• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.243-252
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• 2000

This study examined the effects of excess intake of calcium(Ca) and iron(Fe) supplements on iron bioavailability, liver and kidney functions in anemic model rats. Seven-week-old female rats were first fed and Fe-deficient diet for ten weeks, and then fed one of nine experimental diets for an additional eight weeks, containing three levels of Ca, normal (0.5%) or high(1.5%) or excess (2.5%) and three levels of Fe, normal(35ppm) or high(210 ppm) or excess(350ppm). In anemic model rats, serum Fe, total iron binding capacity(TIBC), hemogolin(Hb), hematocrit(Hct) and liver Fe contents were significantly decreased. Apparent Fe absorption significantly increased with increasing dietary Fe levels, and decreased with increasing dietary Ca levels. serum Fe concentration significantly increased in rats fed a high- and excess-Fe diet, and decreased in rats fed a excess-Ca diet. TIBC was decreawed in rats fed a excess-Ca diet, and transferrin saturation(%) increased in rats fed ahigh- and excess-Fe diet. Hb and Hct were decreased in rats fed an excess-Ca diet regardless of dietary Fe levels. Fe and thiobarbituric acid reactin gsubstance(TBARS) Contents of liver significantly increased in rats fed a high- and excess0-Fe diet, and decreased in rats fed a high- and excess-Ca diet. Fe content of the spleen showed similar results. Urinary creatinine and GFR increased in rats fed an excess-Ca diet regardless of dietary Fe levels. GOT, GPT and LDH were not significantly affected by dietary Ca and Fe levels. These results suggest that excess intake of Fe may increase liver Fe deposits and TBARS, and excess intake of Ca may decrease Fe bioavailability and kidney function leading to potential health problems in anemic model rats.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.771-778
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• 2006

Previous studies have suggested that delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) phenotype differently affect mineral metabolism. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of 6-month iron supplementation as syrup of NaFeEDTA in improvement of iron status according to ALAD genotype. One hundred thirty adult women living in rural areas of Asan were provided NaFeEDTA syrup once a week for 6 months at the dose of 64mg Fe/week. Three hundred control subjects were observed during the study period. Fasting blood was obtained for analyzing hemoglobin (Hb) and zinc protophorphyrin (ZPP) and serum was analyzed for ferritin, iron and total iron capacity (TIBC) levels before and after iron supplementation. Ninety percent of ALAD 1-1 (ALAD1) and 10% of ALAD 1-2 (ALAD2) genotype were observed in the control group. However in the intervention group, 98% showed ALAD1 while only 2% was ALAD2, which is significantly lower proportions of ALAD2 compared to the control group (p<0.01). The iron status of Intervention group significantly improved except for ferritin and TIBC regardless or ALAD genotype, while the control group did not show any changes in iron status except for ZPP. ZPP concentration of the control group significantly increased in both ALAD1 and 2 while the intervention group showed significantly decreased ZPP after supplementation in ALAD1. Iron supplementation in the form of NaFeEDTA seems to be effective in reduction of ZPP levels although ALAD2 did not show significant changes due to the small number. However, it is difficult to make a conclusion from these results, and more specified further investigation is needed with more participants.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.459-467
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to suggest the strategies for improvement of home-delivered meal services for the elderly, to identify reasons for recipients to get started with the services and to evaluate the attitude, acceptability and adaptation of recipients to the services from the perspective of life context. Methods: The data was collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with eighteen low-income elderly recipients of home-delivered meals and analyzed using a qualitative research method. Results: The results were deduced as four themes which comprised of long-term vulnerable socioeconomic contexts resulted in entry to the services, conflicting acceptability to the services, passive adaptation to taking the services, and positive practices to cope with supplement free meals or other services. The service participation was initiated because of a combination of prolonged, vulnerable socioeconomic contexts, including poverty and unexpected life events such as diseases, disability, living alone, aging and unemployment. With regard to taking the services, conflicting acceptability was observed: positive aspects including saving living cost and good quality of meals, and negative aspects including lack of a tailored service and feeling of stigma. Although the recipients needed an individualized service, they did not express their needs and demands for the services and they accepted the unavailability as an accustomed, prolonged vulnerable socioeconomic context. With regard to lack of tailored services, either self-solution such as modification of eating patterns or community-based network and services were used. Conclusions: We suggest that a system to concretely identify recipients' attitude, acceptability and adaptation for home-delivered meal services should be developed in the establishment of a tailored nutrition support system for the low-income elderly.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.181-187
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• 2009

