• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.307-313
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• 2016

Serosurveillance for zoonotic diseases in small mammals and detection of chiggers, the vector of Orientia tsutsugamushi, were conducted from September 2014 to August 2015 in Gwangju Metropolitan Area. Apodemus agrarius was the most commonly collected small mammals (158; 91.8%), followed by Myodes regulus (8; 4.6%), and Crocidura lasiura (6; 3.5%). The highest seroprevalence of small mammals for O. tsutsugamushi (41; 26.3%) was followed by hantaviruses (24; 15.4%), Rickettsia spp. (22; 14.1%), and Leptospira (2; 1.3%). A total of 3,194 chiggers were collected from small mammals, and 1,236 of 3,194 chiggers were identified with 7 species of 3 genera: Leptotrombidium scutellare was the most commonly collected species (585; 47.3%), followed by L. orientale (422; 34.1%), Euchoengastia koreaensis (99; 8.0%), L. palpale (58; 4.7%), L. pallidum (36; 2.9%), Neotrombicula gardellai (28; 2.3%), and L. zetum (8; 0.6%). L. scutellare was the predominant species. Three of 1,236 chigger mites were positive for O. tsutsugamushi by PCR. As a result of phylogenetic analysis, the O. tsutsugamushi strain of chigger mites had sequence homology of 90.1-98.2% with Boryong. This study provides baseline data on the distribution of zoonotic diseases and potential vectors for the development of prevention strategies of vector borne diseases in Gwangju metropolitan area.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.171-178
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• 2011

Glycated hemoglobin ($HbA_{1c}$) is a most preferably used baseline of diabetes, implicating average blood glucose levels over a 2-3 month period of time. Recently the American Diabetes Association has recommended the $HbA_{1c}$ assay as one of the criteria for diabetes. Although some studies provide data with "estimated average glucose", by converting the $HbA_{1c}$ results from simple linear regression, the results are not applicable to whole diabetes. We compared the relationship between $HbA_{1c}$ and estimated average glucose by anemia degree of diabetic patients in Korea. The data from the 2008~2009 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used. Analysis was done for 1,257 diabetes subjects with $HbA_{1c}$ results. The distribution of subjects was 34.1% in 60's, 25.9% in 70's, 21,6% in 50's, showing that there was more than 80% in over 50's. To take a close look of the differences depending on the anemic degree, we applied WHO criteria (hemoglobin<13.0 in men and hemoglobin<12.0 in women) and divided anemia degree. The regression equation for A1c and estimated average glucose was $eAG_{mg/dL}=24.3{\times}A1c-32.0$ ($R^2=0.54$, p<0.001) in all subjects, $eAG_{mg/dL}=33.1{\times}A1c-96.1$ ($R^2=0.52$, p<0.001) in slight anemia ($11.0{\leq}$Hb<13.0 in men, $10.0{\leq}$Hb<12.0 in women), and $eAG_{mg/dL}=13.5{\times}A1c+34.9$ ($R^2=0.12$, p =0.075) in moderate anemia (Hb<11.0 in men, Hb<10.0 in women). The regression was not significant in moderate anemia. The relationship between HbA1c and eAG was lower correlation than ADAG study, and eAG showed lower value in all ranges among $HbA_{1c}$ 5~13%. Such as a korea where, there are many diabetic patients among the old aged and higher prevalence rate of anemia, we should be extra careful when we reflect eAG using $HbA_{1c}$ and need to establish criteria which can be applicable to koreans.

• Journal of the Korean Society for information Management
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• v.22 no.2 s.56
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• pp.125-145
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• 2005

This paper presents a semantic vector space retrieval model incorporating a word sense disambiguation algorithm in an attempt to improve retrieval effectiveness. Nine Korean homonyms are selected for the sense disambiguation and retrieval experiments. The total of approximately 120,000 news articles comprise the raw test collection and 18 queries including homonyms as query words are used for the retrieval experiments. A Naive Bayes classifier and EM algorithm representing supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms respectively are used for the disambiguation process. The Naive Bayes classifier achieved $92\%$ disambiguation accuracy. while the clustering performance of the EM algorithm is $67\%$ on the average. The retrieval effectiveness of the semantic vector space model incorporating the Naive Bayes classifier showed $39.6\%$ precision achieving about $7.4\%$ improvement. However, the retrieval effectiveness of the EM algorithm-based semantic retrieval is $3\%$ lower than the baseline retrieval without disambiguation. It is worth noting that the performances of disambiguation and retrieval depend on the distribution patterns of homonyms to be disambiguated as well as the characteristics of queries.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.199-209
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• 2010

