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Determinants of Consumer Preference by type of Accommodation: Two Step Cluster Analysis (이단계 군집분석에 의한 농촌관광 편의시설 유형별 소비자 선호 결정요인)

  • Park, Duk-Byeong;Yoon, Yoo-Shik;Lee, Min-Soo
    • Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.1-19
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    • 2007
  • 1. Purpose Rural tourism is made by individuals with different characteristics, needs and wants. It is important to have information on the characteristics and preferences of the consumers of the different types of existing rural accommodation. The stud aims to identify the determinants of consumer preference by type of accommodations. 2. Methodology 2.1 Sample Data were collected from 1000 people by telephone survey with three-stage stratified random sampling in seven metropolitan areas in Korea. Respondents were chosen by sampling internal on telephone book published in 2006. We surveyed from four to ten-thirty 0'clock afternoon so as to systematic sampling considering respondents' life cycle. 2.2 Two-step cluster Analysis Our study is accomplished through the use of a two-step cluster method to classify the accommodation in a reduced number of groups, so that each group constitutes a type. This method had been suggested as appropriate in clustering large data sets with mixed attributes. The method is based on a distance measure that enables data with both continuous and categorical attributes to be clustered. This is derived from a probabilistic model in which the distance between two clusters in equivalent to the decrease in log-likelihood function as a result of merging. 2.3 Multinomial Logit Analysis The estimation of a Multionmial Logit model determines the characteristics of tourist who is most likely to opt for each type of accommodation. The Multinomial Logit model constitutes an appropriate framework to explore and explain choice process where the choice set consists of more than two alternatives. Due to its ease and quick estimation of parameters, the Multinomial Logit model has been used for many empirical studies of choice in tourism. 3. Findings The auto-clustering algorithm indicated that a five-cluster solution was the best model, because it minimized the BIC value and the change in them between adjacent numbers of clusters. The accommodation establishments can be classified into five types: Traditional House, Typical Farmhouse, Farmstay house for group Tour, Log Cabin for Family, and Log Cabin for Individuals. Group 1 (Traditional House) includes mainly the large accommodation establishments, i.e. those with ondoll style room providing meals and one shower room on family tourist, of original construction style house. Group 2 (Typical Farmhouse) encompasses accommodation establishments of Ondoll rooms and each bathroom providing meals. It includes, in other words, the tourist accommodations Known as "rural houses." Group 3 (Farmstay House for Group) has accommodation establishments of Ondoll rooms not providing meals and self cooking facilities, large room size over five persons. Group 4 (Log Cabin for Family) includes mainly the popular accommodation establishments, i.e. those with Ondoll style room with on shower room on family tourist, of western styled log house. While the accommodations in this group are not defined as regards type of construction, the group does include all the original Korean style construction, Finally, group 5 (Log Cabin for Individuals)includes those accommodations that are bedroom western styled wooden house with each bathroom. First Multinomial Logit model is estimated including all the explicative variables considered and taking accommodation group 2 as base alternative. The results show that the variables and the estimated values of the parameters for the model giving the probability of each of the five different types of accommodation available in rural tourism village in Korea, according to the socio-economic and trip related characteristics of the individuals. An initial observation of the analysis reveals that none of variables income, the number of journey, distance, and residential style of house is explicative in the choice of rural accommodation. The age and accompany variables are significant for accommodation establishment of group 1. The education and rural residential experience variables are significant for accommodation establishment of groups 4 and 5. The expenditure and marital status variables are significant for accommodation establishment of group 4. The gender and occupation variable are significant for accommodation establishment of group 3. The loyalty variable is significant for accommodation establishment of groups 3 and 4. The study indicates that significant differences exist among the individuals who choose each type of accommodation at a destination. From this investigation is evident that several profiles of tourists can be attracted by a rural destination according to the types of existing accommodations at this destination. Besides, the tourist profiles may be used as the basis for investment policy and promotion for each type of accommodation, making use in each case of the variables that indicate a greater likelihood of influencing the tourist choice of accommodation.

