• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.65-80
• /
• 2008

Objectives: To identify the relationship between the internet addition of elementary school students, and their health behavior and VDT syndrome, and thereby to detect the impact of internet addiction on the health behavior of elementary school students, to get the basic information necessary to develop a prevention program for internet addiction and to plan for VDT syndrome prevention program. Methods: We conducted this study during the period from jun 27, 2007 through July 8, 2007. The subjects of this study were 416 children whose grades were in 4th through 6th grades of elementary schools located in the city A in Kyung Pook Providence. Data were obtained from self-rating questionnaires. The questionnaires were composed of Korean Internet Addiction Self-examination on Internet Use Patterns (K-scale), Health Behavior Profile, VDT Syndrome, and general characteristics. We used t-test, AVOVA with Ducan method for Post-hoc comparison in means comparison between groups, $X^2$-test for frequency analysis and Pearson's correlation coefficient. We used SPSS/PC(12.0 ver) program and the LISREL 8.53 Win program for covariance structural analysis. Results: Major results were as follows. 1. The internet addiction propensity distribution based on the distribution of scores were investigated according to the self diagnosis scale on internet addiction. 6.5% of them were high risk user group, 14.4% were potential risk users and 79.1% of them were common user groups. 2. Internet addictions by sex, internet use duration, frequency (days/week), time(hours/day), purpose, position, brightness of internet, attitude of parents and frequency of conversation of family members were statistically significant(p<0.01). 3. There was a statistically significant difference in VDT syndrome according to internet addiction groups(p<0.001) besides ocular symptoms, dry mouth and GI troubles. 4. The health behavior score was the lowest in high risk user group(p<0.001). There were significant differences between internet addiction groups in personal hygiene and habits of daily living(p<.002), the prevention of accidents(p<.002), the practice concerned with the prevention of infectious disease(p=.002), and mental health(p<.001). 5. There was also a significant negative correlation between internal addiction and health profile(r=-0.365, p<0.01) and a significant positive correlation between internal addiction and VDT syndrome(r=0.331, p<0.01). 6. As the result of structural model analysis, internet use time(/day), days of internet use(/1week), conversation frequency among family members, degree of brightness of internet use had significant direct effects on internet addiction. Conclusions: The results will help the development of an effective intervention program for the prevention and treatment of internal addiction by clarifying the effect of the internal addiction upon elementary school students' VDT syndrome and health behavior.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.56 no.1
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2014

Objective : Infectious spinal disease is regarded as an infection by a specific organism that affects the vertebral body, intervertebral disc and adjacent perivertebral soft tissue. Its incidence seems to be increasing as a result of larger proportion of the older patients with chronic debilitating disease, the rise of intravenous drug abuser, and the increase in spinal procedure and surgery. In Korea, studies assessing infectious spinal disease are rare and have not been addressed in recent times. The objectives of this study are to describe the epidemiology of all kind of spinal infectious disease and their clinical and microbiological characteristics as well as to assess the diagnostic methodology and the parameters related to the outcomes. Methods : A retrospective study was performed in all infectious spinal disease cases presenting from January 2005 to April 2010 to three tertiary teaching hospitals within a city of 1.5 million in Korea. Patient demographics, risk factors, clinical features, and outcomes were assessed. Risk factors entailed the presence of diabetes, chronic renal failure, liver cirrhosis, immunosuppressants, remote infection, underlying malignancy and previous spinal surgery or procedure. We comparatively analyzed the results between the groups of pyogenic and tuberculous spinal infection. SPSS version 14 statistical software was used to perform the analyses of the data. The threshold for statistical significance was established at p<0.05. Results : Ninety-two cases fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Overall, patients of tuberculous spinal infection (TSI) and pyogenic spinal infection (PSI) entailed 20 (21.7%) and 72 (78.3%) cases, respectively. A previous spinal surgery or procedure was the most commonly noted risk factor (39.1%), followed by diabetes (15.2%). The occurrence of both pyogenic and tuberculous spondylitis was predominant in the lumbar spine. Discs are more easily invaded in PSI. At initial presentation, white cell blood count and C-reactive protein levels were higher in PSI compared to TSI (p<0.05). Etiological agents were identified in 53.3%, and the most effective method for identification of etiological agents was tissue culture (50.0%). Staphyococcus aureus was the most commonly isolated infective agent associated with pyogenic spondylitis, followed by E. coli. Surgical treatment was performed in 31.5% of pyogenic spondylitis and in 35.0% of tuberculous spondylitis cases. Conclusion : Many previous studies in Korea usually reported that tuberculous spondylitis is the predominant infection. However, in our study, the number of pyogenic infection was 3 times greater than that of tuberculous spinal disease. Etiological agents were identified in a half of all infectious spinal disease. For better outcomes, we should try to identify the causative microorganism before antibiotic therapy and make every effort to improve the result of culture and biopsy.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.215-224
• /
• 2021

