• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.204-216
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• 2000

Background : There has been a concern that the quality of care provided to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients in the United States may not be as good as recommended. This paper illustrates a composite measure to assess, the quality of care received by ESRD patients undergoing in-center hemodialysis by incorporating outcomes for 4 major treatment areas. The 4 treatment areas are: dialysis treatments, anemia control, nutritional management, and blood pressure control. Methods : The major data source for the study was the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) Dialysis Morbidity and Mortality Study Wave 1 (DMMS-1) d Sixteen categories of a composite quality indicator were constructed by combining 4 dichotomous variables (16=2*2*2*2). representing the optimal vs. less than optimal level of outcome for each of the 4 treatment outcome measure respectively. Optimal outcome level for each treatment area was defined based on the recommendation from the National Kidney Foundation: (a) delivered dialysis doses (Kt/V) ${\geq}$ 1.2; (b) hematocrit level ${\geq}$ 30%; (c) serum albumin concentration ${\geq}$ 3.8g/dl ; and (d) blood pressure of <140 / <90mmHg. The 16 quality indicator were ranked according to their relative quality weights, which were estimated from its association with the relative risk of survival, adjusting for patient's baseline severity and dialysis facility characteristics. Results : Out of the entire sample of 2,179 patients, only 229 (10%) meet th recommended outcome levels for all 4 treatment areas. Overall, the study patients were distributed evenly over the 16 quality indicators, indicating a great variation in the quality of ESRD care. It appears that the rank of the 16 quality-indicators is driven by serum albumin concentration, suggesting that serum albumin concentration may be the most powerful predictor of ESRD patient survival among the 4 outcome measures. Conclusion : The developed quality indicator has the advantage of describin a range of care for dialysis patients and thus providing a more complete picture of care as compared to previous studies that have focused on only single or few components of the ESRD care.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.323-352
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• 2001

Venture business plays a great role in creating national competitive power in every country. In particular, software venture business can mostly belong to manufacturing business, and takes the top seat of core industry as the basis of globalization, informatization and localization as well as the driving force of national competitive power. However, software venture business still has some risks in the whole area of business administration including the process of business starting. There are also problems to be solved in such areas as manager's ability, leadership, talent, level of technical development, marketing channel, recruiting of marketing specialists, financial plan and fund raising. In this respect, this study divides 102 software venture businesses into two; business in the stage of growth and matured business through the analysis of questionnaire and analyzes their present managerial conditions according to their characteristics after classifying them into four categories such as general management, technical development, marketing, finance and accounting. Therefore, this study attempts to provide the basic data useful for business activities of software venture business from now on. The results are as follows; First, it can be judged that software venture businesses make efforts for their technical development in their character, and that they make a great investment in research and development. Consequently, it can be believed that this kind of investment must be continued in the future. Second, it can be seen that they are not much interested in marketing and its manpower. In fact, software venture businesses develop products technically at the risk of their life, while marketing plays an important role in the continuity of business. Thus, it is necessary for them to invest in the supplement of manpower in marketing. Third, it is observed that they generally have some difficulties in raising money from outside. By the way, it. is believed that this problem will be solved by appealing to the persons interested such as investors and creditors, if evaluation system would be developed more exquisitely so that their accounting and technical value may be appraised.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.110-122
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between food behavior and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) score in elementary students in Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do. Two hundreds and thirty two students (113 male and 119 female) in grades 4~6 participated. We assessed food behavior by using Nutrition Quotient (NQ). NQ was examined by an NQ questionnaire, which consisted of 19 food behavior checklist items. Their items were grouped into five categories: balance, diversity, moderation, regularity, and practice. All data were statistically analyzed by SPSS 18.0. Among the five factors, NQ for food behavior and balance factor showed the lowest score, whereas that of diversity factor showed the highest score. The final Nutrition Quotient (NQ) score weighted on such five factors was 62.59 points. The average level of ADHD by Conners-Wells Adolescent Self-Report Scale (Short Form) [CASS(S)] was 17.02 points out of a total of 81 points. Six students (2.2%) who scored more than 41 points were classified as ADHD risk. By gender, male students (19.76 points) showed a higher CASS(S) score than female students (14.41 points) did. There was a significant negative correlation between NQ and CASS(S) score (r=-0.445, P<0.001). Multiple regression determined the effects of moderation ($Exp({\beta})=-0.193$, P<0.01) and practice ($Exp({\beta})=-0.345$, P<0.001) on CASS(S) score. In conclusion, distinctive nutritional education is needed for students with a high level of ADHD to help their understanding considering their different levels of attention.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.173-178
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• 2015

