• Ultrasonography
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to establish the methodology regarding synthesis of ultrasound contrast agent imaging, and to evaluate the characteristics of the synthesized ultrasound contrast agents, including size or degradation interval and image quality. Materials and Methods: The ultrasound contrast agent, composed of liposome and SF6, was synthesized from the mixture solution of $21{\mu}mol$ DPPC (1, 2-Dihexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, $C_{40}H_{80}NO_8P$), $9{\mu}mol$ cholesterol, $1.9{\mu}mol$ of DCP (Dihexadecylphosphate, $[CH_3(CH_2)_{15}O]_2P(O)OH$), and chloroform. After evaporation in a warm water bath and drying during a period of 12-24 hours, the contrast agent was synthesized by the sonication process by addition of buffer and SF6 gas. The size of the contrast agent was controlled by use of either extruder or sonication methods. After synthesis of contrast agents, analysis of the size distribution of the bubbles was performed using dynamic light scattering measurement methods. The degradation curve was also evaluated by changes in the number of contrast agents via light microscopy immediate, 12 hours, 24 hours, 36 hours, 48 hours, 60 hours, 72 hours, and 84 hours after synthesis. For evaluation of the role as an US contrast agent, the echogenicity of the synthesized microbubble was compared with commercially available microbubbles (SonoVue, Bracco, Milan, Italy) using a clinical ultrasound machine and phantom. Results: The contrast agents were synthesized successfully using an evaporation-drying-sonication method. The majority of bubbles showed a mean size of 154.2 nanometers, and they showed marked degradation 24 hours after synthesis. ANOVA test revealed a significant difference among SonoVue, synthesized contrast agent, and saline (p < 0.001). Although no significant difference was observed between SonoVue and the synthesized contrast agent, difference in echogenicity was observed between synthesized contrast agent and saline (p < 0.01). Conclusion: We could synthesize ultrasound contrast agents using an evaporation-drying-sonication method. On the basis of these results, many prospective types of research, such as anticancer drug delivery, gene delivery, including siRNA or microRNA, targeted molecular imaging, and targeted therapy can be performed.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.58-75
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• 1988

1.Objectives of the Study It is a well known fact that a prompt and reliable data on demographic information is essential in a proper planning and evaluation of any program of national or community level. Especially vital statistics are an important demographic component among demographic information. Realizing the importance of vital statistics, the government has made some efforts for years to improve the vital registration system which has a close relationship with the production of vital statistics. However, it is still observed that there are some limitations in utilizing vital registration data due to considerable amount of vital events which are never registered and registered but not in time or inaccurately, even though vital registration system in Korea has sound legal basis. In this connection, the objectives of the study is as follows :(1) To examine some problems of the vital registration system in various aspects, (2) To make improvement programme of continuous Demographic Survey as a supplementary source of vital statistics, and (3) To find out some alternatives for making it possible to produce and utilize the reliable vital statistics by developing analytical methodologies on that. 2. Current Situation of Vital Registration System All the vital events, i.e. births, deaths, marriages and divorces, are to be registered in time under the Civil Registration Law, Statistics Law and Regulation on Vital Statstics as a duty of people. Some recent tendencies in each of recent registration are summarized as below: (1) The completeness of vital registration .Out of all births which are occurred during a year, around 75% of those compared to the estimates are registered in the year of occurrence. .In case of death registration, the percentage of registration in the year of occurrene has been gradually increased from 86.2% in the year of 1980, but it is still below the level of 90% compared to the estimates. .The percentage of registration for marriages and divorces in the year of occurrence out of total registered numbers was revealed to be 69% and 73% respectively in 1985. (2) Continuous Demographic Survey .It is a kind of sample survey for the purpose of producing reliable vital statistics which could not be provided by the vital registration. .It covers about 17, 000 sample households at national level and important information for vital events are collected in every month by 323 expertized enumerators who are regular staff of the government. .Although the result of the survey seems to be more reliable than of vital registration, the reliability of the data is still bellow the acceptable level if compared with relevant information from other sources such as population census or special surveys. 3. Problems of Vital Registration System There are four major obstacles in improving vital registration system in Korea; (1) In general, policy priority is not given on any programme of improving vital registration system. It is, therefore, very difficult to formulate comprehensive programme through having cooperation from related authorities and sufficient financial assistance. (2) In all the laws related and system itself, there is substantial degree of overlap and irrationality. Registration of each vital event is maintained according to several laws and regulation such as Civil Registration Law, Statistics Law, Resident Registration Law and Regulation on Vital Statistics. However they are mutually overlapped and overall supervision can not be done systematically due to lack of co-operation among the authorities concerned. (3) The administration of vital registration system seems to be working inefficiently, because of most of civil servants who are in charge of vital registration are lacking of conception on vital statistics and also there is a certain extent of regidity in handling the works. Therefore, they are doing their jobs in a passive way. (4) A substantial proportion of vital events occurred is not registered within the legal time limit (i.e. within one month after the occurrence in case of birth and death) or not registered forever. Some of social customs and superstitution seem to be the potential causes especially in case of births and deaths. 4. Recommendations for the Improvement of Vital Statistics (1) Reporting systems such as civil registration, vital statistics and resident registration should be integrated under the single law. Also, administrative supervision, personnel and budget with regard to the registration system should be under the control of a single ministry. (2) It is necessary to simplify the procedures and methods of reporting vital events, i.e., reducing number of sheets of the form, making corrections easily, reducing registration items, etc. (3) Continuous Demographic Survey as a supplementary source of vital registration should be improved and special ad-hoc surveys should be conducted wth regular interval. (4) In-depth analysis should be done using various sources of data on vital statistics. 5. Concluding Remarks From this study, we can notice that temporary campaign and motivation programs are not sufficient to improve the quality of vital statistics. Strong intentions and continuous efforts of the government are needed for the improvement of the vital registration system. Furthermore, most of the data collected through the registration are not properly analyzed and utilized, partly due to the lack of appreciation among high-level governmental officials of the need for vital statistics. It is, therefore, requested that long-term improvement programs of vital statistics be implemented with policy priority and continuous efforts be given to this purpose as a long-term goal of development in Korea.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.178-184
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• 2019

