• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.77-81
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• 2015

Background: The aim of the study was to determine whether the expression of baseline phosphorus (P) and magnesium (Mg) levels were prognostic in terms of stage and overall survival (OS) in newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients. Materials and Methods: Retrospectively, 130 patients were selected at the time of diagnosis oflung cancer (100 with NSCLC and 30 with SCLC), before the initialization of any chemo-radiotherapy. The median age was 67 (range 29-92). IA, IB, IIA, IIB, IIIA, IIIB and IV stages were present in 3, 4, 19, 6, 25, 8, and 65 patients, respectively. After centrifugation, the levels of serum P and Mg were measured using the nephelometric method/ photometry and evaluated before any type of treatment. Results: Higher than normal levels of P were found in 127/130 patients, while only four patients had elevated Mg serum values. In terms of Spearman test, higher P serum values correlated with either stage (rho=- 0.334, p<0.001) or OS (rho=-0.212, p=0.016). Additionally, a significant negative correlation of Mg serum levels was found with stage of disease (rho=-0.135, P=0.042). On multivariate cox-regression survival analysis, only stage (p<0.01), performance status (p<0.01) and P serum (p=0.045) showed a significant prognostic value. Conclusions: Our study indicated that pre-treatment P serum levels in lung cancer patients are higher than the normal range. Moreover, P and Mg serum levels are predictive of stage of disease. Along with stage and performance status, the P serum levels had also a significant impact on survival. This information may be important for stratifying patients to specific treatment protocols or intensifying their therapies. However, larger series are now needed to confirm our results.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2369-2378
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• 2012

Objectives: To assess knowledge of HPV and attitudes towards HPV vaccination among the general female population, government officials, and healthcare providers in China to assist the development of an effective national HPV vaccination program. Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiologic survey was conducted across 21 urban and rural sites in China using a short questionnaire. 763 government officials, 760 healthcare providers, and 11,681 women aged 15-59 years were included in the final analysis. Data were analyzed using standard descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Knowledge of HPV among the general female population was low; only 24% had heard of HPV. Less than 20% of healthcare providers recognized sexually na$\ddot{i}$ve women as the most appropriate population for HPV vaccination. There was high acceptance of the HPV vaccine for all categories of respondents. Only 6% of women were willing to pay more than US $300 for the vaccine. Conclusions: Aggressive education is necessary to increase knowledge of HPV and its vaccine. Further proof of vaccine safety and efficacy and government subsidies combined with increased awareness could facilitate development and implementation of HPV vaccination in China.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.223-234
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• 2004

The aim of this study was to investigate intake of health foods and supplements and its associated factors in middle and old-aged adults in order to contribute to health promotion of Korean population by providing a guide for proper use of health foods and supplements. About 69% of the subjects reported that they were currently taking health foods and supplements or had experiences of having them in the past, whereas 31.2 % reported they had never taken them. The most commonly used type of health foods and supplements was vitamin C as reported by 41.8% followed by others such as lactobacillus products, multi-vitamins, tonic medicine and cardiotonic drug, artificially processed Ginseng foods, vitamin B complex, enzyme supplement, calcium, aloe, apricot extract products, chitosan products, loyal honey, squalene, refined fish oil and iron products. The major reason for taking health foods and supplements was 'to protect the weak constitution' with 155 (42.1%) responses, and the motive for the intake was the suggestion from family-relatives with 235 (63.9%) responses, and the place of purchase was pharmacy with 140 (38.0%) responses, the average monthly expense was 20,000-40,000 won with 140 (26.2%) responses, and effects after the intake was 'so and so' with 180 (33.6%) responses as the highest. More health foods and supplements were consumed as age and education were statistically significantly increased (p<0.05). For health and lifestyle and the intake of health foods and supplements, perceived health status, the presence of illness, and the presence of health management were statistically significant (p<0.05). Male subjects than female subjects and the 30s than the 405 and 50s were appeared to have poorer dietary behaviors (p<0.05). For the health locus of control and the intake of health foods and supplements, the health locus of control score was 22.82 for consumers and 22.79 for non-consumers, showing no significant difference. Logistic regression analysis was performed to find out major factors that affect the intake of health foods and supplements, in which gender, education, smoking, perceived health status, the presence of illness, and health management were significant to the intake of health foods and supplements. It is shown that subjects with perception and attitude of 'health foods and supplements are useful in health maintenance and disease prevention' and 'the information and variety for health foods and supplements are great' have higher probability of taking health foods and supplements.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.141-152
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• 2004

