• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.336-344
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• 2009

This survey was carried out to estimate the contents of heavy metals (Hg, Pb, Cd, and As) in 10 kinds of dried marine products (n=189) which are closely related to food resources. The contents of heavy metals were estimated by inductively coupled plasma spectrometer (ICP) and mercury analyzer. The values of heavy metals in dried marine products were as follows (Mean${\pm}$SD (range), mg/kg). The average contents of heavy metals in the dried marine products were Hg $0.058{\pm}0.069$ (0.002~0.502) mg/kg, Pb $0.178{\pm}0.598$ (ND~5.130) mg/kg, Cd $0.306{\pm}0.610$ (ND~6.802) mg/kg, As $5.282{\pm}6.158$ (ND~71.760) mg/kg. The range of heavy metal contents in dried marine products are low level, except of lead contents (n=2). In the comparison of heavy metal content by anchovy size, it was shown that cadmium, mercury and arsenic were meaningfully different. The contents of heavy metals by the shape of shrimp and Alaska Pollack were shown that the result of each group was meaningless. In the comparison imported production with domestic production, in the case of common squid, cadmium and arsenic were meaningfully different. The weekly average intakes of Hg, Pb and Cd from dried marine products takes about 1.17~11.52% of PTWI (Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intakes) that FAO/WHO Joint Food Additive and Contaminants Committee has set to evaluate their safeties.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.131-148
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial competency on entrepreneurial intention by setting degree of self-determination as a moderating variable for pre-entrepreneur of agriculture industry. The entrepreneurial environment was divided into perceived support and perceived barriers, and the sub-variables of entrepreneurial competence were set as creativity, problem solving, communication, marketing, and business plan. 253 questionnaires were used for empirical analysis. The results of the analysis using SPSS v25.0 and Process macro v4.2 are as follows. First, the perceived support and perceived barriers of the entrepreneurial environment have a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention. Creativity, problem solving, marketing and business plan of entrepreneurial competency have a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention, but the effect of communication was non-significant. Second, the degree of self-determination did not moderate the relationship between perceived support, barriers and entrepreneurial intention. This means that the level of self-determination may not have a significant effect on the relationship between entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial intention. Third, the degree of self-determination was found to moderate the relationship between creativity, problem solving, communication, marketing and business plan of entrepreneurial competency and entrepreneurial intention. Specifically, as the degree of self-determination increases, the size of the influence of creativity, problem solving, marketing, and business plan on entrepreneurial intention plays a role of strengthening in a positive direction. On the other hand, as the degree of self-determination increases, the degree of self-determination, which weakens the relationship between communication and entrepreneurial intention. Future research will require exploration of other factors that can explain entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial capacity, and follow-up studies are needed to analyze the moderated mediating effects through conditional process models that include new mediating and moderating variables.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.204-212
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• 2023

Whitening is inhibitory activity of the melanin synthesis of melanocytes. Recently, whitening materials have been developed on natural materials because of its side effects on skin. Figs (Ficus Carica L.) is a fruit belonging to the Moraceae family and whitening activity was reported in focusing on the fig's stem and leaf components, but whitening activity of the figs fruit was not known. Thus, in this study, we tried to observe its anti-melanogenesis as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammation. The radical scavenging activity of figs fruits extract (FFE) was observed as the level of 34.52±1.98%/60.71±1.26% compared to the control in the its maximum concentration in the DPPH/ABTS assay. Cytotoxicity of FFE was observed at 10% concentration by CCK8 assay, so the maximum concentration was set at 5% and applied to all experiments. FFE concentration dependently decreased NO production associated with inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α gene expression, these strongly suggesting anti-inflammatory activity. In melanin contents assay, FFE significantly down-regulated melanin production in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cell as well as tyrosinase inhibition in vitro. In addition, FFE decreased the Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) mRNA expression about 94.34% compared to the α-MSH treatment group in RT-PCR. Finally, FFE significantly reduced the MITF, cAMP response element-binding protein and tyrosinase protein expression in the α-MSH stimulated B16F10 cell. Through these results, we found that FFE can not only directly inhibit tyrosinase enzyme activity but also suppress melanogenesis through regulation of MITF gene expression in α-MSH signal transduction.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.155-166