Carnitine is known to be involved in lipid metabolism and affects body composition as well as energy metabolism of the whole body. Improvement of obesity by L-carnitine supplement suggests that obesity can be related with the abnormality of carnitine metabolism and therefore, plasma carnitine level in normal and obesity groups was investigated. For the characterization of plasma carnitine level in obese people, 60 plasma samples collected from Korean women subjects were analyzed using LC/MS and plasma fatty acid level was also determined using GC/MS. Additionally, several clinical chemical parameters including fasting glucose, cholesterol, AST, and ALT level were measured. All the data obtained were combined and pattern recognition analysis was carried out with the dataset. Obese group showed a different metabolic pattern compared with normal group. Plasma acylcarnitine level of the obese group was found to be $11.7{\mu}g/ml$, which was higher than that of normal group ($8.0{\mu}g/ml$). Statistically significant differences in plasma fatty acid level were not observed between the two groups. Other clinical parameters for the obese group were within normal ranges but AST and ALT levels were slightly elevated compared to normal group. The obese group showed elevated plasma acylcarnitine level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2010

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate curriculums of physical therapy education. Methods : We identified the curriculums of physical therapy education by internet. Results : In Korea, education on physical therapy started as a two-year program in 1963, and recently reorganized as three or four years programs. Currently some ten schools offer physical therapy programs for master's and doctor's degrees. The member countries of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) provide approximately ten types of education programs that take two to six years. In Korea, the same programs have three or four years of education periods. The American Physical Therapist Association (APTA) launched on the doctor of physical therapy (DPT) course in the late 1990s, encouraging physical therapists to acquire a doctorate degree. In addition, the U.S. Vision 2020 envisions that all physical therapists acquire DPT by the year 2020. As the medical field becomes more professional and specialized, physical therapists are expected to supplement and even replace works of doctors, instead of merely assisting them. It is necessary to reinforce education programs and improve related school systems to enhance status of physical therapist in accordance with the changing social needs and to provide quality service to patients. Conclusion : We suggest to change the curriculum of Korea. It is more accurately reflected the scope, depth, breadth, and rigor of the high-quality education preparation needed for current and future practice.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.512-520
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• 2005

Phytoestrogens, especially Yak-kong or soybean-derived isoflavones have been traditionally used as a supplement of estrogen for preventing postmenopausal osteoporosis in oriental folk medicine. In a previous study, we demonstrated that as Yak-kong and soybean increased MG-63 human osteoblastic cell proliferation, the expression of estrogen receptor $\alpha\;and\;beta\;(ER\;\alpha:\;ER\;\beta$) both were increased. However, the increased level of ER $\alpha$ is much higher than that of ER$\beta$. To determine whether the altered level of ER $\alpha$ expression affects Yak-kong or soybean induced MG-63 cell proliferation, we established cell lines stably expressing either ER $\alpha$ or antisense ER $\alpha$ RNAs. Increased expression of ER a in MG- 63 cells (ER $\alpha$-MG63) enhanced Yak-kong or soybean induced proliferation which paralleled with the enhanced expression of IGF-I. Inhibition of ER $\alpha$ expression by antisense $ER\;\alpha\;RNAs\;(As-ER\;\alpha-MG63$) caused these cells to insensitize Yak- kong or soybean induced proliferation and IGF-I expression. Furthermore, the comparable effects between Yak-kong and the combined treatment of genistein and daidzein at $0.5\;{\times}\;10^{-8}M$, which is a concentration of these two isoflavones similar to Yak-kong at 0.001 mg/ml, on cell proliferation and IGF-I expression in $ER\;\alpha-MG63\;or\;As-ER\;\alpha-MG63$ cells demonstrate that ER $\alpha$ plays an important, active role in MG-63 cell proliferation induced by phytoestrogens, especially Yak-kong or soybean derived isoflavones.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.459-465
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECFTIVES: The effect of St. John's Wort extract (SJW) on MG-63 cell proliferation and trabecular bone loss induced by ovariectomy was examined. MATERIALS/METHODS: Proliferation, expression of estrogen receptor (ER) ${\alpha}$ and ER ${\beta}$, and gene expressions of osteoprotegerin (OPG), osteocalcin (OC) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were examined in MG-63 cells treated with or without SJW. Ovariectomized rats were treated with SJW at the dose of 100 or 200 mg/kg/day, ${\beta}$-estradiol-3-benzoate (E2), or vehicle only (OVX-C), and sham operated rats were treated with vehicle only (Sham-C). Serum ALP and C-telopeptide (CTX), and femoral trabecular bone loss were examined. RESULTS: SJW increased MG-63 cell proliferation and expression of ER ${\alpha}$ and ER ${\beta}$, and positive effect was shown on gene expressions of ALP, OC and OPG. SJW also showed estrogen like effect on bone associated with slowing down in trabecular bone loss. Histopathology by H&E showed rats treated with SJW displayed denser structure in metaphyseal region of distal femur compared with rats in OVX-C. SJW was shown to reduce serum CTX in OVX rats. CONCLUSION: The present study provides new insight in preventing estrogen deficiency induced bone loss of SJW and possibility for its application in bone health supplement.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.81-90
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• 2018

