• Food Science and Industry
• /
• v.53 no.4
• /
• pp.382-389
• /
• 2020

"Eating cosmetic" market comes to prominence worldwide. Inner Beauty has established itself as the top trend nowadays and is leading the health functional food market. Another noticeable trend other than beauty-from-within is that products using "plant-based" natural botanical raw material are increasing. Based on these trends above, we have developed a plant extract named Agatri® for skin health using Agastache rugosa. By ingesting Agatri®, it is expected that the formation of skin wrinkles is suppressed, and skin elasticity is increased by suppressing the decrease in collagen content caused by ultraviolet rays. At the same time, it is possible to prevent skin aging by improving skin hydration and trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL). The studies show that it significantly increased production of hyaluronic acid and collagen, and decreased production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). And Agatri® has been approved as an "Individually recognized functional ingredient for skin health by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korea in 2020. As a result, Agatri® is a good solution for those who are in need of skin protection from exposure to UV and aging.

• 학교보건
• /
• s.20
• /
• pp.54-79
• /
• 1997

• Proceedings of the Culinary Society of Korean Academy Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.89-97
• /
• 2005

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.128-135
• /
• 2020

Objective: The objectives of this study are to report the number of humidifier disinfectant (HD) associated health problems, including HD associated lung injury (HDLI), by year. This data was analyzed by the type of HD and HD brand. Methods: A total of 530 patients registered with the national program on HD through its third round were distributed based on the year when they developed their first health problem including HDLI (N=221). The distribution of health problems at diagnosis was clinically evaluated in order to examine the association between their lung injury and the use of HD. Results: The number of HD associated victims and HDLI patients was found to rise sharply from 2008 to 2011, with a peak in 2011. This trend was found not only for HD brands containing polyhexamethylene guanidine phosphate (PHMG), but also chloromethylisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (CMIT/MIT). The number of patients who responded as developing health problems in the specific year was 35 for 2008, 51 for 2009, 108 for 2010 and 182 for 2011. Other types of HD brands and HD chemicals did not follow the trend of abrupt increase in HD associated patients since 2008. Conclusion: This study found the number of HD associated victims and HDLI patients who used HD brands containing PHMG sharply increased starting in 2008. A significant change in the process of manufacturing PHMG can be suspected with the abrupt rise in HD associated patients in specific years.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.107-114
• /
• 2016

Background: Over the last few decades, because hospitals in South Korea also have undergone dramatic changes, Korean hospitals traditionally have provided specialized health care services in the health care market. Inner Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (IHI) measures hospital caseloads based on patient proportions, independent of patient volumes. However, IHI that rely solely on patient proportions might be problematic for larger hospitals that provide a high number of diagnosis categories, as the patient proportions in each category are naturally relatively smaller in such hospitals. Therefore, recently developed novel measure, category medical specialization (CMS) is based on patient volumes as well as patient proportions. Methods: We examine the distribution of hospital specialization score by hospital size and investigate association between each hospital specialization and length of stay per case and hospital cost per case using Korean National Health Insurance Service-cohort sample data from 2002 to 2013. Results: Our results show that IHI show a decreasing trend according to the number of beds and hospital type but CMS show an increasing trend according to the number of beds and hospital type. Further, inpatients admitted at hospitals with higher IHI and CMS had a shorter length of stay per case (IHI: B=-0.104, p<0.0001; CMS: B=-0.044, p=0.001) and inpatients admitted at hospitals with higher IHI and CMS had a shorter hospital cost per case (IHI: B=-0.110, p=0.002; CMS: B=-0.118, p=<0.0001). Conclusion: This study may help hospital policymakers and hospital administrators to understand the effects of hospital specialization strategy on hospital performance under recent changes in the Korean health care environment.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.399-410
• /
• 2012

Due to development of modern medical services and economics, people raised expectation and demand about medical services from previous disease treatment to comprehensive health care covering prevention and health care. Responses of each medical facility to these social needs and the evolution of concept of medicine rapidly occur. The health examination centers are being operated with the purpose of health examination and this trend is reflected on several aspects such as the size of the facilities, function and configuration of space in health examination centers. Thus, health examination centers consisting of various space systems appear, but this trend and interpretations are lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to draw trends of system through analysis of types and its evolved space systematic analysis and establish it. Analysis targets were classified into small, medium and large groups by sizes based on number of space and a total of 12 health examination centers in four for each category were selected. As research methods, functional relationship of space was examined through analysis of type in which segmentalized type tools were applied in local units. The flow diagram was established based on direction turning point and was classified into sub-flow and main-flow in local units and the systems between local units were derived. Finally, the results of this study can be summarized as the following three results. 1) The space connection system of health examination center showed four systems such as circulation, independence, continuation, and network. 2) Local type indicators and global type indicators which were evolved more from limitation of type analysis tools in existing research were derived so that more systematic analysis could be made. 3) Network system is distributed approach system and space for each function is formed around public space.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.77-81
• /
• 2019

