• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1277-1284
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• 2016

Background: Early detection is a critical part of reducing the burden of breast cancer and breast self-examination (BSE) has been found to be an especially important early detection strategy in low and middle income countries such as Malaysia. Although reports indicate that Malaysian women report an increase in BSE activity in recent years, additional research is needed to explore factors that may help to increase this behavior among Southeastern Asian women. Objective: This study is the first of its kind to explore how the predicting variables of self-efficacy, perceived barriers, and body image factors correlate with self-reports of past BSE, and intention to conduct future breast self-exams among female students in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: Through the analysis of data collected from a prior study of female students from nine Malaysian universities (n=842), this study found that self-efficacy, perceived barriers and specific body image sub-constructs (MBSRQ-Appearance Scales) were correlated with, and at times predicted, both the likelihood of past BSE and the intention to conduct breast self-exams in the future. Results: Self-efficacy (SE) positively predicted the likelihood of past self-exam behavior, and intention to conduct future breast self-exams. Perceived barriers (BR) negatively predicted past behavior and future intention of breast self-exams. The body image sub-constructs of appearance evaluation (AE) and overweight preoccupation (OWP) predicted the likelihood of past behavior but did not predict intention for future behavior. Appearance orientation (AO) had a somewhat opposite effect: AO did not correlate with or predict past behavior but did correlate with intention to conduct breast self-exams in the future. The body image sub-constructs of body area satisfaction (BASS) and self-classified weight (SCW) showed no correlation with the subjects' past breast self-exam behavior nor with their intention to conduct breast self-exams in the future. Conclusions: Findings from this study indicate that both self-efficacy and perceived barriers to BSE are significant psychosocial factors that influence BSE behavior. These results suggest that health promotion interventions that help enhance self-efficacy and reduce perceived barriers have the potential to increase the intentions of Malaysian women to perform breast self-exams, which can promote early detection of breast cancers. Future research should evaluate targeted communication interventions for addressing self-efficacy and perceived barriers to breast self-exams with at-risk Malaysian women. and further explore the relationship between BSE and body image.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7897-7907
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• 2014

Background: There is paucity of studies defining the prevalence of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors in Saudi Arabia despite the surging epidemic of obesity, change in dietary habits and sedentary lifestyle. Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence of NCDs risk factors among employees at King Faisal University in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia and to determine the possible correlates for clustering of NCDs risk factors among them. Materials and Methods: All employees were invited to participate; the World Health Organization STEPwise approach was used for data collection which consisted of a personal interview to collect socio-demographic characteristics, NCD history, tobacco use, vegetables and fruit consumption, and physical activity (PA), followed by anthropometric measurements namely weight, height and waist circumference and blood pressure measurements, subjects were finally subjected to biochemical tests with determination of fasting plasma glucose, serum triglycerides, cholesterol and high density lipoproteins. Results: Of the surveyed employees (n=691), daily current smokers accounted for 22.7%. 94.9%, 95.1% and 86% consumed < 5 servings per day of vegetables, fruits and both fruits and vegetables respectively, 73% were physically inactive, 64% were overweight or obese, 22.1% had hypertension, and 21.5% were diabetics. Elevated cholesterol levels were found in 36.6%, low high density lipoproteins in 36.8%, and elevated triglycerides in 36.1%. Only 3% had no NCD risk factors, and 57.6% had ${\geq}3$ factors. Multivariate logistic regression showed that gender (being male, adjusted odds ratio 'aOR'=1.51), aged ${\geq}50$ years (aOR=3.06), < college education (aOR=1.75), current smokers (aOR=2.37), being obese (aOR=6.96) and having a low PA level (aOR=4.59) were the significant positive predictors for clustering of NCD risk factors. Conclusions: Over fifty percent of the studied university's employees had multiple (${\geq}3$) NCD risk factors. Screening and health promotion initiatives should be launched at least targeting the modifiable factors to avert the excessive risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and several types of cancers.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.493-499
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the mediating effects of walking days on body mass index (BMI) according to the public transportation satisfaction of middle aged Koreans aged 40-59 in Korea using the 2015 community health survey data. The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for provision of the neighborhood environment and support programs for the walking activity and promotion of daily walking activities among middle aged people. Among 228,558 individuals, 85,344 middle aged people aged 40-59 years were selected as final subjects for analysis. The data were analyzed with the open source statistics program R 3.4.1 to determine whether the number of walking days had a mediating effect on body mass index (BMI) as an independent variable. The Sobel test revealed that the number of walking days increased by B=0.010(p=.010), and that when the satisfaction with public transportation increased, B=-0.052 (p=.021), the number of walking days decreased by B=-0.038 (p=.001). To increase the number of walking days and decrease the body mass index by increasing public transportation satisfaction by increasing the use of public transportation, public transportation fare adequacy and access convenience among the public transportation satisfaction mentioned above should be improved more than the current level. It is not easy for individuals that live in small cities to reach their destination by public transportation after leaving the metropolitan area; therefore, improvement of public transportation systems is necessary to improve health.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.135-144
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between oral health behavior and dietary habits and caries occurrence test and to provide basic data necessary for prevention of dental caries. The average salivary salivary fraction was 8.35ml and the non - amorphous salivary fraction was 2.41ml. The salivary buffering ability was 9.29 and the mean glucose retention time was 15.81 minutes. In the Streptococcus mutans colony count test, low risk group <105 was 80.5% and low risk group <105 was 84.4% in Lactobacillus colony count test. Correlation between caries test scores showed a positive correlation between salivary ratio and non - salivary ratio, saliva buffering ability, non - salivary fraction and glucose retention time, and Lactobacillus. Factors affecting the irritant saliva fraction were alcohol as a factor affecting the ratio of nuts, pork, and non - irritant saliva. In order to prevent dental caries, proper dietary control education should be combined with dental caries activity test and oral health education for proper eating habits.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.11-19
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to explore trends in research at home and abroad related to "Sport Facilities", and seek the direction of further research. 1,801 abstracts of papers including "Sport Facilities" were collected from the SCOPUS DB from 2016 to 2020. Topic modeling techniques based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) algorithm implemented in R language, TD-IDF techniques, and word cluds using Tagxedo was conducted to analyze the data. As a result, 8 topics were optimally determined, and "sports", "facilities", "health", "physical", "data", and "using" were derived as the main keywords for topics. This results indicated that studies on physical activity, health and using facilities regarding sports facilities at home and abroad have been actively carried out in recent years. This indicates that papers in SCOPUS DB are paying attention to the instrumental value of sport facilities, such as health promotion and improving the quality of life. Therefore, various studies that help participants who use sport facilities for a healthy life should be continuously conducted in the future.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2006

