• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.331-336
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• 2001

Objectives : To assess the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis through proper diagnosis in a rural community and to elucidate the relevant factors of this health problem in order to develop educational methods for the prevention of female knee osteoarthritis as well to provide basic data for prospective research. Methods : Over a period of three months starting from August, 2000, 432 women over the age of 40 and living in a rural area were selected by a multistage cluster sampling method in order to investigate the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis and the related factors. The study utilized interviews and radiological examination. The criteria of knee osteoarthritis used was the American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for osteoarthritis of the knee(1995). Results : The adjusted prevalence of knee osteoarthritis among the subjects was 55.0%, and multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the odds ratio(OR) of knee osteoarthritis among subjects 50-59 years of age and subjects older than 60 years of age as compared to subjects 40-49 years of age were 2.43(95% CI: 1.30-4.70) and 4.40(95% CI: 2.47-7.83), respectively. The OR of knee osteoarthritis among factory workers or farmers as compared to others was 1.79(95% CI: 1.03-3.12). The OR of knee osteoarthritis among subjects who had a family history and subjects who had knee injury or surgical history against those subjects had neither were 2.56(95% CI: 1.42-4.03) and 4.70(95% CI:1.45-15.19), respectively. The OR of knee osteoarthritis among smokers against non smokers was 0.47(95% CI: 0.22-0.97). Conclusions : Related factors of knee osteoarthritis included age, occupation, family history, smoking, knee injury and history of surgery In order to prevent knee osteoarthritis in high risked rural woman, education concerning self-care methods and safety guideline must be provided at the work place by the public and private health sectors. Additionally, these women should be continually encouraged to exercise, including jogging and swimming regularly.

• Women's Studies Review
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.3-35
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• 2012

This paper attempts to examine complicated relations which the nineteenth-century English novel of female development has with the Bildungsroman genre, and to discuss that the story of female development effectively realizes the potential dynamics of the genre. It looks into the history of discussions on the Bildungsroman which began at the end of the nineteenth-century in Germany and developed among twentieth-century Anglo-American critics, and those on the female development which didn't start until feminist criticism ventured out at the end of 1970s, and have developed into various perspectives ever since in accordance to the progress of feminist criticism. In general, Bildungsroman criticism considers that it portrays the process how the protagonist develops self and achieves an accommodation with society. However, this paper points out that the Bildungsroman is the narrative form which represents conflicts between self and society caused by idealizing the infinitive possibility of self-determination while simultaneously presenting the limited goal of social integration. It argues that the subversive dynamics of the genre can give full play to its potential when it reveals contradictions and tensions between individual subjectivity and integration into society and connects them with criticism of political and social structures. It is the stories of female Bildungshelds depicted by nineteenth-century female writers that exquisitely embody the subversive potential of the Bildungsroman. They acutely experience alienation from society where independency or autonomy is fundamentally impossible because the ideology of separate spheres does not allow them to live a meaningful life economically and sociologically outside the marriage. An example of a female Bildungsheld whose conflicts between development of self and integration with society are doubled by gender is Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre is a representative Bildungsroman with subversive dynamics, which tells the story of female development but splits itself through various techniques inserting contradictory and opposite meanings, thus resignifying female development and questioning social and political structures.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2010

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the expression pattern of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in endometrium and the pathogenesis of endometriosis by investigating VEGF expression patterns and their difference between eutopic endometrium of patients with endometriosis and that of normal controls without endometriosis. Methods: Endometrial sections were obtained from 64 hysterectomy specimens from women under age of 40, who had undergone hysterectomies and had histological evidence of endometriosis, with stage 3 and 4 according to the revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine classification. As for controls, 37 sections were gained from women diagnosed as having cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) of the uterine cervix and without evidence of pelvic endometriosis or adenomyosis during their operation. The VEGF content was evaluated immunohistochemically in the eutopic endometrium from 64 patients with endometriosis and 37 normal controls. Histological semiquantitative score (H-score) was calculated and compared between study group and control group throughout the menstrual cycle. Results: There was no significant difference in the H-score of VEGF in the eutopic endometrium between patients with endometriosis and controls without endometriosis when compared according to the same phase of the cycle, although the H-score of the study group was significantly higher in the secretory phase than the proliferative phase. Conclusion: The VEGF expression in the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis was not different from that of women without endometriosis. This study suggests VEGF expression in eutopic endometrium is unlikely associated with the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.565-577
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• 2017

