• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.75-79
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• 2023

ESG management means to thoroughly consider the investor's perspective when evaluating corporate value, and environmental, social, and governance issues are continuous and strategic monitoring issues in identifying risk and opportunity factors related to corporate management activities. In other words, the perspective of value creation is reflected in business relationships. The fundamental purpose of ESG management is continuous business value creation and thorough management of investment risks and business transactions in contractual relationships. It is also a requirement of linked investors. The field that Korean companies are currently experiencing the most is the recognition that 'ESG information collection is necessary and maintenance must be prioritized' in investor IR and global sales and marketing departments, and the primary need for this is emerging. In addition, as the legal affairs office, environmental safety department, and human resources department, which conduct compliance management, carry out related tasks, clarity at the organizational level must precede in order to properly establish an information integration and management system. It covers the scope of securing new market opportunities such as management, disclosure and communication. Therefore, in regard to the newly emerging ESG management and response methods, it is necessary to review and implement it repeatedly so that sustainable exchange profits can be created by simultaneously managing non-financial risks as well as efforts to enhance corporate value for financial returns.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 2024

The monitoring of environmental information (e.g. noise, dust, vibration, temperature, humidity) is crucial to the safe and sustainable operation of a construction site. However, commercial sensors exhibit certain drawbacks when applied on-site. First, the installation cost is prohibitively high. Second, these sensors have been engineered without considering the rugged and harsh conditions of a construction site, resulting in error-prone sensing. Third, construction sites are compelled to allocate additional resources in terms of manpower, expenses, and physical spaces to accommodate individual sensors. This research developed an integrated sensing module to measure the environmental information in construction site. The sensing module slashes the installation cost to 3.3%, is robust enough to harsh and outdoor sites, and consolidates multiple sensors into a single unit. The sensing module also supports GPS, LTE, and real-time sensing. The evaluation showed remarkable results including 97.5% accuracy and 99.9% precision in noise measurement, an 89.7% accuracy in dust measurement, and a 93.5% reliability in data transmission. This research empowers the collection of substantial volumes and high-quality environmental data from construction sites, providing invaluable support to decision-making process. These encompass objective regulatory compliance checking, simulations of environmental data dispersion, and the development of environmental mitigation strategies.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.435-450
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• 2024

Purpose: This study developed the evaluation components and criteria for the Korean Healthy Diet (KHD) and assessed the current compliance of Koreans. Methods: The study reviewed domestic and international dietary guidelines and literature and conducted an online survey of 514 Korean adults to understand their nutritional perceptions, specifically the perceived importance of health and incorporation into usual diet. Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were used to investigate food and nutrient intake patterns and examine the relationship between intake and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Based on these data, the components and criteria for a KHD were established by sex and age, and adherence was assessed. Results: The KHD evaluation included 13 dietary components: carbohydrates, sugar, fiber, protein, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, calcium, mixed grains, meat·fish·eggs·beans, vegetables, fruits, and dairy products. Applying the selected components and criteria to data from the KNHANES (2019-2021), the average KHD adherence score for Korean adults was 5.465 ± 0.023 out of a maximum score of 13. The score significantly increased with age (4.766 ± 0.044 for 19-29 years; 5.276±0.032 for 30-49 years; 6.109 ± 0.033 for 50-64 years), and women (5.642 ± 0.028) had higher scores than men (5.284 ± 0.030) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the total score significantly differed between those with MetS (5.518 ± 0.045) and those without (5.568 ± 0.026) after adjusted for sex and age (p < 0.05). When scoring the dietary components, sugar (0.852 ± 0.004) and proteins (0.881 ± 0.004) scored relatively higher in the association with MetS, whereas calcium (0.148 ± 0.004) and mixed grains (0.225 ± 0.005) scored relatively lower. Conclusions: The KHD evaluation criteria could be used as a tool for screening and monitoring the overall diet quality of Koreans.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.201-209
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• 1996

