• Diabetes and Metabolism Journal
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.496-512
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• 2018

Background: This study aimed to investigate the association between the presence and severity of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) and development of long-term glucose fluctuation in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus who received cardiovascular autonomic reflex tests (CARTs) at baseline and at least 4-year of follow-up with ${\geq}6$ measures of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were included. The severity of CAN was categorized as normal, early, or severe CAN according to the CARTs score. HbA1c variability was measured as the standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation, and adjusted SD of serial HbA1c measurements. Results: A total of 681 subjects were analyzed (294 normal, 318 early, and 69 severe CAN). The HbA1c variability index values showed a positive relationship with the severity of CAN. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that CAN was significantly associated with the risk of developing higher HbA1c variability (SD) after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, diabetes duration, mean HbA1c, heart rate, glomerular filtration rate, diabetic retinopathy, coronary artery disease, insulin use, and anti-hypertensive medication (early CAN: odds ratio [OR], 1.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 2.43) (severe CAN: OR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.47 to 5.56). This association was more prominent in subjects who had a longer duration of diabetes (>10 years) and lower mean HbA1c (<7%). Conclusion: CAN is an independent risk factor for future higher HbA1c variability in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Tailored therapy for stabilizing glucose fluctuation should be emphasized in subjects with CAN.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.143-171
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• 2017

Along with the well-established evidence on the negative effect of social isolation on physical mental health and mortality, increasing attention has been paid to multi-dimensional nature of social isolation. In this study, the main effect and interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on heterogeneous age cohort related to the onset of dementia, which is becoming a social problem due to rapid aging of health issues, was examined through binary logistic regression analysis. Data came from the first wave of Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP) (N= 814). Findings showed 1) in the young-old, objective isolation was a significant on the incidence of dementia, 2) in the old-old, subjective isolation increased the risk of dementia. In summary, the relative influence of objective and subjective social isolation related to the incidence of dementia varies depending on the young-old and old-old. On the other hand, the interaction effect of objective and subjective social isolation on dementia was not significant in both the young-old and old-old. Based on the findings, we discussed implications and suggestions for future research and relevant policy and program development(dementia-friendly communities) for ameliorating objective and subjective social isolation.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.122-128
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• 2018

Objective: To determine whether fragment removal on in vitro fertilization (IVF) day 2 improved the subsequent development and pregnancy outcomes of fragmented embryos compared to similar-grade embryos without fragment removal. Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis involving 191 IVF cycles in which all embryos had over 10% fragmentation (grade 3 or 4) on day 2 of the IVF-embryo transfer cycle from March 2015 to December 2017. IVF cycles were divided into the fragment removal group (n = 87) and the no fragment removal group (n = 104) as a control cohort. Before fragment removal, embryos with fragmentation on day 2 were incubated in $Ca^{2+}$- and $Mg^{2+}$-free biopsy medium under paraffin oil for 30 minutes. Microsurgical fragment removal was performed with later-assisted hatching and a handmade suction micropipette that had an outer diameter of $30{\mu}m$. Results: There were no significant differences in the characteristics of the patients between the control and the fragment removal groups. After fragment removal and subsequent in vitro culture for 24 hours, the number of blastomeres ($7.1{\pm}1.7$ vs. $6.9{\pm}1.6$) was comparable between the transferred embryos in the two groups, but the morphological grade of the embryos in the fragment removal group ($1.9{\pm}0.7$) was significantly higher than that of the control group ($3.1{\pm}0.5$, p< 0.01). The clinical pregnancy (43.7%) and implantation rates (25.8%) in the fragment removal group were significantly higher than those in the control group (28.8% and 14.0%, respectively; p< 0.05). Conclusion: Early fragment removal on day 2 significantly improved the subsequent development and pregnancy outcomes of fragmented embryos.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.297-306
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• 2019