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• 2000

When the marcher visited Korea in fall 1994, he was shocked to see high rise apartment buildings around the capitol region including Seoul and Suwon, resulting from rising demand of housing because of urban migration followed by second and third industrial development. After 6 years in March 2000, the researcher witnessed more apartment buildings and vinyl house complexes, one of the evidences of continued economic progress in Korea. Korea had to receive the rescue finance from International Monetary Fund (IMF) because of financial crisis in 1997. However, the sign of recovery was seen in a year, and the growth rate of Gross Domestic Products (GDP) in 1999 recorded as high as 10.7 percent. During this period, the Korean government has been working on restructuring of banks, enterprises, labour and public sectors. The major directions of government were; localization, reducing administrative manpower, limiting agricultural budgets, privatization of public enterprises, integration of agricultural organization, and easing of various regulations. Thus, the power of central government shifted to local government resulting in a power increase for city mayors and county chiefs. Agricultural extension services was one of targets of government restructuring, transferred to local governments from central government. At the same time, the number of extension offices was reduced by 64 percent, extension personnel reduced by 24 percent, and extension budgets reduced. During the process of restructuring, the basic direction of extension services was set by central Rural Development Administration Personnel management, technology development and supports were transferred to provincial Rural Development Administrations, and operational responsibilities transferred to city/county governments. Agricultural extension services at the local levels changed the name to Agricultural Technology Extension Center, established under jurisdiction of city mayor or county chief. The function of technology development works were added, at the same time reducing the number of educators for agriculture and rural life. As a result of observations of rural areas and agricultural extension services at various levels, functional responsibilities of extension were not well recognized throughout the central, provincial, and local levels. Central agricultural extension services should be more concerned about effective rural development by monitoring provincial and local level extension activities more throughly. At county level extension services, it may be desirable to add a research function to reflect local agricultural technological needs. Sometimes, adding administrative tasks for extension educators may be helpful far farmers. However, tasks such as inspection and investigation should be avoided, since it may hinder the effectiveness of extension educational activities. It appeared that major contents of the agricultural extension service in Korea were focused on saving agricultural materials, developing new agricultural technology, enhancing agricultural export, increasing production and establishing market oriented farming. However these kinds of efforts may lead to non-sustainable agriculture. It would be better to put more emphasis on sustainable agriculture in the future. Agricultural extension methods in Korea may be better classified into two approaches or functions; consultation function for advanced farmers and technology transfer or educational function for small farmers. Advanced farmers were more interested in technology and management information, while small farmers were more concerned about information for farm management directions and timely diffusion of agricultural technology information. Agricultural extension service should put more emphasis on small farmer groups and active participation of farmers in these groups. Providing information and moderate advice in selecting alternatives should be the major activities for consultation for advanced farmers, while problem solving processes may be the major educational function for small farmers. Systems such as internet and e-mail should be utilized for functions of information exchange. These activities may not be an easy task for decreased numbers of extension educators along with increased administrative tasks. It may be difficult to practice a one-to-one approach However group guidance may improve the task to a certain degree.

