Emission rates of volatile organic compounds released from newly produced household furniture products using a large-scale chamber testing method.

The emission rates of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured to investigate the emission characteristics of five types of common furniture products using a 5 m(3) size chamber at 25°C and 50% humidity. The results indicated that toluene and α-pinene are the most dominant components. The emission rates of individual components decreased constantly through time, approaching the equilibrium emission level. The relative ordering of their emission rates, if assessed in terms of total VOC (TVOC), can be arranged as follows: dining table > sofa > desk chair > bedside table > cabinet. If the emission rates of VOCs are examined between different chemical groups, they can also be arranged in the following order: aromatic (AR) > terpenes (TER) > carbonyl (CBN) > others > paraffin (PR) > olefin (HOL) > halogenated paraffin (HPR). In addition, if emission strengths are compared between coated and uncoated furniture, there is no significant difference in terms of emission magnitude. Our results indicate that the emission characteristics of VOC are greatly distinguished between different furniture products in terms of relative dominance between different chemicals.

Positive-thinking and life satisfaction amongst Koreans.

PURPOSE: The present study examined the positive-thinking and life satisfaction of the general Korean population. In particular, we examined the role of positive-thinking on participants' life satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey of 409 respondents (194 males, 215 females). The participants provided self-reports on their positive thinking, life satisfaction and demographic information. RESULTS: The results showed that age, education, occupation, and family income had an influence on positive- thinking as well as life satisfaction in Korea. Specifically, younger respondents and persons with high incomes or higher education degrees were more likely to have higher positive scores and thus higher life satisfaction scores. However, after controlling for the demographic variables, positive thinking significantly affected life satisfaction(R(2) Change=0.170, F= 88.56, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: We provided empirical evidence that positive thinking may indeed play a significant role in life satisfaction. Therefore, positive thinking would offer important direction for the growth of life satisfaction and interventions aiming to remediate the effects of demographic variables on life satisfaction.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The hypothesis 'whether subjects with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who showed under-reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to stress, would make more commission errors in attention tasks', was examined. Forty-three boys, with ADHD, who visited the psychiatric outpatient clinic, at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, were the subjects of this study. Both pre- and post-test morning saliva samples were collected from the patients at the Korean Educational Development Institute-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (KEDI-WISC), and Tests of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.) performed. The Standard scores of the T.O.V.A were compared between the patients with decreases, or increases, in the salivary cortisol levels after the test. Decreases, or increases in the salivary cortisol levels after the test were shown in 28 and 15 patients, respectively. The patients with decreased cortisol levels after the test tended to make more commission errors in compared with those with increased cortisol levels. The patients with the decreased cortisol levels after test had more omission errors in the first quarter of the test, and more commission errors in the second half of the test compared to those with the increased cotisol levels. Subjects who show decreased salivary cortisol levels after stress make more commission errors in attention tests. This suggests that the blunted HPA axis response to stress is related to the impulsivity in patients with ADHD.