• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2005

Objectives: This study attempts to analyze the length of hospital stay and expenses of frequent disease admitted in a Vaterans Hospital. Methods: Data was collected from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2003 from the Claim records of 9,640 patients in a Vaterans Hospital. Results: The results were as follows: 1. In age & sex distribution, there was male 70.9%, female 29.1%, and 35.8% of them is 70 age group. Frequency by insurance program was Health insurance 78.1%, Medical aid 14.2%, no insurance 4.1%, others 3.6%. Distribution of each department was internal medicine 28.3%, orthopedic surgery 21.3%, surgery 16.6%, neurosurgey 7.1%, pediatrics 5.9%. Also, in the veterans group, male to female patient ratio was 99.3% male to 0.7% female, them over 70 years old was 51.6%, and them which live in daejeon was 43.5%. 2. In frequency of disease, there was gastroenteritis 4.8%, pneumonia 3.8%, cartaract 3.7%, cerebral infarct 3.2%, hyperplasia of prostate 3.0%. In frequency of korean standard classification of diseases, there was injury and poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes 17.1%, diseases of digestive system 16.1%, diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue 13.9%, diseases of respiratory system 9.4%, diseases of genitourinary system 8.6%. Also, in veterans group, frequency of them was diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue 19.4%, diseases of digestive system 16.8%, injury and poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes 15.7%, diseases of genitourinary system 9.7%, diseases of circuatory system 8.2%. 3. Average length of hospital stay was 29.0 days for total patients, 51.8 days for the veterans group, 15.7 days for the non-veterans one. Average total expenses was 3,669,579 won, the veterans group 7,263,877 won, the non-veterans one 1,560,333 won. The ratio of insurer to insuree was 55.2 : 44.8, the ratio of amount paid by patient in the veterans group 61.7%, in the non-veterans one 33.0%. 4. In items of medical expenses, fee for hospital accommodation was 34.7%, fee for medication 13.2%(injection 7.8%, drug 5.4%), fee for service 48.6%(physical therapy 26.3%, operation 9.7%, laboratory examination 5.2%, radiological examination 3.1%, etc), others 3.4%. In them for the veterans group, fee for physical therapy was 35.3%, fee for hospital accommodation 35.2%, fee for injection 6.2%, fee for operation 5.9%, for the non-veterans one, fee for hospital accommodation 35.7%, fee for operation 16.4%, fee for injection 11.4%, fee for laboratory examination 8.3%. 5. In the comparison of the frequency by Korean standard classification of diseases and distance between the hospital and home, the region under 21.5Km was more frequent in symptoms, signs an abnormal clinical and laboratory findings 56.0%, injury and poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes 55.6%, diseases of the eye and adnexa 52.9%, the one over 21.5Km was more frequent in neoplasms 57.4%, diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue 55.9%, diseases of genitourinary system 53.5%.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1634-1640
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• 2004

This study was designed to compare the nutritional intake and iron nutritional status between urban and rural middle school girls. Along with a questionnaire, blood samples were obtained from 311 middle school girls (urban 129 girls, rural 182 girls). Nutrient intakes were measured with a convenient method, and clinical symptoms relating anemia was investigated by 4-point Likert scale. For the nutrient intake, the total energy intake was 1722.2 kcal (82.0% of RDA) for the urban group and 1649.5 kcal (78.6% of RDA) for rural group. The rural group showed significantly lower level than the urban group in all nutrients except fat, carbohydrate and total energy intake. Regarding the food frequency, students from the rural group marked significantly lower intake of milk (p<0.00l), kimchi (p<0.05), fruit (p<0.05), tofu, bean (p<0.00l) than the urban group. For every clinical finding regarding anemia, the rural group marked higher value than the urban group but the difference was not significant. The hemoglobin concentration of urban group was 13.28 g/dL, and rural group showed 12.51 g/dL which was significantly lower than urban group (p<0.00l). The hematocrit rate was 37.82% for the urban group and 38.13% for the rural group and there was no significant difference between two groups. The red blood cell (RBC) count of the rural group was significantly lower than the urban group (p<0.00l). Evaluating with the iron deficiency standard which is less than 12 g/dL, the urban group was 6.2% and the rural group was 34.6% thus the deficiency rate was significantly higher in the rural group. This study showed that nutrient and iron status of the girls of rural group is not as good as the urban group. As middle school girls require high level of iron absorption due to blood loss which occurs during abrupt physical growth and menstruation, dietary counselling is required to enhance the iron status. When iron deficiency is serious, they need to take more positive action such as iron supplement in addition to food-iron fortification.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.1 s.60
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• pp.139-156
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• 1998

