• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.138-148
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• 2020

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of Bangpungtongseong-san (Fangfengtongsheng-san, BTS) and Daesiho-tang (Dachaihu-tang, DST) on weight loss and improvement in lipid metabolism and glucose metabolism. Furthermore, we intend to develop a prediction model for drug effects through the analysis of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), gut-microbiota, and the expression of immune-related biomarkers. Methods: This study is a single-center, randomized, double-blind, parallel-design clinical trial. One hundred twenty-eight participants will be assigned to the BTS group (n=64) and DST group (n=64). Both groups will be administered 4 g medication three times a day for up to 2 weeks. The primary outcomes is weight loss. The secondary outcomes include bioelectrical impedance analysis, waist circumstance, body mass index, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, triglyceride, insulin resistance. The exploratory outcomes include 3-day dietary recall, food frequency questionnaire, quality of life questionnaire, gut microbiota analysis, immune biomarkers analysis, and SNP analysis. Assessment will be made at baseline and at week 4, 8, and 12. Conclusions: This protocol will be implemented by approval of the Institutional Review Board of Dongguk University. The results of this trial will provide a systematic evidence for the treatment of obesity and enable more precise herbal medicine prescriptions.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.60-73
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The extract from Dendropanax morbifera exhibited diverse therapeutic potentials. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of D. morbifera leaf extract for improving metabolic parameters in human. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A 12-week, double blind, placebo-controlled and randomized trial included a total of 74 adults, and they were assigned to the placebo group (n = 38) or 700 mg/day of D. morbifera group (n = 36). The efficacy endpoints were changes in glycemic, lipid, obesity, and blood pressure (BP) parameters, in addition to the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the numbers of MetS components. Safety was assessed by monitoring adverse events (AEs). RESULTS: After 12 weeks of treatment, the hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level significantly decreased in the D. morbifera group compared to that of the placebo group (difference: -0.13 ± 0.20% vs. 0.00 ± 0.28%, P = 0.031; % of change: -2.27 ± 3.63% vs. 0.10 ± 5.10%, P = 0.025). The homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance level also decreased significantly from its baseline in the D. morbifera group. The systolic BP of D. morbifera group decreased significantly than that of placebo group (difference: -3.9 ± 9.8 mmHg vs. 3.3 ± 11.7 mmHg, P = 0.005; % of change: -2.8 ± 7.7% vs. 3.3 ± 10.2%, P = 0.005). However, the lipid parameters and body composition including body weight did not differ between the groups. The prevalence of MetS (36.8% vs. 13.9%, P = 0.022) and the incidence of MetS (10.5% vs. 13.9%, P = 0.027) at 12 weeks was significantly lower in the D. morbifera group than it was in the placebo group. No serious AEs occurred in either group. CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with D. morbifera extracts over a 12-week period improved metabolic parameters such as HbA1c and BP and reduced the prevalence of MetS.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.626-637
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• 2021

The tomb complex of the royal family from the period of the Ungjin Baekje Kingdom (475 to 538 AD) in Gongju, Korea, contains the tomb of King Muryeong and other royal tombs. After the excavation of the tomb of King Muryeong in 1971, these tombs were opened up to the public, without the establishment of systems for their safety, conservation and management. The tombs have consequently experienced rapid environmental changes and suffered various damages. In this study, specific vulnerable parts inside the tombs were selected for deviation analysis using 3D scanning, and 3D image models were constructed on this basis. Progressive displacement was identified in tomb No. 5, and basic data for future investigations was acquired from tomb No. 6 and the tomb of King Muryeong. In the deviation analysis for the southern plastered wall of tomb No. 5, the damage was not found to exceed the ranges of ±18 mm and ±2 mm. However, the lintel stone was found to be sagging by 0.32 mm on average, and the distance between the walls to have increased by 0.36 mm on average. Direct water seepage occurring in tomb No. 5 is considered to be increasing the damage within the tomb, such as the dropping and sagging of the lintel. The 3D image models constructed in this study will play an important role as baseline data for future research, and can be used to discuss a secure conservation scheme for the tombs through cross-validation with precise measurement monitoring.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.12-21
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• 2022

