• Health Policy and Management
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.155-182
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• 1997

Objectives : This study was designed to compare North Korea and South Korea in measures of the quality of life (physical quality of life index and human development index) and to investigate the impact of selected medical and socioeconomic factors on PQL variables. Data and Methods : The World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and Population Reference Bureau were the principal sources of statistical data of 121 countries. Variables included infant mortality, life expectancy at birth, literacy rate, secondary school enrollment (male and female), GNP per capita, population per doctor, daily calorie supply per capita, and a composite PQL index. The Ordinary Least Square model was employed for cross-countries analysis. Findings : Both countries under quite different political and economic systems saw big improvememts in the quality of life, reducing mortality and prolonging life expectancy during the past three decades. In recent decad, however, North Korea has experienced abrupt exacerbation in the quality of life. Significant improvements in infant mortality of the population wer attributable mainly to GNP per capita and the secondary school enrollemt of female. The principal predictors of life expectancy at birth were population per doctor, infant mortality, and literacy rate. The secondary school enrollment of female and population per doctor were significantly associated with improvements in the physical quality of life index (PQLI). Conclusion : The results of this study confirmed a point illustrated by other studies : The association between quality of life as a measure of health status and socioeconomic factors was strong and positive. The important contribution of educational attainment in general, female education level in particular to improvements in the quality of life deserves good news for building an integrated health care system in the reunified Korea, taking into account the high level of education two koreas are enjoying. Meanwhile, when a sharp drop in the quality of life has been observed in North Korea under serious economic difficulties and food shortage in recent decade, the significant contribution of economic development to improvements in the quality of life poses bad nows for reunifying Korean health care in economic terms.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.57-68
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• 2014

Since the introduction of National Health Insurance(NHI) in 1977, it has grown rapidly and contributed to extend patient's access to the health care services. However, limited coverage for health care services of NHI has been ongoing challenge and private health insurance(PHI) has been rising as an alternative source of enhancing coverage and saving out-of-pocket(OOP) expenditure for patients. In this study, after controlling for socio-demographic, economic, health related variables, we identified the patients' healthcare utilization and subsequent OOP expenditure depending on their PHI enrollment and their enrollment types(fixed benefit, indemnity, fixed benefit plus indemnity). Data were collected from the 2010 Korean Health Panel. The unit of analysis was a member of household(n=13,324). Of the 13,324 cases, 70.7% of patients held PHI, in detail, fixed benefit(47.0%), indemnity(3.6%), fixed benefit plus indemnity(20.1%). Major findings showd that patients who enrolled in PHI used more outpatient services(outpatient visit, number of physician visit, number of examination) and spent more OOP expenditure than non-PHI patients. There were also differences of healthcare utilization and OOP expenditure among the types of PHI. In addition, PHI patients used more inpatient services(inpatient use, number of hospitalization, LOS), but there was no significant difference between PHI and non-PHI patients with regard to the OOP expenditure. Thus, we could not find any distinct relationship between the types of PHI and patients' tertiary hospital use. Policy-makers should need careful political deliberation for monitoring the effect of PHI on health care utilization and subsequent expenditure not only to improve patients' coverage but also to save their OOP expenditures.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.118-128
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• 2016

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to examine the status of children and adolescents with regard to enrollment in private medical insurance (PMI) and to investigate its influence on their utilization of medical services. Methods: The present study assessed 2973 subjects younger than 19 years of age who participated in five consecutive Korea Health Panel surveys from 2009 to 2012. Results: At the initial assessment, less than 20% of the study population had not enrolled in any PMI program, but this proportion decreased over time. Additionally, the number of subjects with more than two policies increased, the proportions of holders of indemnity-type only ('I'-only) and of fixed amount+indemnity-type ('F+I') increased, whereas the proportion of holders with fixed amount-type only ('F'-only) decreased. Compared with subjects without private insurance, PMI policyholders were more likely to use outpatient and emergency services, and the number of policies was proportionately related to inpatient service utilization. Regarding outpatient care, subjects with 'F'-only PMI used these services more often than did uninsured subjects (odds ratio [OR], 1.69), whereas subjects with 'I'-only PMI or 'F+I' PMI utilized a broad range of inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services relative to uninsured subjects (ORs for 'I'-only: 1.39, 1.63, and 1.38, respectively; ORs for 'F+I': 1.67, 2.09, and 1.37, respectively). Conclusions: The findings suggest public policy approaches to standardizing PMI contracts, reform in calculation of premiums in PMI, re-examination regarding indemnity insurance products, and mutual control mechanisms to mediate between national health insurance services and private insurers are required.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.13-21
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• 2009

