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Background: Calf diarrhea leads to high mortality rates and decreases in growth and productivity, causing negative effects on the livestock industry. Lactate is closely associated with metabolic acidosis in diarrheic calves. However, there have been no reports on lactate concentrations in Korean indigenous (Hanwoo) calves, especially those with diarrhea. This study aimed to determine the reference range of L-lactate and D-lactate concentrations in Hanwoo calves and to better understand the utility of lactate as predictive factors for acidemia in diarrheic calves., Results: L-lactate and D-lactate concentrations were measured in healthy (n = 44) and diarrheic (n = 93) calves, and blood gas analysis was performed on diarrheic calves. The reference range in healthy calves was 0.2-2.25 mmol/L for L-lactate and 0.42-1.38 mmol/L for D-lactate. Diarrheic calves had higher concentrations of L-lactate and D-lactate than healthy calves. In diarrheic calves, L-lactate and D-lactate each had weak negative correlation with pH (r = - 0.31 and r = - 0.35). In diarrheic calves with hyper-L-lactatemia, the combined concentrations of L-lactate and D-lactate had moderate correlation with pH (r = - 0.51) and anion gap (r = 0.55). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed D-lactate had fair predictive performance (AUC = 0.74) for severe acidemia, with an optimal cut-off value of > 1.43 mmol/L. The combined concentrations of L-lactate and D-lactate showed fair predictive performance for predicting acidemia (AUC = 0.74) and severe acidemia (AUC = 0.72), with cut-off values of > 6.05 mmol/L and > 5.95 mmol/L., Conclusions: The determined reference ranges for L-lactate and D-lactate in Hanwoo calves enable the identification of hyper-L-lactatemia and hyper-D-lactatemia. Diarrheic calves exhibited increased lactate concentrations correlated with acid-base parameters. While the concentrations of L-lactate and D-lactate have limitations as single diagnostic biomarkers for predicting acidemia or severe acidemia, their measurement remains important, and L-lactate has the advantage of being measurable at the point-of-care. Assessing lactate concentrations should be considered by clinicians, especially when used alongside other clinical indicators and diagnostic tests. This approach can improve calf diarrhea management, contributing positively to animal welfare and providing economic benefits to farms., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure primarily occurs through dietary intake. This study aimed to estimate the extent of dietary BPA exposure among Koreans. A thorough literature search was conducted to establish a BPA content database encompassing common foods consumed in Korea, including various food raw materials and processed food products. Dietary exposure levels were estimated by integrating the constructed BPA database with comprehensive nationwide 24 h-dietary recall datasets. The finding revealed that dietary BPA exposure was low for most Koreans, with a mean of 14.5 ng/kg bw/day, but was higher for preschool-age children (over 23 ng). Canned foods accounted for 9-36% of the total dietary exposure of the highest dietary exposure groups; while across all age groups, a considerable amount was derived from canned tuna, contribution of canned fruits and canned coffee (milk-containing) was high for preschool-age children and adults, respectively. Notably, for adults, a substantial proportion also stemmed from beer packaged in cans. While diet contributed over 80% of aggregate exposure for most age groups, preschool-age children experienced 60% exposure through diet due to additional exposure from indoor dust. Even at the high exposure scenario, aggregate BPA exposure levels remained lower than the current tolerable daily intake (TDI) set by the Korean agency (20 μg/kg bw/day). Nevertheless, most Koreans were exposed to BPA levels surpassing the strictest TDI (0.2 ng/kg bw/day) set by the European Food Safety Authority.

Background: Regularity of menstrual cycles is an important indicator of women's health and fertility, and female workers are exposed to several factors, such as sleep disorders, stress, and shift work, that affect their menstrual regularity. This makes it necessary to comprehensively identify the determinants of menstrual regularity. Therefore, this study identified the factors affecting menstrual regularity among female workers from physiological, psychological, and situational dimensions based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms., Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the 2010-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and utilized the data of 2418 female workers. Based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms, physiological factors included age, age at menarche, childbirth experience, body mass index, and sleep duration. Psychological factors included stress level, depressive mood, and suicidal ideation. Situational factors included education level, household income, consumption of alcohol, engagement in smoking, and work schedule. The χ²-test and hierarchical logistic regression analysis were performed, reflecting the complex sample design., Results: Age at menarche, childbirth experience, and body mass index among physiological factors and education level and work schedule among situational factors were found to be related to menstrual regularity. A higher risk of menstrual irregularities was found among those who had given birth (versus those who had not), had a high age at menarche (versus those with a low age at menarche), were obese (versus those who had a normal body mass index), had elementary school-level or lesser educational achievements (versus those with college graduate-level or higher educational achievements), and who had a shift work schedule (versus those with a fixed schedule)., Conclusions: Intervention is needed for female workers who have these risk factors, and special attention must be paid to female workers who have a shift work schedule. Additionally, since body mass index can be controlled, intervention concerning body mass index is necessary to reduce menstrual irregularity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study examined how uncertainty affects information seeking and avoidance behaviors via information insufficiency in the COVID-19 vaccination context. It also investigated how trust in science, government, and society moderate the effects of information insufficiency. An online experiment with 131 Korean adults showed that uncertainty indirectly affects information seeking intentions via information insufficiency, which is moderated by science trust and governmental trust. It also showed that uncertainty indirectly affects information avoidance intentions via information insufficiency, which is moderated by social trust., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

We aimed to evaluate the association between daily dietary calcium intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in postmenopausal women using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). This cross-sectional study included 12,348 women aged 45-70 years who had reached natural menopause. They were classified into three groups according to daily dietary calcium intake: <400 mg, 400-800 mg, and >800 mg. The risks of CVD, stroke, angina, and myocardial infarction were assessed in each group. Further, we performed subgroup analysis according to the post-menopause duration (≤10 vs. >10 postmenopausal years). We performed logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age, menopausal age, income, urban area, education, insulin use, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, high alcohol intake, smoking, exercise, oral contraceptive use, and hormonal therapy use. Calcium intake level was not significantly associated with the risk of CVD in the total population and the ≤10 postmenopausal years subgroup. However, in the >10 postmenopausal years subgroup, daily calcium intake >800 mg was associated with significantly decreased risks of all CVD (odds ratio [OR], 0.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.11-0.64), stroke (OR, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.01-0.42), and myocardial infarction (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.11-0.64). Our findings suggest that a dietary calcium intake of >800 mg/day decreases the risk of CVD events in women who have been menopausal for >10 years.

The objective of this study was to compare the hematology profiles of Korean indigenous cattle (Hanwoo) raised in a barn (housed) or on pasture (grazing). Our findings showed significant differences in the red blood cell (RBC) profiles of these 2 groups. When compared to cattle raised in a barn, a significant decrease in hematocrit ( P = 0.000), hemoglobin ( P = 0.000), and red blood cells (RBCs) ( P = 0.000) and a significant increase in mean cell volume ( P = 0.015) and reticulocytes ( P = 0.000) were observed in grazing cattle, which indicate regenerative anemia. Furthermore, indirect bilirubin was significantly higher in grazing cattle, which indicates intravascular hemolysis and neutropenia ( P = 0.000), and monocytosis ( P = 0.000) was also identified. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that demonstrates changes in reticulocyte count and indirect bilirubin levels secondary to regenerative intravascular hemolysis in grazing cattle., (Copyright and/or publishing rights held by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.)

