• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.5-25
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to explore factors influencing the poverty of the elderly in Korea. In spite the fact that poverty of the elderly is more serious than any other demographic group, this important issue is rarely studied. Using the 7-year accumulated data from the KLIPS(Korean Labor and Income Study), I combined the work history of the elders, their demographic characteristics and residence to estimate pooled data analysis of the elderly after reaching age 55 and who are also only living by themselves(only the elders). The results of this study are as followed: first of all, age, education, marital status, wealth, residence and work history are shown to be significant predictors for the poverty of elderly. Second, the results show that factors influencing the poverty is different depending on the elder's (demographic) characteristics. For example, age and marital status is a more important predictor in female than in male, and wealth and health status is a more important predictor in elders who do not have a spouse than in elders who do. Such results suggest that the policy of the poverty of the elderly which is only focused on elder's characteristic is limited. Therefore we can suggest that a policy which workable people can earn decent income and saving wealth for their elderly in job is needed. Especially, policies on the 'Working Poor' and reconstruct the current public pension system is very much needed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.611-615
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• 2002

Pneumoconiosis is fibrogenic disease, caused by inhalation of mineral dust. It is defined as the accumulation of dust in the lung and tissue reaction to its presence and the dust is considered to be an aerosal of solid and inanimate particles. It is among the most common and the most important occupational lung disease, especially in developing countries. It is required three prerequisites for making a clinical diagnosis of pneumoconiosis: 1) a full clinical and occupational history together with the result of physical examination; 2) previous X-ray for comparison; and 3) a clear understanding of the time scale involved in the progression of the diseases. Most pneumoconiosises are slow to evolve and changes in the appearances take many months -usually years- to occur. Pneumoconiosis is represented on a plain X-ray of the chest as multiple small round opacities, usually smaller than 1cm diameter. In 58 years old female patient, pneumoconiosis is manifested as $5{\times}4{\times}3$cm sized solitary pulmonary nodule without any occupational history and past history of exposure of dust. so we treated this case with right upper lobectomy. Therefore we report this case with a brief review of literatures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.282-288
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• 2007

그 동안 많은 역학연구를 통해서 금속가공유(metalworking fluid, MWFs) 노출과 여러 조직에서 암 발생 위험과의 관계를 밝혔지만, 금속가공유 종류(비수용성, 수용성, 합성, 준합성)별로 구분된 위험은 아직 완전하게 규명되지 않았다. 역학조사에서 금속가공유 노출을 대체할 수 있는 인자(surrogate)로서 정성적(qualitative), 명목적(ordinal) 혹은 준정량적인(semi-quantitative) 변수들(금속가공유에 대한 노출 유무, 노출 정도: 높음, 낮음 등, 직업 유무, 근무기간 등)을 이용하여 금속가공유 노출을 평가하였다. 이러한 노출평가방법은 기본적으로 금속가공유 노출 강도(intensity)가 고려되지 않을 뿐만 아니라 노출 분류 오류(misclassification)도 항상 존재할 수 있어 금속가공유 노출은 물론이고 종류별 위험을 밝히기 어렵다. 일부 역학연구에서 금속가공유 종류별 누적 노출양(cumulative exposure level)과 암위험과의 관계를 밝혔다. 이러한 연구결과들은 모두 금속가공유 종류별로 과거노출을 추정할 수 있는 자료(정량적인 노출평가자료, 과거직업력, 취급했던 금속가공유 종류 등)가 잘 기록되어 있는 1개의 대규모 자동차공장에서 나온 것들이다. 따라서 금속가공유에 대한 노출자료가 부족하고 사용특성에 대한 기록이 없거나 부족한 일반 인구나 산업을 대상으로 한 역학연구에서는 금속가공유의 종류별 위험을 밝히는것은 불가능하다. 금속가공유 종류별로 과거 노출에 대한 확률(probability)을 추정하는데 일반적으로 활용할 수 있는 노출확률 메트릭스를 개발하는 것이 필요하다.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2023

