• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.22.1-22.25
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• 2022

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread over the world causing a pandemic which is still ongoing since its emergence in late 2019. A great amount of effort has been devoted to understanding the pathogenesis of COVID-19 with the hope of developing better therapeutic strategies. Transcriptome analysis using technologies such as RNA sequencing became a commonly used approach in study of host immune responses to SARS-CoV-2. Although substantial amount of information can be gathered from transcriptome analysis, different analysis tools used in these studies may lead to conclusions that differ dramatically from each other. Here, we re-analyzed four RNA-sequencing datasets of COVID-19 samples including human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, nasopharyngeal swabs, lung biopsy and hACE2 transgenic mice using the same standardized method. The results showed that common features of COVID-19 include upregulation of chemokines including CCL2, CXCL1, and CXCL10, inflammatory cytokine IL-1β and alarmin S100A8/S100A9, which are associated with dysregulated innate immunity marked by abundant neutrophil and mast cell accumulation. Downregulation of chemokine receptor genes that are associated with impaired adaptive immunity such as lymphopenia is another common feather of COVID-19 observed. In addition, a few interferon-stimulated genes but no type I IFN genes were identified to be enriched in COVID-19 samples compared to their respective control in these datasets. These features are in line with results from single-cell RNA sequencing studies in the field. Therefore, our re-analysis of the RNA-seq datasets revealed common features of dysregulated immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and shed light to the pathogenesis of COVID-19.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.67-81
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• 2011

Background : Complementary and alternative medicine has bee used to cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, many hospitals have tried to integrate complementary and alternative medicine(CAM) with conventional medical approaches for patients with chronic diseases. Recently, the prevalence of the use of traditional Korean medicine(TKM) among patients with chronic diseases, expecially, hemiplegia patients after cerebrovascular accident is increasing in Korea. To date, however, there were only few studies addressing the patients' attitudes, and utilization of TKM, compared to the well-documented escalating use of TKM among consumers in Korea. Objectives : The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of TKM use among hemiplegia patients after cerebrovascular accident and to determine what factors affect to use CAM among the patients. The study also aims to provide information on TKM and assist therapy selection among various CAM therapies for hemiplegia patients after cerebrovascular accident within health care system in which both practitioners of TKM and practitioners of modern Western medicine coexisted. Methods : The design of the study was descriptive cross-sectional, and data were collected using a 32-items questionnaire. The subjects were one hundred fifty nine patients with chronic diseases who visited or admitted to health care facilities in a hospital in Seoul Metropolitan city, Korea. Data were analyzed using 'SPSS Statistics 18.0 Network Version(on release 18.0.1 of PASW Statistics)' program. Various statistical methods were used to obtain a profile for participants and the therapies most frequently used by hemiplegia patients of TKM. Logistic regression analysis was employed in order to determine the predicting variables of TKM use. Results : The prevalence of the use of TKM was 51.6%. The most common TKM therapies used by the patients included acupuncture(93.2%), herbal medicine(64.8%), and cupping(37.5%). Results of logistic regression analysis revealed that the variables significantly related with TKM use were gender, marital status, job, No. of visiting health care facilities/week. Conclusions : This study shows that the use of TKM among the hemiplegia patients is relatively high in Korea, this topic should be taken into account in the development of a holistic approach for patients with chronic diseases and an efficient chronic disease management system in Korea.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1739-1748
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• 2021

Objective: In recent years, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been identified in many species, and some of them have been shown to play important roles in muscle development and myogenesis. However, the differences in lncRNAs between Kazakh cattle and Xinjiang brown cattle remain undefined; therefore, we aimed to confirm whether lncRNAs are differentially expressed in the longissimus dorsi between these two types of cattle and whether differentially expressed lncRNAs regulate muscle differentiation. Methods: We used RNA-seq technology to identify lncRNAs in longissimus muscles from these cattle. The expression of lncRNAs were analyzed using StringTie (1.3.1) in terms of the fragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped reads values of the encoding genes. The differential expression of the transcripts in the two samples were analyzed using the DESeq R software package. The resulting false discovery rate was controlled by the Benjamini and Hochberg's approach. KOBAS software was utilized to measure the expression of different genes in Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathways. We randomly selected eight lncRNA genes and validated them by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results: We found that 182 lncRNA transcripts, including 102 upregulated and 80 downregulated transcripts, were differentially expressed between Kazakh cattle and Xinjiang brown cattle. The results of RT-qPCR were consistent with the sequencing results. Enrichment analysis and functional annotation of the target genes revealed that the differentially expressed lncRNAs were associated with the mitogen-activated protein kinase, Ras, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3k)/Akt signaling pathways. We also constructed a lncRNA/mRNA coexpression network for the PI3k/Akt signaling pathway. Conclusion: Our study provides insights into cattle muscle-associated lncRNAs and will contribute to a more thorough understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying muscle growth and development in cattle.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2013

