Mental health and governmental response policy evaluation on COVID-19 based on vaccination status in Republic of Korea.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has continued since the outbreak in December 2019. People experience depression and anxiety due to government policies and restrictions on physical activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to compare and analyze people's experiences of COVID-19 blues, sports policy awareness, and participation intention according to their vaccination status. METHODS: This quantitative study used an online survey to collect demographic information, vaccination status, and variables. Data validity and reliability were verified through confirmatory factor analysis, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated using SPSS/AMOS 23.0. Finally, this comparative study was conducted using multivariate analysis of variance to investigate the differences in the dependent variables between the groups. RESULTS: The vaccinated group had higher scores for all factors related to COVID-19 blues (F = 19.147; p < .05; partial η2 = .046) and government policy (market responsiveness: F = 5.669, p < .05, partial η2 = .014; policy performance: F = 6.997, p < .05, partial η2 = .017; policy satisfaction: F = 7.647, p < .05, partial η2 = .019), apart from the intention to participate in sports (F = .014, p > .05, partial η2 = .000); these results demonstrate that people with COVID-19 blues and relatively high confidence in government quarantine policies were more likely to be vaccinated. In addition, all participants gave sports-participation intention the highest rating, regardless of their vaccination status; this reflects the current situation, in which individual activities are limited. CONCLUSIONS: This study analyzed the mental health of vaccinated and unvaccinated groups in Korean adult men, their perceptions of government policies, and their willingness to engage in physical activity. The findings are meaningful and highlight useful directions for future research. This study provides evidence which can help alleviate the mental damage caused by government quarantine policies and enable a better understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study provide important data for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Attributes and Clusters of the Korean Exercise Healthcare Industry Viewed through Big Data: Comparison before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aims to predict the characteristics of the exercise healthcare industry in the post-pandemic era by comparing the periods before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak through big data analysis. TEXTOM, the Korean big data collection and analysis solution, was used for data collection. The pre-pandemic period was defined as 1 January 2018-31 December 2019 and the pandemic period as 1 January 2020-31 December 2021. The keywords for data collection were "exercise + healthcare + industry". Text mining and social network analysis were conducted to determine the overall characteristics of the Korean exercise healthcare industry. We identified 30 terms that appeared most frequently on social media. Four common (smart management, future technology, fitness, and research) and six different clusters (sports education, exercise leader, rehabilitation, services, business, and COVID-19) were obtained for the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Smart management, future technology, fitness, and research are still important values across both periods. The results provide meaningful data and offer valuable insights to explore the changing trends in exercise healthcare.

The Structural Relationship between Basic Psychological Needs, Grit, and the Quality of Life of Individuals with Disabilities.

Individuals with disabilities who engage in regular physical activity reduce their risk of diseases such as obesity and heart disease, as well as other risk factors; relieve tense emotions, and improve their quality of life via interaction with others. Despite these advantages, only one out of every four Koreans with a disability engages in physical activity. Grit is the ability to maintain interest and effort towards a goal in the face of adversity and failure. Grit can act as an important factor in increasing the psychological level of individuals with disabilities. We investigated the relationship between basic psychological needs, grit, and the quality of life of disabled individuals to determine if physical activities can improve their quality of life. Our dataset included 296 disabled individuals registered with the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. Using structural equation modelling, the direct and indirect effects of grit, quality of life, and psychological needs satisfaction such as competence, relatedness, and autonomy were examined. We found that competence positively affects consistency of interests (ß = 0.150, t = 1.854), relatedness positively affects consistency of interests (ß = 0.354, t = 4.409), and autonomy has no statistically significant effects (ß = 0.101, t = 1.086). Second, competence positively affects perseverance of effort (ß = 0.249, t = 3.206), autonomy negatively affects perseverance of effort (ß = -0.269, t = -2.880), and relatedness has no statistically significant effects (ß = -0.017, t = -0.249). Third, autonomy positively affects quality of life (ß = 0.214, t = 2.349) while competence and relatedness had no statistically significant effects (ß = -0.018, t = -0.208; ß = 0.096, t = 1.288). Fourth, consistency of interests positively affects quality of life (ß = 0.312, t = 4.191) while perseverance of effort had no statistically significant effects (ß = -0.094, t = -1.480). Fifth, competence was found to have positive indirect effects on quality of life through grit. This study underscores the importance of addressing these three basic psychological needs and elements of grit when designing future quality of life interventions for disabled individuals.

Identification and evaluation of beliefs about sport participation among South Korean university students.

Objective: To identify and evaluate salient beliefs about sport participation among South Korean university students. Participants: Total 234 undergraduate students were recruited in the main study from one university located in Seoul, South Korea. Methods: An elicitation study was conducted to identify salient beliefs about sport participation. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effects of the elicited salient beliefs on intention to participate in sports and sport participation behavior. Results: Four of ten salient beliefs identified from the elicitation study (i.e., "builds social relationship," "makes me tired," "takes too much time," and "friends") indirectly affected sport participation behavior through intention. Conclusion: The four salient beliefs may play a critical role in developing effective interventions or policies for promoting sport participation.

