• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.5123-5125
• /
• 2013

Background: Breast cancer is one the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. The aims of this study were to investigate the impact of dietary factors and health status indicators on breast cancer (BC) incidence. Materials and Methods: Risk factor data (RFD) of 89,404 individuals (15-64 years old) were gathered by questionnaire and laboratory examinations through a cross sectional study from the Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (NCDSC) of Iran. BC incidences of all provinces through 2001-2006 segregated by age and gender were obtained from the Cancer Registry Ministry of Health (CRMH). Results: a significant positive relationship was seen between diabetes mellitus, fish comsupmption, percent of academic education and non-consumption of fruit, and breast cancer in women. However, non fish consumption, percent age illiteracy and taking fruit showed a significant negative relationship with the incidence of breast cancer. In addition, multiple linear regression analysis showed associations among percentage with academic education, fruit consumption and diabetes. Conclusions: We conclude that dietary factors such as fish and furit consumption, dairy products, health status indicators, academic education, and some diseases like diabetes mellitus can affect the BC incidence, although the results of ecologic studies like this must naturally be interpreted with caution.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2010

Monitoring toxicity levels in specific biological compartments is necessary to evaluate the ecotoxicological risk associated with soil environmental pollution. Gene expression, as potential biomarker, is increasingly used as rapid early warning systems in environmental monitoring and ecological risk assessment procedures. Various representative species are currently used for the purpose of assessing soil toxicity, however, investigations on toxicological assessments using endpoint based on gene-level have been limited. In this review, we will present the current trends in organisms and endpoints used in soil toxicity study and report gene expression related to toxicity using soil organism, and C. elegans as promising organisms for this approach.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.68 no.3
• /
• pp.105-125
• /
• 2016

School absenteeism is considered one of the early predictors of school drop-out and serious delinquency or criminal behavior. The primary goal of the current study was to explore the protective and risk factors related to changing school absenteeism over time based on the ecological-systemic perspective. The data was derived from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) using the 2011 and 2012 survey waves collected from 2,378 elementary school students. Using this data, Panel Fixed Effects Analysis was conducted. Major findings indicated that daily computer usage, parental abuse, school activity attendance, and school grades had an effect on students missing school days over time. Specifically, high levels of computer usage and parental abuse were related to increased school absenteeism, while high levels of school activity attendance and school grades were associated with decreased school absenteeism. These findings emphasized the importance of predictive intervention for children and suggested the need to construct a school absenteeism monitoring system in South Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.6
• /
• pp.353-361
• /
• 2023

Background: Noise has been linked to an increased risk of various health issues, including stress, anxiety, insomnia, and cardiovascular disorders. However, research on the relationship between residential traffic noise and mental health in South Korea is limited. Objectives: This study aims to examine the correlation between regional traffic noise levels and mental health using an ecological study design. Methods: In this ecological study, all data were collected from the Korean Statistical Information Service. Traffic noise data in residential areas and the prevalence of mental health indices in 44 cities with noise monitoring stations were obtained. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between regional traffic noise levels and mental health indices. Results: Daytime traffic noise levels were found to have a positive correlation with stress perception (r=0.428, p=0.004) and showed a borderline positive correlation with depressive symptom prevalence (r=0.273, p=0.073). In cities with airports, significant correlations was observed between 24-hour average noise levels and depressive symptoms (r=0.604, p=0.010), whereas this relationship was not observed in cities without airports (r=0.048, p=0.813). Multiple regression analysis, which adjusted for factors such as age, gender ratio, smoking, obesity, unemployment, urban size, and the presence of an airport, confirmed the relationship between 24-hour average noise levels and stress perception (beta=0.287, p=0.024). Conclusions: This study identified correlations between regional traffic noise levels and depressive symptoms or stress perception in adults, with a more pronounced effect in areas with airports. These findings suggest a potential impact of residential traffic noise on mental health, highlighting the importance of preventive measures like noise management in urban planning to promote mental well-being.

• International Area Studies Review
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.583-603
• /
• 2011

This study was designed to comprehensively understand and separate the characteristics of recreation forests of Korea through the multi-variate analysis for the provision of fundamental materials for recreation forests development policies and planning, and attempted to evaluate on the validity of classification of recreation forests, which has never been performed before. According to analysis results, recreation forests could be divided into 4 types; type I(recreation forests whose ecological nature status is not good, but the risk of calamity is low and accessibility is good), type II(recreation forests whose the risk of calamity is low, but ecological nature status is not good, slope is steep, and accessibility is poor), type III(recreation forests that have charming vegetation and landscape, various rest opportunity, and a gentle slope, but poor accessibility), and type IV(recreation forests that ecological nature status is good, but have poor landscape, less rest opportunity, and a steep slope). Also, each type was adjusted as follows; type I($25{\rightarrow}24$ reviews), type II($25{\rightarrow}26$ reviews), type III($17{\rightarrow}16$ reviews), and type IV($25{\rightarrow}25$ reviews). This study can be said to show the usability of validation of classified types, which was not done before. It is clear that the classification of recreation forests increases the efficiency in policy making and performance. Furthermore, by validating the separated types, we could expect high efficiency in policy making and performance on planned recreation forests in the future.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.361-374
• /
• 2022

