• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6609-6612
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• 2014

Opisthorchis viverrini is an ongoing public health problem in Northeast Thailand. Despite continuous efforts for decades by healthcare organizations to overcome this problem, infection rates remain high. To enable related personnel to identify and address the various issues effectively, a cross-sectional study was performed to investigate prevalence and risk factors for opisthorchiasis. The target group was 3,916 Thai residents of Northeast Thailand who were 15 or over. Participants were recruited using the 30 clusters sampling technique. The data were gathered through questionnaires, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and stool examinations for parasite eggs (using the Modified Kato Katz method). The data were analyzed using descriptive and inference statistics; in order to ascertain the risk factors and test them using the odds ratio and multiple logistic regressions. The prevalence of opisthorchiasis was 22.7% (95%CI: 0.26 to 0.24). The province with the highest prevalence was Nakhorn Phanom (40.9%; female to male ratio =1:1.2). The age group with the highest prevalence was 40-49 year olds. All age groups had a prevalence >20%. Four of seven provinces had a prevalence >20%. The factors related to opisthorchiasis were (a) sex, (b) age (especially > 50), (c) proximity and duration living near a water body, and (d) eating raw and/or fermented fish. In order to reduce the prevalence of opisthorchiasis, the focus in populations living in upper Northeast Thailand should be changing their eating behaviors as appropriate to their tradition and context.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.7039-7043
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• 2013

A liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrrini (OV), is the major cause of the high incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in North-eastern Thailand. The prevalence of OV infection remains high in various parts of the country, especially in wetland rural areas where a large proportion of the community work in agriculture and continue the traditional practice of eating raw or uncooked cyprinoid fish products. The national control program seems to have had little impact in many of these areas, and it has been difficult to make precise assessments of the overall effectiveness of the program. Therefore there is a need for a community-based approach to prevent infection with the parasite, ideally involving as many players as possible. Here we document an attempt to assess the best means to prevention on the basis of a community intervention in three villages in north-east Thailand, with participation of representatives of Health Promotion Hospitals of the Ministry of Public Health with dedicated staff, but also school teachers, independent government sponsored village health volunteers, and housewives responsible for cooking and diet selection. An action plan was followed, allowing detailed discussions of practical proposals, their introduction and then repeated reflection and further proposals at the individual village level.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.189-194
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• 1999

A case of human infection with Heterophyes nocens (Heterophyidae) was incidentally found in a biopsy specimen of the Meckel's diverticulum at the upper part of the small intestine. The patient was a 58-year-old man living in a rural area of Talsong-gun, Kyongsangbuk-do.He had gastrointestinal symptoms such as epigastric pain, indigestion, and abdominal discomfort for 3 months, and severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting for about 1 month before hospitalization. Endoscopy of the upper part of the small intestine revealed a Meckel's diverticulum, and it was excised and histo-pathologically examined. Three adult flukes were incidentally found sectioned in the mucosa, and they were identified as H.nocens. The patient had a history of eating raw mullets at a fish market in Pusan 6 months ago, and the mullets were presumed to be the source of infection. This case brings a considerable interest in that specific diagnosis of heterophyid infections could be done by sectional morphology of the worms.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3399-3402
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• 2012

A liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrrini (OV), is the major cause of the high incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in Thailand. The prevalence of OV infection remains high in various parts of the country, especially in Northeast Thailand and particularly in wetland rural areas where a large proportion of the community work in agriculture and continue the traditional practice of eating raw or uncooked cyprinoid fish products. The national control program seems to have had little impact in many of these areas, and it has been difficult to make precise assessments of the overall effectiveness of the program. This paper is the first report of prospective research project designed to monitor the impact of the national control program in rural communities located in a northeastern province and at high risk of OV infection. The participants in this initial survey were 1,569 villagers, aged 20-65 years, living in two subdistricts of Yasothon Province. Stool examinations showed that 38.68% were infected with OV. Males were slightly more likely to be infected than females, but the difference was not statistically significant. Infection was found to be positively associated with age in both males and females. The preliminary data indicate that the population selected for study is suitable for the purpose of the monitoring project.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.230-235
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• 1985

