• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 2006

This paper examines the interplay among changes in socioeconomic conditions, population policies, and fertility decline during $1960{\sim}2000$ in South Korea. Period-parity-progression-ratios (PPPR) are calculated using 2% samples of Population Census with the implied distribution of completed family size. The total fertility rate based on PPPR declined from 5.21 in 1960 to 2.76 in 1980, and 1.69 in 2000. The family planning programs were successful in meeting the needs of families that wanted to prevent further childbearing after having achieved the desired family size during $1960{\sim}1970$. The 1980s mark two important landmarks: achievement of replacement fertility and emergence of high sex ratio at birth. In the 1990s the "quality and welfare" approach was emphasized. In 2000s, South Korea's fertility is one of the lowest in the world. In response to this, in 2005, the Government adopted a new population policy with the goal of increasing the total fertility level to 1.6 by 2010. The results of this study indicate that proportion of women who would have no children at all throughout their reproductive life span increased substantially from 10% in 1995 to 16% in 2000, with a sharp increase since 1997. Thus, pro-natal programs need to address the problems associated with marriage and having the first child. Towards that, it is important that work and family life become more compatible.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.371-378
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• 2006

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of childhood obesity, the association between the undesirable lifestyles and socioeconomic factors, the association between childhood obesity and various risk factors, including socioeconomic factors, and the agreement between the body mass index (BMI) classification and the body fat percentage. Methods: The study subjects were all the 5th grade students from all the elementary schools in Gunpo City, Kyunggi Province, South Korea (4043 children at 22 schools). The subjects were measured for their height, weight and percent body fat etc. and they were also surveyed by questionnaire from March 18th to April 25th, 2005. To determine whether the children were within normal limits or not, standardized BMIs for each age group were used. The data was analyzed by logistic regression analysis using SAS 9.0 version. Results: The prevalence of childhood obesity prevalence was 25.1 %. Boys had a higher prevalence of obesity (27.5%) than did the girls (22.5%). Children had tendencies of having undesirable lifestyles and getting obese if they had a lower socioeconomic status. The risk factors for childhood obesity were low paternal education (OR: 1.17, 95% CI : 0.97-1.42) and non-parental caregivers (OR: 1.34, 95% CI : 0.98-1.82). Other risk factors for childhood obesity were a high birth-weight, longer TV/computer-using time, a lower fruit-eating frequency, short sleeping hours and parental obesity. The agreement rate between the BMI classification and the body fat percentage was 93.1 %. Conclusions: This study showed the children had a higher prevalence of obesity: further, not only individual lifestyles, but also socioeconomic factors could influence childhood obesity. Childhood obesity was especially more problematic for children with a low socioeconomic status.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.85-90
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• 2018

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a global health concern and can cause serious complications such as miscarriage, premature birth, and pelvic infection in pregnant women. Therefore, accurate diagnosis and information on the epidemiologic trends are critical. However, studies of STI trends in Cheonan, South Korea, have not been conducted since 2012. We examined the STI trends in the Cheonan area after 2012. From January 2011 to September 2017, 3,362 cervical swab specimens from female patients were sampled at the Dankook University Hospital and analyzed by multiplex PCR. Of the 3,362 specimens, 1,281 were positive for pathogens (38.92%). A total of 1,893 pathogens were detected. Ureaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma hominis, and Chlamydia trachomatis were the most frequent pathogens, accounting for 36.29% (687/1,893), 30.16% (571/1,893), and 19.97% (378/1,893) of the pathogen-positive samples, respectively. In the 2009-2012 analysis, M. hominis was identified as the predominant pathogen in STI samples, whereas U. urealyticum was identified as the major pathogen in this study. In many countries, including South Korea and the United States, the rate of STIs is increasing, while a decreasing trend was observed in Cheonan.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.696-706
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• 2017

