• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.605-610
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• 2015

Toxoplasmosis is considered as an important risk factor for bad obstetric history (BOH) and one of the major causes of congenitally acquired infections. The present study aimed to estimate the seropositivity of T. gondii infection and associated risk factors among the attendees of high risk pregnancy and low risk antenatal care clinic of Minia Maternity and Pediatric University Hospital, Minia, Egypt. The study was carried out from April 2013 to April 2014 through 2 phases, the first phase was case-control study, and the second phase was follow-up with intervention. A total of 120 high risk pregnant and 120 normal pregnant females were submitted to clinical examinations, serological screening for anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA, and an interview questionnaire. Seropositive cases were subjected to spiramycin course treatment. The results showed that the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in high-risk pregnancy group was 50.8%, which was significantly different from that of normal pregnancy group (P<0.05). Analysis of seropositive women in relation to BOH showed that abortion was the commonest form of the pregnancy wastage (56.5%). The high prevalence of T. gondii seropositive cases was observed in the age group of 21-30 years. Post-delivery adverse outcome was observed in 80.3% of high-risk pregnancy group compared to 20% of normal pregnancy group. There was a statistically significant relationship between seropositivity and living in rural area, low socioeconomic level, and undercooked meat consumption (P<0.05). Serological screening for anti-Toxoplasma antibodies should be routine tests especially among high-risk pregnant women.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2016

This study was carried out to provide a basis for the development of a safety manual for kitchen accident prevention by identifying the safety situation and awareness through risk assessment of kitchen areas. The study was conducted in two phases. First, kitchen accidents and area risk assessment were investigated from February 2014 to September 2014, after which safety awareness of hospital foodservice employees was assessed in a survey. The results of this study were as followes. All of the respondents were women. The evaluation point of kitchen area risk assessment was reduced by 14%. After improvement, an initial score of 108 points decreased to 93 points. The number of accidents was also reduced by 78%; 14 accidents were decreased to three. The most common area of accidents was the kitchen area (58.8%), and burns was the most common accident (35.3%). Most of the employees deemed "enough staff" as the most major factor for good foodservice. "High indoor temperature and poor ventilation in the kitchen area" was chosen as the most common problem in the foodservice workplace. Taken together, our study quantitatively evaluated safety issues in hospital foodservice kitchen areas and provides a basis for the development of a safety manual for kitchen accident prevention.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.202-212
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• 2021

Objectives: The reproductive health of female workers has been extensively investigated in South Korea and other countries worldwide. However, few studies have discussed the reproductive health of male workers. In this study, we reviewed the recent literature that reports on the effects of occupational exposure on the reproductive health of male workers and the health of their children. Methods: In May 2020 we used the PubMed search engine to search the literature over the last 10 years and chose case-control, cohort, and cross-sectional studies and reviews. We selected epidemiological studies that investigated the association between pre-pregnant occupational exposure and the reproductive health of male workers and the health of their children. We excluded case reports, non-epidemiological studies (animal experiments, cellular-level experiments, and similar articles), and studies that described postnatal occupational exposure. Results: We eventually selected 23 studies. The studies that included exclusively male workers reported that those employed in the agricultural sector or those exposed to pesticides showed lower blood levels of reproductive hormones and a high risk of lympho-hematopoietic system cancer in their children. Male workers exposed to complex organic solvents and organic compounds showed a high risk of poor semen quality, increased time to pregnancy, decreased blood levels of reproductive hormones, and a high risk of lympho-hematopoietic system cancer in their children. Male workers employed in occupations that involved significant social contact, or in the leather and livestock industries, and in occupations with high levels of exposure to lead and organic solvents showed a high risk of malignancies, including lympho-hematopoietic system cancer, neuroblastoma, and central nervous system tumors in their children. Studies that investigated both male and female workers reported that children of male smelters showed a high risk of premature birth, and children of male workers exposed to metals showed a high risk of hypospadias and cryptorchidism. Children of male welders and workers employed in the glass, ceramic, and tile industries showed a high risk of premature birth. Conclusion: The findings of this study will serve as basic data for further research on male workers' reproductive health and provide a scientific basis for the development of strategies to protect the reproductive health of males employed in high-risk occupations. Moreover, the results of this study may provide guidelines to improve the understanding of and knowledge on male workers' reproductive health.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.29-41
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• 2020