Big Data Analysis of Sports and Physical Activities among Korean Adolescents.

The Korean government (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Education) has framed policies and conducted many projects to encourage adolescents to be more physically active. Despite these efforts, the participation rate of physical activity in Korean adolescents keeps decreasing. Thus, the purpose of this study was to analyze the perception of sports and physical activity in Korean adolescents through big data analysis of the last 10 years and to provide research data and statistical direction with regard to sports and physical activity participation in Korean adolescents. For data collection, data from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2019 were collected from Naver (NAVER Corp., Seongnam, Korea), Daum (Kakao Corp., Jeju, Korea), and Google (Alphabet Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA), which are the most widely used search engines in Korea, using TEXTOM 4.0 (The Imc Inc., Daegu, Korea), a big data collection and analysis solution. Keywords such as "adolescent + sports + physical activity" were used. TEXTOM 4.0 can generate various collection lists at once using keywords. Collected data were processed through text mining (frequency analysis, term frequency-inverse document frequency analysis) and social network analysis (SNA) (degree centrality, convergence of iterated correlations analysis) by using TEXTOM 4.0 and UCINET 6 social network analysis software (Analytic Technologies Corp., Lexington, KY, USA). A total of 9278 big data (10.36 MB) were analyzed. Frequency analysis of the top 50 terms through text mining showed exercise (872), mind (851), health (824), program (782), and burden (744) in a descending order. Term frequency-inverse document frequency analysis revealed exercise (2108.070), health (1961.843), program (1928.765), mind (1861.837), and burden (1722.687) in a descending order. SNA showed that the terms with the greatest degree of centrality were exercise (0.02857), program (0.02406), mind (0.02079), health (0.02062), and activity (0.01872) in a descending order. Convergence of the iterated correlations analysis indicated five clusters: exercise and health, child to adult, sociocultural development, therapy, and program. However, female gender, sports for all, stress, and wholesome did not have a high enough correlation to form one cluster. Thus, this study provides basic data and statistical direction to increase the rate of physical activity participation in Korean adolescents by drawing significant implications based on terms and clusters through bid data analysis.

A Developmental Model for Predicting Sport Participation among Female Korean College Students.

Although participating in regular physical activity has many benefits, female Korean college students tend to have much lower participation rates than their male counterparts. An effective means of increasing physical activity among female college students is sport participation. The purpose of this study is to incorporate three types of psychological needs from self-determination theory as precursor background variables into the theory of planned behavior to predict sport participation among female Korean college students. Our dataset consisted of 494 female undergraduate students attending Kyung Hee University in South Korea. Using structural equation modeling, the direct and indirect effects of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and psychological needs satisfaction such as competency, relatedness, and autonomy were examined. Although attitude towards and perceived behavioral control over sport participation were significantly associated with intention in all three models, subjective norm was not significantly associated with intention in any model. Satisfaction of the psychological needs for competency, relatedness, and autonomy had positive indirect effects on sport participation. This study underscores the importance of addressing the satisfaction of these three basic psychological needs when designing future sport promotion interventions for female college students.

Complementary histological and genomic analyses reveal marked differences in the developmental trajectories of ovaries in Siberian hamsters raised in long- and short-day lengths.

Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) delay sexual development when raised in short-day (SD; 10 hr light: 14 hr dark) conditions, which leads to delayed onset of estrous cycles and ovulations as compared to females raised in long-day (LD; 16 hr light: 8 hr dark) conditions. In addition to the absence of pre-ovulatory follicles and corpora lutea, the ovaries of SD-reared Siberian hamsters are characterized by an abundance of hypertrophied granulosa cells (HGCs) that surround atretic oocytes. To determine the age at which the histology of LD and SD ovaries first diverge, including the initial appearance of HGCs in SD conditions, we examined hamster ovaries histologically at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks of age. After identifying subtle differences in LD and SD ovarian histology at 4 weeks of age, we searched for differences in ovarian gene expression at 3 and 8 weeks of age, which correspond to the ages when ovarian histology do not differ (3 weeks) versus the earliest age when HGCs were observed (8 weeks). At 3 weeks, only 14 genes were differentially expressed in LD and SD ovaries, whereas 183 genes were differentially expressed at 8 weeks. Overall, our findings demonstrate that ovarian development under SD conditions is not simply arrested at an early stage of LD development, but rather utilizes a developmental path that is distinct from that used in LD ovaries.

Photoperiod-induced differences in uterine growth in Phodopus sungorus are evident at an early age when serum estradiol and uterine estrogen receptor levels are not different.

