• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.195-202
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• 2010

Purpose : Despite recent advances in pulmonary hypertension management and surgery, appropriate guidelines remain to be developed for operability in congenital heart disease with pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH). Our aim was to evaluate clinical outcomes of patients with severe PAH who underwent surgical closure of left-to-right shunt lesions (LRSL) on the basis of pulmonary reactivity. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed 21 patients who underwent surgical closure of LRSL with severe PAH (${\geq}8$ Wood unit) from January 1995 to April 2009. The median age at operation was 26 years. Atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect (VSD), VSD and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), and PDA was present in 11, 4, 4, and 2 patients, respectively. Results : Operability was based on vasoreactivity of PAH. Of the 21 patients, 5 showed response to pulmonary vasodilator therapy and 8 showed vasoreactivity after balloon occlusion of defects. The remaining 8 patients were considered operable because of significant left-to-right shunt (Qp/Qs ${\geq}1.5$). Five patients underwent total closure of defects and 16 were left with small residual shunts. The median follow-up duration was 32 months. There was no significant postoperative mortality or morbidity. Systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) decreased in all but 2 patients. All patients except 1 showed improvement of New York Heart Association functional class. Conclusion : Closure of LRSL in patients with severe PAH on the basis of pulmonary vasoreactivity seems reasonable. PAP and clinical symptoms improved in most patients. Further research is needed for the evaluation of long-term results.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.185-195
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• 2012

Due to the high reduction and sorption capacity as well as the large specific surface area, nanosized mackinawite (FeS) is useful in reductively transforming chlorinated organic pollutants and sequestering toxic metals and metalloids. Due to the dynamic nature in its colloid stability, however, nanosized FeS may be washed out with the groundwater flow or result in aquifer clogging via particle aggregation. Thus, these nanoparticles should be modified such as to be built into permeable reactive barriers. This study employed coating methods in efforts to facilitate the installation of permeable reactive barriers of nanosized mackinawite. In applying the methods, nanosized mackinawite was coated on non-treated silica sand (NTS) and chemically treated silica sand (CTS). For both silica sands, the maximum coating of mackinawite occurred around pH 5.4, the condition of which was governed by (1) the solubility of mackinawite and (2) the surface charge of both silica and mackinawite. Under this pH condition, the maximum coating by NTS and CTS were found to be 0.101 mmol FeS/g and 0.043 mmol FeS/g respectively, with such elevated coatings by NTS likely linked with impurities (e.g., iron oxides) on its surface. Arsenite sorption experiments were performed under anoxic conditions using uncoated silica sands and those coated with mackinawite at the optimal pH to compare their reactivity. At pH 7, the relative sorption efficiency between uncoated NTS and coated NTS changed with the initial concentration of arsenite. At the lower initial concentration, uncoated NTS showed the higher sorption efficiency, whereas at the higher concentration, coated NTS exhibited the higher sorption efficiency. This could be attributed to different sorption mechanisms as a function of arsenite concentration: the surface complexation of arsenite with the iron oxide impurity on silica sand at the low concentration and the precipitation as arsenic sulfides by reaction with mackinawite coating at the high concentration. Compared to coated NTS, coated CTS showed the lower arsenite removal at pH 7 due to its relatively lower mackinawite coating. Taken together, our results indicate that NTS is a more effective material than CTS for the coating of nanosized mackinawite.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.197-204
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• 1999

