• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.574-585
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• 2023

Sarcopenia is a leading cause of increased medical and nursing care costs among the elderly. In Korea, preventive measures for sarcopenia are mostly targeted toward the general elderly population without specific diseases. However, it is also necessary to implement measures for elderly individuals living in nursing homes and hospitals, where the prevalence of sarcopenia is high. Currently, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging are considered standard diagnostic tools. However, their complexity and time-consuming nature make them unsuitable for clinical use. The exact pathophysiological mechanisms of sarcopenia are unclear, as they involve various molecular biological pathways, including decreased exercise, protein and nutrient intake, changes in testosterone and growth hormone, and inflammation. Sarcopenia symptoms can lead to several diseases, such as osteoporosis, fractures, dementia, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Vitamin B deficiency is a significant factor in sarcopenia induction, with B vitamins being directly involved in energy and protein metabolism and nerve function. Vitamin B deficiency can lead to neuromuscular and neurogenic disorders, which often overlap with sarcopenia. Suboptimal intake of B vitamins, malabsorption, and anorexia are common among the elderly. This study aims to provide information on the role of water-soluble B vitamins in preventing and controlling muscle mass loss and deterioration among the elderly with sarcopenia. In addition, we discuss the potential of myokines from the B vitamin family in modulating sarcopenia.

• 한국노년학
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.243-258
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• 2009

Background: Falls are among the most common and serious health problems of older people. The psychological symptoms of falling have received relatively little attention compared to physical problems. Objective: The purpose of this study is to test a model to explain the factors that influence fear of falling among older adults living in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Baltimore city, United States. Methods: A secondary analysis was conducted using data obtained from a Health Promotion Survey done on 149 older adults living in a CCRC. Data was originally obtained during face to face interviews with each participant. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were used to describe the sample and evaluate simple correlations. A path analysis was done using the AMOS 4.0 statistical program. Results: Of the 49 hypothesized paths, 13 were statistically significant, and the model accounted for 22% of the variance in fear of falling among the elderly. There was support for the fit of the model to the data with a nonsignificant chi square at 0.478 (df=2, p=0.79), and the ratio of chi-square to degrees of freedom was 0.24, a CFI of 0.99 and RMSEA of 0.00. In particular, gender, a history of falling, and exercise were significant predictors of fear of falling. Conclusions/Implications: As anticipated, exercise is an important factor to prevent fear of falling. As a modifiable variable, self-efficacy and outcome expectation indirectly influence fear of falling through exercise.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.117-135
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• 2016

The present study was performed to develop a functional raw food material from hydrolyzed whey protein powder (23%-GNANA) medication containing sialic acid as a marker compound that is naturally occurring at 7% concentration in GMP (glycomacropeptide). GMP is used worldwide in foodstuffs for babies and infants and is obtained from the milk protein as safe food. While the purpose of our detailed evaluation was aimed to assess preliminary NOAEL values for and above 2,000 mg/kg/day, a clinical dose allowance for 23%-GNANA (as per characteristic of a functional health product, a highly refined test substance of 23% (v/v) sialic acid combined in GMP), at the same time we also wanted to assess the safety of GMP hydrolyzate lacking sialic acid but with identical properties as GMP. Animal safety evaluation was conducted using 23%-GNANA as the test substance, produced from hydrolyzed whey protein powder (product name: HELICOBACTROL-23; provided by Medinutrol Inc. [Korea]; composed of 23% sialic acid and GMP protein) after isolating the sialic acid using enzymes approved as food additives, with GMP as a raw material, and subsequently increasing the content of xx up to 23% through 80% (v/v) ethanol soaking and concentrating, in accordance with GLP Guideline. The animal safety evaluation mentioned above was made on the basis of toxicity in SPF Sprague-Dawley female and male rats dosed with 10 mL of the test substance diluted to 0, 1,250, 2,500, and 5,000 mg/kg directly into their stomachs for 90 d. This was determined in terms of the general symptoms and animal viability, weight and amount of feed intake, eye examination, uracrasia tests, hematological and blood biochemical disorder tests, blood coagulation test, abnormal intestine weight, abnormalities during postmortem and histopathological examinations. Statistical significance was set at P<0.05. Based on the toxicity determination, a certain minor effect associated with the test substance was observed in male rats with no major effects of the tested substance, in comparison with the control group dosed with sterilized water. Nevertheless, the NOAEL value, evaluated as per toxicity criteria, was verified as 5,000 mg/kg/day (P<0.05). Similarly, for female rats, a certain minor effect associated with the test substance was observed in 5,000 mg/kg/day dosed group, with no major effect, yet the NOAEL value (as assessed as per toxicity criteria) was determined to be 5,000 mg/kg/day (P<0.05), which was the same as for male rats. Accordingly, the NOAEL values of the test substances for all female and male rats were finally verified as 5,000 mg/kg/day (P<0.05). In conclusion, it was determined that the 23%-GNANA test substance exceeds 2,000 mg/kg/day, the clinical allowance characteristic for functional health food, and was finally evaluated to cause no safety concerns when used as a raw material in functional health food production, which was the ultimate goal of the present study.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2014

