Understanding the role of ethnic online communities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Korean immigrant women's information-seeking behaviors.

The rule of social distancing, coupled with the closing down of ethnic enclaves, has led immigrants to become isolated from their ethnic groups. In this study, we investigate the increasing role of ethnic online communities in immigrants' information-seeking behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of 726 posts in MissyUSA reveals how an ethnic online community helps Korean immigrant women deal with the pandemic, reflecting the essence of a community amid societal lockdown. The findings suggest that these online communities supplement immigrant women's medical knowledge, build non-medical knowledge helpful to disadvantaged immigrants, and offer transnational knowledge regarding medical systems, products, and travel. These results provide evidence of how ethnic online communities promote immigrants' ongoing incorporation into society through the development of domestically and transnationally engaged medical and non-medical knowledge.

When home becomes classroom: The shifting roles of Korean immigrant mothers in the management of children's education during COVID-19 in the US.

COVID-19 has disrupted women's lives by increasing their childcare and household labor responsibilities. This has detrimentally affected immigrant women with limited resources, who invest in their children's education for upward mobility. Based on a content analysis of 478 posts on the MissyUSA website, this study explores the ways in which Korean immigrant mothers in the U.S. navigate the management of middle and high school children's online education during lockdown. Before the pandemic, mothers' tasks were largely limited to scheduling and coordinating private-paid after-school programs that occurred outside the home. However, the pandemic transformed mothers into active coordinators of public middle and high school classes and of private online tutoring, and de facto schoolteachers at home. This breakdown of boundaries between the home and tasks normally relegated to the outside world has burdened mothers with augmented roles managing the ordinary functioning of their children's education during the pandemic.

How Does COVID-19 Differ from the Flu/Cold? A Study of Multilevel Information Seeking among Korean Immigrant Women in the U.S.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to understand COVID-19 information seeking among Korean immigrant women in comparison to their flu/cold information seeking. In particular, the study aimed to examine: (1) the levels of information sought regarding both COVID-19 and the flu/cold, and (2) the content of information discussed at each level. Methods: We analyzed the posts on Missy USA--one of the largest Korean online communities for married Korean immigrant women. Two sets of data, one for COVID-19 (n=726) and the other for the flu/cold (n=50), were analyzed with codes at different levels, which were adapted from the social-ecological model. Results: Applying the social-ecological model, we found that about 80% of information regarding the flu/cold and about 60% of COVID-19 information was concentrated at individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels. Information seeking at the community level was more frequent for COVID-19 than for the flu/cold. Conclusions: Our finding that Korean immigrant women primarily sought information regarding COVID-19 serves as a theoretical contribution at the transnational level, which might be relevant for immigrant women during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

Evangelical Protestant Women's Views on Homosexuality and LGBT Rights in Korea: The Role of Confucianism and Nationalism in Heteronormative Ideology.

Much scholarly attention has been devoted to understanding the demographic, religious, and socio-economic factors that may lead to homonegativity. However, little is known about how and why people oppose homosexuality and LGBT rights. To fill this gap, this work examines how heterosexual religious mothers perceive homosexuality and LGBT rights focusing on the role of indigenous culture. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 30 evangelical Protestant women in South Korea, my findings indicate that evangelical women's perceptions of LGBT rights and their justification display evangelical notion of procreation, motherly moral concerns about the rapid change in heteronormative ideals, and ambivalence about an individualistic, expressive culture. I argue that heteronormative ideology forms a key construct that determines the responses of evangelical women. In addition, such an idea is not only guided by evangelical teaching but also reinforced by a complex amalgamation of Confucian tradition and nationalism, thus restricting sexual drive and emotions for the sake of families and the nation. Heterosexual family norms operate in a way that it is synchronized with a combination of Confucian-family-oriented collectivism and nationalism. This study contributes to complicating a simple, one-dimensional understanding of public attitudes on homosexuality by offering a nuanced look into the configuration of heterosexual ideologies, which are unique in the Korean context.

Men and Women's Different Dreams on the Future of the Gendered Division of Paid Work and Household Work after COVID-19 in South Korea.

