• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.47-54
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• 2016

Background: Losing balance during locomotive actions becomes an increasing threat to both the community-dwelling elderly and elderly with Parkinson disease (PD). Those with PD may be at a high risk of fall due to particular characteristics during the turn. Turning around during locomotive actions may be one of problematic factors causing losing balance. Objects: This study is part of a larger study, which in part aims to identify turning strategies, to compare the strategies in the elderly with and without idiopathic PD aged 51 years and older and to distinguish whether the turning strategies can predict the elderly at risk of falls. Methods: A total of 22 community-dwelling elderlies (10 elderlies with idiopathic PD and 12 healthy elderlies) were investigated for the turning strategies during the timed up and go test. Results: There were some significant differences between the two groups during turning (p<.05). The idiopathic PD group had a tendency of challenging on taking more number of steps, more time to accomplish and staggering more for the turn relative to the control group. Conclusion: Taking more number of steps and more time to turn may be useful for distinguishing the characteristics of PD from that of the healthy elderly in turning strategy.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.749-758
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• 2001

The purpose of the study was to analyze the functional status of low income elderly living at home according to their socio-economic factors, sensory function, health status, medical service utilization, commodity and types of chronic disease. Method: Functional status was defined by the level of mobility, ADL and IADL categorized as independently functional, mildly impaired, moderately disabled, and severely disabled. The data was collected by home-visit interviews with 567 community dwelling adults who were 65 years of age or more with low a income status subsidized by government in ChonAn. Results: 9.9% of community dwelling older adults were severely disabled, and 44.4% were moderately disabled in their functional status. There were significant differences in the functional status by age, education, religion, and types of family structure. The older adults with hearing impairment or dental problems had a significantly higher rate of severe disability. Self-rated health status and medical service utilization were also significant factors to the differences in functional status. The functional status of older adults was also significantly related to the presence of chronic health problems such as chronic back pain, stroke, and Alzheimer-dementia. Conclusion: The results confirmed that community dwelling older adults with low income status were more functionally disabled in comparison to general older adults at national level, while the relating factors to their functional status seemed similar to other studies on older adults. Further studies were suggested to look into functional status longitudinally and focus on the changes of functional status by managing modifiable influencing factors.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.420-429
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• 2018

Soil stabilization is a soil remediation technique that reduces the mobility of heavy metals in soils. Although it is a well-established technique, it is nonetheless essential to perform a follow-up chemical assessment via a leaching test to evaluate the immobilization of heavy metals in the soil matrix. Unfortunately, a standard chemical assessment is not sufficient for evaluation of the biological functional state of stabilized soils slated for agricultural use. Therefore, it is useful to employ a pyrosequencing-based microbial community analysis for the purpose. In this study, a recently stabilized site in the proximity of an exhausted mine was analyzed for bacterial diversity, richness, and relative abundance as well as the effect of environmental factors. Based on the Shannon and Chao1 indices and rarefaction curves, the results showed that the stabilized layer exhibited lower bacterial diversity than control soils. The prevalence of dominant bacterial populations was examined in a hierarchical manner. Relatively high abundances of Proteobacteria and Methylobacter tundripaludum were observed in the stabilized soil. In particular, there was substantial abundance of the Methylobacter genus, which is known for its association with heavy metal contamination. The study demonstrated the efficacy of (micro)biological assessment for aiding in the understanding and post-management of stabilized soils.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.143-151
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• 2018

Industrialization has accelerated the expansion of mobility to the urban areas, land use for function of residence and consumption. With the urbanization, the management and distribution of the physical space of the city and rational design have also become major issues. Rapid and widespread urbanization has consistently accumulated problems of natural, physical, environmental, and psychological circumstances, and most of urban areas have begun to focus on restoring an efficient, safe and healthy urban environment to improve of the quality of life since the latter half of the 20th century, New-Urbanism is a new urban development paradigm that resembles the practical implications of a shared economy for social, economic and environmental cost reduction.. The geographical significance of the sharing city's concept of the alleys is to revitalize sustainable cities while restoring the attractive elements of the city. This study examines the lessons of New-Urbanism in those traditional urban space comparing with each East Asia's cities such as golmok (alley or backlane) in Seoul, Huton in Beijing, Lilong in Shanghai, and Roji in Japan. This study diagnoses whether main principals of New-Urbanism such as development of good community and walkable pedestrian route, restoration of regional identity and sense of the place, and mitigation of climate change strategy can be practiced in the community of alley as well.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.97-104
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• 2022

