• Title/Summary/Keyword: Improvement in quality of life

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Effects of Traditional Korean Medicine Treatment On Lumbar Spinal Stenosis and Assessing Improvement by Radiological Criteria: An Observational Study

  • Kim, Hyun-Joong;Lee, Sun-Ho;Choi, Ji-Hoon;Noh, Je-Heon;Kim, Min-Young;Jang, Jae-Won;Ha, Do-Hyung
    • Journal of Acupuncture Research
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    • v.34 no.4
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    • pp.172-179
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    • 2017
  • Background: This study was designed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of traditional Korean medicine treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis as assessed by radiological criteria. Methods: This was an observational study of 122 patients who were diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis and admitted to Jaseng Hospital between January 2016 and June 2017. They were analyzed according to sex, age, cause of disease, disease stage, length of admission, type of stenosis, morphological grade, and dural sac cross-sectional area. All patients were treated with traditional Korean medicine. Patients were assessed with the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and EQ-5D before and after treatment. Results: Regarding the distribution of the factors analyzed, these were of note: more females than males (1:3.52); and highest proportions were age more than 70 years (37.70%), cause of lumbar spinal stenosis unknown (67.21%), and subacute stage (42.62%). Comparing before and after treatment, the NRS score for low back and pelvic pain decreased from $6.14{\pm}1.71$ to $4.28{\pm}1.91$ (p < 0.001), and the NRS score for radiating pain and numbness decreased from $6.27{\pm}1.61$ to $2.02{\pm}1.54$ (p < 0.001). ODI decreased from $46.86{\pm}19.40$ to $33.63{\pm}18.66$ (p < 0.001), and gait-related ODI decreased from $3.34{\pm}1.23$ to $2.80{\pm}1.11$ (p < 0.001). There were no statistically significant differences in improvement of the NRS, ODI, gait-related ODI, and EQ-5D for morphological grade and dural sac cross-sectional area. Conclusion: Traditional Korean medicine is effective treatment for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. Even in patients with severe radiological findings, it is possible to reduce pain and improve quality of life.

A Study on the Evaluation Index of Dwelling Environment Performance at Skyscraper (초고층 건축물 거주환경성능 평가지표에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Hyeon-Ku;Yang, Seung-Hee;Go, Seong-Seok
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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    • v.9 no.6
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    • pp.79-89
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    • 2009
  • More and more domestic skyscrapers have been rapidly constructed to get enough living space for people living in overcrowded cities. The purpose of skyscrapers is to provide citizens with useful facilities and to establish landmarks and also national and regional symbols. Previous studies have been conducted which focused on the structure, materials, plans, maintenance, and relevant information regarding skyscrapers. Skyscrapers, however, are different from other smaller buildings regarding the residential environment as well as in other ways. Recently, several problems have been raised in that the indiscreetness of current skyscrapers cannot guarantee residents a high quality living environment, and they might contain risks unless criteria are put forward to ensure that the design and facilities provide for this aim. It is judged that a set of performance criteria for the residential environment to ensurethe residents' quality of life could solve this problem. This study therefore aims to suggest a method for the improvement of the residential environment of skyscrapers by establishing residential environment evaluation factors. In conclusion, this study calculates the weight of each evaluation factor using AHP (an analytic hierarchy process) and suggests evaluating criteria. It is expected that this study could be used to propose guidelines for residents at the design and planning stage of building a skyscraper.

