• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.780-788
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between famine exposure in early life and the risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood during the 1959-1961 Chinese Famine. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 3,418 individuals aged 35-74 years free of diabetes from two studies in 2006 and 2009 were followed up prospectively in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Famine exposure was classified as unexposed (individuals born in 1962-1978), fetal exposed (individuals born in 1959-1961), child exposed (individuals born in 1949-1958), and adolescent/adult exposed (born in 1931-1948). A logistic regression model was used to assess the relationship between famine exposure and diabetes after adjustment for potential covariates. RESULTS: During a three-year follow-up, the age-adjusted incidence rates of type 2 diabetes were 5.7%, 14.5%, 12.7%, and 17.8% in unexposed, fetal-exposed, child-exposed, and adolescent/adult-exposed groups, respectively (P < 0.01). Relative to the unexposed group, the relative risks (95% confidence interval) for diabetes were 2.15 (1.29-3.60), 1.53 (0.93-2.51), and 1.65 (0.75-3.63) in the fetal-exposed, child-exposed, and adolescent/adult-exposed groups, after controlling for potential covariates. The interactions between famine exposure and obesity, education level, and family history of diabetes were not observed, except for the urbanization type. Individuals living in rural areas with fetal and childhood famine exposure were at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, with relative risks of 8.79 (1.82-42.54) and 2.33 (1.17-4.65), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that famine exposure in early life is an independent predictor of type 2 diabetes, particularly in women. Early identification and intervention may help prevent diabetes in later life.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.143-155
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• 2011

Disabled elderly faced with disability and the aged problems at the same time. So, this research creates two research questions and examines. First research question is how nine dimensions of daily life satisfaction according to gender difference. Second research question is how the factor of daily life satisfaction by gender difference. The data is sixty-five disabled elderly, 386 among Panel Survey of Employment for the Disabled(PSED, 2008). The methods of analysis for identifying research questions is t-test and multiple linear regression. The result of analysis on first research question, the gender difference six dimensions among nine dimensions of daily life satisfaction come out statistically significant. And The result of analysis on second research question, come out statistically significant, too. Socioeconomic status: the lower class, physical condition: bad health, chronic disease is or not, family and other people's social supports, disability: serious turn out to be factors in common. It has been suggested social policies from the results of studies that the provision of health support policy and program, enlarge assistance on daily life, support system on serious disabled elderly. On the other hand, analysis showed that distinctive factors between disabled elderly man and woman was age and education level. In other words, disabled elderly woman come out into the open that the more grow old, the less daily life satisfaction low, while disabled elderly man appeared higher daily life satisfaction in case of junior and senior high school graduate than uneducated.

• 한국노년학
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.1005-1020
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• 2010

This study was conducted to explore and understand the meaning of stigma of families having old people admitted to nursing home within the Korean culture. Data collection was performed through in-depth interviews and participant observations which were recorded and transcribed verbatim with the consent of the participants. The key informants were 12 people having the aged family member in nursing home. The data was collected from October 2008 to February 2009 until completed. Data were analyzed utilizing the taxonomic analysis method developed by Spradley. As a result, 24 themes, 8 categories and 4 cultural domains are founded from the cases. The cultural domains resulted from the analysis are: 『Incompetence of Oneself: 'Adaptation to Inevitable Realities', 'Difficulty of Economic Independence', 'Difficulty of the Subjective Self-assertion'』, 『Contradictoriness of Decision Making: 'Decision Making Different from Own Mind', 'Conflicts between Neighboring'』, 『Self-rationalization of Decision Making: 'Self-comfort of Decision Making'』, 『Shifting Responsibility: 'Services Different from that of Family', 'Laking in Sincerity of Responsible Institution'』. Theoretical model about stigma of the family having old people admitted to nursing home by the research result in the above was able to be confirmed that it was expressed with the original form of thought of recursive system which continuously showing the inconsistency of decision making, rationalizing decision making, and shifting one's own responsibility in the process of accomplishing the duty of supporting old people. Based on the results, I discussed the meaning of stigma of families having old people admitted to nursing home and provided recommendations for future research.

