• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.226-233
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• 2018

Elastomers based on the thermoplastics are widely used in rubber industries. Thermoplastic elastomers have the advantages of an easy shaping process and elimination of recycling problems. Thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPE) is used for making rubber bands in wearable devices and its applications are increasing. In this study, five wrist bands were designed and their mechanical behaviors were examined by computer simulation, using hyper elastic models, Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden models, and a linear elastic model. Simulation results were compared and discussed in terms of band design and material model.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.402-411
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• 2023

This study was conducted to investigate the bactericidal effect of nisin (Nisin) only, atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) only, and a combination of APP and nisin (APP+Nisin)(APP+Nisin) on beef jerky and sliced ham inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7, gram-negative bacteria. The bactericidal effect against E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes was confirmed using a nisin solution at a concentration of 0-100 ppm, and APP+Nisin was tested on beef jerky and sliced ham using 100 ppm nisin. Beef jerky and sliced ham were treated with APP for 5 min and 9 min, respectively. In the bacterial solution, 100 ppm nisin out of 0-100 ppm nisin exhibited the highest bactericidal activity against L. monocytogenes (gram-positive bacteria; p<0.05); however, it did not exhibit bactericidal effects against E. coli O157:H7 (gram-negative bacteria). The APP+Nisin APP+Nisin exhibited a 100% reduction rate in both E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes compared to the control group, and was more effective than the Nisin. The APP+Nisin decreased the number of colonies formed by 0.80 and 1.96 Log CFU/g for beef jerky and sliced ham, respectively, compared to the control, and exhibited a higher bactericidal effect compared to the Nisin (p<0.05). These results demonstrate the synergistic bactericidal effect of APP and nisin, providing a possible method to improve the limitations of nisin against gram-negative bacteria. In addition, this technology has the potential to be applied to various meats and meat products to control surface microorganisms.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.92-96
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• 2001

Effect of environmental factors on the expression of soluble forms of Bacillus macerans cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase in recombinant Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)pLysE:pTCGT1 were investigated. The amount of soluble CGTase produced in the cell was measured by determining its enzymatic activity. The soluble fractionof the enzyme was increased by lowering the culture temperature to $30{\circ}C$ and medium pH to 5.8 compared to the enzyme production in LB medium at $37^{\circ}C$ and pH7.0. Addition of 0.2 M NaCl enhanced enzyme expression levels at the expense of cell growth. Glycine betaine that was added after 3 h of induction protected not only the cell growth from hig osmotic pressue but also hepld in vivo folding of CGTase in recombinant E. coli. Addition of 1 mM $CaCl_2$ was also effective in the expression of soluble CGTase, resulting in 15 U/ml of the enzyme activity.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.251-257
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• 2018

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate clinical and radiological outcomes of patients who underwent posterior vertebral column resection (PVCR) by a single neurosurgeon in a single institution. Methods : Thirty-four consecutive patients with severe spinal deformities who underwent PVCR between 2010 and 2016 were enrolled. The radiographic measurements included a kyphotic angle of PVCR levels (VCR angle), sagittal vertical axis (SVA), thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis (LL), and spinopelvic parameters. The data of surgical time, estimated blood loss, duration of hospital stay, complications, intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring, and the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS)-22 questionnaire were collected using a retrospective review of medical records. Results : The VCR angle, LL, and SVA values were significantly corrected after surgery. The VCR and LL angle were changed from the average of $38.4{\pm}32.1^{\circ}$ and $-22.1{\pm}39.1^{\circ}$ to $-1.7{\pm}29.4^{\circ}$ (p<0.001) and $-46.3{\pm}23.8^{\circ}$ (p=0.001), respectively. The SVA was significantly reduced from $103.6{\pm}88.5mm$ to $22.0{\pm}46.3mm$ (p=0.001). The clinical results using SRS-22 survey improved from $2.6{\pm}0.9$ to $3.4{\pm}0.8$ (p=0.033). There were no death and permanent neurological deficits after PVCR. However, complications occurred in 19 (55.9%) patients. Those patients experienced a total of 31 complications during- and after surgery. Sixteen reoperations were performed in twelve (35.3%) patients. The incidence of transient neurological deterioration was 5.9% (two out of 34 patients). Conclusion : Severe spinal deformities can be effectively corrected by PVCR. However, the PVCR technique should be utilized limitedly because surgery-related serious complications are relatively common.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.169-174
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• 2004

This study was carried out to find out specific proteins from different organs of Clonorchis sinensis. Crude extract, organ-specific and excretory-secretory (ES) proteins were analyzed by immunoblot with infected human sera. The bands of 7- and 17 -kDa were main component of intestinal fluid and ES protein and commonly found in all organ-specific proteins. The 17-kDa protein was observed from ES antigen, intestinal fluid, eggs and sperms, 26- and 28-kDa proteins were from the uterus, vitellaria, and ovary, and 34-, 37-, 43- and 50-kDa proteins were mainly from the testis and sperms. Serum of mice immunized with sperms reacted to the 50-kDa protein by immunoblotting and immunohistochemical staining showed a positive reaction at the seminal receptacle and seminiferous tubule. The present results show that the 7-kDa protein is a common antigen of every part or organ of C. sinensis, but different organs express their specific antigenic protein bands.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.431-435
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• 2014