Dynamic Computed Tomography based on Spatio-temporal Analysis in Acute Stroke: Preliminary Study (급성 뇌졸중 환자의 시공간 분석 기법을 이용한 동적 전산화 단층 검사: 예비 연구)

  • Park, Ha-Young;Pyeon, Do-Yeong;Kim, Da-Hye;Jung, Young-jin
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.39 no.4
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    • pp.543-547
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    • 2016
  • Acute stroke is a one of common disease that require fast diagnosis and treatment to save patients life. however, the acute stroke may cause lifelong disability due to brain damage with no prompt surgical procedure. In order to diagnose the Stroke, brain perfusion CT examination and possible rapid implementation of 3D angiography has been widely used. However, a low-dose technique should be applied for the examination since a lot of radiation exposure to the patient may cause secondary damage for the patients. Therefore, the degradation of the measured CT images may interferes with a clinical check in that blood vessel shapes on the CT image are significantly affected by gaussian noise. In this study, we employed the spatio-temporal technique to analyze dynamic (brain perfusion) CT data to improve an image quality for successful clinical diagnosis. As a results, proposed technique could remove gaussian noise successfully, demonstrated a possibility of new image segmentation technique for CT angiography. Qualitative evaluation was conducted by skilled radiological technologists, indicated significant quality improvement of dynamic CT images. the proposed technique will be useful tools as a clinical application for brain perfusion CT examination.

Research of Usability Test on Single-Seater Rider Robot using Omni Wheel Drive (옴니 휠 드라이브를 이용한 1인승 탑승 로봇의 사용성 평가 연구)

  • Rhee, Kun-Min;Kim, Dong-Ok
    • Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.171-176
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    • 2016
  • By developing rider robot using omni wheel drive, a usability test for 6 people was conducted after finding out inconvenient factors and ways of improvement. The results of this research are as follows. First, we researched inconvenient factors captured by object of experiment using a rider robot who is living in the dormitory. It showed that the disabled showing 1.6 of satisfaction degree felt more inconvenient for normal people showing 4 of satisfaction degree. It was found that the height of seats is 10 centimeters higher, which caused inconvenience for moving. Second, each of the disabled and normal people showed 2.33 and 2.62 of satisfaction degree below the average for seats, back of a seat, armrest, footrest, security belts. However, for the revised design both of them showed 3.5 of satisfaction degree over the average. Third, most people felt this robot is quite expensive and said they would purchase it if subsidized by the government. Therefore, based on inconvenient factors and ways of improvement found in this research, further study needs to be conducted so as to improve the quality of life of the disabled.

A Study on the Improvement of Treatment Efficiency for Nitrogen and Phosphorus by Improved Sewage Treatment Process in Constructed Wetland by Natural Purification Method (자연정화공법에 의한 인공습지 하수처리장에서 하수처리 공정개선에 따른 질소 및 인의 처리효율 향상 방안)

  • Seo, Dong-Cheol;Park, Woo-Young;Lim, Jong-Sir;Park, Chan-Hoon;Lee, Hong-Jae;Kim, Hong-Chul;Lee, Sang-Won;Lee, Do-Jin;Cho, Ju-Sik;Heo, Jong-Soo
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.27-34
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    • 2008
  • To effectively treat the domestic sewage that was produced on a small-scale in farming and fishing village in order to encourage an ecologically friendly environment, a small-scale sewage treatment apparatus using natural purification methods that consisted of an aerobic and an anaerobic plots were constructed. The efficiency of sewage treatment according to the sewage loading was investigated to obtain the optimum sewage loading in small-scale sewage treatment apparatus. Removal rate of pollutants according to the sewage loading were in the order of $150\;Lm^{-2}day^{-1}{\fallingdotseq}300\;Lm^{-2}day^{-1}>600\;Lm^{-2}day^{-1}$. Therefore, the optimum sewage loading was 300 L m-2 day-1. Under the optimum sewage loading, removal rate of BOD, $COD_{Mn}$, turbidity, T-N and T-P were 99, 94, 99, 49 and 89%, respectively. However, to satisfy the water quality standard in effluent in small-sclae sewage treatment apparatus for domestic sewage treatment, the low removal efficiency of T-N and T-P must be improved. So to improve the removal rate of T-N and T-P, the efficiency of sewage treatment according to the improved sewage treatment process such as, re-treatment at aerobic plot, anaerobic condition of aerobic plot, changing the filter media sizes and the depths in anaerobic plot, and also addition of oyster shells to filter media at anaerobic plot were investigated. In case of 150 cm depth in anaerobic plot with filter medium A (effectivity particle size 1.50 mm) and addition of oyster shells to filter media at anaerobic plot, removal rate of T-N and T-P in both plots were increased by 10 and 3%, and 14 and 7% in comparison with 100 cm depth in anaerobic plot with filter medium B(effectivity particle size 0.95 mm), respectively. The optimum improved sewage treatment process in small-scale sewage treatment apparatus were 150 cm depth in anaerobic plot with filter medium A and addition of oyster shells to filter media at anaerobic plot.

