• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.64-77
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• 2023

Objectives : Recently, the number of patients with dry eye syndrome has been steadily increasing. However, established treatment for it does not yet exist. This study compared electronic moxibustion with acupuncture for patients with dry eye in terms of efficacy and safety. Methods : This trial was designed as an investigator-initiated, single-blinded, comparative, randomized controlled trial. Thirty patients with dry eye were randomized to the electronic moxibustion treatment group(EMG) or the acupuncture treatment group(AG) in equal proportion. The participants who assigned to the EMG were treated with electronic moxibustion to ten acupoints including both sides of BL2, GB14, TE23, and LI4 for 12 minutes. The participants who were assigned to the AG were treated with acupuncture to the same acupoints for 15 minutes. Over 4 weeks, each intervention was carried out twelve times in total. The primary outcome was the ocular surface disease index(OSDI). The secondary outcomes were the subjective symptoms visual analog scale(VAS), quality of life(QoL), Schirmer I test(SIT), and general assessment. Adverse events and vital signs were also investigated for safety assessment. Results : In intragroup comparisons, both the EMG and the AG significantly improved the OSDI scores, the subjective symptoms VAS scores, the QoL scores, and the SIT results after 4 weeks of the trial. However, there were no statistical differences in intergroup comparisons between the two groups after 4 weeks. The safety of electronic moxibustion and acupuncture was confirmed by no occurrence of serious adverse events. Conclusions : Both electronic moxibustion and acupuncture were effective for dry eye syndrome, and they were safe. Electronic moxibustion and acupuncture can be used for dry eye syndrome as equivalent treatments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.935-942
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• 2022

In doing interventional treatment under the guidance of ultrasonography, the medical team detects the legion site with ultrasonic equipment at first, and insert angio needle. In this situation, if the position of legion and the depth of inserted needle on the ultrasonographic screen are different from real position and depth, the needle is likely to damage a major blood vessel or tissue. Accordingly, we had wondered how much such differences between screen image and reality, and so decided to examine them. Using five ultrasonographic equipments manufactured from different companies in different years, this study tried to compare the lengths of the needle on the screen images and real lengths of it, and find out the factors affecting skewness of them. This study used hog meat chunk to mimic human flesh, and sausages as the target of needle. It compared penetrating depths of the needle as the images on the five equipments using single sample t test in the SPSS 22 statistical program. It was found that all the errors were statistically significant(<.05). So, this study decided that it was wrong to evaluate performances of the equipments by the makers and ages of them. It is necessary to do periodic quality controls of equipments and improve the skillfulness of sonographers to reduce error rates between real treatment areas and the images of them.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.800-811
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• 2022

The integration of metabolomics and transcriptomics may elucidate the correlation between the genotypic and phenotypic patterns in organisms. In equine physiology, various metabolite levels vary during exercise, which may be correlated with a modified gene expression pattern of related genes. Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic studies in horses have not been conducted to date. The objective of this study was to detect the effect of moderate exercise on the metabolomic and transcriptomic levels in horses. In this study, using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we analyzed the concentrations of metabolites in muscle and plasma; we also determined the gene expression patterns of branched chain (alpha) keto acid dehydrogenase kinase complex (BCKDK), which encodes the key regulatory enzymes in branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism, in two breeds of horses, Thoroughbred and Jeju, at different time intervals. The concentrations of metabolites in muscle and plasma were measured by ¹H NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy, and the relative metabolite levels before and after exercise in the two samples were compared. Subsequently, multivariate data analysis based on the metabolic profiles was performed using orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), and variable important plots and t-test were used for basic statistical analysis. The stress-induced expression patterns of BCKDK genes in horse muscle-derived cells were examined using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to gain insight into the role of transcript in response to exercise stress. In this study, we found higher concentrations of aspartate, leucine, isoleucine, and lysine in the skeletal muscle of Jeju horses than in Thoroughbred horses. In plasma, compared with Jeju horses, Thoroughbred horses had higher levels of alanine and methionine before exercise; whereas post-exercise, lysine levels were increased. Gene expression analysis revealed a decreased expression level of BCKDK in the post-exercise period in Thoroughbred horses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.871-877
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• 2022