Among poly aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxin and PCBs are the most controversial environmental pollutants in our modern life. These pollutants are known as human carcinogens, and liver is the most sensitive target in animal cancer models. Specific aims of the study were focused on the mechanism of carcinogenesis in hepatocytes and the structure-activity relation among these diverse environmental chemicals. Because key mechanisms of dioxin-induced carcinogenesis in human epithelial cell model are the alteration of signal transduction pathway and PKC isoforms, the alteration of the signal transduction pathways and other factors associated with carcinogenesis were studied. Rat hepatocytes cultured under the sandwich protocols were exposed with the various concentration of dioxins and PCBs, and signal transduction pathway, protein kinase C isoforms, oxidant stress, and apoptotic nuclei were evaluated. Since it is important to understand the structure-activity relation among these chemicals to properly assess the carcinogenic potentials, the study analyzed the parameters associated with carcinogenic processes, based on their structural characteristics. In addition, signal transduction pathways and PKC isoforms involved in inhibition of UV-induced apoptosis were also analyzed to elaborate the tumor promotion mechanism of these chemicals. Induction of apoptosis by UV irradiation was optimal at $60\;J/m^2$ in primary hepatocyte in culture. Compared to non coplanar PCBs such as PCB 114 and PCB 153, coplanar PCBs such as PCB 77 and PCB126 showed a stronger inhibition of apoptosis induced by UV irradiation. Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was more stimulated by non-coplanar PCBs than coplanar PCBs with the most potent induction of ROS by chlorinated non-coplanar PCB. As compared to the level of induction by PCB126, non-coplanar PCB153 showed a higher increase of intracellular concentrations. Besides the alteration of intracellular calcium concentration, translocation of PKC from cytosolic fraction to membrane fraction was clearly observed upon the exposure of non-coplanar PCB. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that there is a potent structure-activity relationship among PCB congeners and the mechanism of PAH-induced carcinogenesis is structure-specific. The study suggested that more diverse pathways of PAH-induced carcinogenesis should be taken into account beyond the boundary of Ah receptor dogma to assess the health impact of PAH with more accuracy.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.17-25
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• 2021

The recent surge in consumption of traditional liquor related to health, the results of analyzing the chemical characteristics and antioxidant activity by creating Kwaha-ju and Baekhwha-chun, which use Godubab as a method of treating glutinous and normal grains, are as follows. Kwaha-ju is mainly made of glutinous rice, 5.21~12.52% alcohol content, 1.07~2.47g/L in reducing sugar content, 3.22~3.77% pH, Baikhwha-chun alcohol content was 3~5%, except for some experimental groups, and pH was low. As a result of the spectrum analysis of traditional liquor, 50% of the experimental group in Baikhwa-chun is located in the negative area of PC1 such as overload, and some amino acids such as lactic acid, isoleucine, and choline are the main ingredients of glucose, xylose, and maltose. Therefore, the chemical properties and antioxidant activity of Kwaha-ju and Baikhwa-chun, which show similar composition ratio of traditional liquor materials, and use them as basic data to identify and manufacture traditional liquor fermentation through mutual analysis.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.291-301
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of early childhood teachers on ecological art activities oriented to education for sustainable development. The research results are as follows. First, Early childhood teachers recognized the visual art of natural media, the pursuit of community values, and the participation and communication of social members as educational significance of ecological art activities. And difficulties in practicing ecological art were recognized as lack of educational environment, lack of ecological art teaching materials and specific examples, and teachers' lack of understanding of ecological art. Also, they recognized that ecological art activities foster core competencies in art experience area, such as nature-friendly communication skills, eco-friendly sensibility, and creative convergence skills. Second, regarding ecological art activities and sustainable development education, early childhood teachers considered the difficulties in practice as lack of awareness about sustainable development, lack of play meia and materials, lack of educational policies and support, and insufficient teacher training programs. Also, regarding the SDGs that can be practiced in ecological art activities, teachers were found to be highly aware of 'grow affordable and clean energy', 'improve clean water and sanitation', 'provide quality education' in the order. In the contents of education for sustainable development that can be practiced in ecological art activities, teachers are given the order of 'climate change response', 'clean energy', 'water and sanitation', 'quality education', 'health and well-being' and 'marine ecosystem'. was highly recognized. If an ecological art activity program is developed, the rate of responding that it will be used is high, so it is considered that the development of an ESD-oriented ecological art activity program is urgent.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.237-245
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• 2022

