• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.128-129
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• 2001

Tilianin, purified from acrial part of Agastache rugosa Kuntze, reduces progression and may induce some regression of aortic foam cell formation in low density lipoprotein receptor deficient mice (LDLR -/- mice). We investigated whether tilianin can prevent high fat diet-induced atherosclerosis. Twenty-six male mice were divided into three groups.(omitted)

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.8 s.253
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• pp.538-544
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• 2005

Background: Pulmonary artery banding (PAB) is an initial palliative procedure for a diverse group of patients with congenital cardiac anomalies and unrestricted pulmonary blood flow. We proved the usefulness of PAB through retrospective investigation of the surgical indication and risk analysis retrospectively. Material and Method: One hundred and fifty four consecutive patients (99 males and 55 females) who underwent PAB between January 1986 and December 2003 were included. We analysed the risk factors for early mortality and actuarial survival rate. Mean age was $2.5\pm12.8\;(0.2\sim92.7)$ months and mean weight was $4.5\pm2.7\;(0.9\sim18.0)\;kg$. Preoperative diagnosis included functional single ventricle $(88,\;57.1\%)$, double outlet right ventricle $(22,\;14.2\%)$, transposition of the great arteries $(26,\;16.8\%)$, and atrioventricular septal defect $(11,\;7.1\%)$. Coarctation of the aorta or interrupted aortic arch $(32,\;20.7\%)$, subaortic stenosis $(13,\;8.4\%)$ and total anomalous pulmonary venous connection $(13,\;8.4\%)$ were associated. Result: The overall early mortality was $22.1\%\;(34\;of\;154)$, The recent series from 1996 include patients with lower age $(3.8\pm15.9\;vs.\;1.5\pm12.7,\;p=0.04)$ and lower body weight $(4.8\pm3.1\;vs.\;4.0\pm2.7,\;p=0.02)$. The early mortality was lower in the recent group $(17.5\%;\;16/75)$ than the earlier group $(28.5\%;\;18/45)$. Aortic arch anomaly (p=0.004), subaortic stenosis (p=0.004), operation for subaortic stenosis (p=0.007), and cardiopulmonary bypass (p=0.007) were proven to be risk factors for early death in univariate analysis, while time of surgery (<1996) (p=0.026) was the only significant risk factor in multivariate analysis. The mean time interval from PAB to the second-stage operation was $12.8\pm10.9$ months. Among 96 patients who survived PAB, 40 patients completed Fontan operation, 21 patients underwent bidirectional cavopulmonary shunt, and 35 patients underwent biventricular repair including 25 arterial switch operations. Median follow-up was $40.1\pm48.9$ months. Overall survival rates at 1 year, 5 years and 10 years were $81.2\%\;65.0\%,\;and\;63.5\%$ respectively. Conclusion: Although it improved in recent series, early mortality was still high despite the advances in perioperative management. As for conventional indications, early primary repair may be more beneficial. However, PA banding still has a role in the initial palliative step in selective groups.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.126-132
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• 2014

Purpose: The field trauma triage for injured patients is essential for trauma care system. In this study, agreement of patient evaluation between by prehospital EMS personnel and by hospital staffs and the appropriateness of prehospital triage were evaluated. Methods: This observational study was conducted from September to October 2012 for 5 weeks. During this period, EMT evaluated patient's severity according to guideline for field triage and recorded. Same guideline was applied in 26 hospitals for patients with EMS use. Kappa statistics were used to measure agreement for each item of guideline. Finally, over-triage and under-triage rate of EMT were calculated. Results: During study period, total 3,106 patients were transferred to 26 hospital emergency departments with EMS use. Kappa statistics for "vital signs" items were 0.45 for mentality lower than V and 0.44 for systolic blood pressure lower than 90 mmHg as a moderate agreement. In "anatomy of injury" items Kappa statistics were very low. In "mechanism of injury" items Kappa statistics were 0.28 for high-rise fall down and 0.27 for high energy traffic accident but in other items Kappa statistics were very low. 362 patients (12.0%) were over-triaged and 281 patients (9.3%) were under-triaged. Conclusion: Field triage can be applied but need to evaluate and modify in order to become accurate and sensitive for decision of transportation.

