• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.114-119
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• 2006

Benzo[a]pyrene is a representative ecotoxicant in marine environment and a model compound of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which has an ability to bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms. This study aimed to identify molecular biomarkers suitable for assessing environmental pollution using a microarray technique. We examined the effects of benzo[a]pyrene on gene expressions in the rockfish, Sebastes schlegeli. We constructed the subtractive cDNA library with hepatic RNA from benzo[a]pyrene-exposed and non-exposed control fish. From the library 10,000 candidate clones were selected randomly and cDNA microarray was constructed. We determined benzo[a]pyrene-responsive genes using a high-density microarray. Statistical analysis showed that approximately 400 genes are significantly induced or reduced by benzo[a]pyrene treatment ($2\;{\mu}m$). Especially gene expression changes of 4 candidate clones among the up- or down-regulated genes were investigated in 6, 12 and 24 hr BaP-exposed fish groups. Many methods have been developed to monitor marine environmental status, which depend on quantifying the levels of the toxic components in polluted seawater or on ecological accessing, such as species diversity or richness. However, those methods could not provide information on physiological or genetic changes induced by such environmental stresses. Comparing with the conventional methods, these data will propose that benzo[a]pyrene-responsive genes can be useful for biological risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on marine organism at molecular level.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• 제38권1호
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• pp.35-42
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• 2011

Purpose: Blow-out fractures can be reduced using various methods. The orbital reconstruction technique using a balloon under endoscopic control has advantages over other methods. However, this method has some problems too, such as postoperative follow-up, management of the balloon catheter, and reduction of the posterior orbital floor. Thus, we developed a simple, effective method for orbital floor reduction that involves molding and shaping the antral balloon catheter. Methods: A 0, 30, or $70^{\circ}$, 4-mm endoscope was placed though a two-point, 5-mm maxillary antrostomy. The balloon catheter is placed directly at the orbital apex to reconstruct the anterior shelf (spherical shape), while it is turned in a U-shape towards the anterior maxilla for the posterior shelf (elliptical shape). Orbital floor defects, compound or comminuted fractures are reconstructed with alloplastic materials through an open lid incision under the endoscopic control. Results: This technique was applied to ten patients with orbital floor fractures: five anterior shelf and five posterior shelf fracture, respectively. Four of the patients had zygomatico-orbital fractures, while the rest had isolated orbital floor fractures. Two patients were given porous polyethylene implants Synpor$^{(R)}$) and three underwent reconstruction with a resorbable mesh plate. No complication associated with this technique was identified. Conclusion: The freestyle placement and selection of a urinary balloon catheter under endoscopic control and the preoperative estimation of the volume enhanced the stabilization of the orbital contour. This method improves the adaptation of the orbital floor without the risk of injuring the surrounding orbital contents, dissecting blindly, or using sharp traction. One drawback of this method is the patient's discomfort from the catheter during treatment.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• 제5권3호
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• pp.257-264
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• 2009

Gardenia yellow, extracted from gardenia fruit, has been widely used as a coloring agent for foods, and thus, safety of its usage is of prime importance. In the current study, short-term genotoxicity assays were conducted to evaluate the potential genotoxic effects of gardenia yellow. The gardenia yellow used was found to contain 0.057 mg/g of genipin, a known biologically active compound of the gardenia fruit extract. Ames test did not reveal any positive results. No clastogenicity was detected by a chromosomal aberration test, even on evaluation at the highest feasible concentration of gardenia yellow. Gardenia yellow was also shown to be non-genotoxic using an in vitro comet assay and a micronucleus test with L5178Y cells, although a marginal increase in DNA damage and micronuclei frequency was reported in the respective assays. Additionally, in vivo micronucleus test results clearly demonstrated that oral administration of gardenia yellow did not induce micronuclei formation in the bone marrow cells of male ICR mice. Taken together, our results indicate that gardenia yellow is not mutagenic to bacterial cells, and that it does not cause chromosomal damage in mammalian cells, either in vitro or in vivo.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.387-397
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• 2003

