• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.321-330
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• 1999

Background : Early diagnosis and proper antibiotic treatment are very important in the management of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) because of its high mortality. Bronchoscopy with a protected specimen brush (PSB) has been considered the standard method to isolate the causative organisms of VAP. However, this method burdens consumer economically to purchase a PSB. Another useful method for the diagnosis of VAP is quantitative cultures of aspirated specimens through bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), for which the infusion of more than 120 m1 of saline has been recommended for adequate sampling of a pulmonary segment. However, occasionally it leads to deterioration of the patient's condition. We studied the diagnostic efficacy of minibronchoalveolar lavage (miniBAL), which retrieves only 25 ml of BAL fluid, in the isolation of causative organisms of VAP. Methods: We included 38 consecutive patients (41 cases) suspected of having VAP on the basis of clinical evidence, who had received antibiotics before the bronchoscopy. The two diagnostic techniques of PSB and miniBAL, which were performed one after another at the same pulmonary segment, 'were compared prospectively. The cut-off values for quantitative cultures to define causative bacteria of VAP were more than $10^3$ colony-forming units (cfu)/ml for PSB and more than $10^4$ cfu/ml for BAL. Results: The amount of instilled normal saline required to retrieve 25 ml of BAL fluid was $93{\pm}32 ml$ (mean${\pm}$SD). The detection rate of causative agents was 46.3% (19/41) with PSB and 43.9% (18/41) with miniBAL. The concordance rate of PSB and miniBAL in the bacterial culture was 85.4% (35/41). Although arterial blood oxygen saturation dropped significantly (p<0.05) during ($92{\pm}10%$) and 10 min after ($95{\pm}3%$) miniBAL compared with the baseline ($97{\pm}3%$), all except 3 cases were within normal ranges. The significantly elevated heart rate during ($l25{\pm}24$/min, p<0.05) miniBAL compared with the baseline ($1l1{\pm}22$/min) recovered again in 10 min after ($111{\pm}26$/min) miniBAL. Transient hypotension was developed during the procedure in two cases. The procedure was stopped in one case due to atrial flutter. Conclusion: MiniBAL is a safe and effective technique to detect the causative organisms of VAP.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2006

There are many functions of glasses. Not only as a medical instrument but also for decorative purpose and individuality as a mean of expression. The concept of glasses applied according to various purposes and use. Following the designers' point of view, the most important research task is to make products substantial and convenient rather than external beauty after analysis problems and the needs of customers. Because customers ask for the best quality of design all the time. The best design of glass includes essential conditions like; creativity, satisfaction, convenience of use, identity. These conditions are common elements of glasses in both domestic and foreign markets. Also they can be a catalyst to stimulate glasses industry in Korea. First of all to study tho parts of glasses "End Piece", it is essential to consider for a better design. Because it adjusts the center of glasses weight balance for user's comfort. Since many brands are imitated, the significance of "End piece" is of a great importance resulting in a more successful competitiveness.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.12
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• pp.5113-5119
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• 2010

Anthropometry has been broadly explored in various fields including automobile industry, home electronic appliances, medical appliances and sports goods with aiming at reaching satisfaction to consumer's need and efficiency. However, current technologies to measure a human body still have barriers in which the methods mostly seem to be contingent on expensive devices such as scanner and digital measuring instruments and to be directly touchable to the body when obtaining body size.. Therefore, in this paper, we present a general method to automatically extract size of body from a real body image acquired from a camera and to utilize it into recommend systems including clothing and bicycle fitting. At first, Haar-like features and AdaBoost algorithm are employed to detect body position. Then features of body can be recognized using AAM. Finally clothing and bicycle recommending modules have been implemented and experimented to validate the proposed method.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.10-14
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• 1999