A total of 22 Leptospiua inlermgans field isolates from the ~ a t s captured in 5 provinces of Korea in 1996, and 6 antigenically closely related relerence serovars of lai, yeonchon, birkini. gem, mwogolo. and canicola were analysed. When the antigenic characteristics were analysed by reactivity with 7 monoclonal antibodies prepared with sh.ains belongng to serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae. all 22 isolates showed the same reaction pattern with that of serovar lai. Large restriction fragment patterns obtained after cleavage of geno~nic DNAs with infrequently cuttimg restriction enzymes were analyzed by pulsed-field pel electrophoresis(PFGE). Identification of leptospira strains by PFGE with Nor I, Asc I or Iise I digests correlated with their antigenically typed serovars, silh a few exceptions. PFGE of isolates, except for JR89, digested wjth Nor I showed identical pattern w~th serovar lai, showing 13 Cragments between 940 kb and 63 kb. When PFGE pallerns of JR89 were compared with those of serovar lai, Not I digest showed additional two hands of 1000 kb and 460 kb, while Asc I digest showed 650 kb fragment and Fse I digest did not show the fragment of 280 kb. Whereas serovar yeonchon. which was isolated in Korea and identified as a new serovar previously. could be differentiated from serovar lai in antigenic reactivities with monoclonal antibodres. it showed the similar PFGE pattern with serovar lai includin~ reference and field isolates. It was suggested that Korean leptospiral field isolates are closely related in DNA level.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2003

We fabricated mixed ionic-electronic conducting membranes, $CH_4\;Using\;{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$, by solid state reaction method for solid oxide fuel cell. The membranes consisted of single perovskite phase and exhibited high relative density, $>95\%$. We coated $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_{3-\delta}$ layer using screen printing method in order to improve surface reactivity of the $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$. As a result, the oxygen permeation flux of the coated $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$ showed higher value, $0.5ml/min{\cdot}cm^2\;at\;950^{\circ}C$ than the uncoated one. Higher oxygen permeation was observed in the porously coated Lao $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$membranes with larger grain sizes. Syngas, $CO+H_2$, was successfully obtained from methane gas, $CH_4$, using the $La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}CoO_{3-\delta}$ coated $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$, with over $40\%\;of\;CH_4$ conversion and syngas yield. $La_{0.7}Sr_{0.3}Ga_{0.6}Fe_{0.4}O_{3-\delta}$ membrane was stable even when it was exposed to the reducing environment, methane, for 600 hrs at $950^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.247-256
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• 2013

In this study, alginate beads containing birnessite (Bir-AB), a highly reactive oxidative catalyst for the transformation of phenolic compounds, was prepared and its 1-naphthol (1-NP) removal efficiency was investigated in a batch test. Based on scanning electron microscopy image, it can be inferred that the alginate gel cluster acts as a bridge which bind the birnessite particles together. Kinetic experiment with Bir-AB of different mixing ratios of birnessite to alginate (Bir : AG=0.25 : 1~1 : 1 w/w) indicate that pseudo-first order kinetic constants, $k(hr^{-1})$ for the 1-NP removals increased about 1.5 times when the birnessite mixing ratio was doubled. The removals of 1-NP was found to be dependent on solution pH and the pesudo-first order rate constants were increased from 0.331 $hr^{-1}$ at pH 10 to 0.661 $hr^{-1}$ at pH 4. The analysis of total organic carbon for the reaction solutions showed that a higher removal of dissolved organic carbon was achieved with Bir-AB as compared to birnessite. HPLC chromatographic analysis of the methanol extract after reaction of 1-NP with Bir-AB suggest that the reaction products could be removed through incorporation into the aliginate beads as a bound residue. Mn ions produced from the oxidative transformation of 1-NP by birnessite were also removed by sorption to Bir-AB. The Bir-AB was recovered quantitatively by simple filtration and was reused twice without significant loss of the initial reactivity.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.208-214
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• 2002

