• Anxiety and mood
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2010

Objective : This study aimed to investigate and compare the prevalence of depression and suicidality among the elderly in a rural city according to their residence type. Methods : Participants were 311 elderly people (109 male and 202 female) in Icheon City, whom trained researchers interviewed and examined Geriatric Depression Scale, Social Support Scale, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Activities of Daily Living, Quality of Life Scale, and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), module C. Using these data, we analyzed participants' risk factors associated with depression and suicidality. Results : The prevalence of depression was 28.0%. The prevalence in the elderly living alone and those admitted to residential facilities was significantly higher than that among the elderly living with family. Suicidality frequency was 19.6%. The suicidality frequency among the elderly living alone and those admitted to facilities was significantly higher than that among the elderly living with family. The risk factors for depression were age, admission to a facility, and low economic status. The suicidality risk factors were living alone, admission to a facility, poor social support, and a history of headache. Conclusion : These results showed the prevalence of depression and frequency of suicidality among the elderly in such a city was quite high. The results of this study remind psychiatrists of the importance of early detection and therapeutic intervention for the elderly with a high risk of depression and suicidality.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.248-254
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• 2022

Background: Occupational hazards in crop farms vary diversely based on different field operations as soil management, harvesting processes, pesticide, or fertilizer application. We aimed at evaluating the immunological status of crop farmers, as limited systematic investigations on immune alteration involved with crop farming have been reported yet. Methods: Immunological parameters including plasma immunoglobulin level, major peripheral immune cells distribution, and level of cytokine production from activated T cell were conducted. Nineteen grape orchard, 48 onion open-field, and 21 rose greenhouse farmers were participated. Results: Significantly low proportion of natural killer (NK) cell, a core cell for innate immunity, was revealed in the grape farmers (19.8±3.3%) in comparison to the onion farmers (26.4±3.1%) and the rose farmers (26.9±2.5%), whereas cytotoxic T lymphocyte proportion was lower in the grape and the onion farmers than the rose farmers. The proportion of NKT cell, an immune cell implicated with allergic response, was significantly higher in the grape (2.3±0.3%) and the onion (1.6±0.8%) farmers compared with the rose farmers (1.0±0.4%). A significantly decreased interferon-gamma:interleukin-13 ratio was observed from ex vivo stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of grape farmers compared with the other two groups. The grape farmers revealed the lowest levels of plasma IgG1 and IgG4, and their plasma IgE level was not significantly different from that of the onion or the rose farmers. Conclusion: Our finding suggests the high vulnerability of workplace-mediated allergic immunity in grape orchard farmers followed by open-field onion farmers and then the rose greenhouse farmers.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.229-242
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• 2013

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify the influence of shift work on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and perceived errors during nursing work among hospital nurses. Methods: The study subjects were 209 hospital nurses working in two general hospitals in South Korea. The data were collected through self-administered questionnaires in May 2013. Sleep quality was measured using Korea Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-K), daytime sleepiness was measured using Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and perceived errors in past 6 months during nursing duty hours with the tool developed in this study. Results: The sleep quality was significantly worse among rotating shift nurses when compared to fixed day duty nurses. However, the odds ratio (OR) of 1.92 [95% confidence interval(CI): 0.58-6.37] adjusted for sociodemographic variables, health behaviors, and working environment in logistic regression was not significant. There was no significant difference in the daytime sleepiness between rotating shift nurses and fixed day duty nurses in both simple and multivariable analyses. There were significantly more perceived errors in rotating shift nurses than fixed day duty nurses. However, the OR of 1.26 (95% CI: 0.38-4.21) adjusted for sociodemographic variables, health behaviors, working environment, sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness in logistic regression was not significant. Depression (OR=3.31, 95% CI: 1.11-9.84) and daytime sleepiness(OR=1.18, 95% CI: 1.07-1.30) were significantly associated with perceived errors in logistic regression. Conclusion: This study suggested shift work among hospital nurses had no independent influence of sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and perceived errors. However, daytime sleepiness had independent influence of perceived errors. More studies are warranted to achieve more reliable conclusion.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2014

