BACKGROUND: A kids café is a popular indoor playground in Korea that combines a playground for young children and a café for their caregivers. There have been no national reports about kids café-related injuries in Korea. This study investigated kids café-related injuries in Korea registered in a multicenter injury surveillance database and analyzed the risk factors for significant kids café-related injuries.METHODS: A multicenter cross-sectional study was performed using the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance registry in Korea between 2011 and 2016. Significant injury was defined as an injury requiring hospitalization or surgery. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to obtain the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for factors associated with significant kids café-related injuries.RESULTS: Among 1,537,617 injured patients, we extracted 891 patients who were injured in kids cafés. Of these, 46 (5.2%) were admitted, and 39 (4.4%) underwent surgery. The most common injured anatomical site, injury type, and mechanism were lower extremity (28.2%), superficial injury (27.2%), and slip (27.1%), respectively. Among injury-inducing factors, significant injuries were most commonly caused by a trampoline (28.1%), and rock climbing equipment was the only risk factor in a kids café that led to significant injury after adjusting for age, sex, injury mechanism, and injured anatomical sites (aOR, 14.94; 95% confidence interval, 1.51–147.72).CONCLUSION: The rock climbing equipment in a kids café can cause serious injury to children. Establishing safety regulations for rock climbing equipment in kids cafés may have the greatest impact in reducing significant injuries requiring hospitalization or surgery.
Caregivers ; Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Emergencies ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Lower Extremity ; Odds Ratio ; Play and Playthings ; Risk Factors ; Social Control, Formal ; Wounds and Injuries

One person dies every six seconds from a smoking-related disease and this problem is likely to worsen. While many people try to quit smoking on their own or with using medicinal products, many of them fail. There is an ongoing debate within the public health community about e-cigarettes on whether they have a potential role in smoking cessation, whether their use can reduce harm for individual users, whether the widespread use of these devices has the potential to reduce or increase population-level harm, and how best to regulate e-cigarette use to minimize both individual and population-level harm. Although the long-term effects of e-cigarette use among smokers and non-smokers are not known, nicotine aerosol produced from a solution, rather than from burning tobacco, releases fewer harmful substances than cigarette smoke does. Some experts advocate wider availability and softer regulations regarding e-cigarette use and perceive them as having the potential to help smokers quit or switch to a harm-reducing means of consuming nicotine. Based on scientific evidence on e-cigarettes, this article explores its pros and cons to public health in order to guide practice, policy, and regulation through reviews of debate articles. ‘Quit or die’ is no longer the only option for those who cannot quit. Safer nicotine products offer another way. There is substantial international and independent evidence that these products are safer than cigarettes.
Burns ; Electronic Cigarettes ; Harm Reduction ; Humans ; Nicotine ; Public Health ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Smoking Cessation ; Social Control, Formal ; Tobacco ; Tobacco Products

BACKGROUND: Increasing workplace health-care perception has become a major issue in the world. Most of the health-related problems are faced because of the lack of health management instruments. The level of health care can be improved through workplace health well-being regulations. The aim of the present study is to formulate a conceptual model of physical checkup. METHODS: This study applied conceptual theories and figures and used secondary data from articles and relevant websites for evaluating the validity of the study. RESULTS: Annual health checkup increases health-care awareness perception of states, organizations, employees, and their families and manages the annual health record of employees, organizations, and states. CONCLUSIONS: Health care and awareness perception of states, organizations, employees, and families improves with annual health checkup, and annual health checkup also prevents unhealthy acts.
Delivery of Health Care ; Health Status ; Humans ; Social Control, Formal

BACKGROUND: Painters in the automotive sector are routinely exposed to volatile organic solvents, and the levels vary depending on the occupational health and safety controls enforced at the companies. This study investigates the levels of exposure to organic vapors and the existence of controls in the formal economy sector in southern Colombia. METHODS: This is an exploratory study of an observational and descriptive character. An analysis of solvents is conducted via the personal sampling of painters and the analysis of samples using the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 1501 method. The amount of solvents analyzed varied according to the budget allocated by the companies. The person in charge of the occupational safety and health management system was interviewed to learn about the exposure controls implemented at the companies. RESULTS: A medium exposure risk for toluene was found in one company. Another presented medium risk for carbon tetrachloride, xylene, ethylbenzene, and n-butanol. The others showed low risk of exposure and that the controls implemented were not sufficient or efficient. CONCLUSION: These results shed light on the working conditions of these tradespeople. The permissible limits established by Colombian regulations for the evaluated chemical contaminants were not exceeded. However, there were contaminants that exceeded the limits of action. The analysis of findings made it possible to propose improvements in occupational safety and health management systems to allow the optimization of working conditions for painters, prevent the occurrence of occupational diseases, and reduce costs to the country's health system.
1-Butanol ; Carbon Tetrachloride ; Colombia ; Humans ; Methods ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U.S.) ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Health ; Social Control, Formal ; Solvents ; Toluene ; Xylenes

