• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.210-217
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• 2009

Purpose: To assess the influence of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression on the survival of patients with a combination of rectal cancer and lymph node metastasis. Materials and Methods: The study included rectal cancer patients treated by radical surgery and postoperative radiotherapy at the Dong-A university hospital from 1998 to 2004. A retrospective analysis was performed on a subset of patients that also had lymph node metastasis. After excluding eight of 86 patients, due to missing tissue samples in three, malignant melanoma in one, treatment of gastric cancer around one year before diagnosis in one, detection of lung cancer after one year of diagnosis in one, liver metastasis in one, and refusal of radiotherapy after 720 cGy in one, 78 patients were analyzed. The immunohistochemistry for COX-2 was conducted with an autostainer (BenchMark; Ventana, Tucson, AZ, USA). An image analyzer (TissueMine; Bioimagene, Cupertino, CA, USA) was used for analysis after scanning (ScanScope; Aperio, Vista, CA, USA). A survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan Meier method and significance was evaluated using the log rank test. Results: COX-2 was stained positively in 62 patients (79.5%) and negatively in 16 (20.5%). A total of 6 (7.7%), 15 (19.2%), and 41 (52.6%) patients were of grades 1, 2, and 3, respectively for COX-2 expression. No correlation was found between being positive of COX-2 patient characteristics, which include age (<60-year old vs. $\geq$60), sex, operation methods (abdominoperineal resection vs. lower anterior resection), degrees of differentiation, tumor size (<5 cm vs. $\geq$5 cm), T stages, N stages, and stages (IIIa, IIIb, IIIc). The 5-year overall and 5-year disease free survival rates for the entire patient population were 57.0% and 51.6%, respectively. The 5-year overall survival rates for the COX-2 positive and negative patients were 53.0% and 72.9%, respectively (p=0.146). Further, the 5-year disease free survival rates for the COX-2 positive and negative patients were 46.3% and 72.7%, respectively (p=0.118). The 5-year overall survival rates were significantly different (p<0.05) for the degree of differentiation, N stage, and stage, whereas the 5-year disease free survival rates were significant for N stage and stage. Conclusion: Being positive for and the degree of COX-2 expression did not have a significant influence on the survival of rectal cancer patients with lymph node metastasis. However, N stage and stage did significantly influence the rateof survival. Further analysis of a greater sample size is necessary for the verification of the effect of COX-2 expression on the survival of rectal cancer patients with lymph node involvement.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2008

This study was performed to identify association between nutritional status and health risks of the elderly. This was a cross-sectional study involving low income elderly women in Gwangju, Korea (${\geq}$65y, n = 92). Socio-demographics, life style characteristics, health conditions, dietary intakes based on 24h-recall method, anthropometric measures, and clinical biochemistry parameters were examined. Anthropometric and clinical parameters included wt, ht, waist, hip, body protein, body fat, abdominal fat, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, total protein, albumin, hemoglobin, hematocrit, fasting blood glucose, ferritin, IL-2, IL-6, TNF-${\alpha}$, CRP, TAS, TBARS, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. The subjects were divided into three groups based on age (65-74y, 75-84y, 85y${\leq}$) and were divided into two groups according to the sum of the Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) checklist score (adequate nutritional status, NSI score ${\leq}$3; at risk of malnutrition, NSI score >3). Mean and frequency of variables were estimated. Analysis of Variance, Tukey test, Chi-square test, and Multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Mean BMI and body fat were 25.1 $kg/m^2$ and 40.0%, respectively. However, for over 80% of subjects, the intakes of energy, fiber, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, Ca, K, and Zn were less than the Korean DRI (EAR or AI). The subjects who had lower NSI score tended to have better health status, eat meals frequently, have less depression, and exercise regularly. The subjects who had higher NSI score tended to have tooth problems, to eat alone most of time, and to be physically unable to cook or feed. Serum IL-6 and TNF-${\alpha}$ were significantly related with nutritional status which suggested higher tendency of inflammatory response. Serum IL-2, TAS, and glucose were significantly correlated with body fat (%) or abdominal fat (%). These results suggest that improving the nutritional status, increasing regular exercise, maintaining normal weight are beneficial to health care of low income elderly women.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.255-264
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• 2012

