• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.836-843
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• 2022

In the present study, exposure to heavy metals by consumption of edible seaweeds (green laver, laver, hijiki, sea tangle, and sea mustard) was assessed based on their concentrations of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg). The mean of heavy metal concentrations were 0.006-0.023 mg/kg for Pb, 0.037-0.156 mg/kg for Cd, 1.117-15.928 mg/kg for As, and 0.008-0.021 mg/kg for Hg. In multivariate analysis, the correlations were high between Pb levels in sea mustard, Cb levels in laver, and As and Hg level in Hijiki. However, the estimated daily intake and target hazard quotient (THQ) of the heavy metals in edible seaweeds were below their approved limits suggesting no health risks associated with seaweed consumption by Koreans.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.286-295
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• 2022

Objectives: Sarcopenia is one of the most representative factors of senescence, and nutritional status is known to affect sarcopenia. This study was performed to analyze the relationships between energy and protein intake and sarcopenia. Methods: The study subjects were 3,236 individuals aged ≥65 that participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008 ~ 2011. General characteristics and anthropometric and 24-hour dietary recall data were analyzed. Sarcopenia was diagnosed using a formula based on appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) and body weight. Logistic regression was performed to determine relationships between sarcopenia risk and energy and protein intakes. Results: For energy intake, the odds ratio (OR) of sarcopenia in women was significantly higher those with the lowest intake [OR = 1.680, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.213-2.326] than those with the highest intake (P for trend = 0.001). Regarding protein intake per kg of body weight, the odds ratio of sarcopenia was significantly higher for those that consumed < 0.8 g/kg of protein daily than those that consumed > 1.2g/kg for men (OR = 2.459, 95% CI = 1.481-4.085) and women (OR = 2.178, 95% CI = 1.423-3.334). Conclusions: This study shows a link between sarcopenia and energy and protein intake levels and suggests that energy and protein consumption be promoted among older adults to prevent sarcopenia.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.628-645
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the nutritional status and dietary habits of the elderly using the nutrition quotient for the elderly (NQ-E) and to analyze the differences in the NQ-E according to their levels of oral health. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The survey was administered to 123 elderly people receiving congregate meal services in Seoul. The questionnaire comprised 3 domains: oral health status, general characteristics, and the NQ-E for the elderly. RESULTS: The respondents were divided into 2 groups based on the average score of their levels of oral health (the group with high oral health scores: 4.42 points and the group with low oral health scores: 2.89 points). As a result of evaluating nutritional status using the NQ-E, it was found that the average NQ-E score was 58.7 points, with 46.0 points in the balance domain, 47.0 points in the diversity domain, 72.9 points in the moderation domain, and 61.8 points in the dietary behavior domain. The NQ-E score (62.3 points) of the group with high oral health scores is significantly higher than the NQ-E score (54.7 points) of the group with low oral health scores (P < 0.001). Concerning the NQ domain scores, the elderly with good oral health status had "favorable" results in terms of balance and dietary behavior, and the elderly with poor oral health status had "favorable" results only in terms of balance. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, several dietary areas needed improvement in general. Those with poor oral health conditions urgently needed to improve related factors to minimize the risk of increasing imbalanced nutrition and comorbidities due to insufficient nutrition and undesirable eating habits.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2003

