• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.635-649
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• 2007

Geochemical composition, stable isotopes $({\delta}^{18}O,\;{\delta}D,\;{\delta}^{34}S)$ and noble gases(He, Ne and Ar) of nine hot spring water and three groundwater for five hot springs(Jukam, Hwasun, Dokog, Jirisan, Beunsan) from the Honam area were analyzed to investigate the hydrogeochemical characteristics and the hydrogeochemical evolution of the hot spring waters, and to interpret the source of sulfur, helium and argon dissolved in the hot spring waters. The hot spring waters show low water temperature ranging from 23.0 to $30.5^{\circ}C$ and alkaline characteristics of pH 7.67 to 9.98. Electrical conductivity of hot spring waters is $153{\sim}746{\mu}S/cm$. Groundwaters in this area were characterized by the acidic to neutral pH range$(5.85{\sim}7.21)$, the wide electrical conductivity range $(44{\sim}165{\mu}S/cm)$. The geochemical compositions of hot spring and groundwaters can be divided into three water types: (1) $Na-HCO_3$ water type, (2) Na-Cl water type and (3) $Ca-HCO_3$ water type. The hot spring water of $Ca-HCO_3$ water type in early stage have been evolved through $Ca(Na)-HCO_3$ water type into $Na-HCO_3$ type in final stage. In particular, Jurim alkaline(pH 9.98) hot spring water plotted at the end point of $Na-HCO_3$ type in the Piper diagram is likely to arrive into the final stage in geochemical evolution process. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic data of the hot spring water samples indicate that the hot spring waters originated from the local meteoric water showing latitude and altitude effects. The ${\delta}^{34}S$ value for sulfate of the hot spring waters varies widely from 0.5 to $25.9%o$. The sulfur source of most hot spring waters in this area is igneous origin. However, The ${\delta}^{34}S$ also indicates the sulfur of JR1 hot water is originated from marine sulfur which might be derived ken ancient seawater sulfates. The $^3He/^4He\;and\;^4He/^{20}Ne$ ratios of the hot spring waters range from $0.0143{\times}10^{-6}\;to\;0.407{\times}10^{-6}\;and\;6.49{\sim}584{\times}10^{-6}$, respectively. The hot spring waters are plotted on the mixing line between air and crustal components. It means that the He gas in the hot spring waters was mainly originated from crustal sources. However, the JR1 hot spring water show a little mixing ratio of the helium gas of mantle source. The $^{40}Ar/^{36}Ar$ ratios of hot spring water are in the range from $292.3{\times}10^{-6}\;to\;304.1{\times}10^{-6}$, implying the atmospheric argon source.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.448-463
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• 2000

Background : Pulmonary infiltrate is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with leukemia. It is often hard to obtain a reliable diagnosis by clinical and radiologic findings alone. The aim of this study was to evaluate diagnostic and therapeutic benefits of invasive procedures for new lung infiltrates in leukemia. Methods : Patients with leukemia who developed new lung infiltrates from December 1994 to March 1999 were included in this study. These patients were classified into the empirical group who received empirical therapy only and into the invasive group who underwent bronchoscopy or surgical lung biopsy for the diagnostic purpose of new lung infiltrates. A retrospective chart review was done to find the etiologies of new lung infiltrates, the yield of invasive procedures, outcome as well as predicting factors for survival. Results : 1) One hundred-two episodes of new lung infiltrates developed in 90 patients with leukemia. Invasive procedures were performed in 44 episodes while 58 episodes were treated with empirical therapy only. 2) Invasive procedures yielded a specific diagnosis in 72.7%(32/44), of which 78.1% had infectious etiology. Therapeutic plan was changed in 52.3%(23/44) of patients after invasive procedures. None of them showed procedure-related mortality. 3) The overall survival rate was 62.7%(64/102). Survival rate in the invasive group (79.5%) was significantly better than that in the empirical group (50.0%) (p=0.002). 4) Upon multivariate analysis, the performance of invasive procedures, no need for mechanical ventilation and achievement of complete remission of leukemia after induction chemotherapy were the independent predicting factors for survival in patients with leukemia and new lung infiltrates. Conclusion : Bronchoscopy and surgical lung biopsy are useful in the diagnosis of new lung infiltrates in patients with leukemia. However, survival benefits of invasive procedures should be considered together with disease status of leukemia and severity of respiratory compromise.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2005

