• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.93-106
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• 2022

Objective : The COVID-19 pandemic has brought non-face-to-face healthcare service delivery system. Research into telehealth system and its efficacy remains unclear. Methods : Seven healthy adults participated in this study to investigate effects of tele-monitoring with the speech-to-text (STT) application to induce changes in occupational activities on occupational balance in healthy adults. Subjects were requested to choose occupational activities they wanted to have researched and then register them to the STT application. The STT application provided an alarm to check whether the pre-registered activities were performed on time, and whether the subjects performed it by their voice. The subjects were followed for 1 week, with assessments at baseline, and after 1-week's tele-monitoring. Results : Our findings showed that the subjects were willing to participate in tele-monitoring with the STT application with high adherence and satisfaction. In addition, there was a significant improvement in occupational activities related to health (p<.05). Specifically, adherence, satisfaction, and efficacy of the tele-monitoring with the STT application could successfully bring occupational balance in short-term periods. Conclusion : These findings highlight that tele-monitoring with a smartphone could be considered as one promising way to restore occupational balance in lockdown after the COVID-19 outbreak.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2023

Objective : This study is to examine the practical use of clinical observational evaluation of sensory integration therapy and the difficulty and importance of measuring results for each sub-item, and through this, to confirm the usefulness of the application of Artificial Intelligence measurement technology in clinical observational measurement and the need for application. Methods : The questionnaire consisted of the actual use of the sensory integration evaluation tool, the difficulty of measurement for each detailed item of clinical observation, the usefulness of AI measurement technology, the importance of evaluation for each detailed item, and the need for developing AI measurement technology. Results : The detailed items that were difficult to measure during clinical observation were the Finger-to-Nose Test and Postural control (71.0%), followed by Eye movement and Protective Extension Test (67.7%). 83.9% of the study subjects answered that it would be useful to apply AI measurement technology when observing images. Postural control (on the ball) (90.3%) was the highest item that answered that AI measurement technology was needed, followed by Eye movement (83.9%), and Prone Extension and Protective Extension Test (77.4%). Conclusion : The results confirmed the desire of therapists that clinical observation is an important evaluation tool in the field of child occupational therapy in Korea.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.65-78
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• 2023

Objective : The typical decline in function due to aging includes limitations in vision, hearing, cognitive function, and activities of daily living. Therefore, this study evaluated the mediating effect of cognitive function on the relationship between vision and hearing and activities of daily living. Methods : The participants in this study were 36,767 persons from the long-term care database on older adults provided by the National Health Insurance Sharing Service. The extracted variables were: (i) independent variables: visual and hearing; (ii) dependent variables: basic and instrumental daily living activities; and (iii) mediator variables: cognitive function. Regression analysis was performed evaluate the mediating effects of the extracted variables. Results : Cognitive function showed a mediating effect of 30% on the relationship between vision and basic daily life activities and 42% in the relationship with instrumental daily life activities. The mediating effect was 50% in the relationship between hearing and basic activities of daily living, and 53% in the relationship with instrumental activities of daily living. Conclusion : Prevention programs for functional decline due to aging are in progress in Korea. Based on the results of this study, establishing a prevention program would help promote successful aging.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2022

With the recent development of IT technology, research and interest in various biosignal measuring devices is increasing. As an aging society is in full swing, research on the elderly population using IT-related technologies is continuously developing. This study is about the development of life pattern detection and fall detection algorithm, which is one of the medical service areas for the elderly, who are rapidly developing as they enter a super-aged society. This study consisted of a system using a 3-axis accelerometer and an electrocardiogram sensor, collected data, and then analyzed the data. It was confirmed that behavioral patterns could be classified from the actual research results. In order to evaluate the usefulness of the human activity monitoring system implemented in this study, experiments were performed under various conditions, such as changes in posture and walking speed, and signal magnitude range and signal vector magnitude parameters reflecting the acceleration of gravity of the human body and the degree of human activity. was extracted. And the possibility of discrimination according to the condition of the subject was examined by these parameter values.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.43-51
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• 2023