The stabilization using limestone ($CaCO_3$) and steel making slag as the immobilization amendments for Cu and Pb contaminated farmland soils was investigated by batch tests, continuous column experiments and the pilot scale feasibility study with 4 testing grounds at the contaminated site. From the results of batch experiment, the amendment with the mixture of 3% of limestone and 2% of steel making slag reduced more than 85% of Cu and Pb compared with the soil without amendment. The acryl column (1 m in length and 15 cm in diameter) equipped with valves, tubes and a sprinkler was used for the continuous column experiments. Without the amendment, the Pb concentration of the leachate from the column maintained higher than 0.1 mg/L (groundwater tolerance limit). However, the amendment with 3% limestone and 2% steel making slag reduced more than 60% of Pb leaching concentration within 1 year and the Pb concentration of leachate maintained below 0.04 mg/L. For the testing ground without the amendment, the Pb and Cu concentrations of soil water after 60 days incubation were 0.38 mg/L and 0.69 mg/l, respectively, suggesting that the continuous leaching of Cu and Pb may occur from the site. For the testing ground amended with mixture of 3% of limestone + 2% of steel making slag, no water soluble Pb and Cu were detected after 20 days incubation. For all testing grounds, the ratio of Pb and Cu transfer to plant showed as following: root > leaves(including stem) > rice grain. The amendment with limestone and steel making slag reduced more than 75% Pb and Cu transfer to plant comparing with no amendment. The results of this study showed that the amendment with mixture of limestone and steel making slag decreases not only the leaching of heavy metals but also the plant transfer from the soil.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2018

This study was conducted to compare the composition and antioxidant activity of 1- and 2-year-old Poria cocos Wolf cultivated at a mortuary and cemetery. An elemental analyzer test showed oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur to be present at concentrations of 45~46%, 39~41%, 6.06~6.1%, 0.21~0.22%, and 0%, respectively. No differences in composition were observed among samples. Eleven minerals (S, Ca, Mg, P, As, Se, Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn, and Cd) found in P. cocos cultivated at the mortuary and cemetery were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP). The levels of S, Fe, Mg, and Zn in P. cocos were higher in cemetery-cultivated samples than in mortuary-cultivated samples. A 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay for antioxidant activity revealed half-maximal inhibitory concentration ($IC_{50}$)values of P. cocos to be 8.601 mg/mL (mortuary, 1 year old), 12.85 mg/mL (cemetery, 1 year old), 1.23 mg/mL (mortuary, 2 years old), and 1.18 mg/mL (landfill, 1 year old). A 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assay revealed $IC_{50}$ values of 15.85 mg/mL (mortuary, 1 year old),14.59 mg/mL(cemetery, 1 year old), 3.9 mg/mL (mortuary, 2 years old), and 14.92 mg/mL (cemetery, 1 year old). The results showed a concentration-dependent effect. Two-year-old mortuary-cultivated P. cocos had the highest antioxidant activity among samples. Ultrastructure analysis with a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) showed no obvious differences among samples.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.285-294
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• 2003

To select an appropriate sampler for the environmental monitoring survey in coastal waters of Saemangeum, Jeollabuk-do, a macrobenthic sampling was conducted in April 2002. Employed samplers were dredge (type Charcot), a semi-quantitative sampler and Smith-McIntyre (SM) and van Veen grab (VV) as quantitative ones. One haul was tried for dredge and 3 replicates (0.1 ㎡${\times}$3) for SM and W at each of 11 stations. Comparisons of sediment volume in sampler bucket and of precision of biological parameters (i.e., density, biomass, species number and diversity index, H') were made between SM and VV. Sediment volume was significantly different (SM > VV) at p-value of 0.0050 (paired t-test) and, in average, 3 replicate samples of SM and VV satisfied a precision level of 0.2 by applying 4th root transformation. Patterns of observed and expected species numbers and H' were compared. Dredge-VV samples showed higher affinity than any other pair. Several dominant species in the area were underestimated in dredge samples (e.g., polychaete Heteromastus filiformis. Aricidea assimilis etc.). Quantifying the agreement pattern of multi-species responses was accomplished by estimating correlations between similarity matrices. Correlation between dredge and VV was slightly higher, but near-per-fect matches were found in general. Different ranks and composition among principal species lists were presumably linked to the effect of penetration depth that differs among samplers. Lower level of some species' abundance in VV samples (ca. 50％ compared with those of SM) was explained in this context. It seem appropriate to regard the effect as a probable cause of relatively higher correlations in dredge-VV, Overall bio-logica1 features indicated that a better choice could be SM in situations of requiring high data quality. The others work well, however, on observing and defining faunal characteristics and their capability cannot be questionted if we do not expect a first-order quality.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.114-123
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• 2009

