• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6171-6176
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• 2014

Background: In order to design effective educational intervention for cancer survivors, it is necessary to identify most-trusted sources for health-related information and the amount of attention paid to each source. Objective: The objective of our study was to explore the sources of health information used by cancer survivors according to their access to the internet and levels of trust in and attention to those information sources. Materials and Methods: We analyzed sources of health information among cancer survivors using selected questions adapted from the 2012 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Results: Of 357 participants, 239 (67%) had internet access (online survivors) while 118 (33%) did not (offline survivors). Online survivors were younger (p<0.001), more educated (p<0.001), more non-Hispanic whites (p<0.001), had higher income (p<0.001), had more populated households (p<0.001) and better quality of life (p<0.001) compared to offline survivors. Prevalence of some disabilities was higher among offline survivors including serious difficulties with walking or climbing stairs (p<0.001), being blind or having severe visual impairment (p=0.001), problems with making decisions (p<0.001), doing errands alone (p=0.001) and dressing or bathing (p=0.001). After adjusting for socio-demographic status, cancer survivors who were non-Hispanic whites (OR= 3.49, p<0.01), younger (OR=4.10, p<0.01), more educated (OR= 2.29, p=0.02), with greater income (OR=4.43, p<0.01), and with very good to excellent quality of life (OR=2.60, p=0.01) had higher probability of having access to the internet, while those living in Midwest were less likely to have access (OR= 0.177, p<0.01). Doctors (95.5%) were the most and radio (27.8%) was the least trusted health related information source among all cancer survivors. Online survivors trusted internet much more compared to those without access (p<0.001) while offline cancer survivors trusted health-related information from religious groups and radio more than those with internet access (p<0.001 and p=0.008). Cancer survivors paid the most attention to health information on newsletters (63.8%) and internet (60.2%) and the least to radio (19.6%). More online survivors paid attention to internet than those without access (68.5% vs 39.1%, p<0.001) while more offline survivors paid attention to radio compared to those with access (26.8% vs 16.5%, p=0.03). Conclusions: Our findings emphasize the importance of improving the access and empowering the different sources of information. Considering that the internet and web technologies are continuing to develop, more attention should be paid to improve access to the internet, provide guidance and maintain the quality of accredited health information websites. Those without internet access should continue to receive health-related information via their most trusted sources.

• Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.210-214
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• 2018

Purpose: Premature adrenarche (PA) often leads to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Higher anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) levels are reported in PCOS. We studied the androgen profile and AMH profiles in Hispanic girls with PA (aged 5-8 years) and age and body mass index (BMI) matched controls. Methods: Retrospective review of electronic medical records of girls who met the inclusion criteria for premature adrenarche were done. Results: PA girls (n=76) were matched to control girls (n=12) for age (mean${\pm}$standard deviation) ($6.7{\pm}1years$ vs. $6.2{\pm}1.3years$) and BMI ($20{\pm}10kg/m^2$ vs. $17.8{\pm}2.7kg/m^2$). Dehydroepiandrostenedione sulfate ($63.3{\pm}51.3{\mu}g/dL$ vs. $29.8{\pm}17.3{\mu}g/dL$, P<0.001) and testosterone levels ($11.4{\pm}4.8ng/dL$ vs. $8.2{\pm}2.9ng/dL$, P=0.001) were significantly higher in the PA group than controls. AMH values (<14 years: reference range, 0.49-3.15 ng/mL) were $3.2{\pm}2.2ng/mL$ vs. $4.6{\pm}3.2ng/mL$ respectively in the PA and control groups and were not different (P=0.4). AMH did not show a correlation with bone age (P=0.1), and testosterone (P=0.9) in the PA group. 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels (17-OHP ng/dL) were $39.5{\pm}30.5ng/dL$ vs. $36.8{\pm}19.8ng/dL$ in PA versus control girls. The concentration of 17-OHP was not statistically different between the control and PA groups. Conclusion: Higher AMH was not observed in PA girls and no correlation with BA and androgen levels was observed.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.79-94
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• 2007

