• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.271-281
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• 2024

Background: The unmet healthcare needs (UHNs) of people with disabilities (PWD) are not only detrimental to their quality of life but also can lead to serious health outcomes including death. A variety of factors including socioeconomic, personal, and environmental factors affect UHNs for PWD. Previous studies focused on individual socioeconomic and disability characteristics as influencing factors. Our studies included environmental factors that have a significant impact on the use of healthcare service by PWD. Methods: We analyzed the UHNs status and influencing factors among 4,326 adults with disabilities using the Korea Disability Life Data. Chisquare analysis identified differences in UHNs by general, disability, and environmental characteristics. Logistic regression determined factors affecting UHNs. Results: Those with low educational level (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.229; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.024-1.475), those with low income level (aOR, 1.416; 95% CI, 1.015-1.976), those who enrolled in private insurance (aOR, 1.234; 95% CI, 1.018-1.496), those who need help with daily living (aOR, 1.298; 95% CI, 1.059-1.592), those who did not go out (OR, 1.566; 95% CI, 1.274-1.924), those who use taxis (aOR, 1.407; 95% CI, 1.047-1.891) or call taxi for people with disabilities when going to the hospital (aOR, 1.370; 95% CI, 1.001-1.875), the communication disabled (aOR, 1.304; 95% CI, 1.029-1.651), those with poor subjective health status (aOR, 1.248; 95% CI, 1.043-1.494), those who felt the explanation of treatment results was insufficient (aOR, 4.035; 95% CI, 1.365-11.927), hose dissatisfied with healthcare services (aOR, 3.515; 95% CI, 2.741-4.508) were more likely to experience UHNs. Conclusion: Effective healthcare service provision for PWD requires not only financial assistance but also social support, along with education for healthcare staff, policies that consider the characteristics of disabilities.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.147-160
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• 2015

In 2014, on 31 August and 1 September, the emissions of $CH_4$, $CO_2$, and $O_2$ gases were measured six times using the closed chamber method from exposed tidal flat sediments in the same position relative to the low point of the tidal cycle in the Eoeun-ri, Taean-gun, on the Mid-western Coast of Korea. The concentrations of $CH_4$ in the air sample collected in the chamber were measured using gas chromatography with an EG analyzer, model GS-23, within 6 hours of collection, and the other gases were measured in real time using a multi-gas monitor. The gas emission fluxes (source (+), and sink (-)) were calculated from a simple linear regression analysis of the changes in the concentrations over time. In order to see the surrounding parameters (water content, temperature, total organic carbon, average mean size of sediments, and the temperature of the inner chamber) were measured at the study site. On the first day, across three measurements during 5 hours 20 minutes, the observed $CO_2$ flux absorption was -137.00 to $-81.73mg/m^2/hr$, and the $O_2$ absorption, measured simultaneously, was -0.03 to $0.00mg/m^2/hr$. On the second day using an identical number of measurements, the $CO_2$ absorption was -20.43 to $-2.11mg/m^2/hr$, and the $O_2$ absorption -0.18 to $-0.14mg/m^2/hr$. The $CH_4$ absorption before low tide was $-0.02mg/m^2/hr$ (first day, Pearson correlation coefficient using the SPSS statistical analysis is -0.555(n=5, p=0.332, pronounced negative linear relationship)), and $-0.15mg/m^2/hr$ (second day, -0.915(n=5, p=0.030, strong negative linear relationship)) on both measurement days. The emitted flux after low tide on both measurement days reached a minimum of $+0.00mg/m^2/hr$ (+0.713(n=5, p=0.176, linear relationship which can be almost ignored)), and a maximum of $+0.03mg/m^2/hr$ (+0.194(n=5, p=0.754, weak positive linear relationship)) after low tide. However, the absolute values of the $CH_4$ fluxes were analyzed at different times. These results suggest that rate for $CH_4$ fluxes, even the same time and area, were influenced by changes in the tidal cycle characteristics of surface sediments for understanding their correlation with these gas emissions, and surrounding parameters such as physiochemical sediments conditions.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.47-68
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• 1988

