• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations of obesity and clinical characteristics including interleukin-6 (IL-6) with hospital length of stay (LOS) in coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients in Korea. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study design was employed to analyze medical data from a government-designated hospital in a city of Korea. Clinical data were collected from 256 patients with COVID-19 in negative-pressure isolation wards in 2021. The following parameters were analyzed: body mass index (BMI), IL-6 levels, age, sex, comorbidities, healthy habitsat the time ofadmission, and LOS. The statistical package SPSS 26.0 was used for descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, the chi-square test, and partial correlation coefficients. Results: The age of COVID-19 patients was positively correlated with BMI (r = -.16, p = .012), IL-6 levels (r = .14, p = .022) and LOS (r = .26, p < .001). Obesity, non-drinking, hypertension, and older age were associated with longer LOS. Conclusion: These results suggest that age, obesity, and hypertension in COVID-19 patients are related to LOS. Studies investigating other factors that can affect long-term hospitalization in COVID-19 patients are suggested.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.155-162
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• 2022

Even after testing negative for COVID-19, some patients continue to struggle with a variety of symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal problems and neurological problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined long COVID (Post COVID-19 conditions) as "A disease occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, usually 3 months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms that last for at least 2 months, that cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis." As a possible pathological mechanism of long COVID, three hypotheses are proposed: the persistence of the infectious state due to the residual virus, the persistent inflammatory response, and the autoimmune response. The main symptoms of long COVID are shortness of breath (dyspnea), abdominal pain and dyspepsia, fatigue, cognitive problems (brain fog), anosmia and dysgeusia, and chest pain, palpitations and tachycardia. In the Chinese guidelines, COVID-19 patients were divided into mild, moderate, severe, and recovery, and prescriptions with effective therapeutic effects were summarized to encourage combined treatment of chinese and western medicine. Globally, only symptomatic therapy is recommended for long COVID, but a specific treatment has not yet been proposed. Recently, morbidity code for post COVID-19 conditions was created, and it is planned to announce guidelines for long COVID treatment and management in the first half of 2023. In line with this trend, the Korean medical community needs to make efforts to prepare treatment guidelines for patients with long COVID.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.67-69
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• 2020

Controversy remains over whether the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus may have infectivity during the incubation period before the onset of symptoms. The author had the opportunity to examine the infectivity of COVID-19 during the incubation period by conducting an epidemiological survey on a confirmed patient who had visited Jeju Island during the incubation period. The epidemiological findings support the claim that the COVID-19 virus does not have infectivity during the incubation period.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.384-391
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• 2021

The recent appearance of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected millions of people around the world and caused a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It has been suggested that uncontrolled, exaggerated inflammation contributes to the adverse outcomes of COVID-19. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the innate immune response elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and the hyperinflammation that contributes to disease severity and death. We also discuss the immunological determinants behind COVID-19 severity and propose a rationale for the underlying mechanisms.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.330-338
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• 2021

Purpose: This cross-sectional study aimed to identify factors affecting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination intention. Methods: For an anonymous online survey, recruitment notices were posted on an anonymous community by each university, and an online survey was conducted through online form from June to July 2021. COVID-19 knowledge and health-protective behavior were measured using a questionnaire based on previous literature and reflecting the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 Response Guidelines. The psychological antecedents of vaccination were measured by 5C scale. Results: Two-hundred and ninety-four college students (women 67.3%) answered the survey; 179 (60.9%) reported that they would accept a COVID-19 vaccine. The mean scores for COVID-19 knowledge and health-protective behavior were 22.97±5.33 (out of 35) and 9.92±2.22 (out of 12), respectively. For the psychological antecedents of vaccination, the mean scores for confidence, collective responsibility, calculation, complacency, and constraints were 4.45 (± 1.24), 5.61 (± 1.09), 5.09 (± 1.18), 2.42 (± 1.11), and 2.37 (± 1.19) out of 5 points, respectively. The confidence, calculation, and collective responsibility were associated with vaccination intention. Additionally, the top reason for those who were less prone to accept vaccination against COVID-19 was concern about vaccine safety. Conclusion: The higher the confidence in the vaccine and the higher the collective responsibility, the higher the vaccination intention. As it is a factor related to an individual's perception of COVID-19 information, it is necessary to increase confidence in the vaccines through obtaining accurate information on the safety, effectiveness, and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.593-604
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze the flow of change in perception of metaverse before and after COVID-19 through big data analysis. This research method used Textom to collect all data, including metaverse for two years before COVID-19 (2018.1.1~2019.11.30) and after COVID-19 outbreak (2020.1.11~2021.12.31), and the collection channels were selected by Naver and Google. The collected data were text mining, and word frequency, TF-IDF, word cloud, network analysis, and emotional analysis were conducted. As a result of the analysis, first, hotels, weddings, and glades were commonly extracted as social issues related to metaverse before and after COVID-19, and keywords such as robots and launches were derived, so the frequency of keywords related to hotels and weddings was high. Second, the association of the pre-COVID-19 metaverse keywords was platform-oriented, content-oriented, economic-oriented, and online promotion-oriented, and post-COVID-19 clusters were event-oriented, ontact sales-oriented, stock-oriented, and new businesses. Third, positive keywords such as likes, interest, and joy before COVID-19 were high, and positive keywords such as likes, joy, and interest after COVID-19. In conclusion, through this study, it was found that metaverse has firmly established itself as a new platform business model that can be used in various fields such as tourism, travel, festivals, and education using smart technology and metaverse.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.111-119
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• 2023

