• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.662-668
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• 2007

Studies have shown that onions exhibit a wide variety of health-promoting properties. The health benefits by the onion have been attributed to its ability to scavenge free radicals, to reduce blood lipids, to lower blood pressure, and to inhibit platelet aggregation. This study was performed to investigate whether onion extract supplementation would affect the blood markers of ethanol-induced fatty liver in rats. Initially, male Sprague-Dawley rats were housed singly in a room of controlled temperature and lighting and had free access to a nutritionally adequate AIN-93G and deionized water. The rats were trained for meal feeding to prevent a decline in food intake, as inevitably observed following an ethanol feeding. After the training period, rats were weight-matched and assigned to the following three groups: 1) a control group, fed the AIN-93G diet alone (control); 2) an ethanol group, fed the AIN-93G diet with ethanol at 4 g/day/kg body weight (ethanol); and 3) an onion group, fed the AIN-93G diet with ethanol plus supplemental freeze-dried onion powder at 500 mg/day/rat (ethanol + onion). All three group were meal-fed 7.0 g of their respective diets at 0900 h and 7.5 g at 1600 h for 28 days. At 0, 2, and 4 wk, blood was collected via the orbital sinus and organs were collected following overnight food deprivation. Both control and experimental groups continually gained weight throughout the study. No significant differences in the weights of the liver, kidneys, heart, spleen, and testis were observed. However, the serum level of triglycerides was significantly increased by ethanol but significantly decreased by onion extract. The activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) at 4 wk were significantly increased by ethanol feeding but were significantly decreased by onion supplementation. However, no differences among groups were observed in the serum levels of alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, bilirubin, and protein. These results provide that onion extract favorably affect alcoholic fatty liver by decreasing the serum concentration of triglyceride and the activities of GOT and GPT.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 2011

Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine arterial stiffness levels as measured by brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and to identify the association between arterial stiffness and inflammatory markers, in healthy adults over 50 years old. Methods: The study population consisted of 4617 persons over the age of 50 years who participated in the baseline survey of the Dong-gu Study, which was conducted in 2007 and 2008. Arterial stiffness was measured using baPWV. A multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relationship between conventional cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory markers, including white blood cell (WBC) counts, high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT). Results: After adjustment for conventional cardiovascular risk factors including sex, age, smoking status, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, hypertension or diabetic medication, total cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, and alanine aminotransferase, baPWV was significantly associated with WBC counts (${\beta}$=0.158, p<0.0001), hs-CRP (${\beta}$=0.244, p=0.026), and GGT (${\beta}$=0.003, p<0.0001). Conclusion: This study shows that arterial stiffness correlates with inflammatory markers. Arterial stiffness may be used as a composite risk factor to identify persons with higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Additionally, arterial stiffness may be a marker for future cardiovascular disease and a target for prevention.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.88-102
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• 1998

Objectives : We attempted to study obstructive sleep apnea symptoms prevalence and sleep apnea-associated factors in Korean rural adult population. Methods : In 1,441 adult subjects of three rural communities selected by cluster sampling, we administered an epidemiologic survey using questionnaire methods from July 14, 1996 to July 28, 1996. Results : 1) In 14.1% of the subjects, snoring was reported to occur almost daily and 2.9% of the subjects reported sleep apnea symptoms occurring almost daily. 2) Snoring and sleep apnea symptoms were found more frequently in males or in mid-aged group(45 - 64 years old) than in females or in younger- and older-aged groups, respectively. Compared with the subjects who have no snoring, the subjects who have snoring or sleep apnea symptoms had greater body mass index(BMI), waist-hip ratio, hemoglobin level, RBC count, and higher diastolic blood pressure. 3) Cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking more than once a week were significantly associated with suffering from sleep apnea symptoms. 4) In multiple logistic regression analysis, being male, mid-aged, and greater BMI were independently associated with the presence of snoring and sleep apnea symptoms. Conclusion : We conclude that, in the Korean rural adult population, males or mid-aged group suffers more from snoring and sleep apnea symptoms than females or younger- and older-aged groups. In addition, being male, mid-aged, and greater BMI were significantly associated independently with the presence of snoring and sleep apnea symptoms.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.404-415
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• 1998

