• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.684-692
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• 2016

Acute respiratory virus infectious diseases are a growing health problem, particularly among children and the elderly. Much effort has been made to develop probiotics that prevent influenza virus infections by enhancing innate immunity in the respiratory tract until vaccines are available. Lactobacillus plantarum GB-LP2, isolated from a traditional Korean fermented vegetable, has exhibited preventive effects on influenza virus infection in mice. To identify the molecular basis of this strain, we conducted a whole-genome assembly study. The single circular DNA chromosome of 3,284,304 bp was completely assembled and 3,250 protein-encoding genes were predicted. Evolutionarily accelerated genes related to the phenotypic trait of anti-infective activities for influenza virus were identified. These genes encode three integral membrane proteins, a teichoic acid export ATP-binding protein and a glucosamine - fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase involved in host innate immunity, the nonspecific DNA-binding protein Dps, which protects bacteria from oxidative damage, and the response regulator of the three-component quorum-sensing regulatory system, which is related to the capacity of adhesion to the surface of the respiratory tract and competition with pathogens. This is the first study to identify the genetic backgrounds of the antiviral activity in L. plantarum strains. These findings provide insight into the anti-infective activities of L. plantarum and the development of preventive probiotics.

• Korean Journal of Cleft Lip And Palate
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.69-89
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze the basic conditions of dental health of cleft lip and palate patients at early mixed dentition (7-year-old, experimental group A) and early permanent dentition period (12,13-year old, experimental group B) and compare them with those of normal children. The sample was consisted of 25 patients at the age of 7 years, 15 at the age of 12 years and 5 at the age of 13 years. Two trained dentists examined orthopantomographs and clinical photos at the first visit of each patient and distinguished the states by teeth and dental surface and filled them on the prescribed forms. DMF rate, DMF index, FT rate, mean number of permanent teeth with fissure sealants, DMFS index and mean percentage of caries experienced maxillary anterior 6 teeth by tooth type are calculated and compared to those of other studies examined normal children. Oral hygiene of experimental groups is poorer than control groups'. Preventive and treatment rate of experimental groups' are lower than control groups'. More concem and effort are needed about prevention and treatment of dental caries of cleft lip and palate patients.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.68-86
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• 1994

In order to provide data of effective health education for practice of preventive health behavior for visual acuity care. The authors investgated the actual acuity and health behavior for visual acuity care. The subjects of this study were 2250 students in high school. The data were collected by questionnaire developed for the purpose of this study which has been made through references and student's health record. The results were as follows, 1) As students move up to grade, the number of students with decreased visual acuity had a tendency to increase. In cases with decreased visual acuity below 0.2 in one or both eye, the number of cases was increased in accordance with moving up to grade, especially visual acuity of right eye was more decreased than that of left eye. 2) As to proportion of the group with decreased visual acuity among the total students, among 2250 students, students with decreased visual acuity was 35.6%(800 students). According to school type, in academic school, frequency of students with decreased visual acuity in day school was higher then that in night school. In commercial school, the frequency of students who had decreased visual acuity in night school were higher than that of students in day school. 3) As to variables influencing the decreased visual activity, there was a significant different between groups with normal visual acuity and groups with subnormal in terms of awareness of visual acuity by themself, parent's visual acuity, unbalanced eating habit, distance from television, or books, posture in watching television, posture in reading, awareness of illumination in classroom. 4) As to practice of protective and preventive health behavior for visual acuity care, In group with normal visual acuity. There was good practice such as proper eating habit, proper studying habit, and health habit in its descending order, but proper illumination and regular eye test were practiced poorly. In group with subnormal visual acuity, one of the vest practice in visual acuity care was an effort to prevent eye strain. Other good practice involve tasking regular eye test, maintaining proper studing habit, in its descending order.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.95-111
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the information searching behavior of consumer by type of medical institution. A questionnaire survey was conducted of 1,507 persons who were selected through a multi-stage stratified area cluster sampling in nationwide level, excluding Jeju-Do. Personal survey was conducted through door-to door survey from 27 July to 10 August 1999. The main results of this research was as following; 1. The proportion of information searching of respondents ranged from 91.5-95.2%. Even though the proportion of user in university hospital was slightly high, there was not significant statistically by type of medical institution. In terms of information source, personal informer was most common information source in all type of medical institution. Public informers were more frequently used in university hospital visitors and professional informer in general and university hospital visitors. 2. Comparing to searching intensity, user informer and professional informer's influences were more powerful, but not statistically significant. In analysis of unit influence for information source, written informer or public informer was more powerful in clinic visitor, professional informer and written informer in university hospital visitor. 3. Information which consumer want to know mostly were about on special potential and career of physician. The clinic visitor wanted to know about institutional location and kindness of medical personnel. The university hospital visitor also wanted to know about facilities and convenience of process. Comparing to institution selection criteria of consumers at 1991, quality related criteria were recognized more importantly in outpatient and dental services. But in case of inpatient services, convenience factor was recognized more importantly. In conclusion, the effort for specific marketing plan by type of medical institution should be needed. And more concern on information searching behavior of consumer will be needed.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.205-233
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• 1999