Objective: Flexed posture commonly increases with age in older adults and is characterized by kyphosis and forward head posture. Changes in the posture with age affect both balance and mobility. This study was conducted to examine the effects of a cervical stabilization exercise for community-dwelling older adults to improve balance. Design: Two groups pretest-posttest design. Methods: Fifty older adults were randomly assigned into the cervical stabilization exercise group (n=24) and control group (n=25). The cervical stabilization exercise group (n=24) participated in group exercise for 60 minutes twice a week over 4 weeks. Timed up and go test (TUG), four square step test (FSST), functional reach test (FRT), postural sway, cervical range of motion (CROM), proprioception, craniovertebral angle (CVA) were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results: TUG, FSST, FRT, CROM, Proprioception, CVA showed significantly greater improvement, compared with a control group (p<0.05). Conclusions: Findings of this study demonstrate that cervical stabilization exercise can help improve not only neck functional capacities but also balance. Therefore, it may be used as an effective balance exercise program for community-dwelling older adults.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.637-646
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• 2012

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop the adaptive device for severe physical disabilities using smart device in the driving simulator and its performance evaluation. Development of appropriate driving adaptive device for the people with serious physical limitation could contribute to maintain their community mobility. Background: There is lack of adaptive driving devices for the people with disabilities in Korea. However, if smart device systems like iPod and iPhone are used for driving a car, the people with serious physical limitations can improve their community mobility. Method: Both gyroscope and accelerometer from iPod were used to measure the tilted angle of the smart device for driving. Customized Labview program was also used to control three axis motors for steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals. Thirteen subjects were involved in the experiment for performance evaluation of smart device in simulator. Five subjects had driver licenses. Another four subjects did not have driver licenses. Others were people with disabilities. Results: Average driving score of the normal group with driver license in the simulator increased 46.6% compared with the normal group without driver license and increased 30.4% compared with the disabled group(p<0.01). There was no significant difference in the average driving score between normal group without driver license and disabled group(p>0.05). Conclusion: The normal group with driver license showed significantly higher driving score than other groups. The normal group without driver license and disabled group could improve their driving skills with training in simulator. Application: If follow-up studies would be continued and applied in adapted vehicle for on road environment, many people with more severe disabilities could drive and improve the quality of life.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.76-83
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• 2001

This study was designed to determine serum osmolality and to investigate the association among serum osmolality, health-related factors and biochemical indices. Two hundred thirty seven elderly(86 male, 151 female : mean age 73.8) residing in the chungbuk area participated. Sociodemographic data and self-perceived health status were obtained by interview, and biochemical parameters were measured. The mean serum osmolaity was 301.2$\pm$10.1 mOsm/kg(range 240.8~328.9 mOsm/kg) and serum osmolality of the females(302.4 mOsm/kg) was significantly(p＜0.05) higher than that of the males(299.0 mOsm/kg). Only 11.0% of the elderly were within the accepted normal range(280~295 mOsm/kg) and the majority of the subjects were in a hyperosmolar state(60.8% : 296~307 mOsm/kg). It was observed that serum osmolality was reduced with increasing age but not statistically significant. There was no significant difference in serum osmolality according to marital status. Serum osmolality was significantly lower(p＜0.05) in the elderly with higher self-perceived health scores than the elderly with lower self-perceived health scores, however no significant difference was observed between the presence or absence of disease. Serum osmolality tended to be higher(p=0.06) in the elderly with difficulty in mobility than the elderly who have no problem in mobility. Serum osmolality tended to be higher(p=0.06) among drug users compared to that of non-users. There was a significant association between serum osmolality and serum albumin in females but not in males. Significant associations were shown between serum osmolality and serum transferrin in both sexes. However, there was no significant correlation between serum osmolality and hemoglobin or hematocrit except with hematocrit in females only. The results of this study indicated that the elderly were dehydrated and hydration state seems to influence health status and, the elderly should be encouraged to drink an adequate amount of fluids. Also, the hydration state is required to be assessed and considered for the interpretation of biochemical parameters.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 2012

