• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.284-288
• /
• 2009

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water & Sediments was adopted by consensus at a diplomatic conference of IMO at 2004. To prepare the Ballast Water Management Convention, fundamental technologies such as treatment system, type approval, risk assessment and various technical informations for formulation of the regulation for national strategy shall be developed. The information item of voyage and discharge of ship's ballast water are gathered by visiting vessel and agent at port. Using the 97 results by ships type characteristic analysis on the relation between loading/unloading and discharge/uptake of ballast water, the amounts of discharge/uptake of ballast water at each port and all of country in Korea are predicted. Hence, It is apparent that the uptake of ballast water is predicted to about 70 million ton in total of Busan, Incheon, Kwangyang and Ulsan ports at 2006 which is over 3 times than discharges.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.40
• /
• pp.7-33
• /
• 2014

Korean Government decided to establish the Ministry of National Emergency Management and has reformed the emergency management system due to Sewol ferry disaster. These efforts has been focused on the hardware rather than the software. All-hazard approach has been employed as the one of main principles in the emergency management in the United States. All-hazards approach concerns arrangements for managing the large range of possible effects of risks and emergencies. Once the priority of risks and emergencies is decided, agencies prepare for them. In addition, interagency collaboration is critical for the preparation of risks and emergencies such as cooperation with local governments instead of FEMA alone. It is necessary to consider employing all-hazard approach for the Ministry of National Emergency Management. Moreover, 'Korean All-hazard approach' should be developed in order to manage upcoming emergencies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.11
• /
• pp.5747-5752
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy compared with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone in the treatment of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: The search strategy included Pubmed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Internet Web, Chinese Biomedical Database and Wanfang Database. We also searched reference lists of articles and the volumes of abstracts of scientific meetings. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma were included. Meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.1.0. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system (GRADE) was used to rate the level of evidence. Results: Five studies were included. Risk ratios of 1.02 (95%CI 0.89-1.15), 0.93 (95%CI 0.72-1.21), 1.07 (95%CI 0.87-1.32), 0.95 (95%CI 0.80-1.13) were observed for 3 years overall survival, 5 years failure-free survival, 5 years locoregional failure-free survival and 5 years distant metastasis failure-free survival. There were no treatment-related deaths in both groups of five studies. Hematologic and gastrointestinal toxicity were the most significant for patients during adjuvant chemotherapy. The level of evidence was low. Conclusion: Compared with concurrent chemoradiotherapy alone, concurrent chemotherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve prognosis. More toxicity was found during adjuvant chemotherapy.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.401-413
• /
• 2017

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to assess the occlusal outcome and duration of fixed orthodontic therapy from clinical trials in humans with the Objective Grading System (OGS) proposed by the American Board of Orthodontics. Methods: Nine databases were searched up to October 2016 for prospective/retrospective clinical trials assessing the outcomes of orthodontic therapy with fixed appliances. After duplicate study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment according to the Cochrane guidelines, random-effects meta-analyses of the mean OGS score and treatment duration were performed and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: A total of 34 relevant clinical trials including 6,207 patients (40% male, 60% female; average age, 18.4 years) were identified. The average OGS score after treatment was 27.9 points (95% CI, 25.3-30.6 points), while the average treatment duration was 24.9 months (95% CI, 24.6-25.1 months). There was no significant association between occlusal outcome and treatment duration, while considerable heterogeneity was identified. In addition, orthodontic treatment involving extraction of four premolars appeared to have an important effect on both outcomes and duration of treatment. Finally, only 10 (39%) of the identified studies matched compared groups by initial malocclusion severity, although meta-epidemiological evidence suggested that matching may have significantly influenced their results. Conclusions: The findings from this systematic review suggest that the occlusal outcomes of fixed appliance treatment vary considerably, with no significant association between treatment outcomes and duration. Prospective matched clinical studies that use the OGS tool are needed to compare the effectiveness of orthodontic appliances.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.31
• /
• pp.6.1-6.10
• /
• 2016

