• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2022

Despite the beneficial aspect of fish consumption, bioaccumulation of toxic metals such as arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg) can enhance the health risk for the consumers. Arsenic and Hg concentrations were measured in edible tissue and two targeted organs, namely gill and liver of longtail tuna species (Thunnus tonggol) from Terengganu waters, including Kuala Besut, Kuala Terengganu, Dungun and Kemaman. The concentration of As and Hg were analysed by using inductively coupled plasma- mass spectrometry. The mean concentrations of both elements were significantly different (p < 0.05) among the locations and targeted organs. The hierarchy of As and Hg mean concentrations in muscle samples were Dungun > Kuala Besut > Kemaman > Kuala Terengganu. The mean concentration of As in all samples, including muscle, exceeded the permitted level set by Malaysia Food Act. Estimate Weekly Intake (EWI) was conducted to assess the health risk effect, and 63 kg was used as the average body weight of Malaysian adults. However, the EWI values show that the weekly intake of As and Hg does not exceed the provisional tolerable weekly intake limit suggested by Food and Agricultural Organization for the United Nations and is considered safe to be consumed.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.48.1-48.6
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• 2019

Over the last decade, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have provided an unprecedented amount of genetic variations that are associated with various phenotypes. However, previous GWAS were mostly conducted in European populations, and these biased results for non-Europeans may result in a significant reduction in risk prediction for non-Europeans. An issue with the early GWAS was the winner's curse problem, which led to misleading results when constructing the polygenic risk scores (PRS). Therefore, more non-European population-based studies are needed to validate reported variants and improve genetic risk assessment across diverse populations. In this study, we validated 422 variants independently associated with glycemic indexes, liver enzymes, and type 2 diabetes in 125,872 samples from a Korean population, and further validated the results by assessing publicly available summary statistics from European GWAS (n = 898,130). Among the 422 independently associated variants, 284, 320, and 361 variants were replicated in Koreans, Europeans, and either one of the two populations. In addition, the effect sizes for Koreans and Europeans were moderately correlated (r = 0.33-0.68). However, 61 variants were not replicated in both Koreans and Europeans. Our findings provide valuable information on effect sizes and statistical significance, which is essential to improve the assessment of disease risk using PRS analysis.

• KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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• v.3 no.9
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• pp.301-310
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• 2014

The absence of proactive information security management to ensure availability, accessibility and safety of information can bring serious risks to customers as well as to the organization's performance and competitiveness because improper security management undermines business continuity. This study analyzed the maturity of information security which affects the organizational performance. Through the literature reviews, a research model using the organizational performance as the dependent variable, the risk management process maturity and risk assessment process as independent variables and the information security policy indexes as moderate variables was proposed, and an empirical analysis was made on the basis of survey. The results showed that there was a high causal relationship between information security maturity and organizational performance. However, even if the proportions of information security staff ratio and the information security budget ratio increased, information security maturity did not affect organizational performance. It suggests that information security maturity affects organizational performance, but information security regulations have their limitation as being a catalyst to improve organizational performance.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.431-442
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• 2020

Background: Psychosocial risks are increasingly a type of risk analyzed in organizations beyond chemical, physical, and biological risks. To this type of risk, a greater attention has been given following the update of ISO 9001: 2015, more precisely the requirement 7.1.4 for the process operation environment. The update of this normative reference was intended to approximate OHSAS 18001: 2007 reference updated in 2018 with the publication of ISO 45001. Thus, the organizations are increasingly committed to achieving and demonstrating good occupational health and safety performance. Methods: The aim of this study was to characterize the psychosocial risks in a cryopreservation laboratory and to develop a predictive model for psychosocial risk management. The methodology followed to collect the information was the inquiry by questionnaire that was applied to a sample comprising 200 employees. Results: The results show that most of the respondents are aware of the psychosocial risks, identifying interpersonal relationships and emotional feelings as the main factors that lead to this type of risks. Furthermore, terms such as lack of resources, working hours, lab equipment, stress, and precariousness show strong correlation with psychosocial risks. The model presented in this study, based on artificial neural networks, exhibited good performance in the prediction of the psychosocial risks. Conclusion: This work presents the development of an intelligent system that allows identifying the weaknesses of the organization and contributing to the enhancement of the psychosocial risks management.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.783-786
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• 2015

Background: Utilizing geriatric screening tools for the identification of vulnerable older patients with cancer is important. The aim of this study is to evaluate the hospitalization risk of elderly hematologic cancer patients based on geriatric assessment and laboratory parameters. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study 61 patients with hematologic malignancies, age 65 years and older, were assessed at a hematology outpatient clinic. Standard geriatric screening tests; activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), timed up and go test (TUG), geriatrics depression scale (GDS) were administered. Demographic and medical data were obtained from patient medical records. The number of hospitalizations in the following six months was then recorded to allow analysis of associations with geriatric assessment tools and laboratory parameters. Results: The median age of the patients, 37 being males, was 66 years. Positive TUG test and declined ADL was found as significant risk factors for hospitalization (p=0.028 and p=0.015 respectively). Correlations of hospitalization with thrombocytopenia, vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency were statistically significant (p=0.004, p=0.011 and p=0.05 respectively). Conclusions: In this study, geriatric conditions which are usually unrecognized in a regular oncology office visit were identified. Our study indicates TUG and ADL might be use as predictive tests for hospitalization in elderly oncology populations. Also thrombocytopenia, and vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiencies are among the risk factors for hospitalization. The importance of vitamin B12 and folic acid vitamin replacement should not be underestimated in this population.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.109-117
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• 2008