The locking compression plates-distal femur(LCP-DF) are being widely used for surgical management of the extra-articular complex fractures of the distal femur. They feature locking mechanism between the screws and the screw holes of the plate to provide stronger fixation force with less number of screws than conventional compression bone plate. However, their biomechanical efficacies are not fully understood, especially regarding the number of the screws inserted and their optimal configurations. In this study, we investigated effects of various screw configurations in the shaft and the condylar regions of the femur in relation to structural stability of LCP-DF system. For this purpose, a baseline 3-D finite element (FE) model of the femur was constructed from CT-scan images of a normal healthy male and was validated. The extra-articular complex fracture of the distal femur was made with a 4-cm defect. Surgical reduction with LCP-DF and bone screws were added laterally. To simulate various cases of post-op screw configurations, screws were inserted in the shaft (3~5 screws) and the condylar (4~6 screws) regions. Particular attention was paid at the shaft region where screws were inserted either in clustered or evenly-spaced fashion. Tied-contact conditions were assigned at the bone screws-plate whereas general contact condition was assumed at the interfaces between LCP-DF and bone screws. Axial compressive load of 1,610N(2.3 BW) was applied on the femoral head to reflect joint reaction force. An average of 5% increase in stiffness was found with increase in screw numbers (from 4 to 6) in the condylar region, as compared to negligible increase (less than 1%) at the shaft regardless of the number of screws inserted or its distribution, whether clustered or evenly-spaced. At the condylar region, screw insertion at the holes near the fracture interface and posterior locations contributed greater increase in stiffness (9~13%) than any other locations. Our results suggested that the screw insertion at the condylar region can be more effective than at the shaft during surgical treatment of fracture of the distal femur with LCP-DF. In addition, screw insertion at the holes close to the fracture interface should be accompanied to ensure better fracture healing.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.600-608
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• 2017

The presence of piping in a levee body allows water seepage to occur by producing a large cavity or water tunnel within it, ultimately resulting in the failure of the river levee and differential settlement. In order to properly cope with river levee failure due to piping and establish a proper remediation method for this problem, it is necessary to analyze the failure mechanism of the river levee due to piping. Therefore, this study analyzed the shape and mechanism of river levee failure due to piping through small-scale and large-scale models and evaluated the seepage pressure distribution characteristics in the hydraulic well, which has been suggested as a remediation method for piping. According to the results of this study, as the safety factor for the piping in the river levee decreased, the river levee failure shape was more clearly shown through the small-scale model test. In the large-scale model test, the type of local damage to the levee due to the piping was identified and the evaluation showed that the hydraulic well had the largest effect on the inhibition of piping below the center of the well. A follow-up study is needed to confirm the reliability of the results. However, it is thought that this study can be utilized as the baseline data for research into the piping-induced river levee failure mechanism and for the preparation of a remediation method.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.143-149
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• 2004

Background: Some clinical trials have reported that a new analgesic combination of tramadol and acetaminophen provides good efficacy in various pain models. For the more clinical uses of this agent, comparisons about the onset of analgesia and analgesic efficacy in the acute state of pain with the other drugs known as strong analgesics were needed. Purpose: The goal of this study was to compare the times to onset of analgesia and the other analgesic efficacy of 75 mg tramadol/650 mg acetaminophen and 20 mg codeine/500 mg acetaminophen/400 mg ibuprofen in the treatment of acute pain after oral surgery. Patients and Methods: Using a randomized, single-dose, parallel-group, single-center, and active-controlled test design, this clinical study compared the times to onset of analgesia using a two-stopwatch technique and the other analgesic efficacy of the single-dose tramadol/acetaminophen and codeine/acetaminophen/ibuprofen. These were assessed in 128 healthy subjects with pain from oral surgical procedures involving extraction of one or more impacted third molars requiring bone removal. From the time of pain development, the times to onset of perceptible and meaningful pain relief, pain intensity, pain relief, an overall assessment, and adverse events of the study medications were recorded for 6 hours. Results: The demographic distribution and baseline pain data in the two groups were statistically similar. The median times to onset of perceptible pain relief were 21.0 and 24.4 minutes in the tramadol/acetaminophen and codeine/acetaminophen/ibuprofen groups respectively and those to onset of meaningful pain relief were 56.4 and 57.3 minutes, which were statistically similar. The other efficacy variables such as mean total pain relief (TOTPAR) and the sum of pain intensity differences (SPID) were also similar in the early period after pain development and drug dosing. The safety of tramadol/acetaminophen was well tolerated and very comparable to that of codeine/acetaminophen/ibuprofen. Conclusions: In this acute dental pain model, the onset of analgesia and analgesic efficacy of tramadol/acetaminophen was comparable to that of codeine/acetaminophen/ibuprofen. These results showed that tramadol/acetaminophen was recommendable for fast and effective treatment in the management of postoperative acute pain.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.105 no.2
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• pp.238-246
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• 2016

