• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.328-332
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• 2006

The bioequivalence and pharmacokinetics of alendronate sodium tablets were examined by determining the plasma concentration of alendronate. Two groups, consisting of 24 healthy volunteers, each received a 70 mg reference alendronate sodium tablet and a test tablet in a $2{\times}2$ crossover study. There was a 6-day washout period between doses. The plasma alendronate concentration was monitored for 7 h after the dose, using HPLC-Fluorescence Detector (FD). The area under the plasma concentration-time curve from time 0 to the last sampling time at 7 h $(AUC_{0-7h})$ was calculated using the linear-log trapezoidal rule. The maximum plasma drug concentration $(C_{max})$ and the time to reach $C_{max}(T_{max})$ were derived from the plasma concentration-time data. Analysis of variance was performed using logarithmically transformed $AUC_{0-7h}\;and\;C_{max}$, and untransformed $T_{max}$. For the test medication versus the reference medication, the $AUC_{0-7h}\;were\;87.63{\pm}29.27\;vs.\;102.44{\pm}69.96ng\;h\;mL^{-1}$ and the $C_{max}$ values were $34.29{\pm}13.77\;vs.\;38.47{\pm}24.39ng\;mL^{-1}$ respectively. The $90\%$ confidence intervals of the mean differences of the logarithmic transformed $AUC_{0-7h}$ and $C_{max}$ values were log 0.8234-log 1.1597 and log 0.8222-log 1.1409, respectively, satisfying the bioequivalence criteria guidelines of both the US Food and Drug Administration and the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The other pharmacokinetic parameters for the test drug versus reference drug, respectively, were: $t_{1/2},\;1.87{\pm}0.62\;vs.\;1.77{\pm}0.54\;h;\;V/F,\;2061.30{\pm}986.49\;vs.\;2576.45{\pm}1826.05\;L;\;CL/F,\;835.32{\pm}357.35\;vs.\;889.48{\pm}485.87\;L\;h^{-1}; K_{el},\;0.42{\pm}0.14\;vs.\;0.40{\pm}0.18\;h^{-1};\;Ka,\;4.46{\pm}3.63\;vs.\;3.80{\pm}3.64\;h^{-1};\;and\;T_{lag},\;0.19{\pm}0.09\;vs.\;0.18{\pm}0.06\;h$. These results indicated that two alendronate formulations(70-mg alendronate sodium) were biologically equivalent and can be prescribed interchangeably.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1C
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• pp.63-74
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• 2008

Site response analyses were performed based on equivalent linear technique using the local geologic and dynamic site characteristics, which include soil profiles, shear wave velocity profiles and depth to bedrock for 125 sites collected in Korean Peninsula. From the results of site response analyses, 2-parameters site classification system based on the combination of mean shear wave velocity of soil and depth to bedrock was newly recommended for regions of shallow bedrock depth in Korea. First, as the borders of bedrock depth (H) for site classification were determined as 10m and 20m, the soil sites were divided into 3 classes as $H_1$, $H_2$ and $H_3$ sites. And then, the 3 site classes were subdivided into 7 classes based on the mean shear wave velocity of soil ($V_{s,soil}$). The feasibility of new site classification system was verified and the representative site coefficients ($F_a$ and $F_v$) and design response spectrum were suggested by analyzing uniform trend and dispersion of site coefficients for each site class. The suggested site coefficients and the regression curves present the nonlinear characteristics of soils according to the change of rock outcrop acceleration with uniform trend effectively. From the comparison between the mean values of response spectrum which was acquired from the site response analysis and the suggested design response spectrum, there was a little difference in some of site classes and it was verified to adjust the integration interval to make it more suitable for the site condition in Korea.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.223-232
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• 2012

Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between fish consumption and blood mercury levels in a sample of adult Koreans. Methods: The study subjects were 299 residents of Busan (male: 65, female: 234) and 185 residents of Namhae (male: 69, female: 116), South Korea. Demographic characteristics, current smoking, current drinking, fish consumption per week, past history of amalgam treatment, and residential district were recorded by trained interviewers in June and July, 2009. We considered a portion of fish to be equivalent to 70 gm weight, and calculated amounts of fish consumed per week. Using chi-square tests, t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression analysis, we estimated the relationships between blood mercury levels and amount of fish consumed per week and other factors. Results: The mean blood mercury level of our subjects was 6.61 ${\mu}g/L$, higher than the criterion defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (5.8 ${\mu}g/L$). In multiple linear regression analysis, residential district and amount of fish consumed per week were associated with blood mercury levels. However, marital status, current drinking, and gender, and age were not associated with blood mercury levels. Conclusions: In conclusion, we suggest the implementation of systematic and periodic population-based studies to decrease the risks of mercury poisoning among South Koreans who consume fish as a regular part of the diet.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.25 no.3 s.39
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• pp.247-268
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• 1992

