• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.184-190
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• 2016

Objectives : This study analyzed the differences of body mass index(BMI) in Korean patients with Alzheimer's diseases(AD), Mild Cognitive Impairment(MCI), and healthy controls to verify whether low BMI is associated with cognitive impairment. Furthermore, this study also sought to examine any association between BMI and Mini Mental State Examination-Korean version(MMSE-K), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR), and Global Deterioration Scale(GDS). Methods : A total of 257 subjects were included in the study. History taking, mental status examination, physical examination and neurocognitive function test were carried out for the diagnosis of AD and MCI. The subjects' demographic data and presence of diseases were also surveyed. The overall cognitive function and severity of diseases were assessed using MMSE-K, GDS, and CDR. Results : The order of BMI was found to be healthy controls>MCI>AD, with statistically significant differences among the groups. The order of MMSE-K scores was similar, with healthy controls>MCI>AD in statistically significant differences. The healthy controls had the lowest CDR and GDS scores, and AD patients had the highest scores. There was a significant positive correlation between BMI and MMSE scores(r=0.238, p=0.000). BMI was negatively correlated with CDR(r=-0.174, p=0.008) as well as with GDS(r=-0.233, p= 0.000). Conclusions : Measuring BMI of patients with AD or MCI is expected to be meaningful in that BMI could be a clinical indicator of AD. We expect this to be beneficial for the diagnosis, prevention, and therapeutic approach of AD and also expect large-scale, long-term longitudinal studies to follow.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.136-146
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• 2023

Biological materials, such as stuffed specimens, can release various acids or volatiles. There has been no research carried out on the emission characteristics of organic compounds generated from the preservatives used in taxidermy specimens or associated manufacturing materials and methods. Therefore, in order to identify the organic compounds generated from taxidermy specimens, a degradation experiment was conducted on specimens for each material and for storage specimens. To produce Ogye chicken specimens, naphthalene and borax were used as preservatives, and planer sawdust, newspaper, and polystyrene foam were used as the core body materials. The deterioration experiment was conducted for 2 weeks in a high-temperature environment(50℃) and a high-humidity environment (95%), with an Ogye chicken specimen (year 2015) kept in an animal storage facility. Results indicated that the concentration of organic compounds generated by the specimen in the high-temperature environment tended to be greater than that in the high-humidity environment. The preservatives benzene, toluene, xylene, and p-dichlorobenzene were detected in the specimens using naphthalene, confirming that naphthalene is a major organic compound release factor, and the specimens that used sawdust, newspaper, and polystyrene foam also exhibited organic compounds. This appears to have been due to degradation of the material. In addition, ammonia was detected in the specimens for each material due to decay. In particular, the specimens using borax at high temperature were subject to approximately 9 times higher rates of ammonia-related deterioration than the specimens using naphthalene. These results can be considered to result from the prevention of biological damage through insecticidal effects by accelerating the sublimation of naphthalene in a high-temperature environment. Naphthalene is a potentially carcinogenic substance, and when used as a preservative, proper use management is required. Taxidermy specimens can release various organic compounds depending on the manufacturing techniques used, so a systematic preservation management plan is required that depends on conditions such as the applicable manufacturing materials and preservatives.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2007

Objective : The authors tried to reveal some unique features of lipomeningomyelocele (LMMC), including clinical presentation, factors precipitating onset of symptoms, pathologic entities of LMMC associated with tethered cord syndrome, and surgical outcome in LMMC patients. Methods : Seventy-five patients with LMMC were enrolled in this study. Neuro-imaging and intraoperative findings allowed classification of LMMC into three Types. The patients were divided into two groups by age : A (51 patients), from birth to 3 years, and B (24 patients), from 3 to 24 years. For prevention of retethering of the cord, a mega-dural sac rebuilding procedure was performed in 15 patients. Results : During a mean postoperative follow-up period of 4 years, the surgical outcome was satisfactory in terms of improved pain and motor weakness, but disappointing with reference to the resolution of bowel and bladder dysfunction. Among these 75 patients with LMMC, preoperative deficits were improved after surgery in 29 (39%), remained stable in 28 (37%), changed slightly in 13 (17%), and worsened in 5 (7%). Patients in group A achieved better outcomes than those in group B. Depending on the type of lesion, patients with types I and II LMMC have better outcomes than those with type III LMMC. Finally, retethering of the cord with neurological deterioration occurred in 4 (5.3%) of the 75 patients, but no retethering was found in the 15 patients who were recently treated with a mega-dural sac rebuilding procedure. Conclusion : Our data continue to support the opinion that early diagnosis and optimal surgery are still essential for the treatment of patients with LMMC, since there is a high likelihood of residual neurological functions that can be preserved. Based on our surgical experience of untethering and decompression of lipomas, a mega-dural sac repair is useful to prevent retethering of the cord.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-147
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• 2013

