• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.8800-8811
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• 2015

When the crucial role of the agent in communicating with the customer is acknowledged well enough to relieve the agent's stress, it will lead to the decrease of the agent's emotional labor and the improvement of the business organization's performance simultaneously. However, the research on the relationship between information system and the emotional labor has been scarcely conducted even though the importance of the emotional labor is actively researched and discussed these days. Therefore, much effort has been put in this study to fine out how the quality of airline call center information system affects expectations-conformation and how expectations-conformation and self-efficacy affect performance of Emotional Labors. Analysis of the results to target a call center agent 436 people, When you provide them with quality information systems, it increased satisfaction and pride in their job. This mechanisms subsequently reduces the strength of the emotion labor, which ultimately improves the service performance. The implications of this study can be summarized as following: First, this research presented practical guidelines to the organization's decision-makers related to the airline call center operations in order to introduce and expand successful call center information system. Second, this research suggested the possible method to inspect and diagnose the system by way of applying the measurement model mentioned in this research into the airline information system and analyzing it. Third, the performance-measuring model developed in order to measure the performance of the airline call center information system can also be used when we carry out the performance-measuring task in the similar information system as the basis of diagnosing the situation and presenting the driving directions.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1509-1517
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• 2008

The flowers and buds of Lonicera Flower (LF), are used in Korean herbal medicine for latent-heat-clearing, antipyretic, detoxicant and anti-inflammatory ailments. This plant is used worldwide for the treatment of many types of inflammatory disease including respiratory infections, diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis and play an important role in immune reaction. These pharmaceutical effects of LF looks like to be related to its antioxidant capacity and phytochemicals containing in LF. In this study, the antioxidant activity of extract from LF was studied in vitro methods by measuring the antioxidant activity by TEAC, measuring the scavenging effects on reactive oxygen species (ROS) [superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical] and on reactive nitrogen species (RNS) [nitric oxide and peroxynitrite] as well as measuring the inhibitory effect on $Cu^{2+}$ induced human LDL oxidation and the inhibitory effect on collagen induced platelet aggregation. The LF extracts were found to have a potent scavenging activity, as well as an inhibitory effect on LDL oxidation and on platelet aggregation. In conclusion, the LF extracts have anti-oxidative and anti-atherosclerotic effects in vitro system, which can be used for developing pharmaceutical drug against oxidative stress and atherosclerosis.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.345-350
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• 2005

Objectives : Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are risk factors for lung cancer, have been reported to induce oxidative DNA damage. The paraoxonase (PON) plays a significant role in the detoxification of a variety of organophosphorous compounds, with paraoxonase-1 (PON1) being one of the endogenous free-radical scavenging systems in the human body. The aim of this case-control study was to investigate the effects of PAH exposure, oxidative stress and the Q192R polymorphism of PON1 genes, and their interactions in the carcinogenesis of lung cancer. Methods : One hundred and seventy seven lung cancer patients and 177 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled in this study. Each subject was asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their smoking habits and environmental exposure to PAHs. The Q192R genotypes of the PON1 gene was examined, and the concentrations of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), 2-naphthol and 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) measured. Results : Cigarette smoking was found to be a significant risk factor for lung cancer. The urinary 8-OH-dG level was higher in the patients, whereas the urinary 1-OHP and 2-naphthol levels were higher in the controls. There was a significant correlation between the urinary levels of 8-OHdG and 1-OHP in both the cases and controls. The PON1 polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. Individuals carrying the Q/Q genotype of the PON1 gene were found to be at higher risk of developing lung cancer. There was a significant correlation between the urinary levels of 8-OH-dG and 1-OHP in those with the PON1 Q/Q genotype. Conclusions : These results lead to the conclusion that PAHs would induce oxidative DNA damage, especially in individuals with the PON1 Q/Q genotype. Therefore, people with the PON1 Q/Q genotype would be more susceptible to lung cancer than those with the R/R or Q/R genotypes of the PON1 gene.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.400-414
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• 1999

Objectives: This is a descriptive study which was carried out to identify characteristics of the chronic mentally ill and their families in a rural area and the influencing factors on family burden. Methods : Data was collected for seven months beginning April 1, 1998 by questionnaire from chronic mentally ill patients and their families in two towns and seven townships of the rural areas of Kyonggi Province. In additional to the mental diagnosis of the mentally ill patients, family burden was measured by interviewing the other family members using the questionnaire developed by Pai & Kapur (1981). Of those interviewed, 103 patients were selected for final analysis. Results : Of 103 mentally ill patients, 36.1% of the subjects were not under treatment. In particular, of 29 patients with schizophrenia, 48.3% of the subjects had stopped taking medication and 6.9% of the subjects had never been treated. According to the results of a specialized examination by a psychologist, 81% of patients were in need of Hospitalization. Most primary caregivers were parents. Of the 101 primary caregivers in the study, 39.6% were over 65 years old. In case of death of the primary caregiver, 50.5% of these 101 mentally ill patients would not have anyone to care for them. Of the various kinds of family burden, primary caregivers most often reported psychological stress. Overall, the families of dementia and schizophrenia patients complained of the most family burden. Through univariative analysis, the variables of sex, education and current treatment type of the patients, the relationship with the patient and marital status of the primary caregiver and the number of people living together in the household showed significant correlation with the family burden of schizophrenia patients. Univariative analysis also showed that there were a number of variables which were correlated to the family burden in mentally retarded patients. Concerning the need for mental health services, the most common requests were for entitlement to disability benefits and housing programs. Conclusions: Community mental health services in rural areas must be developed, planned and executed in consideration of the local situation. In particular, the development of various family support programs is needed in order to mitigate emotional, mental and economic burdens and carry out a positive role to care for and rehabilitate patients.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1254-1262
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• 1998