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a significant difference in the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio according to the history of suicide attempt in patients with psychiatric diseases. Methods : A medical record review was conducted on patients who had been hospitalized in Konyang University Hospital since 2021-03-01 to 2023-02-28 to collect demographic and clinical characteristics. T-test for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables were performed to determine demographic differences according to the history of suicide attempt, and the ANCOVA test was performed to compare the average value of peripheral inflammatory marker according to the history of suicide attempt with gender and age as covariates. One-way variance analysis was performed to determine whether the number of suicide attempt causes significant difference of the peripheral inflammatory marker. Results : The final analysis target of this study was 266 patients, 101 had history of suicide attempt, and 165 had no history of suicide attempt. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (p<0.001) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (p<0.001) were higher in patients with the history of suicide attempt than patients without the history of suicide attempt, but the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio were not significantly increased depending on the serial increase of number of suicide attempts. Conclusions : This study suggests that peripheral inflammatory markers are meaningful and easily accessible indicators for predicting the risk of suicide attempt in psychiatric patients. We expect that prospective follow-up study will be conducted with more subjects and controlled potential confounding variables.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 1992

Background: Diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) is a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease distinguished from bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, bronchiectasis, or alveolitis. It is prevalent in Japan, but is known to be rare outside of Japan. Only a few cases in Chinese, Italian, Noirth American and Korean have been reported. During recent two years we have found 16 cases of DPB in Seoul National University Hospital and analyzed the clinical characteristics. Method: We reviewed the patients' age, sex, duration of illness, smoking history, occupational history and past medical history. And we analyzed patients' symptoms, physical signs, laboratory findings and responses to treatment. Results: 1) Male: female ratio was 2.2:1, the ages ranged from 27 to 72 years old, and the duration of disease varied from 1 to 20 years. 2) Most of the patients were being treated as bronchiectasis, miliary tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis or bronchial asthma before they were diagnosed as DPB. 3) Only one patient was a smoker, and 25% of patients had the occupational history of exposure to particles or gas. And all patients had paranasal sinusitis. 4) High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) was very useful in diagnosing the disease in most of the patients. 5) PFT showed obstructive and restrictive abnormalities, and blood gas revealed hypoxemia in most of the patients. 6) Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated in the sputum of four patients (25%). 7) The titers of cold hemaglutinin, RA factor and CRP were elevated in most of the patients. 8) Most of the patients improved after treatment with erythromycin. Conclusion: DPB might not be a rare disease in Korea. So DPB should be suspected in a patient who has chronic cough, sputum, dyspnea and diffuse fine nodular chest X-ray abnormality. HRCT and open lung biopsy should be considered in a patient suspected of DPB.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.80 no.1
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• pp.20-31
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• 1991

To improve the understanding and predicting power of littering behavior in natural recreation areas, a model was proposed based on the theory of reasoned action by Fishbein and Ajzen. Among the visitors of Kaeryongsan National Park in Korea, three hundred and ninety nine (399) groups were interviewed to obtain such data as beliefs about the behavioral consequences, attitudes, normative belief, socioeconomic status and etc. A significant but practically weak relationship was found between beliefs, normative belief and past behavior (R=0.3). Using Logit analysis, past behavior could be explained with relevant variables in an acceptable power ($R^2$=0.35). In the model, education, social group, occupation, age and visiting frequency were all negatively related to past behabavior. Beliefs and normative belief also behaved as expected by the theory. The study results show that the theory may be useful in predicting the undesirable behaviors in recreation areas and establishing management policy to control them. The cause of weak relationships between relevant variables were discussed and future research implications were also suggested.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.2 s.61
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• pp.275-284
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• 1998

Activities of enzymes involved in the metabolism of various carcinogenic xenobiotics is one of the most important host factors for cancer occurrence. N-acetyltransferase (NAT) and glutathione S-transferases (GST) are enzymes which .educe the toxicity of activated carcinogenic metabolites. Slow N-acetylation and lack of GST mu (GSTMI) were reported as risk factors of bladder cancer. GST theta (GSTT1), which is another type of GST, was reported to be deleted at higher proportion among Koreans. Since cause of bladder cancer is not fully explained by single risk factor, many kinds of enzymes would be involved in the metabolism of carcinogens excreted in urine. This study was performed to investigate whether the polymorphisms of NAT2, GSTM1 and GSTT1 are risk factors of bladder cancer and to evaluate the effects of their interaction on bladder cancer development. Sixty-seven bladder cancer and 67 age- and sex-matched non-cancer patients hospitalized in Chungbuk National University Hospital from March to December 1996, are the subjects of this case-control study. Questionnaire interview was done and the genotypes of NAT2, GSTM1 and GSTT1 were identified using PCR methods with DNA extracted from venous blood. The effects of the polymorphism of NAT2 and GSTM1 and their interaction on bladder cancer were statistically tested after controlling the other risk factors. The frequencies of slow, intermediate, and rapid acetylators were 3.0%, 38.8%, and 58.2% to. the cases, and 7.6%, 40.9%, and 51.5% for the controls, respectively. The risk of bladder cancer was not associated with the increase of NAT2 activity($\chi^2_{trend}=1.18$, P-value>0.05). GSTM1 was deleted in 68.7% of the cases and 49.3% of the controls ($\chi^2=5.21$, P-value<0.05), and the odds ratio (95% CI) was 2.23 (1.12 - 4.56). GSTT1 deletion, the .ate of which were 26.9% for the bladder cancer patients and 43.3% for the controls, was a significant protective factor against bladder cancer. Smoking history turned out to be insignificant as a risk factor of bladder cancer (OR=1.85, 95% CI: 0.85 - 4.03), and occupation could not be tested because of the extremely small number of occupational history related to the increase of bladder cancer. In multiple logistic analysis controlling the effects of other risk factors, GSTM1 deletion was the only significant risk factor for bladder cancer (OR: 2.56, 95% CI: 1.22-5.36, P-value<0.05), but slow acetylation and GSTT1 deletion were not. These results suggest that GSTM1 deletion may be a significant risk factor of bladder cancer. Since there have been much debates on causal relationship between slow acetylation and GSTT1 deletion, and bladder cancer, further studies are needed.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

