• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.245-251
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• 2006

Objective: We analyzed quantification of mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) to investigate the relationship of mitochondria and pathogenesis of PCOS. Materials and Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 28 patients with PCOS who were under the inclusion criteria for PCOS and from 28 healthy controls. Genomic DNA was used to analyze real-time PCR for mtDNA copy number quantification. The mtDNA copy number was compared between the control and PCOS groups. All data was expressed as mean ${\pm}$ SD. Statistical analysis was assessed by t-test. Results: In this study, the mtDNA $C_T$ was $11.67{\pm}0.422$ in PCOS patients and $11.51{\pm}0.722$ in control group, respectively. The mtDNA copy number was $1726410.71{\pm}407858.591$ the patients of in PCOS and $2167887.51{\pm}252459.28$ in control group (p=0.08), respectively. Conclusion: In our study, using real-time PCR, there was a tendency of lower mtDNA copy number in the patients of PCOS when comparing to the control group even though statistical difference was not significant. However, more extensive analysis is required to clarity relationship between mtDNA copy number and pathogenesis of PCOS.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.736-744
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• 2007

Leptin, as an adipocyte-derived hormone, is an important regulator of food intake and energy expenditure. In the cross-sectional study, leptin was shown to be positively related to body adiposity and metabolic disorders in adults. However, there were very few studies which reported the leptin as a predictor of weight gain over time. We examined whether serum leptin can be used as an indicator of the present and 1-year past weight status in very young children. First grade students from elementary schools in Gwacheon City were enrolled in the study since 2005. The study subjects(total 375 students; 195 boys and 180 girls) participated in the investigation of both 2005 and 2006. Physical examinations including height, weight, waist circumference were done. To examine the prevalence of obesity, obesity index was used. Serum leptin was measured, and their nutritional status was also evaluated based on 3-Day dietary records. Serum leptin levels were strongly positively related with the value of the present BMI and with the value of the BMI one year before. We found no association with leptin levels and amount of energy intake and macronutrient intake in this children population. Children were divided into three groups according to leptin tertiles. The highest leptin tertile group showed highest prevalence of obesity in year 2006 as well as in year 2005. Serum leptin levels can reflect the weight status now and as well as 1-year before. Possibly serum leptin levels can predict the weight gain of year later. Without an action against the obesity on children with high leptin level, those children would maintain the excess adiposity growth and progress into the obesity-related metabolic disorders. Further studies are needed to predict the obesity as early as possible and preventive system then after.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2010

Since Korea establish diplomatic ties with China in 1992, korea and China have had rapid progress in most of field as politic, economy, society and culture through basing on cultural commonality and geographical adjacency. Especially, China is the biggest trading partner to korea, and also Korea is third-biggest trading country to China. They become strategic cooperating relation in 2008. Currently, in terms of international trade relation, WTO/DDA negotiation is proceeding in difficulty, but FTA has been growing and extending in the world, and the two country, china and korea, have been competitively trying wide and active FTA negotiation promotion. After Financial crisis in 1997, according to the requirement of local economic cooperation, China has shown the interest to several countries since the conclusion of FTA treaty with ASEAN in 2005. China also makes the active afford to conclude FTA with Korea. Last May 28th, this was mentioned in the meeting between president Lee and Premier Wen Jiabao, so it is anticipated that the negotiation for FTA will be started in the near future. There are many political suggestions and concerns in terms of way of negotiation korea would choose. Some economist said that "'Continuous FTA aimed at long-term protocol should be promoted between korea and China and negotiated includingly'" However, this research claims that commodity exchange, service, and investment areas should be included and it has to be comprehensive package settlement style in negotiation. This research has found out the characteristics of China's negotiation and implications through the China's existed FTA negotiation examples. Currently, China has taken Continuous or a phase-negotiation method to ASEAN, Pakistan, Chile and some other developing country and to advanced countries like New Zealand or Singapore, comprehensive package settlement method is used in FTA negotiation. In consider of the FTA negotiation between Korea and China, Korea has some problems in the commodity change area in agriculture maket's opening. While, for china, the issues would happen in service trade area, especially when encountering finance and communication industries are opened, China's economy could be exposed to some risk. In result, Korea should expand its negotiation range from commodity trade to service trade, in order to exchange both issues, then the negotiation will be concluded more easily. In other word, for FTA, korea should follow comprehensive package settlement way that is similar to New zealand and Singapore case. Through this kind of method, Korea can expect effect of creating trade, conversion of it and preoccupancy of service field in china's market against the advanced countries like Usa, Europe and Japan. Also, to have a successful FTA negotiation, korea should find out china's policy for FTA negotiation. With this information, korea will be able to suggest the way to make a profit. Systematic analysis and comparison about previous negotiation cases of china are needed before the negotiation begin.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.682-690
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to analyse the relation between dietary habit and nutrition knowledge, and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in the middle school students in Seoul, Korea. Total study subjects were 631 students, 51.8% was male and 48.2% was female. In the assessment of predisposition of ADHD, 93% was normal group and 7% was ADHD group. As for the gender in ADHD group, 56.8% was male and 43.2% was female. Normal group showed the higher breakfast consumption rate than ADHD group (p < 0.05). Dietary habits were better in normal group than ADHD group. Nutrition knowledge scores of normal group was 7.38 out of 15 and scores of ADHD group was 5.77 out of 15 (p < 0.01). The nutrition knowledge score and the dietary habits score showed a positive correlation (p < 0.01). The nutrition knowledge score and snack meal purchasing frequency showed a negative correlation (p < 0.05). There are significant negative correlation between attention deficit hyperactivity score and nutrition knowledge score (p < 0.01). In conclusion, ADHD group showed lower level of nutrition knowledge and worse dietary habits than the normal group.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.725-732
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• 2012

