• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.173-182
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• 2022

Healthcare organizations are overwhelmingly embracing smart value-based care strategies, which focuses on providing superior treatment at a significantly lower cost and quality of service (QoS). For these purposes, fifth generation (5G) of mobile service provides an innumerable improvement that clearly outperforms previous generations e.g., 3G and 4G. However, as with most advancements, 5G is projected to introduce new challenges, prompting the community to think about what comes next. This research was conducted to examine the most recent smart 5G technology applications and the solutions they provide to the healthcare industry. Finally, the paper discusses how the upcoming 6G technology has the potential to transform the future of healthcare sector even beyond the current 5G systems.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.142-147
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• 2011

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate testicular sperm chromatin condensation using aniline blue-eosin (AB-E) staining and its effects on IVF-ET. Methods: Chromatin condensation was analyzed using AB-E staining in 27 cases of testicular sperm extraction. There were 19 cases of obstructive azoospermia (OA) and 8 cases of non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) in IVF-ET. Mature sperm heads were stained red-pink whereas immature sperm heads were stained dark blue. The percentage of sperm chromatin condensation was calculated from the ratio of the number of red-pink sperm to the total number of sperm analyzed. Results: The overall percentages of chromatin condensation in OA and NOA were $31.1{\pm}11.2%$ and $26.3{\pm}14.4%$, respectively. The fertilization rate was significant higher in OA than NOA ($p$ <0.05); however, the rates of good embryos and clinical pregnancy did not show statistical differences. In OA and NOA, statistical differences were not observed in the rate of chromatin condensation, fertilization, good embryos, and clinical pregnancy between the pregnant group and non-pregnant group. Conclusion: Chromatin condensation is less stable than OA and showed a low fertilization rate in NOA. While there were no significant differences in chromatin condensation results between NOA and OA, we propose that a pattern of decreased chromatin condensation in NOA is one of the factors of low fertilization results requiring further study.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze health promotion programs utilizing forests by reviewing regional healthcare program plans in Korea. Methods: We analyzed 227 regional healthcare program plans from 2011 to 2014; seven health promotion programs of the 16 major healthcare programs were prescribed by public health law. Results: Our analysis revealed that only 35 health promotion programs from 29 sites were utilizing forests. Furthermore, of 21 known categories of health promotion programs, only nine incorporated the use of forests. Atopy-asthma healthcare programs were the most common forest health promotion programs, which also included specialized disease management programs (e.g., for atopy prevention and healing, patients with metabolic syndrome or cancer) and specialized mental health management programs (e.g., for addiction or dementia prevention). Others included programs on the development of forest roads or industrial development using forest products. Conclusion: Health programs using forests in Korea are still very limited and primarily comprise atopy-asthma prevention/management, health behavioral change, and mental health programs. This study provided useful information for developing health policies and forest health promotion programs further in Korea.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.49-89
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• 2019

Many studies have been conducted on adoption of healthcare applications. However, few studies have paid their attention to continuous usage intention of healthcare applications even though success of healthcare applications is determined by Continuous usage intention rather than adoption. Therefore, this study tried to identify the factors affecting the continuous usage intention of healthcare applications and examined the relationship between them empirically. In addition, the role of gender and age in the relationship was investigated. The results showed that self-efficacy and innovation had a significant effect on perceived ease of use of healthcare application, while self-efficacy, health information seeking, and enjoyment had a significant effect on perceived usefulness. Perceived ease of use and usefulness showed positive impact on continuous usage intention of healthcare application. Finally, age and gender had a moderator effect the relationship between perceived usefulness and continuous usage intention. This study is expected to make contributions to the existing research by identifying the factors affecting the Continuous usage intention of healthcare applications, but also to give a guideline for managers who want to provide healthcare application services.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.676-688
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• 2014

The IEEE 802.11e EDCA (Enhanced Distributed Channel Access) mechanism has been proposed to improve the QoS (Quality of Service) of various services in WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks). By differentiating the channel access delay depending on ACs (Access Categories), this mechanism can provide the relative service differentiation among ACs. In this paper, we consider that WLAN is deployed in medical environments to transfer medical traffic and we reveal that the quality of the medical traffic (in particular, ECG signals) is significantly deteriorated even with the service differentiation by IEEE 802.11e EDCA. Also, we analyze the reason for performance degradation and show that IEEE 802.11e EDCA has difficulty in protecting the transmission opportunity of high-priority traffic against low-priority traffic. In order to assure medical-grade QoS, we firstly define the service priority of medical traffic based on their characteristics and requirements, and then we propose the enhanced channel access scheme, referred to as DIFF-CW. The proposed scheme differentiates CW (Contention Window) depending on the service priority and modifies the channel access procedure for low-priority traffic. The simulation results confirm that the DIFF-CW scheme not only assures the QoS of medical traffic but also improves the overall channel utilization.

