• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.830-837
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• 2007

Background and purpose : Stroke is one of the most deadly diseases and a leading cause of disability. Lipids confer an increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In spite of many studies on the relationship between stroke and lipids, their relationship is not clear. This study was undertaken to determine whether lipids were associated with stroke. Method : We compared the components of blood lipids between stroke patients group (n=217,Cases), non-stroke control group (n=160, Controls) and healthy control group without hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, or hyperlipidemia (n=140, Normals). These data were statically analyzed by general linear models and binary logistic regression analysis to get each adjusted odds ratio. Result : The results were as follows. The blood levels of total cholesterol (T-Chol), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-Chol) were significantly higher in patients of ischemic stroke, while the blood levels of T-Chol and LDL-Chol were significantly lower, and the blood levels of TG significantly higher in patients of hemorrhagic stroke. The blood level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-Chol) was significantly lower in all cases. Conclusion : These results suggest that high TG and low HDL-Chol may be risk factors of hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke, high T-Chol and LDL-Chol may be risk factors of ischemic stroke, and low T-Chol and LDL-Chol may be risk factors of hemorrhagic stroke in Koreans.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.218-227
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• 1998

This study was performed to investigate the effects of dietary protein and calcium levels on iron and zinc balance in eight healthy Korean young women. The 20-day metabolic study consisted of a 2-day adaptation period followed by three 6-day experimental periods. Three experimental diets were the low protein-low calcium(LProLCa ; protein 44g, Ca 422mg), the high protein-low calcium(HProLCa ; 'protein 85g, Ca 365mg) and the high protein-high calcium (HProHCa ; protein 84g, Ca 727mg). Apparent absorption and balance of iron and zinc were significantly higher when subjects were fed high protein-low calcium diet than low protein-low calcium diet. The elevation of dietary calcium significantly depressed the apparent absorption of iron and zinc. The levels of serum iron and zinc were likely to be increased with a high protein diet, but the differences were not significant. There was a strong correlation(r=O.99) between the iron intake and serum iron concentration. Serum zinc concentration was not correlated with hair zinc. Study results revealed that the levels of dietary protein and calcium influence iron and zinc balance in Koreans. This study suggests that dietary recommendations for trace minerals, such as iron and zinc, should be carefully examined. In addition, there is a need to evaluate the bioavailability of milk or beverage products enriched with calcium and iron.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.117-122
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure the active force of extraocular muscles on mono- and binocular movements for 62 healthy koreans (male: 29, female: 33). Methods: The force of adduction, abduction, elevation and depression, of right and left eye on monocular movement were tested with horizontal moving distance based on corneal limbus and the force of superior oblique muscle and inferior oblique muscle on binocular movement were measured with vertical moving distance between corneal limbus. The distances were obtained by high resolution digital image processing. Results: At monocular movements of tested subjects. the power of abduction, adduction, elevation and depression of right and left eye were (male) 9.35 nun, 9.75 mm, (female) 9.02 mm, 9.52 mm, (male) 10.23 mm, 10.16 mm, (female) 10.17 mm, 10.07 mm, (male) 7.01 mm,6.91 mm, (female) 6.98 mm, 6.64 mm, (male) 7.52 mm, 6.82 mm, (female) 7.52 mm, 6.67 mm, respectively. The active force of binocular movements were 54.8% hyperergasia and 45.1% hypergasia/67.7% hyperergasia and 32.2% hypergasia with inferior oblique muscle, 64.5% hyperergasia and 35.5% hypergasia/58.1% hyperergasia and 41.9% hypergasia with superior oblique muscle, respectively. Conclusions: The force of horizontal movement was higher than vertical movement. The value of adduction was higher than abduction on horizontal movement, and the value of depression was higher than elevation on vertical movement. In the both of inferior and superior oblique muscle, the ratio of hyperergasia was higher than that of hypergasia.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 1997

