• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10157-10164
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the State of Qatar. Due to low participation in breast cancer screening (BCS) activities, women in Qatar are often diagnosed with breast cancer at advanced stages of the disease. Findings indicate that low participation rates in BCS activities are significantly related to women's low level of awareness of breast cancer screening. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the factors that influence Qatari women's awareness of breast cancer and its screening activities: and (2) to find ways to effectively promote breast cancer screening activities among Arabic speaking women in Qatar. Materials and Methods: A multicenter, cross-sectional quantitative survey of 1,063 (87.5% response rate) female Qatari citizens and non-Qatari Arabic-speaking residents, 35 years of age or older, was conducted in Qatar from March 2011 to July 2011. Outcome measures included participant awareness levels of the most recent national recommended guidelines of BCS, participation rates in BCS activities, and factors related to awareness of BCS activities. Results: While most participants (90.7%) were aware of breast cancer, less than half had awareness of BCS practices (28.9% were aware of breast self-examination and 41.8% of clinical breast exams, while 26.4% knew that mammography was recommended by national screening guidelines. Only 7.6% had knowledge of all three BCS activities). Regarding BCS practice, less than one-third practiced BCS appropriately (13.9% of participants performed breast self-examination (BSE) monthly, 31.3% had a clinical breast exam (CBE) once a year or once every two years, and 26.9% of women 40 years of age or older had a mammogram once every year or two years). Awareness of BCS was significantly related to BCS practice, education level, and receipt of information about breast cancer and/or BCS from a variety of sources, particularly doctors and the media. Conclusions: The low levels of participation rates in BCS among Arab women in this study indicate a strong need to increase awareness of the importance of breast cancer screening in Qatari women. Without this awareness, compliance with the most recent breast cancer screening recommendations in Qatar will remain low. An increased effort to implement mass media and public health campaigns regarding the impact of breast cancer on women's health and the benefits of early detection of breast cancer must be coupled with an enhanced participation of health care providers in delivering this message to Qatar population.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.186-194
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• 2017

Objectives: A significant concern has been raised about the emerging resistance that is largely caused by the excessive or inappropriate use of antibacterial agents for viral respiratory infections. This study investigated the trend of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and the use of antibiotics. Methods: Utilizing the national level health insurance claims data from 2005 to 2008, we examined encounter days, antibiotic use, and the prescription rate for respiratory tract infections including upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs), and otitis media in outpatient settings. The antibiotic use was measured as defined daily dose per 1,000 patients per day (DDD/1,000 patients/day). Results: The visit for URTI increased from 141,693,465 in 2005 to 120,717,966 in 2008 and the visit for LRTI decreased from 61,778,718 to 66,930,122. For RTIs, prescription rates of antibiotics decreased from 65.2% to 58.5% for URTIs and 76.9% to 68.3% for LRTIs from 2005 to 2008. The antibiotic use decreased to 20.85 DDD/1,000 patients/day after a significant increase of 22.01 DDD/1,000 patients/day in 2006. Among antibiotics, J01CR had the highest use- 7.93 DDD/1,000 patients/day followed by J01DC of 3.71 DDD/1,000 patients/day and J01FA of 3.2 DDD/1,000 patients/day. One notable trend is that J01FA presented a continuous increase in antibiotic use from 2.3 in 2005 to 3.26 DDD/1,000 patients/day in 2008. Conclusion: The use of antibiotics had poor compliance to guidelines for RTIs. Despite decrease in the use of antibiotics, prescription rates for URTIs were still about 50% indicating that the delayed prescribing antibiotics (or wait-and-see) were not observed.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.243-254
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• 2023

This study investigates the factors contributing to price fluctuations in the shipscrapping market, the final stage in a vessel's life cycle. Shipping companies make decisions on ship dismantling based on factors such as declining freight rates, increasing vessel age leading to higher costs, or compliance with new environmental regulations. Utilizing the FMOLS (Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares) and VECM (Vector Error Correction Model) methodologies, the research explores the long-term elasticities of factors influencing shipscrapping prices and examines short-term causal relationships. Using a time series dataset spanning from December 2015 to April 2023, covering a total of 90 months, the study focuses on the shipscrapping prices of Capesize vessels in India and Bangladesh, which constitute a significant portion of the shipbreaking market. The findings indicate that, in the long term, shipscrapping prices are closely related to global scrap prices, 20-year-old secondhand Capesize vessel prices, newbuilding prices, and exchange rates. In terms of short-term causal relationships, an increase in global scrap prices induces a rise in shipscrapping prices, while the remaining variables do not contribute to such increases. Specifically, an escalation in shipscrapping prices is associated with increased prices of 20-year-old secondhand vessels, newbuilding prices, and exchange rates. However, the other variables do not show a significant influence on short-term increases in shipscrapping prices.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.45-61
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• 1988

