Cumulative Neighborhood Risk and Subsequent Internalizing Behavior among Asian American Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Neighborhood disadvantage is a developmental context that may contribute to Asian American adolescent internalizing problems, yet there is a dearth of...     

韩国在六方会谈中的多重平衡外交

朝核六方会谈对韩国的国家利益利害关系重大,韩国的应对策略也最为复杂和微妙。韩国既要顾及短期安全利益与长远民族利益之间的平衡,又要弥合国内政治力量之间的政策分歧,并竭力避免其对北政策与对美政策之间出现零和局面,同时还需兼顾联盟政策及其东北亚地缘战略之间的平衡,因此六方会谈事实上成为韩国实施多重平衡外交的一个重要契机。目前来看,这种复杂的平衡外交方针基本是成功的,然而其最终政策效果尚待进一步观察。     

Screening for Corticosteroid Adulterants in Korean Herbal Medicines

The objective of this study was to determine the presence of corticosteroids in illegal herbal medicines using ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. We collected 212 herbal medicine samples that were advertised as being effective for treatment of joint pain and bone aches. Samples were from the Korean commercial market during a span of four years (2010–2013), and the method was validated. The limits of quantification ranged from 0.47 to 15.0 ng/mL, and recoveries ranged from 80.6% to 119.5%. The intra‐ and interday precision ranged from 0.18% to 8.82% and from 0.09% to 8.96%, respectively. Among the samples, three samples (1.4%) were identified as adulterants. Dexamethasone was the only compound detected in the adulterated products. As the corticosteroid–adulteration of herbal medicines may become a major problem and lead to side effects, the continued development of screening procedures for herbal medicines is critical.     

Microbiota Composition and Pulmonary Surfactant Protein Expression as Markers of Death by Drowning

Pathological diagnosis of drowning remains a challenge for forensic science, because of a lack of pathognomonic findings. We analyzed microbiota and surfactant protein in the lungs for a novel diagnosis of drowning. All rats were divided into drowning, postmortem submersion, and control groups. The water, lungs, closed organs (kidney and liver), and cardiac blood in rats were assayed by targeting 16S ribosomal RNA of Miseq sequencing. Lung samples were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining for surfactant protein A. The closed organs and cardiac blood of drowned group have a lot of aquatic microbes, which have not been detected in postmortem submersion group. Furthermore, intra‐alveolar granular staining of surfactant protein A (SP‐A) was severely observed in the drowned group than the postmortem submersion and control groups. The findings suggested that the presence of aquatic microbiota in the closed organs and increased expression of SP‐A could be markers for a diagnosis of drowning.     

Validity of Demirjian's and modified Demirjian's methods in age estimation for Korean juveniles and adolescents

In estimating age of juveniles and adolescents, the teeth are employed primarily because of its low variability and less affection by endocrine and nutritional status in development. Demirjian established criteria for evaluating maturity of teeth and his method has been used throughout the world. However, several studies showed the inappropriateness of Demirjian's method on populations other than the one it is based on. Consequently some researchers modified Demirjian's method using data of several different populations. Demirjian himself also published a revised method to overcome other shortcomings of his original method. The aim of this study was to test the validity of Demirjian's and the modified methods (Demirjian's revised, Willems', Chaillet's and new Korean methods) for Korean juveniles and adolescents. 1483 digital orthopantomograms which consist of 754 males and 729 females in the age range of 3-16 years were collected. New age estimation method based on Korean population data was calculated. Dental age was estimated according to each method and the validity was evaluated using the differences between chronological and dental age. The inter- and intra-observer reliability was evaluated to be excellent. Statistically significant difference was observed between chronological and dental age in all the methods for both sexes except new Korean method for both sexes and Demirjian's revised method for males. However, when analyzing absolute and squared value of difference, Willems' method was found to be most accurate followed by new Korean method with slight difference for Korean population for both sexes. In conclusion, both Willems' method and new Korean method conducted by present study were proven to be suitable for Korean population.     

How Concessional is Aid Lending?

The method used by Development Assistance Committee countries for measuring the concessionality of aid loans has remained unchanged for nearly 20 years. It was designed to measure the net cost of aid to donors not the net benefit to recipients. The discount rate used takes no account of changes in the value of the currency of the loan or of changes in prices for goods traded by recipient countries. Furthermore, it does not consider the implications of tying of aid or of policy conditionality. This paper suggests an alternative measure that shows the real net benefit of aid finance to recipients. It argues that the discount rate used by the Development Assistance Committee is too high and that changes in the value of the currency in which a loan is taken out can be important. Nevertheless, real rates of interest for developing countries remain surprisingly high despite low nominal rates due to falling prices of traded goods. This finding has implications for the future real cost of debt service to recipients.     

The poor in Singapore: Issues and options

This article examines the changing patterns of poverty in Singapore. As Singapore's population ages, the poor increasingly includes the elderly. It appears that ascribed factors, such as gender and race, have significant influence on financial security at old age. As the population ages, the adequacy of existing anti-poverty policy is challenged.