A fifty-year-old female non-smoker with no other specific medical history visited our institute. She complained of axial back pain with no other neurological deficit. Chest X-ray, chest computed tomography (CT) scan, CT-guided needle aspiration biopsy, whole-body positron emission tomography, spine CT and spine magnetic resonance image findings suggested NSCLC with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation, multiple brain metastases, and two isolated metastases to the T3 and L3 vertebral bodies. She underwent chemotherapy with gefitinib ($Iressa^{TM}$) for NSCLC and gamma knife surgery for multiple brain metastases. We performed a two-staged, total en bloc spondylectomy of the T3 and L3 vertebral bodies based on several good prognostic characteristics, such as the lack of metastases to the appendicular bone, good preoperative performance status, and being an excellent responder (Asian, never-smoker and adenocarcinoma histology) to EGFR inhibitors. Improved axial back pain after the surgery enabled her to walk with the aid of a thoracolumbosacral orthosis brace on the third postoperative day. Her Karnofsky performance status score (KPS) was 90 at the time of discharge and has been maintained to date 3 years after surgery. In selected NSCLC patients with good prognostic characteristics, we suggest that locally curative treatment such as total en bloc spondylectomy or radiosurgery should be emphasized to achieve longer term survival for the selected cases.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.797-808
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• 2017

Automatic wood species identification systems have enabled fast and accurate identification of wood species outside of specialized laboratories with well-trained experts on wood species identification. Conventional automatic wood species identification systems consist of two major parts: a feature extractor and a classifier. Feature extractors require hand-engineering to obtain optimal features to quantify the content of an image. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which is one of the Deep Learning methods, trained for wood species can extract intrinsic feature representations and classify them correctly. It usually outperforms classifiers built on top of extracted features with a hand-tuning process. We developed an automatic wood species identification system utilizing CNN models such as LeNet, MiniVGGNet, and their variants. A smartphone camera was used for obtaining macroscopic images of rough sawn surfaces from cross sections of woods. Five Korean softwood species (cedar, cypress, Korean pine, Korean red pine, and larch) were under classification by the CNN models. The highest and most stable CNN model was LeNet3 that is two additional layers added to the original LeNet architecture. The accuracy of species identification by LeNet3 architecture for the five Korean softwood species was 99.3%. The result showed the automatic wood species identification system is sufficiently fast and accurate as well as small to be deployed to a mobile device such as a smartphone.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.77.1-77.1
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• 2017

We present the preliminary results from our intensive monitoring campaign for measuring continuum and line variability of a low-mass Seyfert galaxy, NGC 4395, which host a smallest known AGN black hole in the reverberation mapping studies. We performed consecutive photometric observations during 5 nights in April 2017. Various telescopes in the world, including BOAO 1.8-m, NYSC 1-m, MDM 2.4-m, 1.3-m, etc, were dedicated for this campaign. Preliminary results show that the tentative time lag can be determined, which is approximately order of 1-2 hours.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.323-326
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• 2011

While the presence of pinworm eggs in archaeological samples has been reported by many researchers in the New World, those have been detected very scarcely in the Old World, especially in East Asian countries. In fact, many parasite species were recovered from the archeological remains in Korea, eggs of Enterobius vermicularis had not been found. Recently, a female mummy buried in the 17th century was discovered in the Joseon tomb from Dangjin-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea. After rehydration process for 12 days, investigations were carried on the luminal surface of the colon. From them, 3 eggs of E. vermicularis were recovered. They were elliptical, transparent with a thin egg shell, $50.3{\pm}5.2\;{\mu}m$ (length) and $28.2{\pm}3.9\;{\mu}m$ (width) in size. This is the first discovery of E. vermicularis eggs in East Asia.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

The Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) is known as a representative comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation tool in Korea since its first standardization in 2003. It was the main neuropsychological evaluation tool in the Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea, a large-scale multi-center cohort study in Korea that was started in 2005. Since then, it has been widely used by dementia clinicians, and further solidified its status as a representative dementia evaluation tool in Korea. Many research results related to the SNSB have been used as a basis for the diagnosis and evaluation of patients in various clinical settings, especially, in many areas of cognitive assessment, including dementia evaluation. The SNSB version that was updated in 2012 provides psychometrically improved norms and indicators through a model-based standardization procedure based on a theoretical probability distribution in the norm's development. By providing a score for each cognitive domain, it is easier to compare cognitive abilities between domains and to identify changes in cognitive domain functions over time. Through the development of the SNSB-Core, a short form composed of core tests, which also give a composite score was provided. The SNSB is a useful test battery that provides key information on the evaluation of early cognitive decline, analysis of cognitive decline patterns, judging the severity of dementia, and differential diagnosis of dementia. This review will provide a broad understanding of the SNSB by describing the test composition, contents of individual subtests, characteristics of standardization, analysis of the changed standard score, and related studies.