The Determinants of Consumption Characteristics and Patterns of Elderly Households (고령자 가구의 소비특성 및 소비패턴 결정요인)

  • Kim, Jinhun
    • 한국노년학
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    • v.36 no.3
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    • pp.905-926
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    • 2016
  • Although the concept of the elderly varies depending on scholars and laws, as consumption expenditure is deeply associated with income due to the nature of this study, 55 years old was set as the low limit standard for the elderly according to Prohibition of Discrimination on Age in Employment and Employment Promotion for the Aged Act and the elderly households were limited to single-elderly person household and an elderly couple family household for this study. It is considered consumption characteristics as a significant analysis subject in terms of social welfare because it could be understood as an expressed need which was a reflection of desire. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the consumption characteristics of the elderly households by stereotyping the consumption pattern of the elderly households, and find the determining factors for consumption patterns and thus contribute to the establishment of related policies through the expressed needs of the elderly households. K-means of cluster analysis was performed by putting the consumption expenditure of the elderly households to investigate inherent structural type of consumption pattern of the elderly households, which were the investigation subjects. As a result, four groups were stereotyped and named as below: 'health care-centered type', 'saving-centered type', 'livelihood-centered type', and 'food expenses-centered type' Binary Logistic Regression analysis was used to identify the factors that influence the decision of consumption pattern of the elderly households. The result of study showed that the elderly households faced all different needs and problems and thus there is a need for various approach plans to solve this situation. In particular, although the elderly have been viewed as economically poor people so far, the study showed that there were also kind of prepared households through saving. Overall, livelihoodcentered type accounted for the highest portion and, as a factor that influenced this, marital state and household income played an important role. Therefore, it is considered that more active efforts to increase the income of the elderly households are needed. In addition, age, owning of house and subjective health state were found to also have significant influence. Through these results of the study, the elderly's own improvement of awareness on health, presentation of overall standard for health state of the elderly, securement of the elderly's access to cultural life, and financial management coordination for improvement of quality of life, development and dissemination of jobs suitable for the elderly, and dissemination of communal life household, which is a cooperation residential type, were presented as institutional task in the conclusion.

Correlation of Self-Perceived Oral Health Status and Objective Oral Health Status of Adults (성인의 본인 인지 구강건강상태와 객관적 구강건강상태의 연관성)

  • Kim, Mi-Jeong;Lim, Cha-Young
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.375-381
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    • 2017
  • This study examined whether a correlation exists between the oral health indices assessed by experts and the self-perceived oral health status to develop practical oral health improvement programs for adults. In addition, this study provides basic data for carrying out oral health projects that can enhance the quality of life of adults. The raw data for the 2nd year (2014) of the 6th national health and nutrition survey were analyzed. Among those surveyed, adults over the age of 19 were designated as research subjects. In all age groups, correspondents with a higher DMFT Index assessed their self-perceived oral health status to be 'poor'. The oral health index evaluated by experts showed a correlation with the self-perceived oral health status. Therefore, as a higher self-perceived oral health status might help improve the objective oral health indices, oral health improvement programs should be strengthened to instill self-perceived oral health behavior.

