• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.381-391
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• 1997

In an epidemiological study of metal workers exposed to metalworking fluids (MWF), the prevalence time of Evolution, seasonal occurrence and clinical type of contact dermatitis were investigated. Compostional analysis of MWF with HPLC, dermatological examination and two consecutive questionnaire surveys were conducted. Study population was divided into two groups ; workers contact to cutting oil and workers contact to rust preventive oil. In the analysis of MWF, aliphatic hydrocarbons, having 12-20 carbons, was most common composition(49.04%) of cutting oil otherwise, major contents (90.99%) of the rust preventives oil were aliphatic hydrocarbons composed of 6-9 carbons. The frequency (point prevalence) of contact dermatitis(CD) was 7(12.7 per 100 subjects) in the dermatological examination of 55 workers. As the result of second survey for contact dermatitis, cumulative prevalence of oil working full-time and recent 1 year prevalence in two groups were 28.0, 16.7 and 15.1, 12.5 per 100 subjects. There were no difference in the prevalence of CD by oil, age, oil contact duration. Summer is the most common evolution season in workers exposed to cutting oil, but not in workers exposed to rust preventive oil. Major clinical type of CD was erythematous papules in both groups. It presents the importance of preventive measures that 51.1% suffer from contact dermatitis had medical care at their own expense, and 47.1% of them felt serious about their contact dermatitis. From the fact that 68.6% think cotton gloves protective apparatus, we emphasize the need for health education.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.437-461
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• 1997

Because of a significant improvement in the economic situation and development of scientific techniques in Korea during the last 30 years, the life expectancy of the Korean people has lengthened considerably and as a result, the number of the elderly has markedly increased. Such an increase of the number of aged population brought about many social, economic, and medical problems which were never seriously considered before. This study was conducted to assess the trend of medical care utilization and medical expenditure of the elderly. The data of each patient in the study were taken from computer database maintained for administrative purpose by the Korea Medical Insurance Corporation. The study population was 132,670 who were 60 years old or more and registered in Korean Medical Insurance Corporation from 1989 to 1993. The study subjects were predominantly female(56.3%) and 10,000-20,000 Won premium group(50.6%). The following are summaries of findings : The total increase of the number of inpatient cases was 40.5% from 1989 through 1993. The average annual increase was 3.7% in inpatient medical expenditures per case, 4.4% in inpatient medical expenditures per day and 0.08% in length of stay per case from 1989 through 1993. Cataract was the most prevalent disease of 10 leading frequent diseases in all ages from 1989 through 1993. The case mix in 1993 compared to 1989 revealed that cataract and ischemic cerebral disease were increased whereas essential hypertension and pulmonary tuberculosis were decreased . The average annual increase of medical expenditures was 3.8% in general hospitals, 6.3% in hospitals and 2.4% in clinics. From 1989 through 1993, medical expenditures used by high-cost patients accounted for about 14% to 20% of all expenditures for inpatient care, while they represented less than 2.5% of the elderly population. Time series analysis revealed that total medical expenditures and doctor's fee for inpatient will be progressively increased whereas drug expenditures for inpatient will be decreased. And there will be no change in length of stay. Based on the above results, the factors increasing medical cost and utilization should be identified and the method of cost containment for the elderly health care should be developed systematically.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.153-163
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• 1999

Purpose: The purpose of our study is to provide useful information for diagnostic methods of fatty liver by childhood simple obesity and to provide correlation between serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) for screening test and abdominal computerized tomography (CT) and liver biopsy for confirmative diagnostic methods of fatty liver. Methods: Among 78 obese childrens who visited our hospital, CT was carried out in 26 childrens. Of these, liver biopsy was carried out in 15 childrens who had high obesity index or severe elevated ALT. Based on the level of serum ALT, 26 cases were classified into 3 groups, and compared with physical measurements and degree of fatty infiltration on CT and liver biopsy. Results: 1) Correlation between ALT and physical measurements: Of 26 obese children, ALT was abnormally elevated (>30 IU/L) in 17 cases (67.4%) but there was no significant correlation between ALT and physical measurements (p>0.05). 2) Correlation between degree of fatty infiltration on CT and ALT: Of 26 cases, 13 cases (50%) revealed fatty liver on CT. The degree of fatty liver on CT had significant correlation with elevation of ALT (p<0.05). 3) Correlation between the degree of fatty infiltration on liver biopsy and ALT: Liver biopsy was performed in 15 cases of which 14 cases revealed fatty liver. But one case had normal hepatic histology with severe obesity and normal ALT. Fourteen fatty liver cases on liver biopsy were classified into 3 groups by the degree of fatty infiltration and analysed with obesity index and ALT. The histologic hepatic steatosis had no significant correlation with obesity index (p>0.05), but significant correlation with ALT (p<0.05). 4) Correlation between CT and liver biopsy finding: Both CT and liver biopsy were performed in 15 cases of which 6 cases revealed normal finding on CT and 9 cases manifested fatty liver. There was significant correlation between CT and liver biopsy findings (r=0.6094). Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that abdominal CT and liver biopsy are useful and accurate methods of estimating fatty liver in the childhood obesity. But biochemical abnormalities of routine liver function tests dot not correlate well with severity of the fatty liver and liver injury.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.135-143
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• 2009

