• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.186-194
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• 2004

Purpose: Membranoproliferative glomeulonephritis(MPGN) has been diagnosed in an increasing number of asymptomatic cases. These cases have been detected by school urinary screening test even though the total cases of MPGN show a decreasing trend. We have analyzed the clinical and pathological characteristics of children with MPGN according to the clinical manifestations at the time of disease presentation. Methods: A total of 18 patients who had been diagnosed with idiopathic MPGN by percutaneous renal biopsy from January 1990 to February 2004 were involved in our study. The patients were divided into 2 groups as the school urinary screening(A) group and the symptomatic(S) group according to the clinical manifestations at the time of disease presentation. Results: Out of the total 18 patients, 8(44.4%) were in the S group and 10(55.6%) were in the A group. The mean serum total protein, albumin and $C_3$ levels in the S group were significantly lower than those levels of the A group, respectively($4.9{\pm}1.2\;g/dL,\;vs\;7.0{\pm}0.5\;g/dL\;P=0.002,\;2.8{\pm}0.9\;g/dL\;vs.\;4.1{\pm}0.3\;g/dL\;P=0.002,\;63.9{\pm}36.4\;mg/dL\;vs.\;100.8{\pm}39.5\;g/dL\;P=0.041$). The mean total protein amount of 24 hour collected urine in the S group were significantly higher than that of the A group($3684.0{\pm}2601.3\;mg/m^2\;vs.\;559.4{\pm}4.6.9\;mg/m^2$, respectively, P=0.001). Hypocomplementemia was observed in 11(61.1%) out of 18 patients at the time of disease onset, 7(87.5%) in the S group and 4(40%) in the A group. However the hypocomplementemia was decreased in 6(33.3%) out of 18 patients at the time of final follow-up, 3(37.5%) in the S group and 3(30%) in the A group. According to the pathologic type, hypocomplementemia was observed 8 patients(61.5%) with type I disease, 1 patients (100%) with type II disease, 2 patients(50%) in type III disease at the disease onset, but 4 patients(30.8%) in type I disease, 1 patient(100%) in type II disease, 1 patient(33.3%) with type III disease at the time of last follow-up. The incidence of cellular crescent formation and tubular atropy. as observed on light microscopy, were higher in the S group compared to the A group. Mean grade of capillary wall thickening and, mesangial proliferation were significantly higher in the S group. Conclusion: MPGN, as diagnosed in patients with only asymptomatic urinary abnormalities, has been increasing, it is more frequent in asymptomatic patients than in patients with presenting symptoms. Our result suggests that MPGN should be considered in the renal biopsy diagnosis regardless of serum $C_3$ level when urinary abnormalities are found by school urinary screening test.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.230-238
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• 1998

Purpose : Worldwidely, the incidence of the hepatitis A has been markedly decreased in the past years. Also in Korea, there has been only a few sporadic cases without evidence of epidemics since the mid 1980s. However, the incidence of the hepatitis A in young adults and childen has been in trends of increasing since 1996. So, we retrospectively performed the study on the epidemiolgical changes and the clinical feature of hepatitis A in childen, living in Kyung-gi province, since 1988 to 1998. Methods : The four affiliated hospitals of the Catholic University of Korea, Our lady of Mercy's hospital, Holy family hospital, Eui-Jung-bu St. Mary's hospital, and St. Vincent hospital, were enrolled in this study. We conducted statistical analysis on the incidence of hepatitis A since 1988 to 1998, concerning with the period (monthly, annually), age, sex and related epidemiological property, by reviewing the hospital records of the patients with hepatitis A. We simultaneously performed the study concerning with the clinical characteristics of hepatitis A. Results : 1) During the study period, 46 children was diagnosed as hepatitis A, and among them 28 children (60.1%) developed sporadically in the 1998. And sex ratio was 1.2(male):1(female). 2) Most of the patients developed between March and July, and hepatitits A were mainly developed in the patients above the 10 year old ages(37 patients; 80.4%). 3) The socioeconomic and educational status of the patient's parents was almostly below the middle and low class. Although, we could not find the etiological factors in most cases, but we found the evidence of interfamilial transmission in one family. 4) The patients complained the symptoms of nausea and vomiting, jaundice, poor appetite, mild fever, fatigueness, abdominal pain, URI symptom, dyspepsia, dark urine, headache and diarrhea in order, and findings of jaundice, hepatomegaly, RUQ tenderness, splenomegaly and LLQ tenderness in order were seen. 5) All patients showed abnormal findings of the liver function tests, and the pattern of cholestatic hepatitis were seen in most cases, but these findings were normalized within the 2~4 weeks. The findings of the gall bladder wall thickening, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly and ascites were seen on abodominal sonogram. 6) The prognosis of all patients were good without complications, except in one case who had the episode of transient recuurence. And the mean hospitalization dates were 11.1 days. Conclusion : We found that the incidence of hepatitis A showed the increasing trend, and peaked in the 1998 in Kyung-gi province children. And hepatitis A mainly developed in children above the 10 year old ages. The scioeconomic and educational status of patient's family was almostly below the middle class. All of them showed abnormal liver function, and clinically cholestatic hepatitis features were seen in most cases. But, the prognosis was excellent without complication in all cases.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2014

