• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.20 no.1 s.21
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• pp.10-39
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• 1987

Mortality rate and causes of death are regarded as an index of strength as well as level of development of a country. However, there is no accurate data for the causes of death in Korea due to lack of systematic vital data collection system. The objective of this study was to define the causes of death of the school teachers, its changing pattern, cause-specific mortality rate, and geographic variation. The study population included all of the teachers in primary school, middle and high schools, and college who joined in Korean Teachers' Union between 1968 and 1985 that provided a total of 1,972, 069 person-years to observe (1,384,911 man-years, 587,158 woman-years). There were 3,678 deaths in this period (3,377 males, 301 females). The most common cause of death was neoplasm which was followed by the diseases of circulatory system. The proportion of death of neoplasm was 1.5 times higher than that of the general population. Causes of death were classified into 5 major groups (neoplasm, diseases of circulatory system, accidents and poisoning, diseases of liver, and all others). The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system and all others for general population were 4 to S times higher than those for the teachers. However, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of liver were only about 2 times higher than those for teachers. Mortality rate of liver cancer for teachers was higher than gastric cancer mortality rate which is the reverse in general population. The crude death rate was 2.12 per 1,000 person-years for male and 1.00 for female which is one-third of the crude death rate of general population. Crude death rate of study population was higher in rural area than in urban area. However, mortality rate of neoplasm for male was higher in urban area than in rural area while mortality rates of all other causes were higher in rural area. For female, mortality rates of neoplasm and diseases of circulatory system were higher in urban area and the rates for all other causes were higher in rural area. Crude death rate was lowest in Gyeongin area and highest in Yeongnam area. The mortality of neoplasm for male accounted the highest proportion of all death in Gyeongin, Chungcheong and Yeoungnam areas while the mortality of neoplasm and mortality of circulatory system accounted the same proportion in Jeonra area. For female, the mortality of disease of circulatory system accounted the highest proportion in Gyeongin and Yeoungnam and Jeonra areas. Proportion of death due to accidents and poisoning was high in Chungcheong area and death due to all other causes was high in Yeoungnam area. The most common cause of death for male by city and province was neoplasm in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk. Diseases of circulatory system was the leading cause of death in the rest of city and provinces. The leading cause of death for female was diseases of circulatory system in Seoul, Incheon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, and Gyeongbuk, neoplasm in Busan, and accident and poisons in all other cities and provinces. The mortality rates of male were above 2 per 1,000 person-years in Jeju, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Daegu, and Chungbuk, and it was below 1.5/l,000 in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi. The mortality rate of female was above 1.2/1,000 person-years in Gyeongnam and Incheon while it was below 0.5/l,000 in Daegu, Geonggi Chungbuk and Jeju. The leading cause for male by school of employment was neoplasm in all levels of school with a remarkably higher rate in the professors of college. Leading cause of death for female was disease of circulatory system in primary schools, high schools and college but neoplasm in middle schools. There was no death due to liver diseases in middle and high school teachers and college professors and no death due to all other category in high school teachers and college professors, in females. High school teachers and the highest mortality rate and college professors showed the lowest mortality rate. Temporal trend of mortality was examined in three periods; period I ($1968{\sim}1974$), period II ($1975{\sim}1979$), and period III ($1980{\sim}1985$). The leading cause of death for male was diseases of circulatory system in period I and II but neoplasm in period III. Such trend of decreasing diseases of circulatory system and increasing neoplasm was observed in female. Overall mortality rate was decreased over the 3 periods. The mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, liver disease and all others were decreased in male but the mortality rates of neoplasm and accident and posions was increased. Female showed a similar trend to male but the mortality rate of liver diseases was increased. Mortality rates of diseases of circulatory system, neoplasm and liver diseases increased with age of teachers up to 50 years of age but decreased in 60 years of age. Mean age at death due to each cause was higher in male than female by $4{\sim}10$ years. However, the mean age at death of the teachers was $2{\sim}5$ years lower than that of the general population in all causes of death and the sex difference in the mean a2e at death was smaller ($2{\sim}3$ years) in general population. In sex ratio of mortality, male was higher than female in almost all diseases except suicide and maintained a high ratio. The general population showed universally high ratio in male like teachers, and more or less did regular patterns in mortality with ratio smaller.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 1978

