• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.56-60
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• 2002

Purpose Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major pathogen in both adults and children, causing significant morbidity and mortality In patients with nephrotic syndrome, Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of spontaneous peritonitis, and the increasing incidence of penicillin-resistance strain facilitates the development of effective vaccine. The limitation of current pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine prompted development of polysaccharide- protein conjugate vaccine. Methods: We reviewed the medical record of total 225 steroid responsive nephrotic patients to ascertain the effectiveness of 23- valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. Results. Twenty- eight patients have developed peritonitis during the courses, and 7 of those have recurrent peritonitis. Fifty- five patients were vaccinated and followed- up for 1- 108 months (mean 38.5 months), and during the follow- up period, pneumococcus related peritonitis was not detected. Vaccine- related relapse of nephrotic syndrome w as absent. Conclusion: In spite of the non- consensus about the efficacy of PPV23, clinically it benefits, and until the clinical trial of PCV7 is completed, PPV23 will be recommended. (J Korean Soc Pediatr Nephrol 2002;6: 56-60)

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.351-359
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• 2011

In a structure, damage can occur at several scales from micro-cracking to corrosion or loose bolts. This makes the identification of damage difficult with one mode of sensing. Hence, a multi-mode actuated sensing system is proposed based on a self-sensing circuit using a piezoelectric sensor. In the self sensing-based multi-mode actuated sensing, one mode provides a wide frequency-band structural response from the self-sensed impedance measurement and the other mode provides a specific frequency-induced structural wavelet response from the self-sensed guided wave measurement. In this study, an experimental study on the pipeline system is carried out to verify the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed structural health monitoring approach. Different types of structural damage are artificially inflicted on the pipeline system. To classify the multiple types of structural damage, a supervised learning-based statistical pattern recognition is implemented by composing a two-dimensional space using the damage indices extracted from the impedance and guided wave features. For more systematic damage classification, several control parameters to determine an optimal decision boundary for the supervised learning-based pattern recognition are optimized. Finally, further research issues will be discussed for real-world implementation of the proposed approach.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to report possibility of acupuncture or moxibustion for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) by reviewing literature about its effectiveness. Methods : In this review, PubMed, SCOPUS, Science Direct and CINAHL of EBSCOhost were used to search medical journals, using keywords "Parkinson's disease and acupuncture" and "Parkinson's disease and moxibustion". The search range included randomized controlled trials (RCT) about Parkinson's disease combined with another disease and other treatments with acupuncture or moxibustion. Non-randomized controlled trial (nRCT), case study, animal experiment, human experiment, review, survey, essay, letter, and protocol for review were excluded. Results : From 311 studies, 111 were selected during the title and the screening. Finally, 16 RCTs (15 for acupuncture research and one for moxibustion) were included in this review, after scanning and matching the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The number of patients varied between 5 and 88. A total of 12 studies using electroacupuncture (EA) were classified into acupuncture studies. The body acupuncture studies numbered 4, scalp acupuncture 4, body and scarp acupuncture mixed studies 4, and bee venom, ear and abdomen acupuncture were each one study. In evaluation methods, total effective rate method was used in 9 studies, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was used in 8, and the Webster score in 2. In addition, the Berg balance scale (BBS), 30 m walking time, steps to walk 30 m, PD motor function score, and Motor Performance Series by Schoppe (MLS) method were used for evaluation. In 15 of the 16 studies, the verum acupuncture group showed significant improvement compared with the control. In 9 studies using total effective rate method, the effective rate was reported as 80.0-97.3% in verum acupuncture groups and 52.6-86.4% in controls. Conclusions : Acupuncture may be a plausible alternative method to care for the long term symptoms and treat movement impairment of Parkinson's disease. However, to confirm this result, high quality studies including randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trials are warranted.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.372-388
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• 2018

