• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 1968

Number of aspects, not only nutritional but social as well as political involved in human starvation pose nowadays global problems. In order to help establish the minimum nutritional requirements in the daily life of a man and to free people as well from either undernourishment, malnutrition or even starvation many workers have devoted themselves so far on the research programs to know what and how number of metabolic events take place in animals in vivo. It is the purpose of the present paper to examine in effect to what extent both of the protein and nucleic acids (DNA & RNA) together with an enzyme, guanine deaminase, which converts guanine into xanthine and in turn ends up to uric acid as an end product, undergo changes, quantitatively during acute starvation, using the mouse as an experimental animal. The mouse was strictly inhibited from taking foods except drinking water ad libitum and was sacriflced 24, 48, and 72 hours following starvation thus acutely induced. The animals consisted of two experimental groups, one control and another starvation groups, each being consisted of 6-24 mice of whose body weights ranged in the vicinity of 10 g. The animals were sacriflced by a blow on the head, followed by immediate excision of their livers into ice-cold distilled water, washing adherent blood and other contaminant tissues. The liver was minced foramin, by an all-glass homogenizer immersing it in an ice-bath, followed by subsequent fractionatin of the homogenate (10% W/V in 0.25M sucrose solution made up with 0.05M phosphate buffer of pH 7.4). For the liver protein and guanine deaminase assay, the 10% homogenate was centrifuged at 600 x g for 10 minutes to eliminate the nuclear fraction; and for the estimation of DNA and RNA, the homogenate was prepared by the addition of 10% trichloroacetic acid in order to free the homogenate from the acid-soluble fraction, the remaining residue being delipidate by the addition of alcohol and dried in vacuo for later KOH (IN) hydrolysis. The changes in body and liver wegihts during acute starvation were checked gravimetrically. Protein contents in the liver were monitored by the method of Lowry et al; and guanine deaminase activities were followed by the assay of liberated ammonia from the substrate utilizing the Caraway's colorimetry. The extraction of both DNA and RNA was performed by the Schmidt-Thannhauser's method, which was followed by Marmur's method of purification for DNA and by Chargaff's method of purification for RNA. The determinations of both DNA and RNA were carried out by the diphenylamine reaction for the former and by the orcinol reaction for the latter. The following resume was the results of the present work. 1. It was observed that the body as well as liver weights fall abruptly during starvation, and that the loss of body weight showed no statistical correlation with the decreases in the content of liver protein. 2. The content of liver protein and activity of liver guanine deaminase activity as well decline dramatically, and the specific activities of the enzyme (activity/protein), however, decreased gradually as starvation proceeded. 3. Both of the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, showed decrements in the liver of mouse during acute starvation; the latter, however, being more striking in the decline as compared to the former. 4. The decreases in the liver protein content as resulted from the acute starvation had no statistically significant correlation with the decrements of DNA in the same tissue, but had regressed with a significant statistical correlation with the fall of RNA in the tissue. 5. The decrease in the activity of guanine deaminase in the liver of mouse during acute starvation was functionally more proportional to the decrease in RNA than DNA, and moreover correlated with the changes in the content of the liver protein. 6. The possible mechanisms involved during in this acute starvation as bring the decreases in the contents of DNA, protein, and guanine deaminase were discussed briefly.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.336-349
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• 2017

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to describe changes in weight, waist circumference (WC), and prevalence of obesity over 8 years as well as investigate demographic and dietary factors associated with weight gain in Korean adults. Methods: The Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study is an ongoing community-based longitudinal study, which was started in 2001~2002 and repeated every 2 years. Height, weight, and WC were measured, and demographic data and food intake information using the food frequency questionnaire were collected from 10,038 adults aged 40~69 years at baseline. Among those individuals, 3,506 healthy individuals without chronic diseases completed the 4th follow-up survey in 2009~2010. Results: Mean weight decreased by 0.35 kg and 0.65 kg in men and women, respectively, whereas mean WC increased by 1.71 cm and 1.85 cm during the 8-year period. Prevalence of obesity based on body mass index (BMI) decreased from 34.5% to 33.5% in men and from 38.0% to 36.7% in women, whereas abdominal obesity increased from 14.8% to 22.2% in men and from 28.8% to 35.4% in women. Weight change was associated with age and smoking status in men, and residence area, age, education, income, and alcohol drinking in women. Approximately 57.5% maintained their BMI over 8 years (<${\pm}1kg/m^2$, stable weight group), 19.5% showed a BMI increase of ${\geq}1kg/m^2$ (weight gain group), and 23.0% showed a BMI decrease of more than $1kg/m^2$ (weight loss group). There was no significant difference in energy intake calculated as the percentage of estimated energy requirements among the three weight change groups. Intakes of coffee mix and milk were significantly higher in the weight gain group than in the weight loss group in men after controlling for confounding factors. Conclusion: Our results show that higher consumption of coffee mix and milk was associated with weight gain in Korean healthy men.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.28 no.1 s.49
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• pp.59-72
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• 1995

