• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2008

Objectives : We examined the effect of sociodemographic factors, cancer, and psychiatric disorders on suicide by gender and age-specific patterns in South Korea. Methods : The study is a case-control study. Claim data was obtained from the national health insurance database and national death registration database. The number of people who committed suicide was 11,523, which was matched with a control group consisting of ten times as many people at 115,230 selected from the national health insurance and medical aids beneficiaries. The medical utilization of the case group was one year before death and that of the control group was from July 1,2003 to June 30, 2004. Four variables-address, economic status, presence of a psychiatric disease, and cancer-were used in multiple logistic regression analyses. Results : Living in cities or in rural areas showed a greater risk for suicide than living in a metropolitan city. Low economic status, the presence of a psychiatric disorder, and cancer were also statistically meaningful risk factors for suicide. The three major psychiatric diseases, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse, and bipolar disorder, were meaningful in all age groups, but the scale of the odds ratio differed by the age group. Only the psychiatric disorder variable was meaningful in the adolescent group, whereas a psychiatric disorder and economic status were meaningful for the young adult group, and all variables were meaningful for the middle-aged group. A psychiatric disorder and cancer were meaningful in the elderly group, economic status was meaningful for male subjects, and address was meaningful for female subjects. Conclusions : Factors such as living in city or rural areas, low economic status, the presence of a psychiatric disorder, and cancer were statistically meaningful risk factors in suicide. These factors also differed by age group. Therefore, policymakers should establish policies for suicide prevention that are relevant for each age group.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.327-335
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• 2006

An epidemiological survey of human enterobacterial infections was conducted to determine the prevalence of enteropathogens in the Republic of Korea during one year, 2003. We tested for infectious diseases in 26,992 stool samples obtained from people who visited clinics located in six big cities and six rural provinces. From these samples, we isolated 1,291 cases of enteritis bacterial infection (4.8%). In the urban areas, 821 cases of bacterial infection (6.4%) were identified and, in the rural areas, 479 bacterial strains (3.3%) were isolated. Seasonal patterns were seen for diarrhea associated with S. aureus, S. coli and V. parahaemolyticus, while Salmonella and Shigella infections showed slight seasonal variation. We found that S. aureus and Salmonella were more frequently isolated from children and the elderly; however, the prevalence of E. coli, V. parahaemolyticus, and Shigella were similar in different age groups. Routine monitoring of these infections is considered a worthwhile means by which to elucidate their epidemiology and modes of transmission and ultimately to control them more effectively. Continuous laboratory-based surveillance for findings of enteritis bacterial infection should be emphasized in the prevention of these infections.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.592-606
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• 2015

Depression and mental illness across all age groups, and steady increasing in suicide rate are our major social problems which cause dramatically decreasing government competitiveness. While Korean government has implemented various policies to improve mental health and prevent suicide, it faces revealing issues in progress on implementation and referral management systems. The current research examined domestic and foreign cases to understand the actual status and directivity of ICT convergence plan in terms of mental health. The United States and the United Kingdom have provided convergent ICT service, telepsychiatric care to senior citizens in rural areas, children and adolescents, socially disadvantaged class, etc. In Korea, emergency-notice devices are installed to prevent suicide for single elderly people, and diverse mobile health devices are developing to cure depression and Alzheimer's disease. ICT convergent mental health care service is needed to save socioeconomic costs and realize universal welfare for an aging society. Social consensus on sharply conflict issues, medical law and medical devices about telepsychiatry service, effectiveness studies on users' unique psychiatric characteristics by life cycle, and region-specialized strategies for the least densely populated rural regions with lower access to medical care should be considered.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.722-733
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to explore dietary patterns and compare dietary patterns using cluster and factor analysis in Korean adults. This study analyzed data of 4,182 adult populations who aged 30 and more and had all of socio-demographic, anthropometric, and dietary data from 2005 Korean Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Socio-demographic data was assessed by questionnaire and dietary data from 24-hour recall method was used. For cluster analysis, the percent of energy intake from each food group was used and 4 patterns were identified: "traditional", "bread, fruit & vegetable, milk", "noodle & egg", and "meat, fish, alcohol". The "traditional" pattern group was more likely to be old, less educated, living in a rural area and had higher percentage of energy intake from carbohydrates than other pattern groups. "Meat, fish, alcohol" group was more likely to be male and higher percentage of energy intake from fat. For factor analysis, mean amount of each food group was used and also 4 patterns were identified; "traditional", "modified", "bread, fruit, milk", and "noodle, egg, mushroom". People who showed higher factor score of "traditional" pattern were more likely to be elderly, less educated, and living in a rural area and higher proportion of energy intake from carbohydrates. In conclusion, three dietary patterns defined by cluster and factor analysis separately were similar and all dietary patterns were affected by socio-demographic factors and nutrient profile.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.162-168
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• 2007

Objectives : This prospective population-based cohort study was conducted to evaluate the risk factors of cognitive impairment and the degree of cognitive function change through a 5-year follow-up. Methods : The baseline and follow-up surveys were conducted in 1998 and 2003, respectively, Among 176 subjects who had normal cognitive function in the baseline study, 136 were followed up for 5 years. The cognitive function was investigated using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and Stata. Results : Of the 136 subjects analyzed, 25 (18.4%) were cognitively impaired. Old age and low social support in the baseline survey were risk factors for cognitive impairment after 5 years. In the generalized estimating equation for 128 subjects except severe cognitive impairment about the contributing factors of cognitive function change, the interval of 5 years decreased MMSE-K score by 1.02 and the cognitive function was adversely affected with increasing age, decreasing education and decreasing social support. Conclusions : Although the study population was small, it was considered that the study results can be used to develop a community-based prevention system for cognitive impairment.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2009