Strawberry ($Fragaria{\times}ananassa$) is one of the most important and popular fruit crops in the world, and 'Sulhyang' is one of the principal cultivars cultivated in the Republic of Korea for the domestic market. The growth and flower induction in strawberry is the process which influences directly on fruit bearing and yield of this crop. In this study, effect of benzyladenine (BA), gibberellic acid ($GA_3$), and salicylic acid (SA) on growth and flower bud induction in strawberry 'Sulhyang' was investigated. The 3-week-old runner plants, grown in 21-cell propagation trays, were potted and cultivated in growth chambers with $25^{\circ}C/15^{\circ}C$ (day/night) temperatures, 70% relative humidity (RH), and light intensity of $300{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) provided by white light emitting diodes (LEDs). The runner plants were treated with one of three concentrations, 0 (control), 100, and $200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of BA, $GA_3$, or SA solution. The chemicals were sprayed two times on leaves of runner plants at an interval of two weeks. After 9 weeks the results showed that the application of all chemicals caused reduction of root length and chlorophyll (SPAD) content as compared to the control. The lowest chlorophyll (SPAD) content was recorded in plants treated with $GA_3$. However, the treatment of $200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ $GA_3$ promoted leaf area, leaf fresh weight, and plant fresh weight. The greatest flower induction (85%) and number of inflorescences (4.3 inflorescences per plant) were observed in the treatment of $200mg{\cdot}L^{-1}\;SA$, followed by $100mg{\cdot}L^{-1}\;SA$. Overall, results suggest that foliar application of $GA_3$ solution could accelerate plant growth, while foliar application of SA solution could induce hastened flowering. Further studies may be needed to find out the relationship between $GA_3$ and SA solutions treated in a combination, and the molecular mechanism involved in those responses observed.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.475-487
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• 2018

Objectives: This study examined the consumption of Han-sik and its association with the years of residence in Korea and the socioeconomic status among Filipino immigrant women of the Filipino Women's Diet and Health Study (FiLWHEL). Methods: A total of 474 Filipino women married to Korean men were included in the analysis. Their dietary intake was assessed using a single-day 24-hour recall. The participants provided information on the demographics, socioeconomic, and health-related factors through face-to-face interviews. The generalized linear model and logistic regression model were used to examine the association between the socioeconomic status and consumption of Han-sik. Results: The mean age of the participants was 34.3 years old, and the average duration of residence in Korea was 8.2 years. Among 474 Filipino women, a total of 467 consumed Han-sik, with an average of 6.8 food items per day. The Han-sik foods that the participants consumed most frequently were rice, cabbage kimchi, mixed-grain rice, and fried eggs. The average ratio of Han-sik was 58.57%. The ratio of Han-sik showed no significant associations with the years of residence, years of living together with their husband, education levels, total annual family income, or linguistic competence of Korean. However, the ratio of Han-sik use was associated with cohabitation with parents-in-law; the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) was 2.41 (1.18-4.92, p-trend = 0.002) comparing the fourth quartile with the first quartile of the Han-sik ratio. Conclusions: Filipino immigrant women in the FiLWHEL study consumed a larger number of Han-sik than Philippine foods. In addition, cohabitation with their parents-in-law was associated with the consumption of Han-sik. Further epidemiologic studies will be needed to determine how the diet affects the health and wellbeing of immigrant women in Korea.

