PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify body esteem, body figure discrepancy and depression in women college students. METHOD: The data were collected during April and May, 2004 using a questionnaire. The participants were 364 women college students attending universities in Seoul and Gangwon-Do. RESULTS: The BMI for under weight, normal weight and overweight for the college women were 49.2%, 48.3%, 2.5% respectively. But 52.6% of the students perceived themselves as obese and only 11.5% described themselves as being 'thin'. The mean scores for BMI, body esteem, body figure discrepancy and depression were 20.11+/-2.20, 2.36+/-.79, 1.07+/-.58 and 1.20+/-.48 respectively. Significant difference was found in body esteem score (F=26.389, p<.0001) and body figure discrepancy (F=64.167, p<.0001) according to BMI scores. There were negative correlations between body esteem and body figure discrepancy (r=-.582, p=.0001), between body esteem and depression (r=-.120, p=.028), between body esteem and BMI (r=-.422, p=.0001), and a positive correlation between body figure discrepancy and BMI (r=.630, p=.0001). Factors such as body figure discrepancy, BMI and depression explained 36.7% of the variance in students' body esteem. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that an intervention program is necessary for women college students to increase their body-esteem.
Depression* ; Female ; Gangwon-do ; Humans ; Overweight ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seoul

No abstract available.
Cholera* ; Enterotoxins* ; Korea* ; Vibrio cholerae* ; Vibrio*

PURPOSE: this study was carried out to identify family environmental factors related to changes in sexual attitudes through a sexuality education based on correct sexual attitude for middle school students. METHODS: The subjects were 141 students (67 boys and 74 girls) in 4 classes of the first grade of a coeducational middle school, in Seoul. The school nurse provided the sexuality education for 18 hours over 16 weeks. RESULTS: After the sexuality education, there was a significant increase in sexual attitude(t=59.06, p<.001). For family environmental factors related to changes in sexual attitude, 'relationship with parents' was a significant factor for both boys and girls. For the girls, there were many other related factors such as 'parents' openness', 'family structure', and 'economic status'. Significant factors were 'Family structure' for attitude to abortion and 'parents' openness' for attitude to intercourse before marriage. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, systematic sexuality education is needed to enhance correct sexual attitudes in youth. To increase the effect of sexuality education, it should include contents to improve relationships with patents. Also, for parents, programs to improve relationships with their children and to change the values such as openness may also be required.
Adolescent ; Child ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Marriage ; Parents ; Seoul ; Sex Education* ; Sexuality

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an explosive increase in restaurant meal delivery or takeout. The purpose of this study was to analyze the consumer perception of food safety and its influence on the purchase of delivery or takeout food from restaurants. This study, the 2020 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food (CBSF), was conducted from June 10 to August 21 2020. A total of 6,355 responses were used for the analysis. The results were as follows: First, the differences in consumer perception about food safety were analyzed according to whether they used delivery or takeout. Concern about food safety, satisfaction with dietary habits, and the ability to maintain safe dietary habits were higher in the non-user group. Except for food at home, the perception about food safety at other locations was higher in the user group. Food hazards such as antibiotics were perceived to be safer in the user group. Second, the perception of food safety affecting use of delivery or takeout was analyzed. It was found that the usage of delivery or takeout increased when the perception of the safety of home meal replacement (HMR), delivery or takeout food, and the ability to be informed about the harmful factors of agricultural products increased. The findings of this study may offer the basis for the food and food service industry to consider safety issues seriously and develop strategies to lead to feasible practices. Further, this study also supports the direction of the government toward strengthening the safety of new segments which have shown explosive growth in the COVID-19 era.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived work environment and workplace bullying among Korean intensive care units (ICU) nurses. METHODS: This is a descriptive survey research, with 134 ICU nurses from five hospitals in Korea. The work environment was measured by the Korean Nursing Work Environment Scale. Workplace bullying was measured with the Korean version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised. RESULTS: ICU nurses reported moderate satisfaction with their work environment, with perception of the basic work system receiving the highest scores. A total of 94.0% of ICU nurses have experienced at least one negative act within the past 6 months, and the prevalence of bullying was 17.2% according to operational bullying criteria. The ICU nurses reported that they experienced more work-related bullying than other types of bullying. Significant negative correlations between the nursing work environment and workplace bullying were found. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that the better the nursing work environment, the less workplace bullying nurses will experience. Further research needs to be done to identify factors that influence bullying in the nurses and to develop an intervention that prevents workplace bullying.
Bullying* ; Intensive Care Units* ; Korea ; Nursing ; Prevalence

