• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1698-1710
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• 2022

Objective: Raw potato starch (RPS) is resistant to digestion, escapes absorption, and is metabolized by intestinal microflora in the large intestine and acts as their energy source. In this study, we compared the effect of different concentrations of RPS on the intestinal bacterial community of weaned piglets. Methods: Male weaned piglets (25-days-old, 7.03±0.49 kg) were either fed a corn/soybean-based control diet (CON, n = 6) or two treatment diets supplemented with 5% RPS (RPS5, n = 4) or 10% RPS (RPS10, n = 4) for 20 days and their fecal samples were collected. The day 0 and 20 samples were analyzed using a 16S rRNA gene sequencing technology, followed by total genomic DNA extraction, library construction, and high-throughput sequencing. After statistical analysis, five phyla and 45 genera accounting for over 0.5% of the reads in any of the three groups were further analyzed. Furthermore, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the day 20 fecal samples were analyzed using gas chromatography. Results: Significant changes were not observed in the bacterial composition at the phylum level even after 20 d post feeding (dpf); however, the abundance of Intestinimonas and Barnesiella decreased in both RPS treatment groups compared to the CON group. Consumption of 5% RPS increased the abundance of Roseburia (p<0.05) and decreased the abundance of Clostridium (p<0.01) and Mediterraneibacter (p< 0.05). In contrast, consumption of 10% RPS increased the abundance of Olsenella (p<0.05) and decreased the abundance of Campylobacter (p<0.05), Kineothrix (p<0.05), Paraprevotella (p<0.05), and Vallitalea (p<0.05). Additionally, acetate (p<0.01), butyrate (p<0.05), valerate (p = 0.01), and total SCFAs (p = 0.01) were upregulated in the RPS5 treatment group Conclusion: Feeding 5% RPS altered bacterial community composition and promoted gut health in weaned piglets. Thus, resistant starch as a feed additive may prevent diarrhea in piglets during weaning.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.205-222
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• 2022

Objectives: This study examined the characteristics of patients according to nutritional status assessed by five nutritional screening tools: Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), NUTRISCORE, Nutritional Risk Index (NRI), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), and Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) and to compare the agreement, sensitivity, and specificity of these tools. Methods: A total of 952 gastric cancer patients who underwent gastrectomy and chemotherapy from January 2009 to December 2012 were included. The patients were categorized into malnutrition and normal status according to five nutritional screening tools one month after surgery. The Spearman partial correlation, Cohen's Kappa coefficient, the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity of each two screening tools were calculated. Results: Malnutrition was observed in 86.24% of patients based on the PG-SGA and 85.82% based on the NUTRISCORE. When NRI or CONUT were applied, the proportions of malnutrition were < 30%. Patients with malnutrition had lower intakes of energy and protein than normal patients when assessed using the PG-SGA, NUTRISCORE, or NRI. Lower levels of albumin, hemoglobin, total lymphocyte count, and total cholesterol and longer postoperative hospital stays were observed among patients with malnutrition compared to normal patients when NRI, PNI, or CONUT were applied. Relatively high agreement for NUTRISCORE relative to PG-SGA was found; the sensitivity was 90.86%, and the AUC was 0.78. When NRI, PNI, and CONUT were compared, the sensitivities were 23.72% for PNI relative to NRI, 44.53% for CONUT relative to NRI, and 90.91% for CONUT relative to PNI. The AUCs were 0.95 for NRI relative to PNI and 0.91 for CONUT relative to PNI. Conclusions: NUTRISCORE had a high sensitivity compared to PG-SGA, and CONUT had a high sensitivity compared to PNI. NRI had a high specificity compared to PNI. This relatively high sensitivity and specificity resulted in 77.00% agreement between PNI and CONUT and 77.94% agreement between NRI and PNI. Further cohort studies will be needed to determine if the nutritional status assessed by PG-SGA, NUTRISCORE, NRI, PNI, and CONUT predicts the gastric cancer prognosis.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.495-507
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• 2021

