• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.7-17
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• 2014

Risk assessment considers the situations and characteristics of the exposure environment and host. Various physiological variables of the human body reflects the characteristics of the population that can directly influence risk exposure. Therefore, identification of exposure factors based on the Korean population is required for appropriate risk assessment. It is expected that a handbook about general exposure factors will be used by professionals in many fields as well as the risk assessors of the health department. The process of developing the exposure factors handbook for the Korean population will be introduced in this article, with a specific focus on the general exposure factors including life expectancy, body weight, surface area, inhalation rates, amount of water intake, and soil ingestion targeting the Korean population. The researchers used national databases including the Life Table and the 2005 Time Use Survey from the National Statistical Office. The anthropometric study of size in Korea used the resources provided by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards. In addition, direct measurement and questionnaire surveys of representative samples were performed to calculate the inhalation rate, drinking water intake, and soil ingestion.

• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.82-85
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• 2022

Traditionally, most cases of nicotine poisoning have been due to ingestion of nicotine pesticides. However, the increasing use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has resulted in both intentional and unintentional exposure to concentrated liquid nicotine or "e-liquid" leading to an increase in nicotine poisoning cases. However, fatalities following the ingestion of the e-liquid are extremely rare. We report a rare case of cardiac arrest and severe encephalopathy following the intentional ingestion of e-liquid. We present the case of a 20-year-old woman who intentionally ingested liquid nicotine intended for e-cigarette use. She was found in asystole and experienced a return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) after undergoing approximately 46 mins of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Her plasma nicotine levels were >500 ng/ml. Despite aggressive supportive care, she was found to have encephalopathy consistent with severe anoxic brain injury on magnetic resonance imaging. In recent times, there have been some reports of deaths following liquid nicotine ingestion. Our case illustrates the potential for fatal nicotine toxicity from ingestion of e-cigarettes.

• 한국지하수토양환경학회지:지하수토양환경
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.12-27
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• 2004

본 연구에서는 벤젠을 대상으로 오염된 지하수를 생활용수로 사용했을 때 발생하는 실내오염도를 모사하고 실내에서 가능한 흡입, 섭취, 피부흡수와 같은 노출경로를 고려하여 노출시나리오를 자성하였다. 인체에 유입된 벤젠에 대하여 PBPK 모델을 이용하여 인체의 각 장기에 어떻게 분포하는지를 분석하였다. 결과에서 흡입과 섭취가 주요노출 경로였으며 남성이 여성보다 많은 호흡량으로 인해 보다 높은 노출속도를 유지하였다. 노출속도에 대한 피부흡수의 공헌도는 상대적으로 매우 작았다. 단기노출의 결과 오염물 노출에 대하여 SPT, RPT,간의 정맥혈 중 벤젠농도는 빠르게 증감하는 반면 지방의 경우는 느리게 반응하였고 많은 벤젠이 지방세포에 축적되어 정맥혈에는 적은 농도로 존재하였다. 장기간 노출에서 여성은 남성보다 전체적으로 2.1배 많은 벤젠을 체내에 축적하고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 장기간 노출에서 총유입벤젠의 98%가 호흡과 대사분해에 의해 제거되었다. 흡입경로는 벤젠이 호흡배출에 의해 69.8% 제거되었으며 섭취경로는 48.4%로 오염물이 유입되는 위치에 따라 각각의 제거기작의 공헌도가 다르게 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과는 실내오염에 따라 오염물이 체내에 흡수되고 분포ㆍ제거되는 현상을 이해하고 노출저감대책을 마련하는데 필요한 자료를 제공하고자 하였다.

• 방사선산업학회지
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• 제18권1호
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• pp.35-42
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• 2024

Demand for RW transportation is expected to increase due to the continuous generation of RW from nuclear power plants and facilities, decommissioning of plants, and saturation of spent fuel temporary storage facilities. The locational aspect of plants and radiation protection optimization for the public have led to an increasing demand for maritime transportation, necessitating to apprehend the overseas and domestic current status. Given the potential long-term radiological impact on the public in the event of a sinking accident, a pre-transportation exposure assessment is necessary. The objective of this study is to investigate the overseas and domestic RW maritime transportation current status and overseas dose assessment cases for the public in sinking accident. Selected countries, including Japan, UK, Sweden, and Korea, were examined for transport cases, Japan and the U.S were chosen for dose assessment case in sinking accidents. As a result of the maritime transportation case analysis, it was performed between nuclear power plants and reprocessing facilities, from plants to disposal or intermediate storage facilities. HLW and MOX fuel were transported using INF 3 shipments, and all transports were performed low speed of 13 kn or less. As a result of the dose assessment for the public in sinking accident, japan conducted an assessment for the sinking of spent fuel and vitrified HLW, and the U.S conducted for the sinking of spent fuel. Both countries considered external exposure through swimming and working at seashore, and internal exposure through seafood ingestion as exposure pathway. Additionally, Japan considered external exposure through working on board and fishing, and the U.S considered internal exposure through spray inhalation and desalinized water and salt ingestion. Internal exposure through seafood ingestion had the largest dose contribution. The average public exposure dose was 20 years after the sinking, 0.04 mSv yr^-1 for spent fuel and 5 years after the sinking, 0.03 mSv yr^-1 for vitrified HLW in Japan. In the U.S, it was 1.81 mSv yr^-1 5 years after the sinking of spent fuel. The results of this study will be used as fundamental data for maritime transportation of domestic RW in the future.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.39-49
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• 2018

