• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.25 no.2 s.38
• /
• pp.127-140
• /
• 1992

This study was done to identify the association between serum copper and zinc levels and the cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), and to evaluate its diagnostic value on liver diseases. Sixty-three healthy persons, 60 patients with cirrhosis and 33 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were rendomly selected and investigated for their general characteristics from October 1990 to August 1991. For analysis of the biochemical markers in liver function test and the serum copper and zinc levels, their fasting venous blood were sampled at 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning and centrifuged to separate the serum within one hour. All the samples were immediately analysed for biochemical markers and stored at $-20^{\circ}C$ in polypropylene tubes further copper and zinc analysis. Mean of serum coppper levels was $91.97{\pm}4.76{\mu}g/dl$ in control, $106.21{\pm}2.73{\mu}g/dl$ in cirrhosis and $127.05{\pm}0.77{\mu}g/dl$ in HCC. The value of HCC was statistically significantly higher than that of the control and cirrhosis(p<0.05). Serum zinc levels were $110.82{\pm}7.24{\mu}g/dl$ in control, $68.10{\pm}5.43{\mu}g/dl$ in cirrhosis and $63.78{\pm}2.20{\mu}g/dl$ in HCC. The values of cirrhosis and HCC were statistically significantly lower than that of control(p<0.05). The Cu/Zn ratio was statiatically significantly different among three groups(p<0.05). Test total protein, albumin, ALP and total bilirubin of biochemical markers of liver function were statistically significantly different among three groups(p<0.05). Differences between cirrhosis and HCC for ALT and AST, and between the control and HCC for direct bilirubin were not statistically significant. Biochemical markers statistically significantly correlated with serum copper and zinc levels and Cu/Zn ratio(p<0.05), were variable in three groups. In multiple logistic regression, odds ratio of serum copper level and Cu/Zn ratio had no statistical significance on the cirrhosis and the HCC, but that of serum sinc was statistically significant as 0.951 and 0.952(p<0.05). Serum copper and zinc levels and Cu/Zn ratio were not statistically significantly different between the cirrhosis and HCC. H\Albumin, ALP, zinc, total bilirubin and age among all variables were selected as main variables for three-group discriminant analysis. Percentage of 'grouped' cases correctly classified by these five variables was 98.4 for control, 73.4 for cirrhosis, 75.7 for HCC and 84.0 for all subjects. This study suggests that zinc level is considered to play a role as diagnostic marker on the hepatic disorders and be more useful than serum copper level and Cu/Zn ratio in diagnosis of the liver diseases.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.165-178
• /
• 2016

Purpose: This study was performed to examine associations of intakes of milk and dairy products, pulses, and soy foods with bone health in Koreans aged 50 yr and older. Methods: A total of 3,201 men and 3,581 women aged 50 yr and older who participated in the 2008~2011 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were grouped by sex and age groups of 50~64 yr and 65 yr and older. Subjects within each sex and age group were divided into three bone health groups: normal, osteopenia, and osteoporosis groups based on bone mineral density. Intakes of nutrients and foods derived from 24-hour recall data were compared among three bone health groups. Associations between intake frequencies of foods, including milk, yogurt, tofu, or soy milk, and osteoporosis risk were evaluated based on confounding risk factor-adjusted logistic regression. Results: Calcium intake was in the order of normal, osteopenia, and osteoporosis in men (p < 0.01) and women (p < 0.05) aged 50~64 yr as well as in men aged 65 yr and older (p < 0.001). In women aged 50~64 yr, intake of milk and dairy products was lower in the osteoporosis group (p < 0.01) as compared with the osteopenia group. Intake of pulses or tofu was not significantly different among bone health groups. Odds ratio (OR) for milk intake frequency (${\geq}2$ times/week) compared to intake frequency less than 1 time/month was 0.45 (95% CI 0.24~0.85, p for trend = 0.022) in men aged 65 yr and older. The OR for yogurt intake frequency (1 time/month~1 time/week) was 0.47 (95% CI 0.30~0.73, p for trend = 0.019) in women aged 50~64 yr. Intake frequency of tofu or soy milk was not associated with reduced risk of osteoporosis in all groups. Conclusion: Dairy food intake was significantly associated with bone health, and its effect was sex- and age group-specific, whereas soy food intake was not. Dietary intervention to prevent osteoporosis would be effective for women aged 50~64 yr old and for men aged 65 yr and older.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.23-46
• /
• 2021

