• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.46
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• pp.304.1-304.7
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• 2018

Background: The Republic of Korea has a very low prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but the number of new HIV diagnoses has steadily risen, strongly indicating a large number of undetected HIV infections. Thus, it is important for Korean public health authorities to adopt and encourage cost-effective HIV detection tools, such as rapid HIV screening tests. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and rapid tests in a public health center (PHC) setting. Methods: We developed a decision analytic model to assess the per-examinee cost and the cost-effectiveness of identifying HIV patients in a PHC setting using two HIV testing strategies: conventional HIV screening by ELISA versus rapid HIV testing. Analysis was performed in two scenarios: HIV testing in an average-risk population and in a high-risk population. Results: Compared to the ELISA, the rapid test was cost-saving and cost-effective. The per-examinee cost was USD 1.61 with rapid testing versus USD 3.38 with ELISA in an average-risk population, and USD 4.77 with rapid testing versus USD 7.62 with ELISA in a high-risk population. The cost of identifying a previously undiagnosed HIV case was USD 26,974 with rapid testing versus USD 42,237 with ELISA in an average-risk population, and USD 153 with rapid testing versus USD 183 with ELISA in a high-risk population. Conclusion: Rapid testing would be more cost-effective than using conventional ELISA testing for identifying previously undiagnosed HIV-infected cases in Korea, a country with extremely low HIV prevalence.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.414-422
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• 2016

Eucalyptus dieback disease, caused by Cylindrocladium scoparium, has occurred in last few years in large Eucalyptus planting areas in China and other countries. Rapid, simple, and reliable diagnostic techniques are desired for the early detection of Eucalyptus dieback of C. scoparium prior to formulation of efficient control plan. For this purpose, three PCR-based methods of nested PCR, multiplex PCR, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) were developed for detection of C. scoparium based on factor 1-alpha (tef1) and beta-tubulin gene in this study. All of the three methods showed highly specific to C. scoparium. The sensitivities of the nested PCR and LAMP were much higher than the multiplex PCR. The sensitivity of multiplex PCR was also higher than regular PCR. C. scoparium could be detected within 60 min from infected Eucalyptus plants by LAMP, while at least 2 h was needed by the rest two methods. Using different Eucalyptus tissues as samples for C. scoparium detection, all of the three PCR-based methods showed much better detection results than regular PCR. Base on the results from this study, we concluded that any of the three PCR-based methods could be used as diagnostic technology for the development of efficient strategies of Eucalyptus dieback disease control. Particularly, LAMP was the most practical method in field application because of its one-step and rapid reaction, simple operation, single-tube utilization, and simple visualization of amplification products.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2010

Excessive oral and maxillofacial bleeding causes upper airway obstruction, bronchotracheal & gastric aspiration and hypovolemic shock. Therefore, the rapid & correct bleeding control is very important for life-saving in the medical emergency room. In spite of the bleeding control methods of the wound suture & direct pressure, the postoperative bleeding can be occurred, because of the presence of various bleeding disorders & postoperative delayed wound infections. The proper care of bleeding disorders & wound infections are very important for the control of the delayed postoperative rebleeding. In spite of these methods, active oral bleeding can be presented by the other causes of head injury. A rare but particularly dangerous sort of bleeding that may have an especial importance to the patient with severe basal skull fracture that damage large vessels and even the cavernous sinus. The occurrence of profuse nasal or oropharyngeal bleeding may arise from damage to the anterior and posterior ethmoidal vessels, but when mixed with brain tissue it is evidence of mortal damage. In this condition, rapid entire oropharyngeal packing is essential for the control of active oral bleeding. This is a case report of rapid rational bleeding control method by much amount of wet gauze packings, in a 44-years-old male patient with active oropharyngeal bleeding by basal skull fractures.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.60-66
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• 2019