In this study, to investigate the effect of stabilization of Pb-contaminated soil near a smelter site for the reduction of environmental risk of Pb leaching, commercial stabilizers were amended with the Pb-contaminated soil and evaluated leaching characteristics of Pb in soil by TCLP and SPLP leaching test. Also, performing sequential extraction procedure speciation of Pb in the amended soil was investigated. Limestone, AC-2 (Amron), Metafix (Peroxychem) that possess stabilization performance towards heavy metal in soil and mass production is available were selected as candidates. AC-2 contained a CaCO₃ and MgO crystalline phase, while Metafix had a Fe₇S₈ crystalline phase, according to XRD studies. Pb content in SPLP extract was lower than the South Korean drinking water standard for Pb in groundwater at 4% AC-2 and Metafix treatment soil, and TCLP-based stabilization effectiveness was more than 90%. The findings of the sequential extraction method of soil treated with Metafix revealed that fractions 1 and 2 of Pb, which correspond to relatively high mobility and bioavailable fractions, were lowered, while the residual fraction (fraction 5) was raised. As a consequence, the order of performance for Pb stabilization in polluted soil was Metafix>AC-2>limestone.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.203-214
• /
• 2018

Ballast water treated by sodium dichloroisocyanurate (NaDCC) injection method in ballast water management system (BWMS) contains reactive bromine, chlorine species and disinfection by-products (DBPs). In this study, we conducted whole effluent toxicity (WET) testing and ecological risk assessment (ERA) to investigate its ecotoxicological effects on the marine environment. WET testing was carried out for eight marine and fresh water organisms, i.e. diatom, Skeletonema costatum, Navicula pelliculosa, green algae, Dunaliella tertiolecta, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, rotifer, Brachionus plicatilis, Brachionus calyciflorus and fish, Cyprinodon variegatus, Pimephales promelas. The WET test revealed that diatom and green algae were the only organisms that showed apparent toxicity to the effluent; it showed no observed effect concentration (NOEC), lowest observable effect concentration (LOEC) and effect concentration of 50 % (EC50) values of 25.0 %, 50.0 % and over 100.0 %, respectively, in seawater conditions. In contrast, rotifer and fish showed no toxicities to the effluent in the all salinity conditions. Meanwhile, chemical analysis revealed that the BWMS effluent contained total of 25 DBPs such as bromate, isocyanuric acid, formaldehyde, chloropicrin, trihalomethanes (THMs), halogenated acetonitriles (HANs) and halogenated acetic acids (HAAs). Based on ERA, the 25 DBPs were not considered to have persistency, bioaccumulation and toxicity (PBT) properties. The ratio of predicted environmental concentration (PEC) to predicted no effect concentration (PNEC) of the all DBPs did not exceed 1.0 for general harbour environments, but isocyanuric acid, tribromomethane, chloropicrin and monochloroacetic acid exceed 1.0 for near ship environments. However, when NOEC (25.0%) of the WET test results where actual effluent was applied, it was concluded that the NaDCC injection method did not have unacceptable ecological risks to the general harbor including near ship environments.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.3769-3776
• /
• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. High breast cancer mortality has been attributed to lack of public awareness of the disease. Little is known about the level of knowledge of breast cancer in Central African Republic. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of health professionals on breast cancer. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 158 health professionals (27 medical; 131 paramedical) in 17 hospitals in Bangui using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis, Person's ${\chi}^2$ test and ANOVA were applied to examine associations between variables with p < 0.05 being considered significant. Results: Data analyzed using SPSS version 20 indicates that average knowledge about breast cancer perception of the entire population was 47.6%, diagnosis method 45.5%, treatment 34.3% and risk factors 23.8%. Most respondents (65.8%) agreed that breast cancer is important in Central African Republic and that family history is a risk factor (44.3%). Clinical assessments and mammography were considered most suitable diagnostic methods, and surgery as the best treatment. The knowledge level was significantly higher among medical than paramedical staff with regard to risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. However the trainee group had very high significant differences of knowledge compared with all other groups. Conclusions: There is a very urgent need to update the various training programs for these professionals, with recommendations of retraining. Health authorities must create suitable structures for the overall management of cancer observed as a serious public health problem.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.40 no.2 s.271
• /
• pp.109-113
• /
• 2007

