• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.195-213
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to explore and understand the meaning of 'Good Death' that the Korean aged people are generally thinking based on their values and the sentiments. For this purpose, we carried out individual and in-depth interviews with 40 aged persons living in Seoul taking their genders and social-economic status into consideration from March to May 2003. We applied qualitative research method to this study. Eight graduate students were responsible for the interviews. They majored in gerontology or had experiences of field work with old persons. It took an average of one and a half hour and maximum of two hours for each of the interviews. All of the processes of each interview were tape-recorded under the agreement with each interviewee. The main and sub themes from the data can be classified to seven categories according to the Phenomenological Approach designed by Colaizzi(1978). The main theme of good death that most of the interviewees considered was 'Blessed Death', very similar to 'Death Fortune' in the five good fortunes found in Korean tradition and the Confucianism. Also, the main concept is classified to seven sub-themes: (1) Not seeing their children's death; (2) Dying in front of their children; (3) Not to be a burden of their children during their lives; (4) Dying after doing all of their duties as parents; (5) Dying with no pain; (6) Completing the natural span of their lives; and (7) Prepared death. Thus, 'Blessed Death' that Korean aged people consider seems to be very closely related with the lives, health, happiness and success of their children. Based on the findings, we concluded that both social policy makers and social service providers are required to keep in mind the meanings of 'Good death' that most of the Korean aged people consider in order to help them enjoy successful aging during their remaining lives.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1428-1433
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• 2012

Longevity is an exciting but difficult subject to study because it is determined by complex processes that require the coordinated action of several genetic factors as well as physiological and environmental influences. Genetic approaches have been applied to animal models to identify the molecular mechanism responsible for longevity. Several experimental model organisms obtained over the last decades suggest that the complete deletion of a single gene by gene targeting has proven to be an invaluable tool for the discovery of the mechanisms underlying longevity. The first discovery of long-lived mutants came from Caenorhabditis elegans research, which identified the insulin/IGF-1 pathway as responsible for longevity in this worm. IGF-1 is a multifunctional polypeptide that has sequence similarity to insulin and is involved in normal growth and development of cells. Several factors in the IGF-1 system have since been studied by gene targeting in the control of longevity in lower species, including nematode and fruit fly. In addition, significant progress has been made using mice models to extend the lifespan by targeted mutations that interfere with growth hormone/IGF-1 and IGF-1 signaling cascades. A recent finding that IGF-1 is involved in aging in mice was achieved by using liver-specific knockout mutant mice, and this clearly demonstrated that the IGF-1 signal pathway can extend the lifespan in both invertebrates and vertebrate models. Although the underlying molecular mechanisms for the control of longevity are not fully understood, it is widely accepted that reduced IGF-1 signaling plays an important role in the control of aging and longevity. Several genes involved in the IGF-1 signaling system are reviewed in relation to longevity in genetically modified mice models.

• 재활복지
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.193-212
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• 2017

The elderly often produce irrelevant speech and get off-topic more easily than the young; the former also has difficulty generating fewer syntactic structures and makes errors of grammatical morphemes. In particular, the elderly might have more difficulty writing since it requires more complex cognitive processes than storytelling. The participants in this study were 32 young people and 32 older people. They were asked to write a short story of Korean fairy tale('Heungbu Nolbu'). The data was analyzed in narrative composition and syntactic structures. The study revealed the following: First, in composition aspects, the elderly group showed significantly lower total number of story grammar and episodes. In addition, the elderly produced more off topic statements. Second, in syntactic aspects, although there was no significant difference in the number of producing complex sentences between two groups, the elderly group generated more inadequate cohesive devices and used fewer relative and adverbial clauses. These findings suggest that the elderly have a tendency to perform tasks by producing more off-topic statements and shows decreasing coherence by using lower number of relative and adverbial clauses. However, this study also uncovers that the elderly were able to write more complex and longer sentences using visual feedback.

• 한국노년학
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.91-109
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• 2020

This study aims to investigate the interdependence of Korean middle and old-aged couples in the association between exercise and life satisfaction through grip strength trajectory. Data were drawn from the nationally representative Korea Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) collected from 2006 to 2016. The sample included couples over 45 years of age in the first wave and participated in all six waves of the survey (Ncouple=1,997). There were three steps for analyses: correlation, parallel latent growth curve model, tests of indirect effects of the mediation paths. Covariates included in the models were husbands and wives' characteristics (age, education, work status, chronic diseases, marital satisfaction, contact frequency with friends or neighbors) and couple's household income. Results showed husbands' and wives' life satisfaction and grip strength were interdependent upon each other. Also, exercise participation of both husbands and wives was associated with both husbands' and wives' life satisfaction via the initial level of grip strength of husbands. Moreover, exercise participation of only husbands was associated with wives' life satisfaction through the initial grip strength of husbands. These results suggest the aging processes of middle and old-aged couples need to be understood in the context of gender dynamics and couple interdependence.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.730-735
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• 2023

In the past decade, numerous studies have been carried out to quantify aging with the help of artificial intelligence. Using DNA methylation data, various models have been developed; these are commonly called epigenetic clocks. Epigenetic age acceleration is usually associated with disease conditions. Schizophrenia is a mental illness associated with severe mental and physical stress. This disease leads to high mortality and morbidity rates in young people compared with other psychological disorders. In the past, the research community considered this disease to be related to the accelerated aging hypothesis. In the current study, we wanted to investigate the epigenetic age acceleration changes in schizophrenia patients to obtain epigenetic insights into the disease. To measure the epigenetic age acceleration, we used two different DNA methylation clock models, namely, Horvath clock and Epi clock, as these are pan-tissue models. We utilized 450k array data compatible with both clocks. We found a slower epigenetic acceleration in the patients' samples when we used the Epi clock. We further analyzed the differentially methylated CpG sites between the control and cases and performed pathway enrichment analysis. We found that most of the CpGs are involved in neuronal processes.