• Korean small business review
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.65-87
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• 2010

With the advent of knowledge-based society, the revitalization of technological innovation type SMEs, termed "inno-biz" hereafter, has been globally recognized as a government policymakers' primary concern in strengthening national competitiveness, and much effort is being put into establishing polices of boosting the start-ups and innovation capability of SMEs. Especially, in that the inno-biz enables national economy to get vitalized by widening world markets with its superior technology, and thus, taking the initiative of extremely competitive world markets, its growth and development has greater significance. In the case of Korea, the government has been maintaining the policies since the late 1990s of stimulating the growth of SMEs as well as building various infrastructures to foster the start-ups of the SMEs such as venture businesses with high technology. In addition, since the enactment of "Innovation Promotion Law for SMEs" in 2001, the government has been accelerating the policies of prioritizing the growth and development of inno-biz. So, for the sound growth and development of Korean inno-biz, this paper intends to offer effective management strategies for SMEs and suggest proper policies for the government, by researching into the effect of technological innovation capability and technology commercialization capability as the primary business resources on business performance in Korean SMEs in the light of market information orientation. The research is carried out on Korean companies characterized as inno-biz. On the basis of OSLO manual and prior studies, the research categorizes their status. R&D capability, technology accumulation capability and technological innovation system are categorized into technological innovation capability; product development capability, manufacturing capability and marketing capability into technology commercialization capability; and increase in product competitiveness and merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. Then the effect of each component on business performance is substantially analyzed. In addition, the mediation effect of technological innovation and technology commercialization capability on business performance is observed by the use of the market information orientation as a parameter. The following hypotheses are proposed. H1 : Technology innovation capability will positively influence business performance. H1-1 : R&D capability will positively influence product competitiveness. H1-2 : R&D capability will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H1-3 : Technology accumulation capability will positively influence product competitiveness. H1-4 : Technology accumulation capability will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H1-5 : Technological innovation system will positively influence product competitiveness. H1-6 : Technological innovation system will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H2 : Technology commercializing capability will positively influence business performance. H2-1 : Product development capability will positively influence product competitiveness. H2-2 : Product development capability will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H2-3 : Manufacturing capability will positively influence product competitiveness. H2-4 : Manufacturing capability will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H2-5 : Marketing capability will positively influence product competitiveness. H2-6 : Marketing capability will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H3 : Technology innovation capability will positively influence market information orientation. H3-1 : R&D capability will positively influence information generation. H3-2 : R&D capability will positively influence information diffusion. H3-3 : R&D capability will positively influence information response. H3-4 : Technology accumulation capability will positively influence information generation. H3-5 : Technology accumulation capability will positively influence information diffusion. H3-6 : Technology accumulation capability will positively influence information response. H3-7 : Technological innovation system will positively influence information generation. H3-8 : Technological innovation system will positively influence information diffusion. H3-9 : Technological innovation system will positively influence information response. H4 : Technology commercialization capability will positively influence market information orientation. H4-1 : Product development capability will positively influence information generation. H4-2 : Product development capability will positively influence information diffusion. H4-3 : Product development capability will positively influence information response. H4-4 : Manufacturing capability will positively influence information generation. H4-5 : Manufacturing capability will positively influence information diffusion. H4-6 : Manufacturing capability will positively influence information response. H4-7 : Marketing capability will positively influence information generation. H4-8 : Marketing capability will positively influence information diffusion. H4-9 : Marketing capability will positively influence information response. H5 : Market information orientation will positively influence business performance. H5-1 : Information generation will positively influence product competitiveness. H5-2 : Information generation will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H5-3 : Information diffusion will positively influence product competitiveness. H5-4 : Information diffusion will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H5-5 : Information response will positively influence product competitiveness. H5-6 : Information response will positively influence merits for new technology and/or product development into business performance. H6 : Market information orientation will mediate the relationship between technology innovation capability and business performance. H7 : Market information orientation will mediate the relationship between technology commercializing capability and business