• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2020

Excessive drinking of alcohol is known to be one of the main causes of various neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. Scopoletin is known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties, and to protect nerve cells. This study examined whether scopoletin inhibits the alcohol-induced apoptosis of primary hippocampal neurons, and how scopoletin regulates several factors associated with the caspase-mediated pathway. To achieve this, the cell viability and apoptosis rate of primary hippocampal neurons were measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry, respectively. Apoptosis-related protein expressions (Bax, Bid, caspase-3, caspase-9, and Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)) were analyzed by Western blotting, and the ANOVA method was used to confirm the significance of the measured results. As a result, scopoletin inhibited the expressions of alcohol-induced apoptosis and apoptosis-related proteins in primary hippocampal neurons. These results suggest that down-regulation of Bid, Bax, and cleaved caspase-9 expression induced by scopoletin down-regulates the expression of cleaved caspase-3, inhibits the expression of cleaved PARP, and finally, inhibits mitochondrial apoptotic pathways. The study suggests that scopoletin is worth developing as a candidate for neuroprotective agent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.356-370
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine the Western perspective on the food and food culture of Modern Times in Korea (from the late of Joseon Dynasty until Japanese colonial era). Literature and written records were analyzed. This analysis revealed that the heart of the mill in this period involved rice, and that a common beverage was sungnyung made from boiled scorched rice (in contrast to tea as the common beverage in Japan or China). The most important subsidiary food in Joseon was vegetables, especially Kimchi. Westerners viewed Kimchi as a smell symbolizing Joseon and their meal times. Even though both Kimchi and cheese are fermented food, just like Westerners could not stand the smell of Kimchi, Koreans viewed the smell of cheese unpleasant. Westerners viewed German sauerkraut as Western food counterpart to Kimchi, as sauerkraut is also fermented food made of cabbage. Regarding the eating of dog meat in Joseon, most Westerners viewed it as brutal; however some interpreted it as a difference in food culture. In addition, the eating of raw fish and its intestines felt crude to Westerners. The biggest difference between Joseon's food and Western food was that Joseon had no dairy products and no sugar. The most highly preferred fruit for Westerners was the persimmon, and ginseng was already widely recognized and recorded as a medicinal plant. Joseon's desserts were also favorably evaluated. In contrast, the excessive gluttony, heavy drinking, and unsanitary conditions in Joseon were problems pointed out in many records.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2001

Drinking excessive alcohol has been recognized as a risk factor for hypertension. However, the mechanism by which alcohol intake causes hypertension still remains elusive. We tested the hypothesis that ethanol itself acts as a stress factor on vasculature and indirectly modulates vascular contractility. After end of exposure to 1, 2.5 and 5% ethanol for 45 min, rat aortic strips were subjected to contractile responses, immunoblot for Hsp70 and the measurement of levels of myosin light chain phosphorylation. Exposure to 5% ethanol not only augmented contractions to KCl or phenylephrine, but also increased expression of Hsp70 and the levels of myosin light chain phosphorylation. There were no significant differences in contractions produced by $1\;{\mu}mol/L$ phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, a protein kinase C activator, whether the tissues were exposed to 5% ethanol or not. This is the first report to show that even short exposure to ethanol has a delayed effect to increase vascular smooth muscle contractility through a modulation of thick filament regulation. It may be a mechanism by which ingestion of alcohol induces hypertension.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.115-128
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• 2019

This study evaluated the nutrient intake with increasing coffee consumption for 403 adults aged over 30 years in Korea. The 403 subjects were national health screening examinees, who visited Sahmyook Seoul Hospital's Comprehensive Check-up Center between 2017.11.01 and 2018.12.18. The subjects were asked to answer questionnaires covering a 24-hour recall fluid and dietary intake before the health examination. The research ethics council of Sahmyook University (2-7001793-AB-N-012019036HR) approved this study. Coffee consumption exceeding two servings daily was more likely in males, in those aged between 30 and 40 years, and in the smoking, drinking, non-exercise, non-breakfast groups compared to each counterpart. The correlation between the coffee consumption frequency and current nutrient density showed negative correlations in most micronutrients. The mean nutrient density decreased gradually with increasing coffee consumption (<1 serving daily, ${\leq}1{\sim}2$ servings daily, >2 servings daily) in the ANOVA analysis. Therefore, the progressive adverse health effects of excessive coffee consumption needs to be researched further, and a daily total caffeine limit should be suggested in education of the nation levels.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.20-32
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• 2019