Diving related disease including decompression sickness is an important occupational health problem and diving fishermen remain a fairly hazardous occupation in Korea. To prevent diving related disease, we investigate diving patterns, incidence of diving related diseases, and contributing factors of 433 diving fishermen of three coast interviewing and mailing questionnaire in 1996. Mean age of divers was 39.7 years, ranged from 24 to 58 years, 92.8% of these were male, and 58.4% of divers were high school graduates. Mean duration of work as a diver was 12.9 years, ranged from 2 to 40 years. It was found that 70.4% of divers were using hookah system, 22.2% of helmet, and only 2.5% SCUBA. About half of them have learned diving skills from other divers. The peak season of diving was from April to June and mean working days were 20.3 days per month during the peak season. On the average, the divers dived 5-6 times, ranged from 1 to 10 times a day with 51.1 minutes of diving time, ranged from 20 to 120 minutes, at 30 m or 40 m in depth, and 35.5 minute of interval on surface. Most divers ascended slowly making decompression stop, yet the decompression profile used was not based on any scientific knowledge except for their own experiences. It appeared that each diving system had slightly different diving patterns. There were 282(65.0%) divers that suffered from DCS in 1995 and 31.2% of divers were given recompression therapy at a medical facility since they worked as diving fishermen. Skin and musculoskeletal complaints were common symptoms of DCS and 39% of divers experienced a voiding difficulty. In univariate analysis, females have an increased frequency of DCS(93% vs 66% for males). Old age, long duration of work, helmet diving, diving time, diving depth, repetitive diving, and blow up were all contributing factors to DCS. It was found that most diving patterns exceed no decompression limit and did not use the standard decompression table. This suggests that most of divers are at high risk of developing diving related disease with prolonged dives and lengthy repetitive diving in deep depth. Considering the diving patterns and economic aspect of professional diving, the incidence of DCS among diving fishermen in Korea will not decrease in the near future. These findings suggest that periodical health surveillance for divers, and education of health and safety are important for reducing the risk of diving related disease in the population of diving fishermen.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.183-197
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• 1997

In order to detect the safety and effect of various aqua-acupunctures from Scutellariae Radix, the modifications of boiling, filtration and dilution were employed for the manufacture of aqua-acupunctures. We injected 0.2cc of aqua-acupunctures into Joksamri (足三里) of rat, repeatedly. We compared subacute toxicity of them with saline group, distilled water(D.W.) group, acupuncture group and control group. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The groups were all healthy and alive, and there was no special abnormality in physical condition and autopsy. And there were not any toxic symptoms in repeating application of aqua-acupunctures to the rat, including changes of body weight, organ weight, haematological examination and serum biochemical test. 2. There was slight change of body weight in acupuncture group : We could see significance after 3 days(p<0.05) and after 7 days(p<0.001) in body weight loss. After 9 days, all tested groups were suppressed in body weight increment. 3. Result of organ weight : In Palkang aqua-acupuncture(D-2 group), saline group and acupuncture group there were some statistical significance. Especially, acupuncture group revealed significant result in liver and spleen than aqua-acupunctures. From this result, we could suggest that the efficacy of acupuncture was preceded herbal medicine. 4. In serum biochemical test, we examined glucose(GLU), triglyceride(TG) and cholesterol(CHOL). In comparison with control group, the diluted 10 times of Hwanggum aqua-aqupuncture$({\times}10\;group)$ was recognized significant decrease of glucose, but the diluted 100 times of Hwanggum aqua-acupuncture$({\times}100\;group)$, D-2 group, saline group were confirmed significant increment. There was not any meaningful change of CHOL in all of tested group, excepting the acupuncture group was exhibited statistically significant decrease(p<0.05). In TG level all tested group except complex injection of standard compound(CPA group) and HG, there were significant value iii statistically. The diluted solution was more significant decrease than Hwanggum aqua-acupuncture(HG). The mutual relationship of components of aqua-acupunture tended to decrease level of TG, regardless of its concentration. In acupunture guoup, we gained some interesting result In meaningful decrease in 7G. 5. Haematological examination showed significant increment of granulocytes(GR) in all tested groups except Hwanggum aqua-acupuncture. And the diluted solutions of HG expressed very high increment of them(p<0.001). The GR and Mean Corpuscular Volume(MCV) of acupuncture group showed statistical significance.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.56-78
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• 1998

