• International Journal of Costume and Fashion
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.79-96
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of acculturation level and individualism/collectivism on shopping behaviors such as' informational influences, shopping orientations, and store patronage of Asian ethnic groups residing in the United States. A total of 129 Asian adults residing in North Carolina State of the U.S. completed questionnaires. Results showed statistically significant differences in responses to an informational influence (i.e., media source) and two shopping orientation subscales (i.e., shopping confusion in the Us. and personalized shopping) between low- and high-acculturated groups. A significant difference was found between the individualistic group and the collectivistic group on three shopping orientation subscales. Due to the potential importance of considering both acculturation and individualism/collectivism when looking at shopping behaviors, four groups were created by categorizing respondents on the basis of their acculturation level and individualism/collectivism scores. Comparison on shopping orientations and informational influences by four groups revealed statistically significant differences in response to two shopping orientation subscales and two patronage behavior subscales.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.21
• /
• pp.9453-9458
• /
• 2014

Background: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States. Differences in survival of breast cancer have been noted among racial and ethnic groups, but the reasons for these disparities remain unclear. This study presents the characteristics and the survival curve of two racial and ethnic groups and evaluates the effects of race on survival times by measuring the lifetime data-based half-normal model. Materials and Methods: The distributions among racial and ethnic groups are compared using female breast cancer patients from nine states in the country all taken from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry. The main end points observed are: age at diagnosis, survival time in months, and marital status. The right skewed half-normal statistical probability model is used to show the differences in the survival times between black Hispanic (BH) and black non-Hispanic (BNH) female breast cancer patients. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard ratio are used to estimate and compare the relative risk of death in two minority groups, BH and BNH. Results: A probability random sample method was used to select representative samples from BNH and BH female breast cancer patients, who were diagnosed during the years of 1973-2009 in the United States. The sample contained 1,000 BNH and 298 BH female breast cancer patients. The median age at diagnosis was 57.75 years among BNH and 54.11 years among BH. The results of the half-normal model showed that the survival times formed positive skewed models with higher variability in BNH compared with BH. The Kaplan-Meir estimate was used to plot the survival curves for cancer patients; this test was positively skewed. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard ratio for survival analysis showed that BNH had a significantly longer survival time as compared to BH which is consistent with the results of the half-normal model. Conclusions: The findings with the proposed model strategy will assist in the healthcare field to measure future outcomes for BH and BNH, given their past history and conditions. These findings may provide an enhanced and improved outlook for the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients in the United States.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• v.40 no.5
• /
• pp.334-341
• /
• 2010

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate morphologic differences in the mandibular arch between Egyptian and Korean subjects. Methods: The Egyptian sample consisted of 94 mandibular casts (35 Class I, 32 Class II and 27 Class III). The Korean sample consisted of 462 mandibular casts (114 Class I, 119 Class II, and 135 Class III). The most facial portion of 13 proximal contact areas was digitized from photocopied images of the mandibular dental arches. Clinical bracket points were calculated for each tooth. The subjects were grouped according to arch form to compare the frequency distribution of the 3 arch forms between the ethnic groups in each Angle classification. Results: Egyptians had significantly narrower intermolar and intercanine widths ($p$ < 0.001), and shallower intermolar and intercanine depths ($p$ < 0.001) than Koreans. There was an even frequency distribution of the 3 arch forms within the Egyptian group ($p$ = 0.46). However, in the Korean group, the most frequent arch form was the square arch form (46.7%), while the frequency of the tapered arch form was significantly lower (18.8%). Conclusions: These results might provide helpful information in evaluating morphologic differences between ethnic groups in selection of preformed superelastic archwires.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.525-532
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability of Northeast Asians to discriminate the salinity in salt solution and foods, and to compare their preference of salinity. Panels of Korean, Japanese and Chinese evaluated three kinds of samples that contained different level of salt such as salt solutions, julienned radish salad, Bulgogi. The salt levels had been manipulated to produce five samples of each one. The salt solutions were prepared by adding 0.3%, 0.7%, 1.1%, 1.5%, 1.9% salt into water. Different levels of salt in Julienned radish salad and Bulgogi were prepared by adding 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 3.5%, 4.5% salt to the recipe. The results of this study showed that the three ethnic groups had significant differences in their ability to distinguish the intensity of salinity in solutions containing a high contents of salt(1.5~1.9%). According to the regression analysis, Koreans(a=1.050) turned out to be the most able to detect the intensity of salinity, compared to the Japanese (a=0.988) and Chinese (a=0.807). All ethnic groups preferred a salt concentration of 0.3%, and the preference for this concentration was lower in Japanese than in Koreans and Chinese. There were significant differences in the perception of salinity in the julienned radish salad containing more than 3.5% salt between Koreans and Chinese. Koreans (a=1.168) appeared to be the most able to detect the intensity of salinity, compared to the Japanese (a=0.908) and Chinese (a=0.793). Both Koreans and Japanese had the strongest preference for the julienned radish salad containing a 1.5% salt concentration, while the Chinese preferred a salt concentraion of 2.5%. The ability of ethnic groups to detect the salinity in Bulgogi were significantly different at high salt -concentrations (more than 3.5%), and the awareness of salinity was as fallows : Koreans(a=0.161) > Japanese (a=0.896) > Chinese (a= 0.845). Koreans and Japanese had a higher preference or the Bulgogi containing a salt concentration of 1.5%, and the Chinese had higher preference at a salt concentration of 2.5%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.12
• /
• pp.6391-6395
• /
• 2012

