• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.545-550
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• 2021

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia and hair loss can be stressful in patients with cancer. The hair grows back, but sometimes the hair tends to stay thin. Therefore, understanding mechanisms regulating hair regeneration may improve the management of chemotherapy-induced alopecia. Previous studies have revealed that chemotherapeutic agents induce a hair follicle vascular injury. As hair growth is associated with micro-vessel regeneration, we postulated that the stimulation of angiogenesis might enhance hair regeneration. In particular, mice treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) showed delayed anagen initiation and reduced capillary density when compared with untreated controls, suggesting that the retardation of anagen initiation by 5-FU treatment may be attributed to the loss of perifollicular micro-vessels. We investigated whether the ETS transcription factor ETV2 (aka ER71), critical for vascular development and regeneration, can promote angiogenesis and hair regrowth in a 5-FU-induced alopecia mouse model. Tie2-Cre; Etv2 conditional knockout (CKO) mice, which lack Etv2 in endothelial cells, presented similar hair regrowth rates as the control mice after depilation. Following 5-FU treatment, Tie2-Cre; Etv2 CKO mice revealed a significant reduction in capillary density, anagen induction, and hair restoration when compared with controls. Mice receiving lentiviral Etv2 injection after 5-FU treatment showed significantly improved anagen induction and hair regrowth. Two-photon laser scanning microscopy revealed that enforced Etv2 expression restored normal vessel morphology after 5-FU mediated vessel injury. Our data suggest that vessel regeneration strategies may improve hair regrowth after chemotherapeutic treatment.

• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: We aimed to analyze treatment outcomes following different initial management approaches and confirm treatment regimens for acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss (ALHL) that would yield the best results. Subjects and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 106 patients with ALHL who visited a university hospital's otology clinic from March 2013 to June 2019. Pure-tone averages at the initial visit and at 2 and 4 weeks after the initial visit were evaluated. Results: Forty-nine patients were enrolled in this study; of them, 41 (83.7%) exhibited complete recovery (CR) at 2 weeks and 43 (87.8%) exhibited CR at 1 month after the initial visit. Regression analysis revealed that CR at 2 weeks after the initial visit was associated with diuretic use [Exp(B): 10.309, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.007-100]. An initial daily low-dose steroid use was marginally significant [Exp(B): 1.042, 95% CI: 0.997-1.092; p=0.066]. Isolated diuretic use [Exp(B): 25.641, 95% CI: 1.121-90.909; p=0.039] was an independent, good prognostic factor at 1 month after the initial visit. However, other treatment regimens did not affect the final results. Conclusions: A combination of initial daily administration of ≤30 mg prednisolone plus diuretics was sufficient as the first-line treatment for ALHL. High-dose steroids and salvage intratympanic steroid injections can be applied as a second choice; however, the predicted outcome would not be good in that case.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.85-101
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• 2022

Derivative-linked securities (DLS) is a type of derivatives that offer an agreed return when the underlying asset price moves within a specified range by the maturity date. The underlying assets of DLS are diverse such as interest rates, exchange rates, crude oil, or gold. A German 10-year bond rate-linked DLS and a USD-GBP CMS rate-linked DLS have recently become a social issue in Korea due to a huge loss to investors. In this regard, this paper accounts for the payoff structure of these products and evaluates their prices and fair coupon rates as well as risk measures such as Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Tail-Value-at-Risk (TVaR). We would like to examine how risky these products were and whether or not their coupon rates were appropriate. We use Hull-White Model as the stochastic model for the underlying assets and Monte Carlo (MC) methods to obtain numerical results. The no-arbitrage prices of the German 10-year bond rate-linked DLS and the USD-GBP CMS rate-linked DLS at the center of the social issue turned out to be 0.9662% and 0.9355% of the original investment, respectively. Considering that Korea government bond rate for 2018 is about 2%, these values are quite low. The fair coupon rates that make the prices of DLS equal to the original investment are computed as 4.76% for the German 10-year bond rate-linked DLS and 7% for the USD-GBP CMS rate-linked DLS. Their actual coupon rates were 1.4% and 3.5%. The 95% VaR and TVaR of the loss for German 10-year bond rate-linked DLS are 37.30% and 64.45%, and those of the loss for USD-GBP CMS rate-linked DLS are 73.98% and 87.43% of the initial investment. Summing up the numerical results obtained, we could see that the DLS products of our interest were indeed quite unfavorable to individual investors.

