• 대한예방한의학회지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.15-35
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• 2002

This study was conducted to provide basic data for policy of Oriental medicine by analyzing community resident's consciousness of taking herb medicine and its related factors. Data were collected from 1478 residents from March 2, 2001 to May 31, 2001. The results of this study are summarized as follows. 1) The rate of experience of taking herb medicine was 85.2%(88.2% of 'male'; 82.5% of 'female'). It appeared to be significantly higher in the groups of 'the married', 'housewife', and 'Buddhist'. As the age increased, so the rate of experience of taking herb medicine was significantly high. 2) In case of purpose of taking herb medicine, taking herb medicine as a restorative(66.8%) was much higher than taking it as a curative medicine. 3) 52.1% of the respondents satisfied with the effect of herb medicine. The groups of 'male', 'older age', 'residents in a big city', 'insurant in company', and 'the employed' showed significantly high rate in satisfying with herb medicine than the other groups. 4) According to the reason for preferring herb medicine, 36.7% of the respondents preferred herb medicine because the herb medicine was effective, while 27.8% preferred it because its side effect was low. 16.7% preferred it because persons around them recommended it. 5) 42.6% of the respondents did not want to take the herb medicine because the price of the herb medicine was high. Also 20.6% of the respondents did not want to take herb medicine because it is uneasy to take herb medicine. 15.8% did not want to take it because certain food should not be taken during the period of taking it. 9.4% did not want to take it because it tasted bitter. 6) In case of opinions on side effects of herb medicine, 40.8% of the respondents thinks that herb medicine is free from side effects, while 37.5% thinks that it causes side effects. There were significant difference in the opinions on side effects by sex, age, marital status, resident area, education level, occupation, and type of health insurance. 7) 60.7% of the respondents thinks the price of herb medicine is not resonable, while only 10.9% thinks it is resonable. 8) 45.2% of the respondents uses packs of decocted herbs although they think the packs of decocted herb are a little low effective because decocting herbs in home is bothersome. 45.2% uses packs of decocted herbs because they are convenient, being not related to the effect. 7.6% takes medicinal herbs after decocting them in a clay pot because they think the packs of decocted herbs have low effect. 51.9% does not know whether taking herb medicine in summer is effective or not because the effect is different according to their physical constitutions. 35.5% thinks that taking herb medicine is summer is effective because their physical stamina is weakened after sweated a lot, while 12.6% thinks that it is not effective because the effect of herb medicine disappears with sweat. 9) According to the level of satisfaction with Oriental medical care, the respondents marked $3.47{\pm}0.64$ points on the base of 5 points. It was significantly higher in the groups of 'male', 'the married, resident in a big city', 'highschool graduate', 'the unemployed', 'office clerk', 'growing up in a big city', 'insurant in region', and 'the middle class'. 10) According to the result of a regression analysis of factors influencing preference for herb medicine, the factors displayed significant difference by sex, age, education level, health status, and times of receiving Oriental medical care. As shown in the above results, the community residents satisfy with the effect of herb medicine. Therefore, the method of taking herb medicine without difficulty must be devised. The medicinal herbs in packages need to be included in health insurance coverage and resonable price of herb medicine must be set. Also, education program for community residents must be developed in order to provide right information in herb medicine. Therefore, related public authority, associations, and professionals must make efforts, forming organic cooperative system.

• 대한본초학회지
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.1-16
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• 2012