• Journal of Gynecologic Oncology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.100.1-100.13
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• 2018

Objective: To investigate survival outcomes in endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC) patients with single vs. multiple positive pelvic lymph nodes. Methods: We performed a retrospective evaluation of all consecutive patients with histologically proven International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIIC1 EEC who underwent primary surgical treatment between 2004 and 2014 at seven Italian gynecologic oncology referral centers. Patients with pre- or intra-operative evidence of extra-uterine disease (including the presence of bulky nodes) and patients with stage IIIC2 disease were excluded, in order to obtain a homogeneous population. Results: Overall 140 patients met the inclusion criteria. The presence of >1 metastatic pelvic node was significantly associated with an increased risk of recurrence and mortality, compared to only 1 metastatic node, at both univariate (recurrence: hazard ratio [HR]=2.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.2-3.99; p=0.01; mortality: HR=2.8; 95% CI=1.24-6.29; p=0.01) and multivariable analysis (recurrence: HR=1.91; 95% CI=1.02-3.56; p=0.04; mortality: HR=2.62; 95% CI=1.13-6.05; p=0.02) and it was the only independent predictor of prognosis in this subset of patients. Disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were significantly longer in patients with only 1 metastatic node compared to those with more than 1 metastatic node (p=0.008 and 0.009, respectively). Conclusion: The presence of multiple metastatic nodes in stage IIIC1 EEC represents an independent predictor of worse survival, compared to only one positive node. Our data suggest that EEC patients may be categorized according to the number of positive nodes.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.515-530
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• 2021

This study is to estimate soil moisture (SM) using Sentinel-1A/B C-band SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images and Multiple Linear Regression Model(MLRM) in the Yongdam-Dam watershed of South Korea. Both the Sentinel-1A and -1B images (6 days interval and 10 m resolution) were collected for 5 years from 2015 to 2019. The geometric, radiometric, and noise corrections were performed using the SNAP (SentiNel Application Platform) software and converted to backscattering coefficient of VV and VH polarization. The in-situ SM data measured at 6 locations using TDR were used to validate the estimated SM results. The 5 days antecedent precipitation data were also collected to overcome the estimation difficulty for the vegetated area not reaching the ground. The MLRM modeling was performed using yearly data and seasonal data set, and correlation analysis was performed according to the number of the independent variable. The estimated SM was verified with observed SM using the coefficient of determination (R²) and the root mean square error (RMSE). As a result of SM modeling using only BSC in the grass area, R² was 0.13 and RMSE was 4.83%. When 5 days of antecedent precipitation data was used, R² was 0.37 and RMSE was 4.11%. With the use of dry days and seasonal regression equation to reflect the decrease pattern and seasonal variability of SM, the correlation increased significantly with R² of 0.69 and RMSE of 2.88%.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.374-390
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• 2021

Growth and yield of field vegetable crops would be affected by climate conditions, which cause a relatively large fluctuation in crop production and consumer price over years. The yield prediction system for these crops would support decision-making on policies to manage supply and demands. The objectives of this study were to compile literatures related to onion and garlic and to perform data-mining analysis, which would shed lights on the development of crop models for these major field vegetable crops in Korea. The literatures on crop growth and yield were collected from the databases operated by Research Information Sharing Service, National Science & Technology Information Service and SCOPUS. The keywords were chosen to retrieve research outcomes related to crop growth and yield of onion and garlic. These literatures were analyzed using text mining approaches including word cloud and semantic networks. It was found that the number of publications was considerably less for the field vegetable crops compared with rice. Still, specific patterns between previous research outcomes were identified using the text mining methods. For example, climate change and remote sensing were major topics of interest for growth and yield of onion and garlic. The impact of temperature and irrigation on crop growth was also assessed in the previous studies. It was also found that yield of onion and garlic would be affected by both environment and crop management conditions including sowing time, variety, seed treatment method, irrigation interval, fertilization amount and fertilizer composition. For meteorological conditions, temperature, precipitation, solar radiation and humidity were found to be the major factors in the literatures. These indicate that crop models need to take into account both environmental and crop management practices for reliable prediction of crop yield.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.76-83
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• 1984

