• Journal of Climate Change Research
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.331-348
• /
• 2013

The frequency and intensity of abnormal climate caused by climate change is increasing in Korea. Also, the amount of damage from disaster is increasing rapidly. The research on vulnerability assessment analyzes environmentally, socially and economically vulnerable indicators and is ongoing to reduce the intensity of damage and establish adaptation policies for climate change. Therefore, in this study, we assessed vulnerability using weighting value derived by the regression equation. There are 3 evaluation items : vulnerability assessment for farmland erosion to flood, vulnerability assessment for health to heat wave, vulnerability assessment for forest fire to drought. For this study, indicators for each sectors were selected and spatial data for each sectors were established using GIS program. Results showed that vulnerability to heat wave was more affected by climate factors. On the other hand, vulnerability to flood and drought was more affected by social-economic factors. Then, to analysis efficiency of the regression analysis, vulnerability result was compared between the existing vulnerability research with no weighting applied and the vulnerability research with the influence of weighting value derived by the regression. This study showed that the regression analysis is efficient to provide practical and feasible alternatives in terms of planning climate change adaptation policies and it is expected to be utilized for vulnerability assessment in the future.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.50-56
• /
• 2019

This study examined the relationship between the serum GGT (gamma-glutamyl transferase) and uric acid level in obese male adults. A total of 14,283 adult males aged 20 years or more, who visited the health examination center of Gyeonggi Regional General Hospital from January 2017 to August 2018 and underwent a physical examination, were enrolled in this study. The obesity criteria were defined by the Asia-Pacific regional standards. Abdominal obesity was defined as a male waist circumference of more than 90 cm. An increase in the serum uric acid and serum CGT levels of the male subjects was defined as 7.0 mg/dL or more and 56 IU/L or more, respectively. The results showed that the serum GGT and uric acid levels were higher in the overweight and obese groups than in the normal weight group. In the obese group, the serum GGT and uric acid were significantly higher in the patients with abdominal obesity. On the other hand, there was no difference compared to the low body weight group. The overweight and obesity groups showed a higher risk of elevated serum GGT and hyperuricemia than the normal weight group, but a low body weight did not affect the serum GGT elevation and hyperuricemia. Overall, the serum GGT and uric acid levels are useful for evaluating overweight and obesity in adult males.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.42-49
• /
• 2019

This study compared the utility of the serum uric acid/creatinine ratio with that of uric acid as a risk predictor of metabolic syndrome. From November 2016 to October 2018, 14,190 adult men under the age of 20 years, who underwent a comprehensive health checkup at a general hospital in their metropolitan area, were included. Metabolic syndrome was assessed according to the American Heart Association/National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI) criteria. Abdominal obesity was based on the WHO criteria in the Western Pacific region. The serum uric acid/creatinine ratio was found to be higher in the fourth quartile than in the first quartile, with a high incidence of metabolic syndrome and metabolic syndrome components. On the other hand, ROC analysis revealed the serum uric acid/creatinine ratio to be a similar indicator of the metabolic syndrome risk to serum uric acid (AUC, 0.554 vs 0.566). The serum uric acid/creatinine ratio showed lower sensitivity and higher specificity than uric acid. In conclusion, the utility of the serum uric acid/creatinine ratio as an independent indicator to predict the risk of metabolic syndrome is limited, and should be used only as an auxiliary marker.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.670-676
• /
• 2018

Experiments on combustion gases generation of untreated cypress specimens or treated with boric acid, ammonium pentaborate, and boric acid/ammonium pentaborate additive were carried out. Test specimens were painted three times with 15 wt% boron compound aqueous solutions. After drying, the generation of combustion gas was analyzed using a cone calorimeter (ISO 5660-1). As a result, comparing to untreated specimen, the smoke performance index (SPI) of the specimens treated with the boron compound increased by 1.37 to 2.68 times and the smoke growth index (SGI) decreased by 29.4 to 52.9%. The smoke intensity (SI) of the specimens treated with boron compounds is expected to be 1.16 to 3.92 times lower than that of untreated specimens, resulting in lower smoke and fire hazards. Also, the maximum carbon monoxide ($CO_{peak}$) concentration of specimens treated with boron compounds was 12.7 to 30.9% lower than that of untreated specimens. However, it was measured to produce fatal toxicities from 1.52 to 1.92 times higher than that of permissible exposure limits (PEL) by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The boron compounds played a role in reducing carbon monoxide, but it did not meet the expectation of reduction effect because of the high concentration of carbon monoxide in cypress itself.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.145-151
• /
• 2018

Objectives : Residential services are provided to help patients with chronic mental illness, but those have some problems because of provider focused services and uniformized training. So the purpose of the study was to explore residential needs of patients with the chronic mental illness such as chronic schizophrenia. Methods : A survey was conducted on 139 mental illness patients using mental health facilities at Ansan city area in South Korea. We investigated their demographic and social characteristics, the degree of self- reliance and residential service needs. Results : More than half of them had the desire for self-reliance, and they needed job support mostly. They were positive about the use of residential facilities and needed daily living skill and social skill training. Also they preferred day rehabilitation in type of facility. And they wanted to operate in a way that they returned home at the weekend after group home. Conclusions : For facilitating the recovery of patients with chronic mental illness, it would be necessary to provide individualized residential rehabilitation services and to improve existing residential facilities and programs reflected on the patients' needs.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.39 no.6
• /
• pp.229-236
• /
• 2018

