• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.14-21
• /
• 2007

Bone is a common site for metastatic spread from many kinds of malignancies. The morbidity associated with this metastatic spread can be significant, including severe pain. When it comes to spinal metastasis, occupying nearly 40% of skeletal metastases, the risks of complications, such as vertebral body collapse, nerve root impingement, or spinal cord compression, are also significant. Because of the necessity of preserving the integrity of the spinal column and the proximity of critical structures, surgical treatment has limitations when durable local control is desired. Radiotherapy, therefore, is often used as an adjunct treatment or as a sole treatment. A considerable limitation of standard radiotherapy is the reported recurrence rate or ineffective palliation of pain, either clinically or symptomatically. This may be due to limited radiation doses to tumor itself because of the proximity of critical structures. CyberKnife is an image-guided robotic radiosurgical system. The image guidance system includes a kilovoltage X-ray imaging source and amorphous silica detectors. The radiation delivery device is a mobile X-band linear accelerator (6 MV) mounted on a robotic arm. Highly conformal fields and hypofractionated radiotherapy schedules are increasingly being used as a means to achieve biologic dose escalation for body tumors. Therefore, we can give much higher doses to the targeted tumor volume with minimizing doses to the surrounding critical structures, resulting in more effective local control and less severe side effects, compared to conventional fractionated radiotherapy. A description of this technology and a review of clinical applications to bone metastases are detailed herein.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.97-104
• /
• 2014

Postharvest diseases cause considerable losses to harvested fruits and vegetables worldwide. Fresh produce suspected of harboring postharvest disease must be treated to control any pathogens present. Although there are various treatments to control postharvest losses by pathogens, the current community is eager to take safer and more eco-friendly alternatives to help with human health and reduce environmental risks. Ionizing irradiation is a promising phytosanitary treatment that has a significant potential to control postharvest diseases in use worldwide. Although almost 19000 metric tons of sweet potatoes and various fruits are irradiated each year in six countries to control postharvest disease, irradiation continues to be a debate, with slow acceptance by industries. Irradiation alone is not effective as a fungicide, and an over dose affects the physical properties of irradiated products. A combination of irradiation with other treatments such as heating, biocontrol agents, chlorination, and nano Ag particles is to enhance their effectiveness. Challenges to the use of phytosanitary irradiation are an avoidance of irradiated postharvest and cost of the irradiation facilities, and thus consumers still need to be educated on the principles and benefits of irradiation and prepare an optimum economy of scale for commercial use. In this review, we evaluated the current phytosanitary irradiation, and combination with various other treatments to minimize the postharvest losses.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.5
• /
• pp.1705-1716
• /
• 2021

Bangladesh, as a newcomer country, is expecting to start her nuclear power journey by 2022. Due to evident reasons, newcomer nuclear countries face several key challenges concerning the development of national nuclear safety infrastructure. The paper investigates the status of the 7 key safety infrastructure issues out of the 19 and readiness of the supportive organizations, laboratories, and workforces following the International Atomic energy Agency's status evaluation guide at milestone 3 and foreign countries' practice. Much progress has been achieved at phase 3 regarding the establishments of a few Acts, a regulator, and an operator. However, comprehensive regulatory frameworks, skilled workforces, establishments of a few supportive organizations, and laboratories for managing environmental radioactivity, radiological accidents, and radioactive wastes are yet to ready. Several suggestions are made for establishing and expediting radiation monitoring laboratories, a radiological emergency management center, a radioactive waste management company, and technical support organizations for the safety infrastructure. To avoid perceived risks, policymakers and competent authorities need to emphasize creating an optimized safety infrastructure before commissioning and operating the 1^st nuclear power plant safely, securely, and cost-sustainably.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.357-366
• /
• 2009

