• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.201-210
• /
• 2016

Delirium is a common symptom in patients with terminal cancer. The prevalence increases in the dying phase. Delirium causes negative effects on quality of life for both patients and their families, and is associated with higher mortality. However, some studies reported that it tends to remain unrecognized in palliative care setting. That may be related with difficulties to distinguish the symptom from others with overlapping characteristics such as depression and dementia, and a lack of knowledge regarding assessment and diagnostic tools. We suggest that accurate recognition with validated tools and early diagnosis of the symptom should be highly prioritized in delirium management in palliative care setting. After diagnosing delirium, it is important to identify and address reversible precipitants such as medication, dehydration, and infection. Non-pharmacological interventions including comfortable environment for the patient and family education are also essential in the management strategy. If such interventions prove ineffective or insufficient to control hyperactive symptoms, pharmacologic interventions with antipsychotics and benzodiazepine can be considered. Until now, low levels of haloperidol remains the standard treatment despite a lack of evidence. Atypical antipsychotics such as olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone reportedly have similar efficacy with a stronger sedating property and less adverse effect compared to haloperidol. Currently, delirium medications that can be used in palliative care setting require more clinical trials, and thus, clinical guidelines are not sufficiently available. We suggest that it is warranted to develop clinical guidelines based on well-designed clinical studies for palliative care patients.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.219-265
• /
• 2018

Recently, interest in energy tranisition is rising. Energy transition requires active participation and cooperation of diverse stakeholders, including users / citizens, in that it requires not only changes in technological factors but also changes and coordination of various social factors. Living labs are attracting attention as one of the ways to do this. This article is a detailed analysis of the activities of the mini-PV living lab in the urban area from 2016 to 2017 at the Seoul, Sung Dae Goal. Through the Living Lab, mini PV DIY products, backup centers, local financial services, and the development of a variety of education and training strategies have been achieved. These activities and achievements were analyzed through questions raised on strategic, tactical, and operational levels, as well as through multi-level perspective and interaction between initiative, regime, and niche. In conclusion, this living lab activity confirmed the possibility of a 'transition lap' to solve social problems such as sustainability of energy production and utilization. In particular, it gained remarkable results in terms of the operational leves of transition management governance, that is, transition experiment, and it was also remarkable in that it was the initiative of citizens. However, it did not proceed without difficulty. In particular, structural problems such as the conflict between the flexibility inherent in living lab and the bureaucratic rigidity of the financial support organization have appeared. There was also a limitation that there was no 'transition field' on the strategic level necessary to replicate and expand strategic niches while spreading the knowledge gained from the transition experiment, forming the vision of transition.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.1-17
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this paper was to explore the materials in the Korean and Japanese Home Economics textbooks in middle school with the perspective of green life education. Home Economics is one of the relevant subjects to green growth education. Therefore, home economics teachers need to teach green life based on the low $CO_2$-green growth in the class. Sustainable living at home has been emphasized as one of the main importance of Home Economics since the first curriculum period. However, it is required to reinforce in the 2009 revised curriculum. The content analyses had been done to explore the materials of five areas in the 8 Korean and 2 Japanese junior highschool Home Economics textbooks through two checking steps. Each subject area of Home Economics had various form of materials such as terminology, table figure pictures, reading, and activity, related to green life related to environmental, economic, and social sustenance. The forms and the quantity of materials were some what differ by subject areas as well as textbooks. The levels of material contents were ranged from the knowledge, recognition, to intention to practicum of green life. The green life materials were more likely practical in Japanese textbooks rather than Korean ones. It is recommended teachers to choose the valuable materials over the textbooks and practical green life should clearly mentioned in home economics curriculum to be showed in textbooks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.106 no.2
• /
• pp.111-120
• /
• 2017

The best source of information on the conservation status of species at a global scale is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Until now, 236 vascular plants from Korean peninsula have been evaluated using the IUCN red list categories and criteria. It indicated that five taxa were considered as critically endangered, 20 as endangered and nine as vulnerable species as a threatened status. On the other hand, the rest (189 taxa) were assessed as a least concern, which did not qualify for threatened species categories. Korea Ministry of Environment published a revised version of 57 species list by re-classifying endangered species with idiosyncratic qualitative criteria for two levels (I and II) followed by status reviews in 2011. However, two thirds species proposed by Ministry of Environment do not qualify as threatened. The major difficulties found in applying IUCN Red List criteria at the global scale was a lack of knowledge on the status of species at broader geographic scales and the perceived difficulty the causes. The lack of consistency between two lists constrains the prioritization of species-based conservation work at the national level. Due to a lack of centralized monitoring data for most species, this status is largely qualitatively and so it carries a high level of uncertainty. This is reflected in the high number of species with an unknown population trend. The current list of endangered species of flora and fauna by the Ministry of Environment should be recognized as the national list (local and population extinction), which is different from the IUCN Red list due to the different geographical contexts. Also, it is necessary to improve the quality of evaluation and conservation management system rather than presenting massive number of endangered species list.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.167-174
• /
• 2017

