• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2010.05b
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• pp.910-914
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• 2010

A collision between a barge and an oil tanker of Hebei Spirit caused the release of an estimated 12,547 tons of light crude oil into the Yellow Sea off the west coast of Taean-gun, Korea on December 7, 2007. This study was aimed to evaluate exposure conditions and acute health effects in soldiers participating in the Hebei Spirit oil spill cleanup activities and the association between these and the nature of the work and use of protection devices. The sample comprised 2,624 soldiers stratified by working area and number of working days. We divided working area into the coast of Taean-gun(highly polluted area) and other areas affected by Hebei Spirit oil spill. And we divided number of working days into 1-7 days, 8-14 days, 15-21 days and above 22 days. Data were obtained via a structured, self-administered questionnaire and included information on working area, type of working, number of working days, use of protective materials, and acute health effects. Acute health effects were classified into 5 groups: neurological, respiratory, dermatologic, ophthalmic and other symptoms. Data analysis was performed using unconditional logistic regression used to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. On logistic regression analysis, working on the coast of Taean-gun was significantly associated with increased risk of acute health problems: headache, dizziness, nausea, general fatigue, insomnia, flushed face, sore throat, dry throat, runny nose, cough, sputum, skin irritation, sore eyes, injection of conjunctiva, tear, and low back pain. Furthermore soldiers working more than 21 days were significantly associated with increased risk of acute health problems: insomnia, flushed face, sore throat, runny nose, cough, sputum, tear, low back pain and fever. Accordingly, the exposure to the oil and the subsequent cleanup efforts were suggested to inflict acute health problems on soldiers participating in the Hebei Spirit oil spill cleanup activities.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 2003

Although there is a wide range of diseases caused by gastric acid reflux and the number of cases is on the rise, it is difficult for the laryngologist to make the correct diagnosis. The treatment for laryngopharyngeal reflux can be grouped into 3 categories - changes in lifestyle, medication, and surgery. The medication used to treat laryngopharyngeal reflux are prokinetic agents and acid supressive agents such as antacids, H2 blockers, and PPIs(Proton pump inhibitor). Rabeprazole sodium($Pariet^{\circledR}$) is a newly developed agent belonging to the PPI group, but in contrast with the existing drugs such as omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole, has a low dependency on CYP2C19 during the metabolic cycle. Thus, it is known to have a quick but fixed antiacid effect and less individual differences. We analyzed 2166 patients from 32 hospitals who were prescribed $Pariet^{\circledR}$ from May, 2001 to April, 2002. The patients were divided into 4 groups according to the duration of treatment - Group 1: 1-14 days, Group 2: 15-28 days, group 3: 29-56 days, Group 4: more than 56 days. The cases were then analyzed for improvement of 8 symptoms(heart bum, regurgitation, chronic cough, hoarseness, globus sensation, chronic throat clearing, sore throat, and dysphagia), improvement on laryngoscope, usefulness to the doctor, and complication development. Of the total of 2116 patients, 1627(75.1%) cases showed at least 50% improvement of symptoms and the amount of improvement increased according to the duration of medical treatment. Most of the patients showed objective improvement on the laryngoscope, with 32.9% showing significant improvement and 38.7% showing moderate improvement. 37.6% of the doctors questioned replied that $Pariet^{\circledR}$ was very useful and 50.3% said it was useful, showing that most were satisfied with the treatment results. The complications known to develop after taking PPI are headache, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, dizziness, fatigue, and of these, only a small percentage of the patients complained of mild headache. $Pariet^{\circledR}$ has shown to be a relatively safe and effective drug for the treatment of laryngopharyngeal reflux.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.81-86
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• 2004

Objective: This study was designed to investigate clinical features of chronic urticaria and assess Korean traditional medical therapy on that. Methods: The ratio of male and female, duration of symptoms, personal history and family history of allergic diseases, serum IgE level, and suspected causes and provocation factors were investigated in 41 patients with chronic urticaria. And frequency of wheals, duration of wheals, number of wheals, itch severity, and antihistamine counts of 6-point(0-5) score was assessed in 26 patients. The change of total scores between baseline and follow up were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test(p〈0.05). Results: 1. The ratio of male and female was 1:1.28 and the mean duration of symptoms was 26.0 months. 2. The frequency of personal history and family history of allergic diseases was each 53.7$\%$ and 48.8$\%$ and 30.6$\%$ had over 200 IU／mL serum IgE level. 3. The suspected causes were none(43.9$\%$), foods(29.3$\%$), drugs(9.8$\%$) and stress(7.3$\%$). 4. The suspected provocation factors were foods(39.0$\%$), none(19.5$\%$), fatigue(17.0$\%$), heat and sweating(l4.6$\%$), pressure(12.2$\%$) and stress(9.8). 5. The total scores between baseline and follow up of 26 patients was lowered from 14.85${\pm}$3.80 to 7.65${\pm}$4.31 and it was significant statistically. Conclusions: Korean traditional medical therapy was proved to be effective on the chronic urticaria and we need to consider foods as important factor in both treatment and patient education of urticaria.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

