• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.71-81
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• 2023

This study examined the transition process of clinical laboratory technologists' national examination and job definition in Korea and compared the differences in the national examination between Korea and neighboring countries, such as Japan and Taiwan. In Korea, the number of questions made for it was 200 (1965), 200 (1977), 300 (1982), 250 (1992), 330 (2006), and 280 (2015). The practice of clinical physiology is important for real-time monitoring, given the characteristics of physiological testing. On the other hand, there are conflicts between other occupations in the working area. Clinical molecular biology needs to be established as a new major subject considering the diagnostic importance of molecular biological tests and the speed of science and technology development. Clinical laboratory operations provide policy and guidance recommendations to technologist staff. The proposed clinical laboratory technologists' national examination comprises major subjects: clinical biochemistry, clinical hematology, clinical transfusionology, clinical immunology, clinical microbiology, clinical molecular biology, clinical histology, clinical cytology, clinical physiology, and clinical laboratory operations. In addition, this study proposes the job definition of clinical laboratory technologists, revising various chemical or physiological testing to biomedical or physiological testing required for medical practice.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Bacillus fermentation broth (ENM) on the human NK cell activity, and bone matrix density, matrix content and area of hamsters fed ENM. Methods: NK cell activity was tested, and bone mineral density were measured by x-ray. Results: NK cell activity was significantly higher in the control group (644.71 pg/ml) and in the test group (1796.37 pg/ml) (p<.004). Test groups were significantly increased by 1110.37 pg/ml in the pre-test and 1796.37 pg/ml in the post-test(p<.001). Behavioral observations after feeding ENM to hamsters showed normal behavior with no difference between control and test groups. The hamster body weight of the control was 106 g at the initial and final 27 days. In the test group, the initial weight was 96.6 g and the final 27 days was 114 g. No morphological changes were observed in the X-ray photographs of the hamster hind legs. The bone matrix density was 0.059 g/cm³ in control and 0.062 g/cm³ in the test, which was increased by 0.003 g/cm³. The bone matrix content was 0.175 g in the control and 0.196 g in the test. The bone area was 2.95 cm² in the control and 3.19 cm² in the test, which was increased by 0.19 cm². In the autopsy, neither the control nor the test group showed any remarkable abnormality, and each organ was normal. Conclusions: It is thought that ingestion of ENM is useful for immunity enhancement.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the increase or decrease of important intestinal beneficial bacteria and inhibitory bacteria in 30 stools of clinical subjects after ingesting Zen fermentation broth as a mixed microbial fermentation solution for eight weeks. Methods: Intestinal bacteria were identified by PCR amplification using specific primers. Results: Bifidobacterium genus gi% of test group ingested Zen-fermented broth was 55.15% before and 70.1% after ingestion, so it was a significant difference (p<.009). Lactobacillus genus of the test group was 46.87% before and 60.91% after ingestion, it was a significant difference (p<.01). Clostridium genus of the test group was 85.64% before and 65.99% after ingestion. There was a significant difference (p<.017) as the pre-post-difference decreased to -19.65%. Bacteroides genus of the test group was 17.11% before and 20.22% after ingestion. There was a significant difference (p<.048) as the pre-post-difference increased to 3.11%. Prevotella genus of the test group was 14.01% before and 16.79% after ingestion, so it was not a significant difference. Conclusions: Intestinal bacteria increased the proliferation of beneficial bacteria and suppressed harmful bacteria in the intestines after ingesting the Zen-fermented broth of the mixed microorganism. The Zen fermentation broth evaluated as a beneficial drink for intestinal health.

• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.111-122
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• 2023

Objective : To identify the effect of lifestyle risk factors on the daily activities and cognition of the older adults in the community using the National Health Insurance Corporation 2015 geriatric cohort database. Methods : Lifestyle risk factors were defined as body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking, vigorous exercise, moderate exercise, and walking, and basic and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL) and cognitive function variables were included in the analysis. ADL and cognitive function according to sex and age were analyzed using a t-test and one-way ANOVA. The correlation between lifestyle risk factors, ADL, and cognitive function was analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze their influence. Results : The factors affecting basic ADL (BADL) were sex and walking exercises, with an explanatory power of 1.7%. Instrumental ADL (IADL) included age, drinking, and walking exercises, with an explanatory power of 2.6%. Cognitive function included sex, age, BMI, vigorous exercise, and walking, with an explanatory power of 5.3%. Conclusion : Lifestyle risk factors partially affected BADLs/IADLs and cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults. This suggests the need to systematically manage lifestyle risk factors to improve and maintain the healthy lives of older adults facing biological aging.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.815-822
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• 2023

