• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2020

Geological CO₂ sequestration is a global warming response technology to limit atmospheric emissions by injecting CO₂ captured on a large scale into deep geological formations. The presented results concern mineralogical and hydrogeological investigations (FE-SEM, XRD, XRF, and MICP) of mudstone samples from drilling cores of the Pohang basin, which is the research area for the first demonstration-scale CO₂ storage project in Korea. They aim to identify the mineral properties of the mudstone constituting the caprock and to quantitatively evaluate the hydrogeologic sealing capacity that directly affects the stability and reliability of geological CO₂ storage. Mineralogical analysis showed that the mudstone samples are mainly composed of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and a small amount of pyrite, calcite, clay minerals, etc. Mercury intrusion capillary pressure analysis also showed that the samples generally had uniform particle configurations and pore distribution and there was no distinct correlation between the estimated porosity and air permeability. The allowable CO₂ column heights based on the estimated pore-entry pressures and breakthrough pressures were found to be significantly higher than the thickness of the targeting CO₂ injection layer. These results showed that the mudstone layers in the Yeongil group, Pohang basin, Korea have sufficient sealing capacity to suppress the leakage of CO₂ injected during the demonstration-scale CO₂ storage project. It should be noticed, however, that the applicability of results and analyses in this study is limited by the lack of available samples. For rigorous assessment of the sealing efficiency for geological CO₂ storage operations, significant efforts on collection and multi-aspect evaluation for core samples over entire caprock formations should be accompanied.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2002

An International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago initiated its activities in 1998, with the following specific objectives: (a) inventory and conservation of of plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and of medicinal plants of Laos; (b) drug discovery (and development) based on plants of Vietnam and Laos; and (c) economic development of communities participating in the ICBG project both in Vietnam and Laos. Member-institutions and an industrial partner of this ICBG are bound by a Memorandum of Agreement that recognizes property and intellectual property rights, prior informed consent for access to genetic resources and to indigenous knowledge, the sharing of benefits that may arise from the drug discovery effort, and the provision of short-term and long-term benefits to host country institutions and communities. The drug discovery effort is targeted to the search for agents for therapies against malaria (antimalarial assay of plant extracts, using Plasmodium falciparum clones), AIDS (anti-HIV-l activity using HOG.R5 reporter cell line (through transactivation of the green fluorescent protein/GFP gene), cancer (screening of plant extracts in 6 human tumor cell lines - KB, Col-2, LU-l, LNCaP, HUVEC, hTert-RPEl), tuberculosis (screening of extracts in the microplate Alamar Blue assay against Mycobacterium tuberculosis $H_{37}Ra\;and\;H_{37}Rv),$ all performed at UIC, and CNS-related diseases (with special focus on Alzheimer's disease, pain and rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma), peformed at Glaxo Smith Kline (UK). Source plants were selected based on two approaches: biodiversity-based (plants of Cuc Phuong National Park) and ethnobotany-based (medicinal plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and medicinal plants of Laos). At mc, as of July, 2001, active leads had been identified in the anti-HIV, anticancer, antimalarial, and anti- TB assay, after the screening of more than 800 extracts. At least 25 biologically active compounds have been isolated, 13 of which are new with anti-HIV activity, and 3 also new with antimalarial activity. At GSK of 21 plant samples with a history of use to treat CNS-related diseases tested to date, a number showed activity against one or more of the CNS assay targets used, but no new compounds have been isolated. The results of the drug discovery effort to date indicate that tropical plant diversity of Vietnam and Laos unquestionably harbors biologically active chemical entities, which, through further research, may eventually yield candidates for drug development. Although the substantial monetary benefit of the drug discovery process (royalties) is a long way off, the UIC ICBG program provides direct and real-term benefits to host country institutions and communities.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2007

