• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2006

Purpose: IMRT quality assurance(Q.A) is consist of the absolute dosimetry using ionization chamber and relative dosimetry using the film. We have in general used 0.015 cc ionization chamber, because small size and measure the point dose. But this ionization chamber is too small to give an accurate measurement value. In this study, we have examined the degree of calculated to measured dose difference in intensity modulated radiotherapy(IMRT) based on the observed/expected ratio using various kinds of ion chambers, which were used for absolute dosimetry. Materials and Methods: we peformed the 6 cases of IMRT sliding-window method for head and neck cases. Radiation was delivered by using a Clinac 21EX unit(Varian, USA) generating a 6 MV x-ray beam, which is equipped with an integrated multileaf collimator. The dose rate for IMRT treatment is set to 300 MU/min. The ion chamber was located 5cm below the surface of phantom giving 100cm as a source-axis distance(SAD). The various types of ion chambers were used including 0.015cc(pin point type 31014, PTW. Germany), 0.125 cc(micro type 31002, PTW, Germany) and 0.6 cc(famer type 30002, PTW, Germany). The measurement point was carefully chosen to be located at low-gradient area. Results: The experimental results show that the average differences between plan value and measured value are ${\pm}0.91%$ for 0.015 cc pin point chamber, ${\pm}0.52%$ for 0.125 cc micro type chamber and ${\pm}0.76%$ for farmer type 0.6cc chamber. The 0.125 cc micro type chamber is appropriate size for dose measure in IMRT. Conclusion: IMRT Q.A is the important procedure. Based on the various types of ion chamber measurements, we have demonstrated that the dose discrepancy between calculated dose distribution and measured dose distribution for IMRT plans is dependent on the size of ion chambers. The reason is small size ionization chamber have the high signal-to-noise ratio and big size ionization chamber is not located accurate measurement point. Therefore our results suggest the 0.125 cc farmer type chamber is appropriate size for dose measure in IMRT.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 1997

Purpose : Chronic renal failure is often accompanied by severe dyslipidemia, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] has recently been characterized as a risk factor for atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in adult patients on dialysis. However, there are only limited data available concerning risk factors for atherosclerosis in uremic children. We have measured serum levels of lipids, lipoproteins, apolipoproteins and Lp(a) in uremic children with maintenance dialysis. Methods : Ten uremic children with hemodialysis (HD) and 14 with peritoneal dialysis (PD) in our dialysis unit were included in this study. The mean age of HD patients was $162{\pm}59$ months and the male to female ratio was 7:3. The mean age and sex ratio of PD patients were $123{\pm}63$ months and 6:8, respectively. The levels of cholesterol, triglyceride, lipoproteins, apolipoproteins and Lp(a) were measured from serum sampled after 14 hours of fasting. The normal control levels were cited from 2 articles presenting the normal blood lipid and lipoprotein levels of primary school and middle school children in Korea. Results : There was no difference in age, sex ratio, body mass index and duration of dialysis between the HD and the PD group. The serum concentration of the cholesterol, triglyceride and apolipoprotein B were significantly elevated in dialysis patients compared with normal subjects. The serum level of Lp(a) was significantly elevated in only PD group. The serum Lp(a) level was below 30 mg/dl in 13 and above 30 mg/dl in 11 patients. The serum albumin level was significantly decreased in high Lp(a) group than in low Lp(a) group. Conclusion : The uremic children receiving dialysis reveal abnormal serum lipid and lipoprotein profiles. These results suggest that they have a higher risk for coronary heart disease, although there has been no clinical evidence of coronary heart disease at present. A long-term follow-up study of these children to clarify the suggestion should be started now.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-50
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• 1999

