• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.462-471
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• 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the association between participation in social activities and mortality rates for those aged 45 aged and older in Korea. Methods: In this study, the 1st to 6th Korea Longitude Study of Aging was used to analyze 10,217 people excluding missing values among middle and old age groups aged 45 or older. The scope of social activities was classified into "religious gatherings," "religious gatherings," "leisure/cultural/sports-related organizations," and "clubs/hometowns/religious associations," and analyzed using a chi-square test and Cox proportional risk model. Results: In the case of non-participating groups in religious activities, the mortality rate was 1.24 times higher (hazard ratio [HR], 1.24; p=0.000) than those of the participating group. The non-participating group of social gatherings had a 1.27 times higher mortality rate (HR, 1.27; p<0.0001) than the participating group. In addition, the mortality rate of non-participating groups related to leisure/cultural/sports was 1.79 times higher (HR, 1.79; p=0.000). The mortality rate of the group that did not participate in the alumni association/festival/folklore society was 1.51 times higher than that of the participating group (HR, 1.51; p<0.0001). As a result of correcting the control variable to analyze the relationship between the number of participants in social activities and the mortality rate, the mortality rate of the group participating in one or less social activities was 2.26 times higher (HR, 2.26; p<0.0001) compared to the four or more social activity participating groups, and the mortality rate of the 1-3 social activities was 1.64 times higher (HR, 1.64; p<0.0001). Conclusion: As a result of the study, it was found that participation in social activities of the middle-aged and elderly groups was effective in reducing mortality, and in particular, it was found that there was a strong relationship with mortality in less than one social activity group. Therefore, it is intended to provide an academic basis for lowering the mortality rate of the group in line with the continuous improvement of domestic social activity participation conditions, and through this, this study can be expected to serve as a policy and institutional basis for lowering the mortality rate of the group.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.9
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• pp.480-488
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• 2021

Background: An adequate large-scale pediatric cohort based on nationwide administrative data is lacking in Korea. Purpose: This study established the National Investigation of Birth Cohort in Korea study 2008 (NICKs-2008) based on data from a nationwide population-based health screening program and data on healthcare utilization for children. Methods: The NICKs-2008 study consisted of the Korean National Health Insurance System (NHIS) and the National Health Screening Program for Infants and Children (NHSPIC) databases comprising children born in 2008 (n=469,248) and 2009 (n=448,459) in the Republic of Korea. The NHIS database contains data on age, sex, residential area, income, healthcare utilization (International Classification of Diseases10 codes, procedure codes, and drug classification codes), and healthcare providers. The NHSPIC consists of 7 screening rounds. These screening sessions comprised physical examination, developmental screening (rounds 2-7), a general health questionnaire, and age-specific anticipatory guidance. Results: During the 10-year follow-up, 2,718 children (0.3%) died, including more boys than girls (hazard ratio, 1.145; P<0.001). A total of 848,048 children participated in at least 1 of the 7 rounds of the NHSPIC, while 96,046 participated in all 7 screening programs. A total of 823 infants (0.1%) weighed less than 1,000 g, 3,177 (0.4%) weighed 1,000-1,499 g, 37,166 (4.4%) weighed 1,500-2,499 g, 773,081 (91.4%) weighed 2,500-4,000 g, and 32,016 (5.1%) weighed over 4,000 g. There were 23,404 premature babies (5.5%) in 2008 compared to 23,368 (5.6%) in 2009. The developmental screening test indicated appropriate development in 95%-98% of children, follow-up requirements for 1%-4% of children, and recommendations for further evaluation for 1% of children. Conclusion: The NICKs-2008, which integrates data from the NHIS and NHSPIC databases, can be used to analyze disease onset prior to hospitalization based on information such as lifestyle, eating habits, and risk factors.

• Journal of Breast Cancer
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.425-432
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• 2018

Purpose: Pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) is rare, and its cause and prognosis are not well known. Additionally, treatment is limited with respect to the risk to the fetus. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics and treatment trends of PABC and the survival rate according to the treatment. Methods: In the Korean Breast Cancer Society Registry database, women younger than 50 years and who were diagnosed with breast cancer from 1996 to 2015 were included. PABC was defined as breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy or within 1 year after delivery. Results: We examined 411 patients with PABC and 83,381 patients with non-PABC. Over time, the proportions of patients undergoing breast-conserving surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy increased, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy administration rates also increased. In the past, the overall survival of patients with PABC was poorer than that of patients with non-PABC, but there was no difference in overall survival rates in more recent years. There was no difference in overall survival rates between patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR], 1.28; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66-2.49; p=0.459), but PABC conferred poorer prognosis than non-PABC in patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy (HR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.27-2.08; p<0.001). Conclusion: There was no difference in the prognosis between patients with PABC and those with non-PABC receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The increase in neoadjuvant chemotherapy according to current treatment guidelines is expected to improve the survival rate of patients with PABC.

