• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.189-199
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the occupational performance of Korean workers with and without hearing loss and analyze the hearing-related difficulties in the working environment. Subjects and Methods: The Amsterdam checklist for hearing and work was used for the analyses and the occupational environments of the Korean workers were investigated. Out of 129 total participants, 86 workers experienced severe to profound hearing loss and 43 had the normal hearing ability. The hearing-impaired workers were recruited from two leading vocational centers and normal-hearing workers were their colleagues. Results: The hearing-impaired workers were found to take fewer sick leaves and exhibited higher rates of permanent job statuses compared to the normal-hearing workers. Workers with hearing loss rarely detected background sound; however, they could perceive reverberation more frequently. They felt more satisfied with their careers than the normal hearing workers as they received social support and needed to put their effort into hearing for most hearing activities. Furthermore, the effort in hearing increased with the increase in job demand, job control, social support, and career satisfaction. The working hours per week increased with the increase in age, education level, job demand, job control, and social support. Different trends were observed in 9 out of 12 variables while comparing the data from the present study with that obtained from the hearing-impaired workers of the Netherlands, indicating a large difference between countries. Conclusions: Although the hearing-impaired Korean workers operate diligently with good job positions, it is necessary to enhance their acoustic environment and provide them social support. Considering the cultural background of the hearing-impaired workers, the development of suitable vocational rehabilitation programs and specific questionnaires is strongly recommended worldwide.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.46-56
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the factors influencing the turnover intention of nurses in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and general wards. Methods: Data were collected through a survey of 340 nurses at seven public hospitals in Gyeonggi Province from October 12 to October 30 in 2020. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression. Results: The job demand stress of nurses in COVID-19 wards was 63.99±8.05 points, which was lower than 65.77±7.35 points of nurses in general wards. The turnover intention of nurses in COVID-19 wards was 3.24±0.74 points, which was higher than the 3.06±0.67 points of those in general wards. The multiple regression analysis indicates that the factors affecting the turnover intention of the two groups (COVID-19 and general wards) were type of wards (β=-.15, p<.001), age (COVID-19 wards: β=-.37, p<.001, General wards: β=-.40, p<.001), job resource stress (COVID-19 wards: β=.52, p<.001, general indicates: β=.60, p<.001), and clinical experience in present wards (COVID-19: β=.13, p=.021). Conclusion: The results indicate that nurses who care for COVID-19 patients have higher turnover intentions than general nurses and suggests that a decrease in the job resource stress is vital for reducing nurse turnover intentions.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.53-56
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• 2021

Sebaceous carcinoma (SC) is a rare malignant tumor, with an estimated incidence of approximately 1 to 2 per 1,000,000 per year. Approximately 75% of SCs are reported to occur in eyelids. Most of these tumors are diagnosed at age 40 or over and exhibit a wide variety of patterns in addition to the general appearance previously reported. SC is difficult to diagnose clinically, but can be diagnosed by accompanying biopsy. In cases of SC, additional examinations, such as endoscopy and computed tomography, may be necessary because of its association with Muir-Torre Syndrome. We present the case of a 22-year-old Asian man who complained of a rapidly growing chin tumor. The tumor was treated by surgical resection and adjuvant radiation therapy.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.75-82
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to review literature about private health insurance (PHI) schemes for Korean older adults published in Korea and abroad from 2015 to 2019, and to present the implications of the study and provide an overview of PHI utilization by Korean older adults. Nineteen quantitative academic research papers were selected and analyzed with respect to presentation time, research purpose, data source, and study design. Old age, low income, low education, and chronic disease were found to hinder enrollment in PHI schemes. Although the relationship between PHI and medical usage was not consistent, it was positively related to health outcomes such as subjective health status and health-related quality of life. Therefore, for PHI to fulfill the role of providing supplementary medical care for older adults with high medical demands, a national improvement policy should be developed to address the barriers that prevent older adults adopting PHI schemes, and empirical studies related to medical usages by and the health outcomes of older adults should be conducted in order to generate a basis for the use of PHI.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.44-48
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• 2022

Background: Although classical multi-port video-assisted thoracic surgery has been widely performed, single-incision thoracoscopic surgery (SITS) is a popular surgical technique for the treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP). However, the inconvenient alignment of instruments and the limited field of view occasionally make surgeons convert from SITS to multi-port surgery or extend the incision. This study aimed to present an easy and safe SITS technique for PSP using a spinal needle. Methods: In total, 139 patients underwent SITS between May 2011 and December 2017. We used a spinal needle to hook the bulla or bleb, and wedge resection was performed through a small incision. Patients' medical records were reviewed retrospectively, and a telephone survey was conducted to investigate the recurrence rate. Results: The mean age of the 139 patients was 23.62±9.60 years. The mean operative time was 36.69±14.64 minutes, and multi-port conversion was not performed. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 3.00±0.78 days, and the mean indwelling chest tube duration was 1.97±0.77 days. No complications were observed. In the mean follow-up period of 86.75±23.20 months, recurrence of pneumothorax was found in 3 patients. Conclusion: We suggest that SITS for PSP with the aid of a spinal needle to replace a grasper is a safe and easy technique that only requires a small incision.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.223-233
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• 2022

In addition to optimistic bias which can be a biased phenomenon in perceived susceptibility, including illusion of control which is a distorted phenomenon, the current study attempted to demonstrate the influential relationship between these two important variables and COVID 19 personal preventive behaviors and social distancing practice. Conducting Survey utilizing online pannel from Macromill Embrain, the present study performed regression analysis, setting personal preventive behavioral variables such as mask wearing, hand washing, using hand sanitizer as independent variable, and analyzed how these independent variables influence control illusion and optimistic bias. As a result, COVID 19 personal preventive behavior didn't have direct effect on optimistic bias and control illusion except for hand washing. Finding, also, showed that control illusion affected optimistic bias, and the relation between these variables was different depending on demographic variable such as gender and age.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.84.1-84.11
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• 2020