There are many concerns about radiation exposure in Korea after Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident on 2011 in Japan. As some isotope materials are detected in Korea, people get worried about the radioactive material. In addition, the mass media create an air of anxiety that jump on the people's fear instead of scientific approach. Therefore, for curbing this flow, health, medical institute from the world provide a variety of information about medical radiation safety and hold the campaign which can give people the image that medical radiation is safe. At this, the Korean Food and Drug Administration(KFDA) suggested that make the alliance of medical radiation safety and culture on August, 2011. Seven societies and institutions related medical radiation started to research and advertise the culture of medical radiation safety in Korea. In this report, mainly introduce the activities of the Korean Alliance for Radiation Safety and Culture in Medicine(KARSM) for spreading culture of medical radiation safety from 2011 to 2012.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.201-210
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• 2010

In this study, new methodology to estimate the reliability of a water distribution system using HSPDA model is suggested. In general, the reliability of a water distribution system can be determined by estimating either the ratio of the required demand to the available demand or the ratio of the number of nodes with sufficient pressure head to the number of nodes with insufficient pressure head when the abnormal operating condition occurs. To perform this approach, hydraulic analysis under the abnormal operating condition is essential. However, if the Demand-Driven Analysis (DDA) which is dependant on the assumption that the required demand at a demand node is always satisfied regardless of actual nodal pressure head is used to estimate the reliability of a water distribution system, the reliability may be underestimated due to the defect of the DDA. Therefore, it is necessary to apply the Pressure-Driven Analysis (PDA) having a different assumption to the DDA's which is that available nodal demand is proportion to nodal pressure head. However, because previous study used a semi-PDA model and the PDA model which had limited applicability depending on the characteristics of a network, proper estimation of the reliability of a water distribution system was impossible. Thus, in this study, a new methodology is suggested by using HSPDA model which can overcome weak points of existing PDA model and Available Demand Fraction (ADF) index to estimate the reliability. The HSPDA can simulate the hydraulic condition of a water distribution system under abnormal operating condition and based on the hydraulic condition simulated, ADF index at each node is calculated to quantify the reliability of a water distribution system. The suggested model is applied to sample networks and the results are compared with those of existing method to demonstrate its applicability.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.32-48
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• 2024

Background: Longitudinal connectivity in river systems strongly affects biological components related to ecosystem functioning, thereby playing an important role in shaping local biodiversity and ecosystem health. Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding has an advantage of enabling to sensitively diagnose the presence/absence of species, becoming an efficient/effective approach for studying the community structure of ecosystems. However, little attention has been paid to eDNA-based biomonitoring for river systems, particularly for assessing the river longitudinal connectivity. In this study, by using eDNA we analyzed and compared species diversity and composition among artificial barriers to assess the longitudinal connectivity of the fish community along down-, mid- and upstream in the Hotancheon from the Geum River basin. Moreover, we investigated temporal variation in eDNA fish community structure and species diversity according to season. Results: The results of species detected between eDNA and conventional surveys revealed higher sensitivity for eDNA and 61% of species (23/38) detected in both methods. The results showed that eDNA-based fish community structure differs from down-, mid- and upstream, and species diversity decreased from down to upstream regardless of season. We found that there was generally higher species diversity at the study sites in spring (a total number of species across the sites [n] = 29) than in autumn (n = 27). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling and heatmap analyses further suggest that there was a tendency for community clusters to form in the down-, mid- and upstream, and seasonal variation in the community structure also existed for the sites. Dominant species in the Hotancheon was Rhynchocypris oxycephalus (26.07%) regardless of season, and subdominant species was Nipponocypris koreanus (16.50%) in spring and Odontobutis platycephala (15.73%) in autumn. Artificial barriers appeared to negatively affect the connectivity of some fish species of high mobility. Conclusions: This study attempts to establish a biological monitoring system by highlighting the versatility and power of eDNA metabarcoding in monitoring native fish community and further evaluating the longitudinal connectivity of river ecosystems. The results of this study suggest that eDNA can be applied to identify fish community structure and species diversity in river systems, although some shortcomings remain still need to be resolved.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.927-936
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• 2016