Objectives: This study examined regional differences in the intake of dietary total fat and saturated fatty acid (SFA) and their food sources among Korean adults. We also investigated the associations of SFA intake with metabolic diseases by region. Methods: This study included 13,926 adults (≥ 19y) who participated in the 2016 ~ 2019 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. The regions were divided into urban and rural areas according to the administrative districts where the participants lived. Using dietary data obtained from a 24-h recall, intake of total fat and SFA and their food sources were assessed by region. Metabolic diseases included obesity, abdominal obesity, and elevated total cholesterol and their association with SFA intake by region were examined using multiple logistic regression. Results: Of the participants, 19.6% lived in rural areas. In urban areas, the total fat and SFA intakes were higher than in rural areas: 21.2% of energy (%E) came from total fat and 6.9%E from SFA in urban areas, whereas 18.0%E came from total fat and 5.8%E from SFA in rural areas. The percentage of participants who exceeded the dietary reference intakes for total fat and SFA in urban areas was 16.5% and 41.9%, respectively, but 43.4% of participants in rural areas showed lower intake levels for total fat compared to the reference level. Young adults did not show regional differences in fat intake, and the percentage of subjects who exceeded the reference for SFA was high both in urban (58.5%) and rural (55.7%) areas. Among middle-aged and older adults, intake of fatty acids except for n-3 fatty acid was significantly higher in urban areas than in rural areas. About 69% of older adults in rural areas showed a lower intake of total fat compared to the reference level. The food sources for total fat and SFA were meat, soybean oil, eggs, and milk in both areas. The intake of fat from eggs, milk, mayonnaise, and bread was higher in urban areas, but the intake of fat from white rice and coffee mix was higher in rural areas. The SFA intake was positively associated with elevated serum total cholesterol in urban areas (4th quartile vs. 1st quartile, OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.06-1.40, P for trend: 0.043), but not in rural areas. Conclusions: Regional differences in total fat and SFA intakes and their food sources were observed among Korean adults. Our findings may help plan nutritional strategies to ameliorate regional health disparities.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.81-93
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• 2022

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the experience and perception among adult women regarding weight control and the consumption of weight-control foods or health functional foods based on their body mass index (BMI). Methods: The subjects were 634 adult women from the Chungcheong province, Korea, and data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from July 2021 through September 2021. The subjects were divided into four groups based on their BMI status: underweight (< 18.5 kg/m², 7.6%), normal weight (18.5 ~ 22.9 kg/m², 53.3%), overweight (23 ~ 24.9 kg/m², 19.7%), and obese (≥ 25 kg/m², 19.4%). Results: Over the past 3 years, almost two-thirds (68.6%) of the adult women had tried weight control measures, despite the fact that a significant proportion of them were normal or underweight. More importantly, 57.6% of subjects reported the consumption of weight-control foods, with a lower proportion in the underweight (35.4%) group compared to the normal (56.2%), overweight (62.4%), and obese (65.0%) groups. The food items used for weight control were mostly salads, chicken breasts, low fat (soy) milk, slimming tea, protein shakes, low-calorie cereals, and energy/protein bars among others. In addition, one-third (31.1%) of the subjects reported the use of health functional foods containing ingredients for fat reduction. A significantly higher proportion of these was from the overweight (36.0%) and obese (38.2%) groups compared to the underweight (20.8%) and normal weight (28.1%) groups. Products containing Garcinia cambogia extract, green tea, or Cissus extract, were popular among users. Subjects who were obese had a poorer perception of their health and body. Most subjects felt the need for correct information regarding weight control, but this number was significantly more in the higher BMI groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the use of weight-control foods or health functional foods is popular among adult women, especially those who are obese. Thus, nutrition education courses covering facts about weight control and practice need to be developed and provided based on the BMI status of subjects.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.48-60
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• 2023