To identify the appropriate irrigation level for Pinus densiflora, a common reforestation species in Korea, we investigated their growth response characteristics according to different irrigation treatment levels for producing container seedlings with relatively high growth rate for higher survival rate when planted at the reforestation site. The container seedlings including control seedlings (no irrigation was applied) were grown in 104-cell trays were irrigated for 8 weeks from 15 weeks after seeding, at intervals of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 15 days. Analysis of the height growth, root collar diameter growth, and dry matter production of the container seedlings according to irrigation showed that the highest growth reaction was observed for the irrigation interval of 1 day. A shorter irrigation cycle resulted in better growth of the container seedlings, but overall, longer total root length were observed with an irrigation cycle of 3 days compared with cycles of 1 or 2 days. Quality index (QI) was the highest for the irrigation interval of 1 day, and tended to decrease with increase in the irrigation interval. Thus, it was determined that irrigation at intervals of 1-2 days was appropriate for growing Pinus densiflora container seedlings.

• Information Systems Review
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.47-74
• /
• 2010

This study presents two dimensional views of IT-use behaviors. It examines public employee's IT-use behavior as manifested in two ways: acceptance on IT, utilization on IT. This study investigates levels of employee's the acceptance and utilization on IT in the Korean Central Government(ministry and agency) and analyses factors affecting public employee's the acceptance and utilization on task-related IT in the public sector. This study tries to examine the variables affecting the acceptance and utilization on IT; especially, the influences of such variables as leadership, task-related communication with people, task motivation, IT usability and ease of uses, task understanding in the context of Korean Central Government. Based on a questionnaire survey in Korean Central Government(8 ministries, 5 agencies) that have implemented Government Knowledge Management System(GKMS), 311 valid instruments were received and analyzed using various statistics and structural equation model(SEM). And this study will adopt try to delineate pre and intervening conditions for public employee's the acceptance and utilization. According to the results of interviews and SEM analysis suggests that the influence of task-understanding, organizational communication, IS usability were statistically significant in the acceptance and utilization on IT. And it is also hoped that the path-analytic model suggested in this study helps reveal the causal chains between the acceptance and the utilization. Especially, task-understanding proves to be important in encouraging public employee's the acceptance and utilization. This result illustrates why task-understanding people are the key to utilize the task-related IT in public organization.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.3437-3445
• /
• 2016

Background: There is an increasing concern in the role of microRNA (miRNA) in the pathogenesis of bone metastasis (BM) secondary to prostate cancer (CaP). In this exploratory study, we hypothesized that the expression of vinculin (VCL) and chemokine X3C ligand 1 (CX3CL1) might be down-regulated in clinical samples, most likely due to the post-transcriptional modification by microRNAs. Targeted genes would be up-regulated upon transfection of the bone metastatic prostate cancer cell line, PC3, with specific microRNA inhibitors. Materials and Methods: MicroRNA software predicted that miR-21 targets VCL while miR-29a targets CX3CL1. Twenty benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and 16 high grade CaP formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) specimens were analysed. From the bone scan results, high grade CaP samples were further classified into CaP with no BM and CaP with BM. Transient transfection with respective microRNA inhibitors was done in both RWPE-1 (normal) and PC3 cell lines. QPCR was performed in all FFPE samples and transfected cell lines to measure VCL and CX3CL1 levels. Results: QPCR confirmed that VCL messenger RNA (mRNA) was significantly down-regulated while CX3CL1 was up-regulated in all FFPE specimens. Transient transfection with microRNA inhibitors in PC3 cells followed by qPCR of the targeted genes showed that VCL mRNA was significantly upregulated while CX3CL1 mRNA was significantly down-regulated compared to the RWPE-1 case. Conclusions: The down-regulation of VCL in FFPE specimens is most likely regulated by miR-21 based on the in vitro evidence but the exact mechanism of how miR-21 can regulate VCL is unclear. Up-regulated in CaP, CX3CL1 was found not regulated by miR-29a. More microRNA screening is required to understand the regulation of this chemokine in CaP with bone metastasis. Understanding miRNA-mRNA interactions may provide additional knowledge for individualized study of cancers.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.5 no.5
• /
• pp.191-201
• /
• 2005

Traditional music not only reveals Korean culture to foreigners but also it enhances the pride of national identity for Koreans themselves. Objectives of this study are how can we encourage and appreciate traditional music to ordinary visitors (non-musicians). Music festivals could be a means to educate and captivate them towards the appreciation of Korean traditional music. For this purpose, this study checked the satisfaction level between local residents and domestic visitors(including foreigners) concerning music festival programs, and also proposed a practical implications to traditional music organizers. According to the result, local visitors' satisfaction level were higher than other domestic visitors. Visitors showed higher interest in the music instruments like a 'Gayageum' they are able to relate to, rather than with other traditional unfamiliar musical instruments. It is thus crucial to encourage students and ordinary citizens to interact with traditional music instruments so as to enhance the satisfaction levels of domestic visitors. Some practical implications for traditional music organizers are that it is recommendable to have more guides who have thorough knowledge of traditional Korean music and who is able to interpret festival programs in foreign languages for foreign visitors.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.963-976
• /
• 1999

