• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1379-1385
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• 2018

Glycans are attached to proteins as in glycoproteins and proteoglycans. They are found on the exterior surface of cells. O- and N-linked glycans are very common in eukaryotic cells but may also be found in prokaryotes. The interaction of cell surface glycans with complementary glycan binding proteins located on neighboring cells, other cell types, pathogens like virus, or bacteria is crucial in biologically and biomedically important processes like pathogen recognition, cell migration, cell-cell adhesion, development, and infection. Their implication in pathological condition, suggests an important role for glycans as disease markers. In addition, a great amount of research has been shown that appropriate glycosylation of a recombinant therapeutic protein is critical for product solubility, stability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, bioactivity, and safety. Besides, cancer-associated glycosylation changes often involve sialic acid in glycan branch which play important roles in cell-cell interaction, recognition and immunological response. This review aims at giving a comprehensive overview of the glycan's biological function and describing the relevance among the glycosylation, disease diagnosis and treatment methods. Furthermore, the high-throughput analytic methods available to measure the profile changing patterns of glycan in the blood serum as well as possible underlying biochemical mechanisms.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2019

High-level radioactive waste (HLW) such as spent fuel is inevitably produced when nuclear power plants are operated. A geological repository has been considered as one of the most adequate options for the disposal of HLW, and it will be constructed in host rock at a depth of 500~1,000 meters below ground level with the concept of an engineered barrier system (EBS) and a natural barrier system. The compacted bentonite buffer is one of the most important components of the EBS. As the compacted bentonite buffer is located between disposal canisters with spent fuel and the host rock, it can restrain the release of radionuclides and protect canisters from the inflow of groundwater. Because of inflow of groundwater into the compacted bentonite buffer, it is essential to investigate soil-water characteristic curves (SWCC) of the compacted bentonite buffer in order to evaluate the entire safety performance of the EBS. Therefore, this paper conducted laboratory experiments to analyze the SWCC for a Korean Ca-type compacted bentonite buffer considering dry density, confined or unconfined condition, and drying or wetting path. There was no significant difference of SWCC considering dry density under unconfined condition. Furthermore, it was found that there was higher water suction in unconfined condition that in confined condition, and higher water suction during drying path than during wetting path.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.242-251
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• 2019

Background: Korean Red Ginseng has been widely used in traditional oriental medicine for a prolonged period, and its pharmacological effects have been extensively investigated. In addition, Angelica gigas and deer antlers were also used as a tonic medicine with Korean Red Ginseng as the oriental herbal therapy. Methods: This study was conducted to evaluate the potential toxicological effect of KGC-HJ3, Korean Red Ginseng with angelica gigas and deer antlers, on reproductive and developmental functions including fertility, early embryonic development, maternal function, and embryo-fetal development. KGC-HJ3 was administered by oral gavage to Sprague-Dawley rats (22 animals per sex per group) at dose levels of 0 mg/kg (control), 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg, and 2000 mg/kg to evaluate the potential toxicological effect on fertility and early embryonic development. In addition, KGC-HJ3 was also administered by oral gavage to mating-proven Sprague-Dawley rats (22 females per group) during the major organogenesis period at dose levels of 0 mg/kg (control), 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg, and 2000 mg/kg to evaluate the potential toxicological effect on maternal function and embryo-fetal development. Results and conclusion: No test item-related changes in parameters for fertility, early embryonic development, maternal function, and embryo-fetal development were observed during the study period. On the basis of these results, it was concluded that KGC-HJ3 did not have toxicological potential on developmental and reproductive functions. Therefore, no observed adverse effect levels of KGC-HJ3 for fertility, early embryonic development, maternal function, and embryo-fetal development is considered to be at least 2000 mg/kg/day.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.3_spc
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• pp.385-392
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• 2021