Previous studies showed that traditional attitudes toward consumer credit and the accumulation of debtare declining, especially among younger life stage groups. The social stigma of high debt levels has largely gone. However, only a few researchers have studied and changes in consumers' attitudes toward credit and its determinants. This study investigates factors related to the probability of respondents having favorable or unfavorable attitudes using the 1992-2004 U.S. Surveys of Consumer Finances. A logistic analysis was used since the dependent variables were binary. All other things equal, respondents in 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004 were significantly less likely to have favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward credit than otherwise similar respondents in 1992, but the patterns did not correspond well to the changes in the bankruptcy rate. Black and Hispanic respondents were more likely to have favorable attitudes and less likely to have unfavorable attitudes than were otherwise similar white respondents, but those in the Other group, mostly Asians, were not significantly different from whites. Respondents with college degrees were less likely to have a positive attitude and more likely to have a negative attitude than those without a college degree. Respondents who took risks with investments were more likely to have a positive attitude and less likely to have a negative attitude than those unwilling to take risks. Implications for understanding of credit use are discussed. This publication was made possible by a generous grant from the NASD Investor Education Foundation.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.250-259
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• 2011

Objectives: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant global public health concern, affecting 5.3 million US individuals annually. An estimated 1 in 3 women globally are abused by an intimate partner in their lifetime, and the effects carry over into the workplace. This article examines employers' perceptions of IPV in the workplace, targeting supervisors of Latina employees. Methods: Fourteen employers and supervisors of small service-sector companies in Oregon were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Interpretive description was used to identify themes. These qualitative interviews preceded and helped to formulate a larger workplace intervention study. Results: The following themes were found and are detailed: (1) factors associated with recognizing IPV in the workplace, (2) effects of IPV on the work environment and (3) supervisors' responses to IPV-active vs. passive involvement. Also, supervisors' suggestions for addressing IPV in the workplace are summarized. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the need for more IPV-related resources in the workplace to be available to supervisors as well as survivors and their coworkers. The needs of supervisors and workplaces vary by site, demonstrating the need for tailored interventions, and culturally appropriate workplace interventions are needed for Latinas and other racially and ethnically diverse populations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2231-2238
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• 2014

This study investigated how self-rated health and socioeconomic status are associated with behaviour of cancer survivors regarding desire for information. For this association, we compared survivors who did not seek information about cancer with those who did. We examined how sociodemographic, socioeconomic, cancerrelated, and health information factors are associated with self-rated health (SRH) by health information seeking/avoiding behavior in a survey of 502 post-treatment cancer patients. In the information seeking group, all four factors exhibited significant relationships with SRH. SRH values were significantly high for women (p<0.05), non-Hispanic White (p<0.05), and educated (p<0.01) participants, and for those who had high self-efficacy to use health information by themselves (p<0.01). Furthermore, in the information avoiding group, not only were there no significant relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and SRH, but there were negative associations between their attitude/capacity and the SRH. In terms of communication equity, the promotion of information seeking behavior can be an effective way to reduce health disparities that are caused by social inequalities. Information avoiding behavior, however, does not exhibit a negative contribution toward the relationship between SRH and SES. Information seeking behavior was positively associated with SRH, but avoiding behavior was not negatively associated. We thus need to eliminate communication inequalities using health intervention to support information seeking behavior, while simultaneously providing support for avoiders.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.97-114
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• 2000

Minority populations in the United States have a higher prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and more persons die of the disease than white persons. This study was to review and compare risk factors and prevalence rates of NIDDM in African Americans, Hispanic s, Korean Americans and Native Americans in the United States. The risk factors of NIDDM, including family history of diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity, diet and age, were reviewed in the minority populations. Risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and family history of diabetes occurred to a greater extent in some minority populations than in the white population. Diabetes should be treated as a public health problem for minority populations. Due to the increase of older populations and the increased prevalence of obesity and sedentariness, NIDDM in minorities is nearing epidemic proportions. Good diet and regular exercise can reduce the incidence of NIDDM but an understanding of the cultural aspects of diabetes is imperative in order to provide adequate community health education programs because those programs involve diet and behavior changes, characteristics that are often culturally determined. In summary, it is important to plan a community health education program targeted on NIDDM in a culturally adapted manner that will be received with both comprehension and acceptability. In particular, the program for high-risk populations should be stressed so to prevent diabetes. Preventive approaches to diabetes should be considered because they can be both therapeutic and cost effective.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.13-18
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• 2019

