• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5257-5261
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• 2012

Background: High incidence of breast cancer and its fatal effect has reached an alarming stage across the globe, including the third world countries. Many factors have been reported to be associated with the development of breast cancer but detailed structural and functional information is missing. CA 15-3 is one of the known potential tumor marker of breast cancer; however little is known about structure and functional site of this protein. Present study aims to investigate the functional role of CA 15-3 in breast cancer, especially in development and metastasis. Material and Methods: Hundred female breast cancer patients confirmed by histopathological reports were included in the study. Their physiological characters were recorded in a performa. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique was used to estimate serum CA 15-3 level. Immunohistochemistry was done for estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and Her2/neu receptors expression. Results: The study revealed the details of physiological characteristics of female breast cancer. Mean age was $37.72{\pm}5.99$ and $55.05{\pm}7.28$ years and serum CA 15-3 (MUC1) level was $60.47{\pm}8.59$ and $63.17{\pm}4.58$ U/ml in pre and post-menopause respectively, and both groups of women had sedentary life style. Their receptor status especially of progesterone, estrogen and HER-2/neu were positive in 50% of premenopausal women and 65% of postmenopausal women. Conclusion: There are multiple physiological factors promoting breast cancer. High serum CA 15-3 level and hormonal imbalance of ER, PR and Her2/neu appears to be the main cause of breast cancer. It may be possible that the functional sites of these proteins may be altered which may increase the chances of metastasis in breast cancer.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.27-37
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• 1999

The purpose of this study is to provide for the basic data useful to the effective production and marketing of the brassiere befitting adult women's body shapes and preferences, and thereby, help them improve their apparel life. For this purpose, 563 Korean adult women aged between 20-59 were sampled to survey their practices of purchasing the brassieres and positively identify the factors affecting the practices and thereupon, determine the correlations among them by age group. Data is processed by a computer(SAS) and analyzed by using frequency, percentage, $\chi^2$-test, ANOVA, Duncan-test. The main results of this study are as follows; 1. The adult women tend to use such mass media as TV, magazines, catalogues and DM to decide for themselves which brassiere befits them most, and to check the brand-name(78.8%) or the sizes(93.4%), but more than 90% of them purchase their brassieres without trying on them. 2. The places of purchasing on which adult women rely most for their brassiere are department stores(32.6%), agencies(26.1%) and discount or pension shops(25.4%), while more than 90% of the sample women often visit bargain sale shops. The average number of brassieres possessed by our adult women is 5.7, and an adult women buys 2.6 brassiere costing 10-30 thousand wons a year on average and consumes a brassiere for the period from 6 months to 2 years. 3. It had been disclosed that the brand favored most by adult women is Venus(56.2%), followed by Vivien (17.6%), Wacoal(6.8%), Amie(2.5%) and Body Guard(2.3%). The most influential factors for the popularity of brands are fitting condition(40.3%) and design(23.8%), which suggests that consumers appreciate functionality and aesthetics. The most important reference affecting our women's choice of brassiere is size(64.4%), followed by design and functionality. The brassiere style favored most by adult women is a wire-type 3/4 cup brassiere made of thin material with sewing lines, while the most favorite color is white. In all, it has been found through this study that adult women's practices of buying their brassieres differ by age group, which may well suggest that brassiere production need to take such age-wise practices into consideration in setting up their brassiere production and marketing strategies.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2000