This study was carried out to analyze the food intake and associated factors of the urban poor elderly by comparing poor district, Unbong rental apartment in Bansong 2 dong with other areas in Pusan. 135 elderlies(men 36, women 99) in Unbong rental apartment, 136 elderlies(men 45, women 91) in the other areas were investigated during the period of March to August in 1994. The assumption that the study area represented poor district was satisfied because the age and sex distribution was not significantly different, and the income of the study area was significantly lower than that of the control area. The variables of hospitalized in previous 12 month, gastrointestinal problem, alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking did not differ significantly. But the variables of chronic disease, take medicine, perceived health, vitamin supplement differed significantly between two groups. Therefore some factors associated with health state in the study area are worse than those of the control area. At most of all variables, nutrients intake of the study area did not reach the recommended dietary allowances(RDA) for Koreans, and that nutrient intakes of the study area were significantly lower than those of the control area. The hypothesis of this study that nutrient status depends on economical status was proved. As for the score of nutritional knowledge, the study area was significantly lower than the control area. But as for the score of nutritional behavior, two areas were not significantly different. The latter is counter result of our hypothesis, owing to the effect of the confounding factors including education etc. As for the correlation of variables, not only economic status and educational level, but the score of nutritional knowledge effects strongly on nutrient status in the study area, the poor district. Therefore, adequate nutritional education to the elderly in e poor district should be considered.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.17-32
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patterns of stresses arising from various life styles and their related sociodemographic factors in urban residents. The subjects were recruited from the population of two ‘Dong’s (administrative blocks) representative of Daejeon city through stratified cluster random sampling during the period ranging from June I st to Aug. 31 st, 2003. Self-administered questionnaires, including items asking about subjects' sociodemographic characteristics, daily life styles, measurement of stresses by General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1978), were delivered to 396 residents and their responses were analyzed with the following results. 1. Based on the discriminant scores of HPI, 46.7％ of the subjects were found to have less than 4 points (poor life style), whereas 53.3％ had points higher than 5 (good life style). Higher than 5 points were scored more frequently in females than in the male, in the age group of 40's - 60's than the 30's, in the group with spouse than without, in the group with both spouse and offsprings than without, and in the group owning a house than not. 2. Based on the degree of stress, 17.7％ of the subjects were determined to be healthy, 74.5％ were potentially under stress, and 7.8％ were at higher risk of stress. The proportion of healthy individuals were significantly higher in the male, advanced aged group(40's and 60's), the group with higher education years( over highschool), with higher monthly income over two million Won, and with spouse, than their respective counterparts. On the other hand the proportion of the individuals potentially under stress and at higher risk of stress was significantly higher in the female, in the age group of 30's and over 60's, in the group with academic career lower than middle school, with monthly income lower than two million Won, and without spouse. 3. Based on the relation of HPI with degree of stresses, subjects with HPI scores lower than 4 had increased rate of falling into the groups under potential stress and at higher risk of stress, while on the other hand those with over 5 points were found to be healthy in light of stress. 4. Based on the specific relation of each item of HPI with degree of stress, the proportion of healthy individuals was higher in the groups who take appropriate hours of sleep(7-8hours), who take breakfasts everyday, who take physical exercises everyday, who don't smoke, who don't drink alcohol, who take snacks everyday, who are overweight and obese, whereas the proportion of the group under potential stress and at higher risk of stress was higher in their comparable counterparts. 5. The relation of mean scores of HPI with stress scores in both male and female subjects showed negative correlation that the higher HPI scores, the lower stress scores. 6. Multivariate regression analysis to reveal the factors influencing the stress of the subjects showed that for men the significant factors were age, education, presence of job or not, exercise, subjective health status, with the explanatory power of 26.3％. For women, they included educational years, presence of spouse or not, job, owning a house or not, sleeping hours, drinking habit, taking snacks, subjective health status, with the explanatory power of 31.8％. The above study results suggests that stresses of urban residents have significant correlation with daily life styles and this correlation is also remarkably distinguished by different age and sex.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.139-157
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• 2005