Objectives Previous genome-wide association studies have indicated the association between ankyrin 3 (ANK3) and the vulnerability of schizophrenia. We investigated the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the whole ANK3 locus and schizophrenia in the Korean population. Methods The study subjects were 582 patients with schizophrenia and 502 healthy controls. Thirty-eight tag SNPs on ANK3 and five additional SNPs showing significant association with schizophrenia in previous studies were genotyped. Results Three (rs10994181, rs16914791, rs1938526) of 43 SNPs showed a nominally significant association (p < 0.05) with at least one genotype model. But none of these associations remained significant after adjusting for multiple testing errors with Bonferroni's correction. Conclusions We could not identify a significant association between ANK3 and schizophrenia in the Korean population. However, three SNPs showing an association signal with nominal significance need to be investigated in future studies with higher statistical power and more specific phenotype crossing the current diagnostic categories.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2008

Purpose: Purpose of this study was to analyze the nursing focuses for standardization of ICU nursing records. Methods: The data were collected from 1,000days'nursing records of 197 ICU patients at a tertiary hospital in Seoul. Nursing focuses were unified at the consulting group meeting and they were cross-mapped with the NANDA nursing diagnoses. Results: The 62 nursing focuses in 7 NANDA categories were extracted from nursing record. Among total nursing focuses 41 correspond to the NANDA nursing diagnoses and 21 were added to ICU nursing focuses. The 10 most frequently used nursing focuses are 'Ineffective airway clearance', 'Impaired gas exchange', 'Ineffective tissue perfusion: cardiopulmonary', 'Ineffective breathing pattern', 'Ineffective tissue perfusion: renal', 'Ineffective infant feeding pattern', 'Risk for impaired skin integrity', 'Hyperthermia', 'Impaired skin integrity', 'Decreased cardiac output', Conclusion: Nursing focuses list of ICU was extracted from the result of this study. These nursing focuses might form a framework for development of research-based assessment guideline and care plans for ICU patients through standardization of nursing records.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2011

A total of 286 individuals from 3 selected communities (Areedi-Aje, Ipakodo/Ojokodo, and Ijebu-Igbo) of Ijebu-North, southwestern Nigeria were examined for Loa loa microfilaremia using finger prick blood smear, between December 2008 and March 2009. Rapid assessment procedure for loiasis (RAPLOA) was used to obtain information, from 187 Ijebu-Igbo residents, on adverse reactions experienced from retrospective treatments with ivermectin and history of eye worm. Only 33.9% of the respondents reported having had a history of eye worm while 33.2% had microfilaremia. The demographic factor of gender was not significant determinants of the prevalence (p>0.05) while age was significant (P<0.05). The highest prevalence of eye worm history and microfilaremia were recorded in 61-70 and 15-20 years of age categories, respectively. Ijebu-Igbo had 27.3% eye worm history, 32.1% microfilaremia, and the highest intensity of 140 microfilariae (mf)/ml. Ipakodo area had the highest eye worm history of 54.4% and the highest intensity of 420 mf/ml. Areedi-Aje had the highest occurrence of 45.2% microfilaremia and the highest intensity of 460 mf/ml. Predictably, Areedi-Aje and Ipakodo areas were high risk communities. The low intensity of L. loa infection with an insignificant (2.1%; P>0.05) adverse reactions from 187 subjects involved in the retrospective ivermectin administration confirmed that ivermectin delivery may be considered safe. The community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) programme was most probably responsible for the low prevalence and intensity.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.93-127
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• 2011

Investment on technology to obtain green energy is prevailing all over the world. The technology development project is more likely to involve multiple sub-projects, each of which is related to develop elementary technology when the project is larger and nation-wide. However, the methodologies identifying optimal combination of elementary technologies among the candidates have been very few. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to propose a novel methodology which provides an optimal combination of green energy technologies. To do so, to-be developed technologies are clustered with multiple categories. Among the technologies, based on Delphi method, the experts select a representative technology, which is indispensible to the green energy system and has the highest connectivity with other elementary technologies. Then the methodology selects an elementary technology from each technology category based on two metrics: Relatedness with representative technology and project risk. To show the feasibility of the proposed methodology, we applied the methodology to an actual windmill development project.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5243-5251
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• 2015

