• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.555-564
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• 2021

Thalamus is known to play an important role in the regulation of nerve function. Thalamus, located in the center of the brain, is involved in sleep, arousal, and emotional regulation, and has been reported to be associated with multiple sclerosis, essential tremors, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. In addition, it has been reported that iron deposits in the thalamus can cause depressive symptoms with age. Although there are discrepancies between studies, it can be deduced that the thalamus region has a clear effect on neurological disorders due to a strong relationship between the thalamus and neurological functions such as emotional control and processing. Through tractography analysis, the connectivity between the detailed areas of each subcortical region was investigated in the form of a matrix, showing strong connectivity and weak interhemispheric connectivity. In the 59> group, the WM connectivity of thalamus was found to be weaker than those of the two groups. Comparisons between the two groups showed that the young groups (10-39 and 40-59) had higher connection intensity than the 59> group and that statistically significant differences in 3 connection pathways were found in each hemisphere. A decrease in thalamus-related connection strength in aging has shown that it can affect emotional and neurological disorders such as anxiety and depression, and network measurements can help assess cognitive impairment across clinical conditions.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.3358-3367
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• 2013

This study was conducted to examine the effects of the elderly patient's simulation experience on attitudes toward elderly and elderly patients, and empathy of elderly patients among nursing students. Study results showed that elderly patient's simulation experience did not have significant effects on attitudes toward elderly or elderly patients, whereas it had significant effect on enhancing the empathy on elderly patients. The subjects of experimental group indicated that the factors decreasing the effect of intervention are single event of experience, raising aging anxiety, lack of the reality of simulation clothing, and risk of accident during simulation experience, etc. In order to maximize the positive effects of the elderly patient's simulation program, it is necessary to find a way to improve those limiting factors identified from this study, and to continue to work on positive effects of elderly simulation applied for their curriculum.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.45-53
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• 2016

Objectives : The number of people in Mibyeong state that complain of physical and mental discomfort but without a clear medical diagnosis has rapidly increased, but the conventional medical system is insufficient to care for these people. By establishing an evaluation instrument for Mibyeong state, it will be possible to provide a research base for Mibyeong management system and expand the clinical area of integrative medicine. Methods : Mibyeong Index was designed to measure inconvenience and resilience of subject's complains including four physical symptoms (fatigue, pain, low sleep quality, indigestion) and mental distress include anxiety, anger, depression. A 21-item quality of healthy measure was developed and tested. We used results of a nation-wide stratified sampled adult data in Korea. Results and Conclusions : Mibyeong index had adequate internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha was 0.88 in general population(N=1,110). The correlation between establised quality of life questionnaires (including SF-12 and EQ-D5 VAS) and the Mibyeong index were from 0.468 to 0.493. The national promotion of advanced health for an aging society and original Mibyeong care technology based on traditional Korean medicine can be developed by a self-care system that enhancing health before suffering illness. We expect that this instrument could be contribute to health management of people in Mibyeong state.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.82-92
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• 1997

The purpose of this study was attempted to understand the substance and meaning of menopause experienced by women through informal interviews with oral consent. The informants were 6 perimenopausal women of 50-55 years old who are executing menopause. Colaizz's analytical method, a type of phenomenological analysis, was used to analyze data recorded by audiotape. One professor and a master's degree student who understand phenomenology, and the one who has a master of arts examined the validity between the meanings composed of the clusters of themes. Findings were turned out to be valid through validation process as the last step. The meaning of menopause implied both 'concept about menopause' and 'menopause as a time of change'. Menopause was mostly considered as cessation of menstruation as a physiological, natural, and normal process by aging. However, some people regarded menopause as a loss of youth and womanhood and lessening of every function of the body. Menopause as the time of changes means 'the period of' 'hormonal changes' such as change of menstruation, hot flushes, perspiration, and palpitation ; 'body function changes' of visual acuity, physical strength, sleeping, digestion, thoughts, bone and joints, skin sensibility, sexual pattern and intelligence ; 'emotional changes' such as anxiety, loneliness, gloominess, and nervousness. Menopause is a turning point on the women's life cycle accompanying various kind of changes and health problems. Therefore it is inevitable to develop strategy helping menopausal women pass through the critical successfully by adapting and coping with their critical period toward the healthy and better quality of life individually rather than putting them all into the standardized hormonal replacement protocol.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.330-338
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• 2018

As population aging progresses, there is a growing demand for IT technology that can relieve the psychological anxiety of the elderly living alone, recognize the dangerous situation, and check the family members' affection. In this paper, we describe the development of a speech recognition speaker that enable senior users to give simple interactive commands by voice and monitor the status of the user. The speaker analyzes the user's voice, grasps the conversation contents through the chatbot, connects the desired service to the user, and provides the result again by voice. By using this speaker, senior users can feel relaxed by natural conversation, and can monitor the status of danger more easily.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.171-180
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• 2003

In this study, the characteristics and patterns of family problems were explored. What constituted family problems, and how those evolved over the period of drastic changes in the Korean society were examined, by analyzing articles published from the 1940s to the 1980s in the four major national newspapers in Korea. A total of 6542 articles related to family problems in the four newspapers, Chosun, Dong-A, Kyunghyang, and Seoul, were used for the content analysis of this study. The main categories of family problems were classified as poverty, marital issues, issues related to children and adolescents, elderly issues, problems in the family as an institution, and the so-called family-lag problem. Each of these categories consisted of several subcategories: The poverty-related problems included the problems caused by difficulty in making a living and instability of living, for example. The marital issues category consisted of conflicts between the couple, unfaithful spouses, domestic violence, divorce, and so on. Issues related to children and adolescents included juvenile delinquency, difficulty in bringing up children, child abuse, single motherhood, and underage household heads, for example. The elderly issues included the anxiety over the aging society, support for the elderly, conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, alienation of the elderly, etc. Problems in the family as an institution consisted of the legal issues in such areas as marriage, succession of the family head, and adoption. Lastly, the family-lag problem included confusion over family values, and conflict caused by the inconsistency between consciousness and actual behavior related to the family or family crisis. From the 1940s to the 1980s, family-lag was the most common problem (26.2% of the total articles), followed by issues related to children and adolescents (23.1%), poverty (16.2%), marital issues (15.9%), elderly issues (12.4%), and problems in the family as an institution (6.0%). During the 1940s and the 1950s, poverty was a prominent problem, and in the 1960s, issues related to children and adolescents were most commonly addressed in the articles. In the 1970s and the 1980s, the family-lag problem was the most frequently addressed.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.631-642
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• 2015

