• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2013

Objective : Neurologic complications during carotid artery stenting (CAS) are usually associated with distal embolic event. These embolic incident during CAS are highly associated with the carotid plaque instability. The current study was undertaken to identify the angiographic characteristics of carotid plaque vulnerability, which was represented as filling defect in the cerebral protection filters during CAS. Methods : A total of 107 patients underwent CAS with use of a distal protection filter. Angiographic carotid plaque surface morphology was classified as smooth, irregular, and ulcerated. To determine predictable factors of filling defect in the protection filters, 11 variables were retrospectively analyzed which might influence filling defect in the protection filters during CAS. Results : Filling defects during CAS were presented in the 33 cerebral protection filters. In multivariate analysis, angiographic ulceration [odds ratio (OR), 6.60; 95% confidence interval (CI) : 2.24, 19.4; p=0.001], higher stenosis degree (OR, 1.06; 95% CI : 1.00, 1.12; p=0.039), and coexistent thrombus (OR, 7.58; 95% CI : 1.69, 34.05; p=0.08) were highly associated with filling defect in the cerebral protection devices during CAS. Among several variables, angiographic surface ulceration was the only significant factor associated with flow stagnation during CAS (OR, 4.11; 95% CI : 1.33, 12.72; p=0.014). Conclusion : Plaque surface morphology on carotid angiography can be a highly sensitive marker of plaque instability during CAS. The independent risk factors for filling defect in the filter devices during CAS were plaque ulceration, stenosis degree, and coexistent thrombus.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.12-24
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• 2013

Eradication of endemic malaria was declared in mid 1980's in Korea, but the number of malaria cases has been oscillating for the past 10 years since the reemergence of the disease in early 1990's. The occurrence of malaria has been concentrated near the demilitarized zone(DMZ), and the regional characteristics of the disease are evident. Considering the spatial variations of malaria incidence across the high-risk areas, the hotspot of the disease, it seems that the occurrence of the disease is influenced by the natural and human environment in the region. Malaria is an infectious disease that is transmitted to humans by the bites of vector-mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites, and it depends on specific climatic and sociodemographic factors. Malaria transmission is highly climate-sensitive, and temperature is the most important component. In addition, human contacts with vector-mosquitoes and the distance between human residence and mosquito habitats are crucial conditions determining malaria incidence rates. The present study aimed to test a hypothesis that the spatial characteristics of malaria incidence depended on local climatic conditions, relative proportions of mosquito habitats, and the distance between mosquito habitats and human residence using meteorological and satellite-based land cover data.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.212-219
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• 2007

Purpose : It is difficult to diagnose acute pyelonephritis(APN) in young children, because of their nonspecific symptoms. The younger the age, the higher the risk of renal scars after APN, which can be prevented by early diagnosis and treatment. We compare the significance of renal imaging studies by age for diagnosis of APN in febrile urinary tract infection(UTI) in children. Methods : Fifty-three hospitalized children(34 patients under age 2 and 19 patients over age 2) with febrile UTI and who had undergone dimercaptosuccinic acid(DMSA) scan, renal ultra sonography(RUS) and voiding cystourethrography(VCUG) during the acute stage were re-viewed. We compared the renal imaging studies between the different age groups. Results : The DMSA scan showed cortical defects in 23.5% of patients under age 2, which was significantly lower than 63.2% of patents over age 2(P<0.05). The renal cortical defects on DMSA scan were associated only with a high peripheral leukocyte count, but not with fever duration, erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), and C-reactive protein(CRP). And there was no correlation between the DMSA scan, VCUG or RUS findings. Conclusions : The DMSA scan is not sensitive for diagnosis of APN in children less than 2 years of age and the findings cannot predict the presence of vesicoureteral reflux(VUR). VCUG may be necessary for proper management in this age group.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.630-639
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• 2000

The gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) establishes long-term chronic infection that can lead to atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and gastric cancer. H. pylori, which express cytotoxic genes is now recohnized as a cause of peptic ulcer and is also a major risk factor for the development of gastric adenocarcinoma. We performed this study 1) to assess the detection rate of H. pylori according to direct investigation of bacteria of gastric biopsy specimen and two serologic tests of GAP test and Helico blot 2.0 system in the symptomatic and non-symptomatic group 2) to evaluate and compare the efficacy of two serologic tests of GAP test and Helico blot 2.0 system for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. Forty-nine patients were positive for H pylori infection based on direct investigation of bacteria by histology. The detection rates of H. pylori infection based on direct investigation of bacteria by histology. The detection rates of H. phlori were significantly lower in gastric cancer than in other gastroduodenal disease(p<0.05). The concordance of two serologic tests of GAP test and Helico blot 2.0 system is poor. There was no statistically significant difference between the expression rate of CagA and VacA in the symptomatic and non-symptomatic group. Although Helico blot 2.0 system may not displace GAP test, it was a very sensitive serologic test for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection and it was used to detect IgG antibodies to H. pylori-specific antigens, including CagA, VacA and the various urease subunit. Our data suggest that further investigation is needed to determine whether or not the serologic expression of cytotoxic gene may be clinical usefulness of diagnostic methods in the gastroduodenal disease.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.55-64
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• 1997

