Assessing the Efficacy of Medical and Cultural Support for Immigrant Adaptation and Social Integration.

Background: The research was designed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of immigrants towards extra medical support programs that Immigrant Support Centers (ISC) offer. We aimed to find how they evaluate such medical support in terms of helpfulness for social integration in the host country. Methods: The study was performed in South Korea during May-June 2023. A questionnaire was prepared in six languages, with 132 participants. The survey categorized the respondents into three groups, group (A) that received only medical support, group (B) that received only cultural support, and group (C) that received both. The statistical program SPSS windows 22.0 was used for the analysis, and finding the most effective way of medical and cultural support programs was verified through inter-group analysis. Results: The analysis of the results shows that the immigrants find the biggest hardship in the new country when a health problem occurs. The most significant barriers were language differences and cultural differences. The immigrants' participation in the extra medical support programs can address those barriers. However, time, age, and length of stay were significant factors, and most of the participants found the extra cultural support more effective at the earlier stage of their stay in Korea. Discussion: The study suggests that it is important to provide both medical and cultural support in the early stage of the immigrants staying in another country. Indeed, this might be a way to use medical support to induce them to further adaptation. Besides, providing culturally oriented medical support is likely to foster social integration through medical support.

Medical Support Provided by the UN's Scandinavian Allies during the Korean War.

The humanitarian motivation of medical support from the three Scandinavian countries during the Korean War cannot be doubted, but the countries also had to be politically sensitive during this period. The fact that these countries only dispatched medical support, and that the team was not only for military purpose but also intended to help the civilians is a different point from the U.S. military medical support, which distinguished military medical support that is the U.S. Eighth Army, from the civilian treatment and relief, which is the UNCACK. In addition, medical support activities from the Scandinavian countries were bound to be flexible depending on the rapidly changing trend of war, active regions, and their support methods. At a time when the battle was fierce and the number of wounded soldiers increased, they had no choice but to concentrate on treating wounded soldiers, whether in Busan or Incheon. However, even while treating these wounded soldiers, they tried to treat and rescue civilians around the base area whenever they had chance. It is easily imaginable that in the urgent situation of war, the nature of medical support cannot be clearly divided into military or civilian if there is only one team that is operating. It is clear, however, that the common humanitarian purpose of rescuing and treating civilians affected the establishment of the National Medical Center in Seoul after the war. The Scandinavians had indeed remained even after the end of the war in to provide full support of establishing modern medical system in Korea. This suggests that modern Korean medical or public health system did not start to be developed in the 1960s like some researchers argue, but started a few years earlier during the time of the war with the support from the countries world-wide.

Expanded Orientation of Urban Public Health Policy in the Climate Change Era: Response to and Prevention of Heat Wave in Paris and Seoul: A Brief Review.

The policies of response to and prevention of heat waves in France in 2003 and in South Korea in 2018 were compared and reviewed to see how public health policy orientation was being expanded in connection with urban and social policies. The statistics of the patients with heat illness and resulted death in France in 2003 and South Korea in 2018 were analyzed. The results and limitations of the French and Korean responses to heat waves were compared and discussed. The heat wave in France in 2003 caused an excess death of 14,802. The 2018 heat wave in South Korea resulted in 4,526 cases of heat illness and 48 deaths. France's National Heat wave Plan established in 2004 introduced the warning system and strengthened support for the vulnerable. The heat wave in South Korea in 2018 revealed the success and limitations of the national measures that have been gradually implemented since the mid-2000s. Both France and South Korea are making efforts in preventing heat illness and managing health risk through the warning systems, providing public and social support for the vulnerable, and expanding urban infrastructure. Paris puts priority on the long-term prevention of heat wave, in the wider context of climate change response, while Seoul shows a relatively strong point in immediate infrastructural expansion. In order to respond to the climate crisis and the following health risk, public health policies need to be contrived with deeper connection with urban social policies for sustainable development.

Amphiaraos, the Healer and Protector of Attika.

Amphiaraos was an important and popular healing hero/god in Athens from the end of the fifth century BC, however, not much has been studied. This paper investigates the figure in various ways by examining different sources. In the sixth century BC and in to the fifth, Amphiaraos was an Argive warrior hero that came into war against Thebes. He then seems to have acquired a sanctuary in the Theban territory being a mantic hero. In the end of the fifth century BC, however, he is said to have swallowed up by the earth and sprang up again in a spring at Oropos. Between 420-414 BC, his sanctuary was set up by the Athenians at Oropos. But this time, he was venerated as a healing hero. In 420 BC, Asklepios was introduced to Athens in order to cure plague that went around from 430s BC. It seems that the Athenians benchmarked Asklepios to promote one more healing hero/god at their north eastern border. When Oropos was taken by their enemies, a substitute Amphiareion was established in Rhamnous, a deme close to Oropos. The Athenians also promoted a patriotic hero through the words of Euripides. Illustrated as having gone through the same process of sacrifice - death - commemoration, Amphiaraos was put in parallel with the Athenian mythical king Erechtheus. Through this parallel, Amphiaraos became a political figure that protected Athens from outside threats. Healing was, by the ancient Athenians, understood in a wide spectrum and was considered as a way to protect the polis.

Altered PLCß-1 expression in the gerbil hippocampal complex following spontaneous seizure.

Although the phospholipase C (PLC)ß-1 isoform is associated with spontaneous seizure and distinctively expressed in the telencephalon, the distribution of PLCß-1 expression in the epileptic gerbil hippocampus remains controversial. Therefore, we determined whether PLCß-1 is associated with spontaneous seizure in an animal model of genetic epilepsy. In the present study, PLCß-1 immunoreactivity was down-regulated in seizure-sensitive (SS) gerbils more than in seizure-resistant (SR) gerbils. The expression of PLCß-1 within calretinin (CR)- positive neurons was rarely detected within the dentate hilar region of SS gerbils. PLCß-1 immunoreactivity in the hippocampus was significantly elevated as compared to that in pre-seizure SS gerbil 3 h post-ictal. These findings suggest that alterations in PLCß-1 immunoreactivity in the SS gerbil hippocampus may be closely related to the epileptic state of the gerbil brain and transiently elevated PLCß-1 protein levels following seizure episodes. Such alterations may be compensatory responses in the SS gerbil hippocampus.