Objectives : This study was performed to investigate the characteristic of Seborrheic Dermatitis(SD) patients who visited Korean medicine clinics. Methods : The study was carried out with 140 SD outpatients who visited fourteen Gowoongyul Korean traditional medical clinics from January to December 2016 and was completed by reviewing patients' survey. Results : 1. Among 140 patients, there were 61 male patients(43.6%), 79 female patients(56.4%). The average age of the patients was $32.6{\pm}10.9years$ old, with many in their 20s and 30s in the distribution. 2. The average duration of disease was $4.2{\pm}4.11years$. 3. 80% of the patients had experience of treatment, 58.6% only took Western medicine, 17.1% had experience of both Western and Korean medicine treatment, and 4.3% received only Korean medicine treatment. 4. Analysis of seasonal effects of SD showed that 48.6% of the respondents reported that skin disease always appeared regardless of the season, with 33.6% in winter, with 29.3% in summer and 25.7% in seasonal change. 5. The rate of family history of seborrheic dermatitis was low(6.4%), and 75.7% of the patients answered that they had no family history of skin disease. 6. The major lesion of SD appeared on face(87.9%) and scalp(36.4%). 7. 70.7% answered they do some kind of self-managements. 70.0% used moisturizers. Bathing therapy was performed in 17.1%, and 55% were taking the health supplement food, and 35.7% restricted the avoidance diet such as instant and fatty foods. Conclusions : This study demonstrated the various clinical characteristics of Korean patients with seborrheic dermatitis.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Several previous studies have investigated whether regular walnut consumption positively changes heart-health-related parameters. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of daily walnut intake on metabolic syndrome (MetS) status and other metabolic parameters among subjects with MetS. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study was a two-arm, randomized, controlled crossover study with 16 weeks of each intervention (45 g of walnuts or iso-caloric white bread) with a 6 week washout period between interventions. Korean adults with MetS (n = 119) were randomly assigned to one of two sequences; 84 subjects completed the trial. At each clinic visit (at 0, 16, 22, and 38 weeks), MetS components, metabolic parameters including lipid profile, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), adiponectin, leptin, and apolipoprotein B, as well as anthropometric and bioimpedance data were obtained. RESULTS: Daily walnut consumption for 16 weeks improved MetS status, resulting in 28.6%-52.8% reversion rates for individual MetS components and 51.2% of participants with MetS at baseline reverted to a normal status after the walnut intervention. Significant improvements after walnut intake, compared to control intervention, in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (P = 0.028), fasting glucose (P = 0.013), HbA1c (P = 0.021), and adiponectin (P = 0.019) were observed after adjustment for gender, age, body mass index, and sequence using a linear mixed model. CONCLUSION: A dietary supplement of 45 g of walnuts for 16 weeks favorably changed MetS status by increasing the concentration of HDL-C and decreasing fasting glucose level. Furthermore, consuming walnuts on a daily basis changed HbA1c and circulating adiponectin levels among the subjects with MetS. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03267901.

• Translational and Clinical Pharmacology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.128-133
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• 2018

Appropriate prescription writing is one of the critical medical processes affecting the quality of public health care. However, this is a complex task for newly qualified intern doctors because of its complex characteristics requiring sufficient knowledge of medications and principles of clinical pharmacology, skills of diagnosis and communication, and critical judgment. This study aims to gather data on the current status of undergraduate prescribing education in South Korea. Two surveys were administered in this study: survey A to 26 medical schools in South Korea to gather information on the status of undergraduate education in clinical pharmacology; and survey B to 244 intern doctors in large hospitals to gather their opinions regarding prescribing education and ability. In survey A, half of the responding institutions provided prescribing education via various formats of classes over two curriculums including lecture, applied practice, group discussions, computer-utilized training, and workshops. In survey B, we found that intern doctors have the least confidence when prescribing drugs for special patient populations, especially pregnant women. These intern doctors believed that a case-based practical training or group discussion class would be an effective approach to supplement their prescribing education concurrently or after the clerkship in medical schools or right before starting intern training with a core drug list. The results of the present study may help instructors in charge of prescribing education when communicating and cooperating with each other to improve undergraduate prescribing education and the quality of national medical care.