• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.300-307
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide basic data on the infection prevention management program, which is one of the infectious disease control program by identifying the prevalence and risk factors of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in healthcare workers. Methods: We surveyed a total of 3,046 LTBI test results, including those of 2,269 existing staff and 777 new employees. An interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) for the diagnosis of LTBI was performed using QuantiFERON^®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-IT). The risk factors of LTBI were analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results: The overall prevalence of LTBI was 16.0% (487/3,046). The prevalence of LTBI in the existing staff was 17.9% (406/2,269) and the prevalence of LTBI in new employees was 10.4% (81/777). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors of latent tuberculosis infection among the existing staff were gender, age and work period wheres, the risk factor amongst the new employees depended on their age. Conclusion: The LTBI was not related to the type of occupation and work unit. Therefore, while establishing an infection control program for the prevention of tuberculosis infection at medical institurions, institutional heads and infection control experts should encompass a policy for all the employees.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.34-40
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• 1997

본 연구의 주 목적은 돔형 구조물의 해석에 있어서 보-데크 연결 모델을 정식화하는데 있다. 목조 돔 구조물의 데크지붕 효과는 Wu(1991), Telang(1992) 등에 의해 제안되었으며, 데크지붕 효과를 설명하기 위해 트러스 브레이싱법을 도입하였다. 그러나 이 TB법은 좁은 간격으로 박혀있는 못 들의 효과를 적절히 설명해 내지 못했다. 다른 한편으로는 Tsang(1991), Kavi(1992) 등이 Dolan(1989)의 이론을 응용한 보-데크 연결법(BDC)을 도입하여 해석하였다. 이 BDC모델은 보 요소의 이 보 요소에 강체링크로 연결되어 있는 스프링 요소가 보요소의 각 절점을 공유하게 되므로, 아무리 많은 스프링을 가정하더라도 자유도수는 증가하지 않는다는 것이다. 그러므로 돔 구조와 같은 대형 구조물을 해석할 때 컴퓨터 용량과 계산시간을 절약할 수 있다.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.2774-2780
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• 2013

Two new isostructural dinuclear complexes, $Ln_2(4-cpa)_6(bpy)_2$ (Ln = Eu (1); Tb (2), 4-cpa = 4-chlorophenylacetate, bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine), have been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The lanthanide ions are bridged by two bidentate and two terdentate carboxylate groups to give centrosymmetric dimers with $Ln{\cdots}Ln$ separations of 3.967(2) and 3.956(3) ${\AA}$, respectively. Each metal atom is nine-coordinate and exhibits a distorted tricapped trigonal prismatic geometry. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectra show that both 1 and 2 emit bright red and green luminescence at room temperature, with long lifetimes of up to 0.369 ms (at 614 nm) and 0.432 ms (at 543 nm), respectively. Moreover, poor luminescence efficiency has been noted for complex 2. The 4-Hcpa ligand and complexes 1-2 have been screened for their phytogrowth-inhibitory activities against Brassica napus L. and Echinochloa crusgalli L., and the results are compared with the activity of quizalofop-P-ethyl.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.298-304
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• 2014

Purpose: This preliminary rabbit study was conducted to evaluate the effect of recombinant human transforming growth factor-${\beta}2$ (rhTGF-${\beta}2$)/poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) coating on osseointegration of the titanium (Ti) implant. Materials and methods: Eight Ti implants were anodized with 300 voltages for three minutes. Four of those were coated with rhTGF-${\beta}2$/PLGA by an electrospray method as the experimental group. The implants were placed into tibiae of four New Zealand rabbits, two implants per a tibia, one implant per each group. After 3 and 6 weeks, every two rabbits were sacrificed and micro-computed tomography (microCT) was taken for histomorphometric analysis. Results: In scanning electron microscope (SEM) image, the surface of rhTGF-${\beta}2$/PLGA coated Ti implant showed well distributed particles. Although statistically insignificant, microCT analysis showed that experimental group has higher bone volume / total volume (BV/TV) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) values relatively. Cross sectional view also showed more newly formed bone in the experimental group. Conclusion: In the limitation of this study, rhTGF-${\beta}2$/PLGA particles coating on the Ti implant show the possibility of more favorable quantity of newly formed bone after implant installation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.289-297
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• 2019