To evaluate the physiological status of laying flocks, the blood chemistry values were measured and analyzed in various ages under different feeding conditions. Total 671 birds from 48 Hyline brown hens flocks from 13 different poultry farms were bled at the ages of day(s) 1, 11, 21, 50, 80, 120, 180, 240, 300, 400, and 500. The 17 blood chemistries including glucose, lipids, proteins, enzymes, electrolytes and metabolic by-products were measured with an autoanalyzer. Blood glucose showed the highest at the hatching day not relate with the dietary carbohydrates and energy, but tended to decrease during the rest of growth stage in hens. Total blood protein, albumin and globulin increased depending on the ages even though dietary protein was decreased. Blood lipid was greatly changed at different growth stages. Cholesterol was the highest at hatching period and maintained consistently until the 120 days of age. It was increased in birds after 180 days of age. HDL was also highest in hatchery, but decreased greatly after 180 days of age. However, TG was the lowest at one day old, but was increased up to 10 times after 180 days of age compared to that of one day old. The enzyme activities were different. AST, ALT, and GGT showed comparatively contained consistently, whereas amylase was slowly decreased. Blood P, Na, K and Cl showed consistency, but Ca content was increased upto two times of the one day of age. The results from this study showed that the blood chemistry values were affected by the general metabolic status of the host with ages not by feeding conditions. Further, the standard data of age-dependent blood chemistry values in the laying flocks were obtained, which can be utilized for early detection of the changes in the physiological status occurred by the infectious or metabolic diseases. The results of these analyses seemed to be useful to increase the productivity of laying flocks through rapid and proper veterinary medical treatments.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.138-142
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• 2010

Purpose: PTH (parathyroid hormone) level is a useful index for prediction of hypocalcemia after thyroidectomy. The fast results are required for an early diagnosis of hypocalcemia. In this study, we evaluated the PTH change according to incubation time, and investigated the usefulness of hypocalcemia diagnosis of PTH results in early incubation time. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 131 patients who had taken the PTH test from July to August in 2009. All experiments were used IRMA method. PTH value were evaluated with the correlation between precision (10 times repeat) and recovery rate and at 0.5, 3, 6 and $18{\pm}2$ (below overnight) hours following incubation time. Data analysis was investigated with relationship of the sensitivity, specificity, PPV (positive predictive value) and accuracy. Results: The correlation was time-dependent with levels reaching $R^2$=0.987 at 0.5 hours, $R^2$=0.993 at 3 hours and $R^2$=0.996 at 6 hours compare to overnight levels. The precision (%CV${\pm}$SD) were $15.92{\pm}15.54$ at 0.5 hours, $6.91{\pm}7.38$ at 3 hours, $4.30{\pm}4.69$ at 6 hours and $4.59{\pm}2.59$ at overnight. The recovery rate (%Mean${\pm}$SD) were $96.8{\pm}5.44$ at 0.5 hours, $102.6{\pm}4.35$ at 3 hours, $100.7{\pm}2.56$ at 6 hours and $102.2{\pm}5.98$ at overnight. When 15 pg/ml of overnight density was set up as criteria, we measured the sensitivity, specificity and PPV, accuracy at 0.5, 3, 6 hours. The sensitivity was shown to 97.5% at all times. The specificity was 96.0% at 0.5 hours, 100% at 3 hours and 92.3% at 6 hours for control, respectively. The PPV was 86.6% at 0.5 hours, 100% at 3 hours and 92.8% at 6 hours. The accuracy was shown to 84.7% at 0.5 hours, 97.5% at 3 hours and 90.6% at 6 hours. These data were accompanied by a corresponding PTH value of overnight incubation time, which significantly correlated with early time results. Conclusion: The values of PTH at 3 hours has favorable the rate of concordance of 94.1% and may be useful for prediction of hypocalcemia, and it responses to overnight incubation PTH values. Therefore, This method may be an attractive alternative to proper treatment to stop symptom revelation by giving a calcium agent to the patient.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.31-36
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• 2017

Purpose Recently, the performance of PET/CT scanner has been improved and various techniques have been developed to increase the image quality such as Sensitivity and Resolution. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of Q.Clear (a fully convergent iterative reconstruction) technique of GE Discovery IQ equipment to enhance the image quality. Materials and Methods All scans were acquired by Discovery IQ (GE Healthcare, MI, USA). In NEMA IEC Body Phantom test, Background to Hot-sphere (10 mm, 13 mm, 17 mm, 22 mm) ratio was 1:4 and scan time was 3 minutes. The images were reconstructed by VPHDs (VUE Point High-Definition + SharpIR) and Q.Clear to evaluate each Contrast. We injected 18F-FDG 187 M㏃ to PET/SPECT Performance Phantom. And then it was scanned for 4 minutes to evaluate Resolution and Uniformity. T-test statistical analysis was performed on SUVmax of small lesions less than 2 cm in 100 clinical patients regardless of disease type. Results In the NEMA IEC Body Phantom, the Contrast was $63.6{\pm}5.7%$ (VPHDs) and $75{\pm}4.8%$ (Q.Clear). In the PET/SPECT Performance Phantom, the Resolution was 9.2 mm (VPHDs) and 7.3 mm (Q.Clear). Uniformity of Q.Clear was 10.8% better than VPHDs. T-test statistic of the clinical patients showed a significant difference of p value of 0.021. Conclusion Both the phantom test and the clinical results showed that the quality of the image was improved in Q.Clear was applied. The SUVmax was highly measured in Q.Clear and the lesions were clearly distinguished visually. Therefore Q.Clear can be useful in various aspects such as dose-reduction, patients evaluation and image analysis.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.213-220
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• 2010

