• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2023

In this study, two cases of food poisoning caused by Salmonella that occurred in Gyeongsangnam-do in September 2021 are reported. One of the outbreaks occurred in a school and the other in a company. The molecular epidemiological characteristics of the isolated strains in the two outbreaks were analyzed. In the case of the school outbreak, 29 (4.9%) of 588 individuals experienced diarrhea and abdominal pain. As a result of a test of 36 individuals (patients, n=29; cook workers, n=7), Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis was detected in 17 (47.2%) patients, suggesting this serotype was the principal cause. Meanwhile, Salmonella spp. were not detected in 35 food and environmental samples. In the company outbreak, 87 (3.0%) of 2,900 individuals who had intaked from the same source experienced diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever. In a test of 50 individuals (patients, n=40; cook workers, n=10), S. Enteritidis was detected in 28 patients (56.0%). Also, Vibrio cholerae (NAG) was detected in four patients with S. Enteritidis, and V. cholerae (NAG) only was detected in one patient. Salmonella spp. were not detected in 118 preserved foods, but S. Enteritidis was detected in one eaten food (toast) delivered in group by the company. Through PFGE genetic homology analysis of the isolated strains, all S. Enteritidis detected in patients and consumed foods were the same type. It seems that these S. Enteritidis isolates were the same type as detected in a previous school outbreak and in patients of group food poisoning in other regions, leading to an enhanced problem of food poisoning and epidemiology. Our analytic results can provide data for epidemiological management and food poisoning prevention based on molecular characteristics.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.227-240
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• 2005

Health promotion has more comprehensive approaches in recent years. Nevertheless we accept the concept of health promotion differently, we are agree on that community is the most important field in health promotion which includes population at the aspect of health policy, individual skill and, environment. And there are a number of different approaches to health promotion. In them, 'population approaches' and 'high -risk group approaches' has the most different characteristics. 'Population approaches' is equally important or more important than 'individual approaches' for maintaining and promoting population health. Almost part of this article contents is the summary of the guideline and population strategy of health promotion in Korea, 1999 - 2005. Community based health promotion program should be reinforced, integrated, comprehensive, collaborative through efficiently utilizing community resources. Recent new orientation of community health program is integrated health program, we can find this orientation at Ottawa charter 1986. Comprehensive approaches with the determinant factors for health are essential task. Physical activity is a key health determinant. The population-health approach suggests that educating people about physical activity is not enough. Individual behavior changes are important too, but need to be balanced with strategies for environmental change. Population strategy with physical activity for health promotion should be developed through improving social and physical supportive environment, linking and integrating community resources between public and private sectors in national, regional and local level. Continuous public education and social marketing should be provided through collaborating with community physical activity organization, facilities, work-places and school for increasing concern of all the people of community about physical activity. Governments, agencies and citizens should held and participate to building movement. And the strategy that various 'active for life' program should be developed, delivered, maintained and reinforced continuously. Basically, adequate and sufficient financing, developing human resources, policies and legislation would be provided and supported fully too. At last, research development and knowledge exchange are required domestically and internationally. In Korea, we had classified the category of strategic priority of physical activity programs by environmental support, life-course approach, high-risk group approach and disease group approach for physical activity program based on community health center. Community based core programs for physical activity that includes infrastructure building and establishment of supporting environment, community campaign, health promotion education and public service announcement, physical activity programs for elderly and obesity, exercise prescription program.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.143-174
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• 2019

Our Constitution obliges the state to protect the health of the people, and the Medical Law, which embodied Constitution, sets out in detail the matters related to open the medical institution, and one of them is to prohibit the operation of multiple medical institutions. By the way, virtually multiple medical institutions could be opened and operated because the Supreme Court had interpreted that several medical institutions could be opened if medical activities were not performed directly at the additional medical institution which was opened under the another doctor's license. However, some health care providers opened the several medical institutions with another doctor's license for the purpose of the maximization of profit, and did illegal medical cares like the unfair luring of patients, over-treatment, and commission treatment. Also, realistic problems such as the infringed health rights have arisen. Accordingly, lawmakers had come to amend the Medical Law to readjust the system of opening for medical institution so that medical personnel could not open or operate more than one medical institution for any reason. For this reason, the Constitutional Court recently declared a constitutional decision through a long period of in-depth deliberation because the constitutional petition and the adjudication on the constitutionality of statutes had been filed on whether Article 33 paragraph 8 of the revised medical law is unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court acknowledged the "justice of purpose" in view of the importance of public medical institutions, of the prevention from seduction of for-profit patients and from over-treatment, and of the fact that health care should not be the object of commercial transactions. Given the risk that medical personnel might be subject to outside capital, the concern that the holder of the medical institution's opening certificate and the actual operator may be separated, the principle that the human body and life should not be just a means, and the current system's inability to identify over-treatment, it also acknowledged the 'minimum infringement'. Furthermore, The Constitutional Court judged it is constitutional in compliance with the principle of restricting fundamental rights, such as 'balance of legal interests'. In this regard, legislative complements are needed in order to effectively prevent the for-profit management and the over-treatment the Constitutional Court is concerned about. In this regard, consumer groups actively support the need for legislation, and health care providers groups also agree on the need for legislation. Therefore, the legislators should respect the recent Constitutional Court's decision and in the near future complete the complementary legislation to reflect the people's interests.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.24-33
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• 2009

