• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.223-234
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• 2000

Objective - To evaluate the usefulness of chromium in erythrocytes as a biological marker of exposure to hexavalent chromium in chromate producers and chrome platers Methods - Blood and urine samples were ramdomly obtained from chromate producers (n=34) and chrome platers (n=35), and non-exposed workers (n=75), chromium level in erythrocytes and plasma, and urine were measured. Different chromium exposure workers were assessed through measurements of airborne hexavalent chromium concentrations using a personal air sampler. Linear associations between variables were evaluated with correlation analysis. Results - The chromate producers had mean chromium levels in erythrocytes five fold as higher than the chrome platers, and fifteen fold higher than non-exposed group. Among the chromium exposed workers, airborne hexavalent chromium was positively and strongly correlated with in erythrocytes (r=0.689, p<0.01), and erythrocytes chromium was inversely correlated with hematocrit (r=-0.441, p<0.01), hemoglobin (r=-0.465, p<0.01) and the number of red blood cells (r=-0.28, p<0.05). Conclusions - In conclusion, this study suggests that chromium in erythrocytes is a good indicator of the chromium body burden caused by exposure to hexavalent chromium.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.109-117
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• 2010

Objectives : The aim of this study was to investigate the different of yangdorak diagnosis between low back pain patients and medical checkup group. Methods : We analyzed the measurement value of yangdorak on 103 patients with low back pain and 103 medical checkup persons in Korean males from March 1st, 2007 to September 30th, 2008 by using yangdorak(MEDIRA, Neomyth Co., Korea). Results : 1. In comparing results on the yangdorak general mean, low back pain group is statistically significant in comparison with medical checkup group(p<0.001). 2. In comparing results on each meridian yangdorak value, they were statistically significant between two groups(p<0.001). 3. In comparing result on the distance of yangdorak value from the mean, they were statistically significant between two groups at the Bladder-meridian(p<0.05), but not at the Kidney-meridian. Conclusions : This results suggest that yangdorak may be used for a method to objective clinical examination. But further studies are required for a use of practical indicator.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.656-666
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop visions of nursing service, nursing strategies and key performance indicators (KPIs) for an intensive care unit (ICU) based on a Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Methods: This study was undertaken by using methodological research. The development process consisted of four phases; the first phase was to develop the vision of nursing in ICUs. The second phase was to develop strategies according to 4 perspectives of a BSC. The third phase was to develop KPIs according to the 4 perspectives of BSC and the final phase was to combine the nursing visions, strategies and KPIs of ICUs. Results: Two main visions of nursing service for ICUs were established. These were 'realization of harmonized professional nursing with human respect' and 'recovery of health through specialized nursing' respectively. In order to reach the aim of developing nursing visions, thirteen practical strategies and nineteen KPIs were developed by four perspectives of the BSC. Conclusion: The results will be used as objective fundamental data to attain business outcomes for the achievement of nursing visions and strategies of ICUs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.301-304
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• 2012

Objective: To explore the associations of serum tumor associated material (TAM) with other common tumor markers like carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), carbohydrate antigen19-9 (CA19-9) and its clinical application in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Methods: A total of 87 patients were enrolled into this study, all with histologically or cytologically confirmed NSCLC. With the method of chemical colorimetry, the level of TAM was determined and compared, while chemiluminescence was used to measure the levels of common tumor markers. Results: The level of TAM decreased after chemotherapy compared with before chemotherapy when CT or MRI scans showed disease control. Furthermore, it increased when disease progessed and there was no statistically significant difference in monitoring of TAM and common tumor markers (P>0.05). Conclusions: Detecting TAM in NSCLC patients has a higher sensitivity and specificity, so it can be used as an indicator for clinical monitoring of lung cancer chemotherapy.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.242-252
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• 2008

The objective of this study was to suggest a new efficiency measurement indicator for evaluating the menu management efficiency of decision making units(DMUs) in contract-foodservice operations and to determine the relationship between the DEA(data envelopment analysis) menu efficiency score and menu factors. The results of applying DEA revealed relatively efficient types of service and frequency of meals. The efficient service was shown as a self-service type that operates Monday to Saturday. The considered menu factors included meal price, food cost per meal, meal counts, number of menu items, use of favorite menu use, forecasting error, accuracy of ordering, ratio of inventory, ratio of food loss, use of processed foods and use of prepared vegetables are considered. There were significant correlations between the DEA score and meal price, meal counts, number of menu items, ratio of food loss, accuracy of ordering and use of processed foods respectively. According to the regression results, menu price had a positive influence on the DEA menu efficiency score, and food cost per meal and the use of prepared foods had negative influences respectively.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.48-55
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• 2001

