• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.252-263
• /
• 2015

This study analyzed the effects of science outdoor activity applying a Brain-Based Evolutionary (ABC-DEF) approach on elementary school students' interest and academic achievement. Samples of the study were composed of 3 classes of 67 sixth graders in Seoul, Korea. Unit of 'Ecosystem and Environment' was selected as a object of the research. Textbook- and teachers' guidebook-based instruction was implemented in comparison group, brain-based evolutionary approach within classroom in experimental group A, and science outdoor learning by a brain-based evolutionary approach in experimental group B. In order to analyze the quantitative differences of students' interests and achievements, three tests of 'General Science Attitudes', 'Applied Unit-Related Interests', and 'Applied Unit-Related Achievement' were administered to the students. To find out the characteristics which would not be apparently revealed by quantitative tests, qualitative data such as portfolios, daily records of classroom work, and interview were also analyzed. The major results of the study are as follows. First, for post-test of interest, a statistically significant difference between comparison group and experimental group B was found. Especially, the 'interests about biology learning' factor, when analyzed by each item, was significant in two questions. Results of interviews the students showed that whether the presence or absence of outdoor learning experience influenced most on their interests about the topic. Second, for post-test of achievement, the difference among 3 groups according to high, middle, and low levels of post-interest was not statistically significant, but the groups of higher scores in post-interest tends to have higher scores in post-achievement. It can be inferred that outdoor learning by a brain-based evolutionary approach increases students' situational interests about leaning topic. On the basis of the results, the implications for the research in science education and the teaching and learning in school are discussed.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.81-89
• /
• 2020

Purpose: This in vitro study was conducted to evaluate the marginal and internal fit of three-unit Co-Cr frameworks fabricated by computer-aided metal milling and direct metal laser sintering(DMLS) systems in comparison to conventional casting method. Methods: Three-unit Co-Cr frameworks were fabricated by conventional wax up with casting(CWC), computer-aided metal milling(MM) and direct metal laser sintering(DMLS)(n=10 each). The marginal and internal fit of specimens were examined using a light-body silicone impression material. The thickness of light-body silicone was measured at eight reference points each, divided in the mesio distal and bucco lingual directions. All measurements were conducted by a stereomicroscope. Digital photos were taken at 150× magnification and then analyzed using a measurement software. The Kruskal-Wallis test and Bonferroni correction were used for analyzing the results. Results: The mean(SD) is ㎛ for fabrication methods, the mean marginal fit were recorded respectively, DMLS 39(27), followed by CWC 63(38), MM 220(128). and the mean internal fit CWC 95(47), DMLS 116(49), MM 210(152). In addition, the largest gap was found in the occlusal surface area among the internal measurement areas of all groups. Conclusion: As a result, the direct metal laser sintering method showed better marginal and internal fit than the metal milling method. The marginal and internal fit were statistically different according to the three fabrication methods(p<0.001). Except the MM group, the marginal fit of the CWC and DMLS groups was below the clinical standard of 120 ㎛. Based on the results of this study, it can be applied to clinical use in the future.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.74-80
• /
• 2001

Objectives : Ma-huang is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, derived from Ephedra sinica Stapf and other Ephedra species, used to treat asthma, nose and lung congestion, and fever with anhidrosis. It contains 0.5-2.5% by weight of total alkaloids, of which ephedrine accounts for 30 to 90%. Recently, Ma-huang has been used as a source of ephedrine in many dietary supplements formulated for the treatment of obesity, since ephedrine has been found to be effective in inducing weight loss in the obese. In this study the effects of the methanol extract of Ma-huang on the adipocyte of epididymal and brown fat pads in rats fed a high fat diet for six weeks were studied. Methods : Male Sprague Dawley rats weighing an average 94g (4 weeks old) were fed either a regular diet (RE) or a high fat diet (HF), and the HF group was subdivided into a Ma-huang methanol extract (30mg/100g body weight) group (HF+MH). The weight of epididymal fat pad and brown adipose tissue were measured. The cell size and cell number per unit area of epididymal fat pad were investigated. Results : The yield weight of methanol extract of Ma-huang was 3.63mg per l00g of Ma-huang. The body weight gain of the HF group was similar with that of the HF+ MH but higher than that of the RE. The weights of the epididymal fat pads and brown adipose tissue of the RE group were lower than those of HF and HF+MH groups. The cell sizes and numbers per unit area of epididymal fat pads of the RE and HF+MH groups were larger than those of HF group. The cell numbers per unit area size of epididymal fat pads were the smallest in the RE group. Conclusions : It could be concluded that the Ma-huang extract has no effect on the epididymal fat pads in rats fed a high fat diet and the clinical application of Ma-huang for the treatment of obesity should be re-considered.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.208-214
• /
• 2001