Comorbidity isthe simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient. As part of a larger research study, the aims of this study were to explore comorbid conditions in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and to compare the comorbidity across different demographic groups, and to determine what comorbid health problems coexisted in the patients with hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI). The average number of comorbid conditions was 6.4 with range from 0-20 in the ICU patients. African American patients had significantly more comorbid health problems than other race/ethnicity groups. Asian and Hispanic female patients showed higher comorbidity than male patients across age. The patients with HAPIs had significantly more comorbid health problems than the patients without HAPIs -- the average numbers were almost two-fold. We found comorbid health problems that existed with HAPI in ICU patients. 'Other diseases of lung' and 'Disorders of fluid, electrolyte, and acid-base balance' were most frequently coexisting health problems in the ICU patients with HAPI. Exploratory plots are helpful to discover patterns or hypotheses relevant to clinical management in critical care. Inclusion of patients' comorbid health problems to ICU HAPI risk assessment may be helpful. Identification of patients at a high risk for the development of HAPI and the early preventative interventions can help reduce length of stay as well as costly complications.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.571-576
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• 2020

Extra-enteric infections by Blastocystis spp. have rarely been documented. Here, we report a case of extra-enteric blastocystosis in a patient with minimal cervicitis symptoms. A 47-year-old Hispanic female patient was attended in a primary health centre in Michoacan state, Mexico, for her routine gynaecological medical examination. As only symptom, she referred to a slight vaginal itching. The presence of several vacuolar-stages of Blastocystis spp. were identified by Papanicolaou staining; molecular identification was attempted by culture-PCR sequencing of a region of 18S gene from cervical and faecal samples obtained 2 months after cytological examination, even when patient declared that she tried self-medicating with vaginal ovules. Blastocystis ST1 was identified only in the faecal sample. The presence of Blastocystis spp. in the cervix of a patient with scarce symptomatology, demonstrates the extraordinary flexibility of this microorganism to adapt to new environments and niches.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.705-712
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• 2008

In this study, Jeonju bibimbap, Bulgogi, Japchae, Whangpomuk, Kimchijeyukbokkeum, and Sangseonjeon were selected as examples of take-out style Korean foods, and sensory evaluations on a 9-point hedonic scale were conducted with dining staff at UCLA. 54.5% of the respondents in this study were male and 62.7% were Hispanic/Latino, with the respondents fairly evenly split across age groups in a range of 25-54 years. In the sensory evaluation, the most acceptable items were judged as follows: Bulgogi (8.1)>Japchae (7.5)>Sangseonjeon (7.4)>Jeonjubibimbap=kimchijeyukbokkeum (7.3)>Whangpomuk (6.9). Among the 6 Korean foods (Jeonjubibimbap, Bulgogi, Japchae, Whangpomuk, Kimchijeyukbokkeum and Sangseonjeon), Bulgogi, and Saengseonjeon were the most acceptable items for the female and male respondents, respectively. All of the items were popular with the majority of the responding age groups, with the exception of the 18-24-year groups; in particular, Kimchijeyukbokkeum and Bulgogi scored relatively high on acceptability (7.0) for all respondents. Jeonjubibimbap, Japchae, Whangpomuk, and Saengseonjeon were also found to be acceptable to all respondents except for the African American respondents. We suggest that the Korean foods listed above are applicable items for quick service restaurants in the U.S. market.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.1-15
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• 2018

Purpose - This study investigates the effect of MNEs' characteristics on the use of foreign currency denominated debt in the context of Korean firms. This study examines the relationship between MNEs and the use of foreign debt focusing on the accessibility to the capital market in addition to the motive of hedging against foreign exchange exposure. Research design and methodology - Probit estimation is employed for estimating significant factors in determination of the use of foreign debt by firms. The dependent variable is a dummy variable to indicate whether a firm uses foreign debt or not at the end of 2004. Independent variables include foreign subsidiaries ratio, export to sale, R&D expenditure to sale, and credit rating. Results - The results show that the interaction between the level of internationalization represented by intra-regional diversification and the strategic characteristics embedded in the region of entry affects the use of foreign debt. In case of a high level of diversification within the developing region with a strong pursuit of asset exploitation, MNEs are more likely to use foreign debt, whereas a high level of diversification within the developed region with a strong pursuit of asset seeking, MNEs are less likely to use foreign debt. Conclusions - The differences between MNEs in terms of intra-regional diversification, strategic orientation, and the accessibility to capital markets as well as the hedging motive affect the use of foreign debt.