• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.212-221
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• 2013

Objectives: Asbestos fibers are accumulated in negative pressure unit (NPU) or vacuum cleaner in asbestos removal. Failure of operation or poor use performance of the NPU or vacuum cleaner causes asbestos fibers to spread in the air. Asbestos contractors should have an NPU fitted with a HEPA , vacuum cleaner, decontamination area, respirators, wetting equipment, and differential pressure manometer to register with the Ministry of Employment and Labor. There should be performance criteria of equipment used in asbestos removal. But there are none such criteria used in asbestos removal. This study was performed to investigate international or national performance criteria of equipment used in asbestos removal. Methods: Regulations, approved code of practice, guidance and national standards of the UK, USA and Korea were reviewed. A survey was done to investigate the requirements for equipment used in asbestos removal in Korea. Results: Air flow of NPUs used in Korea usually covers from$500m^3/h$ to over $3000m^3/h$. Some requirements for NPUs used in Korea were missing compared to the requirements of British standards for NPUs. All NPUs have different missing requirements. The UK also has separate British standard for leak tests for NPUs. Highly hazardous class vacuum cleaners should be used in asbestos removal in the UK. It has national standards on the operation of vacuum cleaners used in asbestos removal. There is only a certification system for less than 2.5kw rated voltage vacuum cleaners for home use in Korea. Powered (-assisted) respirators with mask are recommended in asbestos removal. Type 5 coveralls should be used in asbestos removal in the UK. There are international standards for requirements and leak tests of type 5 coveralls. A manometer for measuring differential pressure is needed in asbestos removal. The manometer's measuring range should cover less than ${\pm}125$ Pa and the gradation of manometer should be less than 2.5 Pa. The definition of decontamination area should be corrected. Installation of airlock and minimum area should be considered in decontamination area. Conclusions: Equipment should be used in asbestos removal proper performance and no leaks. There should be a certification system for equipment used in asbestos removal. This study can help to a certification system for equipment used in asbestos removal in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 1977

This is a result of clinical examination for workers working with Chromic acid and Chromium compounds in the plating room of their companies. I selected two companies that the plating process and the kinds of plating were similar. One (SW Co.) was more or less improved the operating environment with the ventilation machine so on and another (SR Co.) did not it so. The former was examined at March 29th 1977, the latter was at June 28th 1976. But the respiratory communicable diseases, flue or common cold so on were not spreaded there at that time. The clinical aspects were compared between the group of SW, and SR. The swelling and hyperemic signs of nasal mucous membrane and the experience of nasal bleeding were about 50%, generally, in all the groups. The following problem was dizziness or vertigo. The nasal signs in the group of SW (improved ventilation of the room air) were relatively weak, but in another, it was some what severe; - there was necrotic sign with thick nasal clast. They were only used of gauze mask when the vapors of various solvents were deeply full in the room. And there was very high rate of bronchial signs, sputum or coughing in the group of SW improved ventilation so called, than another one. I suppose that it means chronic inflammatory change of the bronchial mucous membrane with deeper signs, due to the individual protectors were carelessly or not used according to the improving of the operating environment. Theses nasal signs mentioned the above were not nearly in the other groups had not been done the Chromium plating. The Status of RBC, Hb and Ht, of urine protein and urobilinogen were mostly in normal range. But the number of WBC was more or less showed with a positive correlation to the working duration.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2009

