• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.1279-1288
• /
• 2021

Objective: To assess the diagnostic performance of the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) version 2018 treatment response algorithm (TRA) for the evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with transarterial radioembolization. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent transarterial radioembolization for HCC followed by hepatic surgery between January 2011 and December 2019. The resected lesions were determined to have either complete (100%) or incomplete (< 100%) necrosis based on histopathology. Three radiologists independently reviewed the CT or MR images of pre- and post-treatment lesions and assigned categories based on the LI-RADS version 2018 and the TRA, respectively. Diagnostic performances of LI-RADS treatment response (LR-TR) viable and nonviable categories were assessed for each reader, using histopathology from hepatic surgeries as a reference standard. Inter-reader agreements were evaluated using Fleiss κ. Results: A total of 27 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 55.9 ± 9.1 years; 24 male) with 34 lesions (15 with complete necrosis and 19 with incomplete necrosis on histopathology) were included. To predict complete necrosis, the LR-TR nonviable category had a sensitivity of 73.3-80.0% and a specificity of 78.9-89.5%. For predicting incomplete necrosis, the LR-TR viable category had a sensitivity of 73.7-79.0% and a specificity of 93.3-100%. Five (14.7%) of 34 treated lesions were categorized as LR-TR equivocal by consensus, with two of the five lesions demonstrating incomplete necrosis. Interreader agreement for the LR-TR category was 0.81 (95% confidence interval: 0.66-0.96). Conclusion: The LI-RADS version 2018 TRA can be used to predict the histopathologic viability of HCCs treated with transarterial radioembolization.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2024

Background: Different job strain formulations based on the Job Demand-Control model have been developed. This study evaluated longitudinal associations between job strain and psychological distress and whether associations were influenced by six formulations of job strain, including quadrant (original and simplified), subtraction, quotient, logarithm quotient, and quartile based on quotient, in randomly selected Japanese workers. Methods: Data were from waves I and II of the Survey of Midlife in Japan (MIDJA), with a 4-year followup period. The study sample consisted of 412 participants working at baseline and had complete data on variables of interest. Associations between job strain at baseline and psychological distress at follow-up were assessed via multivariable linear regression, and results were expressed as β coefficients and 95% confidence intervals including R² and Akaike information criterion (AIC) evaluation. Results: Crude models revealed that job strain formulations explained 6.93-10.30% of variance. The AIC ranged from 1475.87 to 1489.12. After accounting for sociodemographic and behavioral factors and psychological distress at baseline, fully-adjusted models indicated significant associations between all job strain formulations at baseline and psychological distress at follow-up: original quadrant (β: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.12, 2.21), simplified quadrant (β: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.18, 1.85), subtraction (β: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.09, 0.70), quotient (β: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.67), logarithm quotient (β: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.72), and quartile based on quotient (β: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.36, 2.08). Conclusion: Six job strain formulations showed robust predictive power regarding psychological distress over 4 years among Japanese workers.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• v.35
• /
• pp.40.1-40.10
• /
• 2023

Background: Efforts for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in workers have been actively pursued. Obesity is one of the important risk factors related to CVDs. Obesity has various metabolic characteristics, and some individuals can be metabolically healthy. Body composition including skeletal muscle mass is known to have protective effect in obesity. The study aims to investigate the association between skeletal muscle mass and Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) CVD risk among obese male manufacturing workers in Korea and to identify appropriate indicators of skeletal muscle mass for predicting risk of CVDs. Methods: The study was conducted on 2,007 obese male workers at a manufacturing industry aged more than 19 years. Skeletal muscle mass, skeletal muscle index (SMI), skeletal muscle mass percent (SMM%) and skeletal muscle to body fat ratio (MFR) were used to evaluate body composition and these indicators were divided into quartiles. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the KOSHA CVD risk groups according to quartiles of skeletal muscle mass indicators were estimated using ordinal logistic regression analysis. Results: The OR for the KOSHA CVD risk groups in the highest quartile of SMI was 1.67 (95% CI: 1.42-1.92), while the ORs for the KOSHA CVD risk groups in the highest quartiles of SMM%, SMM/body mass index (BMI), and MFR were 0.47 (95% CI: 0.22-0.72), 0.51 (95% CI: 0.05-0.76), and 0.48 (95% CI: 0.23-0.74), respectively. Conclusions: We found that high SMI increase the likelihood of high risk of CVDs, while high SMM%, SMM/BMI, and MFR lower the likelihood of high risk of CVDs. Accurate evaluation of skeletal muscle mass can help assess the cardiovascular risk in obese male workers.

