Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Trying to Solve Mystery in Spread of Allergies

By Karen Ann Cullotta New York Times CHICAGO ― For 5-year-old Sean Batson, even a grandmother’s kiss is to be feared. “My mother was wearing lipstick, and when she kissed Sean’s cheek, it broke out in hives,” said his mother, Jennifer Batson. At his first birthday party, Sean had a severe allergic reaction hives, swollen eyes, vomiting and wheezing to his first nibble of cake. And when a toddler with an ice cream cone touched Sean’s arm with sticky hands during a play date, the arm erupted in hives. The daily struggle of living with Sean’s allergies to nearly unavoidable foods and food products soy, eggs and milk, traces of which can turn up even in nonfoods like lipstick prompted Mrs. Batson and her husband, Tim, to participate in a project that scientists are calling the most comprehensive food allergy study to date. The international study, led by Dr. Xiobin Wang and Dr. Jacqueline A. Pongracic of Children’s Memorial Hospital here, is searching for causes of food allergy by looking at hundreds of families in Boston, Chicago and Anhui Province in China. Using questi

Jan 11, 2009

(25) How to Set Saju: 60-Year Cycle

By Janet Shin In order to study Saju, we need to work to set the four pillars first. It comes from one's born records ― year, month, day and time. This work is based on the lunar calendar. You may simply refer to the Internet to find out your four pillars by putting in your birth year, month, date and time. However, here we may learn briefly how the Saju is set. Saju means four pillars, which actually is a Korean. Korean Saju developed its own territory to read people's destiny and anticipate fortunes. Even though the origin is same such as taiji, yin yang, five elements, etc. the recent Korean Saju scholars have analyzed and interpreted old theories in reasonable ways so that the general readers may approach Saju easily and friendly. Sa means the number four and ju means the pillar in Korean. Saju is consists of 8 letters, i.e. 4 celestial stems and 4 terrestrial branches, so people also call it Bazi (8 letters). As mentioned, the ten celestial stems (also called ``ten stems'' ― pronounced ``sipgan'') and the 12 zodiac signs (also called `twelve branches'' ― pronounced `si

Jan 8, 2009

Childbirth Becomes Family Festival

By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter There were times when pregnancy was considered a natural burden for women and few showed interest in the delivery. But these days childbirth has become a major family celebration, Dr. Kwak Sang-ro of the Kwak Sang-ro Ob & Gyn Clinic said. Kwak, who has been running his clinic in Seongnam, south of Seoul, for more than three decades, is more of a historian on child delivery. When Seongnam was less affluent, some mothers gave birth at home to save money. It was an exception, rather than a rule, for mothers to be rushed to the hospital for delivery. ``There were times when mothers almost had their babies in the taxi. They would walk to the door of my clinic and I could instantly notice that the baby's head was partially visible,'' he said. With so many interesting stories, his has become one of the most unique obstetrics clinics in Korea. ``Some of our staff were actually born, grew up and got a job here. Don't you think we are really more of a family?'' said Kwak, who leads the more than 150-staffed hospital,. ``My clients' children come

Jan 4, 2009

Childbirth Labor Strengthens Mother-Child Relations

By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reopter Getting pregnant, going into labor and rearing children are common but very special things for a woman. However, these days the birthrate in Korea is the lowest ever ― marking 1.12 per couple. Moreover, more mothers-to-be are choosing to undergo caesarian section ― it marked 36.8 percent in 2007, much higher than world health organization’s recommendation of 5-15 percent. Dr. Han Dong-up of Bundang Cheil Women’s Hospital said there could be some other reasons, but it’s mostly women’s fear of labor pains that boosts the surgery rate. Han said under certain circumstances such as the unborn baby having health problems; the mothers’ suffering from critical disease or there being serious health concerns for either mother or child or both; the mother already having had a caesarian section; doctors will recommend the artificial birth procedure, but in most cases its not necessary. ``We persuade the mothers to endure the pain and see the baby in a more natural state,’’ he said. His hospital was ranked in the top 30 percent of hospitals with low caesa

Dec 28, 2008

(24) How Saju Affects Ones Health

By Janet Shin What to eat is one of our daily concerns. One day, you might feel like eating some hot soup, and the next day, you want some barbecue. Saju can give advice on what food you should eat to attain better health. We can classify by flavor as shown in the chart below. This can be useful information in analyzing one’s fate. Here is a saju of a man who was born in the year of 1961 (ja ― rat). His birth month is ja (11th month of the lunar calendar) at the time of in (3 to 5 a.m.). The day master to represent him is im (yang water). Im people usually have good interpersonal skills. They seldom reveal what they think. Im personalities are suitable for intellectual pursuits. This man used to be a journalist for a renowned newspaper and published several books. Now he owns a company related to students and education Let’s review his four pillars one by one. He was born with the energy of im (yang water) and the month branch is ja water (when the water energy is strongest). In addition, he has ja water in his year branch and sin metal in his day branch, wh

Dec 25, 2008

Doctor Studies Cancer Stem Cell to Fight Pancreatic Cancer

By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter Pancreatic cancer is said to be one of the most threatening cancers― it's not easy to detect, diagnose, or treat. Even if one finds it at a very early stage, one still has one of the

Dec 14, 2008

(23) How We Forecast Fate by Branches in Your Saju

The substantials that represent each branch The four pillars to read your fate are set by the year, month, day and time of your birth. Among the four pillars, the day stem represents yourself, while the other stems and branches are explained in relation with the day stem. We have learned that Byeong fire is like the sun in the sky in learning the 10 celestial stems in previous chapters. Byeong people have a distinct personality. It is yang fire and radiates the fire's character. It doesn't focus on one place but spreads out all over the world. However once it has no attention, it easily loses passion. There is certain saju that it is hard to describe the personality of a day master as itself. Here is a saju of a lady born in the year of rat (1984-ja), the month of O (fifth month of lunar calendar) and her birth time is In wood (4 am). At first glance, the day master, byeong fire looks strong as it was born in the month of yang fire (o-friend star). O month is when the fire energy prevails. However on second look, it shows that o fire is severely hurt by the ja wat

Dec 11, 2008

Keep Your Eyes on Kidneys Before Late

By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter Renal disorder is currently regarded as one of the most unpleasant diseases, because patients may undergo painful kidney dialysis for the rest of their lives.

Dec 7, 2008

(22) What do people pursue in their lives?

By Janet Shin Here is a saju of a man who was born in the Southern hemisphere. His day master, gi, is the energy of yin earth that represents the field. The gi people embrace others but they do not talk a lot. Gi personality is prudent, stable, reliable and a little stubborn. They are also logical and benevolent. Gi is wet earth, especially with hae (yin water) branch, as in this man’s saju. But if we looked at his overall saju, hae water is not in a good condition, as it is next to sa fire. Both elements fiercely conflict each other. Although gi is the earth, patient and prudent, he has sa and hae in his branches, which are very active, conflicting, moving and fierce. The other branches, sul and mi, are repository places. As learned, jin, sul, chuk, and mi are repository places, meaning storage and graves as they gather and keep things inside. People who have jin sul chuk mi in their saju usually have a deeper and wider perspective about other people, life and the world. Most of them are interested in the spiritual world and ultimate truth. Sa fire is his knowledge star as

Dec 4, 2008

Hypertension Affects 20% of Population

By Bae Ji-sook Staff Reporter Hypertension may sound like something only the obese or those with certain diseases get, but it actually affects more than 20 percent of the population.

Nov 30, 2008

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