• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.583-593
• /
• 2023

For a holistic and precise assessment of safety benchmarks within a construction venture, it's paramount to delineate between the intrinsic features of the construction and its real-time, on-site performance metrics. In this study, we delved into genuine accident instances to discern the interplay between these construction attributes and on-ground performance determinants in relation to safety mishaps, employing the binomial logit analytical framework. Our scrutiny underscored that construction expenditure profoundly modulates the likelihood of fatal occurrences. Notably, variables pertinent to on-site safety protocols wielded considerable influence over both fatal mishaps and accidents implicating multiple personnel. These revelations intimate that while ascertaining the safety quotient of a construction initiative, a mere classification and recalibration based on fiscal dimensions can elucidate much. Yet, a comprehensive safety appraisal necessitates transcending quantitative indices, such as frequency of mishaps or casualty rates, to encapsulate the multifaceted interventions and strategies adopted at the construction locale.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.95-101
• /
• 2023

Purpose: This study examines the clinical practice satisfaction and major satisfaction of dental technology students who have experienced clinical practice to identify whether there is an effect on employment intention of satisfaction level as a basis for increasing the employment rate of dental technicians. Methods: A survey was distributed among 150 dental technology students, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and frequency and correlation analyses. Finally, multiple regression analysis was used to verify the research hypotheses. All statistical analyses were carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 27.0 (IBM). Results: The students exhibited high levels of satisfaction with their clinical practice (4.20) and dental technology major (4.07). Further analysis showed a positive correlation between intention to work in dental laboratories and satisfaction with a dental technology major (practice; r=0.437, p<0.05); clinical practice organization (r=0.682, p<0.05); and satisfaction with the clinical practice institution (r=0.650, p<0.05). Statistically significant positive associations (p<0.05) were also observed between clinical practice form and environment, satisfaction with dental technology major, and school region (i.e., metropolitan area). Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that high levels of satisfaction with clinical practice and dental technology major can contribute to increased employment rates among dental technicians by promoting their intention to work in the related industry.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.22-30
• /
• 2024

Purpose: In-hospital cardiac arrest is rare, but often results in high mortality rates. Early and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is crucial for survival and nurses are often the first responders. This study aimed to investigate how inter-professional attitudes and educational burdens affect self-efficacy related to CPR performance following team-based CPR simulation training. Methods: This retrospective observational study analyzed data from a satisfaction survey conducted after team-based CPR training sessions between January and November 2022. Of the 454 nurses surveyed, 238 were included in the study after excluding those with ambiguous responses. Multiple regression analysis was performed to assess factors influencing CPR self-efficacy. The factors examined included inter-professional attitudes and educational burden. Results: Higher levels of inter-professional attitudes, particularly regarding teamwork roles and responsibilities, lower educational burden, and a positive perception of CPR competence were all associated with improved CPR-related self-efficacy. Participants who reported higher engagement in teamwork, lower task load, and greater confidence in their CPR abilities demonstrated higher self-efficacy in performing CPR. Conclusion: Enhancing the competencies of nurses who may act as initial responders in CPR situations within or outside hospital settings can help save lives and support public health.

• Korean Circulation Journal
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.351-366
• /
• 2023

Along with the development of immunosuppressive drugs, major advances on xenotransplantation were achieved by understanding the immunobiology of xenograft rejection. Most importantly, three predominant carbohydrate antigens on porcine endothelial cells were key elements provoking hyperacute rejection: α1,3-galactose, SDa blood group antigen, and N-glycolylneuraminic acid. Preformed antibodies binding to the porcine major xenoantigen causes complement activation and endothelial cell activation, leading to xenograft injury and intravascular thrombosis. Recent advances in genetic engineering enabled knock-outs of these major xenoantigens, thus producing xenografts with less hyperacute rejection rates. Another milestone in the history of xenotransplantation was the development of co-stimulation blockaded strategy. Unlike allotransplantation, xenotransplantation requires blockade of CD40-CD40L pathway to prevent T-cell dependent B-cell activation and antibody production. In 2010s, advanced genetic engineering of xenograft by inducing the expression of multiple human transgenes became available. So-called 'multi-gene' xenografts expressing human transgenes such as thrombomodulin and endothelial protein C receptor were introduced, which resulted in the reduction of thrombotic events and improvement of xenograft survival. Still, there are many limitations to clinical translation of cardiac xenotransplantation. Along with technical challenges, zoonotic infection and physiological discordances are major obstacles. Social barriers including healthcare costs also need to be addressed. Although there are several remaining obstacles to overcome, xenotransplantation would surely become the novel option for millions of patients with end-stage heart failure who have limited options to traditional therapeutics.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.3.1-3.21
• /
• 2022

