• Title/Summary/Keyword: Health concern

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Profiles of Enterotoxin Genes and Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Strains Isolated from Livestock and Companion Animals

  • Lee, Gi Yong;Lee, Haeng Ho;Um, Hong Sik;Yang, Soo-Jin
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.34 no.6
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    • pp.576-582
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    • 2019
  • Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is an opportunistic pathogen in dogs and is recognized as a zoonotic pathogen causing public health concern. Although canine-associated S. pseudintermedius has mainly been recognized for its antimicrobial resistance and ability to cause skin infections in dogs, information on antimicrobial resistance profiles and enterotoxigenicity of S. pseudintermedius in livestock is very limited. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of 18 different staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) genes and toxic shock syndrome toxin gene (tst-1) in S. pseudintermedius strains isolated from dogs, pigs, and beef cattle. Moreover, antimicrobial resistance profiles of the strains were determined along with the presence of mecA and SCCmec types. Except for one bovine isolate, all S. pseudintermedius isolates from dogs and pigs were resistant to multiple drugs (≥ 4 different drugs). Four out of six canine isolates were methicillin resistant and carried SCCmec type V. In addition, 11 different SE genes (seb, sec, see, seg, sei, sej, sel, seo, sep, seq, and seu) and tst-1 were identified in S. pseudintermedius isolates from dogs, pigs, and beef cattle. Most S. pseudintermedius isolates (83%) harbored multiple SE genes, and sel (42%) and sep (42%) were most frequently detected in the isolates. Our results suggested that S. pseudintermedius isolates from livestock and companion animals may serve as a reservoir for SE genes and antimicrobial resistance.

Oral Status of Middle-aged Orthodontic Patients and Their Treatment Modality; Comparison with Young-aged Adult Patients (지상보수교육강좌 1 - 중장년 성인교정환자의 구강상태 및 치료양태에 관한 연구; 젊은 성인교정환자와의 비교분석)

  • Lee, Hyeon-Jung;Kim, Jin-Young;Cho, Jin-Hyoung;Hwang, Hyeon-Shik
    • The Journal of the Korean dental association
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    • v.48 no.5
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    • pp.391-406
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    • 2010
  • Orthodontic treatment for middle-aged patients has become more commonplace with various reasons including improved socioeconomic status. Understanding of oral status and treatment modalities of middle-aged patients is mandatory for accurate diagnosis and proper treatment planning. This study investigated 100 consecutive patients aged 40s and 50s and 100 aged 20s who had been examined and diagnosed at the Department of Orthodontics, Chonnam National University Dental Hospital. The results were obtained as follows; 1. Gender distribution showed female outnumbered male patients in young-aged adult patients, but middle-aged patients showed similar male and female distribution. 2. The major concern seeking orthodontic treatment was esthetics not only in young-aged but also in middle-aged adult patients, and a number of middle-aged patients were concerned about oral health as well. 3. Considerable number of middle-aged patients were referred by other dental specialties while young-aged adult patients were more self-motivated for orthodontic treatment. 4. Middle-aged adult patients had more missing teeth and periodontal disease than young-aged adults. 5. The most frequently-observed problem was dental spacing in middle-aged patients while dental crowding in young-aged adult patients. Middle-aged patients showed higher prevalence of deep overbite and overjet while most of young-aged adults presented opposite direction of problem in overbite and overjet. 6. Limited orthodontic treatment was required rather than comprehensive treatment in middle-aged patients, and the most common tooth moving area was anterior part of dentition in case of limited treatment. Need of interdisciplinary therapy with other dental specialties was more common in middle-aged patients. 7. Intervention of specific technique such as invisible TP, passive bracketing, passive wire bonding, and lingual orthodontics was more required in middle-aged patients. Considering that middle-aged patients have different characteristics than young-aged adults, the results of the present study suggest that different treatment modalities are required in middle-aged orthodontic patients in order to manage them properly and efficiently.

The Genetic Variations of SQSTM1 Gene are Associated with Bone Density in the Korean Population (한국인에서 골밀도와 SQSTM1 유전자 변이의 연관성)