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Identification of a New Potyvirus, Keunjorong mosaic virus in Cynanchum wilfordii and C. auriculatum (큰조롱과 넓은잎 큰조롱에서 신종 포티바이러스(큰조롱모자이크바이러스)의 동정)

  • Lee, Joo-Hee;Park, Seok-Jin;Nam, Moon;Kim, Min-Ja;Lee, Jae-Bong;Sohn, Hyoung-Rac;Choi, Hong-Soo;Kim, Jeong-Soo;Lee, Jun-Seong;Moon, Jae-Sun;Lee, Su-Heon
    • Research in Plant Disease
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    • v.16 no.3
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    • pp.238-246
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    • 2010
  • In 2006 fall, a preliminary survey of viruses in two important medicinal plants, Cynanchum wilfordii and C. auriculatum, was conducted on the experimental fields at the Agricultural Research and Extension Services of Chungbuk province in Korea. On each experimental fields, percentage of virus infection was ranged from 20 to 80%, and especially an average of disease incidence propagated by roots was twice higher than that by seeds. The various symptoms were observed in Cynanchum spp. plants, such as mosaic, mottle, necrosis, yellowing, chlorotic spot and malformation etc. In electron microscopic examination of crude sap extracts, filamentous rod particles with 390-730 nm were observed in most samples. The virus particles were purified from the leaves of C. wilfordii with typical mosaic symptom, and the viral RNA was extracted from this sample containing 430-845 nm long filamentous rod. To identify the viruses, reverse transcription followed by PCR with random primers was carried out. The putative sequences of P3 and coat protein of potyvirus were obtained. From a BLAST of the two sequences, they showed 26-38% and 62-72% identities to potyviruses, respectively. In SDS-PAGE analysis, the subunit of coat protein was approximately 30.3 kDa, close to the coat protein of potyvirus. In bioassay with 21 species in 7 families, Chenopodium quinoa showed local lesion on inoculated leave and chlorotic spot on upper leave, but the others were not infected. RT-PCR detection using specific primer of C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum samples, all of 24 samples with virus symptom was positive, and five out of seven samples without virus symptom were also positive. On the basis of these data, the virus could be considered as a new member of potyvirus. We suggested that the name of the virus was Keunjorong mosaic virus (KjMV) after the common Korean name of C. wilfordii.

Promoter Polymorphisms of ST3GAL4 and ST6GAL1 Genes and Associations with Risk of Premalignant and Malignant Lesions of the Cervix

  • de los Angeles Rivera-Juarez, Maria;Rosas-Murrieta, Nora Hilda;Mendieta-Carmona, Victoriano;Hernandez-Pacheco, Raquel Esneidy;Zamora-Ginez, Irma;Rodea-Avila, Carlos;Apresa-Garcia, Teresa;Garay-Villar, Onix;Aguilar-Lemarroy, Adriana;Jave-Suarez, Luis Felipe;Diaz-Orea, Maria Alicia;Milflores-Flores, Lorena;Reyes-Salinas, Juan Salvador;Ceja-Utrera, Francisco Javier;Vazquez-Zamora, Victor Javier;Vargas-Maldonado, Tomas;Reyes-Carmona, Sandra;Sosa-Jurado, Francisca;Santos-Lopez, Gerardo;Reyes-Leyva, Julio;Vallejo-Ruiz, Veronica
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.1181-1186
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    • 2014
  • Sialyltransferase gene expression is altered in several cancers, including examples in the cervix. Transcriptional regulation of the responsible genes depends on different promoters. We aimed to determine the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the B3 promoter of the ST3GAL4 gene and the P1 promoter of the ST6GAL1 gene with cervical premalignant lesions or cervical cancer. A blood sample and/or cervical scrapes were obtained from 104 women with normal cytology, 154 with premalignant lesions and 100 with cervical cancer. We also included 119 blood samples of random donors. The polymorphisms were identified by sequencing from PCR products. For the B3 promoter, a fragment of 506 bp (from nucleotide -408 to +98) was analyzed, and for the P1 promoter a 490 bp (-326 to +164) fragment. The polymorphism analysis showed that at SNP rs10893506, genotypes CC and CT of the ST3GAL4 B3 promoter were associated with the presence of premalignant lesions (OR=2.89; 95%CI 1.72-4.85) and cervical cancer (OR=2.23; 95%CI 1.27-3.91). We detected only one allele of each polymorphism in the ST6GAL1 P1 promoter. We did not detect any genetic variability in the P1 promoter region in our study population. Our results suggest that the rs10893506 polymorphism -22C/T may increase susceptibility to premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix.