Objective: This study evaluates the effectiveness and safety of moxibustion for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: Using the keywords "benign prostatic hyperplasia", "benign prostatic hypertrophy", "benign prostatic enlargement", "prostatic hyperplasia", and "moxibustion", we searched papers in numerous databases, including National Discovery for Science Leaders (NDSL), Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal (KTKP), Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS), Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), PubMed, Embase, and CENTRAL. The search range included randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Papers not matched with inclusion criteria were excluded. The methodological quality of each RCT was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Where appropriate, meta-analyses were performed. Results: Initially, 77 studies were found. Of these, 11 duplicate studies were removed and 27 were excluded following title and abstract screening. After the remaining 39 papers were scanned, 13 RCTs were selected and analyzed. Among these 13 RCTs, five compared moxibustion therapy and oral medication, seven compared moxibustion plus acupuncture therapy and oral medication, and one compared moxibustion plus acupuncture therapy and sham-moxibustion. The meta-analysis showed positive results for the use of moxibustion therapy in terms of International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), Quality Of Life (QOL), Maximum Flow Rate (Qmax), Prostate Volume (PV), and the efficacy rate. The meta-analysis showed positive results for the use of moxibustion plus acupuncture therapy in terms of IPSS, QOL, and the efficacy rate. Conclusions: This meta-analysis of clinical trials suggests that moxibustion is effective intreating BPH patients. The results of this study could be applied to clinical treatment of BPH. However, additional large-scale clinical researches should be conducted.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.169-184
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• 2016

Objectives: To investigate the neurophysiological effect of acupuncture treatment on insomnia patients using quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) and standardized Low Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography method (sLORETA).Background: Insomnia is one of the commonly encountered symptoms in primary medical care. Recent studies of acupuncture for insomnia reported that the acupuncture groups showed significant improvements compared with the control groups. However, the neurophysiological mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of insomnia has not been revealed and a few studies have measured the effect of acupuncture treatment using QEEG.Methods: Participants who had some problems in initiating or maintaining sleep, or had non-restorative sleep for more than 3 days a week and ISI scores above 8 and below 21 were treated by acupuncture for 2 weeks (3 times a week, total 6 times). We assessed the effectiveness of acupuncture for insomnia by the PSQI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) at baseline and at 2 weeks after the end of treatment (4th week). Also, we performed EEG and analysed the EEG data at baseline and at the end of treatment (2nd week) on the linked ears montage using the Neuroguide software program and sLORETA.Results: Thirty-two participants were enrolled and 2 participants dropped out because of personal reasons. Among the 30 participants, EEGs of 12 participants were included in the analysis of QEEG and sLORETA. Total score on the ISI and PSQI was significantly decreased after acupuncture treatment. The number of electrodes exceeding the range of 90% (±1.65) or 95% (±1.96) in the z scored absolute power of beta was significantly decreased after acupuncture treatment. There was no significant change in brain activation between pre- and post-acupuncture using sLORETA.Conclusions: The deviation of absolute power compared to the normative database was significantly decreased after acupuncture treatment in the alpha and beta ranges. Therefore, we suggest that acupuncture treatment for insomnia might be effective through the central nervous system especially in the brain. There are many limitations to drawing any conclusion. Further studies are needed in the future to overcome these limitations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.2 s.75
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• pp.115-130
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• 2005

This paper presents the effects of indirect costs on Life-Cycle-Cost(LCC) effective optimum design of steel-box girder bridges. The LCC formulations considered in the LCC optimization of the bridges consist of initial cost and expected rehabilitation costs including repair/replacement costs, loss of contents or fatality and injury losses, and indirect costs such as road user costs and indirect socio-economic losses. To demonstrate the LCC-effectiveness for optimum design of the bridges, an actual steel box girder bridge having two continuous spans(2@50m=100m) is considered as a numerical example. And also, in this paper, various sensitivity analyses are performed to investigate the effects of indirect costs caused by traffic conditions such as number of detour route, number of lane on detour route, length of detour route, and traffic volumes on the LCC-effective optimum design. From the numerical investigations, it may be concluded that indirect costs caused by traffic network may sensitively influence on the LCC-effective optimum design of steel-box girder bridges. Therefore, it may be stated that the traffic conditions should be considered as one of the important items in the LCC-effective optimum design of the bridges.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.17 no.2 s.75
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• pp.227-241
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• 2005

