• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.103-114
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• 2023

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure levels due to the use of power hand tools and to evaluate the determinants in the automobile assembly process. Methods: The exposure level to HAV was evaluated for 30 work lines in five assembly processes (body, engine, chassis, door, and design) that use air-powered tools and battery-powered tools and operate in circulation for two hours. The 2-hr equivalent energy vibration acceleration, A (2), of the task was measured. The 8-hr equivalent energy vibration acceleration, A (8), was estimated in consideration of the number of tasks that can be performed per day by each process. In addition, a survey on the working environment was conducted with workers exposed to vibration. Results: The geometric mean of the HAV exposure level, A (2), for a total of 30 tasks was 2.51 m/s², and one case was 10.30 m/s², exceeding TLV (2hr). The HAV exposure level of A (8) was evaluated from 1.03 m/s² to 5.36 m/s². A (2) showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.01) for each process, and the chassis process (GM=3.90 m/s²) was the highest. The larger the tool size and the longer the tool length, the higher was the vibration acceleration when using a battery-powered tool than an air-powered tool (P<0.01). Battery-powered tool users showed higher dissatisfaction on all items than did air-powered tool users. Conclusions: As a result of this study, it is necessary to implement a program to reduce the HAV exposure levels.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.215-229
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• 2023

Objectives: To validate the effectiveness of a real-time chemical exposure monitoring system developed by KOSHA (Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency), we applied the system to a workplace in the electronics industry for 153 days. Methods: The monitoring system consisted of a PID chemical sensor, a LTE communication equipment, and a web-based platform. To monitor chemical exposure, four sets of sensors were placed in two manufacturing tasks - inspection and jig cleaning - which used TCE as a degreasing agent. We reviewed previous reports of work environment measurements and conducted a new work environment measurement on one day during the period. The PID sensor systems detected the chemical exposure levels in the workplace every second and transmitted it to the platform. Daily average and maximum chemical exposure levels were also recorded. Results: We compared the results from the real-time monitoring system and the work environment measurement by traditional methods. Generally, the data from the real-time monitoring system showed a higher level because the sensors were closer to the chemical source. We found that 28% of jig cleaning task data exceeded the STEL. Peak exposure levels of sensor data were useful for understanding the characteristics of the task's chemical use. Limitations and implications were reviewed for the adoption of the system for preventing poisoning caused by chemical substances. Conclusions: We found that the real-time chemical exposure monitoring system was an efficient tool for preventing occupational diseases caused by chemical exposure, such as acute poisoning. Further research is needed to improve the reliability and applicability of the system. We also believe that forming a social consensus around the system is essential.

• The Journal of the Society of Stroke on Korean Medicine
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.70-75
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• 2010

Objective : This study is aimed to investigate the present status in acute stroke patients in Koran medicine hospital. Method : We used the Korean medicine stroke database. We collected data from 4 Korean medicine hospital from Feb. 2010 to Aug. 2010. We surveyed past history, motive, diseases, diagnostic machines, the day from onset to admission in acute stroke patients. Results : 1. In Korean medicine hospital, it has been grown up the portion of cerebral infarction and age. 2. In Korean medicine hospital, the patients within 1 day from onset to admission were 63case(34.60%) 3. In Korean medicine hospital, the diagnotic machine has been well used, but MRA utilzation was low. 4. Acute stroke patients were not well known the risk factor, and the patients cerebral infarction didn't know that they had hyperlipidemia. Conclusions : In this study, we know the present status in acute stroke patients. It seems necessary to investigate more further study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.465-472
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• 2023

In predicting vascular disease, this study attempted to identify changes in the carotid intima-media thickness in patients who underwent carotid artery ultrasonography and hematological tests and to find out the effect of risk factors on the expression of atherosclerotic plaque. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 469 healthy adults who visited the hospital for the purpose of medical examination and performed carotid artery ultrasonography. As a result, carotid intima-media thickness, age, body mass index, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and glucose were analyzed as significant predictors of atherosclerotic plaque (p<0.001). The risk ratio was calculated based on the cut off value of the risk factors of the atherosclerotic plaque determined through ROC curve analysis, followed by 8.06 times the carotid intima-media thickness, 7.53 times the age, 3.97 times the waist circumference and 2.02 times the glucose. Therefore, in this study it was possible to prepare a Korean standard for clinical risk factors that affect the presence of absence of atherosclerotic plaque and observation of carotid artery ultrasonography is thought to help diagnose or predict cardiovascular disease early.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2023

This study examined the transition process of clinical laboratory technologists' national examination and job definition in Korea and compared the differences in the national examination between Korea and neighboring countries, such as Japan and Taiwan. In Korea, the number of questions made for it was 200 (1965), 200 (1977), 300 (1982), 250 (1992), 330 (2006), and 280 (2015). The practice of clinical physiology is important for real-time monitoring, given the characteristics of physiological testing. On the other hand, there are conflicts between other occupations in the working area. Clinical molecular biology needs to be established as a new major subject considering the diagnostic importance of molecular biological tests and the speed of science and technology development. Clinical laboratory operations provide policy and guidance recommendations to technologist staff. The proposed clinical laboratory technologists' national examination comprises major subjects: clinical biochemistry, clinical hematology, clinical transfusionology, clinical immunology, clinical microbiology, clinical molecular biology, clinical histology, clinical cytology, clinical physiology, and clinical laboratory operations. In addition, this study proposes the job definition of clinical laboratory technologists, revising various chemical or physiological testing to biomedical or physiological testing required for medical practice.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.82-92
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• 2023