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the preventive effects of Sambok-go for upper respiratory tract infection. Methods: Sambok-go was performed to outpatients which had visited Daejeon university oriental medicine hospital. The number of participants who received Sambok-go at least once were 85, 21 patients did not receive Sambok-go three times were excluded first. Participants who received treatment three times were 64 patients. After the 2011 winter, 2012.05 we follow-up by telephone, except eight, 56 patients were analyzed. Sambok-go is composed of 8 kinds of medicinal herbs. Each Sambok-go weighs about 1.1g and attatchment surface diameter is about 1.5 cm. Sambok-go was attached to both side of 폐유(肺兪)(BL13), 심유(心兪)(BL15), 폐유(膈兪)(BL17), patients under the age of 15 were attached for an hour, patients over 15 years age were attatched for 3 hours. Results: Among the finally analyzed 56 participants, we compared the number of flu outbreak during winter before and after treatment. Before treatment measured $6.14{\pm}6.57$, after treatment measured $1.57{\pm}1.14$. In conclusion, the number of flu outbreak was significantly decreased(p<0.001). To investigate the effect of worsening factors on the pre-existing upper respiratory diseases, we checked whether the patients had pre-existing upper respiratory diseases. The patients who already had old upper respiratory diseases were 34. The increase in the frequency of deterioration in 5 patients, 4 patients no change, decreased in 24 cases, one patient was unresponsive. After evaluating the satisfaction of The patients who were treated with the Sambok-Go, the 29 cases were very satisfied, the 23 were satisfied, None of the paitents showed dissatisfaction or bad dissatisfaction. Conclusion: Sambok-go seems to be effective in the prevention of URI. Further studies are recommended to confirm this effect.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.231-238
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• 2017

Rapid industrial development has led to a serious problem of pollution in the industrial sector. With the increasing social need for environmental protection, research on air pollution prevention equipment for reducing pollutants in industrial processes is actively being undertaken. The deterioration of existent, installed facilities, their increased emission rates, and the strengthening of the effluent quality standards make complying with permissible emission standards difficult. In fact, installing new electric precipitators or complementing existent facilities is inevitable. The expansion and complementation of the installed electrical precipitators have led to improvements in dust collection efficiency, shorter working times, and lower costs. Because of its easy installation and simple manufacturing process, the production method with the discharge electrode of an electric precipitator is widely used. The following conclusions were reached by classifying discharge electrodes into four types based on the production method and mutually comparing them by their dust collection efficiency. None of the four types used in this study were damaged by impact. However, we were able to confirm some strain from the compression sites of both type A and type B. Both type B and type C are expected to have greater dust collection efficiencies than the other models due to their large vibration transmissibility. Moreover, the high vibrational energy is expected to cause rapping damage during its operation. Particularly, in the case of type B, some of the strain was found at the end of the compression site. The coupling schemes of both type C and type D are out of vibration transmissibility. On the other hand, the ability to maintain straightness and solidity of the side is regarded as outstanding and stable. Type D has outstanding on-site workability, considering the presence of locking, structural stability, and work conditions. From these experiments, we determined that type C is the most ideal connection method of discharge electrode, considering its construction period of renovation. Type C is inferior to type D with regard to on-site workability. However, type C has outstanding dedusting transmission with regard to the straightness, solidity maintenance, and vibration of shearing stress.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.399-407
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• 2023

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) occurs in more than 15% of the dogs over 10 years of age and causes irreversible renal function deterioration. Therefore, it is important to diagnose CKD early and treat the disease properly. The purpose of this study aimed to to evaluate the clinical utility of urine albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) using POC (point-of-care) device as an early detection urinary biomarker in CKD dogs and to confirm the correlation between ACR and other known CKD biomarkers. Urine and serum samples were obtained from 50 healthy dogs and 50 dogs with CKD. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, and symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) concentrations, and urine protein creatinine ratio (UPC) were measured. Urine specific gravity (USG) was evaluated using refractometer, and ACR was measured using an i-SENS A1Care analyzer. The ACR values of dogs with CKD were significantly different from those of healthy dogs (p < 0.001), as with other renal biomarkers. ACR showed significant differences between healthy dogs and dogs with CKD at every IRIS stage (p < 0.005), whereas no significant differences were observed between dogs with CKD IRIS stage I and healthy dogs with UPC. There are significant positive correlation between ACR and BUN (r = 0.611, p < 0.001), creatinine (r = 0.788, p < 0.001), SDMA (r = 0.747, p < 0.001), and UPC (r = 0.784, p < 0.001), and significant negative correlation between ACR and USG (r = -0.700, p < 0.001). In receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.982 (95% CI 0.963-1.000, p < 0.001), with an optimal cut-off value of 64.20 mg/g (94% sensitivity and 94% specificity). Thus, ACR is a useful urinary biomarker for the early diagnosis of proteinuria in CKD and combined use of ACR and other renal biomarkers may be helpful for early diagnosis and prevention of CKD in dogs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2020