This is a longitudinal study which aims to examine the effects of the use frequency of SNS on adolescents' stress and the relationship between the former and the latter, based on big five personality factors. To this end, the valid data of 994 adolescents were collected by administering questionnaires to the cohort groups of those using Facebook twice for one year(T1-T2). An analysis of the data showed that the use frequency of Facebook(T1) had no direct effects on stress(T2), and that there was an interaction between users' personality and the use frequency. In particular, users' stress(T2) was varied depending on neuroticism among personality factors, as the use frequency of Facebook(T1) increased. The higher the use frequency of Facebook, the more the stress in the group with weak neuroticism, while the higher the use frequency of Facebook, the less the stress in other group with strong neuroticism, probably because each group has different motivation for meeting their needs for social support: the former's stress may increase, since they has relatively lower needs for social support and face more conflicts as they more frequently use Facebook, while the latter's stress may decrease, because they have relatively stronger needs for social support and are likely to acquire psychological support, as they more frequently use it.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2021

Objectives : The characteristics of depressive symptoms in patients with cancer is different from those in control group. However, few research has focused on the association between depressive symptoms in cancer patients. The aim of this study was to compare the network structure of depressive symptoms between patients with cancer and normal control. Methods : This study was based on cohort data from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2016-2018. The Patient health Quetionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depressive symptoms in 599 patients with cancer and 599 age-sex matched controls. We estimated network structure of depressive symptom using Isingfit model. Results : There was no significant difference of each PHQ-9 item score. There were strong associations between symptoms were concentration problem-psychomotor activity, anhedonia-depressed mood, and depressed mood-suicidal ideation in both groups. Strength centrality of worthlessness was significantly higher in patients with cancer. Conclusions : These results suggest that worthless is associated with other depressive symptoms more tightly in patients with cancer. Worthless can serve as important treatment targets for intervention of depression in patients with cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.301-314
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• 2019

Purpose: Peritoneal carcinomatosis in gastric cancer (GC) patients results in extremely poor prognosis. Malignant ascites samples are the most appropriate biological material to use to evaluate biomarkers for peritoneal carcinomatosis. This study identified exosomal MicroRNAs (miRNAs) differently expressed between benign liver cirrhosis-associated ascites (LC-ascites) and malignant gastric cancer-associated ascites (GC-ascites), and validated their role as diagnostic biomarkers for GC-ascites. Materials and Methods: Total RNA was extracted from exosomes isolated from 165 ascites samples (73 LC-ascites and 92 GC-ascites). Initially, microarrays were used to screen the expression levels of 2,006 miRNAs in the discovery cohort (n=22). Subsequently, quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analyses were performed to validate the expression levels of selected exosomal miRNAs in the training (n=70) and validation (n=73) cohorts. Furthermore, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels were determined in ascites samples. Results: The miR-574-3p, miR-181b-5p, miR-4481, and miR-181d were significantly downregulated in the GC-ascites samples compared to the LC-ascites samples, and miR-181b-5p showed the best diagnostic performance for GC-ascites (area under the curve [AUC]=0.798 and 0.846 for the training and validation cohorts, respectively). The diagnostic performance of CEA for GC-ascites was improved by the combined analysis of miR-181b-5p and CEA (AUC=0.981 and 0.946 for the training and validation cohorts, respectively). Conclusions: We identified exosomal miRNAs capable of distinguishing between non-malignant and GC-ascites, showing that the combined use of miR-181b-5p and CEA could improve diagnosis.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.30-41
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• 2019