This study aimed to explore digital literacy among community-dwelling older adults in urban South Korea. A semistructured interview guide was developed using the Digital Competence ( 2.0 framework, which emphasizes the competencies for full digital participation in five categories: information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, content creation, safety, and problem-solving. The data were analyzed using combined inductive and deductive content analysis. Inductive analysis identified three main categories: perceived ability to use digital technology, responses to digital technology, and contextual factors. In the results of deductive analysis, participants reported varying abilities in using digital technologies for information and data literacy, communication or collaboration, and problem-solving. However, their abilities were limited in handling the safety or security of digital technology and lacked in creating digital content. Responses to digital technology contain subcategories of perception (positive or negative) and behavior (trying or avoidance). Regarding contextual factors, aging-related physical and cognitive changes were identified as barriers to digital literacy. The influence of families or peers was viewed as both a facilitator and a barrier. Our participants recognized the importance of using digital devices to keep up with the trend of digitalization, but their digital literacy was mostly limited to relatively simple levels., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP) was a multidisciplinary prospective study conducted in South Korea that measured various health biomarkers from blood, hair, and brain magnetic resonance imaging, and we examined their associations with sociocentric (global) social network data of older adults in 2 entire villages (or cohorts). Cohort K included participants aged 60 years or older, and cohort L included participants aged 65 years or older. We performed a baseline survey involving 814 of the 860 individuals (94.7% response rate) in cohort K in 2012 and 947 of the 1,043 individuals (90.8% response rate) in cohort L in 2017. We gathered longitudinal data for 5 waves in cohort K from 2011 to 2019 and 2 waves in cohort L from 2017 to 2022. Here, we describe for the first time the follow-up design of the KSHAP, the changes in social networks, and various biomarkers over a number of years. The data for cohort K are publicly available via the Korean Social Science Data Archive as well as the project website, and the data for cohort L will be shared soon., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Turner syndrome (TS) is a common chromosomal abnormality, which is caused by loss of all or part of one X chromosome. Hormone replacement therapy in TS is important in terms of puberty, growth and prevention of osteoporosis however, such a study has never been conducted in Korea. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to determine relationship between the starting age, duration of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) in TS and develop a hormone replacement protocol suitable for the situation in Korea., Methods: This is retrospective study analyzed the medical records in TS patients treated at the Severance hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea from 1997 to 2019. Total of 188 subjects who had received a bone density test at least once were included in the study. Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) was used for achieving bone mineral density (BMD) of normal control group. Student's t -test, Mann-Whitney U test, ANOVA and correlation analysis were performed using SPSS 18.0., Results: Each BMD measurement was significantly lower in women with TS than in healthy Korean women. Early start and longer duration of ERT is associated with higher lumbar spine BMD but not femur neck BMD. Femur neck BMD, but not lumbar spine BMD was significantly higher in women with mosaicism than 45XO group., Conclusion: Early onset and appropriate duration of hormone replacement therapy is important for increasing bone mineral density in patients with Turner syndrome. Also, ERT affects differently to TS patients according to mosaicism., Competing Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (© 2024 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.)

Tiller number is an important trait associated with yield in rice. Tiller number in Korean japonica rice was analyzed under greenhouse conditions in 160 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between the temperate japonica varieties Odae and Unbong40 to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs). A genetic map comprising 239 kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) and 57 cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence markers was constructed. qTN3 , a major QTL for tiller number, was identified at 132.4 cm on chromosome 3. This QTL was also detected under field conditions in a backcross population; thus, qTN3 was stable across generations and environments. qTN3 co-located with QTLs associated with panicle number per plant and culm diameter, indicating it had pleiotropic effects. The qTN3 regions of Odae and Unbong40 differed in a known functional variant (4 bp TGTG insertion/deletion) in the 5' UTR of OsTB1 , a gene underlying variation in tiller number and culm strength. Investigation of variation in genotype and tiller number revealed that varieties with the insertion genotype had lower tiller numbers than those with the reference genotype. A high-resolution melting marker was developed to enable efficient marker-assisted selection. The QTL qTN3 will therefore be useful in breeding programs developing japonica varieties with optimal tiller numbers for increased yield.

Background: Studies have reported that osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is more prevalent in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is considered reasonable management of ONFH. However, only scarce data exist on the outcomes of THA for HIV-infected patients in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the midterm results of HIV-positive patients who underwent THA for ONFH., Methods: We performed a retrospective review of HIV-infected patients with ONFH who underwent THA in our institution from 2005 to 2021. Twenty-two hips in 15 patients underwent THAs with cementless implants. The clinical and radiographic evaluation was performed at each follow-up, and any complication was recorded., Results: The mean follow-up period was 5.2 years (range, 1.0-16.0 years). The mean age of the HIV infected patients with osteonecrosis at the time of surgery was 44.7 ± 11.6 years. ONFH occurred 9.8 ± 3.7 years after the initial diagnosis of HIV infection. The average modified Harris hip score improved from 58.3 ± 14.8 to 95.2 ± 11.3 at the latest follow-up. Surgical complications such as infection, nerve injury, or dislocation were not present. The radiographic evidence of stable fixation by bone ingrowth without migration was seen in all implants., Conclusions: Our data suggest that THA is a safe and valid option of treatment for ONFH in well-controlled HIV-infected patients in Korea. Further large-scale nationwide studies are warranted., Competing Interests: CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The corresponding author (JJY) has patent arrangement from Corentec company manufacturing Bencox M stem. The other authors certify that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article., (Copyright © 2023 by The Korean Orthopaedic Association.)

Background: Current international guidelines recommend against deep sedation as it is associated with worse outcomes in the intensive care unit (ICU). However, in Korea the prevalence of deep sedation and its impact on patients in the ICU are not well known., Methods: From April 2020 to July 2021, a multicenter, prospective, longitudinal, noninterventional cohort study was performed in 20 Korean ICUs. Sedation depth extent was divided into light and deep using a mean Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale value within the first 48 hours. Propensity score matching was used to balance covariables; the outcomes were compared between the two groups., Results: Overall, 631 patients (418 [66.2%] and 213 [33.8%] in the deep and light sedation groups, respectively) were included. Mortality rates were 14.1% and 8.4% in the deep and light sedation groups ( P = 0.039), respectively. Kaplan-Meier estimates showed that time to extubation ( P < 0.001), ICU length of stay ( P = 0.005), and death ( P = 0.041) differed between the groups. After adjusting for confounders, early deep sedation was only associated with delayed time to extubation (hazard ratio [HR], 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.55-0.80; P < 0.001). In the matched cohort, deep sedation remained significantly associated with delayed time to extubation (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.56-0.83; P < 0.001) but was not associated with ICU length of stay (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.79-1.13; P = 0.500) and in-hospital mortality (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 0.65-2.17; P = 0.582)., Conclusion: In many Korean ICUs, early deep sedation was highly prevalent in mechanically ventilated patients and was associated with delayed extubation, but not prolonged ICU stay or in-hospital death., Competing Interests: Ha-Yeong Gil is an employee of Pfizer Korea. Other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. The Pfizer Korea, sponsor of the present study, made no influence on study design, data collection and analysis, and writing., (© 2023 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.)