In rural area, as the source of family income is related with the agriculture works, the living condition of non-farming family used to be lower except some family groups with a little higher income. In order to find out the improvement in rural life, data about the health behavior and diet habits of non-farming family were observed. This study evaluated the health behavior and diet habits of non-farming families by comparing them with those of the farming families in rural area. The survey was made by trained interviewers and a total of 1,870 subjects from 9 provinces were questioned to collect the data through sampling probability proportional to size. The non-farming families were $29.6\%$ of the total and they were with no spouse($38\%$), low number of family members(2.86), and aged husband(66.8 years) or wife(58.5 years). $83.1\%$ of the non farming families were having breakfast however, $95.1\%$ of the farming families were doing it. And the number of side dishes in non farming families was low(1-2 kinds: $17.7\%$). Out of non farming families, $47.3\%$ took no nutritional supplements and out of the farming families it was 40.8 $\%$ With regard to having snacks, $22\%$ of non-farmers had snacks daily and it was greater than that of farmers($16.6\%$). But the ratio of non-snack taking of the non-farmers($29.6\%$) was higher than that of farmers($24.5\%$). The sorts of snacks also varied and for farmers it used to be fruit and noodles and for non-farmers it was bread and milk. Instant foods were often selected by $35.6\%$ of non-farmers. Dining out with a frequency of once per month was reported in $23.2\%$ of non-farming families, but $47.6\%$ of them did not dine out at all. In case of food production for family consumption, small portion of non-farmers cultivated pepper($13.3\%$), Korean cabbage ($16.2\%$), and sesame($6.2\%$) but almost all of the farmers cultivated such crops. However, non-farmers produced soybean sprouts($0.7\%$), soybean curd($0.2\%$), and eggs($7.2\%$) and it was compared with the fact that farmers produced soybean sprouts($9.7\%$), soybean curd ($4.6\%$), and eggs($5.1\%$). Non-farmers stocked the fermented foods: Doenjang ($57.8\%$), Kochujang ($56.1\%$), Kanjang ($53.6\%$), Kimchi ($77.9\%$) and Jangajji ($37.2\%$), and this ratios were smaller than those of farmers: Doenjang ($93.6\%$), Kochujang ($92.9\%$), Kanjang ($87.9\%$), Kimchi ($97.7\%$) and Jangajji ($66.7\%$). As to health behavior of the subjects, non-farmers had less medical examinations and bathing than farmers did. Non-farmers and their wives used public bath facilities more often and it may be due to the low condition of bathing facilities. And the ratio of daily alcohol consumption was $15\%$ and it was higher than that of the farmers. Most of the spouse of the farmers did not drink($78\%$), but the wives of the non-farmers were drinking more frequently. More farmers smoked than non-farmers and $45\%$ of male farmers were smokers.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.265-285
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• 2004

Objectives: The acute toxic effects of pesticide are well known. Concern has also been expressed that long-term exposure may result in damage to the central nervous system. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that central nervous system symptoms might occur due to pesticide exposure. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, first, cumulative exposure index (CEI) was estimated. Neurologic symptoms (Q-16 questionnaire) for 541 farmers (exposed to pesticides) were compared with 119 non-exposed persons in spraying season nine rural areas in Korea. Results: The pesticides poisoning rates for last 3 months were 67.2% for orchard farmers, 55.3%for dry field farmers, and 20.5% for husbandry farmers, respectively, showing significant difference (p<0.001). Compared with non-exposure group, exposure groups (especially, orchard farmers) reported significantly more neurologic symptoms and had a higher overall neurological symptoms score (p<0.001). Factors related to the positive neurological symptoms (answers "yes" to six or more of Q-16 questionnaire) adjusted for age, sex, education level, smoking and alcohol drinking were type of farming (OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.50-6.30 in orchard farmers vs non-exposure group), CEI (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.12-6.78 in Q3 vs Q1), past poisoning (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.21-3.20 vs normal), current mild poisoning (OR 3.03, 9500 CI 1.47-6.22 vs normal) and current moderate poisoning (OR 6.34, 95% CI 3.03-13.25 vs normal), respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that long-term exposure to pesticides appears to be associated with subtle changes in the central nervous system.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.116-129
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• 2013

Objectives: This study was performed to identify the associations of social capital with suicidal thoughts and attempts in Korean communities with poor health. Methods: We used the data from community health interviews conducted at 40 administrative sections (dong, eup, or myeon) with high mortality from August to October in 2010, 2011, and 2012 as part of the Health Plus Happiness Plus Projects in Gyeongsangnam-do Province. The 8,800 study subjects composed of 220 adults systematically sampled from each administrative section were asked if they had thought about suicide or had attempted suicide within 1 year. The social participation was measured with 'participation in formal and/or informal group' and trust using responses to three questions about trust of others. Results: The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempt within 1 year were 10.4% and 0.8%, respectively. The logistic regression analysis revealed that those who participated in only informal groups, or had highest trust level reported less suicidal ideation, or attempt after adjusting for socio-demographic factors (sex, age, marital status, occupation, and food affordability), self-rated health, and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol drinking, and exercise). Conclusions: This study suggested social capital such as social participation and trust was associated with less suicide ideation and attempt. More studies are warranted for the association of social capital with suicidal behavior.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.88-102
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• 1998

