• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제53권2호
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• pp.98-105
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• 2020

Objectives: Obesity is regarded as one of the most prominent health threats worldwide and a serious risk factor for non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, and some types of cancer. Given the role that societal development-as reflected by the Human Development Index (HDI)-may play in the prevalence of obesity and overweight, this study aimed to investigate the degree to which the prevalence of obesity and overweight is affected by HDI and its components. Methods: In this ecological study, the required data on HDI and its components were gathered from the latest report of the United Nations Development Program, and data on obesity and overweight were acquired from the latest reports published on the World Health Organization website. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS version 24.0. Results: The prevalence of obesity was determined to be significantly higher among females than males, and the gross national index per capita was found to be significantly higher for males than females (p<0.05). Significant positive correlations were found between HDI and its components and sex, as well as indices of obesity and overweight. Conclusions: A significant positive correlation exists between HDI and obesity. As policy-makers attempt to improve the general welfare of the people, they should be aware of potential unwanted effects of development on the risk of obesity and overweight among the population.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제44권3호
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• pp.227-237
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• 2018

Objectives: This study was investigated the characteristics of small-scale water works (SWW) in Gyeongnam area and conduct a health risk assessment of water-quality inspection items unfitted for water-quality standards (WQS). Methods: The characteristics of SWW in Gyeongnam province were analyzed using the data of SWW in the last three years (2014~2016) published in National Waterworks Information System. In addition, the health risk assessment for inspection items unfitted for WQS was carried out in four steps: hazard identification, dose-response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Results: The total number of SWW in Gyeongnam area was gradually decreased from 2014 to 2016. In addition, drinking water sources of SWW were in the order of ground water, valley water, spring water, surface water, and river-bed water. The number of points unfitted for WQS in SWW by year was 22, 45, and 18 in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively, and a total of 112 points were found to unfit for WQS in SWW during 2014~2016. The hazard quotient (HQ) for fluoride, nitrate nitrogen, boron in the unfitted points for WQS was more than 1.0, and the mean values for turbidity and color in points unfitted for WQS were 2.38 nephelometric turbidity unit and 16.25 color unit, respectively. Conclusions: The HQ for fluorine, nitrate nitrogen and boron was more than 1.0 in points unfitted for WQS among SWW in Gyeongnam area, and the turbidity and the color degree exceeded WQS, which mean that there is a possibility of harmful impacts on the human health.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.390-397
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• 2019

High risk-human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) is known to be a major cause of cervical cancer, and coinfection of sexually transmitted pathogen (STP) has been reported to cause persistent HPV infection. However, the relationship between HPV and STP coinfection remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to analyze the coinfection rate with STP in high-risk human papillomavirus infected women in Busan and to collect basic data for the prevention of cervical lesions. This study was carried out in 355 women who had concurrent HPV and STP screening at Busan local hospital between January 2016 and December 2017. HPV and STP coinfection was found in 187 (52.7%) out of 355 cases. HR-HPV and STP coinfection was 82.9% higher than LR-HPV and STP coinfections 17.1%. In HR-HPV infection, Ureaplasma species was the most common pathogen (47.1%), followed by C. trachomatis (21.9%) and Mycoplasma species (12.3%). In the analysis of HR-HPV genotype according to STP, HPV 16 (12.0%) was the most frequent, followed by HPV 58 (11.6%), HPV 39 (11.1%) and HPV 52 (10.2%), but HPV 18 showed a low coinfection rate of 1.3%. According to the results of age, HR-HPV and STP coinfection rate was the highest at 41.9% among women aged 18 to 29. HR-HPV and Ureaplasma species showed the highest coinfection rates at all ages, followed by C. trachomatis and Mycoplasma species. Further studies with more samples will be needed to determine if the coinfection of HR-HPV and STPs is involved in the development of cervical tumors through histologic changes.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제29권
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• pp.9.1-9.3
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• 2014

Diesel exhaust particles (DEP) contain elemental carbon, organic compounds including Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals, and other trace compounds. Diesel exhaust is complex mixture of thousands of chemicals. Over forty air contaminants are recognized as toxicants, such as carcinogens. Most diesel exhaust particles have aerodynamic diameters falling within a range of 0.1 to $0.25{\mu}m$. DEP was classified as a definite human carcinogen (group 1) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer at 2012 based on recently sufficient epidemiological evidence for lung cancer. Significant decreases in DEP and other diesel exhaust constituents will not be evident immediately, and outworn diesel car having longer mileage still threatens health of people in spite of recent remarkable development in diesel engine technology. Policy change in South Korea, such as introduction of diesel taxi, may raise health risk of air pollution in metropolitan area with these limitations of diesel engine. To protect people against DEP in South Korea, progressive strategies are needed, including disallowance of diesel taxi, more strict regulation of diesel engine emission, obligatory diesel particulate filter attachment in outworn diesel car, and close monitoring about health effects of DEP.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제65권2호
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• pp.65-72
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• 2022