Purpose : To grasp the mental burden for legal responsibility that rescue members have in the performance of job. Method : Questionnaire was presented to rescue members serving in 2 direct control safety centers of fire station located in Seoul, Daejon, Incheon, Kwangju, Busan, Daegu and Ulsan. Results : 1. Questioned whether they have mental burden for legal responsibility while performing job on the site, the rescue members responded : very burdensome in 38.0%, burdensome in 56.0%, moderate in 4.5%, not burdensome in 1.0%, no burden at all in 0.5%. 2. Questioned on the first aid treat for which they have the most mental burden, the rescue members responded : intubation into trachea laryngeal mask airway(LMA) in 40.4%, automatic external defibrillator in 16.3%, securing vein providing sap(medicine) in 10.8%, basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation in 7.2%, eliminating foreign matters inserted into body in 5.4%, stanching external bleeding and treating injury in 5.4%, fixing extremities and spine by using splint in 1.8%, measuring the symptom of vitality in 1.2%, providing oxygen in 0.0%. 3. Questioned whether experiencing legal problem or firm petition(complaint) raised by patient while serving as rescue members, they responded : experiencing a complaint in 41.6%, experiencing no complaint in 58.4%. Asked to indicate the stress level in the scale of which they suffered when lawsuit or firm petition was raised, 0(weak)-10(strong), they answered 8.8 in average. 4. Questioned whether 119 rescue members put the legal responsibility in case that they cause damage to patients intentionally in performing, they responded to the inquiry 3.66 in average(of 5.00). It represented meaningful differences (F=2.874, p=.024) whether they had license or not. 5. In future, legal action will raise against the rescue member by 99% because of people's rights improvement(63.1%), high expectations for the rescue system(29.5%), non-licensed rescue members(5.1%). Conclusion : It was found that the rescue members had severe mental burden for advanced life support which was investigated to have low enforcement rate in the preceding research, for instance, intubation into trachea securing vein management by using automatic external defibrillator. To improve the qualitative level of rescue service in the fire fighting, it may be required to construct the environment that eliminates the mental burden of rescue members for legal responsibility.

• 모자간호학회지
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 1992

The purpose of this study was to explore the stressors in pediatric intensive care unit and impaired psychological responses of children after open heart surgery. Sixteen children aged 6 to 11, who were admitted to the hospital for open heart surgery during the period from July, 1991 to February, 1992 were the subjects of the study. Observations, drawings, and interviews were used to collect data for study. Behavioral responses about intensive care unit phenomena were analyzed according to the 4 categories identified to assess children's perceived stressors in ICU. Impaired psychological responses were examined using observational and interview data. Drawings were analyzed by content and color by this researcher and validated by the psychologist. The findings were as follows : 1. The most frequently perceived stressors by children in ICU were the physical stressors causing pain and discomfort(68.5%). It was followed by social stressors which denote disruption of relationship with family and friends(13.0% ), environmental stressors which denote unfamiliar surroundings, noise, staff, and other patients (11.2%), and psychological stressors which denote factors affecting self-esteem such as inability to communicate and inadquate knowledge of the situation (7.3%). 2. 81.3% of the children showed of least one of the impaired psychological responses. Three children (18.8%) experienced time disorientation. An equal number of subject experienced perceptual illusion. Two children(12.5%) experienced hallucination. Vivid dream about ICU phenomena was reported by 2 children. Seven children(43.8%) were identified as having exaggerated fear. They feared about oxygen mask and ICU environment in general. Seven children(43.8%) experienced impairment of memory about treatments, procedures, and environment of ICU. 3. The analysis of children's drawing revealed that 56.3% of children experienced fear in the ICU. 75% of children included nurses in the drawings and 62.5% of children drew other children. 81.3% of children drew and identified himself in the drawing. The colors used most by children were green, purple, and brown. From this result, it is recommended to prepare children before open heart surgery to reduce their stressors and impaired psychological responses in ICU.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.357-365
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• 2011

Exposure measurement of agricultural worker to pesticide is one of important part of health risk assessment of pesticide. Therefore exposure matrices, apparatus, instruments and methods must be validated in advance to field experiment. In this study, method validation with an organophosphorus insecticide fenthion was carried out for exposure monitoring of agricultural worker. LOD and LOQ were 0.01 and 0.05 ng, respectively. Calibration curve linearity ($R^2$ > 0.999) and reproducibility (C.V. < 3%) were also excellent. Recovery at LOQ, 10LOQ and 100LOQ levels from gloves, socks, mask, patch, solid sorbent, glass fiber filter was 76~113% (C.V. < 3%). Trapping efficiency was 95~105% while no breakthrough was observed. Method validation for the exposure monitoring was established successfully through several experiments. Such method validation can be usually performed in laboratory and not much different for each pesticide so that, this techniques will be applied widely in research for pesticide exposure monitoring by combination with body surface area and respiration rates.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2019