Objectives: This study identified biopsychosocial factors associated with metabolic syndrome among Korean men and women aged over 40 years. Methods: Secondary data from the 2010-2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for this study. Based on the biopsychosocial model, psychosocial factors (stress, depression, smoking, binge alcohol consumption, physical activity) were assessed with control of biomedical (age, body mass index, family history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease) and biosocial factors (educational level and economic status). Data from 8,624 men and 7,321 women were analyzed by logistic regression analysis using a complex sample procedure. Results: Among men, current or past smoking habits (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]: 1.349; 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.155-1.575, p<.001) and binge alcohol consumption (AOR: 1.570, CI: 1.389-1.774, p<.001) were associated with metabolic syndrome. In addition, moderate (AOR: 1.205, CI: 1.038-1.400, p=.014) and low levels of physical activity (AOR: 1.296, CI: 1.109-1.514, p=.001) were associated with metabolic syndrome. Among women, low level of physical activity (AOR: 1.276, CI: 1.017-1.602, p=.036) was associated with metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: Gender specific interventions such as encouraging physical activity and prevention of smoking and excessive alcohol drinking are important to prevention of metabolic syndrome.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.194-201
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the distribution of diagnostic disease among applicants for shoulder musculoskeletal disease. Methods: In 2020, 47 diagnostic disease applicants were investigated for sociodemographic, health, work, job, and diagnostic disease characteristics. The data were corrected through on-site visits and analyzed using descriptive statistics with SPSS WIN23.0. Results: Most of the applicants were male and elderly. They had high blood pressure(38.3%) and diabetes (21.3%), and the drinking rate and smoking rate were also high. The most common type of employment was daily workers, and it was confirmed that the working condition was poor due to excessive working hours and short rest times. Most of the applicants for shoulder diagnostic diseases were in the construction industry, and the most common diagnostic disease was a rotator cuff tear. Conclusions: It is necessary to develop a musculoskeletal disease prevention program suitable for construction workers to reduce their work-related disease. When establishing a program, business type, task, and diagnostic disease must be considered.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

This study classified subjects aged 30 to 64 into normal group, impaired fasting glucose group, and diabetes mellitus patient group based on data from the 6th period of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2015). Skipping breakfast, lack of physical activity, inadequate sleep time, inadequate weight, excessive drinking, and current smoking are classified as a low health risk group when three or less items are present, and a high health risk group when three or more items are included. By classification, each item included in the physical measurement and biochemical analysis factors and health risk behavior factors was comparatively analyzed. As a result, in the normal group, impaired fasting glucose group, and diabetes group, the average age was higher in the group with high health risk factors than the group with low risk factors, and the male ratio was higher. Body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, triglyceride showed a significantly higher result. In the normal group, the fasting blood glucose level and total cholesterol level were also higher in group 2. Therefore, it is thought that it is necessary to control health risk behaviors through lifestyle changes in the normal group, fasting glucose disorder group, and diabetes group.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.383-391
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• 2008