Cholesterol, the main structural molecule of cell membranes, is involved in essential functions of the human body. Dyslipidemia is an established risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) that is observed even in childhood. To reduce the risk of CVDs in children, several clinical guidelines have been published for the management of pediatric dyslipidemia. However, pediatric dyslipidemia is also associated with several health problems other than CVDs. This article reviews the current data on dyslipidemia-related pediatric health issues. There is strong evidence that low serum vitamin D levels, asthma, and mental health problems may be associated with dyslipidemia in the pediatric population regardless of body mass index. This review also highlights the need for further large-scale population-based studies in the Korean pediatric population to establish effective strategies for promoting children's health.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한예방의학회 1994년도 교수 연수회(환경)
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• pp.417-425
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• 1994

Although animal studies have been used most often for quantitative risk assessment, it is generally recognized that well-conducted epidemiologic studies would provide the best basis for estimating human risk. However, there are several features related to the design and analysis of epidemiologic studies that frequently limit their usefulness for quantitating risks. The lack of accurate information on exposure in epidemiologic studies is perhaps the most frequently cited limitation of these studies for risk assessment. However. other features of epidemiologic study design, such as statistical power, length of follow-up, confounding, and effect modification, may also limit the inferences that can be drawn from these studies. Furthermore, even when the aforementioned limitations are overcome, substantial uncertainty exists concerning the choice of an appropriate statistical (or biologic) model for extrapolation beyond the range of exposures observed in a particular study. This paper focuses on presenting a review and discussion of the methodologic issues involved in using epidemiologic studies for risk assessment. This review concentrates on the use of retrospective, cohort, mortality studies of occupational groups for assessing cancer risk because this is the most common application of epidemiologic data for quantitative risk assessment (QRA). Epidemiologic data should not be viewed as a panacea for the problems inherent in using animal bioassay data for QRA. Rather, information that can be derived from epidemiologic and toxicologic studies complement one another, and both data sources need to be used to provide the best characterization of human risk.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제58권4호
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• pp.467-473
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• 2020

Chinese edible frogs, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, were examined to estimate the potential risks of human gnathostomiasis and sparganosis in Myanmar. A total of 20 frogs were purchased in a local market of Yangon and examined with naked eyes and the artificial digestion method after skin peeling in June 2018 and June 2019. Larvae of gnathostomes and Spirometra (=spargana) were detected in 15 (75.0%) and 15 (75.0%) frogs with average intensities of 10.5 and 6.3 larvae per infected frog, respectively. Gnathostome larvae were 2.75-3.80 (av. 3.30) mm long and 0.29-0.36 (0.33) mm wide. They had a characteristic head bulb with 4 rows of hooklets, a muscular long esophagus, and 2 pairs of cervical sac. The mean number of hooklets were 41, 44, 47, and 50 on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th row, respectively. Collected spargana were actively moving, particularly with the scolex part, and have ivory-white color and variable in size. Conclusively, it has been first confirmed that Chinese edible frogs, H. rugulosus, are highly infected with larval gnathostomes and spargana in this study. Consuming these frogs is considered a potential risk of human gnathostomiasis and sparganosis in Myanmar.

• 과학기술학연구
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.97-129
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• 2008