Objectives This study examined the spatial distribution and the extent of soil contamination by heavy metals resulting from primitive, unconventional informal electronic waste recycling in the Agbogbloshie e-waste processing site (AEPS) in Ghana. Methods A total of 132 samples were collected at 100 m intervals, with a handheld global position system used in taking the location data of the soil sample points. Observing all procedural and quality assurance measures, the samples were analyzed for barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn), using X-ray fluorescence. Using environmental risk indices of contamination factor and degree of contamination ($C_{deg}$), we analyzed the individual contribution of each heavy metal contamination and the overall $C_{deg}$. We further used geostatistical techniques of spatial autocorrelation and variability to examine spatial distribution and extent of heavy metal contamination. Results Results from soil analysis showed that heavy metal concentrations were significantly higher than the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency and Dutch environmental standards. In an increasing order, Pb>Cd>Hg>Cu>Zn>Cr>Co>Ba>Ni contributed significantly to the overall $C_{deg}$. Contamination was highest in the main working areas of burning and dismantling sites, indicating the influence of recycling activities. Geostatistical analysis also revealed that heavy metal contamination spreads beyond the main working areas to residential, recreational, farming, and commercial areas. Conclusions Our results show that the studied heavy metals are ubiquitous within AEPS and the significantly high concentration of these metals reflect the contamination factor and $C_{deg}$, indicating soil contamination in AEPS with the nine heavy metals studied.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.117-124
• /
• 2011

Objectives : Bell's palsy is the most common acute facial paralysis but its causes still unclear. At present, one of the most widely accepted cause is viral infections, and generally socioeconomic factors influence the viral infections. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of incidence of facial palsy with socioeconomic factors. Methods : Seventeen patients with a acute facial palsy, who volunteered and completed all of the assessment measures participated. Using data on 17 participants, we examined the independent contribution of education, income, and occupation to a risk factor of severe facial palsy. Severity of global facial impairment was assessed by the facial disability index (FDI), the house-brackmann facial nerve grading system, WHO quality of life - bref (WHOQOL-BREF) and visual analogue scale (VAS) about discomfort of life. Results : There was no correlation between severity of facial palsy and gender, marriage, education, or occupation. Age greater than 60 years (p<0.05), and low monthly income(p<0.05), poor self-rated health was associated with greater severity of idiopathic facial paralysis. Conclusions : The number of subjects with facial palsy in our study (n-17) was small, and therefore generalization to larger patient populations might be unwarranted. But according to the outcome, we suggest that socioeconomic factors, especially low monthly income influence severity of bell's palsy.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.43 no.4
• /
• pp.298-306
• /
• 2017

Objectives: Since 1998, the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) has been conducted in order to investigate the health and nutritional status of Koreans. The food intake data of individuals in the KNHANES has also been utilized as source dataset for risk assessment of chemicals via food. To improve the reliability of intake estimation and prevent missing data for less-responded foods, the structure of integrated long-standing datasets is significant. However, it is difficult to merge multi-year survey datasets due to ineffective cleaning processes for handling extensive numbers of codes for each food item along with changes in dietary habits over time. Therefore, this study aims at 1) cleaning the process of abnormal data 2) generation of integrated long-standing raw data, and 3) contributing to the production of consistent dietary exposure factors. Methods: Codebooks, the guideline book, and raw intake data from KNHANES V and VI were used for analysis. The violation of the primary key constraint and the $1^{st}-3rd$ normal form in relational database theory were tested for the codebook and the structure of the raw data, respectively. Afterwards, the cleaning process was executed for the raw data by using these integrated codes. Results: Duplication of key records and abnormality in table structures were observed. However, after adjusting according to the suggested method above, the codes were corrected and integrated codes were newly created. Finally, we were able to clean the raw data provided by respondents to the KNHANES survey. Conclusion: The results of this study will contribute to the integration of the multi-year datasets and help improve the data production system by clarifying, testing, and verifying the primary key, integrity of the code, and primitive data structure according to the database normalization theory in the national health data.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.343-354
• /
• 2018

