• Health Policy and Management
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.195-196
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• 2018

The Korean Academy of Health Policy and Management (KAHPM) has shown remarkable achievements in the field of health policy and management in Korea for the last 30 years. The KAHPM consists of experts in various fields of health policy and management, and has been the leading academic discussion forum for health policy agendas of interest to the public. Health Policy and Management (HPM), the official journal of the KAHPM, published the first issue of volume 1 in October, 1991 and is publishing the second issue of volume 28 as of 2018. Currently, it is one of Korea' main journals in the field of health policy and management. HPM has published a special issue in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the KAHPM. The HPM invited authors, including former presidents of the KAHPM and current board members, to write about main issues in health policy and management. Although the HPM tried to set up an invited author on all subjects in the health policy and management field, 19 papers are published, that completed the peer review process by August, 2018. The authors of the special issue of the 30th anniversary of the KAHPM include six former presidents, a senior professor, and 12 board members. The subjects of this issue are reform of the healthcare delivery system, health insurance and medical policy, reform of health system governance, the role of National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) and the National Evidence-based healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA), ethical aspects of health policy change, regional disparities of healthcare, healthcare accreditation, new healthcare technology evaluation system, globalization of the healthcare industry, the epidemiological investigator system, the quarantine system, safety and disaster, and official development assistance. There are some remaining topics to deal with for the KAHPM: aged society, anti-smoking, non-infectious disease, suicide, healthcare resources, emergency medical care, out-of-pocket money, medical fee payment system, medical aid system, long-term care insurance, industrial accident compensation insurance, community-centered health welfare system, and central government and local government of health. The HPM will continue to publish review articles on the main topics in health policy and management. This is because the KAHPM, which has been the leading academic society of Korea's health policy and management for the last 30 years, feels responsible for continuing its mission for the next 30 years.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.23-31
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• 2015

With the expiration of main patent of printing method, public interest now has shifted to 3D printing. In this, it needs to shine a light on the negative effects, particularly in the socio-economic aspect of 3D printing. By analyzing the existing research findings, policy reports and press releases, the negative effects of 3D printing and its countermeasures were derived. The main drawbacks of 3D printing includes the following: It might cause 3D printing-related crimes(e.g. printed weapons, intellectual property infringement, etc.) and it poses a big threat to other related business sectors.(e.g. potential job loss in molding and medical equipments manufacturing industries) What's more, the nature of 3D printing that it is easy to operate attracts lots of people, which then leads to serious social and environmental problems-product liability, ethical issues, environmental pollution, and finally government's blindly excessive investment in 3D printing. To avoid such potential risks, the government should establish and enforce the institutional law, and guidelines. Government's rational investment decision is also inevitable for the short-term and long-term sustainability of 3D printing.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2011

Most clinicians understand clinical trials as the evaluation process for new medicine before their use. However, clinical trials can also be applied to laboratory diagnostic tests (LDTs) to verify diagnostic accuracy and efficacy before their clinical laboratory implementation for patients. The clinical trial of LDT has two distinctive characteristics that are different from the case of pharmaceuticals and thus worth special consideration. One of them is the level of evidence. The well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are known to provide the best evidence to prove the clinical efficacy of any pharmaceutical products. However, RCTs lose practicality when applied to LDTs due to various issues including ethical complications. For this reason, comparative study format is considered more feasible approach for LDTs. In addition pharmaceuticals and LDTs are different in that the user's intervention is not required for the former but critical to the latter. Moreover, in the case of pharmaceuticals, end-products are produced by manufacturers before being used by clinicians. However, in LDTs, once reagents and instruments are provided by manufacturers, they are first utilized by clinical laboratories to produce test results in order for clinicians to use them later. In other words, when it comes to LDTs, clinical laboratories play the role of manufacturers, providing reliable test results with improved quality assurance. Considering the distinctive characteristics of LDTs, we would like to offer detailed suggestions to successfully perform clinical trials in LDTs, which include analytical performance measures, clinical test performance measures, diagnostic test accuracy measures, clinical effectiveness measures, and post-implementation surveillance.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 1994