The World Association for Sexology (WAS) will adopt a Declaration of Sexual Rights as basic and fundamental human rights August this year in Hong Kong. Two years ago WAS has been developing a Declaration of Sexual Rights in order to further promote sexual health and protect the sexual rights of everyone. Undoubtedly sexuality is one of the most intriguing subjects in the area of human behavior and psychology, and has been so since antiquity. The influence of sexual factors of human on all aspects of the society has been immense. The varieties of marriage, from traditional to the open marriage model are presented in front of our sight. The influences of women's movement in Korea, which has produced sexual, psychological, economic, political, familial and social changes look so small and the changes are not that much in America. But the profound effects of the women's movement affect on Korean society being realized as man's view of woman and woman's view of herself undergo constant change and reevaluation. With increased sexual awareness on the part of the public owing to mass media, for example AH-U-SEONG aired in TV and with increased emphasis on sexual matters in daily life, more and more physicians are being asked to deal with and manage sex-related problems in their daily practice. Yet, despite the obvious need for informed sexual counseling, doctors are often uncomfortable about sexual matters and many physicians have no special expertise in this area. So physicians concerned in sexology especially such as gynecologists, urologists, psychiatrists and endocrinologists must realize well about sex-related knowledge which is needed for counseling the patient as medical consumer and gap between reality and ideality in sexual diagnosis and treatment. Establishment of management system for the people who have sexual problems is strongly needed to promote sexual health and protect the sexual rights of everyone and for the Sexual Rights as basic and fundamental human rights.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

Ginseng is being distributed in 35 countries around the world and there are differences by each country in the distribution volume and amount. However, since there is no accurate statistics on production and distribution amount by each country, it is very difficult to predict the world ginseng market. Ginseng trading companies and governments are in desperate need of comprehensive data that shows the world ginseng market status for sales and marketing. For that reason, this study will look into the approximate size of the world ginseng market based on recent ginseng distribution amount by each country and production by major ginseng producing nations. In addition, the review sets an opportunity to check the status of ginseng (Korea) in the world and presents future direction by examining recent history of ginseng development in Korea, which is one of the world's largest ginseng distributers. Since ginseng is cultivated in limited areas due to its growth characteristics, ginseng distributing countries can be divided based on whether they grow it domestically or not. In general, four countries including South Korea, China, Canada, and the US are the biggest producers and their total production of fresh ginseng is approximately 79,769 tons which is more than 99% of 80,080 tons, the total ginseng production around the world. Ginseng is distributed to different countries in various forms such as fresh ginseng, dried ginseng, boiled and dried ginseng (Taekuksam), red ginseng and the related products, etc. and is consumed as food, dietary supplements, functional food, medical supplies, etc. Also, the world ginseng market including ginseng root and the processed products, is estimated to be worth $2,084 million. In particular, the size of the Korean market is $1,140 million which makes Korea the largest distributer in the world. Since the interests in alternative medicine and healthy food is increasing globally, the consumer market of ginseng with many features and the processed products are expected to expand continuously.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.1273-1279
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• 2019

Though sleep polysomnography (PSG) is considered as a golden rule for medical diagnosis of sleep disorder, it is essential to find alternative diagnosis methods due to its cost and time constraints. Recently, as the popularity of wearable health devices, there are many research trials to replace conventional actigraphy to consumer grade devices. However, these devices are very limited in their use due to the accessibility of the data and algorithms. In this paper, we showed the predictive model for sleep stages classified by American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) standard and we proposed the estimation of sleep cycle by comparing sensor data and power spectrums of δ wave and θ wave. The sleep stage prediction for 31 subjects showed an accuracy of 85.26%. Also, we showed the possibility that proposed algorithm can find the sleep cycle of REM sleep and NREM sleep.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6121-6125
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• 2014

