While the link between smoking and a range of cancers is well known, the World Health Organization warned Thursday there was too little awareness of tobacco's impact on the human heart.On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day Thursday, the UN health agency hailed that smoking had declined significantly since year 2000, but warned that there were still far too many people indulging in the dangerous habit.And it cautioned that research showed there was "a serious lack of knowledge" about the differ

Aging society not limited to humans, but pets as well

　According to a report from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, medical spending in South Korea jumped by an annual average of 6.8 percent from 2005 to 2015　The growth rate during the period outpaced the average of 2.1 percent expansion among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, marking the highest increase of the group.　The spending growth was attributed to an increase in public expenditure on medical care with an aging population.

Local coffee shops to enforce smoking ban with upcoming revision to smoking law in Korea

A group of South Korean scientists have developed a deep learning system based on artificial intelligence that can precisely predict interactions between drugs, the government said Tuesday.According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, the team led by Lee Sang-yup of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology developed the so-called deep drug-drug interactions technology, which can make it far easier to determine what kind of interaction will occur between various drugs.DDI is an impo

In the age of social media, workout routines and diet plans are easily coupled with the desire to share these efforts with friends and followers online.At the last count, more than 1 million posts each under hashtags “dietgram” and “dietmeal” in Korean have been shared on Instagram, a social platform that is quickly expanding its user base here. The word “diet” in Korean implies a wide range of activities that one does to lose weight or remain fit, from eating less to exercising regularly at the

　According to a survey from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the proportion of men who smoke came to 39.3 percent in 2017, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. The survey was conducted with 228,381 adults here.　The smoking rate has steadily fallen from 47.8 percent in 2008 to 40.3 percent in 2015, with exceptions in 2009 and 2016, the survey showed.　The smoking rate temporarily moved up to 40.6 percent in 2016 following a huge drop a year earlier due to an increas

Obese people are more susceptible to contracting diabetes than those who are not, a survey showed Friday.Obese people have a 156 percent greater chance of contracting diabetes than those who are not obese, according to the survey of51,405 people carried out by a research team led by Professor Kwon Hyock-sang of Saint Mary's Hospital in Seoul. The review was carried out between 2002 and 2009.During the seven-year period, 2,748 people, or 5.3 percent of those surveyed, contracted diabetes, althoug

Lookism hinders efforts to tackle obesity, focusing on appearances rather than health

A university research team has identified a protein produced by immune system that plays a key role in asthma attacks, opening up new possibilities for treatment research.The team led by professor Chung Doo-hyun at Department of Biomedical Sciences at Seoul National University found that XCL1 protein, produced by immune cells called natural killer T cells, engages with dendritic cells that contribute to the induction of allergic asthma. (123RF)If the lungs are exposed to external substances such

Roughly seven out of 10 Koreans have received traditional Korean medical treatment, a study showed Tuesday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare put out the results of their study conducted on a total of 6,914 citizens. Results showed that 90.6 percent of those in their 60s or older have used Korean medicine, followed by those in their 50s (86.1 percent) and in their 40s (77.7 percent).Acupuncture was the most popular method of treatment for patients going to clinics specializing in Korean medicin

　With the average temperature falling in January, the number of frostbite patients usually peaks drastically in that month, but the number has been declining in recent years. 　According to data from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, the number of patients suffering from frostbite reached 17,496 in 2014, 11,122 in 2015 and 9,806 in 2016.　There were 1,297 patients in December 2016, 2,499 in January 2017 and 1,610 in February 2017.　The proportion of patients in their 50s was the hig

　The annual miscarriage rate for working women in Korea is 23 percent. 　Data also showed that the danger of failed pregnancy was 1.3 times higher for women with jobs as compared to those who do not work. 　According to a team of researchers led by Kim Eun-Ah from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, the miscarriage rate for working women was 3.9 percentage points higher than those who did not have a job.　The data was based on 430,343 pregnancies and 340,088 births registered with the

South Korean adults run the risk of chronic diseases due to unhealthy diet, a report from a state-run agency showed. According to the “Public Health Weekly Report” published on Thursday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Koreans eat much less than the recommended daily intake of nut and seeds, calcium, milk, vegetables and fruits. On the other hand, they eat much more than recommended of red meat, processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages.A total of 13 foods and nutrients

A local research team has discovered a form of nanostructure that has potential for later applications in cancer treatment.A joint research team of Yonsei University College of Medicine and Ewha Womans University assembled a phthalocyanine photosensitizer (PcS) with an anticancer drug mitoxantrone (MA) to form uniform nanostructures (PcS-MA). When the nanostructures were injected into a laboratory rat with breast cancer, more than 80 percent of the cancer cells were destroyed, the team said Mond