• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.477-487
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• 2022

Probiotics provide a symbiotic relationship and beneficial effects by balancing the human intestinal microbiota. The relationships between microbiota changes and various diseases may predict health abnormalities and diseases. Treatment with vitamins and probiotics is one therapeutic approach. To evaluate the effect of probiotics on vitamin absorption, we chose Lactobacillus rhamnosus CBT-LR5 treatment, which has resistance to vitamin C-inducible toxicity, with vitamins in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity models. CBT-LR5 affected the absorption of micronutrients, such as ionic minerals and water-soluble vitamins. An increase in vitamin C absorption by CBT-LR5 enhanced the antioxidant response in HFD-induced obesity models. Increased vitamin B absorption by CBT-LR5 regulated lipid metabolism in HFD-induced obesity models. These favorable effects of CBT-LR5 on the absorption of vitamins should be investigated as candidate therapeutic target treatments for metabolic diseases.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.118-127
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a Tai-Chi exercise program on subjective health and physiological function index. Methods: This study was designed as non-equivalent control group pretestposttest research. Eighteen women in each group completed the posttest with an attendance rate of 78.3 % after 12 weeks. The Tai Chi exercise program was provided two times a week over three months for the experimental group, but no program for the control group. A questionnaire was used for subjective health index, which consisted of Korean-WOMAC Index for joint stiffness, K-HAQ for physical disability, EQ-5D for quality of life and perceived health status, and CES-D for depression. To measure the effect on the physiological function index, femoral muscle strength, shoulder joint and back flexibility were measured. Results: All variables except left anterior femoral muscle strength had significant homogeneity between the two groups. There were statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in joint stiffness (t=-2.165, p=.03), physical disability (t=-2.231, p=.038), EQ-5D index (t=3.783, p=.001), perceived health status (t=-2.349, p=.025) and femoral posterior muscle strength (t=2.487, p=.038). Conclusion: The Tai-Chi exercise program was beneficial for women with arthritis in rural communities.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.151-157
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• 2020

Objectives: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the main public health challenges currently facing the world. Because of its high transmissibility, COVID-19 has already caused extensive morbidity and mortality in many countries throughout the world. An accurate estimation of the basic reproduction number (R₀) of COVID-19 would be beneficial for prevention programs. In light of discrepancies in original research on this issue, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled R₀ for COVID-19 in the current outbreak. Methods: International databases (including Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, and Scopus) were searched to identify studies conducted regarding the R₀ of COVID-19. Articles were searched using the following keywords: "COVID-19" and "basic reproduction number" or "R₀." The heterogeneity among studies was assessed using the I² index, the Cochran Q test, and T². A random-effects model was used to estimate R₀ in this study. Results: The mean reported R₀ in the identified articles was 3.38±1.40, with a range of 1.90 to 6.49. According to the results of the random-effects model, the pooled R₀ for COVID-19 was estimated as 3.32 (95% confidence interval, 2.81 to 3.82). According to the results of the meta-regression analysis, the type of model used to estimate R₀ did not have a significant effect on heterogeneity among studies (p=0.81). Conclusions: Considering the estimated R₀ for COVID-19, reducing the number of contacts within the population is a necessary step to control the epidemic. The estimated overall R₀ was higher than the World Health Organization estimate.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.77-87
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• 2014

Objectives: The Purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of chiropractic treatment and low back exercise on lumbar lordosis angle, gravity line, range of motion, and pain degree of university students who are taking a commuter bus at least 4 hours of round trip. Methods: A group of 15 participants received chiropractic treatment around the lumbar spine region twice per week for 8 weeks. Another group of 15 participants were treated with low back exercise three times per week for 8 weeks. Results: In the present results, both chiropractic treatment and low back exercise did not affect the change of lumbar lordosis. However, chiropractic treatment also significantly improved the range of the lumbar motion, including Flexion, Extension, Right Lateral Flexion and Left Lateral Flexion(p<0.05), and consequently decreased the pain degree. Low back exercise significantly moved the lumbar gravity line to almost normal scale, and improved the range of the lumbar motion, including Flexion, and Right Lateral Flexion (p<0.05), resulting in the reduction of pain degree, although both chiropractic treatment and exercise treatment did not change the lumbar lordosis angle at the statistically significant. Conclusions: From these results, it can be inferred that chiropractic treatment might be beneficial to alleviating the low back pain of the university students using a commuter bus by improving the range of lumbar motion or stabilizing the lumbar gravity line.

• Psychiatry investigation
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1071-1078
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• 2018

Objective We developed easily accessible imagery-based treatment program for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to workplace accidents and investigated the effects of the program on various PTSD related symptoms. Methods The program was based on an online platform and consisted of eight 15-min sessions that included script-guided imagery and supportive music. Thirty-five patients with workplace-related PTSD participated in this program 4 days per week for 4 weeks. Its effects were examined using self-report questionnaires before and after the take-home online treatment sessions. Results After completing the 4-week treatment program, patients showed significant improvements in depressed mood (t=3.642, p=0.001) based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), anxiety (t=3.198, p=0.003) based on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder seven-item (GAD-7) scale, and PTSD symptoms (t=5.363, p<0.001) based on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Check List (PCL). In particular, patients with adverse childhood experiences exhibited a greater degree of relief related to anxiety and PTSD symptoms than those without adverse childhood experiences. Conclusion The present results demonstrated that the relatively short online imagery-based treatment program developed for this study had beneficial effects for patients with workplace-related PTSD.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.959-965
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• 2022

