• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.207-214
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• 2007

Chronic oxidative stress produced by exposure to environmental chemicals or pathophysiological states can lead animals to aging, carcinogenesis and degenerative diseases. Indirect antioxidative mechanisms, in which natural or synthetic agents are used to coordinately induce the expression of cellular antioxidant capacity, have been shown to protect cells and organisms from oxidative damages. Electrophile and free radical detoxifying enzymes, which were originally identified as the products of genes induced by cancer chemopreventive agents, are members of this protective system. The NFE2 family transcription factor Nrf2 was found to govern expression of these detoxifying enzymes, and screening for Nrf2-regulated genes has identified many gene categories involved in maintaining cellular redox potential and protection from oxidative damage as Nrf2 downstream genes. Further, studies using Nrf2-deficient mice revealed that these mutant mice showed more susceptible phenotypes towards exposure to environmental chemicals/carcinogens and in oxidative stress related disease models. With the finding that cancer chemopreventive efficacy of indirect antioxidants (enzyme inducers) is lost in the absence of Nrf2, a central role of Nrf2 in the antioxidative protective system has been firmly established. Promising results from cancer prevention clinical trials using enzyme inducers propose that pharmacological interventions that modulate Nrf2 can be an effective strategy to protect tissues from oxidative damage.

• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the process of hospital visits according to the characteristics of the elderly visiting to emergency medical centers. The subject of study was 571 patients over the age of 65 who agreed to participate in the study of emergency medical centers from May 1 to 31, 2010. The frequency, percentage and ${\chi}^2$ test of collected data were conducted with SPSS WIN 12.0. As a result, the frequency of the aged with or without urgency revisiting emergency rooms due to chronic degenerative diseases was high. In addition, there were many cases that the aged living only with a spouse or remaining single. It was obscure to classify them into a urgent or non-emergent group which made it longer time to visit a hospital. It may be necessary that the care for urgent elderly patients considering the characteristics of the family environment functions to care the elderly were weakened.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2009

By the rural area health care special law in 1980, Primary health care posts were established in rural areas as fundamental elements of the national health system. Nurses have been deployed to the posts after taking an education course mandated by the special law. However, health care posts have confronted environmental changes over the past 30 years such as an aging and decreasing rural population and advanced traffic systems, which make it necessary to reshape their form and role. Therefore, some guidelines are suggested for future role enlargement of health care posts by analyzing their current management and duties. The guidelines are as follows: 1) enlarging the portion of prevention and management of chronic degenerative diseases, 2) development and practice of diverse health promotion programs, 3) extension of primary health care for the increasing older population, 4) development of health programs for married immigrants, 5) practice of timely maternal child health programs, 6) development of adequate health care posts for low-income people in rapidly urbanizing rural areas and in poor areas in big cities, and 7) revision of laws and institutional arrangements for the role enlargement of health care posts to match social changes and customer needs.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.141-146
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• 1999

This study was designed to investigate the effects of silkworm powder (SWP) on oxygen radicals and their scavenger enzymes in serum of rats. Sprague Dawley (SD) male rats (160${\pm}$10g) were fed experimental diets (SWP-200and SWP-400 groups)added 200 and 400mg/kg BW/day for 6 weeks. Triglyceride (TG)levels were significantly inhibited (10% and 25%) in SWP-200 and SWP-400 groups, but there were no singificant differences in total, LDL-and HDL-cholesterol levels in both SWP-200 and SWP-400 groups. Hydroxyl radical ($.$OH) formations resulted in a marked decreases (about 20%) in both SWP-200 and SWP-400 groups compared with control group. Superoxide radical (O2.-)and hydrogen peroxide formations resulted in a significant decreases in SWP-400 group compared with control group. Lipid peroxide (LPO)and oxidized protein(>C=O group) productions resulted in a significant decreases (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activiteies were remarkably increased (10∼25% and 40∼50%)in SWP-200 and SWP-400groups. Glutathione peroxidase(GSHPX) activities were significantly increased (about 10%) in SWP-400 groups compared with control group. These results suggest that anti-aging effect of silkworm powder (SWP) may play a pivotal role in attenuation a various chronic degenerative diseases age-related changes.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.27 no.2 s.46
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• pp.175-185
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• 1994