Purpose: The aim of this study is that the prevalence of rotavirus infection was evaluated by each group and clinical features of group A, B and C rotaviruses infections were described respectively to compare one with another. Methods: Between January 2010 and December 2010, we enrolled a group of children below 10 years of age admitted for management of acute diarrhea at the Catholic University of Korea Bucheon St. Mary's Hospital. A total of 310 stool samples documented to be free of common bacterial pathogens were collected from children with diarrhea. The presence of group A, B or C rotavirus is indicated by amplification of DNA segments of the expected lengths after the first and second PCRs Results: In a total of 310 stool specimens, 40 (12.9%) specimens were positive for rotaviruses. These included 23 (7.4%) positive for group A, 5 (1.6%) for group B and 12 (3.9%) for group C rotaviruses. Group B rotavirus infected patients had significantly less diarrheas per day (group A: P =0.01, group C: P =0.01) and shorter duration of vomiting days (group A: P =0.03, group C: P =0.03) than those with group A and C rotaviruses infection respectively. All the group B rotaviruses had been isolated in March and October. Group C rotavirus infections were prevalent during late summer and early winter and peaked in October. Conclusion: These findings indicate that group B and C rotaviruses are notable causes or the contributing causes of diarrhea among infants and children in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.85 no.3
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• pp.581-595
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• 2024

Purpose The present study aimed to investigate the frequency and extent of compensatory common bile duct (CBD) dilatation after cholecystectomy, assess the time between cholecystectomy and CBD dilatation, and identify potentially useful CT findings suggestive of obstructive CBD dilatation. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included 121 patients without biliary obstruction who underwent multiple CT scans before and after cholecystectomy at a single center between 2009 and 2011. The maximum short-axis diameters of the CBD and intrahepatic duct (IHD) were measured on each CT scan. In addition, the clinical and CT findings of 11 patients who were initially excluded from the study because of CBD stones or periampullary tumors were examined to identify distinguishing features between obstructive and non-obstructive CBD dilatation after cholecystectomy. Results The mean (standard deviation) short-axis maximum CBD diameter of 121 patients was 5.6 (± 1.9) mm in the axial plane before cholecystectomy but increased to 7.9 (± 2.6) mm after cholecystectomy (p < 0.001). Of the 106 patients with a pre-cholecystectomy axial CBD diameter of < 8 mm, 39 (36.8%) showed CBD dilatation of ≥ 8 mm after cholecystectomy. Six of the 17 patients with long-term (> 2 years) serial follow-up CT scans (35.3%) eventually showed a significant (> 1.5-fold) increase in the axial CBD diameter, all within two years after cholecystectomy. Of the 121 patients without obstruction or related symptoms, only one patient (0.1%) showed IHD dilatation > 3 mm after cholecystectomy. In contrast, all 11 patients with CBD obstruction had abdominal pain and abnormal laboratory indices, and 81.8% (9/11) had significant dilatation of the IHD and CBD. Conclusion Compensatory non-obstructive CBD dilatation commonly occurs after cholecystectomy to a similar extent as obstructive dilatation. However, the presence of relevant symptoms, significant IHD dilatation, or further CBD dilatation 2-3 years after cholecystectomy should raise suspicion of CBD obstruction.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.85-97
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• 2008

Objectives: This study was designed to understand the oral health knowledge & conduct of middle-school students, search for the learning objective and the educational method in line with the subjects and of utilizing as the basic data for an effective oral health-care program. Methods: The samples to achieve the purpose of this research are composed of 139 students in middle-school, OO county. Chungcheongbuk-do, the number of male students 64, and female students 75. Data were statistically analyzed by frequency analysis, $x^2$-test or Fisher's exact test by using SPSS WIN Ver. 12.0. Results: Among items on oral-health knowledge in middle-school students. the awareness ratio on a cause and preventive method for oral disease was surveyed to be lower than the awareness ratio on symptoms of oral disease. As a result of examining by comparing knowledge and behavior on the time of tooth brush. both awareness and behavior were the level of 50% or less than it. In particular, 46.2% perceived after lunch. but practice just accounted for 33.0%. The frequency of tooth brush a day was the largest in a case(47.5%) of doing twice a day. However. there was also the response (5.8%) with saying of brushing once or not brushing even once. Thus, the practice of tooth brush was surveyed to be very low even if being a minority of students. The frequency of taking a light meal was 68.8% in less than twice a day. However, even students of taking more than five times were surveyed to be 9.8%. Out of the whole-body health in over 50%-59.9%. the oral health was surveyed to be perceived to be very important. Compared to the awareness level on importance of a tooth, the ratio of visiting a dentistry was analyzed to be very low. Conclusions: The study results suggest that the school oral-health project was examined to have the necessity of being expanded and carried out even in middle-and-high schools, by which the specific oral-health promotion program including oral-health education in this period is developed.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.177-187
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• 2017