• Clinical Endoscopy
• /
• v.56 no.1
• /
• pp.38-49
• /
• 2023

Background/Aims: Patients with Barrett's esophagus are at increased risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma. Endoscopic therapies aim to eradicate dysplastic and metaplastic tissues. Hybrid argon plasma coagulation (hybrid-APC) utilizes submucosal fluid injection to create a protective cushion prior to ablation that shields the submucosa from injury. We performed a pooled meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of hybrid-APC. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of major electronic databases in April 2022. Studies that included patients with dysplastic and non-dysplastic Barrett's esophagus undergoing treatment with hybrid-APC were eligible for inclusion. Outcome measures included complete remission of intestinal metaplasia (CR-IM), stricture formation, serious adverse events, and number of sessions necessary to achieve CR-IM. Results: Overall pooled CR-IM rate for patients undergoing hybrid-APC was 90.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.872-0.939; I²=0%). Pooled stricture rate was 2.0% (95% CI, 0.005-0.042; I²=0%). Overall serious adverse event rate was 2.7% (95% CI, 0.007-0.055; I²=0%). Conclusions: Results of the current meta-analysis suggest that hybrid-APC is associated with high rates of CR-IM and a favorable safety profile. Interpretation of these results is limited by the inclusion of retrospective cohort and case series data. Randomized controlled trials that standardize treatment and outcome evaluation protocols are necessary to understand how this treatment option is comparable to the current standards of care.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.368-374
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to evaluate community dental hygiene practice education, by verifying its effect after applying project-based learning in improving the practical and social skills of learners. A 15-week project-based community dental hygiene practice course was held for 27 senior students, who took community dental hygiene practice course in the Department of Dental Hygiene, Gangneung-Wonju National University. Twenty-seven students were composed of 4 teams. Each team selected a target group for four workplaces for adult workers to apply the oral health promotion project. The project was then planned and conducted based on a survey on the health problems confronting each group, and an evaluation was carried out after 4 weeks. From the results obtained in comparing confidence in problem solving ability, project value, teamwork competency, and community dental hygienist competence before and after course, the improvement in project value and teamwork competence scores was not statistically significant, but all four areas showed positive results. After analyzing the project actuality, learning outcomes, and project satisfaction after course results, the actuality of the project was 19.30 points, the learning achievement was 45.19 points, and the satisfaction was 19.19 points, demonstrating that the aim of achieving actual performance competence and a learning performance exceeding expectations was accomplished. After conducting an interview survey with 8 students, it was found that they had learned social skills involving problem-solving abilities and confidence, and teamwork competence such as cooperation, role responsibility, creative thinking ability, and communication skills. Community dental hygienists should be able to acquire learner-level practical skills and social skills in the community dental hygiene and practical courses, according to their competencies and job needs. It is necessary to develop a project?based systematic learning module to enable the community dental hygiene practice to operate as a subject closely related to fields in other dental hygiene departments.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.211-221
• /
• 2024

Background: The public health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 emphasizes the need to expand and strengthen public hospitals. However, the overall perception of public hospitals remains negative. This negative perception can hinder the roles and functions of public hospitals, so this study aims to analyze the factors affecting negative perceptions of public hospitals. Methods: We used data from a survey on the public healthcare of Chungcheongbuk-do residents conducted by the Chungcheongbuk-do Public Health Policy Institute, and 1,916 adults aged 19 or older who responded to the survey were included in the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the impact of experiences with public hospitals use and evaluations of public healthcare and public hospital policies on the negative perception of public hospitals. Results: The experience of not using public hospitals (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.74) and negative evaluations of public healthcare and public hospital policies were found to significantly impact negative perceptions of public hospitals. In public healthcare policies, negative evaluations of the provision of essential medical care (aOR, 4.14; 95% CI, 2.59-6.62), regional disparities (aOR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.02-2.49), coverage (aOR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.25-3.16), and quality of care (aOR, 2.39; 95% CI, 1.50-3.80) were significantly associated with negative perceptions of public hospitals. In public hospital policies, negative evaluations of facilities and equipment (aOR, 3.74, 95% CI, 2.36-5.94), medical specialties and services (aOR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.21-3.01), and quality of medical service (aOR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.72-4.25) were also significantly associated with negative perceptions of public hospitals. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the need to improve perceptions of public hospitals by considering the experience with public hospitals use and evaluation of public healthcare and public hospital policies.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.97-110
• /
• 2001

