A narrative study on community practice through ESD (Education for sustainable development): A case study of high school teacher community

The purpose of this study is to create \u27ESD Community of Practice\u27 through the \u27ESD training experience\u27 in school and to narrate the \u27experience\u27 and the \u27story\u27 of the teachers who are teaching ESD classes in school

Exercise and cancer mortality in Korean men and women: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about longitudinal associations of exercise with different types of cancer, particularly in Asian populations. The purpose of this research was to estimate the association between the duration of exercise and all-cause and cancer-specific mortality. METHOD: Data were obtained from the Korean Metabolic Syndrome Mortality Study (KMSMS), a prospective cohort study of 303,428 Korean adults aged 20 years or older at baseline between 1994 and 2004 after exclusion of individuals with missing variables on smoking and exercise. Death certificate-linked data until 31 December 2015 were provided by the Korean National Statistical Office. Cox regression models were constructed to evaluate the associations of exercise with cancer mortality after adjusting for potential confounders such as age, alcohol consumption and smoking status. RESULTS: During the follow-up period of 15.3 years (4,638,863 person-years), a total of 16,884 participants died. Both men and women who exercised showed approximately 30% decreased hazards of mortality, compared to those who did no exercise (hazard ratio (HR) 0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.68-0.73 for men, HR=0.71, CI : 0.67-0.75). A notable observation of this study is the curvilinear associations between the total duration of exercise per week and cancer mortality, with the lowest risk being observed at the low-to-medium levels of exercise; this trend of associations was found for esophagus, liver, lung, and colorectal cancer mortality in men, and all-cause, all-cancer and lung cancer mortality in women. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals who exercised showed considerably lower all-cause and cancer mortality risks compared with those who did no exercise. Policies and clinical trials aimed at promoting minimal or moderate participation in exercise may minimize cancer mortality risk

Association between Alcohol Intake and Abdominal Obesity among the Korean Population

OBJECTIVES: Although abdominal obesity has been reported to be highly related with alcohol intake, the results are still inconclusive. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the association between alcohol and abdominal obesity among the Korean population. METHODS: This study included 8,603 participants (men: 5,195, women: 3,408) aged 30 to 87 who visited the health promotion centers in Seoul for routine health examinations from April, 2006 to June, 2007. Abdominal obesity was defined as WC ≥90 cm for men and ≥85 cm for women in accordance with the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity. For ever drinkers, total alcohol consumption in grams was classified into four groups (group 1, non-drinkers; group 2, 1-10 g of alcohol per day; group 3, 11-20 g of alcohol per day; and group 4, over 20 g of alcohol per day). RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 45.4 yr old (men) and 45.3 yr (women). The average waist circumference was 85.3 cm in men and 75.3 cm in women. A high alcohol intake was associated with high waist circumference in both genders. In multivariate analysis, the group of men and women drinkers consuming >20 g in a day had a large waist circumference compared with men and women non-drinkers. CONCLUSION: This study showed that a high alcohol intake was related to high waist circumference. Such association remained independently even after adjustment for smoking, which is strongly related to abdominal obesity.ope

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Perception and attitude of Korean physicians towards generic drugs

Abstract Background In 2012, a new pharmaceutical policy was introduced in Korea. According to the new policy, off-patent brand-name drugs (original drugs) and generic drugs must be priced the same. Methods This study aims to investigate the perception and attitude of Korean physicians towards generic drugs before and after the policy reform. Surveys were conducted with registered doctors at the Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA) twice, in 2011 and 2013, by means of email and HIRA online survey systems. Results In the 2011 survey, 82% knew about the bioequivalent (BE) guideline, whereas only 25.7% trusted BE testing results. More than half preferred original drugs to generic drugs because of clinical experience and generic drugs confidence limits. 64.2% pointed out that the Korean generic drugs prices are more expensive than in other counties. In the 2013 survey, 73% preferred original drugs to generic drugs because of believed difference in drug effectiveness. After the pricing policy reform, 35.5% stated that they didn’t change their prescribing pattern, whereas 29.7% stated that they began prescribing generic drugs. Conclusions The Korean government has revised and strengthen the guideline on BE test to improve the quality and confidence of generic drugs. Although generic drugs prescription was increased slightly more than the 2011 survey, 2013 survey showed that around 70% of respondents still preferred original drugs

Analysis of Association of Occupational Physical Activity, Leisure-Time Physical Activity, and Sedentary Lifestyle with Hypertension according to the Adherence with Aerobic Activity in Women Using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016-2017 Data