Background: Ovarian cancer is ranked as the fifth most common cause of cancer death in women. In Malaysia, it is the fourth most common cancer in females. CA125 has been the tumor marker of choice in ovarian cancer but its diagnostic specificity in early stages is only 50%. Hence, there is a critical need to identify an alternative tumor marker that is capable of detecting detect ovarian cancer at an early stage. HE4 is a new tumor marker proposed for the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer and disease recurrence. Currently, none of the normal ranges of HE4 quoted in the literature are based on data for a multiethnic Asian population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine reference intervals for HE4 in an Asian population presenting in University Malaya Medical Centre, a tertiary reference hospital. Materials and Methods: 300 healthy women were recruited comprising 150 premenopausal and 150 postmenopausal women, aged from 20-76 years. All women were subjected to a pelvic ultrasonograph and were confirmed to be free from ovarian pathology on recruitment. Serum HE4 levels were determined by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA, Abbott Architect). The reference intervals were determined following CLSI guidelines (C28-A2) using a non-parametric method. Results: The upper limits of the $95^{th}$ percentile reference interval (90%CI) for all the women collectively were 64.6 pmol/L, and 58.4 pmol/L for premenopausal) and 69.0 pmol/L for postmenopausal. The concentration of HE4 was noted to increase with age especially in women who were more than 50 years old. We also noted that our proposed reference limit was lower compared to the level given by manufacturer Abbott Architect HE4 kit insert (58.4 vs 70 pmol/L for premenopausal group and 69.0 vs 140 pmol/L in the postmenopausal group). The study also showed a significant difference in HE4 concentrations between ethnic groups (Malays and Indians). The levels of HE4 in Indians appeared higher than in Malays (p<0.05), while no significant differences were noted between the Malays and Chinese ethnic groups. Conclusions: More data are needed to establish a reference interval that will better represent the multiethnic Malaysian population. Probably a larger sampling size of equal representation of the Malay, Chinese, Indians as well as the other native ethnic communities will give us a greater confidence on whether genetics plays a role in reference interval determination.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.14
• /
• pp.5721-5726
• /
• 2015

Lung cancer is the leading contributor to cancer deaths in the developing world. Within countries, significant variability exists in the prevalence of lung cancer risk, yet limited information is available whether some of the observed variability is associated with differences in the consumption pattern of local tobacco products with differing potency. We recruited 606 lung cancer cases and 606 controls from the B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Nepal from 2009-2012. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for lung cancer risk associated with different tobacco products, using unconditional logistic regression. Unfiltered cigarettes tended to be the most frequently used products across ethnic subgroup with about 53.7% of Brahmins, 60.1% of Chettris, and 52.3% of Rai/Limbu/Magar/others. In contrast, about 39.9% of Madishe/Tharu smokers reported using bidi compared with only 27.7% who smoked unfiltered cigarettes. Among those who only smoked one type of product, choor/kankat smokers had the highest lung cancer risk (OR 10.2; 95% CI 6.2-16.6), followed by bidi smokers (OR 5.6; 95% CI 3.6-8.7), unfiltered cigarettes (OR 4.9; 95% CI 3.4-7.2), and filtered cigarettes (OR 3.4; 95% CI 2.2-5.3). A clear dose-response relationship was observed between increased frequency of smoking and lung cancer risk across all ethnic subgroups. These results highlight the important role of traditional tobacco products on lung cancer risk in the low income countries.

