• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2017

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the effects of short term Schroth exercise on the Cobb angle, angle of trunk rotation (ATR), cosmetic appearance, and quality of life (QOL) in idiopathic scoliosis patients. METHODS: Five subjects with idiopathic scoliosis, (female, 3; male, 2) curvature type: thoracic, 2; lumbar, 3 underwent short term Schroth exercise for seven days. The exercise was performed for 3 h long sessions per day. The Cobb angle and QOL were measured before and after the intervention. ATR and cosmetic appearance were measured once. Sessions consisted of one baseline, seven intervention and three follow-up phases. The sessions were conducted with a one day interval. RESULTS: After the intervention, the Cobb angle was found to be significantly improve (p <.05), while the QOL did not differ (p>.05). The ATR showed decreased trends in the intervention phase. Data points during the intervention and follow-up phases showed a decrease in comparison with data points at the baseline, indicating that Schroth exercise might be effective in reducing the ATR and that these effects can be maintained after the intervention. Cosmetic appearance did not showed changed trends during the Schroth exercise intervention phase. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that short term Schroth exercise may be valuable in improving the Cobb angle and ATR in patients with idiopathic scoliosis.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.54 no.1
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 2012

Agriculture is dependable to weather condition and its change so that it is necessary to understand the impacts of climatic change. The aim of this study is to analyze the change of consumptive use of water and rice yield due to climate change using CERES-Rice. In this study, the weather data of three emission scenario of A1B, A2 and B1 created from CGCM (Coupled General Circulation Model) were used from 2011 to 2100, and downscaled daily weather data were simulated using LARS-WG (Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator). The input data for cultivated condition for simulating CERSE (Crop-Environment Resource Synthesis)-Rice were created referring to standard cultivation method of paddy rice in Korea. The results showed that consumptive uses of water for paddy rice were projected decreasing to 4.8 % (2025s), 9.1 % (2055s), 12.6 % (2085s) comparing to the baseline value of 403.5 mm in A2 scenario. The rice yield of baseline was 450.7 kg/10a and projected increasing to -0.4 % (2025s), 3.9 % (2055s), 17.5 % (2085s) in A1B scenario. The results demonstrated relationships between consumptive use of water and rice yields due to climate change and can be used for the agricultural water resources development planning and cultivation method of paddy rice for the future.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.385-392
• /
• 2013

Although several studies have assessed the influence of the glycemic index on body weight and blood pressure among adults, limited evidence exists for the pediatric age population. In the current study, we compared the effects of low glycemic index (LGI) diet to the healthy nutritional recommendation (HNR)-based diet on obesity and blood pressure among adolescent girls in pubertal ages. This 10-week parallel randomized clinical trial comprised of 50 overweight or obese and sexually mature girls less than 18 years of age years, who were randomly assigned to LGI or HNR-based diet. Macronutrient distribution was equivalently prescribed in both groups. Blood pressure, weight and waist circumference were measured at baseline and after intervention. Of the 50 participants, 41 subjects (include 82%) completed the study. The GI of the diet in the LGI group was $42.67{\pm}0.067$. A within-group analysis illustrated that in comparison to the baseline values, the body weight and body mass index (not waist circumference and blood pressure) decreased significantly after the intervention in both groups (P = 0.0001). The percent changes of the body weight status, waist circumference and blood pressure were compared between the two groups and the findings did not show any difference between the LGI diet consumers and those in the HNR group. In comparison to the HNR, LGI diet could not change the weight and blood pressure following a 10-week intervention. Further longitudinal studies with a long-term follow up should be conducted in this regard.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.202-210
• /
• 2012

Methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (MPG-EPO), a continuous erythropoietin receptor activator, is a new erythropoiesis-stimulating agent with a long half-life. The purpose of this prospective study is to assess the effects of once-monthly subcutaneous MPG-EPO on hematological responses and nutritional status in peritoneal dialysis patients. Forty four patients undergoing stable peritoneal dialysis were enrolled into the study. Darbepoetin alfa therapy, in peritoneal dialysis patients, was converted to the monthly administration of subcutaneous MPG-EPO for 6 months. The starting dose of MPG-EPO was based on the previous weekly dose of darbepoetin alfa. The dose adjustments were performed to maintain the hemoglobin (Hb) levels in a target range of 10.5-11.0 g/dL. If the Hb levels exceeded 11.0 g/dL, MPG-EPO was temporarily interrupted for 1 month. The mean Hb levels were stable with the values of $9.5{\pm}1.1$ g/dL at baseline, and $10.4{\pm}0.9$ g/dL at the 6th month after conversion. The mean differences in the changes of Hb levels between the baseline and the 6th month were $0.9{\pm}1.4$ g/dL, which was statistically significant. However, the mean differences of iron, transferrin saturation and ferritin concentrations were not significant. It did not show significant differences in the changes of the nutritional parameters. These results suggest that the once-monthly subcutaneous administration of MPG-EPO for 6 months effectively maintains the Hb levels and nutritional status in peritoneal dialysis patients. Taken together, the once-monthly subcutaneous administration of MPG-EPO was practical and might improve the clinical compliance for the management of renal anemia in peritoneal dialysis patients.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.11-19
• /
• 2016

This paper presents the results of test observations toward a point source, 4C39.25, for observation modes with various bandwidths and numbers of IF streams in order to examine a reliability of the Daejeon hardware correlator performance for correlating VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) data obtained with the several observation modes of the KVN (Korean VLBI Network). We used a DiFX software correlator (DiFX) as a reference, for investigating the output visibilities from the Daejeon corelator. It is found that the band shapes of the output visibilities from two correlators are similar to each other and the correlated flux density for each baseline obtained from the Daejeon hardware correlator is lower by 3 - 7% than that from the DiFX. The flux difference is attributed to the limitation of FPGA resources and the difference of fringe rotation algorithm of the Daejeon hardware correlator. The conversion factor, 0.93 ~ 0.97, is proposed for future correlation with the Daejeon hardware correlator.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.11
• /
• pp.6875-6881
• /
• 2013

Background: Studies evaluating smoking cessation treatment outcomes in cancer patients are scarce, despite smoking cessation importance in cancer care. We sought to add to the literature by evaluating smoking cessation in a challenging group of cancer patients (medium-to-heavy smokers) visiting an out-patient smoking cessation clinic (SCC) in a cancer center in Amman, Jordan. Materials and Methods: Patients smoking >9 cigarettes per day (CPD) and referred to the SCC between June 2009 and May 2012 were studied. Clinic records were reviewed to measure demographic and baseline clinical characteristics, and longitudinal (3-, 6- and 12- month) follow-up by phone/clinic visit was conducted. At each follow-up, patients were asked if they experienced medication side-effects, if they had returned to smoking, and reasons for failing to abstain. Descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: A total of 201 smokers were included in the analysis. The 3-month abstinence was 23.4% and significantly associated with older age, being married, and presenting with lower (${\leq}10ppm$) baseline carbon monoxide (CO) levels. On a multivariable level, lower CO levels, a higher income (relative to the lowest income group), being older, and reporting severe dependence (relative to dependence reported as 'somewhat' or 'not') were significant predictors of higher odds of abstinence at three months. Reasons for failing to quit included not being able to handle withdrawal and seeing no value in quitting. Long-term ARs did not reach 7%. Conclusions: In a sample of Jordanian smokers (>9CPD) with cancer and receiving smoking cessation treatment, ARs were low and further declined with time. Results underscore the need for more aggressive patient management and rigorous follow-up during and after smoking cessation treatment, particularly when this takes place in challenging settings. Observed reasons for failure to abstain should be used to tailor counseling practices.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.24-35
• /
• 1998

Cumulative trauma disorders(CTDs) have been a growing problems for US and European industries with higher incidence rate every year. The increase and their associated costs has led companies to form committes and implement programs to address this problem. In our country, we have just started to recognize and to work on the problems in industry. This study conducted an ergonomic analysis for typical jobs of ship building industry which was not usually surveyed for CTD problem. A baseline CTD checklist which was supposed to do a risk assessment was developed and applied in this study. Initially, we considered five major parts in the checklist which consisted of personal, frequency, posture, force, and miscellaneous information. Most jobs in ship building industry were much different from typical assembly work and VDT work that have been major part of the previous CTD studies. Specifically, job characteristics in terms of frequency and posture were quite different. There were relatively long cycle time, awkward postures for whole body (not just for upper extremities). Also, CTD risk scores based on checklist were a lot higher than the scores for VDT jobs which was a case of preceding application of the checklist. Specifically, grinding jobs turned out to be the most risky one in terms of CTDs. In conclusion, usual CTD prevention guidelines are not likely to he effective in this type of industry. An individual job based interventions are strongly suggested to have a good control of CTD problems in ship building industry.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
• /
• 2008.10a
• /
• pp.277-280
• /
• 2008