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in retention and wear pattern of Locator^® and ADD-TOC attachments on a digital milled bar by performing chewing simulation and repeated insertion/removal of prostheses in fully edentulous models. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Locator (Locator^®; Zest Anchors Inc., Escondido, CA, USA) was selected as the control group and ADD-TOC (ADD-TOC; PNUAdd Co., Ltd., Busan, Republic of Korea) as the experimental group. A CAD-CAM milled bar was mounted on a master model and 3 threaded holes for connecting a bar attachment was formed using a tap. Locator and ADD-TOC attachments were then attached to the milled bar. Simulated mastication and repeated insertion/removal were performed over 400,000 cyclic loadings and 1,080 insertions/removals, respectively. Wear patterns on deformed attachment were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS. For the ADD-TOC attachments, chewing simulation and repeated insertion/removal resulted in a mean initial retentive force of 24.43 ± 4.89 N, which were significantly lower than that of the Locator attachment, 34.33 ± 8.25 N (P < .05). Amounts of retention loss relative to baseline for the Locator and ADD-TOC attachments were 21.74 ± 7.07 and 8.98 ± 5.76 N (P < .05). CONCLUSION. CAD-CAM milled bar with the ADD-TOC attachment had a lower initial retentive force than the Locator attachment. However, the ADD-TOC attachment might be suitable for long-term use as it showed less deformation and had a higher retentive force after simulated mastication and insertion/removal repetitions.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.31-48
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to provide an understanding of the trajectories of multidimensional health among older adults, including depression, chronic diseases, and cognitive function. Data were drawn from the 1-6 waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA), and a sample of 2,059 respondents aged 65 and older at baseline was used for the analyses. Latent growth curve models and growth mixture models were used to explore the changes in depression, chronic diseases, cognitive function, and heterogeneous trajectories among them. One-way ANOVAs with Scheffé post-hoc analysis and chi-square tests were used to find differences in sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and life satisfaction across the latent trajectory classes. Latent growth curve models revealed that depressive symptoms and the number of chronic diseases increased over time, while cognitive function showed gradual decreases. Three heterogeneous patterns of multidimensional health trajectories were identified: normal aging, increase in chronic diseases, and chronic deterioration. Significant differences were observed in sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and life satisfaction across the three latent classes. In particular, low educational attainment, household income, and life satisfaction were associated with the chronic deterioration class. Based on the findings, we discussed suggestions for health promotion education targeting older adults. This study also emphasizes the importance of home economics education in promoting health literacy across the life course.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.61-77
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for rapidly diagnosing urban thermal comfort using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based data. The research was conducted at Changwon National University's College of Engineering site and Yongji Park, both located in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. Baseline data were collected using field measurements and UAVs. Specifically, the study calculated field measurement-based thermal comfort indices PET and UTCI, and used UAVs to create and analyze vegetation index (NDVI), sky view factor (SVF), and land surface temperature (LST) images. The results showed that UAV-predicted PET and UTCI had high correlations of 0.662 and 0.721, respectively, within a 1% significance level. The explanatory power of the prediction model was 43.8% for PET and 52.6% for UTCI, with RMSE values of 6.32℃ for PET and 3.16℃ for UTCI, indicating that UTCI is more suitable for UAV-based thermal comfort evaluation. The developed method offers significant time-saving advantages over traditional approaches and can be utilized for real-time urban thermal comfort assessment and mitigation planning

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.11-20
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• 2024

In this paper, we propose the BAG (Bit-width Aware Generator) and the Intermediate Layer Knowledge Distillation using Channel-wise Attention to reduce the knowledge gap between a quantized network, a full-precision network, and a generator in GDFQ (Generative Data-Free Quantization). Since the generator in GDFQ is only trained by the feedback from the full-precision network, the gap resulting in decreased capability due to low bit-width of the quantized network has no effect on training the generator. To alleviate this problem, BAG is quantized with same bit-width of the quantized network, and it can generate synthetic images, which are effectively used for training the quantized network. Typically, the knowledge gap between the quantized network and the full-precision network is also important. To resolve this, we compute channel-wise attention of outputs of convolutional layers, and minimize the loss function as the distance of them. As the result, the quantized network can learn which channels to focus on more from mimicking the full-precision network. To prove the efficiency of proposed methods, we quantize the network trained on CIFAR-100 with 3 bit-width weights and activations, and train it and the generator with our method. As the result, we achieve 56.14% Top-1 Accuracy and increase 3.4% higher accuracy compared to our baseline AdaDFQ.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.34
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• pp.40.1-40.9
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• 2022