This study was conducted to define the optimal conditions for embryo growth during seed stratification and for breaking dormancy as well as seed germination of stratified ginseng seeds. The experiments were also carried out to detect some materials which were expected to induce seed dormancy in the ginseng seeds. The results summarized as follows; 1. The growth of embryo during seed stratification was significantly inhibited by the existence of endocarp. The fastest embryo growth was resulted at $15^{\circ}C$ and an estimated optimal temperature for embryo growth was about $18^{\circ}C$. 2. There was no significant difference between the embryo growth and germination ratio of ginseng seeds which were sown in seed bed at Aug-5 without seed stratification and that of artificial seed stratification. 3. Embryo growth and germination ratio was significantly inhibited by high temperature treatment at $30^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours or respiration stress by immersing seeds in water for 10 days or more. 4. When the seed stratification was started at $10^{\circ}C$, growth of embryo in the ginseng seeds were almost stopped. But, when the seeds were stratified first at $20^{\circ}C$ for 50 days and next at $10^{\circ}C$ for 50 days, the embryo growth was significantly promoted compared with the embryo growth in the seeds which were stratified at $20^{\circ}C$ for 100 days. 5. The successive embryo growth after seed stratification was significantly accelerated at $10^{\circ}C$ but the seeds chilled at $5^{\circ}C$ for 100 days were resulted in the highest germination ratio as well as the shortest days for germination. 6. The successive embryo growth during chilling treatment and seed germination were significantly inhibited by immersing seeds in water just before chilling treatment or during chilling treatment and by interruption of chilling treatment with raising temperature to $20^{\circ}C$ for 20 days during chilling treatment. 7. The germination ratio of ginseng seeds which finished chilling treatment was highest at $10^{\circ}C$ and 62.5% was the estimated soil moisture for the best germination of ginseng seeds. The ginseng seeds were found to require high amount of oxygen for germination. 8. Only water soluble material in homogenized ginseng seeds showed a significant inhibiting effect on the seed germination of sesame, millet and soybean. Water soluble material dissolved from undehisced ginseng seeds showed stronger inhibiting effect on the seedling growth of sesame than material from dehisced ginseng seeds. Extraction temperature did not influence the inhibiting effect of the material dissolved from ginseng seeds on the seedling growth of sesame. 9. Water soluble materials dissolved from the berry pulps, leaves, fresh roots and dried roots also showed a significant inhibiting effect on the seedling growth of sesame. 10. Water soluble materials dissolved from the ginseng seeds, leaves and fresh roots showed a significant inhibiting effect on the germination of true fungi and the growth of spawn but the growth of phytopathogenic bacteria was not. 11. Among the water soluble materials dissolved from ginseng seeds, the materials of low molecular weight less than 3,000 were resulted a significant inhibiting effect on the seedling growth of sesame and the materials of high molecular weight also showed an inhibiting effect.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2017

Analysis of future business or investment opportunities, such as business feasibility analysis and company or technology valuation, necessitate objective estimation on the relevant market and expected sales. While there are various ways to classify the estimation methods of these new sales or market size, they can be broadly divided into top-down and bottom-up approaches by benchmark references. Both methods, however, require a lot of resources and time. Therefore, we propose a data-based intelligent demand forecasting system to support evaluation of new business. This study focuses on analogical forecasting, one of the traditional quantitative forecasting methods, to develop sales forecasting intelligence systems for new businesses. Instead of simply estimating sales for a few years, we hereby propose a method of estimating the sales of new businesses by using the initial sales and the sales growth rate of similar companies. To demonstrate the appropriateness of this method, it is examined whether the sales performance of recently established companies in the same industry category in Korea can be utilized as a reference variable for the analogical forecasting. In this study, we examined whether the phenomenon of "mean reversion" was observed in the sales of start-up companies in order to identify errors in estimating sales of new businesses based on industry sales growth rate and whether the differences in business environment resulting from the different timing of business launch affects growth rate. We also conducted analyses of variance (ANOVA) and latent growth model (LGM) to identify differences in sales growth rates by industry category. Based on the results, we proposed industry-specific range and linear forecasting models. This study analyzed the sales of only 150,000 start-up companies in Korea in the last 10 years, and identified that the average growth rate of start-ups in Korea is higher than the industry average in the first few years, but it shortly shows the phenomenon of mean-reversion. In addition, although the start-up founding juncture affects the sales growth rate, it is not high significantly and the sales growth rate can be different according to the industry classification. Utilizing both this phenomenon and the performance of start-up companies in relevant industries, we have proposed two models of new business sales based on the sales growth rate. The method proposed in this study makes it possible to objectively and quickly estimate the sales of new business by industry, and it is expected to provide reference information to judge whether sales estimated by other methods (top-down/bottom-up approach) pass the bounds from ordinary cases in relevant industry. In particular, the results of this study can be practically used as useful reference information for business feasibility analysis or technical valuation for entering new business. When using the existing top-down method, it can be used to set the range of market size or market share. As well, when using the bottom-up method, the estimation period may be set in accordance of the mean reverting period information for the growth rate. The two models proposed in this study will enable rapid and objective sales estimation of new businesses, and are expected to improve the efficiency of business feasibility analysis and technology valuation process by developing intelligent information system. In academic perspectives, it is a very important discovery that the phenomenon of 'mean reversion' is found among start-up companies out of general small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as stable companies such as listed companies. In particular, there exists the significance of this study in that over the large-scale data the mean reverting phenomenon of the start-up firms' sales growth rate is different from that of the listed companies, and that there is a difference in each industry. If a linear model, which is useful for estimating the sales of a specific company, is highly likely to be utilized in practical aspects, it can be explained that the range model, which can be used for the estimation method of the sales of the unspecified firms, is highly likely to be used in political aspects. It implies that when analyzing the business activities and performance of a specific industry group or enterprise group there is political usability in that the range model enables to provide references and compare them by data based start-up sales forecasting system.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2012

