This study was conducted to explore socio-demographic influences on eating behaviors among adolescents in Korea. Data were obtained from the Eleventh Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (2015 KYRBS), a nationwide representative sample of 3,532,149 middle and high school students. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, t-test, and logistic regression based on complex sample design using SPSS 20.0 statistics. The results showed that intake frequency of soda, fast food, and instant noodles was higher in male than female students (P<0.001). Additionally, the frequency of eating breakfast, fruits, vegetables, and milk was higher among high school students than middle school students (P<0.001). Higher levels of economic status were associated with less skipping breakfast. Adolescents with mothers that had higher levels of education were more likely to be frequent consumers of fruits, vegetables, and milk, and to eat breakfast.
Adolescent* ; Breakfast ; Eating* ; Education ; Fast Foods ; Feeding Behavior* ; Female ; Fruit ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Milk ; Mothers ; Risk-Taking ; Vegetables

No abstract available.

Sleep is one of the most essential physiological phenomena for maintaining health. Sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, are often accompanied by psychiatric or physical conditions such as impaired attention, anxiety, and stress. Medication used to treat insomnia have concerns about potential side effects with long-term use, so interest in the use of alternative medicine is increasing. In this study, we investigated the hypnotic effects of β-lapachone (β-Lap), a natural naphthoquinone compound, using pentobarbital-induced sleep test, immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and western blot in mice. Our results indicated that β-Lap exerts a significant hypnotic effect by showing a decrease in sleep onset latency and an increase in total sleep time in pentobarbital-induced sleep model. The results of c-Fos immunostaining showed that β-Lap decreased neuronal activity in the basal forebrain and lateral hypothalamus, which are wakefulness-promoting brain regions, while increasing in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, a sleep-promoting region; all these effects were significantly abolished by 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX), an adenosine A1 receptor (A1R) antagonist. Western blot analysis showed that β-Lap increased extracellular signalregulated kinase phosphorylation and nuclear factor-kappa B translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus; these effects were inhibited by DPCPX. Additionally, β-Lap increased the mRNA levels of A1R. Taken together, these results suggest that β-Lap exerts hypnotic effects, potentially through A1R.

Sleep is one of the most essential physiological phenomena for maintaining health. Sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, are often accompanied by psychiatric or physical conditions such as impaired attention, anxiety, and stress. Medication used to treat insomnia have concerns about potential side effects with long-term use, so interest in the use of alternative medicine is increasing. In this study, we investigated the hypnotic effects of β-lapachone (β-Lap), a natural naphthoquinone compound, using pentobarbital-induced sleep test, immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and western blot in mice. Our results indicated that β-Lap exerts a significant hypnotic effect by showing a decrease in sleep onset latency and an increase in total sleep time in pentobarbital-induced sleep model. The results of c-Fos immunostaining showed that β-Lap decreased neuronal activity in the basal forebrain and lateral hypothalamus, which are wakefulness-promoting brain regions, while increasing in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, a sleep-promoting region; all these effects were significantly abolished by 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX), an adenosine A1 receptor (A1R) antagonist. Western blot analysis showed that β-Lap increased extracellular signalregulated kinase phosphorylation and nuclear factor-kappa B translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus; these effects were inhibited by DPCPX. Additionally, β-Lap increased the mRNA levels of A1R. Taken together, these results suggest that β-Lap exerts hypnotic effects, potentially through A1R.

Sleep is one of the most essential physiological phenomena for maintaining health. Sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, are often accompanied by psychiatric or physical conditions such as impaired attention, anxiety, and stress. Medication used to treat insomnia have concerns about potential side effects with long-term use, so interest in the use of alternative medicine is increasing. In this study, we investigated the hypnotic effects of β-lapachone (β-Lap), a natural naphthoquinone compound, using pentobarbital-induced sleep test, immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and western blot in mice. Our results indicated that β-Lap exerts a significant hypnotic effect by showing a decrease in sleep onset latency and an increase in total sleep time in pentobarbital-induced sleep model. The results of c-Fos immunostaining showed that β-Lap decreased neuronal activity in the basal forebrain and lateral hypothalamus, which are wakefulness-promoting brain regions, while increasing in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, a sleep-promoting region; all these effects were significantly abolished by 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX), an adenosine A1 receptor (A1R) antagonist. Western blot analysis showed that β-Lap increased extracellular signalregulated kinase phosphorylation and nuclear factor-kappa B translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus; these effects were inhibited by DPCPX. Additionally, β-Lap increased the mRNA levels of A1R. Taken together, these results suggest that β-Lap exerts hypnotic effects, potentially through A1R.

Sleep is one of the most essential physiological phenomena for maintaining health. Sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, are often accompanied by psychiatric or physical conditions such as impaired attention, anxiety, and stress. Medication used to treat insomnia have concerns about potential side effects with long-term use, so interest in the use of alternative medicine is increasing. In this study, we investigated the hypnotic effects of β-lapachone (β-Lap), a natural naphthoquinone compound, using pentobarbital-induced sleep test, immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, and western blot in mice. Our results indicated that β-Lap exerts a significant hypnotic effect by showing a decrease in sleep onset latency and an increase in total sleep time in pentobarbital-induced sleep model. The results of c-Fos immunostaining showed that β-Lap decreased neuronal activity in the basal forebrain and lateral hypothalamus, which are wakefulness-promoting brain regions, while increasing in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, a sleep-promoting region; all these effects were significantly abolished by 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX), an adenosine A1 receptor (A1R) antagonist. Western blot analysis showed that β-Lap increased extracellular signalregulated kinase phosphorylation and nuclear factor-kappa B translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus; these effects were inhibited by DPCPX. Additionally, β-Lap increased the mRNA levels of A1R. Taken together, these results suggest that β-Lap exerts hypnotic effects, potentially through A1R.

