• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.718-726
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• 2007

There are many varieties of asbestos: chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophylite. These are widely used in construction materials, brake lining, textile, and so on. Even though non-asbestos fibers such as glassfiber and rockwool have manufactured because asbestos causes asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, etc., some bad effects of non-asbestos have been also reported. PCM (phase contrast microscopy) and PLM (polarized light microscopy) have been used to qualitatively analyze asbestoses. These techniques have serious drawbacks when identifying and separating various asbestoses. Recently scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) has been known as an useful tool to analyze airborne particle since it provides physical and chemical information simultaneously. The purpose of the study was to classify both asbestos and non-asbestos fibers and finally to develop their source profiles by using the SEM/EDX. The source profiles characterized by 6 different types of asbestos fibers and 2 types of non-asbestos fibers had been developed by analyzing a total of 380 fibers. Analytical parameters used in this study were length, width, aspect ratio, and shape as physical information, and Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Cu as chemical information. All the parameters were intensively reviewed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.272-289
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• 1989

Benign lung tumors compose a heterogeneous group of solid growths that present variations in clinical features, depending on whether the origin is within the bronchus on lung parenchyma or from visceral pleura. Benign tumors of the lung are relatively uncommon, and series are to be found in the literature and the classification of benign tumors of the lung continues to be controversial because of disagreement concerning the origin and prognosis of many common lesions. We adopt Liebows original classification but excluded bronchial adenoma which no longer considered as benign tumor and added pulmonary A-V fistula and congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation. We analyzed 61 cases of benign tumors which were composed of 16 original Korean cases and 45 cases which were reported on journal of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery. The results were. [1] Incidence; Of 61 cases, chondromatous hamartoma was 2 cases [41 %], congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation 10 cases [16.4 %], pulmonary A-V fistula 5 cases [8.1 %], sclerosing hemangioma 4 cases [6.5 %], teratoma, plasma cell granuloma & mesothelioma were 3 cases [4.9%], Castlemans disease 2 cases [3.3%], and mucous gland adenoma, paraganglioma, and leiomyoma 1 case [1.6 %]. [2] Age & Sex distribution; Male 30 cases and female 31 cases. Mean age was 31.4 years old. [3] Main symptom; was coughing, 32.8%, and no symptom, 24.6%. [4] Sixty eight percentage of chest film showed mass density, and 4 cases showed calcification, 2 cases had lobulation. [5] Size of mass was large and multiple mass was 2 cases. Endobronchial tumors were 9 cases, 14.9 %. [6] Three cases of endobronchial tumor were preoperatively diagnosed by bronchoscopy and 2 cases of pulmonary A-V fistula were diagnosed by pulmonary arteriography. [7] Seven cases, 11.5%, had associating diseases such as bronchogenic cyst, thymic cyst, Schwannoma, situs inversus, bronchiectasis and bronchogenic carcinoma. [8] Minor resection such as excision 8i: wedge resection were 15 cases, 26.2 %, and 6 cases, 75.4 %, of lobectomy were performed including 5 cases of pneumonectomy 5 cases had. [9] Postoperative complications; One case, 1.6 %, expired due to respiratory insufficiency. Two cases had re-operation due to bleeding and hemoptysis.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.57-62
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• 2011

Asbestos have been used around the world because of reliable and cost-effective physicochemical characteristics. After incubation period about 15-40 years asbestos can cause various cancers, including malignant mesothelioma when inhaled into the air. These properties turned out, asbestos have been banned from using in developed countries. Also in Korea also, the use of asbestos was banned across the board by revision of Industry Safety and Health Act in February 2009. Therefore, the problem of asbestos is not when using. It is about dismantling, maintenance, and the final processing of asbestos waste. Asbestos Cement slates which is Widely distributed throughout the country as roofing materials has much scattering potential compare with inside materials. Also Ministry of Environment is planning to introduce legislation 'Asbestos Safety Management Act' through Environment Announcement and The same Act. 24 show as follows. Minister of Environment or governor should do survey on the actual condition targeting rural buildings with slates and partly or fully fund to dissolve, remove asbestos slate which was used in each buildings. Therefore, to solve these problems, database-building and necessity of management strategies have been continually arisen. So this study was performed. Its application value is very high in terms of its political, economic. Asbestos Cement Slates database could build to collect national registered building data and then using GIS, asbestos cement Slates distribution map were constructed in each province's cities and counties of the country. And this map by Application, construction was to visualize by application, construction of year. Through these results, information of Asbestos Cement Slates could visually inform to policy makers, asbestos dismantling and management contractor, and civilian and it would alleviate the gap of knowledge information. This is expected to be utilized by medium and long-term and effective plan for demolition and dismantling of asbestos cement Slates.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.117-121
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• 2013