This study has been carried out with the object of researching into the situation of the genetic isolation of a Korean population located near Seoul. The results obtained are summarized as follows: In general, the distribution of P.T.C. threshold values in the population is close to that of the Seoul population. But the nonataster frequency of male in the population is higher than that of female, and this is in agreement with the status of ankyloglossia frequency in male. However the relationship between the two traits has not been clarified. The gene frequencies of rolling and folding of tongue are slightly lower than that of the Seoul population. The gene frequency conditioning the ability to twist the tongue is lower in the male than in the female. The color-blindness is 6.21 percent, and it is slightly higher than that of other Korean population. All considered, the studied population might be regarded to have been kept in genetic isolation.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.21 no.1 s.23
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• pp.89-98
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• 1988

While there have been not a few reports on the seroepidemiological characteristics of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Korea, most of them, however, have had several limitations; operational definition of HBV infection, validity of detection methods of HBV serologic markers, size of the study population, and confirmation of the vaccination history against HBV, etc. In order to avoid such limitations, authors randomly selected 1,495 healthy adults among the 217,511 insured (target population) of Korean Medical Insurance Corporation, living in seoul, and tested HBV serologic markers by RIA method and conducted direct interview to them. Although HBV serologic markers (HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc) of all the subjects were tested, 392(26.2%) of interview failure cases and 361 vaccinee were excluded from the actual population. Finally, the serologic markers tested of 742 nonvaccinee (study population) only were analysed for the seroepidemiologic observation of the natural infection of HBV. The seroepidemiological characteristics of HBV infection in Korea were as follows ; 1. Point prevalence of HBs antigenemia was 11.7(9.1{\sim}14.3)% in male, which was slightly higher than that of female, 9.5($3.7{\sim}15.3$)%. This level was one of the highest among those of Asian-Pacific countries. Decreasing tendency of HBsAg prevalence alter the age of 50 was observed, which seems to be due to selective attrition of HBV chronic carriers among the healthy adults and/or to the limited-lasting duration of the HBs antigenemia, in part. 2. Point prevalence of anti-HBc(78.8% in male,50.9% in female) was higher than that of anti-HBs(65.2% in male,46.6% in female), respectively. And both of them were higher in male than in female. Increasing tendency of the prevalence of both antibodies was observed by age, which seems to be largely due to recurrent infection in adults and to some cumulative effect, in part, of their relatively longer-lasting duration. 3. The level of HBV infection defined by positive for at least one of the 3 serologic markers of HBV by RIA method was 84.7($81.8{\sim}87.6$)% in male and 61.2($51.9{\sim}70.5$)% in female, which was also one of the highest among those of Asian-Pacific countries. The proportion of susceptible population to HBV infection among healthy adults was 15.3% in male and 38.8% in female. 4. The relative frequency of current or past infection and chronic carrier among HBV infected person was estimated. The currently or past infected was estimated 75.7% in male and 71.8% in female, and chronic carrier state, 13.8% in male and 14.1% in female. The analysis of the geometric mean of the antibody titer in anti-HBs positive sera indicated also to be compatible with the above findings, suggesting that active, even though inapparent, infection of HBV occur so frequently among healthy adults in Korea.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.65-83
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• 1993