Sleep Duration and Cancer Risk: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prospective Studies

  • Zhao, Hao;Yin, Jie-Yun;Yang, Wan-Shui;Qin, Qin;Li, Ting-Ting;Shi, Yun;Deng, Qin;Wei, Sheng;Liu, Li;Wang, Xin;Nie, Shao-Fa
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.14 no.12
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    • pp.7509-7515
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    • 2013
  • To assess the risk of cancers associated with sleep duration using meta-analysis of published cohort studies, we performed a comprehensive search using PubMed, Embase and Web of Science through October 2013. We combined hazard ratios (HRs) from individual studies using meta-analysis approaches. A random effect dose-response analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between sleep duration and cancer risk. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were also performed. Publication bias was evaluated using Funnel plots and Begg's test. A total of 13 cohorts from 12 studies were included in this meta-analysis, which included 723, 337 participants with 15, 156 reported cancer outcomes during a follow-up period ranging from 7.5 to 22 years. The pooled adjusted HRs were 1.06 (95% CI: 0.92, 1.23; P for heterogeneity =0.003) for short sleep duration, 0.91 (95% CI: 0.78, 1.07; P for heterogeneity <0.0001) for long sleep duration. In subgroup analyses stratified by cancer type, long duration of sleep showed an inverse relation with hormone-related cancer (HR=0.79; 95% CI: 0.65, 0.97; P for heterogeneity =0.009) and a greater risk of colorectal cancer (HR=1.29; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.52; P for heterogeneity =0.346). Further meta-analysis on dose-response relationships showed that the relative risks of cancer were 1.00 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.01; P for linear trend=0.9151) for one hour of sleep increment per day, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.01; P for linear trend=0.7749) for one hour of sleep increment per night. No significant dose-response relationship between sleep duration and cancer was found on non-linearity testing (P=0.5053). Our meta-analysis suggests a positive association between long sleep duration and colorectal cancer, and an inverse association with incidence of hormone related cancers like those in the breast. Studies with larger sample size, longer follow-up times, more cancer types and detailed measure of sleep duration are warranted to confirm these results.

An Intelligent Intrusion Detection Model Based on Support Vector Machines and the Classification Threshold Optimization for Considering the Asymmetric Error Cost (비대칭 오류비용을 고려한 분류기준값 최적화와 SVM에 기반한 지능형 침입탐지모형)

  • Lee, Hyeon-Uk;Ahn, Hyun-Chul
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.157-173
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    • 2011
  • As the Internet use explodes recently, the malicious attacks and hacking for a system connected to network occur frequently. This means the fatal damage can be caused by these intrusions in the government agency, public office, and company operating various systems. For such reasons, there are growing interests and demand about the intrusion detection systems (IDS)-the security systems for detecting, identifying and responding to unauthorized or abnormal activities appropriately. The intrusion detection models that have been applied in conventional IDS are generally designed by modeling the experts' implicit knowledge on the network intrusions or the hackers' abnormal behaviors. These kinds of intrusion detection models perform well under the normal situations. However, they show poor performance when they meet a new or unknown pattern of the network attacks. For this reason, several recent studies try to adopt various artificial intelligence techniques, which can proactively respond to the unknown threats. Especially, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have popularly been applied in the prior studies because of its superior prediction accuracy. However, ANNs have some intrinsic limitations such as the risk of overfitting, the requirement of the large sample size, and the lack of understanding the prediction process (i.e. black box theory). As a result, the most recent studies on IDS have started to adopt support vector machine (SVM), the classification technique that is more stable and powerful compared to ANNs. SVM is known as a relatively high predictive power and generalization capability. Under this background, this study proposes a novel intelligent intrusion detection model that uses SVM as the classification model in order to improve the predictive ability of IDS. Also, our model is designed to consider the asymmetric error cost by optimizing the classification threshold. Generally, there are two common forms of errors in intrusion detection. The first error type is the False-Positive Error (FPE). In the case of FPE, the wrong judgment on it may result in the unnecessary fixation. The second error type is the False-Negative Error (FNE) that mainly misjudges the malware of the program as normal. Compared to FPE, FNE is more fatal. Thus, when considering total cost of misclassification in IDS, it is more reasonable to assign heavier weights on FNE rather than FPE. Therefore, we designed our proposed intrusion detection model to optimize the classification threshold in order to minimize the total misclassification cost. In this case, conventional SVM cannot be applied because it is designed to generate discrete output (i.e. a class). To resolve this problem, we used the revised SVM technique proposed by Platt(2000), which is able to generate the probability estimate. To validate the practical applicability of our model, we applied it to the real-world dataset for network intrusion detection. The experimental dataset was collected from the IDS sensor of an official institution in Korea from January to June 2010. We collected 15,000 log data in total, and selected 1,000 samples from them by using random sampling method. In addition, the SVM model was compared with the logistic regression (LOGIT), decision trees (DT), and ANN to confirm the superiority of the proposed model. LOGIT and DT was experimented using PASW Statistics v18.0, and ANN was experimented using Neuroshell 4.0. For SVM, LIBSVM v2.90-a freeware for training SVM classifier-was used. Empirical results showed that our proposed model based on SVM outperformed all the other comparative models in detecting network intrusions from the accuracy perspective. They also showed that our model reduced the total misclassification cost compared to the ANN-based intrusion detection model. As a result, it is expected that the intrusion detection model proposed in this paper would not only enhance the performance of IDS, but also lead to better management of FNE.