Objectives: The effects of particulate matter and ozone on health are being reported in a number of studies. These effects are likely to be stronger on the elderly population, but studies in this regard are scarce. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of particulate matter ${\leq}2.5{\mu}m$ and ozone on the acute health status of the elderly population. Methods: In order to analyze the health status of the elderly population, the NHIS-Senior Cohort data was used. In this study of people 60 years or older in Seoul, the number of outpatient visits and ER visits between 2002 and 2013 were calculated. Each disorder and the lag effect were analyzed separately. Particulate matter and ozone were analyzed using both the single exposure model and the adjusted multi-exposure model. Results: In the single exposure analysis with PM2.5 as the exposure variable, with each increase of $10{\mu}g/m^3$, the number of outpatient visits increased by 1.0081 times, vascular disease 1.0065 times, chronic pulmonary disease 1.0086 times, and diabetes 1.0055 times. In the multi-exposure model adjusting for ozone, the number of outpatient visits increased by 1.0066 times. There was a one-day lag effect and 1.0066 times increase between PM2.5 and ER visits in the multi-exposure model and 1.0057 times when adjusted for ozone (p value <0.10). There was a one-day lag effect in all multi-exposure models with ozone as the main variable, and when the particulate matter was adjusted, there was a one-day delay and 1.0143 times increase in ER visits. Conclusions: In our study, an increase in the number of outpatient and ER visits in the elderly population in accordance with the increase in PM2.5 and ozone was found. The association found in our study could also produce a socioeconomic burden. Future studies need to be performed in regards to younger populations and other air pollutants.

• 한국사회정책
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.61-86
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• 2017

Along with the well-established evidence on the negative effect of social isolation on physical and mental health, increasing attention has been paid to multi-dimensional nature of social isolation. One line of study on social isolation has discussed different pathways between objective and subjective social isolation and health. Another stream of the research focused on the possibly non-linear association between social isolation and health by age cohort groups. Drawing from the two lines of research, this study aimed at empirically examine to what extent objective and subjective social isolation are associated with physical and mental health independently and how the associations vary by three age cohorts(i.e. the middle-aged, the young old, the old-old). Data came from the first wave of Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP) (N= 814). Findings showed 1) objective subjective isolation were significantly related with worse physical and mental health, interestingly, subjective social isolation was associated with mental health only, 2) pattern of association between social isolation and physical health varied by age cohorts. Specifically, compared to the middle-aged, the young old with higher objective social isolation exhibited lower level of physical health, while the old-old with higher subjective social isolation were likely to experience lower physical health. Based on the findings, we discussed implications and suggestions for future research and relevant policy/program development for ameliorating objective and subjective social isolation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.406-416
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to confirm the effect of parents' positive and negative parenting attitudes perceived by children on smartphone dependence. In addition, it is to verify whether aggression and social withdrawal play a mediating role in the relationship between parental attitude and dependence on smartphones. In order to achieve this goal, the data of the "Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018(KCYPS 2018)" were used for analysis. The sample group is 2,399 "elementary school students 4 cohort". The research results of this study are as follows. First, it was found that autonomy support and coercion had a negative effect on aggression of children, but rejection and inconsistency had a positive effect on aggression. Second, it was found that inconsistency and rejection had a positive effect on children's social atrophy, but coercion had a negative effect. Third, it was found that aggression had a positive effect on children's dependence on smartphones, but social withdrawal had no significant effect. Fourth, it was found that autonomy support, rejection, coercion, and inconsistency indirectly affect children's dependence on smartphones through aggression. In this study's conclusion, practical implications for lowering children's dependence on smartphones were suggested.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.517-529
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• 2021

This study analyzes changes in the efficiency of the Department of Early Childhood Education in Korea to examine the effectiveness of the National Evaluation for Teacher Education Institution. We provide policy implications from exploring factors influencing efficiency and comparing characteristics of efficient and inefficient departments. With 149 Department of Early Childhood Education in Korea, DEA was conducted to estimate the relative efficiency, and the Tobit model was applied to explore factors affecting efficiency. The results confirm that the Department of Early Childhood in Korea is run efficiently, though there was no change in scale efficiency and relative efficiency after the two phases of the National Evaluation for Teacher Education Institution. The results show the number of books per student was significantly lower despite a significantly higher employment rate. Efficiency of college departments, department greater than 60 (per cohort), and department in metropolitan city (except Seoul area) is confirmed greater. These results provide policy implications on developing evaluation measure and processes to improve education quality and efficiency.