• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.117-121
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• 2005

Purpose: Elevated AST/ALT level in rotavirus gastroenteritis have been reported. We found elevated creatine kinase (CK) in those children. This study was carried out to define the relationship of major clinical presentation, laboratory findings, and level of creatine kinase. Methods: A retrospective analysis was made for thirty patients who were diagnosed rotavirus gastroenteritis from Jan 2001 to Mar 2005 in Department of Pediatrics, Gyeongsang National University Hospital. Serum creatine kinase was checked for the evaluation of high aminotransferase level among the patients. Results: Fourteen patients (8 males, 6 females) with high creatine kinase activity were included in this study. The mean age was $1.46{\pm}1.24year$ of age. The mean level of AST, ALT and CK were $127.5{\pm}136.2IU/L$, $126.1{\pm}154.3IU/L$, and $542.8{\pm}624.6IU/L$, respectively. Electrophoresis of CK isoenzyme was performed in four of them and the results revealed elevated CK-MM fraction (96~100%). Three of them revealed high serum creatine kinase acitivity (>1,000 IU/L) without acute renal failure and other symptom. However, none of them had muscular pain or trauma history. Elevated creatine kinase activity did not correlate with clinical implications (age, sex, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, symptom of URI, degree of dehydration or seizure) or laboratory findings. Conclusion: In this study, we found that serum creatine kinase acitivity also was elevated in infants with rotavirus gastroenteritis. This data support muscular damage due to rotavirus, but could not prove the mechanism of increased serum creatine kinase activity.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.84-95
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• 2012

Background: In Korea, private health insurance has neglected to induce externality on national health insurance by moral hazard. Therefore, we conducted this study in order to explore the influence of private health insurance on unnecessary medical utilization among patients with cervical or lumbar sprain. Method: The study examined a population of 449 patients (admission, 384; out-patient; 85) diagnosed with simple cervical or lumbar sprain without neurological symptoms at 20 small hospitals or clinics in Gwangju and Jeollanam provinces from Jul. 1 to Aug. 31 2008. The data were collected using structured, self-administrated questionnaire which collected information such as whether or not the patient was admitted (as a dependent variable), whether or not they had private health insurance (as a independent variable), and covariates such as socio-demographic characteristics, the factors related to the sprain, and characteristics of the insurance provider. Results: From hierarchical multiple logistic regression analysis, it was found that the admission rate of patient with private health insurance was higher than that those without it (Odds ratio=3.31, 95% Confidence interval; 1.14-9.58), meaning that private health insurance was an independent factor influencing the admission of patients with these conditions. Other determinants of admission were patient age and physician referral. Conclusions: This study is the first empirical study to explore the influence of private health insurance on inducing moral hazard in admission services, specifically among patients with cervical or lumbar sprain. Regulation of benefits provided by private health insurance may be necessary, as the effect of this moral hazard may mean existence of externality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.82 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 1993

This study was conducted to obtain necessary information to improve beekeeping farmhouses management and to establish related problem. Using data obtained from 50 beekeeping farmhouses in Korea, current status of management and optimum sales scale were analysed. The results of the study are summarized as follows ; 1. Managers of beekeeping farmhouses are relatively old(64% of them is over 50 years old) and highly educated and experienced(76% of them is in the business more than 10 years). 2. Only a portion of managers(38%) considers beekeeping as a major job, while the rest(62%) involves as a side job working with other agricultural business. 3. Major supply of labor force comes from family group. Total input of family labor is 6.4 months a year. Fourty-four percent of management units is migrating and 56% of them is settled in specific locations. 4. In 1991, the average number of conventional beehive casks per farmhouse is decreased by 2.94 casks but improved-type beehive casks is increased by 13.79 casks. Total number of beehive casks per farmhouse is increased by 12.66 casks during the year. 5. Major cost items of beekeeping farmhouses include bee colony aquisition cost, feeding cost, depreciation cost, wages in an order. The average yearly profit rate of farmhouses is about 29.4%. 6. The break-even point of honey sales is about 3 million won. The optimum sales scale was 52.2l, then average production cost was estimated 53,800Won.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.190-198
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• 2003

