• Hip & pelvis
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.260-268
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was performed to assess the clinical and radiological outcomes following one-stage hip reconstruction, consisting of open reduction femoral shortening and pelvic osteotomy, for neglected developmental dislocation of the hip (DDH). Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 77 hips in 65 patients (46 females and 19 males; 12 had bilateral dislocations), operated at a Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital in Pakistan between 2013 and 2015. The average age at surgery was $11.02{\pm}3.43$ years. According to the Tonnis classification, there were 10, 14, 22, and 31 patients in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The pelvic procedure utilized in this study was triple osteotomy (47 hips) followed by double and Salter osteotomy (18 and 12 hips, respectively). Postoperative evaluations were conducted using the modified MacKay's scoring system (functional outcomes) and Severin's scoring method (radiological assessment). Results: Postoperatively, there were 38 (49.4%), 19 (24.7%), 14 (18.2%), and 6 (7.8%) hips in Severin grade I, II, III and IV, respectively. According to the modified McKay criteria, there were 22 hips (28.6%) in excellent condition, 44 (57.1%) in good condition, 9 (11.7%) in fair condition and 2 (2.6%) in poor condition. Both patients with poor outcomes had an unstable, painful hip with evidence of avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Conclusion: Based on the results presented here, we recommend the single stage procedure of open reduction, femoral shortening and pelvic osteotomy for treatment of DDH in older children with good to excellent functional and radiological outcomes.

• Acute and Critical Care
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.216-221
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• 2018

Background: In this study, we analyze the performance of the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, APACHE IV, Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) 3, and Mortality Probability Model $(MPM)_0$ III in order to determine which system best implements data related to the severity of medical intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Methods: The present study was a retrospective investigation analyzing the discrimination and calibration of APACHE II, APACHE IV, SAPS 3, and $MPM_0$ III when used to evaluate medical ICU patients. Data were collected for 788 patients admitted to the ICU from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. All patients were aged 18 years or older with ICU stays of at least 24 hours. The discrimination abilities of the three systems were evaluated using c-statistics, while calibration was evaluated by the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. A severity correction model was created using logistics regression analysis. Results: For the APACHE IV, SAPS 3, $MPM_0$ III, and APACHE II systems, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves was 0.745 for APACHE IV, resulting in the highest discrimination among all four scoring systems. The value was 0.729 for APACHE II, 0.700 for SAP 3, and 0.670 for $MPM_0$ III. All severity scoring systems showed good calibrations: APACHE II (chi-square, 12.540; P=0.129), APACHE IV (chi-square, 6.959; P=0.541), SAPS 3 (chi-square, 9.290; P=0.318), and $MPM_0$ III (chi-square, 11.128; P=0.133). Conclusions: APACHE IV provided the best discrimination and calibration abilities and was useful for quality assessment and predicting mortality in medical ICU patients.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.402-411
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The role of a school's nutrition environment in explaining students' eating behaviors and weight status has not been examined in an Asian setting. The purpose of this study was to create a school nutrition environment index and to pilot test the index in elementary and middle schools in urban South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study used a mixed-methods approach. Environment assessment tools were developed based on formative research, which comprised literature reviews, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. Key elements from the formative research were included in the assessment tool, which consisted of a structured survey questionnaire for school dietitians. Fifteen school dietitians from 7 elementary and 8 middle schools in Seoul completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: The formative research revealed four main sections that guided a summary index to assess a school's nutrition environment: resource availability, education and programs, dietitians' perceptions and characteristics, and school lunch menu. Based on the literature reviews and interviews, an index scoring system was developed. The total possible score from the combined four index sections was 40 points. From the 15 schools participating in the pilot survey, the mean school nutrition-environment index was 22.5 (standard deviation ${\pm}3.2$; range 17-28). The majority of the schools did not offer classroom-based nutrition education or nutrition counseling for students and parents. The popular modes of nutrition education were school websites, posters, and newsletters. CONCLUSIONS: This paper illustrates the process used to develop an instrument to assess a school's nutrition environment. Moreover, it presents the steps used to develop a scoring system for creation of a school nutrition environment index. As pilot testing indicated the total index score has some variation across schools, we suggest applying this instrument in future studies involving a larger number of schools. Future studies with larger samples will allow investigation of the validity and reliability of this newly developed tool.

• Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Sports Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2009

Purpose: We report mid to long - term results of meniscal transplantation and evaluate the important factors for successful outcomes. Materials and Methods: Between December 1999 and September 2002, 25 meniscal transplantations were performed using fresh frozen allograft. The lateral meniscus was transplanted in 19 cases and medial meniscus in 6 cases. The mean age was 34 years (range, 17~50 years) and the mean follow up was 54.8 months (range, 6~85 months). Preoperative measurements were made using a ruler graded in millimeters. Lateral meniscus was fixed by keyhole technique and medial meniscus was fixed by double bone plug technique with suturing the periphery of the meniscal transplant. All patients were evaluated with Knee Assessment Scoring System (KASS), Lysholm knee score, and Tegner activity scale for daily activity. Results: Symptoms improved in all cases. The average KASS score increased from 61.7 preoperatively to 83.8 postoperatively. The average Lysholm knee score increased from 77.7 preoperatively to 87.7 postoperatively (excellent in 3 cases, good in 17 cases, fair 4 cases, poor 1 case). But painful swellings were 3 cases, numbness in 1 case, and granuloma due to non-absorbable suture material in 1 case. Peroneal nerve palsy in 1 case was recovered after 6 weeks postoperatively. Conclusion: Meniscal allograft transplantation after subtotal or total menisectomy can significantly relieve pain and improve function of the knee joint. The exact preoperative sizing and secure fixation are essential for successful outcomes.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.312-321
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• 2014

Background: To evaluate the quality of chronic care provided by public health centers located in a South Korean metropolitan city using a modified Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC). Methods: We conducted self-evaluation surveys and collected data using a modified ACIC from twenty five public health centers. Cultural validity of the original ACIC was examined by the public health and nursing science experts. Based on expert reviews, cognitive interviews, pre-test results, five items of the original ACIC that were not relevant were deleted. The response scale was changed from twelve-point Likert scale to Guttman scale but its scoring system was maintained. Results: Eighty eight percent of public health centers in this study reported that their overall quality of chronic care was at a limited or basic level. About 68% of the centers reported that the organization was as reasonably good or fully developed to provide chronic care. On the other hand, 96% of the public health centers reported that the clinical information system was at a very limited or basic support level. The decision support, the integration of Chronic Care Model components, the delivery system design, the community linkages, and the self-management support were evaluated as limited or basic level of support by more than half of the public health centers, respectively. Conclusion: In a metropolitan area of South Korea, quality of chronic care in public health centers was not found to reach acceptable levels of services. It is critical to enhance the quality of chronic care in public health centers.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.57-65
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• 2023

The public safety management guidelines were introduced in 2019 and continue to be dedicated to advancing comprehensive measures for public safety management, with a primary focus on prioritizing the safety and well-being of the public within governmental institutions. To achieve this goal, our previous study developed a establishment procedure of risk assessment-based safety inspection system for public institutions that order construction projects and applied it to highway construction projects to evaluate its effectiveness. To enhance the practicality of the establishment procedure, it is essential to collect and analyze feedback from stakeholders regarding its performance and suitability. This study conducted a survey involving 200 participants who had experience with the establishment procedure, and performed statistical analyses to evaluate its performance and applicability. The survey results indicated that the participants reported a high level of satisfaction (scoring 4 and above on a 5-point Likert scale) in several areas: specialization of safety inspection items for different types of work (with a satisfaction rate of 65%), the evaluation process for safety ratings (64.5%), and their willingness to recommend the procedure to other institutions (75.5%). In the factor analysis with Varimax rotation, two factors emerged: (1) a specialization factor related to safety inspection items, and (2) a grading factor associated with safety evaluation results. Regression analyses of these factors unveiled significant positive relationships with improvements in safety and health performance, including the prevention of fatal accidents, heightened safety responsibility, and raised safety inspection standards. The establishment procedure of safety inspection system developed in our previous study can play a crucial role in reducing accidents resulting in fatalities and injuries at construction sites, ultimately contributing to a safer working environment for all involved parties.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.357-364
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• 2004