Men's long hours of paid work and minimal commitment to household work, combined with the comparably low-level of women's labor force participation, characterize the gendered division of work and family in South Korea. Can the changes in work and family arrangements brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic alter the persevering gendered division of paid work and household work in Korea? Along with school closures and the increased number of employees working from home during COVID-19, do Korean men and women anticipate more equal sharing of paid work and household work? We collected data from 1000 Korean adults during the period of July 3-6, 2020, and asked their predictions about various dimensions of social changes, including the gendered division, after COVID-19. Although a substantial share of both men and women anticipate a reduction in the gendered division of paid work and household work after COVID-19, Korean women are not as optimistic as their male counterparts about this potential reduction. In particular, younger women are most skeptical about the prospect that paid work and household work will be less divided by gender beyond the pandemic.

Laxative effects of triple fermented barley extracts (FBe) on loperamide (LP)-induced constipation in rats.

BACKGROUND: Constipation, a common health problem, causes discomfort and affects the quality of life. This study intended to evaluate the potential laxative effect of triple fermented barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) extract (FBe), produced by saccharification, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Weissella cibaria, on loperamide (LP)-induced constipation in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, a well-established animal model of spastic constipation. METHODS: Spastic constipation was induced via oral treatment with LP (3 mg/kg) for 6 days 1 h before the administration of each test compound. Similarly, FBe (100, 200 and 300 mg/kg) was orally administered to rats once a day for 6 days. The changes in number, weight, and water content of fecal, motility ratio, colonic mucosa histology, and fecal mucous contents were recorded. The laxative properties of FBe were compared with those of a cathartic stimulant, sodium picosulfate. A total of 48 (8 rats in 6 groups) healthy male rats were selected and following 10 days of acclimatization. Fecal pellets were collected one day before administration of the first dose and starting from immediately after the fourth administration for a duration of 24 h. Charcoal transfer was conducted after the sixth and final administration of the test compounds. RESULTS: In the present study, oral administration of 100-300 mg/kg of FBe exhibited promising laxative properties including intestinal charcoal transit ratio, thicknesses and mucous producing goblet cells of colonic mucosa with decreases of fecal pellet numbers and mean diameters remained in the lumen of colon, mediated by increases in gastrointestinal motility. CONCLUSION: Therefore, FBe might act as a promising laxative agent and functional food ingredient to cure spastic constipation, with less toxicity observed at a dose of 100 mg/kg.

Protective effects of triple fermented barley extract (FBe) on indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal damage in rats.

BACKGROUND: Hordeum vulgare L (barley) contains numerous phenolic substances with proven anticancer, antioxidant and gastroprotective activities. Saccharification increases the functionality and bioavailability of these compounds thus can aid in the development of a natural product based medicine. This study aimed to investigate the possible gastroprotective effects of saccharification on the indomethacin (IND)-induced gastric ulcers in rats using Weissella cibaria- and Saccharomyces cerevisiae-triple fermented H. vulgare extract (FBe). METHODS: In total, 60 healthy male 6-week old Sprague-Dawley SD (SPF/VAF Outbred CrljOri:CD1) rats were commercially purchased. The FBe extract (100, 200, and 300 mg kg- 1) was orally administered 30 min before an oral treatment of IND (25 mg kg- 1). Six hours after IND treatment, variations in the histopathology, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, gross lesion scores, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant defense system component (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH)) levels were measured. RESULTS: FBe treatment showed significant (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05) and dose-dependent decrease in gastric mucosal damage. In the present study hemorrhagic gross lesions, gastric MPO activity, and histopathological gastric ulcerative lesions were observed in IND-treated rats compared to the IND control rats. In particular, FBe, in a dose-dependent manner, strengthened the antioxidant defense systems, decreased lipid peroxidation and CAT activity by increasing the GSH levels and SOD activity, respectively. The 200 mg kg- 1 dose of FBe was similarly gastroprotective as the 10 mg kg- 1 dose of omeprazole in rats with IND-induced gastric mucosal damage. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study show that an oral administration of FBe had positive gastroprotective effects through strengthening the body antioxidant defense system and anti-inflammatory effects.

Protective effects of a triple-fermented barley extract (FBe) against HCl/EtOH-induced gastric mucosa damage in mice.

