• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1919-1924
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• 2014

Background: In India, breast cancer is the leading malignancy among women in a majority of the cancer registries. Therefore it is important to understand screening practices and its predictors, including in rural areas with high female literacy and good health indices. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study with multistage sampling was conducted in Vypin Block, Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. Four Panchayats (self administration units) were randomly chosen and a woman in every second household was invited to participate from the tenth ward of each. Thus a total of 809 women were interviewed. Results: The majority of the repondents (82.1%) were not aware of risk factors and about a third (37.9%) were not aware of symptoms of breast cancer. About half of the population studied (46.6%) had undergone screening. Age (35-50 years), being married, health professionals as source of information and working were significant predictors of screening. Logistic regression showed that older women (35-50 yrs) were more likely to practice screening. Out of the never screened, about a third (35%) were desirous of doing it, but had not for various reasons and 53.5% were not willing to screen. The reasons identified for not screening among those desirous of doing it were grouped into knowledge 66 (43.4%), resources 23 (15.1%) and psychosocial 32(21.1%) factors. Unmarried women were significantly more likely to express factors related to all the three domains. Conclusions: This study showed that in spite of the absence of a population-based screening program, about half of the study population had undergone some type of screening. The older women (35-50 years) in particular were significantly more likely to practice screening. At this critical juncture, a high quality breast cancer awareness and screening initiative can help to consolidate the gains and tackle knowledge, resource and psychosocial barriers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.6189-6193
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• 2013

In December 2011, the Cancer Research Centre of the Cancer Institute of Iran sponsored a 3-day workshop on "Cancer Registration Principle and Challenges in Iran", which convened cancer registry experts. The objectives of the workshop were: to introduce standard cancer registration, to review the policy and procedure of cancer registration in Iran, and to review the best practices in the cancer registries in Iran. Challenges to cancer registration were discussed and recommendations were developed. The workshop was evaluated by participants for better organization of subsequent workshops. The objective of publication of this report is that based on Cancer in 5 Continents, many low- or middle-income countries do not meet the criteria for a standard population-based cancer registry (PBCR); on the other hand cancer is the most important cause of mortality and the essential part of any cancer control program is the cancer registry. Therefore this report focuses on problems and challenges of PBCR and provides recommendations which might help other developing countries to decrease their PBCR defects.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.61-73
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• 2019

Urban development and densification have led to the Urban Heat Island Effect, in which the temperature of urban space is higher than the surrounding areas, and the intensity is increasing with climate change. In addition, when the city's air temperature rises in summer, low-income, elderly population, and socially vulnerable people who have health problems lack the ability to cope with the elevated heat environment. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the urban heat island area of Seoul through Hotspot analysis, which is a spatial statistics technique, and explored physical environments, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of urban heat island effect areas using logistic regression models. This study performed urban heat island hotspot analysis using the average air temperatures of the 423 administrative dongs in Seoul. Analysis results identified that the urban heat islands were concentrated in Jung-gu, Jongno-gu, Yongsan-gu, and Yeongdeungpo-gu. Logistic regression analysis results indicated that urban heat island areas of Seoul were affected by residential floor area ratio, commercial facility floor area ratio, overall floor area ratio, impervious surface ratio, and normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI). In addition, as a result of analyzing the vulnerable area of thermal environment considering the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the heat island area, urban heat island areas of Seoul were significantly associated with the proportion of low-income elderly living alone. The result of this study provided useful insights for urban thermal environmental design and policy development that could improve the thermal environment for the socially disadvantaged urban population.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.61
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• pp.307-332
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• 2019

Recently, our society has been changing its population structure due to low birth rate along with the extension of life span due to the development of medical environment and improvement of living environment. It was not long before the population became older, and the problem of the elderly was amplified by generational conflict. The current generation of senior citizens could not afford to prepare for their own retirement income due to their children's education, marriage and housing problems, and is a generation alienated from the benefits of public income security. In addition, not only are they in poverty with rapid industrialization, informatization and economic instability, but they are also threatened with livelihood. The increase in elderly crimes arising from the elderly, who are less adaptable to our society dominated by materialism, is being highlighted as a new social issue. In this study, we are going to analyze the causes of violent and violent senior citizens' crimes in quality along with quantitative growth, and present criminal situations and preventive measures using 10 years of data, judging that this is a time when a national response is needed through a social discussion on crimes committed by senior citizens in our society, where the pace of aging is unprecedentedly fast in the world In order to achieve this research objective, various opinions and statistical data of our society where the standards of senior citizens are changing were reviewed, and analysis of crimes was conducted on literature utilizing data of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, the National Police Agency, and the National Statistical Office, recent press releases, and existing research materials. In this study, we will diagnose crimes committed by senior citizens in various aspects, including the characteristics of the elderly and the view of the elderly in the present society, and explore the direction of development for the prevention of future crimes as well.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.174-181
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• 2013