This study describes predictive factors for elderly suicidal ideation by analyzing the survey data from 359 people who were over 65 years old in Daegu, Korea. The mean score of social support(3.35), self-esteem(3.38), depression(8.64) and suicidal ideation(1.65) of elderly residence. Social support, self-esteem and suicidal ideation had negative correlation. Depression and suicidal ideation had positive correlation. Suicidal ideation was significantly different according to age, education, spouse, living arrangement, type of medical guarantee, pocket money, past job, leisure(time), health status, number of chronic disease, smoking. Others support, self-esteem, pocket money, education, age were influencing factors of suicidal ideation(48.2%). Among them, 41.8% of others support was.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.124-133
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• 1999

Objective : Postpartum depression(PPD) was known to be caused by many factors including various psychosocial risk factors. This study was performed to identify the psychosocial risk factors for ppd, preliminarily in Korea. Methods : A group of 119 postpartum women, each of whom was at 6 to 8 weeks after delivery was identified at the time when they visited to the child health clinic or postnatal check-up clinic. The risk factors were surveyed by the self-reported questionnaire. The items of questionnaire were consisted of known risk factors in other studies and other possible stress-related factors. PPD was assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale(EPDS) and the degree of postpartum depression was determined by its score. Results : 16 women(13.45%) in the high risk group were diagnosed as PPD among the 119 women. Risk factors including past experience of depressive symptoms and low level of marital satisfaction were founded more frequently in women in the high risk group than in the low risk group. The score of EPDS was significantly high in the group who experienced depressive symptoms in the past, anxiety or depression during pregnancy, stressful life event during the period of recent pregnancy and postpartum, and who had low level of marital satisfaction. There was a positive correlation between age and the score of EPDS. However, the postpartum depressive symptoms were not influenced by the level of education, job, retirement due to pregnancy and delivery, wanted or unwanted pregnancy, delivery method, feeding method, the hospitalization of infant, expected and real gender of infant. Conclusion : These results suggest that PPD is quite frequent at postpartum period. Various risk factors contribute to the development of PPD. If clinicians pay attention to the risk factors of PPD and give appropriate psychiatric intervention to the mothers during pregnancy and postpartum, it will be easy for the clinicians to recognize and treat PPD in the early stage.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.149-156
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• 1995

This study was performed for 182 rural persons of patients who had admitted at National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital from 21th Feb to 18th Aug, 1994. We investigated diseased history based on the data according to the kind of occupation. The results were summarized as follows : The most common occupation was no occupation(35.2%). The most common age group was 5th decade(25.3%). By the age, the most common group in cases of no occupation was over 7th decade and under 5th decade, and agriculture was over 7th decade and 6th decade. Male(83.5%) were more than female, but wasn't significantly different. The most common group in the level of education was over the graduate of high school. The group that have ever drunken(p<0.05) and smoked(p<0.01) was significantly different in labour, service, agriculture, others. Family history, combined disease, symptom were no significantly different by occupation. Both lung fields on the chest X-ray was the most common site of invasion(82.4%). In the tests of AFB smear and culture, the differences according to the occupation were not. At the time of admission, the most common group in the state of treatment was initial treatment. The multi-drug resistance tuberculosis was no significantly different by occupation.