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the sex-associated differences in the dietary intake of gastric cancer patients in Korea. Methods: Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) the 7^th (2016-2018) were analyzed in the present study. The subjects included 122 gastric cancer patients aged over 40 years (75 male, 47 female). General characteristics (age, marital status, household income, education, food security, comorbidities, alcohol drinking, and smoking), anthropometric characteristics (height, weight, body mass index, and blood pressure), blood biochemical characteristics [fasting plasma glucose (FPG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and HDL-cholesterol)], and quantity and quality of dietary intake were compared between male and female participants. Results: Males had higher rates of having a spouse, prevalence of hypertension, alcohol drinking, and smoking than females. The proportion of males with a normal range of FPG, BUN, and HDL-cholesterol was lower than that in females. The total cholesterol levels above the normal range were higher in females than in males. We also found that females had a higher percentage of intakes below the estimated energy requirement (EER) and intakes below the estimated average requirement (EAR) for carbohydrates, niacin, phosphorus, and iron than males. The index of nutritional quality (INQ) for phosphorus and folate, nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) for vitamin C, thiamine, niacin, folate, calcium, and phosphorus, and the mean adequacy ratio (MAR) were lower in females than males. Conclusions: In Korean gastric cancer patients, management of comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertriglyceridemia, lowering FPG, and raising HDL-cholesterol level management is required for males, whereas management of lowering total cholesterol and raising hematocrit is required for females. The quantitative and qualitative nutritional intakes were poor in gastric cancer patients, especially in females, who had a lower nutritional intake than males. We suggest that nutritional interventions are needed to improve the overall nutritional intake in both male and female gastric cancer patients. In particular, we propose that support is urgently needed for females whose nutritional intake is lower than that of males. In addition, family, social, and national support for nutritional management of female gastric cancer patients is highly necessary.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.136-143
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• 2021

Pacific island countries, including Kiribati, are suffering from a shortage of essential resources as well as a reduction in their living space due to sea level rise and coastal erosion from climate change, groundwater pollution and vegetation changes. Global activities to solve these problems are being progressed by the UN's efforts to implement SDGs. Pacific island countries can adapt to climate change by using abundant marine resources. In other words, seawater plants can assist in achieving SDGs #2, #6 and #7 based on SDGs #14 in these Pacific island countries. Under the auspice of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) established the Sustainable Seawater Utilization Academy (SSUA) in 2016, and its 30 graduates formed the SSUA Kiribati Association in 2017. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) of the Republic of Korea awarded ODA fund to the Association. By taking advantage of seawater resource and related plants, it was able to provide drinking water and vegetables to the local community from 2018 to 2020. Among the various fields of education and practice provided by SSUA, the Association hope to realize hydroponic cultivation and seawater desalination as a self-support project through a pilot project. To this end, more than 140 households are benefiting from 3-stage hydroponics, and a seawater desalination system in connection with solar power generation was installed for operation. The Association grows and supplies vegetable seedlings from the provided seedling cultivation equipment, and is preparing to convert to self-support business from next year. The satisfaction survey shows that Tarawa residents have a high degree of satisfaction with the technical support and its benefits. In the future, it is hoped that SSUA and regional associations will be distributed to neighboring island countries to support their SDGs implementations.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.55-61
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• 1995

The European Community (EC) began dealing with the subject of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the mid-1970s. After ten years of preparatory work and more than 20 draft versions, the EC Council of Ministers adopted, in 1985, the Directive on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (85/337/EEC). This directive requires the member states to make EIA mandatory for certain projects. Its Article 3 defines the purpose of the instrument: "The environmental impact assessment will identify, describe and assess the direct and indirect effects of a project. There are no rules on scoping or on post-project analysis. However, member states are free to adopt, in their domestic legislation, more stringent rules regarding the scope and procedure of EIA. Consequently, they have developed national EIA systems which differ considerably from each other. Also, EIA practice in each of these countries is different from that in the others. In 1992, the EC Council adopted the 'Flora, Fauna, Habitat' Directive which lays down an additional EIA requirement. Member states will have to develop a network of 'European' nature conservation areas. Each project or plan possibly endangering these areas will have to be assessed whether it is in line with the protection purposes laid down for them. Although the directive does not say so explicitly, this means that a kind of EIA will have to be carried out for those projects and plans. For several years, the Commission has been developing proposals for a directive on EIA of plans and programmes ("strategic EIA"). This would supplement directive 85/337/EED, and would require and EIA for plans and programmes influencing decisions on specific projects(e.g. agricultural plans or energy programmes). At present, procedural and methodological questions of strategic EIA are being discussed extensively both within and without the European Union.

