• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.569-573
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• 2012

Early diagnosis and better prognosis of ovarian cancer is still a challenge. Besides environmental risk factors, genetic factors have established a role in pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. Methods: A case-control and a prospective study design conducted in 224 ovarian cancer patients and 432 controls in Chinese population. MTHFR C677T genotyping was done by PCR-RFLP. Results: Patients with ovarian cancer is associated with a higher less number of delivery and less frequent oral contraceptive use. When potential confounding factors adjusted logistic regression analysis between cases and controls were performed, significant association was obtained for 677T/T genotype and ovarian cancer (OR=3.13, 95% CI=1.59-5.72). Cox regression survival analysis showed individuals carrying T/T genotype had significantly increased HR for death in ovarian cancer patients (HR=2.86, 95% CI=1.27-7.93). In conclusion, we observed that the MTHFR C677T polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility and survival of ovarian cancer in Chinese population.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.106-113
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between unhealthy eating behavior and depression in adolescents, with confounding variables adjusted. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of the data collected from the 2013 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBWS). The analysis included 72,435 participants (36,655 male and 35,780 female). The data were analyzed by $x^2$ test, t-test, and logistic regression analysis using SPSS Version 21 by complex samples analysis. Results: Compared with male adolescents with healthy eating behavior, those who with unhealthy eating behavior were more likely to suffer depression with other factors controlled (OR=1.37, 1.07~1.75). On the other hand, female adolescents with unhealthy eating behavior were less likely to feel depressed compared with female adolescents with unhealthy eating behavior and with other factors controlled (OR=0.98, 0.64~1.50). However, it was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that healthy eating behavior may be a protective factor against depression in male adolescents, but not in female adolescents. Furthermore, our results suggest that the longitudinal associations between mental health and healthy eating behavior and other lifestyle factors are complex.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.1419-1433
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• 1999

Little is known about the impact of family caregiving for the demented elderly in Korea. The purpose of this study was to identify the current state of development of family caregiving research for the demented elderly in Korea and to identify correlates of caregiver or health problems and burdens within the socio-political contexts of Korea. A critical review of 17 family caregivers was carried out. The review revealed that various caregiving impacts and correlates of caregiver burden or health problems have been studied in relation to demented elderly family caregiving. Family caregiving for the demented elderly is a very complex phenomenon and various factors were related to caregiver burden, or their emotional and physical health. Findings from studies reviewed have shown inconsistent, inconclusive, and contradictory results. Furthermore, several conceptual and methodological problems were identified in the studies reviewed: restricted conceptualization, unrepresentative study samples, inadequate sample size, inappropriate study design, absence of comparison groups, inappropriate psychometric properties, and uncontrolled confounding factors. More research, as well as directions for further research, is recommended to identify family caregiving the impact of for the demented elderly, and to clarify the factors that explain results.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.154-160
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• 2019

Objectives: Stillbirth is a common adverse pregnancy outcome that represents a distressing and traumatic event for women and their partners. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with stillbirth in ever-pregnant women in Nepal. Methods: This study utilized the individual women's dataset from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, conducted in 2016. The dependent variable of interest was whether women had at least 1 stillbirth during their lifetime. The associations between independent variables and the dependent variable of the study were analyzed using a multiple logistic regression model. Results: Among 8918 ever-pregnant women aged 15-49 years, 488 had experienced at least 1 stillbirth during their lifetime, representing 5.5% of the total. After adjusting each factor for the confounding effects of other factors, maternal age, maternal education, place of residence, and sub-region remained significantly associated with having experienced stillbirth. Conclusions: Stillbirth continues to be a major problem among women, especially those with higher maternal age, those who are illiterate, and residents of certain geographical regions. To minimize stillbirth in Nepal, plans and policies should be focused on women with low education levels and residents of rural areas, especially in the western mountain and far-western hill regions.

• International Journal of Clinical Preventive Dentistry
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.256-263
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• 2018

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with masticatory performance, as measured with a chewing gum containing spherical resinous microparticles, and to evaluate the method by examining the relationship with self-reported masticatory status. Methods: The participants in this study comprised 903 industrial workers (mean age, $42.2{\pm}11.6years$). A questionnaire was administered to assess self-reported masticatory status. The masticatory performance score was calculated by counting the number of particles in the chewing gum. Clinical oral examinations were administered. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted on the masticatory performance scores to examine the related factors. Analysis of covariance was conducted to investigate the association between the masticatory performance score and the self-reported masticatory status. Results: Significant predictors of the masticatory performance score were sex (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), decayed teeth (p=0.009), total-functional tooth units (p<0.001), periodontitis (p=0.003), and malocclusion (p=0.011). The relationship between the masticatory performance score and the self-reported masticatory status was attenuated after controlling for confounding factors. Conclusion: The masticatory performance increased with age and decreased as the oral health status worsened. Using this chewing gum method partly, but not comprehensively, reflects masticatory performance. Therefore, various masticatory performance-related indexes should be employed to measure masticatory performance accurately.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) evaluation is a useful tool for monitoring disease activity in various inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions. ESR is known to be influenced by a multitude of confounding factors. The present study aimed to assess the possible determinants of the ESR and its relationship with various risk factors involved in ischemic stroke. ESR and other hematological and biochemical parameters were investigated in 163 ischemic stroke patients (107 males and 56 females) selected based on imaging techniques including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 16.0 software. Linear regression analysis showed a significant inverse relationship of hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit or packed cell volume (PCV) (P<0.001 for females; P<0.01 for males) with the ESR. It was observed that the red blood cell (RBC) count was not strongly correlated with the ESR (P<0.05 for both males and females). It was also observed that sex significantly affected the variables determining the ESR levels, whereas age had no effect. Gender differences were also observed with respect to Hb, RBC, PCV, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and ESR. The possible determinants of higher ESR levels in ischemic stroke may be sex, Hb, hematocrit, and RBC count, but the role of other clinical and laboratory parameters cannot be underestimated.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.467-479
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• 2018