During the first half of twentieth century, even though the importance of non-calorie essential micronutrients of 13 vitamins and 17 minerals has been known to alleviate nutritional disorder; the primary objective of agriculture and plant breeding programs has been to increase the productivity and seed yields, and macronutrients of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates made up the bulk of foodstuff which were used primarily as an energy source. In the last decade it has been found that non-essential micronutrients encompass a vast group of phytochemicals including antioxidants that are not strictly required in the diet but when present at sufficient levels work as health-promoting chemicals. Nowadays agricultural crops are grown for health rather than for food or fiber, and modifying the nutritional compositions of plant foods has become an urgent health issue. To ensure an adequate intake of essential vitamins and minerals, and to increase the consumption of health-promoting phytochemicals, the researches on plant secondary metabolism have been made. The attempt to improve nutritional quality of crops has been blocked by a lack of basic knowledge of plant metabolism. The advent of genomics era enabled new approaches to make crossing regardless of species, family, or phylum barriers, and the accumulation in our basic knowledge on plant secondary metabolism during the coming decade would be tremendous. As the major staple crops contain insufficient amount of many micronutrients, fortification strategy will be a necessary practice. Elevated intake of specific vitamins, C, E, and $\beta$-carotene, mineral selenium, antioxidants, and phytochemicals significantly reduces the risk of chronic disease such as cancer, cardiovascular disorder, diabetis, and other degenerative disease associated with aging. As the attempt to improve the nutritional quality of crops requires the basic knowledges on plant metabolism, plant biochemistry, human physiology, and food chemistry, strong interdisplinary collaboration among plant biotechnologists, human nutritionists, and food scientists will be needed. Inhibition of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other degenerative disorder may be the biggest goal facing nutritional plant breeders. But the assumption that simply increasing dietary level of any compound will necessarily improve human health is a dangerous idea because many plant secondary products and dietary contaminants have paradoxical (hermetic) effects. Before biotechnical manipulation is undertaken to elevate or reduce any individual constituent of crops, the contribution of the micronutrient to human health must first be investigated.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

The main purpose of applying the chlorination process during water treatment is for disinfection. Research results, however, indicate that disinfection by-products including trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, haloacetonitriles, haloketones, and chloropicrin can be produced by chlorination process. Some of these disinfection by-products are known to be potential human carcinogens. This three-year project is designed to establish a standard analysis procedure for disinfection by-products in drinking water and investigate the distribution and sources of specific disinfection by-products. The occurrence level of DBPs in drinking water was below 50$\mu\textrm{g}$/L in most cases. THMs in plant effluent accounted for 48% of all DBPs measured, whereas HAAs accounted for 24%, HANs 14%, haloketones 5%, chloral hydrate 7%, and chloropicrin 2%. Chloroform was found to be the major THMs compound (71%), followed by bromodichloromethane (21%), dibro-mochloromethane (7%), and bromoform (3%), The concentration of DBPs formed in distribution systems increased from those detected in plant effluent. Results would play an important role in exposure assessment as a part of the risk assessment process, and would give basic information for establishment of disinfection by-products reduction and management procedures.

• 디지털융복합연구
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.503-513
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• 2016

본 연구는 노인요양병원에 입원한 환자가족들이 환자의 침대난간 사용을 어떻게 인지하고 있는지를 기술하고 탐색하기 위해 시도되었다. 수집된 자료는 심층면담을 이용하였고, Cavanagh의 내용분석(content analysis)방법으로 분석하였다. 연구결과 노인요양병원에서 침대난간 사용에 대한 환자가족의 인식은 예방적 안전, 이동의 편리함, 의례적인 간호, 감옥같은 생활, 부상위험, 침대난간의 대체 가능한 대안의 6가지 주제로 도출되었다. 관습화된 침대난간 사용의 긍정적 효과가 침대난간 사용에 대한 환자 가족들의 부정적 견해보다 중요하게 생각되고 있다는 점을 연구를 통해 알 수 있었고, 병원관계자들이 환자개인의 자유, 신체적 속박, 속박에 대한 부작용, 대안에 대한 이슈에 대해 환자와 환자가족들과 의사결정을 함께 할 것을 제안하고자 한다. 병원의 의료환경 변화로 인해, 의료행위의 효과성과 효율성, 위험관리, 그리고 근거기반실무가 강조되고 있다. 그러나 침대난간 사용이나 신체적 속박 문제는 해답을 쉽게 찾을 수 없는 주제이며 간호사들은 침대난간 사용에 있어 엄격한 사용지침에 따라 명확하게 간호행위를 수행해야 할 것이다.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제60권4호
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• pp.397-403
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• 2017

Objective : Cranioplasty using a cryopreserved skull flap is a wide spread practice. The most well-known complications of cranioplasty are postoperative surgical infections and bone flap resorption. In order to find biological evidence of cryopreserved cranioplasty, we investigated microorganism contamination of cryopreserved skulls and cultured osteoblasts from cryopreserved skulls. Methods : Cryopreserved skull flaps of expired patients stored in a bone bank were used. Cryopreserved skulls were packaged in a plastic bag and wrapped with cotton cloth twice. After being crushed by a hammer, cancellous bone between the inner and outer table was obtained. The cancellous bone chips were thawed in a water bath of $30^{\circ}C$ rapidly. After this, osteoblast culture and general microorganism culture were executed. Osteoblast cultures were done for 3 weeks. Microorganism cultures were done for 72 hours. Results : A total of 47 cryopreserved skull flaps obtained from craniectomy was enrolled. Of the sample, 11 people were women, and the average age of patients was 55.8 years. Twenty four people had traumatic brain injuries, and 23 people had vascular diseases. Among the patients with traumatic brain injuries, two had fracture compound comminuted depressed. The duration of cryopreservation was, on average, 83.2 months (9 to 161 months). No cultured osteoblast was observed. No microorganisms were cultured. Conclusion : In this study, neither microorganisms nor osteoblasts were cultured. The biological validity of cryopreserved skulls cranioplasty was considered low. However, the usage of cryopreserved skulls for cranioplasty is worthy of further investigation in the aspect of cost-effectiveness and risk-benefit of post-cranioplasty infection.