This paper presents a practical and realistic Life-Cycle Cost (LCC) optimum design methodology for steel bridges considering the long-term effect of environmental stressors such as corrosion and heavy truck traffics on bridge reliability. The LCC functions considered in the LCC optimization consist of initial cost, expected life-cycle maintenance cost, and expected life-cycle rehabilitation costs including repair/replacement costs, loss of contents or fatality and injury losses, road user costs, and indirect socio-economic losses. For the assessment of the life-cycle rehabilitation costs, the annual probability of failure, which depends upon the prior and updated load and resistance histories, should be accounted for. For the purpose, Nowak live load model and a modified corrosion propagation model, which takes into consideration corrosion initiation, corrosion rate, and repainting effect, are adopted in this study. The proposed methodology is applied to the LCC optimum design problem of an actual steel box girder bridge with 3 continuous spans (40m+50m+40m=130m). Various sensitivity analyses are performed to investigate the effects of various design parameters and conditions on the LCC-effectiveness. From the numerical investigation, it has been observed that local corrosion environments and the volume of truck traffic significantly influence the LCC-effective optimum design of steel bridges. Thus, these conditions should be considered as crucial parameters for the optimum LCC-effective design.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2000

Slug tests are the most widely used field method for quantification of hydraulic conductivity of porous media. Well recovery is affected by well casing, borehole radii, screened length, hydraulic conductivity, and specific storage of porous media. In this study, a new slug tests model was developed through finite element approximation and the validity and usefulness of the model were tested in various ways. Water level fluctuation in a well under slug test and cons-equent groundwater flow in the surrounding porous medium were appropriately coupled through estimation of well-flux using an iteration technique. Numerical accuracy of the model was verified using the Cooper et al. (1967) solution. The model has advantages in simulations for monitored slug tests, partial penetration, and inclusion of storage factor. Volume coverage of slug tests is significantly affected by storage factor. Magnitude and speed of propagation of head changes from a well increases as storage factor becomes low. It will be beneficial to use type curves of monitored head transients in the surrounding porous formation for estimation of specific storage. As the vertical component of groundwater flow is enhanced, the influence of storage factor on well recovery decreases. For a radial-vertical flow around a partially penetrated well, deviations between hydraulic estimates by various methods and data selection of recovery curve are negligible on practical purposes, whereas the deviations are somewhat significant for a radial flow.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.487-495
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• 2017

Recently rapid-transit railway systems have been constructed in many developing countries due to its advantages in congestions and environmental problems. Railway bridges show many different aspects compared to road bridges and passenger comfort and traffic safety are one of them. In particular, deflection and acceleration due to repeated vibration characteristics have a structural weakness that can cause undesirable response. Especially steel railway bridges have been known to have weaknesses due to its relatively light weights compared to concrete bridges. The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamic response of steel box girder bridges due to passing trains then propose the appropriate method to mitigate the level of vibration in terms of accelerations. Three steel railway bridges are tested and the numerical model to analyze the dynamic response of the bridge by passing train are developed. For the verification of the model, the natural frequency extracted using the acceleration data measured in the bridge is compared with the natural frequency of the numerical model. To mitigate the acceleration level of the bridge, parametric studies are performed to find the effectiveness of the method. Based on the analysis, the appropriate method is proposed for decreasing the acceleration of the bridge for passenger comfort and traffic safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.23 no.7 s.85
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• pp.77-86
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• 2005

Level of service(LOS) is a quantify measure describing operational conditions within a traffic stream, generally, in terms of such service measures as speed, travel time, freedom to measures, traffic interruptions, comfort and convenience. The LOS is leveled by highway facilities according to measure of effectiveness(MOE) and then used to evaluate performance capacity. The current evaluation of a urban road is performed by only a aspect of traffic operation without any concepts of safety. Therefore, this paper presents a method for evaluation of risk order for urban road with new MOE, user cost analysis, considering both smooth traffic operation(congestion) and traffic safety(accident). The user coat is included traffic accident cast by traffic safety and traffic congestion cost by traffic operation. First of all, a number of traffic accident and accident rate by highway geometric is inferred from urban road traffic accident prediction model (Poul Greibe(2001)) Secondly, a user cost is inferred as traffic accident cast and traffic congestion cost is putting together. Thirdly, a method for evaluation of a urban road is inferred by user cost analysis. Fourthly a accident rate by segment predict with traffic accidents and data related to the accidents in $1996{\sim}1998$ on 11 urban road segments, Gwang-Ju, predicted accident rate. Traffic accident cost predict using predicted accident rate, and, traffic congestion cost predict using predicted average traffic speed(KHCM). Fifthly, a risk order are presented by predicted user cost at each segment in urban roads. Finally, it si compared and evaluated that LOS of 11 urban road segments, Gwang-Ju, by only a aspect of traffic operation without any concepts of safety and risk order by a method for evaluation of urban road in this paper.