Objective : To investigate the current status of prescription drugs in Oriental medical institutes and to draw up a future plan for the revitalization of Oriental medical health insurance, this survey has been performed. Method : The survey has been made with 321 doctors working at Oriental medical institutes in Daegu and Kyungbuk areas for a period of 3 month from June 1, 2010 until September 1, 2010. Result : 1. When it comes to the current status of the use of herbal drugs in Oriental Health insurance, most of doctors surveyed prescribe insurance drugs, and they prescribe insurance drugs to patients, who are less than 20% of total patients visiting their clinics. 2. The awareness of Herbal Health Care Drugs is investigated. When it comes to the understanding of the difference between insurance drugs(powder type drugs) and granular type drugs, doctors admit that they differ only in one aspect, whether or not their being covered by health insurance. Based on the survey results on the understanding of insurance coverage of granular type drugs, doctors, even though they long for granular type drugs to be accepted as insurance drugs, are worrying whether the number of outpatients might dwindle due to increased insurance co-payments. They also point out that the biggest obstacles in the expansion of the granular type drugs as insurance drugs are the lack of understanding of the government and the objection of the Health Insurance Review and Assesment service (HIRA) for fear of increased insurance claims. 3. Upon investigation on Oriental medicine doctors' understandings of herbal pharmaceutical industry, it is found that doctors' responses on pharmaceutical industry are not all positive ones('new product development and neglect of R&D infrastructure' and 'smallness of industry'). When it is investigated what area needs the greatest improvement in herbal pharmaceutical industry, 'securing sufficient capital, good manufacturing, and strengthening quality control', is the highest. 4. When it is asked what are the most needed in order to improve herbal health insurance medicine, responses such as 'the increase in the accessibility to and the utilization of Oriental medical clinics through the diversification of the means of prescriptions', 'the improvement of insurance benefits(cap adjustments)', 'increase the proportion of high quality medicinal plants', 'the ceiling of co-payments(deductible) at 20,000 won or more', 'expansion of the choices of formulations', 'formulational expansions of tablets and pills', and finally 'admittance and expansion of granular type drug as insurance drug' are the highest. 5. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the current status of the usage of Oriental health care herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, the frequency of use of health insurance drugs by the doctors who use health insurance with general characteristics shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001), average number of daily patients (p<0.05). Secondly, as to the willingness of the expanded usage of insurance drugs, similar differences are observed in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). 6. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the perception of Herbal health care drugs, the followings are observed. First, inspecting general characteristics and insurance claims due to increased co-payments(deductible amount) reveals similar differences in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p <0.01). Secondly, inspecting general characteristics and the obstacles that hinder granular type drugs from being accepted as health care insurance drugs shows similar differences in case of working period (p<0.05). 7. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the understanding of Oriental Herbal pharmaceutical companies, the followings are observed. First, opinions on the general characteristics of pharmaceutical companies, when examined with variance analysis, shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). Secondly, when opinions are examined on general characteristics and the problems of herbal pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are found in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001). Lastly, opinions on the general characteristics and reforms of pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.001). 8. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the improvement of insurance Herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, regarding general characteristics and insurance benefits, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.05), in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05), and in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Secondly, opinions on the general characteristics and the needs for the improvement of Herbal insurance drugs are examined in 5 different aspects, which are the approval of granular type drugs as insurance drugs, the expanded practices of the number of prescription insurance drugs, the needs of a variety of formulations, the needs of TFT of which numbers of Oriental medical doctors are members for the revision of the existing system, and the needs of adjusting the current ceiling of the fixed amount and the fixed rate. When processed by the analysis of variance, the results show similar differences in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Conclusion : From the results of this study the first measures to take are, to reform overall insurance benefit system, including insurance co-payment system(fixed rate cap adjustment), to expand the number of the herbal drugs to be prescribed matching with insurance benefit accordingly, and to revitalize herbal medicine insurance system through the change of various formulations. In addition, it is recommended to improve the effectiveness of herbal medicine by making plans to enhance the efficacy of herbal medicine and by enabling small pharmaceutical companies to outgrow themselves.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.87-100
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• 2012

Smart wear integrates computing technology into fabric or a garment for additional functionality. This research explored the attitudes and opinions of the use of smart wear from the viewpoint of caregivers. Thirty two individuals including care providers of children and adult family members with health problems participated in focus group interviews. Participants reported being interested in smart wear because of the potential to detect the location (GPS) of a dependent (e.g., child, elderly) and to monitor vital signs. Participants indicated perceived advantages of smart wear such as identifying geographical location and effectiveness. Perceived concerns mentioned were privacy/security issues and accuracy of data. Participants taking care of dependents without a specific disease were hesitant to adopt and pay for smart wear. However, caregivers of elderly individuals expressed positive adoption intentions and willingness to reasonably pay for smart wear. They indicated expectations that potential insurance would provide coverage for cost savings. Caregivers expressed the need of specific requirements for future adoption such as customizability, and comfort/safety. Specific to smart wear clothing, most respondents preferred it be an undershirt or a jacket with a sensor located in the shoulder area. The findings from this study can be used in product development, promotion and marketing of smart wear.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.207-230
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• 2012