Salmonella (S.) Enterica infection ranks among the most common food borne bacterial infections worldwide. Although there are six subspecies of S. Enterica, the vast majority of human and animal infections are caused by strains belonging to subspecies 1 serovar Typhimurium and Enteritidis. Recent reports on antibiotic resistance of Salmonella spp. are rising steadily. The increasing problem of antibiotic resistance has rekindled interest in bacteriophage to therapy. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of bacteriophage in S. enterica serovar Enteritidis infected mice and pigs by measuring of body condition, body weight, bacterial colonization and weight of organs based on the in vitro analysis. In vitro experiment, phage cultured with S. Enteritidis showed clear lysis pattern, the plaque forming unit (PFU) of our phage culture was $1.5{\times}10^{11}PFU/mL$, and phage showed its maximum activity at 4 h post inoculation. In mouse experiment, there was no significant difference among experimental groups in the general body conditions and body weight of mice. However, there was difference in weight of liver and spleen depending on the experimental group (p < 0.05). The weight of liver and spleen were reduced by the phage treatment. Also bacterial colonization in spleen and liver were significantly reduced by the phage treatment. In pig experiment, the general body conditions and body temperature exhibited not much difference among the pigs except few pigs in group 3 which showed poor body conditions. From the feces in each group, we could isolate the S. Enteritidis only from group 3. Bacterial enrichment culture was necessary for isolating the bacteria from 5 dpi and 10 dpi, however direct isolation was possible from 15 dpi feces. In phage treated group, postmortem lesion was better than non-phage treated group. Recently, antibiotic resistance concerns on the food-borne bacterial pathogens have been increasing because of the wide spread of the antibiotics resistance genes. This concern is widely transmitted to the human related public health. As one of the alternative treatments on the bacterial pathogens, attempt using phages have been made to control the bacterial diseases. The positive possibility of the trail using phage was observed to control the S. enterica serovar Enteritidis in this study even though the further analysis has been remained.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.296-301
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• 2011

This study was to evaluate the growth potential of E. coli O157:H7 in lettuce leaf extracts and on lettuce leaf surface at various temperatures. The pathogen can survive and multiply in the extracts and leaf surface of lettuce. The population of E. coli O157:H7 in the lettuce extracts reached to 4.79 log CFU/mL at $37^{\circ}C$. The multiplication of pathogen in lettuce extracts initiated within 10 hours of inoculation over $15^{\circ}C$ conditions. And it can survive in the lettuce leaf extracts at $4^{\circ}C$ for 100 hours at least. And this pathogen can multiply on lettuce leaf surface and the population of pathogen on the lettuce leaf surface increased to 1.82 log CFU/g at $25^{\circ}C$. At $37^{\circ}C$, the pathogen density increased to 1.53 CFU/g within 3 days after inoculation. At all temperature, irrespective of the inoculation level, similar trends in growth of E. coli O157:H7 were observed. These results emphasize the growth potential of E. coli O157:H7 in lettuce leaf extract and on lettuce leaf surface. To reduce the risk of outbreak, it is important to maintain the cold chain system during storage before the consumption.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.635-643
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• 2002