Objective : The main cause of back pain & sciatica is HNP of L-spine. Recently, 8 Constitution Acupuncture is largely used for it, but the effects isn't announced. So we studied. The perceived pain diminishment is compared with Body acupuncture and 8 Constitution acupuncture. Methods : VAS(Visual analogue scale) was used for this research, with the pain indicator of 10 and 0 which represents a patient admission to a hospital and a status of no pain respectively. Two groups, consisting of Body acupuncture group with 17 persons and 8 Constitution acupuncture group with 12 persons, was randomly allocated for this research. SPSS(Statistical Program for Social Science) for window is used for a statistical analysis, and the independent T-test is performed to gauge the improvement of VAS, in which case, value of P below 0.05 is considered as useful. Results : The result of the VAS of comparison analysis between two groups after 10 days, shows that the improvement of subjective symptoms in Body acupuncture group is more effective than that in 8 Constitution acupuncture group. (independent T-test, P=0.009)

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.65-73
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• 2004

Objective: This study was designed to compared the effect of general acupuncture on degenerative arthritis of knee joint with 8 constitution acupuncture by Visual Analogue Scale(VAS). Methods: VAS was used for this research, with the pain indicator of 10 and 0 which represents a pain of first visit and a status of no pain respectively. Two groups, consisting of 40 patients, was randomly allocated for this research. SPSS(Statistic Program for Social Science) 10.0 for window was used for a statistical analysis. Independent T-test and Mann Whitney U test was performed to evaluate the improvement of each group by the treatment number and to compare that of two groups. Results: As a result of the comparison analysis between two groups after 20th treatment, the improvement of subjective symptoms in 8 constitution acupuncture group was shown more effective than that in general acupuncture group, while, After 10th treatment, there was no significant difference between two groups in VAS. Conclusion: It is suggested that the effect of 8 constitution acupuncture should be significantly different from that of general acupuncture on degenerative arthritis of knee joint. Further study is needed to confirm the effectiveness of 8 constitution acupuncture.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2013

Background: The objective of this study was to explore patient family's evaluation of emergency department (ED) service satisfaction and to compare these with ED staff perception of patient family's evaluation. Methods: Based on two surveys of the National Emergency Medical Center: the 2008 National Survey for Recognition and Satisfaction towards Emergency Medical Services and the 2008 Opinion Survey of Emergency Medical Service Providers, satisfaction gaps among physicians, nurses, and patient family were evaluated by Kruskal-Wallis tests and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests. Furthermore, the factors associated with satisfaction of emergency medical service were identified by ordinal logistic regression models. Results: There were statistically significant gaps among physicians, nurses, and patient family in overall satisfaction with ED visit, length of stay in ED, enough explanation, physicians/nurses kindness, and ED facilities. Age and income in the patient family model, the number of beds in hospital, job satisfaction and year of service in the physicians model, and the number of beds in hospital, job satisfaction and the number of patients per duty hour in the nurses model were statistically significant factors associated with evaluation/ perception of ED service satisfaction. Conclusion: Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality of care and service delivery in the ED. To improve and understand satisfaction in ED service, a dyadic view of the evaluation of service quality and satisfaction-that is, from the perspectives of both the patient and the emergency medical service providers-should be concerned.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.118-124
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• 1995

Background: Clinical indicators are objective measures of process or outcome of patient care in quantitative terms. This study aims to review the medical records of patients who 'return to operating room during the same admission', which is one of the critical clinical outcomes, and describe the result by unplanned reoperation rate. Methods: Computerized patient registry was used for selecting subject conditions. For medical records retrieved, two nurse evaluators identified the presence of explicit reoperation planning in medical records. Results: Overall reoperation rate was 2.8% and unplanned reoperation rate 1.3%. The main category of reoperation cause was the postoperative bleeding. Duration of stay from previous operation to reoperation of the unplanned group, 12.7 days, was shorter than that of the planned(p< .05). The differences did not reach statistical significance in age, sex and length of stay. Conclusion: Results suggested that unplanned reoperation rate was lower than 'threshold' level other institutions had established. However, this result could become comparable only after management of medical records would be improved and risk adjusted.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2013

The objective of this paper is to develop on-line system parameter estimation and damage detection technique from the response measurements through using the Recursive Covariance-Driven Stochastic Subspace identification (RSSI-COV) approach. To reduce the effect of noise on the results of identification, discussion on the pre-processing of data using recursive singular spectrum analysis (rSSA) is presented to remove the noise contaminant measurements so as to enhance the stability of data analysis. Through the application of rSSA-SSI-COV to the vibration measurement of bridge during scouring experiment, the ability of the proposed algorithm was proved to be robust to the noise perturbations and offers a very good online tracking capability. The accuracy and robustness offered by rSSA-SSI-COV provides a key to obtain the evidence of imminent bridge settlement and a very stable modal frequency tracking which makes it possible for early warning. The peak values of the identified $1^{st}$ mode shape slope ratio has shown to be a good indicator for damage location, meanwhile, the drastic movements of the peak of $2^{nd}$ mode slope ratio could be used as another feature to indicate imminent pier settlement.