• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
• /
• no.59
• /
• pp.115-150
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this study was to examine the current status of the Dream Start program from the perspective of social investment strategy, and as well as to suggest future directions. The program has become a major government welfare program in korea since it was introduced in 2007 as a demonstration project, following research evidence and a sound rationale about the extensive success of Head Start in the U.S. and Sure Start Programme in the UK. The aim of Dream Start is to provide integrated services for the vulnerable children, aged 0 to 12, and their families who are identified using a national administration data record of disadvantaged families with children. In order to promote the vulnerable child's well-being, to overcome inequalities, and to give every child the best start in life, Dream Start adopted a local, "whole family" approach. Case management services form an essential part of the Dream Start to customize and integrate comprehensive services such as counseling, health care, parenting advice and education, academic tutoring, and after-school activities. Although there has been a general improvement in key factors since its inception, Dream Start has not yet sufficiently shown the strong and hoped-for impact. In the meantime, Dream Start must be given financial expansion and extensive policy supports to get the chance of realizing and evaluating long-term gains for children and their families. More work need to be done to overcome inequalities and to make Dream Start service more accessible for the most disadvantaged families with children in Korea. Practical and policy suggestions for future directions of the Dream Start programs were discussed.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.258-267
• /
• 2019

Purpose: Upper respiratory tract infections are major causes of the common cold throughout the world. Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) is a well-known functional food for its anti-fatigue and immunomodulating activities. On the other hand, there are no reports on the protective effect against upper respiratory tract infections (URI). This study was a 12 week randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial in healthy volunteers. Methods: A total of 100 subjects 20 ~ 70 years of age with a history of at least two colds in the year were enrolled in the study. The participants were required to record any adverse events and rate any cold-related incidents in a diary during the investigation period. The efficacy end point was the symptoms and incidence of URI, and changes in cytokines, IgA and natural killer (NK) cell activity. Results: The Cordyceps militaris group over 12 weeks showed no significant impact on the incidence and symptomatology of URI compared to the placebo group. On the other hand, the experimental group showed significantly higher NK cell activity (p = 0.047) and IgA level (p = 0.035) compared to the placebo group. The NK-cell activity and IgA level were increased significantly by Cordyceps militaris over 12 weeks. Conclusion: The results suggest the possible beneficial immunomodulating effects, but the protective effects on URI could not be demonstrated under these conditions. Additional research will be needed to determine the efficacy and mechanisms of Cordyceps militaris function.

• Korean Journal of Family Social Work
• /
• no.55
• /
• pp.31-58
• /
• 2017

This study aims to explore the longitudinal reciprocal relationship between family conflict and depression level of household head. Using the Korean Welfare Panel study (KOWEPS) of 2006-2009, the study applied multiple regression analysis and autoregressive cross-lagged model to test the hypothesis. Results of multiple regression analysis indicate that single direction of the impact of family conflict on a head of household's levels of depression and the vise versa were statistically significant. That is, higher level of family conflict in 2006 caused an increased levels of depression of household head in 2009, controlling gender, age and depression level in 2006. Also, the higher level of depression of household head in 2006 increased the level of family conflict in 2009 fixed with same control variables. The autoregressive and cross-lagged coefficients of family conflict and a head of household's levels of depression were statistically significant during the 4 years. The findings support the family system theory, indicating that there are reciprocal causal relationships between the whole family conflict and individual depression level. The strategies of social welfare practice and policy should thus aim to decrease individual's levels of depression and improve positive family function simultaneously to break the vicious circle.

• Korean Circulation Journal
• /
• v.48 no.11
• /
• pp.1002-1011
• /
• 2018

Background and Objectives: The prognostic impact of left axis deviation (LAD) on clinical outcomes in acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) with left bundle branch block (LBBB) is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of axis deviation in acute heart failure patients with LBBB. Methods: Between March 2011 and February 2014, 292 consecutive AHFS patients with LBBB were recruited from 10 tertiary university hospitals. They were divided into groups with no LAD (n=189) or with LAD (n=103) groups according to QRS axis <-30 degree. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Results: The median follow-up duration was 24 months. On multivariate analysis, the rate of all-cause death did not significantly differ between the normal axis and LAD groups (39.7% vs. 46.6%, adjusted hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.66, 1.53; p=0.97). However, on the multiple linear regression analysis to evaluate the predictors of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), presence of LAD significantly predicted a worse LVEF (adjusted beta, -3.25; 95% confidence interval, -5.82, -0.67; p=0.01). Right ventricle (RV) dilatation was defined as at least 2 of 3 electrocardiographic criteria (late R in lead aVR, low voltages in limb leads, and R/S ratio <1 in lead V5) and was more frequent in the LAD group than in the normal axis group (p<0.001). Conclusions: Among the AHFS with LBBB patients, LAD did not predict mortality, but it could be used as a significant predictor of worse LVEF and RV dilatation (Trial registry at KorAHF registry, ClinicalTrial.gov, NCT01389843).

