• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.304-311
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the self-reported symptoms of occupational asthma, occupational rhinitis, and respiratory symptoms between a direct exposure to flour dust group and a non-exposure group from the bakery industry. Methods: The participants were 62 workers directly exposed to flour dust and 30 non-exposed workers. The survey was composed of questions related to general characteristics. Korean self-reported respiratory symptoms(SNU-93), occupational asthma, and occupational rhinitis data was collected from April to July 2017. Results: The smoking rate among the direct exposure to flour dust workers was 67.7% and the mean of working hours(11-12) was 96.8%. The SNU-93 questionnaire revealed that respiratory symptoms in the chest and wheezing or whistling were significantly higher among the direct-exposure group than non-exposure group. The response for occupational asthma symptoms was significantly higher in the direct exposure group(2.4 points) than in the non-exposure group(1.6 points). Conclusion: In order to decrease the symptoms of these respiratory diseases among bakery workers exposed to flour dust, it is necessary to reduce working hours and the smoking rate. The performance of periodic medical examinations is needed to find abnormal respiratory diseases. In addition, workers who have been diagnosed with asthma and rhinitis should consider switching to a process that is not exposed to flour dust.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2008

Purpose: Surveys on poisoning usually involves intoxication rather than inhalation, skin contact, etc. Therefore, we examined the characteristics of patients who visited the emergency department in an industrial complex after acute industrial exposure to toxic materials. Methods: Medical records of patients exposed to toxic materials in the work places from April, 2006, to March, 2008, were analyzed retrospectively. Inhalation patients due to fire were excluded. Results: Subjects included 66 patients, with a mean age of $35.4{\pm}10.9$ years, mostly men (91%). Toxicity occurred in 51 patients (77%) by contact, 15 patients (23%) by inhalation, and none by oral ingestion. For toxic materials, 10 patients were exposed to hydrofluoric acid, 8 to hydrochloric acid, 7 to sodium hydroxide, 7 to metals, and others. The face and hands were the most frequent exposure site by contact. Most exposures were caused by accidents, with 29 cases (42%) exposed because of carelessness or not wearing protective equipment. Most complaints were pain on exposure site, but 7 of the inhalation patients complained of dyspnea. The majority of patients with contact exposure were discharged after wound care or observation. After inhalation exposure, 1 patient died and 5 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit. Conclusion: Major causes of workplace exposure were not wearing protective equipment or carelessness. Although contact exposures are usually benign, cautious observation and management are required in patients with inhalation exposure.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.454-461
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• 2021

Background: Fish and fishery products (FFPs) unintentionally contaminated with various environmental pollutants are major exposure pathways for humans. To protect human health from the consumption of contaminated FFPs, it is essential to develop a systematic tool for evaluating exposure and risks. Objectives: To regularly, accurately, and quickly evaluate adverse health outcomes due to FFPs contamination, we developed an automated dietary exposure and risk assessment system called HERA (the Human Exposure and Risk Assessment system for chemicals in FFPs). The aim of this study was to develop an overall architecture design and demonstrate the major features of the HERA system. Methods: For the HERA system, the architecture framework consisted of multi-layer stacks from infrastructure to fish exposure and risk assessment layers. To compile different contamination levels and types of seafood consumption datasets, the data models were designed for the classification codes of FFP items, contaminants, and health-based guidance values (HBGVs). A systematic data pipeline for summarizing exposure factors was constructed through down-scaling and preprocessing the 24-hour dietary recalls raw dataset from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNAHES). Results: According to the designed data models for the classification codes, we standardized 167 seafood items and 2,741 contaminants. Subsequently, we implemented two major functional workflows: 1) preparation and 2) main process. The HERA system was developed to enable risk assessors to accumulate the concentration databases sustainably and estimate exposure levels for several populations linked to seafood consumption data in KNAHES in a user-friendly manner and in a local PC environment. Conclusions: The HERA system will support policy-makers in making risk management decisions based on a nation-wide risk assessment for FFPs.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.173-185
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• 2019