This study has done to investigate the relationship between the icreased lipid oncentration caused by smoking and plama levels of vitamin A and vitamin E, antiodative enzyme activity, and lipid peroxidation , in 52 male smokers and 32 non-smokers, Dietary vitamin A and vitamin E intake was imilar in both smokers and non-smokers. Absolute plasma concentrations of vitamin A and vitamin E were not significantly different between two groups, whereas vitamin E/cholesterol ration in plasma was low or in smokers than in that of non-smokers(p<0.05). It was considered that this lowered effect was due to the elevated plasma lipid concentration rather than oxidant stress derived from smoking, in view of the fact that smokers had higher cholesterol (15.2%) adn LDL-C(26.6%) levels than non-smokers. In non-smokers, plasma thiobarbiturin acid reactive substances(TBARS) conrrelated positively with total cholesterol(r=0.63466, p<0.001), LDL-C level(r=0.57166, p<0.01) , and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio(r=0.45926, p<0.05) . Activities of glutathione perosidase(GSH-Px) , superoside dismutase(SOD), and catalse made no difference in both groups. However, it was observed in non-smokers that GSH-Px activity had negative correlations with total cholesterol(r=-0.67293, p<0.001), LDL-C level(r=-0.62878, p<0.001), and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio (r=-0.58824, p<0.01), indicating that there was a dependent relationship between lipid perosidation and plasma lipid level. The smokers also showed negative correlations for GSH-Px activity with total cholesterol (r=-0.29946, p<0.05) and LDL-c level (r=0.45914, p<0.001), and LDL-C/HDL-c ratio(r=-0.35438, p<0.05). It seemed that the lipid that the lipid level elevated by sustaines smoking resulted in reducing vitamin E/cholesterol ratio and proportion of antioxidant to oxidant load, and then GSH-Px activity, with insufficient removal of free radicals(TBARS 2.43$\pm$0.51 and 1.81$\pm$0.15nmol/ml in smokers and non-smokers, respectively). These findings suggest that higher plasma lipid levels may play a more important role in perturbing the antioxidant defense system including vitamin E status and GSH-Px activity, at least in circumstances that increase lipid concentration . In addition, in exposure to free radicals like those in cigarette smoke. In those cases the ratio of vitamin E/lipid in plasma can be a more indicator of vitamin E status than plasma levels of vitamin E alone.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.81 no.3
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• pp.234-246
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• 1992

This study was conducted to determine the toxic effects of air pollutants on landscaping tress, Pinus densiflora, Pinus koraiensis, Ginkgo biloba, Liriodendron tulipifera, Platanus occidentalis and their resistance to the pollutant toxicity in urban and industrial regions of Seoul and Taejon, Korea. Total sulfur contents and enzyme activities such as superoxide dismutase and peroxidase were analyzed in tree foliage of Pinus densiflora, Pinus koraiensis, Ginkgo biloba, Liriodendron tulipifera, Platanus occidentalis. In addition, POD activity was analyzed in the foliage on tree seedlings, i.e. Pinus densiflora, Pinus koraiensis, Ginkgo biloba, Lirioderdron tulipifera, with the fumigation of $SO_2$ in gas chamber 4 hours a day for six days. In Ginkgo biloba total sulfur content and POD activity had a negative correlation while other species had a positive relationship in total sulfur content and enzyme activity. Air pollutants accumulated in tree tissues were supposed to enhance the enzyme activity like POD providing the resistance mechanisms. Especially Pinus koraiensis and Platanus occidentalis had higher POD activity than other species. The increase of temporary POD activity against environmental stress appeared in sensitive trees and prolonged increase of POD activity played an important role in resistance mechanism. SOD and POD activities in all species had a positive correlation except Ginkgo biloba. Changes of SOD and POD activities were different between species and in most species SOD as well as POD seemed to participate in resistance mechanism.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.148-158
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• 2011