Background: When we make treatment plan of class III malocclusion children, it is difficult to determine whether we treat it with orthognathic surgery or without orthognathic surgery. To determine that, we must consider many factors, such as cephalometric analysis, growth pattern, family history, and skeletal age. A Harvold cephalometric analysis is useful in determining the amount of discrepancy by comparing the maxillary unit length with mandibular, unit length. We tried this study to help the decision of treatment planning in class ill malocclusion children by comparison in class III malocclusion and normal occlusion children using a Harvold analysis. Materials and Methods: The materials for this study consisted of 20 class III malocclusion children. Cephalometric tracing and measurements were performed by one investigator. The control group consisted of 18 normal occlusion children and lateral cephalograms were obtained from 8.5 to 14.5 years old children biannually. The relationships between class III malocclusion group and normal occlusion group were evaluated statistically. Results: The lower anterior facial heights between two groups were not significantly different, although the lower anterior facial heights of class III malocclusion group was higher than those of normal occlusion group in all age groups. The Maxillary-mandibular unit length differences of class III malocclusion group were significantly higher than those of normal occlusion group(p<0.05). Conclusion: A Harvold analysis was useful to make treatment planning for class III malocclusion children.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 1977

The activity of the $Ca^{++}$ activated adenosinetriphosphatase (Ca-ATPase) of actomyosin systeme of rabbit and frog skeletal muscle has been studied at varying pH and temperature. The PH optima of the Ca-ATPase activity of the rabbit actomyosin was rather broad. Over the temperature range of $16-36^{\circ}C$ activity of the enzyme was not appreciably changed between pH 6.4-8.5; below and above which it rapidly reduced. The pH at the inflection point of the enzyme activity increased as temperature decreased, showing the ${\bigtriangleup}pH\;inflection/{\bigtriangleup}T$ of approximately $-0.018\;unit/^{\circ}C$. Consequently, $(OH^-)/(H^+)$ ratio at the inflection point was constant regardless of assay temperature. In the frog actomyosin systems the Ca-ATPase activity was not apparently altered between PH 6.4-7.0 when the incubation temperature was $15{\sim}30^{\circ}C$. Outside of this range of pH, however, the enzyme activity was dramatically decreased. The pH of the inflection point changed inversely with temperature. ${\bigtriangleup}pH\;inflection/{\bigtriangleup}T$ at the acidic side was approximately $-0.018\;unit/^{\circ}C$, whereas that at the alkaline side it was about $-0.037\;unit/^{\circ}C$. The Arrhenius Plot on the Ca-ATPase activity at constant $(OH^-)/(H^+)$ ratio of 1.0 was not linear, but showed break at arround $20^{\circ}C$ for both rabbit and frog actomyosin Preparations. From these results it was speculated that pH dependence of Ca-ATPase activity of rabbit actomyosin systems might reflect titrations of histidine-imidazole and -SH groups, and that of the frog actomyosin represents titrations of histidine-imidazole and lysyllysine ${\alpha}-NH_2$ groups.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.62 no.1
• /
• pp.36-41
• /
• 2019

