• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.335-344
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• 2001

Purpose : The aim of this study was to clarify the role of VEGF expression as an independent prognostic factor and to identify the patients at high risk for poor prognosis in stage IB cervical cancer. Materials and methods : A total of 118 patients with stage IB cervical cancer who had radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection were included in the study. All known high risk factors of the patients were pathologically confirmed from the surgical specimen. Of the 118 patients, n patients were treated with postoperative radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. VEGF expression was examined using immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens of post-hysterectomy surgical materials. A semiquantitative analysis was made using a scoring system of 0, +, ++, and +++ for increasing intensity of stain. We classified the patients with scores from 0 to ++ as low VEGF expression and the patients with a score of +++ as high VEGF expression. Results : Of the 118 patients, 35 patients $(29.7\%)$ showed high VEGF expression. Strong correlations were found between the high VEGF expression and both deep stromal invasion (p=0.01) and the positive pelvic node (p=0.03). The 5-year overall and disease-free survival rates for all 118 patients were $95.5\%\;and\;93.8\%$. The 5-year overall (p=0.03) and disease-free survival (p<0.001) rates were $98.5\%\;and\;100%$ for low VEGF expression (0, +, and ++) and $85.5\%\;and\;79.7\%$ for high VEGF expression, respectively. Pelvic and distant failures for low versus high VEGF expression were $1.2\%$ versus $17.1\%$, (p=0.001) and $0\%$ versus $14.3\%$ (p<0.001), respectively. In a Cox multivariate analysis of survival, the high VEGF expression (p=0.02) and the bulky mass (p=0.02) were significant prognostic factors for overall survival. The high VEGF expression (p=0.002), and bulky mass (p=0.01) demonstrated as significant prognostic indicators for disease free survival. Conclusion : These results showed that VEGF expression was a highly significant predictor for pelvic and distant failure and the most significant prognostic factor of overall and disease free survival for the patients with stage IB cervix cancer treated with radical surgery. We strongly suggest that the immune-histochemistry for VEGF expression be performed in a routine clinical setting in order to identify the patients at high risk for poor prognosis in early stage cervical cancer. Furthermore, postoperative and/or chemotherapy did not reduce the pelvic failure and distant metastasis. To improve the cure rate for the patients with high VEGF expression in stage IB cervical cancer, antiangiogenic therapy including anti-VEGF Ab may be new treatment option.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.523-529
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• 2002

Background: Previous reports present that the early results of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been improving with the accumulation of surgical experience. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the patients who received CABG to evaluate the recent results of CABG. Material and Method: Between January 1996 and August 2001, 154 patients underwent CABG at Hanyang University Hospital. There were 47 patients(group I) who were operated between 1996 and 1998, and 107 patients(group II) who were operated thereafter. The preoperative diagnosis, operative procedure, mortality, and complications were analyzed retrospectively. Result: There were 35 males and 12 females in group I, and 78 males and 29 females in group II, which shows similar ratio of sexes between the two groups. The average age of patients for group I and group II was $55.9{\pm}6.2$ years and $61.0{\pm}8.0$ years, respectively, showing a significant increase in group II(p<0.05). The average left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) for group I and group II was $54.6{\pm}11.8$% and $56.9{\pm}13.0$%, respectively. The number of patients who had previous MI in group I and group II were 13 patients(27.7%) and 14 patients(13.1%), respectively, which shows a significant difference (p<0.05). All procedures were performed using the cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB) and moderate systemic hypothermia. Myocardial protection was achieved using intermittent hypothermic ischemia under ventricular fibrillation state or cold crystalloid cardioplegic solution for most of group I patients, whereas cold blood cardioplegic solution was used for group II patients. The mean CPB times for group I and group II were $149.2{\pm}48.7$ minutes and $113.1{\pm}30.6$ minutes, respectively. The mean aortic cross clamp times for group I and group II were $81.3{\pm}26.5$ minutes $72.2{\pm}23.9$ minutes, respectively. These figures show that CPB and aortic cross clamp times were significantly reduced in group II(p<0.05). The use of the left internal thoracic artery(LITA) was increased from 42%(20/47) for group I to 81% (87/107) for group II. The mean number of grafts also significantly increased from $2.5{\pm}0.6$ for group I to $3.0{\pm}1.1$ for group II(p<0.05). Intra-aortic balloon pump(IABP) was applied in 7 cases in group I and 17 cases in group II. Of these, 28.6%(2/7) and 52.9%(9/17) were broadly applied preoperatively in patients with LVEF<40% or congestive heart failure. The operative mortalities for group I and II were 10.6%(5/47) and 0.9%(1/107), respectively, which shows significant decrease for group II(p.0.05). Conclusion: This report suggest that CABG using CPB can recently be performed more safely in virtue of the accumulation of surgical experience with reduction in CPB and aortic cross clamp times and improved surgical techniques and myocardial protection. And we think that the optimal treatment of patients with left ventricular dysfunction associated with congestive heart failure and the extended application of IABP, especially have contributed to the reduction of operative mortality and morbidity.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.111-126
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• 2017