There is relatively high vulnerability of soil erosion in slope highland agriculture due to a reclamation of mountain as well as low surface covering during early summer with high rainfall intensity. Especially, in soybean cultivation, soil disturbance by conventional tillage and exposure of topsoil at the early stage of soybean have intensified soil loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate various surface covering methods for reducing soil loss in highland soybean cultivation. The experiment was conducted in 17% sloped lysimeter ($2.5m{\times}13.4m$) with 8 treatments. Amount of runoff water and eroded soil, and soybean growth were investigated. Surface covering through sod culture and plant residue showed 3.4~45.0 runoff water amount with $177{\sim}2,375m^3\;ha^{-1}$ compared with control ($5,274m^3\;ha^{-1}$). And the amount of eroded soil was also reduced by 95% in surface covering treatment with $0.02{\sim}1.94Mg\;ha^{-1}$ than control with $40.72Mg\;ha^{-1}$. Yields of soybean pod showed $0.3Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in rye sod culture, $1.3Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in Ligularia fischeri var. spiciformis Nakai, $0.7Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in Aster koraiensis Nakai, $0.2Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in red clover and $2.0Mg\;ha^{-1}$ in non-covering, on the other hand, covering with cut rye showed $3.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$. Conclusively, covering the soil surface with cut rye were beneficial for reduction of soil loss without decreasing soybean yield in highland sloped fields.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.101-130
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• 2012

This study examines mortality change in North Korea and its association with state production and welfare systems. Two main subjects are analyzed. The first theme is to examine the reliability of mortality related data released by North Korea government authorities. Examining inner consistencies among mortality related statistics and comparing with mortality trends in other socialist societies, the study finds that mortality rate was under estimated. Under-estimation of mortality by North Korean authorities is regarded to result not only from political purpose which aims to propagate the regime's superiority but also from enumeration errors of vital statistics based on the residence registration. The second theme is to estimate the change in mortality of North Korean people since the establishment of DPRK, correcting errors of mortality data. Mortality of North Korean people is estimated to have improved largely by the early 1970s, to have been sluggish hereafter, and finally to have increased during the economic hardship period between 1993 and 2008. While large people died during the food crisis in the late 1990s, however the population loss caused by mortality increase was not so great as the proposition of the huge starvation was expected. It is partly because population turbulence occurred not just by mortality increase, rather it has progressed in the joint effects of fertility decline and exodus of North Korean people for food. It is also due to North Korean people's voluntary activities of informal economy. It is also worth noting the high mortality rate of North Korean men. The high mortality of North Korean men is likely due to men's mobilization for long time in army and labor with high risk of accident and their life styles.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.28-33
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• 2010

Objectives: Working at other times than the regular day shift has been reported to be a stressor associated with health consequences and mental disorders as well as disturbance of sleep. In current study, we aimed at investigating the relationship between work schedule, sleep quality and depression among police officers. Methods: Eleven hundreds and forty five police officers (male: 1040, female: 105) completed questionnaires of basic socio-demographic data, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Korean Scale of Occupational Stress (KOSS), Impact of Event Scale - Revised (IES-R) and Center for Epidemiologic Study-Depression (CES-D). Results: After controlling for age, sex and educational level, score of CES-D was correlated positively with the score of KOSS, PSQI and IES-R on partial correlation analysis (r=-0.077; p=0.009, r=0.262; p<0.000 and r=0.421, p<0.000, respectively). Logistic regression analysis revealed that female sex, age, the score of KOSS and IES-R and schedule of rotating shift work predicted higher score than 16 score of CES-D significantly in total subjects (p=0.023, p=0.015, p=0.000, p=0.000 and p=0.022, respectively). Conclusion: Current result suggested that not only female sex, age, higher occupational stress and impact of event scale but also rotating shift work schedule might be related to depression among police officers.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.1-13
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• 2016