A Web-based 'Patterns of Care Study' System for Clinical Radiation Oncology in Korea: Development, Launching, and Characteristics (우리나라 임상방사선종양을 위한 웹 기반 PCS 시스템의 개발과 특성)

  • Kim, Il Han;Chie, Eui Kyu;Oh, Do Hoon;Suh Chang-Ok;Kim, Jong Hoon;Ahn, Yong Chan;Hur, Won-Joo;Chung, Woong Ki;Choi, Doo Ho;Lee, Jae Won
    • Radiation Oncology Journal
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    • v.21 no.4
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    • pp.291-298
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    • 2003
  • Purpose: We report upon a web-based system for Patterns of Care Study (PCS) devised for Korean radiation oncology. This PCS was designed to establish standard tools for clinical quality assurance, to determine basic parameters for radiation oncology processes, to offer a solid system for cooperative clinical studies and a useful standard database for comparisons with other national databases. Materials and Methods: The system consisted of a main server with two back-ups in other locations. The program uses a Linux operating system and a MySQL database. Cancers with high frequencies in radiotherapy departments in Korea from 1998 to 1999 were chosen to have a developmental priority. Results: The web-based clinical PCS .system for radiotherapy in www.pcs.re.kr was developed in early 2003 for cancers of the breast, rectum, esophagus, larynx and lung, and for brain metastasis. The total number of PCS study items exceeded one thousand. Our PCS system features user-friendliness, double entry checking, data security, encryption, hard disc mirroring, double back-up, and statistical analysis. Alphanumeric data can be input as well as image data. In addition, programs were constructed for IRB submission, random sampling of data, and departmental structure. Conclusion: For the first time in the field of PCS, we have developed a web-based system and associated working programs. With this system, we can gather sample data in a short period and thus save, cost, effort and time. Data audits should be peformed to validate input data. We propose that this system should be considered as a standard method for PCS or similar types of data collection systems.

A Study on groundwater and pollutant recharge in urban area: use of hydrochemical data

  • Lee, Ju-Hee;Kwon, Jang-Soon;Yun, Seong-Taek;Chae, Gi-Tak;Park, Seong-Sook
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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    • 2004.09a
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    • pp.119-120
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    • 2004
  • Urban groundwater has a unique hydrologic system because of the complex surface and subsurface infrastructures such as deep foundation of many high buildings, subway systems, and sewers and public water supply systems. It generally has been considered that increased surface impermeability reduces the amount of groundwater recharge. On the other hand, leaks from sewers and public water supply systems may generate the large amounts of recharges. All of these urban facilities also may change the groundwater quality by the recharge of a myriad of contaminants. This study was performed to determine the factors controlling the recharge of deep groundwater in an urban area, based on the hydrogeochemical characteristics. The term ‘contamination’ in this study means any kind of inflow of shallow groundwater regardless of clean or contaminated. For this study, urban groundwater samples were collected from a total of 310 preexisting wells with the depth over 100 m. Random sampling method was used to select the wells for this study. Major cations together with Si, Al, Fe, Pb, Hg and Mn were analyzed by ICP-AES, and Cl, N $O_3$, N $H_4$, F, Br, S $O_4$and P $O_4$ were analyzed by IC. There are two groups of groundwater, based on hydrochemical characteristics. The first group is distributed broadly from Ca-HC $O_3$ type to Ca-C1+N $O_3$ type; the other group is the Na+K-HC $O_3$ type. The latter group is considered to represent the baseline quality of deep groundwater in the study area. Using the major ions data for the Na+K-HC $O_3$ type water, we evaluated the extent of groundwater contamination, assuming that if subtract the baseline composition from acquired data for a specific water, the remaining concentrations may indicate the degree of contamination. The remainder of each solute for each sample was simply averaged. The results showed that both Ca and HC $O_3$ represent the typical solutes which are quite enriched in urban groundwater. In particular, the P$CO_2$ values calculated using PHREEQC (version 2.8) showed a correlation with the concentrations of maior inorganic components (Na, Mg, Ca, N $O_3$, S $O_4$, etc.). The p$CO_2$ values for the first group waters widely ranged between about 10$^{-3.0}$ atm to 10$^{-1.0}$ atm and differed from those of the background water samples belonging to the Na+K-HC $O_3$ type (<10$^{-3.5}$ atm). Considering that the p$CO_2$ of soil water (near 10$^{-1.5}$ atm), this indicates that inflow of shallow water is very significant in deep groundwaters in the study area. Furthermore, the P$CO_2$ values can be used as an effective parameter to estimate the relative recharge of shallow water and thus the contamination susceptibility. The results of our present study suggest that down to considerable depth, urban groundwater in crystalline aquifer may be considerably affected by the recharge of shallow water (and pollutants) from an adjacent area. We also suggest that for such evaluation, careful examination of systematically collected hydrochemical data is requisite as an effective tool, in addition to hydrologic and hydrogeologic interpretation.ion.ion.

