Potential risk of exposure to heavy metals from co-processing of secondary wastes in the Republic of Korea.

The co-processing of secondary wastes during ordinary Portland cement (OPC) can result in high heavy metal concentrations in OPC products. However, earlier studies have not evaluated the concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) in OPC as a function of secondary input materials. Further, the health risk assessment (HRA) model has, thus far, has not been employed to assess the potential health risks associated with secondary raw materials and secondary fuels in OPC. Hence, to address these knowledge gaps, herein, monthly data for six HMs in the input materials and fuels from seven OPC manufacturers in the Republic of Korea were analyzed and modeled. Pb and Cu concentrations were found to be approximately 10-200 and 4-200 times higher than those of the other HMs, respectively. Furthermore, maximum Pb and Cu concentrations were 2-3 and 2-5 times higher than those reported in other countries, respectively. The quantity of input material had a significant influence on the observed patterns, and secondary raw materials, secondary additives, and secondary fuels were also determined to be important. Based on HRA assessment, although the risk levels were within permissible ranges, carcinogenic hazards attributable to Cr and Pb were not negligible. The results can aid in informed decision making and in implementing effective measures for managing risks associated with HMs in the OPC industry, thereby ameliorating threats to human health and environment.

Applications of UV/H2O2, UV/persulfate, and UV/persulfate/Cu2+ for the elimination of reverse osmosis concentrate generated from municipal wastewater reclamation treatment plant: Toxicity, transformation products, and disinfection byproducts.

Reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) resulting from treatment of municipal wastewater reclamation involves high concentrations of recalcitrant pollutants. This study evaluated the toxicity of an ROC containing harmful biocides during representative UV synergistic oxidation processes (SOPs) (e.g., UV/hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), UV/persulfate (PS), and UV/PS/Cu2+). Treated ROC exhibited up to 1.3-2.3 times higher toxicity than the parent compounds such as dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (DTAC) and dodecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (DDBAC). Based on the intermediates identification, the major toxic intermediates were screened through silico assessment using the quantitative Ecological Structure-Activity Relationship (ECOSAR) tool. The transformation products (TPs) of hydroxylation and ketonization were the major formed reactions from the UV/PS/Cu2+. Also, some cytotoxic TPs were accumulated during the UV/H2O2 and UV/PS oxidations, where the carbonaceous-disinfection byproducts were more than the nitrogenous-disinfection byproducts. In the presence of chloride and bromide, chlorate and bromate could be formed during the UV-SOP; they were influenced by the different water matrix in comparison with the different ROC. Also, the formation of the total organic halogen species (TOX) was found to follow this order: UV/PS/Cu2+ < UV/H2O2 < UV/PS. In this study, the predicted cytotoxicity using the correlation between the TOX and the cytotoxicity was more acceptable than that of the cytotoxicity index method. Further, the R-square of the correlation between the TOX and the cytotoxicity for the UV/H2O2 and UV/PS was 0.82 and 0.79, respectively. The predicted cytotoxicity using the TOX correlation method in the ROC could also be used to monitor and prevent the application of different oxidations in municipal wastewater reclamation treatment plants.

The Korean version of the Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI-Kr): development and validation.

Our research team of multilingual and multicultural members designed comprehensive, yet efficient, culture-informed, and self-rated Multicultural Quality of Life Indexes for both English-speaking individuals and for growing immigrant groups in the United States. A Korean version of the Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI-Kr) was developed as part of this multilingual project. The team tested the MQLI-Kr on 130 Koreans (100 psychiatric patients and 30 professionals). MQLI-Kr was quite efficient and easy to use. The internal consistency attained a Cronbach's alpha of 0.97 for the combined sample. A factor analysis yielded one single factor, which accounted for 81.5% of the items' variance. The test-retest reliability correlation coefficient of the MQLI-Kr was 0.85. Significant differences in the mean MQLI-Kr scores were observed between the patients' group and the professionals' group (p < 0.001). Thus the results of this study showed high feasibility, internal consistency, reliability, and discriminant validity for the MQLI-Kr.

Effects of psychoeducation for Korean Americans with chronic mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: Korean Americans' access to mental health services may be limited because of differences in their views of mental illness compared with Westerners, unfamiliarity with treatment methods, and cultural associations of social stigma with mental problems. This study used data from an urban outpatient clinic to assess the effects of a ten-week psychoeducational intervention for Korean Americans with chronic mental illness. METHODS: Forty-eight Korean-American adults with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were randomly assigned to either an experimental group that provided a culturally sensitive psychoeducational group program in addition to individual supportive therapy or a control group that offered only individual supportive therapy. The two groups were compared on pre- and posttreatment measures of psychiatric symptoms, attitudes about and understanding of mental illness, and coping skills. The experimental psychoeducational treatment group was expected to show lower symptom severity, greater understanding of mental illness leading to a decreased perception of stigma, and greater coping skills after the intervention than the control group. Comparisons were made with repeated-measures analysis of covariance with the effects of gender and education controlled for. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the psychoeducational group showed significantly reduced symptom severity and perception of stigma and greater coping skills immediately after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that a culturally sensitive psychoeducational intervention is a useful short-term treatment modality for Korean Americans with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.