This study was designed to observe the possible protective effects of a triple-fermented barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) extract (FBe) obtained by saccharification and using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Weissella cibaria in alleviating gastric damage induced by a hydrochloric acid (HCl) and ethanol (EtOH) mixture in mice. After oral administration of FBe (300, 200, and 100 mg/kg) followed by 1 hr before and after the single treatment of HCl/EtOH (H/E) mixture, the hemorrhagic lesion scores, histopathology of the stomach, gastric nitrate/nitrite content, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant defense systems including catalase and superoxide dismutase activities were observed. Following a single oral treatment of H/E-induced gastric damages as measured by hemorrhagic gross lesions and histopathological gastric, ulcerative lesions were significantly and dose-dependently (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05) inhibited in mice, when all three different doses of FBe were administered as compared to those in H/E control mice. In particular, FBe also increased gastric nitrate/nitrite content and strengthened the antioxidant defense, with a decrease in the level of gastric lipid peroxidation, but increased the activities of CAT and SOD. Moreover, the effects of FBe are comparable to that of ranitidine, a reference drug. The obtained results suggest that this fermented barley extract prevented mice from H/E-induced gastric mucosal damages through the suppression of inflammatory responses and oxidative stress-responsive free radicals. Thus, FBe can be useful to treat patients suffering from gastric mucosal disorders as a potent food supplement, and thereby, it would increase the necessity of application in the food industry.

Anti-osteoporotic effects of mixed compositions of extracellular polymers isolated from Aureobasidium pullulans and Textoria morbifera in ovariectomized mice.

BACKGROUND: Extracellular polymeric substances isolated from Aureobasidium pullulans (EAP), containing specifically 13% ß-1,3/1,6-glucan, have shown various favorable bone-preserving effects. Textoria morbifera Nakai (TM) tree has been used as an ingredient in traditional medicine and tea for various pharmacological purposes. Thus, the present study was aimed to examine the synergistic anti-osteoporotic potential of mixtures containing different proportions of EAP and TM compared with that of the single formulations of each herbal extract using bilateral ovariectomized (OVX) mice, a renowned rodent model for studying human osteoporosis. METHODS: Thirty five days after bilateral-OVX surgery, 9 combinations of EAP:TM (ratios = 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:7, 1:9, 3:1, 5:1, 7:1, 9:1) and single separate formulations of EAP or TM were supplied orally, once a day for 35 days at a final concentration of 200 mg/kg. Variations in body weight gains during the experimental periods, as well as femur weights, bone mineral density (BMD), bone strength (failure load), and mineral content (calcium [Ca] and inorganic phosphorus [IP]) following sacrifice were measured. Furthermore, histomorphometric and histological profile analyses of serum biochemical parameters (osteocalcin content and bone specific alkaline phosphatase [bALP] activity) were conducted following sacrifice. Femurs histomorphometric analyses were also conducted for bone resorption, structure and mass. The results for the mixed formulations of EAP:TM and separate formulations were compared with those of risedronate sodium (RES). RESULTS: The EAP:TM (3:1) formulation synergistically enhanced the anti-osteoporotic potential of individual EAP or TM formulations, possibly due to enhanced variety of the active ingredients. Furthermore, the effects of EAP:TM were comparable to those of RES (2.5 mg/kg) treatment. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that, the EAP:TM (3:1) combination might act as a new pharmaceutical agent and/or health functional food substance for curing osteoporosis in menopausal women.

Ingestion of Exopolymers from Aureobasidium pullulans Reduces the Duration of Cold and Flu Symptoms: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Intervention Study.

AIM: The objective of the study was to assess the efficacy of exopolymers from Aureobasidium pullulans (EAP) on the incidence of colds and flu in healthy adults. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study at the onset of the influenza season. A total of 76 subjects (30-70 years of age) were recruited from the general population. The subjects were instructed to take one capsule per day of either EAP or a placebo for a period of 8 weeks. The duration of cold and flu symptoms, a primary variable in assessing effectiveness, and serum cytokine levels as well as WBC counts as secondary variables were also evaluated. RESULTS: EAP was associated with a statistically significant decrease in the duration of cold and flu symptoms, a primary variable in assessing effectiveness. Although cold and flu symptom levels were not significantly different at a significance level of 5%, the cold and flu symptom levels of the EAP group were less severe compared to the placebo group. No statistically significant changes of serum cytokine levels as well as WBC counts were observed. CONCLUSION: The results showed that EAP is a useful pharmaceutical and functional food material for preventing and treating colds and flu.