새로운 기술의 개발과 확산으로 인해 기술 위험의 가능성과 영향이 크게 증가하고 있다. 불확실성을 기본적 속성으로 하는 위험의 특성상 지식의 불확실성 해소는 기술 위험관리의 핵심적 요소라고 할 수 있다. 지식의 불확실성이 기술위험 갈등의 중요한 원인이 되기 때문이다. 그러나 지식 축적만으로 기술위험 갈등이 해소되는 것은 아니다. 기술위험의 성격에 따라서는 기술위험에 대한 합의의 부족이 갈등의 주원인이 될 수 있기 때문이다. 휴대전화 전자파의 인체 유해성 논란은 대표적인 예라고 할 수 있다. 휴대전화 전자파의 인체 유해성 여부에 대해서는 명확한 결론을 내릴 수는 없지만 관련 지식이 꾸준히 축적되어 왔기 때문에 지식의 불확실성은 높지 않다. 산업계는 유해성을 입증할만한 뚜렷한 증거가 없기 때문에 법적 규제는 불필요하다는 입장인 반면 시민단체들은 유해 가능성이 입증되지 않았지만 가능성은 여전히 남아있기 때문에 사전 예방적 차원의 규제가 필요하다는 입장을 취하고 있다. 우리나라의 경우 시민단체의 지속적인 문제제기에 따라 정부는 인체흡수율(SAR) 기준을 설정하고 인체 흡수율 정보를 공개토록 하고 있다. 그러나 시민단체의 입장에서 보면 인체 흡수율 기준은 전신이 아닌 얼굴 부위에만 적용되는 제한적 기준이며, 인체 흡수율 정보도 자율적으로 공개토록 하고 있다는 점에서 완화된 형식적 규제라고 할 수 있다. 예방적 규제를 지지하는 시민단체와 산업계 보호의 관점에서 완화된 규제를 유지하려는 정부간에는 여전히 큰 인식 차이가 존재한다. 휴대전화 전자파의 기술 위험은 기술의 친숙성으로 인해 심각한 위험으로 받아들여지지 않고 있지만 심각한 갈등과 재난을 초래할 가능성도 있다. 따라서 이러한 문제를 예방하기 위해서는 안전의 목표를 경제적 목표와 통합하는 정책 통합과 위험 커뮤니케이션의 촉진을 통해 갈등 가능성과 재난의 발생의 소지를 차단하는 기술위험 관리가 필요하다.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.394-407
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• 2011

Better understanding of the complex factors leading to human diseases will be necessary for both long term prevention and for managing short and long-term health problems. The underlying causes, leading to a global health crisis in both acute and chronic diseases, include finite global health care resources for sustained healthy human survival, the population explosion, increased environmental pollution, decreased clean air, water, food distribution, diminishing opportunities for human self-esteem, increased median life span, and the interconnection of infectious and chronic diseases. The transition of our pre-human nutritional requirements for survival to our current culturally-shaped diet has created a biologically-mismatched human dietary experience. While individual genetic, gender, and developmental stage factors contribute to human diseases, various environmental and culturally-determined factors are now contributing to both acute and chronic diseases. The transition from the hunter-gatherer to an agricultural-dependent human being has brought about a global crisis in human health. Initially, early humans ate seasonally-dependent and calorically-restricted foods, during the day, in a "feast or famine" manner. Today, modern humans eat diets of caloric abundance, at all times of the day, with foods of all seasons and from all parts of the world, that have been processed and which have been contaminated by all kinds of factors. No longer can one view, as distinct, infectious agent-related human acute diseases from chronic diseases. Moreover, while dietary and environmental chemicals could, in principle, cause disease pathogenesis by mutagenic and cytotoxic mechanisms, the primary cause is via "epigenetic", or altered gene expression, modifications in the three types of cells (e.g., adult stem; progenitor and terminally-differentiated cells of each organ) during all stages of human development. Even more significantly, alteration in the quantity of adult stem cells during early development by epigenetic chemicals could either increase or decrease the risk to various stem cell-based diseases, such as cancer, later in life. A new concept, the Barker hypothesis, has emerged that indicates pre-natal maternal dietary exposures can now affect diseases later in life. Examples from the studies of the atomic bomb survivors should illustrate this insight.

• 한국환경보건학회지
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• 제37권5호
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• pp.358-368
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• 2011

Objectives: In order to evaluate the association between occupational exposure to chloroethylene (TCE) and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), we conducted a meta-analysis of retrospective cohort studies and casecontrol studies and attempted to summarize the evidence of the association from molecular-epidemiological studies and experiments with human cells. Methods: In the meta-analysis, we restricted the analysis to those studies with data for chlorinated solvents, degreasers, or TCE. Studies involving dry cleaners or launderers were excluded from the analysis because use of TCE as a dry cleaning fluid has been rare since the 1960s. The data were combined using a random-effects model to estimate the summary risks (OR and RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Molecular evidence of the effect of TCE on human immune system were also reviewed and summarized. Results: Occupational exposure to TCE was strongly associated with NHL among cohort studies (number of studies=13, summary RR=1.33, 95% CI=1.04-1.70) whereas the association was not statistically significant among case-control studies (number of studies=15, summary OR=1.10, 0.98-1.23). When exposure level was considered, it became statistically significant for the highest exposure level (number of studies=5, summary OR=1.70, 1.25-2.32). Molecular evidences showed that TCE exposure in human or cultured human cells may cause a significant decrease immune cell subsets and changes in hormone levels related to immune response. Conclusions: Our results from meta-analysis and additional molecular evidence suggest that occupational exposure to TCE may cause NHL. However, unmeasured potential confounding and unclear dose-response relationships warrant further study on the role of TCE exposure in NHL carcinogenesis.