• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.83-95
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• 2016

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major medical challenge affecting around 200 million people worldwide. The main site of HCV replication is the hepatocytes of the liver. HCV is a positive enveloped RNA virus from the flaviviridae family. Six major HCV genotypes are implicated in the human infection. In developed countries the children are infected mainly through vertical transmission during deliveries, while in developing countries it is still due to horizontal transmission from adults. Minimal nonspecific and brief symptoms are initially found in approximately 15% of children. Acute and chronic HCV infection is diagnosed through the recognition of HCV RNA. The main objective for treatment of chronic HCV is to convert detected HCV viremia to below the detection limit. Children with chronic HCV infection are usually asymptomatic and rarely develop severe liver damage. Therefore, the benefits from current therapies, pegylated-Interferon plus ribavirin, must be weighed against their adverse effects. This combined treatment offers a 50-90% chance of clearing HCV infection according to several studies and on different HCV genotype. Recent direct acting antiviral (DAA) drugs which are well established for adults have not yet been approved for children and young adults below 18 years. The most important field for the prevention of HCV infection in children would be the prevention of perinatal and parenteral transmission. There are areas of focus for new lines of research in pediatric HCV-related disease that can be addressed in the near future.

• 대한인간공학회지
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• 제35권3호
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• pp.155-163
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• 2016

Objective: This study aims to draw the characteristics of occupational accidents occurred in cabling work, and assess accident severity based on occupational injury data. Background: Accident factors and accident risk are different by the place of work in cabling work. Field managers require information on accident prevention that can be easily understood by workers. However, there has been a lack of studies that focus on cabling work in Korea. Method: This study classifies 450 injured persons caused in cabling work by process, and analyzes the characteristics of occupational injuries from the aspects of age, work experience and accident type. This study also analyzes accident frequency and severity of injury. Results: Results show that preparing/finishing (33.3%) was the most common type of cabling process in injuries, followed by maintenance (28.4%), routing/income (23.1%) and wiring/installation (15.1%) process. The critical incidents in the level of risk management were falls from height in the routing/incoming process, and falls from height in the maintenance process. And, incidents ranked as 'High' level of risk management were slips and trips, fall from height and vehicle incident in the preparing/finishing process, and fall from height in the wiring/installation process. Conclusion and Application: The relative frequency of accident and its severity by working process serve as important information for accident prevention, and are critical for determining priorities in preventive measures.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.27-39
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• 2012

Panax ginseng exhibits pleiotropic beneficial effects on cardiovascular system, central nervous system, and immune system. In the last decade, numerous preclinical findings suggest ginseng as a promising therapeutic agent for diabetes prevention and treatment. The mechanism of ginseng and its active components is complex and is demonstrated to either modulate insulin production/secretion, glucose metabolism and uptake, or inflammatory pathway in both insulin-dependent and insulin-independent manners. However, human studies are remained obscure because of contradictory results. While more studies are warranted to further understand these contradictions, ginseng holds promise as a therapeutic agent for diabetes prevention and treatment. This review summarizes the evidences for the therapeutic potential of ginseng and ginsenosides from in vitro studies, animal studies and human clinical trials with a focus on diverse molecular targets including an AMP-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

• 한국사회복지학
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• 제42권
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• pp.254-289
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• 2000

This study conducted a step-wise discriminant analysis to determine which variables play key roles in distinguishing among 3 mutually exclusive delinquent groups - disclosed delinquency group, closed delinquency group, and no delinquency group - and to 'develop a procedure for predicting group membership for new cases whose group membership is undetermined. Variables included in this study were collected by the review of previous empirical studies, which were identified as related to juvenile delinquency. The variables can be classified as character-related variables, family-related variables, school-related variables, peer-related variables, and socioeconomic variables. A sample of 693 youths were employed to conduct the statistical analysis. Out of 35 possible predictors of juvenile delinquency 14 variables were included in the pool of predicting variables. This study used a hold-out sample (n=300) to test if the linear discriminant function classify cases correctly into one of 3 groups. The percentage of cases classified correctly by the discriminant function was turned out to be acceptable in the area of social sciences. Discussions and suggestions were provided in terms of prevention and intervention for juvenile delinquency with focus on the 14 predictor variables.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.312-327
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• 2021

Background: Infection prevention and control (IPC) to manage healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) has emerged as one of the most significant public health issues in Korea. The purpose of this study is to draw implications in IPC policies by analyzing the context, process, and major actors in policy development and comparatively analyzing IPC policy contents of Korea with three other countries. Additionally, IPC policies were analyzed in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to provide implications for future pandemics and HCAI events. Methods: This study incorporates a qualitative approach based on document and content analysis, applying codes and thematic categorization. IPC policy contents are comparatively analyzed by adopting the concept model, developed by the World Health Organization, which consists of core components of IPC structure at the national and facility level. Results: National IPC policies were developed within a complex social and political context, through the involvement of various stakeholders. IPC policies in Korea place a high emphasis on establishing IPC programs and built environments in healthcare facilities, whereas there were potentials for improvement in policies involving patients and promoting a safety culture. IPC policies, which currently focus on general hospitals and certain functions of hospitals, should further be expanded to target all healthcare facilities and functions, to ensure more efficient and sustainable IPC responses in the current and future disease outbreaks. Conclusion: IPC is a complex policy arena and lessons learned from the analysis of existing policies in the context of COVID-19 should provide valuable strategic implications for future policies.