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between coronary artery calcification and risk factors of cardiovascular disease with multidetector computed tomography. Methods: Data were collected from 5,899 males between 30 and 59 years old by interview, survey, physical examination, blood test, and multidetector computed tomography in the university hospital from January 2010 to December 2011. We confirmed the coronary artery calcium scores of subjects by multidetector computed tomography and identified risk factors of cardiovascular disorders. We investigated the relationship between coronary artery calcification and risk factors of cardiovascular disorders. Results: Mean calcium score of the coronary arteries in 5,899 participants was 8.20, and 773 participants (13.1%) exhibited coronary artery calcification. The presence of coronary artery calcification was correlated to risk factors of cardiovascular disease (age, blood pressure, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, glucose, Apolipoprotein A-1, Apolipoprotein B, body mass index, waist circumference) and risk assessment tools of cardiovascular disorders. Significant predicted factors of coronary artery calcification had different patterns in each age group (30-39, 40-49, 50-59 years old). Conclusions: We confirmed the relationship between coronary artery calcification and either typical risk factors of cardiovascular disease or risk assessment tools of cardiovascular disease. In addition, we also observed that the pattern of these factors varied according to age. Therefore, age-related variation needs to be considered in management strategies to prevent cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.303-315
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• 2008

- Abstract - Objectives: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of depression and identify its related factors among an urban elderly. Methods: The data for this study were obtained from 333 men and 514 women, aged 65-79 years who participated in '2007 community health survey' in Donggu, Gwangju metropolitan city. Their depressive symptoms were measured by Korean version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). Results: The mean CES-D score (mean±S.D) for all subjects was 7.68±0.31. The mean CES-D score was significantly greater in the women (9.09±0.43) than in the men (5.51±0.39) (p<0.001). The prevalence rates of possible depression (CES-D score ≥16), probable depression (CES-D score≥21), and definite depression (CES-D score≥25) were 8.1%, 5.4%, and 3.9% in men, respectively. The prevalence rates of possible depression, probable depression, and definite depression were 19.5%, 11.1%, and 7.2% in women, respectively. Existence of spouse (no/yes), education level (no/high school or higher), health security system (medical aid/national health insurance), self-reported health status (poor/good), vascular risk factors (present/absent) proved to be statistically significant related factors of depression. Conclusions: This study suggests that a systematic effort and attention to support for elderly people living alone, low educational level, medical aid, poor self-reported health status and vascular risk factors should be promoted to reduce the incidence of depression.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.153-162
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• 1974

To find a basic study for manpower of physicians and medical care systems in Busan, author has studied towards 1,069 doctors who had taken the regular report in 1973, residing in Busan City. The survey was conducted from July 1 to August 31, 1973 and the findings & results obtained through the study for distributions, characteristics, employment of doctors and some medical system were summarized as follows; 1. The ratio between doctor and populations in Busan City was 1:1,887. 2. The doctors who graduated from Susan Medical College were 438 as the most proportion (40.9%). 3. Sex distribution of doctors revealed male 970, female 99 and those belonging to the 30-39 age group were as the most proportion (41.0%). 4. The doctors who had faith in Christianity were the highest (22.3%), 5. By the opening year of clinics, there was increasing tendency after 1950, especially during 1970-1973. 6. At that time of investigation, the doctors who had private clinics were 673 (67.3%) and nonemployees were 27 (2.5%) 7. The total Medical Specialists in Busan were 519, and among them the Internal Medicine Specialists were the highest proportion (16.2%). 8. The clinics employing the disqualified nurse-aids were 237 (22.2%). 9. Most of doctors (81.8%) had opposed attitude to the establishment of new medical colleges. 10. More than half of the doctors (59.8%) agreed to the functional division between Physicians and Pharmacists. 11. The ratio of agreement to the practical application of public medical insurances was 68.7%. 12. The opinion by opening hospital-clinics at Myeon for administrative measures for doctorless rural area was the highest proportion. 13. The doctors who replied as low state of confidence of the citizens to the doctors-themselves were 691 (64.6%).

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-53
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to measure the resource use of the elderly in long-term care services and to examine the effects of patient and facility characteristics on their use of resources. The data were collected from 510 old people over sixty years of age, residing in five long-term care hospitals and two skilled nursing homes during the period between December 1, 2000 and February 28, 2001. For a full sample, when the first level of RUG(Resource Use Group)-III categories were employed as the proxy of patient severity, facility characteristics, such as location, size and ownership, have large effects on the resource use measured by service intensity, whereas patient characteristics such as severity have little or no effect. The resource use is significantly high if the facility: (1) is located in rural areas (gun): (2) has mare than 200 beds; (3) is a long-term care hospital; (4) is private; and (5) has a low percentage of medical aid patients. The analysis of the resource use in each RUG-III categories, for which ADL(Ability of Daily Living) were employed as the prosy of patient severity, shows a similar result. The loose relationship between the needs of residents and the resource use seems to be closely associated with the ineffective reimbursement system for providers. The current reimbursement system has no provision for quality improvement and reimburses facilities simply according to their types: fee-for-service for long-term care hospitals, and monthly-flat-rate or full-coverage-national-aid for skilled nursing facilities. It will be necessary to develop a more reasonable reimbursement system that takes patient's severity into account and gives incentives for long-term care providers to offer cost-effective services.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.95-98
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• 2017