This paper describes progress on formulating a national asbestos profile for the country of Vietnam. The Center of Asbestos Resource, Vietnam, formulated a National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health, with due reference to the International Labor Organization/World Health Organization National Asbestos Profile. The Center of Asbestos Resource was established by the Vietnamese Health Environment Management Agency and the National Institute of Labor Protection, with the support of the Australian Agency for International Development, as a coordinating point for asbestos-related issues in Vietnam. Under the National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health framework, the Center of Asbestos Resource succeeded in compiling relevant information for 15 of the 18 designated items outlined in the International Labor Organization/World Health Organization National Asbestos Profile, some overlaps of the information items notwithstanding. Today, Vietnam continues to import and use an average of more than 60,000 metric tons of raw asbestos per year. Information on asbestos-related diseases is limited, but the country has begun to diagnose mesothelioma cases, with the technical cooperation of Japan. As it stands, the National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health needs further work and updating. However, we envisage that the National Profile on Asbestos-related Occupational Health will ultimately facilitate the smooth transition to an asbestos-free Vietnam.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.105-115
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• 2017

Background: The goal of this study is to develop a general population job-exposure matrix (GPJEM) on asbestos to estimate occupational asbestos exposure levels in the Republic of Korea. Methods: Three Korean domestic quantitative exposure datasets collected from 1984 to 2008 were used to build the GPJEM. Exposure groups in collected data were reclassified based on the current Korean Standard Industrial Classification ($9^{th}$ edition) and the Korean Standard Classification of Occupations code ($6^{th}$ edition) that is in accordance to international standards. All of the exposure levels were expressed by weighted arithmetic mean (WAM) and minimum and maximum concentrations. Results: Based on the established GPJEM, the 112 exposure groups could be reclassified into 86 industries and 74 occupations. In the 1980s, the highest exposure levels were estimated in "knitting and weaving machine operators" with a WAM concentration of 7.48 fibers/mL (f/mL); in the 1990s, "plastic products production machine operators" with 5.12 f/mL, and in the 2000s "detergents production machine operators" handling talc containing asbestos with 2.45 f/mL. Of the 112 exposure groups, 44 groups had higher WAM concentrations than the Korean occupational exposure limit of 0.1 f/mL. Conclusion: The newly constructed GPJEM which is generated from actual domestic quantitative exposure data could be useful in evaluating historical exposure levels to asbestos and could contribute to improved prediction of asbestos-related diseases among Koreans.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.425-430
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• 2020

Background: Asbestos exposure is associated with the development of the cancer malignant mesothelioma (MM). Measurement of soluble mesothelin-related protein (SMRP) has been suggested as a method for detection of MM in its early stages. We prospectively examined SMRP levels in participants with asbestos exposure who are a group at a high risk of development of MM. Methods: This study was a follow-up of our cohort of 322 asbestos-exposed participants. No further participants developed MM or malignancy over the study period. Mean follow-up time was 22.9 months. Results: Mean (standard deviation) SMRP levels at baseline and follow-up were 0.94 (0.79) and 0.91 (0.86) nmol/L (p = 0.1033), respectively. Mean SMRP levels of the healthy individuals exposed to asbestos at baseline was significantly lower than those of participants with asbestosis and pleural plaques alone; similar patterns were found on follow-up measurements. There was a statistically significant effect of age on serial SMRP measurements. Our study confirms higher levels in participants with nonmalignant asbestos-related disorders. Levels decreased in asbestos-related disorders other than asbestosis, where a small increase was observed. We did not detect any further cases of malignancy. Conclusion: Monitoring programs for early detection of MM need to take into account increased SMRP levels found in benign asbestos-related diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.5
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• pp.1109-1120
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• 2020

Pleural masses may be caused by various conditions, including benign and malignant neoplasms and non-neoplastic tumorlike conditions. Primary pleural neoplasms include solitary fibrous tumor, malignant mesothelioma, and primary pleural non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Metastatic disease is the most common neoplasm of the pleura and may uncommonly occur in patients with hematologic malignancy, including lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Pleural effusion is usually associated with pleural malignancy. Rarely, pleural malignancy may arise from chronic empyema, and the most common cell type is non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (pyothorax-associated lymphoma). Non-neoplastic pleural masses may be observed in several benign conditions, including tuberculosis, pleural plaques caused by asbestos exposure, and pleural loose body. Herein, we present a review of benign and malignant pleural neoplasms and tumorlike conditions with illustrations of their computed tomographic images.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.565-579
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• 2016