Objectives: To identify the positive rate of and the risk factors associated with latent tuberculosis infection(LTBI) in mine workers, the objectives of the present study evaluated those among former mine workers. Methods: Between January 2015 and May 2017, former male mine workers who had been subjects for epidemiology research for work-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and had received QuantiFERON-$TB^{(R)}$ Gold In-Tube(QFT-GIT) from the Institute of Occupation and Environment(IOE) under Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service(KCOMWEL) were selected as the study subjects. To identify significant variables for increased risk of LTBI, logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: A total of 736 male former mine workers were selected as study subjects. The positive rate of LTBI among subjects was 69.2%(509/736). The current smoking[odds ratio(OR), 2.3; 95% confidence interval(CI), 1.1-4.9], COPD(OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.9-2.3), department loading(OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.9-3.4) and mining(OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 0.9-2.5), and working duration of over 20(OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 0.9-3.1) and over 30 years(OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 0.9-4.9) were associated with increased risk of LTBI. The interferon-gamma(IFN-${\gamma}$) level after stimulation with Mycobacterium tuberculosis(MTB)-specific antigens showed a significantly negative correlation with age(r=-0.126). Conclusions: The present study determined that the high positive rate of LTBI among mine workers was associated with not only the host factors but also the occupational exposure to mine dust.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.381-385
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• 2006

The temperature dependence on the electron transfer rate constant $(k_{app})$ for hydroquinone redox center in $H_2Q(CH_2)_n$SH-SAMs (n = 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12) on gold electrode was investigated to obtain reorganization energy $(\lambda)$ using Laviron’s formalism and Arrhenius plot of ln $[k_{app}/T^{1/2}]$ vs. T^{-1} based on the Marcus densityof-states model. All the symmetry factors measured for the SAMs were relatively close to unity and rarely varied to temperature change as expected. The electron tunneling constant $(\beta)$ determined from the dependence of the $k_{app}$ on the distance between the redox center and the electrode surface gives almost the same $\beta$ values which are quite insensitive to temperature change. Good linear relationship of Arrhenius plot for all $H_2Q(CH_2)_n$SH-SAMs on gold electrode was obtained in the temperature range from 273 to 328 K. The slopes n Arrhenius plot deduced that $\lambda$ of hydroquinone moiety is ca. 1.3-1.4 eV irrespectively of alkyl chain length of the electroactive SAM.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1656-1662
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• 2013

The ternary phase $EuZn_xIn_{4-x}$ has been identified as the main product of reactions of Eu, Zn, and In by using the In-flux method and characterized by both powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure belongs to the common $BaAl_4$-type (tetragonal space group I4/mmm, Pearson code tI10) with lattice parameters of a = 4.5610(9) ${\AA}$, c = 12.049(3) ${\AA}$ for composition $EuZn_{1.10(12)}In_{2.90}$ and a = 4.5463(3) ${\AA}$, c = 12.028(2) ${\AA}$ for composition $EuZn_{1.18(2)}In_{2.82}$, respectively. In this structure, the Eu atoms are situated at the center of 18-vertex Fedorov polyhedra made of Zn and In atoms, where the 4d site is preferentially occupied by In and the 4e site is occupied by randomly mixed Zn and In atoms. Theoretical investigations using tight-binding linear muffintin orbital (TB-LMTO) method provide rationale for the observed site preferences and suggest potentially wider homogeneity range than the experimentally established for $EuZn_xIn_{4-x}$ ($x{\approx}1.1$).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.180-189
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• 2016