Background : Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) are a relatively newly recognized, novel family of peroxidases that reduce $H_2O_2$ and alkylhydroperoxide into water and alcohol, respectively. There are 6 known isoforms of Prxs present in human cells. Normally, Prxs exist in a head-to-tail homodimeric state in a reduced form. However, in the presence of excess $H_2O_2$, it can be oxidized on its catalytically active cysteine site into inactive oxidized forms. This study surveyed the types of the Prx isoforms present in the pulmonary epithelial, macrophage, endothelial, and other cell lines and observed their response to oxidative stress. Methods : This study examined the effect of exogenous, excess $H_2O_2$ on the Prxs of established cell lines originating from the pulmonary epithelium, macrophages, and other cell lines, which are known to be exposed to high oxygen partial pressures or are believed to be subject to frequent oxidative stress, using non-reducing SDS polyacrylamide electrophoresis (PAGE) and 2 dimensional electrophoresis. Result : The addition of excess $H_2O_2$ to the culture media of the various cell-lines caused the immediate inactivation of Prxs, as evidenced by their inability to form dimers by a disulfide cross linkage. This was detected as a subsequent shift to its monomeric forms on the non-reducing SDS PAGE. These findings were further confirmed by 2 dimensional electrophoresis and immunoblot analysis by a shift toward a more acidic isoelectric point (pI). However, the subsequent reappearance of the dimeric Prxs with a comparable, corresponding decrease in the monomeric bands was noted on the non-reducing SDS PAGE as early as 30 minutes after the $H_2O_2$ treatment suggesting regeneration after oxidation. The regenerated dimers can again be converted to the inactivated form by a repeated $H_2O_2$ treatment, indicating that the protein is still catalytically active. The recovery of Prxs to the original dimeric state was not inhibited by a pre-treatment with cycloheximide, nor by a pretreatment with inhibitors of protein synthesis, which suggests that the reappearance of dimers occurs via a regeneration process rather than via the de novo synthesis of the active protein. Conclusion : The cells, in general, appeared to be equipped with an established system for regenerating inactivated Prxs, and this system may function as a molecular "on-off switch" in various oxidative signal transduction processes. The same mechanisms might applicable other proteins associated with signal transduction where the active catalytic site cysteines exist.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.5-28
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• 2001

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate analysis of bone mineral density according to Women with low back pain women. Methods: The data were collected from women who visited Physical Examination Center of a Catholic university hospital located in Daegu. Questionnaires were completed by 50 women during the period from July 20, 2000 to January 12, 2001. The sample was divided into three groups(the normal group of 16 cases and the osteopenia group of 12cases and the osteoporosis group of 22 cases). Bone mineral density(BMD) of lumbar spine was measured using energy absorptiometry. Results: The bone mineral density of the lumbar spine decreased with aging. The bone mineral density of the lumbar spine decreased with the serum Calcium and Phosphorus and Alkaline phosphatase increased. The mean bone mineral density of the lumbar spine of healthy women in age(50~59) was 0.87g/$cm^2$, the lumbar spine of women with low back pain in age(50~59) was 0.77g/$cm^2$. In the multiple regression of risk factors to bone mineral density(BMD) of lumbar spine were correlated with age, marriage existence, exercise time, the loving food of taste, calcium, bone mineral density standard T scores(p<0.05). The experience for LBP increased as weight increased(Odds ratio=999.000). The experience for LBP increased as number of Exercise decreased(Odds ratio=999.000). The experience for LBP increased as menopause existence increased(Odds ratio=999.000). The experience for LBP increased as serum Calcium and Phosphorus increased (Odds ratio=999.000). however all four variables had significant no relationship. The correlation in variables in relation to low back pain and bone mineral density, age showed contra-correlation with low back pain existence, Alkaline phosphatase(p<0.01). Weight showed contra-correlation with body mass index(BMI)(p<0.01). Exercise time showed correlation with number of exercise(p<0.01). The loving food of taste showed contra-correlation with Alkaline phosphatase(p<0.05). Bone mineral density showed correlation with menopause existence(p<0.05). Conclusions: Results from this study indicated that a statistically significant association between bone mineral density of the lumbar spin and age, marriage existence, exercise time, the loving food of taste, calcium, bone mineral density standard T scores. In logistic regression test, there were no related variables. The combination of bone mineral density measurement and assessment of the bone turnover rate by measuring biochemical would be helpful for the treatment of patients with risks of osteoporosis. The more precise study for risk factors to osteoporosis is essential.