Purpose: From August 2017, hospice-palliative care (HPC) will be provided to patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and liver cirrhosis in Korea. To contribute to building a non-cancer (NC) hospice-palliative care model, NC specialists were interviewed regarding the goals, details, and provision methods of the model. Methods: Four physicians specializing in HPC of cancer patients formulated a semi-structured interview with questions extracted from literature review of 85 articles on NC HPC. Eleven NC disease specialists were interviewed, and their answers were analyzed according to the qualitative content analysis process. Results: The interviewees said as follows: It is difficult to define end-stage NC patients. HPC for cancer patients and that for NC patients share similar goals and content. However, emphasis should be placed on alleviating other physical symptoms and emotional care rather than pain control. Timing of the care provision should be when patients are diagnosed as "end stage". Special issues should be considered for each NC disease (e.g., use of anti-retroviral drugs for AIDS patients, oxygen supply for COPD patients suffering from dyspnea, liver transplantation for patients with liver cirrhosis) and education should be provided to healthcare professionals. NC patients tend to negatively perceive HPC, and the government's financial assistance is insufficient. Conclusion: It is necessary to define end-stage NC patients through in-depth discussion to minimize issues that will likely accompany the expansion of care recipients. This requires cooperation between medical staff caring for NC patients and HPC givers for cancer patients.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2011

Purpose : Pneumococcus is one of the most important causes of invasive infection through the childhood period. In January 2008, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) published revised penicillin breakpoints for Streptococcus pneumoniae and penicillin susceptibility rates of S. pneumoniae increased in Korea. This study was performed to determine the probability of oral amoxicillin for the empirical treatment achieving bactericidal exposure against pneumococcus using pharmacodynamics model. Methods : Twenty-three isolates of pneumococci were subjected to determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for ${\beta}$-lactams and macrolide. For the ${\beta}$-lactams, exposure of fT >MIC (time that free drug concentrations remain above the MIC) for 50% of the administration interval have determined the probability of target attainment (PTA), and regimens that had a PTA >90% were considered optimal. An analysis was performed by applying MIC of 23 isolates to a 5000-patient Monte Carlo simulation model. Results : Among 23 isolates from healthy children, 7 (30.4%) isolates were MIC ${\leq}$1.0 ${\mu}g$/mL and 19 (82.6%) were MIC ${\leq}$2 ${\mu}g$/mL for amoxicillin. Amoxicillin 40 mg/kg/day achieved PTA >90% at MIC ${\leq}$1.0 ${\mu}g$/mL but PTA decreased to 52% at MIC 2 ${\mu}g$/mL, whereas amoxicillin 90 mg/kg/day can predict 97% of PTA at MIC 2 ${\mu}g$/mL. Overall, oral amoxicillin 90 mg/ kg/day for the empirical treatment against pneumococcus can expect more successful response in Korean children. Conclusion : Considering the resistantce pattern of pneumococci in Korean children, we estimate that oral amoxicillin 90 mg/kg/day will provide a pharmacodynamic advantage for the empirical treatment against pneumococcus. And low dose amoxicillin or macrolide are expected to have higher chance of treatment failure than high dose oral amoxicillin.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.212-227
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• 2000