Background: Sleep apnea syndrome, which occurs in 1~4 % of the adult population, frequently has different cardiovascular complications such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cardiac arrythmia as well as sleep-wake disorder such as excessive daytime hypersomnolence or insomnia. Mortality and vascular morbidity are reported to be significantly higher in sleep apnea syndrome patients than in normal population. According to the recent studies, autonomic dysfunction as well as hypoxemia, hypercapneic acidosis, and increased respiratory effort, may playa role in the high prevalence of cardiovascular complications in patients with sleep apnea syndrome. However the cause and mechanism of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome are not well understood. We studied the existence of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome and factors which influence the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy. Method: We used the cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy(CAN) test as a method for evaluation of autonomic neuropathy. The subjects of this study were 20 patients who diagnosed sleep apnea syndrome by polysomnography and 15 persons who were normal by polysomnography. Results: Body mass index and resting systolic blood pressure were higher in sleep apnea group than control group. Apnea index(Al), respiratory disturbance index(RDI) and snoring time percentage were significantly higher in sleep apnea group compared with control group. But there were no significant differences in saturation of oxygen and sleep efficiency in two groups. In the cardiac autonomic neuropathy test, the valsalva ratio was significantly low in sleep apnea group compared with control group but other tests had no differences between two groups. The CAN scores and corrected QT(QTc) interval were calculated significantly higher in sleep apnea group, but there were no significant correlations between CAN scores and QTc interval. There were no significant data of polysomnography to correlate to the CAN score. It meant that the autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea was affected by other multiple factors. Conclusion: The cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy test was a useful method for the evaluation of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome and abnormalities of cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy were observed in patients with sleep apnea syndrome. However, we failed to define the factors that influence the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy of sleep apnea syndrome. This study warrants futher investigations in order to define the pathogenesis of autonomic neuropathy in patients with sleep apnea syndrome.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.33-43
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• 1968

Histamine, 0.5 mg as histamine base in 4 ml of normal saline solution, was injected into rabbits anesthetized with nembutal and the mean blood pressure was kept in the range of $52{\sim}80\;mmHg$ for over one hour by supplemental additions. Following the injection of the test substances, 300 mg of urea and 200 mg of antipyrine intravenously, serial blood samples were obtained from the femoral artery and the internal jugular vein at $0.5{\sim}3$ minutes interval. The decreasing patterns in the concentrations of arterial and venous blood plasma samples were compared with each other. The ratio of the concentration of brain tissue to that of the final arterial plasma was also studied. By these measures the degrees of penetration of the test substances in the brain in the control and in the histamine treated rabbits were observed. The concentrations of antipyrine and urea in the arterial blood plasma were decreasing exponentially with respect to the time elapsed. The venous concentrations were anticipated to increase initially and to cross the arterial concentration curve in the point of equlibrium between the plasma and the tissue. On the contrary to the expectation venous concentration also revealed the decreasing tendency similar to that of arterial plasma. The similarity between these two curves, arterial and venous, would be atributable to the fact that the cerebral blood flow rate was large enough and the rising phase in the venous concentration curve was instantly over before serial blood samples were taken. Inspite of some similarity in the decreasing tedency in both concentration curves there were appreciable discrepancies between the arterial and venous plasma which would reflect the situation far from the equlibria among several compartments in the brain. Changes in plasma potassium levels caused by the injection of histamine or bleeding were observed, too. Using 8 rabbits as the control and 12 rabbits for the histamine treated group following results were obtained: 1. Both of the concentration curves, arterial and venous, declined rapidly at_first and slowly later on and approached same equilibrium concentration with the passage of time after a single injection. The time at which attained the same concentration was $2.0{\pm}0.54\;min.$ in the control and $4.3{\pm}1.92\;min.$ in the histamine treated group with respect to antipyrine. On the other hand in the case of urea they were $2.4{\pm}0.59\;min.$ in the control and $4.4{\pm}1.31\;min.$ in the histamine group, respectively. In the histamine treated group enlarged spaces for distribution of test substances were postulated. 2. The concentration of antipyrine in the brain tissue water revealed no significant differences between the control and experimental groups, showing $212{\pm}40.2\;mg/l$ in the control and $206{\pm}64.1\;mg/l$ in the histamine treated group. On the other hand urea revealed higher value in the histamine treated group than in the control, showing an enhanced penetration of urea into the tissue after injection of histamine. Urea concentration in the brain water was $32.3{\pm}3.36\;mg%$ in the control and $39.2{\pm}4.25\;mg%$ in the histamine treated group. 3. The distribution ratio of antipyrine in the brain tissue was very close to unity in the histamine treated animals as well as in the control. 4. The average of the distribution ratio of urea in the control animals was 0.77 and it showed the presence of blood-brain barrier with regard to urea. However in the histamine treated animals the distribution ratios climbed up to 0.86 and they were closer to unity than in the control animals. Out of 12 cases 5 were greater than 0.9 and 8 exceeded 0.85. It appeared that histamine enhanced the penetration of urea through the barrier. 5. Histamine injection and or hemorrhage caused an elevation of the concentration of potassium in plasma. In the event that histamine and hemorrhage were applied together the elevation of potassium exceed the elevation seen at the histamine alone. There was no evidence that the leakage of potassium from the brain tissue was dominant in comparison with the general leakage from the whole body.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.754-762
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• 2001