The relationship between floristic composition and soil environmental conditions was investigated in the forest vegetation of Mt. Paekun. The forest vegetation unit of Mt. Paekun was divided into six plant communities by Zurich-Montpellier method, such as Quercus mongelica community (Typical subcommunity, Rhododendron schlippenbaohii subcommunity), Q. variabilis community, Fraxinus rhynchophylla community, Pinus densiflora community, Larix Eeptolepis community and Pinus koraiensis community. Q. mongolica community group was distributed at the altitude over 500 meter, Q. variabilis and P. densiflora communities appeared on the southwestern slope at the altitudes of 600 ~ 700 m and 290 ~ 700 m. However, L. leptolepis and P. koraiensis plantation were distributed at lower altitude, on hillside or around homestead. The DBH class distribution of dominant species in each community showed that Q. mongolica had 10.9 individuals/a at 6~10 cm class, Q. variabilis 2.5 individuals/a at 11~15 cm class, P. densiflora 1.8 individuals/a at 26~30 cm class, F. rhynchophylla 3.3 individuals/a at 2~5 cm class, and L. leptolepis 5.9 individuals/a at 11~ 15 cm class. Q. mongolica and Q. variabilis communities showed a stable bell-shaped pattern of distribution. The contents of organic matters and soil water, and cation exchange capacity of the soil increased, and the pH decreased as the altitude gets higher increased altitude at the each communities. The contents of the soil water and organic matters of the forest soil collected in Q. mongolica community were in the 17.81% to 51.20% and 5.51% to 14.90%, respectively. These tendency is similar to the contents of N, P and K, but those of Ca, Mg, and CEC was lower than in other communities. Cation exchange capacity was suspected to be correlated to the pH. The hypothetical successional sere of the forest vegetation of Mt. Paekun is as follows: Pinus densiflora community longrightarrowQ. variabilis community longrightarrowQ. mongolica community.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.3-19
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to observe the efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources in Korea. For the empirical analysis, we constructed the dataset on age standardized mortality rate, the number of physician, specialist, surgery, medical institution, ratio of general hospitals of 16 provinces in Korea from 2006 to 2013. The panel probability frontier model is employed as an analysis method and considered heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation of the error in panel data. In addition, the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the 16 provinces, unemployment rate, elderly population ratio, GRDP per capita, and ratio of hospitals in comparison to the general hospitals are used to find the effect on the technical efficiency of clinical performance on supply and demand of medical resources. The results are as follows. First, for the clinical performance, the supply side of human resources such as doctors and specialists and the demand side factors such as chronic illness clinic per unit population have a significant influence, respectively. Second, the technical efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources of each input component was 59-70% in terms of clinical efficiency in each region. Third. estimates of technical efficiency of inputs that affect clinical performance showed a slight increase in all regions during the analysis period, but the increase trend decreased slightly. Fourth, the ratio of the elderly population and GRDP per capita have a positive influence on the technical efficiency of clinical performance on the supply and demand of medical resources. The difference of each efficiency by region is due to the regional differences of the input medical resources and the combination of them and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the region. It is understood that the differences in technological efficiency due to the complexity of supply and demand of medical resources, demographic structure and economic difference affecting clinical performance by region are different.

• 한국해양학회지
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 1989

Quantitative species distribution and primary productivity of phytoplankton were studied monthly from August, 1987 to July, 1988 along with the quantitative distribution of total heterotrophic bacterioplankton and three groups of physiologically chracteristic bacterioplankton in the intertidal and subtidal waters off Kum River Estuary, Yellow Sea. A total of 121 phytoplankton taxa including 102 diatoms occurred, and cell concentration ranged from 15 to 5451 (cells/ml). The great spatio-temporal variations of the number of phytoplankton species and cell concentration well reflected the environmental differences between the intertidal and subtidal waters. Primary productivity (in Piopt, mgC/$m^3$/hr) ranged from 0.6 to 27.3. Just after the phytoplankton bloom (March) Piopt was very low in April at station 1, where amylolytic bacterioplankton also showed quite low population density. The peaks of primary productivity were not always coincided with those of phytoplankton standing crop. The ratio of Piopt's between samples well indicated the environmental differences between the intertidal and subtidal waters. Little characteristic trend was found in the scatter diagrams of phytoplankton standing crop along the population densities of total heterotrophic bacterioplankton and the three groups of physiologically characteristic bacterioplankton. In summer the phytoplankton standing crop was minimum in contrast with the high population density of bacterioplankton, which implies the influx of much allochthonous orgainc matter from Kum River. The scatter diagrams of Piopt along bacterioplankton population density revealed some phenomena there. Piopt had highly positive correlation with the population density of amylolytie bacterioplankton($R^2$=0.84) and that of lipolytic bacterioplankton($R^2$=0.70) while total heterotrophic bacterioplankton and proteolytic bacterioplankton had lesser correlations with Piopt. From the regression lines the increase of unit Piopt (mgC/$m^3$/hr) in the study area was calculated to mean the increase of $9.0{\times}10$ cells/ml and $8.0{\times}10$ cells/ml of amylolytic bacterioplankton and lipolytic bacterioplankton, respectively.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was performed to investigate patients' preferences on receiving life-sustaining treatments (LST) and to analyze the relationship between patients' characteristics and LST selection. We also examined any discrepancy between LST patients' choices regarding medical intervention and actual medical intervention given/not given within 48 hours before death. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed from March 1, 2008 to August 31, 2008 in the Palliative Care Unit of Korea University Hospital. Electric medical records (EMR) of 102 hospice cancer patients were reviewed, and 74 patients with Glasgow coma scale (GCS) ${\geq}$10 at the time of signing the advance medical directives (AMD) were selected for the first analysis. Then, patients alive at the end of this study, transferred to other hospitals or dead within 48 hours were excluded, and the remaining 42 patients were selected for the second analysis. Results: Preferred LST included antibiotics, total parenteral nutrition, tube feeding, transfusion, and laboratory and imaging studies. The relationship between patients' characteristics and LST could not be analyzed due to skewed preferences. LST chosen at the time of signing the AMD and actual medical intervention given/not given in the last 48 hours showed discrepancy in most cases. Conclusion: When making AMD in hospice cancer patients, it is important to consider the time and possibility of changing the choices. Above all, patients must fully understand the AMD. Thus, LST should always be provided with careful consideration of all possibilities, because legal and social aspects of AMD have not been established yet.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.243-252
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• 2006

