• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2777-2782
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• 2013

The aim of the present study was to assess criterion validity and external reliability of a questionnaire on risk factors for breast cancer. Materials and Methods. Women with breast cancer diagnosis (the cases) (N=40) and matched individuals without cancer (the controls) (N=40) were asked to fill in a questionnaire twice: on a day of admission to hospital (Q1) and on a day before discharge (Q2), with a time interval of 4-6 days. The questionnaire included questions (N=150) on demographic and socioeconomic factors, diseases in the past, family history of cancer, woman's health, smoking, alcohol use, diet, physical activity, and work environment. Criterion validity of the questionnaire Q2 relative to reference questionnaire Q1 was assessed with the Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC); external reliability of the questionnaire was measured in terms of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 16. Results. The responses to most of the questions on socioeconomic factors, family history on cancer, female health, lifestyle risk factors (smoking, alcohol use, physical activity) correlated substantially in both the cases and the controls with SCC and ICC>0.7 (p<0.01). Statistically non significant relationships defined only between the responses on amount of beer the cases drank at the ages up to 25 years and 26-35 years as well as time of use of estrogen and estrogens-progestin during menopause by the cases. Moderate and substantial SCC and ICC were determined for different food items. Only the response of the cases on veal consumption did not correlate significantly. Conclusions. The questionnaire on breast cancer risk factors is valid and reliable for most of the questions included.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.405-420
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• 2006

This study was conducted to understand the change of spatial environmental factors including populations, air pollution source and land-use in Busan, during the period of 1995 and 2004. Firstly, the grids (5 km $\times$ 5 km) were divided using the TM coordinates of Busan and the statistical data of populations and land-use were marked on each grid during studying period. Secondly, the SO$_2$, NO$_2$ and O$_3$ concentrations of areas where air quality monitoring station was not established were estimated on the basis of these air pollutants measured at close air quality monitoring station by kriging method. In order to understand spatial change of air pollution and to investigate duplication and reduction of existing stations, semivariogram, correlation and cluster analysis were carried out. This study showed that the population increased in 2004 only on 8 grids compared to in 1995. The spatial change of SO$_2$, NO$_2$ and O$_3$ was investigated by semivariogram in Busan area. As the results of semivariogram, the spatial change of 502 become smaller and simpler, while that of NO2,03 become larger and more complex in 2004 than in 1995, According to the result of correlation and cluster analysis, the reduction of measurement item or the relocation of air quality monitoring station can be needed in the high dense grid area.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.390-398
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• 2013

Objective : We determined whether the relationship between the neuropsychological performance of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their psychopathological characteristics measured by disability evaluation are interrelated. In addition, we assessed which psychopathological variable was most influential on neuropsychological performance via statistical clustering of the same characteristics of mild TBI. Methods : A total of 219 disability evaluation participants with mild brain injury were selected. All participants were classified into three groups, based on their psychopathological characteristics, via a two-step cluster analysis using validity and clinical scales from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Symptom Checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R). The Korean Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (K-WAIS), Korean Memory Assessment Scale (K-MAS) and the Korean Boston Naming Test (K-BNT) were used to evaluate the neurocognitive functions of mild TBI patients. Results : Over a quarter (26.9%) experienced severe psychopathological symptoms and 43.4% experienced mild or moderate psychopathological symptoms, and all of the mild TBI patients showed a significant relationship between neurocognitive functions and subjective and/or objective psychopathic symptoms, but the degree of this relationship was moderate. Variances of neurocognitive function were explained by neurotic and psychotic symptoms, but the role of these factors were different to each other and participants did not show intelligence and other cognitive domain decrement except for global memory abilities compared to the non-psychopathology group. Conclusion : Certain patients with mild TBI showed psychopathological symptoms, but these were not directly related to cognitive decrement. Psychopathology and cognitive decrement are discrete aspects in patients with mild TBI. Furthermore, the neurotic symptoms of mild TBI patients made positive complements to decrements or impairments of neurocognitive functions, but the psychotic symptoms had a negative effect on neurocognitive functions.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.472-475
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• 2012

