• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-336
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• 2022

This study applied the macro-micro simulation model (i.e., what-if analysis) to investigate the impact of transport related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on poverty and income inequality in Laos. We selected Laos as a case study of a developing country. We used the standard GTAP model with the GTAP database (version 10) for the macrosimulation, whereas we used the household model with the latest Lao household data from 2019 for the microsimulation. Our findings revealed that the output of the Lao economy was anticipated to increase by up to 0.3%, while the poverty rate was anticipated to decline from 17.0% to 15.7%. However, there would be winners and losers in industries and groups of households in different areas. In particular, rich households with a comparative socioeconomic advantage, such as in education, engagement in nonfarm business, and infrastructure access, would mostly gain benefits; consequently, this would lead to higher inequality in Laos. Therefore, the inequality index (i.e., the Gini coefficient) would increase from 41.2 to 60.1. After a simulation of BRI transport, we also found that some nonpoor households, which are mainly associated with farm activities and lower educational levels, would fall into poverty.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1143-1154
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Body shape misperception (BSM) is the disagreement between the subjectively perceived body size and body mass index. This study investigated the association between BSM and unhealthy eating behaviors (UEB) among Korean adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This cross-sectional study used data from the 2019 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey with 55,748 participants. UEB were measured according to the weekly consumption frequency of caffeinated energy drinks, fast food, carbonated beverages, and sugar-sweetened beverages. The covariates included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and health-related factors. Multiple logistic regression analysis determined the association between BSM and UEB. RESULTS: Among the participants, 37,607 (67.5%) reported UEB. The gap between UEB among those with BSM was the largest between the underestimated and accurately estimated groups. Participants who underestimated their body shape were likelier to engage in UEB (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11-1.25). Both sexes with underestimation of body size showed an association with UEB compared to those with accurate estimations (girls: AOR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.09-1.30; boys: AOR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.08-1.26). CONCLUSIONS: Underestimating body shape can provoke UEB among Korean adolescents. The need for appropriate school health interventional programs to prevent underestimating body shape is emphasized to avoid UEB.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.409-416
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• 2020

An extreme climate monitoring is essential to the reduction of socioeconomic damages from extreme events. The objective of this study was to produce the near-realtime weekly root-zone Soil Moisture Index (SMI) on the basis of soil moisture using the Noah 3.3 Land Surface Model (LSM) for potentially monitoring extreme drought events. The Yangtze basin was selected to evaluate the Noah LSM performance for the East Asia region (15-60°N, 70-150°E) and the evapotranspiration (ET) and sensible heat flux (SH) were compared with ET and SH from FluxNet and with ET from FluxCom, Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM), ERA-5, and Generalized Complementary Relationship (GCR). For the ET, the coefficients of determination (R²) were higher than 0.96, while the R² value for the SH was 0.71 with slightly lower than those. A time series of the weekly root-zone SMI revealed that the regions with Extreme drought had been expanded from the northern part of East China to the entire East China between July to October 2019. The trend analysis of the number of extreme drought events showed that extreme drought events in spring had reduced in South Korea over the past 20 years, while those in fall had a tendency to increase. It is concluded that this study can be useful to reduce the socioeconomic damages resulted from climate extremes by comprehensively characterizing extreme drought events.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.13-26
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• 2007

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the association between health risk factors and mortality in Juam cohort. Methods: The subjects were 1,447 males and 1,889 females who had been followed up for 68.5 months to 1 January 2001. Whether they were alive or not was confirmed by the mortality data of the National Statistical Office. A total of 289 persons among them died during the follow-up period. The Cox's proportional hazard regression model was used for survival analysis. Results: Age, type of medical insurance, self cognitive health level, habit of alcohol drinking, smoking, exercise and BMI level were included in Cox's proportional hazard model by gender. The hazard ratio of age was 1.07(95% CI: 1.05-1.10) in men, 1.09(95% CI: 1.06-1.12) in women. The hazard ratio of medical aid(lower socioeconomic state) was 1.43(95% CI 1.02-2.19) in women. The hazard ratios of current alcohol drinking and current smoking were respectively 1.69(95% CI: 1.01-2.98), 1.52(95% CI: 1.02-2.28) in women. The hazard ratio of underweight was 1.56(95% CI 1.08-2.47) in men. The hazard ratios of underweight, normoweight, overweight, and obesity were respectively 1.63(95% CI: 1.02-2.67), 1.0(referent), 0.62(95% CI: 0.32-1.63), 1.27(95% CI: 0.65-3.06), which supported the U-shaped relationship between body mass index and mortality among the men over 65. Conclusions: The health risk factors increasing mortality were age, underweight in male, age, lower socioeconomic state, current alcohol drinking, current smoking in female. To evaluate long-term association between health risk factors and mortality, further studies need to be carried out.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.4 s.63
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• pp.728-739
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• 1998

