• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.907-913
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• 1997

Background : Congenital bronchoesophageal fistula(BEF) presented in adult life is a rare disorder and has characteristic clinical findings such as paroxysmal cough after water ingestion and recurrent respiratory infections. It usually manifested recurrent pneumonia and chronic cough with purulent phlegmon which was mis-or under-diagnosed as chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis or lung abscess so forth. Methods : We reviewed retrospectively 13 cases of congenital BEF in adult of Paik Hospital, College of Medicine, Inje University including 22 cases of congenital BEF previously reported in literature of Korea from 1979 through 1995. Results : The mean age at diagnosis was $40.2{\pm}14.3$. There was no difference in sex ratio(Male : Female 18 : 17). The most common symptom was cough(91.4%), followed by chronic sputum(74.3), hemoptysis(25.7), and paroxysmal nocturnal cough at specific position(20%). Twenty one of 31 patients who were able to review have the most specific sign, Ono's sign presented as paroxysmal cough after liquid ingestion. By classification of Braimbridge-Keith, Fourteen(45.1%) of 31 patients were group I (associated with esophageal diverticulum), 15(48.4%) were group II (simple fistula), and group Ill and IV was one case in each. The opening of fistula confined to right lower lobe in 26(76.5%), left lower lobe in 6(17.6%), and left main bronchus in 2(5.9%) cases. Conclusion : Congenital bronchoesophageal fistula is uncommon disorder which has characteristic histories and specific symptoms such as chronic and recurrent lower respiratory infections, and paroxysmal cough after liquid ingestion. Medical attention and careful history should be done in patients who have localized recurrent lower respiratory infections in right lower lobe.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.235-250
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• 2009

Environmental elements such as B, Br, and Sr in groundwater from Bukahn-myeon, Yeongcheon, Gyeongbuk Province, were investigated in order to know their origin with emphasis on hydrochemistry. pH ranges from 7.37 to 8.39. B content is 0.41${\sim}$4.62 mg/L with an average 1.74 mg/L and Br content is 0${\sim}$3.24 mg/L with an average 2.22 mg/L, and Sr content is 0.93${\sim}$8.64 mg/L with an average 2.76 mg/L. The water types plotted by the Piper diagram are different but mostly $Ca-HCO_3$. Some constituents contributing to EC are Na, $SO_4$, Cl with high determinative coefficients($R^2$) of 0.85, 0.70, 0.90, respectively. The coefficients($R^2$) of Cl to Na, K, $SO_4$ are 0.54, 0.68, 0.53, respectively. It should be noted that there are high cocfficients($R^2$) of B-Sr and $Sr-SO_4$ with 0.65, 0.64, respectively. The Cl/Br ratios are 5.21${\sim}$30.70 due to significant depletion of Cl. The $SO_4/Cl$ ratios are 1.32${\sim}$27.24 with an average of 5.92, ascribed to abundant introduction of $SO_4$ or significant depletion of Cl. Chemical speciation calculated shows that B exists mostly as $H_3BO_3$ with less $H_2BO^-_3$ and Br exists as only $Br^-$. Sr exists mostly as $Sr^2$ with less $SO_4$. Saturation index represents that goundwater is supersaturated with respect to barite, kaolinite, illite, K-mica, and smectite while it is slightly undersaturated with respect to silica, gypsum, anhydrite, talc, chrysotile, feldspar, kaolinite, illite, K-mica, and smectite. The saturation index of celestine is -2.23${\sim}$-0.13 indicating more Sr can be incorporated into groundwater. Groundwater is still much undersaturated to halite. It is likely that the origin of S and Sr was related to the Yucheon volcanic rocks. Br might be originated from the local geological features with introduction of anthropogenic matters.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2011

