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Objective The aim of this study was to identify work stress associated with the development of suicidal ideation with a focus on gender and age differences among Korean employees. Methods The data of 95 356 healthy employees aged >18 years who had undergone at least two comprehensive health examinations at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital Health Screening Center, South Korea, were analyzed. Risk of suicidal ideation was assessed using a self-reported questionnaire examining suicidal ideation during the past year. Work stress was measured using the Korean Occupational Stress Scale-Short Form. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine relationship between work stress and suicidal ideation. Considering gender and age differences in the association between work stress and suicidal ideation, the data were stratified by gender and age groups. Results During 289 706 person-years of follow-up, suicide ideation was identified in 3 460 participants. For male workers, high job demands and lack of reward were associated with the risk of suicidal ideation in young adults and midlife decade group. Job insecurity was associated with the risk of suicidal ideation in midlife decade and middle-aged and older adulthood. Organizational injustice was associated with the risk of suicidal ideation in middle-aged and older adulthood. Discomfort in an organizational climate was associated with the development of suicidal ideation in all age groups. For female workers, organizational injustice and discomfort in an organizational climate were associated with the risk of suicidal ideation in early adulthood. Conclusion The results suggested that certain work stressors are risk factors of suicidal ideation. Gender and age differences in components of work stress associated with suicidal ideation were also observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Binge eating occurs more frequently in women than in men, and is known to be related to psychological factors such as stress, depression, and anxiety. This study examined the relationship between binge eating and depression, trait anxiety, and perceived stress in Korean adolescents.Methods: Four hundred girls (aged 17-18 years) from two high schools located in Seoul completed self-report questionnaires. In total, 327 participants returned reliable responses, and were included in the final study. Binge eating was measured using the Bulimic Inventory Test Edinburgh. The questionnaire also included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Trait Anxiety (TA) of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory (ASI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).Results: The binge-eating group had higher BMI than the control group. The binge-eating group showed higher scores than control on the PSS, BDI, ASI, and TA. The TA was most highly correlated with binge eating. From logistic regression analysis, TA was revealed to be the only factor that raised the risk of binge eating, whereas PSS, BDI, and ASI showed no statistical significance.Conclusion: Although binge eating was correlated with perceived stress, depression, and trait anxiety, when their influences were controlled, only binge eating appeared to be associated with trait anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prescriptions of Local Botanicals for Emergency Use (K. Hyang'yak Kugŭppang is the oldest medical text extant on the Korean Peninsula and known to have been compiled during the latter half of the Koryŏ dynasty (918--1392 ce). The key value of this work lies in the dissemination and praxis of medical knowledge. First, the author used annotations in order to record Koryŏ people's pronunciations of the names of medicinal ingredients and symptoms introduced in the main body of the text. In addition, he made use of actual empirical cases to enhance the persuasiveness of treatment methods and integrated medicine newly introduced from Song China (960--1279) into medicine familiarly used from before. Finally, he edited this text with a focus on important and simple yet efficacious treatment methods. The book continued to be used steadily following publication. It was additionally printed no fewer than twice by the government of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392--1910), which ousted Koryŏ, with its clinical usefulness heightened through the supplementation of explanations on medicinal ingredients use in these processes. In particular, the quotation of sentences from Prescriptions for Emergency Use in medical texts published by the Chosŏn government implies that the utility of the medical knowledge in this work was amply acknowledged. The intended readership of the medical information in Prescriptions for Emergency Use was the not the general populace who lived in the Korean Peninsula in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. They not only lacked the financial means to pay physicians but also were illiterate, so that they could not even read medical texts. In order for this work to be effective, it was necessary for it to address those who could read medical texts and put their contents into practice. In the end, the author of this book assumed scholar-gentry equipped with academic knowledge as its readers and sought to provide medical information tailored to their level and to realize medical service through them. Through this work, it is possible to see in a very concrete and vivid manner how medical knowledge was disseminated and, furthermore, how medical knowledge thus disseminated was put to use in an era when medical resources were insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]