Purpose: With the aging of the population, the attack rate of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture is in the increasing trend, and percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) is the most commonly performed standardized treatment. Although there is a research report of the excellence of usefulness of the SPECT/CT examination in terns of the exact diagnosis before and after the procedure, the bone cement material used in the procedure influences the image quality by forming an artifact in the CT image. Therefore, the objective of the research lies on evaluating the effect the bone cement gives to a SPECT/CT image. Materials and Methods: The images were acquired by inserting a model cement to each cylinder, after setting the background (3.6 kBq/mL), hot cylinder (29.6 kBq/mL) and cold cylinder (water) to the NEMA-1994 phantom. It was reconstructed with Astonish (Iterative: 4 Subset: 16), and non attenuation correction (NAC), attenuation correction (AC+SC-) and attenuation and scatter correction (AC+SC+) were used for the CT correction method. The mean count by each correction method and the count change ratio by the existence of the cement material were compared and the contrast recovery coefficient (CRC) was obtained. Additionally, the bone/soft tissue ratio (B/S ratio) was obtained after measuring the mean count of the 4 places including the soft tissue(spine erector muscle) after dividing the vertebral body into fracture region, normal region and cement by selecting the 20 patients those have performed PVP from the 107 patients diagnosed of compression fracture. Results: The mean count by the existence of a cement material showed the rate of increase of 12.4%, 6.5%, 1.5% at the hot cylinder of the phantom by NAC, AC+SC- and AC+SC+ when cement existed, 75.2%, 85.4%, 102.9% at the cold cylinder, 13.6%, 18.2%, 9.1% at the background, 33.1%, 41.4%, 63.5% at the fracture region of the clinical image, 53.1%, 61.6%, 67.7% at the normal region and 10.0%, 4.7%, 3.6% at the soft tissue. Meanwhile, a relative count reduction could be verified at the cement adjacent part at the inside of the cylinder, and the phantom image on the lesion and the count increase ratio of the clinical image showed a contrary phase. CRC implying the contrast ratio and B/S ratio was improved in the order of NAC, AC+SC-, AC+SC+, and was constant without a big change in the cold cylinder of the phantom. AC+SC- for the quantitative count, and AC+SC+ for the contrast ratio was analyzed to be the highest. Conclusion: It is considered to be useful in a clinical diagnosis if the application of AC+SC+ that improves the contrast ratio is combined, as it increases the noise count of the soft tissue and the scatter region as well along with the effect of the bone cement in contrast to the fact that the use of AC+SC- in the spine SPECT/CT examination of a PVP performed patient drastically increases the image count and enables a high density of image of the lesion(fracture).

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2007

This study was conducted to determine the effects of different levels (10, 12 and 15%) of crude protein (CP) in total mixed ration (TMR) on dry matter intake, digestibility and nitrogen balance of Korean black goats in the stage of early pregnancy and to obtain information on their optimal dietary levels of CP. In the present study, 12 Does of Korean black goats in the early pregnancy were allotted to four unreplicated groups by dietary level of CP and then they were housed in individual metabolism cages with completely randomized design throughout 30 days with 20 days adaptation and 10 days collection periods. Does in Control were fed a conventional diet and does in TMR10, TMR12 and TMR15 were fed a diet adjusted to about 10, 12 and 15% CP, respectively. Dry matter(DM) contents ranged from 89 to 91% in treatments. There were no differences fur fiber contents among three CP levels of TMR, showing that ADF and NDF had 18.57 to 19.85, and 53.41 to 54.80, respectively. Crude protein contents for three TMR treaements had 10.61, 12.15 and 14.97%, respectively. However, non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC) contents decreased with increasing CP levels in treatments. Meanwhile, Intakes of DM, nutrients and digestible nutrients were significantly (p<0.05) higher in TMR15 and control than in TMR10 and TMR12. Moreover, DM intake per metabolic body weight and theit ratio per body weight was significantly (p<0.05) higher for control and TMR15 than other treatments. DM digestibility was not significantly different among treatments, but ether extract digestibility of treatments was significantly (p<0.05) higher than that of control, but there was no significant difference among treatments. Nitrogen retention significantly (p<0.05) increased with increasing CP levels in TMR, and TMR15 was highest among treatments. Our results showed that the increasing CP levels in TMR increased DM intake and nitrogen retention and suggested that the optimal dietary CP levels under TMR feeding system in early pregnant Korean black goats could be estimated for at least 15%.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 2008