Background: Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) has been reported to be a common finding in dogs under general anesthesia. Objectives: The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the esophageal and gastric contents in a population of dogs undergoing computed tomographic myelography (myeloCT) examination and to evaluate the factors influencing the presence of esophageal fluid (gastric content, duration of anesthesia, body position, and intrinsic factors). Methods: Esophageal and gastric contents of 83 non-brachycephalic dogs were retrospectively assessed based on plain and myelo-CT scans. Age, weight, breed, sex, and the time between the 2 computed tomography [CT] scans were included. Results: Esophageal fluid was present in 19% (16/83) of the animals, and 14% (12/83) and 46% (37/83), respectively, had fluid or food material in their stomachs. The frequency of observing esophageal fluid on myelo-CT scans was significantly increased compared with plain CT scans (p = 0.006). The presence of gastric fluid was significantly associated with an increased frequency of observing esophageal fluid compared to other gastric contents (p = 0.049; odds ratio, 3.1). The presence of esophageal fluid was not correlated with alimentary gastric contents (p = 0.17). Increased body weight and duration of anesthesia were significantly associated with an increased frequency of observing esophageal fluid (p = 0.022, p = 0.021). Conclusions: Unlike alimentary gastric contents, fluid gastric contents were correlated with the presence of esophageal fluid upon myelo-CT. The observation of fluid in the esophagus may be consistent with GER. This study provides data additional to pH monitoring studies of GER and may support previous studies recommending shorter pre-anesthetic fasting periods in dogs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.4
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• pp.651-666
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• 2022

The study aim was to analyze research trends related to the effect of a forest healing program on humans. We analyzed 120 articles by focusing on "Journal information," "Characteristics of study participants," "Program characteristics," "Experimental design," and "Measurement indices." The numbers of papers published in the fields of agriculture and maritime were highest, and the numbers have increased since 1996 when the first paper was published. Many papers have targeted both sex (males and females), middle age, and healthy people. The programs were mainly conducted for multiple times in a forest welfare facility, and exercise therapy, psychotherapy, and plant therapy were primarily administered. Most studies compared experimental and control groups with < 30 participants, and mainly used self-reported surveys. The present study results are expected to be used as basic data for the development of forest healing programs and to expand related research in the future.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.5
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• pp.897-910
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• 2022

Bovine fecal microbiota is important for host health and its composition can be affected by various factors, such as diet, age, species, breed, regions, and environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of diet and gender on fecal microbiota in Korean native Hanwoo cattle. The 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of fecal microbiota was conducted from 44 Hanwoo cattle divided into four groups: (1) 11 heifers fed an oat hay plus total mixed ration (TMR) diet for breeding (HOTB), (2) 11 heifers fed an early fattening TMR diet (HEFT), (3) 11 steers fed the early fattening TMR diet (SEFT), and (4) 11 steers fed the late fattening TMR diet (SLFT). Firmicutes and Bacteroidota were the first and second most dominant phyla in all the samples, respectively. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidota (F/B) ratio associated with feed efficiency was significantly greater in the SLFT group than in the other groups. At the genus level, Romboutsia, Paeniclostridium, and Turicibacter were the most abundant in the SLFT while Akkermansia, Bacteroides, and Monoglobus were the most abundant in the HOTB group. Although the same early fattening TMR diet was fed to Hanwoo heifers and steers, Marvinbryantia and Coprococcus were the most abundant in the HEFT group while Alistipes and Ruminococcus were the most abundant in the SEFT group. Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were significantly lower in the SLFT group than in the other groups. Distribution of fecal microbiota and functional genetic profiles were significantly different among the four treatment groups. The present study demonstrates that different diets and genders can affect fecal microbiota and the F/B ratio may be associated with feed efficiency in Hanwoo cattle. Our results may help develop strategies to improve gut health and productivity through manipulation of fecal microbiota using the appropriate diet considering Hanwoo cattle gender.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2015

Objectives : The present study was conducted to examine whether Toosendan Fructus has an ameliorative effect on diabetes-induced alterations such as oxidative stress and inflammation in the pancreas of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, a model of human type I diabetes. Methods : Extracts of Toosendan Fructus (ETF) were administered to NOD mice at three doses (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg). Mice at 18 weeks of age were measured glucose tolerance using intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test. After 28 weeks of ETF treatment, glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), and proinflammatory cytokines in serum, western blot analyses and a histopathological examination in pancreas tissue, and on the onset of diabetes were investigated. Results : The results showed that levels of glucose, glucose tolerance, TC, TG, interferon-${\gamma}$, interleukin (IL)-1 ${\beta}$, IL-6, and IL-12 in serum were down-regulated, while IL-4, IL-10, SOD, and catalase significantly increased. In addition, ETF improved protein expression of proinflammatory mediaters (such as cyclooxygenase-2, and inducible nitric oxide synthase) and a proapoptotic protein (caspase-3) in the pancreatic tissue. Also, in the groups treated with ETF (100 mg/kg or 200 mg/kg), insulitis and infiltration of granulocytes were alleviated. Conclusions : Based on these results, the anti-diabetic effect of ETF may be due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect. Our findings support the therapeutic evidence for Toosendan Fructus ameliorating the development of diabetic pancreatic damage via regulating inflammation and apoptosis. Our future studies will be focused on the search for active compounds in these extracts.