There is little evidence regarding the association between living arrangement and depression, and no studies have examined the age- and gender-specific differences in this association. The present study sought to examine the longitudinal changes in depression patterns between isolative living versus living in company among middle-aged and older men and women by obtaining data from waves 1-7 of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KloSA), which comprises a sample of persons at least 45 years of age in the Republic of Korea (2273 middle-aged and 1387 older men, 2805 middle aged and 1862 older women). Depression scores were based on the self-reported Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) short forms. Using mixed-effect linear regression models, we estimated depression patterns by living arrangement across age- and gender groups. Our findings from the mixed-effects model revealed that over a 14-year follow-up period, there were significant decreasing patterns of depression were among middle-aged men and women, and older men living alone compared to living with a spouse and living with others. However, living alone still had the highest depression compared to other living arrangement types. On the other hand, the depression of older women living alone changed to a level similar to those living with others during the follow-up period. In conclusion, these findings indicate that living alone significantly increases the risk of depression, but the risk decreases over time. Additionally, depression patterns by living arrangement proved to differ across age and gender groups., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Declarations of interest: none., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background/aims: Chronic enteropathy associated with SLCO2A1 gene (CEAS), an inherited disease characterized by nonspecific intestinal ulcers, has emerged in the Japanese population via loss-of-function mutations in the SLCO2A1 gene. We aimed to investigate the clinical and genetic characteristics of Korean patients diagnosed with CEAS., Methods: From July 2018 to July 2021, we performed Sanger sequencing of the SLCO2A1 gene in 46 patients with chronic intestinal ulcers. CEAS was confirmed based on known SLCO2A1 mutations. We summarized the clinical characteristics of patients with confirmed CEAS., Results: Fourteen out of 46 patients (30.4%) had genetically confirmed CEAS, and two SLCO2A1 variants were detected (splicing site variant c.940+1G>A and nonsense mutation [p.R603X] in SLCO2A1 ). Twelve patients (85.7%) were females and the median age at diagnosis of CEAS was 44.5 years. All patients presented with abdominal pain, and 13 patients (92.9%) presented with anemia (median hemoglobin, 9.6 g/dL). Ten patients (71.4%) had hypoalbuminemia (median, 2.7 g/dL). The most commonly involved site was the ileum (13/14, 92.9%). Manifestations of primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (PHO), such as digital clubbing, pachydermia, and periostosis were observed in five patients (28.6%) and two male patients and one female patient satisfied all major PHO diagnostic criteria., Conclusions: The clinical and genetic characteristics of Korean patients with confirmed CEAS were similar to those reported in the literature. CEAS should be considered in the differential diagnosis for patients with unexplained chronic nonspecific ulcers of the small intestine.

Introduction: Studies have shown that suicide is closely related to various social factors. However, due to the restriction in the data scale, our understanding of these social factors is still limited. We propose a conceptual framework for understanding social determinants of suicide at the national level and investigate the relationships between structural determinants (i.e., gender, employment statuses, and occupation) and suicide outcomes (i.e., types of suicide, places of suicide, suicide methods, and warning signs) in South Korea., Methods: We linked a national-level suicide registry from the Korea Psychological Autopsy Center with the Social Determinants of Health framework proposed by the World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health., Results: First, male and female suicide victims have clear differences in their typical suicide methods (fire vs. drug overdose), primary warning signs (verbal vs. mood), and places of death (suburb vs. home). Second, employees accounted for the largest proportion of murder-suicides (>30%). The proportion of students was much higher for joint suicides than for individual suicides and murder-suicides. Third, among individuals choosing pesticides as their suicide method, over 50% were primary workers. In terms of drug overdoses, professionals and laborers accounted for the largest percentage; the former also constituted the largest proportion in the method of jumping from heights., Conclusion: A clear connection exists between the investigated structural factors and various suicide outcomes, with gender, social class, and occupation all impacting suicide., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhu, Nam, Quan, Baek, Jeon and Tang.)

This study aimed to examine the associations of handgrip strength (HGS) and asymmetry with health-related quality of life among South Korean older adults. We enrolled 7395 older adults from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health-related quality of life was measured using the EuroQol-5 Dimension. Weakness was defined as a HGS of <26 kg for men and <18 kg for women. Handgrip strength symmetry was defined as an HGS ratio of 0.9:1.1, and HGS asymmetry was defined as a ratio outside that range. Data were analyzed using the Rao-Scott χ 2 , F test, and multivariate logistic regression. Compared with those in the "symmetric HGS and not weak" group, those in the "asymmetric HGS and weak" group had impaired health-related quality of life for all variables among men (odds ratios [ORs] = 1.67-3.75). A greater risk of impaired self-care (SC; odds ratio [OR] = 2.33) and anxiety/depression (AD; OR = 1.40) was observed among women in the "asymmetric HGS and weak" group. Handgrip weakness and asymmetry are associated with impaired health-related quality of life. Handgrip asymmetry can be a clinical marker of health-related quality of life in older adults and must be measured alongside HGS.

Social isolation and loneliness are the key risk factors for depression in late life. Older adults living alone and socially isolated are at greater risk for physical and mental health. This study aims to examine the mediating effects of subjective physical health, resilience, and social support on the association between loneliness and depression among the elderly female population living alone in South Korea. We included a total of 308 older women aged 60 years or older who live alone in a medium-sized city in South Korea. The survey data was collected using the validated survey instruments between November 2015 and April 2016. A parallel mediation model was performed to investigate whether physical health, resilience, and social support had mediating effects on the association of loneliness with depression. The findings of this study showed that loneliness was directly and indirectly associated with depression through its association with the subjective physical health, resilience, and social support among the older female population living alone. Our results suggest the importance of supporting community-based programs to improve physical and mental health of the elderly people as a way to minimize the level of loneliness and prevent depression.

Background: Social interest in sexual intercourse among teenagers is increasing in Korea. This study aimed to identify factors related to sexual intercourse among adolescents., Methods: This is a secondary analysis study using data from the 2020 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey, with information regarding 54,948 middle school and high school students in Korea having been analyzed. Demographics, health behavior, and mental health characteristics were included. Data evaluation involved chi-square test and binary multivariable logistic regression analysis., Results: For middle school students, sexual intercourse was related to their housing type [Odds Ratio (OR) = 10.698], smoking (OR = 5.165) and drinking (OR = 2.229) experience, suicide attempt (OR = 1.920), gender (OR = 1.632), loneliness (OR = 1.501), sadness and despair (OR = 1.493), year level (OR = 1.457), happiness (OR = 0.772), sleep status (OR = 0.716), economic status (OR = 0.705). For high school students, sexual intercourse was related to their smoking experience (OR = 4.746), housing type (OR = 3.661), drinking experience (OR = 2.840), drug use (OR = 2.511), suicide attempt (OR = 2.071), year level (OR = 1.989), sadness and despair (OR = 1.506), gender (OR = 1.429), suicide plan (OR = 1.402), loneliness (OR = 1.270), academic performance (OR = 1.165), happiness (OR = 0.865), subjective health status (OR = 0.814), and economic status (OR = 0.727). However, sleep status was statistically significant for middle school students, but not for high school students. Academic performance, drug use, suicide plan, and subjective health status were statistically significant in high school students, but not in middle school students., Conclusion: A program that can directly mediate these factors must be prepared. When conducting sex education for adolescents, mental health-related factors must also be considered., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Shim, Baek and Han.)