Influence of the increasing carbon dioxide concentration in seawater on various marine organisms is assessed in this article with regard to the impacts of anthropogenic $CO_2$ introduced into surface or deep oceans. Recent proposals to sequester $CO_2$ in deep oceans arouse the concerns of adverse effects of increased $CO_2$ concentration on deep-sea organisms. Atmospheric introduction of $CO_2$ into the ocean can also acidify the surface water, thereby the population of some sensitive organisms including coral reefs, cocolithophorids and sea urchins will be reduced considerably in near future (e.g. in 2100 unless the increasing trend of $CO_2$ emission is actively regulated). We exposed bioluminescent bacteria and benthic amphipods to varying concentrations of $CO_2$ and also pH for a short period. The ${\sim}l.5$ unit decrease of pH adversely affected test organisms. However, amphipods were not influenced by decreasing pH when HCl was used for the seawater acidification. In this article, we reviewed the biological adverse effects of $CO_2$ on various marine organisms studied so for. Theses results will be useful to predict the potential risks of the increase of $CO_2$ concentrations in seawater due to the increase of atmospheric $CO_2$ emission and/or sequestration of $CO_2$ in deep oceans.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.157-161
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding dried Thymus vulgaris powder (TVP) on the layer performance, egg quality and egg yolk fatty acid composition. Two hundred eighty eight, 35 weeks old Brown nicks were allocated in the cage for five TVP (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0%) diets with four replicates in each treatment. Each basal diet contained 16.0% CP and 2,800 kcal/kg ME and supplied to layers for 8 weeks. Egg production and egg weight were not statistically different but numerically increased in birds fed 2.0% TVP than other treatments. Egg mass was not consistent depending on the TVP addition levels in diets. Feed intake was significantly lower in TVP addition treatments than the control (p<0.05), however, feed conversion was not significantly differed among control and treatments (p<0.05). Dietary addition of 2.0% TVP showed high values on albumin height, Haugh unit and egg yolk color and they are 7.93, 86.79 and 7.20, respectively (p<0.05). Palmitic and arachidonic acids were remarkably lowered when 2.0% TVP added to basal diets and then fed to birds for 8 weeks, in contrast, significantly higher linolenic acid composition was determined in birds fed 2.0% TVP (p<0.05). As the results, the highest unsaturated fatty composition and UFA/SFA ratio were observed in 2.0% TVP treatment as compared to those of control and other treatments. Therefore, the results indicate that the Thymus vulgaris powder addition to basal diet tended to have positive effects on egg quality and egg yolk fatty acids composition, and the optimum addition of Thymus vulgaris powder may be 2.0%.

• Clean Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.96-108
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• 1996

$NO_x$ is mainly emitted from mixed acid pickling process in the stainless industry and its impact to the environment has been worried over. This study which may be considered as one of the development of clean technologies, differing from the traditional end pipe technology is about how to reduce $NO_x$ emission through the modification of corresponding process. This study consists of two parts. First, the influence of various reaction parameters in a acid pickling process on $NO_x$ emission was investigated. Second, the influence of hydrogen peroxide on $NO_x$ formation, which is known as inhibitor of $NO_x$ emission, was investigated. Major findings in this study are as follows. The important reaction parameters which have a great influence on $NO_x$ emission are the reaction temperature and the concentration of fluoric acid. The concentration of nitric acid, some of which results in $NO_x$ compound is not as important as the concentration of fluoric acid. Synthetic mixed acid of nitric acid and fluoric acid itself in absent of pickling plate contributed the $NO_x$ emission, however, its impact was negligible in terms of quantity. The addition of hydrogen peroxide to the acid pickling process significantly contributed to the reduction of $NO_x$ emission and successfully achieved 80% reduction of $NO_x$ emission at the condition of $9.51{\times}10^{-2}mole\;hydrogen\;peroxide/m^2$ pickling area. This result was compared to literature value from Avesta steel process, indicating a sixth of hydrogen peroxide addition of Avesta's in achieving a same amount of $NO_x$ reduction. The region of the economic hydrogen peroxide addition per unit area of plate to be pickled from the result of this study was established.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2004

Purpose : A tumor registry system for the patients treated by radiotherapy at Samsung Medical Center since the opening of a hospital at 1994 was employed. In this study, the tumor registry system was introduced and the validity of the tumor registration was analyzed. Materials and Methods: The tumor registry system was composed of three parts: patient demographic, diagnostic, and treatment Information. All data were input in a screen using a mouse only. Among the 10,000 registered cases in the tumor registry system until Aug, 2002, 199 were randomly selected and their registration data were compared with the patients' medical records. Results : Total input errors were detected on 15 cases (7.5%). There were 8 error items In the part relating to diagnostic Information: tumor site 3, pathology 2, AJCC staging 2 and performance status 1. In the part relating to treatment information there were 9 mistaken items: combination treatment 4, the date of initial treatment 3 and radiation completeness 2. According to the assignment doctor, the error ratio was consequently variable. The doctors who 010 no double-checks showed higher errors than those that 010 (15.6%:3.7%). Conclusion: Our tumor registry had errors within 2% for each Item. Although the overall data qualify was high, further improvement might be achieved through promoting sincerity, continuing training, periodic validity tests and keeping double-checks. Also, some items associated with the hospital Information system will be input automatically In the next step.