To compare the differences in the recognition on hospital utilization and satisfaction, 368 hospital employees and 485 patients were selected in four hospitals in Seoul and Kyung-gi do. The survey was done using a constructed form of checklist from Apr. 30 to May 10, 1999. And the results are as follows: l. Gaining knowledge of hospitals available among hospital employees differed from that of patients. When finding out about sources of information concerning hospitals, direct visit to the hospital was recognized to be the main factor for the hospital employees in contrast to the patients' recognition which were mass media, personal involvement of job related workplace and recommendations from other hospitals. There was no difference between university and general hospitals. 2. The factors that concern which hospital to choose there was a difference between hospital employees and patients. Hospital employees recommended their own hospital solely based on the reason that it was their work place. On the other hand, the patients made a choice based on the type of medical staff, transportation available and whether it was a university hospital or not. There was no difference between university and general hospitals. 3. The recognition of employees concerning hospital image of a hospital between hospital employees and patients was different. In university hospitals, the employees recognized the name value of university hospital and cooperation as most important, whereas the patients thought convenience, kindness were the main factors. Patients considered general hospitals to be more convenient. There was some difference between university and general hospitals. For university hospitals employees' recognition was higher and for the general hospital patients' recognition is higher on hospital image. 4. The recognition of employees was different from that of patients' on hospital satisfaction. The patients' satisfaction was higher than that of employees'. There was no difference between university and general hospitals. Based on the above findings, the employees' recognition on hospital utilization and satisfaction was different from that of the patients, but there was no difference between university and general hospitals. In both groups choice of hospital was associated with satisfaction. Results showing difference between employees' and patients' recognition can be applied to implement customer-oriented attitude and be used as a baseline data for internal-external marketing planning of hospital management. The study may be limited in that the results cannot be generalized due to its small sample size and not being able to reflect demographic variables and life style. Further studies to investigate the difference of hospital utilization and hospital satisfaction will be necessary to define demographic characteristics and recognition of employees which influences patients' hospital satisfaction.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.166-171
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• 2005

Background: Smoking effects are relatively well-documented, especially on cancers and cardiovascular diseases. However, the direction and magnitude of association between smoking and obesity remain unclear. Conflicting results so far are thought to stem from the multiple confounding structure of smoking and other obesogenic life style characteristics. Methods: Cotwin control study is a genomic epidemiology design, in which the other twin (=cotwin) serves as a control of the twin. Cotwin control study, discordant for smoking habits can provide powerful evidence of association between smoking and obesity by completely matching genomic information, intrauterine environment, and almost all environmental factors. We selected 3,697 like-sex twin pairs (2,762 male and 935 female pairs) out of 63,666 pairs of adult twins in the existing Korea Twin and Family Register, whose smoking habits are discordant. We used the information of obesity as body mass index (BMI, $kg/m^2$) blood pressure, and blood cholesterol level at the time or later than the smoking information. Paired t-test was done to compare the smoking effects. Results: Lifetime smoking rate was 80.1 % (47.9 current smoker) for men and 10% (1.7% current smoker) for women. Among 2,762 and 935 male and female like-sex twin pairs, 363 male pairs and 20 female pairs correspond to the definition of smoker-nonsmoker pair. The male smokers demonstrated increase in BMI by 0.47, while female smokers show slight decrease (by 0.13), which were not statistically significant. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure, and cholesterol level were slightly increased among smokers by 1.85 mmHg, 0.62 mmHg, and 1.28 mg/dl for men. For women, the results show increase in diastolic blood pressure (3.42mmHg) and cholesterol level (1.25 mg/dl), and systolic pressure (8.17 mmHg). Conclusion: The results refute the possibility that smoking can reduce BMI. Considering the direct adverse effect of smoking, it should be emphasized that smoking do not decrease obesity and thus increase overall metabolic syndrome.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.246-257
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• 2012

Objectives: To compare the self-rated health in chronic disease patients with depression, chronic disease patients, and depression patients, and to observe the related factors to the self-rated health of people age 65 and older. Methods: The subjects were 2,549 elderly people, over 65 years old in Busan Metropolitan City who participated in 2009 community health survey. Association between self-rated health and general characteristics, life style and disease status were observed. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Analysis of complex sample was done with SAS (ver. 9.2), using ${\chi}^2$-test and multiple logistic regression. Results: Among total 2,549, there were 740 normal people (29.8%), 50 people with depression (1.8%), 1,495 people with other chronic diseases (58.2%), and 264 people with the comobidity of depression and other chronic diseases (10.1%). Good self-related health accounted for 20.3% for the whole, 33.4% for normal, 16.7% for chronic disease, 16.1% for depression, and 3.2% for chronic diseases with depression. Disease, gender, education, income, alcohol drinking, regular exercise and regular walking were independent factors associated with the good self-related health. Conclusions: It is suggested that when the chronic disease control program for the elderly is developed, depression care should be considered along with the program. This program should be given priority to the women and the vulnerable classes and should also be related to the regular walking.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.267-280
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• 2013