To improve wellness and quality of life by recognizing the health efforts of stress, the author estimated the relationships between stress, subjective symptoms and clinical diagnosis through a questionnaire and a battery of specified laboratory tests; electrocardiography, blood pressure, cholesterol, aspartate aminotransferase(AST), alanine aminotransferase(ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase$(\gamma-GTP)$, fasting blood sugar, gastro-endoscopy or UGI, abdominal sonography, etc. The data was gathered from 337 clients who were undergoing multiphasic screening program at a University Hospital from January to March 1998. The mean age of subjects was $46.5{\pm}11.2$ years and the mean of body mass index was $24.0{\pm}3.7kg/m^2$. The mean vol of stress was $18.5{\pm}6.0$ expressed as the score out of 40. By general characteristics and lift style among male, mean level of stress was significantly higher in case of lower socioeconomic status, habitual drug use, longer daily working time(>10 hours), no regular exercise, drinkers, irregular meal, skip-ping breakfast(p<0.05). In case of female, that was significantly higher in case of lower education, lowe. socioeconomic status, longer daily working time(>10 hours), no regular exercise, drinkers, smokers, irregular meal, skipping breakfast(p<0.05). Significant correlations were observed between stress and subjective symptoms in all kinds of organ system (p<0.01). Correlation coefficients of stress among male were relatively high with neuro-psychiatric symptom$(\gamma=0.476)$ and cardio-vascular symptom$(\gamma=0.361)$ in order, and correlation coefficients of stress among female was highest with neuro-psychiatric symptom$(\gamma=0.371)$. The prevalence of the diagnosis through the battery of laboratory tests was high in upper gastrointestinal disorders and hypercholesterolemia in order in both sex group. Among male the mean score of stress was significantly high in ulcerative peptic disorder of upper gastrointestine and hepatopathy in order (p<0.05) . Among female that was significantly high in diabetes mellitus. In summary, it is likely that there are associations between stress, subjective symptoms and clinical diagnosis. To promote wellness and quality of life it would be of value that periodic stress evaluation program and stress management including apropriate control of smoking and drinking, regular exercise and meal.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate variables related to dietary fiber intake among sixth grade children in an elementary school in Daejon city. One hundred and forty-seven children completed a questionnaire for determining their socioeconomic background and their food habits. Anthropometric measurements were taken, and a 24-hour diet recall method was used to collect three-day food intakes. The socioeconomic status of the children's families belonged to the upper middle class; 53.0% of their fathers and 25.8% of their mothers had completed college or higher degrees. 27.9% of the mothers had jobs, including part-time jobs. Approximately 30% of the children skipped breakfast, 66.4% of the children preferred animal foods to plant foods, and 52.4% of the children preferred green vegetables to yellow or pale vegetables. Grilled meat dishes, such as Grilled beef rib with seasoning, Bulgogi, grilled pork belly and beef steaks, were the most popular types of food eaten outside home by the children. Daily dietary fiber intake was 14.5 g in boys and 14.5 g in girls, and these intakes are low compared to the standard guidelines. The average intakes of energy and protein of the children were 84.5% and 114.0% of the Korean Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), respectively. Besides energy, riboflavin, iron and calcium intakes were below the RDAs, and especially calcium intake was only 50% of the RDAs. On the other hand, thiamin, niacin, ascorbic acid, protein and phosphorus intakes exceeded the Korean RDAs. Family income or the children's body mass index (BMI) was not directly related to dietary fiber intakes. However, higher dietary fiber intakes tended to be related to higher intakes of green vegetables and fruits. Children with higher dietary fiber intake tended to prefer plant foods to animal foods. Energy and most nutrients, except heme iron and retinol, showed positive relationships with dietary fiber intake. Especially potassium and plant origin protein and calcium were highly correlated with dietary fiber intakes(r＞0.6). From these results, it is concluded that dietary fiber intakes of these sixth grade elementary school children were less than the standard reference and it is anticipated to decrease further in the future with increased incomes. Therefore, increased intakes of dietary fiber by elementary school children should be promoted through nutrition education, together with the development of cooking methods and recipes utilizing green vegetables and fruits.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2019