This paper describes research of image enhancement for detection of face area. Typical face recognition algorithms used fixed parameter filtering algorithms to optimize face images for the recognition process. A fixed filtering scheme introduces errors when applied to face images captured in various different environmental conditions. For acquiring face image of good quality from the image including complex background and illumination, we propose a method for image enhancement using the categories based on the image intensity values. When an image is acquired average values of image from sub-window are computed and then compared to training values that were computed during preprocessing. The category is selected and the most suitable image filter method is applied to the image. We used histogram equalization, and gamma correction filters with two different parameters, and then used the most suitable filter among those three. An increase in enrollment of filtered images was observed compared to enrollment rates of the original images.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.42 no.7
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• pp.1039-1049
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• 2012

Purpose: From the holistic environmental perspective, individual and environmental influences on low-income children's questionable development were identified and examined as to differences in the influences according to the child's developmental stage of infancy (age 0-35 months) or early childhood (age 36-71 months). Methods: This study was a cross-sectional comparative design using negative binominal regression analysis to identify predictors of questionable development separately for each developmental stage. The sample was comprised of 952 children (357 in infancy and 495 in early childhood) from low-income families in South Korea. Predictors included individual factors: child's age and gender; proximal environmental influences: family factors (family health conditions, primary caregiver, child-caregiver relationship, depression in primary caregiver) and institution factors (daycare enrollment, days per week in daycare); and distal environmental influences: income/resources factors (family income, personal resources and social resources); and community factors (perceived child-rearing environment). The outcome variable was questionable development. Results: Significant contributors to questionable development in the infancy group were age, family health conditions, and personal resources; in the early childhood group, significant contributors were gender, family health conditions, grandparent as a primary caregiver, child-caregiver relationships, daycare enrollment, and personal resources. Conclusion: Factors influencing children's questionable development may vary by developmental stage. It is important to consider differences in individual and environmental influences when developing targeted interventions to ensure that children attain their optimal developmental goals at each developmental stage. Understanding this may lead nursing professionals to design more effective preventive interventions for low-income children.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.849-856
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• 2011

In this paper, we study the influence analysis of admission and enrollment variables including individual characteristics variables on employment of graduate students at K university. First, logistic regression analysis is used to examine the main effects of admission, enrollment variables including student's individual characteristics on employment. Also, decision tree analysis is used to examine the interaction effects for the variables on employment. The results of this paper may be helpful to K university in designing effective job finding strategies for graduate students.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1571-1574
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• 2015

Background: Treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) decreases the prevalence of gastric cancer, and may inhibit gastric precancerous lesions progression into gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of treatment on subsequent gastric precancerous lesion development. Materials and Methods: We prospectively studied 27 patients who had low grade dysplasia at the time of enrollment, in addition to dysplasia atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia observed in all patients. All were prescribed quadruple therapy to treat H. Pylori infection for 10 days. Patients underwent endoscopy with biopsy at enrollment and then at follow up two years later. Biopsy samples included five biopsies from the antrum of lesser curvature, antrum of greater curvature, angularis, body of stomach and fundus. Results of these biopsies were compared before and after treatment. Results: Overall, the successful eradication rate after two years was 15/27 (55.6%). After antibiotic therapy, the number of patients with low grade dysplasia decreased significantly (p=0.03), also with reduction of the atrophic lesions (p=0.01), but not metaplasia. Conclusions: Treatment of H. pylori likely is an effective therapy in preventing the development of subsequent gastric premalignant lesions.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.335-347
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• 2017

Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator had been the only approved treatment for acute ischemic stroke since its approval in 1995. However, the restrictive time window, numerous contraindications, and its low recanalization rate were all limitations of this modality. Under those circumstances, endovascular stroke therapy went through a great evolution during the past two decades of intravenous thrombolysis. The results of the 2013 randomized trials for endovascular stroke therapy were neutral, although they were limited by insufficient imaging screening at enrollment, early-generation devices with less efficacy, and treatment delays. Huge progress was made in 2015, as there were five randomized clinical trials which all demonstrated the safety and efficacy of endovascular stroke treatment. Despite differences in detail patient enrollment criteria, all 5 trials employed key factors for good functional recovery; (1) screening with non-invasive imaging to identify the proximal occlusion and exclude a large infarct core, (2) using highly effective modern thrombectomy devices mainly with stent retriever, and (3) establishment of a fast workflow to achieve effective reperfusion. The results of those trials indicate that modern thrombectomy devices can allow for faster and more effective reperfusion, which can lead to improved clinical outcomes compared to intravenous thrombolysis alone. These advances in mechanical thrombectomy are promising in the global fight against ischemic stroke-related disability and mortality. Two current mainstreams among such mechanical thrombectomy techniques, "stent retriever thrombectomy" and "direct clot aspiration", are the topic of this review. Stent retriever thrombectomy using Solitaire and Trevo retriever will be firstly discussed. And, the commonalities and the differences between two major clot aspiration thrombectomy techniques; a direct aspiration first pass technique (ADAPT) and forced arterial suction thrombectomy (FAST), will be additionally explained. Finally, details regarding the combination of direct clot aspiration and stent retriever thrombectomy, the switching strategy and the Solumbra technique, will be described.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.188-201
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• 2016

A Clothing Department is a major fields of specialized vocational high schools. Specialized high schools with clothing related departments are located in Seoul (4 schools), Busan (2), Incheon (3), Daejeon (1), Ulsan (1), Kangwondo (1), Kyungkido (1), Kyungsangbukdo (1) and Chungcheongbukdo (1). In these 15 specialized high schools, 92 classes of clothing departments are run by 72 clothing teachers with 2,459 students enrolled. The range of object of this study is 15 clothing related departments of specialized high schools and their titles are department of Fashion Design, Clothing Design, Clothing Art, Multi Fashion Design, Fashion Textile Design, and Global Design. They were investigated by literature from previous research and education statistics from the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI). Websites such as 'School Information', 'portal site of Specialized High School', 'Ministry of Education-Education Statistics and Information' were also searched. The homepages of specialized high schools with clothing department were also investigated respectively. In this study, current scale, employment rate of graduates, major courses, scale of teachers of clothing major of clothing department of specialized high school were analyzed. In 2015, employment rate and college enrollment rate of vocational high schools were 46.6% and 36.6% respectively, whereas employment rate and college enrollment rate of clothing departments four specialized High Schools were 39.9% and 45.8% respectively. The number of major courses of clothing departments are 12-15, and the main subjects of the curriculum were Fashion Design, Construction of Western Clothing, Construction of Korean Clothing, Textile Materials and Mangement and Computer Graphics. Major courses consist of 90-108 weekly lesson-hours for 6 semesters. Thanks to government projects to encourage specialized high schools, the educational environment has improved in areas of practice room equipment, industry connections, field training, internship, and scholarship funds. However, despite government projects to encourage education at specialized high schools, there is a need for a more flexible education system to enhance student creativity at specialized high schools.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.1 s.37
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• pp.64-72
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• 1992

To provide the information necessary for the insurance medicine management plan, price discount rates among the insurance medicines were studied. A total of 2,107 items of insurance medicine of which prices were discounted via governmental inspections of real transactional process of insurance medicine were analysed. The conclusions are as follows; 1. Among the variables relevant to the characteristics of manufacturers, price discount rates of insurance medicines were statistically significant with production rankings of manufacturers, incorporation year, existence of investments by foreign corporation, existence of a research institute, and enrollment in the exchange. And among the variables relevant to the properties of medicines, the number of enrolled items which have the same components, classification, the date of new enrollment, the sales of items, and the number of raw materials in the items were statistically significant. 2. Stepwise multiple regression was done to identify the factors which affect the price discount rates of insurance medicines. The number of enrolled items which have the same components, production rankings of manufactures, classification number (medicines for function of tissue cells), incorporation year(1940-1949), existence of investments by foreign corporations, classification number (anti-germ medicines), number of raw materials In the items, the sales of items, and medicines whose major objective is not treatment were significant variables and the $R^2$-value for these variables was 21.2%. Considering all of the above results, for management of insurance medicines, it seems important that the real transactional prices of insurance medicines should be identified systematically, focusing on the properties which affect the price discount rates of insurance medicines.