• International Journal of Heart Failure
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.70-75
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• 2024

With advancements in both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments, significant changes have occurred in heart failure (HF) management. The previous Korean HF registries, namely the Korea Heart Failure Registry (KorHF-registry) and Korean Acute Heart Failure Registry (KorAHF-registry), no longer accurately reflect contemporary acute heart failure (AHF) patients. Our objective is to assess contemporary AHF patients through a nationwide registry encompassing various aspects, such as clinical characteristics, management approaches, hospital course, and long-term outcomes of individuals hospitalized for AHF in Korea. This prospective observational multicenter cohort study (KorHF III) is organized by the Korean Society of Heart Failure. We aim to prospectively enroll 7,000 or more patients hospitalized for AHF at 47 tertiary hospitals in Korea starting from March 2018. Eligible patients exhibit signs and symptoms of HF and demonstrate either lung congestion or objective evidence of structural or functional cardiac abnormalities in echocardiography, or isolated right-sided HF. Patients will be followed up for up to 5 years after enrollment in the registry to evaluate long-term clinical outcomes. KorHF III represents the nationwide AHF registry that will elucidate the clinical characteristics, management strategies, and outcomes of contemporary AHF patients in Korea.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.137-142
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• 2008

Background: CD11c, also known as integrin alpha x, is one of the optimum markers of dendritic cells. However, the regulation of the CD11c expression in mouse has not been identified yet. In this study, in order to analyze the regulation of CD11c expression, the promoter of CD11c was cloned and characterized. Methods: To identify the promoter portion, various sizes of what are considered to be CD11c promoter fragments was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using mouse genomic DNA as a template. After sequence was obtained, these fragments were transfected into various cell lines including mouse dendritic cell lines such as JAWSII and DC2.4 and L929 as control cell line.. The promoter activity of three promoter fragments was measured and compared by luciferase activity in the transfected cells. Results: Three clones with size of 1kb, 3kb and 6kb were obtained from mouse genomic DNA. Flow cytometry analysis of JAWSII cells revealed that 52% of the cells expressed CD11c, which was confirmed by RT-PCR analysis. On the contrary, L929 and DC 2.4 cells did not express CD11c. The CD11c+ JAWSII cells were enriched from 52% to 90% with cell sorter. The comparative luciferase activity analyisis demonstrated that the region responsible for tissue specific expression was contained within -3 kb and the clone with size of 3 kb particularly showed higher luciferase activity than 6 kb and 1 kb clones. Conclusion: The CD11c promoter region containing the region responsible for tissue specificity was successfully cloned and -3 kb region showed the highest activity.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.235-243
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of the children of psychiatric patients in order to plan for the resources that may be necessary to help these children achieve their full potential. Methods: Forty-eight children (age 9-18) whose parents were registered in 5 community mental health centers located in Seoul were recruited. Tests assessing 3 psychological domains were conducted: 1) cognition: Korean version of Learning Disability Evaluation Scale, Comprehensive Attention Test, 2) parent reported emotion and behavior: Korean Child Behavior Checklist, Korean attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder Rating Scale, and 3) self-reported emotion and behavior: Korean Beck's Depression Inventory-II/Children's Depression Inventory-II, Korean Youth Self Report). We defined the children as having a high risk of developing mental health problems if their test scores were over the cut-off levels in 2 or more of the 3 domains assessed. Results: Twelve (25%) children were classified as having a high risk of developing mental health issues. 20 (41.6%) children scored above the cut-off in only one of the domains. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the children of psychiatric patients might be vulnerable to mental illness and need early prevention or interven-tions for the sake of their mental health.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.545-552
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• 2012

This study evaluated the validity and reliability of applying a newly developed dish-based, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for Korean diet and cancer research. The subjects in the present study were 288 Korean adults over 30 years of age who had completed two FFQs and four 3-day diet records (DRs) from May 2008 to February 2009. Student's t-tests, Chi-square tests, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were used to estimate and compare intakes from different dietary assessment tools. Agreement in quintiles was calculated to validate agreement between the results of the second FFQ (FFQ-2) conducted in February 2009 and the DRs. Median Spearman's correlation coefficients between the intake of nutrients and foods assessed by the FFQ-1 and FFQ-2 were 0.59 and 0.57, respectively, and the coefficients between the intake of nutrients and foods assessed by the FFQ-2 and the DRs were 0.31 and 0.29, respectively. The quintile classifications of same or adjacent quintile for intake of nutrients and foods were 64% and 65%, respectively. Misclassification into opposite quintiles occurred in less than 5% for all dietary factors. Thus this newly-developed, Korean dish-based FFQ demonstrated moderate correspondence with the four 3-day DRs. Its reliability and validity are comparable to those reported in other studies.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.513-517
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• 2015

