• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.178-186
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• 2019

Background: Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) have been widely used in managing spinal pain. Dexamethasone has recently emerged as a useful drug in this setting, relative to particulate steroids, although the associated systemic effects have not been fully elucidated. This study aimed to investigate the incidences and types of systemic effects after fluoroscopically guided ESI with dexamethasone. Methods: This retrospective study included 888 ESIs with dexamethasone (fluoroscopically guided at the cervical and lumbosacral levels) performed on 825 patients during January to June 2017. Data regarding systemic effects were collected via telephone interviews using a standardized questionnaire at 2 weeks after the procedure. Data on patient demographic, clinical, and procedural characteristics were collected and analyzed to identify factors that were associated with systemic effects. All statistical analyses were performed using the chi-squared test. Results: Among the 825 patients, 40 patients (4.8%) experienced systemic effects during the 2-week follow-up period. The most common systemic effect was facial flushing (12 patients, 1.5%), which was followed by urticaria (7 patients, 0.8%) and insomnia (7 patients, 0.8%). A history of spine surgery was significantly associated with the occurrence of systemic effects (P = 0.036). Systemic effects were significantly more common for injections at the cervical level than at the lumbar level (P = 0.019). Conclusions: Approximately 4.8% of the patients who underwent ESI with dexamethasone experienced minor and transient systemic effects. These effects were more common in patients who had undergone a previous spine surgery or received a cervical ESI.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.979-986
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic status and periodontal disease. Methods: The data used for the analysis were obtained from the sixth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015). A total of 5,632 adults, aged over 19 years, were included in the study. This study analyzed data relating to socioeconomic status and health behaviors. The socioeconomic status was defined as an exogenous factor. Periodontal disease was the endogenous variable. Health behavior was a mediating variable. The study hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling analysis with Mplus 7.0 software. Results: According to the model fit test, the associated root-mean-square error was 0.05 (90% CI: 0.046-0.059); comparative fit index was 0.93; Tucker-Lewis index was 0.88; and standardized root-mean-square residual was 0.03. We found that socioeconomic status had significant effects on health behaviors (${\beta}=0.304$, p<0.001) and periodontal disease (${\beta}=-0.289$, p=0.001). Moreover, health behaviors had significant effects on periodontal diseases (${\beta}=0.143$, p<0.001). The analysis of a possible relationship between socioeconomic status and periodontal disease using path analysis demonstrated health behaviors difficulties, along with direct and indirect effects, further increased the risk of periodontal disease. Conclusions: The findings suggest that future interventions for the prevention of periodontal disease should consider health behavior.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.45-51
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• 2018

Autonomous ship has been sportlighted as a core technology for the maritime industry in Industry 4.0 era. Autonomous ship is expeected to improve the safety, reliability, efficiency and environment significantly. For the realization of the autonomous ship, the remote control of the ship is one of the core functionality in addition to the autonomous ship control functionality in a ship. In this paper, we address a autonomous ship control system based on remote control. This paper proposes a remote control autonomous system and standardized ship-to-shore remote control protocol with for open platform. Finally, we implemented the system and tested with a real experiments with the test ship in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed remote control autonomous system.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.185-198
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatment in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among a group of community dwelling elderly. Methods: Two-hundred and twenty-nine elderly living in a community and diagnosed with MCI were recruited. Participants were evaluated with various instruments such as the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination for Dementia Screening (MMSE-DS) and the Korean version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-K). Korean medicine treatment consisted of herbal medicine, acupuncture, and pharmacoacupuncture. The change in cognitive ability was assessed by using the MMSE-DS and the MoCA-K. Data were analyzed by SPSS/WIN 22.0 using the paired t-test, and the ANOVA. Results: The MMSE-DS and the MoCA-K score generally increased after six months of Korean medicine treatment and the differences in both instruments were statistically significant. Additionally, some consecutive participants maintained long-term cognitive improvement. When analyzed specifically by herbal medicine group based on syndrome differentiation and pharmacoacupuncture group, most showed improvement in the MMSE-DS and the MoCA-K but not all data were statistically significant. The satisfaction score was mostly high and most participants were willing to re-participate in the program. Conclusions: Korean medicine treatment may contribute to the improvement and prevention of cognitive decline in the elderly. However, further systematic research based on large scale sample data and standardized protocols is needed to uplift the welfare and mental health of the elderly.

• Convergence Security Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of selection motivation on the NCS curriculum and career decision of the students in security related department. The contents of the questionnaire consisted of "First, Motivation to select major, Second, NCS curriculum, Third, Career decision". In this study, Chronbach's Alpha coefficients were presented to analyze the reliability of variables and exploratory factors, and the Berimax method was performed. The AVE and CR values of the items were calculated to be 0.5 and 0.7, respectively. Therefore, it was analyzed that the Intensive feasibility of items were well-focused. As a result of the hypothesis test, the standardized coefficients were calculated as follows: 'Selective motivation ⇨ NCS curriculum' is 0.563, 'NCS curriculum ⇨ career decision' is 1.339. The relationship between the two hypotheses was found to be positive (+). In order to improve the career decision of students in security related departments, it seems necessary to raise the motivation of selection and to improve the satisfaction of NCS curriculum.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.249-256
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between discrimination and job satisfaction among non-regular office workers. The data was collected from 128 employees of 7 university hospitals using a standardized questionnaire. In research methodology, the data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, pearson's correlation, multiple regression analysis. The results of the study are as follows. Unjust working environment, position unfairness, employment instability were found to have a negative(-) effect on job satisfaction. Gender, education, income in general characteristics had a significant negative(-) effect on job satisfaction. The discrimination of non-regular office woman workers was higher and job satisfaction was lower than that man workers. These results showed that hospitals need active efforts to create friendly work environment for non-regular woman workers.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.191-202
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• 2019