Purpose: Acute carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is one of the most common types of poisoning and a major health problem worldwide. Treatment options are limited to normobaric oxygen therapy, administered using a non-rebreather face mask or hyperbaric oxygen. Compared to conventional oxygen therapy, high-flow nasal cannula oxygen (HFNC) creates a positive pressure effect through high-flow rates. The purpose of this human pilot study is to determine the effects of HFNC on the rate of CO clearance from the blood, in patients with mild to moderate CO poisoning. Methods: CO-poisoned patients were administered 100% oxygen from HFNC (flow of 60 L/min). The fraction of COHb (fCOHb) was measured at 30-min intervals until it decreased to under 10%, and the half-life time of fCOHb (fCOHb t_1/2) was subsequently determined. Results: At the time of ED arrival, a total of 10 patients had fCOHb levels ≥10%, with 4 patients ranging between 10% and 50%. The mean rate of fCOHb elimination patterns exhibits logarithmic growth curves that initially increase quickly with time (HFNC equation, Y=0.3388*X+11.67). The mean fCOHbt_1/2 in the HFNC group was determined to be 48.5±12.4 minutes. Conclusion: In patients with mild to moderate CO poisoning, oxygen delivered via high flow nasal cannula is a safe and comfortable method to treat acute CO toxicity, and is effective in reducing the COHb half-life. Our results indicate HFNC to be a promising alternative method of delivering oxygen for CO toxicity. Validating the effectiveness of this method will require larger studies with clinical outcomes.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.119-123
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• 2019

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder with no breathing symptoms due to repetitive upper airway resistance. OSA is a disease that can have significant effects on the cerebral cardiovascular system. Active treatment is needed to prevent these complications. The use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the standard therapy of OSA, has comparative therapeutic effects. On the other hand, there is no comparison report of the polysomnography (PSG) results before and after CPAP therapy without using a mask. This paper reports a patient who was diagnosed as OSA and used CPAP every night for more than 2 years. The patient showed a decrease in the apnea-hypopnea index from 64.7/h to 12.9/h. In addition, other sleep-related indicators improved significantly. The daily use of CPAP as a treatment for OSA for more than 2 years may improve the PSG results. Constant follow up of PSG will be needed to adjust the appropriate CPAP pressure to patients because there might be a change in the Apnea-Hypopnea Index and other sleep-related indicators for constant CPAP users for at least 2 years.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.317-324
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• 2021

This study deals with keywords from social media on domestic portal sites related to COVID-19, which is spreading widely. The data were collected between January 20 and August 15, 2020, and were divided into three stages. The precursor period is before COVID-19 started spreading widely between January 20 and February 17, the serious period denotes the spread in Daegu between February 18 and April 20, and the stable period is the decrease in numbers of confirmed infections up to August 15. The top 50 words were extracted and clustered based on TF-IDF. As a result of the analysis, the precursor period keywords corresponded to congestion of the Situation. The frequent keywords in the serious period were Nation and Infection Route, along with instability surrounding the Treatment of COVID-19. The most common keywords in all periods were infection, mask, person, occurrence, confirmation, and information. People's emotions are becoming more positive as time goes by. Cafes and blogs share text containing writers' thoughts and subjectivity via the internet, so they are the main information-sharing spaces in the non-face-to-face era caused by COVID-19. However, since selectivity and randomness in information delivery exists, a critical view of the information produced on social media is necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