The purpose of the study was to examine health status and mini nutritional assessment (MNA) according to self-esteem status of elderly in care hospital. The survey was carried out from $13^{th}$ to $31^{st}$ of September, 2014 in five care hospitals. Analysis was performed for 226 subjects. Evaluation criteria included demographics, clinical status, MNA, health-related quality of life (EQ-5D) and self-esteem. The SE I, SE II and SE III groups were divided by self-esteem scores. Data were analyzed one-way ANOVA, Duncan' multiple range test and Pearson's correlation using SPSS 15.0. Education level, religion, dental condition and medical endurance type were significantly different in all groups. Many elderly people were normal BMI ($20.94{\sim}21.67kg/m^2$). Self-esteem significantly increased in order of SE I, SE II and SE III. Mobility, usual activity and anxiety or depression were significantly different in all groups, and EQ-5D of SE II and SE III groups were significantly higher than that of SE I group. Comparison of MNA screening score in elderly patients was as follows : Score for food intake, psychological stress or acute disease, neuropsychological problems, pressure scores or skin ulcer, protein intake, mode of feeding, nutritional status and health status in SE I group were significantly lower than those of SE II and SE III groups. Mobility and drug intake of SE I group were significantly lower than those of SE III groups. Fruit and vegetable intake SE I group were significantly higher than those of SE II and SE III groups. MIS (Malnutrition Indicator Score) was significantly different among the SE I, SE II and SE III groups. We conclude that self-esteem score is positively correlated with protein intake, nutrition status, health status and MIS in elderly care hospital. To improve nutritional status of elderly in care hospitals, systematic nutrition management and self-esteem education program should be implemented.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.97-107
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• 2020

Since long ago, there has been a saying that "Drink water to quench thirst, drink alcohol to remove anguish and anxiety, and drink tea to recover from fatigue and refresh mind." Tea is really better for body and mind than water when it is drunken long and is valuable Jinda(眞茶) given by mother nature. In particular, curing tea reflecting characteristics of climate changes in all seasons helps in keeping health. Since tea contains the Yin-Yang system, which is a philosophical ideology of ancient people, old predecessors knew which tea they should brew and drink for curing in harmony with Yin and Yang. As a factor that influences component changes of tea, a complex interaction of heaven, earth and man is important and especially, mind of a person to handle tea is most important. Tea is a natural curing drink, which plays a role as a bridge between humans and nature.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2014

Background: In Japan, more than 60% of employees are reported to suffer from anxiety and stress. Consequently, Japanese society has begun to address such important issues as psychogenic disability and job-related suicide. Furthermore, given the aging of society and the surge in the number of elderly people requiring care, it is necessary to adequately and proactively support employees who care for their elderly relatives. The purpose of the present study was to investigate caregiver burden in caring for elderly relatives and work-related stress factors associated with mental health among employees. Methods: We studied 722 men and women aged 18-83 years in a cross-sectional study. The K10 questionnaire was used to examine mental health status. Results: The proportion of participants with a high K10 score was 15% (n = 106). Having little conversation with their supervisor and/or coworkers significantly increased the risk of depression [odds ratio (OR) 1.8], as did high job overload (OR 2.7) and job dissatisfaction (OR 3.8), compared with employees who frequently conversed with their supervisor and/or coworkers. Caring for elderly relatives as a prominent characteristic of an employee was a significant risk factor for depression (OR 2.1). Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that employees who were caring for elderly relatives were significantly associated with an increased risk of depression. To prevent depressive disorders, it may be important to focus on reducing the work-caregiving role conflict, as well as enhancing employees' job control and better rewarding their efforts in the workplace.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.19-35
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• 2021

Purpose : Recently, there has been a growing social interest in aging well. Consequently, wellness tourism has begun to attract attention. However, no studies on whether wellness tourism has any objective health benefits have been carried out yet. In this study, we assess the health benefits as well as the degree of improvement in health of a wellness tourism program. Methods : The study involved 30 adults over the age of 19 who live in the Gyeongsangnam-do region. Participants were evaluated on health indicator before and after participating in wellness tourism program. Participants took heart rate variability (HRV) test, and LFT, RFT, CBC, FBS HbA1C, and CRP test were conducted before and after the tour. Additionally, a survey was conducted before and after the program, and participant satisfaction was evaluated. Statistical differences in the tests conducted before and after the program were analyzed using a design t-test, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and McNemar's test. Results : The study showed that participants were very satisfied with and had significant health improvements after the wellness tourism program. The program was also found to be beneficial in improving participants' emotions as follows: BDI (p<.001), fatigue recovery (p=.006), stress relief (p=.003), improved quality of life (p<.05), and improved sleep quality (p<.001). Conclusion : Wellness tourism programs are specifically beneficial for improving participants' emotions (depression, anxiety), fatigue, stress levels, quality of life, and sleep. Therefore, they are beneficial to the overall health. Further research in the future by way of a follow-up study on the long-term effects on health after short-term interventions will provide more validation data.