space planning-related laws and regulations. However, these problems are not confined to LID, and result from thefailurein applying environmental planning to space planning overall. Second, it was revealed that the environmental planning-related laws and regulations defined the terminologies and targets of LID and suggested different measures to improve LID-related policies differently depending on the backgrounds ofenforcing thelaws and regulations and on environmental properties. Finally, this study has suggested the directions to improve laws and regulations related to space and environmental planning as follows. First, it is necessary to enact a law to support the extended application of LID. Second, the law to be enacted should be connected to laws, enforcement ordinances and regulations, and guidelines related to space planning. Third, environmental benefits provided by both structural and non-structural techniques of LID should be quantitatively measured.