Mitigating Health Inequalities of Socially Vulnerable in South Korea: Role for Social Work

The purpose of this study is to develop a social work education strategy for mitigating health inequalities among the socially vulnerable. The limitations of the healthcare approach to health promotion and health inequality, which we examined through the health belief model describing an individual’s health behavior, emphasize the prevention of diseases that have not yet occurred or are likely to occur, healthcare management for them, and the functions and role of the community in the process, based on the individual’s spontaneity to practice health behaviors. Therefore, to compensate for these limitations, it is deemed necessary to add healthcare curriculum, such as public health, social epidemiology, and etiology, to the existing curriculum of social work based on an in-depth understanding of social vulnerability and social environment as well as the importance of preventing and managing diseases

Flow Characteristics Around Step-Up Street Canyons with Various Building Aspect Ratios

We investigate the flow characteristics around step-up street canyons with various building aspect ratios (ratio of along-canyon building length to street-canyon width, and upwind building height to downwind building height) using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Simulated results are validated against experimental wind-tunnel results, with the CFD simulations conducted under the same building configurations as those in the wind-tunnel experiments. The CFD model reproduces the measured in-canyon vortex, rooftop recirculation zone above the downwind building, and stagnation point position reasonably well. We analyze the flow characteristics, focusing on the structural change of the in-canyon flows and the interaction between the in- and around-canyon flows with the increase of building-length ratio. The in-canyon flows undergo development and mature stages as the building-length ratio increases. In the development stage (i.e., small building-length ratios), the position of the primary vortex wanders, and the incoming flow closely follows both the upstream and downstream building sidewalls. As a result, increasing momentum transfer from the upper layer contributes to a momentum increase in the in-canyon region, and the vorticity in the in-canyon region also increases. In the mature stage (i.e., large building-length ratios), the primary vortex stabilizes in position, and the incoming flow no longer follows the building sidewalls. This causes momentum loss through the street-canyon lateral boundaries. As the building-length ratio increases, momentum transfer from the upper layer slightly decreases, and the reverse flow, updraft, and streamwise flow in the in-canyon region also slightly decrease, resulting in vorticity reduction

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma of the lung

Benign leiomyomas of the uterus are uncommonly found in association with benign smooth muscle tumors beyond the confines of the uterus. Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare disease in which the lung is described to be the most afflicted extrauterine organ. We present a brief review of the literature, along with case reports for four patients who were followed up after resection of a pulmonary lesion or after pathological confirmation by biopsy. The clinical course of BML varies from chronic asymptomatic appearance to rapid progression, leading to respiratory failure and death. Our BML patients did not complain of pulmonary symptoms, such as cough, dyspnea, or chest tightness. Pathology revealed benign leiomyomas with no atypia and mitotic activity <5 per 10 high-power field. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for actin and desmin. A standard treatment for BML has not yet been established. Because of the hormone-sensitive characteristics of BML, treatments are based on hormonal manipulation along with either surgical or medical oophorectomy. Benign metastasizing leiomyoma can be observed in postmenopausal women. We observed four patients who did not receive adjuvant hormonal therapy because they were postmenopausal or perimenopausal. All patients are still healthy and show no evidence of recurrence or progression of the disease

Waterlogging induced oxidative stress and the mortality of the Antarctic plant, Deschampsia antarctica

We investigated the mortality and the oxidative damages of Deschampsia antarctica in response to waterlogging stress. In field, we compared the changes in the density of D. antarctica tuft at the two different sites over 3 years. The soil water content at site 2 was 6-fold higher than that of site 1, and the density of D. antarctica tuft decreased significantly by 55.4% at site 2 for 3 years, but there was no significant change at site 1. Experimental results in growth chamber showed that the H2O2 and malondialdehyde content increased under root-flooding treatment (hypoxic conditions—deficiency of O2), but any significant change was not perceptible under the shoot-flooding treatment (anoxic condition—absence of O2). However, total chlorophyll, soluble sugar, protein content, and phenolic compound decreased under the shoot-flooding treatment. In addition, the catalase activity increased significantly on the 1st day of flooding. These results indicate that hypoxic conditions may lead to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species, and anoxic conditions can deplete primary metabolites such as sugars and protein in the leaf tissues of D. antarctica. Under present warming trend in Antarctic Peninsula, D. antarctica tuft growing near the shoreline might more frequently experience flooding due to glacier melting and inundation of seawater, which can enhance the risk of this plant mortality.This research was supported by the Korea Polar Research Institute grant Status and Changes of Polar Indicator Species and Coastal/Terrestrial Ecosystems (PE10040) and by National Institute of Ecology grant Ecological Studies of Alien Species (NIE-A-2019-08)