Background: In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), malignant pleural effusion is a frequently observed com-plication, and is an important negative prognostic factor. Although many studies concerned to diagnosis and treatment of malignant pleural effusion have been performed, prognostic factors of malignant pleural effusion have rarely been investigated. This study was performed to determine the prognostic factors of malignant pleural effusion n non-small cell lung cancer. Material and Method: We evaluated 33 NSCLC patients with malignant effusion treated between January 2002 and December 2003. We analyzed possible factors: gender, age, TNM Stage, fluid analysis (pH, CEA, LDH, glucose, albumin) and treatment modality. Median survival time of each factor was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method and difference of median survival time between groups of factor compared by log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to confirm the significance of prognostic factor. Results: Of the 33 patients, 23 (69.7%) patients were adenocarcinoma. The median interval of the diagnosis of lung cancer and malignant effusion was 7.3 months ($25^{th}{\sim}75^{th}:\;3.9{\sim}11.8$), and the median survival time was 3.6 months (95% Confidence Interval: $1.14{\sim}5.99$). In the univariate analysis, using the log-rank test, those with an adenocarcinoma showed a relatively longer median survival time than those of a non-adenocarcinoma (4.067 vs. 1.867 months, p=0.067) without statistical significance. In the multivariate analysis, using the Cox regression, those with a non-adenocarcinoma showed a trend of high risk of cancer death than those with an adenocarcinoma without statistical significance (Relative risk; 2.754, 95% Cl: $0.988{\sim}7.672$, p=0.053). Conclusion: We could not find an independent prognostic factor of malignant pleural effusion in NSCLC. As there was a trend of high risk of cancer death according to histology, further study will be needed.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.113-122
• /
• 2006

Purpose: A retrospective study was performed to assess the efficacy and tolerance of ${\beta}-blocker$ administration in patients with heart failure and diabetes. Method: Records of 164 patients who were treated for the heart failure condition more than a year were studied retrospectively. Patients were divided into 4 groups based on their diabetes(DM) status and the administration of ${\beta}-blockers$ ($DM+{\beta}-blocker$ group: 14, DM w/o ${\beta}-blocker$: 19, No DM + ${\beta}-blocker$: 62, No DM + no ${\beta}-blocker$: 69). All patients had been receiving conventional therapy such as digoxin, ACE-I, ARB, diuretics, nitrates, aspirin, anticoagulants or lipid-lowering agents. The primary endpoints (death and hospital admission) were recorded during 1 year period and hemodynamic factors (HR, LVEF, SBP, DBP) were obtained from all patient groups before and after 12 months of ${\beta}-blocker$ treatment. To evaluate toxicity of ${\beta}-blocker$, SCr, BUN, AST, ALT and Alkaline phosphatase were obtained. Result: There were less death and hospital admission in DM + ${\beta}-blocker$ group than in DM without ${\beta}-blocker$ group (p=0.014). Relative risk of hospital admission for $DM+{\beta}-blocker$ group over no DM group was 1.17. Long term ${\beta}-blocker$ administration was associated with an improvement of heart rate in patients with DM (P< 0.02) with no significant improvement of LVEF, SBP, DBP. in DM patient. In patient without DM, ${\beta}-blocker$ was associated with improvement in LVEF, HR and DBP (P<0.01, P<0.03), but not in SBP. The incidence of toxicity was similar between the four group with no significant difference. Conculsion: Treatment of heart failure patients with ${\beta}-blocker$ appears to be beneficial in terms of hospital admission event and several hemodynamic factors. The toxicities of ${\beta}-blocker$ treatment were not significant and the treatment is generally well-tolerated in most of the heart failure patients.

