OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between residential district of people, such as power plant, steel-mill and petrochemical industries, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). METHODS: Using a cross-sectional study design, we randomly recruited participants for our study from industrial areas (thermoelectric power plant, steel-mill, petrochemical industry) and rural areas. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the relationships between Euro quality of life-5 dimension (EQ-5D) scores and living region, while controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: In adjusted model, quality of life decreased with increasing category of age and were lower for females than males. EQ-5D scores of people living in the vicinity of thermoelectric power plant were significant lower than those of people living the vicinity of comparison region (odds ratio, 1.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 2.53). CONCLUSIONS: Living region of thermoelectric power plant, was strongly associated with scores on the EQ-5D. More research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms which makes the relationship with the living regions and HRQoL.
Chungcheongnam-do* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Power Plants ; Quality of Life* ; Republic of Korea

OBJECTIVE: This study determines the usability of the experimental u-Healthcare services program by examining the prior experience of COPD patients. METHODS: A qualitative content analysis and in-depth interviews were conducted. A total of eight COPD patients with prior experience in u-Healthcare services were interviewed between August 12, 2009 and September 10, 2009. RESULTS: The participants were asked open questions on u-Healthcare services, including their general experience, major attributes, service expectations, future usage intentions, and education and training needs. The participants were also asked to indicate current healthcare inconveniences that u-Healthcare services might solve. CONCLUSION: The results of this study based on patient experience suggest the potential viability of u-Healthcare services.
Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Intention ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

OBJECTIVE: We intended to evaluate the double standard status and to identify factors of determining double standard criteria in multinational corporations of Korea, and specifically those in the occupational health and safety area. METHODS: A postal questionnaire had been sent, between August 2002 and September 2002, to multinational corporations in Korea. A double standard company was defined as those who answered in more than one item as adopting a different standard among the five items regarding double standard identification. By comparing double standard companies with equivalent standard companies, determinants for double standards were then identified using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Of multinational corporations, 45.1% had adopted a double standard. Based on the question naire's scale level, the factor of 'characteristic and size of multinational corporation' was found to have the most potent impact on increasing double standard risk. On the variable level, factors of 'number of affiliated companies' and 'existence of an auditing system with the parent company' showed a strong negative impact on double standard risk. CONCLUSION: : Our study suggests that a distinctive approach is needed to manage the occupational safety and health for multinational corporations. This approach should be focused on the specific level of a corporation, not on a country level.
Humans ; Internationality ; Korea* ; Logistic Models ; Occupational Health ; Parents

Tegoprazan is a novel potassium-competitive acid blocker that treats gastric acid-related diseases. Clarithromycin was widely used as one of various regimens for eradicating Helicobacter pylori. This study compared the pharmacokinetic and safety profile of tegoprazan and clarithromycin between combination therapy and monotherapy to evaluate the potential drug-drug interaction. An open-label, randomized, 6-sequence, 3-period crossover study was conducted in 24 healthy subjects. According to the assigned sequence, the subject was administered the assigned treatment during 5 days in each period. PK parameters of tegoprazan and clarithromycin administered in combination were compared with those of the respective monotherapies. The co-administration of tegoprazan with clarithromycin increased maximum steady-state plasma concentration (C ss,max ) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve in dosing interval at steady-state (AUC ss,tau ) of tegoprazan (1.6-fold in C ss,max and 2.5-fold in AUC ss,tau ) and M1 (2.0-fold in C ss,max , 2.5-fold in AUC ss,tau ) than tegoprazan alone. The C ss,max and AUC sss,tau of 14-hydroxyclarithromycin increased 1.8- and 2.0-fold in co-administration, respectively. The AUC ss.tau of clarithromycin was slightly increased in co-administration, but C ss,max was not changed. Combination of tegoprazan and clarithromycin and those of the respective monotherapies were tolerated in 24 healthy subjects. There may exist drug interaction that lead to reciprocal increase in plasma drug concentrations when tegoprazan and clarithromycin were administrated in combination and no safety concerns were raised. It is suggested that an in-depth analysis of the concentrationresponse relationship is necessary to determine whether these concentration changes warrant clinical action.