• 한국사회정책
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.39-68
• /
• 2012

As foreign immigrants increase dramatically, the number of ethnic residential areas also grow rapidly in Korea. Of those foreign workers, the majority is Korean Chinese who can speak Korean language fluently and share common culture as the same ethnicity. As of now they are concentrated on 8 areas in Seoul forming their own community with networks for living and finding job. This paper is to investigate the differences and similarities of Korean Chinese residential areas in Seoul. In order to do that the authors researched two typical areas of Garibong-dong and Jayang-dong. The former is bigger and established earlier, became the symbol of Korean Chinese community. The latter area is relatively small and formed recently. Those staying in Garibong-dong are characterized as; single, moved from main land China directly, small sized residing unit and lower income. The place is mainly for the first incoming people to provide convenient environment for adapting in Seoul. On the other hand those staying in Jayang-dong are characterized as; with families, moved from other parts of Seoul, relatively good residence and higher income. Therefore this place is the second residential area for those who became familiar with living in Seoul. As a result, this paper found the process of differentiation in Korean Chinese communities. This process would be continued as far as foreign immigration continues. Therefore further researches required on more detail process of differentiation for various ethnic groups.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.195-205
• /
• 2016

This study was performed to select single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to the body burden of heavy metals in Koreans, to provide Korean allele frequencies of selected SNPs, and to assess the difference in allele frequencies with other ethnicities. The candidate-gene approach method and genome-wide association screening were used to select SNPs related to the body burden of heavy metals. Genotyping analysis of the final 192 SNPs selected was performed on 1,483 subjects using the VeraCode Goldengate assay. Allele frequencies differences and genetic differentiations between the Korean population and Chinese (CHB), Japanese (JPT), Caucasian (CEU), and African (YIR) populations were tested by Fisher's exact test and fixation index ($F_{ST}$), respectively. The Korean population was genetically similar to the CHB and JPT populations ($F_{ST}$ < 0.05, for all SNPs in both populations). However, a significant difference in the allele frequencies between the Korean and CEU and YIR populations were observed in 99 SNPs (60.7%) and 120 SNPs (73.6%), respectively. Ten (6.1%) and 26 (16.0%) SNPs had genetic differentiation ($F_{ST}$ > 0.05) among the Korean-CEU and Korean-YIR comparisons, respectively. The SNP with the largest $F_{ST}$ value between the Korean and African populations was cystathionine-${\beta}$-synthase rs234709 ($F_{ST}$: KOR-YIR, 0.309; KOR-CEU, 0.064). Our study suggests that interethnic differences exist in SNPs associated with heavy metals of Koreans, and it should be considered in future studies that address ethnic differences in heavy-metal concentrations in the body and genetic susceptibility to the body burden of heavy metals.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2011

As a result of comparison analysis on body types of Korean women in their twenties and Korean women residing in Japan, the following results had been found. 1. The comparison of 49 items in physical measurements between the Korean women in their 20's and Korean women residing in Japan resulted in the differences in 33 items. 2. The comparison of the factor analysis results for physical measurements did not reveal big differences. 3. The comparison of the physical shapes according to the grouping resulted in three types each for both groups, with different features for individual types. Women residing in Korea were classified into tall and normal body, normal height with obese body, and short and thin body. Women residing in Japan showed different characteristics with tall and obese body, short and thin body and normal height with obese body. As a result of this study, identical ethnic group was found to take on different body types resulting from sociocultural differences and difference in eating habits if their place of residence differs for a long time.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.42-50
• /
• 2011

Objective: The purposes of this study were to establish cephalometric norms of Mongolian adults, which have not previously been reported in orthodontic journals, and to compare them with cephalometric norms of Korean adults. Methods: Lateral cephalometric radiographs of 74 Mongolian adults (35 men, 39 women) and 95 Korean adults (52 men, 43 women) with normal occlusions and well-balanced lateral profiles were obtained. The subjects were chosen by orthodontists of the same ethnic background. Forty craniofacial variables were measured, and groups were compared by analysis of covariance. Results: The cephalometric norms for male and female Mongolian and Korean adults with normal occlusions and well-balanced lateral profiles were established. Sexual dimorphism was found in linear skeletal measurements and vertical skeletal relationships. Compared with Korean adults, Mongolian adults had shorter anterior facial height, more prominent chins, and more upright upper incisors. There were few differences in soft tissue measurements. The differences were statistically significant, but their clinical importance may be limited. Conclusions: Cephalometric differences can be considered, but little difference may exist in the orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning of Mongolian and Korean adults.