• Korean Journal of Audiology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2021

Background and Objectives: We aimed to analyze treatment outcomes following different initial management approaches and confirm treatment regimens for acute low-tone sensorineural hearing loss (ALHL) that would yield the best results. Subjects and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 106 patients with ALHL who visited a university hospital's otology clinic from March 2013 to June 2019. Pure-tone averages at the initial visit and at 2 and 4 weeks after the initial visit were evaluated. Results: Forty-nine patients were enrolled in this study; of them, 41 (83.7%) exhibited complete recovery (CR) at 2 weeks and 43 (87.8%) exhibited CR at 1 month after the initial visit. Regression analysis revealed that CR at 2 weeks after the initial visit was associated with diuretic use [Exp(B): 10.309, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.007-100]. An initial daily low-dose steroid use was marginally significant [Exp(B): 1.042, 95% CI: 0.997-1.092; p=0.066]. Isolated diuretic use [Exp(B): 25.641, 95% CI: 1.121-90.909; p=0.039] was an independent, good prognostic factor at 1 month after the initial visit. However, other treatment regimens did not affect the final results. Conclusions: A combination of initial daily administration of ≤30 mg prednisolone plus diuretics was sufficient as the first-line treatment for ALHL. High-dose steroids and salvage intratympanic steroid injections can be applied as a second choice; however, the predicted outcome would not be good in that case.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.753-760
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• 2021

This study was carried out to discover suitable packaging methods during the cold or frozen storage of sawtooth oak and Japanese larch seedlings, which are major afforestation tree species in Korea. The weight loss rate of sawtooth oak was lower under frozen storage at -2℃ (maximum, 33.7%) than under cold storage at 2℃ (maximum, 61.0%). A film liner treatment inside the packaging box effectively suppressed the increase in the weight loss rate. For the sawtooth oak containerized seedlings, when stored at -2℃, the rate of weight loss was 17.9 to 25.4% in the untreated group and less than 1% in the film liner treatment group. Similar results were observed with Japanese larch. After two months of freezing at -2℃, both species maintained a low index of 1.0 - 1.1 with regard to the degree of shoot desiccation of containerized seedlings, and there was no significant difference between the treatments. On the other hand, the chlorine dioxide treatment could more effectively reduce the occurrence of mold and shoot desiccation than a PE single treatment in bare-root seedlings. According to these results, it was concluded that frozen storage is generally suitable as a means of long-term storage compared to cold storage of sawtooth oak and Japanese larch. A chlorine dioxide treatment at 20 ppm was effective for maintaining seedling quality levels during storage, demonstrating the good effect of suppressing the occurrence of shoot desiccation and the occurrence of mold.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1238-1254
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• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Weight loss via a mobile application (App) or a paper-based diary (Paper) may confer favorable metabolic and anthropometric changes. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A randomized parallel trial was conducted among 57 adults whose body mass indices (BMIs) were 25 kg/m² or greater. Participants randomly assigned to either the App group (n = 30) or the Paper group (n = 27) were advised to record their foods and supplements through App or Paper during the 12-week intervention period. Relative changes of anthropometries and biomarker levels were compared between the 2 intervention groups. Untargeted metabolic profiling was identified to discriminate metabolic profiles. RESULTS: Out of the 57 participants, 54 participants completed the trial. Changes in body weight and BMI were not significantly different between the 2 groups (P = 0.11). However, body fat and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels increased in the App group but decreased in the Paper group, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.03 for body fat and 0.02 for LDL-cholesterol). In the metabolomics analysis, decreases in methylglyoxal and (S)-malate in pyruvate metabolism and phosphatidylcholine (lecithin) in linoleic acid metabolism from pre- to post-intervention were observed in the Paper group. CONCLUSIONS: In the 12-week randomized parallel trial of weight loss through a App or a Paper, we found no significant difference in change in BMI or weight between the App and Paper groups, but improvement in body fatness and LDL-cholesterol levels only in the Paper group under the circumstances with minimal contact by dietitians or health care providers.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.178-182
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• 2024

