• PNF and Movement
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.107-117
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• 2023

Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the immediate effects of weight-assisting methods on vastus medialis oblique (VMO) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscle activation, on the VMO/VL muscle activation ratio, and on muscle onset time in healthy subjects when ascending stairs. Methods: Healthy participants were randomly assigned to the belt group (n = 11), hand group (n = 11), and control group (n = 11). In the belt group, a belt was wrapped around the sacrum and pulled forward with both hands, moving the center of weight forward, while ascending stairs. The hand group grasped the hips with both hands and climbed stairs, assisting their weight from the rear and moving the center of weight backward, and the control group climbed the stairs without any intervention. Results: Muscle activation of the VMO decreased significantly after the intervention in the belt and hand groups, and activation of the VL muscle in both groups showed a greater decrease than that of the VMO muscle. Further, the VMO/VL muscle activation ratio increased significantly, with an improvement shown in the order of the belt group, hand group, and control group, while muscle onset time also improved in the order of the belt group, hand group, and control group. Conclusion: The belt group demonstrated the greatest effect across all dependent variables, confirming that in clinical practice, these two weight-assisting methods are more effective interventions during stair ascent for patients with knee joint instability, pain, and imbalance than no assistance.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.301-306
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• 2023

Backgrounds/Aims: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common complication that increases mortality and morbidity in older patients. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of post-cholecystectomy delirium in older patients. Methods: This retrospective study included 201 patients aged > 75 years who underwent cholecystectomy for acute or chronic cholecystitis between January 2016 and December 2019. Patients were divided into the POD (n = 21) and non-POD (n = 180) groups, and their demographic features and clinical results were compared. Results: The mean patient age was 78.88 years; the female/male ratio was 44.8%/55.2%. Laparoscopic surgery was performed in 93.5% of patients. The univariate analysis showed that lower body mass index (BMI), immobilized admission status, neuropsychiatric disease history, preoperative intervention (percutaneous drainage), high C-reactive protein, hypoalbuminemia, neutrophilia, hypo-/hyperkalemia, and longer operative time were more frequently observed in the POD group. The multivariate analysis showed that lower BMI (odds ratio [OR], 2.796; p = 0.024), neuropsychiatric disease history (OR, 3.019; p = 0.049), hyperkalemia (OR, 5.972; p = 0.007), and longer operative time (OR, 1.011; p = 0.013) were significant risk factors for POD. Conclusions: POD was associated with inflammation degree, general condition, poor nutritional status, electrolyte imbalance, and stressful conditions. Recognizing risk factors requiring multidisciplinary team approaches is important to prevent and treat POD.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.207-211
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the immune responses of children with moderate and severe novel influenza A virus (H1N1) pneumonia, and to compare their clinical and immunological findings with those of control subjects. Methods: Thirty-two admitted patients with H1N1 pneumonia were enrolled in the study. The clinical profiles, humoral and cell-mediated immune responses of the 16 H1N1 pneumonia patients who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (severe pneumonia group), 16 H1N1 pneumonia patients admitted to the pediatric general ward (moderate pneumonia group) and 13 control subjects (control group) were measured. Results: Total lymphocyte counts were significantly lower in patients with H1N1 pneumonia than in the control group (P=0.02). The number of CD4+ T lymphocytes was significantly lower in the severe pneumonia group ($411.5{\pm}253.5/{\mu}L$) than in the moderate pneumonia ($644.9{\pm}291.1/{\mu}L$, P=0.04) and control ($902.5{\pm}461.2/{\mu}L$, P=0.01) groups. However, the number of CD8+ T lymphocytes was significantly higher in the severe pneumonia group ($684.2{\pm}420.8/{\mu}L$) than in the moderate pneumonia ($319.7{\pm}176.6/{\mu}L$, P=0.02) and control ($407.2{\pm}309.3/{\mu}L$, P=0.03) groups. The CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes ratio was significantly lower in the severe pneumonia group ($0.86{\pm}0.24$) than in the moderate pneumonia ($1.57{\pm}0.41$, P=0.01) and control ($1.61{\pm}0.49$, P=0.01) groups. The serum levels of immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin E were significantly higher in the severe pneumonia group than in the 2 other groups. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that increased humoral immune responses and the differences in the CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocyte profiles, and imbalance of their ratios may be related to the severity of H1N1 pneumonia in children.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.4359-4368
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• 2011

Among several macroeconomic missteps blamed for the recent global financial crisis including the social problems of income distribution and the lack of proper financial remedies, two of them have received particular attention: the global BOP(Balance of Payment) imbalance and the misguided monetary policy. Such BOP imbalance was blamed for massive foreign exchange investment flows from Asia into the U.S., triggering the financial and real estate bubble in America. The latter refers to the excessively loose monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve, which pushed financial institutions and households into reckless investment behavior in search of higher returns. Given the abuse of certain innovative financial techniques and new investment instruments that have been created in recent decades, both collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and credit default swaps (CDS) enjoyed a symbiotic and toxic relationship prior to the financial crisis This paper is organized as follows: The first section analyzes the real causes of the recent financial crisis. The second details the role of CDOs and CDS. Then, to identify key determinants of the CDS spreads in an emerging capital market, the sample data of major Korean firms' CDS spreads are used to estimate the risk premium by utilizing the multiple regression analysis. The empirical test result indicates that Korean 3-year treasury bond rate(TYIELD), market to book value ratio(MV/BV), and assets size(INASSETS) are shown to demonstrate statistically significant influences on the changes of the CDS premium for sample firms.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.166-171
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• 2007