Enhancing the positioning precision is the primary pursuit of GPS users. To achieve this goal, most studies have focused on the relationship between GPS receiver clock errors and GPS positioning precision. This study utilizes undifferentiated phase data to calculate GPS clock errors and to compare with the frequency of cesium clock directly, thus verifying estimated clock errors by the method used in this paper. The relative frequency offsets from this paper and from National Standard Time and Frequency Laboratory of Taiwan match to $1.5{\times}10^{12}$ in the frequency instability, suggesting that the proposed technique has reached a certain level of quality. The built-in quartz clocks in the GPS receivers yield relative frequency offsets that are 3 to 4 orders higher than those of rubidium clocks. The frequency instability of the quartz clocks is on average two orders worse than that of the rubidium clock. Using the rubidium clock instead of the quartz clock, the horizontal and vertical positioning accuracies were improved by 26-78% (0.6-3.6 mm) and 20-34% (1.3-3.0 mm), respectively, for a short baseline. These improvements are 7-25% (0.3-1.7 mm) and 11% (1.7 mm) for a long baseline. Our experiments show that the frequency instability of clock, rather than relative frequency offset, is the governing factor of positioning accuracy.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.229-233
• /
• 2015

Background: Although water chambers are often used as surrogate blood-warming devices to facilitate rapid warming of red blood cells (RBCs), these cells may be damaged if overheated. Moreover, filtered and irradiated RBCs may be damaged during the warming process, resulting in excessive hemolysis and extracellular potassium release. Methods: Using hand-held syringes, each unit of irradiated and leukocyte-filtered RBCs was rapidly passed through a water chamber set to different temperatures (baseline before blood warming, $50^{\circ}C$, $60^{\circ}C$, and $70^{\circ}C$). The resulting plasma potassium and free hemoglobin levels were then measured. Results: Warming RBCs to $60^{\circ}C$ and $70^{\circ}C$ induced significant increases in free hemoglobin (median [interquartile ranges] = 60.5 mg/dl [34.9-101.4] and 570.2 mg/dl [115.6-2289.7], respectively). Potassium levels after warming to $70^{\circ}C$ ($31.4{\pm}7.6mEq/L$) were significantly higher compared with baseline ($29.7{\pm}7.1mEq/L$; P = 0.029). Potassium levels were significantly correlated with storage duration after warming to $50^{\circ}C$ and $60^{\circ}C$ (r = 0.450 and P = 0.001; r = 0.351 and P = 0.015, respectively). Conclusions: Rapid warming of irradiated leukoreduced RBCs to $50^{\circ}C$ may not further increase the extracellular release of hemoglobin or potassium. However, irradiated leukoreduced RBCs that have been in storage for long periods of time and contain higher levels of potassium should be infused with caution.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.60-71
• /
• 2008

Through analyzing the specific physicochemical alterations in depth-based soil at reclaimed dredging area, the baseline data were provided for developing the reclaimed dredging area as natural landscape planting sites and ecological-landscape sites based on the soil improvement technology. There was no physical disturbance for 15 to 20 years in Gwangyang Bay reclaimed dredging area after reclamation. Physicochemical examinations of the soil were performed based on the vertical depth. Results of physicochemical analysis such as pH, electric conductivity, total salt contents, silt, clay contents, available phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, chlorine, and sodium-adsorption ratio showed increasing patterns with the depth while total organic contents, total nitrogen, and sand showed decreasing patterns. Potassium as an exchangeable cation, showed similar distribution patterns between the shallow and deep soil. This result strongly implied that long-term exposure to natural rainfall in reclaimed dredging area altered soil characteristics related to salinity. This research demonstrated that there were no remarkable differences in physicochemical characteristics at soil depth and groundwater table height, suggesting a baseline data for developing reclaimed dredging area. Additional investigation is required for different reclaimed dredging areas. Also, additional monitoring and examination are need on plant communities and time variable alteration in the soil to test the feasibility of reclaimed dredging areas as natural landscape planting sites and ecological-landscape sites.