• Atmosphere
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to describe the roles of carbon dioxide in the climate change, and carbon dioxide reduction policies in some countries. In addition, ways to cope with climate change in Korea are also discussed. Currently, global temperatures are rising due to the carbon dioxide produced by human beings. Global temperatures will rise approximately $6^{\circ}C$ until 2100 if we emit carbon dioxide at a present rate. Temperature rise will affect the terrestrial and oceanic resources, and ultimately influence the socio-economic structures including political stability. Most of the carbon dioxide comes from fossil fuels. Therefore, it is urgent to reduce the use of energy, which comes from fossil fuels. Solving the climate change due to the increases in carbon dioxide is a global problem. Korea should participate in the international community and cooperate with each other in order to reduce the carbon dioxide concentration. No policy was announced for the reduction of carbon dioxide so far. Korea should make a policy for the reduction of carbon dioxide in a specific year compared to that of certain standard year such as 1990 or 2005. Making policy should be based on the scientific result of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted and absorbed. Germanwatch announced the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) in order to evaluate an effort to reduce the carbon dioxide for 56 countries which emits 90 % of global carbon dioxide. Ranking for Korea is 51 among 56 countries. This clearly indicates that the appropriate carbon dioxide reduction has not been exercised yet in Korea. Researchers have a moral responsibility to provide updated new ideas and knowledges regarding climate change. Politicians should have a sharp insight to judge the ideas provided by researchers. People need an ethics to reduce the carbon dioxide in every day's life. Scientific research should not be influenced by stress caused by external budget and negative impact of capitalism. Science should be based on the pure curiosity.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.249-259
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• 2014

This paper investigates the characteristics of high $PM_{2.5}$ episodes occurred at Anmyeondo area in spring time, 2009. The monthly mean $PM_{2.5}$ concentration during April was the highest in the year and especially, high levels of $PM_{2.5}$ exceeding standard regulation level were sustained consecutively during 5 to 13 April. To analyze more detailed $PM_{2.5}$ characteristics, numerical simulations were carried out using CMAQ(Community Multi-scale Air Quality) with IPR(Integrated Process Rate) and DDM-3D(Decoupled Direct Method). $PM_{2.5}$ level was lower in daytime than that in nighttime due to vigorous vertical mixing during daytime. The chemical composition was showed that ratio of primary ion components such as sulfate($SO_4{^{2-}}$), nitrate($NO_3{^-}$) and ammonium($NH_4{^+}$) were nearly half of total amount of $PM_{2.5}$. Aerosol and transport process dominantly contributed to $PM_{2.5}$ concentration in Anmyeondo area and contribution rate of local emissions was nearly zero since Anmyeondo area has rare anthropogenic PM emission sources. DDM-3D analysis result showed that $PM_{2.5}$ in Anmyeondo area was influenced by emissions from Shanghai and Shandong region of China.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.62 no.5
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• pp.638-647
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• 2020

This study determined the substitution effects of rice for corn as the main grain source in a total mixed ration (TMR). In vitro rumen fermentation characteristics and microbes were assessed using two experimental diets. Diets included 33% dry matter (DM) of either corn (Corn TMR) or rice grains (Rice TMR). In a 48-h in vitro incubation, DM digestibility (IVDMD), neutral detergent fiber degradability (IVNDFD), crude protein digestibility (IVCPD), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), pH and ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) were estimated. Gas production has been calculated at 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h. Our results indicate that the gas production, VFAs, IVDMD, and IVNDFD of Rice TMR were higher than those of Corn TMR (p < 0.05). Ruminal pH and total fungi were significantly higher in Corn TMR (p < 0.05) than in Rice TMR; however, NH₃-N and IVCPD were not affected by treatment type. In conclusion, substituting rice for corn at 33% DM in TMR appears to have no negative effects on in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics. Therefore, rice grains are an appropriate alternative energy source in early fattening stage diets of beef cattle.