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.82 no.3
• /
• pp.234-241
• /
• 2019

Background: The utility of computed tomography (CT) in the differential diagnosis of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbation remains uncertain. However, due to the low cost associated with CT scan along with the impact of Koreas' health insurance system, there has been a rise in the number of CT scans in the patients with initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbations. Therefore, the utility of CT in the differential diagnosis was investigated to determine whether performing CT scans affect the clinical outcomes of the patients with an initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. Methods: This study involved 202 COPD patients hospitalized with an initial diagnosis of COPD exacerbation. We evaluated the change in diagnosis or treatment after performing a CT scan, and compared the clinical outcomes of patient groups with vs. without performing CT (non-CT group vs. CT group). Results: After performing CT, the diagnosis was changed for two (3.0%) while additional diagnoses were made for 27 of the 64 patients (42.1%). However, the treatment changed for only one (1.5%), and six patients (9.3%) received supplementary medication. There were no difference in the median length of hospital stay (8 [6-13] days vs. 8 [6-12] days, p=0.786) and intensive care unit care (14 [10.1%] vs. 11 [16.7%], p=0.236) between the CT and non-CT groups, respectively. These findings remained consistent even after the propensity score matching. Conclusion: Utility of CT in patients with acute COPD exacerbation might not be helpful; therefore, we do not recommend chest CT scan as a routine initial diagnostic tool.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.263-272
• /
• 2019

Air pollutants have a high impact on everyday life as well as on human health; therefore, new technologies such as low-emission vehicles and add-on systems for air pollutant reduction are needed for our society. However, the environmental benefits and costs of those technologies are not taken into account in existing economic feasibility assessments, which is a barrier that needs to be overcome for green technology to achieve wide dissemination and fast penetration in the market. Thus, this study develops a methodology to assess the economic feasibility of an air pollutant reduction technology by taking into account the social costs from air pollutants and carries out a case study to validate the methodology. Because the social unit costs for air pollutants have not been evaluated yet in South Korea, the methodology uses the social unit costs evaluated for the European Union that are then converted to those for South Korea based on the measuring criteria for vehicle emission gases, parity purchasing price, foreign currency exchange rate, and customer price index. The social unit costs for South Korea are used to assess economic feasibility. A case study was performed to assess the economic feasibility of a dual fuel system using diesel and compressed natural gas by taking into account social costs from air pollutants as well as economic costs. This study could contribute to assessing the true economic feasibility of green technology, projects, and policy related with air pollutant reduction.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.52 no.2
• /
• pp.106-121
• /
• 2019

Sustainable development in society has become the center of focus in many fields such as industry, environment, health, culture, etc. Considering that the concept of heritage involves understanding it as a 'resource' to improve the quality of people's lives, sustainability is an important goal that heritage policy has to achieve. Adopting the definition of sustainability in the 1987 Brundtland Report, this paper defines the concept of sustainability with respect to heritage, as well as their respective roles. Following that, three action principles are presented: value-based conservation, rational decision-making, and community involvement. Two cases demonstrating how the three principles should be practiced in managing change are then illustrated. Considering that heritage can play its role as a resource once its significance is protected, this paper argues that value-based rational decision-making is of paramount importance and the first principle. Conservation aims to manage change by practicing a cyclic process of value identification, value sustaining, and value dissemination. Therefore, this paper argues that all processes should be connected in the context of heritage values. A rational decision-making process practicing value-based conservation is then suggested. This paper argues that rational decision-making can only be practiced once values are identified by objective criteria and managed by rational judgment upon impact assessment. Community involvement, the third principle, is necessary to realize value-based conservation and rational decision-making. Recognizing that a community is a beneficiary of heritage and a creator of a beneficial process at the same time, it discusses the role of community and the importance of this role in policies for the sustainability of heritage. This paper concludes with a set of recommendations to improve policies after examining the two decision-making cases.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2019