This experiment was performed to investigate the flowering habit of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.). Sesame varieties tested could be classified into 8 different plant types by their morphological traits such as capsule shape, capsule setting habit and branching types among sesame gene pool of Crop Experiment Station, ORD. The first flower was appeared at the lowest node on main stem. Flowers were appeared progressively toward the tip of the main stem and also toward the tips of branches. The interval of flowering for a node was about one day, but 3 to 8 days for the flowers on the tips. Side flowers started at 4 to 5 nodes lower than those of center flower at the same day. Flowers were beared 2 by 1 node on the middle part of flower setting node (7-9) in mono capsule setting habit in spite of its normal is 1 by 1 node on the other nodes. Flowers were beared opposite direction on each node of stem and flowering toward the tip of main stem composed of cross shape between nodes and spiral, reverse of clockwise direction. We called this habit as cross spiral flowering order and cross spiral phyllotaxis. The first flower on branches was appeared when center flower on the 5th node of main stem began to flower. The branches produced at higher nodes on main stem showed larger flowering periods and more number of flowers than that at lower parts. BTB (Branch, Tricapsule, Bicarpels, 4 Loculi) type showed three capsule setting habits and same flowering period both on main stem and branches while BTQ (Branch, Tricapsule, Quadricarpels, 8 Loculi) type showed three capsule setting habit on main stem and mono-capsule setting habit on branches. In BTQ type, the period of flowering was much shorter on branches than on main stem. Branching type was considered more promising than non branching type for the breeding of early maturing high yielding variety because branching type has the advantage of bearing a lot of flowers in comparatively short flowering period.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.315-327
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• 2023

Purpose: Oxaliplatin, a component of the capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (XELOX) regimen, has a more favorable toxicity profile than cisplatin in patients with advanced gastric cancer (GC). However, oxaliplatin can induce sensory neuropathy and cumulative, dose-related toxicities. Thus, the capecitabine maintenance regimen may achieve the maximum treatment effect while reducing the cumulative neurotoxicity of oxaliplatin. This study aimed to compare the survival of patients with advanced GC between capecitabine maintenance and observation after 1st line XELOX chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: Sixty-three patients treated with six cycles of XELOX for advanced GC in six hospitals of the Catholic University of Korea were randomized 1:1 to receive capecitabine maintenance or observation. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS), analyzed using a two-sided log-rank test stratified at a 5% significance level. Results: Between 2015 and 2020, 32 and 31 patients were randomized into the maintenance and observation groups, respectively. After randomization, the median number of capecitabine maintenance cycles was 6. The PFS was significantly higher in the maintenance group than the observation group (6.3 vs. 4.1 months, P=0.010). Overall survival was not significantly different between the 2 groups (18.2 vs. 16.5 months, P=0.624). Toxicities, such as hand-foot syndrome, were reported in some maintenance group patients. Maintenance treatment was a significant factor associated with PFS in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 0.472; 95% confidence interval, 0.250-0.890; P=0.020). Conclusions: After 6 cycles of XELOX chemotherapy, capecitabine maintenance significantly prolonged PFS compared with observation, and toxicity was manageable. Maintenance treatment was a significant prognostic factor associated with PFS.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.4
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• pp.417-425
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• 2023

The aim of this study was to derive stem taper equations for Quercus acuta, one of main evergreen broad-leaved tree species found in warm temperate regions, and to prepare a stem volume table using those stem taper equations. A total of 688 individual trees were used in the analysis, which were collected from Jeonnam-do, Gyeongnam-do, and Jeju-do. The stem taper models applied to derive the stem curve pattern were the Max and Burkhart, Kozak, and Lee models. Among the three stem taper models, the best explanation of the stem curve shape of Q. acuta was found to be given by the Kozak model, which showed a fitness index of 0.9583, bias of 0.0352, percentage of estimated standard error of 1.1439, and mean absolute deviation of 0.6751. Thus, the stem taper of Q. acuta was estimated using the Kozak model. Moreover,thestemvolumecalculationwasperforme d by applying the Smalian formula to the diameter and height of each stem interval. In addition, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to compare the two existing Q. acuta stem volume tables (2007 and 2010) and the newly created stem volume table (2023). This analysis revealed that the stem volume table constructed in the Wando region in 2007 included about twice as much as the stem volume tables constructed in 2010 and 2023. The stem volume table (2023) developed in this study is not only based on the regional collection range and number of utilized trees but also on a sound scientific basis. Therefore, it can be used at the national level as an official stem volume table for Q. acuta.