The palpebral fissures of 1529 healthy Koreans ranging in age from one month to 92 years were examined. The length and width of palpebral fissure, distance of folded upper lid(FUL), inter outer canthal distance(IOCD) and appearance of double upper lid (DUL) were studied. The most commonly occuring length of the normal palpebral fissure was 30 mm(13.7%) followed by 28 mm(9.8%) and 27 mm(8.8%), and almost four fifths(79.1%) of the palpebral fissures measured less than 30mm in length. Of the ages 11~60 examined over 70 % averaged palpebral fissures measuring bet ween 27 mm and 32 mm. The commonest width of 1443 normal palpebral fissure was 8 mm(28.2%) followed by 9mm(16.3%) and 7mm(15.0%), and average widths according to 5 major age groups were 5~8mm, 6~10mm, 7~11mm, 7~11mm and 5~9mm, and there is some tendency to a decrease with age. The average of FUL without frontalis action was 8~11 mm. The distances between exocanthions, IOCD, according to age groups were estimated to be 77~82mm for one to 10, 94~101mm for 11 to 60 and 89~95mm for over-60 age group, respectively. The DUL was appeared in 44 % of sample, and DUL in female was more than in male.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.242-247
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• 2003

Background: Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin disorder that is characterized by a marked proliferation of keratinocytes, vascular dilation and leukocyte infiltration. Cytokines play important roles in the pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders. An overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines was characterized in psoriasis plaque. Among these cytokines, IL-$1{\beta}$ is major pro-inflammatory cytokine synthesized during the infection and inflammatory process. The IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) competes for the same IL-1 receptor for $IL-1{\alpha}$ and $-1{\beta}$, which prevents activation of the target cells. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the IL-$1{\beta}$ gene have been reported at position -31, -511 and +3954. Within the IL-1Ra gene (IL-1RN), there is a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) of an 86 bp length in intron 2. These polymorphisms related to cytokine production and associated with various diseases. Methods: We investigated the polymorphisms of IL-1B (promoter -511 and +3954) and IL-1RN on 114 psoriasis patients and 311 healthy normal controls in Korean. We performed PCR-RFLP on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-1B (promoter -511 and +3954) and fragment analysis on IL-1RN 86 bp VNTR polymorphism. Results: The frequency of IL-1B $-511^*1$ allele (patients vs. controls; 50.0% vs. 42.3%, RR=1.4) was significantly increased and IL-1B $-511^*2$ allele (patients vs. controls; 50.0% vs. 57.7%, RR=0.7) decreased in psoriasis patients compared to normal controls. We also analyzed the IL-1B -511 polymorphism according to patients' characters (age of onset, sex and family history). The IL-1B -511 alleles were significantly associated in patients with male and family history than health normal controls. There were no significant associations of IL-1B +3954 and IL-1RN polymorphisms with psoriasis patients. Conclusion: These results suggest that the polymorphism of IL-1B -511 could be genetic susceptibility to psoriasis in Koreans.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.683-693
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• 2012

In this study we investigated the factors determining people's decision on whether to subscribe to private health insurance, on how many private health insurances they subscribe to and the average amount of monthly payment from subscribers of private health insurances. For analysis, logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted on the sample of 8,167 people using 2008 Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA) data. From the analysis, whether to enroll in private health insurance is found to be greatly influenced by population and socioeconomic factors as well as regular exercise, smoking, cognitive function scores, subjective health status, hospitalization, the number of outpatient services, free primary health screenings benefits. We also found that number of private health insurances purchased is affected by age, household income, subjective health status, drinking, free primary health screenings benefits and that the average amount of monthly payment for private health insurances purchased is influenced by age, marriage status, economic activities status, subjective sense of hierarchy, household income, drinking, hospitalization. This study is expected to contribute to show the healthy role of private health insurance so that the desirable direction in expansion of health security policy in Korea can be explored further.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3731-3740
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• 2012

Background: There have been few studies of Asian ovarian cancer and benign tumors. The primary aim of this paper was to report the protocol of the Ko-EVE study to examine epidemiological and molecular factors for ovarian cancer and benign neoplasms and to ascertain the major risk factors for ovarian cancer control in Korea. Methods: This case-control study covers incident epithelial ovarian cancers and benign neoplasms, four major centers participating in enrolling incident cases and 3 hospitals enrolling healthy controls among health examinees. Standardized questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers, including sections on socio-demographics characteristics, past medical history, medication usage, family history, lifetime consumption of alcohol and tobacco, diet, physical activity, and reproductive factors for women. Various biological specimens were collected in the biorepository according to the standardized protocol. Annual follow-up for cancer cases and follow-up at the 1st year for benign tumor cases are performing to evaluate treatment effect and progression. Passive follow to see long-term survival will be conducting using record linkage with national data. Results: The total number recruited in 2010-2011 was 246 epithelial ovarian cancer cases, 362 benign epithelial tumors and 345 controls. We are planning to collect subjects for at least 1,500 sets of ovarian cancer, 2,000 benign tumors and 1,500 controls till 2018. Conclusions: The Ko-EVE will provide unique and important data to probe the etiology and natural history of Korean epithelial ovarian cancer. It will be continued by genomic and proteomic epidemiological analyses and future intervention studies for the prevention of ovarian cancer among Koreans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1018-1025
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• 2002

