Objectives: Public health risks and anxiety have been increasing since the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). The public expresses questions related to the COVID-19 issue through the web base. The aim of this study was to analyze public perception and sentiments of COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea. Methods: We collected the text data (questions: 252,181) related to COVID-19 from Naver Knowledge-iN during January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The search keywords included related to COVID-19 using Korean words for “SARS-Cov-2”, “COVID19”, “COVID-19”, “Wuhan pneumonia”, “Coronavirus”, “Corona”. A topic modeling analysis was used to investigate and search trends of public perception.The sentiment analysis was conducted to analyze of public emotions in the questions related to COVID-19. We performed the Pearson’s correlation analysis between daily number of COVID-19 cases and daily proportion of negative sentiment in documents related to COVID-19 by COVID-19 outbreak period. Results: A total of 241,776 documents used in this study. The most frequent words in the documents to appear cough, symptoms, tests, confirmed patients, mask and etc.Twenty topics (COVID-test, Economy, School, Hospital/Diagnose, Travel/Overseas, Health, Social issue, Symptom 1 (respiratory), Relationships, Symptom 2 (e.g., fever), Workplace, Mask/Social distancing, infection/Vaccine, Stimulus Package, Family, Delivery Service, Unclassified, Region, Study/Exam, Worry, Anxiety) were extracted using the topic modeling. There was a positive association between the daily counts of COVID-19 patients and proportion of negative sentiment. By COVID-19 period, Stage 4 had the highest correlation. Conclusion This study identified the South Korean public’s interest and emotions about COVID-19 during the prolonged pandemic crisis.

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BACKGROUND: With the development of information and communication technology, there is a growing number of people looking for health information on the internet. This pilot study was performed to analyze the pattern of pharmacist consultation on the internet portal site. METHODS: Questions and answers posted on the portal site “Naver Jisik-iN” from March 1st to 31th in 2016 were collected. Medications asked were categorized into prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, sanitary aids, emergency drugs, functional health foods, and others. Medications were subcategorized into 14 according to the anatomical therapeutic chemical classification system. Questions were divided into 10 categories based on Hepler's drug-related problems. RESULTS: Of the 955 cases, females accounted for 59.5% and inquirers from 11 to 40 years old, 89.4%. The number of prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, sanitary aids, emergency drugs, functional health foods, and others were 428 (44.8%), 328 (34.3%), 31 (3.3%), 2 (0.2%), 122 (12.8%), and 44 (4.6%), respectively. Questions for drugs acting on alimentary tract and metabolism took up 27.4% followed by those on nervous system, 13.6% and anti-infectives for systemic use, 12.2%. Pharmacist consultation regarding drug information, drug interaction, and adverse reaction occupied 47.9%, 15.2%, and 12.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Health counseling through online is predicted to increase steadily, so pharmacists should broaden their boundaries beyond off-line pharmacies to meet social needs.
Classification ; Counseling* ; Drug Interactions ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Information Services ; Internet* ; Metabolism ; Nervous System ; Nonprescription Drugs ; Pharmacies ; Pharmacists* ; Pilot Projects* ; Prescription Drugs

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the genotype frequencies of interleukin 10 (IL-10) gene polymorphisms and to investigate their association with the risk of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in preterm Korean infants. METHODS: Two hundred fourteen preterm infants born at Ewha Womans University Mok Dong Hospital between November 2003 and July 2008 were studied. The cord blood of preterm neonates and the corresponding maternal blood were analyzed by PCR for IL-10 gene (IL-10 -1082A/G, -819T/C, and -592A/C) polymorphisms. The clinical data of patients were collected retrospectively by chart review. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies of IL-10 genes in Korean mothers with preterm infants differ from other reports. The prevalence of two promoter SNPs of the IL-10 cytokine gene was similar but none had the IL-10-1082GG homozygote. Multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated the risk of RDS to be significantly lower in the infants of the mothers with an IL-10-592AC/CC genotype than in those with an AA genotype (P= 0.033). The risk of RDS was significantly lower in the mother with an IL-10-819TC/CC genotype than in those with a TT genotype (P=0.030). However, IL-10 polymorphisms in the cord blood were not significantly different in preterm infants with RDS compared with the preterm infants without RDS. When we compared the incidence of RDS and each IL-10 A-1082G/T-819C/A-592C haplotype, the ACC haplotype had a protective effect on RDS (P=0.007). CONCLUSION: We conclude that the maternal IL-10-592A/C and IL-10-819T/C polymorphisms may have a role in the development of the RDS in preterm infants.
Female ; Fetal Blood ; Genotype ; Haplotypes ; Homozygote ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Interleukin-10 ; Logistic Models ; Mothers ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Prevalence ; Retrospective Studies

The majority of South Korean females use sanitary pads, which contain various organic solvents which could be excreted before and during their menstruation. However, they are not provided with findings from studies about the health effects of sanitary pads. Therefore, this study aims to establish a list of potential health hazards of sanitary pads and address the need for further extensive research by pointing out the limitations of the previous literature. A systematic review was adopted to conduct quantitative and qualitative reviews based on the PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses). Studies from electronic databases such as PubMed, RISS, and Google Scholar were retrieved for the final analyses. In accordance with our findings, we proposed a set of limitations of the previous studies. A systematic review revealed that there were effects of sanitary pads on vaginal or vulvar skin, endometriosis, and vaginal microflora. The review also revealed that organic solvents, which sanitary pads are composed of, bring potential harmful effects on pregnancy, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, and neurological development. Social environments such as hygiene use or puberty education also turned out to affect female health. It was inferred that a lack of non-occupational and domestic studies reflecting the distinguishing features of sanitary pads with a reliable sample size remains as an important limitation. This study suggests that organic solvents in sanitary pads may increase some health risks bringing reproductive, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and neurological effects. Due to a lack of studies, a more extensive study can contribute to the public health of South Korean females.
Adolescent ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Education ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Menstrual Hygiene Products ; Menstruation ; Pregnancy ; Puberty ; Public Health ; Sample Size ; Skin ; Social Environment ; Solvents