Study Design, Rationale and Procedures for Human Biomonitoring of Hazardous Chemicals from Foods and Cooking in Korea.

: A nationwide biomonitoring program identified the long-term trends of environmental exposures to hazardous chemicals in the general population and found geographical locations where body burdens of an exposed group significantly differed from those of the general population. The purpose of this study is to analyze the hazardous compounds associated with foods and cooking in the nationwide general population for evaluation of the environmental exposures and health risk factors and for the establishment of the reference levels at the national level. : During 2009-2010, the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS) conducted a nationwide human biomonitoring study, including a questionnaire survey and environmental exposure assessments for specific hazardous compounds from foods and cooking among the general population in South Korea.

New insights into the origin of the lumbrical muscles of the foot: tendinous slip of the flexor hallucis longus muscle.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to clarify the origins of the lumbricals of the foot toward a better understanding of its precise action in the gait.

Methods: The lumbricals in the foot were investigated in 66 specimens of embalmed Korean adult cadavers.

Results: The first lumbrical arose as two muscle bellies from both the tendon of the FDL and the tendinous slip of the FHL in 83.

Korea National Survey for Environmental Pollutants in the human body 2008: 1-hydroxypyrene, 2-naphthol, and cotinine in urine of the Korean population.

The Korea National Survey for Environmental Pollutants in the human body conducts representative Korean population studies, which were first initiated in 2005 in Korea. This study was conducted from 2008 to 2009 to determine the exposure levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nicotine in the Korean general population. The study population consisted of 4702 adult subjects from 196 sampling locations including coastal, rural, and urban areas.

An anatomic study of the quadratus plantae in relation to tendinous slips of the flexor hallucis longus for gait analysis.

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the morphology of the quadratus plantae (QP) in relation to the tendinous slips of the flexor hallucis longus (FHL) and their surrounding structures, thereby providing data to understand function of the QP during gait, and for analyzing the movements of the foot and designing postoperative rehabilitation programs. The QP was investigated in 50 specimens of embalmed adult cadavers. The QP inserted into the tendon of the flexor digitorum longus (FDL) and the tendinous slips of the FHL in 96%, and only to the tendon of the FDL in 4%.

Investigation on the binding of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with soil organic matter: a theoretical approach.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous contaminants of the terrestrial environment that have been designated as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Priority Pollutants. In this study, molecular modeling was used to examine the physical and chemical characteristics of soil organic matter (SOM), fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA), as well as their binding interactions with PAHs. The molecular structures of 18 PAHs were built by using the SYBYL 7.

Genistein may prevent cadmium-induced bone loss in ovariectomized rats.

This study compared the ability of genistein, a soy isoflavone, with that of 17 beta-estradiol to prevent bone loss in cadmium (Cd)-exposed ovariectomized (OVX) rats during growth. Female Wistar rats (4 weeks old) were either sham-operated (SH; n = 9/group) or OVX and placed on experimental diets (n = 9/group): OVX; OVX rats fed 50 ppm of CdCl(2) (OVX-Cd); OVX fed 50 ppm of CdCl(2) and 10 microg/kg of body weight genistein (OVX-Cd-G); and OVX fed 50 ppm of CdCl(2) and 10 microg/kg of body weight estrogen (OVX-Cd-E). All rats were given free access to AIN-76 modified diet and drinking water, with or without Cd, for 8 weeks.

Apolipoprotein(a) gene polymorphism in the Korean population: is there any relevance to essential hypertension?

Objective: To investigate the role of the apolipoprotein(a) [Apo(a)] gene in predicting essential hypertension in the Korean population, we undertook a case-control study using the TTTTA repeat and the Met/Thr polymorphisms of the Apo(a) gene.

Methods: The study subjects consisted of 74 essential hypertensives and 211 normotensive individuals. For polymorphism analysis, DNA was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).