BACKGROUND: Pruritus has been reported to be a common symptom of many psoriatic patients, although the significance of this complaint has often been overlooked by dermatologists. OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to explore the prevalence and various related clinical characteristics of pruritus associated with psoriasis in Korean patients. METHODS: Questionnaire data from 131 psoriatic patients were analyzed and psoriasis severity was determined by PASI score evaluation. RESULTS: Pruritus was a symptom of psoriasis in 83% of patients. It involved usually on the areas of active psoriatic lesion and appeared mainly at night. The severity and extent of psoriasis in pruritic patients were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of non-pruritic patients. The presence and intensity of pruritus did not depend on sex, age, duration of disease, family history of psoriasis, smoking, and alcohol habits. Pruritus tended to be prolonged during the period of exacerbation. Sixty-five (59.6%) patients had an experience of Koebner's phenomenon due to scratching. Important daily factors that were found to exacerbate the itch were emotional stress, hot baths, sweating, and so on. The factors to improve the itch were emotional relief, cold baths, and hot baths. The patients who answered that pruritus significantly affects quality of life were 76.3%. CONCLUSION: Pruritus is a very common clinical feature of psoriasis, and its intensity correlates with the clinical severity of psoriasis. The attempt to relieve the symptoms of pruritus may improve the overall quality of life of patients with psoriasis.
Baths ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Pruritus* ; Psoriasis* ; Quality of Life ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Stress, Psychological ; Sweat ; Sweating ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the effects of family type and sociodemographic factors on medical treatment, health behavior, and subjective health status in Koreans 60 years and older. METHODS: This study was based on data from the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), a nationwide health interview survey using a rolling sampling design involving complex, stratified, multistage, probability cluster. Our subjects included those > or =60 years of age (n=1,946) participating in the KNHANES 2010. Family type was categorized into 7 groups according to cohabitation: alone, couple cohabitation (living with a spouse), parent(s) cohabitation (couple living with parent(s)), offspring cohabitation (no spouse, living with offspring), couple offspring cohabitation (couple living with offspring), couple offspring parents cohabitation (couple living with parent(s) and offspring), and others. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association of family type and sociodemographic factors with health care. RESULTS: The most common family type was couple cohabitation (38.26+/-1.8%). In this group, the percentage of non-receipt of needed medical care (odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42 to 0.87) and current smoking rate (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.50) were significantly lower than those living alone. Among the sociodemographic charicteristics, male gender, apartment dwelling, high middle household income, 2 member family, education higher than middle school, and possessing own house were associated with good health care behavior. CONCLUSION: This study shows that couples have better health care behavior than other family types, in particular, limited smoking, appropriate medical treatment, and positive subjective health status. Those living alone visit medical clinics less often and have a negative subjective health status.
Delivery of Health Care ; Family Characteristics ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Parents ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spouses

OBJECTIVE: To establish reference values for the femoral condylar cartilage thickness and to observe the cartilage clarity and sharpness between different age groups of healthy Koreans employing a ultrasonographic scanner. METHOD: 105 healthy volunteers from the ages of twenties to the fifties, without clinical signs of osteoarthritis were recruited for the study. Cartilage thickness at both intercondylar notch, medial condylar and lateral condylar area were obtained with 12 MHz linear transducer, in supine position under maximum flexion of the knee joints. Cartilage sharpness and clarity were also recorded in grade between 0 to 3. RESULTS: The thickness of cartilage significantly decreased with the increment of age (p<0.05) and the cartilage of the man was much thicker than woman (p=0.000). Grade of the sharpness and clarity was not different between age groups and the checked grade was mostly grade 1 and there was no grade 3. CONCLUSION: This study defines standard reference values of femoral condylar cartilage for musculoskeletal ultrasonography to prevent misinterpretation of thinning of cartilage thickness in difference age groups and sex. With these findings, we can specify the range of normal degenerative change of femoral condylar cartilage.
Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular ; Female ; Humans ; Knee ; Knee Joint ; Osteoarthritis ; Reference Values ; Supine Position ; Transducers

OBJECTIVE: The change of claudin expressions, integral transmembrane proteins for tight junction, might be related to progression of cervical premalignancy or malignancy. The aim of this study was to verify the tendency of expressions of claudin-1 and -7 according to the progression of cervical pathology of uterus. METHODS: There were 162 tissues obtained at AA institute. 25 tissues were normal, 26 were cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1, 30 were CIN2, 44 were CIN3, 25 were microinvasive cervical carcinomas, and 12 were invasive squamous cervical carcinomas (ISCC). H and E and immunohistochemical staining were done. RESULTS: Among normal tissues, 52% showed no expression, 48% weak expressions at claudin-1, and 28% no expression, 56% weak expressions at claudin-7. Among CIN3, 20% showed weak expressions, 41% showed moderate expressions at claudin-1, and 14% weak expressions, 52% moderate expressions at claudin-7. Among ISCC, 42% showed moderate expressions, 50% strong expressions at claudin-1, and 33% moderate expressions, and 33% strong expressions at claudin-7. These data shows the increasing tendency of claudin-1 and claudin-7 expressions according to the severity of lesions (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The expressions of claudin-1 and claudin-7 were increased more according to the progression of cervical lesions.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; Claudin-1* ; Pathology ; Tight Junctions ; Uterus