• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was performed to identify the socioeconomic factors, health behavior factors and dietary patterns that have an influence on the fasting blood glucose in adults. Methods: This study used data collected from the 2007, 2008, 2009 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The final sample included 4163 subjects who were 30-59 years old and who had completed the necessary health examinations, the health behaviors survey and nutrition survey. Results: Eleven dietary patterns emerged from the factor analysis with different factor loading. After controlling for potential confounders, multiple regression analysis of the dietary patterns showed that 'fruits', 'alcohols', and 'starchy foods' affected the fasting blood. Lower consumption of 'fruits' and higher consumption of 'alcohols' and 'starch foods' were significantly associated only with an increased risk of high blood glucose. Conclusions: In the light of the results of this study, it appears pretty likely that the risk of developing high blood glucose can be reduced by changing a person's dietary patterns.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2022

Objective: This study aims to conduct a comprehensive review of monitoring systems to monitor and manage physical function of community-dwelling elderly living alone and suggest future directions of unobtrusive monitoring. Design: Literature review Methods: The importance of health-related monitoring has been emphasized due to the aging population and novel corona virus (COVID-19) outbreak.As the population gets old and because of changes in culture, the number of single-person households among the elderly is expected to continue to increase. Elders are staying home longer and their physical function may decline rapidly,which can be a disturbing factorto successful aging.Therefore, systematic elderly management must be considered. Results: Frequently used technologies to monitor elders at home included red, green, blue (RGB) camera, accelerometer, passive infrared (PIR) sensor, wearable devices, and depth camera. Of them all, considering privacy concerns and easy-to-use features for elders, depth camera possibly can be a technology to be adapted at homes to unobtrusively monitor physical function of elderly living alone.The depth camera has been used to evaluate physical functions during rehabilitation and proven its efficiency. Conclusions: Therefore, physical monitoring system that is unobtrusive should be studied and developed in the future to monitor physical function of community-dwelling elderly living alone for the aging population.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.237-240
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• 2022

A 67-year-old man visited our plastic surgery clinic complaining of a palpable protruding mass (2.0×2.5 cm) in the right occipital region. To establish an appropriate treatment plan for the cystic mass, brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed. A 2.2 cm nodular lesion with peripheral enhancement in the right occipital region of the scalp was confirmed. In addition, two rim-enhancing nodular lesions up to 9 mm with marked perilesional edema in the right frontal lobe were confirmed. The findings suggested metastasis from cancer. After further evaluations, a mass in the right lower lung field was identified as adenocarcinoma of the lung. Histological examination characterized the excised lesion as a cutaneous metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma. This case report shows that a cystic mass, which commonly occurs in the scalp, may indicate lung cancer. In particular, if a cystic mass of the scalp is identified in a person at high risk for lung cancer, appropriate evaluation and urgent treatment should be performed.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.26-29
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• 2022

Cryptococcus neoformans infection usually occurs in patients with advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or with a CD4 T lymphocyte count of <100 cells/µL. Pulmonary and central nervous system infections are the most frequently encountered forms of cryptococcosis; however, colonic cryptococcosis is uncommon. We describe the case of a 41-year-old antiretroviral-naïve man with HIV infection diagnosed eight years prior and intermittent diarrhea for 4 months who presented to the emergency department with a 1-day history of low-grade fever and confusion. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and cerebrospinal fluid analysis revealed normal results; however, he was diagnosed with Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia based on chest computed tomography and bronchoalveolar lavage analysis. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole administration was initiated followed by antiretroviral treatment. Although his condition gradually improved, he developed fever and abdominal discomfort, and the diarrhea worsened. Endoscopy revealed a small ulcer in the distal transverse colon. Histopathological examination of a colon tissue sample revealed cryptococcal infection. He improved substantially during liposomal amphotericin B and fluconazole treatment. We encountered a rare case of colonic cryptococcosis that caused chronic diarrhea in a patient with advanced HIV infection. Colonic cryptococcosis should be considered when patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome present with gastrointestinal symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.50
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• pp.235-263
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• 2002

The present study is designed to explore restructuring direction of the old-age income maintenance system and development direction of the Seniority Pension Scheme(SPS) in Korea. While the SPS is trifling scheme with tiny benefit amount and small budget, the SPS has important role that function as only public income maintenance scheme for both the low income class and the excluded from public pension and public assistance at present stage because of immature National Pension. This study starts with the research question why serious mis-matching problem between needs and resources in old-age income maintenance system occur. Thus this study explores fundamental change direction of the old-age income maintenance system which is coincide with further situation change(demography, labour market, family structure). Also this study explores desirable SPS's development direction as taking into account relation with other public old-age income maintenance system. This paper suggests basic direction of old-age income maintenance system as follows: principle of universal and individual security; principle of sustainability; principle of equity. Under general principle, this paper also proposes largely two development scenario of the SPS. The one is to maintain present transitional and provisional scheme with trying scheme's substantiality. The other is to change into permanent old-age income maintenance scheme for the excluded public pension and public assistance. At this point it is the public pension's role that the SPS's development direction is determined. If the public pension keep one pension per one earner as present system, non-contribution pension as present SPS should maintain continuously. However, if the public pension reorganize into basic pension of one pension per one person and earning-related pension, the SPS should be managed temporarily until mature of public pension. Therefore whether the public pension play basic security role for all elderly or not will determine the SPS development direction.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.184-194
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• 2010