College tuition is a significant economic, social, and political issue in Korea. We conduct a Bayesian analysis of a hierarchical model to address the factors related to college tuition based on a survey data collected by Statistics Korea. A binary response variable is selected depending on if more than 70% of tuition costs are supported by parents, and a hierarchical Probit model is constructed with areas as groups. A set of explanatory variables is selected from a factor analysis of available variables in the survey. A Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is used to estimate parameters. From the analysis results, income and stress are significantly related to college tuition support from parents. Parents with high income tend to support children's college tuition and students with parents' financial support tend to be mentally less stressed; subsequently, this shows that the economic status of parents significantly affects the mental health of college students. Gender, a healthy life style, and college satisfaction are not significant factors. Comparing areas in terms of the degrees of correlation between stress/income and tuition support from parents, students in Kangwon-do are the most mentally stressed when parents' support is limited; in addition, the positive correlation between parents support and income is stronger in big cities compared to provincial areas.

• Korean Journal of Comparative Education
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.213-238
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• 2017

This paper aims to point out that the contemporary textbook is a common cognitive construct, and that the realistic drawings in the textbooks have played an important role in shaping the world recognition. The main subjects of this study are the racial-ethnic illustrations of elementary school geography textbooks, published by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the Japanese Government-General of Taiwan and Korea, the educational association of Manchu. By comparing the same factors in various textbooks, it examines how the temporal and spatial recognition of the world is adjusted by visual representation. The main findings of this study are three fold. First, the world was introduced to the extent of the sum that the census and the classifications of racial and ethnic groups were adopted. And the world appeared later in the year supported by the racial and ethnic minorities. Second, the expressive style of racial and ethnic groups changed from an emphasis on a heterogeneous part as an object of scientific observation in the early stage to a later one with a life culture similar to the reader. Third, racial ethnic illustrations have been used differently depending on the publishing region in the Empire, giving readers in different regions with different images of the same category. In many cases, it was possible to know the politics of representation and the use of certain racial ethnic illustrations. The textbooks of the first half of the 20th century gave great recognition to the people who could not meet with the readers by using the illustrations. A child in the mainland is aware of his position in a "viewing position" while viewing various empire people through the textbook. On the other hand, in the textbooks of the colonial children, they stood in the position of 'being seen', and showed a change in internalizing the position of the mainland along with the expansion of the empire.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.295-302
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of adolescent health behavior on obesity using an online health behavior survey. The subjects of this study were 12,090 middle school students and 14,248 high school students among 26,338 Korean youths that responded to an online survey of youth health behaviors in 2018 (14th). There were significant differences in lifestyle, mental factors, exercise habits, and sitting habits as health behavior factors. The risk of obesity was higher in smokers (p<0.001), drinkers (p<0.001), those who ate breakfast less than four times a week (p<0.001), those who consumed fruit less than four times a week (p<0.001) and those who ate fast food less than two times a week (p<0.001). The obesity rate was higher in people with high-stress (p<0.05). Exercise habit as a factor was higher in the obesity rate than in physical activity by three times as much (p<0.001), whereas students categorized as muscular (p<0.01) had one to two times more physical activity (p<0.001). Students who had less than six hours of learning purpose were found to have higher obesity rates than those with more than six hours of learning purpose (p<0.001). In conclusion, the obesity rate did not increase with prolonged sitting habits, but did increase with longer sitting time except for those who studied purpose folly. Therefore, it is necessary to have a set time for internet use, as well as to educate schools about proper lifestyle, and to promote healthy exercise habits.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.4517-4525
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• 2016