Collaborative filtering, which is often used in personalization recommendations, is recognized as a very useful technique to find similar customers and recommend products to them based on their purchase history. However, the traditional collaborative filtering technique has raised the question of having difficulty calculating the similarity for new customers or products due to the method of calculating similaritiesbased on direct connections and common features among customers. For this reason, a hybrid technique was designed to use content-based filtering techniques together. On the one hand, efforts have been made to solve these problems by applying the structural characteristics of social networks. This applies a method of indirectly calculating similarities through their similar customers placed between them. This means creating a customer's network based on purchasing data and calculating the similarity between the two based on the features of the network that indirectly connects the two customers within this network. Such similarity can be used as a measure to predict whether the target customer accepts recommendations. The centrality metrics of networks can be utilized for the calculation of these similarities. Different centrality metrics have important implications in that they may have different effects on recommended performance. In this study, furthermore, the effect of these centrality metrics on the performance of recommendation may vary depending on recommender algorithms. In addition, recommendation techniques using network analysis can be expected to contribute to increasing recommendation performance even if they apply not only to new customers or products but also to entire customers or products. By considering a customer's purchase of an item as a link generated between the customer and the item on the network, the prediction of user acceptance of recommendation is solved as a prediction of whether a new link will be created between them. As the classification models fit the purpose of solving the binary problem of whether the link is engaged or not, decision tree, k-nearest neighbors (KNN), logistic regression, artificial neural network, and support vector machine (SVM) are selected in the research. The data for performance evaluation used order data collected from an online shopping mall over four years and two months. Among them, the previous three years and eight months constitute social networks composed of and the experiment was conducted by organizing the data collected into the social network. The next four months' records were used to train and evaluate recommender models. Experiments with the centrality metrics applied to each model show that the recommendation acceptance rates of the centrality metrics are different for each algorithm at a meaningful level. In this work, we analyzed only four commonly used centrality metrics: degree centrality, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and eigenvector centrality. Eigenvector centrality records the lowest performance in all models except support vector machines. Closeness centrality and betweenness centrality show similar performance across all models. Degree centrality ranking moderate across overall models while betweenness centrality always ranking higher than degree centrality. Finally, closeness centrality is characterized by distinct differences in performance according to the model. It ranks first in logistic regression, artificial neural network, and decision tree withnumerically high performance. However, it only records very low rankings in support vector machine and K-neighborhood with low-performance levels. As the experiment results reveal, in a classification model, network centrality metrics over a subnetwork that connects the two nodes can effectively predict the connectivity between two nodes in a social network. Furthermore, each metric has a different performance depending on the classification model type. This result implies that choosing appropriate metrics for each algorithm can lead to achieving higher recommendation performance. In general, betweenness centrality can guarantee a high level of performance in any model. It would be possible to consider the introduction of proximity centrality to obtain higher performance for certain models.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.61-69
• /
• 2016

Purpose: It is important to alleviate care burden for terminal cancer patients and their families. This study investigated the factors associated with care burden among family caregivers (FCs) of terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We analyzed data from 289 FCs of terminal cancer patients who were admitted to palliative care units of seven medical centers in Korea. Care burden was assessed using the Korean version of Caregiver Reaction Assessment (CRA) scale which comprises five domains. A multivariate logistic regression model with stepwise variable selection was used to identify factors associated with care burden. Results: Diverse associating factors were identified in each CRA domain. Emotional factors had broad influence on care burden. FCs with emotional distress were more likely to experience changes to their daily routine (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 2.54; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.29~5.02), lack of family support (aOR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.04~4.97) and health issues (aOR, 5.44; 2.50~11.88). Family functionality clearly reflected a lack of support, and severe family dysfunction was linked to financial issues as well. FCs without religion or comorbid conditions felt more burdened. The caregiving duration and daily caregiving hours significantly predicted FCs' lifestyle changes and physical burden. FCs who were employed, had weak social support or could not visit frequently, had a low self-esteem. Conclusion: This study indicates that it is helpful to understand FCs' emotional status and family functions to assess their care burden. Thus, efforts are needed to lessen their financial burden through social support systems.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.66-73
• /
• 2011