This study adapted OSL (Optimum Stimulation Level) to induce the customer's behavior, especially customer's fashion behavior. The purpose of the fashion advertisement was to accelerate the purchasing desire for the clothes by catching the customer's attention. OSL is one of the methods. OSL can satisfy customers' desires using the new stimulation that reveals a customer's individual characters. In general, women are more concern about fashion and sensitive to the clothes of new fashion than men. But nowadays, many of the men are also concern about their appearance and fashion. The differences between men and women in fashion behavior and in each factor, of OSL, especially a relationship between OSL factor and fashion behavior are researched in this study. Such differences analyzed to find the sources that can satisfy their various desires. This study was expected to provide good information to plan advertising strategy in unpredictable market situation. The subjects for this study were 308 male and female university students. Mehrabian and Russell (1974),s ASTS(Arousal Seeking Tendency Scale) was adapted to measure the OSL, and twenty questions regarding fashion leadership and clothing importance released by Kwon, Shin, Lee, are adapted to measure the fashion behavior. An ANOVA was used as statistical analyzing method to find out the difference between men and women in fashion behavior. The relationship between fashion behavior and difference between men and women in OSL factors were measured by MANOVA. Conclusions were as follows; 1. In consciousness degree of fashion leadership and clothing importance in the fashion behavior, women were higher than men. 2. There was a difference between men and women in OSL's each factors in "unusual stimuli" and "sensuality", but there is no significant statistical difference in factors of "change", "risk", "new environment". Therefore women are higher than men in the stimulation level of "unusual stimuli" and" sensuality". 3. Low element of OSL relating to fashion behavior is from "change" and "unusual stimuli". 4. For the relationship between OSL and fashion behavior, fashion leadership and clothing importance were recognized better in the group of higher level of "change" and "unusual stimuli" irrespective of sex. In the case of "change" which is one of OSL factors, High OSL groups were higher than low OSL groups in the consciousness level of the fashion leadership and clothing importance. In men's case, High OSL-Change groups were higher than Low OSL-Change groups in the fashion leadership, but there was no difference between two groups in the consciousness of the clothing importance. In the case of "Unusual Stimuli", High OSL groups were superior to Low OSL groups in the fashion leadership, but there was no significant difference between two groups in the clothing importance. In women's case, High OSL-Change groups were superior to Low OSL-Change groups. In the case of "Unusual Stimuli", High OSL groups were superior to Low OSL groups in the fashion leadership, but there was no difference between two groups in the clothing importance.

• Agribusiness and Information Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.27-39
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• 2019

Agricultural risks are exacerbated by a variety of factors ranging from climatevariability and change, frequent natural disasters, uncertainties in yields and prices, weakrural infrastructure, imperfect markets and lack of financial services including limited spanand design of risk mitigation instruments such as credit and insurance. Indian agriculture has little more than half (53%) of its area still rainfed and this makes it highly sensitive to vagaries of climate causing unstable output. Besides adverse climatic factors, there are man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, adulteration of pesticides and fertilizers etc., and all these severely affect farmers through loss in production and farm income, and are beyond the control of farmers. Hence, crop insurance' is considered to be the promising tool to insulate the farmers from risks faced by them and to sustain them in the agri-business. This paper critically evaluates the performance of recent crop insurance scheme viz., Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) and its comparative performance with earlier agricultural insurance schemes implemented in the country. It is heartening that, the comparative performance of PMFBY with earlier schemes revealed that, the Government has definitely taken a leap forward in covering more number of farmers and bringing more area under crop insurance with the execution of this new scheme and on this front, it deserves the appreciation in fulfilling the objective for bringing more number of farmers under insurance cover. The use of mobile based technology, reduced number of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) and smart CCEs, digitization of land record and linking them to farmers' account for faster assessment/settlement of claims are some of the steps that contributed for effective implementation of this new crop insurance scheme. However, inadequate claim payments, errors in loss/yield assessment, delayed claim payment, no direct linkage between insurance companies and farmers are the major shortcomings of this scheme. This calls for revamping the crop insurance program in India from time to time in tune with the dynamic changes in climatic factors on one hand and to provide a safety-net for farmers to mitigate losses arising from climatic shocks on the other. The future research avenues include: insuring the revenue of the farmer (Price × Yield) as in USA and more and more tenant farmers should be brought under insurance by doling out discounts for group coverage of farmers like in Philippines where 20 per cent discount in premium is given for a group of 5-10 farmers, 30 per cent for a group of 10-20 and 40 per cent for a group of >20 farmers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.61-65
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• 2012