Purpose: There have been limited studies investigating the relationship between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), metabolic diseases, and dietary factors in Korean adults. Here, we examined the association between nutrient intake and serum hsCRP among Korean adults. Methods: Using data on 2,624 healthy Korean adults (1,537 women and 1,087 men) from the 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, demographic, anthropometric, biochemical, and dietary factors were analyzed once the subjects were grouped into either sex, age, or BMI. Nutrient intake was evaluated using the dietary data obtained by one-day 24-hour recall. Based on the guidelines of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association, hsCRP level was classified as HCRPG (High CRP Group, hsCRP > 1 mg/L) and LCRPG (Low CRP Group, hsCRP ${\leq}1mg/L$). Proc surveyreg procedure was performed to examine the associations between nutrient intake and hsCRP after adjustment for potential confounding variables. Results: The average hsCRP level of healthy Korean adults was $0.95{\pm}0.03mg/L$ ($0.97{\pm}0.04mg/L$ in men, $0.92{\pm}0.05mg/L$ in women). Obese subjects had significantly higher hsCRP than non-obese subjects in both sexes. The hsCRP level was positively associated with current smoking, physical inactivity, BMI, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and blood pressure and inversely associated with HDL-cholesterol. LCRPG had significantly higher intake of dietary fiber compared to HCRPG in women. High hsCRP level was associated with more dietary cholesterol intake but less omega-3 fatty acid intake among subjects aged ${\geq}50y$. HCRPG of obese subjects had higher intakes of fat and saturated fatty acid than LCRPG. Conclusion: The hsCRP level is closely associated with several lifestyle variables and nutrient intake in healthy Korean adults. Individuals with high hsCRP level show low intakes of dietary fiber and omega-3 fatty acids but high intakes of dietary fat and cholesterol. Our findings suggest that a potential anti-inflammatory role for nutrients and lifestyle in the Korean adult population.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.68-81
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• 2001

This research is to study about the weight-change of a pregnant woman, conditions of the woman and an infant. The weight-change of a mother during pregnancy was observed and that was expressed as the basis on the body mass index of a mother before pregnancy. The effects of weight-changes on both the discomfort, complications of pregnant mother and the condition of an infant were also investigated. Thus we set a purpose that this study would help pregnant woman and an infant to maintain and enhance their health conditions by proper weight control through nursing mediation. This study was performed in a certain hospital of university in seoul from Feb. 1. 2000 to Mar. 31. 2000. We explained the purpose of this study to the hospital institution and obtained consent of investigation. 152 inpatients who were in condition from PA 37 weeks to PA 42 weeks were the subject of this study. The research materials were made through of question paper that inpatients make answer by themselves and investigation paper. The question paper was about general background, weight and height before pregnancy and discomfort of the physical degree. And the investigation paper was about parity, maternal weight(late pregnancy), high pregnancy, delivery method, hemoglobin level, Apgar score, fetal weight. Physical discomfort was measured using the implement made by Kim hae won(1996) (chronbach's ${\alpha}=0.85$). SPSS was used to do statistics for managing and analyzing data. The results of this study were like followings. 1. The mean value of gained weight during pregnancy was about 13.8kg within from 3 kg to 26 kg. Among 152 research candidates, the gained weight of 80(52.6%) candidates remained within an ideal range. But that of 37 candidates(24.3%) became less than the ideal range. Also that of 35 candidates(23.0%) became over than the ideal range. 2. In the investigation of the relation between the weight change of a pregnant woman and her condition, the scores to represent physical discomfort were middle in all candidates. And the physical discomfort of over weight-gained group was more than that of low weight-gained group, but there was no difference in statistics(F=0.234, p=0.791). The weight-changes of pregnant woman didn't have an influence with the high risk of pregnancy(F=0.509, p=0.477). Also, the weight-changes didn't have an influence on delivery method($x^2=3.825$, p=0.148). However, in the investigation of the relation between weight-change and hemoglobin level, the change of hemoglobin level was highest in over weight gained group(F=3.062, p=0.05). 3. In the investigation of the weight-change of pregnant woman and the condition of infant. the weight changes didn't have an influence on both 1 min Apgar score(F=0.157, p=0.855) and 5 min Apgar score(F=0.030, p=0.970) of infant. Also, in the investigation of weight-change of a pregnant woman and weight difference of a infant with Pearson Correlation Coefficient, the weight-change of a pregnant woman affected vastly the weight of a infant. It was also found that the more pregnant woman gained in weight, the more did gain weighty infants. This relation was in net proportion(r=0.256, p=0.001). In conclusion, these results suggest that the weight-changes during pregnancy in Korea women of these days are more increased than that of the past days and individual variation in weight-changes is very high. Also, these results suggest that the changed hemoglobin level of a mother and weight of an infant were meaningfully affected by the weight-changes of a pregnant woman during pregnancy. However, the physical discomfort of a pregnant woman, the high risks of pregnancy, the delivery method and Apgar score of an infant were not affected by the weight-changes during pregnancy. Because the recommendation suggesting the ideal weight-change, used this study, is basis on the subject of American women, therefore, these results also suggest the necessity of such recommendation which is subject to Korean women.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.67-82
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• 2019

