• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.221-227
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• 2013

A sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed for the investigation of the ginsenoside Rg1 in human plasma. After addition of internal standard (digoxin), plasma was diluted with acetone and methanol (80:20), the supernatant was concentrated and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The optimal chromatographic separation was achieved on an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column ($4.6{\times}150mm$, $5{\mu}m$) with a mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.1% formic acid in methanol at a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min gradient mode. The standard calibration curve for ginsenoside Rg1 was linear ($r^2=0.9995$) over the concentration range 1~500 ng/mL in human plasma. The intra- and inter-day precision over the concentration range of ginsenoside Rg1 was lower than 7.53% (correlation of variance, CV), and accuracy exceeded 98.28%. This LC-MS/MS assay of ginsenoside Rg1 in human plasma is applicable for quantifying in the pharmacokinetic study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.577-586
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• 2018

In Korea, sustainability is mandatory in every field. University campuses are educational facilities that consume considerable amounts of energy. Therefore, many universities have tried to take advantage of the last opportunity to prepare students with sustainability and leadership. This study compared the green campus policy and evaluation criteria among Korea, US AASHE, UNEP, and ISCN-GULF to vitalize the green campus movement and suggest recent research data for the Korea green campus accreditation. The results are as follows: 1. new evaluation criteria need to be added to the certified green building total floor area ratio instead of adapting the G-SEED system in the Campus Resource & Environments category; 2. Korean Green Campus Evaluations need to be improved when expressing the campus individuality by choosing an increased number of credits and criteria; and 3. new evaluation criteria are required to secure the result, feedback, and products from curriculum updates in the Campus Education category.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.89-97
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• 2018

In the past, hospitals were planned with a minimum of public space for the sole purpose of treatment. On the other hand, modern hospitals have more public space as the importance of the healing environment increases and are planned taking into consideration the patients, guardians, and medical staff. In addition, the lobby shape is developed from a HALL type and planned as a STREET type or CONCOURSE type, increasing the public area. Unlike past hospitals, which were used as reception, waiting, and procedure spaces, modern hospitals are used as commercial, hobby, and cultural space. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the healing environment of the hospital lobby based on the shape of the plane surface by deducting the elements of general hospitals' healing environment from preceding studies as a framework. The hospital lobby is an important place where many actions occur. Therefore, 3 types of cases were evaluated based on the plane form. As a result of the study, the STREET type showed a better healing environment than the HALL type, but the accessibility, roof garden, and resting place showed similar results. Because the case was based on a large general hospital, which had sufficient planned space, the factor has little to do with the style of the lobby. Among the STREET types, the linear atrium showed a better result in terms of the sense of space and inflow effect of natural lighting than the four-sided atrium because the linear atrium has large open volume ratio. When the lobby plane is the HALL type, a cross section of the courtyard had a large open volume ratio. Therefore, the shape of the cross section is as important as the plane form of the lobby.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.117-122
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the developed countries. Despite advances in screening, improved local therapies and adjuvant systemic treatments, median survival of metastatic breast cancer patients (MBC) is in the range of 2-3 years at most. We aimed to investigate whether the prognostic factors and therapeutic responses of our Turkish patients are similar to those in the literature. Materials and Methods: We reviewed the medical records of MBC patients who had been treated in our institution between 1999-2009 and analyzed their clinicopathological features and survival outcomes retrospectively Results: A hundred and sixty patients were included. Median age was 47 (23-82), median follow up was 24 (2-186) months. At the time of diagnosis 59% of patients were under the age of 50 and 46% were postmenopausal. The majority (37%) had multiple sites of metastases. Forty percent received endocrine therapy and 40% chemotherapy as first line metastatic treatment. Thirty (20%) patients were treated with molecular targeting agents like trastuzumab, lapatinib and sunitinib, frequently combined with a chemotherapy agent. Five-year overall survival (OS) was 32% and median OS was 38 months for the whole group. Five year progression free survival (PFS) was 10% and median PFS was 10 months. Menopausal status, hormone receptor expression and disease free status had a significant impact on overall survival in the multivariate analysis (p 0.018, p 0.018 and p:0.003, respectively). Conclusions: All our patients were treated with the modern oncologic therapies recommended by the international guidelines. From our data, MBC patients live up to 3-4 years, indicating that further improvement beyond that requires development of new treatment modalities. The survival outcomes of our patients were consistent with the data reported in the literature.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1357-1362
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• 2014

