• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.1199-1210
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• 2012

This study investigated the influence of obesity on depression and stress by analyzing the results of the national survey on health and nutrition. Relationships between normal, obese, and severely obese groups were investigated. The results of the study are as follows. First, obesity caused by demographic variables showed a relationship to both gender and average monthly income. In the case of the seriously obese group, females had higher rates of depression than males, and the high obesity group had lower average monthly income than the normal and obese groups. Second, obesity caused by health-related variables found that high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes that was not angina-related displayed higher rates of depression in the serious obesity group than in the other groups. As for subjective evaluations of one's own health condition, the serious obesity group showed a high tendency to evaluate their own health conditions negatively. Third, the difference between depression and stress related to obesity level showed no difference between the normal weight group and the obesity group; however, the seriously obese group demonstrated relatively higher occurrences of depression and higher stress scores. Fourth, the result for depression and stress level caused by demographic variables, health-related variables, and obesity demonstrated a direct relationship to gender, subjective level of satisfaction with one's personal finances, average monthly income, subjective perception of one's own health and severely obesity status. More specifically, it was found that the ratio of depression and stress score was higher when the subject was female, among those whose subjective evaluation of their own finances and health condition was negative, and those who suffered from severe obesity.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.352-362
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of obesity stress on the eating behavior of elementary school students. Using a questionnaire, 300 students in the sixth grade from 2 schools in Kyunggi-do were surveyed (Boys: N=145, Girls: N=155). Data analysis was managed by SPSS software (version 13.0). The link between obesity stress and eating habits or behaviors was dependent on physical discomfort. There was also a large group of students experienced irregularity in their meal times during the day. Furthermore, there were significant differences in mealtime among boys under psychic stress caused by obesity. In the case of dairy intake during breakfast, the significant signs of obesity stress for were physical discomfort for boys and psychic stress for the girls. It was found for both boys and girls that more frequent midnight snacking decreased the efforts to overcome obesity stress. Therefore, a professional nutrition program that can educate school children must be implemented both in school and at home. In addition to overweight or obesity children, normal weight and underweight children can also benefit from this program that includes health counseling for weight and eating behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.80-89
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between obesity stress, self-esteem, and adaptation to school life according to body mass index of elementary school students in higher grades and to provide basic data for the development of health education programs. Methods: A convenience sampling method was used to select four elementary schools. Self-reporting questionnaires were distributed to the subjects to collect data, which were then analyzed using the SPSS 18.0 program. Results: The higher the obesity index, the more obesity stress the students experienced. Second, the lower the level of obesity, the higher both self-esteem and the level of adjustment to school life were. There was a meaningful correlation between obesity stress, self-esteem, and adjustment to school life. Conclusion: The study results are expected to be useful in serving as a basic material for the development of programs that can improve students' adjustment to school life and self-esteem while reducing their stress caused by obesity.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.162-167
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• 2009

