• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.997-1006
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) are closely related and considered as allergic respiratory diseases (ARD), and their prevalence has recently increased. Data on the association of dietary antioxidant vitamin intake with asthma and AR in adults are limited. The present study aimed to investigate the associations of vitamin A and C intake with asthma, AR, and all cases of both diseases in young adults who participated in a cross-sectional national survey, with the use of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level as an effect modifier. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study included 6,293 male and female adults aged 20-49 years from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) conducted between 2016 and 2018. The questionnaire-based reports on asthma and AR diagnosis were used to determine outcome variables. Further, 24-h recall data on dietary vitamin A and C, carotene, and retinol intake were acquired. Logistic regression analysis was performed to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Dietary vitamin C intake was inversely associated with asthma prevalence among participants with hs-CRP levels (≥ 1 mg/L); the OR of asthma prevalence was 0.27 (95% CI, 0.08-0.84) for participants with vitamin C consumption ≥ 75 mg/day compared with those consuming < 20 mg/day. Similar association analyses limiting to non-users of dietary supplements were performed to rule out the potential effects of supplement intake on the outcomes; results showed a stronger association. However, the association between vitamin C and asthma was not significant in participants with hs-CRP levels < 1 mg/L; the OR of asthma was 1.44 (95% CI, 0.66-3.16) for participants with vitamin C consumption ≥ 75 mg/day compared with those consuming < 20 mg/day. Vitamin C intake was not associated with AR. Moreover, there was no association between vitamin A intake and neither asthma nor AR. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that higher vitamin C intake may play a potential role in reducing asthma prevalence. Nevertheless, further studies should be conducted to evaluate whether this association is causal.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2012

A sample size with sufficient statistical power is critical to the success of genetic association studies to detect causal genes of human complex diseases. Genome-wide association studies require much larger sample sizes to achieve an adequate statistical power. We estimated the statistical power with increasing numbers of markers analyzed and compared the sample sizes that were required in case-control studies and case-parent studies. We computed the effective sample size and statistical power using Genetic Power Calculator. An analysis using a larger number of markers requires a larger sample size. Testing a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker requires 248 cases, while testing 500,000 SNPs and 1 million markers requires 1,206 cases and 1,255 cases, respectively, under the assumption of an odds ratio of 2, 5% disease prevalence, 5% minor allele frequency, complete linkage disequilibrium (LD), 1:1 case/control ratio, and a 5% error rate in an allelic test. Under a dominant model, a smaller sample size is required to achieve 80% power than other genetic models. We found that a much lower sample size was required with a strong effect size, common SNP, and increased LD. In addition, studying a common disease in a case-control study of a 1:4 case-control ratio is one way to achieve higher statistical power. We also found that case-parent studies require more samples than case-control studies. Although we have not covered all plausible cases in study design, the estimates of sample size and statistical power computed under various assumptions in this study may be useful to determine the sample size in designing a population-based genetic association study.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2014