Background: To evaluate the efficacy of arterial switch operation for transposition of great arteries, serial echocardiographic studies were performed in 8 patients who underwent the surgery between 1989 and 1998 at Dept. of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, Yeungnam University Hospital in Daegu City, Korea. Material and Method: Follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 11 years(average of 4.1 years). Body weight ranged from 2.6kg to 4.8kg, with average of 3.6kg. 5 of 8 patients were preoperatively diagnosed as TGA+VSD, and 3 as TGA+IVS. LV function was evaluated by the measurement of LV shortening fraction, LVSTI, and LVEF. RVSTI was also measured. Postoperative function of valve and growth of great vessels were analyzed by the measurement of PSPGV, valvular regurgitation, LA/AO ratio, root dimension of aorta and pulmonary artery, comparing with the age matched controls, respectively. Result: LVEF had an average of 65.0+9.03% which is tended to increase serially. LVAOPG had an average of 15.9mmHg. RVPAPG, 27.5mmHg. From the measurement of aortic root dimension of 6 patients at end-systole, aortic root growth was assumed to increase more than the mean value of normal growth. PA root dimension at end-systole showed a similar growth progress when compared with age matched normal controls. Postoperative pulmonic valve regurgitation was noted in 5 of total 8 patients, in which 1 patient who showed grade 2 and 4 showed below grade 1. AR, in 6 patients and all grade 1 Except 1 patient, all the valvular regurgitations were below grade 1, which was presumed to be clinically insignificant.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1139-1150
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• 1998

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the silkworm powder on blood levels of glucose, Hb Alc, insulin, and lipids. Thirty-one NIDDM patients from Kyung Hee Medical Center were divided into two groups : patients with silkworm powder supplements and drug treatments(Drug diabetes) and patients with silkworm powder supplement only(Non-drug diabetes). For the control group, age-matched subjects were recruited. During the 4 weeks of the experimental period, silkworm powder(500mg/mea1) was given to the subjects right after each meal. Nutritional assessments and dietary education were carried out periodically, and body weight and blood pressure were measured when patients visited the hospital. Overnight fasting and 2-h postprandial blood glucose levels were measured at 2 week intervals. The blood levels of insulin, Hb Alc, and lipids were measured before and after the supplements. The mean ages of the three groups were 56.7-59.6 years old. The height, weight, and BMI did not differ among the groups. The fasting blood glucose levels were 138.1$\pm$22.0mg/dl for the Drug treated diabetes group, 175.0$\pm$32.0mg/dl for the Non-drug diabetes group, and 108. 3$\pm$16.gmg/dl for the control group at the begining of the supplement. After 4-wks of supplements, the blood levels of glucose tended to decrease in all three experimental groups. Before the supplements, the 2-h postprandial blood glucose levels of the Drug diabetes, Non drug diabetes, and control groups were 244.7$\pm$62.6mg/dl, 272.4$\pm$40.1mg/dl, and 147.7$\pm$28.0mg/dl, respectively. After the supplement, the levels were 197.2$\pm$30.gmg/dl, 208.6$\pm$ 56.6mg/dl, and 151.3$\pm$30.3mg/dl, respectively. This shows that silkworm powder tended to lower blood levels by 19.4% and 23.4% in NIDDM patient groups. However, the changes in the blood levels of insulin, Hb Alc, ind lipids were not observed after the supplement. In conclusion, the present study has demonstrated that silkworm powder has a tendency to decrease 2-h postprandial blood glucose levels, but it should be used with caution in controlling the diabetes. (Korean J Nutrition 31(7) 1139-1150, 1998)