Objective: Chronic hepatitis B infection (CHB) occurs in 6% to 10% of population in Korea. In ethinic communities where prevalence of chronic infection is high such as Korea, transmission of hepatitis B infection is either vertical (ie, by perinatal infection) or by close family contact (usually from mothers or siblings) during the first 5 years of life. The development of chronic hepatitis B infection is increasingly more common the earlier a person is exposed to the virus, particularly in fetal and neonatal life. And it progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, especially in severe liver damage and perinatal infection. Histopathology of CHB is important when evaluating the final outcomes. A numerical scoring system which is a semiquantitatively assessed objective reproducible classification of chronic viral hepatitis, is a valuable tool for statistical analysis when predicting the outcome and evaluating antiviral and other therapies. In this study, a numerical scoring system (Ludwig system) was applied and compared with the conventional histological classification of De Groute. And the comparative analysis of cinical findings, family history, serology, and liver function test by histopathological findings in chronic hepatitis B of children was done. Methods: Ninety nine patients [mean age=9 years (range=17 months to 16 years)] with clinical, biochemical, serological and histological patterns of chronic HBV infection included in this study. Five of these children had hepatocelluar carcinoma. They were 83 male and 16 female children. They all underwent liver biopsies and histologic evaluation was performed by one pathologist. The biopsy specimens were classified, according to the standard criteria of De Groute as follows: normal, chronic lobular hepatitis (CLH), chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH), mild to severe chronic active hepatitis (CAH), or active cirrhosis, inactive cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). And the biopsy specimens were also assessed and scored semiquantitatively by the numerical scoring Ludwig system. Serum HBsAg, anti-HBs, HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc (IgG, IgM), and HDV were measured by radioimunoassays. Results: Male predominated in a proportion of 5.2:1 for all patients. Of 99 patients, 2 cases had normal, 2 cases had CLH, 22 cases had CPH, 40 cases had mild CAH, 19 cases had moderate CAH, 1 case had severe CAH, 7 cases had active cirrhosis, 1 case had inactive cirrhosis, and 5 cases had HCC. The mean age, sex distribution, symptoms, signs, and family history did not differ statistically among the different histologic groups. The numerical scoring system was correlated well with the conventional histological classification. The histological activity evaluated by both the conventional classification and the scoring system was more severe as the levels of serum aminotransferases were higher. In contrast, the levels of serum aminotransferases were not useful for predicting the degree of histologic activity because of its wide range overlapping. When the histological activity was more severe and especially the cirrhosis more progressing, the prothrombin time was more prolonged. The histological severity was inversely related with the duration of seroconversion of HBeAg. Conclusions: The histological activity could not be accurately predicted by clinical and biochemical findings, but by the proper histological classification of the numerical scoring system for the biopsy specimen. The numerical scoring system was correlated well with the conventional histological classification, and it seems to be a valuable tool for the statistical analysis when predicting the outcome and evaluating effects of antiviral and other therapies in chronic hepatitis B in children.