• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.316-322
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Pesticides concentration was monitored in 50 agricultural lakes, and ecological risk for aquatic organism was assessed using risk quotient (RQ) and probabilistic methods. METHODS AND RESULTS: Pesticides concentrations detected in 50 agricultural lakes during peak season (June and September) were in the range of $0.17{\sim}0.99{\mu}g/L$. The RQ for algae and the other species was estimated to be 0.25 and below 0.01, indicating medium risk and no risk. Oxadiazon predominantly contributed to RQ value of 99% for algae, fishes, and amphibians. In terms of hazardous concentration at 5% of species ($HC_5$), ecological risk quotients (ERQ) for oxadiazon ranged from 0.18~0.33, showing a medium risk level. Overall, the concentrations of pesticides were much lower than $HC_5$), value. Probability of combined ecological risk for pesticides ranged from 1.82% to 2.41%. CONCLUSION(s): Combined ecological risk probability did not exceed the acceptable level of 5%, indicating no ecological risk for selected aquatic species. This study suggests that regular ecological risk assessment (ERA) will be required to protect and manage an agricultural lake. Not only ERA at screening level by comparing exposure with toxic effects for aquatic species also advanced ERA technique considering species in indigenous to Korea, chronic toxicity, pulse dose, fate, and environmental factors should be required.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.77-84
• /
• 2006

This study was conducted to find a system for screening organic resources with 16 species, 62 samples which were selected to randomizing point from city, province and industrial areas in the whole country. Content of organic matters were $65.3%{\sim}98.0%$ in all samples so that they were largely over than 60%, raw material regulation of compost. Concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were $0.7{\sim}4.8%\;and\;0.8{\sim}5.0$, they could look for effect of the nitrogen and phosphorus supply as a raw material of compost. In case of 8 elements concentrations of heavy metal, they were too high to use as raw materials of compost which were over to regulation limit in Cu, Cr, Ni, and As from fiber industry, Ni from food company and leather industry, and the others are adapt to limit levels. HEM contents fro the highest to $113mg\;kg^{-1}$ from liber industry and PAHs content were the highest to $3,462ug\;kg^{-1}$ from paper-mill manufacture. Distribution of PAHs concentiations were naphthalene>phenanthrene>pyrene>fluoroanthene>acenaphthene. $Microtox{(R)}\;EC_{50}$ values for bioassay were pharmaceutical company>paper-mill manufacture>industrial area sewage sludge>fiber industry>urban sewage sludge>metropolitan sewage sludge. HEM between Zn, Cu, and Ni was significant at the 99% and between Cd was significant at the 95%, Microtox between Hg and BEM significant at the 95%.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.83-93
• /
• 2016

Objectives : The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale-Revised is a recently revised scale which has been reported as a valid tool for the assessment of depressive symptoms. It encompasses cardinal symptoms of depression described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders, fourth edition. In this study, we assessed the reliability, validity and psychometric properties of the Korean version of the CESD-R(K-CESD-R). Methods : Forty-eight patients diagnosed as major depressive disorder, dysthymia, depressive disorder NOS according to the DSM-IV criteria using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and 48 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. They were assessed with K-CESD-R, K-MADRS, PHQ-9, KQIDS-SR, STAI to check cross-validation. Statistical analyses were performed using calculation of Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation coefficient, Principal Component Analysis, ROC curve and optimal cut-off value. Results : The Cronbach's alpha of K-CESD-R was 0.98. The total score of K-CESD-R revealed significantly high correlations with those of K-MADRS, PHQ-9, KQIDS-SR(r=0.910, 0.966 and 0.920, p<0.001, respectively). Factor analysis showed two factors account for 76.29% of total variance. We suggested the optimal cut-off value of K-CESD-R as 13 according to analysis of the ROC curve which value sensitivity and specificity both equally. Conclusions : These Results showed that the K-CESD-R could be a reliable and valid scale to assess depressive symptoms. The K-CESD-R is expected as a useful and effective tool for screening and measuring depressive symptoms not only in outpatient clinic but also epidemiologic studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.2231-2235
• /
• 2013