This study is to examine health care utilization and morbidity of disabled and non-disabled children in Korea to evaluate the health disparities. We used medical claim data of 2010 from the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort data. As a result of the analysis, the disabled children are not in good health condition because they have more frequency of medical service use, hospitalization rate, and more number of diseases and spent more on medical expenses than non-disabled children. Patterns of the most frequent disease differ from significantly between disable and non-disabled. Disabled children had a higher prevalence of selected birth defects and selected health conditions associated with physical disability and a lower prevalence of selected infection disease than children without disability. In conclusion, Health policy changes that would extend the access to health service for children with disabilities characterized by frequent medical care, hospitalization, excessive medical expenditure and complex diseases.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 1996

This study was done to find out the methods of long-term use of liquid boar semen in 100 ml plastic bottle for artificial insemination and to investigate differences between Lactose-Egg yolk and Biitschwiler diluents according to storage temperature, and effect of final glycerol concent ration in Lactose-Egg yolk diluent. Liquid boar semen diluted with Lactose-Egg yolk diluent showed significantly higher sperm motility (p<0.05) after 0.5 and 2h incubation at 37$^{\circ}C$,than Butschwiler diluent at all storage length when it was preserved in the 5$^{\circ}C$ refrigerator. The NAR acrosome in Lactose-Egg yolk diluent a after 0.5 and 2h incubation at 37$^{\circ}C$, respectively, during preservation periods was similar to that in Biitschwiler diluent. When liquid boar semen was preserved at 15$^{\circ}C$, liquid boar semen in the Butschwiler diluent showed significantly higher percentages of sperm motility and NAR acrosome from third day to seventh than that in Lactose-Egg yolk diluent. In the effect of final glycerol concentration of liquid boar semen in the Lactose-Egg yolk diluent, the final glycerol concentration of 2% showed higer percentages of sperm motility and NAR acrosome than that of 0, 1, 3, and 5%. Farrowing rate, litter size and average pig weight at birth did not differ significantly between Lactose-Egg yolk and But schwiler diluents. As a result of this study, we found out that liquid boar semen can be stored for 6-7 days at 5$^{\circ}C$ in Lactose-Egg yolk diluent and at 15$^{\circ}C$ in Butschwiler diluent.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.5716-5725
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• 2014

This study examined the effects of a prenatal education program of labor and delivery experience for primigravidas in mid-pregnancy. This investigation was designed as a one group pre-post quasi-experimental study, aiming to determine the effects of prenatal education on anxiety, confidence and knowledge in delivery by demonstrating knowledge and actual situations including understanding labor, breast-feeding, baby care and others, and experiencing the education program. Subjects were collected randomly from an on-line club in D city. The simulation education proceeded for 2 hours a week from April to June, 2014, and there were 6 sessions each in the first and second periods. We included 35 primigravidas who attended all 6 sessions. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and a paired t-test. According to the study results, the subjects showed a significant difference in knowledge in delivery (t=-9.07, p<001), confidence in delivery (t=-9.00, p<001) and anxiety (t=14.39, p<001) after participating in the prenatal education program. An evaluation of satisfaction revealed experience to be the most differentiating factor, and the simulation experience was identified as most effective. The desired appropriate number of class sessions was 4 times, and 88.6% of the pregnant women intended to attend the program at their next birth, indicating a high response rate.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.585-592
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• 2017

