• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was undertaken to compare perceived stress and coping patterns, and their effects on depression between cancer patients and healthy adults. Methods: A descriptive design was used with 278 subjects, consisting of 139 cancer patients and 139 health adults, living in an urban area. All participants completed the following prerequisites; Stress Visual Analog Scale, Ways of Coping Checklist (W.C.C.L), Depression Index (CES-D), and Demography and Disease Data Questionnaire. Results: Perceived stress and depression were significantly higher, while wishful thinking was lower among cancer patients than healthy adults, after adjusting for education and family income which were not homogeneous between the groups. Among cancer patients, 20.2% of depression was mainly due to seeking support (10.7%), perceived stress and education, while 30.7% of depression in healthy adults was due to perceived stress, problem solving, and seeking support. Conclusion: These findings suggest that interventions to manage depression in cancer patients should include strategies to best foster positive coping patterns and reduce perceived stress.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2018

This study aims to analyze region-based pedestrian evacuation behaviors and information offering effect using Social Force Model, which is micro simulation. All pedestrians were assumed to move to shelters through pedestrian roads according to guidance information at emergency situations, and the pedestrians were classified into adults and the handicapped. According to the results of the road network analysis and simulation analysis, the shelters to which pedestrians can move within the shortest time from each zone were selected as optimum shelters. From this study, the analysis showed that the information provision effects are informative even though total evacuation time increases due to the increase of pedestrian conflict. This study can be used as baseline data for urban area's pedestrian disaster prevention plans.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.453-464
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• 2019

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine whether dietary quality varies among different age groups and geographic areas, and whether the difference between geographic areas varies across several age groups in Korea. Methods: The subjects were 14,170 subjects who participated in the 2013-2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The dietary quality was assessed using the Korean Health Eating Index (KHEI). Age groups were categorized into six groupings, and areas were categorized into urban and rural according to their administrative districts. The effect of area on the KHEI score was analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The KHEI was the lowest in the 20-30s group (57.7 ± 0.4 score for 20s and 61.2 ± 0.3 score for 30s) and increased with age (p<0.001), showing the highest score in the 60s (67.9 ± 0.3 score), and then decreased again in the 70s and older (64.6 ± 0.3 score). As a result of comparing the KHEI score by area, the urban areas had higher KHEI scores than did the rural areas (63.5 ± 0.2 score for urban area and 62.2 ± 0.4 score for rural area, p=0.002). The difference between areas was dependent on the age group, showing a significant difference for subjects who were aged from 50s and older (p=0.002 for 50s, p<0.001 for 60s and p<0.001 for 70s and older). After adjusting for confounding factors, the effect of area on the KHEI score was only shown for those subjects in the over 60 years old group (p=0.035 for 60s and p<0.001 for 70s and older). Conclusions: The dietary quality differed according to the age group and geographic area. The dietary quality was lower for younger people than that for older people, and in rural areas compared to that in urban areas, and especially for older adults. The area factor was a very important factor for the dietary quality.

• Advanced Industrial SCIence
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.17-23
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to analyze the health factors of the elderly according to the region by analyzing the physical fitness and fall efficacy of the female elderly living in rural and urban areas. The subjects of this study consisted of 98 female elderly people living in rural and urban areas who exercise health and cheerleading at least twice a week at the regional center(REG; n=46, 77.53±6.37 yrs, 151.81±5.26 cm, 60.00±9.42 kg, UEG; n=53, 73.57±2.70 yrs, 154.07±3.52 cm, 57.37±2.06 kg). Physical strength was measured for muscular endurance, cardiopulmonary endurance, and flexibility. Falling efficacy was measured using 10 items of Fall Efficacy Scale developed by Tinetti et al. Significant differences in flexibility and fall efficacy were found in urban older adults (p<.01, p<.05). There was no significant difference in muscular endurance and cardiac endurance (p>.05). In the future, studies to improve the imbalance of health factors of the elderly in the region should be continuously conducted.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.218-222
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• 2017

Purpose: Driving is an important activity that is affected by various motor and cognitive deficits after stroke. On the other hand, there is no standard screening tool to evaluate the sitting asymmetry during driving, which is the stereotyped postural characteristic observed in patients with stroke. Therefore, this study compared the buttock pressure during simulated driving between healthy adults and patients with stroke. Methods: Ten post-stroke patients and ten healthy subjects participated in the experiment. The participants experienced simulated driving of 6.1 km during approximately 5 minutes for adaptation. The driving scenario consisted of 3.5 km urban traffic conditions, 10 km straight highway, and 7 km curved or hilly rural roads. Force sensitive application (FSA) was used to analyze the distribution of the buttock pressure on the driver's seat. The symmetry index (SI) was determined using the average buttock pressure of each side of the buttock. The closer SI is to zero, the higher the symmetry of buttock pressure. Results: These studies showed that the SI of healthy subjects was significantly closer to zero than that of the stroke patients. Conclusion: The buttock pressure of the stroke patients showed more asymmetry than that of the healthy subjects during simulated driving. Therefore, a therapeutic approach is needed for symmetrical sitting to improve the driving performance.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.91-93
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• 2000