Research on biological aspects on adult depression has been subjected to more than 25 years of systematic research, while biologic investigations regarding childhood and adolescent depression are only now being initiated. Although no unifying, explanatory theory of the biologic etiology of childhood depression emerges from the results of studies reviewed above, the findings do support that biological factors may be involved in the genesis of childhood depression. The research reviewed in this paper suggests that age and pubertal factors have major effects in most biological markers of depression. Some of these markers, like sleep EEG and neuroendocrine markers should be broken down by decades during adult life span. Thus, although adult data are very valuable points of departure for biological research on child and adolescent depression, it is very hard to transfer the adult data to prepubertal children and adolescents, ignoring the biological changes that take place in growth and development, pubety and aging. A great deal of work in basic developmental neuroscience remains to be done. It will be crucial for further advances in this field to determine the normal patterns of neurotransmitter interaction in this age group and to study children at high risk for depression. It will be also crucial to use primate models of depressive illness in order to be able to answer the many queations that cannot be investigated in humans for ethical issues. Conclusively, much closer collaboration between developmental and neurobiological and behavioral studies in primates and in humans will be essential for further development.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.1 no.2 s.2
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• pp.343-369
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• 2001

Understanding of the social perception of biotechnology would facilitate the public awareness and debate over the social implications of biotechnology, leading to strengthened basis for social consensus. As a part of the ELSI (Ehical, Legal and Social Implications) project in Korea, the authors have launched a series of social surveys on the social perception of biotechnology. This article is based on the analysis of the first survey, conducted in October 2001. The data were collected through telephone survey on 500 adult respondents nationwide selected by a stratified sampling method. The survey addresses the following questions: What is the present state of public awareness and attitude toward a variety of medical and social applications of biotechnology, such as genetic testing, prenatal genetic screening and testing, xenotransplant, genetic screening for employment, central collection and management of genetic information, and GM food? What factors are related with this perception? The analysis shows that a majority of respondents are in favor of the medical applications. Concerning the social applications and GM food, however, the respondents express a high level of negative attitude a with significant portion of 'do not know' responses. The public perception of the biotechnology is not crystallized in coherent manner yet. The public perception is strongly influenced by mass media, which tend to deliver rather positive information on biotechnology. The analysis suggests that the production and dissemination of diverse information should be activated to reach a sound decision on controversial issues surrounding the development of biotechnology both at individual and societal level as well.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.243-264
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of R&E programs in gifted high schools/science high schools and to provide suggestions for the better program. The sample included 21 R&E coordinators in the gifted high schools and science high schools. They filled out the survey, asking about the R&E program; then, the researchers interviewed the coordinators based on the answers of the survey. The results are as follows: 1) The R&E guidelines and related materials were not enough to use. 2) At the planning step, students and the mentors received were provided a little information, such as ethical issues, students' information, the roles of mentors/ students, mentor's research interest areas and products, etc. 3) At the research step, 80% of the schools had the monitoring process but the details were not written and saved. 4) At the evaluation step, the rubric of the product evaluation existed; the rubric of performance process were established by half of the schools. 5) At the closing step, 100% of the schools had the final product materials; the results of the evaluation and the information of the mentors were saved by 2/3 and 1/3 of the schools, respectively. Discussions and suggestions were included for the better R&E programs.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.405-411
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• 2012