Liver cancer is one of the highest incidents in the world, and the mortality rate is the second most common disease after lung cancer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic ability of deep learning in the classification of malignant and benign tumors in CT images of patients with liver tumors. We also tried to identify the best data processing methods and deep learning models for classifying malignant and benign tumors in the liver. In this study, CT data were collected from 92 patients (benign liver tumors: 44, malignant liver tumors: 48) at the Gil Medical Center. The CT data of each patient were used for cross-sectional images of 3,024 liver tumors. In AlexNet and VggNet, the average of the overall accuracy at each image size was calculated: the average of the overall accuracy of the $200{\times}200$ image size is 69.58% (AlexNet), 69.4% (VggNet), $150{\times}150$ image size is 71.54%, 67%, $100{\times}100$ image size is 68.79%, 66.2%. In conclusion, the overall accuracy of each does not exceed 80%, so it does not have a high level of accuracy. In addition, the average accuracy in benign was 90.3% and the accuracy in malignant was 46.2%, which is a significant difference between benign and malignant. Also, the time it takes for AlexNet to learn is about 1.6 times faster than VggNet but statistically no different (p > 0.05). Since both models are less than 90% of the overall accuracy, more research and development are needed, such as learning the liver tumor data using a new model, or the process of pre-processing the data images in other methods. In the future, it will be useful to use specialists for image reading using deep learning.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study was to examine the differences between motor functions and executive functions according to the timing of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods : The subjects were 32 children with ADHD aged between 6 and 12 living Busan. To assess the timing, Long Form Assessment (LFA) of Interactive Metronome (IM) was used. Bruininks-Oseretsky of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2) were also used to assess motor functions. STROOP Color and Word Test and Children's Color Trails Test were used to evaluate executive functions. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to determine the differences between the executive functions and the motor functions according to the timing. Results : Comparing the inter-group motor functions according to the timing, there was a statistically significant difference in the Fine manual control and Fine motor precision in BOT-2 (p<.05). Comparing the inter-group executive functions according to the timing, there was not statistically significant difference (p>.05). Conclusion : Among the deficits in ADHD children, we could see the differences between motor function and executive function according to timing function. This study would be meaningful in that the results could be a basic data for study on the timing of children of ADHD in the future.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.164-171
• /
• 2018

Objectives : Depression is a common mental illness and a major cause of suicide. Although serum lipids have been associated with depression and suicide, there has been much debate. In this study, we investigated the relationship between depression, suicide, and serum lipids in patients admitted with depressed mood. Methods : A total of 134 subjects were divided into 86 non-suicide patients and 48 suicide attempters. The serum lipid levels and sub-scores of the Korean Symptom Checklist-95 (KSCL95) were compared. We also investigated the relationship between serum lipids and sub-scores of KSCL95 and investigated whether serum lipids were risk factors for suicide attempts. Results : There was no difference in serum lipids between the two groups. Among the sub-items of KSCL95, obsession was higher in non-suicide group. Triglyceride showed positive correlations with anxiety, phobic anxiety, agoraphobia, schizophrenia, and self-regulation problem. High triglyceride was a risk factor for suicide attempts. Conclusions : Triglyceride is associated with depression, anxiety, and self - regulation, and high serum triglyceride levels may be a risk factor for suicide attempts.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Sensory Integration
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.50-65
• /
• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study is to analyze researches about sex education for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities in order to provide a basic data and a direction about sex education. Methods : For the systemic review, domestic and international research articles published from August 2008 to September 2018 were searched using the electronic databases PubMed, EBSCO host (CINAHL Plus with full text), Medline (ProQuest), RISS, and KISS. Keyword used for the search was 'Disability Disorder OR Autism (AND) AND (Effect OR Effectiveness)' for international papers and 'Disability AND Sex Education' for domestic papers. Total 15 articles were collected and analyzed in terms of participant, duration, type, contents, and teaching methods with PICO format. Results : In terms of level of evidence, majority was Level III evidence(60%). Most common contents of sex education were 'physical and growth' and 'relational skills'. Special education and occupational therapy were the field that sex education is provided most frequently. Effects of sex education identified were 'sex knowledge', 'sex attitudes', and 'inappropriate sexual behavior'. Conclusion : This study intend aimed to identify content, trends, and effects of sex education for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities in order to provide a basic data for clinical trial of sex education in occupational therapy practice. This study recommend further researches on the effects of sex education on occupational participation, occupational therapists' awareness of sexual activity of clients, and development of related measurement such as sexual development scale.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.82 no.3
• /
• pp.234-241
• /
• 2019

Background: The utility of computed tomography (CT) in the differential diagnosis of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation remains uncertain. However, due to the low cost associated with CT scan along with the impact of Koreas' health insurance system, there has been a rise in the number of CT scans in the patients with initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbations. Therefore, the utility of CT in the differential diagnosis was investigated to determine whether performing CT scans affect the clinical outcomes of the patients with an initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. Methods: This study involved 202 COPD patients hospitalized with an initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. We evaluated the change in diagnosis or treatment after performing a CT scan, and compared the clinical outcomes of patient groups with vs. without performing CT (non-CT group vs. CT group). Results: After performing CT, the diagnosis was changed for two (3.0%) while additional diagnoses were made for 27 of the 64 patients (42.1%). However, the treatment changed for only one (1.5%), and six patients (9.3%) received supplementary medication. There were no difference in the median length of hospital stay (8 [6-13] days vs. 8 [6-12] days, p=0.786) and intensive care unit care (14 [10.1%] vs. 11 [16.7%], p=0.236) between the CT and non-CT groups, respectively. These findings remained consistent even after the propensity score matching. Conclusion: Utility of CT in patients with acute COPD exacerbation might not be helpful; therefore, we do not recommend chest CT scan as a routine initial diagnostic tool.