• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.123-131
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• 2018

Purpose: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is mostly asymptomatic but can be detrimental to certain hosts. We investigated changes of CMV seroprevalence in Koreans before and after the year 2000. Methods: We reviewed laboratory values of patients who were tested for CMV immunoglobulin G (IgG) at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, from January 1995 to December 2015. Changes in seroprevalence were analyzed by gender, age, region, and tested year period (period 1, 1995-2005 vs. period 2, 2006-2015). Results: Overall CMV seropositivity was 94.1% (10,900/11,584). There was no significant difference for CMV seropositivity among the two periods (94.2% vs. 94.1%) (P=0.862). CMV seropositivity in the 11 to 20-year age group in period 2 (78.8%) was significantly lower than that of period 1 (89.9%) (P=0.001). The seropositivity of individuals aged 31-40 years (97.4%) was significantly higher than that of younger age groups (P<0.001) and lower than that of older age groups (P<0.001). Of 2,441 females of reproductive age (from 15 to 49), CMV seropositivity was 97% (2,467/2,441). The seropositivity in women aged 20-24-years was higher than that of men in the same age group (97.6% vs. 85.6%, P=0.003). No significant difference was observed among different regions. Conclusions: Overall CMV seropositivity of Koreans was estimated to be 94% and the average seropositivity of reproductive women was 97%. Monitoring of the changes in seroprevalence including the reproductive age group is needed in the future.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.449-456
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• 2018

Cervical cancer is the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. In lower Human Development Index countries, it has the second highest incidence and mortality among cancer in women. Therefore, better diagnosis and treatment systems are needed. Among them, estrogen receptor alpha ($ER-{\alpha}$) mRNA expression has been analyzed with RT-qPCR since several studies reported that $ER-{\alpha}$ is necessary in the maturation of the uterus and is related to cervical cancer. In this study, $ER-{\alpha}$ quantitative analysis was performed on various lesions and normal tissue samples. Based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, its sensitivity and specificity were 85% and 75%, respectively, showing higher or similar results to those of conventional HPV tests. In addition, its expression level was analyzed with clinical information. With regression analysis, the R square value between the $ER-{\alpha}$ mRNA expression level and menopause status was 0.5041, indicating a strong correlation. This study was performed as part of a pilot study and suggests that $ER-{\alpha}$ is related to carcinogenesis. Future studies will examine other hormones and menopausal factors with a larger sample size.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.398-409
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• 2018

Organic farming practices including loach based ecosystem-farming have been demonstrated to be effective in conjunction with rice farming to increase yield and quality. This new form of farming combines agriculture and fishery and is quickly developing into a new industry. The current study investigated the effect of rice-fish mixed farming system on the vegetation-diversity function. Vegetation within the four study sites was surveyed and analyzed based on plant taxonomy. The vegetation survey demonstrated that 127 taxa of 38 families, 100 genera, 107 species, and 20 varieties occurred within the study sites. A total of 15 plant species taxa occurred in the rice-fish mixed paddy fields with a fish habitat and did not occur in the conventional paddy field lacking fish habitat. This difference is thought to arise from differences in moisture requirements for vegetation. Life form analysis demonstrated differences in hemicryptophytes, therophytes, and hydrophytes according to fish habitat. The naturalized plants identified were also determined to be species widely distributed throughout Korea. Frequency analysis demonstrated that the rice-fish mixed paddy fields with a fish habitat had a high ratio of both obligate and facultative wetland plants relative to the conventional paddy field. Based on the study results, it is likely that vegetation-diversity will increase with environment diversity. However, no statistical significance was observed according to paddy types. Future research should aim to identify additional environmental factors, including the existence of fish habitat, habitat area, depth of fish habitat, hydrological parameters, water quality, and paddy soil environment, to enhance vegetation-diversity and biocultural diversity.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.1038-1047
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• 2018

This study confirmed possibility of cosmetic material for Espresso coffee grounds extracted at high temperature, high pressure, short time and Dutch coffee grounds extracted at low temperature, atmospheric pressure, long time. For this purpose, we evaluated the biological activities of antioxidant, anti-wrinkles and antimicrobial effects using ethanol extracts of Esproso and Dutch coffee grounds. The results of total polyphenolic compound contents was $90.39{\pm}0.04mg/g$ for Dutch coffee grounds extract, which was higher than $64.96{\pm}0.38mg/g$ for Espresso coffee grounds extract, based on $113.63{\pm}0.22mg/g$ for coffee beans extract as the reference one. DPPH radical scavenging activity and SOD-like activity of Dutch coffee grounds extract were found to be better than those of Espresso coffee grounds extracts, referenced on coffee bean extract. As a result of inhibition effect of Elastase activity, Dutch coffee grounds extract showed higher inhibition effect than Espresso coffee grounds extract, based on coffee bean extract. In addition, Dutch coffee grounds extract showed good anti-microbial effects at Escherichia coli, Bacillus, Propionibacterium acnes and there was little difference in the clear zone size between Dutch coffee grounds extract and coffee bean extract as a reference one. From the results of the experiments, it was confirmed that Dutch coffee grounds extract had excellent antioxidant, anti-wrinkle and antimicrobial effects and could be used as safe natural cosmetic material in the future.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.380-388
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• 2018