Wild pollinators provide important pollination services for crops. However, their geographical ranges and impact on pollination services have not been fully explored within the scope of Korean agricultural land. This study aims to identify spatial supply-demand mismatches across orchard fields in the context of assessing pollination service risk. We first used National Ecosystem Survey data and a species distribution model (MaxEnt) to develop the geographic range of each of 32 wild pollinators belonging to three families (Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Lepidoptera). We then summed the modeled presence probability of each species to obtain a measure of spatially explicit pollinator richness. This modeled richness, defined as pollination supply, was compared with the summed area of orchard fields at the municipal boundary level to identify areas with supply-demand mismatches. The study found that Lepidoptera showed the highest species richness (8.3±1.5), followed by Hymenoptera (4.3±0.8) and Diptera (3.5±0.8) species. Median orchard area was 1.5 ㎢ (range of 0-176.7 ㎢) among 250 municipal regions in South Korea. The municipal regions were divided into three categories (tertiles) of low, middle, and high pollination supply and demand according to, respectivley, average polliator richness and orhard area. Finally, we found that 55 municipal regions (accounting for 49% of national orchard land) potentially faced high risk of pollination deficits, 81 regions (48% of national orchard land) faced intermediate risk, and 63 regions faced low risk (3% of national orchard land). In conclusion, this study revealed significant mismatch between pollination supply and demand and developed risk assessment map will guide our future efforts on pollinator habitat conservation and monitoring to conserve crop pollination services.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.234-236
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• 2011

Saigon Port within the port system of the Vietnam Maritime sector is one of the port having highest throughput and productivity in the country. The marine traffic of Saigon water ways is the heaviest in Vietnam and the number of marine accidents in this area are much higher than the others area in Vietnam. In order to reduce the risk of the accident in Saigon fairway, this paper concentrates on marine accident frequency in this area. The marine traffic and the marine accident were analyzed to find out the probability of vessel collision and the marine traffic risk. It follows that the main shipping route through Saigon fairway has the high risk of ship-ship collision.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.177-200
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• 2018

Sixteen USEPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the surface water from the coastal areas of Bangladesh were analyzed by GC-MS/MS. Samples were collected in winter and summer, 2015. The total concentration of PAHs (${\Sigma}PAHs$) showed a slight variation in the two seasons, which varied from 855.4 to 9653.7 ng/L in winter and 679.4 to 12639.3 ng/L in summer, respectively. The levels of ${\Sigma}PAHs$ were comparable to or relatively higher than other coastal areas around the world. The areas with recent urbanization and industrialization (Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Sundarbans) were more contaminated with PAHs than the unindustrialized area (Meghna Estuary). Generally, 2-3-ring PAHs were the dominant compounds. Molecular ratios suggested that PAHs in the study areas could be originated from both pyrogenic and petrogenic sources. The risk assessment revealed the extremely high ecological risk of PAHs, indicating an intense attention should be paid to PAHs pollution in the coastal areas of Bangladesh.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.997-1006
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• 2015

This study analyzed urban infrastructure risk to flooding based on the possibility map of flooding calculated by neural network model focusing on Seoul. This study found that Gangnam-gu, Songpa-gu, Seocho-gu and Seodaemun-gu contained relatively large high-risk areas to flooding. Over $4.17km^2$ of transportation facilities were located in high-risk area to flooding and Gangnam-gu included over $0.85km^2$ of infrastructures exposed to high inundation risk. This study is meaningful in that it first applied the neural network modeling to flooding risk assesment and results of risk assessment can be incorporated into various planning process.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.235-250
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• 2017