This study was undertaken to investigate the general characteristics of students, which include the degree of satisfaction, motives of admission, the recognition of advantages and disadvantages, opinion of students on self-directed learning, and planning and anticipatory effects after graduation. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey over a period of four months, from May 1997 to August 1997. The subjects used for this study consisted of 322 RN students sampled from six RN-to-BSN programs in Korea using the census sampling method. Statistical methods employed for this study included discriptive statistics, M ANOVA, and F-test. The results of the study are as follows 1. The RN students' motives of admission to RN-to-BSN programs were ‘for personal advancement’, ‘to earn a BSN degree’, and ‘for professional development’ in this order. 2. The RN students' responses to the advantages of RN-to-BSN programs were ‘acquisition of new knowledge and a BSN degree’ and ‘to gain professional thinking and a broader view’, while as the disadvantages of RN-to-BSN programs were ‘geographical isolation of institutions’, ‘limitation of information’, and ‘underdeveloped school environments’ in this order. 3. The survey based on opinions toward self-directed learning showed that there was a need of detailed guidelines for self-directed learning. Most agreed that it was a very effective learning method for a RN student, and the self-directed learning method Increases motives for learning. 4. The students' anticipatory effect after graduation were ‘self-achievement’, ‘development of professional skills’, and ‘admission to post-graduate school or programs to study abroad’. 5. The students were very satisfied with the quality of faculty members, and satisfied with the quality of lectures and teaching. However, students were unsatisfied with rented lecture rooms, and very unsatisfied with self-directed learning methods. 6. School nurses showed higher statistical significances in the need for teaching material and anticipatory effect after graduation than other RN students working in hospitals and public health agencies. Also, school nurses, public health nurses, and industry nurses showed higher statistical significances in motives of admission than RN students working in hospitals. Further more, staff nurses, school nurses, and industry nurses showed higher levels of satisfaction toward a RN-to-BSN programs than nurses in higher positions, such as administrators or directors of nursing. 7 City residents were more satisfied with RN-to-BSN programs than rural residents. Otherwise, the rural residents had higher motives for admission, a bigger need for teaching materials, and recognition of the disadvantages of RN-to-BSN programs than city residents. Finally, RN students who earned below a monthly income of ￦1,000,000 showed higher motivation for admission than those who earned more than ￦1,000,000.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.175-183
• /
• 2005

The two major isoflavones in soy, genistein and daidzein, are well known to prevent hormone-dependent cancers by their anti estrogenic activity. The exact molecular mechanisms for the protective action are, however, not provided yet. It has been reported that genistein and daidzein have a potential anticancer activity through their antiproliferative effect in many hormone-dependent cancer cell lines. Transforming growth $factor-\beta1(TGF-\beta1)$ has also been found to have cell growth inhibitory effect, especially in mammary epithelial cells. This knowledge led to a hypothetical mechanism that the soy isoflavones-induced growth inhibitory effect can be derived from the regulation of $TGF-\beta1$ and $TGF-\beta$ receptors. In order to test this hypothesis, the effects of the soy isoflavones at various concentrations and periods on the expression of $TGF-\beta1$and $TGF-\beta$ receptors were investigated by using Northern blot analysis in human breast carcinoma epithelial cell lines, an estrogen receptor positive cell line (MCF-7) and an estrogen receptor negative cell line (MDA-MB-231). As a result, only genistein has shown a profound dose-dependent effect on $TGF-\beta1$ expression in the $ER^+$ cell line within the range of doses tested, and the expression levels are correspondent to their inhibitory activities of cell growth. Moreover, daidzein showed down-regulated $TGF-\beta1$ expression at a low dose, the cell growth proliferation was promoted at the same condition. Therefore, antiproliferative activity of the soy isoflavones can be mediated by $TGF-\beta1$ expression, and the effects are mainly, if not all, occurred by ER dependent pathway. The expression of $TGF-\beta$ receptors was induced at a lower dose than the one for $TGF-{\beta}1$ induction regardless of the presence of ER, and the expression patterns are similar to those of the cell growth inhibition. These results indicated that the regulation of $TGF-\beta$ receptor expression as well, prior to $TGF-\beta1$ expression, may be involved in the antiproliferative activity of soy isoflavones. Little or no expression of $TGF-\beta$ receptors was found in the MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, suggesting refractory properties of the cells to growth inhibitory effect of the $TGF-\beta$. The soy isoflavones can seemingly restore the sensitivity of growth inhibitory responses to $TGF-\beta1$ by re-inducing $TGF-\beta$ receptors expression. In conclusions, our findings presented in this study show that the antitumorigenic activity of the soy isoflavones could be mediated by not only $TGF-\beta1$induction but $TGF-\beta$ receptor restoration. Thus, soy isoflavones could be good model molecules to develop new nonsteroidal antiestrogenic chemopreventive agents, associated with, regulation of $TGF-\beta$ and its receptors.