• 한국사회복지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.185-216
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• 2003

This study was aimed at investigating important factors influencing career success among regular workers. The current researcher scrutinized the degree to which variables and factors affect the career success and occupational turnover rates of the research participants. At the same tune, two hypothetical path models established by the researcher were examined using linear multiple regression methods and the LISREL. After examining the differences among the factors of career success, a comparison was made between the disabled worker group and the non-disabled worker group. A questionnaire using the 5-point Likert scale was distributed to a group of 374 workers with disabilities and 463 workers without disabilities. For the data analysis purpose, the structural equation model, factor analysis, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were carried out. The results of this study ran be summarized as follows. First, the results of factor analysis showed important categories of conceptual themes of career success. The initial conceptual factor model did not accord with the empirical one. A three-factorial model revealed categories of personal, family, and organizational factor respectively. The personal factor was composed of the self-esteem and self-efficiency. The family factor was consisted of the multi-roles stress and the number of children. Finally, the organizational factor was composed of the capacity for utilizing resources, networking, and the frequency of mentoring. In addition, the total 10 sub areas of career success were divided by two important aspects; the subjective career success and the objective career success. Second, both research participant groups seemed to be influenced by their occupational types. However, all predictive variables excluding the wage rate and the average length of work years had significant impact on job success for the disabled work group, while all the variables excluding the frequency of advice and length of working years had significant impact on job success for the non-disabled worker group. Third, the turnover rate was significantly influenced by the age and the experience of turnover of the research participants. However, the number of co-workers was the strongest predictive variable for the worker group with disabilities, but the occupation choice variable for the worker group without disabilities. For the disabled worker group, the turnover rate was differently influenced by the type of occupation, the length of working years, while multi-role stress and the average working years at the time of turnover for the worker group without disabilities. Fifth, as a result of verifying the hypothetical path model, it showed that the first model was somewhat proper and could predict the career success on both research participant groups. In the second model, the Chi-square, the degree of freedom (($x^2=64.950$, df=61, P=0.341), and the adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) were .964, and the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) were .997, and the Root Mean Squared Residual (RMR) was respectively. .038. The model was best fitted and could predict the career success more highly because the goodness of fit index in the whole models was within the allowed range. In conclusion, the following research implications can be suggested. First, the occupational type of research participants was one of the most important variables to predict the career success for both research participant groups. It means that people with disabilities require human development services including education. They need to improve themselves in this knowledge-based society. Furthermore, for maintaining the career success, people with disabilities should be approached by considering the subjective career success aspects including wages and the promotion opportunities than the objective career success aspects.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1296-1307
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• 1997

Background : Erdosteine is a thiol derivative developed for the treatement of chronic obstructive bronchitis, including acute infective exacerbation of chronic bronchitis. Erdosteine has mucomodulating and antioxidant properties and especially exhibits excellent gastrointestinal tolerability. Methods : The study was conducted as a prospective evaluation, with 2 comparative groups orally treated with erdosteine 300mg (bid.) or ambroxol 30mg (b.i.d.) for 7 days and the design of trial was double-blind. The treatments have been assigned randomly to patients (n=80) with acute or chronic bronchitis. The primary end-point used to determine efficacy in this study was subjective symptoms including expectorating frequence, expectoration volume, expectorating difficulty, expectoration viscosity, cough intensity and dyspnea. The secondary end-points of efficacy was the result of arterial blood gas analysis and pulmonary function test. Safety was evaluated with adverse drug reactions and laboratory tests monitoring. 61 patients was included in the efficacy analysis, due to the fact that 19 patients drop-out for different reasons. The obtained values have been analyzed with paired Hest., ANOVA test., multivariate $t^2$-test, repeated measures analysis of covariance, two sample t-test, loglinear-logit model analysis, Fisher's exact test. Results : 1) There was no significant difference on demographic data and vital signs between erdosteine and ambroxol treated groups. 2) The comparison between erdosteine and ambroxol treated groups showed no significant difference in improvement of each symptom in spite of the more favorable efficacy obtained with erdosteine. No difference on the contrary was observed for arterial blood gas analysis and pulmonary function test. 3) As safety is concerned, no clinical significant changes in laboratory test and symptom were induced in erdosteine and ambroxol treated group and two patients in ambroxol treated group drop-out for adverse reactions in symptom. 4) In the evaluation of final clinical efficacy, erdosteine improved more effectively patient's overall symptoms {very good effect (11/31), good effect (12/31), moderate effect (6/31), no effect (2/31), aggravation (0/31)} than ambroxol {very good effect (6/30), good effect (14/30), moderate effect (5/30), no effect (4/30), aggravation (2/30)}. And the probability of symptomatic improvement by erdosteine compared to ambroxol was 2.5 times. (p<0.05). Conclusion : This study showed that erdosteine was clinically effective and safe drug for treatment of acute and chronic bronchitis.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.109-131
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• 2014