Purpose: This study mainly focuses on the patients treated with chemically stable radiopharmaceutical product $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO (d,l-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime) which yielded reduced image quality due to a decreased brain extraction rate. $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO will be examined further to determine whether this product may be accounted as a factor for this cause. Material and Methods: From January 2010 until December 2010, out of 272 patients who were all subjected to $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO brain blood flow SPECT scans resulting from Cerebral Infarction; 23 patients(ages $55.3{\pm}9$, 21 males, 3 females) with decreased tissue extraction rate were examined in detail. The radiopharmaceutical product $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO was used on patients with normal brain tissue exchange rate as well as those with reduced rate in order to prove its' chemical stability. The patients' age, sex, blood pressure, existence of diabetes, drug use, current health status, known side effects from CT/MRI, examination of the patients' past SPECT before/after images were accounted to determine the factors and correlations affecting the rate of blood tissue extractions. Result: After multiple linear regression analysis, there were no unusual correlations between the 6 factors excluding sex, and before/after examination images. Male subjects showed reduced brain tissue extraction rate than the females ($p$ > 0.05) 91.3% male, 8.7% female. Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test was used on the before/after images which yielded a value of 0.06, which did not indicate a significant amount of difference on the 2 tests ($p$ > 0.05). As a result, the before/after images indicated similar brain tissue extraction rates, and there were variations depending on the individual patient. Conclusion: The effects of the chemically stable radiopharmaceutical product $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO depended on the patient's personal characteristics and status, therefore was considered to be a factor in reducing brain tissue extraction rate. The related articles of $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO cerebral blood flow SPECT speculates a cerebrovascular disease and factors resulting from portal veins, and it was not possible to pin point the exact cause of decreasing brain tissue extraction rate. However, the $^{99m}Tc$-HMPAO cerebral blood flow SPECT scan proved to be extremely useful in tracking and inspecting brain diseases, as well as offering accurate results from patients suffering from reduced brain tissue extraction rates.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.418-427
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• 2003

Objects: $^{99m}-lactosylated$ human serum albumin (LSA) is a newly synthesized radiopharmaceutical that binds to asialoglycoprotein receptors, which are specifically presented on the hepatocyte membrane. Hepatic uptake and blood clearance of LSA were evaluated in rat with acute hepatic injury induced by dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) and results were compared with corresponding findings of liver enzyme profile and these of histologic changes. Materials and Methods: DMN (27 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally in Sprague-Dawley rat to induce acute hepatic injury. At 3(DMN-3), 8(DMN-8), and 21 (DMN-21) days after injection of DMN, LSA injected intravenously, and dynamic images of the liver and heart were recorded for 30 minutes. Time-activity curves of the heart and liver were generated from regions of interest drawn over liver and heart area. Degree of hepatic uptake and blood clearance of LSA were evaluated with visual interpretation and semiquantitative analysis using parameters (receptor index : LHL3 and index of blood clearance : HH3), analysis of time-activity curve was also performed with curve fitting using Prism program. Results: Visual assessment of LSA images revealed decreased hepatic uptake in DMN treated rat, compared to control group. In semiquantitative analysis, LHL3 was significantly lower in DMN treated rat group than control rat group (DMN-3: 0.842, DMN-8: 0.898, DMN-21: 0.91, Control: 0.96, p<0.05), whereas HH3 was significantly higher than control rat group (DMN-3: 0.731,.DMN-8: 0.654, DMN-21: 0.604, Control: 0.473, p<0.05). AST and ALT were significantly higher in DMN-3 group than those of control group. Centrilobular necrosis and infiltration of inflammatory cells were most prominent in DMN-3 group, and were decreased over time. Conclusion: The degree of hepatic uptake of LSA was inversely correlated with liver transaminase and degree of histologic liver injury in rat with acute hepatic injury.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2009

