• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.82-91
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• 2019

Objectives: Many studies have explored the relationship between short-term weather and its health effects (including pneumonia) based on mortality, although both morbidity and mortality pose a substantial burden. In this study, the authors aimed to describe the influence of meteorological factors on the number of emergency room (ER) visits due to pneumonia in Seoul, Korea. Methods: Daily records of ER visits for pneumonia over a 6-year period (2009-2014) were collected from the National Emergency Department Information System. Corresponding meteorological data were obtained from the National Climate Data Service System. A generalized additive model was used to analyze the effects. The percent change in the relative risk of certain meteorological variables, including pneumonia temperature (defined as the change in average temperature from one day to the next), were estimated for specific age groups. Results: A total of 217 776 ER visits for pneumonia were identified. The additional risk associated with a $1^{\circ}C$ increase in pneumonia temperature above the threshold of $6^{\circ}C$ was 1.89 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37 to 2.61). Average temperature and diurnal temperature range, representing within-day temperature variance, showed protective effects of 0.07 (95% CI, 0.92 to 0.93) and 0.04 (95% CI, 0.94 to 0.98), respectively. However, in the elderly (65+ years), the effect of pneumonia temperature was inconclusive, and the directionality of the effects of average temperature and diurnal temperature range differed. Conclusions: The term 'pneumonia temperature' is valid. Pneumonia temperature was associated with an increased risk of ER visits for pneumonia, while warm average temperatures and large diurnal temperature ranges showed protective effects.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.167-179
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• 2008

This study attempted to develop integrated family policy. For this purpose, a delphi survey was conducted twice among 15 professionals regarding the general contents of family policy, the goals and outcomes of president Roh's administration, the direction and plan of action for future family policy. The results of this study are as follows: Firstly, the main results of president Roh's administration were the creation of the Ministry of Women and Families, and the Healthy Families Law. Nevertheless, that government had no long-term vision or action programs. Secondly, there are two aspects of family policy which one is family members based and the other is family life cycle based. Accordingly the subjects of this study insist that family policy has to cover people's whole life, all families regardless of family structure, and has to integrate the plans and programs which have been served to individuals, for example, women, child, youth, and elderly. Thirdly, the orientations of future family policy are to be toward happiness, health, equality, coexistence, harmony, growth, generosity, diversity, self-control, and a sustainable society. So the concept of the integrated family policy has to cover all aspects of the family and the diversity of family life. Therefore, the service delivery system for family policy has to converge into the Healthy Family Center.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.90-97
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• 2012

Objectives: While there have been many quantitative studies on the public's attitude towards mental illnesses, it is hard to find quantitative study which focused on the contextual effect on the public's attitude. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that affect the public's beliefs and attitudes including contextual effects. Methods: We analyzed survey on the public's beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness in Korea with multi-level analysis. We analyzed the public's beliefs and attitudes in terms of prejudice as an intermediate outcome and social distance as a final outcome. Then, we focused on the associations of factors, which were individual and regional socioeconomic factors, familiarity, and knowledge based on the comparison of the intermediate and final outcomes. Results: Prejudice was not explained by regional variables but was only correlated with individual factors. Prejudice increased with age and decreased by high education level. However, social distance controlling for prejudice increased in females, in people with a high education level, and in regions with a high education level and a high proportion of the old. Therefore, social distance without controlling for prejudice increased in females, in the elderly, in highly educated people, and in regions with a high education and aged community. Conclusions: The result of the multi-level analysis for the regional variables suggests that social distance for mental illness are not only determined by individual factors but also influenced by the surroundings so that it could be tackled sufficiently with appropriate considering of the relevant regional context with individual characteristics.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.228-234
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• 2015

The balance ability significantly decreased in the elderly because of deterioration of the neural musculature regulatory mechanisms. Several studies have investigated methods of improving balance ability using real-time systems, but it is limited by the expensive test equipment and specialized resources. Recently, Kinect system based on depth data has been applied to address these limitations. Little information about accuracy/inaccuracy of Kinect system is, however, available, particular in motion analysis for evaluation of effectiveness in rehabilitation training. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to evaluate accuracy/inaccuracy of Kinect system in specific rotational movement for balance rehabilitation training. Six healthy male adults with no musculoskeletal disorder were selected to participate in the experiment. Movements of the participants were induced by controlling the base plane of the balance training equipment in directions of AP (anterior-posterior), ML (medial-lateral), right and left diagonal direction. The dynamic motions of the subjects were measured using two Kinect depth sensor systems and a three-dimensional motion capture system with eight infrared cameras for comparative evaluation. The results of the error rate for hip and knee joint alteration of Kinect system comparison with infrared camera based motion capture system occurred smaller values in the ML direction (Hip joint: 10.9~57.3%, Knee joint: 26.0~74.8%). Therefore, the accuracy of Kinect system for measuring balance rehabilitation traning could improve by using adapted algorithm which is based on hip joint movement in medial-lateral direction.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.59-67
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• 1977

