• Health Policy and Management
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.1-20
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to assess healthy city level of the selected cities of Korea, Japan, and England using healthy city index. Based on WHO health city profile, this study proposed 5 index domains comprised with human biology, life style, shelthe & socioeconomic data, environmental & infrastructural data, and public health policy and services. We identified 6 cities (Changwon, Wonju, Seoul, Ichikawa, Fukuroi and Brighton). The human biology level of Korean cities was better than that of Ichikawa, Fukuroi, and Brighton city except Wonju. But the shelter & socioeconomic index level of the foreign cities was better than that of Korean cities. In the environmental & infrastructural idex, even though Changwon city showed the highest level among healthy cities in this study, other Korean cities had lower level compared to the foreign cities. In the public health policy and services index level, except Wonju, Korean cities had lower level than that of all foreign cities. In comparing a summative evaluation index of all proposed index, Ichikawa and Fukuroi had the highest level of city health but Seoul city had the lowest healthy level. Changwon and Wonju had higher level of city health compare to that of Brighton and Seoul. To promote the level of city health, those findings could contribute to healthy city planning process in terms of identifying any weakness and strength of the cities selected in this study.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.755-764
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death in Koreans, and eating habits, including diet quality, are among the etiologies of these diseases. Recently, various studies on regional health disparities have been conducted. However, there are limited studies on their relationship with nutritional factors. This study aimed to identify the magnitude of regional disparities in diet quality and prevalence of CVD in Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study included 17,646 participants aged ≥ 20 years from the 7^th (2013-2016) Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants were classified into four groups based on their residential areas: City 1, City 2, City 3, and non-city. Demographic characteristics, health-related factors, body mass index (BMI), metabolic syndrome index, diet quality, and CVD prevalence were evaluated. RESULTS: In terms of demographic characteristics, age (P < 0.001), marital status (P < 0.001), educational level (P < 0.001), and income (P < 0.001) were lower in the non-city category. Health-related factors such as monthly drinking rate (P < 0.01) and mental stress (P < 0.05) were the highest in City 1 and lowest in the non-city group. Conversely, the current smoking rate (P < 0.05), BMI (P < 0.05), and prevalence of metabolic syndrome (P < 0.001) were the highest in the non-city group (P < 0.05). The non-city group also had the highest prevalence of CVDs (35.6%). This group had the lowest diet quality index (68.36 ± 0.22, P < 0.01), caused by low intake of fruit and calcium, a lack of sodium moderation, and an overall imbalance in the macronutrient and fatty acid ratio. When the diet quality index was increased by 1, the odds ratio for the prevalence of CVDs was reduced by 0.991 (P < 0.001), but this was not the case in all regions. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides useful information and data in identifying and resolving the regional health disparities related to CVD prevalence and implementation of public health nutrition systems.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.934-942
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• 2010

Bentic macroinvertebrate and fish fauna were investigated from September 2008 to October 2009 in the middle reach of the Suyoung river in Busan. During the survey period benthic macroinvertebrates were collected total 35 species at the three sites (Hanmul-gyo, Dongcheon-gyo, Seokdae Jct.) of Suyoung river. At that sites, species diversity index was 1.9, 1.5, 1.6, dominance index was 0.75, 0.81, 0.86 and Korean Saprobic Index (KSI) was 1.8(B), 4.4(D), 4.4(D) on average, respectively. Dominant species was Caenis Kua, Chironomidae sp., at Hanmul-gyo site and Limnodrilus gotoi, Chironomidae sp., at Dongcheon-gyo and Seokdae Jct. sites. Fish fauna was also investigated at the two sites (Hanmul-gyo and Seokdae Jct.) of Suyoung river. Total caught fishes were 10 species 32 individuals in the first survey and 6 species 26 individuals in the second survey. Dominant species was Carassius auratus in the both surveys. Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) value was C grade at the Hanmul-gyo and D grade at the Seokdae Jct.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1-18
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• 2011