Full-scale shake table seismic experiments and low-amplitude vibration tests on a masonry building are carried out to assess its seismic performance as well as study the effectiveness of a new multifunctional textile material for retrofitting masonry structures against earthquakes. The un-reinforced and the retrofitted with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) strips masonry building was subjected to a series of earthquake excitations of increasing magnitude in order to progressively induce various small, moderate and severe levels of damage to the masonry walls. The performance of the original and retrofitted building states is evaluated. Changes in the dynamic characteristics (lowest four modal frequencies and damping ratios) of the building are used to assess and quantify the damage states of the masonry walls. For this, the dynamic modal characteristics of the structure states after each earthquake event were estimated by performing low-amplitude impulse hammer and sine-sweep forced vibration tests. Comparisons between the modal results calculated using traditional accelerometers and those using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors embedded in the reinforcing textile were carried on to investigate the reliability and accuracy of FBG sensors in tracking the dynamic behaviour of the building. The retrofitting actions restored the stiffness characteristics of the reinforced masonry structure to the levels of the original undamaged un-reinforced structure. The results show that despite a similar dynamic behavior identified, corresponding to reduction of the modal frequencies, the un-reinforced masonry building was severely damaged, while the reinforced masonry building was able to withstand, without visual damage, the induced strong seismic excitations. The applied GFRP reinforcement architecture for one storey buildings was experimentally proven reliable for the most severe earthquake accelerations. It was easily placed in a short time and it is a cost effective solution (covering only 20% of the external wall surfaces) when compared to the cost for full wall coverage by GFRPs.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.237-241
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• 2006

Infective endocarditis remains an important, life-threatening infection despite improvements in diagnosis and management. Despite the decrease in rheumatic heart disease and the improvements in antibiotic prophylaxis, infective endocarditis has been reported with increasing frequency in the last few decades. Presumably, this is due to the rise in the incidence of intravenous drug users, carriers of prosthetic valves and other intracardiac devices, and the longer survival of patients with congenital heart disease. Despite the great advances in medical and surgical treatment, infective endocarditis is still a life-threatening disease with an estimated mortality of 27%. Infective endocarditis represents one of the few potentially fatal infections that may occur in a dental patient. Efforts to reduce the incidence of this disease usually take the form of appropriate antibiotic coverage before dental treatment, together with the establishment and maintenance of good oral health. This study is a case report of a patient who developed infective endocarditis after multiple tooth extractions due to chronic periodontitis of dental origin.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권11호
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• pp.5501-5504
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• 2012

Cervical cancer is an important woman's health problems worldwide, especially in low socio-economic countries. The aim of this study was to compare the Pap smear screening results between Akha hill tribe and urban women who live in Chiang Rai province, Thailand. Screening was conducted for 1,100 Akha women and 1,100 urban women who came to have the Pap smear at Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital and 1 private cytology laboratory from January to June 2008. The demographic characteristics and factors related to abnormal Pap smears of these women were gathered using closed model questionnaires. Abnormal Pap smears were defined according to the Bethesda 2001 system. The results showed that the prevalence of abnormal Pap smears was 12.2% in Akha women and 4.5% in urban women. The highest prevalence of Pap abnormalities was found in the 41-50 years age group in both populations (4.5% in Akha and 1.7% in urban women). In both populations, abnormal Pap smears were found in <21 years age groups. From the questionnaires, the possible risk factors related to the higher prevalence of abnormal Pap smears in Akha women were early age at marriage (${\leq}17$ years), high frequency pregnacies and high parity and no/low education level. In conclusion, cervical cancer control by education and early detection by Pap smear screening is necessary for hill tribe women. More Pap smear screening service units should be set to improve the coverage for the risk group women who got married in young age, especial in ethnic groups.