Objective : The aim of this study is to establish the value of hand elevation test as a reproducible provocative test for the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Methods : We had a prospective study of 45 hands of 38 patients diagnosed with CTS between April 2005 and February 2009. The diagnosis of CTS was based on the American Academy of Neurology clinical diagnostic criteria. Experimental and control group patients underwent Tinel's test, Phalen's test, carpal compression test and hand elevation test as provocative tests for CTS. Results : We used chi-square analysis to compare Tinel's test and Phalen's test, carpal compression test with hand elevation test. The sensitivity and specificity of the hand elevation test is 86.7% and 88.9% each. Tinel's test had 82.2% sensitivity and 88.9% specificity. Phalen's test had 84.4% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity. Carpal compression test had 84.4% sensitivity 82.2% specificity. Comparisons of sensitivity and specificity between hand elevation test and Tinel's test, Phalen's test, and carpal compression test had no statistically significant differences. To compare the diagnostic accuracies of four tests, the area under the non-parametric receiver operating character curve was applied. Conclusion : The hand elevation test has higher sensitivity and specificity than Tinel's test, Phalen's test, and carpal compression test. Chi-square statistical analysis confirms the hand elevation test is not ineffective campared with Tinel's test, Phalen's test, and carpal compression test.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.328-335
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• 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Vitamin D plays an important role in the etiology of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study evaluated the effect of vitamin D supplementation on metabolic indices and hs-C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in GDM patients. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial. Seventy-six pregnant women with GDM and gestational age between 24-28 weeks were assigned to receive four oral treatments consisting of 50,000 IU of vitamin $D_3$ (n = 38) or placebo (n = 38) once every 2 weeks for 2 months. Fasting blood glucose (FG), insulin, HbA1c, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, lipid profile, hs-CRP, and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were measured before and after treatment. Independent and paired t-tests were used to determine intra- and intergroup differences, respectively. ANCOVA was used to assess the effects of vitamin D supplementation on biochemical parameters. RESULTS: Compared with the placebo group, in the vitamin D group, the serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D increased (19.15 vs. -0.40 ng/ml; P < 0.01) and that of FG (-4.72 vs. 5.27 mg/dl; P = 0.01) as well as HbA1c (-0.18% vs. 0.17%; P = 0.02) decreased. Improvements in the lipid profiles were observed in the vitamin D group, but without statistical significance. Significant increases in concentrations of hs-CRP, FG, HbA1c, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol were observed in the placebo group. No significant change in fasting insulin and HOMA-IR was observed in either group. CONCLUSIONS: In GDM patients, vitamin D supplementation improved FG and HbA1c but had no significant effects on lipid profile or hs-CRP.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 1983

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between five aspects of clothing behavior and needs for exhibition and autonomy among high schoolgirls. Five aspects of clothing behavior were studied: fashion interest, clothing exhibition, attitudes toward the abolition of the school uniform and control of school dress. A questionnaire of 20 items prepared by Kahng, Lee, and Creekmore was used to assess fashion interest and clothing exhibition. Assessment of attitudes toward the abolition of school uniform and control of school dress was made with questions devised for this study and included several modified items from Kim's questionnaire. Preferences for fashion style were determined by line drawings representing current fashion and outdated fashion. The questionnaires were administered to 341 second year senior high school girls from three types of schools. Statistical analysis was performed using the correlation coefficient, chi-square test, ANOVA, The results were: 1) The need for exhibition was positively related to clothing exhibition and fashion interest, that is, students who had a higher need for exhibition were more interested in clothing exhibition and fashion. 2) The need for autonomy was positively related to attitudes toward the abolition of school uniform and control of school dress that is, students who had a higher need for autonomy wanted the abolition of school uniform and less control of school dress. 3) Fashion interest was positively related to preference for fashion style, that is, students who a higher fashion interest prefered fashinable styles in the selection of new clothes. 4) Scores of clothing exhibition and attitudes toward loosening of control of school dress were significantly different among three types of school. The orders from highest to lowest are following: single-sex preparatory, coeducational preparatory, vocational high school.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.107-119
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• 2008

