In Korea, “group feeding facilities” are public establishments that offer food to large numbers of people, typically consisting of more than 50 individuals at a time. As of March 2024, there were 46,642 such meal facilities in Korea. Among these, 14,177 (30.4%) were kindergartens, 12,155 (26.1%) were schools, and 9,949 (21.3%) were industrial facilities. In February 2021, lung cancer among culinary workers in schools was first recognized as an occupational disease. Since then, the necessity of implementing health management of culinary workers and improving the cooking environment has become a pressing issue. Previous studies have identified various cooking pollutants such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and aldehydes generated during the cooking process. These pollutants have been shown to significantly impact on both indoor and outdoor environments. They are initially produced in cooking spaces, can spread to indoor dining areas by diffusion, and are eventually emitted to the outside air through exhaust outlets. Therefore, this study investigated previous research on the characteristics of pollutants and the environmental impacts of cooking facilities, including facilities providing meals. Additionally, this study analyzed the current status and limitations of policies and pollutant management systems related to these facilities. Finally, to improve the cooking environment and safeguard the health of workers, this study proposed several recommendations. These include guidelines and management system proposals for controlling cooking pollutants.

The objective of this study is to identify the emission characteristics of VOCs from small-scale painting facilities, such emissions being pollutants that impact nearby living areas and to devise improvement measures to enhance management plans regarding pollutant emissions from painting facilities. VOCs emissions from painting facilities were estimated according to Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS) data based on the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER)'s emission list in 2017. Three automotive painting facilities in Seoul were chosen for evaluation of the adsorption system. We analyzed the characteristics of VOCs generated by type of different operation and measured the removal efficiency of the adsorption system. Therefore, we analyzed current emissions of VOCs from automotive painting facilities based on field measurements. According to such detailed analysis, a systematic management plan was proposed.

SERPINB3 (also known Squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1, SCCA1) is involved in apoptosis, immune response, cell migration and invasiveness of cells. It has been investigated in various types of squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore we investigated the functional role of SERPINB3 gene in human epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) using laying hens, the most relevant animal model. In 136 laying hens, EOC was found in 10 (7.4%). We compared the expression and localization of SERPINB3 using RT-PCR, quantitative RT-PCR, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, and SERPINB3 activation was detected in chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines using immunofluorescence microscopy. Thereafter, we examined the prognostic value of SERPINB3 expression in patients with EOC by multivariate linear logistic regression and Cox’ proportional hazard analyses. In present study, SERPINB3 mRNA was induced in cancerous ovaries (p< 0.01), and it was only expressed in the glandular epithelium(GE) of cancerous ovaries of laying hens. SERPINB3 protein was localized predominantly to the nucleus of glandular epithelium in cancerous ovaries of laying hens, and it was abundant in the nucleus of both chicken and human ovarian cancer cell lines. In 109 human patients with EOC, 15 (13.8%), 66 (60.6%) and 28 (25.7%) of those patients showed weak, moderate and strong expression of SERPINB3 protein, respectively. Strong expression of SERPINB3 protein was a prognostic factor for platinum resistance (adjusted OR, 5.94; 95% Confidence Limits, 1.21-29.15). Therefore SERPINB3 may play an important role in ovarian carcinogenesis and be a novel biomarker for predicting platinum resistance and a poor prognosis for survival in patients with EOC. This research was funded by the World Class University (WCU) program (R31-10056), Basic Science Research Program (2010- 0013078) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No.PJ008142), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.