Background: Along with the rapid transmission of COVID-19, adherence to preventive behaviours plays a crucial role with respect to the control of COVID-19. However, different individuals' psychological characteristics and risk perception result in various forms of response to preventive behaviours. Based on the Health Belief Model, this study identifies the factors associated with preventive behaviours towards COVID-19 in South Korea during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2020 through an anonymous online survey. A total of 1207 people in the age bracket of 20-59 years participated in the survey. Single and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify the determinants of preventive behaviours against COVID-19., Results: The following factors were associated with preventive behaviours towards COVID-19: female gender (β = .124, p < 0.001), has a master's degree or above (β = 0.065, p = 0.010), perceived susceptibility (β = .197, p < 0.001), self-efficacy (β = .404, p < 0.001), trust in radio (β = -.080, p = .006), trust in official government website (β = .057, p = .045), trust in social networks (β = .054, p = .033), and trust in family and friends (β = .068, p = .009), with an explanatory power of 41.5% (R 2  = 0.415)., Conclusions: To flatten the epidemic curve, it is important to understand the public's risk perception and the motivation behind behavioural responses that aim to promote preventive behaviours among the public. Thus, this study calls for the provision of accessible and credible information sources and demonstrates a public health campaign that encourages the public's engagement in preventive behaviours towards COVID-19., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Accurate regional classification of highways is a critical prerequisite to implement a tailored safety assessment. However, there has been inadequate research on objective classification considering traffic flow characteristics for highway safety assessment purposes. We propose an objective and easily applicable classification method that considers the administrative divisions of South Korea. We evaluated the feasibility of this method through various theoretical analysis techniques using the data collected from 536 permanent traffic volume counting stations for the national highways in South Korea in 2019. The ratio of the annual average hourly traffic volume to the annual average daily traffic was used as the explanatory variable. The corresponding results of factor and cluster analyses with this ratio showed a 61% concordance with the urban, suburban, and rural areas classified by the administrative divisions. The results of two-sample goodness-of-fit tests also confirmed that the difference in the three distributions of hourly volume ratios was statistically significant. The results of this study can help enhance highway safety and facilitate the development and application of more appropriate highway safety assessment tools, such as Road Assessment Programs or crash prediction models, for specific regions using the proposed method.

Purpose: The mutual effects of depressive symptoms between couples have long been reported; however, it remains unknown whether the spousal concordance in depressive symptoms differs depending on spousal relationships., Method: Data on 291 married couples from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP) were examined. The KSHAP collected global network data from the target population living in one Korean village over eight years and across five waves. A seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) model in the panel data was employed to address correlations and heterogeneity., Results: If one spouse (husband or wife) had depressive symptoms, the other spouse tended to have depressive symptoms. However, the effect of marital relations on spousal concordance in depressive symptoms was different among husbands and wives. This study demonstrated both spousal support and spousal network aspects of spousal relationships. Depression concordance was stronger for couples with more negative marital relationship. A supportive marital relationship was associated with less concordance between spouses' depressive symptoms for wives but not for husbands. Spousal network overlap was associated with less depression concordance for husbands; however, for wives, spousal network overlap was directly associated with more depressive symptoms and did not mediate the association with depression concordance., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that approaches to supporting older adults dealing with mental health disorders may involve support at both the individual and couple levels. Gender-specific strategies could also be devised to improve the mental well-being of the older population., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Background and Aims: Genome-wide association studies [GWAS] of inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] in multiple populations have identified over 240 susceptibility loci. We previously performed a largest-to-date Asian-specific IBD GWAS to identify two new IBD risk loci and confirm associations with 28 established loci. To identify additional susceptibility loci in Asians, we expanded our previous study design by doubling the case size with an additional dataset of 1726 cases and 378 controls., Methods: An inverse-variance fixed-effects meta-analysis was performed between the previous and the new GWAS dataset, comprising a total of 3195 cases and 4419 controls, followed by replication in an additional 1088 cases and 845 controls., Results: The meta-analysis of Korean GWAS identified one novel locus for ulcerative colitis at rs76227733 on 10q24 [pcombined = 6.56 × 10-9] and two novel loci for Crohn's disease [CD] at rs2240751 on 19p13 [pcombined = 3.03 × 10-8] and rs6936629 on 6q22 [pcombined = 3.63 × 10-8]. Pathway-based analysis of GWAS data using MAGMA showed that the MHC and antigenic stimulus-related pathways were more significant in Korean CD, whereas cytokine and transcription factor-related pathways were more significant in European CD. Phenotype variance explained by the polygenic risk scores derived from Korean data explained up to 14% of the variance of CD whereas those derived from European data explained 10%, emphasizing the need for large-scale genetic studies in this population., Conclusions: The identification of novel loci not previously associated with IBD suggests the importance of studying IBD genetics in diverse populations., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Next-generation sequencing technologies have enabled the discovery of numerous sequence variations among closely related crop varieties. We analyzed genome resequencing data from 24 Korean temperate japonica rice varieties and discovered 954,233 sequence variations, including 791,121 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 163,112 insertions/deletions (InDels). On average, there was one variant per 391 base-pairs (bp), a variant density of 2.6 per 1 kbp. Of the InDels, 10,860 were longer than 20 bp, which enabled conversion to markers resolvable on an agarose gel. The effect of each variant on gene function was predicted using the SnpEff program. The variants were categorized into four groups according to their impact: high, moderate, low, and modifier. These groups contained 3524 (0.4%), 27,656 (2.9%), 24,875 (2.6%), and 898,178 (94.1%) variants, respectively. To test the accuracy of these data, eight InDels from a pre-harvest sprouting resistance QTL ( qPHS11 ) target region, four highly polymorphic InDels, and four functional sequence variations in known agronomically important genes were selected and successfully developed into markers. These results will be useful to develop markers for marker-assisted selection, to select candidate genes in map-based cloning, and to produce efficient high-throughput genome-wide genotyping systems for Korean temperate japonica rice varieties.

Massive resequencing efforts have been undertaken to catalog allelic variants in major crop species including soybean, but the scope of the information for genetic variation often depends on short sequence reads mapped to the extant reference genome. Additional de novo assembled genome sequences provide a unique opportunity to explore a dispensable genome fraction in the pan-genome of a species. Here, we report the de novo assembly and annotation of Hwangkeum, a popular soybean cultivar in Korea. The assembly was constructed using PromethION nanopore sequencing data and two genetic maps and was then error-corrected using Illumina short-reads and PacBio SMRT reads. The 933.12 Mb assembly was annotated as containing 79,870 transcripts for 58,550 genes using RNA-Seq data and the public soybean annotation set. Comparison of the Hwangkeum assembly with the Williams 82 soybean reference genome sequence (Wm82.a2.v1) revealed 1.8 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms, 0.5 million indels, and 25 thousand putative structural variants. However, there was no natural megabase-scale chromosomal rearrangement. Incidentally, by adding two novel subfamilies, we found that soybean contains four clearly separated subfamilies of centromeric satellite repeats. Analyses of satellite repeats and gene content suggested that the Hwangkeum assembly is a high-quality assembly. This was further supported by comparison of the marker arrangement of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes and of gene arrangement at the Rsv3 locus. Therefore, the results indicate that the de novo assembly of Hwangkeum is a valuable additional reference genome resource for characterizing traits for the improvement of this important crop species., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Genetics Society of America.)

