• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2333-2340
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• 2015

Background: Due to the strong inhibitory effects of $PPAR{\gamma}$ gene on the growth of cancer cells, the role of Pro12Ala polymorphism in $PPAR{\gamma}$ gene has been extensively investigated in cancer recently. However, the results were inconsistent according to cancer type. The aim of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the $PPAR{\gamma}$ Pro12Ala polymorphism and gastric cancer susceptibility. Materials and Methods: Search strategies were conducted in Pubmed, Medline (Ovid), Chinese biomedical database (CBM), China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), VIP, and Wanfang database, covering all publications, with the last search up to November 01, 2014. The strength of association between $PPAR{\gamma}$ Pro12Ala polymorphism and gastric cancer risk was assessed by OR with 95%CI. Results: A total of 546 cases and 827 controls in 5 case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results indicated that the variant G allele carriers (CG+GG) had a 2.31 times higher risk for gastric cancer when compared with the homozygote CC (odds ratio (OR)=2.31, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.67-3.21 for CG+GG vs. CC). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, significantly elevated risks were both found in Asians (OR=2.56, 95% CI=1.42-4.64) and Caucasians (OR=2.20, 95% CI=1.48-3.25). Similarly, in the subgroup analysis by H. pylori status, a significantly increased risk was identified in H. pylori (+) populations (OR=3.68, 95%CI=2.07-6.52), but not in H. pylori(-) populations (OR=1.17, 95%CI=0.58-2.39). Conclusions: This pooled analysis suggested that the $PPAR{\gamma}$ Pro12Ala polymorphism could be an independent predictive risk factor for gastric cancer especially in H. pylori infected populations in Asians and Caucasians. Nevertheless, prospectively designed cohort studies are needed to further investigate gene-gene and gene-environment interactions to confirm the combined effects of $PPAR{\gamma}$ Pro12Ala polymorphisms and H. pylori infection on gastric cancer risk.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-22
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• 1995

In this paper, the methods to measure the mean age at first marriage is examined, and by analysing data of Korean women for the period 1970-1990, the differences that each methods make on measurements of the mean age at first marriage are presented. The main findings were : The Hajnal's SMAM, the most used index in studies of the pattern of marriage in Korea, was not a measure based on the marriages for a specific period. The resulting biases, in cases of 1970-1990 Korean women, were below 0.3 year in age, which can be considered small, if the changes in the pattern of marriage in these periods took into account. But the possibility of bringing larger bias cannot be excluded. Also the direction of biases was toward raising the mean age when marriage was in upward tendency. Considering the availability of data in Korea, the utilization of the simple mean or the measure from Agarwala method according to the purpose is recommendable. The mean age at first marriage by Agarwala(ASMAM) meets with the one computed from a gross nuptiality table based on the cohort's marriage rates for a specific period. The time series of the proportion single by age groups obtained from the population censuses showed high consistency. However when they were compaired with those computed from sample surveys at a same point of time, significant differences(at $\alpha$=0.05) were found in some major age groups. It was also pointed out that these differences were not caused by the problems related with the sampling frame for surveys or the survey questions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.10
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• pp.1467-1476
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• 2014

Recent studies have shown that insufficient or deficient vitamin D status may be linked to increased risk of depressive conditions or depression. The aim of this study was to review all available evidence on vitamin D, depression, and any association between them. Cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies have reported contradictory results. Some have reported that low levels of vitamin D may be associated with higher risk of depression or depressive symptoms while others reported that vitamin D status may not be related to depression. Recent clinical trials examining the effects of vitamin D supplementation on depression have also showed discrepant results. However, meta-analysis study results are consistent regarding the beneficial effects of vitamin D. Several mechanisms that account for these beneficial effects of vitamin D on depression have been reported but remain largely speculative. Vitamin D deficiency is very common, and prevalence of depression is increasing in the Asian population, especially females. However, limited literature is available on this population. Considering research results of a potential inverse association between vitamin D level and prevalence of depression, it is important to advance our understanding of the role of vitamin D in depression and conduct well-designed prospective trials in the Asian population.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.293-302
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• 2000