Objectives : The changing population age structure and rapidly increasing medical costs make providing high-quality, effective medical care for the elderly a challenge. This study assessed the satisfaction with medical care in terms of comprehensiveness, general satisfaction, and accessibility among community-dwelling Korean elders. Methods : Data were obtained from a nationwide representative sample of the older adults(aged 65 years old or older) living in the community, who participated in a 2006 telephone survey conducted using random digit dialing(n=881). General satisfaction, comprehensiveness and accessibility were measured using a 10-item satisfaction survey questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was used to assess the distribution of each of three components of subjective satisfaction. Analysis of covariance(ANCOVA) was used to examine the association of each of the three components with socioeconomic variables. Results : Comprehensiveness and general satisfaction were low among older people with a high socioeconomic status. Accessibility was evaluated as low among older people of low socioeconomic status, those living in rural areas and those who were medical aid beneficiaries. Conclusions : Urgent interventions should be considered in order to improve accessibility to medical care for elders of low socioeconomic status and those living in rural communities. Given the rapid aging of the population, we need to develop a monitoring system to improve the quality of geriatric care.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.9
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• pp.295-303
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• 2009

This autobiographical narrative interview study aims at exploring how A, one Korean 82-year-old female farmer strived vigorously to learn by herself and to teach her children (4 boys and 3 girls) despite the fact that she was not afford to pay tuitions on time. From 40 times of interview-data three major findings emerged: (1) A learned how to read Korean Japanese and Chinese characters and how to calculate at a free-of-charge teaching center although her father didn't approve of her learning; (2) A tried very hard to earn money inside and outside home to support her children's education, organizing many mutual fraternity meetings to seek mutual financial support, selling mostly farm products as well as farming almost all day and everyday; (3) Although it was so hard to educate three daughters, A was proud of the fact that she was able to put her second daughter to a high school with a promise to pay her tuition later. Some implications of the findings are added.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.130-137
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• 2019

The fee-for-service system is used as the main payment system for health care providers in Korea. It has been argued that it can't reflect differences in the medical practice costs across regions because the fee schedule is calculated based on the average cost. So, some researchers and providers have disputed that there is need for adopting geographic practice cost index (GPCI) used in the United States for the Medicare program for the elderly to the fee-for-service payment system. This study performed to identify whether the difference in the practice costs among regions exists or not and to examine the feasibility of applying GPCI to Korea payment system. For this purpose, we calculated modified-GPCI and examined considerations to introduce GPCI in Korea. First we identified available data to calculate GPCI. Second, we made applicable GPCI equations to Korea payment system and computed it based on four types of regions (metropolitan, urban, suburban, and rural). We also categorize the regions based on the availability of the medical resources and the capability of utilizing them. As a result, we found that there wasn't any significant difference in the GPCI by regional types in general, but the indices of rural areas (0.91-0.98) was relatively low compared to the indices of other regions (0.96-1.07). Considering the need to use GPCI floor, the pros and cons of using GPCI, and the concern of the regional imbalance of resources, the introduction of GPCI needs to be carefully considered.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1027-1033
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• 2019

Recently, Korea has seen a rapid increase in the elderly population. As a result, osteoporosis, a geriatric disease, has become a social problem. To investigate the novel and natural materials for promoting osteoblastogenesis, we investigated the osteoblastogenic activity of Tenebrio molitor larvae oil (TMO) on the MG-63 preosteoblast cells. The cytotoxicity and proliferation effects of TMO on MG-63 cells were measured by MTS assay. There was no cytotoxicity up to $80{\mu}g/ml$. At 40 and $80{\mu}g/ml$ of TMO (treated for 48 hr), cell proliferation was elevated about 120% compared to the control. The osteoblastogenic activity of TMO was measured with alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity at 5 days. Doses of 5 to $80{\mu}g/ml$ of TMO increased ALP activities significantly compared with the control. In addition, expression of ALP and Runx2 (osteoblastogenic markers) were markedly increased after treatment of TMO for 5 days. These results provide evidence that TMO promotes osteoblastogenesis by increasing the gene and protein expression of ALP and Runx2, and they suggest that TMO may be a potential agent for bone formation and preventing osteoporosis.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2009

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of social support with health status and health behavior. Methods:　This study was conducted with 79 elderly people in Gunja-ri, Dongsan-myun, Chuncheon. We performed face to face interview which was composed of socio-demographic characteristics, social support, health status and health behavior. The association between social support and result variables was analysed by Chi-square test and logistic regression. We used SAS ver9.1 for statistic analysis. Results: Mean age of the study population was 72.0$\pm$7.0, social support score was 14.3$\pm$4.7 with full marks of 20 and 36.25% of the total population were shown to have depression. When the social support score was changed, depression (p=0.0007) and physical exercise (p=0.0312) showed significant difference. The self-rated health status was significantly related to the relationship with family members (OR=0.25, 95% CI=0.07-0.95) and the quality of sleep was also significantly associated to the relationship with family members (OR=0.21, 95% CI=0.06-0.73). The physical exercise was done significantly less in the group without close friends than in the group with many close friends (OR=0.21, 95% CI=0.05-0.94) and the depression was significantly more in the group without community participation than in the group with community participation (OR=4.79, 95% CI=1.62-14.15). Conclusions: Through this study, we could conclude that the social support factors are associated with health status and health behavior. Therefore, to improve the health status of rural elderly, we need to approach to develop social support.