Systematic CCD observations of times of minimum lights for eclipsing binaries has been carried out from 2002 to 2007 at Campus Station of Chungbuk National University Observatory which is located in Cheongju city, Korea. As a by-product of our observations, photometric data for stars in CCD images taken from 2005 to 2007 were used to determine 1st order atmospheric extinction coefficient (hereafter AEC) and seasonal and yearly variations of the AECs were studied. Total nights used for determination of AECs were 57 days in 2005, 51 days in 2006, and 63 days in 2007. As a result the annual mean value of the AECs per air mass is calculated as $0.^m34{\pm}0.^m18$ for 2005, $0.^m38{\pm}0.^m19$ for 2006, and $0.^m45{\pm}0.^m20$ for 2007. These values show that the AECs and their standard deviations are two and four times, respectively, larger than those of normal observatories which are not located near large cities. Annual comparison between concentration of atmospheric fine dust and coefficient of atmospheric extinction show strong correlation between two quantities of which time variations show similar patterns. The AECs for the east sky show larger than those for the west sky. It can be easily understood by the reasonable possibility that air pollutants remain more in the east sky than in the west because the east area of Cheongju city has been more developed than the west one. In conclusion the atmospheric extinction of the night sky of Cheongju city has an annual trend of increase of $0.^m06\;airrnass^{-1}\; year^{-1}$ implying that it may take only about 13 years for Cheongju city to have 2 times brighter night sky than the present one. Our study highlights that variations of AEC can be used as an important indicator of air pollution to monitor night skies.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.185-190
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• 2008

In order to obtain the basic information for agricultural utilization of Germanium(Ge), the growth characteristics and the germanium uptake by water celery were investigated at different concentration of germanium in soil. This experiment was carried out in the Wagner pot(1 $5,000^{-1}a$). Germanium concentrations in soil for water celery cultivation were maintained at 0.26, 25.0, 62.5, and 125.0 mg $kg^{-1}$, respectively. The treatment of over Ge 25.0 mg $kg^{-1}$ in the soil led to germanium phytotoxicity such as reduction of plant height and fresh weight. The contents of germanium in water celery were increased with the increase of germanium concentration in the soil. When water celery was cultivated from soil maintained with Ge 25.0 and 62.5 mg $kg^{-1}$, its germanium contents in plant were 89.9 and 371.6 mg $kg^{-1}$, respectively. Then, the efficiency of germanium uptake of water celery in Ge 25.0 and 62.5 mg $kg^{-1}$ maintained plots was 1.7 and 2.4%, respectively. When water celery was cultivated from soil maintained with Ge 25.0, 62.5 and 125.0 mg $kg^{-1}$, its content of amino acid was found to be 89.8, 198.4, and 318.2 mg $g^{-1}$, respectively. To investigate the effect of N fertilizer application in uptake of germanium by water celery, these were treated with nontreatment, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 times of N application based on soil testing for cultivation of water celery. However, the amount of the N fertilizer application did not affect the contents of germanium in the water celery. When water celery was cultivated from soil maintained with two kinds of inorganic and organic germanium 50 mg $kg^{-1}$, respectively, the content of germanium were 24.2 mg $kg^{-1}$ in the Ge-132 treatment and 11.8 mg $kg^{-1}$ in the $GeO_2$ treatment.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5271-5283
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to provide fundamental materials for improving school health promotion programs by investigating the relationships between the change in obesity rate and risk factors of metabolic syndrome among middle school students in Ulsan. We analyzed the routine health check-up data in 58,298 2nd-year middle school students in Ulsan, which conducted by the Planned Population Federation of Korea from 2007 to 2011. The overall and girls obesity rates gradually decreased throughout the first four years but increased again in 2011. The boys obesity rates were highest in 2008 and lowest in 2010. Throughout the research years, the incidence rates of over-weight and obesity were statistically significantly higher in boys compared to girls(P<0.05). Prevalence rates of the metabolic syndrome, assessed with the modified Cook criteria except high blood pressure, were 0.58%, 0%, 0.01%, 0.31% and 4.53%, respectively in total, low, normal, over-weight, and obese groups. It indicates that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is increasing and directly related to the obesity rate among adolescents. Hypertriglyceridemia was the most common component (36.58%) of the metabolic syndrome among the middles school students followed by low HDL cholesterol (6.47%), abdominal obesity (3.72%), and high blood sugar (0.47%). Prevalence of the various components of the metabolic syndrome were significantly higher in the obese group compared to other groups. In this study we observed the decrease in obesity rates between 2007 and 2010, and developing obesity prevention programs is essential in order to maintain the trend. Additional study should be necessary to find the cause of increase of obesity rate in 2011 and so to create more effective school health promotion programmes.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2003