Adipocytes undergo adipocyte stress in the excessive presence of lipid. Adipocyte stress accompanies the typical signs of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress: unfolded protein response and overexpression of molecular chaperones. Apoptotic induction in adipocytes is known as a good strategy for treating obesity. The drug "tunicamycin" was tested for its therapeutic potential in inducing apoptosis on differentiating adipocytes of 3T3-L1. When the 3T3-L1 cells, stimulated for adipogenesis, were treated with tunicamycin, they showed typical ER stress symptoms. Despite progression in ER stress, however, the differentiated 3T3-L1 hardly proceeded to apoptosis based on the CHOP protein expression and FACS analysis. This is very different from C2C12, the myogenic counterpart of 3T3-L1, which showed significant apoptosis along with ER stress. This study also characterizes a potential mechanism whereby adipocyte may avoid apoptosis to sustain the pathological state of obesity. The level of GRP94 expression significantly upholds in 3T3-L1 under tunicamycin treatment compared to preadipocytes and C2C-12. When GRP94 expression was inhibited by siRNA, 3T3-L1 showed a higher level of CHOP expression compared to C2C12 cells. In conclusion, adipocytes exert an anti-apoptotic mechanism under ER stress caused by tunicamycin; thus, apoptotic induction in adipocyte is not a viable anti-obesity option. The unusual level of GRP94 may serve as a key role whereby adipocytes reach to the obesity level circumventing the apoptosis.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.441-453
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to determine the mediating effect of perceived stress in the influence of obesity awareness on health behavior, and to verify the moderating effect of nationality between Koreans and Chinese in the influence of obesity awareness on health behavior through perceived stress. Data were collected from August 26 to October 11, 2019, through in-person questionnaire surveys administered to 140 adult participants from a university and general hospital in Seoul, South Korea and 140 adult participants from a university and general hospital in Shenyang, China. Study results revealed that, the obesity awareness of participants had a significant effect on their health behavior, and the mediating effect of perceived stress was significant in the influence of obesity awareness on health behavior. According to nationality, a significant difference was shown between Koreans and Chines in the way obesity awareness directly affected health behavior. However, the indirect effect of obesity awareness on health behavior through perceived stress was not controlled. These results showed that the obesity awareness of Chinese adults had a greater effect on their health behavior than Koreans. In addition, obesity awareness increased perceived stress and decreased positive health behavior in both Koreans and Chinese adults. Therefore, managing the stress caused by obesity is an important factor in increasing positive health behavior.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.305-317
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• 2016

Purpose: Recent studies demonstrated disruption of the circadian clock gene is associated with the development of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Obesity is often caused by the high calorie intake, In addition, the chronic stress tends to contribute to the increased risk for obesity. To evaluate the molecular mechanisms, we examined the expression of circadian clock genes in high fat diet-induced mice models with the chronic stress. Methods: C57BL/6J mice were fed with a 45% or 60% high fat diet for 8 weeks. Daily immobilization stress was applied to mice fed with a 45% high fat for 16 weeks. We compared body weight, food consumption, hormone levels and metabolic variables in blood. mRNA expression levels of metabolic and circadian clock genes in both fat and liver were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. Results: The higher fat content induced more severe hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and hyperinsulinemia, and these results correlated with their relevant gene expressions in fat and liver tissues. Chronic stress had only minimal effects on metabolic variables, but it altered the expression patterns of metabolic and circadian clock genes. Conclusion: These results suggest that the fat metabolism regulates the function of the circadian clock genes in peripheral tissues, and stress hormones may contribute to its regulation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.109-115
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• 2018

Obesity is a worldwide disease caused by the excessive proliferation of adipocytes. Multiple factors, including melatonin and physical loading, are involved in the control of obesity. Melatonin has been shown to induce apoptosis on preadipocytes while physical loading such as fluid shear stress (FSS) affects the proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes. Here, we studied the combined effects of melatonin and FSS on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. For physical loading, preadipocytes were stimulated with a maximum dynamic fluid shear stress of 1 Pa at 1 Hz for 2 hours with/without melatonin. The experiment conditions were divided into four groups: (1) control, (2) 1 mM melatonin treatment, (3) FSS, and (4) combined 1 mM melatonin and FSS. All groups had a fixed duration time of 2 hours. ERK, p-ERK, COX-2, $C/EBP{\beta}$, $PPAR{\gamma}$, osteopontin, Bax, caspase-3 and caspase-8 proteins were assessed by Western blot analysis. GAPDH was used as a control. Results showed that combined melatonin and FSS treatment activated the ERK/MAPK pathway but not COX-2. Furthermore, combined melatonin and FSS treatment significantly decreased $C/EBP{\beta}$ and $PPAR{\gamma}$ compared to other groups. However, caspase-3 and caspase-8 did not result in significant changes. In summary, combined melatonin and FSS appears to have the potential to inhibit adipogenesis and treat obesity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.633-641
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• 2017