This study was conducted to improve the problems of exposure dose and image reading applied to patients due to the incorrect use of AEC during chest radiography. Images were acquired by dividing the case where AEC was used as the test condition and the case where AEC was not used. As a result of the study, the dose was reduced by 1.17% in 110 kVp without AEC than with AEC, 17.2% decrease at 100 kVp, 30.19% decrease at 90 kVp, and 46.45% decrease at 80 kVp. There was a significant difference in the statistical values according to the tube voltage change in the lung, trachea, and heart SNR average values with AEC and without AEC 110 kVp, but the difference in image quality was insignificant in actual images. When AEC was not applied at the same tube voltage, the dose could be reduced by 17.2% while maintaining the image quality similar to that of with AEC at 100 kVp without AEC. Therefore, rather than relying on AE conditions during chest radiographic examination, it is considered that the conditions should be considered for the examination while lowering the dose by selecting an appropriate tube voltage.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.104-116
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to systematically determine an optimal percentile cut-off in histogram analysis for calculating the mean parameters obtained from a non-Gaussian continuous-time random-walk (CTRW) diffusion model for differentiating individual glioma grades. This retrospective study included 90 patients with histopathologically proven gliomas (42 grade II, 19 grade III, and 29 grade IV). We performed diffusion-weighted imaging using 17 b-values (0-4000 s/mm²) at 3T, and analyzed the images with the CTRW model to produce an anomalous diffusion coefficient (D_m) along with temporal (𝛼) and spatial (𝛽) diffusion heterogeneity parameters. Given the tumor ROIs, we created a histogram of each parameter; computed the P-values (using a Student's t-test) for the statistical differences in the mean D_m, 𝛼, or 𝛽 for differentiating grade II vs. grade III gliomas and grade III vs. grade IV gliomas at different percentiles (1% to 100%); and selected the highest percentile with P < 0.05 as the optimal percentile. We used the mean parameter values calculated from the optimal percentile cut-offs to do a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis based on individual parameters or their combinations. We compared the results with those obtained by averaging data over the entire region of interest (i.e., 100th percentile). We found the optimal percentiles for D_m, 𝛼, and 𝛽 to be 68%, 75%, and 100% for differentiating grade II vs. III and 58%, 19%, and 100% for differentiating grade III vs. IV gliomas, respectively. The optimal percentile cut-offs outperformed the entire-ROI-based analysis in sensitivity (0.761 vs. 0.690), specificity (0.578 vs. 0.526), accuracy (0.704 vs. 0.639), and AUC (0.671 vs. 0.599) for grade II vs. III differentiations and in sensitivity (0.789 vs. 0.578) and AUC (0.637 vs. 0.620) for grade III vs. IV differentiations, respectively. Percentile-based histogram analysis, coupled with the multi-parametric approach enabled by the CTRW diffusion model using high b-values, can improve glioma grading.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.487-497
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• 2022

The purpose of the present study was to determine the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between the work-family conflict and depression of dual-income parents. The subjects were 214 dual-income parents aged 20 years and the data collected online in April 2021 were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 24.0 statistical program. This study conducted three stages of hierarchical regression analysis to confirm the mediating effect, which showed that work-family conflict had statistically significant effect on social support (β=-.188, p<.01), which was the mediating variable, and depression (β=.539, p<.001), which was the dependent variable. In the third stage, the study confirmed that social support had a partially mediating effect on the relationship between work-family conflict and depression, which was statistically significant in the Sobel test result as well (z=2.468, p=.013). In conclusion, the study confirms the need to establish strategies and arrange social support to solve the emotional problems of dual-income parents.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.12
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• pp.632-641
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• 2021

