• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.276-283
• /
• 2008

To provide the research strategy for protection of children's health from hazardous chemical, we reviewed the hazardous chemicals can be exposed through maternity, children's life style and living environment. Recently, diseases related with children's living condition were focused as asthma, atopy, childhood developmental disability, congenital malformations and obesity. Children can be exposed to hazardous chemicals through an ambient air, water, soil, food, toys and other factors such as floor dust. Also children's health was deeply related with a wrong life style and neglectful caring by a lack of knowledge and information of harmful ones at parents and child care center's nursers. According to the previous study, the chemical risk factor of children's health were identified as inorganic arsenic, bisphenol A, 2,4-D, dichlorvos, methylmercury, PCBs, pesticide, phthalates, PFOA/PFOS, vinyl chloride, et al. Domestic studies for identification of causality between children exposure to chemicals and resulted hazardous effects were not implemented. The confirmation of chemical risk factors through simultaneously performing toxicological analysis, human effect study, environmental/human monitoring, and risk assessment is needed for good risk management. And also, inter-agency collaboration and sharing information can support confirming scientific evidence and good decision making.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.19-25
• /
• 2008

We analyze the HACCP Prerequisites of National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS), Korea Food and Drug Administration(KFDA), and US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and recommend contents and ranges to be complemented and used for the preparation of guidelines. We used the HACCP Notice of the Processing Livestock Act, the HACCP Application Manual for Livestock Processing Plants, the HACCP Notice of the Food Sanitation Act, US GPO 9 CFR and 21 CFR, US FSIS Directive 11,000.1, and HACCP-based Inspection reference guide of Consumer Services, North Carolina Department of Agriculture. The Prerequisites of NVRQS and KFDA are composed of 66 and 84 items respectively, without detailed guidelines for their application. This may decisively affect the application in the field and the evaluation activities. Water supplies, washing and disinfection monitoring tools, and examining and correcting plan are required to be improved. If the standards of compliance of each Prerequisite item as well as performance guidelines are given, the application and evaluation will be performed more effectively. The evaluation items should be associated with Prerequisite operations such as non-compliance complement, self-evaluation, and record keeping. Hazards found during official inspection should be promptly controlled not to contaminate the work places and processing items. As the HACCP is expected to spread from farms to tables, the standardized Prerequisite program among the official governments should be prepared.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.41-55
• /
• 2010

The aims of this study were to develop the suitable "system software" in chemical ranking and scoring (CRS) for the food hazardous chemicals associated with environmental emission and to suggest the priority lists of food contamination by environmental-origined pollutants. Study materials were selected with reference to the priority pollutants list for environment and food management from domestic and foreign research and the number of study materials is 103 pollutants (18 heavy metals, 10 PBTs, 10 EDs, and 65 organic compounds). The Food-CRS-Korea system consisted of the environmental fate model via multimedia, transfer environment to food model, and health risk assessment by contaminated food intake. We have established that health risks of excess cancer risks, hazard quotients (HQs) by chronic toxicity and HQs by reproductive toxicity convert to score, respectively. The creditable scoring system was designed to consider uncertainty of quantitative risk assessment based on VOI (Value-Of-Information). The predictability of the Food-CRS-Korea model was evaluated by comparing the presumable values and the measured ones of the environmental media and foodstuffs. The priority lists based on emissions with background-level-correction are 15 pollutants such as arsenic, cadmium, and etc. The priority lists based on environmental monitoring date are 17 pollutants including DEHP, TCDD, and so on. Consequently, we suggested the priority lists of 13 pollutants by considering the several emission and exposure scenarios. According to the Food-CRS-Korea system, arsenics, cadmium, chromes, DEHP, leads, and nickels have high health risk rates and reliable grades.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.385-393
• /
• 2000

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC/MS) procedure for the determination of amineptine (dihydro-10, 11-dibenzo[a, d] cycloheptenyl-5-amino-7-heptanoic acid) and its main metabolites in human urine was described. Amineptine has been known to be extensively metabolized by the ${\beta}$-oxidation of the heptanoic side chain with formation of pentanoic side chain metabolite ($C_5$-metabolite), and lactamizarion by internal dehydration of (${\beta}$-oxidized metabolite (${\delta}$-lactam). The detection of these compounds was based on acid hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction and trimethylsilylated derivatization of the carboxylic acid group. For the determination of amineptine and its metabolites in biological fluids, selected ions at the m/ 192, molecular ion and one of the characteristic ions were monitored by GC/MS. On the excretion study of amineptine in human urine, 70-90% of amineptine, ${\delta}$-lactam, and $C_5$-metabolite were found to be excreted within 4 hours and their excretion completed within 20 hours.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.2547-2556
• /
• 2012