This study was undertaken to develop protective gloves for rose farmers who work on thorny plant in Korea. Prototype of protective gloves was designed and evaluated in terms of thermal comfort and mobility. Gloves were made with arm protectors attached to them, so that they could protect the lower part of arms, and rubber bands were inserted into the arm protectors for them not to slip down. The bending part of each finger was punched in order to give ventilation. Also, the bending parts of the fingers in the upper and lower part of gloves were inserted with sponges and were stitched together in order to enhance gripping movement. According to compared evaluation of the developed gloves and the existing gloves, temperature inside the gloves didn't show any significant differences, but humidity inside the gloves showed significant differences. There were significant differences in terms of comparison of objective mobility, that is, pegboard run-time and grip power, from statistical aspects. In addition, a comparison of subjective discomfort showed significant differences and so the suitability of developed gloves was proved.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.19-30
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to suggest predictors of participation restriction in community-dwelling Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) based on environmental, functional, injury-related, psychosocial, and sociodemographic factors. Methods: The participants were 82 community-dwelling SCI adults over the age of 18. They were all included in the American Spinal Injury Association's (ASIA) Levels A, B, and C. This study surveyed participants' participation using the CHART-K-SF, environmental factors using the CHIEF-25 Korean version, and functional factors using the SCIM III. Further, pain and distress were surveyed using Zung's Self-rating Pain and the PAD, self-esteem was assessed using the RSES, and self-efficacy using the GSS. Finally, information concerning injury levels, post-injury period, causes of injury-related factors, and sociodemographic factors such as gender, age, marriage, education level, and residence information were collected. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Version 21.0 Results: Participants' risk factors were environmental and functional. The Nagelkerke's $R^2$ was.737. The OddsRatio(OR) of environmental factors(referent,0-1) was 40.346. Moreover, the OR of the $1^{st}$ quartile functional factor(referent,4thquartile) was 236. 621, and that of the$2^{nd}$ quartile was 21.174. In addition, the occupational predictors included the "policies" subscales in the CHART-K-SF, "physical/structural" in the CHIEF-25, and "mobility" in the SCIM III. Further, the predictors of "physical independence" were "services/assistance" in CHIEF-25, and "respiration and sphincter management' on the SCIM III. Additionally, "mobility" was predicted by "physical/structural" on the CHIEF-25 and "mobility" on the SCIM III. Conclusions: This study multidimensionally confirmed predictors of participation restriction. Through these facts, we investigated occupational therapists' roles in community setting. Therefore, this study's results will provide useful information for occupational therapy services, for which the goal is SCI participation improvement within the community.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.165-170
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• 2017

This study aims to provide important data for community-centered rehabilitation by examining factors influencing community participation after the onset of stroke. The study subjects were 100 patients with a stroke for more than six months. Korean Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique (K-CHART) was conducted to determine the level of participation of subjects, and Korean-Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI) was conducted to examine the factors influencing the community participation of the subjects to determine the level of independence of activities of daily living. As a result, the relevant factors of community participation in stroke patients were as follows. Physical independence, cognitive independence, mobility, work, and social integration of stroke patients showed higher explanatory power than engagement in activities of daily living, age, and employment. Also, physical independence, cognitive independence, mobility, work, and social integration were factors that affected participation. All items were statistically significant (p <.01). It is considered that this study will contribute to providing information for focusing on occupational therapy for increasing the social participation of stroke patients, and proper evaluation and intervention will work as essential rehabilitation factors for improving participation with respect to the influential factors of participation.