In this paper a novel cancer subtype's classifier based on Hybrid Samples Balanced Genetic Algorithm with Extreme Learning Machine (hSBGA-ELM) is presented. Proposed cancer subtype's classifier uses genes' expression data of 16063 genes from open Global Cancer Map (GCM) data base for accurate cancer subtype's classification. Proposed method efficiently classifies 14 subtypes of cancer (breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, lymphoma, bladder, melanoma, uterus, leukemia, renal, pancreas, ovary, mesothelioma and CNS). Proposed hSBGA-ELM unifies genes' selection procedure and cancer subtype's classification into one framework. Proposed Hybrid Samples Balanced Genetic Algorithm searches a reduced robust set of genes responsible for cancer subtype's classification from 16063 genes available in GCM data base. Selected reduced set of genes is used to build cancer subtype's classifier using Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). As a result, reduced set of robust genes guarantees stable generalization performance of the proposed cancer subtype's classifier. Proposed hSBGA-ELM discovers 95 genes probably responsible for cancer. Comparison with existing cancer subtype's classifiers clear indicates efficiency of the proposed method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.122-129
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• 2014

Objectives: Because of its properties such as resistance to heat, chemicals and corrosion; tensile strength; sound absorption; and affordable price, asbestos has been widely used as a building material, fire resistant and retardant, thermal and heat insulator, soundproofing material, and electrical insulation. Since the prolonged inhalation of asbestos can cause serious illnesses such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis after an incubation period of 20 to 40 years, the mineral was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization. Children and infants are more at risk than are adults if they are exposed to carcinogens, due to aweaker immunity that has not yet been fully developed. Most childcare centers are operated all day and children tend to spend a great amount of time in the centers. This is why it is important for them to be systematically isolated from environments that may expose them to asbestos. Materials: In order to understand both indoor and outdoor hazards to which children may have been exposed, the study focused on actual surveys of asbestos used in childcare centers, paying special attention to slate-roofed buildings in the vicinity of the centers. Results: A survey of a total of 211 childcare centers showed that the buildings of 18.1% of the centers contained asbestos, with 60.53% of the material being found in classroom ceilings. "Tex" was the most used material for ceilings, making up 89.47% of all ceilings. An outdoor survey showed that childcare centers in Daegu Metropolitan City had an average of 143 slate-roof buildings within a distance of 1km. Conclusions: Buildings housing mainly toddlers, children, teenagers and others more vulnerable to the toxicity of asbestos are not subject to asbestos investigation by law. A legal and practical basis for asbestos control is required for such buildings. In particular, housing materials which contain asbestos in day care centers require asbestos control. GIS should be used to identify the location of buildings with slate roofing materials in the vicinity of daycare centers in order to gauge toxicity of exposure to asbestos caused by potential asbestos friability possibility in outdoor conditions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.258-270
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• 1992

Benign lung tumors have been considered as relatively rare disease, which comprise approximately 8 to 15% of all solitary pulmonary lesions that are detected radiographically. We clinically analized 30 cases of benign lung tumors underwent the operation from Jan. 1970 to Aug.1991 in the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, Catholic University Medical College. We adopted the classification presented by the World Health Organization[WHO], modified from Liebow, and added benign mesothelioma. There were 11 males & 19 females ranging in age from 2 years to 68 years old % the mean age was 38 years old. Of all 30 benign lung tumors, hamartomas [14 cases, 49%] were the most common & followed by hemangiomas [9 cases, 30%], 3 cases of benign mesotheliomas % a case of teratoma, papilloma, arteriovenous malformation and inflammatory pseudotumor. 14 cases of tumors were asymptomatic & were incidentally detected by plane chest x-ray In other cases, chief complaints at admission were coughing, chest discomfort, dyspnea, hemoptysis, and fever. Diagnosis were made by pathological examination; exploratory thoracotomy in 23 patients[76.7%], bronchoscopy in 4 patients and percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy in 3 patients. Precisely, preoperative diagnosis for confirmation of benign lung tumor was made only in 7 cases[23.6%]. Tumors were located on Rt.side[24 cases], especially Rt. middle lobe, and Lt.side[6 cases]. Operation methods were as follows: 21 cases [70%] of lobectomy, 2 cases of segmentectomy, 2 cases of wedge resection, 1 case of pneumonectomy, 1 case of bronchotomy, 2 cases of wedge resection, 1 case of pneumonectomy, 1 case of bronchotomy removal of the endobronchial hamartoma which located at the rt. main stem bronchus and 3 cases of complete resection in benign mesotheliomas. There were no operative death. The post operative complications were developed in 3 cases; post pneumonectomy empyema, wound infection and atelectasis. In conclusion, benign lung tumors must be histologically diagnosed to confirm of benignity and to provide limited resection for preservation of the lung tissue, whenever possible.