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and the number of cancer patients is expected to continuously increase in the future. Traditional cancer therapies focus on inhibiting cancer growth while largely ignoring the contribution of the immune system in eliminating cancer cells. Recently, better understanding of immunological mechanisms pertaining to cancer progress has led to development of several immunotherapies, which revolutionized cancer treatment. Nonetheless, only a small proportion of cancer patients respond to immunotherapy and maintain a durable response. Among multiple factors contributing to the variability of immunotherapy response rates, commensal microbiota inhabiting patients have been identified as one of the most critical factors determining the success of immunotherapy. The functional diversity of microbiota differentially affects the host immune system and controls the efficacy of immunotherapy in individual cancer patients. Moreover, clinical studies have demonstrated that changing the gut microbiota composition by fecal microbiota transplantation in patients who failed a previous immunotherapy converts them to responders of the same therapy. Consequently, both academic and industrial researchers are putting extensive efforts to identify and develop specific bacteria or bacteria mixtures for cancer immunotherapy. In this review, we will summarize the immunological roles of commensal microbiota in cancer treatment and give specific examples of bacteria that show anticancer effect when administered as a monotherapy or as an adjuvant agent for immunotherapy. We will also list ongoing clinical trials testing the anticancer effect of commensal bacteria.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
• /
• v.23 no.12
• /
• pp.101-106
• /
• 2023

Chronic illnesses are among the most common serious problems affecting human health. Early diagnosis of chronic diseases can assist to avoid or mitigate their consequences, potentially decreasing mortality rates. Using machine learning algorithms to identify risk factors is an exciting strategy. The issue with existing feature selection approaches is that each method provides a distinct set of properties that affect model correctness, and present methods cannot perform well on huge multidimensional datasets. We would like to introduce a novel model that contains a feature selection approach that selects optimal characteristics from big multidimensional data sets to provide reliable predictions of chronic illnesses without sacrificing data uniqueness.[1] To ensure the success of our proposed model, we employed balanced classes by employing hybrid balanced class sampling methods on the original dataset, as well as methods for data pre-processing and data transformation, to provide credible data for the training model. We ran and assessed our model on datasets with binary and multivalued classifications. We have used multiple datasets (Parkinson, arrythmia, breast cancer, kidney, diabetes). Suitable features are selected by using the Hybrid feature model consists of Lassocv, decision tree, random forest, gradient boosting,Adaboost, stochastic gradient descent and done voting of attributes which are common output from these methods.Accuracy of original dataset before applying framework is recorded and evaluated against reduced data set of attributes accuracy. The results are shown separately to provide comparisons. Based on the result analysis, we can conclude that our proposed model produced the highest accuracy on multi valued class datasets than on binary class attributes.[1]

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.489-509
• /
• 2024

Slope stability analysis and prediction are of critical importance to geotechnical engineers, given the severe consequences associated with slope failure. This research endeavors to forecast the factor of safety (FOS) for slopes through the implementation of six distinct ML techniques, including back propagation neural networks (BPNN), feed-forward neural networks (FFNN), Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy system (TSF), gene expression programming (GEP), and least-square support vector machine (Ls-SVM). 344 slope cases were analyzed, incorporating a variety of geometric and shear strength parameters measured through the PLAXIS software alongside several loss functions to assess the models' performance. The findings demonstrated that all models produced satisfactory results, with BPNN and GEP models proving to be the most precise, achieving an R² of 0.86 each and MAE and MAPE rates of 0.00012 and 0.00002 and 0.005 and 0.004, respectively. A Pearson correlation and residuals statistical analysis were carried out to examine the importance of each factor in the prediction, revealing that all considered geomechanical features are significantly relevant to slope stability. However, the parameters of friction angle and slope height were found to be the most and least significant, respectively. In addition, to aid in the FOS computation for engineering challenges, a graphical user interface (GUI) for the ML-based techniques was created.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.74-78
• /
• 2024