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain (CAU 1508 T ) was isolated from marine sediment collected in the Republic of Korea. Growth was observed at 10-45 °C (optimum, 30 °C), pH 4.0-11.0 (optimum, pH 6.0-8.0) and with 0-8.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2-4 %). The isolate formed a monophyletic clade in the phylogenetic analyses using 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences, exhibiting the highest similarity to Chachezhania antarctica SM1703 T (96.5 %), and representing a distinct branch within the genus Chachezhania (family Rhodobacteraceae ). Its whole genome sequence was 5.59 Mb long, with a G+C content of 65.7 mol% and 2183 predicted genes belonging to six functional categories. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between CAU 1508 T and C. antarctica SM1703 T were 79.1 and 22.2 %, respectively. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C 19 : 0 cyclo ω 8 c and summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1  ω 7 c /C 18 : 1  ω 6 c ). The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, two unidentified phospholipids and one unidentified aminophospholipid. The sole isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone 10. Phenotypic phylogenetic properties supported the classification of CAU 1508 T as representing a novel species of the genus Chachezhania , with the proposed name Chachezhania sediminis sp. nov. The type strain is CAU 1508 T (=KCTC 62999 T =NBRC 113697 T ).

A Gram-positive, aerobic, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterial strain, CAU 1483  T , was isolated from tidal-flat mud in the Republic of Korea. It grew optimally at 30 °C, in a pH 7.0 medium with 2% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain CAU 1483  T formed a separate clade within Paenibacillaceae together with members of the genus Cohnella. Strain CAU 1483  T exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (97.1%) to C. candidum 18JY8-7  T . Whole genome of strain CAU 1483  T was 4.29 Mb in size with a 53.7 mol% G + C content, and included 4046 coding sequences and included 4046 coding sequences, some of which associated with stress response. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization similarity between strain CAU 1483  T and related members of the genus Cohnella were 71.8-74.9% and 22.6-33.9%, respectively. The major respiratory quinone present in this strain was menaquinone-7. Strain CAU 1483  T contained anteiso-C 15:0 and iso-C 16:0 as the major fatty acids, while its polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, three unidentified aminophospholipids, two unidentified lipids and an unidentified phospholipid. Peptidoglycan type was A1γ meso-Dpm. On the basis of taxonomic characterization, strain CAU 1483  T constitutes a novel species, for which the name Cohnella pontilimi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of this novel species is CAU 1483  T (= KCTC 43047  T  = NBRC 113953  T ).

To date, knowledge of the association between social-relational patterns and health among rural elders in non-Western social and cultural contexts is scant. Using regional population data in rural South Korea, this study examines comprehensive social relations among rural elders, and the extent to which heterogeneous patterns of social relations were associated with cognitive impairment and depression. Using comprehensive social-relational indicators with (a) the structure of social relations (b) the quality of social relations, we applied latent class analysis identified four subgroups of social relations among rural older adults: Restricted, Spouse Focused-Ambivalent, Community Engaged-Positive, and Diverse. We found that the Community-Engaged group was less likely to be depressed as well as have co-ocurring problems of cognitive impairment and depression.

A Gram-stain-negative, slightly curved, rod-shaped bacterial strain CAU 1517 T was isolated from marine sediment in Busan, the Republic of Korea. The taxonomic position of strain CAU 1517 T was investigated via a polyphasic approach comprising phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic properties. Strain CAU 1517 T grew optimally at 30 °C, pH 7.5 and in the presence of 7% (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that strain CAU 1517 T belongs to the genus Halarcobacter and is most closely related to Halarcobacter bivalviorum LMG 26154 T (96.5% similarity). The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain CAU 1517 T and members of genus Halarcobacter ranged from were 76.7-78.0% and 19.5-21.2%, respectively. The strain contained menaquinone-6 (MK-6) as the only respiratory quinone, and C 16:0 , summed feature 3 (C 16:1 ω7c/C 16:1 ω6c), and summed feature 8 (C 18:1 ω7c/C 18:1 ω6c) as the major fatty acids. The polar lipid pattern consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, and two unidentified aminophospholipids. The G+C content was 28.2 mol%. Therefore, it has been demonstrated that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Halarcobacter, for which the name Halarcobacter arenosus sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is CAU 1517 T (=KCTC 72232 T  =NBRC 113955 T ).

Background: Pregnant women are at a high-risk of influenza infection. We have previously reported a low influenza vaccination coverage rate (4.0%) in Korea during the 2006-2007 influenza season. We conducted follow-up studies in 2011-2012 and 2018-2019 to observe changes in influenza vaccination coverage., Methods: Women who delivered at Inha University Hospital (Incheon, Korea) in 2011-2012 and 2018-2019 were enrolled in the study. We surveyed the rate of influenza vaccination, perception scores, and related factors through telephonic interviews and compared the results from 2011-2012 and 2018-2019 with those from 2006-2007., Results: The number of survey respondents was 227 in 2006-2007, 152 in 2011-2012, and 171 in 2018-2019. The rate of vaccination coverage increased from 4.0% in 2006-2007 to 42.0% in 2011-2012 and 59.3% in 2018-2019. Perception scores also increased progressively from 3.8 in 2006-2007 to 4.2 in 2011-2012 and 5.1 in 2018-2019. Physician recommendations for influenza vaccination also increased from 4.8% in 2006-2007 to 36.8% in 2011-2012 and 49.7% in 2018-2019. The most common reason for not getting vaccinated was the lack of awareness of influenza vaccination during pregnancy (36.9%). The perception scores and physician recommendation rates were significantly lower for unvaccinated women (3.87 and 8.4%, respectively) than for vaccinated women (5.14 and 69.1%, respectively)., Conclusion: The influenza vaccination coverage rate in pregnant women has increased significantly since our study in 2006-2007. However, further improvement in the coverage rate is needed. There is a need for active and comprehensive publicity and education regarding this issue among physicians and pregnant women., Competing Interests: The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (© 2021 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.)