Application of biomarkers for assessing marine environmental health risk is a relatively new field. According to the National Research Council and the World Health Organization, biomarkers can be divided into three classes: biomarkers of exposure, biomarkers of effect, and biomarkers of susceptibility. In order to assess exposure to or effect of the environmental pollutants on marine ecosystem, the following set of biomarkers can be examined: detoxification, oxidative stress, biotransformation products, stress responses, apoptosis, physiological metabolisms, neuromuscular responses, reproductions, steroid hormones, antioxidants, genetic modifications. Since early 1990s, several biomarker research groups have developed health indices of marine organisms to be used for assessing the state of the marine environment. Biomarker indices can be used to interpret data obtained from monitoring biological effects. In this review, we will summarize Health assessment Index, Biomarker Index, Bioeffect Assessment Index and Generalized Linear Model. Measurements of biomarker responses and development of biomarker index in marine organisms from contaminated sites offer great a lot of information, which can be used in environmental monitoring programs, designed for various aspects of ecosystem risk assessment.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2013

Normal-karyotype acute myeloid leukemia (NK-AML) is a highly malignant and cytogenetically heterogeneous hematologic cancer. We searched for somatic mutations from 10 pairs of tumor and normal cells by using a highly efficient and reliable analysis workflow for whole-exome sequencing data and performed association tests between the NK-AML and somatic mutations. We identified 21 nonsynonymous single nucleotide variants (SNVs) located in a coding region of 18 genes. Among them, the SNVs of three leukemia-related genes (MUC4, CNTNAP2, and GNAS) reported in previous studies were replicated in this study. We conducted stepwise genetic risk score (GRS) models composed of the NK-AML susceptible variants and evaluated the prediction accuracy of each GRS model by computing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The GRS model that was composed of five SNVs (rs75156964, rs56213454, rs6604516, rs10888338, and rs2443878) showed 100% prediction accuracy, and the combined effect of the three reported genes was validated in the current study (AUC, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.92 to 1.00). Further study with large sample sizes is warranted to validate the combined effect of these somatic point mutations, and the discovery of novel markers may provide an opportunity to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for NK-AML.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.308-315
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• 2023

Recent updates in genomic-integrated glioma classification have caused confusion in current clinical practice, as management protocols and health insurance systems are based on evidence from previous diagnostic classifications. The Korean Brain Tumor Society conducted an electronic questionnaire for society members, asking for their ideas on risk group categorization and preferred treatment for each individual diagnosis listed in the new World Health Organization (WHO) classification of gliomas. Additionally, the current off-label drug use (OLDU) protocols for glioma management approved by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) in Korea were investigated. A total of 24 responses were collected from 20 major institutes in Korea. A consensus was reached on the dichotomic definition of risk groups for glioma prognosis, using age, performance status, and extent of resection. In selecting management protocols, there was general consistency in decisions according to the WHO grade and the risk group, regardless of the individual diagnosis. As of December 2022, there were 22 OLDU protocols available for the management of gliomas in Korea. The consensus and available options described in this report will be temporarily helpful until there is an accumulation of evidence for effective management under the new classification system for gliomas.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.125-130
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• 2014

Background: Construction industry is among the most hazardous industries, and needs a comprehensive and simple-to-administer tool to continuously assess and promote its health and safety performance. Methods: Through the study of various standard systems (mainly Health, Safety, and Environment Management System; Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 180001; and British Standard, occupational health and safety management systems-Guide 8800), seven main elements were determined for the desired framework, and then, by reviewing literature, factors affecting these main elements were determined. The relative importance of each element and its related factors was calculated at organizational and project levels. The provided framework was then implemented in three construction companies, and results were compared together. Results: The results of the study show that the relative importance of the main elements and their related factors differ between organizational and project levels: leadership and commitment are the most important elements at the organization level, whereas risk assessment and management are most important at the project level. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the framework is easy to administer, and by interpreting the results, the main factors leading to the present condition of companies can be determined.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.141-146
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• 2020

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) developed Doc 9995 "Manual of Evidence-based Training," with the intention of providing guidance by establishing a new methodology for the development and conduct of a recurrent training and assessment program. The airline pilot training regulations were largely based on the evidence of hull losses from early generation jets, and in order to mitigate a risk, simply repeating an event in a training program was sufficient. At the time, studies concluded that it was time to change the paradigm of training and assessment program for pilots. One airline alone implemented Evidence-Based Training (EBT) program in their flight crew training and assessment program while another airline partially implemented the EBT program. In the regulatory framework of MOLIT, specific EBT regulations have not been established yet. Therefore, it is recommended to develop rules and standards that comply with ICAO SARPs as soon as possible. In this study we review the key steps in the implementation of the baseline EBT, approval process of baseline EBT program, and policy options regarding the implementation of EBT. It will provide guidance to operators, Approved Training Organizations (ATO), and stakeholders.