This research is based on self-filling survey which 656 dental hygienists who work in, seoul, the metropolitan area, jeon-buk area participated on July 2006 through August 2006. This survey was analyzed the relationship between the subjective symptoms(6 types) and outdoor air quality($O_3,\;NO_2,\;CO,\;SO_2,\;PM_{10}$) As follows analyzed results. The health condition of dental hygienists were "Feel Good" more than 50% in last month. The experience the symptoms level is higher then non-experience level in "Dry eye, itch, smarting", "Headaches", "Fatigue and sleepiness", "Red eye", "Hypersensitivity", "Dorsalgia, omarthralgia, cervicodynia". We anticipated that the more experience the subjective symptom the more likely it is that outdoor air quality will be high rate level. But we could not find the uniformity in metropolitan-area and seoul-area. In the case of jeonbuk area, the group's pollution density levels which experienced the subjective symptom were appeared high rate than inexperienced group except $SO_2$. It probably comes from sensibility for an air pollution in this area. Dental hygienists who work in jeonbuk area have an unusual sensibility for an air pollution because outdoor air quality of jeonbuk area was rule good rather than others area. especially $SO_2$ was revealed out even though low rate level in inexperienced group it is that the number of cars in jeonbuk area is increasing rapidly.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2006

Neurofeedback, also known as EEG biofeedback or neurotherapy, is a new therapy differentiated from biofeedback in that brain waves are monitored to study brain itself as well as its functions. Needless to say, it has originated from biofeedback, however it has established itself as an independent and specialized therapy in the field of neurotherapy. In order to have a better understanding of neurofeedback we are going to have a look into its historical and theoretical background first and then we will explain how it can be used clinically. Neurofeedback was clinically introduced for epilepsy for the first time and its effect was proved. Since then it has been used successfully for a number of psychiatric disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD), anxiety, anxiety and mood disorder, sleep disorder, substance dependency, etc. Furthermore, it has been used for non-psychiatric or psychosomatic symptoms, such as headache, chronic pains, chronic fatigue symptoms, etc. Recently, it has been also used for non-medical areas, such as improvement of peak performance for sports and art activities, enhancement of cognitive function, etc, making the neurofeedback a very promising field for its potential and effectiveness.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.262-276
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• 1997

The purposes of this study are 1) to modify a self-help program for patients having fibromyalgia, 2) to revise instruments to measure the self-efficacy and impact of fibromyalgia; and 3) to test the effects of the program in terms of self-efficacy, physical activities, and clinical symptoms. The subjects of this study were persons diagnosed as fibromyalgia at a university hospital. For the first two purposes, six patients were selected. Twenty three subjects for the third purpose were selected and assigned to experimental and control group on the base of their residence. Thirteen were assigned to the experimental group, while 10 to the control group. Instruments selected for revision were self-efficacy scale and fibromyalgia impact profile. On the basis of the text developed by Arthritis Foundation, a program for patients with fibromyalgia was tentatively developed. Instruments for measurement of self-efficacy and impact of fibromyalgia were revised to show high reliabilities. Results obtained by utilization of the program were as follows : 1) There were no increase of self-efficacy and physical activities. 2) There were no improvement of the number of tender points and pain. 3) There were improvement of depression, fatigue and sleep impairment. These findings indicate the needs for modification of the program with emphasis of exercise for relaxation of tender points, increases of enactive action and vicarious learning.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.205-211
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• 1982