The metacercariae of an echinostomatid fluke were detected from a freshwater 6sh, Odontobutis obscura interrupta caught from the Seom river system, Wonseong-gun, Kangwon-do, and experimentally infected into rats to obtain the adult worms for the species identification. A total of 32 metacercariae was detected from 10 fishes (27.8%) out of 36 O. obscura interrupta caught from the river. The average size of metacercariae was $153.4{\times}149.0{\;}{\mu}{\textrm{m}}$. Also, it was uniquely specific that thickened membrane was formed around the metacercarial cyst wall. The rats orally infected with those metacercariae were sacrificed 20 days after infection to get the adult worms. The mean length and width of the adult worms were 0.75 cm and 0.13 cm, respectively. The number of collar spines on circumoral disk was 26 to 28, and the end group spines at lateral sides of the oral sucker were 4 on each side. The echinostomatid flukes observed in this study were all identified as Echinostoma hortense according to the morphologies of the cirrus sac, ovary, vitellaria and testes of the adult worms and the shape of eggs. On the other hand, O. obscura interrupta is one of the fresh-water fish that are preferably eaten raw by the rural inhabitants. Although no human case of 5. hortense infection by eating O. obscura interrupta has been experienced yet, the possibility is strongly suggested in this study.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.463-476
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• 2016

Western countries came to Asia aggressively in the early 1900s. Westerners who came to Korea at that time also had a various jobs with diplomats, missionaries, doctors, and so on. Korean diet was curious and shocking to foreigners in the early 1990s, so they made a record of the Korean diet. They thought Korea was peaceful, attractive and rich to eat. Koreans ate mainly rice and kimchi, a variety of grains, vegetables and bibimbap. Korea had a variety of meat and fish, seaweed, and herbs(ginseng). Foreigners said Koreans were greedy for food and ate a lot. Koreans ate basically a bowl of rice(bap), a bowl of soup(kuk), kimchi, soy sauce and other dishes. If Koreans wanted to set a table in abundance, they have meat soup(kuk) with meat and additional fish like as raw fish, dried fish, and boiled or fried fish. Korean people had a jangdokdae with Ongki(Earthen jar) where soy sauce(kanjang), soybean paste(doenjang), red pepper paste(kochujang), pickles (jang-achi) have been fermented. Foreigners felt the smell of lacquer tree and kimchi hung in the air from Korean people. While they were compared it to the smell of western rim cheese burger, they said Korea was a country with nasty smell in the feet. By the records of foreigners in the early 1900s, Korean's diets and image were appeared objectively.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.150-163
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• 2006

A study on sliced raw fish consumption was conducted on 300 citizens of Busan (89 men and 192 women), attending high school and university, housekeepers and employees. A self-administered questionnaire was used to record the results. The results were as follows: 93 percent of the respondents appeared to like or not be reluctant to eating Maeun-Tang. Most of the panelists had eaten at a seafood restaurant. The taste of Maeun-Tang varied differently by the spicy fish soup recipe. 56 percent of the respondents appeared to want this dish to have a fiery taste. Therefore, 89 percent of the respondents appeared to desire Maun-Tang to have a standardized recipe. The qualities of four kinds of stock made of water (A recipe), anchovy added with sea tangle (B recipe), fish bone (C recipe) and vegetable (D recipe) were investigated by using sensory evaluation and instrumental analysis for amino acids and nucleotides. The C recipe score was 80.9${\pm}$15.9 and D, B recipe was $75.7{\pm}17.1$, $75.4{\pm}17.2$, respectively. The A recipe score was $61.8{\pm}22.8$. The Degree of smooth taste were D recipe >A recipe >B recipe>C recipe. The Degree of spicy taste were C recipe >B recipe >D recipe>A recipe. In sensory evaluation, the C recipe obtained the highest score for overall preference. However, no difference of extractive nitrogen content, nucleotide and amino acid contest were observed in the C recipe after cook of Maeun-Tang.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.150-156
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• 1983