Recommender systems based on association rule mining significantly contribute to seller's sales by reducing consumers' time to search for products that they want. Recommendations based on the frequency of transactions such as orders can effectively screen out the products that are statistically marketable among multiple products. A product with a high possibility of sales, however, can be omitted from the recommendation if it records insufficient number of transactions at the beginning of the sale. Products missing from the associated recommendations may lose the chance of exposure to consumers, which leads to a decline in the number of transactions. In turn, diminished transactions may create a vicious circle of lost opportunity to be recommended. Thus, initial sales are likely to remain stagnant for a certain period of time. Products that are susceptible to fashion or seasonality, such as clothing, may be greatly affected. This study was aimed at expanding association rules to include into the list of recommendations those products whose initial trading frequency of transactions is low despite the possibility of high sales. The particular purpose is to predict the strength of the direct connection of two unconnected items through the properties of the paths located between them. An association between two items revealed in transactions can be interpreted as the interaction between them, which can be expressed as a link in a social network whose nodes are items. The first step calculates the centralities of the nodes in the middle of the paths that indirectly connect the two nodes without direct connection. The next step identifies the number of the paths and the shortest among them. These extracts are used as independent variables in the regression analysis to predict future connection strength between the nodes. The strength of the connection between the two nodes of the model, which is defined by the number of nodes between the two nodes, is measured after a certain period of time. The regression analysis results confirm that the number of paths between the two products, the distance of the shortest path, and the number of neighboring items connected to the products are significantly related to their potential strength. This study used actual order transaction data collected for three months from February to April in 2016 from an online commerce company. To reduce the complexity of analytics as the scale of the network grows, the analysis was performed only on miscellaneous goods. Two consecutively purchased items were chosen from each customer's transactions to obtain a pair of antecedent and consequent, which secures a link needed for constituting a social network. The direction of the link was determined in the order in which the goods were purchased. Except for the last ten days of the data collection period, the social network of associated items was built for the extraction of independent variables. The model predicts the number of links to be connected in the next ten days from the explanatory variables. Of the 5,711 previously unconnected links, 611 were newly connected for the last ten days. Through experiments, the proposed model demonstrated excellent predictions. Of the 571 links that the proposed model predicts, 269 were confirmed to have been connected. This is 4.4 times more than the average of 61, which can be found without any prediction model. This study is expected to be useful regarding industries whose new products launch quickly with short life cycles, since their exposure time is critical. Also, it can be used to detect diseases that are rarely found in the early stages of medical treatment because of the low incidence of outbreaks. Since the complexity of the social networking analysis is sensitive to the number of nodes and links that make up the network, this study was conducted in a particular category of miscellaneous goods. Future research should consider that this condition may limit the opportunity to detect unexpected associations between products belonging to different categories of classification.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.1519-1527
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• 2002

Purpose : Although influenza virus is one of the most important causes of acute respiratory tract infections(ARTIs) in children, virus isolation is not popular and there are only a few clinical studies on influenza in Korea. We evaluated the epidemiologic and clinical features of ARTIs by influenza virus in children. Methods : From February 1995 to August 2001, nasopharyngeal aspirations were obtained and cultured for the isolation of influenza virus in children admitted with ARTIs. The medical records of patients with influenza virus infection were reviewed retrospectively. Results : Respiratory viruses were isolated in 997(22.0%) out of 4,533 patients examined, and influenza virus was isolated in 164 cases(3.6%). Influenza virus was isolated year after year mainly from December to April of next year. The ratio of male and female was 1.9 : 1 with a median age of 15 months. The most common clinical diagnosis of influenza virus infection was pneumonia, and fever and cough developed in most patients. There was no difference between influenza A and B infection in clinical diagnoses and symptoms. All patients recovered without receiving antiviral treatment except for one patient diagnosed with pneumonia who had underlying disease of Down syndrome with ventricular septal defect. Conclusion : ARTIs caused by influenza virus developed every winter and spring during the period of study. Because fatal complication can develop in the high risk group, prevention, early diagnosis and proper management of influenza should be emphasized.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.230-239
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• 2013