This study aims to observe the impacts of entrepreneurship and market orientation of Seoul's business incubator (BI) CEO's on business performance, as well as investigate the moderating effects of BI supporting services. The main objectives of this study are as follows: first, to observe how the entrepreneurship of CEO's affects business performance; second, to observe how CEO's market orientation as a cultural factor attributes to business performance; third, to verify whether the utilization level of BI supporting services shows moderating effects between entrepreneurship and business performance, and finally to verify whether the utilization level of BI supporting services shows moderating effects between market orientation and business performance. Business incubators in Seoul registered with the Business Incubator Association were surveyed both online and offline to receive 127 responses out of 320 circulations. By filtering out insincere reponses, 117 were used for statistical analysis. Our results assert that the utilization level of physical BI supporting services does indeed strengthen the relation between initiative and financial performance. Also, it is interesting to note that the utilization level of physical BI supporting services supports the relation between risk sensitivity and financial performance. While risk sensitivity on its own shows no positive effect on business performance, a suitable utilization level of BI supporting services is likely to strengthen the connection. In addition, the utilization level of both physical and non-physical supporting services shows a moderating effect between initiative and non-financial performance. Based on the results above, risk-taking business incubator CEOs with initiative are likely to yield better financial performance in terms of increasing sales, if provided with various physical supporting services such as sufficient educational facilities including communal spaces and conference rooms.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2008

Purpose: Aneuploidy is the cause of diseases such as Down syndrome or Edward syndrome and, more generally, is a major cause of mental retardation and fetal loss. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between MTHFR (C677T) or MTRR (A66G) polymorphisms and fetal aneuploidy. Materials and Methods: Data was collected from 37 women who had a fetus with aneuploidy (cases) and 78 women who had previously delivered at least two healthy children without aneuploidy and did not have a history of miscarriage or abnormal pregnancy (controls). The MTHFR (C677T) or MTRR (A66G) polymorphisms were analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Results: The frequencies of the MTHFR 677 CC, CT, and TT genotypes were 30.7%, 48.7%, and 20.6% in the control group and 37.8%, 48.6%, and 13.5% in the case group, respectively. There were no significant differences in genotype frequencies between the two groups. For the MTRR A66G polymorphism, the frequencies of the AA, AG and GG genotypes were 50%, 46.1%, and 3.9% in the control group and 13.5%, 81.1%, and 5.4% in case group, respectively. The frequency of the MTRR AG mutant was significantly increased in the case group, with an odds ratio of 6.5 (95% CI: 2.3-18.6, P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that mother carriers with the MTRR G allele have an increased risk of fetal aneuploidy, while the MTHFR T allele is not associated with increased risk of fetal aneuploidy. The MTRR A66G polymorphism may be a risk factor for producing a child with chromosomal aneuploidy.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2009

Purpose : The rate of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in children is an indicator of the effectiveness of TB control programs in the community. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of DR-TB in children and evaluate TB management. Methods : Between January 1999 and July 2007, drug susceptibility tests for anti-TB drugs were employed for patients aged less than 19 years with culture-positive TB. Results : A total of 607 cases (16.6%) were resistant to at least one anti-TB drug as follows: isoniazid (INH; 13.8%), rifampin (8.9%), pyrazinamide (4.2%), streptomycin (3.7%), ethambutol (EMB; 5.9%), and para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS; 1.9%). Multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB was found in 276 cases (7.6%); extensive drug resistant (XDR) TB, in 5 cases (0.2%). The rate of resistance to at least one anti-TB drug in children aged >15 years (16.1%) was significantly lower than that in children aged <15 years (20.5%) (P=0.016). The rate of resistance to at least one anti-TB drug and multidrug-resistance in this survey decreased significantly (P<0.001) as compared to the previous survey (1987-1995). The rate of resistance to INH, EMB, and PAS also significantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion : The rate of DR-TB in children in Korea has decreased over time; however, it remains higher than that in other countries. MDR-TB and XDR-TB are the emerging problems in Korean children. Therefore, the selection of effective drugs through drug susceptibility tests and evaluating risk factors of resistant TB is essential to successful therapy and a decreased incidence of DR-TB.