Objectives: Socioeconomic status plays an important role in health care and disease prevention. This study aimed to examine the association between socioeconomic status, measured by education levels and household income, and gastric cancer screening. Methods: A total of 21,220 community-dwelling adults aged 40 to 69 years within a defined geographic area participated in a community health survey in 2009 and 2010. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire by trained investigators who visited the subjects' households directly. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between self-reported participation in gastric cancer screening and socioeconomic variables (education and household income). Results: The gastric cancer screening rate was 52.1% for subjects in their forties, 63.7% for those in their fifties, and 67.3% for those in their sixties. In multivariate analysis, higher education and income levels were associated with higher rates of gastric cancer screening (high school vs. elementary school: odds ratio [OR] 1.41, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.26-1.58; highest income quartile vs. lowest income quartile: OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.44-1.84). The gradient between income and screening rate was more pronounced in the population aged 40 to 49 years than in the other age groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that lower socioeconomic status is associated with decreased participation in gastric cancer screening. Our findings suggest that the screening program should be focused on low-income and less-educated populations, especially among younger adults, to reduce health disparities.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.663-683
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• 2015

The change of the population pyramid due to low fertility and rapid aging threatens the financial sustainability of National Health Insurance. We construct statistical models for prevalence rates and medical expenses using National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sample cohort data from 2002-2013. We then project yearly expenditures and income of national health insurance until 2060 that considers various assumptions in regards to future population structure and economic conditions. We adopt a VECM-LC model for prevalence rates and the double exponentially smoothing method for the per capita co-payment of healthcare expense (in which the two models are institution-disease-sex-age specific) to project of national health insurance expenditures. We accommodate various assumptions of economic situations provided by the national assembly and government to produce a financial projection for national health insurance. Two assumptions of dependents ratios are used for the projection of national health insurance income to conduct two future population structures by the two assumptions of aging progresses and various assumptions on economic circumstances as in the expenditure projection. The health care deficit is projected to be 20-30 trillion won by 2030 and 40-70 trillion won by 2060 in 2015 constant price.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.671-683
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to examine the oral health knowledge and actual oral health care of the selected subjects, their decision making about prosthetic treatment, the state and characteristics of their prosthetic treatment and their satisfaction with prosthetic treatment in an attempt to provide some information on the improvement of the quality of life related to oral health and the promotion of oral health. Methods : The subjects in this study were 250 people who received education in two different lifelong education institutions in the city of Busan. After a survey was conducted from May 23 to June 15, 2011, the answer sheets from 217 respondents were analyzed. Results : 1. As for the general characteristics of the respondents, the men(52.1%) outnumbered the women. Those who were in their 60 and up(47.5%) made up the largest age group, and the married people(65.4%) outnumbered the unmarried ones. By occupation, the company employees(20.3%) made up the biggest group. By education, the greatest group was high-school graduates(36.1%). By monthly mean income, the biggest group gained an income of 2.01 million won or more(36.9%). As to medical security, community-based insurance was most prevailing (36.9%). In terms of health promotion, the largest group worked out to stay fit(52.4%). 2. Regarding oral health knowledge, they had a good knowledge about the cause of dental caries(56.7%), but they weren't well aware of the right time for regular dental checkup(47.9%). In relation to oral health care, regular scaling wasn't prevailing(16.9%). 3. Regarding connections between the general characteristics and satisfaction with prosthesis, the less-educated respondents expressed significantly more dissatisfaction(p=0.015). By monthly mean income, those who had a smaller income were dissatisfied in general(p=0.028). Conclusions : The findings of the study illustrated that it's required to spread awareness of the importance of oral health among people in general, and that differentiated incremental oral health care should be provided for different age groups. In order to raise the satisfaction of patients with prosthesis, how to relieve their pain and anxiety and how to adjust prosthetic treatment cost properly should carefully be considered. In addition, the government should take measures to offer assistance for the low-income classes in preparation for an increase in the elderly population.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.202-225
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• 2017

Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) has gained a lot of significance over the years as a means of income generation. Forests are playing a vital role in the supply of these products, however, due to their continuous extraction, the population of many species might have depleted. Very little information is known about community structure and population status of NTFPs. No specific studies have been made to find out the occurrence, availability of species and population status in the forests, supplying the resources. The present study has been carried out in community forests of the naturally occurring NTFPs in the temperate forest of the Ziro valley of Arunachal Pradesh. The main aim is to determine community structure, species composition and population status of NTFPs. Three forest stands viz., Nyilii, Dura and Gyachi were selected which are used by the Apatani tribe for extraction of the NTFPs. For evaluation of species composition and community characteristics, the sampling of the vegetation was done using the quadrat method. A total 137 species representing 68 families and 116 genera were recorded. Herbs represent the maximum diversity with 71 species followed by 35 shrub species and 31 tree species. The families Asteraceae and Rosaceaeae exhibited maximum representation followed by Urticaceae. The species under Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Rosaceae and Rutaceae were found to be important NTFP yielding species. Highest species richness was recorded in Nyilii having 124 species, while lowest in Dura with 102 species. Density of tree, shrub and herb ranged between 376 to $456\;individuals\;ha^{-1}$, 2848 to $3696\;individuals\;ha^{-1}$ and 31.44 to $36.64\;individuals\;m^{-2}$, respectively. The total basal area was found to be highest ($51.64m^2\;ha^{-1}$) in Dura followed by Nyilii ($25.32m^2\;ha^{-1}$) and lowest in Gyachi ($22.82m^2\;ha^{-1}$). In all the three study stands the species diversity indices showed the trend, herbs > shrubs > trees while the evenness index showed the trend as shrubs > herbs > trees. The overall species similarity index was highest (82.35%) between Dura and Gyachi. About 80% of the total recorded species showed clumped distribution while, no regular distribution was shown by any species. The three selected stands harbor about 50 important NTFP yielding species which are being used commonly by the Apatani people in their day to day life. Among the three study sites, overall diversity of NTFP was found highest in the Nyilii stand while the density of population was found better in Dura and Gyachi stands. The population of many species was found to be low due to continue harvesting without any sustainable management by the communities. All the selected forest stands have the potentiality to grow the high value NTFP yielding species and if managed properly, they can support the livelihood and economy of the local communities.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.141-155
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• 2024