  • Jin, Hyun-Seok;Eom, Yong-Bin
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.20 no.12
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    • pp.1758-1763
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    • 2010
  • Osteoporosis is a complex systemic skeletal disease and a major public health concern worldwide. It is a heritable disorder characterized mainly by low bone density and/or low trauma osteoporotic fractures, both of which have strong genetic determination. However, the specific genetic variants determining risk for low bone density are still largely unknown. Here, we performed association analysis to elucidate the possible relationship between genetic polymorphisms in the SQSTM1 gene and low bone density. By examining a total of 7225 (men: 3622, women: 3603) subjects from the Korean population in the Korean Association REsource (KARE) study, we discovered that SQSTM1 gene polymorphisms were associated with bone density. The results of the BD-RT (bone density estimated by T-score at distal radius) showed that three SNPs (rs513235, rs3734007, and rs11249661) within the SQSTM1 gene were significantly associated with bone density. The results of the BD-TT (bone density estimated by T-score at midshaft tibia) showed that four SNPs (rs513235, rs3734007, rs2241349, and rs11249661) were significantly associated with bone density. The three SNPs (rs513235, rs3734007, and rs11249661) had common significance in both BD-RT and BD-TT. In summary, we found statistically significant SNPs in the SQSTM1 gene that are associated with bone density traits. Therefore, our findings suggest SQSTM1 gene could be related to pathogenesis of osteoporosis.

Contamination and Risk Analysis of Heavy Metals in Korean Foods (국내식품의 중금속 오염과 위해성 분셕)

  • 이서래;이미경
    • Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.324-332
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    • 2001
  • Foods constitute a large portion of heavy metal exposure toward general population and attract a deep concern with respect to assuring human health. This study summarized published data in Korea on the content, and dietary intake of heavy metals and assessed their risk potential in comparison with foreign data. An analysis for the yearly fluctuation of metal contents including arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead by flood group (marine fishes, coastal shellfishes, freshwater fishes, cereal grains) exhibited a decreasing trend from the 1970s to the 1990s. When compared with domestic standards of heavy metals, their mean contents were below the limit and their maximum values seldom exceeded the limit. The data on the dietary intake of heavy metals by Koreans showed a decreasing trend from the 1980s to the 1990s. The average intakes offs and Hg were 6∼8% and those of Cd and Pb were 50∼80% of PTWI(provisional tolerable weekly intake), all of which were below the tolerance. As the extreme intakes of these metals may exceed the PTWI, a careful assessment for them may be necessary. Dietary intakes of Cd, Hg and Pb by Koreans lie in the mid-level among countries cited in the GEMS/Food monitoring data. As fishery foods are suspecious of contamination with Hg, Cd and As, and floods in general are with Pb, it is necessary to establish legal limits for these metals and monitor any progress of their contamination. Furthermore, overall assessment of exposure to heavy metals from all sources including floods, air, drinking water and occupation should be made in order to confirm the dietary risk factors and to assure the safety of food resources.

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Critical Evaluation of and Suggestions for the VOCs Measurement Method Established as the Korean Indoor Air Quality Standard Method (실내공기질 공정시험법 중 VOCs 측정방법의 문제점 고찰 및 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Ye, Jin;Jung, Dong-Hee;Baek, Sung-Ok
    • Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.30 no.6
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    • pp.586-599
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    • 2014
  • During the last two decades, indoor air quality and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been of concern in Korean society due to their nature of potential health impacts. In order to investigate the pollution levels of VOCss in indoor environments, establishment of a solid test method for monitoring the airborne VOCss is essential. In Korea, a method based on adsorbent sampling and GC analysis coupled with thermal desorption was proclaimed as the Korea Standard Method for Indoor Air Quality Test. This study was carried out to examine some inherent problems of the VOCs measurement method. The VOCs method does not describe in detail preparing the standard samples. The standard samples may be prepared by impregnation of either liquid standard solutions or a mixture of standard gases. In this study, we investigated the optimal temperature condition for transferring the liquid standards onto a standard adsorbent tube. As a result, keeping the impregnation temperature at $250^{\circ}C$ will be recommended in regard of the boiling points of multiple target analytes and the thermal stability of the adsorbent. We also demonstrated some problems associated with handling of a syringe used for transferring the standard solutions onto the adsorbent tubes, and a best way to get rid of the syringe problems was suggested. Finally, a number of field works were conducted to evaluate the performance of adsorbent sampling methods. Comparison of different adsorbent tubes, i.e. tube packed with single sorbent (Tenax) and double sorbents (Tenax with Carbotrap), revealed that 30 to 40% differences between the two groups, implying that sampling efficiency is depending on the volatility and the strength of adsorbents. However, duplicate precisions for VOCs sampling with a same type of adsorbent and at same flow rates appeared to be satisfactory to be all within 20%, which is a quality control guideline. Distributed volume precisions were also found to be within a guideline value, 25%, although the precision was in general inferior to the duplicate precision. The Korea indoor VOCs test method should be more refined and improved in many aspects, particularly procedure and instrumentation for preparing the standard samples and specification of quality control assessment.