Objectives: Self-reporting can be used to determine the incidence and prevalence of hypertension (HTN). The present study was conducted to determine the validity of self-reported HTN and to identify factors affecting discordance between self-reported and objectively measured HTN in participants in the Ravansar Non-Communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort. Methods: The RaNCD cohort included permanent residents of Ravansar, Iran aged 35-65 years. Self-reported data were collected before clinical examinations were conducted by well-trained staff members. The gold standard for HTN was anti-hypertensive medication use and blood pressure measurements. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and overall accuracy of self-reporting were calculated. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the discordance between self-reported HTN and the gold standard. Results: Of the 10 065 participants in the RaNCD, 4755 (47.4%) were male. The prevalence of HTN was 16.8% based on self-reporting and 15.7% based on medical history and HTN measurements. Of the participants with HTN, 297 (18.8%) had no knowledge of their disease, and 313 (19.9%) had not properly controlled their HTN despite receiving treatment. The sensitivity, specificity, and kappa for self-reported HTN were 75.5%, 96.4%, and 73.4%, respectively. False positives became more likely with age, body mass index (BMI), low socioeconomic status, and female sex, whereas false negatives became more likely with age, BMI, high socioeconomic status, smoking, and urban residency. Conclusions: The sensitivity and specificity of self-reported HTN were acceptable, suggesting that this method can be used for public health initiatives in the absence of countrywide HTN control and detection programs.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.826-835
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of stress on the relationship between oral health behaviors and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the elderly. We analyzed 8148 subjects aged 65 or older who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2015). All individuals were asked about their socioeconomic history, general health, and oral health behaviors (the frequency of tooth brushing, regular dental check-ups, and use of interdental cleaners). In the results, HRQOL was low in the elderly from a low socioeconomic class, or with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or poor oral health behaviors. A partial mediating effect from stress was confirmed on the relationship between oral health behaviors and HRQOL. In conclusion, HRQOL was associated with oral health behaviors, with a mediating effect from stress. Therefore, it is necessary that a convergence health promotion program should be planned with an oral health education program and a stress management program for the elderly.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.147-153
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to attempt to lay the foundation for the development of oral health programs geared toward promoting the oral health of low socioeconomic class children. The subjects in this study were 257 school children who used local children's centers. The findings of the study were as follows: 1. The children mean scored 5.74 on oral health knowledge. 2. In terms of oral health awareness, 47.1% viewed the right toothbrushing as the best way to stay away from dental caries. 3. 45% of the subjects reported toothbrushing at least three times daily. 21.4% visited dental institutions three or more times in the past year. 33.1% had never undergone application of fluoride. 30.4% had never received oral health education. 4. The mean level of caries was 4.61 dft index in 1-2th grade, 3.27 DMFT index in 5-6th grade, 1.47 DMFT index in the 3-4th grad and 1.19 DMFT index in the 1-2th grade. 5. The mean level of Patient Hygiene Performance (PHP index) was 3.59, and there was no significant association was pound between PHP index and grade. 6. Oral health behavior wasn't affected by their oral health awareness, and knowledge.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.109-125
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• 1987

Previous studies show that working wives in the market contribute to the family economy that affects the family member's behaviors as consumers. Accordingly, the consumer behavior among working wives would be differ form that among nonworking wives. As the number of working wives in the market is increasing, this study focuses on the estimation of the degree of rationality in purchasing decision making among wives in relation to their working status. Therefore, this study attempts to construct an rationality index of a purchasing decision making both at a high and a low involvement situation by working and nonworking wives, and analyzes the differences in the results of the two groups. This study also examines how the rationality indices vary with the selected socioeconomic variables. The data are obtained from self-administered questionnaires from a sample of 217 working and 191 nonworking wives at Seoul and Seongnam in 1986. The statistical methods used in this study are Factor Analysis, Multiple Regression, and Analysis of Variances. The major findings of this study are as follows; 1) The mean value of the rationality index among nonworking wives is higher than that among working wives. Under a high involvement situation, the mean value of the rationality index among working wives is negative. Therefore, it is likely that nonworking wives make purchasing decisions more rationally than working wives. 2) The higher the degree of wive's education, the more rational the purchasing decision making. Under a low involvement situation, the higher the monthly family income, the more rational the purchasing decision making . under the same situation, the shorter the duration of marriage , the more rational the purchasing decision making. 3) Under a low involvement situation, the rationality indices of working wives vary with their occupations. The rationality indices among those in selling and service jobs are lower than those among those in professional jobs. 4) The impact of the selected socio-economic variables on the degree of the rationality in purchasing decision making differs depending on whether the wife is working or not. Under a low involvement situation, the positive impact of the monthly family income on the rationality in purchasing decision making is stronger among nonworking wives than among working wives. Under the same situation, the negative impact of the duration of marriage on the rationality is stronger among nonworking wives than among working wives.