Effects of moxibustion for constipation treatment: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials

Several studies reported that moxibustion was effective in treating constipation. This systematic review assesses the clinical evidence for or against moxibustion for treating constipation. Twelve databases were searched from their inception to March 2010. Only randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were included if they compared moxibustion with placebo, sham treatment, drug therapy or no treatment. The methodological quality of these RCTs was assessed with the Cochrane risk of bias analysis. All three RCTs included in the study had a high risk of bias. Two included studies found favorable effects of moxibustion. The third RCT showed significant effects in the moxibustion group. Given that the methodological quality of all RCTs was poor, the results from the present review are insufficient to suggest that moxibustion is an effective treatment for constipation. More rigorous studies are warranted

Paratracheal Air Cysts: Sonographic Findings in Two Cases

We report two cases of paratracheal air cyst discovered incidentally at neck ultrasonography and confirmed at CT. The cysts were located at the inferoposterior aspect of the right lobe of the thyroid. Ultrasonography revealed an ill-defined hypoechoic mass containing hyperechoic foci which mimicked calcifications. Neck CT confirmed the presence of an ill-defined air pocket which communicated with the trachea through a slit

Intestinal microbiota, chronic inflammation, and colorectal cancer

In addition to genetic and epigenetic factors, various environmental factors, including diet, play important roles in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). Recently, there is increasing interest in the intestinal microbiota as an environmental risk factor for CRC, because diet also influences the composition of the intestinal microbiota. The human intestinal microbiota comprises about 100 trillion microbes. This microbiome thrives on undigested dietary residues in the intestinal lumen and produces various metabolites. It is well known that the dietary risk factors for CRC are mediated by dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota and their metabolites. In this review, we describe the bacterial taxa associated with CRC, including Fusobacterium nucleatum, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, Escherichia coli, and butyrate-producing bacteria. We also discuss the host-diet interaction in colorectal carcinogenesis

Soybeans Ameliolate Diabetic Nephropathy in Rats

Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most frequent and serious complications of diabetes mellitus. Soybeans have been shown to reduce urinary albumin excretion and total cholesterol in non-diabetic patients with nephrotic syndrome. However, reports focusing specifically on diabetic nephropathy are scarce and the available results are inconsistent. It was reported that soybean consumption reduced urinary protein excretion in type 1 diabetic patients with diabetic nephropathy, whereas it was found to elicit an increase in urinary protein excretion when soybeans were consumed by type 2 diabetic patients. This study aims to investigate the effects of soybean in diabetic nephropathy, particularly the effects of consuming soybeans on the histopathology of diabetic nephropathy, using aquaporin (AQP) and osteopontin (OPN) expression as diagnostic markers. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of three groups: control, diabetic with red chow diet and diabetic with soybean diet. For histological examination, the expression of OPN and AQP, renal function and hemoglobin A1c were evaluated at the end of the study. Improvements in glomerular and tubulointerstitial lesions were demonstrated in the diabetic rat group given a soybean diet. OPN and AQP expression were suppressed in the kidney specimens of diabetic rats with the soybean diet. In conclusion, soybeans may prevent the weight loss and morphological disruption of the kidney associated with diabetes mellitus. Soybeans also may improve glycemic control. It seems likely that long-term control of blood glucose levels using a soybean diet could prevent the progression of diabetes mellitus, and therefore, nephropathy could be prevented