This study analyzed the patent status of the outdoor exercise equipment used primarily by the elderly. The purpose is to utilize the basic data obtained to promote the health of the elderly. The information on the patent was collected from KIPRIS, an information search service provided by the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The search term used was 'outdoor exercise equipment', directly related patents were selected, and a final 157 were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, first, patent registration began in 2007, and 2-3 patents were registered on average every year. Second, patents from the perspective of sports convergence that provide an exercise prescription system using wireless communication, such as the ability to generate electricity by operating a power generation module, providing information on the user's exercise amount, or preventing the loss and theft of weights and safety accidents due to their characteristics, were searched for. Lastly, patents related to exercise equipment that can provide user convenience and increase the frequency of use of exercise equipment were searched. The results of this study confirmed that outdoor exercise equipment is being developed more for the elderly and their convenience, and that companies and public institutions are showing increased interest in outdoor exercise equipment for the elderly. In addition to patent trends analysis, follow-up research in connection with exercise programs using outdoor exercise equipment is needed to develop practical and convenient outdoor exercise equipment in the future.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.101-110
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• 2023

Background: Dentists make various efforts to reduce patients' anxiety and fear associated with dental treatment. Dental sedation is an advanced method that dentists can perform to reduce patients' anxiety and fear and provide effective dental treatment. However, dental sedation is different from general dental treatment and requires separate learning, and if done incorrectly, can lead to serious complications. Therefore, sedation is performed by a limited number of dentists who have received specific training. This study aimed to investigate the proportion of dentists who practice sedation and the main sedatives they use in the context of the Republic of Korea. Methods: We used the customized health information data provided by the Korean National Health Insurance. We investigated the number of dental hospitals or clinics that claimed insurance for eight main sedatives commonly used in dental sedation from January, 2007 to September, 2019 at the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. We also identified the changes in the number of dental medical institutions by region and year and analyzed the number and proportion of dental medical institutions prescribing each sedative. Results: In 2007, 302 dental hospitals prescribed sedatives, and the number increased to 613 in 2019. In 2007, approximately 2.18% of the total 13,796 dental institutions prescribed sedatives, increasing to 3.31% in 2019. In 2007, 168 institutions (55.6%) prescribed N₂O alone, and in 2019, 510 institutions (83.1%) made claims for it. In 2007, 76 (25.1%) hospitals made claims for chloral hydrate, but the number gradually decreased, with only 29 hospitals (4.7%) prescribing it in 2019. Hospitals that prescribed a combination of N₂O, chloral hydrate, and hydroxyzine increased from 27 (8.9%) in 2007 to 51 (9%) in 2017 but decreased to 38 (6.1%) in 2019. The use of a combination of N₂O and midazolam increased from 20 hospitals (6.6%) in 2007 to 51 hospitals (8.3%) in 2019. Conclusion: While there is a critical limitation to the investigation of dental hospitals performing sedation using insurance claims data, namely exclusion of dental clinics providing non-insured treatments, we found that in 2019, approximately 3.31% of the dental clinics were practicing sedation and that N₂O was the most commonly prescribed sedative.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.7-20
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• 2022

Objective : This study aims to identify international academic trends regarding the effectiveness of telehealth for the elderly through bibliographic analysis and to secure the foundation for providing basic data and subsequent research to promote domestic research. Methods : This study collected bibliographic information on the effectiveness of telehealth for the elderly published in international academia from January 2010 to December 2020 and analyzed and visualized the relationships between information using VOS viewer software (version 1.6.16, CWTS, Netherlands, 2020). Results : First, the research trend analysis shows a 678% increase in the number of papers published over the past 10 years. Most of the research was conducted in 145 (45.89%) Health care science services, and the most papers were published in 39 Telemedicine and e-Health journals (9.11%). Second, the network analysis showed that Oxford University had a total of 168 connections in other countries and institutions in the U.K, indicating the strongest influence in international academic societies. Third, as a result of the keyword analysis, 'older adults (64 times)', 'care (62 times)', 'health (50 times)', 'technology (40 times)', and 'outcomes (41 times)' were used in the study. Conclusion : In this study, the trends and topics of international academia on the effectiveness of telehealth for the elderly were analyzed to form the basis for research activities and the institutional implementation of telehealth for the elderly in Korea.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 2023

