• Clinical Nutrition Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.98-109
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• 2022

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects the large intestine. Oxidative stress and inflammation play a major role in IBS. Considering the antioxidant properties of ellagic acid (EA), this study was designed to evaluate the effect of EA on oxidative stress index, inflammatory markers, and quality of life in patients with IBS. This research was conducted as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial; 44 patients with IBS were recruited. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated to consume a capsule containing 180 mg of EA per day (n = 22) or a placebo (n = 22) for 8 weeks. Serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured at the beginning and the end of the study. Also, quality of life was assessed using a self-report questionnaire for IBS patients (IBS-QOL). At the end of the study, we saw a significant decrease and increase in the MDA and TAC in the intervention group, respectively (p < 0.05). Also, EA consumption reduced CRP and IL-6 levels, and these changes were significant in comparison with placebo group changes (p < 0.05). The overall score of IBS-QOL significantly decreased, and quality of life was increased (p < 0.05), but there were no significant changes in the placebo group. According to these findings, receiving polyphenols, such as EA, may help maintain intestinal health by modulating inflammation and oxidative stress and ultimately improving the quality of life in IBS patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.34-43
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• 2020

Phenylketonuria is a disease caused by congenital defects in phenylalanine metabolism that leads to irreversible nerve cell damage. However, its detection in the early days of life can reduce its severity. Thus, many countries have started disease screening programs for neonates. The present study aimed to determine the worldwide prevalence of classic phenylketonuria using the data of neonatal screening studies.The PubMed, Web of Sciences, Sciences Direct, ProQuest, and Scopus databases were searched for related articles. Article quality was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Evaluation Checklist. A random effect was used to calculate the pooled prevalence, and a phenylketonuria prevalence per 100,000 neonates was reported. A total of 53 studies with 119,152,905 participants conducted in 1964-2017 were included in this systematic review. The highest prevalence (38.13) was reported in Turkey, while the lowest (0.3) in Thailand. A total of 46 studies were entered into the meta-analysis for pooled prevalence estimation. The overall worldwide prevalence of the disease is 6.002 per 100,000 neonates (95% confidence interval, 5.07-6.93). The meta-regression test showed high heterogeneity in the worldwide disease prevalence (I²=99%). Heterogeneity in the worldwide prevalence of phenylketonuria is high, possibly due to differences in factors affecting the disease, such as consanguineous marriages and genetic reserves in different countries, study performance, diagnostic tests, cutoff points, and sample size.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.11
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• pp.575-581
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• 2021

Background: Toxocariasis is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati in humans. Various types of T. canis are important. Purpose: The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Toxocara spp. in pediatrics in the context of a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Sciences, Embase, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed studies published between January 2000 and December 2019 that report the prevalence of Toxocara spp. in pediatrics. The evaluation of articles based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria was performed by 2 researchers individually. Results: The results of 31 relevant studies indicated that the prevalence of Toxocara spp. was 3%-79% in 10,676 cases. The pooled estimate of global prevalence of Toxocara spp. in pediatrics was 30 (95% confidence interval, 22%-37%; I²=99.11%; P=0.00). The prevalence was higher in Asian populations than in European, American, and African populations. Conclusion: Health policymakers should be more attentive to future research and approaches to Toxocara spp. and other zoonotic diseases to improve culture and identify socioeconomically important factors.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.687-696
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• 2016

As consumers' interest in social responsibility (SR) has greatly increased in the last two decades, a growing body of academic research has examined the influence of consumers' environmental consciousness on their attitudes and purchase intentions toward environment-friendly apparel products. Use of environment-friendly shopping bags (EFSB; recycled and reusable bags) is an example of how apparel retailers engage in SR. However, little research has examined consumers' perceptions and their responses to the use of EFSB. To fill this research gap, this study examined the impact of young consumers' perceptions of EFSB and environmental consciousness on their attitudes and purchase intentions toward apparel retailers using EFSB. An online survey was conducted for data collection. A convenience sample of 212 college students was obtained from a large mid-Southern university in the U.S. A simple linear regression analysis was conducted to test all hypotheses. Results showed that young consumers' perceptions of EFSB positively influenced their environmental consciousness and their attitudes toward apparel retailers that use EFSB, which led to purchase intentions toward the retailers. Findings confirmed that young consumers placed a great degree of importance on EFSB and, therefore, would purchase apparel from retailers that use recycled or reusable shopping bags. These findings imply that providing EFSB is important in enhancing positive attitudes and purchase intentions toward apparel retailers.

• Agribusiness and Information Management
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.23-37
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• 2011

The development of informatization impacts all sectors, including agriculture. Agricultural informatization builds the knowledge linkage structures of agricultural innovation systems globally. This study investigated the global knowledge linkage structures in agricultural innovation pertinent to information technology (IT) for agricultural research and development (R&D) investments and activities. We explored the longitudinal trend of systemness within the networked research relationships in the triple helix (TH) of the university, industry and government (UIG). We collected data from publications in the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) to analyze the TH network dynamics. We also performed a scientometrics analysis to quantitatively identify the knowledge and insights of global agricultural innovation structures. These results could be informative for individual countries. Our findings reveal that the global knowledge linkage structures in the agricultural sector that are pertinent to IT fluctuate widely and fail to increase the capacity of agricultural innovation research due to a neglect of the network effects of the TH dynamics of UIG.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.6066-6075
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to analyze the productivity changes in government-funded research institutes for Economics & Humanities and Social Sciences. From Malmquist total factor productivity index analysis, the average productivity decreased 6.5% between 2006 and 2010. Further analysis showed that technical efficiency increased 4.7% annually while the technology change rate decreased 10.8% on average. Under pressure for innovation from the outside, research institutes responded to managerial efficiency improvement, which lead to increases in technical efficiency. On the other hand, for productivity improvement of government funded research institutes, they must pursue technological advances by securing an outstanding research workforce, expanding the R&D budget, and changing the R&D method. Each institute must perceive the cause of an individual institute's productivity change, and establish strategies for increasing productivity.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.52-64
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• 2019

