• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.128-136
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of the home-based cancer patient management project of public health centers throughout the country. The results of the investigation is employed to identify obstacles to the execution of the program and, finally, to develop an efficient management program of home-based cancer patients. Methods: Data on the home-based cancer patient management project were collected and analyzed through visiting interviews or telephone interviews with 225 public health centers throughout the country for six months from July to December, 2006. Results: Obstacles to the present execution of the home-based cancer patient management project were identified. Some of them are : (1) patients' low trust in cancer patient management by local health centers, (2) absence of programs customized to local communities, (3) lack of personnel and vehicles for home-based cancer patient management, (4) lack of education program for personnel in charge of home-based cancer patient management, (5) problems in public health doctors, weak connection to private medical institutions, (6) absence of medical institutions and hospice facilities for cancer patients, and (7) non-standardized volunteer workers, so on. Considering all these problems, some effective management methods are proposed. The basic concept is to keep the autonomy and variety of the local helath centers. And based on this concept, three models of (1) public health center controlled model, (2) medical institutions and hospice facilities-entrusted model and (3) medical institutions and hospice facilities-cooperative model are developed. Conclusion: By adopting an adequate model among proposed three models, the public health centers are expected to achieve an efficient utilization of material resources and manpower. In addition, by inventing their own programs that are proper for the local societies, they can improve the home-based cancer patient management.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.490-497
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• 2005

Background : The paraoxonase enzyme plays a significant role in the detoxification of various organophosphorous compounds in mammals, and paraoxonase (PON) 1 is one of the endogenous free-radical scavenging systems in the human body. In this study, we investigated the interaction between cigarette smoking and the genetic polymorphism of PON1 with lung cancer in Korean males. Methods : Three hundred thirty five patients with lung cancer and an equal number of age-matched controls were enrolled in this study. Every subject was asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their smoking habits and alcohol drinking habits. A 5' exonuclease assay (TaqMan) was used to genotype the PON1 Q192R polymorphism. The effects of smoking habits and drinking habits, the PON1 Q192R polymorphism and their interactions were statistically analyzed. Results : Cigarette smoking and the Q/Q genotype of PON1 were significant risk factors for lung cancer. Individuals carrying the Q/Q genotype of PON1 were at a higher risk for lung cancer as compared with those individuals carrying the Q/R or R/R genotype (odds ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.69 - 4.79). When the groups were further stratified by the smoking status, the Q/Q PON1 was associated with lung cancer among the current or ex-smokers (odds ratio, 2.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.52 - 4.31). Current smokers or ex-smokers who had the Q/Q genotype showed an elevated risk for lung cancer (odds ratio: 15.50, 95% confidence interval: 6.76 - 35.54) as compared with the group of subjects who never smoked, and had the Q/R or R/R genotype. The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of smokers with the PON1 Q/Q type compared to the nonsmokers with the PON1 Q/R or R/R type were 53.77 (6.55 - 441.14) for squamous cell carcinoma, 6.25 (1.38 - 28.32) for adenocarcinoma, and 59.94 (4.66 - 770.39) for small cell carcinoma, and these results were statistically significant. Conclusion : These results suggest that cigarette smoking and the PON1 Q/Q genotype are risk factors for lung cancer. The combination of cigarette smoking and the PON1 Q/Q genotype significantly increased the lung cancer risk irrespective of the histologic type of cancer.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.199-207
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• 2016

This study was conducted to develop a forest fire occurrence model using meteorological characteristics for practical forecasting of forest fire danger rate by reflecting the climate change for the time period of 2000yrs. Forest fire in South Korea is highly influenced by humidity, wind speed, temperature, and precipitation. To effectively forecast forest fire occurrence, we developed a forest fire danger rating model using weather factors associated with forest fire in 2000yrs. Forest fire occurrence patterns were investigated statistically to develop a forest fire danger rating index using times series weather data sets collected from 76 meteorological observation centers. The data sets were used for 11 years from 2000 to 2010. Development of the national forest fire occurrence probability model used a logistic regression analysis with forest fire occurrence data and meteorological variables. Nine probability models for individual nine provinces including Jeju Island have been developed. The results of the statistical analysis show that the logistic models (p<0.05) strongly depends on the effective and relative humidity, temperature, wind speed, and rainfall. The results of verification showed that the probability of randomly selected fires ranges from 0.687 to 0.981, which represent a relatively high accuracy of the developed model. These findings may be beneficial to the policy makers in South Korea for the prevention of forest fires.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.101-127
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• 2017

Even with the most advanced aviation technology benefits, aircraft accidents are constantly occurring while air passenger transportation volume is expected to double in the next 15 years. Since it is not possible to secure aviation safety only by the post aircraft accident safety action of accident investigations, it has been recognized and consensus has been formed that proactive and predictive prevention measures are necessary. In this sense, the aviation safety management system (SMS) was introduced in 2008 and has been carried out in earnest since 2011. SMS is a proactive and predictive aircraft accident preventive measure, which is a mechanism to eliminate the fundamental risk factors by approaching organizational factors beyond technological factors and human factors related to aviation safety. The methodology is to collect hazards in all the sites required for aircraft operations, to build a database, to analyze the risks, and through managing risks, to keep the risks acceptable or below. Therefore, the improper implementation of SMS indicates that the aircraft accident prevention is insufficient and it is to be directly connected with the aircraft accident. Reports of duty performance related hazards including their own errors are essential and most important in SMS. Under the policy of just culture for voluntary reporting, the guarantee of information providers' anonymity, non-punishment and non-blame should be basically secured, but to this end, under-reporting is stagnant due to lack of trust in their own organizations. It is necessary for the accountable executive(CEO) and senior management to take a leading role to foster the safety culture initiating from just culture with the safety consciousness, balancing between safety and profit for the organization. Though a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's order, "Guidance on SMS Implementation" states the training required for the accountable executive(CEO) and senior management, it is not legally binding. Thus it is suggested that the SMS training completion certificates of accountable executive(CEO) and senior management be included in SMS approval application form that is legally required by "Korea Aviation Safety Program" in addition to other required documents such as a copy of SMS manual. Also, SMS related items are missing in the aircraft accident investigation, so that organizational factors in association with safety culture and risk management are not being investigated. This hinders from preventing future accidents, as the root cause cannot be identified. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Manuals issued by ICAO contain the SMS investigation wheres it is not included in the final report form of Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. In addition, the US National Transportation Safety Board(NTSB) that has been a substantial example of the aircraft accident investigation for the other accident investigation agencies worldwide does not appear to expand the scope of investigation activities further to SMS. For these reasons, it is believed that investigation agencies conducting their investigations under Annex 13 do not include SMS in the investigation items, and the aircraft accident investigators are hardly exposed to SMS investigation methods or techniques. In this respect, it is necessary to include the SMS investigation in the organization and management information of the final report format of Annex 13. In Korea as well, in the same manner, SMS item should be added to the final report format of the Operating Regulation of the Aircraft and Railway Accident Investigation Board. If such legal and institutional improvement methods are complemented, SMS will serve the purpose of aircraft accident prevention effectively and contribute to the improvement of aviation safety in the future.