This research team extracted keywords from 953 papers published in the Journal of Dental Hygiene Science from 2001 to 2018 for keyword and centrality analyses using the Keyword Network Analysis method. Data were analyzed using Excel 2016 and NetMiner Version 4.4.1. By conducting a deeper analysis between keywords by overall keyword and time frame, we arrived at the following conclusions. For the 17 years considered for this study, the most frequently used words in a dental science paper were "Health," "Oral," "Hygiene," and "Hygienist." The words that form the center by connecting major words in the Journal of Dental Hygiene through the upper-degree centrality words were "Health," "Dental," "Oral," "Hygiene," and "Hygienist." The upper betweenness centrality words were "Dental," "Health," "Oral," "Hygiene," and "Student." Analysis results of the degree centrality words per period revealed "Health" (0.227), "Dental" (0.136), and "Hygiene" (0.136) for period 1; "Health" (0.242), "Dental" (0.177), and "Hygiene" (0.113) for period 2; "Health" (0.200), "Dental" (0.176), and "Oral" (0.082) for period 3; and "Dental" (0.235), "Health" (0.206), and "Oral" (0.147) for period 4. Analysis results of the betweenness centrality words per period revealed "Oral" (0.281) and "Health" (0.199) for period 1; "Dental" (0.205) and "Health" (0.169) for period 2, with the weight then dispersing to "Hygiene" (0.112), "Hygienist" (0.054), and "Oral" (0.053); "Health" (0.258) and "Dental" (0.246) for period 3; and "Oral" (0.364), "Health" (0.353), and "Dental" (0.333) for period 4. Based on the above results, we hope that further studies will be conducted in the future with diverse study subjects.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.51-66
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• 2018

As AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies have been swiftly evolved, a lot of products and services are under development in various fields for better users' experience. On this technology advance, negative effects of AI technologies also have been discussed actively while there exists positive expectation on them at the same time. For instance, many social issues such as trolley dilemma and system security issues are being debated, whereas autonomous vehicles based on artificial intelligence have had attention in terms of stability increase. Therefore, it needs to check and analyse major social issues on artificial intelligence for their development and societal acceptance. In this paper, multi-categorical sentiment analysis is conducted over online public opinion on artificial intelligence after identifying the trending topics related to artificial intelligence for two years from January 2016 to December 2017, which include the event, match between Lee Sedol and AlphaGo. Using the largest web portal in South Korea, online news, news headlines and news comments were crawled. Considering the importance of trending topics, online public opinion was analysed into seven multiple sentimental categories comprised of anger, dislike, fear, happiness, neutrality, sadness, and surprise by topics, not only two simple positive or negative sentiment. As a result, it was found that the top sentiment is "happiness" in most events and yet sentiments on each keyword are different. In addition, when the research period was divided into four periods, the first half of 2016, the second half of the year, the first half of 2017, and the second half of the year, it is confirmed that the sentiment of 'anger' decreases as goes by time. Based on the results of this analysis, it is possible to grasp various topics and trends currently discussed on artificial intelligence, and it can be used to prepare countermeasures. We hope that we can improve to measure public opinion more precisely in the future by integrating empathy level of news comments.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• 제63권4호
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• pp.331-337
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• 2018

The content of nutrients, proteins, and oils of crop seeds is affected by global climate change due to the increase in temperature. Information regarding the effects of increased temperature on soybean seed nutrition is limited despite its vital role in seed quality and food security. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of increasing temperature on seed nutrient, protein, and oil content in two soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr] cultivars (Daewonkong and Pungsannamulkong during the reproductive period in a temperature-gradient chamber. Four temperature treatments, Ta (near ambient temperature), $Ta+1^{\circ}C$ (ambient temperature+$1^{\circ}C$), $Ta+2^{\circ}C$ (ambient temperature+$2^{\circ}C$), $Ta+3^{\circ}C$ (ambient temperature+$3^{\circ}C$), and $Ta+4^{\circ}C$ (ambient temperature+$4^{\circ}C$), were established by dividing the rows along the temperature gradient. At maturity, increased temperature did not significantly affect the concentration of P, K, Ca, and Mg. The protein and oil content was significantly correlated with temperature. At maturity, the protein content of DWK and PSNK was reduced at $Ta+4^{\circ}C$. The oil content was the highest at $Ta+4^{\circ}C$ in DWK, whereas it decreased in PSNK at $Ta+4^{\circ}C$. Consequently, the biochemical composition of soybean seeds changed with the increase in temperature. These results illustrate the effects of temperature on soybean seed nutrient, protein, and oil content, which can help improve soybean quality at different temperatures. Thus, the biochemical composition of crop seeds can be changed in accordance with nutritional requirements for the benefit of human health in the future.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• 제44권1호
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• pp.28-38
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• 2019