Clonorchiasis should be realized as an important public health problems in Korea by their wide distribution, high prevalence rate and heavy infection intensity. This study was designed to obtain the infection rate, contributing factors as well as the behavior of infected persons among the factory workers in Pohang area where that parasite still remains as a problem. Study was undertaken from September '86 to October '87. Clonorchiasis skin test was performed for 3180 factory workers, and stools of skin test positive reactors were examined. Praziquantel was prescribed to stool examination positive persons for clonorchis sinensis ova. After one year. stool examination was repeated for them who received medicine. At the same time. a structured questionnaire was given and the results were analyzed and compared with control group. The results of this study are summarized as follows; 1. The infection rate of Clonorchis sinensis. 1) Clonorchiassis skin test positive rate was $26.2\%$ (834/3180). 2) Stool(Clonorchis sinensis ova) positive rate among skin test positive reactors was $21.6\%$ (129/598) All 129 infected persons were male. 2. Contributing factors of Clonorchis sinensis infection. 1) The chance of infection was higher in low-educated peple(p<0.01) 2) Stool(Clonorchis sinensis ova)positive rate was higher among the persons who reside near the riverside now(p<0.01), or among the persons who long history of riverside residence(p<0.01) 3) The infection rate was higher in thoes who like sliced raw fresh water fishes than in those who like cooked fishes(p<0.05). 4) Correct answering rate for questions about the cause and route of Clonorchis sinensis infection was low in infected persons. 5) The infection rate was lower among those who had experience of previous clonorchiasis test(p<0.01). 6) Family members of infected persons show higher rates of infection(p <0.01). 3. Treatment effect and compliance of infected person to treatment. 1) After one year, negative stool conversion rate was $85.4\%$. 2) $70.8\%$ of infected persons took the medicine; Only $3.1\%$ of them consulted to physician to know the medication effect; As many as $29.4\%$ of them continued to consume raw fresh water fishes. As a conclusion, City of Pohang area, Hyung San River in the center, is an endemic area of clonorchiasis. Current clonorchiasis control system seemed to be ineffective; many of the skin test positive group did not submitted their stool for examination; only $70.8\%$ of infected persons took the medicine even though the drugs were given free of charge; $29.4\%$ continued to consume raw fresh water fishes after taking medicine. Therefore. proper education program should be provided to improve the compliance to treatment. Follow-up for infected cases is mandatory to prevent waste of restricted budget.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.697-703
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• 2020

Background: GS-3K8 and GINST, both of which are modified ginseng extracts, have never been examined in terms of their effectiveness for the prevention of acute respiratory illness (ARI) in humans. We conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of performing a large-scale, randomized, controlled trial. Methods: This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pilot study at a single center from October 2014 to March 2015. The 45 healthy applicants were randomly divided into the GS-3K8 (n = 15), GINST (n = 15), and placebo groups (n = 15). The study drug was administered as a capsule (500 mg/cap and 3000 mg/day). GS-3K8 contained 6.31 mg/g of Rg1, 15.05 mg/g of Re, 30.84 mg/g of Rb1, 15.02 mg/g of Rc, 12.44 mg/g of Rb2, 6.97 mg/g of Rd, 1.59 mg/g of Rg3, 3.25 mg/g of Rk1, and 4.84 mg/g of Rg5. GINST contained 7.54 mg/g of Rg1, 1.87 mg/g of Re, 5.42 mg/g of Rb1, 0.29 mg/g of Rc, 0.36 mg/g of Rb2, 0.70 mg/g of Rd, and 6.3 mg/g of compound K. The feasibility criteria were the rates of recruitment, drug compliance, and successful follow-up. The primary clinical outcome measure was the incidence of ARI. The secondary clinical outcome measures were the duration of symptoms. Results: The rate of recruitment was 11.3 participants per week. The overall rate of completed follow-up was 97.8%. The mean compliance rate was 91.64 ± 9.80%, 95.28 ± 5.75%, and 89.70 ± 8.99% in the GS-3K8, GINST, and placebo groups, respectively. The incidence of ARI was 64.3% (9/14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 31.4-91.1%), 26.7% (4/15; 95% CI, 4.3-49.0%), and 80.0% (12/15; 95% CI, 54.8-93.0%) in the GS-3K8, GINST, and placebo groups, respectively. The average days of symptoms were 3.89 ± 4.65, 9.25 ± 7.63, and 12.25 ± 12.69 in the GS-3K8, GINST, and placebo groups, respectively. Conclusion: The results support the feasibility of a full-scale trial. GS-3K8 and GINST appear to have a positive tendency toward preventing the development of ARI and reducing the symptom duration. A randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm these findings.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.165-182
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• 2019

