• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2022

This study aimed to examine the influence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on areas of Korean medical students' lives, assess concerns, and investigate the strategies they used to cope with stress due to the pandemic. An online survey with a total of 53 items on the impact of COVID-19, concerns, and coping strategies was sent to medical students, and responses were collected from April 27, 2021 to May 30, 2021. In total, 1,329 students were included in the study. Analysis was performed using the chi-square test, independent-sample t-test, and one-way analysis of variance, and the post-hoc Scheffé test or Games-Howell test was performed for multiple comparisons. The main negative impacts of the pandemic were on hobbies/leisure activities and mental health, and medical students expressed the highest levels of concern regarding restriction of movement, returning to everyday life, and risk of infection for family and friends. Female students more strongly agreed that COVID-19 had increased their depressed mood and anxiety (p<0.001 and p=0.003, respectively). Furthermore, the negative impacts of the pandemic on different areas of life significantly affected current levels of depressed mood and anxiety. To cope with pandemic-related stress, students used several strategies such as talking with family or friends (91.5%), sleeping (83.1%), exercising (72.8%), using social networking services (60.8%), drinking alcohol (37.8%), and practicing meditation/mindfulness (24.4%); the effectiveness of these strategies ranged from 3.45 to 4.19 on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1-5). The study findings suggest that COVID-19 has influenced the mental health of medical students and raised concerns in many areas of their lives. Students used various strategies to cope with the pandemic-related stress; since the effectiveness of frequently used approaches varied, it is essential to guide medical students to develop effective coping strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.23-34
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence fate of obesity and to assess the relationship between obese children and their family Characteristics in 3 rural area in the Chung Cheong Nam Do province. Method: The children's height, weight and family characteristics of 327 5th and 6th grade elementary school students were obtained from the individual health records and self-recorded questionnaire surveys from June 25th to July 15, 2004. Results: The results of this study are summarized as follows: 1. The prevalence rate of obesity of 5th and 6th grade of rural elementary school students was 10.5%. 2. 20.9% of obese children had obese family members and 9.4% of obese children did not have any obese family members. The birth order, family size and family structure showed no significantly difference. 3. The obese children were more affected by their parents' concerns of body image (upper quartile of 84.1) and exercise (upper quartile 61.4%) than normal children. However, there was no significantly increase with the parents' concerns about meals. 4. There was no relationship in the obese children by PBI. 5. There was no relationship in the obese children by FACES III. Conclusion: The elevation of a parent's concern of their obese child about meal regulation should be investigated further.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.104-119
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• 2021

Purpose: Safety concerns regarding the use of disposable sanitary pads have emerged as a social issue in Korea, and some have advocated alternatives to alleviate these concerns. However, menstrual cups are rarely viewed as an option because of the sociocultural climate. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Korean women that use menstrual cups. Methods: Hermeneutic phenomenology as suggested by Van Manen was utilized for the study. Fourteen women, who had been using menstrual cups, were recruited and asked to participated in face-to-face interviews. Interview data were transcribed and coded by lifeworld existentials. Results: Four fundamental themes were emerged from the data: adaption to menstrual cups, body's various responses towards the menstrual cups, the menstrual cups being unwelcomed in Korean society, and our various perspectives towards menstrual cups. Conclusion: We could observe not only the positive experiences in terms of using menstrual cups but also the various difficulties and challenges of using those menstrual cups in Korean society. We hope that the findings could be used as the evidence for developing health education contents and policies to promote women's health.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.3356-3374
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• 2018

The healthcare and fitness wearable-device market is considered as the driving force of the entire wearable device market. However, there are concerns with respect to information privacy because wearable devices constantly collect sensitive data such as individuals' health information. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive understanding from the perspective of information privacy concerns and related behavior. This study investigates factors considered in the privacy calculus of wearable fitness devices, and verifies differences obtained by the privacy calculus process according to the frequency of exercise. The results obtained from a survey of 248 undergraduate students in Korea revealed that service providers should consider users' interests and exercise characteristics in order to mitigate their privacy concerns and encourage continuous use of wearable devices. This study provides useful insights pertaining to users of wearable fitness devices, and targets researchers and practitioners.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.42.1-42.4
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• 2023

ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize occupational medicine by providing a powerful tool for analyzing data, improving communication, and increasing efficiency. It can help identify patterns and trends in workplace health and safety, act as a virtual assistant for workers, employers, and occupational health professionals, and automate certain tasks. However, caution is required due to ethical concerns, the need to maintain confidentiality, and the risk of inconsistent or inaccurate results. ChatGPT cannot replace the crucial role of the occupational health professional in the medical surveillance of workers and the analysis of data on workers' health.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.272-279
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• 2012

