• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2012

Objectives: Asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) have increased globally over the decades, causing an economic burden and increased health care costs. It is difficult to predict the risk of development of ARDs and of respiratory disability among workers with a history of asbestos exposure. Blood based biomarkers have been reported as promising tools for the early detection of malignant mesothelioma. This study investigated whether serum soluble mesothelin-related peptide (SMRP) would reflect severity of disablement in compensable ARDs. Methods: SMRP levels were measured in a cohort of 514 asbestos-exposed subjects. Severity of ARDs was assessed by a Medical Authority comprising four specially qualified respiratory physicians. Severity of ARDs and SMRP levels were compared. Results: Mean (standard deviation) serum SMRP level in the population with compensable ARDs (n = 150) was 0.95 (0.65) nmol/L, and was positively associated with disability assessment (p = 0.01). Mean SMRP level in healthy asbestos-exposed subjects was significantly lower than those with pleural plaques (p < 0.0001) and in subjects with ARDs who received compensation (p < 0.01). Conclusion: This study indicates that serum SMRP levels correlate with severity of compensable ARDs. Serum SMRP could potentially be applied to monitor progress of ARDs. Further prospective work is needed to confirm the relationship between SMRP and disability assessment in this population.

• Clinical and Molecular Hepatology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.392-401
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• 2018

Background/Aims: Leptin is associated with metabolic disorders, which predispose one to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The role of leptin in NAFLD pathogenesis is not fully understood. We aim to investigate the association between serum leptin level and severity of NAFLD using U.S. nationally representative data. Methods: Data were obtained from the United States Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. NAFLD was defined by ultrasound detection and severity of hepatic steatosis in the absence of other liver diseases. The severity of hepatic fibrosis was determined by NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS). We used multivariate survey-weighted generalized logistic regression to evaluate the association between leptin level and the degree of NAFLD. We also performed subgroup analyses by body mass index (lean vs. classic NAFLD). Results: Among 4,571 people, 1,610 (35%) had NAFLD. By ultrasound findings, there were 621 people with mild, 664 with moderate, and 325 with severe steatosis. There were 885 people with low NFS (<-1.455, no significant fibrosis), 596 with intermediate NFS, and 129 with high NFS (>0.676, advanced fibrosis). Leptin levels for normal, mild, moderate and severe steatosis were $10.7{\pm}0.3ng/mL$, $12.1{\pm}0.7ng/mL$, $15.6{\pm}0.8ng/mL$, $16{\pm}1.0ng/mL$, respectively (trend P-value<0.001). Leptin levels for low, intermediate, and high NFS were $11.8{\pm}0.5ng/mL$, $15.6{\pm}0.8ng/mL$, $28.5{\pm}3.5ng/mL$, respectively (trend P-value<0.001). This association remained significant even after adjusting for known demographic and metabolic risk factors. In the subgroup analysis, this association was only prominent in classic NAFLD, but not in lean NAFLD. Conclusions: Serum leptin level is associated with the severity of NAFLD, especially in classic NAFLD patients.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.176-185
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• 2024

Purpose: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is common among children in Bangladesh. Its management depends mainly on risk stratification. This study aimed to assess the severity of pediatric AP using computed tomography (CT). Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in pediatric patients with AP at the Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, BSMMU, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results: Altogether, 25 patients with AP were included, of whom 18 (mean age, 10.27±4.0 years) were diagnosed with mild AP, and 7 (mean age, 10.54±4.0 years) with severe AP. Abdominal pain was present in all the patients, and vomiting was present in 88% of the patients. Etiology was not determined. No significant differences in serum lipase, serum amylase, BUN, and CRP levels were observed between the mild and severe AP groups. Total and platelet counts as well as hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum creatinine, random blood sugar, and serum alanine aminotransferase levels (p>0.05) were significantly higher in the mild AP group than in the severe AP group (p=0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of CT severity index (CTSI) were 71.4%, 72.2%, 50%, and 86.7%, respectively. In addition, significant differences in pancreatic appearance and necrosis were observed between the two groups on CT. Conclusion: CT can be used to assess the severity of AP. In the present study, the CTSI effectively assessed the severity of AP in pediatric patients.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.601-607
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• 2017

Objective: A method to assess the risk level of agricultural works considering work posture and working time was suggested, and the method was applied to the major fruit crops. Background: It is not complete to analyze only work postures when assessing risk level of agricultural works. Method: $3{\times}3$ matrix was employed, in which the severity level was taken from the REBA method and exposure level was taken from the working time, using the criteria of caution zone/hazard zone. Results: Among the 5 major fruit crops(apple, pear, grape, peach, persimmon), the highest level of ergonomic risk was found in the apple and pear, while medium level was found in other 3 crops, mainly because the working time was less in the 3 crops. Conclusion: It was found that when assessing the overall ergonomic risk of agricultural works, work posture and working time should be considered at the same time. Application: The suggested method could be applied to other non-cyclic tasks.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.49
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• pp.379-405
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• 2011

With the fast growing of international trade and ever-changing trade environment Korea is facing more risks in international trade and they are getting more diverse and happen more frequent with high severity. Big firms of international trade are ready and treat the risks quite well, but small and medium size firms have hard time to manage the risks due to their poor understanding, not much capital to spend, and weak skills of risk management. Holding significant size of international trade of Korea, the small and medium size firms need systematic and integrated risk management and the K-sure(former Korea Export Insurance) can make a significant contribution to help them manage risks in international trade business. This study is proposing the adoption of ERM(Enterprise Risk Management) for international trade business of Korea. Especially for small and medium size firms of international trade, the K-sure may set up integrated risk management system to help them and promote the export growth, which is a great mission of K-sure.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2015

