• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.141-149
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• 2010

A concern of safety issue for traditional herbal medicine is the possibility of some herbs containing heavy metals responsible for several cases of metal poisoning. In our previous study, the physiological levels of heavy metals, such as Cd, Cu, Hg and Pb, were examined to evaluate a potential risk in patients taking herbal medicine. In this study, the levels of 12 heavy metals, including non-metallic element, Se, were analyzed in hair and compared to the results from the previous study. In the previous study, the levels of Cd, Cu, Hg and Pb in hair showed a significantly lower odds ratio than 1. In this study, however, all metals did not show any significant odds ratio higher or lower than 1 even if 5 of 12 metals showed lower odds ratio than 1. In addition, the levels of metal concentrations, especially for Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn, exceeding the WHO reference values were observed in hair. However, any evidence for metal accumulation in hair caused by taking herbal medicines for long duration was not observed in analysis of multiple regression and odds ratio from case-control study. This result would show another possibility for a role of herbs as a non-enzymatic chelator inhibiting the gastrointestinal absorption of heavy metals.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2004

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most general childhood problems occurs locally and internationally, but the causes of ADHD are not cleared yet. Therefore, this study tried to examine some parts of the causes of ADHD closely, and finally contribute to the medical treatment of ADHD and its precautionary measures, by measuring and comparing concentration of minerals in hairs of the patients of ADHD and their control group's children. which can analyze the relevance to ADHD and the mineral content in human bodies, and mutual relations between toxic minerals and essential minerals in human bodies. After collection of hairs from 200 children(5 to 7-year-old, boys: 159 girls:41) diagnosed as ADHD by medical specialists based on the standard of DSM-IV diagnosis and their control group's 177 children(boys: 138 girls:39), the mineral concentration of samples was measured through ICP-MS and compared. And correlations between toxic minerals and essential minerals in human bodies among patients group was analyzed. All the toxic minerals(Pb, Hg, Al, Cd, As) of hairs analyzed in the study showed more higher range of concentration in patients group in comparison with their control group. Among them, the concentration of Pb(3.27 $\pm$ 3.82 ppm) and As(0.16 $\pm$ 0.15 ppm) in patients group were significantly high compared to their control group. And in this study Pb among toxic minerals showed negative correlation with Zn(r = -0.43), Mg(r = -0.15) among essential minerals. Cd among toxic minerals showed negative correlation with Zn(r = -0.20) among essential minerals. As among toxic minerals showed negative correlation with Ca(r = -0.14) among essential minerals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.1422-1426
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to test characteristics between normal and autistic children via comparison of nutrient intakes, hair mineral, blood free radical, and serotonin contents. A total of 50 children aged 3-9 were divided into two main groups of normal control children (n=22) and autistic children (n=28) tested by child psychiatrist. The nutrient intakes by 24-hour recall method were no significantly different between the two groups. The concentrations of toxic mineral, such as cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in hair of autistic children were significantly higher, while concentration of antioxidant mineral (Cu, Zn, Fe) was lower than that of normal children. The autistic children had significantly higher concentrations of blood free radical than that of normal children. No significant difference was observed in serotonin concentration between the two groups. Our results suggest a possible role of increased toxic mineral and free radical, both of which may be relevant to the pathophysiology of autism in children with developmental delay.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.237-243
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• 2010

This study was investigated the effect of antioxidative vitamin supplementation ($\beta$-carotene 175 mg, vitamin C 200 mg, vitamin E 33.5 mg) for 12 weeks on antioxidant status and autistic related behaviors in autistic children. The antioxidative vitamin-supplemented children had significantly lower concentrations of toxic mineral, such as cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) in hair, while they had higher concentration of antioxidant minerals (Se, Zn, Fe) in hair. Antioxidant vitamin supplementation for 12 weeks reduced free radical while it increased the hair levels of serotonin compared to the beginning of the study. Additionally, antioxidative vitamin supplementation resulted in significant improvement in social age. These results indicate that the consumption of antioxidative vitamin supplementation for 12 weeks in autistic children may increase plasma antioxidant mineral concentration, resulting in reduced toxic mineral and free radical and improved autistic behavior.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 2020