In order to anticipate disease pattern and health problems of Koreans in the 1st part of 21st century (by the year 2020), transition of population characteristics, mortality and morbidity data during the last 30 years Koreans have experienced were reviewed. On the actual basis of epidemiologic transition process that has undergone during last 30 years since 1960 along with socioeconomic development and successful implementation of selective national health policies (family planning, medical insurance and etc.), following changes can be expected in the 21st century in Korea, under the assumption that the current rate of progress is maintained. The population of South Korea alone will be doubled the population of 1960 by the year 2013 : aged Population older than 65 years will be increased from 3.3% in 1960 to 11.4% in 2020 with increased average age of the population from 23.6 year in 1970 to 39.2 year in 2020; urban population from 28% in 1960 to 83% in 2005. GNP/capita has increased tremendously from U.S. $120 in 1970 to $6,749 in 1992, and the government estimated it would be 519,350 in 2010 and $29,460 in 2020. Growth and developmental indices of children, educational achievement and social status of women also showed a remarkable improvement and anticipated to make futher progress. Leading causes of mortality and morbidity have shown a striking change during the last 30 years, from infectious diseases to chronic degenerative diseases and man-made injuries. Occurrence of communicable diseases may become minimal although viral hepatitis, venereal diseases Including AIDS, and well adapted herpes virus infections will maintain their endemic level. Newly evolving infectious agents, however, should be carefully monitored because of rapidly changing environments and human behaviours. Tuberculosis may increase up to the epidemic level when AIDS prevails. Ischemic heart diseases may increase steadily with increasing occurrence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus whereas cerebrovascular diseases may be decreased slowly. Musculaskeletal diseases which contribute a lot to the disability of aged people may be a major health problems due to increased aged population. Mental diseases, particularly that caused by alcohol and drug abuse, and senile dementia may become a prominent health problem. On the other hand injuries caused by traffic and industrial accidents that have shown most striking increase till now may be decreased considerably by intensive intervention. The health policies in the 21st century will be oriented to the health promotion for good quality life rather than life-savings.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.115-126
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• 2005

Purpose: The aims of this study were to describe general characteristics and needs of home health care, and to find the differences between home health care needers and non-needers. Method: In this study, 642 subjects participated who lived in Muan, Jollanam-do. Data were collected in August 2001 using a self-reported questionnaire. The questionnaire was a revised and simplified form of the Organization of Community Health System Program at the Seoul National University. Collected data were analyzed through Kruskal-Wallis test. t-test. and Chi-squire for cross-sectional analysis. Result: The average age of the subjects was 52.6 years and 33.3% of them aged over 65 years. Twenty six percent of them had chronic degenerative diseases. The percentages of hypertension patients and D.M. patients were 6.4% and 2.5%, respectively. The number of family members was 2.95 on the average, 2.19 in cases of families with the elderly and 3.33 in cases of families without the elderly. The rate of disability of the elderly was 10.5%. Marital status (p=.000), the number of family members (p=.000), education (p=.000), job (p=.000) and health insurance (p=.027) were significantly different between home care needers and non-needers. Home care needers had less living expenses (p=.001), more frequent hospital admissions (p=.004), higher chronic disease rate (p=.000) and more frequent visits to public health center (p=.027) than non-needers. Home care needers who wanted free service were twice as many as non-needers. Conclusion: Home care need was very high in rural areas and the needers had worse characteristics (low educational level. low income, no job and no family). Therefore, it is necessary to develop cheaper and more accessible services for home care needers in rural areas.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.772-781
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• 2012

In order to supply the reference data to define the quality of life of the rural agricultural elderly population in the simplified steps, the data were collected by personal visits to 232 elder people over 65 (89 males and 143 females) in Sunchang area. The survey was conducted with written questionnaires concerning the quality of life, health-related habits, basic physical functions and cognitive behavior. The prevalence of the degenerative diseases were assessed by anthropometric and biochemical determinations. The averaged overall quality of life represented by EQ-5D index with Nam's model was calculated to be $0.865{\pm}0.1509$, and the percentages of people below the average were 38% (low QOL group) and 62% (high QOL group) were found to be the above the average. Generally, the subjects with male gender, higher educational background, higher self-rated health status, higher social activities were belonged to the high QOL group. The high QOL group had higher scores of daily living activities KADL and IADL, and lower risks in cognitive functions K-MMSE and depression scale GDS. There was no statistically significant correlation between biochemical indexes of blood and cognitive function and EQ-5D scores when the results were adjusted for age and gender. There were significant differences in nutritional assessment determined by the MNA between the high and low QOL groups. The low QOL group showed inferior nutritional status. The rapidly measurable factors of the quality of life of rural elderly were turned out to be physical activity scores and the simplified nutritional status measurement.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.71-87
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• 2011

