Background: Reporting rate of notifiable communicable diseases has been assumed to be low in Korea. To encourage timely reporting of notifiable communicable diseases and to improve the reporting process by the Infection Control Unit, a disease code-based electronic surveillance and in-house electronic reporting system was developed and implemented in February 2003. We evaluated the reporting rates of notifiable communicable diseases before and after the implementation of the electronic reporting- system. METHODS: The electronic reporting system, which was integrated to the computerized physician order entry system, was designed to monitor KCD-4 codes at the time of every order entry. Whenever the system recognized the predetermined codes of notifiable communicable diseases, it generated an alert box to recommend reporting: and then a physician could fill up an electronic report form, which was collected and faxed to the local public health authority by the Infection Control Unit. Reporting rate of notifiable communicable diseases in 2002, when the conventional paper-based reporting system was used, was assumed comparing the number of cases reported actually and that of cases identified to be reported by reviewing the medical records and electronic database. RESULTS: From March to July 2003, 181 cases with tuberculosis and 14 with other communicable diseases were reported whereas 106 and 9 cases were reported respectively for the same 5-month period in 2002. Reporting rate using the conventional reporting system in 2002 was assumed to be 61% and 39% respectively. Conclusions: Using a disease code-based electronic reporting system, reporting of notifiable communicable diseases could be improved compared with conventional paper-based reporting system.
Communicable Diseases* ; Disease Notification ; Infection Control ; Korea ; Medical Informatics Applications ; Medical Order Entry Systems ; Medical Records ; Public Health ; Tuberculosis

A considerable body of evidence has been accumulated suggesting that invasive squamous cell carcinoma develops from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia(CIN). Most women with invasive cancer of the cervix are from lower socioeconomic groups, have begun heterosexual activity early in life, marry early, are multiparous, and have many sexual partners. Although the epidemiology of the cervical cancer is known well, the pathogenesis of the cervical cancer from CIN is subtle yet. Apoptosis, including the programmed cell death, is important event in normal cell turnover and maintenance of adult tissues. Apoptosis exerts a homeostatic function in relation to tissues dynamics, as the steady state of continuously renewing tissues achieved by a balance between cell replication and cell death. The specific labelling of nick ends of fragmented DNA was used to see the apoptotic cells from normal epithelium of the cervix to invasive cervical cancer. The apoptotic cells were found normally in the parabasal layer of the epithelium. As the grade of CIN increase, the apoptotic cell were found in superficial of the cervix and number of the apoptotic cell were increased. In the cervical cancer, the apoptotic cell were found in the cancerous tissues more than in the normal epithelium. This results suggest that the cell proliferation is more important than the inhibition of the apoptosis in the carcinogenesis of the cervical cancer.
Adult ; Apoptosis* ; Carcinogenesis* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Cell Death ; Cell Proliferation ; Cervix Uteri ; DNA ; Epidemiology ; Epithelium ; Female ; Heterosexuality ; Humans ; Sexual Partners ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*

No abstract available.
Compliance*

BLAST, a basic bioinformatics tool for searching local sequence similarity, has been one of the most widely used bioinformatics programs since its introduction in 1990. Users generally use the web-based NCBI-BLAST program for BLAST analysis. However, users with large sequence data are often faced with a problem of upload size limitation while using the web-based BLAST program. This proves inconvenient as scientists often want to run BLAST on their own data, such as transcriptome or whole genome sequences. To overcome this issue, we developed NBLAST, a graphical user interface-based BLAST program that employs a two-way system, allowing the use of input sequences either as “query” or “target” in the BLAST analysis. NBLAST is also equipped with a dot plot viewer, thus allowing researchers to create custom database for BLAST and run a dot plot similarity analysis within a single program. It is available to access to the NBLAST with http:/bitglobal.comblast.