Five cases of Diphyllobothrium latum infection were proved by collection of worms after treatment with bithionol, niclosamide or praziquantel, during 1975~1983. The patients were 4 males and one female aged 10~64 years residing in Seoul or Wando-gun, Chollanam-do, Korea. All of them remembered the history of eating several kinds of raw marine fish and 2 persons said they ate the raw mesh of perch, Lateolabrax japcnicus. Three amcnE them experienced abdominal pain, 2 natural discharge of a chain of segments, but none revealed any sign of anemia. The average egg size in stool varied $59~67{\times}41~48{\mu\textrm{m}}$ according to cases. The eggs were characterised by ovoid to elliptical shape, terminal operculum, and distinct abopercular protuberance. One naturally discharged segment (30cm) and 4 complete strobilae (320~680cm) with scolices obtained after treatments were examined. The morphological characters of proglottids such as rosette-form uterus with 3~6 loops, vaginal pore included in the cirrus sac, separated seminal vesicle from cirrus sac, etc. were all compatible with D. latum. These are the 7th~11th cases of D. latum infection proved by worms in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.357-363
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• 2002

This study was conducted to find out the actual condition of dining-out and the propensity to dining-out at suppertime according to gender and age in Busan area. The survey was conducted on 792 peoples who live or work in Busan area. The results of the questionnaires are as follows ; The place to dining-out at suppertime were in order of “downtown”and “about the house”Partner to eating-out were in order of “friend” and “family”. Restaurants used frequently at suppertime were in order of “Kalbi R.”, “Korean style R.” and “Sliced raw fish R.”The favorite menu were in order to “So-kalbi”, “Sliced raw fish”and “Pizza” Drinking with a meal was 76.7% of respondents and the kind of liquor frequetly drinking were in order of “Soju” and “Beer” at suppertime. But, the results of the propensity to dining-out were different according to gender and age groups.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.675-685
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• 2002

A study was performed to develop as a screening tool, the Simple Evaluation Questionnaire for screening Overweight Dietary Patterns in people in their 20's. We used the data from the 20 to 29 year old subjects who participated in the three surveys: the health behavior survey, the dietary habit survey and the food intake survey - as part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey of 1998. The 1,493 adults were classified into two body fatness groups, that of normal (including the underweight) , and the overweight (including the obese) on the basis of their relative body weight (RBW). When comparing general variables between the two groups, significant differences (11 variables) were found in gender, sadness/depression state, stress level, age, number of diseases, age when overweightedness started, maximum body weight, sleep length, presently a smoker, everyday smoking habits, number of alcoholic drinks in the past month, and the number of alcoholic drinks when dunk, as well as snacking frequency and fatty food consumption. There were significant differences between the two groups in the three variables of daily soup/kuk, pan fried fish/meat/poultry and cooked fish paste/ham/dried squid in terms of cooked food intake, and 11 variables of food size, cooked rice, stews, vegetables and kimchi at breakfast, panfried foods and beverage/teas at lunch, cooked rice and stews (liquid) at dinner, cooked fish paste/ham/dried squid at snacks and cooked fishpaste/ham/dried squid at snack between lunch and dinner. In terms of raw food intake, we observed significant differences (8 variables) in daily food intake and grains, grains/vegetables/fishes (shellfish) at breakfast, meat at lunch and milt at snack after dinner. After developing questions with indicators and analyzing the indicators by logistic regression analysis using 34 variables, including these 33, plus eating-out frequency, we chose 10 questions for the simple evaluation of dietary patterns for the overweight category, in order to give each one point each. Among them we assigned an additional point to one question and two points to another question. The average scores of the overweight and normal groups, as shown by the questionnaire developed, were 5.97 $\pm$ 2.36 and 7.36 $\pm$ 2.21, respectively. A score of seven points was selected as the cut-off point. We examined the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of the questionnaire to the results of 49.3%,75.4% and 68.8%, respectively. The total score categorized as an overweight dietary pattern was 30.2%.