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is a potentially modifiable risk factor that may be targeted for breast cancer (BC) prevention. It may also be related to prognosis after diagnosis and treatment. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency as measured by serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25-OHD) levels in patients with BC and to evaluate its correlations with life-style and treatments. Materials and Methods: This study included 186 patients with stage 0-III BC treated in our breast center between 2010-2013. The correlation between serum baseline 25-OHD levels and supplement usage, age, menopausal status, diabetes mellitus, usage of bisphosphonates, body-mass index (BMI), season, dressing style, administration of systemic treatments and radiotherapy were investigated. The distribution of serum 25-OHD levels was categorized as deficient (<10ng/ml), insufficient (10-24 ng/ml), and sufficient (25-80 ng/ml). Results: The median age of the patients was 51 years (range: 27-79 years) and 70% of them had deficient/insufficient 25-OHD levels. On univariate analysis, vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency was more common in patients with none or low dose vitamin D supplementation at the baseline, high BMI (${\geq}25$), no bisphosphonate usage, and a conservative dressing style. On multivariate analysis, none or low dose vitamin D supplementation, and decreased sun-exposure due to a conservative dressing style were found as independent factors increasing risk of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency 28.7 (p=0.002) and 13.4 (p=0.003) fold, respectively. Conclusions: The prevalence of serum 25-OHD deficiency/insufficiency is high in our BC survivors. Vitamin D status should be routinely evaluated for all women, especially those with a conservative dressing style, as part of regular preventive care, and they should take supplemental vitamin D.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.5043-5047
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• 2014

Nowadays increasing effectiveness in cancer therapy and investigation of formation of new strategies that enhance antiproliferative activity against target organs has become a subject of interest. Although the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis can not be fully explained, it is known that cell suicide program existing in their memory genetically is activated by pathophysiological conditions and events such as oxidative stress. Low pressure (hypobaric) conditions that create hypoxia promote apoptosis by inhibiting cell cycling. In this study, determination of the effects of fractional hypobaric applications at different times on HeLa cells at cellular and molecular levels were targeted. Experiments were carried out under hypobaric conditions (35.2 kPa) in a specially designed hypobaric cabin including 2% $O_2$ and 98% N. Application of fractional hypobaric conditions was repeated two times for 3 hours with an interval of 24 hours. At the end of the implementation period cells were allowed to incubate for 24 hours for activation of repair mechanisms. Cell kinetic parameters such as growth rate (MTT) and apoptotic index were used in determination of the effect of hypobaric conditions on HeLa cells. Also in our study expression levels of the Bcl-2 gene family that have regulatory roles in apoptosis were determined by the RT-PCR technique to evaluate molecular mechanisms. The results showed that antiproliferative effect of hypobaric conditions on HeLa cells started three hours from the time of application and increased depending on the period of exposure. While there was a significant decrease in growth rate values, there was a significant increase in apoptotic index values (p<0.01). Also molecular studies showed that hypobaric conditions caused a significant increase in expression level of proapoptotic gene Bax and significant decrease in antiapoptotic Bfl-1. Consequently fractional application of hypobaric conditions on HeLa cell cultures increased both antiproliferative and apoptotic effects and these effects were triggered by the Bax gene.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.155-165
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• 2010