Through psychological evaluation, this study attempted to verify the effect of quality of life improvements from gardening activities in apartment landscaping spaces. The study was conducted on 32 mothers raising children. Psychological valuation was conducted using world Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire(WHOQOL-Bref), the Satisfaction with Life Scale(SWLS), the Life Satisfaction Experience Scale(LSES), and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised(SCL-90-R). The psychological analysis results showed that, engaging in gardening activities for two weeks had, a positive effect on mothers' environmental of quality of life evaluation. The LSES indicates that satisfaction with oneself significantly increased after starting the gardening activities. The activity resulted in a positive change in attitude toward life. The SCL-90-R results showed changes in the mother's psychological state. There was a significant amelioration of obesessive-compulsive behaviors, hostility, and phobic anxiety. In conclusion, this study was found that, for mothers in apartments, outdoor gardening activities can significantly affect their quality of life. Moreover, it can help prevent mental health deterioration, Further study should be conducted on the beneficial effects of gardening on the variety of age groups and activities.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2010

The immune system is generally divided into the innate and the adopted immune systems, both protecting the body from pathogens. Recently, allergies, a disease associated with an imbalanced immune system, have increased rapidly in developed countries. Prevailing symptoms of allergic diseases are eczema, allergic rhinitis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and food allergy. Probiotic bacteria, mainly consisting of lactic acid bacteria, are used in the prevention and treatment of allergic diseases. The function of them is to stimulate the intestinal immune cells and form a complex signal network to activate other immune cells. Beneficial health effects of probiotics are based on the hygiene hypothesis, which suggests that sanitary environment is important for health, but limited exposure to environmental factors increases allergic diseases. An immunoregulatory effect of probiotic bacteria is demonstrated by controlled trial, animal model, in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo designs. However, the immunoregulatory effect of probiotic bacteria is controversial because it depends on probiotic strains, a dose and a type of diseases. In this review, we discussed clinical evidences on immunoregulatory effects of probiotic bacteria.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.237-243
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• 2004

In recent, many cardiac centers have preferred off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to on-pump CABG to prevent the adverse effects of cardiopulmonary bypass. The present study was performed to prove beneficial effects of off-pump CABG. Sixty adult patients scheduled for elective CABG were randomly assigned to On-pump group (n=30) or Off-pump group (n=30). Arterial blood samples were drawn before and after the operation (Pre-OP and Post-OP, respectively) for measuring CBC, prothrombin time, activated thromboplastine time, blood gas analysis, creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) level, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level. Perioperative parameters including heparin and protamine usages, complications, blood components usages, blood loss, ventilation and ICU-staying time, and hospitalization were also evaluated. Platelet count at Post-OP was high in Off-pump group whereas CK-MB and LDH levels were low compared with On-pump group. Off-pump group had significantly lower heparin and protamine usages, lower total leukocyte count, higher hematocrit and hemoglobin levels, less blood loss, lower usages of blood components, shorter ventilation and ICU-staying time, and lower incidence of pleural effusion than On-pump group. Other variables did not significantly differ between two groups. These results showed that Off-pump CABG was a satisfactory technique with less inflammatory reaction, less cardiac damage, less postoperative complications, and less cost.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.266-276
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• 1997

To investigate the effects of dietary protein and calcium levels on calcium and bone metabolism Sprague-Dawley male growing rats weighting approximately 91.4g were divided into four groups and fed one of the following four experimental diets-15% protein 0.2% calcium ; 15% protein 0.5% calcium ; 30% protein 0.2% calcium ; 30% protein 0.5% calcium-for five weeks. Calcium intake and excretion, apparent calcium absorption were measured and bone densities and mineral contents of femur and scapula were analyzed. Calcium excretion through feces and urine was significantly greater in animals receiving diets of higher calcium. Fecal calcium but not urinary calcium excretion was greater when the protein level was increased from 15% to 30%. Apparent calcium absorption rate was significantly higher with lower calcium intakes. Serum alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly higher in 0.2% calcium group than in 0.5% calcium group, while urinary hydroxyproline excretion was essentially same among all experimental groups. Weights and mineral contents or protein. Bone weights were greater, but calcium and ash contents of femur and scapula were lower in animals on the diet containing low calcium and high protein, which suggests that bone metabolism may be affected by the interaction between calcium and protein intake. These results indicate that during growth high protein intake might be beneficial to bone health if the diet is sufficient in calcium, however, if the diet fails to provide an optimum amount of calcium, such practice might be detrimental.

• Journal of Korean Academic Society of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.152-159
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a delirium education program for nurses and assess its effects on knowledge of delirium, the importance of nursing intervention, and nursing practice. Method: Participants comprised 60 nurses in a university hospital. The experimental group participated in a 3-hour delirium education program. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. Chi square and independent t-tests were conducted to examine similarities in demographic and dependent variables, and an independent t-test was used to test the hypothesis. Results: The experimental group obtained significantly higher scores than the control group in knowledge of delirium(t=14.52, p<.001), importance of nursing intervention(t=13.76, p<.001), and nursing practice (t=13.71, p<.001). Conclusion: Results suggest that delirium education is an effective tool to improve knowledge of delirium, importance of nursing intervention, and nursing practice. Therefore, delirium education would be beneficial for general ward and recently graduated nurses as well as ICU and experienced nurses.