Objective: To compare black rice (Oryza sativa L) extract with three different staining methods for human sperm head assessment. Methods: Semen samples were collected from 34 volunteers. Four smears of each ejaculate were prepared for staining using the rapid Papanicolaou (PAP) stain, SpermBlue, DipQuick, and black rice extract. The percentage of defective sperm heads (mean${\pm}$standard deviation) was compared. Results: Black glutinous rice extract, a natural dye, was used instead of hematoxylin to stain the nuclei of the sperm heads. The percentage of defective sperm heads showed a significant difference between black rice extract and DipQuick (p= 0.000). In contrast, black rice extract and rapid PAP showed no statistically significant difference (p= 0.974). A strong correlation (r = 0.761) was found between the findings obtained using rapid PAP and black rice extract. In contrast, a weak correlation (r = 0.248) was obtained between DipQuick and black rice extract for the percentage of defective sperm heads. Conclusion: The results showed good agreement and a strong correlation between the rapid PAP and black rice extract stains. The advantages of black rice extract as a novel substitute for hematoxylin for nuclear staining include ease of preparation, local availability, and favorable nuclear staining properties. Further studies could also focus on comparing staining techniques in clinical samples.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2015

Purpose: To compare volumetric modulated arc therapy of RapidArc with robotic stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of CyberKnife in the planning and delivery of SBRT for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment by analyzing dosimetric parameters. Materials and Methods: Two radiation treatment plans were generated for 29 HCC patients, one using Eclipse for the RapidArc plan and the other using Multiplan for the CyberKnife plan. The prescription dose was 60 Gy in 3 fractions. The dosimetric parameters of planning target volume (PTV) coverage and normal tissue sparing in the RapidArc and the CyberKnife plans were analyzed. Results: The conformity index was $1.05{\pm}0.02$ for the CyberKnife plan, and $1.13{\pm}0.10$ for the RapidArc plan. The homogeneity index was $1.23{\pm}0.01$ for the CyberKnife plan, and $1.10{\pm}0.03$ for the RapidArc plan. For the normal liver, there were significant differences between the two plans in the low-dose regions of $V_1$ and $V_3$. The normalized volumes of $V_{60}$ for the normal liver in the RapidArc plan were drastically increased when the mean dose of the PTVs in RapidArc plan is equivalent to the mean dose of the PTVs in the CyberKnife plan. Conclusion: CyberKnife plans show greater dose conformity, especially in small-sized tumors, while RapidArc plans show good dosimetric distribution of low dose sparing in the normal liver and body.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2016

Background: As new legislation has come into force implementing radiation safety management for the use of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), it is necessary to establish a rapid and accurate measurement technique. Measurement of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ using conventional methods encounter the most significant difficulties for pretreatment (e.g., purification, speciation, and dilution/enrichment) or require time-consuming processes. Therefore, in this study, the applicability of ED-XRF as a non-destructive and rapid screening method was validated for raw materials and by-product samples. Materials and Methods: A series of experiments was conducted to test the applicability for rapid screening of XRF measurement to determine activity of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ based on certified reference materials (e.g., soil, rock, phosphorus rock, bauxite, zircon, and coal ash) and NORM samples commercially used in Korea. Statistical methods were used to compare the analytical results of ED-XRF to those of certified values of certified reference materials (CRM) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results and Discussion: Results of the XRF measurement for $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ showed under 20% relative error and standard deviation. The results of the U-test were statistically significant except for the case of U in coal fly ash samples. In addition, analytical results of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ in the raw material and by-product samples using XRF and the analytical results of those using ICP-MS ($R^2{\geq}0.95$) were consistent with each other. Thus, the analytical results rapidly derived using ED-XRF were fairly reliable. Conclusion: Based on the validation results, it can be concluded that the ED-XRF analysis may be applied to rapid screening of radioactivities ($^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$) in NORM samples.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.16 no.1 s.94
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• pp.95-107
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• 1999