Purpose : The number of newborns vaccinated with BCG of Tokyo 172 strain, which has been claimed to cause lesser degree of local adverse events including scar, has recently been increasing. However, tuberculin response to this vaccine has inadequately been studied, especially with newborns cared at primary care clinics. We, therefore, performed a study in newborns vaccinated with BCG at private pediatric offices and evaluated the response to PPD 2TU or PPD 5TU following vaccination with percutaneous or intradermal BCG. Methods : Two hundred infants who had been cared at three private pediatric offices were retrospectively enrolled in the study. One hundred fifty one infants had received percutaneous BCG(Tokyo strain); 129 infants had had tuberuclin test with PPD 2TU and the rest of 22 infants with PPD 5TU. Forty nine infants had received intradermal BCG(28 infants Copenhagen strain, I infant French strain, 20 infants unknown); 35 infants had had tuberculin test with PPD 2TU, 14 infants(11%) with PPD 5TU. Results : In infants vaccinated with percutaneous BCG, the mean induration diameter in tuberculin test was significantly greater with PPD 5TU($12.4{\pm}3.5mm$) compared to PPD 2TU ($9.2{\pm}4.4mm$). In infants vaccinated with intradermal BCG, the mean induration diameters in tuberculin test were $5.7{\pm}5.1mm$ to PPD 2TU and $6.6{\pm}4.8mm$ to PPD 5TU, which were not significantly different. The tuberculin response to PPD 2TU was significantly greater in infants vaccinated with percutaneous BCG compared to those with intradermal BCG. The tuberculin response to PPD 5TU was also significantly greater in infants vaccinated with percutaneous BCG compared to those with intradermal BCG. Conclusion : Percutaneous BCG(Tokyo strain) seems to cause greater response to tuberculin compared to intradermal BCG and PPD 2TU induces weaker response compared to PPD 5TU. Acknowledging some discrepancies from the previously reported data, which might have been due to the different source of the study subjects, more studies are needed to establish the range of tuberculin response following BCG vaccination in order to differentiate from tuberculosis.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.35-42
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• 2006

Experimental study was conducted to identify the active agent for reductive dechlorination of TCE in cement/Fe(II) systems. Several potential materials-hematite (${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$), lepidocrocite (${\gamma}$-FeOOH), akaganeite (${\beta}$-FeOOH), ettringite ($Ca_6Al_2(SO_4)_3(OH)_{12}$)-that are cement components or parts of cement hydrates were tested if they could act as reducing agents by conducting TCE degradation experiments. From the initial degradation experiments, hematite was selected as a potential active agent. The pseudo-first-order degradation rate constant ($k\;=\;0.637\;day^{-1}$) for the system containing 200 mM Fe(II), hematite and CaO was close to that ($k\;=\;0.645\;day^{-1}$) obtained from the system containing cement and 200 mM Fe(II). CaO, which was originally added to simulate pH of the cement/Fe(II) system, was found to play an important role in degradation reactions. The reactivity of the hematite/CaO/Fe(II) system initially increased with increase of CaO dosage. However, the tendency declined in the higher CaO dosage region, implying a saturation type of behavior. The SEM analysis revealed that the hexagonal plane-shaped crystals were formed during the reaction with increasing degradation efficiency, which was brought about by increasing the CaO dosage. It was suspected that the crystals could be portlandite or green rust ($SO_4$) or Friedel's salt. The XRD analysis of the same sample identified the peaks of hematite, magnetite/maghemite, green rust ($SO_4$). Either instrumental analysis predicted the presence of the green rust ($SO_4$). Therefore, the green rust ($SO_4$) would potentially be a reactive agent for reductive dechlorination in cement/Fe(II) systems.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.69-75
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• 2006

Improper disposal of petroleum and spills from underground storage tanks have created large areas with highly toxic contamination of the soil and groundwater. Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is widely used as a fuel additive because of its advantageous properties of increasing the octane value and reducing carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon exhausts. However, MTBE is categorized as a possible human carcinogen. This research investigated the Modified Photo-Fenton system which is based on the Modified Fenton reaction and UV light irradiation. The Modified Fenton reaction is effective for MTBE degradation near a neutral pH, using the ferric ion complex composed of a ferric ion and environmentally friendly organic chelating agents. This research was intended to treat high concentrations of MTBE; thus, 1,000 mg/L MTBE was chosen. The objectives of this research are to find the optimal reaction conditions and to elucidate the kinetic and mechanism of MTBE degradation by the Modified Photo-Fenton reaction. Based on the results of experiments, citrate was chosen among eight chelating agents as the candidate for the Modified Photo-Fenton reaction because it has a relatively higher final pH and MTBE removal efficiency than the others, and it has a relatively low toxicity and is rapidly biodegradable. MTBE degradation was found to follow pseudo-first-order kinetics. Under the optimum conditions, [$Fe^{3+}$] : [Citrate] = 1 mM: 4 mM, 3% $H_2O_2$, 17.4 kWh/L UV dose, and initial pH 6.0, the 1000 ppm MTBE was degraded by 86.75% within 6 hours and 99.99% within 16 hours. The final pH value was 6.02. The degradation mechanism of MTBE by the Modified Photo-Fenton Reaction included two diverse pathways and tert-butyl formate (TBF) was identified to be the major degradation intermediate. Attributed to the high solubility, stability, and reactivity of the ferric-citrate complexes in the near neutral condition, this Modified Photo-Fenton reaction is a promising treatment process for high concentrations of MTBE under or near a neutral pH.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.252-260
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• 2009