The purpose of this study is estimate limits of Korean life expectancy at birth by 'Gompertz growth curse Model', 'Cause-Elimination Model' and Multidimensional models of Senescencee and Mortality'. Data used in Gompertz curve were obtained from all life tables published from 1905 to 1990 in Korea, and life expectancies at birth of eighteen groups were selected at five-year interval in consideration of time-series changes. Data used in Cause-Elimination Model are 'Cause of Death statistics in 1991' published in 1992 by National Bureau of Statistics of Korea and 'life table of 1989' published in 1990 by National Bureau of Statistics, Economic Planning Board of Korea. The materials are all classifiable death data, 119, 253 cases of male and 82, 420 cases of female, which is from 1991 Causes of Death statistics. The cases of death analyzed belong to one of 8 categories; i.e., Infectious and Parasitic Diseases(001-139; with notation of Infectious Diseases), Malignant Neoplasms(140-208), Hypertensive Diseases(401-405), Ischemic Heart Dieases and Diseases of Pulmonary Circulation and Other Forms of Heart Diseases(410-429;with notation of Heart Disease), Cerebrovascular Diseases(430-438), Chronic Liver Diseases and Cirrhosis(571; with notation of Liver Diseases), Injury and Poisoning(800-999) and all other disease. Data used in 'Multidimensional models of senescence and mortality' were life table of 1989 published by National Bureau of statistics, Economic Planning Board of Korea and life table of 1970, 1978-79, 1983, 1985 and 1987. The major findings may be summarised as follows: 1. Estimate equations of Gompertz growth curve using life expectancy at birth during the 1905-1990 period are as the following. Male : y = 88.047697 $\times$ $0.199690^{0.903381x}$ Female : y = 95.632828 $\times$ $0.199690^{0.903381x}$ Limits of life expectancy at birth, which were estimated by Gompertz growth curve, are 88.05 for male and 95.63 for female. 2. The effect on life expectancy at birth eliminationg all causes death is 14.04 years(for male) and 10.86 years(for female). Astonishingly, eliminating the malignant neoplasms increase life expectancy at birth by 2.85 years for male 2.03 years for female in 1991. In table 8 we show the effect on life expectancy at birth of separately eliminating each of the 8 categorical causes of death. The theoretical limit to life expectancy by Cause-Elimination Model is 80.96 for male and 85.82 for female. 3. If the same rate of delay [0.376 year(male), 0.435 year(femable) per calendar year] continued, then life expectancy at birth would reach 74.82(male) years and 84, 10(female) years in 2010. With 14.04-years(male) and 10.86-years(female) effect attributable in 2010 would be 88.86 years(male) and 94.96(femable) years. 4. 'Multidimensional models of senescence and death' permits calculations of the value of the attribution coefficient (B), percent of loss per year of physiologic function. The results of Ro and B during the 1970-1989 period are listed in table 9. Estimate of limit to Korean life expectancy at birth by 'Multidimensional models of senescence and death' is 99.47 years for male and 104.74 years for female in 1989.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.202-208
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• 2011

The present study was focused on the careful investigation of Glechoma longituba flowers collected from four populations in Korea to clarify their precise sexual systems. All floral characters of this taxon were examined by using a stereo microscopy. The nutlet size and production were compared between two distinct morphs (i.e., hermaphrodites and females), and pollen viability test of hermaphrodite and intermediate phenotype (i.e., individuals with a mixture of females and perfect flowers) was also observed by light microscopy (LM). All of the investigated floral characters of G. longituba are significantly different from one sexual morph to another. Hermaphroditic plants were larger than the female ones in corolla width and length, calyx length, filament length, anther length, and style length (all P < 0.0001, respectively). However, the nutlet width of the female plants was larger than those of the hermaphrodites (P = 0.013). Nutlet production of females was higher than hermaphrodites in Na-Ju population [H (Hermaphrodite): ca. 17.76%, F (Female): ca. 37.45%], but in Mun-San population was no significant difference between these sexual morphs (H: ca. 57.52%, F: ca. 53.16%). We have found significant differences between the fertile pollen grain of hermaphrodite and sterile pollen grain of intermediate phenotype based on pollen size and viability. The results of the present study suggest that compensation (flower size dimorphism, seed set, and pollen viability) is one of the main mechanisms in order to maintain female plants in gynodioecious G. longituba.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.239-243
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• 2008

Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider, a multipurpose and monogeneric dioecious shrub from arid zones, has emerged as a cash crop all over the globe. Its seed propagation poses severe problems due to its male-biased population: the male:female ratio is 5:1. Investigations have been carried out to generate a sex-specific Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker for the early detection of male and female plants. Of the 42 primers analysed with a bulk sample of pooled male DNA and a bulk sample of pooled female DNA, only one primer, UBC-807, produced a unique ~1,200 base-pair fragment in the male DNA. To validate this observation, this primer was re-tested with individual male and female samples from eight cultivars. A similar unique ~1,200 bp fragment was present in the male individuals of all eight cultivars and completely absent in the female individuals tested. This is the first report of the use of ISSR markers to ascertain sex in physiologically mature S. chinensis plants.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.207-213
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• 2001

Objectives: We surveyed the prevalence of smoking among the adolescent population and analysed the correlation of the two exposure biomarkers-concentration of blood cadmium and urinary cotinine-to the smoking status. Methods: Subjects were 193 middle and high school students in Chungnam province. Blood cadmium and urinary cotinine were compared by sex and smoking status. Smoking status were classified by either the concentration of urinary cotinine or subjective answering as a smoker in the questionnaire. Results: Smoking prevalence was 24.6%, 36.2% and 6.7% among all subjects, male and female subjects, respectively. Average smoking amount was 17.5 and 1.5 cigarettes per month among the male subjects and female subjects, respectively. Mean concentration of urinary cotinine among the male subjects was $135.57{\mu}g/{\ell}$, and that of female subjects was $116.59{\mu}g/$. Direct smokers showed higher concentration of urinary cotinine than those of indirect smokers, and subjects with higher urinary concentration showed higher prevalence of smoking, too. Mean concentration of blood cadmium was $0.0572{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ among the male subjects, and $0.0693{\mu}g/d{\ell}$ among the female subjects. Among the male subjects, both exposure biomarkers showed significant correlation to the smoking status, but among the female subjects urinary cotinine did not show significant correlation to the smoking status. Conclusion: Concentrations of these two biomarkers suggested that this population had significantly high evironmental tobacco smoking(ETS) and efficient stop-smoking programs to reduce ETS should be directed to this population.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.90 no.6
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• pp.717-724
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• 2001

This study was conducted in an attempt to quantify some traits that may be involved in the reproductive process of Pinus thunbergii. During the past 6 years (1995-2000), we surveyed flowering patterns of 60 P. thunbergii clones in a seed orchard which was established in Anmyon-do, 1979. From this survey, we estimated clonal contributions of male and female flowers and sexual asymmetry. Among 60 clones, 18 clones (30%) accounted for 0.37 (1999)~0.46 (1995) of clonal contribution in female flowers and 0.44 (1999)~0.57 (1995) of clonal contribution in male flowers. As compared with the previous reports in other pine species, more clones made contributions to reproductive process in P. thunbergii seed orchard. The relative effective population numbers for females (v♀) varied from 0.59 (1995) to 0.91 (1999) and those for males ( v♂) were between 0.56 (1995) and 0.83 (1998) at gamete level. This showed that the female gametes effectively contribute to the reproductive process more than did the male gametes. The relative effective population numbers at clonal level ($v_b$) were in the range of 0.72 (1995) and 0.93 (1999). More than 73% of the total clones showed values of 0.4~0.6 ($0.5{\pm}0.1$) in maleness index. The values averaged over all the clones were temporally variable with the range of 73% in 1996 and 100% in 2000. The degree of sexual asymmetry ($A_s$) ranged from 0.09 to 0.26. These values were relatively low when compared with those of other trees, suggesting that P. thunbergii seed orchard remains a high level of homogeneity in the number of male and female. All of the various types of effective population numbers were positively correlated with each other while they were negatively correlated with the degree of sexual asymmetry.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 1985