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Reproducibility of Regional Pulse Wave Velocity in Healthy Subjects

  • Im Jae-Joong;Lee, Nak-Bum;Rhee Moo-Yong;Na Sang-Hun;Kim, Young-Kwon;Lee, Myoung-Mook;Cockcroft John R.
    • International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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    • v.4 no.2
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    • pp.19-24
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    • 2006
  • Background: Pulse wave velocity (PWV), which is inversely related to the distensibility of an arterial wall, offers a simple and potentially useful approach for an evaluation of cardiovascular diseases. In spite of the clinical importance and widespread use of PWV, there exist no standard either for pulse sensors or for system requirements for accurate pulse wave measurement. Objective of this study was to assess the reproducibility of PWV values using a newly developed PWV measurement system in healthy subjects prior to a large-scale clinical study. Methods: System used for the study was the PP-1000 (Hanbyul Meditech Co., Korea), which provides regional PWV values based on the measurements of electrocardiography (ECG), phonocardiography (PCG), and pulse waves from four different sites of arteries (carotid, femoral, radial, and dorsalis pedis) simultaneously. Seventeen healthy male subjects with a mean age of 33 years (ranges 22 to 52 years) without any cardiovascular disease were participated for the experiment. Two observers (observer A and B) performed two consecutive measurements from the same subject in a random order. For an evaluation of system reproducibility, two analyses (within-observer and between-observer) were performed, and expressed in terms of mean difference ${\pm}2SD$, as described by Bland and Altman plots. Results: Mean and SD of PWVs for aorta, arm, and leg were $7.07{\pm}1.48m/sec,\;8.43{\pm}1.14m/sec,\;and\;8.09{\pm}0.98m/sec$ measured from observer A and $6.76{\pm}1.00m/sec,\;7.97{\pm}0.80m/sec,\;and\;\7.97{\pm}0.72m/sec$ from observer B, respectively. Between-observer differences ($mean{\pm}2SD$) for aorta, arm, and leg were $0.14{\pm\}0.62m/sec,\;0.18{\pm\}0.84m/sec,\;and\;0.07{\pm}0.86m/sec$, and the correlation coefficients were high especially 0.93 for aortic PWV. Within-observer differences ($mean{\pm}2SD$) for aorta, arm, and leg were $0.01{\pm}0.26m/sec,\;0.02{\pm}0.26m/sec,\;and\;0.08{\pm}0.32m/sec$ from observer A and $0.01{\pm}0.24m/sec,\;0.04{\pm}0.28m/sec,\;and\;0.01{\pm}0.20m/sec$ from observer B, respectively. All the measurements showed significantly high correlation coefficients ranges from 0.94 to 0.99. Conclusion: PWV measurement system used for the study offers comfortable and simple operation and provides accurate analysis results with high reproducibility. Since the reproducibility of the measurement is critical for the diagnosis in clinical use, it is necessary to provide an accurate algorithm for the detection of additional features such as flow wave, reflection wave, and dicrotic notch from a pulse waveform. This study will be extended for the comparison of PWV values from patients with various vascular risks for clinical application. Data acquired from the study could be used for the determination of the appropriate sample size for further studies relating various types of arteriosclerosis-related vascular disease.