A 10-year-old spayed female Poodle was referred for blindness. On ophthalmic examination, loss of bilateral ocular pupil light reflex, visual loss, and right retinal detachment were confirmed at a local hospital. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was performed to identify the optic nerve, optic chiasm, and brain disease. A sessile mass centered on the region of the optic chiasm was identified. The mass had iso- to hypointense on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and T2-weighted images and mildly hypointense on T1-weighted images compared to the gray matter, with strong contrast enhancement. Peripheral edema was also identified. Computed tomography (CT) brain perfusion was performed to obtain additional hemodynamic information about the patient using a multislice CT. CT perfusion showed that the cerebral blood volume in the left temporal lobe region (13.4 ± 1.6 mL/100 g) was decreased relative to the contralateral region (19.9 ± 0.3 mL/100 g). The patient showed decreased appetite and consciousness one week after the CT scan with clinical symptoms worsened. The patient had seizure, tetraparesis, and loss of consciousness. It was euthanized one month later at the request of the owner. This report suggests that CT brain perfusion can provide additional hemodynamic information such as insufficient brain perfusion in sellar region tumor which can help assess potential complications and prognosis and plan treatment.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2024

Interproximal contact loss (ICL) is the most frequent complication in partially edentulous patients treated with implant-supported prostheses. However, in most cases, ICL occurs between the implant prosthesis and the natural tooth due to the movement of the natural tooth. There are several causes of ICL that occur between an implant prosthesis and a natural tooth. There are only a few reported cases of ICL occurring between implant prostheses, and explaining the causes of ICL between implant prostheses and natural teeth is challenging. This clinical report describes cases of ICL between implant prostheses and discusses its causes and countermeasures.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 2011

The practice of asphalt pavement recycling has grown rapidly over the decade, one of which is the cold in-place recycling with the foamed asphalt (CIR-foam) or the emulsified asphalt (CIR-emulsion). Particularly, in Iowa, the CIR has been widely used in rehabilitating the rural highways because it significantly increases the service life of the existing pavement. The CIR layer is typically overlaid by the hot mix asphalt (HMA) to protect it from water ingress and traffic load and obtain the required pavement structure and texture. Most public agencies have different curing requirements based on the number of curing days or the maximum moisture contents for the CIR before placing the overlay. The main objective of this study is to develop a moisture loss index that the public agency can use to monitor the moisture content of CIR layers in preparation for a timely placement of the wearing surface. First, the moisture contents were measured in the field using a portable time domain reflectometry (TDR) device. Second, the weather information in terms of rain fall, air temperature, humidity and wind speed was collected from the same location. Finally, a moisture loss index was developed as a function of initial moisture content, air temperature, humidity and wind speed. The developed moisture loss index based on the field measurements would help the public agency to determine an optimum timing of an overlay placement without continually measuring moisture conditions in the field.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.23-30
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• 2016

Soil loss is an accompanying phenomenon of hydrologic cycle in watersheds. Both rainfall drops and runoff lead to soil particle detachment, the detached soil particles are transported into streams by runoff. Here, a sediment-laden water problem can be issued if soil particles are severely detached and transported into stream in the watershed. There is a need to estimate or simulate soil erosion in watersheds so that an adequate plan to manage soil erosion can be established. Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), therefore, was developed and modified by many researchers for their watersheds, moreover the simple model, USLE, has been employed in many hydrologic models for soil erosion simulations. While the USLE has been applied even in South-Korea, the model is often regarded as being limited in applications for the watersheds in South-Korea since monthly conditions against soil erosion on soil surface are not capable to represent. Thus, the monthly USLE factors against soil erosion, soil erodibility and crop management factors, were established for four major watersheds, which are Daecheong-dam, Soyang-dam, Juam-dam, and Imha-dam watersheds. The monthly factors were established by recent fifteen years from 2000 to 2015. Five crops were selected for the monthly crop management factor establishments. Soil loss estimations with the modified factors were compared to conventional approach that is average annual estimations. The differences ranged from 9.3 % (Juam-dam watershed) to 28.1 % (Daecheong-dam watershed), since the conventional approaches were not capable of seasonally and regionally different conditions.