• Health Policy and Management
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.205-215
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• 2022

Background: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors infecting the medical care utilization from a new perspective by newly classifying the categories of administrative districts using the urban decline index and medical vulnerability index as indicators. Methods: This study targeted 150,940 people who used medical services using the 2015 cohort database (DB), 2010-2015 urban regeneration analysis index DB, and 2014-2015 public health and medical statistics DB. The decline of the region was classified using the urban decline index typed using k-means clustering and the medical vulnerability index typed using the quantile score calculation. Regression analysis was performed 3 times with medical expenditure, length of stay, and the number of outpatient visits as dependent variables. Results: There were 37 stable region (47.4%), 29 health vulnerable region (37.2%), and 12 decline region (15.4%). The health vulnerable region had lower medical expenditure, fewer outpatient visits, and a higher length of stay than the stable region. The decline region was all higher than the stable region but had no significant effect. Conclusion: The factors that cause the health disparity between regions are not only factors related to individual health behavior but also environmental factors of the local community. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic alternative that properly considers the resources within the community and reflects the characteristics of the population.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.385-392
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to identify the degree of medical inequality in medical vulnerable areas, especially in the southwestern islands, and to prepare improvements. As a research method, 14 pieces were analyzed by systematic literature review with keywords such as 'medical vulnerability', 'medical inequality', and 'island area', and a focus group or in-depth interview (FGI) was conducted on 9 medical personnel in the public medical delivery system to identify the current status and demand. As a result of the study, medical inequality in the southwest region, especially in island areas, was confirmed, and the lack of professional manpower and administrative support system were confirmed through FGI. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that realistic measures should be prepared to increase the efficiency of public health care as well as active administrative support to improve the vulnerability of island areas.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.962-966
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• 2020

Monitoring the mutation dynamics of human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical in understanding its infectivity, virulence and pathogenicity for development of a vaccine. In an "age of mobility," the pandemic highlights the importance and vulnerability of regionalization and labor market interdependence in Southeast Asia. We intend to characterize the genetic variability of viral populations within the region to provide preliminary information for regional surveillance in the future. By analyzing 142 complete genomes from South East Asian (SEA) countries, we identified three central variants distinguished by nucleotide and amino acid changes.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2023

Background: Despite the various activities of the regional public hospitals, discussions are being made as to whether or not to continue due to the issue of financial deficit. Therefore, the main factors affecting the fiscal deficit were analyzed with 10-year data. Methods: This study is a panel analysis that analyzed the characteristics of 34 regional public hospitals and influencing factors on medical benefits for 10 years from 2010 to 2019. First, we analyze the determinants of medically vulnerable areas set by the government, analyze the trend of medical profit per 100 beds and medical profit rate from 2010 to 2019, and identify the factors that affect them. Results: Differences in medical profit per 100 beds and medical profit-to-medical profit rate were caused by market share representing regional characteristics, and both indicators improved as the number of outpatients increased. The important influencing variables are the number of doctors and nurses, and both indicators improve when there are specialists, but medical benefits decrease as the number of doctors increases when judged by the number of people per 100 beds. In addition, the number of nurses per 100 beds does not contribute to medical profit and has a negative effect on the medical profit ratio. Conclusion: As only regional characteristics were taken into account for medically vulnerable areas, operational characteristics need to be considered. The greatest impact on the finances of local medical centers is the proper staffing of doctors and nurses, and their efficient arrangement is the most important factor in financial stability.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.140-145
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• 2012

Objectives : ST8SIA2 (ST8 alpha-N-acetyl-neuraminide alpha-2, 8-sialyltransferase 2 gene) is located at 15q26, a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia. Some previous research had indicated that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the promoter region of ST8SIA2 were associated with schizophrenia in Japanese and Chinese populations. We investigated the association between SNPs in the promoter region of ST8SIA2 and schizophrenia in the Korean population. Methods : The study subjects were 190 Korean patients with schizophrenia and 190 healthy controls. We performed allelic, genotypic, and haplotypic association analyses for rs3759916, rs3759915 and rs3759914 of ST8SIA2. All genotypes were determined by direct sequencing. Results : In the genotype-based analysis, rs3759914 showed a nominally significant association with schizophrenia under recessive genotypic model (p = 0.047). However, this association did not remain statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. Both allelic and haplotype analyses did not show any significant association. Conclusions : These findings suggest that ST8SIA2 does not play a major role in the susceptibility to schizophrenia in the Korean population. Further studies with a larger number of subjects are required to definitively rule out minor effects of this gene on schizophrenia vulnerability.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.4
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• pp.446-453
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• 2020

By applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) method, we calculated the weight of factors related to the selection of check dam sites and generated basic data related to the selection of the target site. As a result of the AHP classification, three evaluation items(Susceptibility, Vulnerability, and Constructability), 12 evaluation factors (Susceptibility 10, Vulnerability, and Constructability 1), and two-six evaluation criteria in each evaluation factor were selected. After calculating the relative importance by using the selected evaluation items, evaluation factors, and criteria, the vulnerability items such as medical facilities, facilities for the aged, educational facilities, and private homes were found to be higher than the other items. When the relative weight for deciding qualified sites was applied to the forest watersheds in the Gangwon region, 8,601 forest watersheds(35.2 % of the total forest watersheds) were found to be suitable for the installation of check dams.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.261-270
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• 2013

Objectives: This study investigated the socio-demographic characteristics and medical causes of death among meteorological disaster casualties and compared them with deaths from all causes. Methods: Based on the death data provided by the National Statistical Office from 2000 to 2011, the authors analyzed the gender, age, and region of 709 casualties whose external causes were recorded as natural events (X330-X389). Exact matching was applied to compare between deaths from meteorological disasters and all deaths. Results: The total number of deaths for last 12 years was 2 728 505. After exact matching, 642 casualties of meteorological disasters were matched to 6815 all-cause deaths, which were defined as general deaths. The mean age of the meteorological disaster casualties was 51.56, which was lower than that of the general deaths by 17.02 (p<0.001). As for the gender ratio, 62.34% of the meteorological event casualties were male. While 54.09% of the matched all-cause deaths occurred at a medical institution, only 7.6% of casualties from meteorological events did. As for occupation, the rate of those working in agriculture, forestry, and fishery jobs was twice as high in the casualties from meteorological disasters as that in the general deaths (p<0.001). Meteorological disaster-related injuries like drowning were more prevalent in the casualties of meteorological events (57.48%). The rate of amputation and crushing injury in deaths from meteorological disasters was three times as high as in the general deaths Conclusions: The new information gained on the particular characteristics contributing to casualties from meteorological events will be useful for developing prevention policies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.147-155
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to identify vulnerable area of emergency medical care. In the existing method, the emergency medical vulnerable area is set as an area that can not reach the emergency room within 30 minutes. In this study, we set up an area that can not reach within 30 minutes including the accessibility of 119 emergency center. To accomplish this, we obtained information on emergency room and 119 emergency center through Open API and constructed road network using digital map to perform accessibility analysis. As a result, 509 emergency room are located nationwide, 78.0% of them are concentrated in the region, 1,820 emergency center are located, and 61.0% of them are located in rural areas. The average access time from the center of the village to the emergency room was analyzed as 15.3 minutes, and the average access time considering the 119 emergency center was 21.8 minutes, 6.5 minutes more. As a result of considering the accessibility of 119 emergency center, vulnerable areas increased by 2.5 times, vulnerable population increased by 2.0 times, and calculating emergency medical care vulnerable areas, which account for more than 30% of the urban unit population, it was analyzed that it increased from 17 to 34 cities As a further study, it will be necessary to continuously monitor and research the real-time traffic information, medical personnel, medical field, and ambulance information to reflect the reality and to diagnose emergency medical care in the future.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.89-115
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• 2012

Objective : Blood disease is common these days due to modern man's excessiveness in Yang heat (陽熱) and vulnerability of the Eum blood(陰血). This exposes them to warmheat/ dampness-heat diseases, where pathogenic heat easily penetrates the blood dimension(血分) creating stagnated blood(瘀血). Consequently, pathogenic symptoms in the collateral vessels increase, making it crucial to understand the pathogenic mechanism of the disease. Method : This paper examines the condition and region of the collateral vessel diseases(CVD) according to the blood diseases of Onbyeong, by analyzing each prescription's matching symptom. The disease in question in this paper is 'stagnated blood fixated in the collateral vessels'. Therefore diseases with stagnated blood in the Yang collaterals and Viscera collaterals or viscera themselves from the chapter of "On-Yeok-Ron(溫疫論)", and < Dry Blood-DaeWhangJaChungWhan(大黃蟅蟲丸) > chapter of "Geum-Gue-Yo-Rak(金匱要略)", were examined respectively. Result & Conclusion : The process of CVD according to the blood diseases of Onbyeong can be summarized as follows. First, bleeding in the Yang and Bowel collaterals, then stagnation in the Yang and Bowel collaterals, and finally stagnation in the viscera collaterals or Liver itself. The refractory nature of blood stagnation symptoms of the collateral vessels is mainly due to the characteristics of the collateral vessel itself. In structure, they are very narrow and small, situated at the most terminal part of the body where it is difficult for the Jeong Gi(精氣) to reach. Also, as they are symptomatic of degeneration of Jeong Gi, the root of the disease is very deep. Therefore to resolve blood stagnation in the cases of Ju-Gaek-Gyo and Dry Blood, general approaches using 'Gi communication(行氣)' or 'Blood vitalizing(活血)' medicinals will not suffice. Special medicinals such as crustacean and insects need to be appropriately applied.