Background: Over the past few decades, various goals have been defined to reduce the mortality of children caused by acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) worldwide. However, few spatial studies to date have reported on ALRI deaths. Purpose: We aimed to assess the spatial modeling of mortality from ALRI in children under 5 years of age during 2000-2017 using a global data. Methods: The data on the mortality of children under 5 years old caused by ALRI were initially obtained from the official website of the World Health Organization. The income status of their home countries was also gathered from the Country Income Groups (World Bank Classification) website and divided into 5 categories. After that, in the ArcGIS 10.6 environment, a database was created and the statistical tests and related maps were extracted. The Global Moran's I statistic, Getis-Ord Gi statistic, and geographically weighted regression were used for the analyses. In this study, higher z scores indicated the hot spots, while lower z scores indicated the cold spots. Results: In 2000-2017, child mortality showed a downward trend from 17.6 per 100,000 children to 8.1 and had a clustered pattern. Hot spots were concentrated in Asia in 2000 but shifted toward African countries by 2017. A cold spot that formed in Europe in 2007 showed an ascending trend by 2017. Based on the results of geographically weighted regression test, the regions identified as the hot spots of mortality from ALRI in children under 5 years old were among the middle-income countries (R²=0.01, adjusted R²=8.77). Conclusion: While the total number of child deaths in 2000-2017 has decreased, the number of hot spots has increased among countries. This study also concluded that, during the study period, Central and Western Africa countries became the main new hot spots of deaths from ALRI.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.137-147
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• 2022

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to investigate how the existence of companion animals and the type of companion animals affect the quality of life and emotional stability of adults in their 20s. Methods : The subjects of this study were adults in their twenties living in Busan who could understand the method of this study. The survey method was conducted with a questionnaire, consisting of 4 questions on general characteristics, 26 questions on quality of life, and 20 questions on emotional stability for a total of 50 questions. An independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to verify the difference in quality of life and emotional stability according to general characteristics. Results : As a result of analyzing the difference in the quality of life of the study subjects, the case of having a companion animal scored statistically significantly higher in the satisfaction of the physical domain, psychological domain, living environment domain, overall quality of life domain, and social domain. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in the case of companion animals according to the type of companion animal. However, there was no statistical significance in the analysis of differences in emotional stability of study subjects according to the presence or absence of companion animals. Conclusion : This study was conducted with 400 adults in their twenties to determine the effects of the presence and absence and type of companion animals on the quality of life and emotional stability of adults in their twenties. As a result, the group with companion animals showed higher satisfaction scores than the group without companion animals in terms of quality of life. This suggests that raising companion animals for adults in their 20s has a positive effect on improving their quality of life. Therefore, it can be recommended for the physical, psychological, and social health of adults in their 20s.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.525-535
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing the user's continuous usage intention of computer games. A research model was developed which shows that the independent variables of value, expectation confirmation, perceived enjoyment affect user satisfaction and continuous usage intention. To test the six hypotheses, survey data were collected from 104 respondents, and hypotheses tests as well as a confirmatory factor analysis were conducted using a partial least square analysis tool. The statistical analysis result showed that expectation confirmation had a significant positive effect on satisfaction, and satisfaction also had a strong positive effect on the game user's continuous usage intention. Perceived enjoyment showed a highly strong positive effect on satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction was found to have full mediation effects in the relationship between expectation confirmation and continuous usage intention, and perceived enjoyment and continuous usage intention respectively. This result provides an important implication that continuous usage intention occurs through user satisfaction, and also indicates the contribution of this study for the game industry. Another contribution of this study is to introduce critical independent variables from the marketing and information technology domains in order to explain continuous usage intention of computer games.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.971-978
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• 2022

As a marketing method in a non-face-to-face society, the purpose of this study is to test how AR experience affects purchase intention in the process of consumers recognizing product information to purchase products and to secure the basis for the effectiveness of developing and introducing augmented reality functions in future product brand applications. Literary research methods and empirical research methods were used to verify the research purpose, and to measure this, an application of domestic tableware brand 'Odense', which implements augmented reality functions, was produced and used as an experimental tool. Also, a direct causal relationship was attempted by constituting a questionnaire by deriving a measurement scale for perceived usefulness, perceived ease, perceived pleasure, and purchase, which are factors of technology acceptance theory (TAM), and empirical analysis was conducted using the SPSS 25.0 statistical package to achieve the purpose of the study. As a result of the study, significant results were derived from all factors in the effect of perceived usefulness, ease, and pleasure on purchase intention, and several significant differences were found among factors according to gender, age, and internet shopping usage time in general characteristics. In conclusion, the user experience of the medium in which the augmented reality function is introduced in the information recognition stage of the product has a positive effect on purchase compared to the user experience of existing applications.