Objective : Microscopic indocyanine green (ICG) angiography is useful for identifying the completeness of aneurysm clipping and the preservation of parent arteries and small perforators. Neuroendoscopy is helpful for visualizing structures beyond the straight line of the microscopic view. We evaluated our prototype of endoscopic ICG fluorescence angiography in swine, which we developed in order to combine the merits of microscopic ICG angiography and endoscopy. Methods : Our endoscopic ICG system consists of a camera, a light source, a display and software. This system can simultaneously display real-time visible and near infrared fluorescence imaging on the same monitor. A commercially available endoscope was used, which was 4 mm in diameter and had an angle of $30^{\circ}$. A male crossbred swine was used. Results : Under general anesthesia, a small craniotomy was performed and the brain surface of the swine was exposed. ICG was injected via the ear vein with a bolus dose of 0.3 mg/kg. Visible and ICG fluorescence images of cortical vessels were simultaneously observed on the display monitor at high resolution. The real-time merging of the visible and fluorescent images corresponded well. Conclusion : Simultaneous visible color and ICG fluorescent imaging of the cortical vessels in the swine brain was satisfactory. Technical improvement and clinical implication are expected.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2016

Ozone has been a problem in big cities. That is secondary air pollutant produced by nitrogen oxide and VOCs in the atmosphere. In order to solve this, the first to be the analysis of the $NO_x$ and VOCs. The main source of nitrogen oxide is the road mobile. Industrial sources in Seoul are particularly low, and mobile traffics on roads are large, so 45% of total $NO_x$ are estimated that road mobile emissions in Seoul. Thus, it is necessary to clarify the relation with the activity of road mobile source and $NO_x$ concentration. In this study, we analyzed the 4 locations with roadside automatic monitoring systems in their center. The V.K.T. calculating areas are set in circles with 50 meter spacing, 50 meter to 500 meter from their center. We assumed the total V.K.T. in the set radius affect the $NO_x$ concentration in the center. We used the hourly $NO_x$ concentrations data for the 4 observation points in July for the interference of the other sources are minimized. We used the intersection traffic survey data of all direction for construction of the V.K.T. data, the mobile activities on the roads. ArcGIS application was used for calculating the length of roads in the set radius. The V.K.T. data are multiplied by segment traffic volume and length of roads. As a result, the $NO_x$ concentration can be expressed as linear function formula for V.K.T. with high predictive power. Moreover we separated background concentration and concentrations due to road mobile source. These results can be used for forecasting the effect of traffic demand management plan.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.1165-1176
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• 2019

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), produced by Clostridium botulinum, are the most toxic substances known. However, the number of currently approved medical countermeasures for these toxins is very limited. Therefore, studies on therapeutic antitoxins are essential to prepare for toxin-related emergencies. Currently, more than 10,000 Halla horses, a crossbreed between the native Jeju and Thoroughbred horses, are being raised in Jeju Island of Korea. They can be used for equine antitoxin experiments and production of hyperimmune serum against BoNT/A1. Instead of the inactivated BoNT/A1 toxoid, Halla horse was immunized with the receptor-binding domain present in the C-terminus of heavy chain of BoNT/A1 (BoNT/A1-HCR) expressed in Escherichia coli. The anti-BoNT/A1-HCR antibody titer increased rapidly by week 4, and this level was maintained for several weeks after boosting immunization. Notably, $20{\mu}l$ of the week-24 BoNT/A1-HCR(-immunized) equine serum showed an in vitro neutralizing activity of over 8 international units (IU) of a reference equine antitoxin. Furthermore, $20{\mu}l$ of equine serum and $100{\mu}g$ of purified equine $F(ab^{\prime})_2$ showed 100% neutralization of 10,000 $LD_{50}$ in vivo. The results of this study shall contribute towards optimizing antitoxin production for BoNT/A1, which is essential for emergency preparedness and response.