• 한국노년학
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.315-331
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• 2014

The goal of this study was to examine the association between employment and depressive symptoms among older adults in Korea, including analysis of potential gender differences. Using a sample of Korean adults aged 60 years or older from the 2008(Time 2) and 2010(Time 3) national longitudinal survey data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we regressed measures of depressive symptoms at Time 3 on employment at Time 2 (and employment both at Time 2 and Time 3), controlling for Time 2 depressive symptoms, subjective physical health, and sociodemographic variables as well. First, there was no evidence that older adults with a job at Time 2 had significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms at Time 3 compared to their counterparts. However, multi-group analyses showed that the effect of employment at Time 2 on depression at Time 3 differed by gender. For older men, employment predicted better mental health over time. However, this was not the case for older women. As such work role provided benefits only for older men. Second, older adults with a job at both Time 2 and Time 3 reported significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms at Time 3 than older adults who did not have a job either at Time 2 or Time 3. However, only older men who were employed at both Time 2 and Time 3 reported significantly less depression than their counterparts. These findings suggest that the mental health effects of employment are contingent on gender.

• Journal of the Korea Knowledge Information Technology Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.305-317
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• 2018

This study is about the elderly people's use and experience of Virtual Reality (VR) in order to enhance their quality of life. Leisure is main activity of the elderly. As a result, the quality and diversity of leisure affects the quality of the elderly people's life. VR services including video contents could provide them with advanced and interesting experiences. Across the world, population aging becomes one of the most important problems in each society. The social and economic burden of aging is serious challenge to sustainability welfare of the world, including S. Korea. The authors used virtual reality devices to conduct experiments on 99 aged 50 to 90 (men's average age : 75 and women's average age : 70.8). Through the survey, major variants were measured such as system quality, present sense, enjoyment, intent to reuse, and awareness of advanced technology. Multiple regression analyses with the presence as a dependent variable resulted in a sense of closeness (t = 5.381, p <. 01) and a sense of clarity (t = 4.494, p <. 01). The presence of an independent variant had significant effects on pleasure (t = 4.312, p <. 01) and significant effects on the intent to reuse (t = 3.323,).Therefore, it can be interpreted that the higher the sense of existence, the more pleasure and the intent to reuse it. As a result, the possibility of using VR devices and content to enjoy leisure activities can be found in this study even if the elderly group is unfamiliar with IT devices.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.927-934
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• 2023

This study explored the process of how children are connected to and placed in the daycare center's interest area environment. Focusing on the process of getting to know, we tried to understand it through Deleuze's concept of connection-placement, which emphasized the power between materials and humans, to see how the familiar environment called the area of interest affects children's behavior. For this purpose, 20 children in the mixed class aged 4-5 years at B Daycare Center in Seoul were observed for a total of 2 hours each through 2 preliminary observations and 5 research observations from March to May 2023. First, the results of the study showed that infants' true interest could be found in the infant's gaze, not in the adult's gaze. Second, the space and play materials of the interest area environment are structurally arranged in accordance with the order of play types, but the boundaries become ambiguous as they are connected to children. Third, although the children's play seemed to be play without deviating from each area of interest, the space itself was a single mass in which interest was expressed. We hope that this study will help instructors in their practice of constructing an environment for areas of interest, and that we will become instructors who ask questions at every moment about what kind of traces will be left on children's thinking as the environment of space and media.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.105-117
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• 2024

This is a longitudinal study of drinking older adults aged 65 and older to determine how their social activities and alcohol consumption change over time, and how social activities affect alcohol consumption among drinking older adults. The main findings are as follows First, we found a decrease in social activity and alcohol consumption among the elderly over time, but this was not statistically significant. However, individual differences in the rate of change in social activity and alcohol consumption were found, and the specific factors of these individual differences were examined in the conditional model. The results of the conditional model showed that, for social activity, the higher the initial level of social activity, the older the age, and the lower the initial amount of alcohol consumed by men than women. Next, for the amount of alcohol consumed, the better the health status, the more the amount of alcohol consumed decreased significantly for male elderly than female elderly, smokers than non-smokers, and elderly with and without disabilities. Based on the results of the above analysis, suggestions were made to promote social activities and reduce drinking among the drinking elderly in Korea.