An equity crowdfunding system of Korea has been introduced since January 25, 2016. The crowdfunding has contributed to remove the funding gap for startups in Korea. In the three years since the introduction of the system, the amount issued has been growing annually 31 percent. In 2018, the general investors who participated in equity crowdfunding, account for 93.8% of the total market size. General investors are a large part of equity crowdfunding. Investors, however, are facing the information asymmetry problems. General investors rely heavily on the investment prospectus provided by startups to obtain the information they need to determine their investment decisions. Under these circumstances, startups have the incentive to provide information that is advantageous to them, and investors are likely to be adversely affected by the investment prospectus. In this study, we collected the novel crowdfunding prospectus dataset: a total of 459 investment prospectus and conducted a morphological analysis. The analysis showed that the more positive the word, the higher the success rate of investors' subscriptions. We also compared projects that were heavily invested by general investors with projects that were heavily invested by professional investors. Then, we were able to examine that the success rates of project subscription, which were heavily invested by general investors, were higher than the projects of professional investor type. It can be interpreted as a general investor driven crowdfunding market. Based on these results, we propose three policies. First, the supervisor should be strengthened to provide more detailed information on investment risk factors in the prospectus. Second, the crowdfunding intermediary should monitor information provided by startups. Third, an investor should be asked to add a question to the investment compliance test that allows the investor to recognize the problem in the manual.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.179-190
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• 2013

This study evaluated the interest of parents of elementary school children on the examination with their memory of results, their consistency and their compliance with results sheets to improve effects of School dental health management project. This study recruited 1,334 second-, third-, fifth- and sixth-grade students at two elementary schools located in Daegu metropolitan city performing School Dental Examination Project in 2008 and investigated whether the students visited dental hospitals following results of the examination, how the parents remembered the results and how their memory was same with real results based on results of the examination, the parents' memory of results. The parents of second- and third-grade students showed good memory of malocclusion and number of Caries and higher consistency for dental caries. The parents of fifth- and sixth-grade students showed good memory of dental caries. Visiting rates of dental hospitals accordance with grade were 75.7% due to dental caries in second- and third-grade students and 60.5% due to malocclusion in fifth- and sixth-grade students. Among students with abnormal results of the examination, 77.1% of the children with dental caries of parents having same memory with real results visited the hospitals while 52.7% of those of parents having different memory with them did.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.522-534
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to suggest practical ways to improve the 5th Government Employees Pension System(GEPS) in the near future. This article surveyed the civil servants cognition in three different levels(validity, feasibility, efficiency) by Q methodology. The value and mean of GEPS in the validity level, procedure and participants of GEPS reform process in the feasibility level, and contribution rates, benefit rate, replacement rate of GEPS in the efficiency level were analyzed. There is no successful policy without securing compliance and acceptance of implementation organization and target group. So next 5th GEPS reform could proceed successfully when it took into account civil servant's-who is the implementation group and target group- thought about variances of the 3 levels of GEPS.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10095-10099
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• 2015

Background: The present study was conducted to determine knowledge level of technicians working in hospitals about testicular cancer (TC) and self-examination of testicles (TSE) and to determine levels of consciousness and implementation status about TSE. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with technicians working in hospitals (n=243) between $2^{nd}$ January-$31^{st}$ May 2012 at private and governmental hospitals in urban Kayseri. Healthy control subjects (n=235) who were similar to technicians in terms of age, education level and income status were also included to the study. Chi-square test was used in comparison of categorical variables. Results: Technicians were significantly more aware of TC than controls, but the latter were found to have significantly more information about TSE. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of knowing how to do TSE and 80% of both groups were unaware this exam. Of technicians, 19.8% and of controls, 25.5% did TSE, the difference being statistically insignificant. First reason for not doing TSE was "not-knowing" among technicians (48.1%) while it was "ignorance" among controls (66.8%). Of technicians doing TSE, 37.5% did as it came to their mind while 51.7% of controls performed TSE several times in the previous year. Technicians were significantly more afraid of getting TC than controls (p=0.037). Conclusions: It was determined in the present study that rates of TSE were similar between technicians and controls. However compliance with the recommended frequency and right method was low. Consequently, public health education should be planned and applied in order to increase the knowledge of TC and TSE.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.206-212
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• 2014

Objectives: This was to evaluate the current usage of three erythropoietin stimulating agents (ESA) and their efficacy for management of anemia in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients with chronic kidney disease. Methods: It was a retrospective comparative study through review of electronic medical records of chronic kidney disease patients undergoing PD at a tertiary teaching hospital from January 1998 to June 2013. Results: Average administration frequency was 1.66 times/week in EPO group, 0.75 times/week in DA group, and 0.19 times/week in MPG-EPO group. At the first 4 weeks, there were significant differences in mean hemoglobin levels between EPO and DA groups ($9.25{\pm}1.28g/dL$, $10.02{\pm}0.95g/dL$ each, p = 0.018) and also in hemoglobin response rates (10.0%, 45.2% each, p = 0.008), but since after 4 week, there had been no significant differences. There also showed no significant differences in achievement of hemoglobin target between the two groups. When converted to MPG-EPO in EPO/DA groups, there showed a slight increase in hemoglobin levels of both groups. MPG-EPO was the highest compared with two other drugs by the average cost based on the average weekly dose. Conclusion: EPO, DA, and MPG-EPO showed similar effects in treatment of anemia of PD patients based on hemoglobin target range (11.0~12.0 g/dL) which NFK-K/DOQI guidelines suggest. Though the average cost of MPG-EPO was higher than the other two drugs, the number of PD patients using MPG-EPO has increased and it is thought that long half-life and low administration frequency of MPG-EPO have improved the compliance of PD patients who have to self-administrate.