Characteristics of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Elderly People (노인 폐결핵의 특징)

  • Shin, Ji-Young;Jung, Sun-Young;Lee, Jeong-Eun;Park, Ji-Won;Yoo, Su-Jin;Park, Hee-Sun;Kim, Ju-Ock;Kim, Sun-Young
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.69 no.3
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    • pp.163-170
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    • 2010
  • Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis remains a health concern in Korea despite major progress in the development of new strategies for diagnosing and treating tuberculosis. In particular, the diagnosis of newly developed pulmonary tuberculosis is on the rise in elderly persons. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical, radiographic characteristics, and treatment outcomes of pulmonary tuberculosis in the elderly. Methods: The medical records of 113 young (<65 years old) and 112 elderly (${\geq}65$ years old) pulmonary tuberculosis patients diagnosed at Chungnam National University hospital between January 2007 and December 2008 were reviewed. Results: There was no difference in the prevalence of typical symptoms between the younger and the elderly group. Dypsnea was the only symptom that occurred more frequently in the elderly group (16.8% vs 5.5%, p=0.008). On radiological study, pneumonic infiltration type was more common in the elderly group (28.6% vs 16.8%, p=0.035). Sputum Acid fast bacilli smear positivity rate was similar between the 2 groups. Elderly patients with anti-tuberculosis medication had more frequent adverse drug reactions; however, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the number of patients required to stop medication due to an adverse drug reaction. There were more patients lost to follow-up in the elderly group (22/112, 19.6% vs 11/113, 9.7%, p=0.036). Conclusion: The majority of elderly patients did not complete the treatment, resulting in a poorer outcome. Therefore, we need to make an effort to support the continued screening of elderly patients by making this economically feasible.

Wearable Technology with Future Fabrics (웨어러블 테크놀로지와 미래 소재)

  • Park, Hye-Sook;Lee, Jae-Jung
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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    • v.30 no.12 s.159
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    • pp.1800-1809
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    • 2006
  • The wearable technology takes the concept of clothing over its limits -integrating software, communication devices, and sensors into the garments to enable them to 'think' for the wearer. A dress is no longer just a dress, but a dress as well as a wearable computer interface. This wearable computer network transports the data power and control signals within the wearer's personal space. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the wearable technology from a commercial perspective. On this theme I made a survey and interviewed 20 men and 20 women in London to find out if many people are familiar with the concept of the wearable technology. The main results of this study include: Firstly, according to the survey, people are not familiar with the concept of the wearable technology, and further people thought negatively about the wearable computer rather than positively they worried about hish prices, inappropriate technology and side effects. Secondly, people are especially interested in items related to health and security, so in this area there are huge potential opportunities for the wearable technology, Finally, wearable technology needs to be a simplified set of interactive devices, which are in a user friendly format for marketability because convenience was one of the biggest concern for consumers. Therefore, development of the wearable computer should be promoted not only through computer engineering but also through the connection with human lift.

A study on the correlation between the dental caries and dietary habits and snack intake of pre-school children (미취학 아동의 치아우식증과 식습관 및 간식섭취와의 관계)

  • Kang, Hyun-Sook;Jeong, Jeong-Hwa
    • Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.345-359
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    • 2010
  • Objectives : The purpose of this study was to correlation between the index of dental caries in primary teeth and the habits of diet and snack which are expected to influence on the index. The subjects of this study were 165 parents of the children who visited a pediatric dental hospital located in Gyeong-gi do from Jun. 15th to Sep. 26th, 2009, and the self-report questionnaire survey was performed. Methods : A questionnaire used in a previous study was revised and completed for this study and it consisted of 15 items on general characteristic, nine items on dietary habit, and five items on snack intake habit. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS program and findings are as follows Results : 1. The index of dental caries in primary teeth by ages was that children of four years old has 4~5 with 27.5%, children of five years old has 2~3 and 4~5 with 33.3% and children of six years old has 1 and 8~9 with 25.6%, showing a statistically significant(${\chi}^2$=37.72, p<.01). 2. The frequency of brushing teeth was found to have statistically significant negative correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=61.20, p<.001). 3. The frequency of taking snack was found to have statistically significant positive correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=51.42, p<.001). 4. The desirability of dietary habit was found to have statistically significant negative correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=36.51, p<.001). 5. The frequency of taking biscuit was found to have statistically significant positive correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=67.74, p<.001). 6. The frequency of taking bread was found to have statistically significant positive correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=29.63, p<.01). 7. The frequency of taking caramel and candy was found to have statistically significant positive correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=38.85, p<.001). 8. The frequency of taking soft drinks was found to have statistically significant positive correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=52.92, p<.001). 9. The frequency of taking ice-creams was found to have statistically significant positive correlation with the number of primary teeth with dental caries (${\chi}^2$=75.07, p<.001). Conclusions : Those findings show that the children with undesirable dietary habit and higher frequency of taking snack have higher index of dental caries in primary teeth, therefore, it is considered that the regular brushing teeth and establishment of desirable dietary habit are very important for keeping health oral cavity. It is recommended that the continuous concern and repeated learning are needed in house and group of rearing infants so that the children take foods of fruits which have function of self-purification than the food of carbohydrates which has high adhesion and level of sweetness.