This study was carried out to know the food habits of 200 persons, 89 males and 111 females, aged 60 years and over from June 13 to July 2, 1977 in Seoul. The results are summarized as follows: 1. Changes of the food preferences The preferences about foods after 60 years of age showed in lower scores of dislikes than those before and, however, were not significantly changed. Beef was the item which 75% of the subjects liked and was the highest in desire to eat, Likes for hot, salty, and sour taste except sweet were diminished but they generally liked hot or sweet food rather than sour or salty one and also warm dish rather than cold one. A majority of them wanted to have their meals cook more soft and tender. 2. Intakes of foods The average consumptions of the basic food groups per capita per day were 475.5g of males .and 431.8g of females for cereals and grains, 119.6g and 103.6g for meats add legumes, 221.7g and 216. lg for fruits and vegetables, 52.6g and 39.4g for milk and small fishes, and 5.0g and 4.7g for fats and oils. 3. Intakes of calorie and nutrients The percentage contributions of three nutrients, carbohydrate, protein, and fats to the total amounts of calories were 75.9, 12.4, and 11.7% of mates and 75.6, 12.4, and 12.0% of females. Women had a slightly higher percentage of caloric intake to RDA than men who didn't satisfy RDA. The subjects revealed an insufficient protein intake as well as calcium. Therefore, many older people have to be convinced of the importance of milk for both nutrients. The mean ratios for iron, niacin, and thiamin intake were higher than RDA and on the contrary. those for riboflavin, vitamin A, and ascorbic acid intake were below RDA. It seems necessary, for the aged to maintain good state of health, to promote their appetite, and to take regular mealtime because difficulty of teeth, illness, irregular mealtime, and loss of appetite had influence on less intakes of calorie and nutrients.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.466-480
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• 2014

In addition to aging social problem, the problem of older age structure ratio in the fire service organization playing the leading role of the disaster response activities is also expected to be this serious situation. In the case of Seoul fire fighting organization, it is expected that the ratio of over the age 50 reaches 31% or 40% between from 10 to 15 years later from now on, but this will be a serious problem in the fire fighting personnel needing a healthy body and physical strength in the disaster situation unlike the civil servants of general staff. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to take measures that can adapt to a new disaster environment of Increasing proportion of the elderly population by presenting the criteria of age limit of fire fighting field activities to analyze the relevance of the ability to perform on-site activities and age of Seoul fire civil servants, by using three analysis criteria.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.110-127
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• 2008

Expenditures on pharmaceuticals of different concepts were estimated and their functional, financing and providers' breakdowns were examined in line with the OECD's System of Health Accounts (SHA) manual. This study also shows the way such estimates are made. The results are then analyzed particularly from the international perspective. Data from both Household Survey by the National Statistical Office and the National Health and Nutritional Survey by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea were used to estimate pharmaceutical expenditures that. are financed by out-of-pocket payments of the household, while national health insurance data etc. were used for estimation of pharmaceutical expenditures that are financed by public funding sources. The 'per capita expenditure on pharmaceutical/medical non-durables' in Korea stood at 380 US$ PPPs, less than the OECD average of 443 US$ PPPs in 2006, but its share of the per capita health expenditure of 25.9% noticeably outnumbered the OECD average of 17.1%, due partly to low per capita health expenditure as a denominator of the ratio. This indicates that Koreans tend to spend less on health care than an OECD average, while tending to spend more on pharmaceuticals than on other health care services, much like the pattern found in relatively low income countries. An international pharmaceuticals pricing mechanism is most likely responsible for such a tendency. In addition, it is to be noted that the percentage comes down to 21.0%, when expenditures on both medical non-durables and herbal medicine, which is locally quite popular among the elderly, have been excluded.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.26-36
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• 2020