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2021

In combustion facilities, the nitrogen and sulfur in fossil fuels react with oxygen to generate air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO_X) and sulfur oxides (SO_X), which are harmful to the human body and cause environmental pollution. There are regulations worldwide to reduce NO_X and SO_X, and various technologies are being applied to meet these regulations. There are commercialized methods to reduce NO_X and SO_X emissions such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD), but due to the disadvantages of these methods, many studies have been conducted to simultaneously remove NO_X and SO_X. However, even in the NO_X and SO_X simultaneous removal methods, there are problems with wastewater generation due to oxidants and absorbents, costs incurred due to the use of catalysts and electrolysis to activate specific oxidants, and the harmfulness of gas oxidants themselves. Therefore, in this research, microbubbles generated in a high-pressure disperser and reducing agents were used to reduce costs and facilitate wastewater treatment in order to compensate for the shortcomings of the NO_X, SO_X simultaneous treatment method. It was confirmed through image processing and ESR (electron spin resonance) analysis that the disperser generates real microbubbles. NO_X and SO_X removal tests according to temperature were also conducted using only microbubbles. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NO_X and SO_X are about 75% and 99% using a reducing agent and microbubbles to reduce wastewater. When a small amount of oxidizing agent was added to this microbubble system, both NO_X and SO_X removal rates achieved 99% or more. Based on these findings, it is expected that this suggested method will contribute to solving the cost and environmental problems associated with the wet oxidation removal method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.339-348
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of carotid artery ultrasound Respectively. The carotid intima-media thickness is known to have a significant correlation with cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease. We investigated the relationship between carotid intima - media thickness, body mass index, waist circumference, the blood lipid value, fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and blood pressure using carotid artery ultrasound. The carotid artery ultrasound was considered to be abnormality of IMT thickness over 0.8 mm and the presence or absence of atherosclerotic plaque was evaluated. Serological tests were used to compare the geologic value, fasting blood glucose level, and glycated hemoglobin. As a result, waist circumference (=.022), low density cholesterol (=.004), fasting blood glucose level (.019), and glycemic index (.002) were analyzed as predictors of atherosclerosis. In the ROC curve analysis, sensitivity was 87.80% (95% CI: 73.8-95.9), specificity was 41.67% (95% CI: 30.2-53.9), sensitivity was 78.05% (95% CI: 62.4-89.4) in low density lipoprotein, Specificity was 50.00% (95% CI: 38.0-62.0), sensitivity was 73.11% (95% CI: 57.1-85.8), specificity was 61.11 (95% CI: 48.9-72.4) and sensitivity was 82.93%-91.8) and a specificity of 43.06% (31.4-55.3). In logistic regression analysis, the risk of atherosclerosis was 0.248 times at waist circumference (WC)> 76 cm, 3.475 times at low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) ${\geq}124mg/dL$, 0.618 at HbA1c> 5.4% It appeared as a times. We suggest that prospective study of carotid artery ultrasound should be performed for the effective prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.239-257
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• 2023

Sangdong deposit, a W-Mo skarn deposit, is located in Taebaeksan mineralized district, hosting vertically developed scheelite-quartz veins that formed at the late ore-forming stage. In this study, we tried to examine the geochemical signatures of ore-forming fluids and vein-forming mechanisms by analyzing the micro-texture of quartz veins and trace element concentrations of quartz. As a result of texture analyses, quartz veins in the hanging wall orebody and the foot wall orebody commonly exhibit the blocky and the elongate blocky texture, respectively, whereas quartz veins in the main orebody show both textures. These textural differences indicate that quartz veins from the hanging wall orebody were precipitated by the primary hydrofracturing due to H₂O saturation in the igneous body with relatively high temperature and pressure at a vein-skarn stage, and after that, repeated hydrofracturing caused the formation of quartz veins from the main orebody and foot wall orebody. The results of trace element concentrations show that Li⁺+Al³⁺↔Si⁴⁺ is a main substitution mechanism. However, those of the foot wall orebody were clearly divided into a Li⁺-dominated substitution and a Na⁺-, K⁺-dominated substitution. Considering that quartz veins from the foot wall orebody commonly show the elongate blocky texture, such a distinction means that it is a result of repeated injections of fluid with the different composition. Ti concentrations of quartz from the hanging wall, main, and the foot wall orebody are 28.6, 8.2, and 15.7 ppm in average, respectively. Given a proportional relationship between the precipitation temperature and Ti concentrations, it seems that quartz veins from the hanging wall orebody were precipitated at the highest temperature. Al concentrations of the hanging wall, main, and the foot wall orebody having an inverse relationship with fluid pH are 162.3, 114.2, and 182.5 ppm in average, respectively. These results show that Al concentrations in vein-forming fluids were not changed dramatically. Moreover, these concentrations are extremely low in comparison with the other hydrothermal deposits. This indicates that quartz in overall ore veins at Sangdong deposit was precipitated from the constant condition with slightly acidic to near neutral pH.