The principal objective of this study was to evaluate the association between plasma antioxidant levels and metabolic syndrome in male workers, and to provide basic information regarding the control and prevention of metabolic syndrome. We analyzed 163 male workers who had participated in annual medical examinations from January to December 2007. The subjects were classified into normal and metabolic syndrome groups according to the NCEP-ATP III criteria and the Asia-Pacific criteria for waist circumference. Anthropometric parameters, lifestyles, blood lipid profiles, and antioxidant levels were evaluated. As compared to the normal group, the metabolic syndrome group evidenced significantly higher plasma levels of $\alpha$- tocopherol(p<0.05) and retinol(p<0.05), but significantly lower plasma levels of lycopene(p<0.05) and $\beta$-carotene(p<0.05). This tendency was found to be predominantly attributable to increases in the number of metabolic syndrome components. In our simple regression analysis, higher plasma levels of $\alpha$-tocopherol($\beta$=0.001, p<0.01) and retinol($\beta$=0.021, p<0.001) were associated with significantly higher risks of metabolic syndrome, but lycopene($\beta$=-1.499, p<0.01) and $\beta$-carotene($\beta$=-0.048, p<0.01) were associated with significantly lower risks of metabolic syndrome. Retinol($\beta$=0.013, p<0.05) and $\beta$-carotene($beta$=-0.044, p<0.01) were associated significantly with metabolic syndrome, when adjusted for age and BMI. These data indicate that the plasma levels of $\alpha$-tocopherol, retinol, lycopene, and $\beta$-carotene are associated with metabolic syndrome. Specifically, low lycopene and $\beta$-carotene levels in the plasma appear to increase the risk of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, proper nutritional education programs for male workers are required to increase dietary intakes of antioxidant vitamins. Further studies will be necessary to determine whether antioxidant levels can be utilized as a predictive or a preventive factor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.745-753
• /
• 2018

As the radiation is used in various fields, the number of radiation workers is on the increase and there has been an increasa in interest in the radiation worker's safety. In South Korea, it is focusing on securing safety of workers through KISOE system and owner's report. In advance study, We determined that in assessing the risks of securing safety for workers and businesses, the assessment of other items as well as exposure doses would be effective and develops the Radial Scale Analysis Model. So, data from the actual radiographic testing companies were applied to the radial scale analysis model to determine the risks of the actual companies. And, we selected 4 companies to confirm the applicability. Risk assessments of all 56 companies were conducted and improvements and inspections were anticipated for each company's problems. The results of the study are expected to be utilized by radiographic testing companies and regulatory for self-assessment and regulation criteria.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.51 no.1
• /
• pp.325-336
• /
• 2019

The activity concentrations of $^{226}Ra$, $^{232}Th$, and $^{40}K$ from 102 building materials samples were determined using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The activity concentrations were evaluated for possible radiological hazards to the human health. The excess lifetime cancer risks (ELCR) were also estimated, and the average values were recorded as $0.42{\pm}0.24{\times}10^{-3}$, $3.22{\pm}1.83{\times}10^{-3}$, and $3.65{\pm}1.85{\times}10^{-3}$ for outdoor, indoor, and total ELCR respectively. The activity concentrations were further subjected to RESRAD-BUILD computer code to evaluate the long-term radiation exposure to a dweller. The indoor doses were assessed from zero up to 70 years. The simulation results were $92{\pm}59$, $689{\pm}566$, and $782{\pm}569{\mu}Sv\;y^{-1}$ for indoor external, internal, and total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) respectively. The results reported were all below the recommended maximum values. Therefore, the radiological hazards attributed to building materials under study are negligible.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.230-239
• /
• 2014

This study is to promote awareness to be exposed to radiation with identifying knowledge, attitudes and behavior for radiation safety management of the operating room nurse and dental hygienist. And the following results were obtained through questionnaire survey to deduct the education to prevent potential risks in advance and implication to be useful on education program. First, based on the level of knowledge for radiation safety management, 10.57 for dental hygienists, 9.55 for the nurse out of 15 points (p<0.001); based on the level of attitudes for radiation safety management, 4.64 for dental hygienists, 4.67 for the nurse out of 5 points (p<0.001); and based on the level of behavior for radiation safety management, 3.27 for dental hygienists, 2.93 for the nurse out of 5 points (p<0.001). Second, the result for checking the relation with knowledge, attitudes and behavior for radiation safety management, the knowledge of radiation safety management has correlation with attitudes and behavior for radiation safety management statistically (p<0.001).