Background: Categorizing breast tumors based on the ER, PR and HER/Neu 2 receptor status is necessary in order to predict outcome and assist in management of breast cancer. Herfe we assessed this question in South Indian patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 619 formalin fixed paraffin embedded breast tumor tissues were collected from pathology archives after receipt of ethical clearance. With the help of primary and secondary conjugated antibodies, expression status of ER, PR and HER2/neu was determined. All the experimental data were assessed for correlations with histopathological features of tumors and clinical presentation of the subjects. Results: In the present study, the ages ranged from 20-87 years with a mean of $50.0{\pm}12.q$ years, and majority of the tumors (84%) were of infiltrating duct cell carcinoma type. Assessment of ER, PR and Her-2/neu expression showed that 46% were triple negative. Interestingly, an inverse relation between ER, PR and HER-2/neu was apparent in 41.2% (p<0.0001) of the tumors, of which 24.5% (p<0.0001) were ER and PR co-negative but HER-2 positive. Conclusions: ER and PR positive tumors are less common (i.e<30%) compared to HER-2/neu positive tumors (i.e>50%) in Indian breast cancer patients, underlining the need for effective diagnostic screening and specific therapeutic managements in order to improve the survival rate of patients in low resource countries such as India.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.182-190
• /
• 2013

Composition of oral microbial flora is suggested to play a role in the maintenance of oral health. Among them, Streptococcus mutans plays an essential role in the formation of dental plaque and it is being noticed as incipient infective bacteria of dental caries. The purpose of this study was to prepare the basic data about distribution of Streptococcus mutans detected from saliva by measuring colony density. It is well known that smoking as well as drinking is a factor of dental caries, however there are few investigations about distribution of Streptococcus mutans either smoking or drinking. The materials of this study were collected from students of dentistry college with general characteristics obtained by self-administered questionnaires. Students were asked to gently chew the paraffin to get saliva for 1 minute. Bacitracin disc in the culture medium was activated for 15 minutes, and then sample was incubated in the activated medium at $37^{\circ}C$ incubator for 48 hours. Streptococcus mutans colonization per 1 ml saliva was measured by the number of criteria. The severe levels of dental caries activity were significantly increased in the case of smoking (from 5.6% to 10%) or drinking (form 0% to 7%), respectively. Also, dental caries activity increased according to smoking and drinking periods longer. However, using the SPSS analytical process (Mann-Whitney's U), no significant differences were observed between the smoking and the non-smoking or the drinking and non-drinking, respectively. These results obtained from dental caries activity of saliva suggest that distribution of Streptococcus mutans following smoking or drinking can be used as a significant information for oral health.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.10-22
• /
• 2010

Purpose: Through a thorough examination of the CCSC (Community Comprehensive Support Center) system in Japan, this study suggests a scheme to provide community-based preventive health care services for the elderly in Korea. Methods: The study inquired into the applicability of the Japanese model by reviewing the data related to the CCSC project, aided by both in-depth interviews with staff in the field and consultations with specialists. Results: Rearrangement of the Visiting Health Management Project system is needed to manage the collective or individual visiting care management for frailty prevention of the elderly in communities. The delegated service system for preventive care in the community, including direct management by one of the public health centers, also needs to be reviewed and the application of stricter standards for the selection of the agency or corporation to run the delegated service is necessary. Long-Term Care Insurance, along with national and local grants, is to be considered as a financial resource for the community-based preventive health care model for the elderly. By making active use of education rooms at district offices, senior citizen centers in neighborhoods for the elderly with easy access can be created. The project needs to raise active supports from communities, develop programs which can be absorbed into particular local cultures, and promote the understanding of the preventive project in local communities. The preventive program should focus on first solving the problems of depression, seclusion, and lack of mobility of the elderly. Second, the program should instruct physical self-management for exercise-nutrition-dental maintenance, and third, the program should strengthen the cognitive abilities of the elderly. In addition, it is necessary to systematize and implement counter-plans of the family and community to protect the elderly who has mental and cognitive problems. Finally, by establishing a network of public health welfare resources based upon research on a community level, assessment and planning for the health of the elderly should be one with their family, and comprehensive consultation and recommendations should be provided to the family. Conclusion: Taking into consideration the experience Japan has had with respect to a similar project, it is appropriate to develop and implement a service system which would combine the Visiting Health Management Project system which has already been established and a preventive health care model for the elderly on a community level.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.621-627
• /
• 2012