Objectives: Smoking among university students represents a formidable and global public health challenge. We assessed the associations between socio-demographic, health and wellbeing variables as independent variables, with daily smoking, attempts to quit smoking, and agreement with smoking ban as dependent variables. Methods: A sample of 3258 undergraduate students from eleven faculties at Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt, completed a general health questionnaire. Results: Overall daily or occasional smoking in last three months prior to the survey was about 9% (8% occasional and 1% daily smokers), and smoking was generally more prevalent among males (male=17%, female=0.6%, P < 0.001). After adjustment for confounders, not having normal BMI and having a mother who completed at least bachelor's degree education was positively associated with daily smoking, and conversely, no history of illicit drug use was a protective factor. About 76% of smokers had attempted to quit smoking within the last 12 months prior to the survey. Although a large proportion of students agreed/strongly agreed with the banning of smoking at university altogether (87%), such agreement was less likely among smokers. Conclusion: There is need for implementation of non-smoking policies on university premises, as well as regular up-to-date information on, and the periodic/yearly monitoring of tobacco use by university students employing standardised data collection instruments and reference periods. In addition, it would be valuable to develop campus-based educational/ awareness campaigns designed to counteract tobacco advertisement directed towards young people in Middle East countries. Otherwise, the danger could be that the current relatively low smoking prevalence among university students may escalate in the future.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.60 no.5
• /
• pp.151-157
• /
• 2017

Purpose: Macrolide resistance rate of Mycoplasma pneumoniae has rapidly increased in children. Studies on the clinical features between macrolide susceptible-M. pneumoniae (MSMP) and macrolide resistant-M. pneumoniae (MRMP) are lacking. The aim of this study was to identify the macrolide resistance rate of M. pneumoniae in Korean children with M. pneumoniae penupmonia in 2015 and compare manifestations between MSMP and MRMP. Methods: Among 122 children (0-18 years old) diagnosed with M. pneumoniae pneumonia, 95 children with the results of macrolide sensitivity test were included in this study. Clinical manifestations were acquired using retrospective medical records. Results: The macrolide resistant rate of M. pneumoniae was 87.2% (82 of 94 patients) in children with M. pneumoniae pneumonia. One patient showed a mixed type of wild type and A2063G mutation in 23S rRNA of M. pneumoniae. There were no significant differences in clinical, laboratory, and radiologic findings between the MSMP and MRMP groups at the first visit to our hospital. The time interval between initiation of macrolide and defervescence was significantly longer in the MRMP group ($4.9{\pm}3.3$ vs. $2.8{\pm}3.1days$, P=0.039). Conclusion: The macrolide resistant rate of M. pneumoniae is very high in children with M. pneumoniae pneumonia in Korea. The clinical manifestations of MRMP are similar to MSMP except for the defervescence period after administration of macrolide. Continuous monitoring of the occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility of MRMP is required to control its spread and establish strategies for treating second-line antibiotic resistant M. pneumoniae infection.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.168-179
• /
• 2000

Background : Economic evaluation of clinical pharmacokinetic consultation services for theophylline, which is being widely used recently, is considered in patients for both proper care and cost efficiency. Mathods : This is a cost-benefit analysis of clinical pharmacokinetic consultation service for theophylline. Trial groups were chosen from 2 general hospitals which was performing clinical pharmacokinetic consultation- services in 1998. Control group was chosen from another one general hospital. The analysis includes 25 patients (sample patients) for trial group and 17 patients for control group. Results : On the basis of incremental analysis, it is estimated that the total (direct and indirect) annual costs of the clinical, pharmacokinetic services of theophylline for the patients in the trial group was about \65 million, whereas total annual benefits from those services was estimated to be about \551 million. The net benefits incurred to the sample patients, thus calculated, was about \485 million per year. In the analysis, we assumed that indirect benefits accruing to those services were non-existent. If that amount was included, the estimated net benefits would be much greater than the calculated one. Conclusion : We found that clinical pharmacokinetic consultation services for theophylline could produce more marginal benefits than marginal costs by those services from the social point of view. More controlled prospective trial in the future would be helpful for affirmation of the results of this study.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.447-456
• /
• 2014

