• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.11 no.10
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• pp.507-516
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to identify physical activity levels of the basic livelihood security recipients elderly women, to investigate relation between cardiovascular disease risk factors and sacrcopenia based on the levels, and to develop physical activity programs for healthy life of the elderly. The subjects of this study were 134 old females with $71{\pm}6.67$ years old who used senior centers in K-gu. The authors used the International Physical Activity Questionnaire for investigating the physical activity levels of the elderly, measuring their physical activity levels for seven days on average and classifying them into two groups, the Low Physical Activity (n=77) and the Moderate Physical Activity (n=57) groups based on the levels. Blood pressure, waist measurement, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG, Glucose, and atherogenic index (AI) were measured as the cardiovascular disease risk factors; percent body fat, appendicular skeletal muscle mass, total muscle mass, and skeletal muscle index were measured as factors related to sarcopenia. Independent samples t-Test was conducted to analyze differences on the two groups based on the physical activity levels, with ${\alpha}=.05$ the as significance level. According to the results, HDL (p=.017) were higher and AI (p=.007) was lower; percent body fat (p=.008) was lower, and ASM (p=.000), total muscle mass (p=.000), and SMI (p=.001) were higher. In conclusion, moderate intensity physical activities rather than low intensity ones may have positive effects on the cardiovascular disease risk factors and sarcopenia levels, and participation in regular physical activities with at least moderate intensity by various methods may be needed for prevention of illness and healthy life of the elderly.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2005

Objectives: This study was conducted to understand the recognition on brucellosis in rural communities and to apply the results to counterplan for brucellosis control and prevention. Methods: The authors conducted a questionnaire survey from September 8 to 13, 2004 among the residents in 2 rural communities: 507 people at Gigye-myeon and 521 people at Buk-myeon. The authors developed a questionnaire which investigated age, gender, general recognition of brucellosis, status of cattle breeding, compensation for loss due to brucellosis and so on. Results: The study group contained 195 (19.0%) stock breeders (veterinarians and cattle merchants were included) and 833 (81.0%) non-stock breeders. For the question, 'Have you ever heard about brucellosis or do you know about brucellosis?', 283 respondents (27.5%) replied affirmatively. For the question, 'Do you know that pregnant women who suffer brucellosis may have a miscarriage?', 98 respondents (35.1%) replied affirmatively. For the question, 'Have your cattle ever aborted or calved a premature calf?', 28 respondents (14.9%) replied affirmatively. For the question, 'Have you ever handled an abortus or a premature calf with your bare hands?', 10 respondents (5.3%) replied affirmatively. For the question, 'Do you know that the government compensates for slaughter loss due to brucellosis?', 46 respondents (25.0%) replied affirmatively. Conclusions: Many people were ignorant about brucellosis. Therefore, their ignorance must be corrected by a publicity campaign. Some stock breeders handled the cattle abortus with their bare hand. Stock breeders must wear protective equipment during working. The authors expect that this study will assist in establishing both a safe cattle breeding environment and preventive strategies for diminishing the incidence of brucellosis.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.207-217
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to garner useful information through a comparative analysis of health behaviors and health states between the young-old and old-old elderly in a rural Korean area. Methods: We define the young-old elderly as those 65 to 74 years of age, and the old-old as those over 70. The survey was administered in October and November of 2009 at senior citizen centers in Sangju City, Kyongsangbuk-do, South Korea. The number of subjects surveyed approximated the demographics of the aged population of the administrative district of centers of 24 eup, myeon, and dong. Results: Compared with the young-old elderly, the old-old were vulnerable to population sociological characteristics. While there were many cases of contraction of diseases, only a small percentage of old-old elderly were engaged in regular exercise. In addition, the old-old elderly lagged behind the young-old in terms of physical activity, mental and oral health, hearing, and vision. Conclusions: The vulnerability of the old-old elderly in terms of physical and mental health needs to be acknowledged as various characteristics of the elderly that appears according an age group. A variety of disease prevention and health promotion programs that focus on the health behavior and status of the young-old and old-old elderly need to be developed and put into practice.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 2011

Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine arterial stiffness levels as measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and to identify the association between arterial stiffness and inflammatory markers, in healthy adults over 50 years old. Methods: The study population consisted of 4617 persons over the age of 50 years who participated in the baseline survey of the Dong-gu Study, which was conducted in 2007 and 2008. Arterial stiffness was measured using baPWV. A multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between conventional cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory markers, including white blood cell (WBC) counts, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT). Results: After adjustment for conventional cardiovascular risk factors including sex, age, smoking status, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, hypertension or diabetic medication, total cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, and alanine aminotransferase, baPWV was significantly associated with WBC counts (${\beta}$=0.158, p<0.0001), hs-CRP (${\beta}$=0.244, p=0.026), and GGT (${\beta}$=0.003, p<0.0001). Conclusion: This study shows that arterial stiffness correlates with inflammatory markers. Arterial stiffness may be used as a composite risk factor to identify persons with higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, arterial stiffness may be a marker for future cardiovascular disease and a target for prevention.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.87-100
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• 2011