It is known that different plant species have ability to deposit different amounts of particulate matter (PM) on their leaves and plants can absorb heavy metals in PM through their leaves. Heavy metals in PM can have toxic effect on human body and plants. Therefore, PM on different roadside trees at Chungbuk national University including box tree (Buxus koreana), yew (Taxus cuspidate), royal azalea (Rhododendron yedoense), and retusa fringetree (Chionanthus retusa) was quantified based on particle size (PM_>10 and PM_2.5-10). The metal concentration in PM accumulated on leaves was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy. In this study, the mass of PM_>10 deposited on the surface of the tree leaves ranged from 6.11 to 32.7 ㎍/㎠, while the mass of PM_2.5-10 ranged from 0 to 14.8 ㎍/㎠. The royal azaleas with grooves and hair on the leaf surface retained PM particles for longer time, while the yews and box trees with wax on leaf surfaces accumulated more PM. The PM contained elements in crustal material such as Al, Ca, Mg, and Fe and heavy metals including Cu, Pb and Zn. The concentration of elements in crustal material was higher in the coarser size, while heavy metal concentration was relatively higher in the finer size fraction. The Mn, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn concentrations of leaves and PM_2.5-10 were significantly correlated indicating that PM was taken up through tree leaves.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2006

The work of hairdressers includes washing, coloring, bleaching, permanent waving, conditioning, and cutting hair. Hairdressers are subjected to a number of physical and toxicological hazards. The toxicological hazards are those resulting from exposure to a wide range of chemicals that are usually classified active processes. In this study, twenty beauty shops were selected to assess the exposure to indoor air pollutants such as VOCs and particulate matter $(PM_{10})$ during one month from September 1 to September 30, 2003. Indoor air quality of beauty shops might be worse by vehicle emissions because the beauty shops were generally located near roadways. Personal exposures to VOCs and $PM_{10}$ were related to indoor concentrations of beauty shops. According to the questionnaire, hairdressers complained of sore throat, eye irritation, and nervousness as physical symptoms. The measured mean concentrations of respiratory particulates were $30.5ng/m^3$ in indoor, $30.5ng/m^3$ in outdoor and $44.0ng/m^3$ on personal levels. The personal concentration was found higher than indoor and outdoor concentrations. The heavy metals mean concentrations were shown as indoor (Na>Zn>Cr), outdoor (Cr>Zn>Pb), and personal (Na>Cr>Zn) levels. Conclusively, customers as well as workers in the beauty shops might be highly exposed to air pollutants from indoor and outdoor sources. Therefore, proper management should be taken to improve the indoor air quality in beauty shops.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.4 s.44
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• pp.628-649
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• 1993

This study was conducted to investigate the factors related to the poor school performance of the elementary school children. Two schools in Taegu, one in the affluent area and the other in the poor area, were selected and a total of 175 children whose school performance was within low 10 percentile (poor performers) and 97 children whose school performance were within high 5 percentile (good performers) in each class of 2nd, 4th and 6th grades were tested for the physical health, behavioral problem and family background. Each child had gone through a battery of tests including visual and hearing acuity, anthropometry (body weight, height, head circumference), intelligence (Kodae Stanford-Binet test), test anxiety (TAI-K), neurologic examination by a developmental pediatrician and heavy metal content (Pb, Cd, Zn) in hair by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A questionnaire was administered to the mothers for prenatal and prenatal courses of the child, family environment, child's developmental history, and child's behavioral and learning problems. Another questionnaire was administered to the teachers of the children for the child's family background, arithmatic & language abilities and behavioral problem. The poor school performance had a significant correlation with male gender, high birth order, broken home, low educational and occupational levels of parents, visual problem, high test anxiety score, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor physical growth (weight, height, head circumference) and low I.Q. score. The factors that had a significant correlation with the poor school performance in multiple logistic regression analysis were child's birth order (odds ratio=2.06), male gender(odds ratio=5.91), broken home(odds ratio=9.29), test anxiety score(odds ratio=1.07), ADHD (odds ratio=9.67), I.Q. score (odds ratio=0.85) and height less than Korean standard mean-1S.D.(odds ratio=11.12). The heavy metal contents in hair did not show any significant correlation with poor school performance. However the lead and cadmium contents were high in males than in females. The lead content was negatively correlated with child's grade(P<0.05) and zinc was positively correlated with grade (P<0.05). among the factors that showed a significant correlation with the poor school performance, high birth order, short stature and ADHD may be modified by a good family planning, good feeding practice for infant and child, and early detection and treatment of ADHD. Also, teacher and parents should restrain themselves from inducing excessive test anxiety by forcing the child to study and over-expecting beyond the child's intellectual capability.