• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.316-324
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• 2004

Purpose : In radiotherapy of tumors in liver, enough planning target volume (PTV) margins are necessary to compensate breathing-related movement of tumor volumes. To overcome the problems, this study aims to obtain patients' body movements by using a moving phantom and an ultrasonic sensor, and to develop respiration sating techniques that can adjust patients' beds by using reversed values of the data obtained. Materials and Methods : The phantom made to measure patients' body movements is composed of a microprocessor (BS II, 20 MHz, 8K Byte), a sensor (Ultra-Sonic, range $3\~3$ m), host computer (RS232C) and stepping motor (torque 2.3 Kg) etc., and the program to control and operate it was developed. The program allows the phantom to move within the maximum range of 2 cm, its movements and corrections to take place In order, and x, y and z to move successively. After the moving phantom was adjusted by entering random movement data (three dimensional data form with distance of 2 cm), and the phantom movements were acquired using the ultra sonic sensor, the two data were compared and analyzed. And then, after the movements by respiration were acquired by using guinea pigs, the real-time respiration gating techniques were drawn by operating the phantom with the reversed values of the data. Results : The result of analyzing the acquisition-correction delay time the three types of data values and about each value separately shows that the data values coincided with one another within $1\%$ and that the acquisition-correction delay time was obtained real-time $(2.34{\times}10^{-4}sec)$. Conclusion : This study successfully confirms the clinic application possibility of respiration gating techniques by using a moving phantom and an ultrasonic sensor. With ongoing development of additional analysis system, which can be used in real-time set-up reproducibility analysis, it may be beneficially used in radiotherapy of moving tumors.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.229-234
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• 2012

A key molecule in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the ${\beta}$-amyloid peptide ($A{\beta}$) generated by ${\beta}$-secretase activity, an aspartic protease. This study was designed to evaluate inhibitory effect of the high-molecular weight water-soluble polysaccharides (Et-P) isolated and purified from Phellinus linteus fruiting body on ${\beta}$-secretase activity. The Et-P was purified from the hot water extract of Phellinus linteus fruiting body mainly by 75% ethanol precipitation and DEAE-Cellulose column chromatography. From the DEAE-Cellulose chromato-gram and molecular weight analysis, the Et-P was shown to be a mixture of three polysaccharides with molecular mass of 1,629, 1,294, and 21 kDa, respectively. The monosaccharide composition of Et-P was determined to be glu-cose, galactose, and mannose as major sugars, glucose being the most prominent one (48% in mole percentage). The elemental analysis and FT-IR analysis suggested that Et-P is typical polysaccharides having at least partially ${\beta}$-linkages and possible existing as complex with phenolic compounds. The laminarinase digestion and HPAEC-PAD analysis suggested that Et-P is a variant of beta-(1,3)-glucans. The Et-P showed DPPH radical scavenging activity and, especially, a significant inhibitory activity on ${\beta}$-secreatase activity (48% inhibitin at 100 ${\mu}g/mL$), suggesting that they may inhibit the formation of $A{\beta}$ which is the major causative of Alzheimer's disease. The results of this study suggest that the water soluble polysaccharides of Phellinus linteus fruiting body can be a potent material for the development of preventive or therapeutic agents for AD.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.80-83
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• 2008

Purpose : Inguinal hernias are common in children and sometimes are associated with dangerous complications, such as incarceration. There are no established management guidelines for ovarian hernias. We have reviewed the clinical course of ovarian hernias in infants. Methods : We reviewed the medical records of female infants diagnosed with ovarian hernias by ultrasonogram at Kwandong University College of Medicine, Cheil General Hospital, and the Women's Healthcare Center between March 2001 and August 2007. We analyzed the patients gestational age, birth weight, age at the time of detection of the inguinal mass, the patients chief complaints, operative time, post-operative complications, and ultrasonographic findings. Results : Eight female infants had ovarian hernias, four of whom were born prematurely. Seven infants had left-sided ovarian hernias, and one infant had a right-sided ovarian hernia. Five infants underwent surgery and there were no postoperative complications or recurrences. Three girls did not have surgery, and the ovarian hernias regressed spontaneously, with no recurrences or complications. The regression time of inguinal masses ranged from 70-161 days after birth. Conclusion : Physical examination to detect movable masses within the labium major in premature female infants is important because the incidence of premature inguinal hernias is much higher than in term infants. No rational medical treatment plans for female ovarian hernias have been published to date. We cared for three girls with spontaneous regression of ovarian hernias. Pediatricians should be aware whether emergent surgery for ovarian hernias is indicated.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.265-274
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• 2001