The liver progenitor cells could form a potential target cell population fore both tumor-initiating and -promoting chemicals. Induction of drug-metabolizing and antioxidant enzymes, including AhR-dependent CYP1A1, NQO-1 and AKR1C9, was detected in the rat liver epithelial WB-F344 "stem-like" cells. Additionally, WB-F344 cells express a functional, wild-type form of p53 protein, a biomarker of genotoxic events, and connexin 43, a basic structural unit of gap junctions forming an important type of intercellular communication. In this cellular model, two complementary assays have been established for detection of the modes of action associated with tumor promotion: inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and proliferative activity in confluent cells. We found that the PAHs and PCBs, which are AhR agonists, released WB-F344 cells from contact inhibition, increasing both DNA synthesis and cell numbers. Genotoxic effects of some PAHs that lead to apoptosis and cell cycle delay might interfere with the proliferative activity of PAHs. Contrary to that, the nongenotoxic low-molecular-weight PAHs and non-dioxin-like PCB congeners, abundant in the environment, did not significantly affect cell cycle and cell proliferation; however both groups of compounds inhibited GJIC in WB-F344 cells. The release from contact inhibiton by a mechanism that possibly involves the AhR activation, inhibition of GJIC and genotoxic events induced by environmental contaminants are three important modes of action that could play an important role in carcinogenic effects of toxic compounds. The relative potencies to inhibit GJIC, to induce AhR-mediated activity, and to release cells from contact inhibition were determined for a large series of PAHs and PCBs and their metabolites. In vitro bioassays based on detection of events on cellular level (deregulation of GJIC and/or proliferation) or determination of receptor-mediated activities in both ?$stem-like^{\circ}{\times}$ and hepatocyte-like liver cellular models are valuable tools for detection of modes of action of polyaromatic hydrocarbons. They may serve, together with concentration data, as a first step in their risk assessment.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.231-238
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• 2023

Purpose: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to compare endoscopy as primary versus secondary prophylaxis to prevent future bleeding in children with esophageal varices. Methods: A systematic literature search using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method was conducted using the Scopus, PubMed, and Cochrane databases for relevant studies on the outcome of rebleeding events after endoscopy in primary prophylaxis compared to that in secondary prophylaxis. The following keywords were used: esophageal varices, children, endoscopy, primary prophylaxis and bleeding. The quality of eligible articles was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and statistically analyzed using RevMan 5.4 software. Results: A total of 174 children were included from four eligible articles. All four studies were considered of high-quality based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Patients who received primary prophylaxis had 79% lower odds of bleeding than those who received secondary prophylaxis (odds ratio, 0.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.07-0.66; I²=0%, p=0.008). Patients in the primary prophylaxis group underwent fewer endoscopic procedures to eradicate varices than those in the secondary prophylaxis group, with a mean difference of 1.73 (95% CI, 0.91-2.56; I²=62%, p<0.0001). Conclusion: Children with high-risk varices who underwent primary prophylaxis were less likely to experience future bleeding episodes and required fewer endoscopic procedures to eradicate the varices than children who underwent secondary prophylaxis.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.32-43
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• 2023

Purpose: This study investigated the dietary behavior of experienced shiftwork nurses and aimed to identify factors related to dietary behavior. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis based on the Shift Work Nurses' Health and Turnover study (2018-2021) among Korean nurses. In total, 247 experienced (>12 months) shiftwork nurses were included in this study. The participants' dietary behavior, depression, level of occupational stress, fatigue, physical activity, and general characteristics were measured. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results: The dietary behavior score of the participants using the Mini-Dietary Assessment Index was 29.35±5.67. Thirty percent of the participants were depressed, the participants experienced moderate occupational stress, and 74.1% of the participants engaged in an inadequate amount of physical activity. The factors influencing shiftwork nurses' dietary behavior were having child(ren) (β=.16, p=.027), depression (β=-.13, p=.032), level of occupational stress related to occupational climate (β=-.13, p=.035), and an inadequate amount of physical activity (β=-.17, p=.006). These factors explained 10.4% of the variance in experienced shiftwork nurses' dietary behavior scores. Conclusion: Experienced nurses with child(ren) tended to have healthier diets. However, a higher level of occupational stress related to occupational climate, depression, and engaging in an inadequate amount of physical activity were associated with a higher risk of having an unhealthy diet. Therefore, strategies are needed to encourage physical activity and alleviate adverse occupational climate and depression among experienced nurses.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.148-162
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• 2023