To evaluate the health status of the aged in rural area, 476 men and women of 65 years old and older among the residents of Gunwee County in Kyungpook were examined at the county health center between 4th and 22nd of June, 1984. Physical examination included measuring height, weight, chest circumference and blood pressure and chest x-ray. Laboratory tests were done for serum cholesterol, glucose and GOT, and urine glucose and protein. The mean heights of male and female were 160${\pm}$7.0cm and 147.7${\pm}$6.9cm, respectively. The height decreased as the age increased. The mean body weight of male was 53.5${\pm}$7.8kg and 46.7${\pm}$7.5kg for female and the older, the eighter. The mean chest circumference of male was 85.4${\pm}$7.5cm and 79.5${\pm}$79cm for female and it had no remarkable differences by age group. The average height, body weight, chest circumference, and serum cholesterol level of the age 65 years and older in rural area were lower than the standard this may be due to undernutrition of the aged. The mean diastolic and systolic blood pressure of male were 75.9${\pm}$13.5 mmHg/126.3${\pm}$24.1 mmHg and those for female were 73.1${\pm}$13.9 mmHg/125.8${\pm}$32.4 mmHg. Both male an d female in the age group of 65-69 years showed the lowest mean blood pressure. Among the study population 18.3% the borderlin hypertension and 14.3% had hypertension. Average hemoglobin level of the male(12.5${\pm}$0.8 g/dl) was higher than that of the female(11.6${\pm}$0.8 g/dl) (p < 0.01). Mean serum G.O.T. level was 25.2${\pm}$8.7 IU for male and 23.6${\pm}$7.5 IU for female and all of the study population were within the normal range. Mean serum glucose level was 110.4${\pm}$16.0 mg/dl for the male and 110.5${\pm}$15.7 mg /dl for the female and 41.4% of the study population were above the normal limit of serum glucose level. However, there was only one person she had glycosuria. Hyperglycemia could be due to non-fasting before the test. Two of the study population had proteinuria and five persons (1.05%) were diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis by the chest x-ray.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.20 no.1 s.21
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• pp.84-96
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• 1987

For the purpose of preparing the basic data for further cancer epidemiologic study and cancer patients control, we conducted the analysis on the degree and structure of deaths from cancer in metropolitan areas of Korea with 7,934 certified cancer deaths records of Seoul, Pusan, Taegu and Incheon in 1982. The analyzed results were as follows: 1) The total number of cancer deaths in metropolitan areas were 7,934 (male: 4,749, female: 3,185) as 14.1% of deaths from all causes in the same area. 2) The rate of physician's certification on cancer deaths was 77.4% and most of cancer deaths (84.4%) occured at their home. 3) Cancer specific death rate was 51.7 per 100.000 population (male: 62.9, female: 41.9) and age-adjusted cancer death rate was 82.4 in male and 51.6 in female per 100,000 population. And the difference was statistically significant (p< 0.01). 4) Age-specific cancer death rate was generally increased with age and most of cancer deaths (male: 75% , female: 65%) occurred from 45 to 74 years old. 5) The first three orders of cancer site were stomach (32.7%), liver (28.8%), lung (11.7%) in male and stomach (30.6%), uterus (18.4%), liver (13.8%) in female. And the relative frequency of these three cancer sites among total cancer deaths was corresponded to 73.2% in male and 62.8% in female. 6) The ratio of male to female cancer death rate was 1.5:1. And the ratio was aboye 3.0 in esophagus, liver, larynx, bladder cancer and the ratio was similar to 1.0 in stomach, pancreas, leukemia, brain, colon cancer, but the ratio was reversed in gall bladder and bile duct, and thyroid cancer.