Objective: The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of lycopene on growth performance, abdominal fat deposition, serum lipids levels, activities of hepatic lipid metabolism related enzymes and genes expression in broiler chickens. Methods: A total of 256 healthy one-day-old male Arbor Acres broiler chicks were randomly divided into four groups with eight replicates of eight birds each. Birds were fed basal diet supplemented with 0 (control), 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg lycopene, respectively. Results: Dietary 100 mg/kg lycopene increased the body weight at 21 day of age compared to the control group (p<0.05). Compared to the basal diet, broilers fed diet with 100 mg/kg lycopene had decreased abdominal fat weight, and broilers fed diet with 100 and 200 mg/kg lycopene had decreased abdominal fat percentage (p<0.05). Compared to control, diets with 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg lycopene reduced the levels of total triglyceride and total cholesterol in serum, and diets with 100 and 200 mg/kg lycopene reduced the level of serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.05). The activity of fatty acid synthase (FAS) in 400 mg/kg lycopene treated broilers and the activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg lycopene treated broilers were lower than those fed basal diet (p<0.05). Lycopene increased the mRNA abundance of adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase α (AMPK-α), whereas decreased the mRNA abundance of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1, FAS, and ACC compared to the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Dietary lycopene supplementation can alleviate abdominal fat deposition and decrease serum lipids levels, possibly through activating the AMPK signaling pathway, thereby regulating lipid metabolism such as lipogenesis. Therefore, lycopene or lycopene-rich plant materials might be added to poultry feed to regulate lipid metabolism.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.71-84
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• 2022

The objective of this study is to develop a two-dimensional (2D) flood model that can perform accurate flood analysis with simple input data. The 2D flood inundation models currently used to create flood forecast maps require complex input data and grid generation tools. This sometimes requires a lot of time and effort for flood modeling, and there may be difficulties in constructing input data depending on the situation. In order to compensate for these shortcomings, in this study, a grid-based model that can derive accurate and rapid flood analysis by reflecting correct topography as simple input data was developed. The calculation efficiency was improved by extending the existing 2×2 sub-grid model to a 5×5. In order to examine the accuracy and applicability of the model, it was applied to the Gamcheon Basin where both urban and river flooding occurred due to Typhoon Rusa. For efficient flood analysis according to user's selection, flood wave propagation patterns, accuracy and execution time according to grid size and number of sub-grids were investigated. The developed model is expected to be highly useful for flood disaster mapping as it can present the results of flooding analysis for various situations, from the flood inundation map showing accurate flooding to the flood risk map showing only approximate flooding.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.172-178
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• 2022

In this paper, water meter AMR(automatic meter reading), one of the core technologies of smart water grid, using LoRa IoT network is studied. The main content of the research is to develop the network system and show the test results that one PC server receives the readings of water meters from multiple households through LoRa communication and stores them in the database, and at the same time sends the data to the web server database through internet. The system also allows users to monitor the meter readings using their smartphones. The hardware and firmware of the main board of the digital water meter are developed. For a PC server program, MDMS(meter data management system) is developed using Visual C#. The app program running on the user's smartphone is also developed using Android Studio. By connecting each developed parts, the total network system is mounted on a flow test bench in the laboratory and tested. For the fields test, 5 places around the university are selected and the transmission distances are tested. The test result show that the developed system can be applied into the real field. The developed system can be expanded to various social safety nets such as monitoring the living alone or elderly with dementia.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.131-140
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• 2022

Objectives This study aimed to investigate whether the concurrent use of conventional and herbal medications affects liver and kidney function, by examining blood test data. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the electronic medical records of 590 inpatients with musculoskeletal diseases between 2013 and 2017. We investigated cases of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) according to the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method criteria and cases of drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI) based on the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes definition. Results One case (0.17%) of DILI and one case (0.17%) of DIKI were identified. Significant improvements in serum laboratory data were observed after the concurrent use of both types of medications (p<0.05). The kappa coefficients ranged from 0.26 to 0.72, indicating that the values after the concurrent use of conventional and herbal medications showed a fair similarity to the baseline values of the patients. The linear regression test showed that female sex and high body mass index (BMI) were risk factors for an increase in the serum blood levels of liver function parameters. Conclusions The concurrent use of conventional and herbal medications for musculoskeletal disorders is relatively safe; however, clinicians should exercise caution when prescribing these medications to female patients and patients with a high BMI because of their potential effect on hepatic function.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.spc1
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• pp.1037-1051
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• 2021

