Korean municipal orchestras : current problems and future prospects

This thesis is a study of Korean municipal orchestras which focuses on both the internal and external environment in order to examine and better understand arguments that they face 'challenges' that are not to be solved simply through 'efficiency' or 'better organisation', but are part of wider socio-cultural change that previous studies have failed to take adequately into consideration. This study, therefore, examines diverse aspects of the difficulties faced by contemporary Korean municipal orchestras while addressing five research questions concerning Korean cultural policy, the socio-economic context in which orchestras operate, job satisfaction, interpersonal conflict, and diminishing local government funding. In pursuit of this investigation, a triangulation methodology is adopted, which includes the scrutiny of documentation along with qualitative in-depth interviews (with orchestral players, administrative staff, and civil servants) and a quantitative questionnaire survey (with 128 players and 10 administrative staff). The research findings are given in detail in relevant chapters, but the key findings may be summarised here as follows: Political, economic, historic, and socio-cultural factors have greatly influenced the cultural policy of the Korean central government, but Korean municipal orchestras are influenced more by policies of local governments who provide them with a source of funding. Players in Korean municipal orchestras are highly satisfied with their work but dissatisfied with present pay, lack of authority, and the hierarchical structure. Orchestral administrative staff are dissatisfied with lack of autonomy and promotion. Male players have higher perception of intrapersonal conflict and intergroup conflict compared to female players, and male players have a greater preference for using integrating and compromising styles when managing interpersonal conflict with peers. Korean municipal orchestras, having a public service role, have been used to receiving relatively stable financial aid from local governments, but this has created a lack of commercial awareness about what is required to bolster their legitimacy in the face of potential financial cuts and small audiences. The 'civilizing mission' of the arts is no longer accepted as automatic justification. Although a complete governance change is considered a key factor for the success of municipal orchestras, such change is inadequate in itself: the real challenge for a brighter future lies with players, administrative staff, and the cities and their cooperation

PD-1 deficiency protects experimental colitis via alteration of gut microbiota

Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) is a coinhibitory molecule and plays a pivotal role in immune regulation. Here, we demonstrate a role for PD-1 in pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Wild-type (WT) mice had severe wasting disease during experimentally induced colitis, while mice deficient for PD-1 (PD-1(-/-)) did not develop colon inflammation. Interestingly, PD-1(-/-) mice cohoused with WT mice became susceptible to colitis, suggesting that resistance of PD-1(-/-) mice to colitis is dependent on their gut microbiota. 16S rRNA gene-pyrosequencing analysis showed that PD-1(-/-) mice had altered composition of gut microbiota with significant reduction in Rikenellaceae family. These altered colon bacteria of PD-1(-/-) mice induced less amount of inflammatory mediators from colon epithelial cells, including interleukin (IL)-6, and inflammatory chemokines. Taken together, our study indicates that PD-1 expression is involved in the resistance to experimental colitis through altered bacterial communities of colon.112Ysciescopuskc

Gender Based Health Inequality and Impacting Factors

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to identify gender-based health inequality and explore impacting factors on health inequality in one province in Korea. METHODS: This was an explanatory study using the secondary data on Chungnam province from the Fifth Community Health Survey from August 16 to Oct 31, 2012. Variables included in this analysis were education level, poverty, marital status, and residential community for socio-cultural characteristics and subjective health status as an indicator of health inequality. Data were analyzed by chi2-test, t-test, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: There were gender inequalities and disparities in health, and these inequalities were greater in woman than in man (chi2=161.8, p<.001). The impacting factors were education level, poverty, marital status, and residential community, which was accounted for 22.6% of variances of health inequality. Among these variables, gender showed the largest influence in health inequalities. CONCLUSION: To solve health inequalities, it should be considered gender differences based on social determinants of health. It is necessary to develop long term project based on these results and the social determinants model of World Health Organization