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is used to non-invasively estimate the severity of arteriosclerosis by measuring arterial stiffness. Increased arterial stiffness measured by PWV stands for progressive arteriosclerosis and is caused by atherosclerotic risk factors. This study is focused on how brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) is related to the leading risk factors for arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis. Subjects were 114, 69 males and 45 females who are in 60's and had baPWV test for acute stroke. The results are as follows: the group with increased arterial stiffness showed significant increase in HbA1c, total cholesterol, BSBP (brachial artery systolic blood pressure), BDBP (brachial artery diastolic blood pressure), CSBP (central artery systolic blood pressure), CDBP (central artery diastolic blood pressure), augmentation index (AIx) and diabetes mellitus. Correlation analysis between baPWV and atherosclerotic risk factor showed significant relationship in age, HbA1c, LDL cholesterol, BSBP, BDBP, CSBP, CDBP and augmentation index. baPWV was independently related to age and BSBP in multiple linear regression analysis. The group with increased arterial stiffness was independently related to BDBP in multiple logistic regression analysis. This study might be meaningful in evaluating the relationship between arterial stiffness and atherosclerotic risk factor in a new way, and be helped to make various studies for cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.41-49
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• 2013

Drought risk assessment is usually performed qualitatively and quantitatively depending on the definition a drought. The meteorological drought indices have a limit of not being able to consider the hydrological components such as evapotranspiration, soil moisture and runoff, because it does not consider the water demand in paddies and water supply in reservoirs. Agricultural drought was defined as the reservoir storage shortage state that cannot satisfy water requirement from the paddy fields. The objectives of this study were to suggest improved agricultural drought risk assessment in order to evaluate of regional drought vulnerability and severity studied by using Reservoir Drought Index (RDI). The RDI is designed to simulate daily water balance between available water from agricultural reservoir and water requirement in paddies and is calculated with a frequency analysis of monthly water deficit based on water demand and water supply condition. The results indicated that RDI can be used to assess regional drought risk in agricultural perspective by comparing with the historical records of drought in 2012. It can be concluded that the RDI obtained good performance to reflect the historical drought events for both spatially and temporally. In addition, RDI is expected to contribute to determine the exact situation on the current drought condition for evaluating regional drought risk and to assist the effective drought-related decision making.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.7-15
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• 2019

This paper proposes the FMEA-based model to avoid backdoor transactions when purchasers select suppliers for products and services. In the model, backdoor transactions consist of two categories: backdoor selling and maverick buying. Both of which influence negative effects on cost savings due to not only uncompetitive advantage but also unusable purchasing leverage by unethical and misbehavior of purchase requestors. For the risk evaluation based on FMEA, three and five risk types of backdoor selling and maverick buying are identified respectively. Current risk priority numbers(RPN) based on those risk types are calculated by three categories: occurrence, detection and severity. Six risk mitigation strategies and fourteen mitigation tactics are identified to improve current RPN. In order to validate the model, questionnaires are collected from fifteen companies and statistically analyzed. The analysis result shows that the model reduces backdoor transaction risks and has no differences in reduction of backdoor transaction risks regardless of the type of purchasing organization units and existence of purchasing procedures in the organization.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2008

Purpose: To determine the degree of cardiovascular disease risk according to socioeconomic factors among midlife women in the community and thereby provide baseline data for the development of health promotion programs. Method: A total of 200 women participated in health screenings and a health survey. The survey was performed in November and December, 2006. The survey instruments included socioeconomic factors, health behavior (smoking and exercise), and family history. Biophysical measurement included BMI and blood pressure. Blood samples were drawn for glucose and total cholesterol tests. Results: The mean age was 52.5 years, 34.0% had received education less than 6 years, 70.0% earned a monthly income of less than \1,500,000, and 61.5% were homemakers. Cardiovascular disease risk was significantly different by age (BMI, systolic BP, and exercise), education (systolic BP), monthly income (T. cholesterol), marital status (smoking), and occupation (exercise). Most women had 2 or 3 cardiovascular disease risks. Older age, lower education, and lower income were significantly associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. Conclusion: Efforts should be made to decrease the number and severity of cardiovascular disease risk factors for midlife women in the community by developing health promotion programs targeting to modify their cardiovascular disease risk factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.23 no.4_2
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• pp.569-581
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• 2020

Since the dehydration packages of offshore plant deal directly with oil & gas, there is a great risk of fire and explosion during operation. Therefore, this study performed risk assessment through HAZard & OPerability (HAZOP) for solid desiccant dehydration package that can remove water component of natural gas in offshore floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities below 0.1 ppmv. The risk matrix was determined by dividing the likelihood and the severity into five levels separately by asset, life, environment and reputation. The piping & instrumentation diagram (P&ID) of the dehydration package was divided into 9 nodes. Total 22 deviations were assessed in consideration of the adsorption and desorption conversion cycle. A risk assessment based on deviations revealed 14 major hazards. Three representative types of hazards were open/close failure of the control valve, control failure of the heater, and abnormal operation of the regeneration gas cooler. Finally, we proposed the installation of additional safety devices to improve safety against these major hazards, such as safety instrumented functions, alarms, etc.