The study aims to examine Japan's National REDD+ Strategies prepared for Post-2020 and the status of its implementation by organizations in Japan, and then to suggest the potential REDD+ countermeasures against Joint Credit Mechanism (JCM) for Republic of Korea and their implications. As for the technical limitations of the guidelines of REDD+ under the JCM, it is pointed out that forests located at the place with less potential safeguard intervention tend to be selected as the target area for a project and that, as reference emission trend changes depending on the basic year of the baseline, differences could occur among the amounts of greenhouse gas emission. In addition, it is pointed out that the result of the calculation of the displacement of emissions, or leakeage, in REDD+, can have an uncertainty, since the calculation is done by just multiplying leakage area by certain coefficients, without considering the size of the leakage area. Furthermore, the lack of implementation guideline or methodologies for a project level is also pointed out as a limitation, considering that there are only some national and sub-national monitoring guidelines at present. Finally, internationally accepted guidelines for safeguard and its sub-items needed to be prepared, as current safeguard policy only includes lists without detailed items. Such things mentioned above are all related to, and can lead to the problem of double counting of items in Nested Approach etc., as well as of the distribution of credits. Therefore, Republic of Korea should take these into consideration when implementing its REDD+ projects.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.661-672
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• 2017

Endophytic fungi are present in host plants and contribute to resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Aquatic plants are living in aquatic environment such as saltwater or freshwater and exposed more water stress than other land plants. In this study, we investigated 4 wetlands in Jeju and collected 11 aquatic plants. Exogenous microbes were removed by preprocessing of plants and endophytic fungal strains were isolated from the plants. We isolated 126 fungal strains from Namsaengi-pond, 22 fungal strains from Sujangdong-marsh, 44 fungal strains from Yongsu-reservoir and 32 fungal strains from Gangjeongcheon. The fungal strains were identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and analyzed the phylogeny and diversity. Endophytic fungi isolated from plants of Namsaengi-pond were classified to 30 genera, 19 families, 12 orders, 7 classes and 4 phyla. Endophytic fungi of Sujangdong-marsh were classified to 11 genera, 11 families, 6 orders, 5 classes and 4 phyla. Endophytic fungi of Yongsu-reservoir were classified to 13 genera, 12 families, 7 orders, 5 classes and 4 phyla. Endophytic fungi isolated from Gangjeongcheon were classified to 9 genera, 7 families, 5 orders, 2 classes and 1 phyla. Overall, they were divided 40 genera and Alternaria, Colletotrichum and Fusarium were isolated from 4 sites in common. By investigating the endophytic fungi in aquatic plants, it is for baseline data that determination of diversity and the ecological distribution of endophytic fungi.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2020

Fecal calprotectin (FC) is a marker used for the differential diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). FC is also used to determine the effects of treatment and recurrence prediction because of its non-decomposition by bacteria, relative week stability at room temperature, and its uniform distribution within feces. Healthy male and female adults between the age of 30 and 80 living in Jeju were selected for this study. The FC concentration in the healthy control group (N=45) was distributed widely as 0~545.9 ㎍/g and showed a significant difference with age in healthy adults. The FC concentration in adults over 70 years old (80.6 years on average) was 160.3 ㎍/g. The result is approximately 10 times higher than in adults below 50 years (44 years on average), with FC concentrations at 15.88 ㎍/g. Moreover, adults over 50 years, with an average age of 59.6, had FC concentrations of 35.46 ㎍/g, which were two times higher than the below 50-year-old group, confirming the significant correlation between age and FC concentration. As the FC test is a non-invasive and cost-effective objective marker in IBD tests, a suitable cut-off value is required for different ages. This study provides the baseline data for differential diagnoses.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.485-492
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• 2001

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus has been rapidly increased in parallel with the westernization of eating behavior in Korea. Increased consumption of animal fat and simple sugar can be potential contributors for insulin resistance. The purpose of the study was to determine whether Western-(WD) and Korean-style(KD) diets altered insulin secretion and insulin resistance in male Sprague Dawley rats. Rats weighing 98$\pm$5g were provided by KD(77 En% of starch, 5 En% of corn oil and 13 En% of gluten plus 5 En% of casein), WD(42 En% of starch, 40 En% of butter and 18% of casein) or control diet(62 En% of starch, 20 En% of corn oil and 18% of casein) for 12 weeks. Body weights were lower in KD compared to WD. Fasting blood glucose levels were not different among diets. Insulin secretion from the beta cells was higher by 2.2$\pm$0.4 folds in WD than KD at baseline. In hyperglycemic clamp insulin secretion was higher in WD than KD and CD. Whole body glucose disposal rates referred to the state of insulin sensitivity were lowest in WD among groups. Glycogen deposits in soleus and quadriceps muscles were lowest in WD among all groups, but their triglyceride contents were highest. GLUT4 contents and glycogen synthase were lowest in WD in both muscles. In conclusions, westernization of diets needed more insulin to normalization of blood glucose levels due to increased insulin resistance. Thus, WD would lead to increased prevalence of diabetes mellitus when increased insulin resistance could not be compensated by insulin secretion in the case of elevated blood glucose levels. (Korean J Nutriton 34(5) : 485~492, 2001)