This research aims to analyze the effect of different types of urban parks and their locational characteristics on the apartment price in the entire metropolitan area of Busan, Korea. Although an urban park is an environmental good that influences the surroundings in many ways, most of the previous studies have underestimated its impact on the value of the surrounding area. This research focuses on the economic value of urban parks by understanding their relationship with the value of the apartments in the surrounding area with its significance in their physical and objective characteristics. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the different typological characteristics of urban parks in the analysis. In summary of the result, the number of levels (stories) and units of the apartment complex, ranking of the contractor, age of a park and accessibility to sub-central are positively related to the price of apartment units. On the other hand, the total area of apartment complex, the age of apartments, the distance to the nearest park and accessibility to civic-central or regional district are negatively related to the price of apartment units. Having a plan for constructing a park is also positively related to the price. For the typological characters of a park, neighborhood park, small-sized park, and sports park are positively related to the price, while children's park is negatively related to the price of apartment units. Considering that the price increases as the distance to the nearest park decreases, people prefer to live near the benefits that urban parks provide. In order to maximize the value and benefits that parks provide, it is necessary to approach them creatively.

• Journal of KIISE:Information Networking
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.414-428
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• 2004

Many portable devices are coming to be commercially successful and provide useful services to mobile users. Mobile devices may request a variety of data types, including text and multimedia data, thanks to the rich content of the Internet. Different types of data and/or different classes of users may need to be treated with different qualities of service. The implementation of service differentiation in wireless networks is very difficult because of device mobility and wireless channel contention when the backoff algorithm is used to resolve contention. Modification of the t)mary exponential backoff algorithm is one possibility to allow the design of several classes of data traffic flows. We present a study of modifications to the backoff algorithm to support three classes of flows: sold, silver, and bronze. For example, the gold c]ass flows are the highest priority and should satisfy their required target bandwidth, whereas the silver class flows should receive reasonably high bandwidth compared to the bronze class flows. The mixture of the two different transport protocols, UDP and TCP, in ad hoc networks raises significant challenges when defining backoff algorithm modifications. Due to the different characteristics of UDP and TCP, different backoff algorithm modifications are applied to each class of packets from the two transport protocols. Nevertheless, we show by means of simulation that our approach of backoff algorithm modification clearly differentiates service between different flows of classes regardless of the type of transport protocol.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2016

Traffic accident at intersections takes 44.3% of total number of accidents on entire road network of Korea in 2014. Although several studies addressed contributory factors of accidents at signalized intersection, very few is known about the factors at rural unsignalized intersections. The objective of this study is therefore to investigate specific characteristics of crashes at rural unsignalized intersection and to identify contributory factors in causing crashes by statistical approach using the Ordered Logistic Regression Model. The results show that main type of car crashes at unsignalized intersection during the daytime is T-bone crashes and the number of crashes at 4-legged intersections are 1.53 times more than that at 3-legged intersections. Most collisions are caused by negligence of drivers and violation of Right of Way. Based upon the analysis, accident severity is modeled as classified by two types such as 3-legged intersection and 4-legged intersection. It shows that contributory factors in causing crashes at rural unsignalized intersections are poor sight distance problem, average daily traffic, time of day(night, or day), angle of intersection, ratio of heavy vehicles, number of traffic violations at intersection, and number of lanes on minor street.

• Journal of KIISE:Databases
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.258-266
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• 2010

In this paper, we introduce a novel method to predict next update of blogs. The number of RSS feeds registered on meta-blogs is on the order of several million. Checking for updates is very time consuming and imposes a heavy burden on network resources. Since blog search engine has limited resources, there is a fix number of blogs that it can visit on a day. Nevertheless we need to maximize chances of getting new data, and the proposed method which predicts update probability on blogs could bring better chances for it. Also this work is important to avoid distributed denial-of-service attack for the owners of blogs. Furthermore, for the internet as whole this work is important, too, because our approach could minimize traffic. In this study, we assumed that there is a specific pattern to when a blogger is actively posting, in terms of days of the week and, more specifically, hours of the day. We analyzed 15,119 blogs to determine a blogger's posting preference. This paper proposes a method to predict the update probability based on a blogger's posting history and preferred days of the week. We applied proposed method to 12,115 blogs to check the precision of our predictions. The evaluation shows that the model has a precision of 0.5 for over 93.06% of the blogs examined.