Background: To assess women's awareness from diverse sections of society in Delhi regarding various aspects of breast cancer (BC) - perceptions, signs and symptoms, risk factors, prevention, screening and treatment. Materials and Methods: Community-level survey was undertaken in association with the Indian Cancer Society (ICS), Delhi during May 2013-March 2014. Women attending BC awareness workshops by ICS were given self-administered questionnaires before the workshop in the local language to assess BC literacy. Information provided by 2017 women was converted into awareness scores (aware=1) for analysis using SPSS. Awareness scores were dichotomized with median score=19 as cut off, create more aware and less aware categories. Bivariate and multivariate analysis provided P-values, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Broadly, 53.4% women were aware about various aspects of BC. Notably, 49.1% women believed that BC was incurable and 73.9% women believed pain to be an initial BC symptom. Only 34.9% women performed breast self-examination (BSE) and 6.9% women had undergone clinical breast-examination/mammography. 40.5% women had higher awareness (awareness score > median score of 19), which was associated with education [graduates (OR=2.31; 95%CI=1.78, 3.16), post-graduates (OR=7.06; 95%CI=4.14, 12.05) compared to ${\leq}$ high school] and socio-economic status (SES) [low-middle (OR=4.20; 95%CI=2.72, 6.49), middle (OR=6.00; 95%CI=3.82, 9.42) and upper (OR=6.97; 95%CI=4.10, 11.84) compared to low SES]. Conclusions: BC awareness of women in Delhi was suboptimal and was associated with low SES and education. Awareness must be drastically increased via community outreach and use of media as a first step in the fight against BC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.3295-3300
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• 2016

Background: Different types of cancer exhibit abnormalities in cell cycle regulators. The murine double minute-2(MDM2) cell cycle regulator is a proto-oncogene that negatively regulates the P53 tumour suppressor gene. Surface epithelial tumours constitute approximately two thirds of ovarian neoplasms. Each histologic type can be classified as benign, borderline and malignant. This study aimed to examine immunohistochemical expression of the MDM2 protein in ovarian serous and mucinous epithelial tumours (benign, borderline and malignant). Materials and Methods: This study included forty five ovarian tumours, subdivided into fifteen cystadenomas (5 serous and 10 mucinous), fifteen borderline tumours (11 serous and 4 mucinous) and fifteen cystadenocarcinomas (9 serous and 6 mucinous). Paraffin sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin for histopathologic study, and with mouse monoclonal anti-MDM2 antibody for immunohistochemistry. Results: MDM2 positivity was detected in 28.9% of the studied ovarian tumours. All benign tumours were negative and positivity was significantly higher in malignant than borderline tumours (P value of chi-square test =0.000). Significantly, all MDM2 positive mucinous tumours were malignant with no positive mucinous borderline tumours. Malignant tumours showed positive MDM2 expression in 83.3% of mucinous type and in 55.6% of serous type. Borderline serous tumours showed negative MDM2 in 72.7% of cases (P value of Z test =0.04). Conclusions: Alterations in the expression of the cell cycle regulator (MDM2) occur early in the process of tumourigenesis in serous and mucinous ovarian tumours. We suggest that MDM2 may be used in those tumours as a marker for risk stratification and identification of cases with cancer development and progression. We recommend further studies on MDM2 immunohistochemistry, in conjunction with adjuvant methods as DNA ploidy and FISH gene amplification, focusing on the mucinous tumours and differentiating between the three tumour categories, benign, borderline and malignant.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.185-196
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the practical experience of nurses in MERS patients care. Nine nurses in one general hospital in S city underwent in-depth interviews from August 2015 to March 2016. The collected data were analyzed according to the procedure of the phenomenological method of Colaizzi. The following five categories were derived: '1. Anxiety and burden due to the risk of transmission of new infectious diseases', '2. Social isolation because of being the nurse in charge of MERS patients', '3. Faced with problems due to an unprepared treatment environment', '4. Overcome the burdensome MERS patient care process', '5. Reflect on the steps for preparing against new infectious diseases'. These results suggest that it is important to draw positive experiences as well as the negative effects of nurses who are involved in treatment of various infectious diseases, including MERS. Based on this, it can be used as a basis for reducing negative psychological and social impacts and improving positive adaptation. Additionally, it is necessary for healthcare workers including nurses to establish the necessary workforces, departments and guidelines for nursing new infectious disease patients.