Optics fabrication process for precision space optical parts includes bound abrasive grinding, loose abrasive lapping and polishing. The traditional bound abrasive grinding with bronze bond cupped diamond wheel leaves the machine marks of about $20{mu}m$ rms in height and the subsurface damage of about 1 ${mu}m$ rms in height to be removed by subsequent loose abrasive lapping. We explored an efficient quantitative control of precision CNC grinding. The machining parameters such as grain size, work-piece rotation speed and feed rate were altered while grinding the work-piece surfaces of 20-100 mm in diameter. The input grinding variables and the resulting surface quality data were used to build grinding prediction models using empirical and multi-variable regression analysis. The effectiveness of such grinding prediction models was then examined by running a series of precision CNC grinding operation with a set of controlled input variables and predicted output surface quality indicators. The experiment achieved the predictability down to ${pm}20$ nm in height and the surface roughness down to 36 nm in height. This study contributed to improvement of the process efficiency reaching directly the polishing and figuring process without the need for the loose abrasive lapping stage.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.1728-1736
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to identify prognostic predictors of postoperative acute renal failure(ARF) for the patient undergoing cardiac surgery. Retrospectively review the electronic hospital database at a A hospital from Jan 2008 to Dec. 2011. 483 patients were included in this study. They were divided into a occurrence of ARF group(n=59) and a non occurrence of ARF group(n=424). ARF occurred in 59 cases (12.2%). Multi-variable logistic regression analysis identified that preoperative risk factors include creatinine(OR 3.92, p=<.001), advanced age(OR 2.142, p=.015), female(OR 2.165, p=.015), hypertension(OR 2.513, p=.005), NYHA(New York Heart Association) class II(OR 3.081, p=.003), and III(OR 6.759, p=.004), and intraoperative risk factor includes blood transfusion(OR 3.753, p=<.001), and postoperative factors include bilirubin(OR 4.541, p=.028), creatine(OR 8.554, p=.003), and cardiac output(OR 0.214, p=.033) as a prognostic predictors. The development of postoperative ARF could be a reason for increase in rate of complication and mortality after cardiac surgery. therefore the prevention of ARF is of paramount importance and treatment strategies are urgently needed.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.81-89
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of values on major satisfaction in dental hygiene students. Methods: The subjects were 214 dental hygiene students in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do who filled out the self-reported questionnaire after receiving informed consents from January 20 to February 15, 2014. Except incomplete answers, 187 data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18.0 for Scheffe post hoc test, Pearson correlation coefficient, hierarchical regression analysis, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects and values. General characteristics consisted of gender, age, grade, school record, major choice motivation, and the influencing person to choose the major. The instrument for values was modified from Shin based on MILOV(Multi-Item Measures Of Values) and two professors of dental hygiene verified the validity of the instrument. Instrument for values consisted of 7 questions of values for self-respect, 6 questions of relation oriented values, 5 questions of emotion oriented values, and 5 questions of values for others measured by Likert 5 scale. Cronbach's alpha was 0.769 in the study. The instrument for major satisfaction was modified from Na based on Program Evaluation Survey of Illinois University and two professors of dental hygiene verified the validity of the instrument. Major satisfaction consisted of 7 questions of general satisfaction, 5 questions of consciousness satisfaction, 5 questions of curriculum satisfaction and 3 questions of relation satisfaction measured by Likert 5 scale and Cronbach's alpha was 0.887 in the study. Results: Values of self-respect, relationship orientation and grade had significant influence on general satisfaction, while values of self-respect, relationship orientation and gender had significant influence on consciousness satisfaction. Values of relationship orientation, grade and school record had significant influence on curriculum satisfaction. Grade showed significant influence on relationship satisfaction. Conclusions: Values of self-respect and relationship orientation are the most important factors in dental hygiene students. The guidance for professional career and major satisfaction can be accomplished through the values of self-respect and relationship orientation.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.239-248
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• 2015

This study is conducted to confirm a correlation between psychological health and self-rated oral health on. 3,591 people aged from 19 to 55 were studied through the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey. Self-rated oral health risk in relation to psychological health and 95% confidence interval are calculated through multi-variate regression analysis, and the results were as in the following. Self-rated oral health OR was the most when subjects had felt stressed. Toothache experience, OR was the most when subjects had suffered depression more than 2-weeks straight. In terms of mastication problem, OR was the most when subjects had had psychological consultation experience. In terms of TMJ symptom experience, OR was the most when subjects had suffered depression more than 2-weeks straight. In terms of talk problem, OR level was particularly high when subjects had had psychological consultation experience. Therefore, daily stress, depressed conditions, and psychological consultation experience have a correlation with self-rated oral health. developing a oral health promotion program considering psychological health would help those two domains.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.116-133
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• 2002