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to evaluate the accuracy and precision of exposure model ECETOC TRA v.3.1 by comparing model predictions with repeated exposure measurements in Korean workplaces and to investigate the applicability of ECETOC TRA to Korean workplace exposure assessment in K-REACH. Methods: Measured values and work conditions for 14 kinds of chemicals collected from exposure field surveys conducted at 10 companies in Korea were utilized for this study. All possible process categories (PROCs) considered to be relevant to each work process classification were selected and applied to ECETOC TRA as major determining parameters. In order to quantify the accuracy of the model, the lack of agreement (bias, relative bias, precision) was calculated and the risk ratios for each exposure situation between estimated and measured were also compared. Results: The estimated values varied between five and 25 times according to the PROCs for all exposure situations (ESs) based on tasks/chemicals. The results showed that most of the estimated values were below the measured values, and just 13 of 53 tasks were above the measured values. The overall bias and precision were $-2.91{\pm}1.62$ with ECETOC TRA, and we found that ECETOC TRA showed a low level of conservatism when applied to Korean workplaces, similar to previous studies. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the existed PROC codes have limitations in fully covering various ESs in Korea. In order to improve the applicability of ECETOC TRA in K-REACH, the addition of new PROCs for Korean industries are necessary.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.141-150
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• 2019

Background: Evidence on associations between occupational diesel exhaust and gasoline exposure and colorectal cancer is limited. We aimed to assess the effect of workplace exposure to diesel exhaust and gasoline on the risk of colorectal cancer. Methods: This case-control study included 181,709 colon cancer and 109,227 rectal cancer cases diagnosed between 1961 and 2005 in Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Cases and controls were identified from the Nordic Occupational Cancer Study cohort and matched for country, birth year, and sex. Diesel exhaust and gasoline exposure values were assigned by country-specific job-exposure matrices. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated by using conditional logistic regression models. The results were adjusted for physical strain at work and occupational exposure to benzene, formaldehyde, ionizing radiation, chlorinated hydrocarbons, chromium, and wood dust. Results: Diesel exhaust exposure was associated with a small increase in the risk of rectal cancer (odds ratio - 1.05, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.08). Gasoline exposure was not associated with colorectal cancer risk. Conclusion: This study showed a small risk increase for rectal cancer after workplace diesel exhaust exposure. However, this finding could be due to chance, given the limitations of the study.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2022

C-arm fluoroscopy is a useful tool for interventional pain management. However, with the increasing use of C-arm fluoroscopy, the risk of accumulated radiation exposure is a significant concern for pain physicians. Therefore, efforts are needed to reduce radiation exposure. There are three types of radiation exposure sources: (1) the primary X-ray beam, (2) scattered radiation, and (3) leakage from the X-ray tube. The major radiation exposure risk for most medical staff members is scattered radiation, the amount of which is affected by many factors. Pain physicians can reduce their radiation exposure by use of several effective methods, which utilize the following main principles: reducing the exposure time, increasing the distance from the radiation source, and radiation shielding. Some methods reduce not only the pain physician's but also the patient's radiation exposure. Taking images with collimation and minimal use of magnification are ways to reduce the intensity of the primary X-ray beam and the amount of scattered radiation. It is also important to carefully select the C-arm fluoroscopy mode, such as pulsed mode or low-dose mode, for ensuring the physician's and patient's radiation safety. Pain physicians should practice these principles and also be aware of the annual permissible radiation dose as well as checking their radiation exposure. This article aimed to review the literature on radiation safety in relation to C-arm fluoroscopy and provide recommendations to pain physicians during C-arm fluoroscopy-guided interventional pain management.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.261-272
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• 2022