BACKGROUND: Molecular imaging such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can provide the crucial pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic information of a drug non-invasively at an early stage of clinical drug development. Nevertheless, not much has been known how molecular imaging has been actually used in drug development studies.METHODS: We searched PubMed using such keywords as molecular imaging, PET, SPECT, drug development, and new drug, or any combination of those to select papers in English, published from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 2015. The information about the publication year, therapeutic area of a drug candidate, drug development phase, and imaging modality and utility of imaging were extracted.RESULTS: Of 10,264 papers initially screened, 208 papers met the eligibility criteria. The more recent the publication year, the bigger the number of papers, particularly since 2010. The two major therapeutic areas using molecular imaging to develop drugs were oncology (47.6%) and the central nervous system (CNS, 36.5%), in which efficacy (63.5%) and proof-of-concept through either receptor occupancy (RO) or other than RO (29.7%), respectively, were the primary utility of molecular imaging. PET was used 4.7 times more frequently than SPECT. Molecular imaging was most frequently used in phase I clinical trials (40.8%), whereas it was employed rarely in phase 0 or exploratory IND studies (1.4%).CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirmed the trend that molecular imaging has been more actively employed in recent clinical drug development studies although its adoption was rather slow and rare in phase 0 studies.
Central Nervous System ; Clinical Trials, Phase I as Topic ; Molecular Imaging ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Publications ; Tomography, Emission-Computed ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon

BACKGROUND: Molecular imaging such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can provide the crucial pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic information of a drug non-invasively at an early stage of clinical drug development. Nevertheless, not much has been known how molecular imaging has been actually used in drug development studies. METHODS: We searched PubMed using such keywords as molecular imaging, PET, SPECT, drug development, and new drug, or any combination of those to select papers in English, published from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 2015. The information about the publication year, therapeutic area of a drug candidate, drug development phase, and imaging modality and utility of imaging were extracted. RESULTS: Of 10,264 papers initially screened, 208 papers met the eligibility criteria. The more recent the publication year, the bigger the number of papers, particularly since 2010. The two major therapeutic areas using molecular imaging to develop drugs were oncology (47.6%) and the central nervous system (CNS, 36.5%), in which efficacy (63.5%) and proof-of-concept through either receptor occupancy (RO) or other than RO (29.7%), respectively, were the primary utility of molecular imaging. PET was used 4.7 times more frequently than SPECT. Molecular imaging was most frequently used in phase I clinical trials (40.8%), whereas it was employed rarely in phase 0 or exploratory IND studies (1.4%). CONCLUSIONS The present study confirmed the trend that molecular imaging has been more actively employed in recent clinical drug development studies although its adoption was rather slow and rare in phase 0 studies.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the relationship between job type and the risk for spontaneous abortion to assess the reproductive toxicity of female workers in the semiconductor industry. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was administered to current female workers of two semiconductor manufacturing plants in Korea. We included female workers who became pregnant at least 6 months after the start of their employment with the company. The pregnancy outcomes of 2,242 female workers who experienced 4,037 pregnancies were investigated. Personnel records were used to assign the subjects to one of three groups: fabrication process workers, packaging process workers, and clerical workers. To adjust for within-person correlations between pregnancies, a generalized estimating equation was used. The logistic regression analysis was limited to the first pregnancy after joining the company to satisfy the assumption of independence among pregnancies. Moreover, we stratified the analysis by time period (pregnancy in the years prior to 2008 vs. after 2009) to reflect differences in occupational exposure based on semiconductor production periods. RESULTS: The risk for spontaneous abortion in female semiconductor workers was not significantly higher for fabrication and packaging process workers than for clerical workers. However, when we stratified by time period, the odds ratio for spontaneous abortion was significantly higher for packaging process workers who became pregnant prior to 2008 when compared with clerical workers (odds ratio: 2.21; 95% confidence interval: 1.01–4.81). CONCLUSIONS: When examining the pregnancies of female semiconductor workers that occurred prior to 2008, packaging process workers showed a significantly higher risk for spontaneous abortions than did clerical workers. The two semiconductor production periods in our study (prior to 2008 vs. after 2009) had different automated processes, chemical exposure levels, and working environments. Thus, the conditions prior to 2008 may have increased the risk for spontaneous abortions in packaging process workers in the semiconductor industry. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40557-017-0204-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Abortion, Spontaneous* ; Chemical Processes ; Clergy ; Employment ; Female ; Female* ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Occupational Exposure ; Odds Ratio ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Product Packaging ; Semiconductors*