• 전기학회논문지
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.514-517
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• 2008

Ubiquitous healthcare (U-healthcare) system is one of potential applications of embedded system. Conventional U-healthcare systems are used in health monitoring or chronic disease care based on measuring and transmission of various vital signs. However, future U-healthcare system can be of benefit to more people such as stroke patients which have limited activity by providing them proper medical care as well as continuous monitoring. Recently, an electric brain stimulation treatments have been found to be a better way compared to conventional ones and many are interested in using the method toward the treatment of stroke. In this study, we proposed a remote medical treatment system using ZigBee-based wireless electric brain stimulator that can help them to get a treatment without visiting their doctors. The developed remote medical treatment system connects the doctors to the brain stimulator implanted in the patients via the internet and ZigBee communication built in the brain stimulator. Also, the system receive personal information of the connected patients and cumulate the total records of electric stimulation therapy in a database. Doctors can easily access the information for better treatment planning with the help of graphical visualization tools and management software. The developed remote medical treatment system can extend their coverage to outdoors being networked with hand-held devices through ZigBee.

• 한국재난정보학회 논문집
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.141-153
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• 2018

연구목적 : 본 연구 대상부지는 1973년에 해안매립이 완료되어 30여 년 동안 선박 수선업 등의 사업활동이 진행되어 왔다. 연구방법 : 2013년에 실시한 토양정밀조사결과, 대상부지의 오염면적은 $10,000m^2$, 오염심도는 GL(-) 3.0 m의 고농도 TPH로 유류오염이 확인되었고, 시간경과에 따라 오염범위가 확산되고 있었다. 연구결과 : 정제된 석유제품에 의한 토양오염은 종종 생태계와 인간의 건강에 해로운 영향을 미치기 때문에 신속한 정화가 이루어져야 한다. 결론 : 따라서 고농도의 TPH로 오염된 대상 부지에 대하여 수리지질학적 조사를 통해 지하수유동과 오염의 확산방향을 평가함으로써 잠정적인 오염원인자를 추정할 수 있다.

• Journal of Computing Science and Engineering
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.1-30
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• 2007

In this paper we have provided an extensive survey of the databases and other resources related to the current research in bioinformatics and the issues that confront the database researcher in helping the biologists. Initially we give an overview of the concepts and principles that are fundamental in understanding the basis of the data that has been captured in these databases. We briefly trace the evolution of biological advances and point out the importance of capturing data about genes, the fundamental building blocks that encode the characteristics of life and proteins that are the essential ingredients for sustaining life. The study of genes and proteins is becoming extremely important and is being known as genomics and proteomics, respectively. Whereas there are numerous databases related to various subfields of biology, we have maintained a focus on genomic and proteomic databases which are the crucial stepping stones for other fields and are expected to play an important role in the future applications of biology and medicine. A detailed listing of these databases with information about their sizes, formats and current status is presented. Related databases like molecular pathways and interconnection network databases are mentioned, but their full coverage would be beyond the scope of a single paper. We comment on the peculiar nature of the data in biology that presents special problems in organizing and accessing these databases. We also discuss the capabilities needed for database development and information management in the bioinformatics arena with particular attention to ontology development. Two research case studies based on our own research are summarized dealing with the development of a new genome database called Mitomap and the creation of a framework for discovery of relationships among genes from the biomedical literature. The paper concludes with an overview of the applications that will be driven from these databases in medicine and healthcare. A glossary of important terms is provided at the end of the paper.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.374-383
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• 2020

BACKGROUNDS/OBJECTIVES: To describe the data-based development of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for dietary evaluation of Korean preschool children. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Development of the FFQ was based on the data from 2,766 preschool children aged 1-5 years, who had completed 24-hour dietary recalls in the 2009-2013 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We selected the food list based on the results of nutritional contribution and between-person variability for energy and 13 nutrients. We selected 88 foods with over 80% of total contribution to each nutrient and with over 80% of accumulated r² for each nutrient. A dish containing any of the 88 foods in the recipe was listed, and a total of 903 dishes were extracted. Among the 903 dishes, we selected 438 dishes contributing more than 1% of total consumption. RESULTS: FFQ included 116 dish items combined from 438 dishes based on nutrient profile and recipe. Quantities of dietary intake were assessed by nine categories of frequency and portion size option. In addition, when comparing the food portions of children with the reference portion size, subjects would be asked to select one of three response categories (less, similar, and more) and then to record the amount as a percentage for the reference portion. Percentages of coverage for energy, protein, fat, and carbohydrate were 89.2%, 88.4%, 88.2%, and 89.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The dietary intake of Korean preschool children can be assessed by this new data-based FFQ. In addition, the new instrument can be used to identify nutritional needs of target groups for planning nutrition education and strategies to improve diet. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the performance of the instrument.