• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.219-226
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• 2018

Objectives: This study aimed to explain the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) gap between the poorest and the wealthiest quintiles in the capitals of Kermanshah and Kurdistan Provinces (Kermanshah and Sanandaj), in western Iran. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 1772 adults. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status (SES), lifestyle factors, body mass index, and HRQoL of participants were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The slope and relative indices of inequality (SII and RII, respectively) were employed to examine socioeconomic inequality in poor HRQoL. Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) decomposition was used to quantify the contribution of explanatory variables to the gap in the prevalence of poor HRQoL between the wealthiest and the poorest groups. Results: The overall crude and age-adjusted prevalence of poor HRQoL among adults was 32.0 and 41.8%, respectively. The SII and RII indicated that poor HRQoL was mainly concentrated among individuals with lower SES. The absolute difference (%) in the prevalence of poor HRQoL between the highest and lowest SES groups was 28.4. The BO results indicated that 49.9% of the difference was explained by different distributions of age, smoking behavior, physical inactivity, chronic health conditions, and obesity between the highest and lowest SES groups, while the remaining half of the gap was explained by the response effect. Conclusions: We observed a pro-rich distribution of poor HRQoL among adults in the capitals of Kermanshah and Kurdistan Provinces. Policies and strategies aimed at preventing and reducing smoking, physical inactivity, chronic health conditions, and obesity among the poor may reduce the gap in poor HRQoL between the highest and lowest SES groups in Iran.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.282-289
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• 2017

Animal Welfare is spreading throughout the world, but remains weak in Korean swine farms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the effect of floor type and hanging type environmental enrichment on the behavior of growing pigs under the traditional feeding environment. A total of 45 crossbred pigs (Yorkshire${\times}$Landrace${\times}$Duroc; average weight, $33.35{\pm}5.5kg$) were assigned into three treatments consisting of control, hanging type(T1) and floor type(T2) with three replicates in semi-slurry pen. The hanging enrichment was suspended at shoulder height of the pigs, and the floor enrichment was fixed in the center of the pens. Growth and cortisol were estimated at the end of the experimental period. Behaviour patterns were analyzed on the first and eighth days after starting the experiment. Growth was not differed among control and treatments. However, cortisol was decreased in T2 compared to control(25.28 vs. 46.75 ng/mL; p<0.05). On the first day, movement and aggression were lower in both treatments than in control(p<0.01). On the eighth day, time and frequency of playing action were increased in T2 compared to T1(p<0.01) and both treatment groups showed more active behaviour than control(p<0.01). These results suggested that the enrichment may meet the natural action requirement of pigs. Therefore, our data can be utilized as basic information for welfare with environmental enrichments in farm animals.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.429-435
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• 2023

Epidemiological studies suggest that maternal infection, maternal stress, and environmental risk factors during pregnancy increase the risk of brain development abnormalities associated with cognitive impairment in the offspring and increase susceptibility to schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. Several animal models have demonstrated that maternal immune activation (MIA) is sufficient to induce abnormal brain development and behavioral defects in the fetus. When polyinosine:polycytodylic acid (poly I:C) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is commonly used in maternal immune activation animal models, was introduced into a pregnant dam, an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines and microglial activity was observed in the offspring's brain. Microglia are brain-resident immune cells that play a mediating role in the central nervous system, and they are responsible for various functions, such as phagocytosis, synapse formation and branching, and angiogenesis. Several studies have reported that microglia are activated in MIA offspring and influence offspring behavior through interactions with various cytokines. In addition, it has been reported that they play an important role in brain circuits through interactions with neurons and astrocytes. However, there is controversy concerning whether microglia are essential to brain development or lead to behavioral defects, and the exact mechanism remains unknown. Therefore, for the potential diagnosis and treatment of brain developmental disorders, a functional study of microglia should be conducted using MIA animal models.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.17-32
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• 2016

This exploratory study which applied environmental scanning method to analyse a change in a future society tried to diagnose a reaction ability of our education system for the change in the future society. In addition, the study tried to explore an adequate direction for Home Economics Subject to be an mandatory subject continuously toward the change in the future society. Main changes in the future society can be expected as 1) demographic change due to low birth rate and aging society, 2) an increasing threat of a human living environment due to unexpectable natural disasters and accidents, 3) a radical progress into a ubiquitous computing environment led by AI, 4) an advent of a borderless economic society and a change for jobs, 5) a change in North Korea, and so on. Our education system which mostly concentrates on education to develop constructive intelligence by halving the society and schooling as yet, however, is diagnosed as it has a paradox that can not understand an emotional competency as a target for studying. Home Economics Subject is worth as the subject that can exactly complement a blind spot of our education system which can not respond to the future society adequately. This is because Home Economics Subject has had a characteristic as a 'Subject of Life' traditionally that has dealt with an overall 'life' of human beings, and the characteristic is favorable to develop human practical intelligence. Thus, because the 'life' is the main point of Home Economics Subject, it has the characteristic as a 'Subject of Happiness' which is the most effective method to develop a tendency to appreciate, a sense of empathy, and lots of pro-social behaviors that are important capacities to seek for happiness. As Alderfer's ERG Theory is to understand human beings' behavior based on the satisfactory of human beings' hierarchical desires, it is suggested as an adequate frame for the theory to restructure the characteristic of Home Economics Subject which develops the 'capacity to seek for happiness' by focusing the 'life', into core concept and core capacity of curriculum. A follow-up study should make a connection between ERG Theory and core concept and core capacity of curriculum to explore how the theory can be reflected on Home Economics curriculum.