Background : Auto-PEEP which develops when expiratory lung emptying is not finished until the beginning of next inspiration is frequently found in patients on mechanical ventilation. Its presence imposes increased risk of barotrauma and hypotension, as well as increased work of breathing (WOB) by adding inspiratory threshold load and/or adversely affecting to inspiratory trigger sensitivity. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship of auto-PEEP with WOB and to evaluate the effect of PEEP applied by ventilator (external PEEP) on WOB in patients with auto-PEEP. Method : 15 patients, who required mechanical ventilation for management of acute respiratory failure, were studied. First, the differences in WOB and other indices of respiratory mechanics were examined between 7 patients with auto-PEEP and 8 patients without auto-PEEP. Then, we applied the 3 cm $H_2O$ of external PEEP to patients with auto-PEEP and evaluated its effects on lung mechanics as well as WOB. Indices of respiratory mechanics including tidal volume ($V_T$), repiratory rate, minute ventilation ($V_E$), peak inspiratory flow rate (PIFR), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), peak inspiratory pressure (PIP), $T_I/T_{TOT}$, auto-PEEP, dynamic compliance of lung (Cdyn), expiratory airway resistance (RAWe), mean airway resistance (RAWm), $p_{0.1}$, work of breathing performed by patient (WOB), and pressure-time product (PTP) were obtained by CP-100 Pulmonary Monitor (Bicore, USA). The values were expressed as mean $\pm$ SEM (standard error of mean). Results : 1) Comparison of WOB and other indices of respiratory mechanics in patients with and without auto-PEEP : There was significant increase in WOB ($l.71{\pm}0.24$ vs $0.50{\pm}0.19\;J/L$, p=0.007), PTP ($317{\pm}70$ vs $98{\pm}36\;cm$ $H_2O{\cdot}sec/min$, p=0.023), RAWe ($35.6{\pm}5.7$ vs $18.2{\pm}2.3\;cm$ H2O/L/sec, p=0.023), RAWm ($28.8{\pm}2.5$ vs $11.9{\pm}2.0cm$ H2O/L/sec, p=0.001) and $P_{0.1}$ ($6.2{\pm}1.0$ vs 2.9+0.6 cm H2O, p=0.021) in patients with auto-PEEP compared to patients without auto-PEEP. The differences of other indices including $V_T$, PEFR, $V_E$ and $T_I/T_{TOT}$ showed no significance. 2) Effect of 3 cm $H_2O$ external PEEP on respiratory mechanics in patients with auto-PEEP : When 3 cm $H_2O$ of external PEEP was applied, there were significant decrease in WOB ($1.71{\pm}0.24$ vs $1.20{\pm}0.21\;J/L$, p=0.021) and PTP ($317{\pm}70$ vs $231{\pm}55\;cm$ $H_2O{\cdot}sec/min$, p=0.038). RAWm showed a tendency to decrease ($28.8{\pm}2.5$ vs $23.9{\pm}2.1\;cm$ $H_2O$, p=0.051). But PIP was increased with application of 3 cm $H_2O$ of external PEEP ($16{\pm}2$ vs $22{\pm}3\;cm$ $H_2O$, p=0.008). $V_T$, $V_E$, PEFR, $T_I/T_{TOT}$ and Cdyn did not change significantly. Conclusion : The presence of auto-PEEP in mechanically ventilated patients was accompanied with increased WOB performed by patient, and this WOB was decreased by 3 cm $H_2O$ of externally applied PEEP. But, with 3 cm $H_2O$ of external PEEP, increased PIP was noted, implying the importance of close monitoring of the airway pressure during application of external PEEP.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.49-54
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• 2009

Purpose: To report on the clinical outcome of patients with stage I testicular seminoma by postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) or surveillance after radical inguinal orchiectomy. Materials and Methods: This study is a retrospective review of 32 stage I pure seminoma patients treated between 1996 and 2005 at the Samsung Medical Center. Twenty two of the patients were treated by PORT, which was directed at the paraaortic lymphatics with a median dose of 25.2 Gy in 14 fractions for 3 weeks. The 10 remaining patients were managed by surveillance. The median follow-up period was 96 months with a range of 24 to 155 months. Results: Clinically, most patients presented with a testicular mass or discomfort. Two of the patients had a history of undescended testes. Pathologically, 23 of the patients had intratubular germ cell neoplasia with seminoma. Both recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of patients treated by PORT were 100%. In the control group, 1 of the 10 patients suffered a para-aortic lymph node relapse. The RFS and OS rates of the surveillance group were 88.9% and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: No difference in survival was observed between the two groups. Moreover, symptom recurrence was only observed in 1 patient in the control group. The use of PORT may reduce the risk of relapse. With the availability of effective diagnostic and salvage modalities, surveillance monitoring may be considered for patients in good compliance.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-27
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• 2015