• 한국정보통신학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정보통신학회 2022년도 춘계학술대회
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• pp.270-272
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• 2022

임상을 거친 약물이 시중에 유통되지 못하는 요인 중 하나는 안전성이다. 약물 부작용으로 인해 발생하는 안전성 문제의 주된 원인인 신경독성의 경우, 사전에 약물이나 화합물에 대한 위험 평가가 필요하다. 현재 약물의 안전성 검사를 위한 실험들은 동물 실험을 기반으로 하고 있으며, 이는 시간과 비용이 많이 든다는 단점을 갖는다. 따라서 위 문제를 해결하기 위해 in silico 실험을 통한 신경독성 예측모델을 제안하고자 한다. 본 연구에서는 의학 언어 시스템 (Unified Medical Language System)을 이용해 신경독성의 범주를 확대하고, 통합 데이터베이스를 기반으로 다양한 관련 화합물 데이터를 얻었다. 얻은 화합물들의 SMILES (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System)를 fingerprint로 변환시키고 이를 사용한 기계학습 기반의 모델을 만들었다. 모델은 최종적으로 신경독성의 유무를 예측한다. 해당 연구에서 제안된 실험은 in vivo 실험에 소요되는 시간 및 비용을 줄일 수 있다. 더 나아가 신약 개발 연구 기간을 단축하고 개발 중지 등의 부담을 줄일 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• 국제학술발표논문집
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• The 5th International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• pp.467-474
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• 2013

Construction contactors must continuously seek to improve their cash flows, which reside at the heart of their financial success. They require careful planning, analysis, and optimization to avoid the risk of bankruptcy, remain profitable, and secure long-term growth. Sources of cash include bank loans and retained earnings, which are conceptually similar in that they both incur a cost of capital. Financial management therefore requires accurate yet customizable modeling capabilities that can quantify all expenses, including said cost of capital. However, currently existing cash flow models in construction engineering and management have strongly simplified the manner in which interest is assessed, which may even lead to overstating it at a disadvantage to contractors. The variable nature of cash balances, especially in the early phases of construction projects, contribute to this challenging issue. This research therefore extends a new cash flow model with an accurate interest calculation. It utilizes singularity functions, so called because of their ability to flexibly model changes across any number of different ranges. The interest function is continuous for activity costs of any duration and allows the realistic case that activities may begin between integer time periods, which are often calendar months. Such fractional interest calculation has hitherto been lacking from the literature. It also provides insights into the self-referential behavior of compound interest for variable cash balances. The contribution of this study is twofold; augmenting the corpus of financial analysis theory with a new interest formula, whose strengths include its generic nature and that it can be evaluated at any fractional value of time, and providing construction managers with a tool to help improve and fine-tune the financial performance of their projects.

• 생태와환경
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• 제55권3호
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• pp.185-200
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• 2022

수환경 내 다양한 유해물질의 위해성에 대한 관심은 환경 매체 내 물질의 농도뿐만 아니라 복잡한 먹이단계를 통한 어류 체내의 축적과 어류를 통한 인체 위해성으로 이어진다. 국내의 경우 2016년 이후 생활에서 사용되고 있는 화학제품(생활화학제품) 기인 위해 우려물질의 관리를 위한 등록과 평가 등에 관한 법률 개정과 함께 이들 물질의 환경 배출이 주목받게 됨에 따라 수생태계 내 잔류여부에 대한 조사도 수행되기 시작했다. 최근에는 이러한 물질의 관리를 위한 생태계 내 분포 조사 및 배출 계수 산정을 위한 연구사업이 수행되고 있는데 해당 연구 사업에서는 세정제, 접착제, 염색제, 방향제 등을 비롯한 화장품이나 세제 등에 포함되는 성분과 살균·소독제를 대상으로 영양단계 내 축적과 전달을 이해하기 위한 물질의 축적과 확대를 포함한다. 본 논문은 최근 발표된 생활화학제품기인 유해물질의 수환경 유입 및 분포에 대한 연구 결과를 정리하고 그 과학적 의미를 제시하며 또한 국내외 수행되고 있는 수환경 모니터링 기법에 대한 연구의 예를 바탕으로 현재 유해화학물질의 수환경 내 잔류 농도 및 분포, 생태계 모니터링을 위한 연구의 방향을 제안하고자 한다. 특히 어류를 대상으로 하는 조사에서 국내 수역에 서식하는 주요 어류조사 및 이를 바탕으로 한 대상 어류 선정의 필요성과 인체 위해성 연구의 필요성 등 시기적으로 요구되는 연구를 위한 영양단계 해석과 생물확대계수 연구의 방향을 소개하며 향후 국내에서 수행되고 있는 생물상 모니터링과 화학물질 연구에 대한 제언을 포함한다.