Organic pollution is one of the most common forms of water contamination. Under the Water Quality Conservation Act, indicators for measuring organic substances include BOD, COD, and TOC. Analysis of BOD and COD is labor-intensive, and in the case of organic substances where biological decomposition is not feasible or toxic substances are present, the accuracy is often low. Therefore, the Ministry of Environment is shifting towards TOC-centric management. With advancements in sensor technology today, various parameters can be monitored using sensors. In this study, digital monitoring of river TOC using a spectrophotometer called Spectro::lyser V3 was conducted. Initially, experiments were carried out at the Andong River Experiment Center to assess the applicability of the measurement equipment. Subsequently, data collected at the confluence of the Nakdong River was analyzed for the spatial distribution of TOC using the Kriging technique. This research proposes the utilization of sensors for river TOC monitoring and spatial distribution analysis. Real-time monitoring of changes in river TOC concentration can serve as fundamental data for pollution monitoring and response. Sensor-based river monitoring offers advantages in terms of temporal resolution and real-time data acquisition. When various spatial information interpretation methods are applied, it is expected to contribute to diverse studies such as aquatic ecological health, river water source selection, and stratification analysis in the future.

• Journal of Advanced Technology Convergence
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.25-31
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• 2024

In recent industrialization and development due to information and communication technology, modern women in modern society are exposed to physical and mental health due to numerous stresses. Popular inflammations are attributable to a decrease in lactic acid bacteria, frequent antibiotic use, and a decrease in immunity. It is necessary to develop products that are helpful and reflected. The inner care gel currently introduced on the market can increase beneficial bacteria and maintain a healthy y-zone. The inner gel contains a hydrogel component. 90% is made up of water, and other components act as support for supporting water and are formed through crosslinking between polymer chains. Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) is a hydroxyethyl ethylenetel of cellulose. The purpose of use is to act as a binder, an emulsion stabilizer, a viscosity enhancer (water-soluble), and a film forming agent. CA (crosslinker) is a crosslinking agent and serves to bind. Hydrogel in the beauty field acts as a film forming agent that gently wraps around the skin by forming a thin film and serves as an emulsion stabilizer that helps to prevent separation of other raw materials. It also acts as a thickener by increasing viscosity in cosmetics. In addition, it is used for glucose monitoring, nursing care, cell transplantation, and wound treatment in the bio field. Currently, it is understood that no products using functional hydrogel have been released, so in this study, a Y zone care hydrogel solution was manufactured to find out the antibacterial properties of the functional hydrogel, and a new solution was developed. As a result, it was confirmed that the appropriate Ph was applied to the Y zone, and after culturing Candida albicans in PDB medium, all three products of the Y zone care hydrogel solution showed an antibacterial effect of 0.5-1.0mm

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.41.1-41.11
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• 2020

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The viral genome encodes twelve genes for viral replication and infection. The third open reading frame is the spike (S) gene that encodes for the spike glycoprotein interacting with specific cell surface receptor - angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) - on the host cell membrane. Most recent studies identified a single point mutation in S gene. A single point mutation in S gene leading to an amino acid substitution at codon 614 from an aspartic acid 614 into glycine (D614G) resulted in greater infectivity compared to the wild type SARS-CoV2. We were interested in investigating the mutation region of S gene of SARS-CoV2 from Korean COVID-19 patients. New mutation sites were found in the critical receptor binding domain (RBD) of S gene, which is adjacent to the aforementioned D614G mutation residue. This specific sequence data demonstrated the active progression of SARS-CoV2 by mutations in the RBD of S gene. The sequence information of new mutations is critical to the development of recombinant SARS-CoV2 spike antigens, which may be required to improve and advance the strategy against a wide range of possible SARS-CoV2 mutations.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.128-137
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• 2024

It is necessary to develop a pulsatile Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenator (p-ECMO) with counter-pulsation control(CPC), which ejects blood during the diastolic phase of the heart rather than the systolic phase, due to the known issues with conventional ECMO causing fatal complications such as ventricular dilation and pulmonary edema. A promising method to simultaneously detect the pulsations of the heart and p-ECMO is to analyze blood pressure waveforms using deep neural network technology(DNN). However, the accurate detection of cardiac rhythms by DNNs is challenging due to various noises such as pulsations from p-ECMO, reflected waves in the vessels, and other dynamic noises. This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of DNNs developed for CPC in p-ECMO, using human-like blood pressure waveforms reproduced in an in-vitro experiment. Especially, an experimental setup that reproduces reflected waves commonly observed in actual patients was developed, and the impact of these waves on DNN judgments was assessed using a multiple DNN (m-DNN) that provides accurate determinations along with a separate index for heartbeat recognition ability. In the experimental setup inducing reflected waves, it was observed that the shape of the blood pressure waveform became increasingly complex, which coincided with an increase in harmonic components, as evident from the Fast Fourier Transform results of the blood pressure wave. It was observed that the recognition score (RS) of DNNs decreased in blood pressure waveforms with significant harmonic components, separate from the frequency components caused by the heart and p-ECMO. This study demonstrated that each DNN trained on blood pressure waveforms without reflected waves showed low RS when faced with waveforms containing reflected waves. However, the accuracy of the final results from the m-DNN remained high even in the presence of reflected waves.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 1988