This study was carried out to examine microbiological contamination of ready-to-eat products and to propose a draft-standard and specifications according to food types. RTE foods were classified into 6 groups including fish products, meat products, breads, rices, salads, and fresh cut foods. The prevalence rates of pathogens detected from all samples were compared among food categories. The pH ranges for all RTE samples were between 3.8 and 7.3. Total aerobic cell counts ranged from 2 to 6 log CFU/g. Bread, rice and fresh-cut foods showed significantly higher counts, which ranged above 4.0 log CFU/g among the samples. Two kinds of rice were above the level of the KFDA Food Code standard for Eschrichia coli. The prevalence rate of E. coli in the rice was 6.7%. For Staphylococcus aureus, one fish product and one bread-product had levels above 2 log CFU/g. Bacillus cereus counts for all samples were below the level of 3 log CFU/g. Listeria monocytogenes was not detected in the samples. Therefore, these data suggest that the primary microbial hazard factors for ready-to-eat foods and risk assessments should focus on E. coli, S. aureus, and B. cereus.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.128-136
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of the home-based cancer patient management project of public health centers throughout the country. The results of the investigation is employed to identify obstacles to the execution of the program and, finally, to develop an efficient management program of home-based cancer patients. Methods: Data on the home-based cancer patient management project were collected and analyzed through visiting interviews or telephone interviews with 225 public health centers throughout the country for six months from July to December, 2006. Results: Obstacles to the present execution of the home-based cancer patient management project were identified. Some of them are : (1) patients' low trust in cancer patient management by local health centers, (2) absence of programs customized to local communities, (3) lack of personnel and vehicles for home-based cancer patient management, (4) lack of education program for personnel in charge of home-based cancer patient management, (5) problems in public health doctors, weak connection to private medical institutions, (6) absence of medical institutions and hospice facilities for cancer patients, and (7) non-standardized volunteer workers, so on. Considering all these problems, some effective management methods are proposed. The basic concept is to keep the autonomy and variety of the local helath centers. And based on this concept, three models of (1) public health center controlled model, (2) medical institutions and hospice facilities-entrusted model and (3) medical institutions and hospice facilities-cooperative model are developed. Conclusion: By adopting an adequate model among proposed three models, the public health centers are expected to achieve an efficient utilization of material resources and manpower. In addition, by inventing their own programs that are proper for the local societies, they can improve the home-based cancer patient management.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.385-399
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to analyze long term temporal trends of water chemistry and spatial heterogeneity for 83 sampling sites of Geum-River watershed using water quality dataset during 2003~2007 (obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Korea). The water quality, based on multi-parameters of temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and electric conductivity (EC), largely varied depending on the landuse patterns, years and seasons. The watershed was classified into three different landuse types: forest stream (Fo), agricultural stream (Ag), and urban stream (Ur). Largest seasonal variabilities in most parameters occurred during the two months of July to August and these were closely associated with large spate of summer monsoon rain. Conductivity, used as a key indicator for an ionic dilution during rainy season, and nutrients of TN and TP had inverse functions of precipitation. BOD, COD decrease during the rainy season. Minimum values in the conductivity, TN, and TP were observed during the summer monsoon, indicating an ionic and nutrient dilution of river water by the rainwater. In contrast, major inputs of suspended solids (SS) occurred during the period of summer monsoon. The landuse patterns analyses, based on the variables of BOD, COD, TN, TP and SS, showed that the values were greater in the agricultural stream (Ag) than in the forest stream (Fo) and urban stream (Ur) and that water quality was worst in the urban stream (Ur). The overall dataset suggest that efficient water quality management, especially in Gap-Stream and Miho-Stream, which showed worst water quality is required along with some of urban stream (Ur), based on the analysis of landuse patterns.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 2014

Estrogen can promote or inhibit cellular proliferation depending on tissue cell types and physiological condition and acts through the signal transduction pathways mediated primarily by estrogen receptors. This study examined the effects of fulvestrant (Ful), a well-known antagonist for the estrogen receptor, on the action of $17{\beta}$-estradiol (E2) with respect to the proliferation and apoptosis of Chinese hamster ovarian (CHO) cells. We used different concentrations of E2, Ful, and E2 plus Ful during different treatment durations. Treatment with 15-40 ${\mu}M$ E2 significantly inhibited proliferation in a time-dependent manner, although it had no influence in concentrations up to 1 ${\mu}M$. Interestingly, Ful at 10-40 ${\mu}M$ also inhibited cellular proliferation in both a concentration- and time-dependent manner. In addition, Ful enhanced rather than decreased the inhibitory effect on cellular proliferation by E2 in combined treatment for 10 days. Thus, Ful does not appear to have an antagonistic effect on estrogen's anti-proliferative action in CHO cells. In TUNEL assays to confirm DNA fragmentation by E2 and/or Ful, CHO cells treated with 20 ${\mu}M$ E2 showed a TUNEL-positive reaction in most DAPI-stained nuclei, and cells treated with either 40 ${\mu}M$ Ful or 40 ${\mu}M$ Ful plus 20 ${\mu}M$ E2 also exhibited a TUNEL-positive reaction but at a lower rate compared to the E2-treated cells. These results indicate that Ful does not have an antagonistic effect on estrogen's anti-proliferative action in CHO cells, suggesting that the anti-proliferative and apoptosis-related mechanism(s) through DNA fragmentation by E2 and Ful may be mediated by different signal transduction pathways.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2016

This study was conducted to determine the optimum nutrient solution, pH, irrigation interval, light intensity and planting density to growth of common ice plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L.) in a closed-type plant production system. Three-band radiation type fluorescent lamps with a 12-h photoperiod were used. Nutrient film technique systems with three layers were used for the plant growth system. Environmental conditions, such as air temperature, relative humidity and $CO_2$ concentration were controlled by an ON/OFF operation. Treatments were comparison of the nutrient solution of Horticultural Experiment Station in Japan (NHES) and the nutrient solution of Jeju National University (NJNU), pH 6.0 and 7.0, irrigation interval 5 min and 10 min, light intensity 90 and $180{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$, and within-row spacing 10 cm, 15 cm, 20 cm and 25 cm with between-row spacing 15 cm. Optimum macronutrients were composed N 7.65, P 0.65, K 4.0, Ca 1.6 and Mg $1.0mM{\cdot}L^{-1}$. There were no significant interactions between pH 6.0 and 7.0 about shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight of common ice plant. Irrigation interval 5 min and 10 min was also the same result. Shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight were highest at $180{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$. Shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight were decreased according to increasing the planting density. From the above results, we concluded that optimum nutrient solution, optimum levels of pH, irrigation interval, light intensity and planting density were 6.0-7.0 and 10 min, $180{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ and $15{\times}15cm$, respectively for growth of common ice plant in a closed-type plant production system.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.217-224
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• 2016

Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is prevalent in hospital environments and is an important opportunistic pathogen of nosocomial infection. It is known that this pathogen cause herd infection in hospitals, and the mortality rate is remarkably higher for patients infected with this pathogen and already have other underlying diseases. Herein, we investigated the antibiotic resistance rate and the type of resistance genes in 85 isolates of multi-drug resistant A. baumannii from the samples commissioned to laboratory medicine in two university hospitals-in hospital A and hospital B-located in Cheonan and Chungcheong provinces, respectively, in Korea. As a result, $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ and $bla_{OXA-51-like}$ were detected in 82 stains (96.5%). These 82 strains of $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ producing A. baumannii were confirmed with the ISAba1 gene found at the top of the $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ genes by PCR, inducing the resistance against carbapenemase. The armA, AME gene that induces the resistance against aminoglycoside was detected in 34 strains out of 38 strains from Hospital A (89.5%), and in 40 strains out of 47 strains from Hospital B (85.1%), while AMEs were found in 33 strains out of 38 strains from Hospital A (70.2%) and in 44 strains out of 47 strains in Hospital B (93.6%). Therefore, it was found that most multi-drug resistant A. baumannii from the Cheonan area expressed both acethyltransferase and adenyltransferase. This study investigated the multi-drug resistant A. baumannii isolated from Cheonan and Chungcheong provinces in Korea, and it is thought that the results of the study can be utilized as the basic information to cure multi-drug resistant A. baumannii infections and to prevent the spread of drug resistance.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2017

Among the commonly known tools to diagnose diabetes are fasting plasma glucose (FPG), HbA1c., and OGTT known as gold standard. However, there can be many disagreements on the ways to diagnose diabetes. In this study, we examined the differences of the types of diabetes according to the applicability of FPG and HbA1c. Moreover, we evaluated the concordance of diagnosis. We excluded subjects with missing glucose and HbA1c data, as well as those previously diagnosed with diabetes, and those who fasted less than 8 hours. The data of 4,502 subjects (1,956 men and 2,546 women) from the 2015 KNHNES were analyzed. We divided these patients into three categories which are normal, prediabetes, and diabetes, based on the FPG and HbA1c. In men, the number of subjects with FPG ranging from 100 to 125 mg/dL and HbA1c ${\geq}6.5%$ was 23 out of 664, and the number of subjects with FPG < 126 mg/dL and HbA1c ${\geq}6.5%$ was 39 out of 86 newly diagnosed diabetes patients. The concordance rate was as follows: Normal 80.3%, prediabetes 44.9%, and diabetes 54.7%. The coefficient of Cohen's Kappa was 0.322 in men and 0.362 in women; this suggests that both gender showed a low concordance rate. However, when we divided them into two categories (nondiabetes and diabetes), Kappa was 0.582 in men and 0.637 in women, showing a relatively high concordance rate. While all subjects with FPG ${\geq}126mg/dL$ showed a significantly high HOMA IR, all subjects with FPG < 126 mg/dL showed a significantly high QUICKI. Considering the low concordance rate for the diagnosis of diabetes and characteristic of diagnostic tests, it is necessary to combine the related tests for diagnosing diabetes.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.387-393
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• 2001

To use as a fundamental data for the sustainable agriculture, which is nowadays a major trend to keep the productivity and conserve the environment, 487 paddy soil samples were collected from 21 regions of the Gyeongnam Province and analyzed the chemical characteristics and microbial population of the soil. The microbial population densities were bacteria $298{\times}10^5$($4{\sim}3000{\times}10^5$ range), fungi $63{\times}10^3$($2{\sim}441{\times}10^3$ range), actinomycetes $19{\times}10^5$($0.2{\sim}1250{\times}10^5$ range), Bacillus sp. $53{\times}10^4$($4{\sim}890{\times}10^4$ range) and Pseudomonas sp. $198{\times}10^4CFU\;g^{-1}$($4{\sim}1724{\times}10^4CFU\;g^{-1}$ range), respectively. The microbial populations of the soil were in general higher in southern area than in the northern area of the Gyeongnam Province. The average ratio of bacteria/fungi population was 473. As soil clay content increased, the populations of aerobic bacteria, actinomycetes and Pseudomonas sp. were remarkably decreased. The ratio of aerobic bacteria and fungi was 1554 in sandy loam and clay loam 1144, while Bacillus sp./fungi ratio was 11 in clay loam and 10 in loam. On the topographical differences, aerobic bacteria and Bacillus sp./fungi ratio were the higher in coastal plains than any other areas. The microbial population densities from different soil types were generally lower in ill-drained paddy field than those of other paddy field. The content of $P_2O_5$, K, Ca, $NO_3-N$ and EC in soil were positively correlated to the population densities of aerobic bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas sp.. The soil organic matter and Mg content were also positively correlated to the population densities of aerobic bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi and Bacillus sp.