The spontaneous axon regeneration of damaged neurons is limited after spinal cord injury (SCI). Recently, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation was proposed as a potential approach for enhancing nerve regeneration that avoids the ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cell transplantation. As SCI is a complex pathological entity, the treatment of SCI requires a multipronged approach. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the functional recovery and therapeutic potential of human MSCs (hMSCs) and polymer in a spinal cord hemisection injury model. Rats were subjected to hemisection injuries and then divided into three groups. Two groups of rats underwent partial thoracic hemisection injury followed by implantation of either polymer only or polymer with hMSCs. Another hemisection-only group was used as a control. Behavioral, electrophysiological and immunohistochemical studies were performed on all rats. The functional recovery was significantly improved in the polymer with hMSC-transplanted group as compared with control at five weeks after transplantation. The results of electrophysiologic study demonstrated that the latency of somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEPs) in the polymer with hMSC-transplanted group was significantly shorter than in the hemisection-only control group. In the results of immunohistochemical study, ${\beta}$-gal-positive cells were observed in the injured and adjacent sites after hMSC transplantation. Surviving hMSCs differentiated into various cell types such as neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. These data suggest that hMSC transplantation with polymer may play an important role in functional recovery and axonal regeneration after SCI, and may be a potential therapeutic strategy for SCI.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.208-218
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• 2015

Purpose: Although a Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) order is widely in use, it is one of the challenging issues in end-of-life care. This study was conducted to investigate attitudes toward DNR according to education and clinical experience. Methods: Data were collected using a structured questionnaire comprising 30 items in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea. Results: Participants were 238 nurses and 72 physicians. Most participants (99%) agreed to the necessity of DNR for reasons such as dignified death (52%), irreversible medical condition (23%) and patients' autonomy in decision making (19%). Among all, 33% participants had received education about DNR and 87% had DNR experience. According to participants' clinical DNR experience, their attitudes toward DNR significantly differed in terms of the necessity of DNR, timing of the DNR consent and post-DNR treatments including antibiotics. However, when participants were grouped by the level of DNR education, no significant difference was observed except in the timing of the DNR consent. Conclusion: This study suggests that the attitudes toward DNR were more affected by clinical experience of DNR rather than education. Therefore, DNR education programs should involve clinical settings.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
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• v.139
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• pp.213-238
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• 2016

This paper examines how Dasan Jeong Yak-yong developed self-healing and his perspective of happiness during the hardest point of his political and social career. Just after the death of King Jeongjo (正祖, reign. 1766-1800) the arrest and persecution of those who accepted Christian knowledge from the West began. Among them were Jeong's family members and friends. Jeong, who had learned but had not accepted Christianity as a religious belief, was exiled to Ganggin 康津 in southern Jeolla Province where he was to spend the next 18 years. The two things that helped Jeong through his exile were the Book of Changes 易經 and his commitment to the study of Confucian thought, political, and social reforms. His life-long commitment to writing and his progressive understanding of the principle of changes of the universe in the Book of Changes, represented processes of self-healing and cultivation, depriving Jeong of self-pity and enabling him to attain the highest level in self-realization. According to Jeong, there are two kinds of happiness; "secular happiness" (yeolbok 熱福) related to power and wealth, and "pure happiness" (cheongbok 淸福), a free and idyllic life. For Jeong, the latter was more valuable than the former. Jeong believed that life pursing ethical virtues only could bring authentic joy to people. Furthermore, his devotion to the issues of systematic, social reforms was out of his desire to bring the public happiness by "practical learning", silhak 實學.

• Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.316-329
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• 2018

Although the use of social media by doctors raises important issues concerning medical professionalism, the relevant professional bodies in South Korea have failed to issue clear guidelines on social media usage. The Korean Medical Association's newly revised ethics guidelines do require members to maintain dignity while using social media, but the idea of "maintaining dignity" is far from clear, and its premodern connotation prevents it from being reliably used in professional codes of conduct. The authors of this article examine the concept of maintaining dignity and conclude that once it is clarified and redefined it can and should be used as a viable ethical standard in a variety of contexts, including the use of social media. Social media's unpredictability and uncontrollability, and the blurred distinction between professional/public and personal/private can be a threat to medical professionalism. In order to deal with this threat, the concept of dignity is important. We present three examples in which the dignity of medical professionals is undermined and explain why these jeopardize public trust. We conclude that in order to maintain public trust the Korean Medical Association should provide more detailed guidelines on the use of social media by its members.