Purpose. We investigated the association between occupational physical activity, leisure-time physical activity, and sedentary lifestyle with hypertension by adherence with aerobic exercise in middle-aged and elderly women. Methods. A cross-sectional analysis was performed using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), a nationally representative data between 2016 and 2017. A total of 4,241 women aged 40 years or older were included. Hypertension diagnosed by physician and exercise status was asked by questionnaires. Results. Mean age of the participants was 58.4 (±11.4, range: 40∼80 years). There were 1,681 (39.6%) women in the aerobic activity adherence group. In the logistic regression analysis with adjustment for confounding factors, frequency of occupational physical activity (OPA) level (OR 1.931; p=0.048, in ≤4 per week group), walking frequency (OR 0.436; p=0.001, in 5∼7 days per week walking group compared with never walking group) in the aerobic activity adherence group, sitting hours (OR 1.849; 95% CI: 1.279–2.673, p=0.001, in 13 hours or longer group compared with 6 hours or less sitting hours group), and muscle strengthening exercises (OR 0.554; 95% CI: 0.353–0.870, p=0.010, 1∼4 days per week compared with never) in the nonadherence group were significantly associated with hypertension. Conclusions. In the aerobic activity adherence group, further research is needed to identify the influence of occupational physical activity. In the aerobic activity nonadherence group, decreasing sitting hours and increasing endurance exercise may be helpful

Effect of Aerobic Physical Activity on Health-Related Quality of Life in Middle Aged Women with Osteoarthritis: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2016–2017)

Background: There have been few studies reporting the association between health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and osteoarthritis (OA) in female subjects performing aerobic exercise or not. The aim of this study is to compare HRQoL between OA patients and non-OA subjects in middle aged Korean women (40–59 years) with/without aerobic physical activity, and also to identify an association between EQ-5D instrument based HRQoL and OA controlling for aerobic exercise. Methods: This study used the cross-sectional data, the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNANES) from 2016 to 2017. We only selected those who had completed the evaluations of aerobic physical activity and osteoarthritis diagnosis. In total, 2445 middle aged women were finally selected for this study. The European quality of life-5 dimensions (EQ-5D) was used for the evaluation of HRQoL as a dependent variable. In socio-demographic factors, age, sex, income level, education level, marital status, economic activity, type of insurance and private insurance and behaviour-related factors were included. One-way analysis of variance was conducted to compare the EQ-5D index and multiple linear regression analysis was employed to identify associated factors with the EQ-5D index. Results: In total, 2445 middle aged women were included in this study, in which 2209 participants were normal (90.0%) with aerobic physical activity (no: 55.0%, yes: 45.0%) and 246 participants were diagnosed with osteoarthritis (10.0%) with aerobic physical activity (no: 56.1%, yes: 43.9%). In group 2-2 (OA with aerobic), the moderate level of muscle exercise (less than 5 days per week) showed the highest HRQoL (p < 0.05) and high level exercise showed the lowest HRQoL (p < 0.05). In menopause status, the participants under menopause status showed lower HRQoL (p < 0.05) than those not under menopause status in group 2-2 (OA with aerobic) only. Conclusions: The HRQoL of OA patients was significantly lower than that of normal participants in middle aged Korean women (40–59 years). Especially, OA patients with maintained aerobic physical activity showed significantly higher HRQoL than those without that under controlling covariates such as age, income level, education level, marital status, economic activity, type of insurance, etc

Association of the Risk of Osteoarthritis and Hypertension in the Korean Adult Population Aged 40–59 in Pre- and Postmenopausal Women: Using Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2012–2016 Data

Purpose. Previous studies reported the relation of osteoarthritis (OA) and hypertension (HTN) mostly in postmenopausal women. This study aimed to identify the association between OA and HTN in pre- and postmenopausal women. Methods. We used data of 4,627 middle-aged (40–59 years) women from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2012 to 2016. Chi-square and t-test compared the characteristics of the participants. Binomial logistic regression was used to identify an association between OA and HTN under controlling covariates such as age, tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity. Results. There were 1,859 participants with non-OA and menopause, 104 with OA and nonmenopause, and 375 with OA and menopause, respectively. The number of women with OA and HTN was 129. OA was significantly associated with HTN diagnosis in postmenopausal women under controlling covariates (odds ratio: 1.408, 95% CI: 1.092–1.815, p=0.008). However, this relationship was weakened in premenopausal women (odds ratio: 1.651, 95% CI: 0.950–2.869, p=0.075). Conclusion. In conclusion, women with HTN showed a distinct association with OA than the normotensives, and this relationship was more apparent among postmenopausal women. Further research is needed for a preventive approach

Additional file 1: of Exercise and cancer mortality in Korean men and women: a prospective cohort study

Table S1. List of cancers included in the study based on the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision codes. (DOCX 16 kb