Objectives : Low back pain(LBP) is a common disabling disease in clinical practice and loss of working hours due to this condition is huge. The aim of this study was to determine if there was an association between fat deposit of paraspinal muscles as observed on MRI scans in patients presenting with unilateral LBP. Methods : 24 patients who visiting our hospital with a clinical presentation of unilateral LBP were recruited to the study. Patients were between 20 and 30 years and had a history of unilateral LBP within 12 months. After MRI scaning, the images were saved in DICOM file format for Picture Archiving and Communication System(PACS). The percentage of fat infiltrated area was measured using a pseudocoloring technique. Data were analyzed comparing the fat deposits of the muscles on the symptomatic and asymptomatic sides. Paired t-test was used to find the difference between the measurements of fat tissue in individual patients. Results : The amount of fat in the symptomatic side was $7.6{\pm}4.51%$, asymptomatic side was $6.7{\pm}4.29%$. There were increases, statistically significant, in the fat changes of the paraspinal muscles at the L4-5 disc level(P <0.05). Also, men were likely than women to have more fat deposit in symptomatic side(men $8.5{\pm}5.1%$, women $6.5{\pm}3.6%$). Conclusions : The amount of fat in the symptomatic side shows significantly increased than asymptomatic side in the paraspinal muscles at the L4-5 disc level. It suggested that fat infiltration in the muscles associated with LBP. Further studies will be needed to confirm the relationship between the muscle fatty changes and LBP in the large sample size. In addition, the correlation of pain severity with fat infiltration needs to be addressed.

• 한국산학경영학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국산학경영학회 2004년도 추계학술연구발표회
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• pp.101-123
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• 2004

This study examines empirically the significant changes in tax payments when the consolidated tax return is introduced in the future. We estimate the consolidated tax payments under the eight cases which are classified as such : whether only 100% ownership subsidiaries should be included or 80% and over, whether all subsidiaries should be included or only subsidiaries with loss, and whether unrealized profits from intercompany transactions should be excluded or not. After estimating the consolidated tax payments, we test the difference between the consolidated tax payments and the sum of the individual tax payments of the subsidiaries. The results of the test show that the consolidated tax payments are significantly less than the sum of the individual tax payments of the subsidiaries. We interpret that the inclusion of the losses of the subsidiaries in the consolidated tax base makes the tax payment decrease. Based on our analysis about 3.8 billion Won per each parent company would decrease due to the introduction of the consolidated tax return. And we find that under the mandatory consolidated tax return system the significant difference between the consolidated and individual tax payment exists except that the only 100% ownership subsidiaries are included and unrealized profits from intercompany transactions are not excluded. However, when the parent companies have the discretion to select the consolidated subsidiaries, the consolidated tax payments are significantly less than the sum of the individual tax payments of the subsidiaries regardless of the ownership percentage, inclusion of the loss of the subsidiaries and exclusion of the unrealized profits.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.154-161
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• 2003

Purpose : The prognosis of patients with corrected transposition of the great arteries(C-TGA) is variably affected by associated intracardiac defects, systemic right ventricular function, tricuspid valve competence, and conduction disturbances. This study aims to evaluate the importance of those factors at mid-term follow-up. Methods : Medical records of 94 patients(males 58, females 36; mean age at last follow-up, $12{\pm}9$ years; mean follow-up duration, $9{\pm}6.4$ years) diagnosed between January 1980 and May 2002 at Seoul National University Children's Hospital were studied retrospectively. Results : Among 94 patients, operations were performed in 72 patients(classic operations in 55; double switch operations in 17). Among prognostic factors including associated intracardiac anomalies(at least moderately severe tricuspid insufficiency(TI), ventricular septal defect, pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary atresia), intracardiac operation and complete atrioventricular block, TI was the only significant factor for death(P=0.001), and in turn, Ebstein anomaly and high grade atrioventricular block predicted TI. 20-year survival without TI was 77%, but only 35% with TI(P=0.0002); excluding perioperative death, the 20-year survival rates with and without TI were 48% and 87% respectively(P=0.008). There was no statistical difference in 20-year survival rate or association with TI between classic and double switch operation. Conclusion : TI was the major prognostic factor for C-TGA and was associated with Ebstein anomaly and high grade atrioventricular block at mid-term follow-up. Long-term follow-up is required to evaluate other factors, including double switch operations and associated intracardiac defects more exactly.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.194-200
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• 2000