• Journal of Breast Cancer
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.406-414
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• 2018

Purpose: T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing molecule 3 (TIM-3) is an emerging immune response molecule related to T-cell anergy. There has been tremendous interest in breast cancer targeting immune checkpoint molecules, especially in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). This study was designed to investigate TIM-3 expression on tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), its relationships with clinicopathological parameters and expression of programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1)/programmed death receptor ligand 1 (PD-L1), and its prognostic role. Methods: Immunohistochemistry on tissue microarray blocks produced from 109 samples of invasive ductal carcinoma type TNBC was performed with antibodies toward TIM-3, PD-1, PD-L1 and breast cancer-related molecular markers. Associations between their expression and clinicopathological parameters as well as survival analyses were performed. Results: TIM-3 was expressed in TILs from all 109 TNBCs, consisting of 17 cases (<5%), 31 cases (6%-25%), 48 cases (26%-50%), and 13 cases (>51%). High TIM-3 was significantly correlated with younger patients (p=0.0101), high TILs (p=0.0029), high tumor stage (p=0.0018), high PD-1 (p=0.0001) and high PD-L1 (p=0.0019), and tended to be associated with higher histologic grade, absence of extensive in situ components and microcalcification. High TIM-3 expression was significantly associated with a combinational immunophenotype group of high PD-L1 and high PD-1 (p<0.0001). High TIM-3 demonstrated a significantly better disease-free survival (DFS) (p<0.0001) and longer overall survival (OS) (p=0.0001), together with high TILs and high PD-1. In univariate survival analysis, high TIM-3 showed reduced relapse risk (p<0.0001) and longer OS (p=0.0003), together with high PD-1 expression. In multivariate analysis, high TIM-3 was statistically significant in predicting prognosis, showing better DFS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.0994; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.0296-0.3337; p=0.0002) and longer OS (HR, 0.1109; 95% CI, 0.0314-0.3912; p=0.0006). Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrate that TIM-3 expression is an independent positive prognostic factor in TNBC, despite its association with poor clinical and pathologic features.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.58-76
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• 2019

As the number of reported injuries has tended to increase over time, large hospitalization expenditure from excessive medical treatments and hospitalization, and insurance frauds associated with moral hazard in minor collisions have caused a global societal problem. Many occupants of rear-ended vehicles involved in rear-end collisions complain of whiplash injury, which is also known as neck injury, without any anatomical and radiological evidence. With only clinical symptoms, stating that a whiplash injury is a type of injury defined by the Abbreviated Injury Scale would be difficult. Therefore, this study focuses on minor rear-end collisions, where the rear-ender vehicle collides with the rear-ended vehicle at rest. The mathematics dynamic model is employed to simulate a total of 100 rear-end collision scenarios based on various weights and collision speeds and identify how the weights and speeds of both vehicles influence the risk of whiplash injury in occupants involved in minor rear-end collisions. The possibility of an injury is very high when the same-weight vehicles are involved in accidents at collision speeds of 15 km/h or higher. The possibilities are 36% and 84% with collision speeds of 15 km/h and 20 km/h, respectively, if weights are disregarded.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.370-382
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to quantitatively and effectively evaluate the factors affecting flood damage by watershed. National Water Resource Plan(MOCT, 2001) has been developed Potential Flood Damage(PFD) which indicates flood vulnerability. But, it is only a simple grouping and it does not provide guidelines for flood control planning based on detailed evaluation of sub-components. In this study, we used PFD in the Han River basin according to the method applied in the National Water Resource Plan (existing method) and improvement based on actual flood hazard area and data. As an application method, after analyzing by yearly change(2009~2014), we compared and analyzed the tendency of the sub - components that constitute the potential and risk rather than the current grouping. As the result, it was possible to accurately evaluate the existing and improved methods, and it was possible to derive the vulnerability rankings, but the existing methods have different results from the actual watershed tendency. Therefore, the PFD of the improvement method that correctly reflects past history and watershed characteristics is more appropriate for the evaluation of flood vulnerability in the watershed. In addition, it is reasonable to establish a flood control plan referring to this and prevent flood damage in advance.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.299-316
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to analyze landslide susceptibility in the Pyeongchang area using Weight of Evidence (WOE) and Evidential Belief Function (EBF) as probability models and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) as a machine learning model in a geographic information system (GIS). This study examined the widespread shallow landslides triggered by heavy rainfall during Typhoon Ewiniar in 2006, which caused serious property damage and significant loss of life. For the landslide susceptibility mapping, 3,955 landslide occurrences were detected using aerial photographs, and environmental spatial data such as terrain, geology, soil, forest, and land use were collected and constructed in a spatial database. Seventeen factors that could affect landsliding were extracted from the spatial database. All landslides were randomly separated into two datasets, a training set (50%) and validation set (50%), to establish and validate the EBF, WOE, and ANN models. According to the validation results of the area under the curve (AUC) method, the accuracy was 74.73%, 75.03%, and 70.87% for WOE, EBF, and ANN, respectively. The EBF model had the highest accuracy. However, all models had predictive accuracy exceeding 70%, the level that is effective for landslide susceptibility mapping. These models can be applied to predict landslide susceptibility in an area where landslides have not occurred previously based on the relationships between landslide and environmental factors. This susceptibility map can help reduce landslide risk, provide guidance for policy and land use development, and save time and expense for landslide hazard prevention. In the future, more generalized models should be developed by applying landslide susceptibility mapping in various areas.