We report the magneto-transport properties of an individual single crystalline Bi nanowire grown by a spontaneous growth method. We have successfully fabricated a four-terminal device based on an individual 400-nm-diameter nanowire using plasma etching technique to remove an oxide layer forming on the outer surface of the nanowire. The transverse MR (2496% at 110 K) and longitudinal MR ratios (38% at 2 K) for the Bi nanowire were found to be the largest known values in Bi nanowires. This result demonstrates that the Bi nanowires grown by the spontaneous growth method are the highest-quality single crystalline in the literatures ever reported. We find that temperature dependence of Fermi energy ($E_F$) and band overlap (${\triangle}_0$) leads to the imbalance between electron concentration ($n_e$) and hole concentration ($n_h$) in the Bi nanowire, which is good agreement with the calculated $n_e\;and\;n_h$ from the respective density of states, N(E), for electrons and holes. We also find that the imbalance of $n_e\;and\;n_h$ plays a crucial role in determining magnetoresistance (MR) at T<75 K for $R_T$ and at T<205 K for $R_L$, while mean-free path is responsible for MR at T>75 K for $R_T$ and T>205 K for $R_L$.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.229-238
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• 2013

The aim of this study is to evaluate university canadian paddlers' iso-kinetic muscle function and provide training advices. Eight university paddlers with a 8.5 years career participated in this study. Inbody 720, biodex system III, biodex stabilizer system and THP 2 are used to investigate body component, muscle function(peak torque, average power and work fatigue), agility and dynamic balance. Iso-kinetic muscle function around shoulder, thorax and knee are measured. And then bilateral and unilateral muscle imbalance are calculated at each joint. Results of this study are as follows; University canadian paddlers' BMI average is 24.90 $kg/m^2$ and percent body fat is 12.23%. Reaction time average was 324 msec and balance score at each leg are below 2.0. A3, A4, A5, A6, A8 are needed to train shoulder muscle strength and power. A1, A2, A7, A8 are needed to strengthen shoulder muscle endurance. A2, A5, A8 are needed to train thorax muscle strength and power. A1, A8 are needed to strengthen thorax muscle endurance. Most of paddlers' reciprocal muscle balance ratio on thorax and knee are out of normal range. A2, A3, A4, A8 are needed to train abdominal strength and A3, A5, A6, A7, A8 are needed to train hamstring strength.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.85-94
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• 2016

Lane Designation is defined as reasonable road management to ensure the road safety and enhance road efficiency. While the lane designation system was abolished in 1999, it was redefined because of the increasing number of large vehicles in the passing lane, violent on driving and traffic accidents in 2000. The needs of improvement on operating the lane designation has been increasing more in recent due to the low ratio of compliance with the system and difficulties to keep the right lane due to need of turning and demand of widening of designates lane for two-wheeled vehicles and truck. In this study, we presented the improvement plan through the question survey, simulation analysis, safety evaluation. It found a problem that the low-speed vehicle is to use the upper level roadway, difficulties of supervision, the imbalance in the lane use, imbalance traffic and does not match the international standards. This study suggested five different alternatives through the survey. micro simulation has used in order to examine each alternative by management effectiveness and feasibility. It analyzed the traffic speed, efficiency, traffic balance of alternatives. Also, safety evaluation conducted in terms of the range of field-of-view to ensure the easiness of field of view by various configurational difference between the vehicles. By the analysis results of such indicators, This study presents proposals for improvement in operating designated lane that low-speed-big-sized vehicles keep to the right lane, and high-speed-small sized vehicles keep to the left lane.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.533-542
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• 2010