Various aspects of social relationships have been examined as risk factors for mortality. In particular, most research has focused on either loneliness or social disengagement. We aimed to extend the current research by adding a group-level segregation measure utilizing the whole social network of one entire village in South Korea. The analyses were based on the Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project data collected over eight years across five waves. Of the 679 old adults who participated throughout the entire project (to wave 5), 63 were confirmed as deceased. All three aspects of social relationships examined, loneliness, social disengagement, and group-level segregation, were associated with mortality in the traditional Cox proportional hazard model without considering health-related time-varying covariates. However, a Cox marginal structural model, a counterfactual statistical measure that is designed to control for censoring bias due to sample attrition over the eight years and time-varying confounding variables, revealed that only group-level segregation was associated with mortality. Our results strongly suggest that more attention is needed on group-level segregation for mortality studies, as well as on well-known individual-level risk factors, including social disengagement and loneliness. All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

A Gram stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, short, rod-shaped bacterial strain CAU 1482 T was isolated from coal mine wastewater in Hongcheon, Korea. It grew well at 30 °C, pH 8.5, 2% NaCl (w/v). 16S rRNA-based phylogeny indicated that CAU 1482 T forms a distinct lineage within Aureimonas with high similarity to Aureimonas frigidaquae CW5 T (98.2%), Aureimonas altamirensis S21B T (98.0%), and Aureimonas glaciei B5-2 T (96.3%). The predominant cellular fatty acids were C 18:1 2-OH, C 16:0 , C 18:1 ω7c, and/or C 18:1 ω6c (summed feature 8), with Q-10 as the major isoprenoid quinone. The polar lipid profile comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, two unidentified aminolipids, and three unidentified lipids. The 3.9-Mb genome included 8 contigs and 3599 protein-coding genes with a 56.7 mol% G + C content. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values between strain CAU 1482 T and closely related strains of A. frigidaquae CW5 T and A. altamirensis S21B T were 72.2‒72.4% and 18.7‒18.8%, respectively. These phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic data support CAU 1482 T as a novel Aureimonas species, for which the name Aureimonas fodinaquatilis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CAU 1482 T (= KCTC 62995 T  = NBRC 113692 T ).

Background: Given the harmful effects of night shifts and rotating schedules on nurses' sleep and work performance, shift nurses' sleep patterns have been a research concern. Actigraphy involves acquisition of data using a movement sensor worn continuously on the nondominant wrist, typically for a week or more. Although actigraphy provides objective and accurate sleep data, sleep diaries have been a practical alternative. However, there is a lack of research on the agreement and consistency between the two methods of measuring sleep for shift work nurses. In addition, differences in sleep patterns by shift types among 8-hour fast-rotating shift work nurses has not yet been examined., Objectives: To evaluate the agreement between the sleep diary and actigraphy methods for sleep assessment, and to compare sleep parameters of 8-hour fast-rotating shift work nurses according to shift type., Design: Descriptive and prospective study design., Settings: Two tertiary hospitals in Seoul, South Korea., Participants: A total of 94 shift work nurses who wore actigraphy along with completing a sleep diary., Methods: Subjective and objective sleep parameters were recorded during a two-week period in a sleep diary and actigraphy, respectively. Bland-Altman plots and intraclass correlation coefficients were used to analyze the agreement between the two methods. Sleep parameters according to shift type were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests., Results: Good agreement was observed between the sleep diary and the actigraphy data for total sleep time (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.765 or 0.858) and variability in sleep time (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.838). When compared to the actigraphy data, diary-derived data were overestimated by 41-45 min for total sleep time and 0.4% for variability in sleep time. There was a difference of 2-3 h of sleep quantity by shift type: 5.3-5.8 h for day shifts and 7.1-8.4 h for night shifts., Conclusions: A sleep diary can function as an acceptable alternative to actigraphy for measuring shift work nurses' sleep patterns, specifically total sleep time and variability in sleep time. Given the high variability in sleep among shift work nurses, both personal and organizational efforts are required. Nurses should monitor their sleep quantity and develop their own regular sleep schedules to fit their work schedules. Hospitals should establish healthy schedules for nurses to guarantee sufficient sleep hours before work. Future research on shift work nurses' sleep should examine fluctuations in sleep duration., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare for this study., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyopneumoniae), a representative pathogen causing swine enzootic pneumonia, generally infects piglets vertically. However, it is difficult to ascertain the M. hyopneumoniae infection state of sows due to limited detection methods. This report investigated sow herd stability by applying nested PCR to laryngeal swabs of suckling pigs, which is reportedly the most sensitive method., Results: M. hyopneumoniae was detected in 14 farms (63.6%) and 127 piglets (6.5%). The prevalence of sows likely to transmit M. hyopneumoniae in herds (11.1%) was calculated. In addition, there was a significant difference in detection rates among farms depending on herd size, gilt replacement rate, acclimation method, and antibiotic usage, suggesting various parameters that influence sow stability., Conclusions: The results demonstrated that laryngeal swabs from suckling pigs have provided useful information regarding vertical transmission from sows in South Korean farm conditions. This result demonstrated that farms with larger herd sizes, higher gilt replacement rates, and a practice of naturally exposing gilts for acclimation had higher detection rates in weaning piglets, indicating an unstable sow infection state.

Background: Skin aging, particularly facial skin, has been actively studied. However, hand skin research is limited., Methods: Aging symptoms of 100 hands of Korean women aged from 20s to 60s were measured by noninvasive and bioengineering methods. Standard grade images were produced., Results: As people got older, skin wrinkles were getting worse and skin tone was uneven with the occurrence of structural flexion. For each symptom, a suitable standard photograph of the skin of the hand was chosen and a new grading scale was made., Conclusions: The new grading scale developed in the present study could be employed in studies to explore aging of hand skin as one of objective indicators., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Korean revised version (AUDIT-KR), we examined the association between habitual alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors among car users., Methods: We used the data of 15,043 car users aged 20 years or older from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) conducted between 2009 and 2013. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the associations between alcohol use and risk-taking behaviors (i.e., driving under the influence of alcohol, riding in a car being driven under the influence, not wearing a seat belt while driving, not wearing a seat belt in the passenger seat), while adjusting for individual-level covariates., Results: Compared to low-risk drinkers, high-risk drinkers (adjusted odds ratio [Adj.OR] 2.18, 95 % CI 1.96-2.42) and intermediate-risk drinkers (Adj.OR 1.39, 95 % CI 1.26-1.54) had higher odds of risk-taking behaviors while using a car. Stratifying by sociodemographic variables (i.e., sex, age, and region) led to differences in the relationship between alcohol-drinking level and risk-taking behaviors. Furthermore, alcohol-drinking level had significant positive associations with most of risk-taking behaviors, especially driving under the influence of alcohol and using a car with a drunken driver., Conclusion: Car users with high levels of alcohol consumption are more likely to be involved in risk-taking behaviors, especially in driving under the influence of alcohol. While causal relations cannot be established due to the nature of the cross-sectional design, it is possible that individuals' habitual alcohol consumption level can influence their risk-taking behaviors while using a car., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A Gram-stain-negative, yellow-pigmented, non-spore-forming, non-motile, rod-shaped, catalase-positive, strictly aerobic bacterial strain, designated CAU 1491 T , was isolated from seawater and its taxonomic position was examined using a polyphasic approach. Cells of strain CAU 1491 T grew optimally at 30 °C, pH 7.5 and in 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of CAU 1491 T showed that it formed a distinct lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae as a separate deep branch, with 97.0 % or lower sequence similarity to representatives of the genera Lacinutrix , Gaetbulibacter and Aquibacter . The major cellular fatty acids of strain CAU 1491 T were iso-C 15 : 0 , iso-C 15 : 1 G, iso-C 17 : 0 3-OH and summed feature 3. The polar lipid pattern consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine and an unidentified phospholipid. The strain contained MK-6 as the sole respiratory quinone. Genome sequencing revealed that strain CAU 1491 T has a genome size of 3.13 Mbp and a G+C content of 32.4 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic data, strain CAU 1491 T represents a new genus and species in the family Flavobacteriaceae for which the name Pontimicrobium aquaticum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Pontimicrobium aquaticum is CAU 1491 T (=KCTC 72003 T =NBRC 113695 T ).