The major species of fungus gnats which caused the severe damage in shiitake farm were identified as a Bradysia difformis, B. alpicola, and Camtomyia cortocalis on oak log beds cultivation. The B. difformis occurred early in the middle of March while B. alpicola and C. cortocalis appeared since the beginning of May. The occurrence rate for adults of B. difformis showed highly at the end of July (11.9~1,774.2 in dong-myeon and 0.4~2,583.3 in pungse-myeon) in 2012 and mid-June (10.7~4,650 in dong-myeon and 36.8~4740 in pungse-myeon) in 2013. The counting numbers on the traps for B. alpicola reached highest peak in the middle of June (2.1~63.2 in dong-myeon and 1.0~21.7 in pungse-myeon) and the end of May (0.8~163.7 in dong-myeon and 0.5~280.5 in pungse-myeon) in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The number of C. cortocalis showed high record in the middle of May in 2012 (0.6~4.7) and in the middle of June (2.1~17.3) in 2013 in dong-myeon whereas showed the peaks in the middle of May (0.6~4.7) in 2012 and in the late of May (1.3~17.6) in 2013 in pungse-myeon. The fruiting bodies of shiitake mushroom by fungus gnats were severely damaged from mid-June to late-July and the damage rate were 0.625.5% (2012) and 0.7~30.5% (2013) in dong-myeon and 1.5%~21.6% (2012) and 1.9~36.8%(2012) in pungse-myeon. To investigate the control effect for fungus gnats by Hypoaspis aculeifer, H. aculeifer (30 mixutre of nymph and adult per $m^2$) were treated to oak log beds shiitake cultivation for six times (May 2 and 28, June 25, July 10 and 25 and August 28). The occurrence rate of adults and damage rate of fruiting bodies of 3 major species reduced 79.3% (adult numbers) and 74.8% (fruiting bodies) in dong-myeon and 64.1% (adult numbers) and 65.5% (fruiting bodies) in pungse-myeon, respectively, compared to non-treatment. Accordingly, H. aculeifer effectively controlled the fungus gnats on shiitake mushroom and can be used as good control agent.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.795-802
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• 1999

Objective : Cardiopulmonary exercise test is a useful tool to evaluate the operative risk and to plan exercise treatment for the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). In cardiopulmonary exercise test, most of the measured parameters are recorded at the time of peak exercise, which are hard to attain in COPD patients. So we evaluated the usefulness of the parameter, breathing reserve index(BRI=minute ventilation [$V_E$]/maximal voluntary ventilation[MVV]) at the time of anaerobic threshold($BRI_{AT}$) for the differentiation of COPD patients with normal controls. Methods : Thirty-six COPD patients and forty-two healthy subjects underwent progressive, incremental exercise test with bicycle ergometer upto possible maximal exercise. All the parameters was measured by breath by breath method. Results : The maximal oxygen uptake in COPD patients (mean$\pm$SE) was $1061.2{\pm}65.6ml/min$ which was significantly lower than $2137.6{\pm}91.4ml/min$ of normal subjects(p<0.01). Percent predicted maximal oxygen uptake was 54.3% in COPD patients and 86.0% in normal subjects(p<0.01). Maximal exercise(respiratory quotient; $VCO_2/VO_2{\geq}1.09$) was accomplished in 7 of 36 COPD patients(19.4%) and in 18 of 42 normal subjects(42.9%). The $BRI_{AT}$ of COPD patients was higher($0.50{\pm}0.03$) than that of control subject($028{\pm}0.02$, p<0.01), reflecting early hyperventilation in COPD patient during exercise. The correlation between $BRI_{AT}$ and BRI at maximal exercise in COPD patients was good(r=0.9687, p<0.01). Conclusion : The $BRI_{AT}$ could be a useful parameter for the differentiation of COPD patients with normal controls in the submaximal cardiopulmonary exercise test.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.31-45
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• 2000

