• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.377-383
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• 2023

Purpose: There is increasing attention to the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for enhancing cognitive functions in subjects to aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite varying treatment outcomes in tDCS which depend on the amount of current reaching the brain, there is no general information on the impacts of anatomical features associated with AD on tDCS-induced electric field. Objective: The objective of this study is to examine how AD-related anatomical variation affects the tDCS-induced electric field using computational modeling. Methods: We collected 180 magnetic resonance images (MRI) of AD patients and healthy controls from a publicly available database (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; ADNI), and MRIs were divided into female-AD, male-AD, female-normal, and male-normal groups. For each group, segmented brain volumes (cerebrospinal fluid, gray matter, ventricle, rostral middle frontal (RMF), and hippocampus/amygdala complex) using MRI were measured, and tDCS-induced electric fields were simulated, targeting RMF. Results: For segmented brain volumes, significant sex differences were observed in the gray matter and RMF, and considerable disease differences were found in cerebrospinal fluid, ventricle, and hippocampus/amygdala complex. There were no differences in the tDCS-induced electric field among AD and normal groups; however, higher peak values of electric field were observed in the female group than the male group. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated the presence of sex and disease differences in segmented brain volumes; however, this pattern differed in tDCS-induced electric field, resulting in significant sex differences only. Further studies, we will adjust the brain stimulation conditions to target the deep brain and examine the effects, because of significant differences in the ventricles and deep brain regions between AD and normal groups.

• Journal of Korean Dental Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.192-203
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• 2023

Purpose: This study is to investigate the distribution of natural tooth shades in the Korean elderly population to quantify the correlation and changes of tooth color with age and gender. In addition, the possible effects of habits on tooth color were assessed. Materials and Methods: The tooth color of one of the maxillary central incisors of 200 Korean individuals aged 50 to 89 years, males and female, was measured using the portable intraoral spectrophotometer (VITA Easyshade V). CIELab and CIELCh color coordinates were recorded. We conducted the survey about the tobacco smoking, chronic disease, medication, eating habits, oral health behaviors and satisfaction with tooth color. Experimental data were statistically analyzed by using the t-test (P<0.05), two-way analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation test. Result: The most frequent color in the Korean elderly population was 3M3 & A3.5 shade. L^* and h^* values decreased, whereas C^*, a^* and b^* values increased progressively with age. There was a significant interaction between age and color coordinates for b^* values (r=0.245, P<0.05). Males generally have significantly higher C^*, a^*, b^* values and lower L^*, h^* value compared to females. Individuals who consumed alcohol had a higher L^* value (P<0.05). Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, the central incisors were getting darker, more reddish, and yellowish with age. Information on the chromatic range of natural teeth by age and gender could help to select colors for esthetic dental restorations.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.146-156
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• 2023

Background: Endemic species are important components in the flora of most world regions. Most of these species have become threatened and exposed to extinction within the last few years. The present study aims to evaluate the ecosystem services offered by the endemic plant taxa in Egypt and the threats that affect them. Twenty-five field visits were conducted during summer 2018 to spring 2022 to several locations all over Egypt. In each location, the main habitats, national distribution, abundance, goods and threats were recorded. Results: Egypt has 41 endemic taxa belonging to 36 genera and 20 families inhabiting 10 main habitats. Rocky surfaces and sandy formations have the highest number of endemic species. The relation between the number of endemic taxa and the abundance categories indicated that 2 taxa are rare (4.9% of the total taxa), while the remaining were very rare (95%). The most represented offered good was the medicinal uses (32 taxa = 78%), while fuel plants were only represented by 2 taxa (2 taxa = 4.9%). Besides, 14 taxa (34.1% of the total studied taxa) have at least 1 environmental service. Soil fertility (7 taxa = 50%) was the most represented, followed by sand accumulations (6 taxa out of 14 taxa = 43%), while shading plant was the least (1 taxon = 7.1%) (Rosa arabica). The most represented threat is over-cutting and over-collecting (38 taxa = 92.7%), while mining and quarrying is the least represented (4 taxa = 9.8%). Conclusions: The potential and actual goods, services and threats of the endemic taxa were assessed as follows; field observation, information collected from local inhabitants and herbalists, and a literature review. The present study recommended planning a strategy about the importance, threats and conservation of endemic taxa in Egypt that would help in the protection and rescue of these plants and increase awareness about the importance of these plants.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1049-1056
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• 2023

The height of the atmospheric boundary layer indicates the peak developed when turbulence is generated by mixing heat and water vapor, and is generally determined through thermodynamic methods. Wind profilers produce atmospheric information from the scattering of signals sent into the atmosphere. A method for making the spectrum of turbulent components, turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, and refractive index structure coefficient was presented to determine the atmospheric boundary layer depth. Compared with the vertical distribution characteristics of potential temperature and specific humidity based on radiosonde data, the determination method of the atmospheric boundary layer height from wind profiler output was evaluated as very useful.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.855-860
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• 2023

Long-haul transmission of multiple transmission signals, such as wavelength division multiplexed (WDM), has became possible, because the signal distortion caused by chromatic dispersion and nonlinearity can be compensated by applying dispersion management, optical phase conjugation and combination of the two methods into the transmission link. The biggest obstacle to applying optical phase conjugation to an optical link is that the optical phase conjugator (OPC) must be located only in the middle of the entire transmission line. This paper shows that the location constraints of OPC can be overcome through the application of an asymmetric dispersion map. The location of the OPC considered in this paper exists between the 8th and 9th fiber spans out of a total of 48 fiber spans. Additionally, the dispersion map has an asymmetric cumulative dispersion profile with respect to the OPC. As a result of the simulation, it was confirmed that the distortion compensation effect of the WDM channel can be increased compared to the link to which the traditional dispersion map is applied, depending on the overall shape of the cumulative dispersion profile distribution of the proposed asymmetric dispersion map and the selection of the profile slope.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