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has been challenging the healthcare service, i.e., the vitalization of the point of care accompanying self-testing in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs). This study aims to suggest priority criteria to classify self-testing IVDs using the analytic hierarchy process technique. Methods: Two dimensions of the characteristics embedded in the IVDs and the diseases to be diagnosed with self-testing IVDs were parallelly considered and independently investigated. In addition, three expert panels consisting of laboratory medical doctors (n=11), clinicians (n=10), and citizens (n=11) who have an interest in the selection of self-testing IVDs were asked to answer to questionnaires. Priorities were derived and compared among each expert panel. Results: First of all, ease of specimen collection (0.241), urgency of the situation (0.224), and simplicity of device operation (0.214) were found to be the most important criteria in light of the functional characteristics of self-testing IVDs. Medical doctors valued the ease of specimen collection, but the citizen's panel valued self-management of the disease more. Second, considering the characteristics of the diseases, the priority criteria were shown in the order of prevalence of diseases (0.421), fatality of disease (0.378), and disease with stigma (0.201). Third, medical doctors responded that self-testing IVDs were more than twice as suitable for non-communicable diseases as compared to communicable diseases (0.688 vs. 0.312), but the citizen's group responded that self-testing IVDs were slightly more suitable for infectious diseases (0.511 vs. 0.489). Conclusion: Our findings suggested that self-testing IVDs could be primarily classified as the items for diagnosis of non-communicable diseases for the purpose of self-management with easy specimen collection and simple operation of devices, taking into account the urgency of the situation as well as prevalence and fatality of the disease.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2023

Due to the development of industry, interest in air pollutants has increased. Air pollutants have affected various fields such as environmental pollution and global warming. Among them, environmental diseases are one of the fields affected by air pollutants. Air pollutants can affect the human body's skin or respiratory tract due to their small molecular size. As a result, various studies on air pollutants and environmental diseases have been conducted. Asthma, part of an environmental disease, can be life-threatening if symptoms worsen and cause asthma attacks, and in the case of adult asthma, it is difficult to cure once it occurs. Factors that worsen asthma include particulate matter and air pollution. Asthma is an increasing prevalence worldwide. In this paper, we study how air pollutants correlate with the number of emergency room admissions in asthma patients and predict the number of future asthma emergency patients using highly correlated air pollutants. Air pollutants used concentrations of five pollutants: sulfur dioxide(SO₂), carbon monoxide(CO), ozone(O₃), nitrogen dioxide(NO₂), and fine dust(PM₁₀), and environmental diseases used data on the number of hospitalizations of asthma patients in the emergency room. Data on the number of emergency patients of air pollutants and asthma were used for a total of 5 years from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. The model made predictions using two models, Informer and LTSF-Linear, and performance indicators of MAE, MAPE, and RMSE were used to measure the performance of the model. The results were compared by making predictions for both cases including and not including the number of emergency patients. This paper presents air pollutants that improve the model's performance in predicting the number of asthma emergency patients using Informer and LTSF-Linear models.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.63-71
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the correlation between Sasang constitution and dyslipidemia and the possibility that Sasang constitution can be a risk factor of dyslipidemia. Methods: This study was a retrospective cross-sectional study based on chart review. Seventeen thousand sixty-nine charts which were collected from May 2007 to June 2010 in International Healthcare Service Center, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, were reviewed for the study. Fifteen thousand two hundred fifty charts including Sasang constitutional diagnosis and lipid profiling were selected and we examined the correlation between Sasang constitution and dyslipidemia. Results: After adjusted for body mass index, the levels of total cholesterol and triglyceride were highest in Taeeum group, and lowest in Soeum group. High-density lipoprotein was highest in Soeum group, and lowest in Taeeum group. After adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index, the odds ratios for 'high triglyceride' were 1.716 (1.411~2.087) in Soyang group and 2.021 (1.650~2.475) in Taeeum group compared to Soeum group. The odds ratio for 'high low-density lipoprotein' was 1.229 (1.006~1.501) in Soyang group compared to Soeum group. The odds ratios for 'low high-density lipoprotein' were 1.195 (1.033~1.381) in Soyang group and 1.414 (1.212~1.649) in Taeeum group compared to Soeum group. Conclusions: The lipid profiles and dyslipidemic risk differed across constitutional types, showing constitution type-specific patterns, so that we could infer the possibility that Sasang constitutional types can be a risk factor of dyslipidemia.