Inferior vena cava (IVC) injuries can have fatal outcomes and are associated with high mortality rates. Patients with IVC injuries require multiple procedures, including prehospital care, surgical techniques, and postoperative care. We present the case of a 67-year-old woman who stabbed herself in the abdomen with a knife, resulting in an infrarenal IVC injury. We shortened the transfer time by transporting the patient using a helicopter and decided to perform direct-to-operating room resuscitation by a trauma physician in the helicopter. The patient underwent laparotomy with IVC ligation for damage control during the first operation. The second- and third-look operations, including previous suture removal, IVC reconstruction, and IVC thrombectomy, were performed by a trauma surgeon specializing in cardiovascular diseases. The patient was discharged without major complications on the 19th postoperative day with rivaroxaban as an anticoagulant medication. Computed tomography angiography at the outpatient clinic showed that thrombi in the IVC and both iliac veins had been completely removed. Patients with IVC injuries can be effectively treated using a trauma system that includes fast transportation by helicopter, damage control for rapid hemostasis, and expert treatment of IVC injuries.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.57 no.4
• /
• pp.370-378
• /
• 2024

Objectives: Comorbidities increase susceptibility to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, but limited information has been published regarding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and COVID-19 co-infections. This study explored the relationships among socioeconomic characteristics, sexual behaviors, and COVID-19 infection rates among Korean men who have sex with men (MSM) who are also living with HIV. Methods: Data were collected through a web survey aimed at members of the largest gay portal site in Korea, supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (n=1005). The primary independent variables included COVID-19-related vaccinations and sexual behaviors. The dependent variable was the incidence of COVID-19 infection among respondents during the pandemic. For statistical analysis, hierarchical multiple logistic regression was performed, controlling for potential confounding variables. Results: Model I indicated that older MSM were less likely to contract COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96 to 0.99). Model II demonstrated that HIV-positive MSM were nearly twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 compared to their HIV-negative counterparts (aOR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.14 to 3.41). Furthermore, even after accounting for COVID-19 vaccination status in model III, HIV-positive MSM continued to show a higher risk of infection (aOR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.12 to 3.35). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that HIV-positive MSM are at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19, even when their vaccination status is considered. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize the prevention of COVID-19 infections in HIV-positive individuals by administering appropriate antiretroviral therapy and ensuring adherence to public health guidelines.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.90-102
• /
• 1986

This study was performed to obtain the basic data which can be applied to the use of concretes. The data was based on the properties of concrectes depending upon water-cement ratios and addings to compare those of plain concrete. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. In case the proper quantity of water reducing agent was added, unit weight of water is decreased to 12.9% with WR-LG of water reducing set standarding agent and to 8.6% with HF-SP of high fluid agent and to 17.2% with AH-WR of water reducing set accelerating agent, respectively, as compared with plain concrete. With the increase of water reducing agent content unit weight of water was greatly decreased. 2. The adding rate of water reducing agent which produce maximum strength was 0.2% with WR-LG and 0.4% with HF-SP and AH-WR, respectively. The increasing rates of strengths were showed that WR-LG is 24.1% and that HF-SP is 41.8% and that AH-WR is 43.3%, respectively, as compared with plain concrete. 3. The correlations between compressive and tensile strength were highly significant as a straight line. the multiple regression equations of compressive and tensile strength were computed with the variables of curing age and addition of water reducing agent. They were highly significant. 4. In case the proper quantity of water reducing agent was added, the correlations between water-cement ratio and compressive strength were highly significant as a straight line. The increasing rates of strength were showed higher than the decreasing rates of water cement-ratio.