This study was performed to evaluate the epidemiological status of toxoplasmosis among the residents of Cheju island. The sera of local students from 18 high schools (boys 2110, girls 2460) and those of adults (474 admitted to Cheju Chungang General Hospital) were collected and checked for the IgG antibody titers against Toxoplasma gondii. Serum samples collected from both the students and adults showed sero-positive rate of 5.5% and 12.9%, respectively Although the rates were not significantly different between the sexes (5.4% for the boys and 5.5% for the girls attending school), the geographical difference showed a significant difference between the urban (4.6~6.9%) and rural areas (5.6-8.8%) (p<0.05) Based on the high positive rates, it should be necessary to control toxoplasmosis in Cheju island.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.374-385
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• 2009

This study aims to develop an index of food security in order to assess food security status in Korea and to evaluate reliability and validity of the index. The index of food security was developed based on the US Household Food Security Survey Module (US-HFSS). After the US-HFSS was translated and back-translated, it was evaluated and modified by a focus interview for experts. The developed Korean Household Food Security Survey Module (K-HFSS) was tested by cognitive interviews and a pretest for general community population to assess its application for Korean population. For the reliability and validity of K-HFSS, the survey was conducted with 300 adults aged 40 years or more living in a rural community and 212 infants and toddlers living in an urban community. The reliability was assessed by Cronbach' alpha and the validity was evaluated by content validity, construct validity, and criterion-related validity. The questionnaire items of K-HFSS were partly modified, accounting for Korean social and cultural backgrounds and adapted by general community population. The reliability was relatively high, showing Cronbach' alpha coefficients ranged from 0.80 (for adults) to 0.87 (for infants and toddlers). The content and construct validities were all acceptable. The result of criterion-related validity showed that food security status was significantly related to the household income level. In conclusion, the K-HFSS would be used as a reliable and valid instrument to assess food security status in parts of the Korean population.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.79-94
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• 2016

In order to evaluate the contamination and health risk, levels of six hazardous elements i.e., Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd and Pb in soils of 12 different land-uses were measured. The average concentration of Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, As and Cd in soils were 267, 239, 206, 195, 58 and 16 mg/kg, respectively. Levels of each metal exceeded the environmental action level for soils, which could pose significant risk to human. The metal concentrations were subsequently used to establish hazard indices (for adults and children) where the 5th and 95th percentile values were used to derive the hazard index through different exposure pathways (ingestion, dermal contact and inhalation). Considering the total exposure through each of the three pathways, the hazard index elucidates that there was a potency of non-cancer risk at most of the sites for both the adults and children. The findings of this study suggested that different land-use soils were severely contaminated with hazardous elements and attention is needed on the potential health risks to the exposed inhabitants.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.635-641
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• 2021

This article analyzes the factors affecting income inequality in Vietnam, with data from 63 provinces and cities collected from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2010 to 2018. The article will firstly build a research model to identify factors affecting income inequality. Then, it uses the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method to evaluate the effect of factors on income inequality in Vietnam. The empirical estimate result shows that, in the period from 2010 to 2018, the factors such as the proportion of the working employees, income per capita, and inflation have positive effects on the Gini coefficient. That is, when these factors increase, there will be negative effects on improving income inequality in Vietnam. Conversely, when the factors such as the proportion of the literate adults, the proportion of the urban population, and population density increase they will have a positive impact on improving income inequality in Vietnam during this period. The estimated coefficients satisfied the sign expectation except the proportion of the literate adults. It means that, in Vietnam, the increase and more equilibrium in educational attainment balance the distribution of income and bring an improvement in income inequality.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.44-50
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• 2003

The iron status and its relations with nutrient intake, coffee drinking, and cigarette smoking were evaluated through the blood analysis and 3-day dietary recalls in 102 apparently healthy Korean adults (48 males, 54 menstruating females) aged 20-49 years and living in Daejeon City. Mean values of hemoglobin (Hb) in males and females were 15.5g/dL and 13.2g/dL, mean corpscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) 36.0% and 36.8 %, serum iron (SI) 135 $\mu\textrm{g}$/dL and 97 $\mu\textrm{g}$/dL, transferrin saturation (TS) 39.4% and 29.2%, and serum ferritin (Ft) 88.1 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L and 23.4 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L, respectively. For males the prevalences of abnormal values of iron status indicators were 4.2% in Hb, 2.1% in TS, and 4.2% in Ft, and for females 16.7% in Hb, 25.9% in TS, and 35.2% in Ft. Among females 9.3% had abnormal Ft, TS, and Hb, which was considered as iron-defeciency anemia, and 14.8% had abnormal Ft and TS. As a whole, the impaired iron status prevalences were estimated to be 2.1 - 4.2% for males and 9.3 - 35.2% for females. Mean daily intakes of iron and heme-iron were 13.7mg and 1.51mg in males, and 12.3mg and 1.45mg in females. Ft was positively correlated with dietary energy, protein, iron, and vitamin A, Hb with energy and iron, and MCHC with iron and heme iron. Vitamin A also tended to show positive correlations with Hb, SI, and TS. Coffee drinkers taking 3 cups per day or more had higher levels of Hb, MCHC, and Ft in males and MCHC in females, compared to non-coffee drinkers. Higher levels of Hb and MCHC were found in male smokers than in non-smokers. Coffee drinkers took more energy and vitamin A in males and MPF protein in females than non-coffee drinkers. From the above results, it was suggested that the iron status of men was much better than that of women, and the intakes of energy, iron, heme iron, and especially vitamin A were positively associated with the iron status. Cigarette smoking elevated Hb and MCHC, but the effect of coffee drinking on iron staus was not clear. (J Community Nutrition 5(1) : 44∼50, 2003)