Objectives: We searched and reviewed the literature including the laws or acts, statistics, guidelines, papers and conference proceedings related to home visit nursing care in South Korea. Method: We searched and reviewed the literature including the laws or acts, statistics, guidelines, papers and conference proceedings related to home visit nursing care in Korea. Results: There are three types of home care nursing in Korea. Public health center provides home visit nursing to vulnerable population by registered nurses for free, based on community health act in public health center. As of 2017, 1,261,208 people were enrolled in the visiting health program of public health center. Health behavior and disease management has been improved and showed having cost-benefit effect among the enrolled people in visiting health program. Visiting nursing care in long-term care services is provided by registered nurses or nurse aid, based on long-term care act. The cost is paid as the unit price according to service time. 1,095,764 older people used long-term care services in 2017, only 0.2% of total cost used for home visiting nursing. Even though the number of user of home visiting nursing, it was reported that users spent less medical cost and hospitalized shorter. Hospital-based home care nursing is provided to patients and their families under the prescription of a doctor by family nurse specialists who are employed by medical institute based on medical law. Four hundred sixty family nurse specialists worked for hospital-based home care nursing and hospital-based home care services accounted for 0.038% of total medical expenses in 2017. Conclusion: Even though home visit nursing care services are different in aspect of legal basis, personnel, running institutes, and cost basis, home visit nursing care showed cost-benefit effect and good health outcomes. In order to advance home visit nursing care, the integrated home visiting care, improvement of working condition, and revision of legal basis should be considered.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.695-703
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• 2018

This study was conducted to suggest a sustainable farming practice forresource recycling in vegetable gardens of North Korea. In North Korea, farmers are allowed to own private vegetable gardens less than $100m^2$. However, usage of fertilizers in private vegetable gardens is very limited due to economic sanctions by UN security council. If North and South Korea initiated the cooperative action in the near future, agricultural sector would be the highest priority cooperation area. Considering the current North Korean situation in agriculture, we would like to suggest a method for producing organic fertilizer manure. For raw materials for producing manure, we selected corn byproduct, which is the most abundant material, and rabbits' feces, which are easily obtained from individual private farms in North Korea. As we cannot get corn byproducts and rabbits' feces from North Korea, we prepared samples of corn byproducts and rabbits; feces from many places in South Korea. After statistical analysis of variance, there was no significant difference in the T-N contents of corn byproducts from Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Jeollabuk and Gyeongsangnam-dos, which indicates that the fertilizing quality of corn byproducts does not vary significantly in the spatial scale of South. Korea. In this sense, if we use corn samples from Gyeonggi province, they would not be very different from those of North Korean regions. Physicochemical properties of rabbits' feces were different between those eating feed grains and those eating plants only. Hence, we used rabbits' feces of the rabbits from Yeonchun area, which were fed by plants only. Using three different mixing ratios of corn byproducts and rabbits' feces, composting was conducted for 60 days. The mixing ratio of 1:1 produced the manure with % T-N of 1.98% and OM/N ratio of 31.7 after 30 days of composting, which is comparable to the quality of commercial manure.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• 제27권6호
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• pp.674-684
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to construct ecological pond using LID technique in order to create naturally comfortable community space in urban idle space. The specification of the ecological pond is $110m^2$ of surface area, $0.45{\pm}0.02m$ of average depth, and bed material is composed of gravel (diameter ${\leq}60mm$), sand (diameter ${\leq}2mm$) and bentonite. Rainfall and water depth monitoring were conducted to determine the annual characteristics of inflow of the water for the ecological pond, result of total rainfall was 1,287 mm and showed a seasonal imbalance that accounted for 71.3% (918 mm) during July to August, but the annual mean water depth was kept constant at $0.45{\pm}0.02m$ due to the secondary water source. Annual trends of basic water quality showed a significant changes according to the season, such as water temperature ($5.2{\sim}28.8^{\circ}C$), DO (5.0 ~ 13.8 mg/L), EC ($113{\sim}265{\mu}S/cm$). BOD, COD, TN, and TP in physicochemical water quality tended to increase after October, but the ion parameters such as $NH_3$ and $PO_4{^{3-}}$ were generally low. Phytoplankton indicators Chl-a and BGA (blue green algae) showed a sharp increase from July to August, and green algae (Selenastrum bibraianum, Pediastrum boryanum etc.) and filamentous blue green algae (Phormidium sp.) emerged as a dominant species. The ion parameters ($F^-$, $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$) were strongly correlated with the $Cl^-$ as a conservative substance (R=0.70~0.97, p<0.05). Water quality was influenced by the ambient environment such as seasonal changes or rainfall, and it was closely related to fluctuation of the inflow of the water. In the future, it is necessary to consider ecological connections by referring to the characteristics surveyed in this study in order to effectively manage the water quality and biodiversity of the ecological pond in idle space.