• Industry Promotion Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.123-132
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to improve the understanding of stress coping in the very old and elderly and to improve life satisfaction through stress reduction as the population ages. To this end, this study aimed to test the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between stress coping and life satisfaction among very old people. In particular, we paid attention to the differences in stress coping from the existing elderly population and took the view that they should be studied as an independent group. To confirm this, we analysed 275 men and women aged 85 years and older who responded to the fifth supplementary survey of the National Elderly Security Panel (KReIS) conducted by the National Pension Service. IBM SPSS 26 was used to test the mediating effect of social support on the effect of stress coping measures on life satisfaction in the very old elderly. The results of the significance test of the independent variables on the mediating variable showed that stress coping was positively significant, i.e., the higher the level of stress coping, the higher the life satisfaction. In addition, the results of the significance test of the effects of the independent variables and mediators on the dependent variable showed that coping with stress had a significant effect, and the mediator, social support, also had a significant effect on life satisfaction. Therefore, this study suggests the need for social support to improve the level of life satisfaction through coping with stress in the very old elderly.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.2.1-2.15
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• 2023

Background: Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are widely used in the production of items of daily life such as in polyvinylchloride plastics, insecticides, and medical devices. This study aimed to determine the association between phthalate exposure and shellfish consumption using data from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) cycle 3 (2015-2017), which is a nationally representative survey. Methods: In this study, we analyzed the KoNEHS cycle 3 data of 3,333 (1,526 men and 1,807 women) adults aged more than 19 years. Data related to the variables of sociodemographic factors, health-related behaviors, dietary factors, seafood consumption frequency, and urinary phthalate metabolites concentrations were collected. The concentrations of urinary phthalate metabolites of all the participants were divided into quartiles to define high and low concentration groups based on the 75th percentile concentration. A χ² test was conducted to analyze the distribution of independent variables. To analyze the relationship between shellfish consumption and phthalate exposure, the odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using logistic regression analysis. Results: Total adults with shellfish consumption frequency of over once a week showed the following adjusted ORs for high concentrations of the following metabolites compared with the group that consumed shellfish once a week or less: 1.43 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-2.06) for mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), 1.43 (95% CI: 1.01-2.03) for mono-(2-ethyl-5-carboxypentyl) phthalate (MECPP), 1.57 (95% CI: 1.10-2.24) for ∑di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (∑DEHP), 2.01 (95% CI: 1.46-2.77) for mono-carboxyoctyl phthalate (MCOP), 1.56 (95% CI: 1.11-2.18) for mono-carboxy-isononly phthalate (MCNP), and 2.57 (95% CI: 1.85-3.56) for mono (3-carboxypropyl) phthalate (MCPP). Conclusions: The concentrations of urinary phthalate metabolites (MEOHP, MECPP, ∑DEHP, MCOP, MCNP, and MCPP) were higher in adults with a higher frequency of shellfish consumption.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.393-405
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• 2024

This study investigates the effects of aroma neck and shoulder massage and Red LED irradiation on cutaneous microcirculation in the neck area. In this study, 30 women aged 20 to 60 were randomly assigned to three experimental groups. Group A (n=10) received Red LED irradiation after aroma neck and shoulder massage, while Group B (n=10) rested for 15 minutes after aroma neck and shoulder massage. Group C (n=10) only received Red LED irradiation. The results showed significant main effects of time between the baseline and post-treatment measurements in Groups A and B (F = 29.883, p < 0.001, 𝜂² = 0.624), however, the main effects of the groups were not significant (F = 0.202, p = 0.659, 𝜂² = 0.011), but there was a significant interaction between group and time (F = 8.452, p = 0.001, 𝜂² = 0.320). There were no significant statistical differences in cutaneous microcirculation in the neck area after treatment in Group C (p > 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.202). In conclusion, Red LED treatment demonstrates limited effects on cutaneous microcirculation in the neck area, differentiating with the results of Groups A and B. Specifically, the combined effect of aroma neck and shoulder massage and Red LED treatment in Group A was not significant.