• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1383-1392
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• 2021

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) that produce Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase are increasingly reported worldwide and have become more and more resistant to nearly all antibiotics during the past decade. The emergence of K. pneumoniae strains with decreased susceptibility to carbapenems, which are used as a last resort treatment option, is a significant threat to hospitalized patients worldwide as K. pneumoniae infection is responsible for a high mortality rate in the elderly and immunodeficient individuals. This study used Lactobacillus fermentum as a candidate probiotic for treating CRE-related infections and investigated its effectiveness. We treated mice with L. fermentum originating from the vaginal fluid of a healthy Korean woman and evaluated the Lactobacilli's efficacy in preventive, treatment, nonestablishment, and colonization mouse model experiments. Compared to the control, pre-treatment with L. fermentum significantly reduced body weight loss in the mouse models, and all mice survived until the end of the study. The oral administration of L. fermentum after carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella (CRK) infection decreased mortality and illness severity during a 2-week observation period and showed that it affects other strains of CRK bacteria. Also, the number of Klebsiella bacteria was decreased to below 5.5 log₁₀ CFU/ml following oral administration of L. fermentum in the colonization model. These findings demonstrate L. fermentum's antibacterial activity and its potential to treat CRE infection in the future.

• Annals of Geriatric Medicine and Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.194-199
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• 2018

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the correlation between the number of remaining natural teeth (NRT) and the appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) in older adults. Methods: This study was based on data from the 2008-2010 Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys. The participants were 2,378 older participants (984 men and 1,394 women) aged over 65 years. Survey dentists conducted oral health examinations, and ASM was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results: The participants with $NRT{\geq}20$ had more ASM and SMI than those with NRT<20 in both sexes. SMI was correlated with NRT in men (r=0.018, p<0.001) and in women (r=-0.007, p<0.001). The positive correlation between the NRT and SMI remained significant in men even after adjusting for age, marital status, income, smoking, drinking, physical activity, protein intake, energy intake, calcium intake, body mass index, fasting blood glucose level, medications, and prostheses (${\beta}=0.011$, p=0.001). In women, the correlation disappeared after adjustment for smoking, alcohol, physical activity, protein intake, energy intake, calcium intake, marital status, income, fasting basal glucose, medication administration, and prostheses. Conclusion: This study showed a correlation between NRT and SMI in those ${\geq}65$ years of age in Korea. The relationship persisted in men, but not in women, even after adjusting for confounders.

• Korean Journal of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
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• v.61 no.12
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• pp.663-668
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• 2018

Background and Objectives The main objectives of this study were to determine the clinical usefulness of the program-assisted and real ear measurement (REM)-assisted fitting of hearing aids. Subjects and Method Fifteen participants with moderate to moderately severe hearing loss were enrolled in this study. Objective and subjective fitting results were assessed to compare the benefits between the program-assisted fitting (using a software fitting program) and the REM-assisted fitting. Real ear insertion gain (REIG), sound-field audiometry using warble tone, and Korean Hearing in Noise Test (K-HINT) were performed as objective tests. Sound quality rating was performed as a subjective test. Results In the program fitting, 48.89% of fitting points failed to come within ${\pm}10dB$ of the REIG target. In the REM fitting, however, the percentage of failure significantly decreased to 23.33% (p=0.013). In K-HINT test, the reception threshold for speech in quiet situation significantly decreased from 50.1 dB HL with the program fitting to 44.7 dB HL after the REM fitting (p<0.001). In front noise condition, signal-to-noise ratio improved from 4.53 dB to 3.50 dB with the REM fitting without statistical significance (p=0.099). In the sound quality rating, the REM fitting ($4.27{\pm}0.56$) showed a significantly better sound quality ratings than the program fitting ($3.69{\pm}0.74$) (p=0.017). Conclusion The REM fitting showed better results in both subjective and objective measurements than the program fitting.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.455-461
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• 2019

Background Various surgical management methods have been proposed for ischial sore reconstruction, yet it has the highest recurrence rate of all pressure ulcer types. A novel approach combining the advantages of a perforator-based fasciocutaneous flap and a muscle flap is expected to resolve the disadvantages of previously introduced surgical methods. Methods Fifteen patients with ischial pressure ulcers with chronic osteomyelitis or bursitis, who underwent reconstructive procedures with an inferior gluteal artery perforator (IGAP) fasciocutaneous flap and a split inferior gluteus maximus muscle flap from January 2011 to June 2016, were analyzed retrospectively. The split muscle flap was rotated to obliterate the deep ischial defect, managing the osteomyelitis or bursitis, and the IGAP fasciocutaneous flap was rotated or advanced to cover the superficial layer. The patients' age, sex, presence of bursitis or osteomyelitis, surgical details, complications, follow-up period, and ischial sore recurrence were reviewed. Results All ischial pressure ulcers were successfully reconstructed without any flap loss. The mean duration of follow-up was 12.9 months (range, 3-35 months). Of 15 patients, one had a recurrent ulcer 10 months postoperatively, which was repaired by re-advancing the previously elevated fasciocutaneous flap. Conclusions The dual-flap procedure with an IGAP fasciocutaneous flap and split inferior gluteus maximus muscle flap for ischial pressure ulcer reconstruction is a useful method that combines the useful characteristics of perforator and muscle flaps, providing thick dual padding with sufficient vascularization while minimizing donor morbidity and vascular pedicle injury.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.323-328
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• 2021