Background : The Aim of this study was to compare the recovery of mycobacteria from sputum samples of pulmonary tuberculosis patients using the MB/BacT rapid culture system(Organon Teknika, USA) with that obtained using Lowenstein-Jensen solid medium. Methods : The two culture systems were compared using sputum samples of 99 pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Culture media were incubated at $35-37^{\circ}C$ for six weeks in the MB/BacT system and for 12 weeks in Lowenstein-Jensen solid medium. Solid media were examined macroscopically once a week, and the MB/BacT system positive vials were unloaded from the machine as soon as possible after positive signal from the connected computer was detected Confirmation of growth for mycobacteria was done by Ziehl-Neelson stained smears. Isolates were identified to differentiate Mycobacterium tuberculosis from mycobacterium other than tuberculosis(MOTT) by phenotypic and molecular methods. Results : Of the sputum samples of the 99 patients, 58 samples were smear positive and 41 in negative smear. Mycobacteria were recovered from 67(67.7%) samples by using both culture systems. The yield with MB/BacT was higher than that with Lowenstein-Jensen [67(67.7%) vs. 52(52.5%), p<0.001]. Moreover, 15(15.2%) samples were positive only in the MB/BacT, whereas none of samples was positive only in Lowenstein-Jensen. In smear-positive and smear-negative samples, the recovery rate with MB/BacT was also higher than that with Lowenstein-Jensen [sputum-positive; 56/58(96.6%) vs. 46/58(79.3%), p=0.005, sputum-negative; 6/41(14.6%) vs. 5/41(12.2%), p<0.001]. The mean times to detection of Mycobacteria were 13.3 and 27.2 days with MB/BacT and Lowenstein-Jensen respectively(p<0.001). Conclusion : This results indicate that the the MB/BacT is more efficient and faster than Lowenstein-Jensen for the recovery of mycobacteria.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.66 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2009

Background: Belotecan (Camtobell, CKD-602, Chongkundang Pharm., Korea), a camptothecin derivative, has anticancer effects by inhibiting topoisomerase I such as topotecan. This study observed the response, survival and toxicity of belotecan monotherapy after the failure of etoposide and platinum (EP). Methods: Forty nine small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients (M/F=41/8; age, 64.5${\pm}$7.6 (mean${\pm}$SD) years), who failed in their first line chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. Twenty one SCLC patients showed relapsed lung cancer more than 90 days after their priorEP chemotherapy (sensitive relapse group, SR) and 28 patients relapsed within 90 days (refractory relapse group, RR). Results: The response rate was 25%. Eleven patients showed partial responses and 5 patients could not be checked. The response rate of the SR and RR patients was similar. The relative dose intensity was lower in the responders (78${\pm}$15%) than non-responders (83${\pm}$13%, p=0.03). The median survival time (MST) was 10.3 months (290 days). The MST of the non-responders and responders was 186 days (95% CI; 67-305) and 401 days (95% CI; 234-568, p=0.07), respectively. The median progression free survival (MPFS) was similar in the SR (79 days) and RR (67 days) patients. Grade 3-4 neutropenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia were observed in 59.6%, 12.8% and 23.4% of patients, respectively. Conclusion: The efficacy and survival were demonstrated in the second-line setting. However, a randomized comparative trial with topotecan will be needed.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1319-1329
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• 2013

The purpose of this research was to develop and validate the coach-athlete relationship scale suitable to amateur golf players by applying the Rasch rating scale model. As the coach-athlete relationship scale, the Korean form of scale developed by Kim and Park (2008), which was revised based on the evidence on the basis of inspection contents, was used to conduct a survey on 217 amateur golf athletes. And the unidimensionality, which is the basic assumption of the Rasch model, was verified using the WINSTEPS program, and the appropriateness of the item category was established through the step calibration. The goodness of fit of each question was tested through the goodness-of-fit index and the differential item functioning (DIF) was estimated according to the golf career. When the goodness-of-fit index estimated for each question was 1.30 or more it was judged unfit and the significance level in the analysis was all set as.05. The results of the analysis showed that the measures variance explained by the Rasch measurement model was more (33.7%) than 20%, so the unidimensionality assumptions of the 11 questions (..hospitable posture when my coach is teaching) were satisfied. The result of analyzing the item category (7 scale) with step calibration was found to be unfit, but in the result of reanalyzing by rescoring into a 5-point scale, it was found to be fit. Particularly, in the result of estimating the goodness-of-fit using the systematized item category (5 scale), Question 10 (...my best when my coach is teaching) and Question 11 were found to be unfit, and as a result of estimating the differential functioning item according to golf career, Question 11 was found to be unevenly differentiated according to golf career. So the 5-point scale of Question 9 after eliminating the two questions which were unfit and differentiated was validated to be the coach-athlete relationship scale suitable to amateur golf athletes.