• 농업과학연구
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• 제47권4호
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• pp.885-901
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• 2020

A forest watershed management project was introduced in 2004 to develop ecologically sound forest watersheds. It includes landslide prevention and erosion control, water resource management, landscape development, and forest resource management. However, it has been managed fragmentarily and inefficiently, far from the original intents. This study investigated current status, problems, and improvement measures of the project. Literature reviews were conducted on forest watershed management in Korea and other countries, and surveys were conducted on 201 erosion control experts. When introduced, the forest watershed management project was well planned and implemented as intended. It later turned to focus only on disaster prevention such as erosion control dams and stream conservation measures. The survey results showed that a majority (89% and 86%) of surveyees wanted increases in the project period and budget. They also responded that conflicts with local residents (51%) and determining project locations (32%) were the most difficult tasks when implementing the projects, and only 36% kept project records. To plan and implement the projects as intended, the following suggestions should be considered: (1) establishment of a solid legal foundation and improvement of the erosion control practices law; (2) increase in the project period (from 1 to 2 - 3 years) and budget; (3) development of a manual for project site selection and guidelines; (4) monitoring and systematic information management; and (5) development of spatial analysis tools for watershed analysis and management.

• 한국응급구조학회지
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.163-178
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• 2021

Purpose: This study explored a plan for improving the overall preventive activity of Korean Citizen-Corps-Active-in-Disaster (CAIND). Methods: The study used the documentary survey and the technical approach methods. This way, detailed information regarding civil anti-disaster organizations was found in scholarly monographs, specialty publications, and master's/doctoral dissertations. It further utilized the statistical yearbooks between 2015 and 2018 from the Korean Ministry of Public Administration, Security, and Fire Service, and the National Statistical Office, to discover practical problems through a statistical analysis. Volunteer activities being inherent, related issues were reviewed at the same time to for purposes of clarifying the characteristics of disaster prevention activity by CAIND. Results: The study provided four major suggestions for improvement. First, the quota management system of Korean CAIND considering the characteristics of rural areas should be supplemented. Second, the education and training systems of Korean CAIND should be established to satisfy regional conditions. Third, management members' readership competency in operating organizations, including that of the Korean CAIND captain in charge, should be strengthened. Fourth, the reward system for Korean CAIND activities should be improved. Conclusion: In the future, the results of this study are expected to be utilized as a basic data to develop Korean CAIND.

• 한국환경과학회지
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• 제32권8호
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• pp.543-553
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• 2023

Weather forecasts and advisories provided by the national organizations in Korea that are used to identify and prevent disaster associated damage are often ineffective in reducing disasters as they only focus on predicting weather events (World Meteorological Organization(WMO ), 2015). In particular, typhoons are not a single weather disaster, but a complex weather disaster that requires advance preparation and assessment, and the WMO has established guidelines for the impact forecasting and recommends typhoon impact forecasting. In this study, we introduced the Typhoon-Ready System, which is a system that produces pre-disaster prevention information(risk level) of typhoon-related disasters across Korea and in detail for each region in advance, to be used for reducing and preventingtyphoon-related damage in Korea.

• 국제학술발표논문집
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• The 1th International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• pp.638-642
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• 2005

This paper presents incentive application strategies and delay prevention strategies as schematic approaches to improve time performance of highway construction contracts. This research recognizes the importance of improving time performance during highway construction. Strategic solutions of the most core issues on time performance incentive contracting are identified. The suggested incentive application strategies develop criteria for applying time classification to projects, for assigning project time classifications to contractors and designers, and for determining appropriate incentive values in A (cost) + B (time cost) and other performance incentive contracts. The suggested delay prevention strategies develop criteria for determining the appropriate subsurface utility engineering (SUE) level and to develop best practices for avoiding utility relocation delays. A schematic approach for each strategy is developed. This paper also introduces current incentive contracting practices in Florida. The researchers obtained the information from experienced persons in the highway construction industry, including key highway contractors, designers, and Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) personnel. The major focus of this research is to develop strategies and suggest approaches to improve time performance of highway construction contracts. For future study, practical tools to facilitate implementation of the suggested strategies should be developed, so that the criteria, implementation processes, and best practices developed may contribute to the current industry-wide effort to improve time performance.

• 지역사회간호학회지
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• 제19권4호
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• pp.636-648
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• 2008

Purpose: The smoking rates among teenagers in Korea grow gradually since 1980s despite of the numerous programs for youth smoking prevention and cessation have been developed and implemented. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the processes of habituating to smoking among teenagers using the grounded theory methodology. Method: Qualitative data was collected via six focus group interviews. A total of 38 people, twelve teachers and 24 middle school students participated in this study. All focus group interviews were tape-recorded. transcribed. and analyzed according to the grounded theory methodology. Results: The overriding theme of the elicited grounded theory was "stepping into a quagmire by a merest chance". The student participants began smoking by a simple chance. The contingent factors to starting smoking were "discord within the family", "family member's smoking", "schoolwork stresses". or "a rebellious spirit". The conditions of smoking included accessibility. going around in group, and the lack of discipline. "Stigmatizing", "involved in mob violence", and "making a poor academic record" coexisted as the covariance of the smoking habituation. Conclusion: The findings of this study illustrated the comprehensive and insightful picture of the phenomena under investigation. Nursing implications and further directions for research were discussed.