Purpose: To evaluate radiation sensitivity of dendritic cells in comparison with lymphocytes. Materials and methods: T lymphocytes captured from peripheral blood were irradiated by 0 Gy, 10 Gy, 30 Gy. Apoptosis was measured by flowcytometry for staining of Annexin V 4 hours after irradiation. Immature and mature dendritic cells processed from blood hematopoietic stem cell were irradiated by 0 Gy, 10 Gy, 30 Gy, 100 Gy respectively and apoptosis was measured by flowcytometry with time difference as 4h, 24h and 48h after irradiation. Morphometric analysis by percent nucleus was measured in three cell groups, also. Results: Lymphocytes showed radiation sensitivity by increasing apoptotic fraction according to radiation dose. However, both mature and immature dendritic cells showed consistent fraction of apoptosis in spite of increasing radiation dose. Percent nucleus ratio is significantly higher in lymphocytes than that of mature or immature dendritic cells. Stimulation of T-cell by dendritic cells was not changed after irradiation. Conclusion: Dendritic cells showed radioresistance which was associated with small size of nucleus in comparison with lymphocytes and this result would be used as a basal data of radio-labelling for the cellular trafficking studios in nuclear medicine fields.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 1993

This study was conducted to obtain necessary informations for improving of wildlife rearing management. The data was gathered by surveying with questionaire. One hundred and eighty farmers which was 60 of deer and pheasant, 30 of wild boar and fox rearing farmers respectively were investigated during the summer in 1992. The results of this study are as follows : 1. Most of managers considered their rearing as a side job but agriculture was appointed as a main job from most of them except wild boar managers. 2. The major cost items were breeding stock and feeding which occupied over than half. 3. The yearly profit was the highest in deer(25.5%) but the lowest in wild boar(10.3%). 4. The break-even point was the highest in wild boar(24 mil. won) but the lowest in pheasant(7.3 mil. won). 5. The optimum sales scale for a year was deer(11 heads), Pheasant(1,027 heads), Wild boar(69 heads) and Fox (102 heads).

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.185-207
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• 2006

Predominant explanations of the persistence of sex segregation ill occupations link job choices to profoundly gendered responses to childbearing and other family demands, arguing that women are more likely to seek jobs which are in some sense compatible with motherhood, either because they are family friendly (flexible, low intensity work) or because they are easy to exit and re-enter. In this paper, I examine the effect of occupational sex segregation on job exits into the labor market among women, with a special attention to the role of childbearing and child rearing. I use data from detailed employment histories gathered from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) in continuous time event history models. My results indicate that women in female dominated jobs are less likely to exit their jobs than women in other types of occupations. Further this relationship is not shaped by motherhood. While mothers or pregnant women are more likely to leave work, mothers in female-dominated occupations are slightly less likely to leave employment than mothers in other occupations. These results are not consistent with the ideas that women's choice of female-dominated occupations expresses a gendered identity and women strategically seek jobs which accommodate maternal roles. Taken together, my findings do not provide support to the idea that women choose female-dominated occupations because they are easier to integrate with motherhood (except for the pregnancy period).

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2002

Purpose : Measurement of transmission dose is useful for in vivo dosimetry of QA purpose. The objective of this study is to develope an algorithm for estimation of tumor dose using measured transmission dose for open radiation field. Materials and Methods : Transmission dose was measured with various field size (FS), phantom thickness (Tp), and phantom chamber distance (PCD) with a acrylic phantom for 6 MV and 10 MV X-ray. Source to chamber distance (SCD) was set to 150 cm. Measurement was conducted with a 0.6 co Farmer type ion chamber. Using measured data and regression analysis, an algorithm was developed lot estimation of expected reading of transmission dose. Accuracy of the algorithm was tested with flat solid phantom with various settings. Results : The algorithm consisted of quadratic function of log(A/P) (where A/P is area-perimeter ratio) and tertiary function of PCD. The algorithm could estimate dose with very high accuracy for open square field, with errors within ${\pm}0.5%$. For elongated radiation field, the errors were limited to ${\pm}1.0%$. Conclusion : The developed algorithm can accurately estimate the transmission dose in open radiation fields with various treatment settings.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.463-472
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• 2015