Objective: To evaluate the clinical manifestations and causative drugs of the outpatient adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported by community pharmacy. Methods: From April 2013 to September 2013, all outpatient ADRs reported by community pharmacy to Regional Pharmacovigilance Center of Korean Pharmaceutical Association were included. The causality of ADRs was assessed by the criteria of WHO-Uppsala Monitoring Centre. The clinical features and the offending drugs were analyzed using the WHO-Adverse Reaction Terminology and the classification of American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information, respectively. Results: 2,826 (97.0%) of the total 2,912 ADRs had causal relationship. The 1,923 patients with mean age of 55.1 years and female fraction of 66.5% were included in the ADRs. Gastrointestinal (33.6%), nervous system (14.9%), and skin (13.5%) symptoms were common in ADRs. Analgesic drugs (19.7%), gastrointestinal drugs (17.7%), and central nervous system drugs (11.0%) were prevalent offending drugs. The leading causative generic drug was the complex of acetaminophen and tramadol. Among 203 ADRs by the nonprescription drugs, the most common clinical features were skin (37.4%) and gastrointestinal (23.6%) symptoms and the most prevalent offending drugs were analgesic drugs (40.0%) and mucocutaneous system drugs (16.3%). The combination of acetaminophen and chlorzoxazone was the leading causative generic in nonprescription drugs. Conclusion: In this study, gastrointestinal symptom was the most common manifestation and analgesic drug was the most common causative drug in outpatient ADRs reported by community pharmacy.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.175-191
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The scientific evidence of a sodium-obesity association is limited by sodium intake assessments. Our specific aim is to synthesize the association between dietary sodium intake and obesity across the sodium intake assessments as evidenced by systematic reviews in adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A systematic search identified systematic reviews comparing the association of dietary sodium intakes with obesity-related outcomes such as body mass index (BMI), body weight, waist circumference, and risk of (abdominal) obesity. We searched PubMed on October 24, 2022. To assess the Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews (ROBIS), we employed the ROBIS tool. RESULTS: This review included 3 systematic reviews, consisting of 39 unique observational studies (35 cross-sectional studies and 4 longitudinal studies) and 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We found consistently positive associations between dietary sodium intake and obesity-related outcomes in cross-sectional studies. Studies that used 24-h urine collection indicated a greater BMI for those with higher sodium intake (mean difference = 2.27 kg/m²; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.59-2.51; P < 0.001; I² = 77%) compared to studies that used spot urine (mean difference = 1.34 kg/m²; 95% CI, 1.13-1.55; P < 0.001; I² = 95%) and dietary methods (mean difference = 0.85 kg/m²; 95% CI, 0.1-1.51; P < 0.05; I² = 95%). CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative synthesis of the systematic reviews has shown that cross-sectional associations between dietary sodium intake and obesity outcomes were substantially different across the sodium intake assessments. We need more high-quality prospective cohort studies and RCTs using 24-h urine collection to examine the causal effects of sodium intake on obesity.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

As the social and economic value of living modified organisms (LMOs) increase, so do the potential risks they pose to humans and the environment. Therefore, all laboratories using LMOs must establish an LMO laboratory in accordance with the standards required by regulations. Recently, in high school, LMO-related experimental programs have been developed for their educational effects. Also, in this case, it is necessary to comply with the regulation for LMO laboratories. However, high schools are still unfamiliar with the LMO laboratory, and it is difficult for teachers to manage an LMO laboratory because its implementation applies the same standards to general research institutes. In this study, we used causal chain analysis to discover the difficulties each teacher faced while setting up an LMO laboratory by examining three cases. The difficulties experienced by teachers are as follows: the first problem is "reluctance to set up an LMO laboratory," because of "administrative tasks for laboratory registration" and "difficulty in persuading colleagues." The second problem is a difficulty for teachers to operate LMO laboratory in blind spots, due to "inflexible installation and closure," "medical waste disposal," and "LMO education that does not fit the school context." Through this study, although the difficulty of running an LMO laboratory is caused by a lack of necessity and insufficient consideration of the school context, the more fundamental cause was a lack of collaborative planning between the educational field and the operating institutions. The teachers who participate in this research suggest that "using shared LAB" and "preparing opportunities for knowledge sharing" can be considered as strategies for operating the school's LMO laboratory. We feel that this study will provide a useful reference for teachers or schools planning to build an LMO laboratory.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.231-235
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• 2014

Elevated serum uric acid levels are associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, including gout, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. Several genome-wide association studies on uric acid levels have implicated the ATP-binding cassette, subfamily G, member 2 (ABCG2) gene as being possibly causal. We investigated an association between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2725220 in the ABCG2 gene and uric acid levels in the Korean population. A total of 991 subjects in Seoul City were used for a replication study with ABCG2 SNP rs2725220. The rs2725220 SNP in the ABCG2 gene was associated with mean uric acid levels (effect per allele 0.25 mg/dL, p < 0.0001). Subjects with the GC/CC genotype had a 1.78-fold (range, 1.22- to 2.62-fold) higher risk of having abnormal uric acid levels (${\geq}7.0mg/dL$) than subjects with the GG genotype. When analyzed by gender, the association with ABCG2 was stronger in men than in women. The association with ABCG2 was much stronger in male subjects with body mass index (BMI) ${\geq}26.4$ (odds ratio, 5.09; 95% confidence interval, 2.41 to 10.8) than in male subjects with BMI < 26.4. This study clearly demonstrates that genetic variations in ABCG2 influence uric acid levels in Korean adults.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.565-573
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• 2017