The widespread occurrence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis places importance on the detection of TB (tuberculosis) drug susceptibility. Conventional drug susceptibility testing (DST) is a lengthy process. We developed a rapid enzymatic color-reaction-based biochip assay. The process included asymmetric multiplex PCR/templex PCR, biochip hybridization, and an enzymatic color reaction, with specific software for data operating. Templex PCR (tem-PCR) was applied to avoid interference between different primers in conventional multiplex-PCR. We applied this assay to 276 clinical specimens (including 27 sputum, 4 alveolar lavage fluid, 2 pleural effusion, and 243 culture isolate specimens; 40 of the 276 were non-tuberculosis mycobacteria specimens and 236 were M. tuberculosis specimens). The testing process took 4.5 h. A sensitivity of 50 copies per PCR was achieved, while the sensitivity was 500 copies per PCR when tem-PCR was used. Allele sequences could be detected in mixed samples at a proportion of 10%. Detection results showed a concordance rate of 97.46% (230/236) in rifampicin resistance detection (sensitivity 95.40%, specificity 98.66%) and 96.19% (227/236) in isoniazid (sensitivity 93.59%, specificity 97.47%) detection with those of DST assay. Concordance rates of testing results for sputum, alveolar lavage fluid, and pleural effusion specimens were 100%. The assay provides a potential choice for TB diagnosis and treatment.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.39 no.11
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• pp.14-23
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• 2002

Two implementation methods for SOVA (Soft Output Viterbi Algorithm)of Turbo decoder are applied and verfied. The first method is the combination of a trace back (TB) logic for the survivor state and a double trace back logic for the weight value in two-step SOVA. This architecure of two-setp SOVA decoder allows important savings in area and high-speed processing compared with that of one-step SOVA decoding using register exchange (RE) or trace-back (TB) method. Second method is adjusting the reliability value with a scaling factor between 0.25 and 0.33 in order to compensate for the distortion for a rate 1/3 and 8-state SOVA decoder with a 256-bit frame size. The proposed schemes contributed to higher SNR performance by 2dB at the BER 10E-4 than that of SOVA decoder without a scaling factor. In order to verify the suggested schemes, the SOVA decoder is testd using Xillinx XCV 1000E FPGA, which runs at 33.6MHz of the maximum speed with 845 latencies and it features 175K gates in the case of 256-bit frame size.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.250-255
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• 2014

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) resides and replicates inside macrophages. In our previous report, we reported that CD8+ T cell-mediated immune responses specific for the peptide derived from MTB RNA polymerase beta-subunit ($RpoB_{127-135}$) could be induced in TB patients expressing HLA-$A^*0201$ subtype. In order to examine whether $RpoB_{127-135}$ specific CD8+ T cells can recognize MTB infected macrophages in vitro, CD8+ T cell lines specific for $RpoB_{127-135}$ peptide were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy HLA-$A^*0201$ subjects by in vitro immunization technique. In this study, we observed $RpoB_{127-135}$ specific CD8+ T cells could recognize and destroy macrophages infected with MTB for 2 to 4 days. $RpoB_{127-135}$ specific CD8+ T cell immune response was inducible from PBMC of healthy subjects expressing HLA-$A^*0206$ subtype, one of HLA-A2 supertype members. Next, we investigated the HLA-I processing mechanism of $RpoB_{127-135}$ peptide in MTB infected macrophages. As a result, the presentation of the MTB derived epitope peptide, $RpoB_{127-135}$, to CD8+ T cells was not inhibited by the treatment with brefeldin-A (ER-Golgi transport inhibitor) or lactacystin (proteasome inhibitor), which blocks the classical HLA-I processing pathway. However, $RpoB_{127-135}$ specific CD8+ T cell activity was blocked either by the blocking agent for the endocytosis (cytochalasin D) or by the blocking antibody (W6/32) for HLA-I molecules. Therefore, the $RpoB_{127-135}$ peptide may be processed by accessing the alternate HLA-I processing pathway. Understanding the processing and presentation mechanisms of the MTB derived proteins will help to improve the efficacy of vaccines and the efficiency of therapeutic agents for TB.