performance. The followings are the research results : First, as for the effect of technological innovation on business performance, the technology accumulation capability and technological innovating system have a positive effect on increase in product competitiveness and merits for new technology and/or product development, while R&D capability has little effect on business performance. Second, as for the effect of technology commercialization capability on business performance, the effect of manufacturing capability is relatively greater than that of merits for new technology and/or product development. Third, the mediation effect of market information orientation is identified to exist partially in information generation, information diffusion and information response. Judging from these results, the following analysis can be made : On Increase in product competitiveness, directly related to successful technology commercialization of technology, management capability including technological innovation system, manufacturing capability and marketing capability has a relatively strong effect. On merits for new technology and/or product development, on the other hand, capability in technological aspect including R&D capability, technology accumulation capability and product development capability has relatively strong effect. Besides, in the cast of market information orientation, the level of information diffusion within an organization plays and important role in new technology and/or product development. Also, for commercial success like increase in product competitiveness, the level of information response is primarily required. Accordingly, the following policies are suggested : First, as the effect of technological innovation capability and technology commercialization capability on business performance differs among SMEs; in order for SMEs to secure competitiveness, the government has to establish microscopic policies for SMEs which meet their needs and characteristics. Especially, the SMEs lacking in capital and labor are required to map out management strategies of focusing their resources primarily on their strengths. And the government needs to set up policies for SMEs, not from its macro-scaled standpoint, but from the selective and concentrative one that meets the needs and characteristics of respective SMEs. Second, systematic infrastructures are urgently required which lead technological success to commercial success. Namely, as technological merits at respective SME levels do not always guarantee commercial success, the government should make and effort to build systematic infrastructures including encouragement of M&A or technology trade, systematic support for protecting intellectual property, furtherance of business incubating and industrial clusters for strengthening academic-industrial network, and revitalization of technology financing, in order to make successful commercialization from technological success. Finally, the effort to innovate technology, R&D, for example, is essential to future national competitiveness, but its result is often prolonged. So the government needs continuous concern and funding for basic science, in order to maximize technological innovation capability. Indeed the government needs to examine continuously whether technological innovation capability or technological success leads satisfactorily to commercial success in market economic system. It is because, when the transition fails, it should be left to the government.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.29-73
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• 2012

Aviation safety is the State and industry's top priority and more scientific approaches for fatigue management should be needed. There are lately various studies and regulation changes for crew fatigue management with ICAO, FAA and EASA. ICAO issued the provisions of fatigue management for flight crew since 1st edition, 1969, of Annex 6 operation of aircraft as a Standards and Recommended practice(SARPs). Unfortunately, there have been few changes and improvement to fatigue management provisions since the time they were first introduced. However the SARPs have been big changed lately. ICAO published guidance materials for development of prescriptive fatigue regulations through amendment 33A of Annex 6 Part 1 as applicable November 19th 2009. And then ICAO introduced additional amendment for using Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) with $35^{th}$ amendment in 2011. According to the Annex 6, the State of the operator shall establish a) regulations for flight time, flight duty period, duty period and rest period limitations and b) FRMS regulations. The Operator shall implement one of following 3 provisions a) flight time, flight duty period, duty period and rest period limitations within the prescriptive fatigue management regulations established by the State of the Operator; or b) a FRMS; or c) a combination of a) and b). U.S. FAA recently published several kinds of Advisory Circular about flightcrew fatigue. U.S. passed "Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010" into law on August 1st, 2010. This mandates all commercial air carriers to develop a FAA-acceptable Fatigue Risk Management Plan(FRMP) by October 31st, 2010. Also, on May 16, 2012, the FAA published a final rule(correction) entitled 'Flightcrew Member Duty and Rest Requirements; correction to amend its existing prescriptive regulations. The new requirements are required to implement same regulations for domestic, flag and supplemental operations from January 4, 2014. EASA introduced a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) 2010-14 entitled "Draft opinion of the European Aviation Safety Agency for a Commission Regulation establishing the implementing rules on Flight and Duty Time Limitations and Rest Requirements for Commercial Air Transport with aeroplanes" on December 10, 2010. The purpose of this NPA is to develop and implement fatigue management for commercial air transport operations. Comparing with Korean and foreign regulations regarding fatigue management, the provisions of ICAO, FAA, EASA are more considering various fatigue factors and conditions. Korea regulations should be needed for some development of insufficiency points. In this thesis, I present the results of the comparative study between domestic and foreign regulations in respect of fatigue management crew member. Also, I suggest legal proposals for amendment of Korea Aviation act and Enforcement Regulations concerning fatigue management for crew members. I hope that this paper is helpful to change korea fatigue regulations, to enhance aviation safety, and to reduce the number of accidents relating to fatigue. Fatigue should be managed at all level such as regulators, experts, operators and pilots. Authority should change surveillance mind-set from regulatory auditor to expert adviser. Operators should identify various fatigue factors and consider to crew scheduling them. Crews should strongly manage both individual and duty-oriented fatigue issues.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.537-550