This survey was conducted to find out demage done to the farmers by Agrochemicals in a rural area of Korea from January to October, 1980. Choon Sung Gun, Kang Won Province was the survey area and the 412 males were surveyed among all those that have sprayed agrochemicals during 10 Months in 1980. Obtained results and findings from this survey are summarized as follows; 1. The total spray days of 413 males were 3,114 days and avarage spray days per person were 7.54 days. Also avarage spray hours per person were 4.7 hours. 2. The incidence rate per 100 persons of self-recognized skin manifestation was 12.6 persons and incidence rate per spray day was 2.7 percent. The incidence rate per 100 persons of self-recognized intoxication was 23.0 persons and incidence rate per spray day was 3.6 percent. 3. In cases where mask was not used, when it was syrayed in hot weather, when stronger solution was used, the results were higher percentage in self-recognized intoxication (P<0.01). 4. The symptoms of self-recognized intoxication were headache (55.8%), dizziness (46.9%), nausea (17.7%), fatigue (17.0%), and vomiting (17.0%), 5. Number of intoxication per 100 used standardized unit by agrochemicals was parathion (93.8 spells), sumithion (91.8 spells) and folithion (66.7 spells). 6. Treatment was done by health facility utilization (27 cases), visits to drug store (13 cases) and visits to health center (7 cases).

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.80-87
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was aimed to analyze the contents and trend of published research in oncology nursing during the past five years in Korea and to suggest the direction for future research. Methods: Using the key words "cancer", "cancer patients", and "tumor", 391 nursing research published from 2003 to 2008 were selected for the analysis. Results: 1) Three hundred fifty-five (90.8%) of the studies used quantitative research approach, whereas most studies were descriptive in nature. 2) The main subjects of the study were cancer patients with mixed diagnosis (36.4%) and breast cancer patients (20.0%). 3) Complementary alternative therapy (28.9%), educational program (25.6%), and psycho-social and spiritual program (16.7%) were the most frequently used nursing interventions. Most frequently measured outcome variables were psycho, socio, and spiritual factors (38.8%), symptoms (28.2%) and physiological factors (14.6%). 4) Most frequently used key words were identified as quality of life, fatigue, coping, pain, anxiety, anorexia, and depression. Conclusion: The number of published research in oncology nursing in Korea has been increased. It is suggested to conduct international studies to develop, compare, and replicate nursing interventions for patients with cancer in future. Increasing funding, establishing research infrastructure, and removing methodological challenges are warranted for better research environment.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.33-39
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of continuing work on VDT(video display terminal). Therefore, we examined visual fatigue by a questionnaire and measured frequency of blinking, tear film break-up time(BUT), height of palpebral fissure, visual acuity, refraction with retinoscopy and accommodation before and after two hour long VDT work. For the ocular symptoms, the greatest number was tired eyes accounting for 34%. In the visual symptoms, blurred vision was the highest rate of 83% and in case of systemic symptoms, shoulder pain was 38% marked top ranking but other symptoms were also distributed similar rate. The frequency of blinking during VDT work decreased significantly comparing with the one at rest. The average frequency of blinking is 8/min during VDT work and 22/min at rest. The BUT measured immediately after VDT work decreased much more than in the resting state. The average BUT was 7sec immediately after VDT work and 12sec at rest. The height of palpebral fissure during VDT work increased significantly comparing with the value at rest. The average height of palpebral fissure was 7.69mm at rest and 9.04mm during VDT work. The average visual acuity decreased almost 9.5% from 0.63 to 0.57, but refraction with retinoscopy increased about 0.28D to the direction of myopic shift. The amplitude of accommodation decreased approximately 1.49D from 7.98D to 6.49D and this resulted from the prolongation of near point of accommodation. Near point of convergence also was prolongated from 9.45cm to 10.30cm after VDT work.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.155-173
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of self-help programs which had been conducted at each health center of Seoul using the protocol developed by Korean Rheumatology Health Professionals Society(KRHPS). This program was developed to initially increase self-efficacy, and then to decrease the symptoms and finally to increase the functions of the patients. This study was designed as one group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires for 140 out of 303 program participants, and only 102 subjects were analyzed because of missing values. The subjects were composed of 25.5% of rheumatoid arthritis patients and 60.8% of degenerative arthritis patients. The results showed that arthritis self-help program was effective in increasing self-efficacy and then improving pain, fatigue, depression, and activities of daily living. But the number of pain sites was not decreased. This result explains that degenerative arthritis patients composed of more than half of the participants has less number of pain sites than rheumatoid arthritis, and their pain was not completely relieved. As a result, it was confirmed that arthritis patients' physical and psychological states can be improved by self-help program in the community. These findings emphasize the implication of this program for each institute to promote health of arthritis patients.