Background: This study aimed to identified the relationship between the risk of obstructive sleep apnea, subjective health, and health-related quality of life among the middle-aged and elderly population in Korea. Methods: Adults aged 40 or older were extracted from the total 22,559 respondents to the 2019-2020 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VIII, and secondary analysis was conducted on a total of 6,659 middle-aged and elderly people with no missing values. Logistic regression analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted to examine the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea risk factors and subjective health as well as quality of life. Results: The subjective health status decline in the high-risk group compared to the non-risk group for obstructive sleep apnea was statistically significantly higher, with an odds ratio of 1.84 (p<0.001). The health-related quality of life was also statistically significantly lower by 0.02 points (β, -0.02; p<0.001). As a result of subgroup analysis on specific variables, the association between the risk of obstructive sleep apnea and subjective health and health-related quality of life was statistically significant depending on gender, sleep time, presence of depression, household income, and number of household members. Based on the obstructive sleep apnea risk group, women had a higher correlation with low subjective health and lower health-related quality of life scores than men. Sleeping time of more than 8 hours or less than 6 hours was more associated with low subjective health and lower health-related quality of life score than sleeping time of 6-8 hours. Patients with depression were more likely to have low subjective health than those without depression. The lower the household income level and the smaller the number of household members, the higher the association with low subjective health and the lower the health-related quality of life score. Conclusion: It is essential to recognize that the risk of obstructive sleep apnea not only directly affects sleep disorders but also impacts individuals' subjective health and quality of life. Consequently, social support and education should be provided to raise awareness of this issue. Particularly, programs for preventing and managing obstructive sleep apnea should target vulnerable groups such as women, individuals in single-person households, low household income, and those with depression, aiming to improve their subjective health and quality of life.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.53
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• pp.129-153
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• 2003

This study examines the socio-economic impacts of recent welfare reform in the United States. Based on the neo-conservative critique to the traditional public assistance system for low-income families, the 1996 welfare reform has given greater emphases on reducing welfare dependency and increasing work effort and self-sufficiency among welfare recipients. In particular, the welfare reform legislation instituted 60-month lifetime limits on cash assistance, expanded mandatory work requirements, and placed financial penalties for noncompliance. With the well-timed economic boom in the second half of the 1990s, the welfare reform seems to achieve considerable progress; welfare caseload has declined sharply to reach less than 50% of its 1994 peak, single mothers' labor force participation has increased substantially, and child poverty has decreased. In spite of these good signals, the welfare reform also has several potential problems. Many welfare leavers participate in the labor market, but not all (or most) of them. The economic well being of working welfare leavers did not increased significantly, because earnings increase was canceled out by parallel decrease in welfare benefits. Furthermore, most of working welfare leavers are employed in jobs with poor employment stability and low wages, making them highly vulnerable to frequent layoff, long-time joblessness, persistent poverty, and welfare recidivism. Another serious problem of the welfare reform is that a substantial number of welfare recipients are faced with extreme difficulties in finding jobs, because they have severe barriers to employment. The new welfare system with 5-year time limit can severely threaten the livelihoods of these people. The welfare reform presupposes that welfare recipients can achieve self-reliance by increasing their labor market activities. However, empirical evidences suggest that many people are unable to respond to the new, work-oriented welfare strategy. It may be a very difficult task to achieve both objectives of the welfare reform((1) providing adequate income security for low-income families and (2) promoting self-sufficiency) at the same time, because sometimes they are conflicting each other. With this in mind, a possible solution can be to distinguish welfare recipients into "(Very)-Hard-to-Employ" group and "(Relatively)-Ready-to-Work" group, based on elaborate examinations of a wide range of personal conditions. For the former group, the primary objective of welfare policies should be the first one(providing income security). For the "Ready-to-Work" group, follow-up services to promote job retention and advancement, as well as skill-training and job-search services, are very important. The U. S. experiences of the welfare reform provide some useful implications for newly developing Korean public assistance policies for the able-bodied low-income population.