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• 2011

This study was conducted to identify behavioral characteristics of salty food intake according to saline sensitivity of adults living in a rural area. Anthropometry and blood pressure were measured and salt intake-related dietary behavior was surveyed by questionnaires through interviews with 402 subjects aged ${\geq}$ 40 years in Chungcheongbuk-Do, Korea. The percentages of overweight and obese among the subjects were 37.8% and 3.8% respectively. Mean blood pressure of the subjects was in the normal range, but the distribution of subjects who were normotensive, high normal, and hypertensive was 48.7%, 17.7%, and 33.6% respectively. Approximately 27% of all subjects habitually consumed salty food, which was the smallest group, followed by 38.1% normal and 35.1% not-salty food. However, 34.6% of the eldest group of ${\geq}$ 65 years consumed salty food. The saline insensitive group showed a higher percentage of irregular meals, overeating, speed-eating, an unbalanced diet, a preference for fried food, and habitual intake of salty foods. These subjects recognized the risk for eating salty food, but they lacked the will to reduce their salty food intake. Compared to spouses and family members, experts such as doctors, nurses, and dieticians were the most influential for reducing the salty food intake of subjects. Saline sensitive group had relatively better control over salty food intake at every meal, eating out, and even when eating salty food that the spouse preferred. The saline sensitive group ate more frequently vegetables and fruits, whereas the saline insensitive group ate more frequently hot spicy foods. In conclusion, the results suggest that it is necessary to establish a social atmosphere toward reducing salt intake at the level of the government and food industry and to set action plans to be available for nutrition education programs to reduce salt intake nationwide.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.48
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• pp.9-33
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• 2016

The purpose of the present study was to find out cause-and-effect relationship between job requirements and job resources, with job burnout as a mediator variable, and the effects of these variables on organizational effectiveness. The population in the present study was private security guards employed by 13 private security companies in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do areas, and a survey was conducted on 500 security guards selected using purposive sampling technique. Out of 460 questionnaires distributed, 429 responses, excluding 31 outliers or insincere responses, were used for data analysis. For analysis, data were coded and entered into SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0, which were used to analyze the data. Descriptive analyses were performed to find out sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test the validity of the measurement tool, and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficients were calculated to test the reliability. To find out the significance of relationships among variables, Pearson's correlation analysis was performed. Covariance Structure Analysis (CSA) was performed to test the relationship among latent factors of a model for job requirements, job resources, job burnout, and organizational effectiveness of the private security guards, and the fitness of the model analyzed with CSA was determined by the goodness-of-fit index ($x^2$, df, p, RMR, GFI, CFI, TLI, RMSEA). The level of significance was set at .05, and the following results were obtained. First, even though the effect of job requirements on job burnout was not statistically significant, it had a positive influence overall, and this result can be considered such that the higher the perception of job requirements by the member of the organization, the higher the perception of job burnout. Second, the influence of job resources on job burnout was negative, which can be considered that the higher the perception of job resources, the lower the perception of job burnout. Third, even though the influence of job requirements on organizational effectiveness was statistically nonsignificant, it had a negative influence overall, and this result can be considered that the higher the perception of job requirements, the lower the perception of organizational effectiveness. Fourth, job resources had a positive influence on organizational effectiveness, and it can be considered that the higher the perception of job resources, the higher the perception of organizational effectiveness. Fifth, the results of the analysis between job burnout and organizational effectiveness revealed that, even though the influence of job burnout on organizational effectiveness was statistically nonsignificant, it had partial negative influences on sublevels of organizational effectiveness, and this may suggest that the higher the perception of job burnout by the organization members, the lower the organizational effectiveness. Sixth, the analysis of mediating role in the relationship between job requirements and organizational effectiveness, job burnout was taking partial mediating role between job requirements and organizational effectiveness. These results suggest that reducing job burnout by managing job requirements, organizational effectiveness that leads to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention can be maximized. Seventh, the analysis of mediating role in the relationship among job requirements, job resources, and organizational effectiveness, job burnout was assuming a partial mediating role in the relationships among job requirements, job resources, and organizational effectiveness. These results suggest that organizational effectiveness can be maximized by either lowering job requirements or burnout management through reorganizing job resources.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.313-374