This study is an effort to make policy suggestions by analysing the current health examination program as a benefit service provided by the national health insurance system, including health screening for the insured, screening of cancer and chronic diseases for their dependents. Analyses found some issues being gave attention to; 1) The insured under the community health insurance system do not get the health examination benefit. A program for them should be set to have equity in benefit services. 2) Low rates of using screen services compromise purpose and the efficiency the services have first intended to. An immediate attention should be made to increase low rate of use of screen test to detect chronic diseases in particular. 3) Selection of diseases and test items covered by health examination program does not reflect the need of the insured, but to reflect financial resources of the national health insurance system. 4) Lack of health screening facilities and their geographical maldistribution is observed, which with preference of a general hospital as a screening post by the insured may lead to unreliable test. 5) A follow-up system should have been developed for the suspected classified by test results of carrying chronic diseases. They should be cared for within the health examination program. Public health care systems incorporate such a system, along with caring for those who are in need of having a health counselling on preventive care. In conclusion, the national health insurance system should be a medical insurance of giving a higher priority on preventive care benefits, health examination program in particular. That could be done by making rearrangements of test items, screening methods and system, rationalizing current reimbursement system of service fee, increasing accessibility to and utilization of the services, and making an establishment of follow-up system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.334-341
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• 2016

Objectives: This study is aimed at examining radon exposure in offices and the factors that can influence the concentrations. Methods: Indoor radon concentrations in a total of 30 places were measured from January 18 to 21, 2016, targeting six buildings in Seoul with different completion years. The measurement was conducted according to the radon measurement guidelines for indoor air suggested by the Ministry of Environment. Results: As a result of comparing each average concentration, underground area concentration was $42.850{\pm}22.501Bq/m^3$, and that of the ground floors was $27.850{\pm}12.232Bq/m^3$, which was lower than the concentration in the underground areas and statistically significant (p=0.045). As a result of comparing the concentration according to whether or not outside air entered, the average concentration for ventilated areas was $24.876{\pm}11.833Bq/m^3$, and the average concentration for enclosed areas was $47.892{\pm}19.375Bq/m^3$. The concentration in ventilated areas was lower at a statistically significant level (p=0.001). Finally, as a result of the multiple regression analysis for evaluating the factors influencing radon concentration, only ventilation was significant (p=0.007). Conclusions: As a result of measuring radon in office buildings, there was no place that exceeding the recommended standard of the US EPA, but the concentration in poorly ventilated areas was measured to be high. An effort to manage radon concentration and reduce it through the improvement of ventilation systems, repeated measurement is necessary in the future.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2013

Objectives : The aim of this research is to produce information by gathering up the data on the interaction between medicinal herbs which lie scattered in oriental medical books, and to provide people with easy access to the information by visualizing it. Methods : For this purpose, this study established the fundamental data by organizing the patterns of interaction into some kinds after selecting a part of Bonchogangmok(本草綱目) and extracting its text. In addition, in an effort to visualize the data, the study converted the data into 'net' file and visualized the interaction between medicinal herbs on Pajek. The visualization was done targeting a total of three patterns, such as 1 medicinal herb, 2 medicinal herbs, and 1 prescription. With the data on 'Chinese Lacquer(乾漆)' for 1 medicinal herb, data on 'Licorice(甘草)' and 'Chinese Lacquer(乾漆)' for 2 medicinal herbs, and data on 'Iijin-tang(二陳湯)' for prescription, the research conducted the analysis of the network using 'Kamada-Kawaii Algorithm' on Pajek. Results : As a result of the analysis, it was possible to see the meanings at a single glance as the scattered and fractional meanings were integrated with focus on medicinal herbs, but the increasing number of analyzed medicinal herbs tended to more and more complicate their relationships, thus, requiring additional work like filtering. Conclusions : Such results are fairly applicable in on-line database, and it is judged that if further research expands its scope to include systematic classification of medicinal herbs or cover other medical books than Bonchogangmok, it will create more objective, abundant information.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.62-71
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• 2015