Fasciola hepatica is a trematode that causes zoonosis, mainly in cattle and sheep, and occasionally in humans. Few recent studies have determined the infection status of this fluke in Korea. In August 2015, we collected 402 samples of freshwater snails at Hoenggye-ri (upper stream) and Suha-ri (lower stream) of Song-cheon (stream) in Daegwalnyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun in Gangwon-do (Province) near many large cattle or sheep farms. F. hepatica infection was determined using PCR on the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2). Among the 402 samples, F. hepatica 1TS-2 marker was detected in 6 freshwater snails; thus, the overall prevalence in freshwater snails was 1.5%. The prevalence varied between collection areas, ranging from 0.0% at Hoenggye-ri to 2.9% at Suha-ri. However, F. gigantica ITS-2 was not detected in the 6 F. hepatica-positive samples by PCR. The nucleotide sequences of the 6 F. hepatica ITS-2 PCR-positive samples were 99.4% identical to the F. hepatica ITS-2 sequences in GenBank, whereas they were 98.4% similar to F. gigantica ITS-2 sequences. These results indicated that the prevalence of F. hepatica in snail intermediate hosts was 1.5% in Gangwon-do, Korea; however the prevalence varied between collection areas. These results may help us to understand F. hepatica infection status in natural environments.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.15-23
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• 1990

This study was carried out to explore the illness-related activities of the menopaused women. To achieve such a purpose, sixty-six cases of the middle aged women were sampled the naturally and the artificially menopaused group respectively from 1st, Aug. to 31th, Aug. in 1988. For the collection of data, 1, 140 women aged between 45-54 were selected through stratified sampling techniques in urban and rural area. Among them the final subjects for analysis were restricted to only those who had experienced menopause naturally or artificially. And then, after control for age and education analysis was performed. The data was analysed by use of frequency, percentage, $X^2-test,$ t-test, Pearson correlation coefficiency and stop-wise multiple regression. The obtained results were as follows. I. As for the se1f-perception on menopausal symptoms, it was revealed than Korean women, neithe in naturally and artificially, accepted the change of menstruation itself as serious. This shows us that middle-aged women had positively receptive attitudes that the change of menstruation is follwed by amenorrhea. 2. The artificially menopaused group scored more than the naturally one: (I) on the self-control activities such as self-assessment, lay-consultation, fever check, pulse check and observation of vagina discharge, (2) on the self-decision activities such as hospital and pharmacy utilization, (3) on the self maintenance activities such as walking, aerobic, weight check, skin care, skin protect, calori control diet control, milk intake, vegetable intake, cold water drinking before meal, parasol use and BP check The above results lead us that the self care practices of the menopaused women revealed' coping wit I menopausal symptoms at the first level in community and must be developed by the adequate nursin intervention.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.533-542
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• 2007

The general characteristics of fine particle and meteorological analysis of high $PM_{10}$ concentration day which was over $100{\mu}g/m^3$ in busan were investigated for period of 2002 to 2006. Annual mean concentration including Asian dust day was $68.7{\mu}g/m^3$ in 2002, $54.6{\mu}g/m^3$ in 2003, $60.4{\mu}g/m^3$ in 2004, $58.3{\mu}g/m^3$ in 2005 and $58.8{\mu}g/m^3$ in 2006, respectively. Seasonal mean concentration was $73.4{\mu}g/m^3$ in Springtime, $56.8{\mu}g/m^3$ in Summertime, $55.5{\mu}g/m^3$ in Wintertime and $54.4{\mu}g/m^3$ in Falltime, respectively. Mean concentration for land use was 69.2 $37.0{\mu}g/m^3$ in industrial area, 64.2 $35.5{\mu}g/m^3$ in rural area, 62.6 $34.4{\mu}g/m^3$ in commercial area and 55.3 $33.8{\mu}g/m^3$ in residential area, respectively. Frequency of synoptic pattern for high $PM_{10}$ concentration day was 18 days(16.7%) in I type, 27 days(25.0%) in II type, 10 days(9.3%) in III type, 5 days(4.6%) in IV type, 13 days(12.0%) in V type and 29 days (26.9%) in VI type, respectively. Frequency of long range transport sector for high $PM_{10}$ concentration day was 9 days(8.3%) in I type, 64 days(59.5%) in II type, 34 days(31.5%) in III type, 1 days in IV type, 0 days, respectively.