Sexual development is inhibited in Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) in short days (SD), and a small uterus is an obvious indicator of photo-inhibition. The small uterus in SD is presumably due to the delayed onset of estrous cycles. However, in an earlier study, the investigators reported that serum estradiol (E2) concentration was significantly higher in young females raised in SD than in long days (LD), with the highest concentrations measured in SD at 4 weeks of age. These seemingly contradictory findings were investigated in the present study. First, uterine mass and body mass were measured in SD- and LD-reared hamsters from 1 to 12 weeks of age. Uterine mass was significantly greater in LD than in SD by 3 weeks of age and onward. Thereafter, our investigation focused on 4-week-old hamsters. Serum E2 concentrations in LD and in SD were not significantly different and there were no significant LD-SD differences in uterine estrogen receptors (ER), as measured by immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Therefore, alternative explanations for the photoperiodic difference in uterine size in young Siberian hamsters are considered.

Evaluation of immune responses and protective efficacy in a goat model following immunization with a coctail of recombinant antigens and a polyprotein of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

The protective efficacy of four recombinant antigens (85A, 85B, superoxide dismutase [SOD], and a fusion polypeptide [Map74F]) of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) along with the adjuvant dimethydioctadecyl ammonium bromide (DDA) was assessed in a goat challenge model. Animals were immunized with the four antigens with adjuvant DDA (Group I, eight goat kids) or without the adjuvant (Group II, eight goat kids) or adjuvant only (Group III, nine goat kids). Animals were boostered 3 weeks after the primary vaccination and challenged 3 weeks after the booster. Significant antigen-specific lymphoproliferation was observed in the immunized animals 3 weeks after the booster immunization. This response increased further at 4 weeks after the booster. Similarly, antigen-specific IFN-gamma responses increased in the immunized animals 3 weeks after the booster. The response was significantly higher for 85A and Map74F at 10 weeks after primary vaccination (APV) in Group I animals compared to the other two groups. CD4+ T-cell populations were higher in the vaccinated animals from 6 to 10 weeks APV than those of the control animals. A significant increase in recombinant antigen-specific IFN-gamma gene expression was detected in the vaccinated animals. At necropsy (38 weeks APV), our multicomponent subunit vaccine imparted a significant protection in terms of reduction of MAP burden in target organs as compared to sham-immunized goats. This study indicates that our multicomponent subunit vaccine induced a good Th1 response and conferred protection against MAP infection in a goat challenge model.

Immunization with a DNA vaccine cocktail induces a Th1 response and protects mice against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis challenge.

Several antigens of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis have been studied as vaccine components and their immunogenicity has been evaluated. Previously, we reported that 85 antigen complex (85A, 85B, and 85C), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and 35kDa protein could induce significant lymphocyte proliferation as well as the elaboration of Th1-associated cytokines including interferon gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-12 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). Based on these results, we cloned and expressed 85A, 85B, 85C, SOD, and 35kDa-protein genes into the eukaryotic expression plasmid pVR1020. C57BL/6 mice were immunized three times intramuscularly with the recombinant DNA cocktail and pVR1020 DNA alone as control. A significant reduction in the bacterial burden in the spleen and liver of mice immunized with the DNA cocktail as compared to the vector control group was found. Also, the relative severity of the liver and spleen histopathology paralleled the MAP culture results, more granulomas and acid-fast bacilli in the vector control animals. Moreover, mice immunized with the DNA cocktail developed both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses to the recombinant antigens and showed significant lymphocyte proliferation. The Th1 response related cytokine (IFN-gamma) levels increased in splenocytes obtained from immunized animals. These results indicate that the use of a recombinant DNA vaccine can provide protective immunity against mycobacterial infection by inducing a Th1 response.

Vaccination with recombinant Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis proteins induces differential immune responses and protects calves against infection by oral challenge.

We previously reported the in vitro cellular immune responses to recombinant antigens (rAgs) of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Here we report the differential immune responses and protective efficacy of four rAgs of MAP (85A, 85B, 85C, and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) used with two adjuvants (monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) containing synthetic trehalose dicorynomycolate, cell wall skeleton (MPLA) and bovine IL-12), against MAP challenge in calves. Group I was administered the four rAgs with MPLA and IL-12. Group II was administered the four rAgs and MPLA. Group III received MPLA and IL-12, and Group IV MPLA. rAgs induced significant lymphoproliferative responses in vaccinated animals (Groups I and II). All the rAgs induced significant IFN-gamma production from 11 to 23 wk after primary vaccination (APV), except for SOD. Significant increases were noted in CD3(+), CD4(+), CD8(+), CD21(+), CD25(+), and gammadelta(+) cells against all four rAgs in vaccinated animals. rAg-specific expression of IL-2, IL-12p40, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha was significantly higher in the two vaccinated groups. Culture results found 4/8 animals in Group I, 3/8 animals in Group II, and 3/4 animals in Groups III and IV were positive for MAP in one or more tissues. Among the seven positive animals in Groups I and II, all but one had had <10CFU. Isolation was confined to one tissue in these animals, except in one animal in which MAP was isolated from two tissues. In the control groups (III and IV), MAP was cultured from up to five different tissues with >250CFU. Preliminary data from this study indicates that all four rAgs induced a good Th1 response and conferred protection against MAP infection in calves.