• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.12-21
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to review retrospective exposure assessment methods used in wafer fabrication operations to determine whether adverse health effects including mortality or cancer incidence are related to employment in particular work activities and to recommend an appropriate approach for retrospective exposure assessment methods for epidemiological study. The goal of retrospective exposure assessment for such studies is to assign each study subject to a workgroup in such a way that differences in exposure within the workgroups are minimized, as well as to maximize the contrasts in exposure between workgroups. To reduce the misclassification of exposure and to determine if adverse health effects including mortality or cancer incidence are related to particular work activities of wafer fabrication workers, a minimum requirement of work history information on the wafer manufacturing eras, job and department at which they were exposed should be assessed. Retrospective assessment of the task that semiconductor workers performed should be conducted to determine not only the effect of a particular job on the development of adverse health effects including mortality or cancer incidence, but also to adjust for the healthy worker effect. In order to identify specific hazardous agents that may cause adverse health effects, past exposure to a specific agent or agent matrices should also be assessed.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.173-184
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to review foreign retrospective Drug Utilization Review(DUR), and so to suggest a development plan suitable for use with domestic situation. Literature review of foreign retrospective DUR program and domestic project such as DUR and prescribing analysis project were reviewed. To improve prescribing quality, developed countries such as US, Canada, UK, France, and Australia have implemented various forms of policy. Based on the review of foreign retrospective DUR program, we suggested to apply practical implementation of retrospective DUR program.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.9-19
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• 2012

Objectives: The aim of this study is to critically review the exposure surrogates and estimates used to associate health effects in wafer fabrication workers such as spontaneous abortion and cancer, as well as to identify the limitations of retrospective exposure assessment methods Methods: Epidemiologic and exposure-assessment studies of wafer fabrication operations in the semiconductor industry were collected. Retrospective exposure-assessment methods used in cancer risk and mortality and reproductive toxicity were reviewed. Results: Eight epidemiologic papers and two reports compared cancer risk among workers in wafer fabrication facilities in the semiconductor industry with the risk of the general population. Exposure surrogates used in those cancer studies were fabrication(vs. non-fabrication), employment duration, manufacturing eras, job title (operator vs. maintenance worker) and qualitative classifications of agents without assessing specific agent or job-specific exposure. In contrast, specific operation, job title and agents were used to classify the exposure of fabrication workers, contributing to finding a significant association with spontaneous abortion (SAB). Conclusion: Further epidemiologic studies of fabrication workers using more refined exposure assessment methods are warranted in order to examine the associations between fabrication work, environment, and specific agents with cancer risk or mortality as used in SAB epidemiologic studies.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2018

This article aims to provide a systematic review of the exposure assessment methods used to assign wafer fabrication (fab) workers in epidemiologic cohort studies of mortality from all causes and various cancers. Epidemiologic and exposure-assessment studies of silicon wafer fab operations in the semiconductor industry were collected through an extensive literature review of articles reported until 2017. The studies found various outcomes possibly linked to fab operations, but a clear association with the chemicals in the process was not found, possibly because of exposure assessment methodology. No study used a tiered assessment approach to identify similar exposure groups that incorporated manufacturing era, facility, fab environment, operation, job and level of exposure to individual hazardous agents. Further epidemiologic studies of fab workers are warranted with more refined exposure assessment methods incorporating both operation and job title and hazardous agents to examine the associations with cancer risk or mortality.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.327-338
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• 2012

Environmental specimen banks provide the baselines for the scientists and decision makers to do research using the past and present specimens to expect the possible contaminant implications of the future. Many chemicals that are considered harmless now but not found may be found and pose threats in the future. Collected specimens of animals and plants should be conserved without contamination for future analysis. To ensure the availability of samples for the retrospective analysis, the establishment and maintenance of specimen banks in the developing and developed nations has become absolutely necessary. National Environmental Specimen Bank (NESB) established at National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) in 2009. For the application of NESB, several activities such as standard operating procedures (SOPs) development have been prepared. This study applied the guidelines for sampling and sample treatment of five environmental specimens which had been prepared from 2007 to 2009. The target species were shoots of red pine and Korean pine, leaves of Mongolian oak, eggs of domestic pigeon and muscles and livers of common carp. The NESB will enhance the quality of environmental assessment and environmental monitoring based on real time and retrospective analysis.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.138-144
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• 2009

The purpose was to implement drug utilization review (DUR) for whom were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) population using health insurance claim data. This study constructed drug utilization database using Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) database and selected contraindicated drugs with kidney based on previously developed drug utilization guide and reviewing other countries' examples. Main outcome measures were the proportion of prescription for 1 or more drugs of concern. The cohort included 115,948 subjects, who were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. Inappropriate drugs with CKD patients was some used, and the most commonly prescribed classes were aluminum drugs. However it is difficult to find problems with inappropriate drug because claims data doesn't have laboratory data. Based on the result of retrospective drug utilization review study, more studies should be analysed drug utilization patterns and monitoring system should be developed.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.198-206
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• 1996