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.71 no.1
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2011

Background: Pulmonary emphysema (PE) is major cause of obstructive pulmonary function impairment (OPFI), which is diagnosed by spirometry. PE by high resolution CT is known to be correlated with OPFI. Recently, low dose CT (LDCT) has been increasingly used for screening interstitial lung diseases including PE. The aim of this study was to evaluate OPFI risks of subjects with PE detected by LDCT compared with those detected by simple digital radiography (SDR). Methods: LDCT and spirometry were administered to 266 inorganic dust exposed retired workers, from May 30, 2007 to August 31, 2008. This study was approved by our institutional review board and informed consent was obtained. OPFI risk was defined as less than 0.7 of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC), and relative risk (RR) of OPFI of PE was calculated by multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: Of the 266 subjects, PE was found in 28 subjects (10.5%) by LDCT and in 11 subjects (4.1%) by SDR; agreement was relatively low (kappa value=0.32, p<0.001). FEV1 and FEV1/FVC were significantly different between PE and no PE groups determined by either SDR or LDCT. The differences between groups were larger when the groups were divided by the findings of SDR. When PE was present in either LDCT or SDR assays, the RRs of OPFI were 2.34 and 8.65, respectively. Conclusion: LDCT showed significantly higher sensitivity than SDR for detecting PE, especially low grade PE, in which pulmonary function is not affected. As a result, the OPFI risks in the PE group by LDCT was lower than that in the PE group by SDR.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.187-196
• /
• 2004

The health effects resulting from severe accidents of typical 1,000MWe KSNP(Korea Standard Nuclear Plant) PWR and typical 600MWe CANDU(CANada Deuterium Uranium) plants were estimated and compared. The population distribution of the site extending to 80km for both site were considered. The releaese fraction for various source term categories(STC) and core inventories were used in the estimation of the health effects risks by using the MACCS2(MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System2) code. Individuals are assumed to evacuate beyond 16km from the site. The health effects considered in this comparative study are early and cancer fatality risk, and the results are presented as CCDF(Complementary Cumulative Distribution Function) curves considering the occurrence probability of each STC's. According to the results, the early and cancer fatality risks of PHWR plants we lower than those of PWR plants. This is attributed the fact that the amount of radioactive mateials that released to the atmosphere resulting from the postulated severe accidents of PHWR plants are smaller than that of PWR plants. And, the dominating initiating event of STC that shows maximum early and cancer fatality risk is SGTR(Steam Generator Tube Rupture) for both plants. Therefore, the appropriated actions must be taken to reduce the occurrence probability and the amounts of radioactive materials released to the environment in order to protect the public for both PWR and PHWR plants.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.15-29
• /
• 2016

Research background: Despite the visible growth in radiation usage and nuclear power development, the analysis of their relationship with fundamental rights, a subject of public concern regarding issues including the right to health, environmental rights, safety rights, the right to know, the right to development, and the right to life, is currently non-existent. Methods: By examining various fundamental rights in the context of positive laws regarding radiation and nuclear power in an idealistic perspective that guarantees the maximum degree of rights, this paper aims to propose legislative supplements that will lead to improvements in quality of life. Result and discussion: In the South Korean Constitution, radiation and nuclear power is a subject incorporating several rights, including at least 12 clauses that are directly related to fundamental rights; these constitutional rights are manifested in the various clauses of the 14 positive laws regarding radiation and nuclear power. The question on the relative importance of each fundamental right as reflected in these positive laws- whether the right to life should be prioritized or considered equal in weight to the right to health, environmental rights, the right to know, and safety rights- requires careful deliberation and is difficult to humanly resolve in the short term. Conclusion: Making policy that expands the usage of radiation and nuclear power while simultaneously preventing their associated risks is an important task for the Republic of Korea, and a proper value judgment is necessary to find a balance in its associated rights.