The amount of swine wastewater reaches about $197,000m^3$ per day at live-stock houses in the whole country. A half of the swine wastewater resources are too small to be restricted legally. This untreated wastewater causes the eutrophication in the water bodies. In case of swine wastewater treatment, the solid-liquid separation must be performed because feces(solid phase) and urine(liquid phase) have large differences in nitrogen and phosphorus concentration. It is necessary to assess exactly the concentration of the pollutants in swine wastewater for planning the wastewater treatment facilities. A full-scale operation was carried out in K city and the plant is consists of conventional plant, the supplementary flocculation basin of chemical treatment process and $anaerobic{\cdot}aerobic$ basin for nitrogen removal. The improved full-scale swine wastewater treatment plant removed the $1,500{\sim}3,000mg/l$ of total-nitrogen(T-N) to 120mg/l of T-N and $131{\sim}156mg/l$ of total-phosphorus(T-P) to $0.15{\sim}1.00mg/l$ of T-N. Accordingly, as a results of operational improvement, the removal efficiencies of T-N and T-P were over $92{\sim}96%$, 99%, respectively. The continuous supply of organic carbon sources and the state of pH played important roles for the harmonious metabolism in anaerobic basin and the pH value of anaerobic basin maintained at about 9.0 for the period of the study.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• 제36권5호
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• pp.779-789
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• 2016

The effective rainfall is calculated considering the soil moisture. It utilizes observed data directly in order to incorporate the soil moisture into the rainfall-runoff model, or it calculates indirectly within the model. The rainfall-runoff model, IHACRES, used in this study computes the catchment wetness index (CWI) first varying with temperature and utilize it for estimating precipitation loss. The nonlinear relationship between the CWI and the effective rainfall in the Hapcheondam watershed was derived and utilized for the long-term runoff calculation. The effects of variable and constant CWI during calibration and validation were suggested by flow regime. The results show the variable CWI is generally more effective than the constant CWI. The $R^2$ during high flow period shows relatively higher than the ones during normal or low flow period, but the difference between cases of the variable and constant CWI was insignificant. The results indicates that the high flow is relatively less sensitive to the evaporation and soil moisture associated with temperature. On the other hand, the variable CWI gives more desirable results during normal and low flow periods which means that it is crucial to incorporate evaporation and soil moisture depending on temperature into long-term continuous runoff simulation. The NSE tends to decrease during high flow period with high variability which could be natural because NSE index is largely influenced by outliers of underlying variable. Nevertheless overall NSE shows satisfactory range higher than 0.9. The utilization of variable CWI during normal and low flow period would improve the computation of long-term rainfall-runoff simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• 제42권10호
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• pp.1592-1599
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• 2013

Despite numerous studies regarding overweight or obese children, only a limited number of studies have investigated the effect of underweight. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of underweight among school-aged children. A total of 493 students (86 underweight and 407 normal weight students) aged 11 to 13 years were included in our study. Socio-demographic characteristics, eating habits, health information, self-perception of weight, weight-control efforts and birth-related information were collected by using survey questionnaires for children and parents. Dietary information was obtained by two 24-hour food records, which were completed by both children and their parents. The prevalence of underweight was significantly higher in girls than boys, and the frequency of medical treatment and flu symptoms were higher in underweight children than normal ones. Overall, girls tended to overestimate their own weight; this misclassification was greater among underweight girls. Birthweight was positively correlated with current weight (P<0.05) and height (P<0.01) in girls, but these correlations were not seen in boys. In conclusion, underweight girls had inappropriate self-perception of weight, and underweight in girls may be related with birthweight and inadequate dietary intakes. Therefore, it is important to build a well-designed framework that integrates efforts of home, school, and community to maintain a healthy weight with balanced diet and exercise throughout the lifetime.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.31-36
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• 2014

We aimed to evaluate the dosimetric characteristics of reproducibility, linearity and dose dependence of optical stimulated luminance dosimeter (OSLD) in the Co-60 Gamma-rays and to analyze with a precedent study in field of the diagnostic radiography and radiotherapy. The reproducibility was 0.76% of the coefficient of variation, the homogeneity was within 1.5% of the coefficient of variation and OSLD had supra-linear response more than 3 Gy. So the correlation between dose and count was fitted by quadratic function. The count depletion by repeated reading was 0.04% per reading regardless of the irradiated dose. And the half time of decay curve according to the irradiated dose was 0.68 min. with 1 Gy, 1.04 min. with 5 Gy, and 1.10 min. with 10 Gy, respectively. In case of annealing for 30 min, the removal rate was 88% with 1 Gy, 90% with 5 Gy, and 92% with 10 Gy, respectively and 99% in case of annealing time for 4 hour. It is feasible to use OSLDs for dose evaluation in Co-60 Gamma-rays when considering the uncertainty on the procedure according to the irradiated dose.