In this study, population census(2005 & 2008) from Statistics Korea and the statistical data of the number of hospital beds by healthcare facilities classification from Ministry of Health and Welfare were used. For analyzing distribution of hospital beds, hospital beds were classified as acute care beds, long-term care beds and all hospital beds, which is including acute and long-term care beds. Regional areas, which are city(si), county(goon) for the study and district(gu) were reclassified as metropolitan city, city(si) and county(goon). Because there were 165 regional areas in 2005 and 2008, 84 and 81 areas were classified as metropolitan city and/or city and county, respectively. Gini index were calculated for hospital beds from each year, and Lorenz curves were drawn. The following summary presents the findings of this study. Compared to the year 2005 and 2008, the Gini index was 0.24472, and hospital bed numbers increased slightly by 0.80% than in 2005. In case of acute care beds, the Gini index was 0.23797(0.13%), and there was no big difference; however, the Gini index for long-term care beds was 0.41091, and there was a 30.25% decrease, which shows improvement to reduce disparities. It might result from an increase in long-term care beds up to 476.2%. For geographical equality of hospital beds, the Gini index and Lorenz curve, which can be compared the degree of inequality in the distribution of hospital beds reasonably and possibly show statistical data, should be used. Through this study, the distribution policy of hospital beds should be established.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.259-267
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• 2015

Objectives: This study evaluated the regional and seasonal concentrations of ambient hazardous heavy metals in an industrial complex area in Daegu City. Methods: A total of 64 SPM (Suspended Particulate Matter) samples were collected in non-industrial and industrial areas during 2014 and were analyzed for hazardous heavy metals elements (As, Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb) with ICP after acid extraction. Results: SPM and hazardous heavy metals concentrations showed regional (industrial complex area>non-industrial complex area) and seasonal (spring, winter>fall, summer) variations. All of the hazardous heavy metals were influenced by anthropogenic sources. The pollution index of hazardous heavy metals was very low, showing roughly one-quarter of the level of the air quality guidelines of WHO. The correlation analysis among SPM and hazardous heavy metals indicated that components of non-industrial complex areas were more related to each other than those of industrial complex areas, and the correlation in the winter was higher than in other seasons. Conclusion: It is necessary to control air pollution sources and establish related policy because hazardous heavy metals from industrial areas can influence residential areas.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.119-128
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• 2012

This study was performed to investigate the freshness and nutritive components of eggs from Incheon area. The eggs of 64 brands collected from 7 hypermarkets and 6 brands collected from farms were examined to test the Haugh unit (HU), egg yolk index and specific gravity. HU and specific gravity were higher in farm eggs than in hypermarket eggs (P<0.05), and there was no difference in the egg yolk index. Among hypermarket eggs, HU and egg yolk index were higher in the graded eggs than in non-graded eggs (P<0.05), and specific gravity was not different between them. HU and egg yolk index of the eggs collected in March were higher than those in August (P<0.05). To monitor the bacterial contamination, total coliforms, total bacterial counts (TBC) and Salmonella enteritidis were examined. Salmonella enteritidis and total coliforms were not detected from all eggs. TBC of farm eggs were less than $10^1$ CFU/mL in all samples and TBC of hypermarket eggs were less than $10^1$ CFU/mL in 187 samples, $10^1{\sim}10^2$ CFU/mL in 3 samples and $10^3{\sim}10^4$ CFU/mL in 2 samples, respectively. Antimicrobial residues were not detected from all eggs tested. The vitamin E contents in the vitamin E enriched eggs from 6 brands hypermarket were 1.98~22.96 mg/yolk100 g ($14.04{\pm}8.81$ mg/yolk100g), and those of 5 brands among them were higher than the average of ordinary eggs. In one brand egg, vitamin E content was lower than the average of ordinary eggs. The vitamin E contents of ordinary eggs were 1.75~16.36 mg/yolk100 g (average $5.57{\pm}2.76$ mg/yolk100 g) and there were no price differences between vitamin E enriched eggs and ordinary eggs. In the contents of vitamin E, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and cholesterol, there were no significant differences according to the price. These results suggests that egg production, distribution, and management system should be improved for supplying fresh eggs to consumers at reasonable prices.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.119-128
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to develop Web database for healthy city that contains healthy city indicators for making city health plans, setting project priorities, monitoring projects, and evaluating healthy city projects, effectively. Using Delphi survey method for identifying indicator domains and indicators, we extracted nine domains with thirty-four healthy city indicators. Based on the appraisals of DB users about the contents of DB, a web database for healthy city Wonju was constructed. We developed a web database system for the purposes of sharing high quality health related data for managing and evaluating healthy city projects. The web database currently provides variety data in the web address, http://healthycity.wonju.go.kr/index.html. The web DB comprised with major healthy city indicators that are the most important indicators, healthy city indicator data that have a variety data set for encompassing all domain areas such as city infrastructure, health medicine, economies, and all other related areas and qualitative data that contains policy reports, research results, healthy city information and all other tips. A database of healthy city is very essential and important because it makes healthy city projects alive by managing and sharing healthy city related data effectively. But we need to fill out some blank cells in DB because there are currently unavailable data for some indicators. In conclusion, we expect the web DB contributes information sharing of healthy city project teams and improving healthy city project quality at Wonju city in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.296-305
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• 2021

