• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.7-19
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• 2013

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is, first, to assess a body of research evidence that articulates the impact of environmental and design factors on safety, quality of life, and health of the elderly who reside in geriatric hospitals or other elderly care facilities and, second, to draw out design implications that can be incorporated into design process and design decisions to help create healing environments for the elderly. Methods: Extensive literature review has been conducted to identify rigorous empirical studies that link the design of elderly care facilities to health-related outcomes and scrutinized peer-reviewed articles published in many different fields including architecture, psychology, nursing to gerontology. Results: The review found a growing body of rigorous studies that identified physical environmental and design factors that improve safety, quality of life, and health of the elderly in geriatric hospitals or other elderly care facilities. Implications: The findings of the review can be translated to design decisions to promote safety, quality of life, and health of the elderly in geriatric hospitals or other elderly care facilities.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2015

How high-mass stars form is currently unclear. Calculations suggest that the radiation pressure of a forming star can halt spherical infall, preventing further growth when it reaches $10M_{\odot}$. Two major theoretical models on the further growth of stellar mass have been proposed. One model suggests the merging of less massive stellar objects, and the other is through accretion, but with the help of a disk. Inflow motions are key evidence for how forming stars gain further mass to build up massive stars. Recent developments in technology have boosted the search for inflow motion. A number of high-mass collapse candidates were obtained with single dish observations, and mostly showed blue profiles. Infalling signatures seem to be more common in regions which have developed radiation pressure than in younger cores, which is the opposite of the theoretical prediction and is also very different from observations of low mass star formation. Interferometer studies so far confirm this tendency with more obvious blue profiles or inverse P Cygni profiles. Results seem to favor the accretion model. However, the evolution of the infall motion in massive star forming cores needs to be further explored. Direct evidence for monolithic or competitive collapse processes is still lacking. ALMA will enable us to probe more detail of the gravitional processes.

• Journal of Menopausal Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.210-216
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• 2018

Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the barriers influencing the sexual conversation. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 200 midwives were selected through convenience sampling method from private and public clinics in Mashhad, North East of Iran. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect the study data. Results: The mean age of subjects was $39.58{\pm}8.12years$ with $13.49{\pm}7.59years$ of work experience. A number of cultural conditions act as an inhibitory force for the midwives to address sexual issues with menopausal women. Menopausal women visit a doctor at the acute stage when emotional and physical problems make sexual discussion difficult for the midwives (86.5%). Other related causes for not having proper sexual conversation were insufficient knowledge (51.4%), inadequate education provided via public media through health providers (83.5%), midwives or their patient's shame (51.5%), and attempt to get help from traditional healers, friends, relatives and supplicants instead of midwifery staff (78.5%). Also, we found that sexual workshops, communication workshops, and work experiences had a significant influence in changing the views of midwives. Conclusions: Cultural barriers prevent the patients and providers from communicating effectively with each other, thus highlighting the need for sexual and communication workshops for the health care providers.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.675-684
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• 2021

This paper aims to analyze factors influencing earnings of workers in Vietnam using provincial-level data from 2016 to 2018. We show the important determinants of earnings of workers of more than 15 years old including working hour, labor force, life expectancy, education, regulation measured by Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and especially Industry 4.0, our major depart from literature proxies by government expenditure on science and technology, number of phone lines, and number of internet users. Working hours are a typical measurement of quantity of labor supplied. Labor force represents market size from the supply side. Life expectancy measures the health of laborers, a physical quality measure of workers. PCI stands for institutional status of the locality. Two most important factors of our interest are education, representing qualification of workers, and Industry 4.0, reflecting the new working environment of workers. By estimating a robust standard error fixed-effect model, we have evidence that all factors are significant in explaining earnings of Vietnamese workers. Education and IR4.0 play an important role in earnings of workers of Vietnam. Results also provide an estimation of Vietnam's labor supply in the context of Industry 4.0. In addition, findings contribute to explain the income discrepancy among Vietnamese provinces.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.174-184
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• 2023