As the demand of nuclear power plant equipment is continuously growing worldwide, the importance of handling nuclear strategic materials is also increasing. While the number of cases submitted for the exports of nuclear-power commodity and technology is dramatically increasing, preadjudication (or prescreening to be simple) of strategic materials has been done so far by experts of a long-time experience and extensive field knowledge. However, there is severe shortage of experts in this domain, not to mention that it takes a long time to develop an expert. Because human experts must manually evaluate all the documents submitted for export permission, the current practice of nuclear material export is neither time-efficient nor cost-effective. Toward alleviating the problem of relying on costly human experts only, our research proposes a new system designed to help field experts make their decisions more effectively and efficiently. The proposed system is built upon case-based reasoning, which in essence extracts key features from the existing cases, compares the features with the features of a new case, and derives a solution for the new case by referencing similar cases and their solutions. Our research proposes a framework of case-based reasoning system, designs a case-based reasoning system for the control of nuclear material exports, and evaluates the performance of alternative keyword extraction methods (full automatic, full manual, and semi-automatic). A keyword extraction method is an essential component of the case-based reasoning system as it is used to extract key features of the cases. The full automatic method was conducted using TF-IDF, which is a widely used de facto standard method for representative keyword extraction in text mining. TF (Term Frequency) is based on the frequency count of the term within a document, showing how important the term is within a document while IDF (Inverted Document Frequency) is based on the infrequency of the term within a document set, showing how uniquely the term represents the document. The results show that the semi-automatic approach, which is based on the collaboration of machine and human, is the most effective solution regardless of whether the human is a field expert or a student who majors in nuclear engineering. Moreover, we propose a new approach of computing nuclear document similarity along with a new framework of document analysis. The proposed algorithm of nuclear document similarity considers both document-to-document similarity (${\alpha}$) and document-to-nuclear system similarity (${\beta}$), in order to derive the final score (${\gamma}$) for the decision of whether the presented case is of strategic material or not. The final score (${\gamma}$) represents a document similarity between the past cases and the new case. The score is induced by not only exploiting conventional TF-IDF, but utilizing a nuclear system similarity score, which takes the context of nuclear system domain into account. Finally, the system retrieves top-3 documents stored in the case base that are considered as the most similar cases with regard to the new case, and provides them with the degree of credibility. With this final score and the credibility score, it becomes easier for a user to see which documents in the case base are more worthy of looking up so that the user can make a proper decision with relatively lower cost. The evaluation of the system has been conducted by developing a prototype and testing with field data. The system workflows and outcomes have been verified by the field experts. This research is expected to contribute the growth of knowledge service industry by proposing a new system that can effectively reduce the burden of relying on costly human experts for the export control of nuclear materials and that can be considered as a meaningful example of knowledge service application.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.2 s.247
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• pp.116-122
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• 2005

Background: Adverse effects of cardiopulmonary bypass can be avoided by 'Off-pump' coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery. Recent studies have reported that OPCAB had the most beneficial impact on patients at highest risk by reducing bypass-related complications. The purpose of this study is to compare the outcome of OPCAB and conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (CCAB) in patients with poor left ventricular (LV) function. Material and Method: From March 1997 to February 2004, seventy five patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of $35\%$ or less underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting at our institute. Of these patients, 33 patients underwent OPCAB and 42 underwent CCAB. Preoperative risk factors, operative and postoperative outcomes, including LV functional change, were compared and analysed. Result: Patients undergoing CCAB were more likely to have unstable angina, three vessel disease and acute myocardial infarction among the preoperative factors. OPCAB group had significantly lower mean operation time, less numbers of total distal anastomoses per patient and less numbers of distal anastomoses per patient in the circumflex territory than the CCAB group. There was no difference between the groups in regard to in-hospital mortality $(OPCAB\; 9.1\%\;(n=3)\;Vs.\;CCAB\;9.5\%\;(n=4)),$ intubation time, the length of stay in intensive care unit and in hospital postoperatively. Postoperative complication occurred more in CCAB group but did not show statistical difference. On follow-up echocardiography, OPCAB group showed $9.1\%$ improvement in mean LVEF, 4.3 mm decrease in mean left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD) and 4.2 mm decrease in mean left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD). CCAB group showed $11.0\%$ improvement in mean LVEF, 5.1 mm decrease in mean LVEDD and 5.5 mm decrease in mean LVESD. But there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: This study showed that LV function improves postoperatively in patients with severe ischemic LV dysfunction, but failed to show any difference in the degree of improvement between OPCAB and CCAB. In terms of operative mortality rate and LV functional recovery, the results of OPCAB were as good as those of CCAB in patients with poor LV function. But, OPCAB procedure was advantageous in shortening of operative time and in decrease of complications. We recommend OPCAB as the first surgical option for patients with severe LV dysfunction.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2003