Urine sediments are performed by a microscopic examination of centrifuged urine by medical technologists. This study examined different urine sediment preparation procedures. The 107 fresh urine specimens that tested positive from white blood cells (WBCs) and red blood cells (RBCs) in the urine dipstick test and the cobas u 701 analyzer, respectively, were selected for manual microscopy. This study evaluated an automated urine sediment analyzer and three manual microscopy methods for WBCs and RBCs. The methods were performed according to the test guidelines. The coefficients of determination between the cobas u 701 analyzer and the Korean Association of Quality Assurance for Clinical Laboratory (KAQACL) for WBCs and RBCs were r2=0.977 and r2=0.970, respectively. The concordance rates between the cobas u 701 analyzer and KAQACL for WBCs and RBCs were 74.8% and 77.6%, respectively. A good correlation and concordance with the automatic analyzer were shown when the specimens were prepared and examined using the KAQACL method. Consequently, the differences in the urine sediment preparation procedures affected the sediment concentrations, influencing the cell number per high power field (HPF).

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.35-47
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• 2022

Objective : In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey of occupational therapists to examine their perceptions on and willingness to provide telerehabilitation dementia prevention education. Methods : From March 13 to 19, 2021, a questionnaire survey targeting occupational therapists in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam was conducted. 100 questionnaires were distributed but only 70 were collected. The collected data were subjected to frequency analysis and descriptive statistics using the statistical program SPSS version 23.0. Results : The average scores by region were as follows. The average compatibility score was highest at 3.92 score, intention to providing education, doctors 3.89 score, community-centric rehabilitation awareness 3.81 score, cost saving 3.78 score, perceiver usefulness 3.75 score, accessibility 3.62 score, the quality of telerehabilitation service was in order of 3.49 score. Conclusion : All items asking whether occupational therapists participate in community-centered rehabilitation and non-face-to-face dementia prevention education programs showed high scores, indicating the willingness to participate actively. In the future, in addition to follow-up research on the implementation of telerehabilitation dementia prevention education, measures for improving accessibility within the local and national government should be discussed.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.641-652
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of visual-motor integration (VMI) in elderly patient with diabetes mellitus(DM). Male elderly (from 65 to 70 years old) with DM and non-DM disease were participated in this study. Participants were divided into three group (n=30 in each group): the control group, non-DM group, and DM group. Data were collected through VMI-3R questionnaires and interviews. Statistical differences among groups were determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Duncan Post-hoc test and results were expressed the mean ± S.D. or percentage (%). The present results showed that the score of both VMI 24 and VMI 50 in DM group were statistically lower than both the control and Non-DM groups. Also, the lower rate of correct and higher rate of error in VMI-3R was observed in DM group compared to both the control and Non-DM groups. The item analysis of VMI-3R revealed that the most higher rate of error was observed in item 24 in all groups. Based on these results, this study suggests that DM might aggravate the function of visual-motor integration in male elderly.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.30-38
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• 2022

It is important to grasp biometric data in real time for prompt action in the event of a safety accident at a work site where the risk of safety accidents exists. Among them, blood oxygen saturation is the most important factor in maintaining human life, so real-time oxygen saturation measurement and monitoring is necessary according to the situation as a preemptive response for worker safety management. By receiving real-time bio-signals from workers wearing health and life-risk protective clothing, and sharing and analyzing the worker's risk status in an external system, it is possible to diagnose the worker's current condition and efficiently respond to emergencies that may occur to the worker. In this paper, we propose a wearable oxygen saturation measurement platform technology that can monitor the risk of harmful gases and oxygen saturation of the wearer in real time and ensure the wearer's activity and safety in order to cope with emergency situations at the scene of an accident. If we overcome the limitations identified through the results of the proposed system later and apply improved biodata such as motion correction to the platform, we expect that it will be usable not only in hazardous gas environments, but also in hospitals and homes for emergency patients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.876-886
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• 2023

In some cases of head and neck cancers (HNC), surgical interventions may result in the loss of organs and/or changes to their functions, thereby significantly affecting the patient's quality of life. As a result, the surgical treatment of HNC patients is often limited to specific cases, and alternative treatment modalities, such as chemotherapy, are considered. However, serious adverse effects caused by chemotherapy, such as severe nausea and vomiting, necessitate the need for the development of adjunctive methods to minimize patient suffering. Chuanxiong, Ligusticum chuanxiong (L. chuanxiong), is a natural herb used in Eastern medicine to treat cerebrovascular disorders and headaches. This study aimed to predict the effect and potential of L. chuanxiong as an auxiliary anticancer drug through network-based pharmacology and molecular docking analysis. The study results showed that 40 out of 41 genes of L. chuanxiong shared common targets of HNC and their proteins could be used to target HNC cells to prevent cancer progression. The results of the functional enrichment analysis confirmed that L. chuanxiong is associated with the neuroactive-ligand metabolism and neurotransmitter pathways, indicating its potential medicinal value as an adjuvant in HNC treatment. Lastly, our findings demonstrated that the active ingredient of L. chuanxiong, (Z)-Ligustilide, has the ATP binding site of heat shock protein 90, a protein known to promote the activation of cancer cells. These results suggest that L. chuanxiong is a promising candidate for developing auxiliary anticancer drugs, and further research could potentially lead to the discovery of newer and safer anti-cancer agents.