The relationship between sodium intake and stomach cancer risk has been studied much in Japan but a great portions still remain controversial. There has been few studies on relationship between sodium intake and stomach cancer in Korea. The goal of this nested case-control study is to investigate the association between sodium intake and stomach cancer risk in a rural county of Korea We estimated sodium intake indirectly by the threshold of salt-water taste of patients. This study was based on both of the data from 'Kangwha Cohort Study' which had been conducted from March 1985 and 'Kangwha Community Cancer Registry' which had been launched on July in 1982 by the College of Medicine, Department of Preventive Medicine. Yonsei University. A total of 145 patients who developed stomach cancer in Kangwha County were initially recruited as the case group. We tried to get two community-controls per stomach cancer case by matching age and gender. Finally we got information from 90 cases and 146 controls about the threshold of the salt taste and preference of salty food and so on. Some 79% of the information about ease group came from proxy respondents and 56% among controls. Risk ratios of developing stomach cancer adjusted for smoking, body mass index and self-stated health level were estimated. No statistically significant association between the threshold of salt taste and stomach cancer risk found in this study. We recommend some further studies utilizing urinary salt excretion, diet record method for better estimating of salt intake with a paticular emphasis on interaction effect between salty and spicy food in hospital-based case-control study designs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4727-4731
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• 2013

Background: There have been no large-scale population-based studies to estimate the subsequent risk of primary liver cancer (PLC) among patients with pyogenic liver abscess (PLA). This study aimed to provide relevant data. Materials and Methods: The Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database for the years 2000 and 2005 was used. The PLA group were adult inpatients who were newly diagnosed with PLA from 2000 to 2008. The control group was randomly selected and matched with the PLA group in terms of age, sex, and date in which medical treatment was sought other than for PLA. Results: There were 1,987 patients each in the PLA and control groups. In total, 56 had PLC, 48 (2.4%, 601.5 per 100,000 person-years) from the PLA group, and 8 from the control group. After adjusting for potential covariates, the hazard ratio of PLC for the PLA group was 3.4 times that of the control group (95% confidence interval = 1.6-7.3, p <0.001). The PLC risk for the PLA group was significantly higher within the first year after PLA diagnosis (hazard ratio: 35.4) as compared with the control group and became insignificant (hazard ratio: 2.0, 95% confidence interval = 0.8-4.9) more than one year after PLA diagnosis. Conclusions: Patients with PLA have a higher rate of PLC than matched controls, especially within the first year after the diagnosis of PLA, suggesting PLA is a warning sign for PLC.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.113-120
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• 2005

Objectives: The worldwide epidemic of obesity is reporting but also in Korea. But there are few studies reporting with a community-based longitudinal data in Korea. This issues objects to measure the prevalence and evaluate the trends of overweight based on the repeated cross-sectional studies at a rural community adults during 10 years. Methods: With 1990~1999 Yang-Pyeong Cohort Baseline Survey Dataset, BMI is calculated and Overweight is categorized according to the classification of overweight in adult by Korean Society for the Study of Obesity. Results and Conclusions: Crude BMI means at 1990 is estimated to $22.0Kg/m^2$ and at 1999, $24.4Kg/m^2$(p for trend<0.0001). Trends of age adjusted BMI has borderline significant, but that of Age and Sex adjusted BMI is statistically significant(p for trend=0.039). In male population the change of the overweight prevalence from 1990 to 1999 is 35%, and in female population the change is 21.9%(Z=0.55). Female has more increased prevalence than male, but the change is more dominant in male than in female. At a rural community, obesity has markedly been increasing during the past decade and female in a rural community has higher prevalence of overweight.

• Kidney Research and Clinical Practice
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.356-365
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• 2018

Background: Woman kidney donors face obstetric complication risks after kidney donation, such as gestational hypertension and preeclampsia. Studies on childbirth-related complications among Asian women donors are scarce. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included woman donors aged 45 years or younger at the time of kidney donation in a single tertiary hospital between 1985 and 2014. Pregnancy associated complications were investigated using medical records and telephone questionnaires for 426 pregnancies among 225 donors. Matched non-donor controls were selected by propensity score and the maternal and fetal outcomes were compared with those of donors. Primary outcomes were differences in maternal complications, and secondary outcomes were fetal outcomes in pregnancies of the donor and control groups. Results: A total of 56 cases had post-donation pregnancies. The post-donation pregnancies group was younger at the time of donation and older at the time of delivery than the pre-donation pregnancies group, and there were no differences in primary outcomes between the groups except the proportion receiving cesarean section. Comparison of the complication risk between post-donation pregnancies and non-donor matched controls showed no significant differences in gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, or composite outcomes after propensity score matching including age at delivery, era at pregnancy, systolic blood pressure, body weight, and estimated glomerular filtration ratio (odds ratio, 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 0.19-2.14; P = 0.724). Conclusion: This study revealed that maternal and fetal outcomes between woman kidney donors and non-donor matched controls were comparable. Studies with general population pregnancy controls are warranted to compare pregnancy outcomes for donors.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.143-171
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• 2017