• Journal of the Korea Knowledge Information Technology Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.273-286
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• 2018

Korean government has taken various population policy so far According to demographic results, The aging population is rapidly aging and it is expected to deepen in the future. However, many senior citizens are also exposed to poor economic conditions and inconsistent health care risks Most seniors suffer from mental illness and chronic diseases. seniors in traditional cities feel very alienated as they change from large family to small family. As the number of elderly people living alone grows, social problems increase. At present, the health care for the elderly who live alone is not being taken properly, and they are under a very poor management system, both physically and mentally. Every human being has to be old, and we aim to spend our old age processes physically and mentally healthy. As the basic age of the elderly increases, it is necessary to consider various aspects of the welfare policies and medical policies that are followed. In this study, 100 elderly people over the age of 65 were surveyed for economic situations and physical and mental health conditions, and specially performed study on utility of 'urban senior multi care zone' to prove the necessity of introducing the latest digital devices to resolve these problems more effectively by analyzing serious feelings of alienation, loneliness, and emotional situations. Lastly, We conducted this research to find ways to help the elderly through customized health care.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to compare the amygdalin content, alcohol content, pH, titratable acidity, and color of maesil wine prepared with two different manufacturing processes. Maesil wine was made from maesil chung, and maesil was preserved (MW1) or removed (MW2) before fermentation. During aging, amygdalin content in all the wines was gradually reduced, and the content of MW2 was less than that of the other. The alcohol content, pH, and titratable acidity ranged from around 9.87-10.94, 3.57-3.80, and 8.89-10.68%, respectively. The difference between the samples was not significant. For color, MW1 had lower L and higher a and b values than MW2. In this study, the difference in physicochemical properties according to the presence of maesil was not significant, indicating no degradation of the quality according to the manufacturing processes. However, the MW2 showed a reduction in amygdalin contents.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.185-190
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• 2020

The rapid aging is increasing as the shortage of medical facilities and the resulting of decline in the quality of public health. In order to ease the burden of rising medical expenses, advanced medical institutions are expanding their remote medical care to lower the cost of services. U-healthcare detects the changes in physical and chemical phenomena occurring in the human body and converts them into electrical signals that can be processed and feeds back to the results through analytical and visualization processes to select only the desired information from the measured signals. The service is provided through a process of providing an alarm to a user. However, traditional biometric methods of attaching sensors directly to the body can be annoying and rejected in daily life. Therefore, there is a need for a method of continuously measuring biometric information without causing inconvenience to daily life. In this paper, we propose an IR-UWB-based non-contact and non-responsive respiratory measurement system that can continuously monitor biological information without any inconveniences to daily life.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.41-50
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• 2016

OBJECTIVES : In this study, microstructural components of crumb rubber modified asphalt (CRMA) binder were investigated using environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). To clearly understand the elemental composition of the CRMA binder, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was employed on the ESEM samples. METHODS : CRMA binders were produced using open blade mixers at $177^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. The binders were artificially aged through a series of accelerated aging processes. Sample preparation was done by making a mold shape on the glass slide. Thereafter, the morphology of the CRMA binder was observed using the ESEM coupled with the EDX. RESULTS : The images captured from the ESEM indicate that the unaged CRMA binder appears to have a single-phase continuous nonuniform structure after the addition of crumb rubber particles, whereas the artificially aged CRMA binder was observed to have two different phases. ESEM coupled with EDX shows detailed internal structure of the modified binders compared to other technologies (i.e., optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and conventional scanning electron microscope). CONCLUSIONS : The captured images resemble the internal structures such as the viscous properties of the unaged CRMA binder and the interaction between the rubber particles and the base binder at aged condition. ESEM is a powerful instrument and with the introduction of EDX, it provided more details of the network microstructure of the asphalt binder. ESEM coupled with EDX is recommended for use in future investigation of microstructure of asphalt binders.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.63-71
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• 2017

Traditional Asian medicine has an extensive evidence base built upon thousands of years of experience within Asia, of curing various diseases. Only recently, within the past two centuries, have modern medical scientists developed interest in traditional Asian medicine. Asian Medicine seems to be regarded only as an adjunctive medicine and viewed as alargely un-proven alternative medicine to complement western medicine, used in some cases to establish a new paradigm of "integrative medicine". This article reviews how Korean herbal cosmetics emerged by applying traditional Asian medicine to the science of cosmetics. The characteristics of Korean herbal cosmetics are examined through examples of history, concepts and traditions. With the advancements in biotechnology, studies are now being conducted on the dermatological effects and processing methods of herbal ingredients, including ginseng. The authors explain the current research on the identification on the active ingredients of herbs, extraction methods, and bio-processing of ingredients to improve the biological efficacies of herbs on the skin. A summary of studies focused on modern reinterpretations of ageing theories, such as 'Seven year aging cycle', are provided. In conclusion, the development of Korean cosmetics products are based on the accumulated knowledge of thousands of years of experience including; 1) practical heritage of traditional Asian medicines such as Donguibogam; 2) excellent medicinal plants, such as ginseng, which are native to Korea; and 3) innovative attempts to modernize materials, processes, and principles.