Aluminum oxide nanoparticles ($Al_2O_3$ NPs) are among the most widely used nanomaterials; however, relatively little information about their risk identification and assessment is available. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential toxicity of $Al_2O_3$ NPs following repeated inhalation exposure in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were exposed to $Al_2O_3$ NPs for 28 days (5 days/week) at doses of 0, 0.2, 1, and $5mg/m^3$ using a nose-only inhalation system. During the experimental period, we evaluated the clinical signs, body weight change, hematological and serum biochemical parameters, necropsy findings, organ weight, and histopathology findings. Additionally, we analyzed the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), including differential leukocyte counts, and aluminum contents in the major organs and blood. Aluminum contents were the highest in lung tissues and showed a dose-dependent relationship in the exposure group. Histopathology showed alveolar macrophage accumulation in the lungs of rats in the $5mg/m^3$ group during exposure and recovery. These changes tended to increase at the end of the recovery period. In the BALF analysis, total cell and neutrophil counts and lactate dehydrogenase, tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$, and interleukin-6 levels significantly increased in the 1 and $5mg/m^3$ groups during exposure. Under the present experimental conditions, we suggested that the no-observed-adverse-effect level of $Al_2O_3$ NPs in male rats was $1mg/m^3$, and the target organ was the lung.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.507-512
• /
• 2004

This study was focused on the risk assessment of whether radiofrequency electromagnetic fields generated by mobile phone is cytogenetically toxic or not. We conducted the effects of 835-MHz electromagnetic field (EMF) on DNA strand breaks in mouse thymic lymphoma L5178Y $Tk^{+/1-}$ cells using alkaline comet assay. EMF frequency 835-MHz we chosen is one of the most popular communication frequency bands in Korean code-division multiple-access (CDMA) mobile phone system. The cells were exposed to 835-MHz EMF alone or 835-MHz EMF combined with cyclophosamide(CPA) or 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) at specific absorption rate (SAR) of 4.0 W $kg^{-l}$ for 24 and 48hrs. DNA damage expressed as tail moment was increased more than two-fold after exposure to 835-MHz EMF for 24 and 48hr. In particular, CPA for 48hr and 4NQO for 24 hr enhanced notably the tail moment to 9-fold and 16-fold in the presence of 835-MHz EMF, respectively, compared to each single treatment. From these results, it appears that exposure to CDMA-mobile phone radiation at 835-MHz frequency may potentiate DNA strand breaks of mouse thymic lymphoma L5178Y $Tk^{+/1-}$;cells under the defined conditions of this study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.219-223
• /
• 2012

For an off-site consequence analysis at nuclear power plant, MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System(MACCS) II code is widely used as a software tool. In this study, the algorithm of web-based off-site consequence analysis program(OSCAP) using the MACCS II code was developed for an Integrated Leak Rate Test (ILRT) interval extension and Level 3 probabilistic safety assessment(PSA), and verification and validation(V&V) of the program was performed. The main input data for the MACCS II code are meteorological, population distribution and source term information. However, it requires lots of time and efforts to generate the main input data for an off-site consequence analysis using the MACCS II code. For example, the meteorological data are collected from each nuclear power site in real time, but the formats of the raw data collected are different from each site. To reduce the efforts and time for risk assessments, the web-based OSCAP has an automatic processing module which converts the format of the raw data collected from each site to the input data format of the MACCS II code. The program also provides an automatic function of converting the latest population data from Statistics Korea, the National Statistical Office, to the population distribution input data format of the MACCS II code. For the source term data, the program includes the release fraction of each source term category resulting from modular accident analysis program(MAAP) code analysis and the core inventory data from ORIGEN. These analysis results of each plant in Korea are stored in a database module of the web-based OSCAP, so the user can select the defaulted source term data of each plant without handling source term input data.