Once oil has spilled, oil spill responders use a variety of countermeasures to reduce the adverse effects of spilled oil on the environment. Mechanical methods of containment and recovery are preferred as the first response when the use of other methods fail or are ineffective. In these cases, the application of oil dispersants shall be use only as a last resort. While effectiveness of dispersants in removing oil form the sea surface is proven, the use of dispersants is controlled in almost all countries due to the toxicity of their active agents and the dispersed oil on the marine environment. However, according to reports, after dispersant application, no significant toxicity to fish or shrimp was observed in the field-collected samples. Moreover, the results also indicate that dispersant-oil mixtures are generally no more toxic to the aquatic test species than oil alone. During the Deepwater Horizon Incident, dispersants were applied to floating oil and injected into the oil plume at depth. These decisions were carefully considered by state and federal agencies, as well as BP, to prevent as much oil as possible from reaching sensitive shoreline habitats. Net Environmental Benefit Analysis for dispersant use assumed that dispersants appear to prevent long-term contamination resulting absence of oil in the substrate and will benefit marine wildlife by decreasing the risk of significant contamination to feathers or fur. Further study to use dispersants with scientific baseline is needed for our maritime environment which consistently threaten huge oil spill incidents occurrence.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.728-736
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• 2015

Cronobacter species (Cronobacter spp.), previously known as Enterobacter sakazakii, are gram negative food borne pathogenic bacteria. They pose a very high risk of infection to neonates and immuno-compromised individuals and can affect the human central nervous system. Consequently, survivors often suffer from severe neurological impairment including hydrocephalus, quadriplegia, and developmental delays. Cronobacter spp. were not only isolated from plant food and products such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, legume products, herbs, and spices but also from animal source foods such as milk, meat, fish, and products made from these foods. Therefore, rapid detection of Cronobacter spp. is essential for food safety. Many detection methods have been developed since the Cronobacter spp. were first reported. However, the development of more rapid, sensitive, and easy-to-use detection methods for the Cronobacter spp. is required. In this review, our aim was to study and compare the available detection methods for Cronobacter spp., including culture-based, molecular biology-based, and immunology-based methods. This study will contribute to the development of new and rapid detection method for Cronobacter spp.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.565-575
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of weight of load and time on the physical workload of repetitive upper-limb tasks with handling light weight loads using EMG and perceived discomfort, and to investigate the relationship between EMG and perceived discomfort for those repetitive tasks of moving light weight loads. Background: Repetitive upper-limb motion is known as one of the main risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders, and a lot of repetitive tasks are carried out while handling light weight loads in the industry. In evaluating the workload of repetitive tasks handling light weight loads, EMG and perceived discomfort can be used, though their relationship in those work conditions are not much investigated. Method: A laboratory experiment with 18 healthy males were conducted to record EMG signals from 5 muscle sites of the right arm and shoulder and rate perceived discomforts for the body parts and the whole body while carrying out repetitive materials-handling tasks for 52min. The subjects were divided into 3 groups which handled the loads of 1kg, 2kg and 3kg, respectively. ANOVAs were conducted to analyze the effects of the weight and time on RMS of EMG amplitude (normalized RMS: NRMS), median frequency of power spectrum of EMG (normalized MDF: NMDF) and perceived discomfort. The correlations between NRMS and NMDF and perceived discomfort were also analyzed. Results: Statistically significant muscular fatigue effects were not found from NRMS and NMDF in most muscles, while there were significant increases of discomfort as the task time elapsed. It was shown that there were an increasing trend of the muscular activity as the weight of load increased and a decreasing trend of median frequency of EMG of upper and lower arms as time elapsed. It was found that there were significant negative correlations between NMDFs from the lower arm and discomfort ratings, though the relationships were weak. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the working conditions adopted in this study were not enough to induce muscular fatigue, while there was significant increase in perceived discomfort. A further study is necessary to integrate the objective and subjective measures for more reliable and sensitive evaluation of workload of repetitive tasks of handling light weight loads. Application: This study can be used as a basic study for the evaluation of workload of repetitive tasks handling light weight loads.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.17 no.4 s.88
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• pp.581-586
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• 2005

High-performance concrete (HPC), which is particularly sensitive to self-desiccation, is required to be durable even in severe environmental conditions, i.e. costal area, cold district, etc. However, in recent years, some attention was particularly given to cracking sensitivity of high performance concrete at early age. It has been argued and demonstrated experimentally that such concrete undergoes autogenous shrinkage due to self-desiccation at early age under restrained condition, nd, as a result, internal tensile stress may develop, leading to micro cracking and macro cracking. This shrinkage-introduced crack produces a major serviceability problem for concrete structures. One possible method to reduce cracking due to autogenous shrinkage is the addition of expansive additive. Tests conducted by many researches have shown the beneficial effects of addition of expansive additive for reducing the risk of autogenous shrinkage-introduced cracking. However, the research on hydration model of expansion additive has been hardly researched up to now. This paper presents a study of the hydration model of Ettringite-Gypsum type expansive additive. As a result of comparing forecast values with experiment value, proposed model is shown to expressible of hydration of expansive additive.