Objectives: In September 2008, an outbreak of diarrhea occurred among students attending Y school in Yeongcheon-si. Shigella sonnei was cultured from some of the rectal swabs. An epidemiological investigation was carried out to determine the source of the infection and the mode of transmission of the shigellosis outbreak. Methods: The index case lived in the D rehabilitation facility in Gyeongsan-si and an additional epidemiological investigation was carried out there. The cases could not be questioned due to their mental handicaps. The teachers were interviewed instead. A patient case was defined as a resident with diarrhea more than one time a day from September 18 to September 26, 2008 or a resident with confirmed Shigella sonnei at the Y school or the D rehabilitation facility. Results: The attack rate was 1.2% (8 persons) among 659 persons in the Y school and D rehabilitation facility. Five persons were microbiologically confirmed to have the infection and three persons were diagnosed on the basis of symptoms. Shigella sonnei was cultured from five of the 659 rectal swabs. However, 80 environmental specimens including drinking water, preserved foods, and cooking utensils were negative. All eight patients were Y school students and had been living in group boarding and lodging. Six of them lived in the D rehabilitation facility and two lived in the dormitory at the Y school. Five cases showed pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns that were identical for Shigella sonnei. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the infection source of the shigellosis outbreak, in the two places, were identical. It is likely that the infections initially spread from a teacher or volunteer and then among the students.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.393-399
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to realize research demands by gathering the research agenda from the Korean Dental Hygienists Association and affiliated groups through a Delphi survey. The study subjects were the heads of eight groups. The Delphi survey was conducted by e-mail after a researcher explained the objective of the study to the heads. The research agenda was classified according to the Korean dental hygiene academic classification and the National Dental Hygiene Research Agenda classification. To compare the number of research agendas according to classification among the groups, we conducted a chi-squared test by using IBM SPSS 20.0. In total, 316 agendas were submitted. According to the Korean dental hygiene academic classification, there was a significant difference among the groups, and the agendas associated with clinical dental hygiene (36.7%) were the best. According to the National Dental Hygiene Research Agenda classification, there was no significant difference and the agendas associated with health promotion and disease prevention (27.8%) were the best. In conclusion, the Korean Dental Hygienists Association and affiliated groups demanded similar research agendas, corresponding to the purpose of each establishment. However, the groups did not seem to show unique characteristics according to the purpose of each establishment. In other words, the groups should corroborate such characteristics and suggest a corresponding agenda to establish specific areas of research in dental hygiene. Also, dental hygiene researchers should mark the academic classification of the studies they want to submit.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.209-279
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• 2016

The Korean Mental Health Act was amended 2016 overall. This paper examines and evaluates the old Korean Mental Health Act since 1995 and the new Korean Mental Health Promotion Act 2016 from the Perspective of Human Rights and Inclusion of Persons with Psychosocial Disabilities. The persons with mental disabilities was separated and ruled out from society by the enactment of the Mental Health Act in 1995 and five times amendment. That has been justified and institutionally supported by medical viewpoint. The medical approach which reconsider the persons with mental disabilities as patients conceal that the aims of the involuntary admission in Mental Hospital are protection of society and the relief of the family member's duty of support for person with mental disabilities. This is institutionally supported in the 1995 Korean Mental Health Act by involuntary admission through the consent of family members as protectors. According to the old Act, the family members as protectors are authorized to consent to involuntary admission of persons with mental disabilities. Also, the psychiatrist that diagnoses the person with mental disabilities and evaluates the need for treatment by admission is not impartial in this decision. Family members as protectors may want to lighten their burden of support for the person with mental disabilities in their home by admitting them into a mental hospital, and the psychiatrist in the mental hospital can be improperly influenced by demand of hospital management. Additionally, Article 24 of the Korean Mental Health Act for the Involuntary Admission by the Consent of Family Members as Protector might violate personal liberty, as guaranteed in the Korean Constitution. The Mental Health Promotion Law was amended to reduce the scope of the persons with mental illness which are subject to forced hospitalization and to demand that a second diagnosis is made by another psychiatrist and screening by the committee concerning the legitimacy of admission in the process of the involuntary admission by the consent of family members as a method of protection. The amended Mental Health Promotion Law will contribute to reducing the number of the involuntary admissions and the inclusion of persons with mental disabilities. But if persons with mental disabilities are not providing some kind of service to the community, the amended Mental Health Promotion Law does not work for Inclusion of them.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.280-294
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of social capital characteristics, socio-demographic characteristics, physical condition, and health behavior characteristics on health-related quality of life of the elderly in Korea. Methods: T-test, one-way ANOVA, and regression analysis were performed by applying a complex sample design to 57.787 people aged 65 and over using the 2019 Community Health Survey. Results: First, as a result of complex-sample T-test and ANOVA analysis, it was found that there were differences in health-related quality of life according to social capital characteristics, physical condition & health behavior characteristics, and socio-demographic characteristics. Complex Sample Regression Analysis Results, the explanatory power of the model was 28%. When living in the metropolitan area, living in an apartment building, having a spouse, having a higher household income, economic activity, higher educational attainment, increase sleeping time, walking time, frequent binge drinking, health checkup, networking, trust, and social participation showed higher health-related quality of life. When people were older, their gender was female, higher BMI, number of chronic diseases, and severe stress that showed lower health-related quality of life. Conclusions: It was proved that the factors affecting the health-related quality of life of the elderly are not only physical condition and health behavior factors, but also social capital and socio-demographic characteristics. It was found that the role as a member was important.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.475-487
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• 2018