BACKGROUND: The oil and gas industry is one of the riskiest industries for confined space injuries. This study aimed to understand an overall picture of the causal factors of confined space accidents through analyzing accident reports and the use of a qualitative approach. METHODS: Twenty-one fatal occupational accidents were analyzed according to the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System approach. Furthermore, thirty-three semistructured interviews were conducted with employees in different roles to capture their experiences regarding the contributory factors. The content analyses of the interview transcripts were conducted using MAXQDA software. RESULTS: Based on accident reports, the largest proportions of causal factors (77%) were attributed to the organizational and supervisory levels, with the predominant influence of the organizational process. We identified 25 contributory factors in confined space accidents that were causal factors outside of the original Human Factors Analysis and Classification System framework. Therefore, modifications were made to deal with factors outside the organization and newly explored causal factors at the organizational level. External Influences as the fifth level considered contributory factors beyond the organization including Laws, Regulations and Standards, Government Policies, Political Influences, and Economic Status categories. Moreover, Contracting/Contract Management and Emergency Management were two extra categories identified at the organizational level. CONCLUSIONS: Preventing confined space accidents requires addressing issues from the organizational to operator level and external influences beyond the organization. The recommended modifications provide a basis for accident investigation and risk analysis, which may be applicable across a broad range of industries and accident types.
Accidents, Occupational ; Classification ; Confined Spaces ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Jurisprudence ; Oil and Gas Industry ; Social Control, Formal

BACKGROUND: Herbs have been used worldwide as complementary and alternative medicines. In Korea, herbs for medical purpose are strictly controlled by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). But it does not provide standards for metal antigens. OBJECTIVE: This study conducted to identify the metal contents of Korean herbs and herbal products and to give information on counselling metal allergic patient. METHODS: The concentration of three metal allergens with high antigenicity, cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni) was quantitatively determined using inductively coupled plasma with a mass spectrometer after nitric acid (HNO₃) digestion. The herbal objects are as follows: 1) ten kinds of herb plants, 2) ten herbal products sold in Korean drugstores, and 3) ten herbal extracts prescribed by Korean herbal doctors. RESULTS: In 30 samples, Ni and Cr were detected in all items. Co was not detected in two drugstore products. CONCLUSION: Although the levels of metal detected in this study were very low relative to international guidelines and KFDA regulations, the herbal preparations contained similar or higher metal levels than known metal-rich foods. It can cause problems when it added to the daily diet and cause deterioration of skin lesions of metal sensitized person.
Allergens ; Chromium ; Cobalt ; Complementary Therapies ; Dermatitis ; Diet ; Digestion ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Korea ; Metals ; Nickel ; Nitric Acid ; Plant Preparations ; Plasma ; Skin ; Social Control, Formal ; United States Food and Drug Administration

A thorough disinfection and infection control process associated with gastrointestinal endoscopy is highly important for the health and safety of the examinee and the medical staff involved in the procedure. Endoscopic reprocessing and disinfection are two of the most important steps in quality control of endoscopy. In 2019, the Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy updated the Accreditation of Qualified Endoscopy Unit assessment items for these quality indicators. Assessment of disinfection and infection control comprises 28 mandatory items in the categories of disinfection education, pre-cleaning, cleaning, disinfection, rinsing, drying, reprocessing, storage, endoscopic accessories, water bottle and connectors, space/facilities, personal protective equipment, disinfection ledger, and regulations regarding infection control and disinfection. The updated Accreditation of Qualified Endoscopy Unit assessment items are useful for improving the quality of endoscopy by ensuring thorough inspection of endoscopic disinfection and infection control.
Accreditation ; Disinfection ; Education ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Humans ; Infection Control ; Medical Staff ; Personal Protective Equipment ; Quality Control ; Social Control, Formal ; Water