This study investigated the relationship between selective exposure, attitude polarization, and online political participation among 420 YouTube political video users. Additionally, the mediating effect of attitude polarization on the relationship between selective exposure and online political participation was examined. The main results were derived by conducting exploratory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural model analysis using the SPSS 21.0 program and AMOS 21.0 program. The results were presented as follows. First, selective exposure had a positive effect on attitude polarization. Second, selective exposure had a positive effect on online political participation. Third, attitude polarization had a positive effect on online political participation. Fourth, attitude polarization was found to mediate the relationship between selective exposure and online political participation. In summary, it was confirmed that selective exposure to YouTube political videos increased attitude polarization and online political participation, and the more the attitude polarization was strengthened by selective exposure, the more it led to online political participation.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.357-363
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• 2022

Background: Refractory ceramic fibers (RCFs) are a suspected carcinogen but have been widely used as insulations. Depending on the temperature, RCFs can transform into crystalline SiO₂, which is a carcinogen that can be present in the air during bulk RCF handling. This study analyzed the physicochemical and morphological characteristics of RCFs at high temperatures and determined the exposure levels during the semiconductor scrubber maintenance. Methods: Sampling was conducted at a company that manufactures semiconductor scrubbers using RCFs as insulation. Bulk RCF samples were collected both before and after exposure to a scrubber temperature of 700℃. Airborne RCFs were collected during scrubber maintenance, and their characteristics were analyzed using microscopes. Results: The components of bulk RCFs were SiO₂ and Al₂O₃, having an amorphous structure. Airborne RCFs were morphologically different from bulk RCFs in size, which could negatively affect maintenance workers' health. 58% of airborne RCFs correspond to the size of thoracic and respirable fibers. RCFs did not crystallize at high temperatures. The exposure caused by airborne RCFs during the scrubber frame assembly and insulation replacement was higher than the occupational exposure limit. Conclusion: Workers conducting insulation replacement are likely exposed to airborne RCFs above safe exposure limits. As RCFs are suspected carcinogens, this exposure should be minimized through prevention and precautionary procedures.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

Slow sync is a photography technique where a user takes an image with long exposure and a camera flash to enlighten the foreground and background. Unlike short exposure with flash and long exposure without flash, slow sync guarantees the bright foreground and background in the dim environment. However, taking a slow sync image with a smartphone is difficult because the smartphone camera has continuous and weak flash and can not turn on flash if the exposure time is long. This paper proposes a deep learning method that input is a short exposure flash image and output is a slow sync image. We present a deep learning network with a weight map for spatially varying enlightenment. We also propose a dataset that consists of smartphone short exposure flash images and slow sync images for supervised learning. We utilize the linearity of a RAW image to synthesize a slow sync image from short exposure flash and long exposure no-flash images. Experimental results show that our method trained with our dataset synthesizes slow sync images effectively.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2023

Background: Several factors contribute to shoulder pain, including abnormal neck posture, repeated use of the upper limbs, work involving raising the upper limbs above the head, and the effects of vibration. However, previous study has reported that constant vibration exposure could impact improvement of the stability on joints related with muscle recruitment and activation. For this difference reason, we need to verify for the complex study of relationship with repetitive upper limb movements, poor head posture, and constant vibration exposure. Objects: Our study was made to investigate the influence of vibration exposure on the shoulder muscle activity during forward-head and over-head tasks with isometric shoulder flexion. Methods: In a total of 22 healthy subjects, surface electromyography (EMG) data were collected from shoulder muscles (upper/lower trapezius, serratus anterior, and lumbar erector spinae) on tasks (neutral-head task [NHT], forward-head task [FHT], and over-head task [OHT]) with and without vibration exposure. Results: In all tasks, the EMG data of the upper trapezius and serratus anterior significantly increased with vibration exposure (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the EMG data of the lumbar erector spinae significantly increased with vibration exposure in the NHT and FHT (p < 0.05). Conclusion: We suggest that continuous vibration exposure during the use of hand-held tools in the tasks could be associated with harmful effects in the workplace. Lastly, we clinically need to examine the guidelines regarding the optimal posture and vibration exposure.