Background: Prevention of osteoporosis and bone fracture is one of the important issues for liver transplant recipients because a long history of liver disease and lifelong use of immunosuppressants, including corticosteroids, may cause these diseases. In this study, we aimed to analyze liver recipient bone status, 10-year fracture risk, and medication history. Methods: The electronic medical records of adult patients aged >40 years who received liver transplantation at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital between January 2009 and June 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. On the basis of their bone mineral density and fracture history, their fracture risks were analyzed using the Korean fracture risk assessment tool. Results: A total of 57 liver transplant recipients were treated with corticosteroids during a mean of 8.8 months after transplantation. 30 patients (52.6%) showed bone metabolism dysfunction such as osteopenia or osteoporosis. The 10-year femoral fracture risk was 2.1%, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry monitoring was performed, including right before liver transplantation every 27.5±19.2 months. The mean femoral bone mineral density decreased by -7.2%±7.3%. Four patients (7.0%) had a fracture after liver transplantation. Osteoporotic fracture occurred in 3 patients with osteoporosis (25.0%). Among the osteopenia patients with moderate fracture risk who were not treated with bisphosphonate, 1 patient (12.5%) had a history of bone fracture after liver transplantation. Conclusions: Considering the deterioration of bone density and moderate fracture risk, medication for osteoporosis should be prescribed to liver transplant recipients with regular monitoring of bone density after transplantation.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.138-143
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• 2007

This study goes in for the observation of the characteristics of nitrogen removal from swine wastewater by struvite crystallization. In addition, the struvite formation potential in supernatants after struvite crystallization was investigated. In the study for nitrogen removal by struvite crystallization, the effects of pH and molar ratio of magnesium (Mg) injected using bittern as Mg source were investigated. Also, the potential of struvite formation in the supernatant with amount of Mg added was carefully observed. As the results, the optimum pH in the removal of nitrogen was 8.8 and sludge volume was increased as pH was raised from 7 to 12 under the condition that the molar ratio of $Mg^{2+}$ to ${NH_4}^+$-N to ${PO_4}^{3-}$-P was 1:1:1. An optimum removal efficiency of ammonia-N was observed at 1 molar ratio of Mg to ${NH_4}^+$-N, showing no further increase at over 1 molar ratio and dramatical deterioration at under 1 molar ratio. However, the sludge volume was increased by increasing the molar ratio of Mg. In the experiments for the potential of struvite formation in the supernatants, initial -log([$Mg^{2+}$][${NH_4}^+$][${PO_4}^{3-}$]) value was much lower than $pK_{sp}$ and gradually reached $pK_{sp}$ at 2 days, as the molar ratio of Mg increased over 1.2. At 31 days, -log([$Mg^{2+}$][${NH_4}^+$][${PO_4}^{3-}$]) value was returned to the initial value. In addition, the supernatants had a potential precipitation of hydroxylapatite due to calcium contained in bittern, $K_2Mg(SO_4)_3$ and $K_3Na(SO_4)_2$ resulting from the decrease of sodium and potassium in supernatants formed after struvite crystallization as times go by. Based on the results, it appears that some retention time and proper dosage of Mg may be needed for the prevention of scale in pipe line.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2017

As global warming became a worldwide issue, a significant effort has been made on the development of technology related to $CO_2$ capture and storage. Geologic sequestration of $CO_2$ is one of those technologies for safe disposal of $CO_2$. Geologic sequestration stores $CO_2$ in the form of supercritical fluid into the underground site surrounded by solid rock, and concrete is used for prevention of $CO_2$ leakage into the atmosphere. In such case, concrete may experience severe damage by attack of supercritical $CO_2$, and especially in contact with underground water, very aggressive form of carbonation can occur. In this work, to prevent such deterioration in concrete, calcium phosphates were added to the portland cement to produce hydroxyapatite, one of the most stable mineral in the world. Temperature rise, viscosity, set and stiffening, and strength development of cement paste incorporating three different types of calcium phosphates were investigated. According to the results, it was found that the addition of calcium phosphate increased apparent viscosity, but decreased maximum temperature rise and 28 day compressive strength. It was found that monocalcium phosphate was found to be inappropriate for portland cement based material. Applicability of dicalcium and tricalcium phosphates for portland cement needs to be evaluated with further investigation, including the long term compressive strength development.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.331-337
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• 2022

In 2021, the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), a U.N. advisory research institute, cited container loss as one of six sources of marine litters in shipping. The sinking of the X-P ress Pearl in May 2021 caused a catastrophic environmental pollution accident in which the loaded containers were moved to the shore, and the plastic pellets were loaded inside covered the coast of Sri Lanka. With this history, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will discuss prevention and follow-up measures for container loss during ship voyages, as an agenda at the 8th Sub Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers meeting in September 2022. To establish Korea's response direction at the IMO meeting, this study identified major causes of container loss accidents, and considered the response through analysis based on the accident investigation report and related professional data. As a result, it was found that the major cause of container loss during voyages was the enlargement of container ships, bad weather, and poor loading of containers. In particular, the need to prepare countermeasures for the deterioration of the operational safety of large container ships due to bad weather was identified. Additionally, integrated monitoring of the implementation of international conventions is required, for the safe sea transportation of container cargo. In particular, in terms of preservation of the marine environment, it is necessary to supplement the system for the recovery of lost containers. Finally, it was found that it is necessary to establish systems that can complement each other in the shipbuilding and shipping industries, in terms of shipbuilding as well as ship operation, to fundamentally prevent container loss accidents at sea. It is judged that it is difficult to resolve the various factors of container loss at sea during voyages, by responding from an individual perspective.