• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.831-843
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• 2010

Purpose: In this study cardiovascular health status and health behavior of Korean women based on their household income were explored. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, 91 women residing in the community were recruited to complete survey questionnaires and biophysical tests including blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), body fat rate, waist circumference (WC), and blood chemistry tests. Results: Compared to non-low income women (NLIW), low income women (LIW) were more likely to be older, less educated, and jobless, and further more LIW were postmenopause and reported having been diagnosed with hypertension or hypercholesterolemia. Significant differences were found in systolic BP, triglyceride level, BMI, body fat rate, and WC between the groups. Two fifths of the LIW had indications for metabolic syndrome. Their 10-yr risk estimate of myocardioal infarction or coronary death demonstrated a higher probability than that of NLIW. Although these significant differences were due to age gap between the groups, advanced age is known to be one of the key characteristics of LIW as well as a non-modifiable risk factor. Conclusion: Effective community programs for vulnerable women at risk of cardiovascular disease should be based on strategies targeting unhealthy behaviors and modifiable risk factors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 1986

The use of the Angell-Shiley porcine xenograft cardiac valve was limited in number at Seoul National University Hospital chiefly because of the cessation of supply from the manufacturer, Forty-eight Angell-Shiley valves along with the 5 other mechanical or tissue valves were used in 46 patients during the period from 1977 to 1980, and a total of consecutive cases was studied for their early and long-term clinical results. The operative mortality rate was 4.3%; no death after single and 2 deaths after double valve replacement within 30 days of surgery. The 44 early survivors were followed up for a total of 171.6 patient-years and a mean of 46.8$\pm$31.1 months. Four died during the follow-up period with a linealized late mortality rate of 2.33%/patient-year. Four patients had experienced 5 episodes of thromboembolism and one died; a linealized incidence of 2.91% emboli/patient-year. A single case each had a bleeding complication related to the anticoagulants, 0.58% bleeding/patient-year, and prosthetic valve endocarditis, 0.58% endocarditis/patient-year. The clinical improvement was excellent by 70% of the survivors having no cardiac symptoms at the end of the follow-up. The actuarial survival rates were 89.9$\pm$4.9% at 5 years and 69.2$\pm$15.0% at 9 years after surgery. The probabilities of freedom from thromboembolic complication were 92.3$\pm$5.5% and 80.9$\pm$9.0% at 5 and 9 years after surgery. And, the probability of freedom from overall valve failure was 83.4$\pm$6.3% at 5 years and it declined sharply down to 55.9$\pm$22.2% at 9th year of the follow-up. These results are comparable with those in the major reports, except a more accelerated and time-related increases in valve failure after 5 or 6 years after operation with the Angell-Shiley valve. The durability of the xenograft tissue valve remains as the most important debate and the need of more durable tissue valves was also discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.687-698
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• 2018

Objective: This study examined the characteristics of suicidal attempters, including pre-hospital patients and those who visited the emergency department. Methods: Suicidal attempters who had been reported to the 119 call center were selected between July 2015 and June 2016. Sex, age, place, methods of suicidal attempt, season, time, and suicide success rate were reviewed in the fire center records. Results: A total 961 suicide attempters were enrolled. Among them, 53.6% were males who had an approximately 2.6 times higher mortality than that of females (9.2%). The most preferred place to commit suicide was the home in both sexes (68.0% in male, 82.8% in female) and the most preferred methods was drug intoxication, particularly pesticide. The method with the highest mortality was hanging and the lowest was self-harm. The season of the highest mortality was spring. The success of suicide and the time variation were similar. Most of the un-transferred patients also selected fatal suicide attempts compared to transfer patients. Conclusion: Unlike previous studies, this study includes information on un-transferred patients. Overall, the probability of death was highest as more than 50 years men chose hanging as a method, which had an influence on the un-transferred patients group.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2021

Since COVID-19 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2, SARS-Cov-2) was first discovered at the end of 2019, it has spread rapidly around the world. This study introduces an agent-based simulation model representing COVID-19 spread in South Korea to investigate the effect of detect level (contact tracing) on the virus spread. To develop the model, related data are aggregated and probability distributions are inferred based on the data. The entire process of infection, quarantine, recovery, and death is schematically described and the interaction of people is modeled based on the traffic data. A composite logistic functions are utilized to represent the compliance of people to the government move control such as social distancing. To demonstrate to effect of detect level on the virus spread, detect level is changed from 0% to 100%. The results indicate active contact tracing inhibits the virus spread and the inhibitory effect increases geometrically as the detect level increases.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.232-239
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• 2021