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the effects on bone mineral density (BMD) and related factors according to the distance from the radiation field at different sites. This study was conducted on patients with uterine cervical cancer who received pelvic radiotherapy. Materials and Methods: We selected 96 patients with cervical cancer who underwent determination of BMD from November 2002 to December 2006 after pelvic radiotherapy at Kosin University Gospel Hospital. The T-score and Z-score for the first lumbar spine (L1), fourth lumbar spine (L4) and femur neck (F) were analyzed to determine the difference in BMD among the sites by the use of ANOVA and the post-hoc test. The study subjects were evaluated for age, body weight, body mass index (BMI), post-radiotherapy follow-up duration, intracavitary radiotherapy (ICR) and hormonal replacement therapy (HRT). Association between the characteristics of the study subjects and T-score for each site was evaluated by the use of Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis. Results: The average T-score for all ages was -1.94 for the L1, -0.42 for the L4 and -0.53 for the F. The average Z-score for all ages was -1.11 for the L1, -0.40 for the L4 and -0.48 for the F. The T-score and Z-score for the L4 and F were significantly different from the scores for the L1 (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the L4 and F. Results for patients younger than 60 years were the same as for all ages. Age and ICR were negatively correlated and body weight and HRT were positively correlated with the T-score for all sites (p<0.05). BMI was positively correlated with the T-score for the L4 and F (p<0.05). Based on the use of multiple regression analysis, age was negatively associated with the T-score for the L1 and F and was positively correlated for the L4 (p<0.05). Body weight was positively associated with the T-score for all sites (p<0.05). ICR was negatively associated with the T-score for the L1 (p<0.05). HRT was positively associated with the T-score for the L4 and F (p<0.05). Conclusion: The T-score and Z-score for the L4 and F were significantly higher than the scores for the L1, a finding in contrast to some previous studies on normal women. It was thought that radiation could partly influence BMD because of a higher T-score and Z-score for sites around the radiotherapy field. We suggest that a further long-term study is necessary to determine the clinical significance of these findings, which will influence the diagnosis of osteoporosis based on BMD in patients with cervical cancer who have received radiotherapy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.1265-1273
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the BMI, intake of snacks, and perceptions and use of food and nutrition labels by middle school students (144 boys and 189 girls) in Chuncheon area. The average height and weight of boys were $171.0{\pm}6.4$ cm and $61.0{\pm}11.4$ kg, respectively, whereas those of girls were $160.0{\pm}4.8$ cm and $50.8{\pm}6.6$ kg, respectively. Average body mass index (BMI) of boys and girls were $20.8{\pm}3.3$ and $19.8{\pm}2.4$, respectively (p<0.01). Dietary intake attitude score of girls ($34.39{\pm}5.66$) was higher than that of boys ($33.92{\pm}5.40$) (p<0.05). Subjects bought and ate snacks 1 to 3 times per week (40.2%) by themselves, and most consumed snacks were cookies (23.1%), instant noodles (16.2%), ice cream (13.2%), and candy and chocolates (13.2%). The most important factor in purchasing of snacks was 'taste' ($4.49{\pm}0.67$). When subjects bought processed foods, the rates of reading food labels was 86.6%. The most important factor of the food labels was 'expiration date' (42.9%). The degree of reading food labels on processed foods by girls ($22.70{\pm}5.72$) was higher than that of boys ($20.96{\pm}5.35$) (p<0.01). Of the 13.2% of subjects that did not read food labels, the reason why was that they were not interested (50.0%). Of the 78.4% of subjects that read nutrition labels, the most important component of the nutrition labels was 'calories' (75.9%). The main reason for reading nutrition labels was 'to control weight' (45.6%). In general, use of food labels correlated positively with dietary intake attitude score (p<0.05) and use of nutrition labels (p<0.01). Using multiple regression analysis, we found that 'usefulness of dietary life' was the most significant variable that affects the importance of food and nutrition labels. Therefore, development of an educational program on food and nutrition labels for adolescents will be effective in improving dietary life.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.24 no.3 s.35
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• pp.363-372
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• 1991