Objectives : The present study was performed to reveal differences between female and male cases of alopecia in their alopecia related variables such as patterns of hair loss, psychiatric characteristics, associate illnesses, and methods of treatment, and to use them as basic materials for proper management and early prevention of the alopecia prone cases. Methods : In order to analysis the gender difference in hair losses, the subjects were divided into two subgroups as the 51 cases of female alopecia and the 42 cases of male alopecia, who had visited to the department of psychiatry consulted from the department of dermatology, Yongsan hopital, ChungAng University, Seoul, Korea, from January 1998 to December 1998. In data analysis, the subjects were statistically assesed by chi-squre test and analysis of varaiance, through SPSS-$PC^+$ 9.0V. Results : 1) Female subjects were more likely showed lower socio-economical level including lower eonomical level, lower educational level, or lower occupational level in their parent's job, were more likely to have larger number of siblings and to have many sisters comparison to the male cases. 2) Female subjects were more likely visited to the department of dermatology, more history of alopecia in their female family members, lesser history of alopecia in their male family members, more loss of hairs in vertex or frontal region of scalp, lesser loss of hairs in occipital region, and lesser nail changes in comparison to the male cases. 3) Female subjects were more suffered from intra-familial conflicts and economical changes, or their introverted personality makeup, lesser likely suffered from changes of business and health changes, and showed lesser conflicts related with poorer adaptaion in their job life. 4) Female subjects were more likely diagnosed as depression or conversion disorders, more frequently complaint anxiety symptoms or depressive symptoms, higher level of anxiety index, lesser complaint somatization or obsessive compulsive symptoms, and lesser diagnosed as anxiety disorder in comparison to the male cases. 5) Female subjects were more likely tended to show personality makeup such as the introverted, the lie, the repressed, or the feminine trends than the male cases. 6) Female subjects were more significantly treated by antianxiety drug such as etizolam and dermatological therapies include tretinoin, and lesser treated by clotiazepam and prednicarbonate in comparison to the male cases. Conclusion : From the facts that The most important factors in developing hair loss in the female subjects in comparison to the male cases seems to be closely correlated with the serious psychopathology such as the presence of mental disorders including depression, the presence of complaining anxiety or depressive symptomatology, the presence of stressful life events such as intrafamilial life changes, and the presence of personality makeup such as the introverted, the lie, the repressed, or the feminine trends, the authors confirmed that dermatologists act as the primary care physician are in a unique position to recognize psychiatric comorbidity and execute meaningful intervention for female patients with the alopecia with psychiatrists.

• The Journal of Dong Guk Oriental Medicine
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• v.10
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• pp.41-61
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• 2008

