• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.61-72
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• 2022

Purpose : This study was to verify the effect of eccentric training and suggest a specific application method by comparing the effects of acromohumeral distance (AHD), supraspinatus tendon thicknees (STT), pain intensity and functional performance after MWM and eccentric training (MWM-ET) or general exercise (MWM-GE) in chronic subacromial impingement syndrome (SAIS) patients. Methods : A total of 55 participants were randomly assigned to each group, and according to the intervention method, "MWM-ET group (n=28)" vs. "MWM-GE group (n=27)" was divided into two groups. AHD, STT, pain intensity, and functional performance were measured before intervention, and both groups were re-measured 3 times a week after 6 weeks of intervention in the same way. Results : The AHD was significantly increased in MWM-ET group compared to MWM-GE group. No significant difference was observed between the groups in the STT, but Pain intensity was significantly lower in MWM-ET group than in MWM-GE group, and functional performance was significantly increased in MWM-ET group compared to MWM-GE group. Conclusion : As a result of MWM-ET intervention that further increases AHD compared to MGE, it can be clinically presented as a more effective intervention method for faster recovery from injury due to pain reduction and smooth return to daily life due to improved functional performance.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.402-412
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• 2022

Objective: To evaluate the image quality and lesion detectability of lower-dose CT (LDCT) of the abdomen and pelvis obtained using a deep learning image reconstruction (DLIR) algorithm compared with those of standard-dose CT (SDCT) images. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 123 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 63 ± 11 years; male:female, 70:53) who underwent contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic LDCT between May and August 2020 and had prior SDCT obtained using the same CT scanner within a year. LDCT images were reconstructed with hybrid iterative reconstruction (h-IR) and DLIR at medium and high strengths (DLIR-M and DLIR-H), while SDCT images were reconstructed with h-IR. For quantitative image quality analysis, image noise, signal-to-noise ratio, and contrast-to-noise ratio were measured in the liver, muscle, and aorta. Among the three different LDCT reconstruction algorithms, the one showing the smallest difference in quantitative parameters from those of SDCT images was selected for qualitative image quality analysis and lesion detectability evaluation. For qualitative analysis, overall image quality, image noise, image sharpness, image texture, and lesion conspicuity were graded using a 5-point scale by two radiologists. Observer performance in focal liver lesion detection was evaluated by comparing the jackknife free-response receiver operating characteristic figures-of-merit (FOM). Results: LDCT (35.1% dose reduction compared with SDCT) images obtained using DLIR-M showed similar quantitative measures to those of SDCT with h-IR images. All qualitative parameters of LDCT with DLIR-M images but image texture were similar to or significantly better than those of SDCT with h-IR images. The lesion detectability on LDCT with DLIR-M images was not significantly different from that of SDCT with h-IR images (reader-averaged FOM, 0.887 vs. 0.874, respectively; p = 0.581). Conclusion: Overall image quality and detectability of focal liver lesions is preserved in contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic LDCT obtained with DLIR-M relative to those in SDCT with h-IR.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.510-520
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• 2023

Background/Aims: We aimed to investigate (1) promising clinical findings for the recognition of focal type autoimmune pancreatitis (FAIP) and (2) the impact of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided tissue acquisition (EUS-TA) on the diagnosis of FAIP. Methods: Twenty-three patients with FAIP were involved in this study, and 44 patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) were included in the control group. Results: (1) Multivariate analysis revealed that homogeneous delayed enhancement on contrast-enhanced computed tomography was a significant factor indicative of FAIP compared to PDAC (90% vs. 7%, p=0.015). (2) For 13 of 17 FAIP patients (76.5%) who underwent EUS-TA, EUS-TA aided the diagnostic confirmation of AIPs, and only one patient (5.9%) was found to have AIP after surgery. On the other hand, of the six patients who did not undergo EUS-TA, three (50.0%) underwent surgery for pancreatic lesions. Conclusions: Homogeneous delayed enhancement on contrast-enhanced computed tomography was the most useful clinical factor for discriminating FAIPs from PDACs. EUS-TA is mandatory for diagnostic confirmation of FAIP lesions and can contribute to a reduction in the rate of unnecessary surgery for patients with FAIP.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2024