Purpose : The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of febrile urinary tract infection (UTI) according to clinical characteristics in patients with congenital hydronephrosis (CH) and hydronephrotic patients first diagnosed with hydronephrosis during treatment of febrile UTII. Methods : In this study, 200 patients with congenital hydronephrosis were enrolled in group 1 and 252 patients first diagnosed with hydronephrosis during treatment of febrile UTI were enrolled in group 2. We counted the episodes of UTI in the two groups according to clinical characteristics, the presence of VUR, type of feeding, and clinical outcomes since 2000. And we compared those results between the two groups. and compared two groups as well. Results : The incidence of recurrent UTI was 10%, 0.028 per person-year in group 1 and 16.7%, 0.051 per person-year in group 2, respectively (P <0.05). Group 2 had more VUR (3% vs. 27%, P <0.05) and higher incidence of UTI than group 1. The incidence of UTI in patients with CH of Society of Fetal Urology (SFU) grade 4 or grade 4-5 VUR was 80% and 44.4%, respectively. No significant differences were found in incidence of UTI between BMF (breast milk feeding) and artificial milk feeding group in both groups (P 1=0.274, P 2=0.4). The time of resolution of CH had no correlation with either number of UTI episodes or the presence of VUR. Conclusion : The overall incidence of UTI is low in patients with CH as well as patients patients first diagnosed with hydronephrosis during treatment of febrile UTI except patients with SFU grade 4 or grade 4-5 VUR. BMF has no protective effect against UTI.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.209-279
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• 2016

The Korean Mental Health Act was amended 2016 overall. This paper examines and evaluates the old Korean Mental Health Act since 1995 and the new Korean Mental Health Promotion Act 2016 from the Perspective of Human Rights and Inclusion of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities. The persons with mental disabilities was separated and ruled out from society by the enactment of the Mental Health Act in 1995 and five times amendment. That has been justified and institutionally supported by medical viewpoint. The medical approach which reconsider the persons with mental disabilities as patients conceal that the aims of the involuntary admission in Mental Hospital are protection of society and the relief of the family member's duty of support for person with mental disabilities. This is institutionally supported in the 1995 Korean Mental Health Act by involuntary admission through the consent of family members as protectors. According to the old Act, the family members as protectors are authorized to consent to involuntary admission of persons with mental disabilities. Also, the psychiatrist that diagnoses the person with mental disabilities and evaluates the need for treatment by admission is not impartial in this decision. Family members as protectors may want to lighten their burden of support for the person with mental disabilities in their home by admitting them into a mental hospital, and the psychiatrist in the mental hospital can be improperly influenced by demand of hospital management. Additionally, Article 24 of the Korean Mental Health Act for the Involuntary Admission by the Consent of Family Members as Protector might violate personal liberty, as guaranteed in the Korean Constitution. The Mental Health Promotion Law was amended to reduce the scope of the persons with mental illness which are subject to forced hospitalization and to demand that a second diagnosis is made by another psychiatrist and screening by the committee concerning the legitimacy of admission in the process of the involuntary admission by the consent of family members as a method of protection. The amended Mental Health Promotion Law will contribute to reducing the number of the involuntary admissions and the inclusion of persons with mental disabilities. But if persons with mental disabilities are not providing some kind of service to the community, the amended Mental Health Promotion Law does not work for Inclusion of them.

• Korean Journal of Hospice Care
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