To investigate the possible use of plants for landscaping in reclaimed soil, a planting pilot system experiment was performed over the course of four years in reclaimed dredging area with four species: Alnus firma, Alnus hirsuta, Pinus thunbergii, and Pyrachantha angustifolia for 4 years. The physicochemical characteristics of the tested soil showed that it was sandy through coming from a reclaimed dredging area. The average pH of the tested soil was 7.16(slight alkali), and electric conductivity(EC) was relatively low, $294{\mu}S/cm$, even though it came from a saltwater area. To test the effect of planting density vs. phytomass by plant specie from a planting basin, the experiment was designed using four plant species with high and low planting densities over 4 years. The planting conditions of the growth of landscape tree species exhibited growth height as follows: A. hirsuta, A. firma, P. thunbergii, and P. angustifolia, whill the DBH followed the order of A. hirsuta, A. firma, and P. thunbergii. The total phytomass of each plant was higher at low density planting areas than high density planting area in terms of total phytomass production and growth distribution in the reclaimed dredging area. Total phytomass per unit area increased as follows: A. hirsuta, A. firma, P. thunbergii, and P. angustifolia. The total phytomass per each tested plant was 2 times higher in low density planting areas than high density planting areas. Total phytomass per unit area, however, was similar or slighty higher in high density planting areas compared to low density areas. Among the tested plants, A. hirsuta showed the highest phytomass, implying that A. hirsuta adapted very well to the reclaimed area and has the capability of a fast growth, nitrogen fixation tree, and utilizing insoluble nutrients through inoculated root nodule bacteria. The yield of phytomass per individual in low density Alnus species was greater than that of the high density. However, those per unit areas had no difference in the density-dependent planting. The ratio of belowground to aboveground was $0.21{\sim}0.26$. Thus, it could be concluded that the Alnus species are potential candidates for ornamental tree species in reclaimed dredging areas. This study offers baseline data for the use of ornamental tree species in reclaimed dredging areas. Additional research is required for different ornamental species in order to increase phytomass of a planting conditions based on reclaimed dredging areas.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 1998

Algal meal (cell) was produced from the solution of dairy cow wastes by fermentation of ulothrix. sp. and chlorella sp. Raw wastes mainly feces were diluted with ground water to give dry matter concentration of 0.5 w/v of wastes in 20 l amounts of ten plastic containers. Each containers were covered with plastic nets and vinyl films to protect from the insects and rain. Algea cells were harvested every 3 to 5 days and dried by sunlight and artifitial heat. Dried cells were ground by a feed meal, and analyzed and tested for the chemical composition of dry cell, in vitro DM and protein digestibility and the safty of algae. Protein contents in algae meals, ulothrix (29.37%) and chlorella (29.24%) were similar. However, chlorella contained lower Neutral detergent fiber (5.92%) than ulothrix(20,76%), and higher ash (32.86%) and calcium (12.62%) than ulothrix (28.66% and 6.09%) (P<.01). Ulothrix protein had higher for essential amino acids; valine, isoleucine and phenylalanine, than chlorella (P<.05). Algal fats contained high saturated fatty acids, C16:0 and C18:0, for ulothrix and high unsaturated fatty acids, C18:1 and C18:2, for chlorella (P<.01). In vitro digestibility of. ulothrix tended to be higher for DM, but lower for protein than chlorella. The weight gain and survival percentage were higher for pond fishes (loaches, Misgurnus sp. ) fed diet added chlorella meal than diets added ulothrix meal and control diet (P<.05).