Although there have been several attempts to use virtual reality (VR) in the treatment of depression, the results have been inconsistent and existing studies have mostly relied on subjective measures to assess the effectiveness of VR in improving depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nature experience-based VR intervention on depressive symptoms in a young population using both subjective and objective measurements. The study population included 15 participants who had more than 14 identifiers of the Korean Beck Depression Inventory (K-BDI)-II. Participants received three weeks (four times per week) of VR intervention. The effectiveness of VR was assessed through changes in K-BDI-II scores and depression-related blood biomarkers. Nature experience-based VR intervention led to an approximately 50% reduction of K-BDI-II score (before 25.7±7.7 vs. after 12.5±8.3 (P<0.001)). Of these, loss of pleasure and fatigue showed the largest amount of improvement. However, levels of cortisol, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and interleukin-6 did not differ from those at baseline. The findings of our pilot study suggest that nature experience-based VR can be a useful adjunctive treatment method for improving depressive symptoms in individuals who have difficulty accessing the real outside natural environment.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.531-544
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to identify the barrier factors of health behaviors of urban and rural elderly and to compare the health behaviors and level of barriers between two groups, and finally to get the basic informations about the adequate nursing strategies to promote the health state of urban and rural elderly. The subjects of this study were 177 over the age of 65, 81 elderly lived in Seoul and 96 elderly lived in rural areas. The instruments for this study were the health behavior scale(14 items) and the barrier scale (118 items) developed by Gu et al(2003). For the data analysis, SPSS PC program was utilized for descriptive statistics, ${\chi}^2$- test, t-test, Pearson correlation. The results of this study were ; 1. The mean score of health behaviors (range 1-4) was 2.69 in urban elderly and 2.33 in rural elderly ; there was significant difference(t=5.03, P=.00). 2. There were significant differences in levels of barriers(range 1-3) between the two groups, such as calcium intake(t=-3.16, P=.00), regular exercise(t=-3.80, P=.00), exercise time(t=-5.54, P=.00), use of stress reduction method(t=-3.45, P=.00), regular check up(t=-3.89, P=.00), vaccination(t=-3.83, P=.00). Higher levels of barriers were found in rural elderly than in urban elderly. 3. Lack of habituation, lack of will power and lack of knowledge in calcium intake; lack of time, lack of habituatuion, lack of family support, lack of will power and lack of environment in exercise; lack of perceived benefit, lack of time, lack of will power and lack of knowledge in use of stress reduction method; lack of time, lack of interest, lack of habituation and lack of will power in disease prevention were significantly higher in rural elderly than in urban elderly. In the conclusion, nursing interventions should be planned based on the social environment of elderly. To promote the health state of elderly, interventions to decrease the barrier levels and to reduce the barrier factors to health behaviors should be implemented.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3285-3294
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• 2012

A field test on mud flat remediation was carried out in order to observe the effects of the treatments such as microbial dose and an oxygen releasing compound like $CaO_2$. The size of each treatment site was $100m^2$ and the dosage was 3.6 kg per site. The 6 week monitoring showed that pH on two sites was below 7 and ORP increased from .178~-188 mV to .121~-142 mV. In Ignition loss and COD there were no significant changes. Meanwhile nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations changed: ammonia concentration decreased both on control and treatment sites. Nitrate nitrogen decreased more on combined treatment site than on single microbial treatment (11.3% vs. 7.3%) probably because the extra oxygen supplied by $CaO_2$ formed more oxic environment so that the facilitated nitrification might produce more nitrate but the nitrate would be much rapidly released into the water layer out of the sediment. That also explains the total nitrogen reduction(6.1%). Similarly, T-P and $PO_4-P$ reduced by 29% and 31.8%, respectively on combined treatment sites, resulting from the phosphorus release effect though the initial concentrations of the two factors were considerably high.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.200-211
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• 1998

Most of college women are interested in their appearances, and those whose body weights are normal or even underweight try to lose weight. Many methods for weight control diets practiced by college women are unsound and irrational so that some side-effects should be watched out. The present study was aimed to investigate methods of diets, food habits, behaviors, and side effects of weight control and to suggest sound weight loss schemes for college women. The subjects were 353 college women living in Taegu and Kyung Buk area, comprising 178 women who have tried weight control diets and 175 women who have not tried diets. The items included in questionnaires were food habits, food behavoirs, food frequency, physical activity status, 24-hour daily activity record, height, weight, etc., and the survey was conducted in September 1997. There was no difference in body mass index between college women who have tried diets(20.1$\pm$2.26) and women who have not tried diets(19.3$\pm$1.58), and 24.2% of those who have tried diets had body mass index under 19. The leading reason for diets was to make better fitting for costumes(67%). While women who have tried diets also tried to exercise more, they tended to overeat than women who have not tried diets. Mean of food habit scores(9.33 vs 9.32) which corresponded to "poor" habit and food frequencies were not different with or without experiences of diets. This indicated that diets were not related to actual changes of food habits and food intakes. Diet methods used frequently by college women were relying on special diet foods(25.4%), fasting(24.9%) and exercise(22.6%). Trying both exercise and diet was practiced by only 5.1% of the subjects who have tried diets. The duration time of diets was mostly in the range of 1 week to 1 month, and the longer diet period was, the more weight loss was. The frequent side effects due to diets were anemia(41.8%) and enervation(23.7%). Activity coefficients were lower in those who have tried diets(1.38$\pm$0.13) than those who have not tried diets(1.41$\pm$0.19). Women who have tried diets spent more time on reading newspapers and magazines and on watching TV. This study indicates that college women who have tried diets practiced irrational diets for weight reduction and experienced undesirable side-effects. Therefore scientific and systematic weight reduction programs accompanying balanced diets and proper exercise with behavior changes should be developed.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.125-133
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• 2009