This study aimed to assess the prevalence of weight control behaviors and their association with food and nutrient intake among Korean adults. Study subjects were 7,340 Koreans aged 20 years and older in the 1998 Korean Health and Nutrient Survey. Cross-sectional data were collected on weight control behavior and diet using structured questionnaire by interview. Analysis of variance following after Duncan's multiple range test was used to test the differences in food and nutrient intake among three different weight control behavior groups(weight reducing attempt, weight gaining attempt, none). Current weight control behaviors were reported by 32% of the study subjects. There were significant differences in weight control behaviors between male and female subjects; weight reducing practices were 7 times greater than weight gaining practices among female subjects while it was only 1.5 times among male subjects. Weight control behaviors were not consistently associated with food and nutrient intake among male and female subjects. Moreover, greater food and nutrient intake were observed among those who trying to reducing weight than those who did not try. Therefore, it Is necessary to educate the Korean adults that balanced food and nutrient intake with sustaind weight control effort is the ideal way to achieve healthy weight.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.207-213
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• 1999

To examine individual variation in drug metabolism catalyzed by flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO), 179 Korean volunteers' urinary molar concentration ratio of theobromine (TB) and caffeine (CA) was determined. Their urine was collected for 1 hr (between 4 and 5 hrs) after they drank a cup of coffee containing 115 mg CA and analyzed by an HPLC system. The lowest TB/CA ratio obtained was 0.40, the highest ratio was 15.17 (38-fold difference), and the median ratio for all subjects was 1.87. The mean was 2.66 with 2.36 S.D.. In 134 nonsmokers, the mean ratio was $2.35{\pm}1.93,$ that of 51 males was $2.30{\pm}2.26$ and 83 females was $2.37{\pm}1.85,$ respectively. There was no significant gender difference in the obtained TB/CA ratio (Mann-Whitney test; p=0.518). There were no smokers among the 83 female volunteers. In the remaining 96 male subjects, the ratio obtained in 51 nonsmokers was $2.30{\pm}2.06$ and that of 45 smokers was $3.62{\pm}3.19.$ This indicated that the TB/CA ratio was increased significantly in smokers (p=0.007). However, when the TB/CA ratios (FMO activity) obtained in all 179 Korean volunteers are compared with the urinary concentration ratios of paraxanthine (PX) plus 1,7-dimethylurate (17U) to CA (CYP1A2 activity), there was a weak but significant correlation (Pearson's correlation coefficient test; $r^2=0.28,$ p＜0.0001). This indicates that, although the urinary TB/CA ratio mostly represents FMO activity, minor contribution by CYP1A2 activity cannot be ignored. In conclusion, the FMO activity measured by taking the urinary TB/CA ratio from normal healthy Korean volunteers shows marked individual variations without significant gender differences and the increased TB/CA ratio observed in cigarette smokers may have been caused by the increased CYP1A2 activity.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 1999

We examined the hepatitis G virus infections among 227 Koreans who were healthy or were suspected of hepatitis and determined the phylogenetic relationship based on a part of the NS-5 region of 5 positive samples. Viral RNA was extracted from sera and cDNA was synthesized and subsequently amplified by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) or RT-nested PCR using random hexamer and NS-5 specific primers (470-20-1-77F, 470-20-1-211R, HGVNESTFO, HGVNESTRE). Five positives were found to belong to samples of patients showing symptoms of viral hepatitis. Primers used for PCR or nested PCR were derived from the NS-5 region. On the other hand, no amplification was detected using primers derived from the 5'-NCR (G-146F, G-401R). We performed TA cloning and sequencing of 5 amplified fragments, and their sequences were compared with those of foreign isolates of HGV. The phylogenetic analysis using MegAlign programme of DNAstar has shown that the Korean isolates are clustered on the phylogenetic tree. In summary, we confirmed the hepatitis G virus infection in 5 cases out of 12 patients showing the symptoms of viral hepatitis. The phylogenetic analysis of sequences of 5 amplified fragments showed that their relations to each other were closer than those to the foreign HGV isolates reported.