• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.178-185
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• 2018

A self-report evaluation is used to prevent driving accidents by elderly drivers. The majority of normal older adults may have mild cognitive impairment with reduced cognitive function. These depressed cognitive functions may be variables that affect the performance of elderly drivers. This study confirmed the cognitive functions that affect the self-reported evaluation for elderly drivers with mild cognitive impairment. Based on the results of the Korean Version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, 103 elderly drivers were classified into mild cognitive impairment and normal groups of elderly drivers. The Korean-Drivers 65 plus scores used in the self-reported evaluation of the two groups were compared, and the cognitive functions affecting the evaluation were analyzed. Results found the mild cognitive impairment group showed a significantly lower evaluation performance compared to the normal group, and the self-reported evaluation results of the elderly driver with mild cognitive impairment showed a significant correlation between visuoconstructional skills and delayed recall. As a result of regression analysis, the visuoconstructional skill was identified as the cognitive function with the strongest influence on the self-reported evaluation performance. Delayed recall was also found to have a partial effect but not at the level of altering the self-reported evaluation results of the elderly driver with mild cognitive impairment.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.81-94
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• 2021

Objective : Response time plays a prominent part in research on cognitive ability and the aging effect. This study aimed to identify the impact of cognitive ability on information processing by conducting cognitive response time (CRT) using a computer program. Methods : This study was conducted in 30 normal elderly (NE) and 30 elderly with amnestic MCI (aMCI), aged 65-79 years old living in Daegu and Gyeongbuk. The results were analyzed using the statistical analysis program R 4.0.2 (University of Auckland, New Zealand). Results : In the three sub-areas of CRT, the total response time showed a significant difference depending on group or age, and the error rate showed a significant difference depending on age or group in some sub-areas. In the aMCI group, the performance of CRT significantly correlated with that of the overall cognition and memory test. Conclusion : Information processing depending on aging or cognitive ability and the differential performance of processing speed could be observed through CRT. The performance of this test was found to be significantly correlated with that of the overall cognition and memory test. Therefore, CRT could be used meaningfully as a simplified tool to predict the initial cognitive disorder of the elderly in the community.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.25-38
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• 2021

Objective : This study aimed to establish an analytic methodology that can objectively evaluate the proverb comprehension levels that vary based on the aging process. Method : This study recruited 70 normal elderly aged ≥ 65 years and performed proverb comprehension tasks using an explanation method. A scoring estimation method was designed on 3 and 5-point scales. The difficulty and discrimination levels were calculated based on the two scales, thereby selecting the final questions and evaluation scale. Results : First, the item discrimination index on the 5-point scale was relatively higher than that on the 3-point scale, and 10 items were finally selected. Second, in terms of proverb comprehension ability, the elderly group aged 70 ~ 84 years showed significantly lower performance than those aged 65 ~ 69 years. Additionally, subjects with ≥ 10 years of education showed significantly higher performance than those with 9 ≤ years of education. Third, the performance of the proverbs comprehension task negatively correlated with the reaction time of the executive function task. Conclusion : Proverb comprehension is a task that can distinctively show a deterioration of brain functions in line with the aging process even among the normal elderly group and therefore, can estimate the difference more effectively with an increase in the score of the evaluation scale.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.4 s.44
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• pp.628-649
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• 1993