Suicide is a major public health issue that causes over 800,000 deaths each year globally. Korea ranks high in suicide rates, in which around 24.3 per 100,000 individuals are reported to have died by intentional self-harm in 2017 according to Statistics Korea. The aim of this study was to examine the current status and trend of suicide ideation and attempt using data from the following five sources: Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES, '07-13, '15-17), Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS, '08-09, '13, '17), Korean Wealth Panel Study (KOWEPS, '12-17), Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, '10-13), and Statistics Korea (1983-2017). Suicide ideation and attempts were also further examined based on equalized household income levels. Data published by Statistics Korea were used to show the updated suicide rate and number of deaths by intentional self-harm. The rate of suicide ideation at the recent year was 4.73% (KNHANES, '17), 6.96% (KCHS, '17), 1.63% (KOWEPS, '17), and 5.39% (KHP, '13). That of suicide attempts as recent year was 0.71% (KNHANES, '17), 0.32% (KCHS, '17), and 0.09% (KOWEPS, '17). Annual percentage change of suicidal ideation was -15.4% (KNHANES, '07-17), -2.5% (KCHS, '08-17), -8.6% (KOWEPS, '12-17), and -10.9% (KHP, '10-13). Annual percentage change of suicide attempts was -4.0% (KNHANES, '07-17), -4.4% (KCHS, '08-17), and -14.9% (KOWEPS, '12-17). Individuals with lower income levels were more likely to experience suicide ideation and attempts. Considering that Korea still shows a high suicide rate despite the continuously decreasing trend of suicide ideation and attempt, continuous observation and appropriate policy implementation regarding suicide related problems are necessary.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.237-243
• /
• 2022

Unmet healthcare is an important indicator to measure accessibility of healthcare services. To examine the latest status of unmet healthcare needs in South Korea, four different data which is composed of nationally representative sample of South Korean population were used; the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2007-2020), the Community Health Survey (CHS, 2008-2020), the Korea Health Panel Survey (KHP, 2011-2018), and the Korean Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS, 2006-2020). The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs were 6.4% (KNHANES), 5.4% (CHS), and 12.2% (KHP). Annual percentage change (APC) which identifies trend for the follow-up period was -9.9%, -9.1%, and -5.5%, respectively. The proportion of individuals reporting unmet healthcare needs due to cost were 1.0% (KNHANES), 0.4% (CHS), 2.2% (KHP), and 0.4% (KOWEPS). The APC was -11.3%, -17.0%, -12.2%, and -21.2%, respectively. Overall, the low-income and the elderly population reported a higher rate of unmet health care needs. Although the overall experience rate of unmet medical care due to cost decreased over the past decade, the disparity between the lowest and highest income groups still remained in 2020. Disparity between income levels and age groups is a challenge to address in healthcare system, and these results suggest the need for adequate health coverage for the low-income and the elderly populations.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2021

Objectives : From January 2020, when the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Korea, the use of health information using the Internet is expected to increase. It is expected that there will be a significant change in the general public's interest in Korean herbal medicines for health care. Therefore, in this study, we tried to confirm the change in the search trend of Korean herbal medicines after the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods : Using the "Naver DataLab (http://datalab.naver.com)" service of a Korean portal site Naver, search volume was investigated with 606 Korean herbal medicines as keywords. The search period was from January 2020, right after the onset of COVID-19, to June 2021. The search results were sorted by the peak search volume and the total search volume. Results : 'Cheonsangap (천산갑, 穿山甲, Manitis Squama)' was the most searched Korean herbal medicine in the peak search volume and total search volume with least bias. Conclusions : The problem of supply and demand of Korean herbal medicines of high public interest was identified. Broadcasting and media exposure were the factors that had a big impact on the search volume for Korean herbal medicines. As it was confirmed that the search volume for Korean herbal medicines increased rapidly due to media exposure, it is necessary to provide correct information about Korean herbal medicines, improve public awareness, and manage stable supply and demand based on continuous search trend monitoring.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.393-405
• /
• 2018

Objective: This study examines the types of hazardous factors in the working environment and the time-trend for their exposure levels over 10 years (2007 to 2016). Study Design and Method: The types of hazardous factors and exposure levels were drawn from the 19 measurement reports on the working environment over 10 years at a shock absorber manufacturing facility. Risk assessment of the types of factors and time-trend of exposure levels were evaluated using the factors and exposure levels. Results: A total of 34 hazardous factors were evaluated. The types were noise, 15 organic compounds, seven kinds of acid sand alkalis, eight kinds of heavy metals, and three other compounds. Special management materials used were nickel, hexavalent chrome, and sulfuric acid. Human carcinogens (1A) used were trichloroethylene, nickel, and sulfuric acid. There were six types of substances belonging to the IARC's 2B (body carcinogens) classification or higher, including, methyl isobutyl ketone, ethyl benzene, and trichloroethylene. No detection was found for 627 out of the 2065 total measurements in 19 exposure survey reports, representing 30.4%. Organic solvents, acid and alkali products, and heavy metals showed continuous low exposure concentrations. Noise, welding fumes, and the evaluation of mixed solvents show a gradual decrease in geometric mean and maximum over the time-trend of 10 years. Conclusions: In the case of a shock absorber manufacturing facility, the hazardous factors of noise and the evaluation of mixed solvents still indicate high concentrations exceeding the exposure limits and necessitate reduction studies. These two factors and welding fumes showed a continuous decrease in their ten-year tendency. Organic compounds, acids/alkalis, and heavy metals were managed smoothly in a work environment of continuous low concentrations.