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• 2020

The idea of creating a new International Space Agency (ISA) is only my academic and practical opinion. It is necessary for us to establish ISA as an international organization for the efficient and rapid exploitation of natural resources in the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies. The establishment of ISA as a new international regime is based on the Article 11, 5 and Article 18 of the 1979 Moon Agreement. In order to establish as a preliminary procedure, it needs to make a "Draft for the Convention on the Establishment of an International Space Agency" among the space-faring countries. In this paper, I was examined the domestic space legislation in the United States, Luxembourg, European Space Agency, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea as well as space exploration and planning of the moons, Mars, Asteroids, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan and Other Celestial Bodies. The creation of an ISA would lead to a strengthening of the cooperation needed essentially by the developed countries towards joint and cooperative undertakings in space and would act as a catalyst for the space exploration and exploitation of the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies. It will be managed effectively and centrally the exploitation and exploitation of space the natural resources, technology, manpower and finances as an independent organization in order to get the benefit of the space developed countries by ISA. It is desirable and necessary for us to establish ISA in order to promote cooperation in space policy, law, science technology and industry among the space developed countries in the near future. The establishment of the ISA will be promoted the international cooperation among the space-faring countries in exploration and exploitations of the natural resources in the moon and other celestial bodies. I would propose the "Draft for the Convention for the Establishment of an International Space Agency." in refering the "Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Agency." This "Draft for the Convention Convention for the Establishment of an ISA" must pass the abovementioned "Draft for the Convention" by two-third majority of Diplomatic Conference in the UNCOPUOS. Finally, a very important point is need that a political drive at the highest level and a solemn statement by heads of state of the space devloped countries including the United Nations for the space exploitation of the medium and long term. It should be noted that this political drive will be necessary not only to set up the organization, but also during a subsequent period. It is desirable and necessary for us to establish the ISA in order to develop the space industry, to strengthen friendly relations and to promote research cooperation among the space-faring countries based on the new ideology and creative ideas. If the heads of the superpowers including the United Nations will be agreed to establish ISA at a summit conference, 1 am sure that it is possible to establish an ISA in the near future.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.530-541
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• 2002

Background : Pleural fluid adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity can be helpful in a differntial diagnosis of an exudative pleural effusion because it is increased in a tuberculous pleural effusion. The ADA activity is determined mainly by the lymphocyte function. Age-associated immune decline is characterized by a decrease in T-lymphocyte function. For that reason, the pleural fluid ADA level would be lower in older patients with exudative pleural effusion. This study focused on the influence of age on the pleural fluid ADA activity in patients with exudative pleural effusion. Methods : A total of 81 patients with exudative pleural effusion were enrolled in this study. In all patients, the pleural fluid ADA activity was measured using an automated kinetic method. Results : The mean age of the patients was $52.7{\pm}21.2$ years. In all patients with exudative pleural effusion, the pleural fluid ADA activity revealed a significant difference between young patients (under 65 years of age) and old patients (p<0.05), and showed a negative correlation with age (r=-0.325, p<0.05). In the 60 patients with a tuberculous pleural effusion, the pleural fluid ADA activity revealed a significant difference between the young and older patients : $103.5{\pm}36.9$ IU/L in young patients Vs. $72.2{\pm}31.6$ IU/L in old patients (p<0.05), and showed a negative correlation with age (r=-0.384, p<0.05). In the 21 patients with non-tuberculous exudative pleural effusion, the pleural fluid ADA activity of the young patients and old patients was similar : $23.7{\pm}15.3$ IU/L in young patients Vs. $16.1{\pm}10.2$ IU/L in old patients (p>0.05), and did not show any correlation with age (r=-0.263, p>0.05). The diagnostic cutoff value of pleural fluid ADA activity for tuberculous pleural effusion was lower in the older patients (25.9 IU/L) than in the younger patients (49.1 IU/L) or all patients (38.4 IU/L) with exudative pleural effusion. Conclusion : Tuberculous pleural effusion is an important possibility to consider in older patients with a clinical suspicion of a tuberculous pleural effusion, although no marked increase in the pleural fluid ADA activity is usually detected. For a diagnosis of a tuberculous pleural effusion in old patients, the cutoff for the pleural fluid ADA activity should be set lower.