Objectives: This study aimed to identify factors associated with smoking relapse. Methods: The study sample was recruited among subjects who were enrolled in the smoking cessation clinic of a public health center and had succeeded in quitting smoking for at least six months. A total of 159 male subjects were followed via mail survey one year later. The independent variables in the analyses were socio-demographic characteristics, smoking history and behavior, receipt of smoking cessation aids, health behaviors and components of the health belief model (HBM). The dependent variable was smoking relapse assessed one year after quitting. Ordered logit regressions were used to identify factors associated with smoking relapse. Results: The relapse rate of the ex-smokers in our sample was 25.8%, and the occasional smoking rate was 17.0%. Univariate analyses revealed that only factors related to the HBM, such as perceived susceptibility to diseases (p<0.01), perceived severity of diseases (p<0.01), perceived health benefits of not smoking (p<0.01), perceived barriers to quitting smoking due to increasing stress and difficulty in social life (p<0.01), and self-efficacy (p<0.01) were associated with the likelihood of relapse for ex-smokers. Ordered logit analyses yielded two significant factors affecting the likelihood of relapse, the perceived barriers to quitting smoking and self-efficacy. Conclusions: Our results indicate that higher levels of barriers to quitting smoking and lower levels of self-efficacy were significantly related to risk of smoking relapse. These findings may be useful for identifying those at highest risk for relapse and choosing the optimal strategies for prevention of relapse for ex-smokers.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.14-24
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• 2013

Objectives: Pregnant women in rural areas do not have access to sufficient obstetric services in their own communities due to the shortage of obstetricians. Therefore, most of these women must seek obstetrician outside of their communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between obstetric complications and accessibility to local obstetric care in Korea. Methods: This study was an ecological study in which the unit of analysis was an administrative district. Using Korea National Health Insurance Corporation data, the total number of deliveries and the delivery proportion within and outside of the community from 2001 to 2008 were calculated for 232 administrative districts nationwide. Three outflow levels were categorized based on each district's out-of-community delivery proportion: high outflow (upper one third), moderate outflow (middle one third), and low outflow (lower one third). In addition, three obstetric complication rates (the rate of complications following abortion, ectopic and molar pregnancy, the abortion rate, and the eclampsia rate) were calculated for the 232 districts. One-way ANOVA and multivariate linear regression were used to evaluate obstetric complications among the three outflow levels. Results: The high outflow districts had higher rates of eclampsia and complications following abortion, ectopic, and molar pregnancy compared to the other districts (ANOVA, p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the abortion rate among the three groups. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that high outflow districts were statistically significant in the rate of complications following abortion, ectopic and molar pregnancy and eclampsia rate after adjusting for local tax per capita (p<0.01). Conclusion: These results indicate that poor access to local obstetric care correlate with poor obstetric outcomes (delayed or excessive bleeding, embolism, genital tract or pelvic infection, shock or other complications following abortion and ectopic or molar pregnancy, or eclampsia).

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.760-773
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• 2000

Background : Hemoptysis is a common clinical symptom responsible for 11% of admission to the hospital chest service. In KOREA pulmonary tuberculosis is still the most common cause of hemoptysis and the incidence of hemoptysis due to neoplasia has increased. Bronchoscopy and high resonance CT are essential for diagnosis of the cause of hemoptysis. We studied the causes, diagnostic tools and treament treatment of hemoptysis Methods : We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical profiles, radiologic and bronchoscopy findings and treatments of hemoptysis for 220 patients who were admitted to our hospital with hemoptysis between 1994 and 1998. Results : The mean age at diagnosis was 49.3 years and male to female ratio was 2.1 : 1. The main causes were active pulmonary pulmonary tuberculosis in 72 cases(32.7%), inactive pulmonary tuberculosis with sequlae in 69 cases(31.4%) lung cancer in 43 cases(19.5%), bronchiectasis in 10 cases(4.5%), and chronic bronchitis in 10 cases(4.5%). The mean amount of hemoptysis for 24hrs was 120cc. The mean duration of bleeding was 25 days. The number of cases with a past history of pulmonary tuberculosis were 128 cases, in which 24 were relapsed tuberculosis cases, 25 chronic tuberculosis cases, 69 inactive tuberculosis cases, and 10 lung cancer cases. High resonance CT was the most useful method for structural etiologic evaluation of hemoptysis developed in patients with inactive tuberculosis, bronchiectasis and aspergilloma. Sputum study and bronchofiberscopy were the confirmative diagnostic tools for active pulmonary tuberculosis and lung cancer. The treatments of hemoptysis medical in 152 cases(71.7%), bronchial arteη embolization in 39 cases(17.8%), and operation in 9 cases(4.0%). The mean following up duration was 22.4 months. The overall outcomes of hemoptysis were controlled in 77 cases(43.5%), rebleeding in 100 cases (56.5%) and expired in 9 cases (4.0%). The outcomes of hemoptysis in pulmonary tuberculosis were controlled in 21.6%, rebleeding in 78.4%, and expire in 14.7%. Conculsion : The most common cause of hemoptysis was related with pulmonary tuberculosis. HRCT was an important diagnostic tool in AFB smear negative active pulmonary tuberculosis and inactive tuberculosis with sequelae. Early, proper management of pulmonary tuberculosis is important for prevention of hemoptysis in Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.715-723
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• 2000