Objectives: This study examined the consumption of Han-sik and its association with the years of residence in Korea and the socioeconomic status among Filipino immigrant women of the Filipino Women's Diet and Health Study (FiLWHEL). Methods: A total of 474 Filipino women married to Korean men were included in the analysis. Their dietary intake was assessed using a single-day 24-hour recall. The participants provided information on the demographics, socioeconomic, and health-related factors through face-to-face interviews. The generalized linear model and logistic regression model were used to examine the association between the socioeconomic status and consumption of Han-sik. Results: The mean age of the participants was 34.3 years old, and the average duration of residence in Korea was 8.2 years. Among 474 Filipino women, a total of 467 consumed Han-sik, with an average of 6.8 food items per day. The Han-sik foods that the participants consumed most frequently were rice, cabbage kimchi, mixed-grain rice, and fried eggs. The average ratio of Han-sik was 58.57%. The ratio of Han-sik showed no significant associations with the years of residence, years of living together with their husband, education levels, total annual family income, or linguistic competence of Korean. However, the ratio of Han-sik use was associated with cohabitation with parents-in-law; the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) was 2.41 (1.18-4.92, p-trend = 0.002) comparing the fourth quartile with the first quartile of the Han-sik ratio. Conclusions: Filipino immigrant women in the FiLWHEL study consumed a larger number of Han-sik than Philippine foods. In addition, cohabitation with their parents-in-law was associated with the consumption of Han-sik. Further epidemiologic studies will be needed to determine how the diet affects the health and wellbeing of immigrant women in Korea.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2013

There are many concerns about radiation exposure in Korea after Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident on 2011 in Japan. As some isotope materials are detected in Korea, people get worried about the radioactive material. In addition, the mass media create an air of anxiety that jump on the people's fear instead of scientific approach. Therefore, for curbing this flow, health, medical institute from the world provide a variety of information about medical radiation safety and hold the campaign which can give people the image that medical radiation is safe. At this, the Korean Food and Drug Administration(KFDA) suggested that make the alliance of medical radiation safety and culture on August, 2011. Seven societies and institutions related medical radiation started to research and advertise the culture of medical radiation safety in Korea. In this report, mainly introduce the activities of the Korean Alliance for Radiation Safety and Culture in Medicine(KARSM) for spreading culture of medical radiation safety from 2011 to 2012.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.190-195
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• 2018

Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] represents an attractive starch crop that can be used to facilitate solving global food and environmental problems in the $21^{st}$ century. It can be used as industrial bioreactors to produce various high value-added materials, including bio-ethanol, functional feed, antioxidants, as well as food resources. The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) announced sweetpotato as one of the ten 'super foods' for better health, since it contains high levels of low molecular weight antioxidants such as vitamin-C, vitamin-E and carotenoids, as well as dietary fiber and potassium. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also reported that sweetpotato is the best bioenergy crop among starch crops on marginal lands, that does not affect food security. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that world population in 2050 will be 9.7 billion, and require approximately 1.7 times more food than today. In this respect, sweetpotato will be a solution to solving problems such as food, energy, health, and environment facing the globe in the $21^{st}$ century. In this paper, the current status of resources, and cultivation of sweetpotato in the world was first described. Development of a new northern route of the sweetpotato and its prior tasks of large scale cultivation of sweetpotato, were also described in terms of global food security, and production of high-value added biomaterials.