• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.730-739
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• 2022

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes severe infections and poses a global healthcare challenge. The utilization of novel molecules which confer synergistical effects to existing MRSA-directed antibiotics is one of the well-accepted strategies in lieu of de novo development of new antibiotics. Thymol is a key component of the essential oil of plants in the Thymus and Origanum genera. Despite the absence of antimicrobial potency, thymol is known to inhibit MRSA biofilm formation. However, the anti-MRSA activity of thymol analogs is not well characterized. Here, we assessed the antimicrobial activity of several thymol derivatives and found that 4-chloro-2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol (chlorothymol) has antimicrobial activity against MRSA and in addition it also prevents biofilm formation. Chlorothymol inhibited staphyloxanthin production, slowed MRSA motility, and altered bacterial cell density and size. This compound also showed a synergistic antimicrobial activity with oxacillin against highly resistant S. aureus clinical isolates and biofilms associated with these isolates. Our results demonstrate that chlorinated thymol derivatives should be considered as a new lead compound in anti-MRSA therapeutics.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.612-620
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• 2022

Recent studies have revealed that probiotics and their metabolites are present under various conditions; however, the role of probiotic metabolites (i.e., postbiotics in pathological states) is controversial. Natural killer (NK) cells play a key role in innate and adaptive immunity. In this study, we examined NK cell activation influenced by a postbiotics mixture in response to gut microbiome modulation in stress-induced mice. In vivo activation of NK cells increased in the postbiotics mixture treatment group in accordance with Th1/Th2 expression level. Meanwhile, the Red Ginseng treatment group, a reference group, showed very little expression of NK cell activation. Moreover, the postbiotics mixture treatment group in particular changed the gut microbiome composition. Although the exact role of the postbiotics mixture in regulating the immune system of stress-induced mice remains unclear, the postbiotics mixture-induced NK cell activation might have affected gut microbiome modulation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.447-456
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• 2022

This study was conducted to propose a way to increase the accuracy and precision of 𝛽-ray measurement equipment. Statistical processing results of equivalent evaluation data from 2016 to 2021 confirmed that the concentration of micro dust measured by 𝛽-ray measurement equipment was higher than that of micro dust sampler. According to quarterly data, it was confirmed that the data from the third quarter (July to September) showed a different trend from other periods, which is assumed to be due to weather conditions. This study indicates that automatic micro-dust measurement equipment evaluation at air pollution measuring stations during the third quarter should be excluded. The evaluation cycle should be changed from once every two years to quarterly. In addition, when the criterion for determining equivalence evaluation falls within the range of the slope and intercept values of the existing trend line, it is necessary to evaluate the R² value together and reduce the slope from 0.9-1.1 to 0.9-1.0.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2022

We propose a novel network architecture and build dataset for recognizing clickable objects on mobile device screens. The data was collected based on clickable objects on the mobile device screen that have numerous resolution, and a total of 24,937 annotation data were subdivided into seven categories: text, edit text, image, button, region, status bar, and navigation bar. We use the Deconvolution Single Shot Detector as a baseline, the backbone network with Squeeze-and-Excitation blocks, the Single Shot Detector layer structure to derive inference results and the Feature pyramid networks structure. Also we efficiently extract features by changing the input resolution of the existing 1:1 ratio of the network to a 1:2 ratio similar to the mobile device screen. As a result of experimenting with the dataset we have built, the mean average precision was improved by up to 101% compared to baseline.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.1433-1442
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• 2021

In this study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae culture fluid (SCCF) has been added to a diet of lactating dairy cows to attempt to improve the ruminal fermentation and potentially increase the dry matter intake (DMI) and milk yield. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of SCCF on the milk yield and blood biochemistry in lactating cows during the summer. Twenty-four Holstein dairy cows were randomly assigned to one of four treatments: (1) total mixed ration (TMR-1) (Control); (2) TMR-1 supplemented with SCCF (T1); (3) TMR-2 (containing alfalfa hay) (T2); and (4) TMR-2 supplemented with SCCF (T3). SCCF (5 ml/head, 2.0×10⁷ CFU/mL) was mixed with TMRs daily before feeding to dairy cows. The mean daily temperature-humidity index (THI) during this trial was 76.92 ± 0.51 on average and ranged from 73.04 to 81.19. For particle size distribution, TMR-2 had a lower >19 mm fraction and a higher 8-9 mm fraction than TMR-1 (p < 0.05). The type of TMR did not influence the DMI, body weight (BW), milk yield and composition, or blood metabolites. The milk yield and composition were not affected by the SCCF supplementation, but somatic cell counts were reduced by feeding SCCF (p < 0.05). Feeding SCCF significantly increased the DMI but did not affect the milk yield of dairy cows. The NEFA concentration was slightly decreased compared to that in the control and T2 groups without SCCF. Feeding a yeast culture of S. cerevisiae may improve the feed intake, milk quality and energy balance of dairy cows under heat stress.