This research was aimed at studying the situation, problems, and requirements for digital collection lifecycle management of Thai theses and dissertations. The mixed research method used was composed of: (1) Study of the problem and situation in which the qualitative method was applied. The research site covered 10 higher education institutions where the Thailand Digital Collection (TDC) project is operated. The informants were key administrative officers of the TDC project of each institution. In-depth and structured interviews were conducted on an individual basis to obtain the most accurate answers. (2) Study of requirements based on the quantitative research method to survey the requirements for the digital collection management system for Thai theses and dissertations from 84 purposively-selected TDC project officers and 527 end users selected by accidental sampling, totaling 611 samples. Research findings are as follow: (1) The study of the situation and problems of digital collection lifecycle management shows that Thai higher institutions systematically manage their digital collection. The management lifecycle is consistent with the Guidance documents for lifecycle management of ETDs, which included seven steps: program planning, creation, submission, and ingestion, access and retrieval of digital objects, archiving and preservation, evaluation and assessment, interoperation (creation of institutional collaboration), and development of link data. (2) The study of requirements for digital collection management of Thai theses and dissertations shows five system requirements: acquisition and gathering, digitization, metadata standards, management of rights, and storage and retrieval, all of which are at M (mandatory) and D (desirable) levels.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.21-37
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• 2021

This study investigated the intellectual structure of the latest trends in Korean addiction research in the social sciences. A network analysis of keywords with co-word occurrence was performed on 172 papers from the KCI database based on the data from the year of 2019, and a total of 432 keywords were extracted. The network analysis was performed using several programs: Bibexcel, COOC, WNET, and NodeXL. As a result of the study, keywords related to addiction type, study subjects, research methods, and research variables were found, and a total of 20 clusters were identified. Furthermore, to identify and measure weighted networks, the relationships between each keyword were explored and discussed in detail through a network analysis of global centralities, local centralities, and betweenness centralities. The study indicated that the latest issues were focused on smartphone addiction and provided implications for the future research and practice that fields and topics of relationship addiction, food addiction, and work addiction should be more considered. Further, the study discussed the relationship between drug addiction-crime, alcohol addiction-family, and gambling addiction-motivation and the necessity of qualitative study.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.651-656
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• 2017

Ursolic acid (UA) supplementation was previously shown to improve skeletal muscle function in resistance-trained men. This study aimed to determine, using the same experimental paradigm, whether UA also has beneficial effects on exercise-induced skeletal muscle damage markers including the levels of cortisol, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), myoglobin, creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in resistance-trained men. Sixteen healthy participants were randomly assigned to resistance training (RT) or RT+UA groups (n=8 per group). Participants were trained according to the RT program (60~80% of 1 repetition, 6 times/week), and the UA group was additionally given UA supplementation (450 mg/day) for 8 weeks. Blood samples were obtained before and after intervention, and cortisol, BNP, myoglobin, CK, CK-MB, and LDH levels were analyzed. Subjects who underwent RT alone showed no significant change in body composition and markers of skeletal muscle damage, whereas RT+UA group showed slightly decreased body weight and body fat percentage and slightly increased lean body mass, but without statistical significance. In addition, UA supplementation significantly decreased the BNP, CK, CK-MB, and LDH levels (p<0.05). In conclusion, UA supplementation alleviates increased skeletal muscle damage markers after RT. This finding provides evidence for a potential new therapy for resistance-trained men.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.314-325
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• 2013

Background: Stem cell research competition is accelerating globally since President Obama signed an executive order, repealing Bush-era policy that limited use of federal tax dollars for embryonic stem cell research. Methods: In this paper, we conducted a comparative analysis of stem cell research policy changes in three countries, including the Human Fertilisation Embryology Act (HFEA) of UK, executive order 13,505 (removing barriers to responsible scientific research involving human stem cells) of USA, and Bioethics and Safety Act of South Korea. Debates on stem cell research are based on conflicts of fundamental beliefs that exist in the supporting and opposing coalitions. We compared regional characteristics of the advocacy coalitions in three countries and presented various factors that might be related to the policy changes. Results: The UK government, parliament, and the HFEA have sought expert consultations and public opinions to establish guidelines. UK has made social consensus through continued discussion for a long time. US President's veto power was one strongest factors influencing policy. South Korean policy was influenced by public opinion and policy brokers. Also, South Korea has not made social consensus. UK had a strong leadership and strong adjustment of coalitions but US and South Korea had not. Dr. Hwang's scandal has had one of the greatest impacts on policy decision in South Korea. Conclusion: The power of public opinion was critical in all three countries. In particular, the influence of public opinion was noticeable in South Korea. Also it turned out that in US and South Korea, the presence of a policy broker who could pursue his or her goals was the most powerful factor among the advocacy coalition factors.