Background: According to the occupational accident status analysis in 2020, of 1,180 occupational deaths, 463 were caused by cardiovascular disease (CVD). Workers should be assessed for CVD risk at regular intervals to prevent work-related CVD in accordance with the rules on occupational safety and health standards. However, no previous study has addressed risk and mortality. Therefore, this longitudinal study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between 10-year cardiovascular risk of the general health checkup and mortality. Methods: The study included 545,859 participants who visited Kangbuk Samsung Total Healthcare Centers from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2017. We performed 10-year cardiovascular risk assessment for the participants and the risk was divided into 4 groups (low, moderate, high, and very high). The study used death data from the Korea National Statistical Office for survival status as an outcome variable by December 31, 2019, and the cause of death based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10^th Revision (ICD-10) was identified. Statistical analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, and the sum of the periods from the first visit to the date of death or December 31, 2019, was used as a time scale. We also performed a stratified analysis for age at baseline and sex. Results: During 5,253,627.9 person-years, 4,738 overall deaths and 654 cardiovascular deaths occurred. When the low-risk group was set as a reference, in the multivariable-adjusted model, the hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence interval [CI]) for overall mortality were 3.36 (2.87-3.95) in the moderate-risk group, 11.08 (9.27-13.25) in the high-risk group, and 21.20 (17.42-25.79) in the very-high-risk group, all of which were statistically significant. In cardiovascular deaths, the difference according to the risk classification was more pronounced. The HRs (95% CI) were 8.57 (4.95-14.83), 38.95 (21.77-69.69), and 78.81 (42.62-145.71) in each group. As a result of a subgroup analysis by age and sex, the HRs of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality tended to be higher in the high-risk group. Conclusions: This large-scale longitudinal study confirmed that the risk of death increases with the 10-year cardiovascular risk of general health checkup.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.147-161
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• 2022

Background and Purpose: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) refers to the self-perception of cognitive decline with normal performance on objective neuropsychological tests. SCD, which is the first help-seeking stage and the last stage before the clinical disease stage, can be considered to be the most appropriate time for prevention and treatment. This study aimed to compare characteristics between the amyloid positive and amyloid negative groups of SCD patients. Methods: A cohort study to identify predictors for the clinical progression to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia from subjective cognitive decline (CoSCo) study is a multicenter, prospective observational study conducted in the Republic of Korea. In total, 120 people aged 60 years or above who presented with a complaint of persistent cognitive decline were selected, and various risk factors were measured among these participants. Continuous variables were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and categorical variables were analyzed using the χ² test or Fisher's exact test. Logistic regression models were used to assess the predictors of amyloid positivity. Results: The multivariate logistic regression model indicated that amyloid positivity on PET was related to a lack of hypertension, atrophy of the left temporal lateral and entorhinal cortex, low body mass index, low waist circumference, less body and visceral fat, fast gait speed, and the presence of the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele in amnestic SCD patients. Conclusions: The CoSCo study is still in progress, and the authors aim to identify the risk factors that are related to the progression of MCI or dementia in amnestic SCD patients through a two-year follow-up longitudinal study.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.87 no.4
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• pp.532-542
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• 2024

Background: The sequelae of post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia on lung function, exercise capacity, and quality of life were observed in both short-term and long-term. However, the study about the respiratory and locomotor muscle strength in severe and critically ill COVID-19 survivors are still limited. Therefore, we aimed to examine long-term pulmonary function, functional capacities, and respiratory and locomotor body muscle strength in severe to critically ill post-COVID-19 survivors. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in 22 post-COVID-19 pneumonia and healthy adults. Clinical characteristics during admission, pulmonary function, functional capacity, respiratory muscles, and locomotor muscles strength were examined at 1, 3, and 6 months after discharge from the hospital. Results: The generalized linear mixed model showed that percent predicted of forced expiratory volume in the 1 second (%FEV1), percent predicted of forced vital capacity (%FVC), maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), handgrip strength, 6-minute walk distance, and five times sit to stand (5TSTS) were significantly lower in post-COVID-19 pneumonia patients than in healthy subjects during the follow-up period. The percent predicted of maximal voluntary ventilation (%MVV), and locomotor muscle strength were not different between the two groups throughout the follow-up period. Among post-COVID-19 pneumonia patients, %FEV₁, %FVC, %MVV, 5TSTS, locomotor muscle strength significantly improved at three months compared to baseline at 1 month. Conclusion: Pulmonary function, functional capacity, respiratory, and locomotor muscle strength of survivors from COVID-19 were impaired and recovery was observed after three to six months. These emphasized the need to evaluate the long-term consequences of COVID-19.