Periodontal diseases have been reported to have a multidirectional association with metabolic disorders. We sought to investigate the correlation between periodontitis and diabetes or fatty liver disease using HFD-fed obese mice inoculated with P. gingivalis. Body weight, alveolar bone loss, serological biochemistry, and glucose level were determined to evaluate the pathophysiology of periodontitis and diabetes. For the evaluation of fatty liver disease, hepatic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was assessed by scoring steatosis, inflammation, hepatocyte ballooning and the crucial signaling pathways involved in liver metabolism were analyzed. The C-reactive protein (CRP) level and NASH score in P. gingivalis-infected obese mice were significantly elevated. Particularly, the extensive lobular inflammation was observed in the liver of obese mice infected with P. gingivalis. Moreover, the expression of metabolic regulatory factors, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (Pparγ) and the fatty acid transporter Cd36, was up-regulated in the liver of P. gingivalis-infected obese mice. However, inoculation of P. gingivalis had no significant influence on glucose homeostasis, insulin resistance, and hepatic mTOR/AMPK signaling. In conclusion, our results indicate that P. gingivalis can induce the progression of fatty liver disease in HFD-fed mice through the upregulation of CD36-PPARγ axis.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.185-189
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• 2011

In this work, nano-sized M-ferrites (M=Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) for the decomposition of carbon dioxide were synthesized by the chemical co-precipitation. From the thermogravimetric analysis, it was clear that the maximum weight loss of each sample took place below $350^{\circ}C$. High temperature calcination resulted in more systematic crystallines, smaller specific surface area and larger particle size. An analysis by FTIR in the range of $375{\sim}406cm^{-1}$ revealed the presence of chelates at the octahedral site, which implies the formation of spinel structure in the ferrites. The current work showed that a $500^{\circ}C$ is the optimum heat treatment temperature of metal ferrites for $CO_2$ decomposition reaction.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2021

Background: Artificial grafts such as polyethylene terephthalate (Dacron) and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) are used for various cardiovascular surgical procedures. The compliance properties of prosthetic grafts could affect hemodynamic energy, which can be measured using the energy-equivalent pressure (EEP) and surplus hemodynamic energy (SHE). We investigated changes in the hemodynamic energy of prosthetic grafts. Methods: In a simulation test, the changes in EEP for these grafts were estimated using COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS. The Young modulus, Poisson ratio, and density were used to analyze the grafts' material properties, and pre- and post-graft EEP values were obtained by computing the product of the pressure and velocity. In an in vivo study, Dacron and ePTFE grafts were anastomosed in an end-to-side fashion on the descending thoracic aorta of swine. The pulsatile pump flow was fixed at 2 L/min. Real-time flow and pressure were measured at the distal part of each graft, while clamping the other graft and the descending thoracic aorta. EEP and SHE were calculated and compared. Results: In the simulation test, the mean arterial pressure decreased by 39% for all simulations. EEP decreased by 42% for both grafts, and by around 55% for the native blood vessels after grafting. The in vivo test showed no significant difference between both grafts in terms of EEP and SHE. Conclusion: The post-graft hemodynamic energy was not different between the Dacron and ePTFE grafts. Artificial grafts are less compliant than native blood vessels; however, they can deliver pulsatile blood flow and hemodynamic energy without any significant energy loss.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1045-1054
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• 2020

In this paper, we designed a TCP/IP based ring buffer system that can stably transfer bulk data streams in the unstable network environments. In the scheme we proposed, The observation data stream generated and output by each radio observatory's backend system as a UDP frame is stored as a UDP packet in a large capacity ring buffer via a socket buffer in the client system. Thereafter, for stable transmission to the remote destination, the packets are processed in TCP and transmitted to the socket buffer of server system in the correlation center, which packets are stored in a large capacity ring buffer if there is no problem with the packets. In case of errors such as loss, duplication, and out of order delivery, the packets are retransmitted through TCP flow control, and we guaranteed that the reliability of data arriving at the correlation center. When congestion avoidance occurs due to network performance instability, we also suggest that performance degradation can be minimized by applying parallel streams.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.71-84
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• 2021

This study aimed to determine the effects of breed on meat quality characteristics of porcine Boston butt muscles (M. subscapularis) from three different pig breeds: Landrace×Yorkshire×Duroc (LYD), Berkshire, and Ibérico available in Korean market. Ibérico showed significantly higher fat content, yellowness (CIE b⁎), cooking loss, and lower shear force values than LYD and Berkshire. Moreover, the contents of oleic acid (18:1) and palmitic acid (16:0) were significantly higher in Ibérico breed, but stearic acid (18:0) was higher in LYD. As linoleic acid (18:2) and arachidonic acid (20:4) were higher in Berkshire sows as compared to the other breeds, atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indexes were significantly lower in Berkshire sow. Ibérico had lower the ω-6/ω-3 fatty acids ratio, and higher taurine and free amino acids compared with the others. Ibérico also showed significantly greater lipid oxidation, lower antioxidant capacity, and higher hypoxanthine contents, whereas the Berkshire had higher inosine-5'-monophosphate and lower K-index value as compared to the Ibérico. The breed did not impart any significant effect on the size and density of muscle fibers. Thus, quality characteristics of Boston butt varied from breed to breed, and certain consumer preferences for Ibérico can be explained, in part, by the unique quality characteristics imparted by higher contents of intramuscular fat, oleic acid, and free amino acids.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.259-267
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• 2021

Peri-implantitis, in which inflammation caused by plaque and biofilm on the implant surface spreads to the hard tissue, can be treated by decontamination of the implant surface and reconstruction of the lost hard tissue through surgical methods. We have described the management of 3 peri-implantitis cases by decontamination of the implant surface using a round titanium brush and regenerative therapy. All cases showed clinical improvements, and no further radiographic bone loss was observed during a 2-year follow-up. This treatment method can be effective for clinical improvement and bone regeneration. However, a longer follow-up period is necessary to support these outcomes.