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop an appropriate nursing information guideline according to corrected age, after investigating parents' concerns about the growth, development, and diseases of their premature infants after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: The parents of premature infants (birth weight, <2,500 g; gestational age, <37 weeks) who went to a neonatal follow-up clinic after NICU discharge at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital from January 2005 to December 2009, were asked with regard to their concerns about their infants through a questionnaire survey. The results of physical examinations, including body measurements and neurodevelopmental status at 4, 8, 12, and 18 months of corrected age, were retrospectively reviewed in 390 infants. Results: The most common parental concerns were developmental delay, poor growth, and feeding and nutritional problems. Parental concerns about developmental delay, growth failure in improvement in body weight and length, and overweightness were high in specificity but very low in sensitivity. After NICU discharge, 30% of premature infants experienced infectious diseases before 18 months of corrected age, the most common of which was respiratory tract infection. Conclusion: For guiding of premature infants in outpatient day clinics after NICU discharge, it is necessary to identify the parents' highest concerns, to educate them about the possibilities of growth and neurodevelopmental disabilities in their infants and to provide them with handouts containing guidelines on the management of infectious diseases, especially respiratory infections.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.20-31
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• 2005

Objectives:This study was designed to investigate the characteristics of personality changes and emotional distress using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) in patients with traumatic brain injury(TBI), divided into mild (MTBI) and severe (STBI) groups according to the severity of injury. Methods:The subjects were consisted of 25 patients with MTBI, 25 patients with STBI, and 25 normal controls. They were interviewed with the PAI. The data were analyzed by ${\chi}^2$ test, analysis of variance and Tukey test. Results:The results were the followings. First, Negative Impression in validity scales was elevated above cutoff point(T score 70) in both MTBI and STBI groups. Second, the clinical scales of which scores elevated above the cutoff point were Somatic Complaints, Anxiety, Anxiety-Related Disorders, Depression, and Schizophrenia in the MTBI, and Somatic Complaints and Depression in the STBI. Third, the clinical subscales above the cutoff point were Conversion, Somatization, Health Concerns, Affective Anxiety, Physiological Anxiety, Traumatic Stress, Cognitive Depression, Affective Depression, Physiological Depression, Thought Disorder, and Affective Instability in the MTBI, and Health Concerns, Cognitive Depression, Affective Depression, and Physiological Depression in the STBI. Fourth, Suicide Ideation in treatment scales was the only scale above the cutoff point in the MTBI and the others of the treatment and interpersonal scales in the MTBI and all of these scales of the STBI were not elevated above the cutoff point. Fifth, the scales of which scores showed significant difference between the MTBI and the STBI were Somatic Complaints, Anxiety, Depression, and Suicide Ideation, the subscales were Conversion, Somatization, Health Concerns, Affective Anxiety, Physiological Anxiety, Physiological Depression, and Psychotic Experiences. Conclusion:These results suggest that the patients with MTBI had more somatic and anxiety symptoms, depressed mood, and suicidal ideation than the patients with STBI. These characteristics are generally consistent with clinical observation and findings from previous studies of the patients with TBI, and the PAI seems to be a beneficial adjunctive assessment tool for the evaluation of patients with traumatic brain injury.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.71-96
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• 2011

Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.263-269
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• 2020

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by chronic pain in the skeletal system accompanied by stiffness, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and psychiatric problems, such as anxiety and depression. Fibromyalgia commonly affects orofacial health, presenting with a variety of oral manifestations, including temporomandibular disorder, xerostomia, glossodynia, and dysgeusia. Therefore, oral healthcare providers need to be aware of this clinical entity to effectively manage oral symptoms and provide proper oral self-care modification and education on the nature of fibromyalgia. This review focuses on the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestation, diagnosis, orofacial concerns, and treatment of fibromyalgia.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.439-455
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• 2008

The SPS Agreement, concluded in the Uruguay Round for the purpose of controlling SPS risks, has traditionally been recognized to maintain the narrowest scope of application compared with TBT Agreement and GATT in relation with environmental provisions. Contrary to such an understanding on the scope of the SPS Agreement, the panel in the EC-Biotech case found that the SPS Agreement extends to regulate trade-restrictive measures on Genetically Modified Organizations(GMOs) causing health and environmental risks. This expanding scope of the SPS Agreement would have substantial influence on domestic environmental regulations as well as Multilateral Environmental Agreements(MEAs). This paper discusses the consequences of an expanding ambit for the WTO SPS Agreement through the designation of a wider range of health and environmental regulations affecting trade as SPS measures. As a result, not only precautionary measures on GMO risks, but also other health and environmental measures with trade impacts, could be subject to SPS control, and consequently, the institutional rigors of the WTO regime. However, strict and literal interpretation of the SPS provisions to expand its applicable scope would cause concerns about the WTO's intervention on the purely environmental measures. Pursuing harmonized and flexible interpretation of provisions on environment-related conflicts as well as accepting precautionary principle included MEAs will contribute to reduce such kind of concerns.