Background : Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) affects systemic blood pressure and cardiac function. The development of cardiovascular dysfunction including the changes of systemic blood pressure and cardiac rhythm, suggests that recurrent hypoxia and arousals from sleep may increase a sympathetic nervous system activity. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy has been found to be an effective treatment of OSAS. However, only a few studies have investigated the cardiovascular and sympathetic effects of CPAP therapy. We evaluated influences of nasal CPAP therapy on the cardiovascular system and the sympathetic activity in patients with OSAS. Methods : Thirteen patients with OSAS underwent CPAP therapy and were monitored using polysomnography, blood pressure, heart rate, presence of arrhythmia and the concentration of plasma catecholamines, before and with CPAP therapy. Results: The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was significant1y decreased (p<0.01) and the lowest arterial oxygen saturation level was elevated significantly after applying CPAP (p<0.01). Systolic blood pressure tended to decrease after CPAP but without statistical significance. Heart rates during sleep were not significantly different after CPAP. However, the frequency and number of types of arrhythmia decreased and sinus bradytachyarrhythmia disappeared after CPAP. Although there was no significant difference in the level of plasma epinephrine concentration, plasma norepinephrine concentration significantly decreased after CPAP (p<0.05). Conclusion : CPAP therapy decreased the apnea-hypopnea index, hypoxic episodes and plasma norepinephrine concentration. In addition, it decreased the incidence of arrhythmia and tended to decrease the systemic blood pressure. These results indicate that CPAP may play an important role in the prevention of cardiovascular complications in patients with OSAS.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2011

Purpose: Sharing genetic information with family members is important for cancer awareness and prevention. The purpose of this study is to examine disclosure patterns of positive BRCA genetic test results to patients' relatives. Materials and Methods: A total of 106 probands who had positive BRCA genetic test results from the Korean Hereditary Breast Cancer Study participated in our study. Subjects were asked whether they had disclosed their genetic test results to first-, second-, and third-degree relatives. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify factors associated with positive result sharing with close and distant relatives. Results: In total, 99 respondents (93.4%) informed at least one at-risk relative of the test result, and they all reported that they had disclosed their genetic test result to a first-degree relative. Communication of test results to other relatives occurred significantly less often, with only 31 of 99 subjects (31.3%) sharing their results with second- or third-degree relatives. In the results of univariate analyses, disclosure of genetic test results to more distant relatives was associated with marital status and months since post-test counseling. The reasons for communication were to provide information about the BRCArelated cancer risk and to recommend the genetic test. Conclusion: Most individuals with the BRCA mutation share their test results with first-degree family members; however, these results reach more distant relatives significantly less often. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage patients' communication with extended family members through systematic genetic counseling.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.41-54
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• 2020

This study was conducted to provide basic data for a transparent and fair bidding system by identifying problems and suggesting improvement measures through an analysis of the bidding status for construction projects and service-related landscaping of multi-family housing. To this end, we used the data from the "Multi-Family Housing Management Information System (K-apt)" that provides the history of apartment maintenance, bidding information, and the electronic bidding system to examine the winning bid status and amount, along with the size and trends of the winning bids by year, and the results of the selection of operators by construction type. As a result, it was found that out of the total number of successful bids (36,831), 4.4% (16,631) were in the landscaping business, and the average winning bid value was found to be about 24 million won. According to the data, 73% of the landscaping cases were valued between 3 million won and 30 million won, and 58.6% of the cases were in the field of "pest prevention and maintenance". 36% of the total number of bids were awarded from February to April, with "general competitive bidding" accounting for 59.8% of the bidding methods. As for the method of selecting the winning bidder, 55% adopted the "lowest bid" and "electronic bidding method," and 45% adopted the "qualification screening system" and "direct bidding method." As an improvement to the problems derived from the bidding status data, the following are recommended: First, the exception clause to the current 'electronic bidding method' application regulations must be minimized to activate the electronic bidding method so that a fair bidding system can be operated. Second, landscaping management standards for green area environmental quality of multi-family housing must be prepared. Third, the provisions for preparing design books, such as detailed statements and drawings before the bidding announcement, and calculating the basic amount shall be prepared so that fair bidding can be made by specifying the details of the project concretely and objectively must be made. Fourth, for various bidding conditions in the 'business operator selection guidelines', detailed guidelines for each condition, not the selection, need to be prepared to maintain fairness and consistency. These measures are believed to beuseful in the fair selection of landscaping operators for multi-family housing projects and to prepare objective and reasonable standards for the maintenance of landscaping facilities and a green environment.