We used the health screening data of some rural and urban residents to examine the cross-sectional association between leukocyte count and hypertension. The 206 male and 203 female rural residents were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method in Kyungsan-Kun area of Kyungbuk province in 1985 and 600 urban residents were selected by the same sampling method as the rural residents in Daegu city of the same province in 1986 compatible with age-sex distribution of Daegu city of 1985 census, but of whom 384 actually responded. The rest of 600 were replaced by age and sex with those who were members of the medical insurance plan visiting the health management department of the university hospital to get the biannual preventive medical checkups. Excluded in the analysis were those having hypertensive history, diseases and extreme outlying values of the screening tests, leaving 373 rural and 571 urban residents. Leukocyte count was measured with ELT-8 Laser shadow method and the unit $cells/mm^3$, Blood pressures were determined with an aneroid sphygmomanometer with pre-standardized method and hypertensives were defined as those showing systolic blood pressure more than 140mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure more than 90mmHg. Total residents pooled (N=944) showed a significant difference between hypertensives and normotensives ($6965.93{\pm}1997.01\;vs\;6490.61{\pm}1941.32,\;P=0.00$) and in rural residents was noted the similar significant difference (P=0.03). None of significant differences were noted in any stratum stratified by residency and sex. Compared to the lowest quintile of WBC, 2/5 quintile showed odds ratio 0.99 (95% Confidence interval, Ci 0.62-1.59), 3/5 quintile 1.41 (95% CI 0.90-2.21), 4/5 quintile 1.76 (95% CI. 1.14-2.72), and highest quintile 1.80 (1.15-2.82) in the total residents. Likelihood ratio test for linear trend for it indicated a significant trend ($X^2_{trend}=5.53,\;df=1,\;P<0.05$). There were no other significant odds ratios compared to the lowest quintile of WBC in strata stratified by residency and sex. The odds ratios in total residents which had showed significant odds ratios became nonsignificant and of reduced magnitude after controlling age, frequency of smoking and drinking with multiple logistic. regression. In each stratum, it changed magnitudes of odds ratios slightly and unstably. None of the trend tests showed any significant trend. These results suggest that the Friedman et al's finding of association between leukocyte count and hypertension may be due to an statistical type I error resulting from the data dredging in an exploratory study, in which more than 800 variables were screened as possible predictors of hypertension.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.2 s.38
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• pp.127-140
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• 1992

This study was done to identify the association between serum copper and zinc levels and the cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), and to evaluate its diagnostic value on liver diseases. Sixty-three healthy persons, 60 patients with cirrhosis and 33 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were rendomly selected and investigated for their general characteristics from October 1990 to August 1991. For analysis of the biochemical markers in liver function test and the serum copper and zinc levels, their fasting venous blood were sampled at 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning and centrifuged to separate the serum within one hour. All the samples were immediately analysed for biochemical markers and stored at $-20^{\circ}C$ in polypropylene tubes further copper and zinc analysis. Mean of serum coppper levels was $91.97{\pm}4.76{\mu}g/dl$ in control, $106.21{\pm}2.73{\mu}g/dl$ in cirrhosis and $127.05{\pm}0.77{\mu}g/dl$ in HCC. The value of HCC was statistically significantly higher than that of the control and cirrhosis(p<0.05). Serum zinc levels were $110.82{\pm}7.24{\mu}g/dl$ in control, $68.10{\pm}5.43{\mu}g/dl$ in cirrhosis and $63.78{\pm}2.20{\mu}g/dl$ in HCC. The values of cirrhosis and HCC were statistically significantly lower than that of control(p<0.05). The Cu/Zn ratio was statiatically significantly different among three groups(p<0.05). Test total protein, albumin, ALP and total bilirubin of biochemical markers of liver function were statistically significantly different among three groups(p<0.05). Differences between cirrhosis and HCC for ALT and AST, and between the control and HCC for direct bilirubin were not statistically significant. Biochemical markers statistically significantly correlated with serum copper and zinc levels and Cu/Zn ratio(p<0.05), were variable in three groups. In multiple logistic regression, odds ratio of serum copper level and Cu/Zn ratio had no statistical significance on the cirrhosis and the HCC, but that of serum sinc was statistically significant as 0.951 and 0.952(p<0.05). Serum copper and zinc levels and Cu/Zn ratio were not statistically significantly different between the cirrhosis and HCC. H\Albumin, ALP, zinc, total bilirubin and age among all variables were selected as main variables for three-group discriminant analysis. Percentage of 'grouped' cases correctly classified by these five variables was 98.4 for control, 73.4 for cirrhosis, 75.7 for HCC and 84.0 for all subjects. This study suggests that zinc level is considered to play a role as diagnostic marker on the hepatic disorders and be more useful than serum copper level and Cu/Zn ratio in diagnosis of the liver diseases.