This paper intends to investigate the correlation of 12 MDVP measurements with age, sex and body-size of sampled healthy patients. In order to extract pitch and 12 MDVP parameters efficiently and display the correlation of each parameter easily, we developed the speech analysis program using C/C++ and MFC development tool. The sample group consists of 205 males and 343 females with ages 9-81. We collected vowel voices /a/ and 8 body-size measurements from them. Body-size values were taken at 8 different torso positions of each person. We analyzed the matched voice samples and body-size measurements by the developed speech analysis program and SPSS program. The result shows that a typical characteristic age-F0 pattern that F0 of male subjects are rapidly decreased after mutational period and have stable state with age and that of female subjects are slowly changed by overall age. In MDVP, age-STD in males, age-sPPQ in females relationships are especially similar to the age-F0 relationship. In case of male group, sPPQ(0.316%), Jitt(0.04%), Shim(0.25%), APQ(0.28%) variables are increased with age after mutational period. And Jitt(0.042%), sPPQ(0.219%) of females group are increased with age too. In cases of height, weight and BMI there exists a weak correlation with MDVP, which shows a correlation coefficient below 0.25 about male and female groups. The survey of correlation relationship between 8 body-size measurements and MDVP shows a insignificant statistical result by only just having the correlation coefficient maximum in M8-8 and F0(-0.394%) for males and M8-6,7(-0.368%, -0.364%) for females.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.280-291
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• 2019

Potential utility of 14 candidate housekeeping genes as normalization reference for RT-qPCR analysis with developmental samples (fertilized eggs to late veliger larvae) in Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai was evaluated using four different statistical algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper and comparative ΔCT method). Different algorithms identified different genes as the best candidates, and geometric mean-based final ranking from the most to the least stable expression was as follow: RPL5, RPL4, RPS18, RPL8, RPL7, UBE2, RPL7A, GAPDH, RPL36, PPIB, EF1A, ACTB and B-TU. The findings were further validated via relative quantification of metallothionein (MT) transcripts using the stable and unstable reference genes, and expression levels of MT were greatly influenced according to the choice of reference genes. In overall, our data suggest that RPL5 and RPS18, either singly or in combination, are appropriate for normalizing gene expression in developmental samples of this abalone species, whereas ACTB, B-TU and EF1A are less stable and not recommended. In addition, our findings propose that standard deviations in geometric ranking as well as geometric mean itself should also be taken into account for the final selection of reference gene(s). This study could be a useful basis to facilitate the generation of accurate and reliable RT-qPCR data with developmental samples in this abalone species.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.276-286
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• 2008

In this paper, we introduce an adaptive e-Learning system for engineering mathematics which is based on computer algebra system (Mathematica) and on-line authoring environment. The system provides an assessment tool for individual diagnosis using Bayesian inference network. Using this system, an instructor can easily develop mathematical web contents via web interface. Examples of such content development are illustrated in the area of linear algebra, differential equation and discrete mathematics. The diagnostic module traces a student's knowledge level based on statistical inference using the conditional probability and Bayesian updating algorithm via Netica. As part of formative evaluation, we brought this system into real university settings and analyzed students' feedback using survey.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.57-68
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• 1995

Precipitation samples were collected by a wet-only automatic acid precipitation sampler at Kangwha island on the western coast in Korea, through January until December 1992. pH, electric conductivity and the concentrations of major water-soluble ion components such as N $H_{4}$$^{+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $K^{+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, N $a^{+}$, N $O_{3}$$^{[-10]}$ , S $O_{4}$$^{2-}$ and C $l^{[-10]}$ were measured. From the result of checking the validity for assesment of pollution level of precipitation samples by pH using correlation analysis between pH and major components, and t-test of chemical composition between acid rain and non-acid rain, pH proved to be not satisfactory for its pillution level. A more comprehensive method is therefore required. In order to estimate the monthly analytical result of chemical composition of precipitation samples comprehensively, a cluster analysis was used among the various multivariate statistical analysis. As a result of making a cluster analysis for separating the monthly precipitation samples into homogeneous patterns by setting the concentrations of nine major water-soluble ion components as a variable, three homogeneous patterns were obtained. The first pattern was a group of months having average ion concentrations, the second a guoup of months having low ion concentration, and the third a group of months having high ion concentrations. Thus, it was indicated that the pollution level of precipitation was higher on February and lower on May, June, August and September than the other months. As a result, this analysis method could be estimated the chemical coposition of precipitation regionally as well as monthly.monthly.