Objectives: This study investigated the pattern identification (PI) and clinical index of Parkinson's disease (PD) for personalized diagnosis and treatment. Methods: This prospective observational multi-center study recruited 100 patients diagnosed with PD from two Korean medicine hospitals. To cluster new subtypes of PD, items on a PI questionnaire (heat and cold, deficiency and excess, visceral PI) were evaluated along with pulse and tongue analysis. Gait analysis was performed and blood and feces molecular signature changes were assessed to explore biomarkers for new subtypes. In addition, unified PD rating scale II and III scores and the European quality of life 5-dimension questionnaire were assessed. Results: The clinical index obtained in this study analyzed the frequency statistics and hierarchical clustering analysis to classify new subtypes based on PI. Moreover, the biomarkers and current status of herbal medicine treatment were analyzed using the new subtypes. The results provide comprehensive data to investigate new subtypes and subtype-based biomarkers for the personalized diagnosis and treatment of PD patients. Ethical approval was obtained from the medical ethics committees of the two Korean medicine hospitals. All amendments to the research protocol were submitted and approved. Conclusions: An objective and standardized diagnostic tool is needed for the personalized treatment of PD by traditional Korean medicine. Therefore, we developed a clinical index as the basis for the PI clinical evaluation of PD. Trial Registration: This trial is registered with the Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS) (KCT0008677)

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.6
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• pp.1273-1285
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• 2022

Purpose MR neurography (MRN) is an imaging technique optimized to visualize the peripheral nerves. This review aimed to discover an optimized protocol for MRN of the lumbosacral plexus (LSP) and identify evidence for the clinical benefit of lumbosacral plexopathies. Materials and Methods We performed a systematic search of the two medical databases until September 2021. 'Magnetic resonance imaging', 'lumbosacral plexus', 'neurologic disease', or equivalent terms were used to search the literature. We extracted information on indications, MRN protocols for LSP, and clinical efficacy from 55 studies among those searched. Results MRN of the LSP is useful for displaying the distribution of peripheral nerve disease, guiding perineural injections, and assessing extraspinal causes of sciatica. Three-dimensional short-tau inversion recovery turbo spin-echo combined with vascular suppression is the mainstay of MRN. Conclusion Future work on the MRN of LSP should be directed to technical maturation and clinical validation of efficacy.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.245-252
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• 2023

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to explore the compounds, targets and related diseases of garlic by the approaches of network pharmacology and bioinformatics in traditional chinese medicine. Methods : We investigated components and their target molecules of garlic using SymMap and TCMSP and they were compared with analysis platform. Results : 56 potential compounds were identified in garlic, 26 of which contained target information, and it was found that these 26 compounds and 154 targets interact with each other through a combination of 243 compounds. In addition, Apigenin was linked to the most targeted gene (78) in 26 compounds, followed by Kaempferol (61 genes), Nicotic Acid (14 genes), Geraniol (11 genes), Eee (10 genes), and Sobrol A (9 genes). Among 56 potential compounds, three compounds (Kaempferol, Dipterocarpol, and N-Methyl cytisine) corresponded to the active compound by screening criterion Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion (ADME). In addition, 12 compounds in 56 potential compounds were associated with gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorder. Among them, Kaempferol was a compound that met the ADME parameters and the rest were potential compounds that did not meet. Also, Kaempferol was closely related to GI motility disorder, indicating that this Kaempferol could be a candidate for potential medical efficacy. Conclusions : It shows the relationship between the compound of garlic, an herbal supplement, and the biological process associated with GI motility disorder. These results are thought to help develop strategies for treating GI motility disorders.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.17-31
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• 2023

An activity-based model requires detailed population information to model individual travel behavior in a disaggregated manner. The recent innovative approach developed deep generative models with novel regularization terms that improves fidelity and diversity for population synthesis. Since the method relies on measuring the distance between distribution boundaries of the sample data and the generated sample, it is crucial to obtain well-defined continuous representation from the discretized dataset. Therefore, we propose an improved entity embedding models to enhance the performance of the regularization terms, which indirectly supports the synthesis in terms of feasible and diverse populations. Our results show a 28.87% improvement in the F1 score compared to the baseline method.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.75-87
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• 2024

Purpose: Dietary habits are strongly related to the symptoms of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Therefore, personalized nutrition management can help reduce symptoms and improve the quality of life of people with IBS. This study assessed the effectiveness of a personalized web-based nutrition management based on the types of food that trigger IBS symptoms. Methods: Sixty Korean adults with IBS according to Rome IV criteria in their 20s and 30s were enrolled in this study. The data from the final 49 patients who completed a three-month personalized nutrition intervention were analyzed. The general information, anthropometry, dietary intake survey, and gut microbiota were examined pre and post-intervention. The gut microbiota analysis included the relative abundance and the Shannon index. The food intake was recorded for two days for personalized nutrition education, followed by three months of personalized nutrition intervention. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test in SPSS 26.0, with the significance set to p < 0.05. Results: The relative abundance of the gut microbiota changed after personalized nutrition management, with a significant decrease in the presence of Veillonella (p = 0.048). Furthermore, when the gut microbiota was analyzed according to the type of food that triggers symptoms, the diversity was increased significantly in the high fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs) type (p = 0.031) and FODMAPs-containing gluten-type personalized nutrition intervention types (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Gut microbial diversity and gut microbiota distribution changed after using web-based personalized nutrition management. Hence, personalized nutrition management that considers trigger foods may improve IBS symptoms.