Background : It is very common in Korea to take care of non-acute patients in an acute setting, due to the lack of long-term facilities. Long term hospitalization increase medical expenses and decreases the bed utilization, which can affect the urgent and emergent admissions, and eventually jeopardize the hospital financially. In this study, strategies for effective transfers to the lower levels of care, and to decrease the length of stay were presented by surveying and analyzing the patient's knowledge of the transfer needs, and the willingness to transfer those whose hospital length of stay was more than 30days. Method : The survey is subject to a group of 251 patients who have been hospitalized over 30 days in a general hospital in Seoul. Excluding those that were in the Intensive Care Unit and psychiatric ward, 214 in-patients were used as participants. They were surveyed from April 9, 2002 to April 17, 2002. One hundred and thirty seven out of 214 were responded which made the response rate 64%. Data were analyzed by SAS and SPSS. Result : Multi-variable Logistic Regression Analysis showed a significant effect in medical expenses, knowledge of referral system and the information of the receiving hospital. The financial burden in medical expenses made the patient 10.7 times more willing to be transferred, knowledge of the referral system made them 5 times more willing to be transferred, and the information of receiving hospital makes 6.5 times more willing to be transferred. Reasons for willing to be transferred to a lower level of care were the phase of physical therapy, the distance from home, the attending physician's advice and being unable to be treated as an out patient. Reasons for refusing to be transferred were the following. The attending physician's competency, not being ready to be discharged, not trusting the receiving hospital's competency due to the lack of information, or never hearing about the referring system by the attending physician. Conclusion : Based on this, strategies for the effective transfer to the lower levels of care were suggested. It is desirable for the attending physician to be actively involved by making an effort to explain the transfer need, and referring to the Healthcare Coordinating Center, which can help the patient make the right decision. Nationwide networking for the referral system is the another key factor that may need to be suggested as an alternative to decrease the medical expenses. Collaborating with the Home Health Agency for the early discharge planning and the Social Service Department for financial aid are also needed. It is recommended that the hospital should expedite the transfer process by prioritizing the cost and the information as medical expenses, knowledge of referring system and the information of the receiving hospital, are the most important factors to the willingness to transfer to a lower level of care.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.935-946
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• 2016

In this paper, we analyzed wage determinants of the vocational high school graduates utilizing both individual-level and work region-level variables. We formulate the models in the way wage determination has multi-level structure in the sense that individual wage is influenced by individual-level variables (level-1) and work region-level (level-2) variables. To incorporate dependency between individual wages into the model, we utilize hierarchical linear model (HLM). The major results are as follows. First, it is shown that the HLM model is better than the OLS regression models which do not take level-1 and level-2 variables simultaneously into account. Second, random effects on sex, maester dummy and engineering dummy variables are statistically significant. Third, the fixed effects on business hours and mean wage of regular job for level-2 variables are statistically significant effect individual-level wages. Finally, parental education level, parental income, number of licenses and high school grade are statistically significant for higher individual-level wages.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.47-67
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• 2007

This paper aims at suggesting several ways lo change financial vulnerability and to improve managerial capability of local public hospitals (LPHs) in Korea through the identification of factors affecting profitability. Several findings of the research are as follows: To begin with, LPHs exhibited a statistically significant difference in their profitability from one another, according to tile analyses of their profitable margins from tile general characteristics. It depends on the number of hospitals in the area, the population of the hospital-built area, the number of competing hospitals, the number of staff per 100 beds, the opening of special clinic, the educational function, and the capacity of rooms. However, there was no variable in the managerial characteristics, presenting a significant difference, in contrast with hospitals which have been managed by private companies and made a great amount of profits. Second, according to the analyses of profit differences in behavioral effort-characteristics, a statistically significant difference was revealed upon the basis of the efforts to improve the clinic service, invite special patients, and shorten the period of being hospitalized. Third, the result of analyses about the difference of profitability from medical care and finance is statistically significant in the rate of labor cost, the rate of management cost, bed-occupancy rate, and the period of being hospitalized. Fourth, according to the analyses of the factors influencing the net profit ratio of the entire capital, Adjusted explanatory power(Adjusted $R^2$) was shown up to 65.2%, which is high. To compare the adjusted explanatory power stage by stage, the first stage model applying only two variables such as structural and strategic characteristics exhibited 23.8%, and the second stage model adding financial characteristics showed 51.5%. The explanatory power was much improved up to 65.2% when the third stage model incorporated the outcome of medical care performance. When the return on investment(ROI) was examined by using the multi-variate linear regression analysis at the final model of third stage, it was found that ROI had a positive relationship with the increase rate of patients, labor costs per doctor, and medical care rate of socially protected inpatients. However, it revealed that ROI had a negative relationship with the ratio of labor costs, the number of patients per managerial staff, and occupancy rate of rooms, respectively. The research suggests that in order for LPHs to increase profitability, LPH, should make efforts not only to attract patients to the hospitals without any discrimination of the patients depending on their financial status, but also to develop efficient management methods to reduce labor costs.