• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.211-216
• /
• 2010

Fire service personnel and ambulance paramedics suffer musculoskeletal disorders as they lift and carry patients while performing Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The objective of the current study was performed to examine the association between working environment and musculoskeletal disorders of 119 paramedics and to analysis the EMS activities for them through basic survey (including task characteristics, risk factors, symptoms and illnesses). Observational job analysis of EMS activities indicated the squatting posture during first-aid performed on floor and the abrupt use of force during carrying heavy load including stretcher with patients on as hazard factors, and excessive low back twisting and bending during stairway transfer was observed. In addition, work-physiological assessment revealed various but rather high lumbar muscle usage rate among the study subjects, being 14.6~32.8% compared with Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC) during patients transfer work. Resting heart rate showed 65/min, on the other hand, heart rate on mobilization indicated maximum 124~156/min. Therefore, the results of analysis to the EMS activities, rescuer activities and medical tasks were accompanied with high possibility of accident and musculoskeletal disorders. Also, EMS activities indicated high muscle fatigue and energy consumption, and accumulated muscle fatigue with during continued work.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.495-503
• /
• 2010

The packing and sorting processes of grape are required repetitive movements to need considerable physical load for a long time. And thereby, there is strong possibility to cause musculoskeletal disorders. In this study, ergonomically designed convenience equipments of worktable and handcart are introduced for improvement of the working movements and less physical load to increase the work efficiency. For objective analysis of the movements and the workload between the ones before and after the improvement, we measured heart rate, OWAS, RULA, REBA, LMM, moving Line and work time. Also, we used a checklist of physical fatigue regions to confirm the subjective evaluation of physical load of workers. As the result of study, it showed lower heart rate, value of Working Postures (OWAS, RULA, REBA) and LMM in the work after introduction of those convenient equipments than the work of before the introduction. The work time and moving Line were shortened and the number of grape boxes packed within the same work time was increased, too. Also the overall load as the subjective evaluation was reduced.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.35 no.11
• /
• pp.1213-1217
• /
• 2011

Electric stimulators are used for various treatments, such as for pain relief and to improve rehabilitation in and out of the hospital. However, if the stimulation pulse affects the patient's heart, it can cause critical cardiac disorders such as arrhythmia or ventricular fibrillation. As a result, it must be ensured that the transmission length of the stimulation pulse does not exceed the proper range in the design of an electric stimulator. Furthermore, every anticipated risk factor must be monitored in in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. A new stimulator was designed to supply continuous 0.001 J stimulation pulses at a rate of 60 pulses per second. To evaluate the safety of the new electric stimulator and to measure its energy transfer and pulse transmission length, we built a conduction model that was filled with saline and measured the electric field at various positions in response to real stimulations. In an animal experiment with two pigs, heart disorders were induced by applying electric stimulation to tissues near the heart. These heart disorders were different from the result obtained with 9 V DC stimulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.365-375
• /
• 2008

The main objective of this paper is to study the behaviour of yLRC composite columns at elevated temperatures by experimental test. The effects of load ratios, cross-section size and fire protection for the yLRC columns were investigate d by the test and compared using the heat transfer analysis perfo rmed based on the finite element program ANSYS 10.0 using the ISO834 standard fire curve, following the main guidelines proposed by the EC4 Part 1.2. As heat transfer is the movement of heat by conduction, convection, and radiation, and as temperature inside an object varies by position and time, time. As the steel's thermal conductivity is higher than that of concrete, steel loses its strength rapidly in a high-temperature situation such as a fire. Fire resistance performance of the yLRC composite column under fire conditions was evaluated througheat transfer analysis for parametric study.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.183-191
• /
• 2012

The maintenance of peripheral immune tolerance and prevention of chronic inflammation and autoimmune disease require $CD4^{+}CD25^{+}$ T cells (regulatory T cells). The transcription factor Foxp3 is essential for the development of functional, regulatory T cells, which plays a prominent role in self-tolerance. Retroviral vectors can confer high level of gene transfer and transgene expression in a variety of cell types. Here we observed that following retroviral vector-mediated gene transfer of Foxp3, transductional Foxp3 expression was increased in the liver, lung, brain, heart, muscle, spinal cord, kidney and spleen. One day after vector administration, high levels of transgene and gene expression were observed in liver and lung. At 2 days after injection, transductional Foxp3 expression level was increased in brain, heart, muscle and spinal cord, but kidney and spleen exhibited a consistent low level. This finding was inconsistent with the increase in both $CD4^{+}CD25^{+}$ T cell and $CD4^{+}Foxp3^{+}$ T cell frequencies observed in peripheral immune cells by fluorescence-activated cell-sorting (FACS) analysis. Retroviral vector-mediated gene transfer of Foxp3 did not lead to increased numbers of $CD4^{+}CD25^{+}$ T cell and $CD4^{+}Foxp3^{+}$ T cell. These results demonstrate the level and duration of transductional Foxp3 gene expression in various tissues. A better understanding of Foxp3 regulation can be useful in dissecting the cause of regulatory T cells dysfunction in several autoimmune diseases and raise the possibility of enhancing suppressive functions of regulatory T cells for therapeutic purposes.

• Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.98-103
• /
• 2007

Long term Electrocardiogram (ECG) [1] analysis plays a key role in heart disease analysis. A combined detection of QRS-complex and P-wave in ECG signal for ubiquitous healthcare system was designed and implemented which can be used as an advanced warning device. The ECG features are used to detect life-threating arrhythmias, with an emphasis on the software for analyzing QRS complex and P-wave in wireless ECG signals at server after receiving data from base station. Based on abnormal ECG activity, the server will transfer alarm conditions to a doctor's Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). Doctor can diagnose the patients who have survived from cardiac arrhythmia diseases.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.375-381
• /
• 2022

Safety accidents are of concern during construction projects, even given the recent innovations in digital technologies. These projects remain focused on overcoming specific and limited applications on construction sites. For this reason, the development of an inclusive safety management system has become crucial. This study aims to build a Big Data platform to inform decisions on how to proactively eliminate worker hazards on construction sites. The platform consists of about 100,000 real records and a real-time monitored database featuring various safety indices, such as workers' altitudes, heart rates, and fatigability during construction, which are determined through various wearable devices. The data types are customized and integrated by a research team in accordance with the characteristics of a specific project using hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). The results can be helpful as efficient tools to ensure successful safety management in complex construction situations. This study is expected to provide three significant contributions to the field, including real-time fatigability analysis and tracking of workers on-site; providing early GPS-based warnings to workers who might be accessing dangerous spaces or places; and monitoring the workers' health indices, based on details from 100,000 cases.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.1215-1221
• /
• 2009

A novel approach for electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis within a functional sensor node has been developed and evaluated. The main aim is to reduce data collision, traffic overload and power consumption in healthcare applications of wireless sensor networks(WSN). The sensor node attached on the patient's body surface around the heart can perform ECG analysis based on a QRS detection algorithm to detect abnormal condition of the patient. Data transfer is activated only after detected abnormality in the ECG. This system can reduce packet loss during transmission by reducing traffic overload. In addition, it saves power supply energy leading to more reliable, cheap and user-friendly operation in the WSN for ubiquitous health monitoring.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.129-133
• /
• 2011

Drinking of excessive ethanol during pregnancy induces a fetal alcohol syndrome. Genistein is one of naturally occurring isoflavones at relatively high levels in soybeans. In this study, we investigated the effects of genistein ($1{\times}10^{-8}$ and $1{\times}10^{-7}\;{\mu}g$/ml) on the ethanol (1 ${\mu}l$/ml)-induced teratogenesis of developing mouse embryos during the critical period (embryonic days 8.5~10.5) of organogenesis using a whole embryo culture system and then morphological scoring analysis. Ethanol-treated embryos exhibited a variety of developmental abnormalities. However, the total morphological scores for ethanol plus genistein groups were significantly higher than those of ethanol alone group (p<0.05). In particular, there were significant increases in the ethanol plus $1{\times}10^{-8}\;{\mu}g$/ml of genistein group on the scores for heart, optic system, branchial bar, mandibular process, and caudal neural tube and further in the ethanol plus $1{\times}10^{-7}\;{\mu}g$/ml of genistein group on the scores for heart, hind-, mid-, and forebrains, optic system, branchial bars, maxillary and mandibular processes, caudal neural tube, forelimb, hindlimb, and somites as compared with those of ethanol alone group (p<0.05). These results indicate that genistein has a preventive effect against ethanol-induced teratogenesis.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.265-270
• /
• 2015

Growth rate during rearing, which varies depending on provided nutrition, has been related with age at $1^{st}$ calving (AFC). This study investigated the effect of upgrowth parameters during the rearing period on the reproduction of nulliparous Holstein heifers. The study comprised 77 successively born heifers from the same herd. Growth rate and fertility traits were measured during rearing and fertility parameters were recorded in lactations 1. Growth parameters (body weight, height, heart girth and body length) were measured at the approximate birth time, 270 and 450 d of age. Reproduction data collected included age at $1^{st}$ breeding, number of services per conception (S/C), pregnancy rate to $1^{st}$ artificial insemination, AFC. Animals were subsequently divided into 4 AFC groups for analysis: <23 mo, 23~25 mo, 26~30 mo and >30 mo. The AFC reflected both upgrowth rate and heifer reproduction, with later calving heifers smaller. Increased skeletal growth (at 270 and 450 d) was related with a reduced AFC (p<0.05). Early calving animals (<23 mo) had the best reproduction as nulliparous heifers, with most conceiving at first service (87.5%). Fertility in the first lactation was the worst in the oldest AFC group (>30 mo). In the 1st lactation period, a number of services per conception ($3.1{\pm}0.3$) increased with increasing AFC (>30 mo). Sub-optimal upgrowth related with an increased AFC could be mitigated by improved monitoring of replacement heifers during the rearing period.