The design models of a new product in general are created using clay models or wooden mock-ups. The reverse engineering(RE) technology enables us to quickly create the CAD model of the new product by capturing the surface of the model using laser digitizers or coordinate measuring machines. Rapid prototyping (RP) is another technology that can reduce the product development time by fabricating the physical prototype of a part using a layered manufacturing technique. In reverse engineering process, however, the digitizer generates an enormous amount of point data, and it is time consuming and also inefficient to create surfaces out of these data. In addition, the surfacing operation takes a great deal of time and skill and becomes a bottleneck. In rapid prototyping, a faceted model called STL file has been the industry standard for providing the CAD input to RP machines. It approximates the CAD model of a part using many planar triangular patches and has drawbacks. A novel procedure that overcomes these problems and integrates RE with RP is proposed. Algorithms that drastically reduce the point clouds data have been developed. These methods will facilitate the use of reverse engineered geometric data for rapid prototyping, and thereby will contribute in reducing the product development time.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 2009

Frequent outbreaks of foodborne illness have been increasing the awareness of food safety. Conventional methods for pathogen detection and identification are labor-intensive and take days to complete. Some immunological, rapid assays are developed, but these assays still require prolonged enrichment steps. Recently developed biosensors have shown potential for the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens. In this study, an impedimetric biosensor was developed for rapid detection of Salmonella entritidis in food sample. To develop the biosensor, an interdigitated microelectrode (IME) was fabricated by using a semiconductor fabrication process. Anti-Salmonella antibodies were immobilized based on neutravidin-biotin binding on the surface of the IME to form an active sensing layer. To evaluate the effect of electrode gap on sensitivity of the sensor, 3 types of sensors with different electrode gap sizes (2, 5, and $10{\mu}m$) were fabricated and tested. The impedimetric biosensor could detect $10^3\;CFU/mL$ of Salmonella in pork meat extract with an incubation time of 5 min. This method may provide a simple, rapid, and sensitive method to detect foodborne pathogens.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.74-88
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to design Korean-themed online public education content in Korean medicine using rapid prototyping instructional systems design (RPISD). This study presents cases of developing and converting face-to-face general education programs designed to increase the interest in and understanding of Korean medicine for the public into online programs within a short timeframe. Methods: This qualitative study is design and development research, which used the RPISD model to analyze the available resources utilized in the rapid development of public educational content and propose systematization and optimization measures by analyzing the needs of clients, learners, and the environment. The <Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine(DUBG)Open Course> was developed according to the model procedure, which involved needs analysis, development of course materials and manuscript, and storyboard creation and its filming and editing. Usability tests were conducted at all stages, and the opinions of clients, instructors, experts, and instructional designers were accommodated and reflected at each stage. Results: Using the rapid prototyping model, <Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine(DUBG)Open Course> was organized into five classes of 20 minutes each. Each class was developed in Korean and included English, Chinese, and Japanese subtitles in addition to Korean under the cooperative instructional design among clients, subject-matter experts, instructional designer and learners. Conclusion: The cooperative instructional design of stakeholders is significant in developing Korean medicine public education content online through extensive interaction and feedback from stakeholders in the early stage of educational content development.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.657-660
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• 2015

Background: A diagnosis of H. pylori infection can be made by invasive or non-invasive methods. Several noninvasive diagnostic tests based on the detection of H. pylori stool antigen (HpSA) have been developed. The Genx H. pylori stool antigen card test is a new rapid, non-invasive test that is based on monoclonal immunochromatographic assay. The aim of this study was to determine its sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy for diagnosing H. pylori infection in adult patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 162 patients were included in the study. A gastric biopsy was collected for histopathology and rapid urease testing. Stool specimens for HpSA testing were also collected. Patients were considered H. pylori positive if two invasive tests (histological and rapid urease tests) were positive. Results: Using the reference test, 50.6% of the samples were positive for H. pylori infection. The Genx H. pylori antigen test was positive in 19.7% of patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of the Genx H. pylori antigen test were 51.6%, 96.0%, 88.8%, 76.1%, and 79.0%, respectively. Conclusions: The Genx H. pylori stool antigen card test is a new non-invasive method that is fast and simple to perform but provides less reliable results.