Study on the Real Condition and Understanding of the Early Childhood Educator About the Personality Education (인성교육에 대한 영유아교사의 인식 및 실태 연구)

  • Kim, Yong-Sook;Yoo, Ji-Eun
    • The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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    • v.17 no.8
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    • pp.263-273
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    • 2017
  • Although this research puts the emphasis on the importance of the personality education, and lacks the understanding of the early childhood educator about the personality education, and essentially the content analysis of the direction of the operation of the personality education hasn't been performed. Therefore through the research study once again we collected the opinion of the early childhood educator about the personality education. As the object of the investigation, we questioned 208 teachers who work in the Daycare Center in the S city, and applied the SPSS 18.0 program. The result is as the following. First, there was a lot of concern in the understanding of the early childhood educator about the personality education, and that it was in need. The reason for emphasizing the personality education appears to be the "Individual Egoism", and the "Parental Value" as the factor of influence, and "Whole People Human Development and Health Promotion" as a factor of helping, and "Courage" as the inner information of the information of the personality education, and "Manner" as the outer information. Secondly, more than the majority was carrying out the personality education in the real state of the early childhood educator on the personality education and it happens to be that the instructional material is the "Material related to the personality education", "Conversation" as the teaching learning method, "Once per week" as number of times, "Within 30 minutes" as lead time, "Teacher in Charge" as the host, and "Uncooperative parents" as the difficulty. Lastly the accurate time of demanding the early childhood educator about the personality education happens to be from "Infancy", and the teaching method is "Teaching by making a connection with the family", and that "Leading by example of the teacher" is the factor of consideration.

Rainfed Areas and Animal Agriculture in Asia: The Wanting Agenda for Transforming Productivity Growth and Rural Poverty

  • Devendra, C.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.122-142
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    • 2012
  • The importance of rainfed areas and animal agriculture on productivity enhancement and food security for economic rural growth in Asia is discussed in the context of opportunities for increasing potential contribution from them. The extent of the rainfed area of about 223 million hectares and the biophysical attributes are described. They have been variously referred to inter alia as fragile, marginal, dry, waste, problem, threatened, range, less favoured, low potential lands, forests and woodlands, including lowlands and uplands. Of these, the terms less favoured areas (LFAs), and low or high potential are quite widely used. The LFAs are characterised by four key features: i) very variable biophysical elements, notably poor soil quality, rainfall, length of growing season and dry periods, ii) extreme poverty and very poor people who continuously face hunger and vulnerability, iii) presence of large populations of ruminant animals (buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep), and iv) have had minimum development attention and an unfinished wanting agenda. The rainfed humid/sub-humid areas found mainly in South East Asia (99 million ha), and arid/semi-arid tropical systems found in South Asia (116 million ha) are priority agro-ecological zones (AEZs). In India for example, the ecosystem occupies 68% of the total cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock populations. The area also produces 4% of food requirements. The biophysical and typical household characteristics, agricultural diversification, patterns of mixed farming and cropping systems are also described. Concerning animals, their role and economic importance, relevance of ownership, nomadic movements, and more importantly their potential value as the entry point for the development of LFAs is discussed. Two examples of demonstrated success concern increasing buffalo production for milk and their expanded use in semi-arid AEZs in India, and the integration of cattle and goats with oil palm in Malaysia. Revitalised development of the LFAs is justified by the demand for agricultural land to meet human needs e.g. housing, recreation and industrialisation; use of arable land to expand crop production to ceiling levels; increasing and very high animal densities; increased urbanisation and pressure on the use of available land; growing environmental concerns of very intensive crop production e.g. acidification and salinisation with rice cultivation; and human health risks due to expanding peri-urban poultry and pig production. The strategies for promoting productivity growth will require concerted R and D on improved use of LFAs, application of systems perspectives for technology delivery, increased investments, a policy framework and improved farmer-researcher-extension linkages. These challenges and their resolution in rainfed areas can forcefully impact on increased productivity, improved livelihoods and human welfare, and environmental sustainability in the future.