Background: The reoccurrence of occupational accidents in Sudan is evidence of a lack of effective Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) governance in Sudan. Methods: This scope review research articles on OSH governance in Sudan from different sources, including international websites, official government websites, original research articles in journals, and various reports. The five stages of the scoping review followed in this study are: identifying the research question; identifying relevant studies; study selection; charting the data; collating, summarizing, and reporting the results. Results: There is numerous legislation in place; however, there is no evidence of their enforcement, and no formal bodies at the national level are identified as being responsible for their enforcement. Conclusion: Having multiple authorities with overlapping responsibilities hinders OSH governance. An integrated governance model is proposed to eliminate overlapping duties and to facilitate the participation of all stakeholders in the governance process.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.93-105
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• 2011

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate currently available clinical evidence for the use of acupuncture in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis in the context of Republic of Korea. Methods : Five Korean databases were searched for all clinical studies employing acupuncture for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. The exceptions were case reports and series involving less than 10 patients from their inception to September 2011. Only studies reported in Korean databases were searched. Results : Five retrospective audits among 22 initially identified studies were eligible for analysis in this review. There was no randomized controlled trial for this topic. The number of patients varied between 15 and 119 in each audit, and all the patients analyzed were inpatients. In all the included studies, acupuncture was conducted in combination with other concomitant treatments, including moxibustion, cupping, herbal remedies, acupoint injection, Chuna, and various physical therapies. All the included audits reported symptomatic and/or functional improvements compared to baseline. None of the included audits indicated whether any adverse events were reported. Conclusions : Current evidence for the use of acupuncture in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis in the context of South Korea is based solely on five retrospective audits that are very likely prone to a high risk of bias. Thus, further prospective and methodologically sound clinical trials to overcome this huge gap between clinical practice and the available evidence for the use of acupuncture in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis are needed.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.262-275
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• 2020

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Evidence-based customized nutritional interventions are required for effective treatment of moderate to severe obese children and adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Sixty six (64.1% of 103) of the eligible participants who joined the usual care or physical activity group in the clinic were involved in 16-week intervention. Customized nutritional intervention was implemented for each participant based on a nutrition care process (NCP) model. Sociodemographic assessment, anthropometrics data, health- and dietary-related behaviors, and dietary intake of the study subjects were assessed at baseline and follow-up. All participants engaged in 30-minute nutritional sessions on a monthly basis. RESULTS: After 16 weeks, there were significant improvements in body composition [BMI (-0.8 ± 0.9, P < 0.05), BMI z-score (-0.3 ± 0.2, P < 0.001), body fat (kg) (-1.3 ± 2.1, P < 0.05), and body fat (%)(-1.5 ± 1.9, P < 0.05)] as well as macronutrient intake [total energy intake (kcal) (-563.7 ± 656.8, P < 0.05), energy (%) (-26.5 ± 30.0, P < 0.05) and fat (g) (-28.3 ± 40.6, P < 0.05)] in the adherent group than the non-adherent group. The SOC was higher in both groups after the intervention (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the positive effects of an evidence-based approach as a multidisciplinary intervention for people-centered nutritional care and weight management.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.143-159
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• 2017

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of and seek for measures to activate Korean medicine in stroke care. Methods: This is an e-mail survey targeting the members of Korean medical doctors registered at the association of Korean medicine. The project team of the society of stroke on Korean medicine for the development of clinical practice guideline for stroke has devised the items for the questionnaire. The survey was conducted for 15 days in November 2016. Results: The percentage of the respondents who have treated patients with stroke for the past month was 11.2% in the acute phase, 20.5% in the convalescent phase, and 32.4% in the chronic phase. Approximately 80% of the respondents answered they had a decrease in the number of patients compared to 10 years ago, regardless of the stroke phase. Most of the respondents were using Western medicine together with traditional Korean medicine for physical examination. Acupuncture and herbal medicine were the main therapeutic interventions. The two measures chosen by the most respondents to activate the Korean medicine usage for stroke care were the expansion of the insurance coverage (34.9%) and the generation of evidence on the effectiveness of traditional Korean medicine (25.1%) Conclusion: It is necessary to actively show the role of the Korean medicine through the establishment of the evidence on the effectiveness of Korean medicine and the promotion based on the evidence. In addition, optimal treatment methods should be derived based on the traditional knowledge and modern scientific research and the methods should be educated to every Korean medical clinics and hospitals so that they can be implemented in clinical practice. At the same time, the government should provide policy support to ensure that the optimal treatment can be timely and appropriately implemented.

