• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.494-502
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• 2020

This study is a phenomenological study conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the positive psychological capital experience of the elderly women who participated in the long-term movement. In Korea, women are eight years older on average than men, and two-thirds of the elderly in need are women, so research on the issue of women and senior citizens is urgent. The research participants include seven female senior citizens from the Seoul-based sports center. The data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews once for 90 to 180 minutes and twice per participant from March to May 2020, and was analyzed using the phenomenological research method of Colaizzi. The analysis results showed that regular life, relationship and interest life, changing life, and satisfying life were factors that acquired and developed positive psychological capital for elderly women, which were possible only if they maintained their health, regularity and relationship. The experience of participants who achieved successful aging by acquiring positive psychological capital through exercise is suggested as a solution to aging social problems, and furthermore, it is expected to serve as a healthy guide for successful aging for young and old people ahead of their old age.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 1997

The measurement of many biochemical changes that could be appeared as aging will be resulted in the very useful and basal marker to maintain healthy life and to predict the health condition and the retardation of the aging. We classified the geriatrics into the normal and same aged dementia on the based of clinical diagnostic as well as MMSE evaluation. And then we were collected blood samples from both groups and examined 13 biochemical assays to screen any valuable biochemical index for dementia. Among 13 assays, several assay data showed the statistically significant differences between two groups. The values of serum albumin, APase, and GOT were significantly decreased in demented group compared to control. On the other hand, the values of glucose and LDH were increased in dementia compared to control. Additionally, the value of Pi was increased but the values of calcium and GPT were decreased, without significant difference (p＞0.05). The values of other assays such as bilirubin, BUN, cholesterol, creatinine and total protein did not show any statistically significant differences. Conclusively it may be suggested that dementia might be resulted in the variable biochemical changes which could be affected by many environmental factors as well as dementia itself.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.3-10
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• 2013

The principle of aging-in-place should be fundamental in designing post-retirement homes to support baby boomers' healthy aging in their current living conditions. This study investigated Korean-American baby boomers' opinions about their life images in their post-retirement homes and the needs for supportive services therein. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and a total of 247 responses were used for statistical analyses. As the most important life image for their post-retirement homes, baby boomers emphasized the living environments offering various recreational activities. They indicated the post-retirement homes close to their children or family members as the next important life image. These opinions differed depending on their socioeconomic characteristics. In particular, baby boomers with higher-income preferred housing environments offering diverse recreational activities while those with lower-income preferred the housing close to more employment opportunities. In terms of supportive services available in the post-retirement homes, they wanted 'healthcare assistance services' and 'diverse recreational programs.' Gender, educational attainment, and annual income affected their preferences in these services, though. Based on the findings, this study concluded that post-retirement housing environments should create spaces to accommodate various recreational activities and include places for them to work in near-home environments. In the community, various need-based customized recreational activities and educational programs should be planned considering different socioeconomic characteristics of baby boomers. All these considerations will provide supportive residential environments for their successful aging in place.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2020

PURPOSE: Aging causes changes in the postural alignment and gait due to changes in the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. On the other hand, the relationship between the changes in posture alignment and gait is unclear. This study examined the relationship between the postural alignment and spatiotemporal gait parameters in Korean elderly women. METHODS: Thirty-two-healthy elderly women participated in this study. All subjects were assessed for their posture alignment and gait ability. Stepwise multiple linear regression was performed to determine to what extent the postural alignments could explain the spatiotemporal gait parameters. RESULTS: Coronal head angle was moderately correlated with the velocity (r = -.51), normalized velocity (r = -.46) and gait-stability ratio (r = .58) (p < .05). The trunk angle was moderately correlated with the normalized velocity (r = -.32) and gait-stability ratio (r = .32) and weakly correlated with the velocity (r = -.28) (p < .05). The coronal shoulder angle was moderately correlated with the swing phase (r = -.57), stance phase (r = .56), single limb stance (r = -.56) and double limb stance (r = .51) (p < .05). The coronal head angle and trunk angle accounted for 36% of the variance in velocity, 33% variance in normalized velocity and 46% variance in the gait-stability ratio (p < .05). The coronal shoulder angle accounted for 32% variance in the swing phase, 32% variance in the stance phase, 31% variance in the single limb stance and 26% variance in the double limb stance (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Changes in posture alignment in elderly women may serve as a biomarker to predict a decrease in walking ability due to physical aging.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.396-405
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• 2017