The effects of the treatment of an acidic solution at pH 2 on polyacrylonitrile ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were investigated using a circular cross-flow filtration bench with a membrane module. A substantial reduction in the membrane permeability was observed after 80 hours' treatment of the acidic solution. In addition, the analyses of the sample solutions by ultraviolet/visible absorption spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), which were taken from the feed tank as a function of the treatment time, showed that a new organic compound was produced in the course of the treatment. From a thorough search of the mass spectral library we presumed the new compound to be 1,6-dioxacyclododecane-7,12-dione (DCD), one of the well-known additives for polyurethane. Based on further experimental results, including the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images and the solid-state NMR spectra of the membranes used for the treatment of the acidic solution, we suggested that the decrease of the permeate flux resulted not from the deformation of the membranes, but from the fouling by DCD eluted from the polyurethane tubes in the filtration bench during the treatment. Those results imply that the reactivity to an acidic solution of the parts comprising the filtration bench is as important as that of the membranes themselves for effective treatments of acidic solutions, for efficient chemical cleaning by strong acids, and also in determining the pH limit of the solutions that can be treated by the membranes.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.177-189
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• 2009

Iron (oxyhydr)oxides commonly form as secondary minerals of high reactivity and large surface area resulting from alteration and weathering of primary minerals, and they are efficient sorbents for inorganic and organic contaminants. Accordingly, they have a great potential in industrial applications and are also of substantial interest in environmental sciences. Goethite (${\alpha}$-FeOOH) is one of the most ubiquitous and stable forms of iron (oxyhydr)oxides in terrestrial soils, sediments, and ore deposits, as well as a common weathering product in rocks of all types. This study focused on adsorption reaction as a main mechanism in scavenging arsenic using goethite. Goethite was synthesized in the laboratory to get high purity, and a variety of mineralogical and physicochemical features of goethite were measured and related to adsorption characteristics of arsenic. To compare differences in adsorption reactions between arsenic species, in addition, a variety of experiments to acquire adsorption isotherm, adsorption edges, and adsorption kinetics were accomplished. The point of zero charge (PZC) of the laboratory-synthesized goethite was measured to be 7.6, which value seems to be relatively higher, compared to those of other iron (oxyhydr)oxides. Its specific surface area appeared to be $29.2\;m^2/g$ and it is relatively smaller than those of other (oxyhydr)oxides. As a result, it was speculated that goethite shows a smaller adsorption capacity. It is likely that the affinity of goethite is much more larger for As(III) (arsenite) than for As(V) (arsenate), because As(III) was observed to be much more adsorbed on goethite than As(V) in equivalent pH conditions. When the adsorption of each arsenic species onto goethite was characterized in various of pH, the adsorption of As(III) was largest in neutral pH range (7.0~9.0) and decreased in both acidic and alkaline pH conditions. In the case of As(V), the adsorption appeared to be highest in the lowest pH condition, and then decreased with an increase of pH. This peculiarity of arsenic adsorption onto goethite might be caused by macroscopic electrostatic interactions due to variation in chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of goethite, and also it is significantly affected by change in pH. Parabolic diffusion model was adequate to effectively evaluate arsenic adsorption on goethite, and the regression results show that the kinetic constant of As(V) is larger than that of As(III).