Adrenomedullin (AM) is a peptide expressed in all body tissues, and its related receptors are increased in liver fibrosis. In this study, we evaluated the effect of AM deficiency on liver fibrogenesis induced by $CCl_4$ using AM heterozygous (HT) mice. The animals received a single injection of $CCl_4$ or olive oil for the acute experiment, and received $CCl_4$ or olive oil three times a week for 6 weeks for the chronic experiment. Fibrosis was accessed using histopathological analysis and the western blot. The AM HT mice showed mild pericentrilobular degeneration when compared to the AM wild type (WT) mice. In the acute experiment, there was no significant difference between the AM WT and AM HT mice. However, in the chronic experiment, the $CCl_4$-treated AM HT mice showed more severe liver fibrosis than that of the CCl₄-treated AM WT mice. The AST and ALT levels of the AM HT $CCl_4$ group were higher than those of the AM WT CCl₄ group. Additionally, the collagen deposition, $\alpha$- SMA protein and TGF-$\beta$ protein were increased in the AM HT $CCl_4$ group when compared to the AM WT $CCl_4$ group. The AM HT mice also exhibited severe lipid peroxidation through the GSH decrement. Taken together, our data suggest that AM deficiency increases the susceptibility to liver fibrosis induced by $CCl_4$, indicating a novel therapeutic target for patients with liver fibrosis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1012-1018
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to determine whether Alzheimer's amyloid precursor protein (APP) is dysregulated in adipose tissues of C57BL/6 male mice by high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity, aging, or streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. APP mRNA expression was examined by quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) in subcutaneous (SAT) and epididymal adipose tissues (EAT) from mice in 8 different condition groups. By combining conditions of age (16 weeks/26 weeks of age), diet (normal diet (ND)/high-fat diet), and induction of diabetes (non-diabetic/diabetic), 88 mice were divided into 8 different groups. QPCR demonstrated that APP expression in SAT was significantly increased by about two-fold in HFD-induced obese mice compared to both 16 week-old and 26 week-old mice in the ND group (16 weeks p=0.001; 26 weeks p<0.0001), but no changes in EAT was found. Particular effects of aging on APP gene expression were not observed in either adipose tissue depots. Significantly decreased APP expression was found in SAT in STZ-induced diabetic mice fed on ND or HFD at 16 weeks of age (ND p<0.05; HFD p<0.01). Linear regression analysis demonstrated that APP expression levels correlated with body weight in both the non-diabetic group (R=0.657, p<0.0001, n=39) and the diabetic group (R=0.508, p=<0.0001, n=49), but did not correlate with plasma glucose levels, which suggests that decreased APP expression in STZ-induced diabetic mice is most likely due to weight loss rather than hyperglycemia. These data confirm APP dysregulation by weight changes in humans and suggest a possible role linking midlife obesity with the later development of amyloidogenesis in the brain of older patients with Alzheimer's disease.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.107-120
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• 2001

This study is concerned with providing a reliable procedure of calibrating a set of places specific distance parameters and with applying it to U.S. inter-State migration flows between 1985 and 1900. It attempts to conform to recent advances in quantitative geography that are characterized by an integration of ESDA(exploratory spatial data analysis) and local statistics. ESDA aims to detect the spatial clustering and heterogeneity by visualizing and exploring spatial patterns. A local statistic is defined as a statistically processed value given to each location as opposed to a global statistic that only captures an average trend across a whole study region. Whereas a global distance parameter estimates an averaged level of the friction of distance, place-specific distance parameters calibrate spatially varying effects of distance. It is presented that a poisson regression with an adequately specified design matrix yields a set of either origin-or destination-specific distance parameters. A case study demonstrates that the proposed model is a reliable device of measuring a spatial dimension of migration, and that place-specific distance parameters are spatially heterogeneous as well as spatially clustered.