Objectives The eye movement (EM) has been reported to play a role in enhancing the retrieval of episodic memories and reducing effects of fearful episodes in the past and worries for the futures. However, it is still unclear in the mechanism of EM in normal subjects. We examined the horizontal eye movement (HEM) effect using an aiding apparatus on mental health indices including negative and positive psychological factors, and psychophysiological measures such as heart rate variability and quantitative electroencepaholography (qEEG) in healthy subjects. Methods Twenty eight healthy subjects were recruited and randomly allocated into two groups : active HEM group and control group. The active HEM group conducted the HEM training with usual stress management audio-intervention using the apparatus inducing eye movement once a day for 14 days. The control group also conducted the same training once a day for 14 days, however, the saccadic eye movement was not included in this training. Psychological measurements, neurocognitive function tests, heart rate variability measurement and qEEG were conducted before and after the training in both groups. Results In the active HEM group, sleep status using Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) positive factors significantly increased after the training. By contrast, scores on the negative items of Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS), and negative items of the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) were significantly decreased after the training. The percentage of delta amplitude (1-3 Hz) in qEEG significantly decreased after the HEM training. The percentage of alpha amplitude (8-12 Hz) significantly increased after HEM training. The change of delta amplitude in the active HEM group was positively correlated with the change of sleep satisfaction of Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and the change of alpha amplitude was negatively correlated with depression of VAS, anxiety of VAS and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Conclusions The HEM training improved sleep quality and well-being, and sense of optimism. The HEM training also increased alpha amplitude and decreased delta amplitude in qEEG. The qEEG changes were well correlated with subjective improvement of mental health indices in healthy subjects. These results suggest some evidences that HEM training using the apparatus that induces EM would be helpful in improving subjective mental health in healthy subjects. Further study with larger samples size would be needed.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.213-223
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• 2003

We estimated the Moho depth of Korean Peninsula from gravity anomalies and digital elevation model. The satellite radar altimetry-derived global free-air gravity model was used to ensure the homogeneity in both data and frequency domains of the original data. Two different methods were implemented to calculate the Moho depth; the wavenumber correlation analysis (Kim et al., 2000a) and the power spectrum analysis. The former method calculates depth-to-the-Moho by correlating topographic gravity effect with free-air gravity anomaly in the wavenumber domain under the assumption that the study area is not isostatically compensated. The latter one, on the other hand, considers the different density layers (i.e., Conrad and Moho), using complete Bouguer gravity anomaly in the Frequency domain of the Fourier transform. The correlation coefficient of the two Moho model is 0.53, and methodology and numerical error are mainly responsible for any mismatch between the two models. In order to integrate the two independentely-estimated models, we applied least-squares adjustment using the differenced depth. The resultant model has mean and standard deviation Moho depths of 32.0 km and 2.5 km with (min, max) depths of (20.3, 36.6) kms. Although this result does not include any topographic gravity effect, however, the validity of isostasy and the role of local stress field in the study area should be further studied.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.1244-1251
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• 2014

Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) has been known to possess many biological effects, including anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy activity and anti-obesity and hyperlipidemia effects. However, little research has been conducted regarding its anticancer effects, with the exception of its ability to stimulate apoptosis in skin cells. There has also been no study regarding PG-induced autophagy. The modulation of autophagy is recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer cells. Depending on the type of cancer and the context, autophagy can suppress or help cancer cells to overcome metabolic stress and the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate whether or not extracts from PG-induced cell death were connected with autophagy and apoptosis in HCT-116 human colon cancer cells. PG stimulation decreased cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner and induced apoptosis, which was partially dependent on the activation of caspases. PG treatment also resulted in the formation of autophagic vacuoles simultaneously with regulation of autophagy-related genes. Interestingly, a PG-mediated apoptotic effect was further triggered by pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitors 3-methyladenin and bafilomycin A1. However, cell viability recovered quite well with bafilomycin A1 treatment. These findings show that PG treatment promotes both autophagy and apoptosis and that PG-induced autophagic response might play a role in the autophagic cell death of HCT-116 cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2008

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective death of motor neurons. Mutations in the SOD1 gene are responsible for a familial form of ALS (FALS). Although many studies suggest that mutant SOD1 proteins are cytotoxic, the mechanism is not fully understood. To investigate the role of mutant SOD1 in FALS, human SOD1 genes were fused with a PEP-1 peptide in a bacterial expression vector to produce in-frame PEP-1-SOD fusion proteins (wild type and mutants). The expressed and purified PEP-1-SOD fusion proteins were efficiently transduced into neuronal cells. Neurones harboring the A4V, G93A, G85R, and D90A mutants of PEP-1-SOD were more vulnerable to oxidative stress induced by paraquat than those harboring wild-type proteins. Moreover, neurones harboring the mutant SOD proteins had lower heat shock protein (Hsp) expression levels than those harboring wild-type SOD. The effects of the transduced SOD1 fusion proteins may provide an explanation for the association of SOD1 with FALS, and Hsps could be candidate agents for the treatment of ALS.