There are various understandings how to define death. In the context of medicine, death is defined as the irreversible change of the tissue according to the cessation of circulation and respiration. According to the psychologists, a person need to accept the finiteness as a human being and remain conscious that the death is not avoidable. And they say if a person doesn't regard death as unavoidable reality of life he or she will not confront the humanistic death and after all will die like animals. In philosophy, death is viewed as an unwelcome reality in the end of the journey of life. Sociologists usually understand that the society is the organization composed with living persons and human beings which construct and transmit the culture from generation to generation between the both ends of life and death. In society, the generation is changed, maintained, and developed through the phenomenon of death. Although death of human being is natural event in society, the death of a specific person brings a sense of loss, crisis, and anxiety to the communities like family, regional society, nation, and the world. In this context, death is not confined to personal dimension and it can be regarded as a social problem. It is valuable to summarize the religious perspectives on the meaning of death for the better hospice care. In shamanism, there are basic idea that although the flesh of human being disappears, soul never die. If human dies, the flesh of human being disappears but soul never disappear and come back to the origin of soul as it is called chaos. So in shamanism, it is said that shaman can solve the mortified feeling, restore the broken harmony, send the soul to comfortable space- the origin, and guarantee the blessing of descendents. Buddhists regard the death as an essential component through the cycles of life. Through this cycle, human being exits as an endlessly transmigrating being and the death is just a restoration to the original status. In Confucianism, the view on the death based on the philosophy of the "Yin and Yang" and "Five elements". In Buddhist tradition, many believers said the philosophy of "Death is the same as life". Unlike usual thoughts that a god governs "life and death" and "fortune and misfortune", Confucianists deny the governance of a god and emphasize the natural orders in which every phenomenon in the world moves according to the principle. Confucianists understand the death as a natural order with this principle. In Confucianists' belief, the essence of human being remains in their own descendent's lives after the death of ancestor, so in Confucianism there is no concept of immortality of the soul. In the history of Christianity, death has been defined generally as the separation of the immortal soul from the mortal body. In the earlier days of Old Testament, the death is regarded as a disappearance of just a flesh and human never disappear and always live in the relationship with God. Later days in Old Testament, we can find the growing concern for the life after the death because of the entrance of the theodicy. In the New Testament, the death is not regarded as the normal process of the human life and regarded as the abnormal status in which death come to human because of sin as a decisive factor and it should be conquered. In fact, the most of us afraid death because not of the fear of death itself but of the sense of the emptiness and regrets. so many people often make the monument hoping to live forever. But Christian usually regard this behavior as a sinful act because human being usually think themselves as a master of their life and attempt to become immortal in this kind of trial mortal. But if we live with God, we cannot confront such a condition because we aware limits as a mortal human being and entrust everything on Him and want to live according to His guidance. Therefore, in the Christian tradition, the death is regarded as accomplishment of life, fruits of life, invitation to the eternal life, and the last stage of human growth. For human being, the death is the great step of maturation as a human in the final stage of life.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.229-243
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to develop a nursing model for the aged. This study was conducted to measure the physical, psychological and mental health status of the aged and to identify relationships between these health levels and various variables. The data were collected from 172 aged(over 60 years old) by interviews. The tools used for this study was a structured questionnaire which was developed and revised by the researchers. The tool consisted of 22 items on physical health assessment, 7 items on psychological health assessment, 9 items on mental health assessment and 10 items on an ADL evaluation. The major results of the study were as follows ; 1. In physical health, the aged complained of visual disturbance(60.5%), incontinence of urine (55.2%), back or muscle pain(73.3%), dizziness(70.3%) and diarrhea or constipation(44.2%). In psychological health, most aged people felt anger when they got some order from an other person(80.2%). Also, they had depression (69.8%) and felt like dying(64.0%). The ADL level was mostly normal for daily life. 2. The aged man was more healthy than the aged woman in physical and mental health especially the 60-64 year old group. The physical, mental health and ADL level had a positive correlation with age(p>.004), but psychological health had a negative correlation with age. 3. The physical, psychological, mental health and ADL level was positively interrelated with each other. 4. The physical, mental health, & ADL level lowered with inceasing age. Physical & psychological health worsened rapidly from 65-69 years, but for 10-15 years, their health level was preserved. Psychological health level was high in 80-84. 5. The physical health was affected by edu cational level, sex and pocket money (R=.4029, 16.24%). The psychological health was affected by the supportive style and pocket money (R=.5128, 26.30%). And the mental health was affected by education level, age, support ive style, sex and job(R=.4377, 19.16%). As seen above, we suggest the intervention of the young for the old to cope with their life and to maintain their healthy late adulthood. Also, if they have received psychological support in the institution, they will maintain healthy life condition. For further studies should be a search for variables that affect aged health, and should contribut to a nursing program better suited for the aged.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-76
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• 2013

Based on an analysis of the Japanese animation director Kamiyama Kenji's Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, this paper discusses two important subjects in modern technoscience-cyborg and old age. In fact, age has been an important social and political category in the modern world, along with gender, race, and class. However, age has not been a significant research topic for STS scholars. Even though many of these investigators have extensively explored the complex relationship between gender and technoscience, especially after the publication of Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto" (1991), few of them have been interested in how age is reconfigured by modern science and technology. If women, as Haraway has claimed, can have a different political and cultural outlook by becoming cyborgs, then, can we expect a similar socio-cultural transformation with regard to the interaction between cyborg and old age? Do the elderly experience lesser age discrimination through the growth of biomedicine and technoscience? Indeed, it is believed that seniors are increasingly becoming cyborgs with advancing age, since their declining bodily functions are consistently replaced and assisted by various biomedical technologies. Does this enable them to overcome ageism and age discrimination as well as their alleged physiological and mental limitations? As an answer to this question, Mike Featherstone has asserted that becoming a cyborg in old age could make the wrinkled skin a mere mask and create diverse new possibilities that were hitherto unavailable to an aging person. Based on my reading of Ghost in the Shell, however, I analyze a more complex set of problems when the senile cyborg is created through the encounter between the elderly and technoscience. I argue that while the senile cyborg could challenge traditional family ideology and nationalism it would leave ageism intact and define a new individualistic life form through a body controlled within the globalized internet and capitalist economy.