Purpose : Proctitis is one of acute complications encountered when radiotherapy was appled to the pelvis. Radiation-induced proctitis represents similar microscopic findings that are observed in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the inflammatory process and many data suggest a close relationship between NO production and gastrointestinal inflammation. This study was aimed to establish the optimal radiation dose for radiation-induced proctitis in rat and to find a relationship between radiation proctitis and NO production. Materials and methods : Female Wistar rats, weighing from 150 to 220 g, received various doses(10-30 Gy) of radiation to the rectum. On the 5th and 10th day after irradiation, rectal specimens were evaluated grossly and microscopically. In addition, the degree of NO production by irradiation dose was evaluated by study with NOS expression and nitrite production in the irradiated rectal tissue. To evaluate relationship between radiation proctitis and NO, we administered aminoguanidine, iNOS inhibitor and L-arginine, substrate of NOS to rats from 2 days before to 7 days after the irradiation. Results : There were obvious gross and hostological changes after 17.5 Gy or higher radiation dose but not with 15 Gy or less radiation dose. Twenty Gy or higher dose of radiation caused Grade 4 damage in most of rectal specimens which were more likely to be related to the late complications such as fibrosis, rectal bleeding and rectal obstruction. A single fraction of 17.5 Gy to the rat rectum is considered to be an optimal dose to produce commonly experienced proctitis in the clinic. The result demonstrated that severity of microscopic damage of rectal mucosa from irradiation significantly correlated with iNOS over-expression. However, administration of iNOS inhibitor or substrate of iNOS did not influence the degree of rectal damage. Conclusion : A single fraction of 17.5 Gy irradiation to the rat rectum considered to be an optimal dose for radiation induced proctitis model. These results indicated that an excess production of NO contributes to pathogenesis of radiation-induced proctitis in part but was not the direct cause of rectal damage.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.26 no.2 s.42
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• pp.222-230
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• 1993

Industrial glues, known as 'Bonds' in Korea, contain many kinds of organic solvents, and glue sniffing of youths became one of the social problems in Korea. Mixed exposures to solvents by glue sniffing may induce chronic toxicities different from those by exposures to solvents of single component. To test effects of the glue sniffing on weight gain or central nervous system, two groups of 20 male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to air(control group) or vapors of the glues to narcotic status(exposed group), and weight check, tail flick test, hot plate test, rotarod treadmill test were done on the 14th,24th, 36th, 45th, 53rd, 86th, 102nd, 117th, 134th and 151st days after the first exposure. On the 188th day, their brains were excised and examined by a pathologist. Weight gain, controlled against time change, showed significant difference between the groups, but response times in tail flick test, hot plate tests, and rotarod treadmill test didn't. In pathological examination with blind method, no macroscopic or microscopic differences were found between the two groups. These results suggests that organic lesion in central nervous system may not ensue glue sniffing, but, before firm conclusion, more studies in various exposure conditions should be followed.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.213-221
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• 2013

Bibimbab (mixed rice) is a traditional Korean one-dish meal. This study was carried out to investigate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects of raw and seasoned ingredients used in Bibimbab (Cucurbita moschata P., Platycodon grandiflorum A., Vigna radiata L., Porphyra yezonensis udea, Allium ampeloprasum L., Pterdium aguilinum, Raphanus sativus). Human mast cells (HMC-1) were pretreated with 70% ethanol extracts of Bibimbab and further cultured for an appropriate time after the addition of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and calcium ionophore A23187. Cell viability was determined by an MTT assay. None of the ingredients showed cytotoxic effects at a concentration of 1.0 ${\mu}g/ml$. Anti-inflammatory effects were analyzed at 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 mg/ml concentrations of the raw, seasoned ingredients of PMA. A23187 stimulated HMC-1. Among the various ingredients, seasoned A. ampeloprasum L. extract showed the highest inhibition of TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 secretion (90% and 93%, respectively) at a concentration of 1.0 mg/ml. The R. sativus extract showed the highest inhibition (85%) of IL-8 secretion. DPPH analysis of the antioxidation properties of the ingredients showed that raw and seasoned A. ampeloprasum extracts exhibited the highest DPPH free radical scavenging activity (67.50 and 73.65%, respectively). These results suggest that seasoned ingredients used in Bibimbab have lower anti-inflammatory effects in relation to TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 secretion than raw ingredients in PMA- and A23187-treated HMC-1. In addition, the seasoned ingredients showed a tendency to increase antioxidative activity. Therefore, the ingredients used in Bibimbab have potential as anti-inflammatory and antioxidation agents.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.103-128
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• 2013