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze how the different lifestyles between Koreans and Korean Americans have significant effects on their health. Despite being the same race, Koreans and Korean Americans have different health conditions and health attitudes due to the acquired environmental factors such as social-economic factors, lifestyle risk factors, healthcare systems, and medical utilization. It is crucial to examine how the different lifestyle habits between Koreans and Korean Americans lead to various health conditions for establishing an effective health promotion policy. Methods: In this study, a comparative analysis was conducted using the National Health and Nutrition Survey of Korea and CHIS data of the United States in 2005 and 2015 to provide valuable insights when establishing such a policy. Results: The specific research purpose is as follows: First, socioeconomic factors, such as (1)living habits risk factors, (2)health satisfaction levels, (3)disease outbreaks, and (4)medical uses, are analyzed to find the distinct characteristics among Koreans, Korean Americans, and Americans. Second, the three groups --Koreans, Korean Americans, and Americans-- were compared based on their exposure to disease-related lifestyle risk factors related to their body mass index and their general health condition. The research results are as follows: First, all three groups improved health conditions in 2015 better than in 2005. Koreans maintained relatively higher general health conditions compared to other groups: their prevalence rate of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and asthma was lower than that of U.S. residents. Second, in regards to health behavior factors, the lifetime smoking experience for Koreans and Americans both decreased in 2015 compared to 2005, while the lifetime smoking experience for Korean Americans increased slightly. The number of smokers for Koreans has greatly decreased over a decade while that of Americans has moderately increased. Third, according to the results of the multiple regression, the general health conditions, which is a dependent variable, suggests that the number of men who answered they are healthy is greater than that of women in Korea, compared to the United States. Conclusions: In conclusion, the acquired environmental factors had more significant impacts on health than the racial factors did. Compared to 2005, the health behaviors and health levels of Korean Americans in 2015 gradually became more similar to those of Americans.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.85-102
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• 1982

The current employment status among young home economists and perspectives in occupations for prospective Home Economics graduates were explored in this study which utilized information from 17 to 21 colleges in Korea and colleges in the United States during the five years of 1977∼1981. The Home Economics content areas covered in this study were Clothing and Textiles, Foods and Nutrition, Housing and Interior Design, and Child Development and Family Life. The highest percentage of Korean graduates in Clothing and Textiles was employed either as teachers at the junior high school level or as designers in the clothing and textile industries. Quite a number of the graduates were engaged in further studies at the graduate level. Korean graduates with a master's degree were teaching at the college level and some had furthered their studies at the doctorate level either here or abroad. Koreans with a bachelor's degree in Foods and Nutrition held jobs as teachers in junior high school, dieticians at mass feeding institutions and hospitals, food scientists in food industries, and researchers in institutions. Those with a master's degree were teaching at the college level. Americans with a bachelor's degree worked as dieticians, supervisors in restaurants and institutions, extension workers, researchers at various facilities, teachers and clerks. Americans with a master's or doctorate degree were engaged in teaching at colleges or supervising at research or working as extension specialists. In general, Korean graduates were found to hold positions in less varied areas than their American counter-parts. Among forty-nine graduates those working in their professional field reported less sex discrimination that those working in other fields. The major area of employment in Housing and Interior Design or Home Management graduates in Korea was teaching while in the United States it was extension work, business, governmental work and teaching. It was suggested that in the future, career development in Korea be further explored to include extension service, research, social welfare, financial planning, business, free-lancing, funeral home, home-call, and correctional education. Interviews with executives from 6 business enterprises indicated that most of them were aware of the potential contribution home economists could make for their companies but they expressed a negative attitude towards women in general due to their short stay on the job. Jobs held by Child Development and Family Life majors with a bachelor's degree in Korea were mostly teaching positions in public, junior and senior high school. However, jobs such as nursery school teaching, working in clinical setting, business, and teaching at public, junior and senior high school predominated in the United states. Most Korean graduates with a master's degree were teaching in professional colleges while in the United Stated the job variation among the graduates was rather evenly distributed among teaching at college level, public and high school, nursery school and administration areas. Reports from 7 child development majors on the job indicated that they were paid less that secretarial workers. Only half of them were working in their major area and these expressed satisfaction with their work. Two thirds of the respondents indicated no sex discrimination. It was suggested that in the future Child Development and Family Life majors pursue employment in counseling, guidance, recreation, mass media, administration and outreach work as well as education, research and parent education in services for children, teen-agers, adults and families.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.19 no.1 s.43
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• pp.115-131
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• 2007

