Association between perceived stress, alcohol consumption levels and obesity in Koreans.

Background And Objectives: Coping with stress often leads to unhealthy behaviors that can have an impact on the development of obesity. Therefore, this study is investigate the effect of perceived stress level on alcohol consumption habits, as well as the effect of the interaction between alcohol consumption habits and stress level on obesity in Koreans.

Methods And Study Design: We analyzed perceived stress, alcohol consumption habits (alcohol consumption status, quantity, and alcohol use disorders identification test) and the anthropometrics of 6,229 subjects from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Increased sleep duration precedes the improvement of other symptom domains during the treatment of acute mania: a retrospective chart review.

Background: Understanding trajectories of symptom changes may help gauge treatment response and better identify therapeutic targets in treatment of acute mania. We examined how symptoms of sleep disturbance, mania, and psychosis resolved in a naturalistic treatment setting, hypothesizing that improvement in sleep would precede improvement in manic and psychotic symptoms.

Methods: Charts of 100 patients with admitting diagnoses of bipolar mixed or manic episode were retrospectively reviewed.

Hypersexuality and couple relationships in bipolar disorder: A review.

Background: Although change in sexual behavior is recognized as an integral part of bipolar disorder, most of the relevant literature on sexual issues in patients with this illness concerns medication side effects and does not differentiate bipolar disorder from other serious mental disorders. Surprisingly, little has been published on mania-induced hypersexuality and the effects of mood cycling on couple relationships. In this review, we examine the extant literature on both of these subjects and propose a framework for future research.

Association between self-perception period of lower urinary tract symptoms and International Prostate Symptom Score: a propensity score matching study.

Background: Most studies focusing on progression of BPH have been limited to the relationship between age and BPH progression, and only few studies have focused on the time duration to start treatment. This study aimed to investigate the association between self-perception period (S-PP) of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS).

Methods: This study used data from two large-population surveys: a community-based survey and a university hospital outpatient-based interview survey.

General effect of low-dose tamsulosin (0.2 mg) as a first-line treatment for lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: In Asian countries, low-dose tamsulosin (0.2 mg) is used widely but this dose has been less popular than 0.4 mg tamsulosin or other types of alpha blockers.

Risk perception and public concerns of electromagnetic waves from cellular phones in Korea.

In this study, the difference between the risk perception of electromagnetic waves from cellular phones and the risk perception of other factors such as environment and food was analyzed. The cause of the difference in the psychological and social factors that affect the group with high risk perception of electromagnetic waves was also analyzed. A questionnaire survey on the risk perception of electromagnetic waves from cellular phones was carried out on 1001 subjects (men and women) over the age of 20.

Hazard Classification of Household Chemical Products in Korea according to the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and labeling of Chemicals.

Objectives: This study was conducted to review the validity of the need for the application of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS) to household chemical products in Korea. The study also aimed to assess the severity of health and environmental hazards of household chemical products using the GHS.

Methods: 135 products were classified as 'cleaning agents and polishing agents' and 98 products were classified as 'bleaches, disinfectants, and germicides.

Effects of health and safety problem recognition on small business facility investment.

Objectives: This study involved a survey of the facility investment experiences, which was designed to recognize the importance of health and safety problems, and industrial accident prevention. Ultimately, we hope that small scale industries will create effective industrial accident prevention programs and facility investments.

Methods: An individual survey of businesses' present physical conditions, recognition of the importance of the health and safety problems, and facility investment experiences for preventing industrial accidents was conducted.

Association of arsenic levels in soil and water with urinary arsenic concentration of residents in the vicinity of closed metal mines.

Arsenic (As) pollution in the surroundings of metal mines has been observed, and may induce serious health problems, in particular cancer. Health hazard attributed to As in contaminated soil and water in the vicinity of closed or abandoned metal mines may be high. Little is known about how environmental exposure to As has affected the health of resident near closed metal mines.

Association between the self-perception period of lower urinary tract symptoms and the International Prostate Symptom Score.

Objectives: The timing of visiting a hospital after self-perception of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is different between individuals. The association between the self-perception period (S-PP) of LUTS and the progression of LUTS has seldom been documented. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the S-PP of LUTS and the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS).

[The effect of exposure factors on the concentration of heavy metals in residents near abandoned metal mines].

Objectives: This study assessed the factors that have an influence on the residents exposed to heavy metals, and we utilized the findings to establish the proper management of abandoned metal mines in the future.

Methods: For a total of 258 residents who lived close to abandoned mines in Gangwon-province and Gyeonggi-province, the exposure factors and biomarkers in their blood and urine were comparatively analyzed via multiple regression analysis.

Results: The blood levels of lead and mercury and the cadmium levels in urine were found to be higher in the study group than that in the average Korean.

Benzene increases the ratio of arachidonic acids to docosahexaenoic acids and inhibits the de novo synthesis of ceramide in the rat liver.

The present study investigated the effects of inhalation exposure of benzene at 0, 10, 200 and 600 ppm for 1, 2 and 4 weeks on n-6 and n-3 fatty acids and ceramide levels in the rat liver. No significant difference in the ratio of saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid was found on increasing benzene exposure levels, but the ratio of saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid decreased with increasing benzene exposure times, with the exception of the phospholipids of rats exposed to 200 and 600 ppm of benzene. A significant increase in the ratio of arachidonic acid to docosahexaenoic acid was found in the phospholipids of rats exposed to 200 and 600 ppm of benzene for 4 weeks.

Effects of lead exposure on the expression of phospholipid hydroperoxidase glutathione peroxidase mRNA in the rat brain.

Oxidative damage associated with lead in the brain has been proposed as a possible mechanism of lead toxicity. Of the many antioxidant enzymes, phospholipid hydroperoxidase glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) is known to protect cells from lipid peroxide-mediated damage by catalyzing lipid peroxide reduction. In this study, the effects of lead on the activity and expression of PHGPx mRNA were investigated in the brains of rats exposed to lead for 8 weeks.