This study aimed to update suicide-related indicators including suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and the number of suicidal deaths. Based on up-to-date information, we observed the trends of suicide-related indicators. In this study, five data sources were used to observe the trends of suicide-related indicators: Statistics Korea (1983-2019), Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, '07-13, '15-19), Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, '12-19), and Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, '10-13, '16-17). The suicide rate, which peaked in 2011, declined until 2017 and then started to rise again from 2018, recording a suicide rate of 26.9 per 100,000 people in 2019. The rate of suicidal ideation estimated based on the recently available data was 4.62% (KNHANES, '19), 3.51% (KHP, '16), 2.87% (KHP, '17), and 1.70% (KOWEPS, '19). That of suicide attempt as recent year was 0.43% (KNHANES, '19), 0.07% (KOWEPS, '19). Annual percentage change of death by intentional self-harm was -2.11% (Statistics Korea), and that of suicidal ideation was -14.7% (KNHANES), -2.5% (KCHS), -10.6% (KOWEPS), and -11.3% (KHP). Annual percentage change of suicide attempt was -5.0% (KNHANES), -4.4% (KCHS), and -11.3% (KOWEPS). The lower the income level, the higher the probability of experiencing suicide ideation and suicide attempts. Considering the recent increase in suicide rate in contrast to the continuing decline in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, continuous data observation and appropriate policies regarding suicide prevention are needed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 2022

Background: We investigated surgical outcomes after the surgical repair of cor triatriatum sinister (CTS). Methods: Thirty-two consecutive patients who underwent surgical repair of CTS from 1993 through 2020 were included in this study. The morphological characteristics, clinical features, and surgical outcomes were described and analyzed. Results: The median age and body weight at operation were 9 months (interquartile range [IQR], 3-238 months) and 7.5 kg (IQR, 5.8-49.6 kg), respectively. There were 16 males (50%). According to the modified Lucas classification, type IA (classical CTS) was most common (n=20, 62.5%). Atrial septal defect was associated in 22 patients (68.8%) and anomalous pulmonary venous return in 8 patients (25%). Pulmonary hypertension was preoperatively suspected with a high probability in 18 patients (56.3%). There was 1 early death (3.1%) after emergent membrane excision and hybrid palliation in a high-risk hypoplastic left heart syndrome patient. There were no late deaths. The overall survival rate was 96.9% at 15 years post-repair. No early survivors required reoperation during follow-up. Most survivors (31 of 32 patients, 96.9%) were in New York Heart Association functional class I at a median follow-up of 74 months (IQR, 39-195 months). At the latest echocardiography performed at a median of 42 months (IQR, 6-112 months) after repair, no residual lesion was observed except in 1 patient who had moderate pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 36 mm Hg). Conclusion: Surgical repair of cor triatriatum could be performed safely and effectively with an extremely low risk of recurrence.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.570-590
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• 2024

Breast cancer ranks among the most prevalent forms of malignancy and foremost cause of death by cancer worldwide. It is not preventable. Early and precise detection is the only remedy for lowering the rate of mortality and improving the probability of survival for victims. In contrast to present procedures, thermography aids in the early diagnosis of cancer and thereby saves lives. But the accuracy experiences detrimental impact by low sensitivity for small and deep tumours and the subjectivity by physicians in interpreting the images. Employing deep learning approaches for cancer detection can enhance the efficacy. This study explored the utilization of thermography in early identification of breast cancer with the use of a publicly released dataset known as the DMR-IR dataset. For this purpose, we employed a novel approach that entails the utilization of a pre-trained MobileNetV2 model and fine tuning it through transfer learning techniques. We created three models using MobileNetV2: one was a baseline transfer learning model with weights trained from ImageNet dataset, the second was a fine-tuned model with an adaptive learning rate, and the third utilized early stopping with callbacks during fine-tuning. The results showed that the proposed methods achieved average accuracy rates of 85.15%, 95.19%, and 98.69%, respectively, with various performance indicators such as precision, sensitivity and specificity also being investigated.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.19 no.1 s.57
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• pp.1-19
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• 2005