Satisfaction Level and Performance Evaluation for CM Service in Korea (국내 건설사업관리 업무만족도 및 성과평가)

  • Kim, Won-Tae;Chang, Chul-Ki
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.108-117
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    • 2013
  • The domestic CM business market has continued to grow, but its size is relatively small yet in comparison with the total size of the domestic construction industry. Evaluation of CM projects was conducted through questionnaire surveys. Both clients and CM firms showed positive satisfaction levels. Nevertheless, the clients' satisfaction levels were relatively low in safety management, cost management, and document and information management. Superior areas of CM tasks were time management and recovery scheduling, quality control and technical instruction, and design value engineering. On the other hand, inferior areas of CM tasks were claim analysis and dispute resolution, cost estimation, and life cycle costing. Both entities have agreed with the positive effects of CM involvement in terms of cost saving, time reduction, quality improvement, and safety incidents prevention to at least 0~5% extent.

Propagation Efficiencies at Different LED Light Qualities for Leaf Cutting of Six Echeveria Cultivars in a Plant Factory System (에케베리아 6품종의 엽삽 시 식물공장시스템 내 LED 파장에 따른 번식 효율)

  • Kim, Seongmin;Kim, Jiseon;Oh, Wook
    • Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.363-370
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    • 2018
  • The succulent plants of Echeveria genus are in increasing demand worldwide, but it is difficult to supply good quality young plants throughout the year because propagation efficiencies are depend on cultivar and environmental factors. This study was carried out to investigate the propagation efficiencies of leaf cutting in Echeveria cultivars at different LED light qualities in a closed-type plant factory system. Leaf cuttings cut from stock plants of six difficult-to-propagated cultivars 'Afterglow (AG)', 'Berkeley Light (BL)', 'Mason (MS)', 'Subsessilis Light (SL)', 'Cream Tea (CT)', and 'Ben Badis (BB)' were put into cutting media in the plant factory system maintained at a temperature of $24{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity of $60{\pm}10%$, and watered with over-head irrigation twice a week. Cuttings were irradiated with sole or mixed red (R, 660 nm), blue (B, 450 nm), green (G, 530 nm), and far-red (FR, 730 nm) LEDs as follows: R10, R8+B2, R5+B5, R7+B2+FR1, and R7+B2+G1. PPFD just above the cuttings was $200{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ and photoperiod was 16/8 (light/dark) hours. As a result, propagation efficiencies were dependent on cultivar. Rooting and shooting were relatively easy in 'SL' but shoot formation in 'AG' was very difficult. Light qualities from LEDs also affected plant regeneration. Light conditions with a higher ratio of B, R5+B5, R7+B2+FR1, and R7+B2+G1, promoted shoot formation and growth but inhibited rooting and root growth. R10 and R8+B2 with a higher ratio of R promoted rooting and root growth and inhibited shoot formation and growth of cuttings. In addition, the treatment with FR increased leaf size and biomass of the all plants. Therefore, further studies are needed to investigate the optimum compositions of LED light quality for the improvement of leaf cutting efficiency in difficultto-propagated Echeveria cultivars.

A Research to Decrease Airborne Microoganism the Train (전동차내 부유 미생물 저감방안에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Sung-Ho;Choi, Soon-Gi;Son, Young-Jin
    • Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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    • 2011.10a
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    • pp.2895-2901
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    • 2011
  • SeoulMetro(line number 1 to 4) for the first half of the year. Therefore air quality in the subway is very important. It is passengers, such as sneezing and respiratory vital activities, Suspended due to skin keratin microbial action, and Microbial contaminants such as viruses. Hypersensitivity disorders, an atopic dermatitis, infectious diseases, allergic diseases, and can cause respiratory diseases. Ministry of Environment and National Institute of Environmental Research is managed so the life bacteria. It is emerging as the occupational health problems. Introduction of an appropriate ventilation system for cooling and dehumidification is needed. In line number 2, commuting and normal trains are measured in-room floating microbes. Suspended bacteria and fungi suspended in 2011 for 85 ~ 385$cfu/m^3$, 67 ~ 98$cfu/m^3$ is lower than baseline. Suspended to prevent microbial contamination and air conditioning equipment performance is a substantial improvement. Suspended micro-organisms and the impact on passenger room ventilation is increased. Electric car how to improve air quality substantially investigated.

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