This study was designed to testify the reliability and validation on the Korean version of the Social Adaptation Self-rating Scale(SASS) which was developed from Bose et al. for the evaluation of social motivation and behavior of depressed patients in 1997. Interests for the social world, those of social functioning, of patients were involved in the addition of new measure of disturbance. And those were distinct from abnormalities of thought, mood and symptoms of patients with major depression. As the previous reports there were several evidences that treatments may be less likely to be effective if the system they act on is dysfunctional. Thus, a better social situation favoured better outcome. As a matter of fact, however, those reports were developed in the course of the evaluation of interpersonal therapy(IPT) and cognitive therapy. Accordingly the conversed question -whether pharmacological therapy with antidepressants can impact on social functioning in addition to addressing the core features of illness- has been addressed. To date, anyhow, it is accepted that enhancement of social functioning may be a therapeutic principle in its own right and illness rarely divorced from social context. In terms of those concepts the introduction of an assessment of social functioning into pharmacotherapeutic studies of depression has been welcomed and might be a potent instrument for evaluating the relative pharmacoeconomic benefits of different treatments. Despite of many scales which were applied for the evaluation of symptoms in the patients with depression, however, the scale for the evaluation of social functiong has not been introduced in Korea yet. Thus, this study was designed to introduce the concepts of social functioning in the patients with depression and to testify the reliability and validation on Korean version of SASS. This Korean version of SASS was submitted to a reliability and validation procedure based on the data from healthy general population survey in 291 individuals and 40 patients with major depression. Cronbach a was 0.790 in total subjects group and the correlation of test-retest was statistically significant(y=0.653, p<0.0l). Thus, the Korean version of SASS might be shown to be valid and reliable. The results of multivariate analyses allowed the identification of 3 principle factors(factor 1 = intersts in social activities, factor 2 = active interpersonal relationship, factor 3 = selfesteem) in normal group, however, it could be counted as only one factor in the depression group because nearly total items of SASS were involved in factor 1. In the view of these results, the Korean version of SASS may be useful additional tool for the evaluation of social functioning in depression.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.99-116
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• 2016

We herein performed animal safety assessment in accordance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations with the aim of developing sialic acid from glycomacropeptide (hereafter referred to as "GMP") as an index ingredient and functional component in functional foods. GMP is a type of whey protein derived from milk and a safe food, with multiple functions, such as antiviral activity. A test substance was produced containing 7% (w/w) sialic acid and mostly-hydrolyzed whey protein (hereafter referred to as "7%-GNANA") by enzymatic treatment of substrate GMP. The maximum intake test dose level was selected based on 5,000 mg/kg/day dose set for male NOEL (no-observed-effect-level) and female NOAEL (no-observed-adverse-effect-level) determined by a dose-range finding (DRF) test (GLP Center of Catholic University of Daegu, Report No. 15-NREO-001) that was previously conducted with the same test substance. To evaluate the toxicity of a repeated oral dose of the test substance in connection with the previous DRF study, 1,250, 2,500, and 5,000 mg/kg of the substance were administered by a probe into the stomachs of 6-week-old SPF Sprague-Dawley male and female rats for 90 d. Each test group consisted of 10 male and 10 female rats. To determine the toxicity index, all parameters, such as observation of common signs; measurements of body weight and food consumption; ophthalmic examination; urinalysis, electrolyte, hematological, and serum biochemical examination; measurement of organ weights during autopsy; and visual and histopathological examinations were conducted according to GLP standards. After evaluating the results based on the test toxicity assessment criteria, it was determined that NOAEL of the test substance, 7%-GNANA, was 5,000 mg/kg/day, for both male and female rats. No animal death was noted in any of the test groups, including the control group, during the study period, and there was no significant difference associated with test substance, as compared with the control group, with respect to general symptoms, body weight changes, food consumption, ophthalmic examination, urinalysis, hematological and serum biochemical examination, and electrolyte and blood coagulation tests during the administration period (P<0.05). As assessed by the effects of the test substance on organ weights, food consumption, autopsy, and histopathological safety, change in kidney weight as an indicator of male NOAEL revealed up to 20% kidney weight increase in the high-dose group (5,000 mg/kg/day) compared with the change in the control group. However, it was concluded that this effect of the test substance was minor. In the case of female rats, reduction of food consumption, increase of kidney weight, and decrease of thymus weight were observed in the high-dose group. The kidney weight increased by 10.2% (left) and 8.9% (right) in the high-dose group, with a slight dose-dependency compared with that of the control group. It was observed that the thymus weight decreased by 25.3% in the high-dose group, but it was a minor test substance-associated effect. During the autopsy, botryoid tumor was detected on the ribs of one subject in the high-dose group, but we concluded that the tumor has been caused by a naturally occurring (non-test) substance. Histopathological examination revealed lesions on the kidney, liver, spleen, and other organs in the low-dose test group. Since these lesions were considered a separate phenomenon, or naturally occurring and associated with aging, it was checked whether any target organ showed clear symptoms caused by the test substance. In conclusion, different concentrations of the test substance were fed to rats and, consequently, it was verified that only a minor effect was associated with the test substance in the high-dose (5,000 mg/kg/day) group of both male and female rats, without any other significant effects associated with the test substance. Therefore, it was concluded that NOAEL of 7%-GNANA (product name: Helicobactrol) with male and female rats as test animals was 5,000 mg/kg/day, and it thus was determined that the substance is safe for the ultimate use as an ingredient of health functional foods.