An image exists in the thought of every subjective person and it exercises its influence over everything, having a great power in the real world. An positive image of the nurse has an influence on her faith, value and confidence, therefore increasing her job satisfaction, helping to upgrade her level of profession of nursing through qualitative nursing service as a result, considering the necessity of such an image when it comes to improvement of the profession, the confirmation of the image is indispensable to its evaluation of a speciality in nursing. This study is intended to help that improvement of the nursing profession in the present so that the total effort in every field of nursing is made and to offer basic material for developing a strategy to improve the image of nurses. This study is designed to investigate such an image descriptively. The subjects include 105 nurses, 60 doctors, 68 office workers, 88 medical engineers, 127 patients and there protectors with a total of 448 adapted with accidental sampling, who work at Y and W general hospital in Chonju. The measuring instrument consists of 40 question, with the researcher amended and made from on of Inja Song(1993), Donsoon Lee(1995), Ilsim yang(1998), and its Cronbach's alpha coefficient is .95. Data were collected from March 1 2000 to March 20, 2000 using self-reported questionnairs, analyzed with SPSS WIN 7.5 after encoding. The results are as follows: 1. Most of the subjects thinks the nursing as a hard, stressful, always busy job(more than 75%), and consider nurses as good-looking, supportive and responsible to co-workers to above average degree($50.0{\sim}74.9%$), especially it shows the idea that nursing is independently academic job and has come to fasten itself upon the public. But it shows below the everage($25.0%{\sim}49.9%$) in regard to self development as a specialist, affection for there job, an association activity, service to the community, high intelligence level and direct given patient nursing service. It also rated low as a recommendable job, independently nursing accomplishment, social position. 2. The nurses, patients and there protectors expressed more positive opinions than doctors, medical engineers, office workers about the image of the nurse(F=18.80, p=.00). This fact indicates that the former group evaluated the image similarly contrary to lowness of the latter. 3. In the study on what influenced upon the image, it defines to 79.8% by direct contact in the hospital or acquaintance with nurses, and 16.3% by mass media. 67.3% answered that they saw the image in a new light through hospitalization, which suggests an important source for the image management originates from caring for the quality of nursing service. Considering the evaluation of the image above, we need strategies to lead a unique professional knowledge and technological development, insurance of professional self-determination, high social position, participation in group activities, dedication to lifetime job, in order that nursing comes to expand as a professional occupation. Also, as for generating more positive images, we must take the quality of nursing service into account and offer and monitor correct information about the expanded role and function of the nurse continuously so that mass media reflect a more accurate image of nurses in general.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.343-348
• /
• 2000

Objectives : This study was conducted to integrate the results of studies assessing the association between chronic noise exposure and blood pressure. Methods : Using a MEDLINE search with noise exposure, blood pressure and hypertension as key words, we retrieved articles from the literature that were published from 1980 to December 1999. The criteria for quality evaluation were as follows: 1) the study subjects must have been workers employed at a high noise level area 2) The paper should use average and cumulative noise exposure as method for exposure evaluation. 3) Blood pressure in each article should be reported in a continuous scale Among the 77 retrieved articles, six studies were selected for quantitative meta-analysis. Before the integration of the regression coefficients for the association between blood pressure and noise level, homogeneity tests were conducted. Results : All studies were a cross-sectional design and the study subjects were industrial workers. Five papers used a time-weighted average for noise exposure and only one paper calculated the cumulative noise exposure level. The measurement of blood pressure in the majority of studios were accomplished in a resting stale, and used an average of two or more readings. The homogeneity of studies was rejected in a fixed effect model, so we used the results in a random effect model. The results of the quantitative meta-analysis, the weighted regression coefficient of noise associated with systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were 0.05 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.03, 0.13) and 0.06 (95% CI: -0.01, 0.13), respectively. Conclusions : Our results suggested that chronic exposure to industrial noise does not cause elevated blood pressure.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.197-203
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to measure signal to noise ratio (SNR) according to change of equalization from region of interest (ROI) of heart shadow in chest image. We examined images of chest image of 87 patients in a University-affiliated hospital, Seoul, Korea. Chest images of each patient were calculated by using ImageJ. We have analysis socio-demographical variables, SNR according to images, 95% confidence according to SNR of difference in a mean of SNR. Differences of SNR among change of equalization were tested by SPSS Statistics21 ANOVA test for there was statistical significance 95%(p < 0.05). In SNR results, with the quality of distributions in the order of original chest image, original chest image heart shadow and equalization chest image, equalization chest image heart shadow(p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study would be that quantitative evaluation of heart shadow on chest image can be used as an adjunct to the histogram equalization chest image.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.277-281
• /
• 2017

Lately rainfall characteristics that it rains a lot in a short space of time often occurs. Because of this meteorological phenomena, the flow rate and concentration of initial rainfall for runoff and combined sewer overflows are changed. In the case of this inlet fluctuation, the flotation method at high surface loading rate is suitable for water quality management. the flotation method is able to meet the removal rate requirements of water public zone in 5 to 10 min which is irelatively short period. For assessment and diagonision of flotation method, A/S ratio is applied until now. But unfortunately, this has some limits for evaluation standard for certification and assessment of technical diagnosis and operation. This is why there is different efficiency in the bubble distribution at the same A/S ratio. The velocity and time of floating is changed by the different bubble distributions. The floating time affects the plant volume because the time factor make size dicision. Therefore the charateristics of bubble distribution and floating time at the same A/S ratio is necessary to apply to evaluation standard for certification and assessment of technical diagnosis and operation. For generalization of the method in certification and assessment, the characteristics of bubble distribution was studied. Until recently, using the optical device and shooting live video, there are some analysis technology of the floating factors. But this kind of technology is influenced by the equipment. with this level of confidence about the results, it is difficult to apply to generalize. According this reasons, this study should be applied on experiment generalization of method about measurement of relation between bubble distribution and floating time.