The term new tobacco products (NTPs) refers to the new alternatives to conventional cigarettes. There are several kinds of NTPs in South Korea. The present study discusses the most widely used NTPs namely electronic cigarette (ECs) and heated tobacco products (HTPs). The aims of this study are to evaluate the risk related to the use of ECs and HTPs, introduce policy examples across different countries of management of this issue, and finally, present some policy implications of the problem and our response strategies. Since the advent of ECs, there has been a lot of debate about its risk. Some studies have reported that ECs are less harmful than conventional cigarettes and that they are effective in aiding smoking cessation. Nevertheless, the efficacy of ECs in smoking cessation and its potential health risks are still unclear. However, the obvious fact is that it is not harmless. Regulations on ECs differ from country to country. In many countries, they are strictly regulated as tobacco or toxic substances; however, in the United Kingdom, the use of ECs are included as part of their smoking cessation policy, and in Japan, they are treated as a form of medication. On the other hand, HTPs are the most recently introduced NTPs and they have attained sensational popularity because of the wrongly held belief that they are less harmful to health. So, what about our policy response to these two tobacco products? The research on ECs requires more systematic statistical monitoring, such as monitoring the ratio of dual-users. Further, the new EC smokers should be identified taking into account that the arguments for the use of ECs often emphasize smoking cessation or less risks to health, the government should further strengthen its policy to prevent those claims. The HTPs market experienced a very sharp growth and continues to grow because the government policy is too passive. Taking this as a lesson, it is necessary to approach NTPs, such as HTPs, proactively and increase their contribution to the National Health Promotion Fund by imposing greater taxes on them. Finally, considering the likelihood of NTPs being promoted as a less harmful tobacco product, it is essential to strictly regulate tobacco companies' publicity from the very beginning to ensure that potential consumer s are not mislead.
Electronic Cigarettes ; Financial Management ; Great Britain ; Hand ; Health Promotion ; Hot Temperature ; Japan ; Korea ; Smoking Cessation ; Social Control, Formal ; Taxes ; Tobacco Products ; Tobacco

BACKGROUND: The objectives of the study are to find out the effect of the implementing reform in three Central Asian countries, identify its impact on health status and health care delivery systems. This study address to identify strong and weak points of the health systems and provide a recommendation for further health care organization. METHODS: A comparative analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of implemented policy on health care system efficiency and equity. Secondary data were collected on selected health indicators using information from the World Health Organization Global Health Expenditure Database, European Health Information Platform, and World Bank Open Data. RESULTS: In terms of population status, countries achieved relatively good results. Infant mortality and under-5 mortality rate decreased in all countries; also, life expectancy increased, and it was more than 70 years. Regulations of the health systems are still highly centralized, and the Ministry of Health is the main organ responsible for national health policy developing and implementation. Among the three countries, only Kyrgyzstan was successful in introducing a national health system. Distribution of health expenditure between public expenditure and out-of-pocket payments was decreased, and out-of-pocket payments were less the 50% of total health expenditure in all countries, in 2014. CONCLUSION: After independent, all three countries implemented a certain number of the policy reform, mostly it was directed to move away from the old the Soviet system. Subsequent reform should be focused on evidence-based decision making and strengthening of primary health care in terms of new public health concepts.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Decision Making ; Delivery of Health Care ; Global Health ; Health Expenditures ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Kazakhstan ; Kyrgyzstan ; Life Expectancy ; Mortality ; Primary Health Care ; Public Health ; Social Control, Formal ; United Nations ; Uzbekistan ; World Health Organization

Medulloblastoma is considered one of the most threatening malignant brain tumors with an extremely high mortality rate in children. In the medulloblastoma, there are several genes and mutations found to work in an unregulated manner that works together to push the cells into a cancerous state. With the discovery of non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNAs), it has been shown that a different layer of gene regulations may be disrupted which would cause cancer. This fact led scientists to put their focus on the role of miRNAs in cancer. A mature miRNA contains a seed sequence which gives the miRNA to identify and attach to the interest mRNA; this attachment may lead degradation of mRNA or suppress of translation of the mRNA. The expression of miRNAs in medulloblastoma shows that some of these non-coding RNAs are overexpressed (OncomiRs) which help cells to proliferate and keep their stemness features. On the other hand, there are other forms of these miRNAs which normally inhibit cell proliferation and promote cell differentiation (tumor suppressor). These are down-regulated during cancer progression. In this systematic review, we attempted to gather several important studies on miRNAs’ role in medulloblastoma tumors and the importance of these non-coding RNAs in the future study of cancer.
Brain Neoplasms ; Cell Differentiation ; Cell Proliferation ; Child ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Hand ; Humans ; Medulloblastoma ; MicroRNAs ; Mortality ; Oncogenes ; RNA, Messenger ; RNA, Untranslated ; Social Control, Formal