Background: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between the regional characteristics and the age-adjusted cardio-cerebrovascular disease mortality rates (SCDMR) in 229 si·gun·gu administrative regions. Methods: SCDMR of man and woman was used as a dependent variable using the statistical data of death cause in 2017. As a representative index of regional characteristics, health behavior factors, socio-demographic and economic factors, physical environment factors, and health care factors were selected as independent variables. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were performed to identify their relationship. Results: OLS analysis showed significant factors affecting the mortality rates of cardio-cerebrovascular disease as follows: high-risk drinking rates, the ratio of elderly living alone, financial independence, and walking practice rates. GWR analysis showed that the regression coefficients were varied by regions and the influence directions of the independent variables on the dependent variable were mixed. GWR showed higher adjusted R² and Akaike information criterion values than those of OLS. Conclusion: If there is a spatial heterogeneity problem as Korea, it is appropriate to use the GWR model to estimate the influence of regional characteristics. Therefore, results using the GWR model suggest that it needs to establish customized health policies and projects for each region considering the socio-economic characteristics of each region.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1117-1122
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• 2018

Study Design: Prospective study. Purpose: To assess the prevalence of periodontoid calcification and its associations with acute cervical pain. Overview of Literature: Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) deposition disease is a common rheumatological disorder that occurs especially in elderly patients. Although CPPD crystals induce acute arthritis, these crystals are not usually symptomatic. Calcification surrounding the odontoid process (periodontoid calcification) has been reported to induce inflammation, resulting in acute neck pain. This disease is called crowned dens syndrome. Whether calcification induces inflammation or whether the crystals are symptomatic remains unclear. Methods: The prevalence of periodontoid calcification at the atlas transverse ligament was examined by computed tomography of the upper cervical spine in patients suspected of brain disease but no cervical pain (control group, n=296), patients with pseudogout of the peripheral joints but no cervical pain (arthritis group, n=41), and patients with acute neck pain (neck pain group, n=22). Next, the correlation between the prevalence of periodontoid calcification and symptoms was analyzed. Results: In the control group, 40 patients (13.5%) showed periodontoid calcification with no significant difference in the prevalence with gender. The prevalence of calcification increased significantly with age (p=0.002). In the arthritis group, 26 patients (63.4%) reported periodontoid calcification. In the neck pain group, 14 patients (63.6%) reported periodontoid calcification. Multiple logistic regression analysis by age and group revealed that higher age, inclusion in the arthritis group, and inclusion in the neck pain group significantly affected the prevalence of calcification. Conclusions: Our results cumulatively suggest that periodontoid calcification is an aging-related reaction and that calcification per se does not always cause neck pain. Periodontoid calcification was observed more frequently in patients with pseudogout of the peripheral joints and in those with acute neck pain than in asymptomatic control patients.

• Urogenital Tract Infection
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.79-83
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• 2018

Purpose: The 5 alpha reductase inhibitor (5ARI) reduces the size of the prostate and alleviates lower urinary tract symptoms. After stopping 5ARI, the prostate quickly recovers to its pre-medication size. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the restoration of prostate size after 5ARI discontinuation. Materials and Methods: Between March 2009 and May 2017, patients who visited an outpatient clinic and were diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia were selected and start 5ARI medication. After 6 months of medication, the patients stopped medication for 1 year. Meanwhile, we measured the prostate volumes of patients 3 times (before and after medication, after discontinuation) and divide the patients into 3 groups (maintained, intermediate, and restored) with recovered prostate volume ratio. After classification, we investigated the relationship between the variable factors (age, serum prostate-specific antigen, initial volume, reduced volume after medication) between groups. Results: Among the 147 selected patients, the mean age and plasma PSA level were $61.6{\pm}7.9$ and $0.8{\pm}0.6$, respectively. The mean initial prostate volume was $32.3{\pm}4.2ml$, which reduced to $23.2{\pm}3.2ml$ after medication. After one year of discontinuation, the mean volume was $31.4{\pm}6.4ml$, with restoration to 101.5% of the reduced size. We noticed a tendency that patients with faster prostate volume recovery were generally older than those with slower recovery; however, this was not statistically significant. Other factors showed no relationship with prostate recovery. Conclusions: When using 5ARI in elderly patients, continuous treatment seems better than intermittent treatment. If discontinuation is needed, short term follow-up is recommended.