When a consumer needs a product or service and multiple sellers are available online, the process of selecting a seller to buy online from is complex since the process involves many behavioral dimensions that have to be taken into account. As a part of this selection process, consumers may set minimum trust expectation that can be used to screen out less trustworthy sellers. In the previous research, the level of consumers' trust expectation has been anchored on two important factors: product involvement and perceived risk. Product involvement refers to the extent to which a consumer perceives a specific product important. Thus, the higher product involvement may result in the higher trust expectation in sellers. On the other hand, other related studies found that when consumers perceived a higher level of risk (e.g., credit card fraud risk), they set higher trust expectation as well. While abundant research exists addressing the relationship between product involvement and perceived risk, little attention has been paid to the integrative view of the link between the two constructs and their impacts on the trust expectation. The present paper is a step toward filling this research gap. The purpose of this paper is to understand the process by which a consumer chooses an online merchant by examining the relationships among product involvement, perceived risk, trust expectation, and intention to buy from an e-tailer. We specifically focus on the mediating role of perceived risk in the relationships between enduring product involvement and the trust expectation. That is, we question whether product involvement affects the trust expectation directly without mediation or indirectly mediated by perceived risk. The research model with four hypotheses was initially tested using data gathered from 635 respondents through an online survey method. The structural equation modeling technique with partial least square was used to validate the instrument and the proposed model. The results showed that three out of the four hypotheses formulated were supported. First, we found that the intention to buy from a digital storefront is positively and significantly influenced by the trust expectation, providing support for H4 (trust expectation ${\rightarrow}$ purchase intention). Second, perceived risk was found to be a strong predictor of trust expectation, supporting H2 as well (perceived risk ${\rightarrow}$ trust expectation). Third, we did not find any evidence of direct influence of product involvement, which caused H3 to be rejected (product involvement ${\rightarrow}$ trust expectation). Finally, we found significant positive relationship between product involvement and perceived risk (H1: product involvement ${\rightarrow}$ perceived risk), which suggests that the possibility of complete mediation of perceived risk in the relationship between enduring product involvement and the trust expectation. As a result, we conducted an additional test for the mediation effect by comparing the original model with the revised model without the mediator variable of perceived risk. Indeed, we found that there exists a strong influence of product involvement on the trust expectation (by intentionally eliminating the variable of perceived risk) that was suppressed (i.e., mediated) by the perceived risk in the original model. The Sobel test statistically confirmed the complete mediation effect. Results of this study offer the following key findings. First, enduring product involvement is positively related to perceived risk, implying that the higher a consumer is enduringly involved with a given product, the greater risk he or she is likely to perceive with regards to the online purchase of the product. Second, perceived risk is positively related to trust expectation. A consumer with great risk perceptions concerning the online purchase is likely to buy from a highly trustworthy online merchant, thereby mitigating potential risks. Finally, product involvement was found to have no direct influence on trust expectation, but the relationship between the two constructs was indirect and mediated by the perceived risk. This is perhaps an important theoretical integration of two separate streams of literature on product involvement and perceived risk. The present research also provides useful implications for practitioners as well as academicians. First, one implication for practicing managers in online retail stores is that they should invest in reducing the perceived risk of consumers in order to lower down the trust expectation and thus increasing the consumer's intention to purchase products or services. Second, an academic implication is that perceived risk mediates the relationship between enduring product involvement and trust expectation. Further research is needed to elaborate the theoretical relationships among the constructs under consideration.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.392-400
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• 2003