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.502-513
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• 2016

In this study, heavy metal distributions in the tissues of feral pigeon (Columba livia) were characterized using samples collected from bio-monitoring sites (Hangang Park and Hampyeong Park) of the NESB (National Environmental Specimen Bank), Korea, in order to evaluate the feasibility of feral pigeons as an indicator for the environmental monitoring. Cadmium (Cd) was analyzed to be accumulated in kidneys at higher concentration than in the other tissues. Such trend can also be found in the reviews on the Cd accumulations of the 34 cases including 17 avian species which showed that 31 cases had the highest Cd concentrations in the kidney among tissues. However, lead (Pb) was found to be richest in the bones in this study. 17 cases out of 30 reviewed cases had the highest Pb concentration in bones, whereas other 10 cases showed the highest concentration in kidneys, and 3 cases in livers. Therefore, kidneys together with bones can be a main target organ to test cadmium exposure to different habitat environments depending on physiological traits of birds. Zinc (Zn) was found to be the highest concentration in the pigeon livers of Hangang Park, but not in the bones. In contrast, the 13 cases of 16 reviewed cases had the highest Zn concentration in bones, and the 3 cases in livers. In addition, the heavy metal distribution patterns in relations to the metal accumulation mechanisms (a competition between Pb and Ca, a function of methallothionein protein, and etc.) were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.123-129
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• 1999

Initial electrochemical characteristics of $LiCoO_2$ electrode for lithium ion battery with various content of super s black as conductive material were evaluated through the charge/discharge with the potential range of 4.3V to 2.0V versus $Li^+/Li^+$. The rate of C/4 and C/2 by the 3 electrode test cell composed with an electrolytic solution of 1 mol/l $LiPF_6/EC+DEC(1:3\;by\; weight)$. Lithium was used as reference electrode. High impedance charge behavior was observed at early stage of charge. In the case of $3\%w/w$ of super s black as conductive material, the specific resistance of the high impedance releasing was $3.82\;{\Omega}\;{\cdot}\;g-LiCoCo_2$ at the current density of $0.5 mA/cm^2$, which corresponds 7 times of the specific resistance of electrode $(0.728 g-LiCoO_2)$. At second charge, the specific resistance of the high impedance releasing was 63 mn · g-Lico02, which corresponds 12eio of the specific resistance of electrode and only $1.7\%$ of that of the first charge. The first charge and discharge specific capacities at C/4 rate were 160-161 and $153\~155mAh/g-LiCoO_2$, respectively, to lead $95.4\~96.4\%$ of coulombic efficiencies and ca. $6 mAh/g-LiCoO_2$ of initial irreversible specific capacity. Specific resistance at the end of charge and rest showed low value at content of super s black between 2 and $7\%w/w$, which agreed with characteristics of irreversible specific capacity. Capacity densities were reduced by the increasing the content of conductive material. They were 447 and 431mAh/ml when 2 and $2.9\%w/w$ of super s black were used, respectively, at the rate of C/4.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1909-1915
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• 2016

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the benefit of tertiary cytoreductive surgery (TC) for secondary recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), focusing on whether optimal cytoreduction has an impact on disease-free survival, and whether certain patient characteristics could identify ideal candidates for TC. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of secondary recurrent EOC patients undergoing TC at three Turkish tertiary institutions from May 1997 to July 2014 was performed. All patients had previously received primary cytoreduction followed by intravenous platinum-based chemotherapy and secondary cytoreduction for first recurrence. Clinical and pathological data were obtained from the patients' medical records. Survival analysis was caried out using the Kaplan Meier method. Actuarial curves were compared by the two tailed Logrank test with a statistical significance level of 0.05. Results: Median age of the patients was 49.6 years (range, 30-67) and thirty-eight (72%) had stage III-IV disease at initial diagnosis. Twenty six (49%) had optimal and 27 (51%) suboptimal cytoreduction during tertiary debulking surgery. Optimal initial cytoreduction, time to first recurrence, optimal secondary cytoreduction, time interval between secondary cytoreduction and secondary recurrence, size of recurrence, disease status at last follow-up were found to be significant risk factors to predict optimal TC. Optimal cytoreduction in initial and tertiary surgery and serum CA-125 level prior to TC were independent prognostic factors on univariate analysis. Conclusions: Our results and a literature review clearly showed that maximal surgical effort should be made in TC, since patients undergoing optimal TC have a better survival. Thus, patients with secondary recurrent EOC in whom optimal cytoreduction can be achieved should be actively selected.