PURPOSE: The 2000-2001 measles epidemic resulted in more than 50,000 cases with the highest attack rate occuring in infants less than one year of age, indicating the necessity of measles immunization before 12 months of age when a measles outbreak occurs again. The study was conducted to measure maternal measles antibody in infants by plaque reduction neutralization test(PRN), for the first time in Korea, to assess the optimal age for measles vaccination before the first birthday, when necessary. METHODS: Sera were obtained from 95 infants younger than 12 months of age who were healthy or recovered from mild llnesses, and had not had measles vaccination, measles infection, or blood transfusion. Measles antibodies were measured by PRN. RESULTS: Geometric mean titers and seropositive rates of measles antibody measured by PRN were 879.7 mIU/mL(100.0%), 690.0 mIU/mL(83.3%), 182.7 mIU/mL(50.0%), 91.3 mIU/mL(50.0%), 32.2 mIU/ mL(0.0)%, 25.1 mIU/mL(0.0%), 18.1 mIU/mL(0.0%), 38.4 mIU/mL(25.0%), 27.1 mIU/mL(0.0%), 31.2 mIU/mL(0.0%), 54.3 mIU/mL(0.0%), and 27.1 mIU/mL(0.0%) from 0 to 11 months respectively. CONCLUSION: By PRN, which was used for the first time to measure the measles antibody in Korea, placentally transferred measles antibody was detected in all newborns tested and decreased reciprocally to the age of infants, leaving almost all infants older than four months seronegative. These results indicate that measles vaccination at six months of age or older, which is the current recommendation during the period of epidemic issued by the Korean Society of Pediatrics, should not cause the primary vaccine failure. It seems advisable to utilize PRN further in order to find the optimal schedule for measles vaccination to infants born to women who were vaccinated.
Antibodies* ; Appointments and Schedules ; Blood Transfusion ; Female ; Humans ; Immunization ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Measles* ; Neutralization Tests* ; Pediatrics ; Vaccination

BACKGROUND: In the mid-1970s and late 1980s, outbreaks of erythromycin-resistant streptococci in Japan and Finland were likely to be associated with the increased consumption of macrolides. Because of the lack of routine antibiotic sensitivity for Streptococcus pyogenes, the reported percentage of resistant strains was only 2% in 1994 in Korea. We tried to determine the rate of resistant strains considering the high occurrence of penicillin-resistant pneumococci and antibiotic purchase without prescription in our country. METHODS: Twenty-four strains of S. pyogenes were isolated from children with pharyngotonsillitis in Kyunghee University Hospital, Seoul, Korea from Feb. through Aug. 1998. Forty-four strains obtained from healthy school children living in Uljin, Kyongsang-bukdo and Hongreung, Seoul in 1998. All isolates were serotyped by T-agglutination (Sevapharma, Czech Rep) and minimal inhibitory concentrations were determined for penicillin, erythromycin, vancomycin, tetracycline, cefotaxime, and clindamycin by agar dilution method according to National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. RESULTS: The carrier rates in Hongreung and Uljin were 4.1% and 13.3%, respectively. Twenty-two out of 24 (91.6%) strains from pharyngitis and 32 out of 44 (72.7%) strains from normal children were typed by T agglutination test. The most common T types were T12 (54.2%) and T4 (33.3%) in pharyngitis, whereas the most common T types were T12 (45.5%), non typable (27.3%), and T4 (15.9%) in healthy carriers. All of the strains from pharyngitis were susceptible to penicillin, vancomycin, and cefotaxime. However, 13 out of 24 (54.2%) strains were resistant to erythromycin, and 11 isolates (45.8%) were resistant to clindamycin and tetracycline. Ten out of 13 isolates of T12 and one isolate of T28 were multi-resistant to erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline. Two isolates of T4 were resistant to erythromycin. CONCLUSION: Almost half of isolates obtained from a university hospital in Seoul are multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pyogenes. Serial monitoring of antibiotic susceptibility test and a nationwide survey accompanied by molecular epidemiologic studies are needed to determine the occurrence and spread of resistant strains from different geographic areas.
Agar ; Agglutination Tests ; Cefotaxime ; Child* ; Clindamycin ; Disease Outbreaks ; Erythromycin ; Finland ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Macrolides ; Penicillins ; Pharyngitis ; Prescriptions ; Seoul ; Serotyping* ; Streptococcus pyogenes* ; Streptococcus* ; Tetracycline ; Vancomycin