This study aimed to analyze the changes in news articles related to 'Elderly Living Alone' by comparing Big Data-based news articles related to 'Elderly Living Alone' reported before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. For this, 2018 to 2019 were selected before the outbreak of COVID-19, and 2020 to 2021 were selected after the outbreak, and news articles related to 'Elderly Living Alone' were collected and analyzed using BIGKinds. The main results are as follows. First, the number of related articles decreased after the outbreak of COVID-19 compared to before. Second, there was no significant difference in the analysis of related words. Third, in the relationship diagram analysis, 'Executives' before the outbreak of COVID-19 and 'Corona 19' after that showed the most weight. This study is expected to be used as basic data in preparing improvement plans for national policies and systems in the context of the spread of infectious diseases in relation to 'Elderly Living Alone'.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2023

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between psychosocial factors and the mask-wearing behavior after deregulation of COVID-19 quarantine guidelines among adults in Korea. Methods : We collected data (345 subjects) from online questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Korean version of fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15, Korean versions of the Perceived Stress Scale, and measurement tools adapted from previous studies for COVID-19 risk perception, social stigma, and appearance interest of subjects. We analysed data using SPSS version 23.0 for descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis. Results : People with cohabitant or mask-wearing tendency before COVID-19 pandemic had a higher rate of mask-wearing than those who were not. Subjects reporting higher level of social stigma (OR=1.154, 95% CI 1.049-1.270) and COVID-19 anxiety (OR=1.072, 95% CI 1.007-1.141) were more likely to report maskwearing behavior. Conclusion : From the results, appropriate intervention to those who fear social stigma and are anxious to the infectious diseases will be needed. Additionally, providing policies and guidelines that consider cohabitants and offering continuous education with information of disease to the public are also expected to helpful for recovery of daily life from infectious diseases.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.463-471
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• 2022

Purposes of this study were to identify the factors associated with behavioral Intention to social distancing (BItSD) in a loss versus gain advertising context. This study is a secondary analysis of data surveyed after randomly allocating one of the loss and gain message framing advertisements for the prevention of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection to 379 adults aged 19 and over living in Korea in early March 2021. Attitude toward advertisement (𝛽=.03, p<.001), involvement in COVID-19 (𝛽=.14, p=.006) and emotional stigma (𝛽=-0.17, p<.001) were associated with BItSD, and the explanatory power of these variables was 19% (Adjusted R²=.19). Therefore, when health care professionals communicate with the public, they should develop the strategies to increase public people's involvement in the information and to induce positive advertising attitudes, and provide the effective messages to prevent stigma by accurate information.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.66-74
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• 2022

This study identified the impact of information literacy, risk perception, crisis communication on preventive behaviors related to COVID-19 among nursing students. Data were collected from 187 nursing students from 25 June 2020 to 3 July 2020, and analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 26.0 program. As a result of regression analysis, the factors influencing prevention behaviors were crisis communication(β=0.30, p<.001), information literacy(β=0.29, p<.001), and risk perception(β=0.19, p=.004). The explanatory power of the model was 27%. This study suggests that the focus should be on improving the activating crisis communication process among individual, family and society, increasing information literacy and risk perception on crisis when developing program to improve COVID-19 preventive behaviors of nursing students experiencing clinical practice.