Objectives : We attempted to study obstructive sleep apnea symptoms prevalence and sleep apnea-associated factors in Korean rural adult population. Methods : In 1,441 adult subjects of three rural communities selected by cluster sampling, we administered an epidemiologic survey using questionnaire methods from July 14, 1996 to July 28, 1996. Results : 1) In 14.1% of the subjects, snoring was reported to occur almost daily and 2.9% of the subjects reported sleep apnea symptoms occurring almost daily. 2) Snoring and sleep apnea symptoms were found more frequently in males or in mid-aged group(45 - 64 years old) than in females or in younger- and older-aged groups, respectively. Compared with the subjects who have no snoring, the subjects who have snoring or sleep apnea symptoms had greater body mass index(BMI), waist-hip ratio, hemoglobin level, RBC count, and higher diastolic blood pressure. 3) Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking more than once a week were significantly associated with suffering from sleep apnea symptoms. 4) In multiple logistic regression analysis, being male, mid-aged, and greater BMI were independently associated with the presence of snoring and sleep apnea symptoms. Conclusion : We conclude that, in the Korean rural adult population, males or mid-aged group suffers more from snoring and sleep apnea symptoms than females or younger- and older-aged groups. In addition, being male, mid-aged, and greater BMI were significantly associated independently with the presence of snoring and sleep apnea symptoms.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.237-243
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• 2008

Purpose: Postoperative Infectious complications are recognized as major complications that are associated with surgery. Although many studies have focused on the risk factors of postoperative complications, little is known about the risk factors of infectious complications after gastric cancer surgery, and especially after elective gastrectomy. There is now more and more interest in the risk factors of infectious complications in relation to controlling infection and as indicators of qualitatively assessing infectious complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors related with infectious complications after performing elective gastrectomy for treating gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 788 patients who had undergone elective gastrectomy for gastric cancer between Jan. 2000 and Dec. 2007. The characteristics of the patients were divided according to the patients' factors and the operations' factors. Results: The patients' mean age was 58.9 (range: 24~91) years; 545 were male and 243 were female. The mean duration of the hospital stay was 20.3 days (range: 5~135 days), the mean operation time was 181.3 minutes (range: 65~440 minutes). The total complication rate was 17.1% (n=135) and the complication rate was 38.5% (n=52) among the 135 patients with infectious complications. The infectious complications were surgical site infection (59.7%), Pneumonia (19.3%), intra-abdominal abscess (11.5%), pseudomembranous colitis (5.7%), bacteremia (1.9%) and hepatic abscess (1.9%). On the univariate analysis, the significant risk factors were male gender, blood transfusion, smoking at the time of diagnosis, alcohol drinking, diabetes mellitus and previous cardiovascular disease (P<0.05 for all). On multivariate analysis that used a logistic regression model, the significant independent risk factors were smoking at the time of diagnosis (OR: 2.877. 95% CI: 1.449~5.713), blood transfusion (OR: 3.440, 95% CI: 1.241~9.534), diabetes mellitus (OR: 3.150, 95% CI: 1.518~6.538), and previous cardiovascular disease (OR: 2.784, 95% CI: 1.4731~5.2539). Conclusion: Pre- or post-operative blood transfusion and the patient's medical history such as previous cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, smoking etc. are the risk factors for infectious complications after undergoing elective gastrectomy for gastric cancer. The patients that have these risk factors need to be treated with great care to prevent infectious disease after elective gastrectomy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.482-491
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• 2002

This study was to evaluate health management and life habits of the urban salaried workers. The results showed the followings: There were more men than women who thought their health good (p<0.01). Stomach disease was the highest in the subjects, and the second was liver disease (p<0.001). Of respondents, 10% always exercised in the morning, 26% often, and 63% never. Men took exercise more regularly than women (p<0.001). The kinds of exercises were walk (33%), jogging (25%), physical training (14%), golf (6.4%), rope jumping, and tennis. Men ate healthy drug more than womon. Most of men thought that sports were the best for health management. Women considered that baying regular habits was the best for control of her health. The smoking rate of respondents was 41%, and the rate in Chinju showed higher than the other area (p<0.001). Man smokers were more than women (p<0.001). Drinking rate of respondents was 78%. Men enjoyed soju, while women liked beer (p<0.001)