The outline and characteristics of the important doctors of the 'Zhe Zhong Pai'(折衷派) are as follows. Part 1. In the late Edo(江戶) period The 'Zhe Zhong Pai', which tried to take the theory and clinical treatment of the 'Hou Shi Pai (後世派)' and the 'Gu Fang Pai(古方派)' and get their strong points to make treatments perfect, appeared. Their point was 'The main part is the art of the ancients, The latter prescriptions are to be used'(以古法爲主, 後世方爲用) and the "Shang Han Lun(傷寒論)" was revered for its treatments but in actual use it was not kept at that. As mentioned above The 'Zhe Zhong Pai' viewed treatments as the base, which was the view of most doctors in the Edo period. However, the reason the 'Zhe Zhong Pai' is not valued as much as the 'Gu Fang Pai' by medical history books in Japan is because the 'Zhe Zhong Pai' does not have the substantiation or uniqueness of the 'Gu Fang Pai', and also because the view of 'gather as well as store up'(兼收並蓄) was the same as the 'Kao Zheng Pai'. Moreover, the 'compromise'(折衷) point of view was from taking in both Chinese and western medical knowledge systems(漢蘭折衷). Generally the pioneer of the 'Zhe Zhong Pai' is seen as Mochizuki Rokumon(望月鹿門) and after that was Fukui Futei(福井楓亭), Wadato Kaku(和田東郭), Yamada Seichin(山田正珍) and Taki Motohiro(多紀元簡). Part 2. The lives of Wada Tokaku(和田東郭), Nakagame Kinkei(中神琴溪), Nei Teng Xi Zhe(內藤希哲), the important doctors of the 'Zhe Zhong Pai', are as follows. First Wada Tokaku(和田東郭, 1743-1803) was born when the 'Hou Shi Pai' was already declining and the 'Gu Fang Pai' was flourishing and learned medicine from a 'Hou Shi Pai' doctor, Hu Tian Xu Shan(戶田旭山) and a 'Gu Fang Pai' doctor, Yoshimasu Todo(吉益東洞). He was not hindered by 'the old ways(古方)' and did not lean towards 'the new ways(後世方)' and formed a way of compromise that 'looked at hardness and softness as the same'(剛柔相摩) by setting 'the cure of the disease' as the base, and said that to cure diseases 'the old way' must be used, but 'the new way' was necessary to supplement its shortcomings. His works include "Dao Shui Suo Yan(導水瑣言)", "Jiao Chiang Fang Yi Je(蕉窗方意解)" and "Yi Xue Sho(醫學說)". Second. Nakagame Kinkei(中神琴溪, 1744-1833) was famous for leaving Yoshimasu Todo(吉益東洞) and changing to the 'Zhe Zhong Pai', and in his early years used qing fen(輕粉) to cure geisha(妓女) of syphilis. His argument was "the "Shang Han Lun" must be revered but needs to be adapted", "Zhong Jing can be made into a follower but I cannot become his follower", "the later medical texts such as "Ru Men Shi Qin(儒門事親)" should only be used for its prescriptions and not its theories". His works include "Shang Han Lun Yue Yan(傷寒論約言)". Third, Nei Teng Xi Zhe(內藤希哲, 1701-1735) learned medicine from Qing Shui Xian Sheng(淸水先生) and went out to Edo. In his book "Yi Jing Jie Huo Lun(醫經解惑論)" he tells of how he went from 'learning'(學) to 'skepticism'(惑) and how skepticism made him learn in 'the six skepticisms'(六惑). In the latter years Xi Zhe(希哲) combines the "Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing(神農本草經)", the main text for herbal medicine, "Ming Tang Jing(明堂經)" of accupuncture, basic theory texts "Huang Dui Nei Jing(皇帝內經)" and "Nan Jing(難經)" with the "Shang Han Za Bing Lun", a book that the 'Gu Fang Pai' saw as opposing to the rest, and became 'an expert of five scriptures'(五經一貫). Part 3. Asada Showhaku(淺田宗伯, 1815-1894) started medicine at Zhong Cun Zhong Zong(中村中倧) and learned 'the old way'(古方) from Yoshimasu Todo and got experience through Ouan Yue(川越) and Fu Jing(福井) and received teachings in texts, history and Wang Yangmin's principles(陽明學) fmm famous teachers. Showhaku(倧伯) meets a medical official of the makufu(幕府), Ben Kang Zong Yuan(本康宗圓), and receives help from the 3 great doctors of the Edo period, Taki Motokato(多紀元堅), Xiao Dao Xue Gu(小島學古) and Xi Duo Cun Kao(喜多村栲窻) and further develops his arts. At 47 he diagnoses the general Jia Mao(家茂) with 'heart failure from beriberi'(脚氣衡心) and becomes a Zheng Shi(徵土), at 51 he cures a minister from France and received a present from Napoleon, at 65 he becomes the court physician and saves Ming Gong(明宮) Jia Ren Qn Wang(嘉仁親王, later the 大正天皇) from bodily convulsions and becomes 'the vassal of merit who saved the national polity(國體)' At the 7th year of the Meiji(明治) he becomes the 2nd owner of Wen Zhi She(溫知社) and takes part in the 'kampo continuation movement'. In his latter years he saw 14000 patients a year, so we can estimate the qualjty and quantity of his clinical skills. Showhaku(宗伯) wrote over 80 books including the "Ju Chuang Shu Ying(橘窻書影)", "Wu Wu Yao Shi Fang Han(勿誤藥室方函)", "Shang Han Biang Shu(傷寒辨術)", "Jing Qi Shen Lun(精氣神論)", "Hunag Guo Ming Yi Chuan(皇國名醫傳)" and the "Xian Jhe Yi Hua(先哲醫話)". Especially in the "Ju Chuang Shu Ying(橘窻書影) he says "the old theories are the main, and the new prescriptions are to be used"(以古法爲主, 後世方爲用), stating the 'Zhe Zhong Pai' way of thinking, In the first volume of "Shang Han Biang Shu(傷寒辨術)" and "Za Bing Lun Shi(雜病論識)", 'Zong Ping'(總評), He discerns the parts that are not Zhang Zhong Jing's writings and emphasizes his theories and practical uses.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-32
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• 1977