This qualitative study analyzed various environmental factors and difficulties faced by school foodservices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus group interviews were conducted by enrolling 12 nutrition teachers and nutritionists. Data collected were subsequently analyzed for changes implemented during the pandemic, in hygiene management, diet management, and distribution management of the school meal. The content and method of delivery of information related to diet guidance and school foodservice by related organizations were also examined. Results of the survey show that personal hygiene (such as maintaining student-to-student distance, checking students for a fever, and hand disinfection) was duly applied, installation of table coverings and distancing between school cafeteria seats were conducted, and mandatory mask-wearing to prevent droplet transmission was enforced. Depending on the COVID-19 situation, the number of students having school meals was limited per grade, and time-spaced meals were provided. To prevent infection, menus that required frequent hand contact were excluded from the meal plan. Overall, it was difficult to manage the meal plan due to frequent changes in tasks, such as the number of orders and meal expenses. These changes were communicated by nutrition teachers and nutritionists wherein the numbers of school meals were adjusted, depending on situations arising from each COVID-19 crisis stage. Furthermore, in some schools, either face-to-face nutrition counseling was stopped entirely, or nutrition education was conducted online. Parent participation was disallowed in the monitoring of school meals, and the prohibition on conversations inside the school cafeteria resulted in the absence of communication among students, nutrition teachers, and nutritionists. Additionally, confusion in meal management was caused by frequent changes in the school meal management guidelines provided by the Office of Education and the School Health Promotion Center in response to COVID-19. In anticipation of the emergence of a new virus or infectious diseases caused by mutations in the years to come, it is suggested that a holistic, well-thought-out response manual for safe meal operation needs to be established, in close collaboration with schools and school foodservice-related institutions.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.454-468
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the actual condition of the farm work environment and personal protective equipment as part of the effort to improve livestock work for the safety and health of poultry farmers and provide basic data for establishing plans to improve and develop personal protective equipment. Methods: For this purpose, a questionnaire survey on general information about stables, the poultry work environment, accidents, the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, and the level of awareness related to personal protective equipment was conducted among 148 poultry farmers. Results: As a result, it was found that poultry workplace environment was exposed to such risks as fine dusts; organic dusts; poisonous gases; odorous substances; chicken excrement; contact with chickens, bacteria or viruses; and accidents related to machine operation. Thirteen percent of respondents suffered severe respiratory diseases, and the most frequently injured sites due to accidents were the hands (25.7%), knees (23.8%), arms (17.3%), and head (10.9%). The most frequent type of accident was collisions between the body and obstacles or machinery during movement (36.4%), followed by erroneous machine operation such as feeders and electric shocks (8.5%). Regarding the wearing of work clothes and personal protective equipment, 51.7% of the respondents wore worn-out clothing or everyday clothes, whereas only 32.0% wore work clothes. The percentage of farmers who wore proper protective equipment for the work environment during poultry work was 48.4%. The most frequently used type of protective equipment was boots (38.9%), followed by mask (36.7%), gloves (36.3%), appropriate work clothes (22.6%), quarantine clothes (17.6%), helmets (13.4%), and goggles (12.6%). The rate of wearing goggles was low because they were considered inconvenient and lowered work efficiency. Furthermore, they purchased everyday products available on the market for their personal protective equipment which were not appropriate for maintaining safety in an actual harmful environment and its consequent risks. As a result of the survey of the awareness level related to personal protective equipment, their levels of awareness of accidents and attitude proved to be average or higher, but the practice of wearing protective equipment and the level of knowledge and management of personal protective equipment were lower. Conclusion: This survey found that the wearing status of personal protective equipment among poultry farmers was insufficient even though they were exposed to risks. Most respondents were aware of the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment and of the potential for accidents, but they did not wear proper protective equipment. Their wearing rate was low due to a lack of knowledge about protective equipment, as well as the inconvenience of wearing it. Therefore there is a need to improve and develop specialized personal protective equipment for respiration, hands, and eyes, as well as work clothes that can protect farmers from major harmful matter that is generated in the poultry workplace. Based on the results of this investigation, we will conduct further studies on the required performance and design directions of personal protective equipment while collecting more objective data through field-oriented assessments.