Until now, a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) that has an ability to slow or arrest Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression has not been developed, and all clinical trials involving AD patients enrolled by clinical assessment alone also have not been successful. Given the growing consensus that the DMT is likely to require treatment initiation well before full-blown dementia emerges, the early detection of AD will provide opportunities to successfully identify new drugs that slow the course of AD pathology. Recent advances in early detection of AD and prediction of progression of the disease using various biomarkers, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) $A{\beta}_{1-42}$, total tau and p-tau181 levels, and imagining biomarkers, are now being actively integrated into the designs of AD clinical trials. In terms of therapeutic mechanisms, monitoring these markers may be helpful for go/no-go decision making as well as surrogate markers for disease severity or progression. Furthermore, CSF biomarkers can be used as a tool to enrich patients for clinical trials with prospect of increasing statistical power and reducing costs in drug development. However, the standardization of technical aspects of analysis of these biomarkers is an essential prerequisite to the clinical uses. To accomplish this, global efforts are underway to standardize CSF biomarker measurements and a quality control program supported by the Alzheimer's Association. The current review summarizes therapeutic targets of developing drugs in AD pathophysiology, and provides the most recent advances in the clinical utility of CSF biomarkers and the integration of CSF biomarkers in current clinical trials.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.53 no.5
• /
• pp.259-264
• /
• 2009

The present study was to investigate the effect of naringin, a flavonoid, on the pharmacokinetics of losartan in rats. Pharmacokinetic parameters of losartan in rats were determined after an oral administration of losartan (9 mg/kg) in the presence or absence of naringin (0.5, 2.5 and 10 mg/kg). The pharmacokinetic parameters of losartan were significantly altered by the presence of naringin compared with the control group (given losartan alone). Presence of naringin significantly (p<0.05, 2.5 mg/kg; p<0.01, 10 mg/kg) increased the area under the plasma concentration?time curve (AUC) of losartan by 43.7~63.0% and peak plasma concentration ($C_{max}$) of losartan by 31.7~45.5%. Consequently, the absolute bioavailability (AB) of losartan in the presence of naringin was 43.8~62.9%, which was enhanced significantly (p<0.05, p<0.01) compared to that in the oral control group (22.4%). The relative bioavailability (R.B.) of losartan increased by 1.44- to 1.63-fold in the presence of naringin. However, there was no significant change in the peak plasma concentration ($T_{max}$) and terminal half-life ($t_{1/2}$) of losartan in the presence of naringin. In conclusion, the presence of naringin significantly enhanced the oral bioavailability of losartan, implying that presence of naringin might be mainly effective to inhibit the cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A-mediated metabolism, resulting in reducing gastrointestinal and hepatic first-pass metabilism and Pglycoprotein (P-gp)-mediated efflux of losartan in small intestine. Concurrent use of naringin or naringin-containing dietary supplement with losartan should require close monitoring for potential drug interactions.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.54 no.4
• /
• pp.252-257
• /
• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of resveratrol on the pharmacokinetics of nifedipine in rats. The pharmacokinetic parameters of nifedipine were measured after the oral administration of nifenipine (6 mg/kg) in the presence or absence of resveratrol (0.5, 2.5 and 10 mg/kg, respectively). The effect of resveratrol on the P-glycoprotein (Pgp), CYP 3A4 activity was also evaluated. Resveratrol inhibited CYP3A4 enzyme activity in a concentration-dependent manner with 50% inhibition concentration ($IC_{50}$) of 0.94 ${\mu}M$. In addition, resveratrol significantly enhanced the cellular accumulation of rhodamine 123 in MCF-7/ADR cells overexpressing P-gp. Compared to the control groups, the presence of 2.5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg of resveratrol significantly (p<0.05, p<0.01) increased the area under the plasma concentrationtime curve (AUC) of nifedipine by 49~75%, and the peak concentration ($C_{max}$) of nifedipine by 48~66%. The absolute bioavailability (AB%) of nifedipine was significantly (p<0.05) increased by 22.9-34.8% compared to the control (19.8%). The terminal half-life ($T_{1/2}$) of nifedipine was significantly (p<0.05) increased compared to the control. While there was no significant change in the time to reach the peak plasma concentration ($T_{max}$) of nifedipine in the presence of resveratrol. It might be suggested that resveratrol altered disposition of nifedipine by inhibition of both the CYP3A and P-glycoprotein efflux pump in the small intestine of rats. In conclusion, the presence of resveratrol significantly enhanced the oral bioavailability of nifedipine, suggesting that concurrent use of resveratrol or resveratrol-containing dietary supplenment with nifedipine should require close monitoring for potential drug interation.