• Annals of Geriatric Medicine and Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.176-183
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• 2018

Background: Although the frequency and intensity of headaches decrease in older adults, headaches in this population are still an important neurological disorder. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of headache characteristics in older adults with the development of cardiovascular disease and cognitive dysfunction. Methods: We prospectively enrolled 125 older (${\geq}65$ years old) patients with headache who were making their first visit to outpatient clinics and who had no prior history of cognitive dysfunction from 11 hospitals in Korea between August 2014 and February 2015. We investigated the occurrence of newly developed/or recurrent headache, cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction, and poor functional outcomes. Results: The mean age of all included patients was 72.6 years, 68.8% were women, and 43 (34.4%) had newly developed/or recurrent headache during follow-up. During a median follow-up of 31 months (interquartile range, 28-34 months), 21 participants (16.8%) experienced cardiovascular disease, and 26 (20.8%) developed cognitive dysfunction. Upon multivariate analysis and after adjusting for sex, age, and other factors, presence of newly developed/or recurrent headache was found to be associated with cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio [HR], 4.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28-12.61; p=0.017) and frequency of headache for the recent 3 months was related with cognitive dysfunction (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.00-1.09; p=0.017) and poor functional outcomes (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.01-1.11; p=0.011). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that there is an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction, and poor functional outcomes in older patients with frequent, newly developed, or recurrent headache.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.275-284
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• 2021

Survival analysis was used to analyze whether there is a difference in the effect of leverage on corporate failure according to the firm size. A total of 25,250 (year-company) companies listed on the Korea Stock Exchange and KOSDAQ market from 1999 to 2019 were analyzed. First, the increase in leverage generally acts as a factor that increases the possibility of corporate failure. On the other hand, the increase in the trade payable ratio lowered the possibility of failure of the company. The increase in corporate trade payable was perceived as a factor in reducing the possibility of corporate failure because it was considered the active development of business activities or active use of interest-free debt rather than leading to an increase in corporate risk. Second, a higher leverage ratio and trade payable ratio in large firms lowered the possibility of corporate failure. In the SMEs, all types of leverage increases are a factor that increases corporate failure. Overall, the effect of leverage on corporate failure differs according to the size of the company.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2021

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems were developed to ensure a high level of food safety and reduced risk of foodborne illness. This paper focuses on significant issues associated with the implementation of HACCP; it provides an overview on recent literature. The structure of the paper follows six groupings of issues in the international literature of HACCP: (1) comparative studies and unification plan between HACCP and other food safety regulations; (2) verification of the HACCP system's effectiveness in improving food safety; (3) establishment of critical control point (CCP) for various foods HACCP model development; (4) expansion of HACCP application in the various fields and small businesses;(5) the impacts of HACCP on consumer's preferences and firms' financial performance in food industry; (6) HACCP and technological changes. The paper concludes with some suggestions for the future research in order to promote safe food supply chain for global customers.