Classification systems can significantly assist the medical sector by allowing for the precise and quick diagnosis of diseases. As a result, both doctors and patients will save time. A possible way for identifying risk variables is to use machine learning algorithms. Non-surgical technologies, such as machine learning, are trustworthy and effective in categorizing healthy and heart-disease patients, and they save time and effort. The goal of this study is to create a medical intelligent decision support system based on machine learning for the diagnosis of heart disease. We have used a mixed feature creation (MFC) technique to generate new features from the UCI Cleveland Cardiology dataset. We select the most suitable features by using Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), Recursive Feature Elimination with Random Forest feature selection (RFE-RF) and the best features of both LASSO RFE-RF (BLR) techniques. Cross-validated and grid-search methods are used to optimize the parameters of the estimator used in applying these algorithms. and classifier performance assessment metrics including classification accuracy, specificity, sensitivity, precision, and F1-Score, of each classification model, along with execution time and RMSE the results are presented independently for comparison. Our proposed work finds the best potential outcome across all available prediction models and improves the system's performance, allowing physicians to diagnose heart patients more accurately.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 2023

Although Korea is the world's No. 1 semiconductor producing country, most studies are conducted with risk assessment for simple material risks due to the closedness of the site for industrial protection. In terms of industrial safety, a monitoring system such as a gas detector to determine the leakage of hazardous substances has been established, but research on effectively discharging harmful gastritis substances in case of leakage has only recently begun. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities (gas boxes) where a large amount of flammable materials are handled are currently being safety managed by using a gas detector and blocking the air inlet. It is difficult to dilute in a short time in case of leakage of flammable substances. Therefore, in this study, based on various criteria, the size of the duct according to the size of the gas box is determined and the appropriate size of the air inlet is studied to minimize the exhaust performance requirement without exposing hazardous chemicals to the outside in the event of a flammable leak. We want to do an optimal exhaust design.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.87-105
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• 2023

Seismic regulations have been updated from time to time to accommodate an increase in seismic hazards. Comparison of seismic fragility of the existing bridges in Indonesia from different historical periods since the era before 1990 will be the basis for seismic assessment of the bridge stock in Indonesia, most of which are located in earthquake-prone areas, especially those built many years ago with outdated regulations. In this study, seismic fragility curves were developed using incremental non-linear time history analysis and more holistically according to the actual strength of concrete and steel material in Indonesia to determine the uncertainty factor of structural capacity, βc. From the research that has been carried out, based on the current seismic load in SNI 2833:2016/Seismic Map 2017 (7% probability of exceedance in 75 years), the performance level of the bridge in the era before SNI 2833:2016 was Operational-Life Safety whereas the performance level of the bridge designed with SNI 2833:2016 was Elastic - Operational. The potential for more severe damage occurs in greater earthquake intensity. Collapse condition occurs at As = F_PGA x PGA value of bridge Era I = 0.93 g; Era II = 1.03 g; Era III = 1.22 g; Era IV = 1.54 g. Furthermore, the fragility analysis was also developed with geometric variations in the same bridge class to see the effect of these variations on the fragility, which is the basis for making bridge risk maps in Indonesia.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.sup1
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• pp.21-36
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The long-term health impacts of dietary sugar have begun to be reported. The committee on the 2020 Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans for sugar intended to update the scientific evidence on the association of added sugar intake with health outcomes, including mortality. This study evaluated the evidence on the association of dietary sugar with the all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality from cohort studies. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The PubMed and ScienceDirect databases were searched until July 2021. The search terms were based on multiple combinations of keywords, such as added sugar, beverage, and mortality, included in the title or abstract. Two authors independently assessed the eligibility criteria of study selection and extracted the information from each selected article for this systematic review. RESULTS: The literature search identified 276 articles. Seventeen cohort studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. This study extracted information on the cohort and participants, dietary assessment methods, exposure and its comparison groups, health outcomes, and risk measures. Five articles reported added sugar intake, and 15 articles reported the food sources of the added sugar in the association with mortality. Increased mortality was observed in higher added sugar intake and a lower intake of less than 5% of energy, while higher discrepancies between gender, age groups, and countries were noted. In addition, nutritious sugary foods and beverages did not increase mortality. CONCLUSIONS: A 'U' or 'J' shaped relationship between the added sugar intake and mortality was estimated. The observed discrepancy indicated the need for more evidence to establish the dose-response relationship for Koreans.