A systemic review on the factors affecting food catering hygiene was conducted to provide information for risk management of food catering in Korea. In total 47 keywords relating to food catering and food hygiene were searched for published journals in the DBpia for the last decade (2005-2014). As a result, 1,178 published papers were searched and 142 articles were collected by the expert review. To find the major factors affecting food catering and microbial safety, an analysis based on organization and stakeholder were conducted. School catering (64 papers) was a major target rather than industry (5 pagers) or hospitals (3 papers) in the selected articles. The factors affecting school catering were "system/facility/equipment (15 papers)", "hygiene education (12 papers)", "production/delivery company (6 papers)", food materials (4 papers)" and "any combination of the above factors (9 papers)". The major problems are follow. 1) The problems of "system/facility/equipment" were improper space division/separation, lack of mass cooking utensil, lack of hygiene control equipment, difficulty in temperature and humidity control, and lack of cooperation in the HACCP team (dietitian's position), poor hygienic classroom in the case of class dining (students'), hard workload/intensity of labor, poor condition of cook's safety (cook's) and lack of parents' monitoring activity (parents'). 2) The problem of "hygiene education' were related to formal and perfunctory hygiene education, lack of HACCP education, lack of compliance of hygiene practice (cook's), lack of personal hygiene education and little effect of education (students'). 3) The problems of "production/delivery company" were related to hygiene of delivery truck and temperature control, hygiene of employee in the supplying company and control of non-accredited HACCP company. 4) The area of "food materials" cited were distrust of safety regarding to raw materials, fresh cut produces, and pre-treated food materials. 5) In addition, job stability/the salary can affect the occupational satisfaction and job commitment. And job stress can affect the performance and the hygiene practice. It is necessary for the government to allocate budget for facility and equipment, conduct field survey, improve hygiene training program and inspection, prepare certification system, improve working condition of employees, and introducing hygiene and layout consulting by experts. The results from this study can be used to prepare education programs and develop technology for improving food catering hygiene and providing information.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1172-1182
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• 1998

Background: Primary goal of anticoagulation treatment in patients with mechanical heart valve is the effective prevention of thromboembolism and safe avoidance of bleeding as well. Material and Method: Two-hundred and nine patients with the St. Jude Medical prosthesis operated on between 1984 and 1995, for mitral(MVR 122), aortic(AVR 39) and double mitral and aortic valve replacement(DVR 48) respectively, were studied on the practically achieved levels of anticoagulation and the clinical outcomes. Patients were on Coumadin and followed up by monthly visit to outpatient clinic for examination and prothrombin time measurement to adjust the International Normalized Ratios(INRs) within the low-intensity target range between 1.5 and 2.5. Result: A total anticoagulation follow-up period was 1082.0 patient- years(mean 62.1 months) and INRs of 10,205 measurements were available for evaluation. The accomplished INRs among the replacement groups were not significantly different and only 65% of INRs were within the target range. And, in individual patients, only 37% of patients had INRs included within the target range in more than 70% of tests during follow-up period. The levels of INRs in patients with atrial fibrillation, which was found in 57% of patients, were definitely higher than the ones measured in patients with regular rhythm(p<0.001). Thromboembolisms were experienced by 15 patients with the incidence of 1.265%/patient- year(MVR 1.412%, AVR 0.462% and DVR 1.531%/patient-year) and major bleeding by 4 patients with the incidence of 0.337%/patient-year(MVR 0.424%, AVR none and DVR 0.383%/patient-year). Frequent as well as prolonged missing of prothrombin time tests was the main risk factor strongly associated with the thromboembolic complications(odds ratio 1.99). The proportion of INRs within target range of less than 60% in individual patient was the highly significant risk factor of both thromboembolic and overall embolic and bleeding complications(p<0.004 and p<0.002 respectively). Conclusion: In conclusion, the low-intensity therapeutic target range of INRs was adequate in patients with AVR and in sinus rhythm. However, the patients with replacement of the mitral valve were more likely to require higher target range of INRs, especially in the presence of atrial fibrillation, to achieve the practical levels of anticoagulation enough to prevent thromboembolic complications effectively. For the higher therapeutic target range of INRs between 2.0∼3.0, further accumulation of clinical evidences are required. It is highly desirable to improve the patients' compliance under continuous instructions in visiting outpatient clinic and in taking daily Coumadin without omission and to keep INRs consistently within optimal range with tight control for minimization of chances and of periods of exposure to the risk of complications. And, particularly, patients with high risk of complications and with wide fluctuation of INRs should be better managed with frequent monitoring anticoagulation levels.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 1996