This study has been made to find out more effective way of vegetation establishment on severely denuded forest land from the viewpoint of soil moisture regimes. Various environmental factors were measured to estimate soil moisture conditions of different sites. Soil moisture influence on growth of over vegetations, water requirement and drought resistance were analyzed. The efficiency of water use was also reckoned at different fertility levels and different soil moisture conditions. This research is composed of field experiment and green house experiment. Field experiment includes height growth, survival and coverage analysis of cover vegetations (Robinia pseudoacacia L., Lespedeza bicolor Turcz, Arundinella hirta Tanaka var. ciliare Koidzumi.) with 4 fertility level treatments on 3 slopes (Steep: $37^{\circ}$, Moderate: $25^{\circ}$, Gentle; $17^{\circ}$) during dry season (1 April-30 June) and wet season (1 July-10 September). At the same time temperature, relative humidity and precipitation were measured to understand the environmental changes. Soil moisture conditions were measured with soil moisture meter with 24 soil cells. Green house experiment comprised height, fresh weight and dry weight measurements of cover vegetations with 4 fertility levels and 3 moisture conditions for 70 days. The results extracted from experiments are as follews. 1. Cover vegtations have 3 patterns of water requirement at the early stage of growth. a) Robinia type has high water requirement and weaker drought resistance. b) Lespedeza type has low water requirement and stronger drought resistance. c) Arundinella type has moderate water requirement and weaker drought resistance. 2. The vegetations have different optimum fertility levels in different soil moisture supply condition. a) Robinia needs a low fertility level in dry condition and a high level in wet condition. b) Lespedeza needs only low fertility level in all conditions. c) Arundinella needs a low fertility level in dry condition and a high level in wet condition. 3. The efficiency of water use (Water/1g dry weight) by fertility levels is different from one another. Robinia and Arundinella have a good efficiency at low fertility level in dry condition and at high fertility level in wet condition. Lespedeza has a good efficiency at low fertility level in all conditions. 4. $P_2O_5$ requirement of Robinia and Lespedeza is high, but that of Arundinella is low. Soil moisture condition has a great influence on $P_2O_5$ absorption in dendued forest land. Once Vegetations are established on suitable sites with optimum fertitity level according to different moisture condition, even the small amount of soil water in denuded land can he used with high efficiency and the effect of fertility treatment can be maximized.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.321-330
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• 1999

Background : Early diagnosis and proper antibiotic treatment are very important in the management of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) because of its high mortality. Bronchoscopy with a protected specimen brush (PSB) has been considered the standard method to isolate the causative organisms of VAP. However, this method burdens consumer economically to purchase a PSB. Another useful method for the diagnosis of VAP is quantitative cultures of aspirated specimens through bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), for which the infusion of more than 120 m1 of saline has been recommended for adequate sampling of a pulmonary segment. However, occasionally it leads to deterioration of the patient's condition. We studied the diagnostic efficacy of minibronchoalveolar lavage (miniBAL), which retrieves only 25 ml of BAL fluid, in the isolation of causative organisms of VAP. Methods: We included 38 consecutive patients (41 cases) suspected of having VAP on the basis of clinical evidence, who had received antibiotics before the bronchoscopy. The two diagnostic techniques of PSB and miniBAL, which were performed one after another at the same pulmonary segment, 'were compared prospectively. The cut-off values for quantitative cultures to define causative bacteria of VAP were more than $10^3$ colony-forming units (cfu)/ml for PSB and more than $10^4$ cfu/ml for BAL. Results: The amount of instilled normal saline required to retrieve 25 ml of BAL fluid was $93{\pm}32 ml$ (mean${\pm}$SD). The detection rate of causative agents was 46.3% (19/41) with PSB and 43.9% (18/41) with miniBAL. The concordance rate of PSB and miniBAL in the bacterial culture was 85.4% (35/41). Although arterial blood oxygen saturation dropped significantly (p<0.05) during ($92{\pm}10%$) and 10 min after ($95{\pm}3%$) miniBAL compared with the baseline ($97{\pm}3%$), all except 3 cases were within normal ranges. The significantly elevated heart rate during ($l25{\pm}24$/min, p<0.05) miniBAL compared with the baseline ($1l1{\pm}22$/min) recovered again in 10 min after ($111{\pm}26$/min) miniBAL. Transient hypotension was developed during the procedure in two cases. The procedure was stopped in one case due to atrial flutter. Conclusion: MiniBAL is a safe and effective technique to detect the causative organisms of VAP.