The ex-post evaluation of governmental crisis management is an important issues since it is necessary to prepare for the future disasters and becomes the cornerstone of our success as well. In this paper, we propose a data cube model with data mining techniques for the analysis of governmental crisis management strategies and ripple effects of foot-and-mouth(FMD) disease using the online news articles. Based on the construction of the data cube model, a multidimensional FMD analysis is performed using on line analytical processing operations (OLAP) to assess the temporal perspectives of the spread of the disease with varying levels of abstraction. Furthermore, the proposed analysis model provides useful information that generates the causal relationship between crisis response actions and its social ripple effects of FMD outbreaks by applying association rule mining. We confirmed the feasibility and applicability of the proposed FMD analysis model by implementing and applying an analysis system to FMD outbreaks from July 2010 to December 2011 in South Korea.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.789-802
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Habitual coffee consumption was inversely associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hyperglycemia in observational studies, but the causality of the association remains uncertain. This study tested a causal association of genetically predicted coffee consumption with T2D using the Mendelian randomization (MR) method. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We used five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as instrumental variables (IVs) associated with habitual coffee consumption in a previous genome-wide association study among Koreans. We analyzed the associations between IVs and T2D, fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2h-postprandial glucose (2h-PG), and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C) levels. The MR results were further evaluated by standard sensitivity tests for possible pleiotropism. RESULTS: MR analysis revealed that increased genetically predicted coffee consumption was associated with a reduced prevalence of T2D; ORs per one-unit increment of log-transformed cup per day of coffee consumption ranged from 0.75 (0.62-0.90) for the weighted mode-based method to 0.79 (0.62-0.99) for Wald ratio estimator. We also used the inverse-variance-weighted method, weighted median-based method, MR-Egger method, and MR-PRESSO method. Similarly, genetically predicted coffee consumption was inversely associated with FBG and 2h-PG levels but not with HbA1c. Sensitivity measures gave similar results without evidence of pleiotropy. CONCLUSIONS: A genetic predisposition to habitual coffee consumption was inversely associated with T2D prevalence and lower levels of FBG and 2h-PG profiles. Our study warrants further exploration.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.242-251
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• 2024

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between objective social isolation (SI) and unmet medical needs (UMN) in adults aged 19 and older. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted of 208 619 adults aged 19 and older, excluding missing data, using the 2019 Korea Community Health Survey. To analyze the association between objective SI and UMN, the chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were performed. Results: The prevalence of UMN was 1.14 times higher (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 1.23) among those with SI than among those without SI, and the OR for groups with 5 SI types was 2.77 (95% CI, 1.86 to 4.12) compared to those with no SI types. In addition, a stratified analysis by age group showed that the association between SI and UMN existed even in groups under 64 years old. However, among those aged 65 and older, SI was associated with an OR of 1.53 (95% CI, 1.37 to 1.71) for UMN compared to non-SI. As the number of SI types increased, the prevalence of UMN also increased, indicating a strong association between SI and UMN in older adults. Conclusions: This study found that individuals with SI experienced UMN due to fear and anxiety about interpersonal relationships. Therefore, based on the results of this cross-sectional study, it is necessary to investigate the causal relationship between SI and UMN through future longitudinal data.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.745-759
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• 2007

The study aims at investigating the causal relationships among leisure expenditures, leisure activity participation and leisure satisfaction of adult consumers. Data were collected from 415 adult consumers in Ulsan. ANOVA, multiple regression, and path analysis were used for the statistical analysis. The results indicated that marital status, household income and subject's attitude toward leisure had significant impacts on leisure expenditures, while their satisfaction with financial status, household income, leisure plan, their attitudes toward leisure and personal acquaintanceship significantly affected leisure activity participation. To leisure satisfaction, their satisfaction with financial status, the attitudes toward leisure, leisure expenditures and leisure activity participation were positively related, and leisure plan was negatively related. The results of path analysis showed that marital status, household income, the satisfaction with financial status, their attitude toward leisure, leisure plan, personal acquaintanceship, leisure expenditures, and leisure activity participation had direct or indirect effects on leisure satisfaction.