Purpose: This study applies an ecological model to investigate individual and organizational levels to identify factors influencing the HRQOL of industrial employees. Methods: Totally, 133 industrial workers of a vehicle company were enrolled, who understood the purpose and consented to participate in the study. The collected data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe Test and hierarchical regression analysis using the SPSS 20.0 program. Results: Hierarchical regression analysis showed that job Stress(β=-.44, p<.001), and hobbies(β=-.21, p=.013) were the major influencing factors of the Physical Component Summary of HRQOL, which had an additional explanatory power of 11.5%. The influencing factors for the Mental Component Summary of HRQOL were job stress(β=-.43, p<.001), and coronary artery disease(β=.17, p=.034) with an additional explanatory power of 13.5%. Conclusion: Results of this study, reveal that a multidimensional approach based on an ecological model is suitable as a health promotion intervention strategy to improve the HRQOL. We further propose developing a multi-dimensional health promotion program that consider the individual and organizational factors such as job stress, activation of in-house clubs, and assessing and managing of the risk of cerebral and cardiovascular diseases.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.26-31
• /
• 2020

Heterosigma akashiwo is a globally distributed raphidophyte that forms blooms and causes significant losses to the aquaculture industry in many coastal countries. The development of a fast and sensitive detection method is therefore required to facilitate the appropriate warning of harmful algal blooms. In this study, a nuclease protection integrated with sandwich hybridization (NPA-SH) assay was developed to both qualitatively and quantitatively detect H. akashiwo. The NPA, capture and signal probes were designed by nucleotide sequencing of H. akashiwo. The applicability of NPA-SH was evaluated using cultured H. akashiwo cells and field samples collected at Goseong Bay, Korea. The results show that this method has good applicability and effectiveness in analyzing cultured cells and field samples. A linear regression equation for the quantitative analysis of H. akashiwo was obtained, and the lower detection limit of the assay was 1×10⁴ cells/ml. There was no statistically significant difference in the results of H. akashiwo quantitation using NPA-SH compared to those obtained using a microscope. These results indicate that NPA-SH can be a good alternative to the traditional microscopic method used to monitor H. akashiwo.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.163-168
• /
• 2007

Ecological risk assessment(ERA) to 5 abandoned mine drainage was investigated by using chemical measurement and bioassay experiment. From the results of chemical analysis, the high concentration of heavy metals are detected in most area. The Arsenite were mostly detected in Songcheon, Nakdong, and Dukum abandoned mine area, and various heavy metals were highly dispersed in Nakdong area. The study area have also high biological toxicity, resulted from the bioassay based on WET(Whole Effluent Toxicity) test by using Vibrio fisheri, Selenastrum copricornutum, and Daphnia magna. The maximum toxicity was shown in the point where the mine waters start to flow. The sensitivity of toxicity by S. capricornutum was relatively high considering the values of toxicity in all samples, from 1.3 to 32.0 TU. The different sensitivities of toxicity recommends the use of battery system, resulted from at least two test species for bioassay or ecological risk assessment of mine drainage. Besides, the results showed high hazard quotient(i.e., greater than 1 HQ value indicating potentially significant toxic risks) with regard to abandoned mine drainage area in this study. On the other hand, the biological toxicity results were sharply decreased by attenuation along further distance from discharging of mine waters. Therefore, environmental parameters including the dilution factor, dissolved organic matter, and hardness should be considered when the remediation and ERA of abandoned mine drainage is planned.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.52-61
• /
• 2019

Over the past few decades, microalgae-based biotechnology conjugated with innovative CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genetic engineering has been attracted much attention for the cost-effective and eco-friendly value-added compounds production. However, the discharge of reproducible living modified organism (LMO) into environmental condition potentially causes serious problem in aquatic environment, and thus it is essential to assess potential environmental risk for human health. Accordingly, in this study, we monitored discharged genetically modified microalgae (GMM) near the research complex which is located in Daejeon, South Korea. After testing samples obtained from 6 points of near streams, several green-colored microalgal colonies were detected under hygromicin-containing agar plate. By identification of selection marker genes, the GMM was not detected from all the samples. For the lab-scale environmental risk assessment of GMM, acute toxicity test using rotifer Brachionus calcyflorus was performed by feeding GMM. After feeding, there was no significant difference in mortality between WT and transformant Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. According to further analysis of horizontal transfer of green fluorescence protein (GFP)-coding gene after 24 h of incubation in synthetic freshwater, we concluded that the GFP-expressed gene not transferred into predator. However, further risk assessments and construction of standard methods including prolonged toxicity test are required for the accurate ecological risk assessment.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.352-359
• /
• 2021

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the geographic distribution of diabetes mortality in Japan and identify socioeconomic factors affecting differences in municipality-specific diabetes mortality. Methods: Diabetes mortality data by year and municipality from 2013 to 2017 were extracted from Japanese Vital Statistics, and the socioeconomic characteristics of municipalities were obtained from government statistics. We calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of diabetes for each municipality using the empirical Bayes method and represented geographic differences in SMRs in a map of Japan. Multiple linear regression was conducted to identify the socioeconomic factors affecting differences in SMR. Statistically significant socioeconomic factors were further assessed by calculating the relative risk of mortality of quintiles of municipalities classified according to the degree of each socioeconomic factor using Poisson regression analysis. Results: The geographic distribution of diabetes mortality differed by gender. Of the municipality-specific socioeconomic factors, high rates of single-person households and unemployment and a high number of hospital beds were associated with a high SMR for men. High rates of fatherless households and blue-collar workers were associated with a high SMR for women, while high taxable income per-capita income and total population were associated with low SMR for women. Quintile analysis revealed a complex relationship between taxable income and mortality for women. The mortality risk of quintiles with the highest and lowest taxable per-capita income was significantly lower than that of the middle-income quintile. Conclusions: Socioeconomic factors of municipalities in Japan were found to affect geographic differences in diabetes mortality.