Purpose : Anorexia-cachexia syndrome is one of the most common symptoms and main cause of death in terminal cancer patients. This symptom is due to the enlarged cancer mass as well as tumor released cytokines. Some doctors have suggested that vitamin C was preferentially toxic to tumor cells in vitro and in vivo, and improved clinical symptoms in terminal cancer patients. Therefore, we measured cytokines in serum of terminal cancer patients to determine whether vitamin C treatment improved the anorexia-cachexia syndrome. Methods : We investigated that 49 terminal cancer patients admitted to the department of family medicine, National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan hospital from March 1, 2002 to August 31, 2002. The study was done on 22 patients who were given 10 g/day of vitamin C infusions during 1 week and 27 patients who were not infused. We measured the cytokines levels ($IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6, and $TNF-{\alpha}$) before and after 1 week between terminal cancer patients treated vitamin C and without vitamin C. Results : Out of 49 patients, patents treated with vitamin C infusions were 22 (12 male, 10 female), and these without vitamin C were 27 (18 male, 9 female). In patients treated with vitamin C, $IL-1{\beta}\;were\;6.19{\pm}5.17$ before day and $8.76{\pm}5.72$ after 1 week, IL-6 were $3.07{\pm}8.09$ before day and $1.31{\pm}2.36$ after 1 week, and $TNF-{\alpha}\;were\;2.74{\pm}14.24$ before day and $0.50{\pm}2.00$ after 1 week. In patients treated without vitamin C, $IL-1{\beta}\;were\;2.50{\pm}3.58$ before day and $6.49{\pm}12.01$ after 1 week, IL-6 were $1.00{\pm}2.19$ before day and $17.16{\pm}81.55$ after 1 week, and $TNF-{\alpha}\;were\;1.19{\pm}2.98$ before day and $1.27{\pm}1.52$ after 1 week. The level of cytokines in patients treated with vitamin C decreased more than those without vitamin C. However, this represented no statistical value (P=0.0598 in $IL-1{\beta}$, P=0.1664 in IL-6, and P=0.5395 in $TNF-{\alpha}$). Conclusion : In terminal cancer, even if there was no statistical difference in the cytokines levels between patients treated with vitamin C and those not treated, those who were treated had a decrease all cytokines levels. Vitamin C is very safe with almost no side effects. Therefore, vitamin C treatment in terminal cancer patients can be seen as beneficial and helpful for clinical symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2009

Deposition of atmospheric N that is depleted in $^{15}N$ has shown to decrease N isotope ratio ($^{15}N/^{14}N$,expressed as ${\delta}^{15}N$) of forest samples such as tree rings, foliage, and total soil-N. However, its effect on ${\delta}^{15}N$ of mineral soil-N which is biologically active N pool has never been tested. In this study, ${\delta}^{15}N$ of mineral N($NH{_4}^+$ and $NO_3{^-}$) in forest soils from organic and two depths of mineral soil layers (0 to 20 cm and 20 to 40cm depth) of Pinus densiflora stands located at two distinct areas (rural and industrial areas) in southern Korea was analyzed to investigate if there is any difference in ${\delta}^{15}N$ of mineral N between these areas. We also evaluated potential N loss of the study sites using ${\delta}^{15}N$ of mineral N. Across the soil layers, the ${\delta}^{15}N$ of $NH{_4}^+$ ranged from +8.9 to +24.8‰ in the rural area and from +4.4 to +13.8‰ in the industrial area. Soils from organic layer (+4.4‰) and mineral layer between 0 and 20 cm (+13.8‰) of industrial area showed significantly lower ${\delta}^{15}N$ of $NH{_4}^+$ than those of rural area (+8.9 and +24.3‰, respectively), probably indicating the greater contribution of $^{15}N$-depleted $NH{_4}^+$ from atmospheric deposition to forest in the industrial area than in the rural area. Meanwhile, ${\delta}^{15}N$ of $NO_3{^-}$ was not different between the rural and industrial areas, probably because ${\delta}^{15}N$ of $NO_3{^-}$ is more likely to be altered by the N loss that causes $^{15}N$ enrichment of the remaining soil N pool. Compared with the ${\delta}^{15}N$ of soil mineral N reported by other studies (from -10.9 to +15.6‰ for $NH{_4}^+$ and -14.8 to +5.6‰ for $NO_3{^-}$), the ${\delta}^{15}N$ observed in our study was substantially high, suggesting that the study sites are more subject to the N loss. It was concluded that $NH{_4}^+$ rather than $NO_3{^-}$ can conserve the ${\delta}^{15}N$ signature of atmospheric N deposition in forest ecosystems.