To assess premenstrual changes in adolescents, a self rating retrospective premenstrual assessment from(PAF) and a prospective daily rating form(DRF) were administered to 230 high school students who reported premenstrual changes. The results were as follows 1) According to typological categories of retrospective premenstrual assessment form, the most commonly reported changes in mood and behavior were major depressive syndrome(40.0%), impulsive syndrome(20.9%). Especially among the subtype of depressive syndrome, hostility feature and withdrawal feature were most frequent. The most commonly reported changes in physical condition were general discomfort(73.5%), fatigue(33.9%). 50.9% of all subjects reported impaired social function. 2) 41.2% of the subjects who met the criteria for typological categories of retrospective premenstrual assessment form were confirmed by prospective daily rating form. 3) According to different criteria of percent change method of assessing symptom change, 38.7% of all subjects had at least one mild premenstrual change and 23.5% had at least one moderate premenstrual change. 4) Using prospective daily rating form, overall psychological changes were confirmed more frequently than physical changes. Of the mild premenstrual changes, 'low energy, tired & weak', 'less or impaired work' were most common changes. Of the moderate premenstrual changes, the most common change was 'low energy, tired & weak'. 5) As attitude toward menstruation, 44.9% of the subjects with confirmed premenstrual changes had more negative attitude(disgusted) toward menstruation. 6) The subjects with confirmed mild or moderate premenstrual changes had only dysphoric mood changes or both physical and dysphoric mood changes, but did not have only physical changes. These results suggest that retrospective reports of premenstrual changes were partially confirmed by daily prospective ratings. A substantial number of adolescents appeared to experience premenstrual changes, and the most common confimed premenstrual change of mild or moderate severity was 'low energy, tired and weak'.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.291-303
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• 2012

As respiratory tract infections (RTI) account for about 60% of all antibiotic prescriptions in outpatient care setting, there are significant concerns about emerging resistance that are largely due to the excessive or inappropriate use of antibacterial agents for viral respiratory infections. This study was aimed to develop retrospective drug utilization review (DUR) program of antibiotics for RTIs using Delphi methods. Retrospective DUR criteria of antibiotics for RTIs were identified based on clinical practice guidelines and opinion of experts. Expert panel members were clinical doctors and pharmacists and Delphi method was applied by survey on 16 members of panels. The claim data from Korean Health Insurance Review & Assessment (HIRA) were used to examine trends in outpatient antibiotic prescription between Janunary to December of 2008. As results, Quality index for RTI was assessed for the claim type, antibiotics use of quantity, duration, number and cost. Antibiotic prescription rate for RTIs, Defined Daily Dose (DDD), and duration of antibiotics use were more recognized as significant quality index by experts' opinion. Use of first line agents suggested by guidelines was low and duration of antibiotics use was shorter compared to the recommendations. Antibiotics were over prescribed for RITs. However, dose and duration of antibiotics were under-used.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.10
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• pp.3660-3671
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• 2022

A new methodology to derive a dose constraint for radioactive effluent from a unit of nuclear power plant (NPP) through retrospective assessment was developed to reflect operational flexibility in line with international standards. The new dose constraint can retain the safety margin between the offsite dose and the past dose constraints. As case studies, the new approach was applied to 24 Korean NPPs to address the limitations of the existing seven dose constraints that do not fully comply with current international radiation protection standards. Therefore, an effective dose constraint for Korean NPPs was proposed as no less than 0.15 mSv/y, which is comparable to the international practices and previous studies (0.05-0.3 mSv/y). Although the lower bound of the equivalent dose constraint was calculated as 0.17 mSv/y, it is not proposed in this study since the compliance with the derived effective dose constraint can prevent accompanied equivalent doses to any organs from exceeding equivalent dose limits. The new framework and the case studies are expected to contribute toward and support the revision of existing dose constraints for radioactive effluent from NPPs, ensuring better compliance with the current international safety standards as well as reflect the operational flexibility in practice.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.147-157
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• 2020

Purpose: This descriptive study aimed to identify the menstrual cycle characteristics and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) prevalence in Korean young adult women using the retrospective and prospective Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP). Methods: In the first stage, participants included 151 nursing students studying in a university located in Seoul. Data were collected from April 20 to June 2, 2017, using the questionnaire on menstrual characteristics, pictorial blood assessment chart, and retrospective DRSP. In the second stage, participants included 17 students with PMS, based on the screening conducted in the first stage. Data were collected using the prospective DRSP from May 29 to 2 September 2, 2017. Results: Of the study sample, 104 participants (68.9%) had regular periods. Those with regular periods had 11.97 periods annually with a menstrual cycle of 29.38 days and a period duration of 5.72 days. Fifty-five participants (37.4%) showed menorrhagia. Sixty-four participants (42.4%) were found to have PMS based on their retrospective DRSP. When the ratio of women (52.9%) with PMS shown in the prospective DRSP was used as a positive predictive value, the estimated PMS prevalence was 22.4%. Conclusion: This study provides clinically significant PMS prevalence among Korean young adult women, positive predictive value of the retrospective DRSP, and valid data to basically understand the menstrual cycle characteristics experienced by these women.