Background: Sperm DNA damage is underlying aetiology of poor implantation and pregnancy rates but also affects health of offspring and may also result in denovo mutations in germ line and post fertilization. This may result in complex diseases, polygenic disorders and childhood cancers. Childhood cancer like retinoblastoma (RB) is more prevalent in developing countries and the incidence of RB has increased more than three fold in India in the last decade. Recent studies have documented increased incidence of cancers in children born to fathers who consume alcohol in excess and tobacco or who were conceived by assisted conception. The aetiology of childhood cancer and increased disease burden in these children is lin ked to oxidative stress (OS) and oxidative DNA damage( ODD) in sperm of their fathers. Though several antioxidants are in use to combat oxidative stress, the effect of majority of these formulations on DNA is not known. Yoga and meditation cause significant decline in OS and ODD and aid in regulating OS levels such that reactive oxygen speues meditated signal transduction, gene expression and several other physiological functions are not disrupted. Thus, this study aimed to analyze sperm ODD as a possible etiological factor in childhood cancer and role of simple life style interventions like yoga and meditation in significantly decreasing seminal oxidative stress and oxidative DNA damage and thereby decreasing incidence of childhood cancers. Materials and Methods: A total of 131 fathers of children with RB (non-familial sporadic heritable) and 50 controls (fathers of healthy children) were recruited at a tertiary center in India. Sperm parameters as per WHO 2010 guidelines and reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA fragmentation index (DFI), 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxy guanosine (8-OHdG) and telomere length were estimated at day 0, and after 3 and 6 months of intervention. We also examined the compliance with yoga and meditation practice and smoking status at each follow-up. Results: The seminal mean ROS levels (p<0.05), sperm DFI (p<0.001), 8-OHdG (p<0.01) levels were significantly higher in fathers of children with RB, as compared to controls and the relative mean telomere length in the sperm was shorter. Levels of ROS were significantly reduced in tobacco users (p<0.05) as well as in alcoholics (p<0.05) after intervention. DFI reduced significantly (p<0.05) after 6 months of yoga and meditation practice in all groups. The levels of oxidative DNA damage marker 8-OHdG were reduced significantly after 3 months (p<0.05) and 6 months (p<0.05) of practice. Conclusions: Our results suggest that OS and ODD DNA may contribute to the development of childhood cancer. This may be due to accumulation of oxidized mutagenic base 8OHdG, and elevated MDA levels which results in MDA dimers which are also mutagenic, aberrant methylation pattern, altered gene expression which affect cell proliferation and survival through activation of transcription factors. Increased mt DNA mutations and aberrant repair of mt and nuclear DNA due to highly truncatred DNA repair mechanisms all contribute to sperm genome hypermutability and persistant oxidative DNA damage. Oxidative stress is also associated with genome wide hypomethylation, telomere shortening and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to genome hypermutability and instability. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report decline in OS and ODD and improvement in sperm DNA integrity following adoption of meditation and yoga based life style modification.This may reduce disease burden in next generation and reduce incidence of childhood cancers.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.776-785
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• 2008

Maternal stress was one of the common symptoms that pregnant women could have experienced during pregnant period. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation of maternal stress with maternal nutrients intake and pregnancy outcome. Subjects were 248 pregnant women and were recruited at two hospitals in Seoul area. Individual stress levels were divided by the stress scores (total 41 scores), as low stressed group (< 12) and high stressed group (${\geqq}12$). The social characteristics, nutrient intake, anthropometric measurements and pregnancy outcome were compared between low stressed group (LSG) and high stressed group (HSG) to recognize risk factor of maternal stress. We found that subjects experience stress by various factors which were concern about newborn (40.4%), concern about health (28.8%), economic difficulties (13.2%), depress (10.1%), family relationship (2.9%), concern of house work (2.5%), human relationship (2%). In HSG, unemployed rate (p < 0.05) and pre-pregnancy BMI (p < 0.05) were higher than in LSG. Family size in HSG was larger than that in LSG (p < 0.01). Doing regular exercise with the light activity level was significantly higher in LSG (p < 0.05). The nutrient intake in LSG was slightly higher than that in HSG, but not statistically significant. Pregnancy outcome was not significantly affected by the maternal stress. In conclusion, the risk of maternal stress may be related with a life style during pregnancy. Therefore, life style for maternal stress control, such as weight control and regular exercise is recommended to prevent maternal stress.