• CELLMED
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.5.1-5.8
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• 2014

Healthcare-associated infection represents a frequent cause of mortality that increases hospital costs. Due to increasing microbial resistance to antibiotics, it is necessary to search for alternative therapies. Consequently, novel alternatives for the control of resistant microorganisms have been studied. Among them, plant antimicrobial protein presents enormous potential, with flowers being a new source of antimicrobial molecules. In this work, the antimicrobial activity of protein-rich fractions from flower tissues from 18 different species was evaluated against several human pathogenic bacteria. The results showed that protein-rich fractions of 12 species were able to control bacterial development. Due its broad inhibition spectrum and high antibacterial activity, the protein-rich fraction of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis was subjected to DEAE-Sepharose chromatography, yielding a retained fraction and a non-retained fraction. The retained fraction inhibits 29.5% of Klebsiella pneumoniae growth, and the non-retained fraction showed 31.5% of growth inhibition against the same bacteria. The protein profile of the chromatography fractions was analyzed by using SDS-PAGE, revealing the presence of two major protein bands in the retained fraction, of 20 and 15 kDa. The results indicate that medicinal plants have the biotechnological potential to increase knowledge about antimicrobial protein structure and action mechanisms, assisting in the rational design of antimicrobial compounds for the development of new antibiotic drugs.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.33-49
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• 2015

Objectives : This study was conducted to measure the effects of healthcare accreditation (HA) on the changes in infection control (IC). Methods : Questionnaires were e-mailed to 60 hospitals from 23 October to 23 December, 2011. Data were analyzed by SPSS 12.0. Results : Finally 50 hospitals (83.0%) were enrolled in the study: Seoul area (40.0%), tertiary (76.0%), and >500 beds (98.0%). Nine hospitals (18.0%) had a full time infection control nurse[ICN] with 300 beds. Among various factors, ICN (36.0%), hospital facilities (66.0%), instruments (32.0%) and supplies (88.0%) all improved. Hand hygiene increased (53.1% vs 83.2%, p<.001), but it was continued only in 34.1% of hospitals. Healthcare-associated infection (68.4%), multi drug resistant organisms (42.1%) and outbreaks (26.3%) decreased. Reasons for difficulties in satisfying the HA standards were inadequate support which included hospital facilities, instruments, budget, and a shortage of ICNs and healthcare workers (HCWs). Conclusions : HA had effects on the IC, but they were transient. Staffing in ICN and HCW staffing, hospital facilities, instruments, and supplies all need to be improved.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.208-218
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing on practice of healthcare-associated infection control among clinical nurses. Methods: The subject of this study were 118 nurses who worked in medical surgical ward and ICU of 2 general hospital in Gwangju city. Data were collected with a questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheff$\acute{e}$ test, Pearson correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS/WIN 12.0. Results: The major findings of this study were as follow: There were significant positive correlation between knowledge, recognition, empowerment and practice of healthcare-associated infection control. The significant factors influencing practice of healthcare-associated infection control were recognition and empowerment, which explained 68.8% of the practice of healthcare-associated infection control. Conclusion: These results indicate that recognition on healthcare-associated infection control and empowerment among clinical nurses should be reinforcement via consistent education, administrative and organizational support at the level of hospital.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.159-163
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• 2011

Objective: To compare the IVF outcomes of mild ovarian stimulation with conventional ovarian stimulation in poor responders. Methods: From 2004 to 2009, 389 IVF cycles in 285 women showed poor responses (defined as either a basal FSH level ${\geq}$12 mIU/mL, or the number of retrieved oocytes ${\leq}$3, or serum $E_2$ level on hCG day <500 pg/mL) were analyzed, retrospectively. In total, 119 cycles with mild ovarian stimulation (m-IVF) and 270 cycles with conventional ovarian stimulation (c-IVF) were included. Both groups were divided based on their age, into groups over and under 37 years old. Results: The m-IVF group was lower than the c-IVF group in the duration of stimulation, total doses of gonadotropins used, serum $E_2$ level on hCG day, the number of retrieved oocytes, and the number of mature oocytes. However, there was no significant difference in the number of good embryos, the number of transferred embryos, the cancellation rate, or the clinical pregnancy rate. In the m-IVF group over 37 years old, the clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate were higher when compared with the c-IVF group, but this result was not statistically significant. Conclusion: In poor responder groups, mild ovarian stimulation is more cost effective and patient friendly than conventional IVF. Therefore, we suggest that mild ovarian stimulation could be considered for poor responders over 37 years old.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.154-156
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• 2012

This paper presents a user authentication scheme for healthcare application using wireless medical sensor networks, where wireless medical sensors are used for patients monitoring. These medical sensors' sense the patient body data and transmit it to the professionals (e.g., doctors, nurses, and surgeons). Since, the data of an individual are highly vulnerable; it must ensures that patients medical vital signs are secure, and are not exposed to an unauthorized person. In this regards, we have proposed a user1 authentication scheme for healthcare application using medical sensor networks. The proposed scheme includes: a novel two-factor professionals authentication (user authentication), where the healthcare professionals are authenticated before access the patient's body data; a secure session key is establish between the patient sensor node and the professional at the end of user authentication. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the proposed scheme is safeguard to various practical attacks and achieves efficiency at low computation cost.