Objective: The present study investigates pre- and post-implantation developmental competence of nuclear-transferred porcine embryos derived from male and female fetal fibroblasts. Methods: Male and female fetal fibroblasts were transferred to in vitro-matured enucleated oocytes and in vitro and in vivo developmental competence of reconstructed embryos was investigated. And, a total of 6,789 female fibroblast nuclear-transferred embryos were surgically transferred into 41 surrogate gilts and 4,746 male fibroblast nuclear-transferred embryos were surgically transferred into 25 surrogate gilts. Results: The competence to develop into blastocysts was not significantly different between the sexes. The mean cell number of female and male cloned blastocysts obtained by in vivo culture ($143.8{\pm}10.5$ to $159.2{\pm}14.8$) was higher than that of in vitro culture of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) groups ($31.4{\pm}8.3$ to $33.4{\pm}11.1$). After embryo transfer, 5 pregnant gilts from each treatment delivered 15 female and 22 male piglets. The average birth weight of the cloned piglets, gestation length, and the postnatal survival rates were not significantly different (p<0.05) between sexes. Conclusion: The present study found that the sex difference of the nuclear donor does not affect the developmental rate of porcine SCNT embryos. Furthermore, postnatal survivability of the cloned piglets was not affected by the sex of the donor cell.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.2531-2535
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer diagnosed in young women may be more aggressive, with higher rates of local and distant recurrence compared to the disease in older women. Epidemiologic evidence suggests that Korean women have a lower incidence of breast cancer than women in the United States, but that they present at a younger age than their American counterparts. We sought to compare risk factors and management of young women with breast cancer in Boston, Massachusetts (US) with those in Seoul, South Korea (KR). Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was performed of consecutive patients less than 35 years old with a diagnosis of breast cancer at academic cancer centers in the US and KR from 2000-2005. Patient data were obtained by chart review. Demographic, tumor and treatment characteristics were compared utilizing Pearson's chisquare or Wilcoxon rank-sum tests where appropriate. All differences were assessed as significant at the 0.05 level. Results: 205 patients from the US and 309 from KR were analyzed. Patients in US were more likely to have hormone receptor positive breast cancer, while patients in KR had a higher rate of triple negative lesions. Patients in US had a higher mean body mass index and more often reported use of birth control pills, while those in the KR were less likely to have a sentinel node procedure performed or to receive post mastectomy radiation. Conclusions: Patients under 35 diagnosed with breast cancer in the US and KR differ with respect to demographics, tumor characteristics and management. Although rates of breast conservation and mastectomy were similar, US patients were more likely to receive post mastectomy radiation. The lower use of sentinel node biopsy is explained by the later adoption of the technique in KR. Further evaluation is necessary to evaluate recurrence rates and survival in the setting of differing disease subtypes in these patients.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.256-270
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• 2016

This purpose of this study is to present a new theoretical framework on birthrate recovery in advanced countries in the 21st century. As a result of socioeconomic development and individualism diffusion, the central axis of the family has transformed from the vertical axis of the father-son relation, to the horizontal axis of the husband-wife relation. This process is divided into 2 stages. In the industrialization stage, a nation or a society achieves equality of the individual in family formation, including marriage or divorce. In the post-industrialization stage, it accomplishes the couple equality in family maintenance, including child rearing and household labor. This paper grouped 33 OECD member countries as post- industrialization countries and 103 countries as industrialization countries. This study utilizes 6 variables affecting marriage and childbearing based on previous research. Research results find that during the industrialization stage, the birthrate falls as the education level of women is higher. In the post-industrialization stage, the birthrate rises as gender equality level is higher.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.178-185
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• 2018

The low birth rate in South Korea is a very serious problem. Recently, as personal happiness has emerged as an important life value of life, unmarried people have developed a negative tendency toward marriage. This study was conducted to investigate the attitude toward marriage, gender role and having children among college students, and to identify the factors affecting marriage. The participants were 383 unmarried nursing college students who live in D city. Data were collected from self-report questionnaires and analyzed using the t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression using the SPSS 22.0 program. Gender was a significant variable influencing attitude toward marriage. Moreover, the attitude toward marriage was negatively correlated with gender role, and positively correlated with having children. Attitude toward gender role was negatively correlated with having children. Regression analysis of the factors affecting attitude toward marriage showed that gender (male), attitude toward gender role, and attitude toward having children were significant influencing factors. Moreover, this model explained 51.9% of variance in attitude toward marriage. Overall, it is necessary to change individual values to solve the problem of low birthrate.