This study investigated anthropometric and biochemical characteristics, nutrient intakes, and bone density of Korean elderly men (over 65 yrs). Data on bone density and anthropometric (height, weight, waist circumference, body mass index and blood pressure) and biochemical (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, triglyceride and hemoglobin) characteristics, nutrient intakes, and nutrient density were obtained from the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES, 2008~2011). Subjects were categorized into smoking and non-smoking groups, and smoking groups were divided into three groups by smoking period (under 20 yrs, 21~40 yrs and over 41 yrs). Serum triglyceride concentrations of the smoking group aged 21~40 yrs were higher than those of other groups (P<0.01), whereas other biochemical factors were not different. Intake ratios of energy, protein, phosphorus and sodium in subjects were over 100% of Dietary Reference Intake for Koreans (KDRI). Nutrient densities according to intakes of thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin per 1,000 kcal were significantly different among the groups (P<0.05). Bone density of subjects decreased according to smoking period (T-score of total femur in non-smoking group -0.3108, and -0.2918, -0.4941, -0.6847 in smoking group, respectively). Ratio of osteoporosis was 38.1% in the non-smoking group and 44.4%, 51.1%, and 64.0% in the smoking group, respectively. The findings of the present study show that smoking may be associated with bone health, higher ratio of osteoporosis, and low nutrient density in elderly men. Therefore, practical and systematic non-smoking programs are required to improve the bone density of elderly men as well as maintain healthy bone levels and desirable lifestyle.
Aged* ; Body Mass Index ; Bone Density* ; Cholesterol ; Femur ; Humans ; Korea* ; Life Style ; Lipoproteins ; Male* ; Niacin ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Osteoporosis ; Phosphorus ; Recommended Dietary Allowances ; Riboflavin ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Sodium ; Triglycerides ; Waist Circumference

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nutrient intakes, nutritional knowledge, food habits, and lifestyle behaviors of moderately or severely obese children living in the Kyonggi-do area. The subjects in this study were 37 obese children with an obesity index higher than 130% in the forth to sixth grades of elementary school. Anthropometric measurements, 24-hour recall of dietary intakes, and a survey on nutritional knowledge, food habits, and lifestyles behavior were conducted in the 37 obese children (25 boys and 12 girls). The average age, body weight, BMI, and Rohrer Index were 12.4 years, 68.6 kg, 29.6 kg/m2, and 194.9 in boys and 12.7 years, 65.7 kg, 29.8 kg/m2, and 201.8 in girls, respectively. The percentage of correct answers on nutritional knowledge and nutritional attitude score/max score were 85.8% and 23.0/50 in boys and 87.0% and 17.5/50 in girls, respectively. Except for calcium (85.3%) in girls and calcium (62.7%) and folic acid (83.3%) in boys, the average daily nutrient intakes percentages of nutrients were greater than the DRIs values (107.9~327.3% in boys and 103.0~416.0% in girls). This study showed the existence of some problems associated with obesity, such as higher frequency of skipping breakfast, irregular meal times, unbalanced diet, lack of intake of some nutrients, low nutritional attitude, lack of physical activity, and time management in obese children. These results suggest that a systematic education program including nutritional education on balanced diet, good eating habits and behaviors, and importance of eating breakfast and meal regularity must be emphasized to improve nutrient intakes and food habits in obese children. Obese children also require a more concentrated program that includes physical activity, weight reduction, and weight maintenance strategies to improve their life habits.
Body Weight ; Breakfast ; Calcium ; Child ; Diet ; Eating ; Folic Acid ; Food Habits ; Humans ; Life Style ; Meals ; Motor Activity ; Obesity ; Time Management ; Weight Loss

This study investigated factors affecting the bone mineral density (BMD) of Korean young adult women (20~30 yrs) living in Seoul, according to the state of employment. Data on BMD and anthropometric and biochemical measurements were obtained from the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES V) (2010~2011). BMD of the working group (WG) was generally higher than that of the non-working group (NWG). The prevalence of osteopenia, and osteoporosis between the groups was 29.0/31.5%, and 12.9/18.5% from 20~29 yrs as well as 25.5/24.1%, and 20.2/20.5% from 30~39 yrs, respectively. From 20~29 yrs, prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in the WG was lower than that of the NWG. Alkaline phosphatase activity of the WG was lower than that of the NWG. In the WG, from 20~29 yrs, total femur BMD showed significant positive correlations with waist circumstance and BMI. In the NWG, from 20~29 yrs, total femur, femoral neck, and lumbar spine BMDs showed significant positive correlations with weight and fat mass, whereas they showed significant negative correlations with vitamin D. In the WG, from 30~39 yrs, total femur and femoral neck BMDs showed significant positive correlations with weight and free fat mass. The results of this study show that BMD of young adult women is insufficient regardless of their employment status. Therefore, practical and systematic programs are required to improve the BMD of young adult women as well as to maintain healthy bone levels.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Bone Density* ; Bone Diseases, Metabolic ; Employment ; Female ; Femur ; Femur Neck ; Humans ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Osteoporosis ; Prevalence ; Seoul ; Spine ; Vitamin D ; Young Adult*