Main purpose of this study is to analyze determinants of household debt among middle and old individuals aged between 32 and 76 that include Korean baby-boomers(born between 1955 and 1963), using a HAPC (Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort) model and Korean Welfare Panel Study 2006-2016. This study includes 86,056 individuals. Research findings indicate that aging and period effects have statistically significant relationships with household debt levels, however, cohort effects including a baby-boomer generation do not. While household debt increases by 3,530,000 Korean won as age increases by one year, the rate of increase in household debt reduces as individual ages. In addition, employment and health status at the individual level have significant effects on household debt levels. The unemployed are more likely than the employed to have high household debt levels while unhealthy people tend than healthy people to have high household debt levels.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1363-1370
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• 2023

Globally, the elderly population is increasing, making the primary concern of modern society the healthy aging and welfare and medical facilities for the elderly. However, many seniors experience cognitive decline due to aging, making cognitive activities crucial for them. In this context, a study has developed a cognitive activity support system for the elderly using the metaverse. To achieve this, the characteristics and needs of the elderly were analyzed to design an interface in the metaverse that they can easily use. Additionally, the type and difficulty of cognitive activities were adjusted to engage seniors in a captivating manner. Experimental results showed that the proposed system effectively enhances the cognitive abilities of the elderly. Thus, the personalized metaverse-based cognitive activity support system proposed in this study can be a valuable tool for improving the cognitive abilities of the elderly.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-61
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: An increasing life expectancy in society has burdened healthcare systems substantially because of the rising prevalence of age-related metabolic diseases. This study compared the effects of animal protein hydrolysate (APH) and casein on metabolic diseases using aged mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: Eight-week-old and 50-week-old C57BL/6J mice were used as the non-aged (YC group) and aged controls (NC group), respectively. The aged mice were divided randomly into 3 groups (NC, low-APH [LP], and high-APH [HP] and fed each experimental diet for 12 weeks. In the LP and HP groups, casein in the AIN-93G diet was substituted with 16 kcal% and 24 kcal% APH, respectively. The mice were sacrificed when they were 63-week-old, and plasma and hepatic lipid, white adipose tissue weight, hepatic glucose, lipid, and antioxidant enzyme activities, immunohistochemistry staining, and mRNA expression related to the glucose metabolism on liver and muscle were analyzed. RESULTS: Supplementation of APH in aging mice resulted in a significant decrease in visceral fat (epididymal, perirenal, retroperitoneal, and mesenteric fat) compared to the negative control (NC) group. The intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and area under the curve analysis revealed insulin resistance in the NC group, which was alleviated by APH supplementation. APH supplementation reduced hepatic gluconeogenesis and increased glucose utilization in the liver and muscle. Furthermore, APH supplementation improved hepatic steatosis by reducing the hepatic fatty acid and phosphatidate phosphatase activity while increasing the hepatic carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity. Furthermore, in the APH supplementation groups, the red blood cell (RBC) thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and hepatic H₂O₂ levels decreased, and the RBC glutathione, hepatic catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities increased. CONCLUSIONS: APH supplementation reduced visceral fat accumulation and alleviated obesity-related metabolic diseases, including insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis, in aged mice. Therefore, high-quality animal protein APH that reduces the molecular weight and enhances the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score has potential as a dietary supplement for healthy aging.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.201-210
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• 2009