Purpose: Patient-centered care is a widely utilized concept in nursing and health care. However, the key components of patient-centered nursing have not yet been reported. Moreover, previous studies on patient-centered care have mostly focused on components of nursing rather than organizational factors. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of influential factors of patient-centered care is required. Methods: The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model based on person-centered care theory, and the relevant literature and to test the developed model with covariance structure analysis in order to determine the causal paths among the variables. Results: The model fit indices for the hypothetical model were suitable for the recommended level (goodness of fit index=.87, standardized root mean residual=.01, root mean square error of approximation=.06, Tucker-Lewis index=.90, comparative fit index=.92, parsimonious normed fit index=.75). In this study, five of the six paths established in the initial hypothetical model were supported. The variables of teamwork, self-leadership, and empathy accounted for 56.4% of hospital nurses' patient-centered care. Among these, empathy was the strongest predictor of patient-centered care. Conclusion: These results suggest that it is necessary to use strategies to improve self-leadership and empathy. In addition to enhancing the personal factors of nurses, nursing organizations should strive for effective multidisciplinary cooperation with active support for patient-centered care and openness to change.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.125-129
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• 2019

The ultimate goal of the quality control program for special periodic health examination agencies is to diagnose the health condition of a worker correctly, based on accurate examination and analysis skills, leading to protect the worker's health. The quality control program on three areas, chemical analysis for biological monitoring since 1995, and pneumoconiosis, audiometric testing since 1996, has contributed to improve the reliability of occupational health screenings by improving the issues including standardization of testing methods, tools, diagnostic opinions, and reliability of analysis for biological monitoring. It has contributed to improving the reliability of occupational health monitoring by rectifying the following issues associated with previous monitoring: absence of standardized testing methods, testing tools that are not upgraded, mismatching diagnostic opinions, and unreliable results of biological specimen analysis. Nevertheless, there are issues in need of further improvement such as lack of expertise or the use of inappropriate method for health examination, and passive and unwilling participation in the quality control. We suggested solutions to these problems for each area of quality control program. Above all, it is essential to provide active support for health examiners to develop their expertise, while encouraging all the health screening agencies, employers, and workers to develop the desire to improve the system and to maintain the relevance.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.244-254
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• 2021

The management of emerging infectious diseases cannot help but completely depend on non-pharmaceutical interventions in the early stages of the outbreak. Consequently, South Korea has developed and implemented the 3T (test-trace-treat) models, non-pharmaceutical infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The IPC measures have gained global attention, rendering them to be essential in the development of a shareable, reusable, and applicable protocol for future pandemics. This study was conducted to identify the requirements necessary for standardizing the IPC measures. Three new work items of the 18 3T models were proposed to ISO/TC 304 (International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee 304; healthcare organization management). Requirements for each IPC measure, identified by participating members (P-members) countries during the ISO ballots, were analyzed in this study. The three new work items were approved by the P-members countries after a 3-month ballot. There was a consensus that the three IPC measure models should be International Standards (IS). Other comments include (1) the models should include not only COVID-19 but also any respiratory pandemic; and (2) keep donning of level D protection at screening sites as an optional protocol, in consideration for the lack of personal protective equipment. Standardization is a systematic process of developing internationally agreed-upon wisdom and knowledge that consider and respect the diversity and universality of each country. It is expected that such standardized applicable IPC measure models contribute to global efforts to rapidly respond to a public health emergency of international concern during its early stages.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.165-171
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• 2022

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the characteristics of malocclusions in scoliotic patients through clinical examinations. Methods: Fifty-eight patients with idiopathic scoliosis (IS) and 48 patients with congenital scoliosis (CS) participated in the study. A randomly selected group of 152 orthopedically healthy children served as the control group. Standardized orthodontic and orthopedic examination protocols were used to record the occlusal patterns and type of scoliosis. Assessments were made by three experienced orthodontists and a spinal surgery team. The differences in the frequency distribution of occlusal patterns were evaluated by the chi-squared test. Results: In comparison with patients showing IS, patients with CS showed a higher incidence of Cobb angle ≥ 45° (p = 0.020) and included a higher proportion of patients receiving surgical treatments (p < 0.001). The distribution of the Angle Class II subgroup was significantly higher in the IS (p < 0.001) and CS (p = 0.031) groups than in the control group. In comparison with the healthy controls, the CS and IS groups showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) frequencies of asymmetric molar and asymmetric canine relationships, upper and lower middle line deviations, anterior deep overbite, unilateral posterior crossbite, and canted occlusal plane, with the frequencies being especially higher in CS patients and to a lesser extent in IS patients. Conclusions: Patients with scoliosis showed a high frequency of malocclusions, which were most obvious in patients with CS.