Wastewater sludge had normally filled up in land before revising the law of waste material management in 2003, which does not permit landfill of organic sludge in Korea. After the law, most sludge has been littered in the ocean up to now. However, due to the London Convention 96 Protocol, littering sludge in the ocean will also be prohibited after 2011. This Protocol makes countries find out new methods to treat wastewater sludge. There is no exception in Korea too. Many researchers have urgently try to find out better ways to treat sludge. One of ways is to make sludge recycle energy and the success of it depends on drying method. Specifically, it really depends how to make sludge dry ecologic friendly and economic efficiently. Therefore, wastewater sludge produced in Youngdong was analyzed to make it energy resources in this study. The sludge was tested to analyze the drying and chemical characteristics of it by irradiating microwave. In the result, it is sure that the sludge has little heavy metals as like as others in country side. High calories, 3370 Kcal, shows that it has good potential to be recycle energy. Moreover, weight deduction of the sludge vs. time shows long S-curve and has same deduction ratio. Specifically, S-curve can be divided by three sections based on the curvature points. There are steady state reduction ratio of weight and approximately 80% of weight duction in the second section. This results can be used to estimate the amount of sludge reduction in the full-scale microwave dryer. Drying capacity of microwave shows approximately 1.0 kg/kw/hr. It makes sure that sludge recycle energy has the potential of economic efficiency too.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.76-86
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• 2014

Purpose: The objective of this study was to measure emissions of gases (ammonia ($NH_3$), hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$)), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odor from two shallow pit pig nursery rooms. Gas and odor reduction practices for swine operations based on the literature were also discussed. Methods: This study was conducted for 60 days at a commercial swine nursery facility which consisted of four identical rooms with mechanical ventilations. Two rooms (room 1 (R1) and room 2 (R2)) with different pig numbers and ventilation rates were used in this study. The pig manure from both the R1 and R2 were characterized. Indoor/outdoor temperatures, ventilation rates/duration, $NH_3$, $H_2S$, $CO_2$, and VOC concentrations of the ventilation air were measured periodically (3-5 times/week). Odor concentrations of the ventilations were measured two times on two days. Three different types of gas and odor reduction practices (diet control, chemical method, and biological method) were discussed in this study. Results: The volatile solids to total solids ratio (VS/TS) and crude protein (CP) value of pig manure indicated the pig manure had high potential for gas and odor emissions. The $NH_3$, $H_2S$, $CO_2$ and VOC concentrations were measured in the ranges of 1.0-13.3, 0.1-5.7, 1600-3000 and 0.0-1.83 ppm, respectively. The $NH_3$ concentrations were found significantly higher than $H_2S$ concentrations for both rooms. The odor concentrations were measured in the range of $2853-4432OU_E/m^3$. There was significant difference in odor concentrations between the two rooms which was due to difference in pig numbers and ventilation duration. The literature studies showed that simultaneous use of dietary control and biofiltration practices will be more effective and environmentally friendly for gas and odor reductions from pig barns. Conclusions: The gas and odor concentrations measured in the ventilation air from the pig rooms indicate an acute need for using gas and odor mitigation technologies. Adopting diet control and biofiltration practices simultaneously could be the best option for mitigating gas and odor emissions from pig barns.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.561-568
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• 1990

Voltammetric behavior of some light lanthanide ions (La$^{3+}$, Pr$^{3+}$, Nd$^{3+}$, Sm$^{3+}$, and Eu$^{3+}$) in various supporting electrolytes has been investigated by several electrochemical techniques. The peak potentials and the peak currents, their dependency on the concentration, temperature and pH effects, the reversibility of the electrode reactions are described. The reduction of La$^{3+}$, Pr$^{3+}$ and Nd$^{3+}$ in 0.1 M lithium chloride proceeds by a three-electron change directly to the metallic state (Ln$^{3+}$ ＋ 3e- → Ln$^0$) and charge transfer is totally irreversible. However, the reduction of Sm$^{3+}$ in 0.1 M tetramethylammonium iodide and Eu$^{3+}$ in 0.1 M lithium chloride proceeds in two stages (Ln$^{3+}$ ＋ e- → Ln$^{2+}$ and Ln$^{2+}$ ＋ 2e- → Ln$^0$). At pH values lower than ca.4 the hydrated lanthanide species (Ln(OH)$^{2+}$) reduced before the lanthanide ions (Ln$^{3+}$) due to the catalytic effect of hydrogen ions, and peak current increase with in the order Eu$^{3+}$ < Sm$^{3+}$ < Nd$^{3+}$ < Pr$^{3+}$ < La$^{3+}$ in differential pulse polarography. Some representative plots of $i_{pc}V^{-1/2} (proportional to current function) vs. V show considerable influence of hydrogen ion/lanthanide ion concentration in cyclic voltammetry. It is shown that a reaction of lanthanide ions with proton and/or water and catalytic reaction is enhanced at lower pH and at decreased lanthanide ion concentration.