Objectives: Although outbreak of MDR Tb has been a recent problem in western countries, it has been a longstanding problem in Korea. The poor outcome of MDR Tb is mainly due to poor compliance, high rate of side reaction of secondary drugs, and limitation in number of available drugs. Thus, to improve the outcome of MDR Tb, it is crucial to make individualized adequate prescription based on the knowledge of the patterns of resistance to each drugs in the community as well as the natural history. The purpose of present study is to evaluate the clinical features of Korean MDR Tb patients including patterns of drug resistance and success rate of treatment which was prescribed according to the sensitivity tests. Methods: Retroscpective analysis of 71 Korean patients with MDR Tb was made. All strains isolated from patients showed resistence to at least two first line drugs. Patients profile, previous treatment history, patterns of drug resistance, outcome of treatment was analysed. Initial treatment regimen was selected according to the previous treatment history and was modified according to the sensitivity reports. The regimen was composed to include at least 4 sensitive drugs when possible. Results: The patients showed resistance to 4.1 drugs on average. 90% of them were resistant to INH and RFP. Among 71 patients, 35 patients(49%) had cavitary lesions in CXR. Treatment outcome was analysed in 55 patients. 35 patients(67%) were improved after treatment and 18 patients(33%) showed treatment failure. 5 patients showed primary resistance. Treatment outcome could be evaluated in 4 of them and all showed improvement after treatment. 14 patients(20%) had to change their regimens due to drug side effects. The most frequent side effect was elevation of liver enzymes(6 patients). Others included dizziness, hyperuricemia, tinnitus, skin rash, GI troubles. More than 50% of side effects developed within 3 months. In repeated drug sensitivity test, the concordance rate of resistance to INH was 100% and RFP 98%. EMB, PZA showed 80% concordance rate. But in the other drugs, the concordances were less than 50%. Operation was done in 5 patient - 1 patients as a adjunctive means of chemotherapy -. In that case, negative conversion of sputum AFB was done. Conclusion: 2/3 patients of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were improved by appropriate prescription and regular medication suggesting that more aggressive management and monitoring is indicated in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.141-149
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• 2012

The aims of this study are to assess external radiation exposed doses of body and hands of nuclear medicine workers who handle radiation sources, and to measure radiation exposed doses of the hands induced by a whole body bone scan with high frequency and handling a radioactive sources like $^{99m}Tc$-HDP and $^{18}F$-FDG in the PET/CT examination. Skillful workers, who directly dispense and inject from radiation sources, were asked to wear a TLD on the chest and ring finger. Then, radiation exposed dose and duration exposed from daily radiation sources for each section were measured by using a pocket dosimeter for the accumulated external doses and the absorbed dose to the hands. In the survey of four medical institutions in Incheon Metropolitan City, only one of four institutions has a radiation dosimeter for local area like hands. Most of institutions uses radiation shielding devices for the purpose of protecting the body trunk, not local area. Even some institutions were revealed not to use such a shielding device. The exposed doses on the hands of nuclear medicine workers who directly handles radioactive sources were approximately twice as much as those on the body. The radiation exposure level for each section of the whole body bone scan with high frequency and that of the PET/CT examination showed that radiation doses were revealed in decreasing order of synthesis of radioactive medicine and installation to a dispensing container, dispensing, administering and transferring. Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences of radiation exposure doses of the hands before and after wearing a syringe shielder in administration of a radioactive sources. In this study, although it did not reach the permissible effective dose for nuclear medicine, the occupational workers were exposed by relatively higher dose level than the non-occupational workers. Therefore, the workers, who closely exposed to radioactive sources should be in compliance with safety management regulations, and take actions to maximally reduce locally exposed dose to hands monitoring with ring TLD.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.63-71
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• 2023

Urinary incontinence (UI), affecting 3%-11% of males and 25%-45% of females globally, is expected to rise with an aging population. It significantly impacts mental health, causing depression, stress, and reduced quality of life. UI can exacerbate psychiatric conditions, affecting treatment compliance and effectiveness. It is categorized into transient and chronic types. Transient UI, often reversible, is caused by factors summarized in the acronym DIAPPERS: Delirium, Infection, Atrophic urethritis/vaginitis, Psychological disorders, Pharmaceuticals, Excess urine output, Restricted mobility, Stool impaction. Chronic UI includes stress, urge, mixed, overflow, functional, and persistent incontinence. Drug-induced UI, a transient form, is frequently seen in psychiatric treatment. Antipsychotics, antidepressants, and other psychiatric medications can cause UI through various mechanisms like affecting bladder muscle tone, altering nerve reflexes, and inducing other conditions like diabetes or epilepsy. Specific drugs like lithium and valproic acid have also been linked to UI, though mechanisms are not always clear. Managing UI in psychiatric patients requires careful monitoring of urinary symptoms and judicious medication management. If a drug is identified as the cause, options include discontinuing, reducing, or adjusting the dosage. In cases where medication continuation is necessary, additional treatments like desmopressin, oxybutynin, trihexyphenidyl, or amitriptyline may be considered.