• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.12-22
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• 2012

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the nutritional risk, health status and depression levels of young-old (65-74 years) and old-old (75-84 years) women on low-income. Methods: A total of 624 elderly women, each over 65 years of age, participated in this study under the auspices of a community social center. Data were collected from June to August 2011 by means of personal interviews which employed questionnaires. The research tools used in this study were the nutritional risk measuring Mini Nutritional Assesment (MNA) by Kim (2000), perceived health status developed by Lawton et al. (1982), Elderly Depression Criterion developed by Sheikh & Yesavage (1985). The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS WIN 12.0 Program. Results: Nutritional risk, perceived health status and depression levels showed a significant difference between young-old and old-old. There was a positive correlation between nutritional risk and depression and a negative correlation between nutritional risk and perceived health status. A 38.2% variance in depression levels of young-old and a 29.7% variance in depression levels of old-old were explained by perceived health status, nutritional risk and the number of people living together. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate variances in depression levels among low - income women differing in age. As a result, the outcomes of this study ought to be employed in the development of future programs aimed at promoting the health of elderly women.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.566-574
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• 2022

Heavy metals are one of the dangerous pollutants that threaten urban biodiversity due to their accumulation over a long period without being decomposed in vivo. Accordingly, there is a need for biological monitoring to compare accumulation concentrations in living organisms according to the degree of heavy metal exposure to evaluate heavy metal contamination in the air in urban areas. This study aims to examine the possibility of using nesting materials as heavy metal monitoring samples and determine the effects of heavy metals on Paridae. We installed 54 artificial nest boxes in the research areas that included campus green spaces (14), urban forests (11), and urban parks (29) on a university campus in Cheonan City, Chungcheongnam Province. The birds' use rate of artificial nest boxes was 11/14 (78.57%) in campus green spaces, 8/11 (72.72%) in urban forests, and 6/29 (20.68%) in urban parks. Moss materials were collected from collected nests, and the heavy metal accumulation characteristics of each type of urban green space and the effects of heavy metals on the success of fledging of Paridae were compared through heavy metal analysis. The analysis showed that the average concentrations of zinc and lead were 228.08±209.62 ㎍/dry g and 17.67 ± 6.72 ㎍/dry g, respectively. There was no significant difference in zinc concentration for each type of urban green space (Kruskal-Wallis test, p-value=0.28), but lead concentration showed a significant difference (Kruskal-Wallis test, p<0.05^*). Of the 21 Paridae, nests analyzed for heavy metals, fledging of birds was observed in 11 nests (52.38%). Fledging of birds observed in each urban green space type was 7 campus green spaces (77.78%), 6 in urban forests (85.71%), and 1 in urban park (20%), mainly in urban forests and green spaces on campus. Heavy metal concentrations were compared to check the effect of heavy metal accumulation on the successful fledging of Paridae, but there was no statistically significant difference (Zn: W=44, p-value=0.74, Pb: t=0.64676, df =7.2422, p-value=0.54). This study is a basic study using the nesting materials of Paridae as heavy metal monitoring samples, and it is determined that it can be used as basic data for non-invasive biological monitoring.