This work investigated heavy metal pollution in surface sediments of rivers in Busan, Korea. Surface sediments were analyzed in order to conduct contamination assessment of organic matter, nutrients, and heavy metal concentrations. Contamination assessment of heavy metals was conducted using geoaccumulation index (I_geo), pollution load index (PLI), and potential ecological risk index (RI). Accumulation of organic matter and nutrients were affected by water discharged from sewage treatment plant. The concentrations of organic matter and nutrients were found to be greater in points which were close to the sewage treatment plant more than points furthest. The concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cd, Hg, As, Cr, and Ni were found to be greater in surface sediment more than in the background. The mean concentrations of heavy metals were in the order of Zn (323.5 mg/kg) > Cu (70.5 mg/kg) > Pb (39.8 mg/kg) > Cr (33.4 mg/kg) > Ni (13.5 mg/kg) > As (9.4 mg/kg) > Cd (0.84 mg/kg) > Hg (0.092 mg/kg). The result of geoaccumulation indices indicated that Hg > Cr > Cu > Ni > Zn > As > Pb > Cd were found in order of severe contamination by heavy metals. From PLI and RI analysis, it was evident that the Suyeonggang 2 was the most contaminated river.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.1164-1171
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• 1999

In this study, we investigated the effects of obesity index on the risk factors of chronic diseases in obese children. The subjects were male and female children aged 9 to 12. The average obesity index was 147.7$\pm$13.8% in boys and 147.6$\pm$16.5% in girls. The average percentages of body fat was significantly higher in boys(33.9$\pm$5.7%) than in girls(30.7$\pm$4.4%). It was found that 26% of subjects had abnormal serum GOT and GPT values. Percentages of subjects at risk of cardiovascular disease(CVD) based on corresponding criteria of TG, T chol, HDL chol, and LDL chol were 28.6%, 28.6%, 45.5% and 42.7%, respectively. The risk of CVD was increased with the degree of obesity, which was not significant. The AI(atherogenic index) was higher in boys(4.6$\pm$2.3) than in girls(3.6$\pm$1.2). The serum T chol and LDL chol levels of subjects whose mother are in thirties were significantly higher than those of subjects whose mother are in fourties. The T chol levels of subjects who had mother with job were significantly higher compaired to those of subjects who had housewife mother. The results indicated the urgent need of nu tritional management for the obese children to prevent further devel opment of childhood obesity and hyperlipidemia. Based upon this study, devising method and media for the mother nutritional education as well as for the children nutritional education is required for better growth and health promotion of primary school children.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.331-348
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• 2001

The purpose of this study was to obtain basic data for nutrition education of the children in a health promoting elementry school. The data was collected by a questionaire of food habits, and anthropometric measurement and biochemical test in comparison with obesity index. The study subjects were boys and girls aged 10 to 12 years who participated in the “99 Children Nutrition Camp”. The average obesity index was 1.7$\pm$21.6% in boys and -11.4$\pm$12.6% in girls. After school, major leisure items were significnatly different by gender but both boys and girls played mainly computer game. In concern for body image and eating habits, girls had more concern and girls had attempted weight control more than boys. 80.2% of subjects had prejudice for special food, especially, all subjects in the severely underweight group had prejudice. But this tendency was significantly decreased with the increasing obesity index. The lowest preferency was for vegetables(64.4%). The tendency of prejudice of subjects was higher whose mother are thirties than those of subjects whose mother are in fourties. The serum GOT and GPT values were significantly higher in overweight and obese group than the other groups. The only serum T-chol was significantly higher in boys than in girls. The number of risk factors related to coronary heart disease(CHD) based on coresponding criteria of TG, T-chol, HDL-chol, and LDL-chol was not increased significantly with the degree of obesity index. The results indicated the need of nutritional management for the children. At a point of view, to educate children early who are able to change food habits and life-styles means to help heathy growth and to deliver up heathy adults. Active nutrition education for both children and mothers will be recommended with joint participation of nutritionists in community public health center and elementary school.