Purpose: We studied the prevalence and long-term trend of childhood obesity after puberty to help in managing and treating obesity. Methods: We surveyed obesity index of children at age 13 and 17 who was diagnosed as obesity at their age 7. 1,559 students consisting of 753 boys and 806 girls had followed up since 1992 until 2002. Obesity was defined as the obesity index over 20 percent. Results: The prevalence of obesity was 3.1% at age 7, 7.1% at age 13 and 13.0% at age 17, which increased significantly with getting older in age in both sex. Among obese children at age 7, 67.5 percent remained obese at age 17. 66.6% of the obese boys at age 7 and 68.4% of the obese girls at age 7 remained obese at age 17. The proportion of severe obesity in obese boys was increased as they were old, but not in obese girls. The progression to moderate and severe obesity at age 17 was prominent for obese boys at age 7, compared to the obese girls. 12.7% of normal weight boys at age 7 and 9.8% of normal weight girls at age 7 became obese at age 17. Conclusion: We think that the prevention and treatment of obesity during puberty is as important as those in the childhood.

• Journal of the Korean Arthroscopy Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.74-79
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• 2001

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical results after arthroscopic PCL reconstruction and to compare the clinical results after arthroscopic PCL reconstruction using BPTB(bone patellar tendon bone) autograft(Group I : 11 cases), Achilles tendon allograft(Group II : 7 cases) and BPTB allograft(Group 111.6 cases). Materials and Methods : We reviewed the result of 24 patients who had been managed with arthroscopic reconstruction using different graft materials such as BPTB autograft, Achilles tendon allograft and BPTB allograft. Twenty-four patients(average age, 37 years) with PCL rupture were retrospectively evaluated more than one year(average, 31 months) after having arthroscopic posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The clinical results were evaluated by IKDC ligament standard evaluation form, using $KT-2000^{TM}$ knee ligament arthrometer and also evaluated Lysholm knee scoring scale. Results : The final evaluation was nearly normal in 11 patients($45\%$ in Group I, $43\%$ in Group II, $50\%$ in Group III). The corrected posterior sagging was abnormal(side to side difference more than 6mm) in 8 patients($36\%$ in Group I, $29\%$ in Group II, $33\%$ in Group III). We could not find significant difference among three groups by IKDC scale. Conclusion : Comparing with other reports, our overall results were not satisfactory. And also, we could not find any remarkable difference among the three groups. Further research is necessary to evaluate new surgical approaches as well as improved techniques for capsular and collateral ligament injuries.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.238-244
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• 2003

Purpose: The Planning of High-Dose-Rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatments are becoming individualized and more dependent on the treatment planning system. Therefore, computer software has been developed to perform independent point dose calculations with the integration of an isodose distribution curve display into the patient anatomy images. Meterials and Methods: As primary input data, the program takes patients'planning data including the source dwell positions, dwell times and the doses at reference points, computed by an HDR treatment planning system (TPS). Dosimetric calculations were peformed in a $10\times12\times10\;Cm^3$ grid space using the Interstitial Collaborative Working Group (ICWG) formalism and an anisotropy table for the HDR Iridium-192 source. The computed doses at the reference points were automatically compared with the relevant results of the TPS. The MR and simulation film images were then imported and the isodose distributions on the axial, sagittal and coronal planes intersecting the point selected by a user were superimposed on the imported images and then displayed. The accuracy of the software was tested in three benchmark plans peformed by Gamma-Med 12i TPS (MDS Nordion, Germany). Nine patients'plans generated by Plato (Nucletron Corporation, The Netherlands) were verified by the developed software. Results: The absolute doses computed by the developed software agreed with the commercial TPS results within an accuracy of $2.8\%$ in the benchmark plans. The isodose distribution plots showed excellent agreements with the exception of the tip legion of the source's longitudinal axis where a slight deviation was observed. In clinical plans, the secondary dose calculations had, on average, about a $3.4\%$ deviation from the TPS plans. Conclusion: The accurate validation of complicate treatment plans is possible with the developed software and the qualify of the HDR treatment plan can be improved with the isodose display integrated into the patient anatomy information.