This study was conducted to investigate the factors related to the poor school performance of the elementary school children. Two schools in Taegu, one in the affluent area and the other in the poor area, were selected and a total of 175 children whose school performance was within low 10 percentile (poor performers) and 97 children whose school performance were within high 5 percentile (good performers) in each class of 2nd, 4th and 6th grades were tested for the physical health, behavioral problem and family background. Each child had gone through a battery of tests including visual and hearing acuity, anthropometry (body weight, height, head circumference), intelligence (Kodae Stanford-Binet test), test anxiety (TAI-K), neurologic examination by a developmental pediatrician and heavy metal content (Pb, Cd, Zn) in hair by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A questionnaire was administered to the mothers for prenatal and prenatal courses of the child, family environment, child's developmental history, and child's behavioral and learning problems. Another questionnaire was administered to the teachers of the children for the child's family background, arithmatic & language abilities and behavioral problem. The poor school performance had a significant correlation with male gender, high birth order, broken home, low educational and occupational levels of parents, visual problem, high test anxiety score, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor physical growth (weight, height, head circumference) and low I.Q. score. The factors that had a significant correlation with the poor school performance in multiple logistic regression analysis were child's birth order (odds ratio=2.06), male gender(odds ratio=5.91), broken home(odds ratio=9.29), test anxiety score(odds ratio=1.07), ADHD (odds ratio=9.67), I.Q. score (odds ratio=0.85) and height less than Korean standard mean-1S.D.(odds ratio=11.12). The heavy metal contents in hair did not show any significant correlation with poor school performance. However the lead and cadmium contents were high in males than in females. The lead content was negatively correlated with child's grade(P<0.05) and zinc was positively correlated with grade (P<0.05). among the factors that showed a significant correlation with the poor school performance, high birth order, short stature and ADHD may be modified by a good family planning, good feeding practice for infant and child, and early detection and treatment of ADHD. Also, teacher and parents should restrain themselves from inducing excessive test anxiety by forcing the child to study and over-expecting beyond the child's intellectual capability.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.314-328
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• 1997

A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the effects of chronic exposure to low-dose solvent on neurobehavioral performance of 48 male workers exposed to organic solvents. A control group of 50 workers was selected from same factories. Each worker completed a medical and occupational questionnaire and four tests of Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery. These included Benton visual retention test, digit symbol, digit span, and pursuit aiming. Comparison of mean performance showed a significantly poorer performance on digit symbol, digit span, and pursuit aiming. In univariate analysis, age contributed to poor performance on Benton visual retention test and educational level was found to reduce the performance on symbol digit in both groups. Amount of alcohol intake was found to reduce the performance on digit symbol and smoking appeared to slow pursuit aiming in the exposure group. In multiple regression analysis, controlling for age, educational level, alcohol, and smoking, Solvent exposure was found to be associated with performance of digit span, and number of correct dot of pursuit aiming. Age on Benton visual retention, educational level on digit symbol, arid smoking on pursuit aiming were found to be a significant factors on each test items. This study suggest that short-term memory, and perception can be affected easily by chronic exposure of organic solvents which air concentration levels were under the Threshold Limit Value.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.484-491
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• 2014

Objectives: An image processing program for asbestos fibers analyzing the gradient components and partial linearity was developed in order to accurately segment fibers. The objectives were to increase the accuracy of counting through the formulation of the size and shape of fibers and to guarantee robust fiber detection in noisy backgrounds. Methods: We utilized samples mixed with sand and sepiolite, which has a similar structure to asbestos. Sample concentrations of 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, and 3%(w/w) were prepared. The sand used was homogenized after being sieved to less than $180{\mu}m$. Airborne samples were collected on MCE filters by utilizing a personal pump with 2 L/min flow rate for 30 minutes. We used the NIOSH 7400 method for pre-treating and counting the fibers on the filters. The results of the NIOSH 7400 method were compared with those of the image processing program. Results: The performance of the developed algorithm, when compared with the target images acquired by PCM, showed that the detection rate was on average 88.67%. The main causes of non-detection were missing fibers with a low degree of contrast and overlapping of faint and thin fibers. Also, some duplicate countings occurred for fibers with breaks in the middle due to overlapping particles. Conclusions: An image detection algorithm that could increase the accuracy of fiber counting was developed by considering the direction of the edge to extract images of fibers. It showed comparable results to PCM analysis and could be used to count fibers through real-time tracking by modeling a branch point to graph. This algorithm can be utilized to measure the concentrations of asbestos in real-time if a suitable optical design is developed.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.112-122
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• 1996