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified it as a possible carcinogen and World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested 50 ng/mL as a guideline value for 1,4-dioxane. Considering the toxicity of 1,4-dioxane and ingestion rate of drinking water, the monitoring of 1,4-dioxane in drinking water in Nakdong river is very important. We analyzed 1,4-dioxane four times per year for the 12 samples of treated water and 4 samples of raw water in Nakdong river in Korea from 2000 to 2007 and surveyed the trend of concentrations of 1,4-dioxane. As a results of analysis, 1,4-dioxane was detected from 0.24 to 240.2 ng/mL in treated water and from 0.39 to 81.9 ng/mL in raw water from 2000 to 2007. The average concentrations are 22.68 ng/mL and 19.15 ng/mL in treated water and raw water, respectively. The detected concentrations was decreased but frequency of detection was not changed since establishment of regulation in 2004. Results of comparison of 95 percentile excessive cancer risk of 1,4-dioxane in treated and raw water were each $6.63{\times}10^{-6}$, $3.17{\times}10^{-6}$ before 2004 and $2.10{\times}10^{-6}$, $1.22{\times}10^{-6}$ after 2004. Also, comparing the detected concentration and frequency for each season, these were more detected the concentration and frequency for 1,4-dioxane in treated and raw water from winter to spring.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2020

Alcohol, which can easily be obtained in the same way as ordinary beverages, is harmful enough to cause death due to excessive drinking and chronic alcohol intake, so it is important to maintain a proper amount of drinking and healthy drinking habits. In addition, the incidence of behavioral disturbances and impaired judgments that can be caused by chronic alcohol drinking of more than adequate amounts of alcohol is also significant. Accordingly it is very useful for forensic science to check whether the person involved is drunken or is alcoholism state in various accidents. Currently, in Korea, alcohol consumption is determined by detecting the level of alcohol or alcohol metabolism 'ethyl glucuronide (EtG)' in blood or urine samples. However, analysis of alcohol or EtG in blood or urine can only provide information about the current state of alcohol consumption because of a narrow window of detection time. Therefore, it is important to analyze the EtG as a long-term direct alcohol metabolite bio-marker in human hair and to investigate relationship between alcohol consumption and EtG concentration for the evaluation of chronic ethanol consumption. In this study, we established an analytical method for the detection of EtG in Korean hair efficiently and validated selectivity, linearity, limits of detection (LOD), limits of quantification (LOQ), matrix effect, recovery, process efficiency, accuracy and precision using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). In addition, the assay performance was evaluated in Korean social drinker's hair and the postmortem hair of a chronic alcoholism. The results of this study can be useful in monitoring the alcohol abuse of Korean in clinical cases and legal procedures related to custody and provide a useful tool to evaluate postmortem diagnosis of alcoholic ketoacidosis in forensics.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.16-20
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• 2002

Background and Objective : Epileptic seizures are frequent complication of lobar hemorrhage. We investigated the factors affecting development of epilepsy following spontaneous lobar ICH. Methods : From January 1986 to July 1999, 114 patients were admitted to Chungnam National University Hospital with spontaneous lobar ICH. We analyzed 75 patients. Excluded were no follow-up(8 patients) and patients died within few days(31 patients). All the patient was followed up at least two years aside from two patients who underwent epileptic seizure and died five and eight months later each. Medical history was obtained through medical record and by telephone interview. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square test, Student's t - test, Fisher's exact test. Results : Seizure occurred in 19 patients. As three patients had previous history of seizures, 16 patients(22.2%) showed first onset early- and late-seizures. Early seizure occurred in 14 patients(19.4%). Three out of 14 were heavy alcoholics. Five patients developed late recurrent seizure 61 days to 800 days after the early seizure. Late seizure with no acute seizure occurred in two patients. The types of seizure were diverse as generalized tonic clonic seizure(10), partial seizure with secondary generalization(5), and complex partial seizure(1). The common risk factors for lobar ICH were hypertension(HT), arteriovenous malformation(AVM), and excessive use of alcohol. We could not find any causes in 23 patients. Although size of hematoma, age of onset, sex, incidence of HT or AVM were not different between patients with seizure and without seizure, the history of excessive alcohol drinking was more frequent in patients with seizure. Five patients with late recurrent seizure had ICH involving temporal area. Conclusions : This study suggests that the risk of seizure in patients with lobar ICH was increase in chronic alcoholics and patient with late recurrent seizure had ICH frequently involving temporal area.