Background: The current study reports measurements of activity concentrations of radon (²²⁰Rn) and thoron (²²⁰Rn) in dwellings, followed by inhalation dose assessment of the public, and then by the development of regulation and the national radon action plan (NRAP) in Cameroon. Materials and Methods: Radon, thoron, and thoron progeny measurements were carried out from 2014 to 2017 using radon-thoron discriminative detectors (commercially RADUET) in 450 dwellings and thoron progeny monitors in 350 dwellings. From 2019 to 2020, radon track detectors (commercially RADTRAK) were deployed in 1,400 dwellings. It was found that activity concentrations of radon range in 1,850 houses from 10 to 2,620 Bq/㎥ with a geometric mean of 76 Bq/㎥. Results and Discussion: Activity concentrations of thoron range from 20 to 700 Bq/㎥ with a geometric mean of 107 Bq/㎥. Thoron equilibrium factor ranges from 0.01 to 0.6, with an arithmetic mean of 0.09 that is higher than the default value of 0.02 given by UNSCEAR. On average, 49%, 9%, and 2% of all surveyed houses have radon concentrations above 100, 200, and 300 Bq/㎥, respectively. The average contribution of thoron to the inhalation dose due to radon and thoron exposure is about 40%. Thus, thoron cannot be neglected in dose assessment to avoid biased results in radio-epidemiological studies. Only radon was considered in the drafted regulation and in the NRAP adopted in October 2020. Reference levels of 300 Bq/㎥ and 1,000 Bq/㎥ were recommended for dwellings and workplaces. Conclusion: Priority actions for the coming years include the following: radon risk mapping, promotion of a protection policy against radon in buildings, integration of the radon prevention and mitigation into the training of construction specialists, mitigation of dwellings and workplaces with high radon levels, increased public awareness of the health risks associated with radon, and development of programs on the scientific and technical aspects.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.592-602
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• 2001

This study was undertaken to investigate the antioxidative substance and activity of ethyl acetate extracted from Rumex crispus. Sample extracted follow in proper course of a solvent. Material refinement was carried out using silicagel column and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. Material sorting was carried by Gas Chromatography(GC/MS). 1,1-Diphenyl-2-Picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) free radical scavenging and enzyme activity were measured for antioxidative activity. as result of testing by DPPH free radical scavenging activity, Antioxidative activity was shown as the highest in the root, then leaf and stem in order. Ethyl acetate extraction of root part were 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) Rumex activty(6.1 ug/mL). Rumex nipponicus(9.8 ug/ml) and Rumex acetoceae(31.5 ug/mL) in leaf part. The highest antioxidative activity of sample refined through silicagel column chromatography of Rumex crispus was appealed Fraction 5(IC50;3.57 ug/mL) in root and Fraction 6(IC50;85.9 ug/mL) in leaf. Fraction 5 in roof & Fraction 6 in leaf were refined using Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The highest antioxidative activity were appeared Fraction 4 (IC50;3.57 ug/mL) and Fraction 4 (IC50;18.41 ug/mL)in leaf. As for main phenol compounds 2,6-Dichloro-4-nitropnenol and 2-Isopropyl-5-methyl Phenol were identified in root and leaf, While 4-Vinyl-2- methoxy-phenol and 2,3-Dihydro- benzofuran were identifica ted only in leaf. Enzyme activity was shown low both in peroxidase(PDD) Non-activate(IU/mg protein)and in Superoxide dismutase(SOD) non-activate(IU/mg protein). 2,6-Dichloro-4-nitrophenol, 2-Isopropyl-5-methyl phenol, 4-Vinyl-2-methoxy-phenol were obtained in this experiment and these compounds are phenolic compounds which have OH group in the structure. With the result of this study these phenolic compounds which are extracted from Rumex crispus have high antioxidative effect. This antioxidative effect of Rumex crispus can be applied for chromo-preventive and antioxidative supplements which can be used for anti-allegy, aging, anti-tumor, aging and other oxidative disease for health promotion.