In low-lying districts of urban areas, pump stations were built to protect flooding by the heavy rain. Particularly, the automatic pump operation system was installed for efficiency in the pump stations of Seoul. However, the effective pump operation is difficult under existing operating system because the system only performs operation by reservoir depth. This study would like to improve the real time operating system suggested by Jun et al.(2007) and to apply the system Gasan 1 pump station in Seoul. For various design rainfall events, maximum water levels simulated by the suggested system were 10~70cm lower than results by the existing system. And overflow volume at upstream manholes were 50% reduced. We converted the flood control effects by establishment of the suggested system to economic indicators. To obtain the same effect, approximately 4.9 billion won needs to expand pump capacities or 3.2~6.9 hundreds million won needs to construct storm water detention on upstream area. The suggested system could improve the flood control stability by efficient operation of the existing pump station.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.2201-2211
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• 2015

In Korea, several design competition have been conducted to revitalize the cultural function of some areas using under-used space. However, though such sites include public and urban assets inherently, these projects defined their boundary as an isolated architectural or landscape design. Hence, this study will clarify the differentiated design content and process for public regeneration of under-used space through analysis of the case-study. For this purpose, firstly, the public and urban assets of under-used space will be analyzed to prove that it should be handled with wider boundaries and perspectives. And then, this study will reveal the limitation of design contents and process of Korean design competitions linking to the regeneration of under-used space after analyzing several case studies. Lastly, some differentiated design inducements conducted by the City of Oslo for the each regeneration plan of under-used space will be deducted, focusing on the fact that those projects have been implemented in more urban and connected ways. As a result, this study is strongly aiming to insist that the revitalization of under-used space should not be implemented by advertising a poetic symbolism. Instead, it must be an practical integrated plan emphasizing the connectivity with surrounding environment and diverse plan.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.520-526
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• 2012

Various forms of fermented soybean products are well documented for their health benefits. The efficacy of anti-obesogenic effect of Doenjang, one of the most commonly used seasonings in Korean cuisine, has been reported only in animal models; thus, an evaluation of Doenjang needs to be conducted in human studies. We aimed to test the hypothesis that Doenjang supplementation reduces body weight and changes body composition in overweight adults. A total of 51 overweight adults participated in this study. A group of males with BMI ${\geq}23kg/m^2$ and waist to hip ratio (WHR) ${\geq}$ 0.90, and a group of females with BMI ${\geq}23kg/m^2$ and WHR ${\geq}$ 0.85 were randomly assigned to either a Doenjang supplement (9.9 g dry/day) group or a placebo group for a 12-week randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study. Anthropometric parameters, abdominal fat distribution by computerized tomography (CT) and blood components were measured before and after the intervention period. After the 12-week study, the Doenjang supplementation group had significant reductions in body weight (kg), body fat mass (kg) and body fat (%) compared to the placebo group, the supplementation of Doenjang resulted in a significant reduction in visceral fat ($cm^2$), although no changes were observed in total and subcutaneous fat are as ($cm^2$), serum lipid profiles and dietary intakes. The present study demonstrated that daily supplementation of 9.9 g dry/day of Doenjang for 12 weeks reduces body weight and visceral fat in overweight adults.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.307-313
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• 2006

In order to improve the efficiency of methane steam reforming process, a part of the system which produces hydrogen from heavy hydrocarbon resources such as coal, we combined metal catalyst with CaO sorbent and fabricated catalyst/sorbent. To increase the porosity and the compressive strength of sorbent, carbon black and ${\alpha}-alumina$ were mixed with CaO powder during preparation. The effects of sorbent composition on the physical properties were investigated by SEM, TGA, BET, XRD, abrasion strength measuring device and adsorption-desorption instrument. Sorbent with 5 wt％ $Al_2O_3$ and 10 wt％ carbon black showed the best physical features with $7.61kg_f$ strength and 47％ $CO_2$ adsorption capability. Various metal catalysts such as Ni, Co and Fe were supported on the sorbent developed and 10 wt％ Ni/sorbent was selected for methane steam reforming process based on the result of reaction experiment. The reaction system using the catalyst/sorbent showed better $H_2$ productivity compared to the detached system with catalyst and sorbent, indicating the effectiveness of the system developed in this study.