Philosophical and social backgrounds and inquiring into new direction of Practical Arts and Home Economics Education is done through this paper. The overall review of the related documents, records, books has been done, and research findings are presented as follows; Thought(Educational theory and Philosophy) for Korean Practical Arts Education is based on Learning to Labor, Practical Science and Pragmatism. Korean curriculum for Home Economics were originated in Confucianism background, which stressed the importance of different gender roles for men and women. However, Korean Home Economics based on Home Economics Subject Matter has been developed without philosophical base unlike that of American Pragmatism and Critical Theory. Therefore, scientific recognition in a section of value recognition was separated and developed so far. Thus, we could not answer to social missions about keeping values of life corresponding with changing environment I also observed the analysis of revision curriculum of the mentioned subject, and the changes of concepts of Work and Prasix, necessity of Home Economics Education for fixing about a basic life education and a basic life skill, and reinforcement of the function in Home. And then, new directions is proposed that the role of Home Economics Education in school be reinforced for the upcoming low birth rate and the aging society(high proportion of the aged people). Because Characters on correct values of children and youths might be nurtured in home foremost.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.203-207
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• 2005

Objectives: Recently, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) redefined the criteria of prediabetes, which has lowered the diagnostic level of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) from 110 to 125 mg/dl, down to levels between 100 to 125mg/dl. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive cutoff level of FPG as a risk for the development of diabetes mellitus in Korean men. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 11,423 (64.5%) out of 17,696 males $\leq$30 years of age, and who met the FPG of $\leq$125 mg/dl and hemoglobin A1c of $\leq$ 6.4% criteria, without a history of diabetes, and who were enrolled at the screening center of a certain university hospital between January and December 1999. The subjects were followed from January 1999 to December 2002 (mean follow-up duration; 2.3(${\pm}0.7$) years). They were classified as normal (FPG <100mg/dl), high glucose (FPG $\geq$100mg/dl and <110mg/dl) and impaired fasting glucose (FPG $\geq$110mg/dl and $\leq$125mg/dl) on the basis of their fasting plasma glucose level measured in 1999. We compared the incidence of diabetes between the 3 groups by performing Cox proportional hazards model and used receiver operating characteristic analyses of the FPG level, in order to estimate the optimal cut-off values as predictors of incident diabetes. Results: At the baseline, most of the study subjects were in age in their 30s to 40s (mean age, 41.8(${\pm}7.1$) year). The incidence of diabetes mellitus in this study was 1.19 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI=0.68-1.79), which was much lower than the results of a community-based study that was 5.01 per 1,000 person-years. The relative risks of incident diabetes in the high glucose and impaired fasting glucose groups, compared with the normal glucose group, were 10.3 (95% CI=2.58-41.2) and 95.2 (95% CI= 29.3-309.1), respectively. After adjustment for age, body mass index, and log triglyceride, a FPG greater than 100mg/dl remained significant predictors of incident diabetes. Using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the optimal cutoff level of FPG as a predictor of incident diabetes was 97.5 mg/dl, with a sensitivity and a specificity of 81.0% and 86.0%, respectively. Conclusion: These results suggest that lowering the criteria of impaired fasting glucose is needed in Korean male adults. Future studies on community-based populations, including women, will be required to determine the optimal cutoff level of FPG as a predictor of incident diabetes.

• Survey Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.63-85
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• 2010

This study defines the substance and multi-dimension of emotional reactions which Koreans have toward foreigners to find the starting point of change in values which is an inevitable task in this multi-cultural society. The results indicate that the Bogardus scale which has been used to measure the social distance toward the minority race is found to have limitations in explaining the closed attitude of Koreans toward 'nation' and 'kinship through marriage'. To supplement such limitations, exploration on attitudes toward foreigners from different native places is performed based on the 'evaluation', 'power' and 'activity' dimensions of the Affective Control Theory. As a result, Americans are highly evaluated in all three dimensions while Japanese are evaluated low in the 'evaluation' dimension and high in the 'power' and 'activity' dimensions. North Korean defectors and ethnic Koreans from China (the Chosun race) are high in evaluation but low in other dimensions. West Asians are evaluated low in all three dimensions. By comprehending the influencing factors and the relative influence of social distance, it proves that the 'evaluation' dimension is the common denominator in all groups while 'power' dimension toward Japanese and 'activity' dimensions toward Chinese and West Asians influence social distance. All foreigners excluding Americans receive closer social distance when having higher education level. Moreover, American women and older North Korean defectors receive closer social distance.