Modern agriculture depending on chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides gave rise to questions about long-term sustainability of agriculture in relation to degradation of soil quality. Improving soil quality is prerequisite to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health. Assessment and monitoring of the health and quality of soil is necessary to provide opportunity to evaluate and redesign soil management system for sustainability. To develop the soil quality assessment method, we collected national data on soil properties of paddy and upland and attempted to evaluate the data in aspect of soil quality by the process of selecting a minimum data set (MDS), scoring the soil properties and calculating soil quality index (SQI) integrating the score of each soil property. This approximation indicated that soil quality index was in the order of paddy soil, upland soil and plastic film house soil.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.140-143
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• 2018

Background: The Occupational Safety and Health Monitoring and Assessment Tool (OSH-MAT) is a practical instrument that is currently used in the German woodworking and metalworking industries to monitor safety conditions at workplaces. The 12-item scoring system has three subscales rating technical, organizational, and personnel-related conditions in a company. Each item has a rating value ranging from 1 to 9, with higher values indicating higher standard of safety conditions. Methods: The reliability of this instrument was evaluated in a cross-sectional survey among 128 companies and its validity among 30,514 companies. The inter-rater reliability of the instrument was examined independently and simultaneously by two well-trained safety engineers. Agreement between the double ratings was quantified by the intraclass correlation coefficient and absolute agreement of the rating values. The content validity of the OSH-MAT was evaluated by quantifying the association between OSH-MAT values and 5-year average injury rates by Poisson regression analysis adjusted for the size of the companies and industrial sectors. The construct validity of OSH-MAT was examined by principle component factor analysis. Results: Our analysis indicated good to very good inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.64-0.74) of OSH-MAT values with an absolute agreement of between 72% and 81%. Factor analysis identified three component subscales that met exactly the structure theory of this instrument. The Poisson regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant exposure-response relationship between OSH-MAT values and the 5-year average injury rates. Conclusion: These analyses indicate that OSH-MAT is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used effectively to monitor safety conditions at workplaces.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.323-329
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• 2020

There is a system of mandating the allocation of support to small business in certain percentage or more to facilitate technological innovation at small business. Trying to assess small business R&D projects, which receive a budget of three trillion won or more from the government every year, for their possibilities of success, a group of experts perform a technological evaluation with their technologies and their difficulty levels and review closely the possibilities of their commercialization and success. Used in such a review, the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique cannot make an objective judgment of evaluation criteria for evaluation items and guarantee the professionalism and fairness of small business R&D projects due to the inherent ambiguity and uncertainty of the evaluation criteria. This study proposed an R&D evaluation system based on Fuzzy-AHP for small business to provide objective weight for the evaluation items and assess the possibilities of such projects' success. The evaluation criteria were make objective as they were applied as section values based on triangular fuzzy numbers. Weight was assigned and applied according to the management guidelines of supportive projects for small business' technological development so that it could be reflected on actual assessment. The findings of the study will be helpful for reflecting the scoring weight of these evaluation items again when an expert is appointed for a new project and guaranteeing the professionalism and fairness of small business R&D project based on them.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.479-499
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• 2019

State assessment of an operational tunnel is usually done by performing visual inspection and durability tests by following the detailed guideline for safety inspection (SI) and/ or precision inspection for safety and diagnosis (PISD). In this study, 12 NATM tunnels, which have been operational for more than 10 years, were inspected to figure out the cause of longitudinal cracks for the purpose of modifying the scoring items in the state assessment NATM tunnel related to the longitudinal crack and the thickness of concrete lining. All investigated tunnels were classified into four groups depending on the shape and usage of each tunnel. The causes of longitudinal crack occurrence were analyzed by investigating the correlations between the longitudinal crack and the following four factors: the patterns of ground excavation; construction state of primary support system; characteristics of material properties of the concrete lining; and thickness of lining which was obtained by Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) tests. It was found that influencing factors causing longitudinal cracks in the lining were closely related with the construction condition of the primary support system, i.e. shotcrete, rockbolt, and steel-rib; crack occurrences were not much affected by the excavation patterns. As for the properties of concrete lining materials, occurrence of the longitudinal crack was mostly affected by the following three items: w/c ratio; contents of cement; and strength of lining. When estimating the lining thickness of the concrete lining by GPR tests and taking thickness effect into account in the statement assessment, it was concluded that increase of the index score by an average of 0.03 (ranging from 0.01 up to 0.071) is needed; a more realistic way of state assessment should be proposed in which the increased index score caused by lack of lining thickness should be taken into account.