In this study, we monitored 4 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as chloroform, dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, and tetrachloromethane in groundwater samples to determine the detection frequency and their concentrations and evaluated the health risk level considering ingestion, inhalation, and skin contact. 75 groundwater wells were selected. 24 wells were from monitoring background groundwater quality level and 51 wells were from monitoring groundwater quality level in industrial or contamination source area. In the results, the detection frequency for chloroform, dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, and tetrachloromethane was 42.3%, 8.1%, 6.0%, and 3.4%, respectively. The average concentrations of VOCs were high in the order of chloroform ($1.7{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), dichloromethane ($0.08{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), tetrachloromethane ($0.05{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$), and 1,2-dichloroethane ($0.05{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$). Chloroform had the highest detection frequency and average detection concentration. In the contaminated groundwater, the detection frequency of VOCs was high in the order of chloroform, dichloromethane, 1,2-dchloroethane, and tetrachloromethane. The average concentrations for chloroform, dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, and tetrachloromethane were $2.23{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, $0.08{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, $0.07{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, and $0.06{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, respectively. All the 4 compounds were detected at industrial complex and storage tank area. The maximum concentration of chloroform, dichloromethane, and 1,2-dichloroethane was detected at industrial complex area. Especially, the maximum concentration of chloroform and dichloromethane was detected at a chemical factory area. In the uncontaminated groundwater, the detection frequency of VOCs was high in the order of chloroform, dichloromethane, and 1,2-dchloroethane and tetrachloromethane was not detected. The average concentrations for chloroform, dichloromethane, and 1,2-dichloroethane were $0.57{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, $0.07{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, and $0.03{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$, respectively. Although chloroform in the uncontaminated groundwater was detected the most, the concentration of chloroform was not exceeding water quality standards. By land use, the maximum detection frequency of 1,2-dichloroethane was found near a traffic area. For human risk assessment, the cancer risk for the 4 VOCs was $10^{-6}{\sim}10^{-9}$, while the non-cancer risk (HQ value) for the 4 VOCs is $10^{-2}{\sim}10^{-3}$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.659-663
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• 2013

Introduction: Squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus (ESCC) is one of the most common cancers in China. Preserved vegetables are processed foods and consumed in high amounts in the high risk areas for ESCC. This study aimed to investigate the relationships of preserved vegetable consumption with ESCC and precancer lesions. Methods: Cases from Yanting cancer hospital with pathological diagnosis of primary cancer, along with controls and individuals diagnosed with precancer lesions by endoscopy with iodine staining were interviewed. Trained staff collected data on dietary habits 1 year before the interview. An unconditional logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios of preserved vegetable consumption for precancer lesions and cancer. Results: Adjusting for potential confounders, intake of preserved vegetables (OR=2.92, 95%CI 1.32~6.47) and longer intake period (OR=5.78, 95%CI 2.26~14.80) were associated with higher risk of ESCC. Compared with lowest intake frequency, the highest was associated with a 3.0-fold risk for precancer lesions and 3.59-fold risk for ESCC (both p<0.05). Conclusion: Consumption of preserved vegetables is a risk factor for esophageal lesions in high risk areas. The carcinogenicity of preserved vegetables needs investigation in further studies and the public health strategies for reducing the consumption might be initiated in high risk areas.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2020

Recently, interest in ground subsidence in urban areas has increased after a large sinkhole occurred near the high-story building area in Jamsil, Seoul, Korea, in 2014. If a massive sinkhole occurs in an urban area, it is crucial to assess its risk rapidly. Access to humans for on-site safety diagnosis may be difficult because of the additional risk of collapse in the disaster area. Generally, inspection using drones equipped with high-speed lidar sensors can be utilized. However, if the sinkhole is created vertically to a depth of 100 m, similar to the sinkhole in Guatemala, the drone cannot be applied because of the wireless communication limit and turbulence inside the sinkhole. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) scanning system was fabricated and operated using a towed cable in a massive vertical sinkhole to a depth of 200 m. A high-speed lidar sensor was used to obtain a continuous cross-sectional shape at a certain depth. An inertial-measuring unit was applied to compensate for the error owing to the rotation and pendulum movement of the measuring unit. A reconstruction algorithm, including the compensation scheme, was developed. In a vertical hole with a depth of 180 m in the mining area, the fabricated system was applied to scan 0-165 m depth. The reconstructed shape was depicted in a 3D graph.