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of VDT work on eyes and vision among workers in a TV manufacturing plant. The study subjects consisted of 264 screen workers and 74 non-screen workers who were less than 40 years old male and had no history of opthalmic diseases such as corneal opacities, trauma, keratitis, etc and whose visual acuity on pre-employment health examination by Han's test chart was 1.0 or above. The screen workers were divided into two groups by actual time for screen work in a day : Group I, 60 workers, lesser than 4 hours a day and group II, 204 workers, more than 4 hours a day. From July to October 1992 a questionnaire was administered to all the study subjects for the general charateristics and subjective eye symptoms after which the opthalmologic tests such as visual acuity, spherical equivalent, lacrimal function, ocular pressure, slit lamp test, fundoscopy were conducted by one opthalmologist. The proportion of workers whose present visual acuity was decreased more than 0.15 in comparison with that on the pre-employment health examination by Han's test chart was 20.6% in Group II. 15.0% in Group I and 14.9% in non-screen workers. However, the differences in proportion were not statistically significant. The proportion of workers with decreased visual acuity was not associated with the age, working duration, use of magnifying glass and type of shift work (independent variables) in all of the three groups. However, screen workers working under poor illumination had a higher proportion of persons with decreased visual acuity than those working under adequate illumination (P<0.05) . The proportion of workers whose near vision was decreased was 27.5% in Group II, 18.3% in Group I, and 28.4% in non-screen workers and these differences in proportion were not statistically significant. Changes of near vision were not associated with 4 independent variables in all of the three groups. Six out of seven subjective eye symptoms except tearing were more common in Group I than in non-screen workers and more common in Group II than in Group I (P<0.01). Mean of the total scores for seven subjective symptoms of each worker(2 points for always, 1 point for sometimes, 0 point for never) was not significantly different between workers with decreased visual acuity and workers with no vision change. However, mean of the total scores for Group II was higher than those for the Group I and non-screen workers (P<0.01). Total eye symptom scores were significantly correlated with the grade of screen work, use of magnifying glass, and type of shift work. There was no independent variable which was correlated with the difference in visual acuity between the pre-employment health examination and the present state, the difference between far and near visions, lacrimal function, ocular pressure, and spherical equivalent. Multiple linear regression analysis for the subjective eye symptom scores revealed a positive linear relationship with actual time for screen work and shift work(P<0.01). In this study it was not observed that the VDT work decreased visual acuity but it induces subjective eye symptoms such as eye fatigue, blurred vision, ocular discomfort, etc. Maintenance of adequate illumination in the work place and control of excessive VDT work are recommended to prevent such eye symptoms.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.409-420
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• 2012

Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels have been increasing with climate change. In this study, Analyze time-series changes in snow cover quantitatively and predict the vanishing point of snow cover statistically using remote sensing. The study area is Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. 23 image data of Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+, spanning the 27 years from June 1984 to July 2011, were acquired. For this study, first, atmospheric correction was performed on each image using the COST atmospheric correction model. Second, the snow cover area was extracted using the NDSI (Normalized Difference Snow Index) algorithm. Third, the minimum height of snow cover was determined using SRTM DEM. Finally, the vanishing point of snow cover was predicted using the trend line of a linear function. Analysis was divided using a total of 23 images and 17 images during the dry season. Results show that snow cover area decreased by approximately $6.47km^2$ from $9.01km^2$ to $2.54km^2$, equivalent to a 73% reduction. The minimum height of snow cover increased by approximately 290 m, from 4,603 m to 4,893 m. Using the trend line result shows that the snow cover area decreased by approximately $0.342km^2$ in the dry season and $0.421km^2$ overall each year. In contrast, the annual increase in the minimum height of snow cover was approximately 9.848 m in the dry season and 11.251 m overall. Based on this analysis of vanishing point, there will be no snow cover 2020 at 95% confidence interval. This study can be used to monitor global climate change by providing the change in snow cover area and reference data when studying this area or similar areas in future research.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2014

Near surface air temperature data which are one of the essential factors in hydrology, meteorology and climatology, have drawn a substantial amount of attention from various academic domains and societies. Meteorological observations, however, have high spatio-temporal constraints with the limits in the number and distribution over the earth surface. To overcome such limits, many studies have sought to estimate the near surface air temperature from satellite image data at a regional or continental scale with simple regression methods. Alternatively, we applied various Kriging methods such as ordinary Kriging, universal Kriging, Cokriging, Regression Kriging in search of an optimal estimation method based on near surface air temperature data observed from automatic weather stations (AWS) in South Korea throughout 2010 (365 days) and MODIS land surface temperature (LST) data (MOD11A1, 365 images). Due to high spatial heterogeneity, auxiliary data have been also analyzed such as land cover, DEM (digital elevation model) to consider factors that can affect near surface air temperature. Prior to the main estimation, we calculated root mean square error (RMSE) of temperature differences from the 365-days LST and AWS data by season and landcover. The results show that the coefficient of variation (CV) of RMSE by season is 0.86, but the equivalent value of CV by landcover is 0.00746. Seasonal differences between LST and AWS data were greater than that those by landcover. Seasonal RMSE was the lowest in winter (3.72). The results from a linear regression analysis for examining the relationship among AWS, LST, and auxiliary data show that the coefficient of determination was the highest in winter (0.818) but the lowest in summer (0.078), thereby indicating a significant level of seasonal variation. Based on these results, we utilized a variety of Kriging techniques to estimate the surface temperature. The results of cross-validation in each Kriging model show that the measure of model accuracy was 1.71, 1.71, 1.848, and 1.630 for universal Kriging, ordinary Kriging, cokriging, and regression Kriging, respectively. The estimates from regression Kriging thus proved to be the most accurate among the Kriging methods compared.