Objectives: We compared the associations of 3 computed tomography (CT)-based abdominal adiposity indexes with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among middle-aged Korean men and women., Methods: The participants were 1366 men and 2480 women community-dwellers aged 30-64 years. Three abdominal adiposity indexes-visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), and visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR)-were calculated from abdominal CT scans. NAFLD was determined by calculating the Liver Fat Score from comorbidities and blood tests. An NAFLD prediction model that included waist circumference (WC) as a measure of abdominal adiposity was designated as the base model, to which VFA, SFA, and VSR were added in turn. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and net reclassification improvement (NRI) were calculated to quantify the additional predictive value of VFA, SFA, and VSR relative to WC., Results: VFA and VSR were positively associated with NAFLD in both genders. SFA was not significantly associated with NAFLD in men, but it was negatively associated in women. When VFA, SFA, and VSR were added to the WC-based NAFLD prediction model, the AUC improved by 0.013 (p<0.001), 0.001 (p=0.434), and 0.009 (p=0.007) in men and by 0.044 (p<0.001), 0.017 (p<0.001), and 0.046 (p<0.001) in women, respectively. The IDI and NRI were increased the most by VFA in men and VSR in women., Conclusions: Using CT-based abdominal adiposity indexes in addition to WC may improve the detection of NAFLD. The best predictive indicators were VFA in men and VSR in women.

A novel proteobacterial bacterium, designated strain CAU 1489T, was isolated from Jeju Island, Republic of Korea. Cells were strictly anaerobic, Gram stain-negative, cream-pigmented, non-spore-forming, motile and short rod-shaped. Strain CAU 1489T exhibited the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (98.2%) to Nitratireductor mangrovi SY7T. Multilocus sequence analysis of 16S rRNA and four housekeeping genes (rpoB, rpoC, gyrB and dnaK) indicated that CAU 1489T represents a distinct branch within Nitratireductor. The whole genome was 4.8 Mb with a G + C content of 64.7 mol%, including protein-coding genes related to the function terms amino acids and derivatives, nucleotides and nucleosides, protein metabolism, carbohydrates and cofactors, vitamins, prosthetic groups and pigments. The major fatty acids were 11-methyl C18:1ω7c, cyclo- C19:0ω8c, iso-C17:0 and summed feature 8 (C18:1ω6c and/or C18:1ω7c), and the predominant respiratory quinone was Q-10. The polar lipids comprised diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and two unidentified phospholipids. Digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average nucleotide identity values were 19.4-22.0% and 72.4-79.1%, respectively. On the basis of taxonomic characterization, strain CAU 1489T constitutes a novel species, for which the name Nitratireductor arenosus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CAU 1489T ( = KCTC 62997T = NBRC 113694T)., (© FEMS 2020.)

Shift work nurses experience multiple health problems due to irregular shifts and heavy job demands. However, the comorbidity patterns of nurses' health problems and the association between health problems and turnover intention have rarely been studied. This study aimed to identify and cluster shift work nurses' health problems and to reveal the associations between health problems and turnover intention. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed data from 500 nurses who worked at two tertiary hospitals in Seoul, South Korea. Data, including turnover intention and nine types of health issues, were collected between March 2018 and April 2019. Hierarchical clustering and multiple ordinal logistic regressions were used for the data analysis. Among the participants, 22.2% expressed turnover intention and the mean number of health problems was 4.5 (range 0-9). Using multiple ordinal logistic regressions analysis, it was shown that sleep disturbance, depression, fatigue, a gastrointestinal disorder, and leg or foot discomfort as a single health problem significantly increased turnover intention. After clustering the health problems, four clusters were identified and only the neuropsychological cluster-sleep disturbance, fatigue, and depression-significantly increased turnover intention. We propose that health problems within the neuropsychological cluster must receive close attention and be addressed simultaneously to decrease nurse's turnover intentions.

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated CAU 1488 T , was isolated from tidal flat sediment, and its taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The organism grew optimally at a temperature of 30 °C, at pH 7.0-7.5 and in the presence of 0-6 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain CAU 1488 T forms a lineage distinct from Ruegeria marisrubri ZGT 118 T (97.9 %), Ruegeria marina ZH17 T (97.6 %), Ruegeria lacuscaerulensis ITI 1157 T (97.5 %), Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3 T (97.1 %), Ruegeria profundi ZGT108 T (97.0 %), Ruegeria intermedia CC-GIMAT-2 T (96.8 %), Ruegeria atlantica CECT 4292 T (96.7 %) and Ruegeria kandeliae J95 T (95.9 %). Genome sequencing revealed that CAU 1488 T had a genome size of 4.23 Mbp and a G+C content of 63.2 mol%. Overall genome related indexes including average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values were 75.0-83.0 % and 26.2 %, which are below the cutoffs of 95 and 70 %, respectively, indicating that strain CAU 1488 T represents a distinct species from the members of the genus Ruegeria . The predominant quinone was ubiquinone-10 (Q-10). The major fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C 18 : 1   ω7 c/ ω6 c ; 60.7 %) and its polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine and unidentified aminolipids. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genomic data, strain CAU 1488 T constitutes a novel species of the genus Ruegeria , for which the name Ruegeria sediminis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CAU 1488 T (=KCTC 62996 T =NBRC 113693 T ).

Although lupus erythematosus is known to be more common among women of color, the study populations in previous reports were predominantly Caucasian and there is scarce information on Asian patients. Therefore, we performed a retrospective study using a nationwide population-based cohort in South Korea. The average annual incidence of cutaneous lupus was 4.36/100 000. Among 634 patients with cutaneous lupus, 20.8% had systemic disease: cutaneous lupus was diagnosed before systemic lupus in 4.26% and after systemic lupus in 8.52%. More female patients than male patients developed systemic lupus erythematosus. The average time to progression to systemic lupus was 1.53 ± 1.46 years., (© 2019 Japanese Dermatological Association.)

We aimed to report the results of fundus photography ophthalmic examinations among older adults in a rural community in South Korea. We used data from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project cohort study, which was designed to examine the entire population of individuals aged 60 years or older and their spouses living in a rural Village K of Ganghwa Island, South Korea. At baseline, a total of 860 people was targeted as the study population. From December 2011 to January 2019, five health examinations were conducted, including baseline and follow-up tests. During the fifth wave of the study, we performed fundus photography to assess eye health. Ophthalmic and physical examinations were conducted for 387 people who participated in the fifth wave by trained researchers. Systemic factors were evaluated via blood and diagnostic tests. After excluding eight people who did not undergo follow-up fundoscopy , a total of 379 participants was included for analysis. We classified the participants into two groups with either no (zero) or one or more suspicious ophthalmic diseases. The abnormalities included media opacity, suspected glaucoma, and suspicion of retinal disease as diagnosed by a trained specialist. We further categorized ophthalmic conditions as clinically insignificant, follow-up needed, semi-urgent, and urgent conditions. We included 379 participants, of which 225 (59.4%) were women. The mean age of the participants was 76.4 ± 6.2 years. Among all participants, 81% (n=307) had one or more abnormalities on fundus screening. Older age, living alone, high blood pressure, and high fasting insulin were associated with an increased risk of having ≥ one eye disease. In terms of triage, 3.7% (n= 14) of the observed conditions were urgent, and 25.9% (n= 98) were semi-urgent. Therefore, we documented fundoscopy results among the elderly population in a rural community in South Korea. Elderly people living alone were more likely to have eye disease. Policies to improve eye health are needed to prevent vision loss in this population.