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentration, one of important water quality indicators, is treated as the measuring item for the ecological chapter in lakes and rivers. This investigation employed novel two-stage hybrid paradigm (i.e., wavelet-based gated recurrent unit, wavelet-based generalized regression neural networks, and wavelet-based random forests) to predict BOD concentration in the Dosan and Hwangji stations, South Korea. These models were assessed with the corresponding independent models (i.e., gated recurrent unit, generalized regression neural networks, and random forests). Diverse water quality and quantity indicators were implemented for developing independent and two-stage hybrid models based on several input combinations (i.e., Divisions 1-5). The addressed models were evaluated using three statistical indices including the root mean square error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and correlation coefficient (CC). It can be found from results that the two-stage hybrid models cannot always enhance the predictive precision of independent models confidently. Results showed that the DWT-RF5 (RMSE = 0.108 mg/L) model provided more accurate prediction of BOD concentration compared to other optimal models in Dosan station, and the DWT-GRNN4 (RMSE = 0.132 mg/L) model was the best for predicting BOD concentration in Hwangji station, South Korea.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.30-42
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• 2022

Due to the increase in construction of tunnels, the burdens of maintenance works for tunnel structures have been increasing in Korea. In addition, the increase of traffic volume and aging of materials also threatens the safety of tunnel facilities, therefore, maintenance costs are expected to increase significantly in the future. Accordingly, automated condition assessment technologies like image-based tunnel scanning system for inspection and diagnosis of tunnel facilities have been proposed. For image-based tunnel scanning system, it is key to create a planar image through stitching of multiple images captured by tunnel scanning system. In this study, performance of feature-based stitching algorithms suitable for stitching tunnel scanning images was evaluated. In order to find a suitable algorithm SIFT, ORB, and BRISK are compared. The performance of the proposed algorithm was determined by the number of feature extraction, calculation speed, accuracy of feature matching, and image stitching result. As for stitching performance, SIFT algorithm was the best in all parts of tunnel image. ORB and BRISK also showed satisfactory performance and short calculation time. SIFT can be used to generate precise planar images. ORB and BRISK also showed satisfactory stitching results, confirming the possibility of being used when real-time stitching is required.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.2-8
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• 2022

Humanity is in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and vaccines-including mRNA vaccines-have been developed at an unprecedented speed. It is necessary to develop guidelines for vaccination for people undergoing treatment with assisted reproductive technology (ART) and for pregnancy-related situations based on the extant laboratory and clinical data. COVID-19 vaccines do not appear to adversely affect gametes, embryos, or implantation; therefore, active vaccination is recommended for women or men who are preparing for ART. The use of intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) for the treatment of immune-related infertility is unlikely to impact the effectiveness of the vaccines, so COVID-19 vaccines can be administered around ART cycles in which IVIG is scheduled. Pregnant women have been proven to be at risk of severe maternal and neonatal complications from COVID-19. It does not appear that COVID-19 vaccines harm pregnant women or fetuses; instead, they have been observed to deliver antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) to the fetus. Accordingly, it is recommended that pregnant women receive COVID-19 vaccination. There is no rationale for adverse effects, or clinical cases of adverse reactions, in mothers or neonates after COVID-19 vaccination in lactating women. Instead, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 can be delivered through breast milk. Therefore, breastfeeding mothers should consider vaccination. In summary, active administration of COVID-19 vaccines will help ensure the safe implementation of ART, pregnancy, and breastfeeding.