PURPOSE: This study investigated the morphological characteristics of hypertrophic scars of various ages. METHODS: This was a retrospective study. Tissue samples from 170 normal skin (control) and 126 scar tissue after undergoing conservative treatment (CT) (n=62) or split thickness skin graft (STSG) (n=64) were obtained. Time from injury (CT) or surgery (STSG) was grouped into periods as follows: first 6 months (period 1), 7~12 months (period 2), 13~24 months (period 3), 25~120 months (period 4), >120 months (period 5). Epidermal thickness (ET), dermal thickness (DT), and dermal collagen fiber thickness and length (CFT, CFL) were measured using an image analyzer. RESULTS: Scar tissue ET was significantly thicker compared to normal skin (P<0.05) and was greatest at period 1. Scar tissue DT was significantly thicker compared to normal skin (P<0.05), which increased until period 3 but then decreased afterwards. Scar tissue CFT was significantly thinner compared to normal skin (P<0.05) except for period 5. Scar tissue CFL was significantly longer compared to normal skin (P<0.05). Significant differences were observed especially in younger scar ET, DT, CFT, and CFL. CONCLUSION: These findings may assist to increase the understanding of the pathohistological changes in burn scar tissues over time and provide guidance in receiving burn treatment.
Burns ; Cicatrix* ; Cicatrix, Hypertrophic* ; Collagen ; Pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Skin ; Transplants

Purpose: Alzheimer disease (AD) is one of the most complex diseases and is characterized by AD-related neuropathological features, including accumulation of amyloid-β plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles. Dysregulation of alternative splicing (AS) contributes to these features, and there is heterogeneity in features across brain regions between AD patients, leading to different severity and progression rates; however, brain region-specific AS mechanisms still remain unclear. Therefore, we aimed to systemically investigate AS in multiple brain regions of AD patients and how they affect clinical features. Methods: We analyzed RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data obtained from brain regions (frontal and temporal) of AD patients. Reads were mapped to the hg19 reference genome using the STAR aligner, and exon skipping (ES) rates were estimated as percent spliced in (PSI) by rMATs. We focused on AD-risk genes discovered by genome-wide association studies, and accordingly evaluated associations between PSI of skipped exons in AD-risk genes and Braak stage and plaque density mean (PM) for each brain region. We also integrated whole-genome sequencing data of the ascertained samples with RNA-Seq data to identify genetic regulators of feature-associated ES. Results: We identified 26 and 41 ES associated with Braak stage in frontal and temporal regions, respectively, and 10 and 50 ES associated with PM. Among those, 10 were frontal-specific (CLU and NTRK2), 65 temporal-specific (HIF1A and TRPC4AP), and 26 shared ES (APP) that accompanied functional Gene Ontology terms, including axonogenesis in shared-ES genes. We further identified genetic regulators that account for 44 ES (44% of the total). Finally, we present as a case study the systematic regulation of an ES in APP, which is important in AD pathogenesis. Conclusions This study provides new insights into brain region-dependent AS regulation of the architecture of AD-risk genes that contributes to AD pathologies, ultimately allowing identification of a treatment target and region-specific biomarkers for AD.