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate North Korean refugees' knowledge of mental illnesses and treatments and analyze the factors affecting this knowledge. Methods: Subjects were selected via a snowball sampling method, and the survey outcomes of 152 North Korean refugee participants were analyzed. The factors affecting knowledge of mental illnesses were analyzed via a regression analysis by constructing a multivariate model with mental illness knowledge score as the dependent variable. Results: The North Korean refugees' mental illness scores ranged from 3 to 24 points, with an average score of 13.0. Regarding the factors that influence mental illness knowledge, the subjects with South Korean spouses and those who had spent more time in South Korea had higher knowledge scores. Furthermore, the subjects who considered the mental health of North Korean refugees to be a serious issue revealed lower knowledge scores than those who did not believe it was a serious issue. The subjects who visit psychiatric clinics showed higher knowledge scores than those who do not. The South Korean subjects who had at least a college education exhibited higher scores than did those without advanced education. The subjects who are satisfied with life in South Korea manifested a higher mental illness knowledge score than those who are not. Conclusions: This study is significant as being the first study to ever measure and evaluate the level of North Korean refugees' knowledge of mental illnesses. In addition, the evaluations of North Korean refugees' mental illness knowledge and influencing factors while residing in South Korea created basic data that formed the foundation of an effort to enhance mental health literacy and provide proper mental health services. The results of this study can be utilized to solve mental health problems that might frequently occur during the unification process of North and South Korea in the future.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.243-250
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• 2009

Objectives : The purposes of this study is to estimate the cost of cancer care after its diagnosis and to identify factors that can influence the cost of cancer care. Methods : The study subjects were patients with an initial diagnosis one of four selected tumors and had their first two-years of cancer care at a national cancer center. The data were obtained from medical records and patient surveys. We classified cancer care costs into medical and nonmedical costs, and each cost was analyzed for burden type, medical service, and cancer stage according to cancer types. Factors affecting cancer care costs for the initial phase included demographic variables, socioeconomic status and clinical variables. Results : Cancer care costs for the initial year following diagnosis were higher than the costs for the following successive year after diagnosis. Lung cancer (25,648,000 won) had higher costs than the other three cancer types. Of the total costs, patent burden was more than 50% and medical costs accounted for more than 60%. Inpatient costs accounted for more than 60% of the medical costs for stomach and liver cancer in the initial phase. Care for latestage cancer was more expensive than care for early-stage cancer. Nonmedical costs were estimated to be between 4,500,000 to 6,000,000 won with expenses for the caregiver being the highest. The factors affecting cancer care costs were treatment type and cancer stage. Conclusions : The cancer care costs after diagnosis are substantial and vary by cancer site, cancer stage and treatment type. It is useful for policy makers and researchers to identify tumor-specific medical and nonmedical costs. The effort to reduce cancer costs and early detection for cancer can reduce the burden to society and improve quality of life for the cancer patients.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.397-403
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• 2007

Objectives: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome has recently increased, Payments from the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation for compensation for mortality in workers caused by cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have also increased in Korea in recent years. The association of metabolic syndrome and cardiocerebrovascular disease has been investigated by several researchers in recent studies, This study was conducted in an attempt to characterize the relationship between metabolic syndrome and Korean cardiocerebrovascular disease risk assessment, and to provide basic data to group health practices for the prevention of cardiocerebrovascular disease. Methods: Health examinations were previously conducted for 1526 male researchers at a private laboratory. The prevalence by age and the odds ratio of metabolic syndrome scores into the "cardiocerebrovascular risk group" (sum of low, intermediate, and high risk groups) of the Korean cardiocerebrovascular disease risk assessment were assessed, in an effort to elucidate the associations between metabolic syndrome and cardiocere brovascular disease risk assessment. Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and inclusion in the cardiocerebrovascular risk group was 11,7% and 22.1% respectively. The severity of metabolic syndrome and cardiocerebrovascular risk assessment showed that individuals in their 40's and 50's were at higher risk than those in their 30's (p<0,001). The age-adjusted odds ratio of metabolic syndrome to cardiocere brovascular risk group inclusion was 5.6. Conclusions: An active prevention program for cardiocerebrovascular disease needs to begin in the 40's, as the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and the risk group of cardiocerebrovascular risk assessment peak in the 40's age group. The odds ratio between metabolic syndrome and the cardiocerebrovascular risk group was high, which indicates that metabolic syndrome scores should be utilized as guidelines during the consultation and behavioral modification program for the workplace prevention of cardiocerebrovascular diseases in group health practices.