Objectives:The present study investigates the status of inpatient psychiatric consultations at a general hospital in order to find factors that contribute to treatment compliance related to psychiatric consultations. Methods:The subjects were 333 patients who were hospitalized at Korea University Medical Center Ansan Hospital from 1 September 2009 to 31 July 2010.The patients were referred for psychiatric consultation during hospitalization. This study investigates demographic data, request department, referral causes, requestor, psychiatric history and diagnosis, andpsychiatric treatment compliance. Treatment compliance was defined as whether or not the patient had accepted psychiatric treatment during hospitalization or outpatient department(OPD) follow-up. This study ascertains the factors that have impact on compliance, by taking binary logistic regression with compliance and other variables. Results:Among the patients that were offered psychiatric treatment during hospitalization(N=310), treatment compliance was 82.9%. Among the patients that were offered OPD treatment(N=111), compliance was 55.8%. Elderly group(>65 years) showed better compliance to treatment during hospitalization than the younger patient group(OR=4.838, p=0.004). Patients with secondary psychiatric disorders showed better OPD follow-up compliance than patients with secondary psychiatric disorders(OR=8.520, p=.008). Conclusion:Elderly patients showed better compliance for psychiatric treatment during hospitalization. However they commonly have disorders such as delirium and mood disorders that have impact on the patient's physical state, hence further active measures should be carried out. Patients referred due to primary psychiatric disorders showed poor OPD compliance. Therefore clinicians have to suggest multidisciplinary interventions that will improve treatment compliance of such patients.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.3-12
• /
• 2014

Objectives : We aimed to explore the relationship among fatigue and perceived stress, depressive mood in the working population. We also examined associations with demographic and life style factors and investigated the effect of individual coping skills on these associations. Methods : Fatigue Severity Scale(FSS), Perceived Stress Scale(PSS), Brief Encounter Psychosocial Instrument - Korean version(BEPSI-K), Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), Stress Coping Skill Questionnaire were administered to 621 civil servants. All of above and other demographic factors are self-administered questionnaire survey and this study is cross sectional. Results : Mean FSS score was 3.04 which was lower than 3.22, the severity cut off score. FSS, PSS, BEPSI-K, BDI were all higher in female. Subjects with active coping skills showed relatively low fatigue, perceived stress, depressive mood than those with passive coping skills. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the PSS, BDI, BEPSI-K in working population increase the risk of fatigue and regular exercise lowers the risk. Conclusions : Adults who were afflicted by stress, experienced depressive mood or were physically inactive were at much higher risk of feeling fatigue. Since no other large data sets are available for fatigue, the results from this study could serve a very useful purpose, to furnish a basis for comparison with future research results based on more complete data.

• Neonatal Medicine
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.211-220
• /
• 2011

Purpose: Late-onset hypotension in preterm infants is not a rare condition. Late circulatory collapse due to adrenal insufficiency (AI) is one of the major causes of late-onset hypotension. We assessed the incidence and causes of late-onset hypotension. We also compared the clinical findings according to the presence of AI. Methods: In total, 244 preterm infants with a gestational age ${\leq}$32 weeks and who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Seoul National University Boramae Hospital and Seoul National University Hospital from January 2009 to April 2011 were included. Clinical findings were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Forty-four infants (18%) suffered from late-onset hypotension. Hydrocortisone was administered to 30 infants (68.2%) and AI occurred in 16 infants (36.4%). Cesarean section, sepsis before hypotension, and gastrointestinal surgery were independently associated with late-onset hypotension. Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) was less frequent in the hydrocortisonetreated group than in infants not treated with hydrocortisone. The AI group had fewer IUGR infants, and the duration of hospitalization was shorter in the AI group than in infants who were not administered hydrocortisone. Blood pressure tended to normalize more quickly in the AI group, however, the difference was not significant. Conclusion: AI was a major cause of late-onset hypotension, and the use of hydrocortisone shortened the length of hospitalization.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.287-300
• /
• 2010