The purpose of the study is to examine the demographic characteristics and socio-psychological factors affecting willingness to take health foods among elderly, which is to get the basic materials of educational program for helping their desirable intake of healthy food. The data were collected from 1,032 elderly subjects and analyzed by SPSS Windows Version 12.0. About forty-one percent of the respondents were taking health foods in the period of survey. The main reason of taking health foods was to maintain and improve their health. The elderly subjects were classified into three groups: (1) a group having willingness to take healthy food, (2) a group having unwillingness to take healthy food, and (3) a group having a wait-and-see attitude. According to the results of chi-square and analysis of one-way variance, there were significant differences among three groups in the variables of 'sex', 'age', 'educational level', 'marriage status', 'monthly allowance', 'eating habit', 'concerns about health', 'self -evaluation of health condition', 'self-evaluation of health condition compared to the same age', 'concerns about health foods', and 'awareness of health foods'. In addition, the result of multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that the factors affecting willingness to take health foods in the future are 'age', 'concerns about health', 'self-evaluation of health condition compared to the same age', 'awareness of health foods', and 'intake of health foods in the period of survey'.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.3
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• pp.1-150
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• 1989

Oriental medicine thinks life and death as the following. 1. The universe seems to be a kind of organism which is divided into 3 branches, as Heaven, Earth and Man. Man is not created from nihil by the Creator. Heaven and Earth by their interaction operate to produce man. This is similiar that zygote is not created from nihil, and that sperm and ovum are transformed into zygote by their interaction. The symbolic meaning of sperm is Heaven, and that of ovum is Earth. Mind and body, as well as spirit and body, are not the real, but artificial words for the purpose of observing and expressing one man. So there is not spiritual substance as distinct from body. The expected life span of man is subjected to change, and is always becoming through life. Fate, the Creator and the world to come cannot be said to be. 2. After one's death, man is transformend into Heaven and Earth. Dying is this process of transformation. Although man comes into existence and closes one's life, the total life of the universe does not change. The criteria of determination of death is not in cell death, but in somatic death. Somatic death divided into 2 branches, one is heart-lung death, the other is brain death. For the standard of health changes ceaselessly as time goes by, aging and dying is not the process of losing health. Because of mind cannot be seperated from body, we'll feel at ease bodily and mentally in healthy dying. The completion of lifetimes is the value of healthy dying. 3. From the viewpoint of these, we must think to let a person die healthily is the right medical ethics. The way to let a person die healthily is divided into 3 branches, one is treatment, another is prevention and the other is promotion of health. We should treat and prevent death of sickness, but take care of healthy dying.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.231-240
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• 2001

Purpose: Normal aging results in detectable changes in the brain structure and function. We evaluated the changes of regional cerebral glucose metabolism in the normal aging process with FDG PET. Materials and Methods: Brain PET images were obtained in 44 healthy volunteers (age range 20-69 'y'; M:F = 29:15) who had no history of neuropsychiatric disorders. On 6 representative transaxial images, ROIs were drawn in the cortical and subcortical areas. Regional FDG uptake was normalized using whole brain uptake to adjust for the injection dose and correct for nonspecific declines of glucose metabolism affecting all brain areas equally. Results: In the prefrontal, temporoparietal and primary sensorimotor cortex, the normalized FDG uptake (NFU) reached a peak in subjects in their 30s. The NFU in the prefrontal and primary sensorimotor cortex declined with age after 30s at a rate of 3.15%/decade and 1.93%/decade, respectively. However, the NFU in the temporoparietal cortex did not change significantly with age after 30s. The anterior (prefrontal) posterior (temporoparietal) gradient peaked in subjects in their 30s and declined with age thereafter at a rate of 2.35%/decade. The NFU in the caudate nucleus was decreased with age after 20s at a rate of 2.39%/decade. On the primary visual cortex, putamen, and thalamus, the NFU values did not change significantly throughout the ages covered. These patterns were not significantly different between right and left cerebral hemispheres. Of interest was that the NFU in the left cerebellar cortex was increased with age after 20s at a rate of 2.86%/decade. Conclusion: These data demonstrate regional variation of the age-related changes in the cerebral glucose metabolism, with the most prominent age-related decline of metabolism in the prefrontal cortex. The increase in the cerebellar metabolism with age might reflect a process of neuronal plasticity associated with aging.