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The Effect of working Noise Exposure and Military Background on the Hearing Threshold (특수병과의 과거 군 소음 노출이 소음 노출 작업자의 청력에 미치는 영향)

  • Chung, Ho-Keun;Kim, Kyoo-Sang
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.36 no.2
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    • pp.137-146
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    • 2003
  • Objectives : Impaired hearing is a prevalent occupational hazard, not only in industry, but also in the armed forces. In military life, noise has unusual characteristics, and constitutes a serious hazard to hearing. The aim of this study was to analyze the hearing threshold data in order to compare the hearing loss among shipyard workers, representing different workers, and a military service background. Methods : A cross-sectional audiological survey, combined with a questionnaire study, was conducted on a stratified random sample of 440 shipyard workers, with long-term exposure to noise. The employees were divided into four groups, according to their working and military service backgrounds, in relation to their exposure to noise. Results : As expected, the working and military noise exposure group (Group I) had significantly poorer hearing than the other groups. The high frequencies (2-8 kHz) showed the greatest difference in terms of poorer fearing in both ears. The prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was highest in Group I. A logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the dependence of the NIHL in relation to age, smoking, drinking, working duration, ear protection, past history of ear diseases, and working and military sonics backgrounds, on the noise exposure The important factors found to be related to the NIHL, in relation to noise exposure were: age, work duration, and working and military service backgrounds. The adjusted odds ratio estimates for NIML in the right ear were 4.5 times greater (95% CI 1.7-11.6) for the military noise exposed group, and 7.9 times greater (95% CI 2.0-31.3) for the working noise exposed group than in the controls. The hearing thresholds at the pure-tone average and 4 kHz were significantly increased with age and work duration with both the working and military service backgrounds. Conclusions : From these results, specific preventive programs were planned, which should be assessed by epidemiological surveillance of the military noise exposed population.

Mutational Analysis of Mitochondria DNA in Children with IgA Nephropathy (소아 IgA 신병증 환자에서 미토콘드리아 DNA 돌연변이 분석)

  • Eom, Tae Min;Jang, Chang-Han;Kim, Hyoung Kyu;Kim, Nari;Chung, Yun Seo;Han, Jin;Chung, Woo Yeong
    • Childhood Kidney Diseases
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.73-79
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    • 2012
  • Purpose: The association of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, deletions and copy number with progressive changes in patients with some glomerular disease and end-stage renal disease have been reported. In this study, we performed mtDNA mutation analysis in children with IgA nephropathy to investigate its role in progressive clinical course. Methods: Seven children with IgA nephropathy were involved in this study. MtDNA isolated from platelet was amplified by PCR and sequenced entirely. Results: The mean age at renal biopsy was $11.5{\pm}2.2$ year and the mean age at latest evaluation was $17.9{\pm}3.2$ year. The mean follow-up period were $7.8{\pm}3.1$ years. Patients was divided into 2 groups according to the amount of proteinuria at presenting manifestation. Group 2 patients were nephrotic syndrome. Renal function reveals within normal range in all patients. In group 2 patients, the mean serum albumin level was significantly lower than those of group 1 ($3.7{\pm}0.6g/dL$ vs. $4.7{\pm}0.2g/dL$, P=0.0241) and the mean total cholesterol level was significantly higher than those of group 1 ($222.7{\pm}35.7mg/dL$ vs. $148.3{\pm}29.1mg/dL$, P=0.0283). In Group 2 patients, total amount of protein of 24 hour collected urine also significantly higher than those of group 1 ($1,466.0{\pm}742.5mg$ vs. $122.5{\pm}48.1mg$, P=0.0135). Pr/Cr ratio in random urine sample was also higher in group 2 than those of group 1 but the statistical significance was not noted ($1.8{\pm}1.6$ vs. $0.2{\pm}0.2$, P=0.0961). Deletion of mtDNA nt 8272-8281 were observed in two patients, one patient in each groups, respectively. This is noncoding lesion. No patients demonstrated the mtDNA mutations. Conclusions: We have identified a deletion of mtDNA nt 8272-8281 in two children with IgA nephropathy. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of mitochondrial function in the progressive change of IgA nephropathy.