The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of cadmium, nickel and chromium in the air of the work-place, blood of and urine of workers and compare the level of those heavy metals by the duration of work, work-place, process of work, smoking and other factors. In this study, 48 male dental laboratory technicans and 72 office workers as the control group were subjected. The concentration of cadmium, nickel and chromium in their blood sand urine, and that of heavy metals in the air of their work-rooms were examined and analyzed from June I 1987 to September 30, 1987. The results were as follows : 1. The concentration of cadmium in the air was the highest in the porcelain part, $0.0087{\pm}0.0016mg/m^3$, that of nickel was the highest in the crown bridge part, $0.4253{\pm}0.0052mg/m^3$, and that of chrnmium was highest in the partial denture part, $0.1063{\pm}0.0024mg/m^3$. 2. cadmium, nickel and chromium concentrations in the blood and urine of dental laboratory techincians were higher that in the office workers'. Especially the concentration of cadmium in the blood($1.92{\pm}1.23{\mu}g$/100ml) of th dental laboratory techician was about two times as high as that in the office workers'($0.90{\pm}0.73{\mu}g$/100ml), and the concentration of nickel in the urine($48.53{\pm}38.83{\mu}g$/e) of the dental laboratory thchnician was about two times as high as that in the office worker's($20.24{\pm}15.35{\mu}g$/e). 3. there was no difference in the concentration of cadmium, nickel and chromium in the blood and urine with a longer duration of work. 4. The concentration of cadmium and chromium in the blood and urine differed significantly depending upon the place of work. The concentration of cadmium was the highest in the blood of dental laboratory technicians working kin the poreclain part marking at $2.53{\pm}1.08{\mu}g$/100ml. The chromium level was the heighest in the blood of partial denture park workers with a concentration of $3.60{\pm}1.02{\mu}g$/100ml. Concerning the level of cadmium in urine, it was the highest in the porcelain part workers with a concentration of $3.41{\pm}3.15{\mu}g$/e. 5. The concentration of cadmium in the urine of metal trimming and polishing group($2.64{\pm}2.41{\mu}g$/e) was higher than that of non-metal trimming and polishing group($1.39{\pm}1.18{\mu}g$/e). 6. The concentration of chromium in the blood of smoking group($2.46{\pm}1.54{\mu}g$/100ml)was higher than that lf non-smoking group($1.54{\pm}1.25{\mu}g$/100ml). 7. The height positive correlation coefficient was shown between the concentration of nickel and chromium in the blood among the all correlations between 3metals(Cd, Ni, Cr) in the blood and those in urine. The correlation coefficient was relatively high(r=0.605,,p<0.01). In general, the higher the concentration of heavy metals in the air of work places the higher the concention lf them in the blood and urine of workers, mere attention should be paid to the working environment of dental laboratory workers, Furthermore, continuous biological monitoring and further research are required for an efficient health management for dental laboratory workers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.337-349
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• 2015

This study has focused on investigation of correlation for As and heavy metals in paddy soil and rice crops sampled in the vicinity of the abandoned Munmyung Au-Ag mine. Soil samples extracted by various methods including aqua regia, 1 M $MgCl_2$, 0.01 M $CaCl_2$ and 0.05 M EDTA were analyzed for As and heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn). Rice grain samples grown on the soils were also analyzed for the same elements to evaluate the relationships between soils and rice crops. According to soil extraction methods, As and heavy metal contents in the soils were decreased in the order of aqua regia > 0.01 M $CaCl_2$ > 1 M $MgCl_2$ > 0.05 M EDTA. In addition to correlation analysis, statistically significant correlation with the four extraction methods (p<0.01) were found in the soil and rice samples. As calculation of biological accumulation coefficients (BACs) of the rice crops for As and heavy metals, the BACs for Cd, Zn and Cu were relatively higher than those for As and Pb. This study also carried out a stepwise multiple linear regression analysis to identify the dominant factors influencing metal extraction rates of the paddy soils. Furthermore, daily intakes of As and heavy metals from regularly consumed the rice grain (287 g/day) grown on the contaminated soils by the mining activities were estimated, and found that Cd and As intakes from the rice reached up to 73.7% and 51.8% for maximum allowance levels of trace elements suggested by WHO, respectively. Therefore, long-term consumption of the rice poses potential health problems to residents around the mine, although no adverse health effects have yet been observed.