• Korean Journal of Exercise Nutrition
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.29-38
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• 2019

[Purpose] Effective nutritional intervention can help reduce the risk of nutritional problems and improve athletic performance in adolescents. The five A's (assess, advise, agree, assist, and arrange) model is widely used as the theoretical framework for advice on nutrition, smoking, drinking, and physical activity and it recommends that practitioners in primary health care promote behavior change to facilitate positive outcomes. This model has also been useful in understanding the underlying processes of behavior change. This study aimed to develop both a novel evidence-based nutritional intervention protocol, rooted in sound nutritional theory, and a customizable nutritional intervention program to support sustainable healthy eating, enhance nutrient intake, and improve athletic performance in adolescent athletes. [Methods] In this study, we adapted the 5 A's behavioral change model and motivational interview to develop a theoretical framework to help adolescent athletes change their behavior and achieve their goals. [Results] During each step of the 5 A's protocol, a customized nutritional intervention protocol was developed by nutrition experts for each of adolescent athletes. Each plan was developed to improve the eating habits of adolescent athletes through group education and counseling. All nutritional counseling sessions were designed to enable participants to apply nutritional knowledge and practical action plans to their training and competition conditions to enable each of them to achieve individual athletic goals and facilitate self-management. [Conclusion] A theoretical and evidence-based nutritional intervention protocol was developed to identify and address obstacles to healthy dietary habits in adolescent athletes. This could be used as the basis for further studies aimed at improving nutrient intake and athletic performance in adolescent athletes.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.82-91
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• 2023

Background: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide evidence on the effectiveness and safety of interventions and inform systematic reviews and guideline preparation for clinical application. However, methodological flaws can occur in many RCTs, and Cochrane's risk of bias version 2 (RoB2) can be used to evaluate RCTs' risk of bias (RoB). However, physical therapy RCTs in Korea did not confirm RoB. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate RoB using RoB2 in RCTs published in the Korean Physical Therapy Journal. Design: Review. Methods: The RCTs subject to evaluation were RCTs published in 11 physical therapy journals in Korea from 2018 to 2022. RoB2 evaluated a total of five domains: bias arising from the randomization process, bias due to deviations from intended interventions, bias due to missing outcome data, bias in measurement of the outcome, and bias in selection of the reported result. Results: A total of 616 RCTs were evaluated. As for bias arising from the randomization process, high risk was the highest at 555 (90.1%), followed by low risk at 41 (6.7%) and some concerns at 20 (3.2%). For bias due to deviations from intended interventions, the proportion of some concerns was the highest at 390 (63.3%), followed by high risk at 218 (35.4%) and low risk at 8 (1.3%). As for the bias due to missing outcome data, the rate of low risk was the highest at 399 (64.8%), followed by high risk at 159 (25.8%) and some concerns at 58 (9.4%). As for bias in measurement of the outcome, high risk was the highest at 294 (47.7%), followed by low risk at 224 (36.4%) and some concerns at 98 (15.9%). In the bias due to missing outcome data, the ratio of high risk was the highest at 610 (99%), followed by low risk at 4 (0.7%) and some concerns at 2 (0.3%). Conclusion: Most of the RoB evaluation results of RCTs published in the Korean Physical Therapy Journal were rated as high risk. Methodological quality of RCTs needs to be improved.