Background: Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a potential biomarker for early detection of prostate cancer (PCa) but its level is known to be affected by many background factors and roles of ubiquitous toxicants have not been determined. Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are ubiquitous reproductive toxicants used in consumer products, which promote tumor formation in some reproductive model systems by binding to AhR, but human data on its expression in prostate cancer as well as its association with PSA levels are not clear. This study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of AhR and its association with serological levels of PSA and to detect possible effects of background factors and EDC exposure history on PSA levels in PCa cases. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the tissue levels of AhR and serum levels of PSA in 53 PCa cases from 2008-2011 and associations between each and background and lifestyle related factors were determined. Results: Although the AhR was overexpressed in PCa and correlated with the age of patients, it did not correlate with PSA levels.Of nutritional factors, increased intake of polysaturated fats and fish in the routine regimen of PCa cases increased the PSA levels significantly. Conclusions: AhR overexpression in PCa pontws to roles of EDCs in PCa but without any direct association with PSA levels. However, PSA levels are affected by exposure to possible toxicants in foods whichneed to be assessed as possible risk factors of PCa in future studies.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.179-187
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the influential factors for the choice of dental institutions among adult office workers who were one of major medical consumer groups, the relationship between their health promotion lifestyle and their choice of dental institutions, ways of boosting the efficiency of hospital management and differences in differentiation strategies among dental institutions. Methods : The subjects in this study were 160 office workers who were aged 20 and over and worked in Seoul, North Jeolla Province and South Jeolla Province. They were selected by convenience sampling, and a survey was conducted from February 1 to July 20, 2011. The answer sheets from 149 respondents were analyzed by the statistical package SPSS WIN 12.0 except for 11 incomplete ones. Results : As for the selection factors of dental institutions by general characteristics, they attached a statistically and significantly different importance to convenience according to gender(p<0.05), to reliability, facilities and cleanness according to age(p<0.05), to reliability and convenience according to academic credential(p<0.05) and to facilities and cleanness according to academic credential(p<0.01). Concerning the links between the form of using dental institutions and the selection factors of dental institutions, they gave a statistically and significantly different weight to reliability according to that(p<0.05). Convenience(p<0.001) was the primary selection factor of dental institutions among those who scored higher in health promotion lifestyle. Conclusions : Given the above-mentioned findings, it seemed that the regular implementation of oral health plans geared toward workers and the development of educational programs are required to promote the oral health of workers. But this study examined the workers in several regions only, and the findings might not be generalizable.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.17-45
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• 2017

Health Information Exchange (HIE) is expected to improve the quality and efficiency of care by allowing providers online access to healthcare information generated by other providers at the point of care. However, the adoption of the technology in Korea has been slow since its pilot program in 2007~2010 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. The objective of this study was to survey stakeholders on the incentive program for the facilitation of HIE adoption. We surveyed 39 experts representing 6 categories of stakeholders-provider, insurer, government, information service firms, customers, and medical informatics experts for the interviews. Interview questions included program objectives, program participation requirements, incentive payment method, and administrative burden for program participation. Experts indicated that the quality of care was the most important value the program should aim to achieve through the HIE adoption. They suggested that the requirements and administrative burden for participation should be kept at minimum to recruit a large number of providers to the program, which is an indicator of program success. Experts were divided on the payment method whether the incentive should be paid as a part of the fee payment scheme operated by the National Health Insurance (NHI) or should be a payment made independent of the NHI. The source of the divide was conflict of interest among stakeholders as to who pays for the program, and the insurer and consumer groups were against the NHI taking the financial burden. It appeared to be the most significant factor for the successful program launching to resolve the gap in perceptions about benefits of the technology among stakeholders and to win the willingness to pay for the program.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-39
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate service support programs for the work-family balance in the community. Service support programs in the community are at beginning stages of development, because it has taken about 10 years to put a self-governing system into practice in Korea. This study concentrates on service support programs developed by various service organizations in the city and does not include any rural districts. First, the developmental process of the work-family balance model and type of the service support program in the community were studied. Next, the situation of care service support was examined based on written articles. Finally, a few suggestions were made f3r work-family balance in the community. The developmental situation of work-flmily balance in Korea is in a stage which is shifting from the company-leading model to a family-company-community model. The most common type of service support program offered in the community until now has been the informal sector through relatives, neighbors or friends. However, service support programs, in the public sector by the government and in the voluntary sector by nonprofit organizations and corporations, has rapidly been growing and the number of services from each sector has also increased. Profit organizations in the private sector, such as medical and care service centers, are also now rapidly increasing. It appears that service support programs contributing to the work-family balance in the community come from a number of sectors, including public, voluntary, private and informal sectors, to suit consumer needs.