The following matters were confirmed through the analysis of casualties due to fires in Korea, Japan, and the U.S. in this paper. 1 Korean statistics are not the most detailed of the three countries about casualties due to fires, so we need to have detailed statistics of them on casualties more. 2. Korean deaths are the lowest by 10-11 people due to fires per one million of population. Those of Japan are 15-17 and about 12 people in the U.S.; decreased about 2/3 only for a quarter of a century. 3. Korean deaths are on the decrease about 1.5 people per 100 cases due to fires,3.5 in Japan and 0.2-0.3 in the U.S. Likewise, Korean injuries are on the decrease per 100 cases due to fires From 14.9 in 1977 to 5.1 in 2001 and 5.3 in 2002. In the U.S., the figure was 1.0-1.6. but after the year 1994, it was 1.2 or so. It tends to some increase to 2.6-2.8 in Japan. Therefore, when fires are happened, the death probability is the highest in Japan and 15 times higher than that of the U.S. The injury probability is the highest in Korea and 5 times higher than that of the U.S. 4. Fire deaths rate is the highest in the U.S. about $80\%$ due to home fires (including apartments) among all deaths. Japan tends to decrease of $55\%$. Recently, in case of Korea. it is similar level to that of Japan. 5. Korean aged people of 65 years old and over exceeded by $7\%$ in 2000 and entered an aging society, so It Is time to Investigate and take effect policies to reduce the death of the aged . Japan has ahead a super-aged society that exceeds $20\%$ of the people over the age 65, and many of them die of fire. Consequently, Japan has taken effect policies to reduce deaths from 10 years or more than before. Therefore, it is a good proposal to analyze the policies of Japan deeply and study introduction of them.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.3 s.58
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• pp.630-642
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was to examine the mortality risk associated with cognitive impairment among the rural elderly. The subjective of study was 558 of 'A Study on the Depression and Cognitive Impairment in the Rural Elderly' of Jung Ae Rhee and Hyang Gyun Jung's study(1993). Cognitive impairment and other social and health factors were assessed in 558 elderly rural community residents. For this study, a Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSEK) was used as a global indicator of cognitive functioning. And mortality risk factors for each cognitive impairment subgroup were identified by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. At baseline 22.6% of the sample were mildly impaired and 14.2% were severely impaired. As the age increased, the cognitive function was more impaired. Sexual difference was existed in the cognitive function level. Also the variables such as smoking habits, physical disorders had the significant relationship with cognitive function impairment. Across a 3-year observation period the mortality rate was 8.5% for the cognitively unimpaired, 11.1% for the mildly impaired, and 16.5% for the severly impaired respendents. And the survival probability was .92 for the cognitively unimpaired, .90 for the mildly impaired, and .86 for the severly impaired respondents. Compared to survival curve for the cognitively unimpaired group, each survival curve for the mildly and the severely impaired group was not significantly different. When adjustments models were not made for the effects of other health and social covariates, each hazard ratio of death of mildly and severely impaired persons was not significantly different as compared with the cognitively unimpaired. But, as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death decreased. Employing Cox univariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, smoking habits, physical disorders. Also when adjustments were made for the effects of other health and social covariates, there was no difference in hazard ratio of death between those with severe or mild impairment and unimpaired persons. And as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death did not decrease. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, physical disorders. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model by sex, at men and women statistically significant variable was only age. For both men and women, also cognitive impairment was not a significant risk factor. Other investigators have found that cognitive impairment is a significant predictor of mortality. But we didn't find that it is a significant predictor of mortality. Even though the conclusions of our study were not related to cognitive impairment and mortality, early detection of impaired cognition and attention to associated health problems could improve the quality of life of these older adults and perhaps extend their survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2627-2630
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• 2013

Background: Ovarian cancer continues to pose a major challenge to physicians and radiologists. It is the third most common gynecologic malignancy and estimated to be fifth leading cancer cause of death in women, constituting 23% of all gynecological malignancies. Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) appears to offer an excellent modality in diagnosing ovarian cancer based on combination of its availability, meticulous technique, efficacy and familiarity of radiologists and physicians. The aim of this study was to compute sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and diagnostic accuracy of 64-slice MDCT in classifying ovarian masses; 95% confidence intervals were reported. Materials and Methods: We prospectively designed a cross-sectional analytical study to collect data from July 2010 to August 2011 from a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. A sample of 105 women aged between 15-80 years referred for 64-MDCT of abdomen and pelvis with clinical suspicion of malignant ovarian cancer, irrespective of stage of disease, were enrolled by non-probability purposive sampling. All patients who were already known cases of histologically proven ovarian carcinoma and having some contraindication to radiation or iodinated contrast media were excluded. Results: Our prospective study reports sensitivity, specificity; positive and negative predictive values with 95%CI and accuracy were computed. Kappa was calculated to report agreement among the two radiologists. For reader A, MDCT was found to have 92% (0.83, 0.97) sensitivity and 86.7% (0.68, 0.96) specificity, while PPV and NPV were 94.5% (0.86, 0.98) and 86.7% (0.63, 0.92), respectively. Accuracy reported by reader A was 90.5%. For reader B, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were 94.6% (0.86, 0.98) 90% (0.72, 0.97) 96% (0.88, 0.99) and 87.1% (0.69, 0.95) respectively. Accuracy computed by reader B was 93.3%. Excellent agreement was found between the two radiologists with a significant kappa value of 0.887. Conclusion: Based on our study results, we conclude MDCT is a reliable imaging modality in diagnosis of ovarian masses accurately with insignificant interobserver variability.