Objective : The present study is aimed at providing basic data to help oriental medical hospitals devise efficient operational plans by analyzing the medical expenses of in-patients in an oriental medical hospital and the factors affecting such expenses. Methods : PASW 18.0 was used to analyze the medical insurance program data of 929 patients who were discharged from a university oriental medical hospital(with 105 sick-beds) during the period from January 1 to December 31, 2010 after treatment under the coverage of health insurance and medical aid. Results : 1) Of all the patients hospitalized, 63.3% were females, their mean age was 52.73 years old, and 87.7% was covered by the health insurance program. The biggest number or 31.2% of the patients were treated by the department of acupuncture, 31.5% suffered mainly from the diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissues, and the average length of stay at the hospital was 19.49 days. 2) There were statistically significant differences in total medical expenses by age, clinical department in charge, principal diagnosis, and number of days hospitalized while daily average medical expenses differed depending on age, type of medical security, clinical department, principal diagnosis, and number of days staying at the hospital. 3) Total medical expenses were found significantly influenced by age, type of medical security, clinical department, principal diagnosis, and number of days hospitalized(explanatory power : 95.9%), whereas type of medical security, clinical department and principal diagnosis turned out to exercise significant influence on the daily average medical expenses(explanatory power : 26.9%). Conclusion : Oriental medical hospitals are suggested to make efforts to ensure geographical and economical accessibility for their main clients, the elderly and middle-aged, as well as to improve satisfaction of the clients with the medical service provided. They are also encouraged to work out systems to specialize in treatment with a focus on chronic degenerative and adult diseases. In addition, they are expected to try to enhance people's awareness of oriental medicine in an attempt to diversify the brackets of clients and increase frequency of their utilization.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.642-654
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• 1998

In order to examine the television(TV)'s role of nutrition education and the nutritional interests and problems of the general public in the 1990s, a comtents analysis was done on two nutrition-related TV programs, a regular round-table talk show and a newscast. Broadcast from January 1993 to July 1997 and from January 1997 to July f1997, respectively. Nutrition-related information was classified into five categories. Food and nutrient(39.5%) and diseases(34.7%) were most frequently telecasted, which were followed by food habits and general health(13.0%), traditional dishes and cookery(8.2%), and food sanitation and safety(4.6%). In becoming the latest year, some trends in the issues displayed increased telecasts about disease, dish and cookery, and food safety, while the telecasting of food and nutrient decreased. The contents about the relations hip between life-style(including diet) and chronic degenerative diseases and the importance of balanced diets and regualr meals for health promotion became particularly emphasized. Overall, two TV programs provided the public with positive, practical, and sometimes practive nutrition education messages for improving eating life and health care. They also raised the public's awareness of the nutritional importance of Korean staple foods such as rice, kimchi, seaweed, and soysauce, and they sometimes satified the audience's curiosities by introducing Korean food culture or foods of Buddhist priests. When the accident of food toxicity occurred concrete information about how to manage it was rapidly given to the public. In addition they played a role in food balance policy by telecasting over-product foods such as garlic and onion. However some negative points appeared. Telecasts on milk and its products and diabetes mellitus showed the least frequently. These shows should be broadcast more often considering the present nutrition and health problems in Korea. Some functions or effects of foods were mostly explained by only physicians of Chinese medicine. Sometimes misinformed, unclear, overemphasized, biased, or unfair information was televised to the public. If these problems could be solved through the sincere cooperation between nutrition faculty and TV produces, become televison could a more complete and effective medium for educating the public about nutrition.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2008

This study analyzes the apoptosis of HeLa cells to see if we can use the Artemisia capillaris Thunberg for the prevention of chronic degenerative diseases. We used the HeLa cells to see what effects the A. capillaris Thunberg had on apoptosis of the cancer cells. We checked the cell activity, cell morphological change, DNA fragmentation, and DNA content after administering 0, 100, 500, 1000, and $2000{\mu}g/ml$ methanol, ethyl acetate, n-butanol extract of the A. capillaris Thunberg. As for the cell viability, the increase of concentration of methanol and ethyl acetate decreased the survival rate of the cell, but the phenomenon was much weakened in n-butanol extract and was not observed in aqueous extract. The higher the density of the methanol, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous extract was, the lower the survival rate of the HeLa cell was. These extracts obstructed the cell cohesion and caused the blebbing of he cell membrane and fragmentation of the nucleus, both of which are symptoms of apoptosis. Laddering-pattern DNA fragmentation was observed in the groups that were treated with the $1000{\mu}g/ml$ and $2000{\mu}g/ml$ of methanol extract. The DNA content of the cells apoptosis measured by fluorescent-activated cell sorter (FACS) increased as the density of the methanol, ethyl acetate and butanol extract increased. The result of the study shows that A. capillaris Thunberg fosters the apoptosis of HeLa cells, which suggests that the A. capillaris Thunberg has a great potential value as food additives, medicinal supplements for patients with chronic diseases, and preventive measures against cancer.