• KIPS Transactions on Software and Data Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.87-92
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• 2022

Image-based application testing proposes an application testing method via image structure comparison. This test method allows testing on various devices without relying on various types of device operating systems or GUI. Traditional studies required the creation of a tester for each variant in the existing case, because it differs from the correct image for operating system changes, screen animation execution, and resolution changes. The study determined that the screen is the same for variations. The tester compares the underlying structure of the objects in the two images and extracts the regions in which the differences exist in the images, and compares image similarity as characteristic points of the Faster D2-Net. The development of the Faster D2-Net reduced the number of operations and spatial losses compared to the D2-Net, making it suitable for extracting features from application images and reducing test performance time.

• KIPS Transactions on Computer and Communication Systems
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.137-144
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• 2021

The IETF has recently been standardizing the QUIC protocol for HTTP/3 services. It is noted that HTTP/3 uses QUIC as the underlying protocol, whereas HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 are based on TCP. Differently from TCP, the QUIC uses 0-RTT or 1-RTT transmissions to reduce the connection establishment delays of TCP and SCTP. Moreover, to solve the head-of-line blocking problem, QUIC uses the multi-streaming feature. In addition, QUIC provides various features, including the connection migration, and it is available at the Chrome browser. In this paper, we analyze the performance of QUIC for HTTP-based web and streaming services by comparing with the existing TCP and Streaming Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) in the network environments with different link delays and packet error rates. From the experimental results, we can see that QUIC provides better throughputs than TCP and SCTP, and the gaps of performances get larger, as the link delays and packet error rates increase.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.1285-1302
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• 2021

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the perception difference between Korean Medicine doctors, Western Medicine doctors, and functional dyspepsia (FD) patients on the 'Collaborative and Integrated Medicine (CIM)' for FD management. Methods: Between February and April 2021, 545 Korean Medicine doctors, 121 Western Medicine doctors, and 186 FD patients were invited to participate in this survey. A questionnaire was developed by both the Korean and Western Medicine doctors and consisted of questions about general perceptions of FD and perceptions of CIM for FD. Results: Responses from 424 Korean Medicine doctors, 113 Western Medicine doctors, and 153 FD patients were analyzed for the CIM of FD. Significant perceptional differences were noted between Korean Medicine doctors, Western Medicine doctors, and FD patients on the CIM for FD, including necessity, effectiveness, safety, cost, and reliability of CIM for the management of FD (p<0.001). The FD patients also more strongly supported the necessity of developing CIM for FD than did the Korean and Western Medicine doctors (p<0.001), and 87.6% of the FD patients strongly agreed or agreed with the use of CIM for FD. Conclusions: A significant perception difference was detected between Korean Medicine doctors, Western Medicine doctors, and FD patients regarding the use of CIM for FD. Patients with FD favored the necessity and were more willing to accept CIM for FD than were the doctors. Therefore, more efforts may be warranted for doctors to promote CIM for FD.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.802-807
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• 2022

We investigated the physical properties and color values of surimi mixtures with added natural red pigments from laver Pyropia yezoensis. After adding the natural red pigment from seaweed extract to surimi, the hardness, gumminess, and chewiness of the surimi decreased compared to the negative controls. The L^* color value was lower for the surimi mixture than the negative controls, but the a^* and b^* color values were higher. After cold storage for 7 days, the unheated surimi mixture showed increased firmness, but decreased adhesiveness. Moreover, the gumminess and chewiness of the surimi mixture stored after heating were increased compared to the pre-storage values. These results indicate that seaweed extract pigments may be used as additives for surimi, to increase the color preference, with little effect on the physical properties.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.1211-1222
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the opinions of experts on abdominal examinations in Korean Medicine included in the curriculum of the College of Korean Medicine. Methods: Among Korean doctors, 14 experts on abdominal examinations were interviewed; the experts included 9 professors of Korean internal medicine, 1 expert in diagnostics of Korean Medicine, 1 primary care Korean medicine doctor, and 3 executives of a (former) Korean association of the abdomen. The interview consisted of questions regarding recognition of the clinical importance of abdominal examinations, how to perform abdominal examinations, the most frequent abdominal examination findings encountered in clinical practice, and the definition of some of the abdominal examination findings. Results: Most interviewees recognized abdominal examinations as important and used them in clinical practice. Opinions on additions and corrections were collected regarding observation items, posture, method, and order during abdominal examinations. Abdominal examination findings that were common clinically were abdominal fullness (腹滿), epigastric stuffness (心下痞鞕), abdominal tenderness, epigastric fullness (心下滿), and rib distention (胸脇苦滿). The answers to the question related to the definitions of abdominal examination findings included consent and supplementary opinions regarding definitions of deficiency-excess, cold-heat, abdominal tenderness, tension of abdominal muscles, succession sounds, and borborygmus; these were mainly selected based on abdominal symptoms that are highly quantifiable. Conclusions: In the future, based on the results of this study, additional research related to the drafting of a standard abdominal examination in Korean medicine should be conducted to provide an opportunity to increase the reliability of Korean medicine diagnosis.