Along with the well-established evidence on the negative effect of social isolation on physical mental health and mortality, increasing attention has been paid to multi-dimensional nature of social isolation. In this study, the main effect and interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on heterogeneous age cohort related to the onset of dementia, which is becoming a social problem due to rapid aging of health issues, was examined through binary logistic regression analysis. Data came from the first wave of Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP) (N= 814). Findings showed 1) in the young-old, objective isolation was a significant on the incidence of dementia, 2) in the old-old, subjective isolation increased the risk of dementia. In summary, the relative influence of objective and subjective social isolation related to the incidence of dementia varies depending on the young-old and old-old. On the other hand, the interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on dementia was not significant in both the young-old and old-old. Based on the findings, we discussed implications and suggestions for future research and relevant policy and program development(dementia-friendly communities) for ameliorating objective and subjective social isolation.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.973-980
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• 2018

Study Design: Retrospective review. Purpose: To identify the trends in stimulator use, pair those trends with various grafting materials, and determine the influence of stimulators on the risk of revision surgery. Overview of Literature: A large number of studies has reported beneficial effects of electromagnetic energy in healing long bone fractures. However, there are few clinical studies regarding the use of electrical stimulators in spinal fusion. Methods: We used insurance billing codes to identify patients with lumbar disc degeneration who underwent anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). Comparisons between patients who did and did not receive electrical stimulators following surgery were performed using logistic regression analysis, chi-square test, and odds ratio (OR) analysis. Results: Approximately 19% of the patients (495/2,613) received external stimulators following ALIF surgery. There was a slight increase in stimulator use from 2008 to 2014 (multi-level $R^2=0.08$, single-level $R^2=0.05$). Patients who underwent multi-level procedures were more likely to receive stimulators than patients who underwent single-level procedures (p<0.05; OR, 3.72; 95% confidence interval, 3.02-4.57). Grafting options associated with most frequent stimulator use were bone marrow aspirates (BMA) plus autograft or allograft for single-level and allograft alone for multi-level procedures. In both cohorts, patients treated with bone morphogenetic proteins were least likely to receive electrical stimulators (p<0.05). Patients who received stimulation generally had higher reimbursements. Concurrent posterior lumbar fusion (PLF) (ALIF+PLF) increased the likelihood of receiving stimulators (p<0.05). Patients who received electrical stimulators had similar revision rates as those who did not receive stimulation (p>0.05), except those in the multilevel ALIF+PLF cohort, wherein the patients who underwent stimulation had higher rates of revision surgery. Conclusions: Concurrent PLF or multi-level procedures increased patients' likelihood of receiving stimulators, however, the presence of comorbidities did not. Patients who received BMA plus autograft or allograft were more likely to receive stimulation. Patients with and without bone stimulators had similar rates of revision surgery.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.947-958
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• 2020

Objectives: To investigate efficacy of Korean medicine for patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) with pain. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the medical records for patients diagnosed with PD between 2012 and 2019 at Gangdong Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital in South Korea. Results: Twenty-two patients with King's Parkinson's Disease Pain Scale(KPPS) scores at least twice were analyzed for evaluating the efficacy of Korean medicine for pain treatment in PD. The mean total scores before and after Korean medicine treatment were 15.23±1 .01 and 9.2±8.7, respectively, and the mean difference between the before/after total scores was 6.0±5.8 (P<0.001). Specifically, the score of radicular pain was significantly decreased (P=0.048). Conclusions: These findings suggest that Korean medicine could be beneficial for reducing pain associated with PD. Clinical efficacy should be confirmed by further studies, such as large-sample cohort studies and randomized controlled trials to clarify the pathological pain relief mechanism and the analgesic effect of Korean medicine.