We used an oxygen microelectrode to measure the vertical profiles of oxygen concentration in sediments located near point sources of organic matter. The measurements were carried out between 13th and 17th May, 2003, in semi-closed bay and coastal sediments in the central part of the South Sea. The measured oxygen penetration depths were extremely shallow and ranged from 1.30 to 3.80 mm. This suggested that the oxidation and reduction reactions in the early diagenesis should be studied at the mm depth scale. In order to estimate the oxygen consumption rate, we applied the one-dimension diffusion-reaction model to vertical profiles of oxygen near the sediment/water interface. Oxygen consumption rates were estimated to be between 10.8 and 27.6 mmol O$_2$ m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/(average: 19.1 mmol O$_2$ m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/). These rates showed a positive correlation with the organic carbon of the sediments. The corresponding benthic organic carbon oxidation rates calculated using an modified Redfield ratio (170/110) at the sediment/water interface were in the range of 89.5-228.1 mg C m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/(average: 158.0 mg C m$\^$-2/ day$\^$-1/). We suggest that these results are maximum values at the presents situation in the bay because the sampling sites were located near point sources of organic materials. This study will need to be carried out at many coastal sites and throughout the seasons to allow an understanding of the mechanisms of eutrophication e.g. the spatial distribution of oxygen consumption within the oxic zone and hypoxic conditions in the coastal sea.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.3 s.99
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• pp.152-159
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• 2002

The seasonal variations of nitrifying bacterial population sampled from 3 sites in Moon-Chon reservoir were analyzed by in situ hybridization with fluorescently labeled rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes from August 2000 until July 2001. In addition, physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, pH, chi-a and DOC were measured to determine correlations between those factors and the size of nitrifying bacterial populations. Total bacterial numbers varied in the range of $0.8{\sim}1.5{\times}10^6\;cells/ml$ independent of sites and had the maximal values in March at all 3 stations. The ratio of eubacteria to total bacteria ranged from 44.9% to 79.5%, and the ratio of each nitrifying bacteria to eubacterial numbers reached only $1.0{\sim}7.4%$. The variations of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria ranged from $1.1{\times}10^4$ to $3.0{\times}10^4\;cells/ml$ without noticeable peak values whereas those of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria varied in $1.3{\sim}5.7{\times}10^4\;cells/ml$ with the increasing tendency in winter regardless of the sites. Moreover it was observed that the numbers of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were higher than those of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Total bacterial numbers correlated with water temperature (r = 0.355, p<0.05) and DOC (r = 0.58G, p<0.01) positively whereas nitrite-oxidizing bacteria correlated with temperature (r = -0.416, p<0.05) and pH (r = -0.568, p = 0.001) negatively. In addition, DOC represented good correlations with eubacterial numbers (r = 0.448, p<0.01). These results indicate that temperature, DOC and pH might be one of the main factors affecting variations of bacterial populations in the aquatic ecosystem. It was also suggested that FISH method is a useful tool for detection of slow growing nitrifying bacteria.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1185-1193
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• 2006

This study investigated the effects of green tea on the disorders of lipid metabolism, oxidative system and hepatic functions induced by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), using adult male rats (SD) for 3 weeks. These 36 animals were divided into four groups. TCDD ($50{\mu}g/kg$ BW) was intraperitoneally injected at the beginning of experiment. Green tea powder was added 1% or 3% levels in basal diets respectively. Relative weights of thymus were decreased about one-third of control group, but those of liver, brain and testis were significantly increased in rats treated TCDD. Neutrophill% and lymphocyte% by TCDD treatment was improved by green tea diets. In liver functional enzyme, elevation of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities due to TCDD treatment was lowered by green tea diets. The concentrations of serum and liver lipids were significantly increased by TCDD treatment, however, those of serum and liver triglyceride tended to decrease by green tea diets. Fecal lipid excretion was increased in rats fed green tea diets. Especially, fecal total cholesterol level was significantly elevated by 3% green tea diets. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were increased in rats fed 3% green tea diets. Increment of benzphetamine N-demethylase (BPND) activity by TCDD treatment was declined by 1% green tea diets. These results indicate that green tea can exert improving effects on liver lipid accumulation and unfavorable hepatic functions, and elevate antioxidation.