The objective of this study is to provide basic information and policy implications needed to balance the supply and demand for dietitian by projecting supply and demand for dietitian. The data from the Ministry of Health Welfare and Family on the number of licensed nutritionist, resident registration data of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, and health insurance qualification data of the National Health Insurance Corporation were used to examine the current status of supply. To project the supply of nutritionist workforce, the in-out moves method and demographic method were used. The ratios of nutritionist to population and GDP, and that of other countries were applied as the demand projection method. According to the study results, the projection on the imbalance of supply and demand for dietitian by year 2021 differs depending on the method used. First, according to the results based on age-adjusted population ratio, there is an oversupply of 1,643 dietitians in year 2010, and 2,076 dietitians in year 2020. Second, although the projection on the imbalance of the supply and demand for dietitian differs depending on whether the GDD is calculated in won(￦) or dollar($). it is expected that there will be an oversupply in general. Third, as to the scenario using the nutritionist ratio in foreign countries, the oversupply of dietitian is likely in Korea, under any scenario, when comparing the nutritionist supply projection with the demand projection based on the nutritionist ratio in the United States. However, the projection of the supply and demand varies in each scenario when the European nutritionist ratio is applied. Under European 'scenario 1', an oversupply is expected, whereas under 'scenario 2', a shortage of supply is expected. A careful approach is required in interpreting the supply and demand projection using criteria of other countries, because dietitian assumes different roles and functions in each country. Although a slight oversupply of nutritionist workforce is projected, it does not cause a major problem as the demand for diet therapy is expected to rise due to aging and the increase of chronic diseases, and as the demand for clinical dietitians in hospitals increases. Accordingly, the demand for dietitians will rise and, in this context, the oversupply of nutritionist will not incur much problem. However, the nutritionist qualification is much too open in Korea, and this has a negative effect on the quality of the nutritionist workforce. Therefore, it is important that the nutritionist qualifications and requirements are reinforced in the future, enhance the quality level of the nutritionist supply, and maintain the balance between the supply and demand.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.711-725
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of knee flexor isokinetic training on the mean peak torque of knee muscles and hamstrings-to-quadriceps ratio(H/Q ratio) in hemiplegia able to walk independently for more than 10 meters, to analyze the effect of torque increasing on functional aspects; fatigability and ambulation times, also. Forty-one adult subjects with hemiplegia secondary to a stroke partipated in this study. All participants were in/out patients at the College of Medicine, Pocheon CHA University, Pundang CHA General Hospital. The patients were allocated to two groups: one group exclusively for isokinetic maximal voluntary knee flexor training at $150^{\circ}$/sec(n=20) and the other exclusively for isokinetic maximal voluntary knee flexor training from $30^{\circ}$/sec to $150^{\circ}$/sec (n=21) gradually. The allocation was performed according to patient age, sex, affected side to minimize imbalance between the two training groups. Training was carried out from February 14th, 2000 to April 15th, 2000. Analysis of the data was done by means of t-test, x2-test, paired t-test, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1. There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean peak torque of knee muscles and relative decreases in knee extensor mean peak torque with increased knee flexor velocities before training (P<.05). 2.There was no significant differences between the two groups in the H/Q ratio, and no relative increases with increased knee flexor velocities before training. 3. there were significant changes in mean peak torque in group A after training(P<.05), but no significant differences as the velocity increased 4.there were significant changes in mean peak torque in group B after training(P<.05), but no significant differences as the velocity increased 5.there were no significant differences between the two groups, and no significant differences in mean peak torque increase rate between the groups with increased knee flexor velocities after training 6.H/Q ratio increased with increased knee flexor velocities between the two groups, but not statistically And there was no significant differences between the groups with increased knee flexor velocities 7.After training, Ambulation time and its decreasing rate decreased significantly in group B (P<.05) 8Before and after training, there was no significant differences between the groups in the fatiguability 9. In the multiple regression analysis, mean peak torque increase rate of the knee extensor and flexor were higher in group B than A(P<.05), and significantly higher with increased knee flexor velocities (P<.05) Also, training method influenced on Ambulation times decreases significantly(P<.05). Results indicated that knee flexor isokinetic training was effective to knee extensor and flexor mean peak torque increase in the hemiplegia able to walk independently for more than 10 meters. Therefore, we were able to conclude that gradual training from low to high velocity was more effective in the increase of mean peak torque of knee joint and decrease of Ambulation times than training only at high velocity.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2014

This study aimed to identify changes in the level of neuropeptides among current smokers, former smokers, and individuals who had never smoked, and how smoking habits affect obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Neuropeptide levels, anthropometric parameters, and metabolic syndrome diagnostic indices were determined among male workers; 117 of these had never smoked, whereas 58 and 198 were former and current smokers, respectively. The total sample comprised 373 male workers. The results obtained from anthropometric measurements showed that current smokers attained significantly lower body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and abdominal fat thickness values than former smokers and those who had never smoked. Current smokers' eating habits proved worse than those of non-smokers and individuals who had never smoked. The level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the neuropeptides in the case of former smokers was $23.6{\pm}9.2pg/ml$, higher than that of current smokers ($20.4{\pm}6.1$) and individuals who had never smoked ($22.4{\pm}5.8$) (F = 6.520, p = 0.002). The level of adiponectin among former smokers was somewhat lower than that of current smokers, whereas leptin levels were higher among former smokers than current smokers; these results were not statistically significant. A relationship was found between adiponectin and triglyceride among non-smokers (odds ratio = 0.660, ${\beta}$ value=-0.416, p < 0.01) and smokers (odds ratio = 0.827, ${\beta}$ value=-0.190, p < 0.05). Further, waist circumference among non-smokers (odds ratio = 1.622, ${\beta}$ value=0.483, p < 0.001) and smokers (odds ratio = 1.895, ${\beta}$ value=0.639, p < 0.001) was associated with leptin. It was concluded that cigarette smoking leads to an imbalance of energy expenditure and appetite by changing the concentration of neuropeptides such as adiponectin, BDNF, leptin, and hsCRP, and influences food intake, body weight, the body mass index, blood pressure, and abdominal fat, which are risk factors for MetS and cardiovascular disease.