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) leaf powder on soybean milk quality. Soybean milk was prepared with the addition of 0.1 g (SP1), 0.2 g (SP2), 0.3 g (SP3), 0.4 g (SP4) of stevia leaf powder. The pH of soybean milk added with stevia leaf powders ranged from 7.90 to 7.98, whereas that of control was 7.88. The viscosity of soybean milk added with stevia leaf powder was 11.13~12.71 cp while that of control was 11.09 cp. Soymilk added with stevia leaf powder yielded values of Hunter L (59.40~64.94), a (-7.63~-6.45), and b (18.71~19.63), whereas that of control were 67.45, -4.74 and 20.13, respectively. There was decrease upon addition of stevia leaf powder. During storage, the pH, viscosity, L, and b values were decreased continuously. According to sensory evaluation, taste, and flavor of SP3 were better than the other groups. Quality characteristics between control and SP3 showed no significant differences. Therefore, this study showed the possibility of substituting 0.3 g of stevia leaf powder instead of sugar for creating a standard quality soybean milk with low calories. Upon the results of this study, it may be assumed that there are consequences positive responses to health-oriented consumers when using stevia leaf powder.
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Milk* ; Powders ; Soybeans* ; Stevia* ; Viscosity

This study was conducted to investigate the anthropometric data, serum profiles, nutrient intakes and diet quality of men in their 30s. The subjects were divided into a married group and an unmarried group. For the study, we obtained data for analysis from the combined 2008∼2015 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Mean height and weight of study population were 173.5 cm, and 74.0 kg in the married group and 173.1 cm, and 73.6 kg in the unmarried group, respectively. Systolic blood pressure in the unmarried group was significantly higher than that of the married group (P<0.001), while circulating vitamin D levels in the married group were significantly higher than those of the unmarried group (P <0.001). The proportion of obesity in the two groups was 42.41% and 38.40%, respectively. In the unmarried group, prevalence of depression was significantly higher than that those of the married group. Intakes of energy, water, protein, fat, carbohydrate and calcium in the married group were significantly higher than those of the unmarried group. In both groups, water and fiber intakes were low and sodium intakes were extremely high based on the KDRIs (Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans). The mean adequacy ratio (MAR) of the married group was higher than that of the unmarried group. The index of nutritional quality (INQ) in the married group was also higher than that of the unmarried group. Therefore, we propose development of dietary guidelines and education programs for improvement of food and nutrient intakes, nutrition balance and dietary quality of unmarried men in their 30s.
Blood Pressure ; Calcium ; Depression ; Diet ; Education ; Humans ; Male ; Nutrition Policy ; Nutrition Surveys* ; Nutritive Value ; Obesity ; Prevalence ; Single Person ; Sodium ; Vitamin D ; Water

The main purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect bone mineral density (BMD) in Korean adult women (20~80< or = yr). Data on BMD, anthropometric (height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat), and biochemical (total cholesterol, vitamin D, and alkaline phosphatase) measurements were obtained from the Fourth and Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES, 2008~2011). Overall, the BMD of subjects had decreased from year to year: the T-scores decreased from 0.657 (2008~2009) to 0.295 (2010~2011) in 40~49 yr group and from 0.076 to -0.081 in 50~59 yr group. Age was negatively associated with BMD (T-scores of 0.388 in 20~29 yr group and -1.952 in > or =80 yr group for total femoral). BMD continuously increased with increased weight and body mass index (BMI). High values of total cholesterol (T-scores of -0.005 in 201~229 mg/dL group and -0.094 in > or =230 mg/dL group for total femoral) and alkaline phosphatase (T-scores of 0.481 in > or =102 IU/L group and -0.674 in > or =336 IU/L group for total femoral) were associated with lower BMD. Overall height, weight, and BMI were positively associated with BMD, whereas total cholesterol and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were negatively associated with BMD. Findings of the present study show that bone loss may be associated with various factors such as age, weight, BMI, total cholesterol, and ALP et al., and that much attention should be paid to bone health of adult women. Therefore, practical and systematic programs are required to improve the BMD of adult women as well as to maintain healthy bone levels.
Adult* ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Bone Density* ; Cholesterol ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Vitamin D ; Waist Circumference