Objectives: We identified factors associated with any participation and with "good participation" (as assessed by frequency of attendance) in health promotion programs at a public health center in Korea. Methods: The subjects included 199 women who attended a baseline examination of health promotion programs during the first half of 2009. We collected data by structured interviews and physical examinations. Participation status was quantified by the frequency of attendance to the program. We classified the subjects as non-participants (0) and participants (1+ times), and as poor participants (0-29 times) and good participants (30+ times). Results: Of the 199 subjects, there were 57 (28.6%) non-participants, while 56 (28.1%) were classified as good participants. The factors that significantly affected participation status, as identified by univariate analysis, were personal factors (age, educational level, marital status, religion, living with someone, monthly income), environmental factors (method of access, accessibility of other facilities), body mass index, hypertension, perceived barriers to health, emotional salience, affectionate domain of social support, and depression. Multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that method of access was the most significant factor affecting participation in the health promotion program, and that the factors most highly associated with good participation were emotional salience, hypertension and body mass index. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that specific factors determine and enhance participation in health promotion programs offered by public health centers. These factors should be considered during the design and evaluation of health promotion programs that are offered by public health centers.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.27-33
• /
• 2005

Purpose : To determine incidence, characteristics and risk factors associated with intrauterine intraventricular hemorrhage(IU-IVH) among premature infants. Methods : The medical records of infants with intraventricular hemorrhage(IVH) admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Asan Medical Center from January 1999 to June 2003 were reviewed retrospectively. Infants whose IVH with cystic change were detected within five days of life were defined as the IU-IVH group. The control group included those without any IVH. Various maternal and neonatal factors were evaluated between the IU-IVH and control groups, and risk factors for IU-IVH were identified using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results : The incidence of IU-IVH was 49/1024(15.9%). Mothers who are younger, primiparous, use less antenatal steroid, and neonates with greater incidence of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, had higher incidences of IU-IVH compared to neonates with normal neurosonography. Risk factors associated with IU-IVH included neonatal respiratory distress syndrome and placenta infarct by placenta biopsy. Most infants with IU-IVH were ${\geq}1,501g$, ${\geq}34$ weeks gestational age and had low grade IVH. The size of the cysts associated with IU-IVH remained the same or disappeared in 96 %. IU-IVH does not seem to affect short-term neurodevelopmental outcome although a longer period of follow-up is needed. Conculusion : IU-IVH occurred mostly in ${\geq}1,501g$, ${\geq}34$ weeks infants with grade I IVH without developmental delays. However, the high incidence of total IVH merits more attention in terms of awareness of its existence as an unusual IVH among premature infants.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.209-217
• /
• 2013

Adiponectin (AdipoN), brain-derived nerotrophic factor (BDNF) and leptin (LeP) are mainly secreted from adipose tissue and are known to be involved in regulation of the development of obese. However, there are not many studies on the association between abdominal fat and neuropeptides such as AdipoN, BDNF and LeP. The aim of this study was undertaken to investigate the association between abdominal fat thickness, neuropeptides and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The participants in the study were 138 male employees without CVD. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute. Written informed consent for the participants in this study was obtained from all individuals. We obtained subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) and visceral fat thickness (VFT) by using ultrasonography and neuropeptides levels were measured with ELISA kit according to the method suggested by kit manufacturer. The mean SFT and VFT were $1.58{\pm}0.51$ and $4.52{\pm}1.44$ cm. The mean concentrations of AdipoN, BDNF and LeP were $3.14{\pm}3.52$ ng/ml, $24.11{\pm}8.52$ pg/ml and $4.27{\pm}2.38$ ng/ml, respectively. VFT were positively correlated with total cholesterol (r=0.217, p<0.05), LDL-cholesterol (r=0.271, p<0.01), triglyceride (r=0.233, p<0.05) and insulin (r=0.338, p<0.01), but was inversely correlated with HDL-cholesterol (r=-420, p<0.01). AdipoN levels were positively correlated with HDL-cholesterol (r=0.220, p<0.05) and were inversely correlated with total cholesterol (r=-0.196, p<0.05), LDL-cholesterol (r=-0.190, p<0.05), triglyceride (r=-0.199, p<0.05), SFT (r=-0.195, p<0.05) and VFT (r=-0.412, p<0.01). However, LeP levels showed a reverse trend to AdipoN. AdipoN level was significantly higher in non-obese participants (BMI<25 kg/m), but LeP concentration was significantly higher in obese participants (BMI>25 kg/m) than in non-obese. On multiple logistic regression analysis, obese were significantly associated with AdipoN (odds ratio=0.784) and LeP (odds ratio=1.494). These results suggested that AdipoN and LeP concentrations are affected abdominal fat and that dysfunction and/or declination in the production and secretion of neuropeptides might induced ultimately obese and CVD.