The aging process induces a plethora of changes in the body including alterations in hormonal regulation and metabolism in various organs including the heart. Aging is associated with marked increase in the vulnerability of the heart to ischemia-reperfusion injury. Furthermore, it significantly hampers the development of adaptive response to various forms of conditioning stimuli (pre/post/remote conditioning). Aging significantly impairs the activation of signaling pathways that mediate preconditioning-induced cardioprotection. It possibly impairs the uptake and release of adenosine, decreases the number of adenosine transporter sites and down-regulates the transcription of adenosine receptors in the myocardium to attenuate adenosine-mediated cardioprotection. Furthermore, aging decreases the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1-alpha ($PGC-1{\alpha}$) and subsequent transcription of catalase enzyme which subsequently increases the oxidative stress and decreases the responsiveness to preconditioning stimuli in the senescent diabetic hearts. In addition, in the aged rat hearts, the conditioning stimulus fails to phosphorylate Akt kinase that is required for mediating cardioprotective signaling in the heart. Moreover, aging increases the concentration of $Na^+$ and $K^+$, connexin expression and caveolin abundance in the myocardium and increases the susceptibility to ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, aging also reduces the responsiveness to conditioning stimuli possibly due to reduced kinase signaling and reduced STAT-3 phosphorylation. However, aging is associated with an increase in MKP-1 phosphorylation, which dephosphorylates (deactivates) mitogen activated protein kinase that is involved in cardioprotective signaling. The present review describes aging as one of the major confounding factors in attenuating remote ischemic preconditioning-induced cardioprotection along with the possible mechanisms.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2006

Background: A number of studies have reported associations between the ambient air pollution concentrations and various health outcomes. Especially, ozone is well known for primary risk factor of asthma attacks. The results of a recent study indicate that the size of the effect on health outcomes due to air pollution varied according to several conditions, including age, gender, race and the socioeconomic status. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the associations of ozone with the childhood asthma hospitalizations as stratified by the socioeconomic status (SES) at the community level in Seoul, Korea, 2002. Methods: SES at aggregated levels was measured on the basis of average regional health-insurance rate per citizen in the area. We applied the generalized additive model to analyze the effect of ozone on asthma after controlling for the potential confounding variables that were capable of influencing the results. Results: Our analysis showed that the number of children who were hospitalized for asthma increased as the SES of the residence area decreased. The estimated relative risks of hospitalization for asthma, as stratified by the SES of the community level, were 1.12 (95% confidence interval 1.00-1.25) in districts with the highest SES levels, 1.24 (95% CI=1.08-1.43) within the moderate SES levels, and 1.32 (95% CI=1.11-1.58) in the districts with the lowest SES levels. Conclusions: Our analysis showed that exposure to air pollution did not equally affect the health status of individuals. This suggests that not only the biological-sensitivity markers, but also the SES of the subjects should be considered as potentially confounding factors.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.213-221
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• 2010

Objectives: Plasma lipid profiles and Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The knowledge of lipid profile may estimate the potential victims of cardiovascular disease before its initiation and progression and offers the opportunity for primary prevention. The most common ApoE polymorphism has been found to influence plasma lipid concentrations and its correlation with CVD has been extensively investigated in the last decade. Methods: The ApoE polymorphism and its influence on plasma lipid were investigated in healthy woman workers. The information on confounding factors was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire and ApoE polymorphism was investigated using PCR. Results: The relative frequencies of alleles E2, E3 and E4 for the study population (n = 305) were 0.127, 0.750 and 0.121, respectively. ApoE polymorphism was associated with variations in plasma HDL-cholesterol lipid profile. In order to estimate the independent effects of alleles E2 and E4, as compared with E3, on lipid profile, multiple regression was performed after adjustment for confounding variables such as age, BMI, blood pressure, education status, insulin, fasting glucose, HOMA-IR, menopause. ApoE2 had a negative association with HDL cholesterol and ApoE4 had a positive association with LDL cholesterol. Conclusions: This study identified that the ApoE and CVD risk factors contribute to the lipid profiles, similar to other studies. The analysis including dietary intake and other gene in further studies may help to identify clear effects on lipid profiles as risk factor for CVD.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze sexual experience rates according to socio-demographic factors, health behavioral factors, and internet use time, and to identify sex experience related factors in high school students using the data from the 11th Korean Youth Health Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey. Methods: A total of 33,744 students (17,346 boys and 16,398 girls) in high schools were analyzed using the SPSS WIN version 22 program. SPSS complex samples methods were used for analyses. Socio-demographic factors, health behavioral factors, and internet use time as independents variables were included. The complex samples logistic regression analyses were used to calculate the odds ratio of the sexual experience according to the socio-demographic factors, health behavioral factors and internet use time. Unweighted frequencies and percentages were represented in result tables. Results: 3.6% of girls and 9.9% of boys in high school had sexual experiences. Daily average smoking amount and daily alcohol drinking amount were a dose-response relationship with sexual experience after considering confounding factors. Students who smoke 10-19 cigarettes had 5.74 times higher risk and 20 cigarettes or more had 7.27 times higher risk of sexual experiences, comparing with non-smoking students, relatively. Likewise, students who drink soju less than 1-2 bottles and more than 2 bottles had 3.82- and 4.35 times higher chance of sexual experiences, compared with non drinking students, respectively. Conclusions: We found that there were the dose-response relationship between health behavioral characteristics and sexual experiences. Further research is needed to identify an interaction effect between smoking and drinking alcohol on sexual experiences in high school students.