Assessment was made of the effects of Aralia cordata Thunb (DH) on the cell proliferation, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA gene expression and nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. For the screening of anti-inflammatory activities, ethanolic extracts of 55 species of traditional herbal medicines were examined for inhibitory effects, and it was confirmed that DH possessed inhibitory effects on NO production. As a result, DH significantly decreased the production of NO and iNOS gene expression at a concentration of $250{\mu}g/mL$. The chloroformsoluble fractionates have the strongest No synthesis inhibitory effect. It is presumed that the inhibition of NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells by DH components occurred via the modulation of iNOS and DH, and that the active compound from DH may be useful for therapeutic management of inflammatory-associate diseases.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.252-261
• /
• 2019

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are a group of secondary metabolites that are produced by plants all over the world as a defense mechanism against herbivores. To date, over 660 PAs have been identified from more than 6,000 plant species that have been reported to be widely present in plants belonging to Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, and Fabaceae. This study describes an analytical method based on UPLC-MS/MS for the quantitation of 7 pyrrolizidine alkaloids (Lycopsamine, Echimidine, Retrorsine, Retrorsine N-oxide, Senecionine, Heliotrine, and Trichodesmine) in honey, and was applied to 84 honey samples for validation. Quantitation was performed based on a matrix-matched calibration to compensate for the matrix effect on the electrospray ionization. Good linear calibrations were obtained for all 7 PAs in the spiked honey samples (2.575-202.14 ㎍/kg; R² ≥ 0.998). The extraction recoveries for most of the PAs in the honey samples were in the range of 81 %-108 %. The analysis showed that 6 of the 84 honey samples were contaminated by the PAs with the mean total sum of PAs being 47.19 ㎍/kg, and the concentrations of the PAs were observed to be in the range of 1.76-202.1 ㎍/kg. The retronecine type compounds (Echimidine, Lycopsamine) were the most frequently found PAs in honey. These data provide useful information for the assessment of human risk posed by the consumption of honey contaminated PAs.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.30-45
• /
• 2009

Background: The safety of herbal products is an important issue in Korea. It is more complicated because of the concomitant use of conventional western drugs and herbal medicine, including prescribed medicine, folk herbs and food supplements. Although both western and traditional Korean medical doctors have studied on the safety of HMP, their results did not show relevant or consistent conclusions because of the poor quality of studies, including bias. Objectives: The aim of this study was to review the studies in Korea related to drug induced liver injury (DILI) systematically. We tried to estimate the proportion of causative materials of DILI and evaluate the clinical difference of DILIs from different materials. Methods: Systematic searches were performed on MedRIC and MEDLIS in Korea. The extraction of data as well as selective screening of the studies was carried out independently by two of the authors. There were no restrictions on the types of publication, including grey literature. Results: Twenty-one articles were included. Of them only 7 adapted prospective design and only 6 were published in peer-reviewed journals. The proportion of conventional drugs associated with hepatotoxic injuries in all DILI ranged from 15.8% to 83.3% and that of herbal medicine was from 28.9% to 44.7%. However, the criteria for herbal medicine were not clearly defined and concomitant medications were not fully investigated in most studies. There were limited objective data in the clinical differences of liver injuries from different materials and their results were conflicting. Conclusions: The causality assessments regarding DILI of herbal medicine were not performed properly and causative materials were misclassified in most of the studies published in Korea. These make the safety issue still ambiguous because of the limitations and lack of objectivity of the studies. More rigorous studies are required for clearly addressing these conflicting issues with cooperative investigation between traditional Korean and western medicine.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.236-246
• /
• 2014

Pesticide is used to protect the crops, but also become a cause of polluting the environment. Perform a risk assessment using physical and chemical properties, environmental fate and toxicity data in order to determine the pesticide registration. The aquatic model estimates pesticide concentrations in water bodies that result from pesticide applications to rice paddies and apple orchard. The used models are the PRZM, EXAMS and AGRO shell (PA5), Rice Water Quality Model (RICEWQ) and Screening Concentration In GROund Water (SCI-GROW). The residual concentration of water body was estimated using meteorological data, crop calendar and soil series of Korea. The chosen pesticides were butachlor, carbofuran, iprobenfos and tebuconazole. It has shown the potential that the RICEWQ is possible to predict residue level in water of butachlor and iprobenfos, because the maximum value in water monitoring data is lower than the peak concentration of the model, and the minimum value is lower than the average annual concentration of the model. But RICEWQ was insufficient to predict exposure concentrations in ground water. The estimated exposure concentrations of carbofuran in ground water is very higher than in surface water because of its low soil adsorption coefficient. Although tebuconazole were not detected in the water monitoring that means very low concentration, it is possible that the PA5 can be used to predict residue level in water.