• 보존과학연구
• /
• s.21
• /
• pp.5-55
• /
• 2000

The cultural properties are damaged by various causes according to the characteristics of material, the condition of preservation, and the period of time. Especially, biodeterioration makes lots of damages in organic properties than inorganic ones. The damages of wooden cultural properties by insects usually are caused by the three orders; Isoptera, Coleoptera, and Hymenoptera. As the result of investigation on the state of 141 buildings of wooden cultural properties in 1999, some of them were damaged by many kinds off actors; wasp, powder post beetle, cigarette beetle, termite, decay, and physical cracking. And it was found that the patterns of damages were related to species-specific habits of insects. There are several methods of pest control for the prevention of wooden cultural properties from damages caused by insects. Those are as follows; physical control, chemical control, biological control, and integrated pest management. When insects and fungi were detected at the wooden buildings, the fumigation is best treatment to stop biodeterioration. And then, wood materials also need to be treated with insecticidal and antiseptic chemicals to avoid a reinfestation, because the fumigant is volatile. The six commercial chemicals which are applied to the insecticidal and antiseptic treatment of wooden cultural properties were purchased to test their abilities. According to the comparative results of efficacy of them in laboratory, chemical D showed excellent efficacy in all items, including antiseptic and termiticidal items. The goal of these pest controls is to protect wooden buildings from insects and microorganisms. The most effective method used currently is chemical control(fumigation, insecticidal and anticeptic chemical treatment), but it has to be treated periodically to control pest effectively. Recently environmentally-friendly control methods such as bait system or biological treatments are replacing traditional barrier treatments using large amounts of chemicals. Especially, termite is a social insect which makes a colony. Although a building with fumigation treatment is safe for a while, once attacked building has a risk of damage by reinfestation of termite. Therefore, to control termites from damaged building, the entire colony including reproductives(queen and king) and larvae around buildings must beeliminated. Bait system can be used as a preventive measure in early detection of them through termites colony monitoring and baiting. It would be the most effective for termite control if bait system would be used together with the chemical controls.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.31 no.7
• /
• pp.692-696
• /
• 1998

For the management of a secondary spontaneous pneumothorax, videothoracoscopic surgery may offer the potential therapeutic benefits of a minimally invasive approach. We report on a series of 36 patients(33 men and 3 women) with a mean age of 56.3 years(range, 31 to 80 years) who underwent thoracoscopic surgical procedures for the treatment of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax. Twenty-one patients had emphysema and 20 patients had old pulmonary tuberculosis. Nineteen patients presented a persistent severe air leak more than 3 days preoperatively and 15 patients had more than one recurrence. Bullectomy or exclusion of the lesion was performed in 33 patients. Mechanical pleurodesis was performed in the entire patients, talc was sprayed in 22 and vibramycin in 14. Mild pleural adhesion at the upper lobe was shown in 10 patients and severe pleural adhesion in 7 patients. One patient with persistent air leak died of persistent air leak and respiratory failure. The mean postoperative stay was 7.0 days(range, 2 to 17 days). At a mean follow-up of 15.8 months (range, 5 to 45 months), no pneumothorax had recurred. In comparison with the result of the treatment for 112 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax, the operating time was not significantly longer and there were no more primary treatment failures, but the duration of postoperative chest drainage and hospital stay was longer. Videothoracoscopic surgery has proved to be an effective treatment for secondary spontaneous pneumothorax in elderly patients who represent high-risk candidates for thoracotomy.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.57-62
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the treatment plan by applying CBCT and DIR to dose changes according to the change of the patient's motion and breast shape in the large breast cancer patients and to compare the doses using TWF, FIF and IMRT. CT and CBCT were performed with MIM6 to create DIRCT and each treatment plan was made. The patient underwent computed tomography simulation in both prone and supine position. The homogeneity index (HI), conformity index (CI), coverage index (CVI) to the left breast as planning target volume (PTV) were determined and the doses to the lung, heart, and right breast as organ at risk (OAR) were compared by using dose-volume histogram and the unique property of each organ. The value of HI of the PTV breast increased in all treatment planning methods using DIRCT, and CVI and CI were decreased in the treatment planning methods using DIRCT.