Gay Seouls: Expanding Religious Spaces for Non-Heterosexuals in South Korea.

What Protestant congregations offer spaces for worship and dialogue among persons with different sexual orientations? The academic literature finds or assumes that non-heterosexuals are stigmatized or invisible in theologically conservative congregations and are welcomed in progressive, affirming congregations. This article develops an alternative claim that some conservative or evangelical congregations offer attractive spaces for non-heterosexuals to worship and dialogue. We illustrate with an exploratory study of four congregations in South Korea-two theologically progressive, two evangelical-whose pastors welcomed everybody regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The "inclusive-evangelical" congregations retained conservative theology on sexuality (sexual relations only within heterosexual marriage) but offered more empathic dialogue with non-heterosexuals than did most evangelical congregations; they also provided more resources, conventional religious culture, and ties to traditional affective networks than the affirming-progressive congregations. Inclusive-evangelical congregations offer an institutional venue for non-heterosexual Christians in Korea to potentially reconcile three central values: conservative Christianity, traditional (Confucian) affective networks, and expressive individualism.

Extracellular polysaccharides purified from Aureobasidium pullulans SM­2001 (Polycan) inhibit dexamethasone­induced muscle atrophy in mice.

The present study assessed the beneficial skeletal muscle­preserving effects of extracellular polysaccharides from Aureobasidium pullulans SM­2001 (Polycan) (EAP) on dexamethasone (DEXA)­induced catabolic muscle atrophy in mice. To investigate whether EAP prevented catabolic DEXA­induced muscle atrophy, and to examine its mechanisms of action, EAP (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) was administered orally, once a day for 24 days. EAP treatment was initiated 2 weeks prior to DEXA treatment (1 mg/kg, once a day for 10 days) in mice. Body weight alterations, serum biochemistry, calf thickness, calf muscle strength, gastrocnemius muscle thickness and weight, gastrocnemius muscle antioxidant defense parameters, gastrocnemius muscle mRNA expression, histology and histomorphometry were subsequently assessed. After 24 days, DEXA control mice exhibited muscle atrophy according to all criteria indices. However, these muscle atrophy symptoms were significantly inhibited by oral treatment with all three doses of EAP. Regarding possible mechanisms of action, EAP exhibited favorable ameliorating effects on DEXA­induced catabolic muscle atrophy via antioxidant and anti­inflammatory effects; these effects were mediated by modulation of the expression of genes involved in muscle protein synthesis (AKT serine/threonine kinase 1, phosphatidylinositol 3­kinase, adenosine A1 receptor and transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 4) and degradation (atrogin­1, muscle RING­finger protein­1, myostatin and sirtuin 1). Therefore, these results indicated that EAP may be helpful in improving muscle atrophies of various etiologies. EAP at 400 mg/kg exhibited favorable muscle protective effects against DEXA­induced catabolic muscle atrophy, comparable with the effects of oxymetholone (50 mg/kg), which has been used to treat various muscle disorders.

Household Structure and Suburbia Residence in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: Evidence from the American Housing Survey.

Suburbs have demographically diversified in terms of race, yet little research has been done on household structures in suburbs. Using the 2011 American Housing Survey and 2009-2013 American Community Survey, this study investigates the distributions of household structures in suburbia and central cities, and the relationship between household structures and residential attainment. The findings of this research include: (1) The distribution of household structures differs between suburbia and central cities. Married-couple households are the most common household type in both central cities and suburbs, but they are more likely to reside in suburbia than in central cities; (2) Household structure is a determinant of residential attainment and the relationship varies by race/ethnicity groups. Among Hispanics and Asians, multigenerational household structure is indicative of central city residence, but this association does not hold for whites and blacks. For multigenerational households, the odds of living in suburbia decreases by almost 40 percent among Hispanics and by almost 50 percent for Asians.