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of intermittent ladder-climbing exercise training on mitochondrial biogenesis and ER stress of the cardiac muscle in high fat diet-induced obese middle-aged rats. We induced obesity over 6 weeks of period in 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats around 50 weeks old, and were randomly divided into four experimental groups: chow, HFD, exercise+HFD, and exercise+chow. The exercising groups underwent high-intensity intermittent training using a ladder-climbing and weight exercise 3 days/week for a total of 8 weeks. High-fat diet and concurrent exercise resulted in no significant reduction in body weight but caused a significant reduction in visceral fat weight (p<0.05). Expression of $PPAR{\delta}$ increased in the exercise groups and was significantly increased in the high-fat diet+exercise group (p<0.05). Among the ER stress-related proteins, the expression levels of p-PERK and CHOP, related to cardiac muscle damage, were significantly higher in the cardiac muscle of the high-fat diet group (p<0.05), and were significantly reduced by intermittent ladder-climbing exercise training (p<0.05). Specifically, this reduction was greater when the rats underwent exercise after switching back to the chow diet with a reduced caloric intake. Collectively, these results suggest that the combination of intermittent ladder-climbing exercise training and a reduced caloric intake can decrease the levels of ER stress-related proteins that contribute to cardiac muscle damage in obesity and aging. However, additional validation is required to understand the effects of these changes on mitochondrial biogenesis during exercise.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.235-241
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Doenjang, Korean traditional fermented soybean paste has been reported to have an anti-obesity effect. Because adipose tissue is considered a major source of inflammatory signals, we investigated the protective effects of Doenjang and steamed soybean on oxidative stress and inflammation in adipose tissue of diet-induced obese mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a low fat diet (LF), a high-fat diet (HF), or a high-fat containing Doenjang diet (DJ) or a high-fat containing steamed soybean diet (SS) for 11 weeks. RESULTS: Mice fed a DJ diet showed significantly lower body and adipose tissue weights than those in the HF group. Although no significant differences in adipocyte size and number were observed among the HF diet-fed groups, consumption of Doenjang alleviated the incidence of crown-like structures in adipose tissue. Consistently, we observed significantly reduced mRNA levels of oxidative stress markers (heme oxygenase-1 and $p40^{phox}$), pro-inflammatory adipokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha and macrophage chemoattractant protein-1), macrophage markers (CD68 and CD11c), and a fibrosis marker (transforming growth factor beta 1) by Doenjang consumption. Gene expression of anti-inflammatory adipokine, adiponectin was significantly induced in the DJ group and the SS group compared to the HF group. The anti-oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory effects observed in mice fed an SS diet were not as effective as those in mice fed a DJ diet, suggesting that the bioactive compounds produced during fermentation and aging may be involved in the observed health-beneficial effects of Doenjang. CONCLUSIONS: Doenjang alleviated oxidative stress and restored the dysregulated expression of adipokine genes caused by excess adiposity. Therefore, Doenjang may ameliorate systemic inflammation and oxidative stress in obesity via inhibition of inflammatory signals of adipose tissue.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.93-103
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• 2015

Objectives: It was investigated the cytoprotective efficacies of isorhamnetin, a flavonoid originally derived from Hippophae rhamnoides L., against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in C2C12 myoblasts. Methods: The effects of isorhamnetin on cell growth, apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were evaluated by trypan blue dye exclusion assay, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining and flow cytometry. The levels of apoptosis-regulatory and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway-related proteins, and caspase activities (caspase-3 and -9) were determined by Western blot analysis and colorimetric assay, respectively. Results: Our results revealed that treatment with isorhamnetin prior to hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) exposure significantly increased the C2C12 cell viability and, indicating that the exposure of C2C12 cells to isorhamnetin conferred a protective effect against oxidative stress. Isorhamnetin also effectively attenuated $H_2O_2$-induced apoptosis and ROS generation, which was associated with the restoration of the upregulation of Bax and downregulation of Bcl-2 induced by $H_2O_2$. In addition, $H_2O_2$ enhanced the activation of caspase-9 and -3, and degradation of poly (ADP-ribose)-polymerase, a typical substrate protein of activated caspase-3; however, these events were almost totally reversed by pretreatment with isorhamnetin. Moreover, isorhamnetin increased the levels of heme oxygenase-1, a potent antioxidant enzyme, associated with the induction of Nrf2. Conclusions: Our data indicated that isorhamnetin may potentially serve as an agent for the treatment and prevention of muscle disorders caused by oxidative stress.