Background: A model to assess the activity concentration of agricultural products and the public ingestion dose as result of a nuclear accident is necessarily required to manage the contaminated agricultural systems by the accident, or to estimate the effects of chronic exposure due to food ingestion at a Level 3 PSA. Materials and Methods: A dynamic compartment model, which is composed of three sub-modules, namely, an agricultural plant contamination assessment model, an animal product contamination assessment model, and an ingestion dose assessment model has been developed based on Korean farming characteristics such as the growth characteristics of rice and stockbreeding. Results and Discussion: The application study showed that the present model can predict well the characteristics of the activity concentration for agricultural products and ingestion dose depending on the deposition date. Conclusion: The present model is very useful to predict the radioactivity concentration of agricultural foodstuffs and public ingestion dose as consequence of a nuclear accident. Consequently, it is expected to be used effectively as a module for the ingestion dose calculation of the Korean agricultural contamination management system as well as the Level 3 PSA code, which is currently being developed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.8-14
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• 2019

Background: Management of an agricultural food product system following a nuclear accident is indispensable for reducing radiation exposure due to ingestion of contaminated food. The present study analyzes the effect of agricultural countermeasures on ingestion dose following a nuclear accident. Materials and Methods: Agricultural countermeasures suitable for domestic farming environments were selected by referring to the countermeasures applied after the Fukushima accident in Japan. The avertable ingestion doses that could be obtained by implementing the selected countermeasures were calculated using the Korean Agricultural Countermeasure Analysis Program (K-ACAP) to investigate the efficiency of each countermeasure. Results and Discussion: Of the selected countermeasures, the management of crops was effective when radionuclide deposition occurred during the growing season of plants. Treatment by soil additive and topsoil removal was effective when deposition occurred during the nongrowing season of plants. The disposal of milk was not effective owing to the small contribution of milk to the overall ingestion dose. Clean feeding of livestock was effective when deposition occurred during the growing season of fodder plants such as pasture and rice-straw. Finally, the effect of food restriction increased with the soil deposition density of radionuclide. The practical effect of countermeasures was very small when the avertable ingestion dose was absolutely low. Conclusion: The agricultural countermeasures selected to reduce the radionuclide ingestion dose after a nuclear accident must be made appropriate by considering the accident situation, such as the soil deposition density of the radionuclide and the deposition date in relation to farming cycles.

• 한국지하수토양환경학회지:지하수토양환경
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.12-29
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• 2011

Risk-based screening levels (RBSLs) of some pollutants for residential adults were derived with risk assessment tools developed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and Korea Ministry of Environment (KMOE) and compared each other. To make the comparison simple, ingestion of soil, dermal contact with soil, outdoor inhalation of vapors, indoor inhalation of vapors, and inhalation of soil particulates were chosen as exposure pathways. The results showed that the derived RBSLs varied for every exposure pathway. For direct exposure pathways (i.e., ingestion of soil and dermal contact with soil), the derived RBSLs varied mainly due to the different default values for exposure factors and toxicity data. When identical default values for the parameters were used, the same RBSLs could be derived regardless of the assessment tools used. For inhalation of vapors and inhalation of soil particulates, however, different analysis methods for cross-media transfer rates were used and different assumptions were established for each tool, identical RBSLs could not be obtained even if the same default values for exposure factors were used. Especially for inhalation of soil particulates pathway, screening level derived using KMOE approach (most conservative) was approximately 5000~10000 times lower than the screening level derived using ASTM approach (least conservative). Our results suggest that, when deriving RBSL using a specific tool, it is a prerequisite to technically review the analysis methods for cross-media transfer rates as well as to understand how the assessment tool derives the default values for exposure factors.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제26권
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• pp.2.1-2.7
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• 2011

Objectives: N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and is formed during the chlorination of municipal drinking water. In this study, selected nitrosamines were measured in chlorinated drinking water collected from Chuncheon, Kangwon-do, Republic of Korea, and a risk assessment for NDMA was conducted. Methods: Twelve water samples were collected from 2 treatment plants and 10 household taps. Samples were analyzed for 6 nitrosamines via solid-phase extraction cleanup followed by conversion to dansyl derivatives and high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). Considering the dietary patterns of Korean people and the concentration change of NDMA by boiling, a carcinogenic risk assessment from ingestion exposure was conducted following the US EPA guidelines. Results: NDMA concentrations ranged between 26.1 and 112.0 ng/L. NDMA in water was found to be thermally stable, and thus its concentration at the end of boiling was greater than before thermal treatment owing to the decrease in water volume. The estimated excess lifetime carcinogenic risk exceeded the regulatory baseline risk of $10^{-5}$. Conclusions: This result suggests that more extensive studies need to be conducted on nitrosamine concentration distributions over the country and the source of relatively high nitrosamine concentrations.

• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.45-47
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• 2005

MCPP (2-(2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxy)propionic acid; mecoprop), a hormonal weedkiller has been widely used. Although chronic exposure is generally considered to be mildly toxic to man, acute intoxication can be severe and should thus be taken seriously. We report the case of a patient who died after ingestion of MCPP. A 64-year-old man ingested about 400 ml of $50\%$ MCPP solution. He was stuporous and had an inadequate respiration. He had an hypotension which did not respond to vasopressors and died about twelve hours after ingestion.

• 대한임상독성학회지
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.135-137
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• 2007

Hydrofluoric acid is a weak inorganic acid used for etching and as rust removals. Systemic toxicity after oral ingestion induces rapid development of hypocalcemia and hyperkalemia, leading to ventricular fibrillation and finally asystole. We report a case of intentional ingestion of hydrofluoric acid producing an altered mental state at the time of the patient's arrival in the emergency department. The patient died approximately 80 minutes after the exposure with asystol.