Portulaca oleracea L. (PL) has been used in traditional medicine herb for treatment of various diseases, such as diarrhea, dysentery, and skin inflammation. Previous studies have shown that the PL regulates the inflammation by inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Although PL might have improvement effects of intestinal function and bioactive effects, there are not enough studies to demonstrate. This study investigated the effects of KDC16-2 on the improvement of intestinal function and anti-inflammatory effects in vivo and in vitro. The improvement effect of intestinal function was measured fecal amount, water content and intestinal transit rate in KDC16-2 treated ICR mice. As results, compared with the control group, the KDC16-2 group showed a significant increase in wet fecal weight, dry fecal weight and fecal water content. The intestinal transit rate of KDC16-2 group was significantly increased. Based on the results, KDC16-2 is considered to have effects on improving intestinal function. The effect of anti-inflammatory demonstrated by using dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mice. The mice were administered 3% DSS along with KDC16-2 (100, 300 mg/kg) for 14 days. DSS-induced colitis mice were significantly ameliorated in KDC16-2 treated group, including body weight loss, colon length shortening, tight junction protein of colon and histological colon injury. The levels of inflammatory mediators (IgG2a, IgA, C-reactive protein and Myeloperoxidase) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, Interleukin (IL)-6) which are involved in inflammatory responses were increased in the DSS-treated group as compared to those in the control group, and the levels were significantly decreased in the KDC16-2 groups. In addition, we investigated the impact of KDC16-2 on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses in J774A.1 cells. KDC16-2 inhibited production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). These results suggested that the KDC16-2 could effectively alleviate the dysfunction of intestinal and inflammatory mediators. Thus, these KDC16-2 can be potentially used as health functional food of intestinal.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.20 no.7
• /
• pp.68-77
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study was to determine the relevance and different factors having an impact on sexual assertiveness and sex stereotypes for the attitude among nursing students toward homosexuality. A survey was conducted on 253 nursing students in D city using a self-report questionnaire. The data was collected from April 11 to April 20, 2019 and it was then analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson's correlations and multiple regression using SPSS 22.0. The average of sexual assertiveness in the nursing students was $4.44{\pm}0.37$, and the average of sex stereotypes was $2.08{\pm}0.58$, and the average of attitude toward homosexuality was $2.75{\pm}0.37$. The attitude toward homosexuality according to the general characteristics differed among religions (F=13.32, p<.000), religious life (F=20.43, p<.000) and method of parenting (F=2.74, p<.044). There was a statistically significant negative correlation between sexual assertiveness and the attitude toward homosexuality (r=-0.13, p=.034). Also, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between sex stereotypes and the attitude toward homosexuality (r=0.24, p<.000). Religion, religious life and sex stereotypes were the influential factors. Models that included the variables explained 23.1% of the variance for the attitude toward homosexuality. Thus, it is necessary to create an interventional strategy related to nursing student' attitude towards homosexuality so as to develop a practical educational program for promoting healthy gender identity.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.20-28
• /
• 2021

Perfluorinated compounds(PFCs), an emerging environmental pollutant, are environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative organic compounds that possess a toxic impact on human health and ecosystems. PFCs are distributed widely in environment media including groundwater, surface water, soil and sediment. PFCs in contaminated solid can potentially leach into groundwater. Therefore, understanding PFCs partitioning between the aqueous phase and solid phase is important for the determination of their fate and transport in the environment. In this study, the sorption equilibrium batch and kinetic experiment of PFCs were carried out to estimated the sorption coefficient(K_d) and the fraction between aqueous-solid phase partition, respectively. Sorption branches of the PFDA(Perfluoro-n-decanoic acid), PFNA(Perfluoro-n-nonanoic acid), PFOA(Perfluoro-n-octanoic acid), PFOS(Perfluoro-1-octane sulfonic acid) and PFHxS(Perfluoro-1-hexane sulfonic acid) isotherms were nearly linear, and the estimated K_d was as follow: PFDA(1.50) > PFOS(1.49) > PFNA(0.81) > PFHxS(0.45) > PFOA(0.39). The sorption kinetics of PFDA, PFNA, PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS onto soil were described by a biexponential adsorption model, suggesting that a fast transport into the surface layer of soil, followed by two-step diffusion transport into the internal water and/or organic matter of soil. Shorter times(<20hr) were required to achieve equilibrium and fraction for adsorption on solid(F₁, F₂) increased with perfluorinated carbon chain length and sulfonate compounds in this study. Overall, our results suggested that not only the perfluorocarbon chain length, but also the terminal functional groups are important contributors to electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between PFCs and soils, and organic matter in soils significantly affects adsorption maximum capacity than kinetic rate.