In this paper, we examine the impact of increased employment protection on the self-rated health of workers. We utilize the recent labor reform in South Korea which sharply increased the employment protection level of fixed-term contract workers meeting certain criteria. By applying a difference-in-differences framework to longitudinal data, we explore the causal impact of employment protection. We find that subjective health and perceived job security improved with increased statutory employment protection. Further analysis suggests that the improvement in subjective health is less likely to be driven by improvement in working conditions or health related behaviors., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The clinical characteristics of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) are well delineated in adults, but pediatric data, particularly in Asian populations, are limited. Therefore, we evaluated the characteristics of pediatric cases by retrospectively reviewing the medical records of children with CLE during a 15-year period in a tertiary care dermatology clinic in South Korea. The study included 21 children (8 males and 13 females), 4 of whom had neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE). Among 17 patients with CLE, discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) was most common (47.1%), followed by acute CLE (ACLE, 35.3%). All ACLE cases had systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Female predominance was conspicuous in ACLE/SLE (6/11 females versus 0/6 males), as was older age, whereas DLE and NLE showed near-equal sex distributions. The median age at the diagnosis of CLE was significantly higher in females than in males (15 years versus 4.5 years, p  = 0.02). All patients with ACLE/SLE simultaneously showed skin and systemic symptoms from onset. The kidney was the most commonly involved organ. This study revealed unique characteristics of pediatric CLE, further warranting a comprehensive review among various ethnicities to understand the wide spectrum of CLE in the pediatric population.

Background: Bites with tick-borne pathogens can cause various bacterial, viral, or parasitic diseases in humans. Tick-transmitted diseases are known as contributing factors to the increasing incidence and burden of diseases. The present article investigated the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases in South Korea., Methods: The incidence and distribution of common tick-borne diseases in Korea (Lyme disease, Q fever, and severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome [SFTS]) were investigated and analyzed, using data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) infectious disease reporting system. A literature review was compiled on the current status of uncommon tick-borne diseases (Rickettsia, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, bartonellosis, tularemia, tick-borne encephalitis, and babesiosis)., Results and Conclusions: In South Korea, SFTS is an emerging disease, showing a rapid increase in reports since 2012, with high mortality. Likewise, reports of Lyme disease and Q fever cases have also been rapidly increasing during 2012-2017, although caution should be taken when interpreting these results, considering the likely influence of increased physician awareness and reporting of these diseases. Other tick-borne diseases reported in South Korea included spotted fever group rickettsiae, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Bartonella, and babesiosis. Evidences on human infection with tick-borne encephalitis virus and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever were recently unavailable, but both need constant monitoring.

Background: The Korean Obesity Index, which contains standard reference data (SRD) of obesity, was established in 2016 and revised in 2017 based on national health screening data to provide the distribution of the body mass index (BMI) of the whole population of Korea as a reference. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the SRD of obesity on the incidence of hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM)., Methods: The percentile of BMI was calculated for each of the 864 subgroups by defined by gender, region, and age group according to the groupings in the SRD. Incident cases were defined as the presence of HTN and DM and medication prescription in the health care utilization database for a given individual in 2017, but not in 2015-2016. Logistic regression for the incidence of HTN and DM according to the relative distribution of BMI was performed. Gender, age, insurance type, insurance contribution, smoking, drinking, physical activity, blood pressure, waist circumference, fasting glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the Charlson comorbidity index (2012-2014), and diagnosis and medication for HTN and DM (2015-2017) were adjusted in the analysis., Results: The C-statistics of the fully adjusted model for HTN and DM were 0.799 and 0.852, respectively. The risks of HTN and DM increased by 1.007 and 1.011 times, respectively, for each 1-percentile increase in BMI., Conclusion: The results showed that BMI was associated with the incidence of HTN and DM according to the SRD. The relative distribution of BMI can be used to motivate self-care through providing more detailed information to individuals.

Background and Aims: Recent meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies have identified over 241 inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility loci. However, the known variants only account for a fraction of inflammatory bowel disease heritability. To identify additional susceptibility loci, we performed a trans-ethnic meta-analysis as well as an Asian-specific meta-analysis, using all published Immunochip association results of inflammatory bowel disease., Methods: An inverse-variance fixed-effects meta-analysis was carried out across Korean and East Asian Immunochip datasets of 4156 cases and 4904 controls [Asian ancestry]. A trans-ethnic meta-analysis of inflammatory bowel disease was performed together with the European datasets of 38 155 cases and 48 485 controls genotyped on the immunochip using a Bayesian approach, Meta-Analysis of Trans-ethnic Association studies [MANTRA]., Results: We identified seven novel associations, including three novel susceptibility loci at MYO10-BASP1, PPP2R3C/KIAA0391/PSMA6/NFKB1A and LRRK1 as well as four novel secondary associations within previously known loci at NCF4, TSPAN32, CIITA and VANGL2. The new loci further implicate alterations in B cell biology in Crohn's disease pathogenesis. The effects of five loci were universal across European and Asian ancestries, whereas the NCF4 and CIITA loci showed significant heterogeneity between European and East Asian populations. In addition, 103 previously known IBD loci showed supporting evidence of association with nominal significance [p < 0.05] in Asians., Conclusions: Our findings of new loci not previously associated with IBD support the importance of studying inflammatory bowel disease genetics in diverse populations.

Background and Aims: Genome-wide association studies of inflammatory bowel disease identified > 200 susceptibility loci only in autosomes. This study aimed to identify inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility loci on the X chromosome., Methods: We performed an X chromosome-wide association study in Korean patients with inflammatory bowel disease. We analysed X chromosome data from our recent genome-wide association studies, including 1505 cases [922 Crohn's disease and 583 ulcerative colitis] and 4041 controls during the discovery phase, followed by replication in additional 1989 cases [993 Crohn's disease, 996 ulcerative colitis] and 3491 controls. Sex-related differential effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms on disease were also evaluated., Results: We confirmed a significant association of a previously reported inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility locus at chromosome Xq26.3 [CD40LG-ARHGEF6; odds ratio, 1.22; 95% confidence interval, 1.16-1.28; combined p = 3.79 × 10-15]. This locus accounted for 0.18% and 0.12% of genetic variance in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, respectively, and increased the total autosomal chromosome genetic variance from 6.65% to 6.83% and from 5.47% to 5.59% for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis risk, respectively, in the Korean population. Sex-stratified analyses did not reveal sex-related differences in effect sizes., Conclusions: We confirmed the association of rs2427870 at the CD40LG-ARHGEF6 locus with an inflammatory bowel disease through an X chromosome-wide association study in a Korean population. Our data suggest that the CD40LG-ARHGEF6 locus on the X chromosome might play a role in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis in the Korean population., (Copyright © 2017 European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation (ECCO). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com)