This study was designed to provide data useful for the efficiency of dietitians' nutrition care by evaluating medical staffs' perception of nutrition in a hospital. The datas were collected through a questionnaire survey conducted upon 874 medical staffs at 50 general hospitals , each one with more than 100 beds, in Seoul and Pusan. A logistic regression analysis was used to determine the influential factors of medical staffs' perception about nutrition among the selected variables. As a result, most medical staffs(96.9%) had positive perceptions about the importance of nutrition as a medical therapy. However, more than half of the respondents(69.1%) said that the dietary department plays the auxilliary role of producing patients' meals according to diet prescriptions. 271% of the medical staffs perceived that the dietary department as contributor to patient's health care through involvement in medical nutrition therapy, while 4% of the medical staffs misunderstood the dietary department as part of the hospital administration. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that factors related to hospital size and dietitian manpower( Total No. of beds, No. of beds per dietitian) have more influence upon medical staffs' perception about nutrition than their personal and occupational characteristics(P (0.001). In case where medical staffs' perceptions were more positive, the efficiency of dietitians performing nutrition care was higher. Results of this study suggests optimal dietetics staffing as a way to increase the efficiency of nutrition care in a hospital.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2012

This study is assessed the urinary hippuric acid (HA) concentration in toluene-exposed workers. Toluene is widely used in the coating, printing, painting and petroleum industries. We analyzed the hippuric acid level of toluene-exposed workers (males: 198, females: 63) from 2008 to 2010 and examined the relationship between hippuric acid and the characteristics of their work. The measurements of the urinary hippuric acid were confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Among the subjects, males had on average more work experience than females (males: 9.17 years, females: 4.45 years), but females showed a higher hippuric acid concentration levels than males (males: 0.26 g/L, females: 0.75 g/L). The mean of the HA concentration according to the age group was 0.19 g/L in 30's, 0.30 g/L in 40's, 0.54 g/L in 50's, 1.36 g/L in 60's. Those in their 60's had the highest concentration. The mean of HA concentration according to the type of work was 0.70 g/L for the coating, 0.52 g/L for the painting, and 0.16 g/L for the printing industries, revealing that the workers in the coating industry had the highest concentration. By the highest order, the mean of HA concentration by working period was as follows; less than 5 years, ${\leq}5\;years{\sim}<10\;years$. The factors that influence the HA concentration are not only how long one is exposed to toluene but also the type of work, worker's age, and their gender.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2008

Appropriate air quality in the pig building is essential to prevent farmers' health as well as to increase pig performance. This on-site experiment was conducted to assess dust reduction efficiencies of several liquid additives with spaying method in the enclosed pig building. The mean reduction rate of total dust only after spray was approximately 30% for all the treatments compared to initial level before spraying additives, which was found to reduce the initial level of total dust significantly (p<0.05). The mean reduction rate of all the treatments at 1hr after spray was about 24% which was 6% lower than only after spray. Since 3hr after spray, however, total dust level were fluctuated variably for all the treatments besides application of the soybean oil. Based on this result, effect of soybean oil on dust reduction in the enclosed pig building was most prominent among liquid additives evaluated in terms of efficiency and duration.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.291-299
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• 2012

Purpose: This study examined the improved sensory, hand function, postural balance and activities of daily living (ADL) through somatosensory stimulation, such as the facilitation of functional reaching and tactile, proprioceptive stimulus of the upper limb (UL) and hand. Methods: Seventeen stroke patients having problems with motor and somatosensory deficits were selected in Bobath Memorial Hospital adult rehabilitation center. The patients were divided into two groups; the sensorimotor deficit group (SMDG) and motor deficit group (MDG). Somatosensory stimulation on the UL, physical therapy and occupational therapy were carried out three times a week over a six week these treatments were performed in both group period. To compare each group, the following assessment tools were used: such as tactile detection thresholds (TDT), two point discrimination on the affected side (TPDas), unaffected side (TPDus) stereognosis (ST) manual function test, hand function on the affected side (HFas) and unaffected side (HFus), Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke (PASS) and Korean version Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI). Results: In the SMDG, somatosensory stimulation on the UL was statistically important for TDT, TPDas, TPDus (except for the thener), ST, hand function on HFas, on HFus, PASS length of displacement with foam (LDFSEO), and K-MBI. In the MDG, somatosensory stimulation on the UL was important for TDT, TPDas, TPDus (except index finger) length of displacement with the eyes open, LDFSEO, HFas, HFus, PASS and K-MBI. In addition, there was a significant difference in the PASS between SMDG and MDG. Conclusion: Somatosensory stimulation on the UL affects the sensory, hand function, postural control and ADLs performance.