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the clinical features and prognostic factors of early-onset sepsis (EOS) in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on medical records from January 2010 to June 2017 (7.5 years) of a university hospital NICU. Results: There were 45 cases of EOS (1.2%) in 3,862 infants. The most common pathogen responsible for EOS was group B Streptococcus (GBS), implicated in 10 cases (22.2%), followed by Escherichia coli, implicated in 9 cases (20%). The frequency of gram-positive sepsis was higher in term than in preterm infants, whereas the rate of gram-negative infection was higher in preterm than in term infants (P<0.05). The overall mortality was 37.8% (17 of 45), and 47% of deaths occurred within the first 3 days of infection. There were significant differences in terms of gestational age (26.8 weeks vs. 35.1 weeks) and birth weight (957 g vs. 2,520 g) between the death and survival groups. After adjustments based on the difference in gestational age and birth weight between the 2 groups, gram-negative pathogens (odds ratio [OR], 42; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-1,281.8) and some clinical findings, such as neutropenia (OR, 46; 95% CI, 1.3-1,628.7) and decreased activity (OR, 34; 95% CI, 1.8-633.4), were found to be associated with fatality. Conclusion: The common pathogens found to be responsible for EOS in NICU patients are GBS and E. coli. Gram-negative bacterial infections, decreased activity in the early phase of infection, and neutropenia were associated with poor outcomes.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.87-94
• /
• 2019

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to compare clinical pregnancy rates in intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatment cycles with transabdominal ultrasound guidance during intrauterine catheter insemination (US-IUI) versus the "blind method" IUI without ultrasound guidance (BM-IUI). The secondary objective was to compare whether US-IUI had better patient tolerability and whether US-IUI made the insemination procedure easier for the clinician to perform compared to BM-IUI. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial done at the Reproductive Medicine Unit of General Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We included women aged between 25 and 40 years who underwent an IUI treatment cycle with follicle-stimulating hormone injections for controlled ovarian stimulation. Results: A total of 130 patients were recruited for our study. The US-IUI group had 70 patients and the BM-IUI group had 60 patients. The clinical pregnancy rate was 10% in both groups (p> 0.995) and there were no significant difference between the groups for patient tolerability assessed by scores on a pain visual analog scale (p= 0.175) or level of difficulty for the clinician (p> 0.995). The multivariate analysis further showed no significant increase in the clinical pregnancy rate (adjusted odds ratio, 1.07; 95% confidence interval, 0.85-1.34; p= 0.558) in the US-IUI group compared to the BM-IUI group even after adjusting for potential covariates. Conclusion: The conventional blind method for intrauterine catheter insemination is recommended for patients undergoing IUI treatment. The use of ultrasound during the insemination procedure increased the need for trained personnel to perform ultrasonography and increased the cost, but added no extra benefits for patients or clinicians.

• Physical Therapy Korea
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.102-109
• /
• 2023

Background: While efforts have been made to differentiate fall risk in older adults using wearable devices and clinical methodologies, technologies are still infancy. We applied a decision tree (DT) algorithm using inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor data and clinical measurements to generate high performance classification models of fall risk of older adults. Objects: This study aims to develop a classification model of fall risk using IMU data and clinical measurements in older adults. Methods: Twenty-six older adults were assessed and categorized into high and low fall risk groups. IMU sensor data were obtained while walking from each group, and features were extracted to be used for a DT algorithm with the Gini index (DT1) and the Entropy index (DT2), which generated classification models to differentiate high and low fall risk groups. Model's performance was compared and presented with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Results: Accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were 77.8%, 80.0%, and 66.7%, respectively, for DT1; and 72.2%, 91.7%, and 33.3%, respectively, for DT2. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the fall risk classification using IMU sensor data obtained during gait has potentials to be developed for practical use. Different machine learning techniques involving larger data set should be warranted for future research and development.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.21 no.12
• /
• pp.1367-1373
• /
• 2020

Objective: To assess diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters of the hepatic parenchyma for the differentiation of biliary atresia (BA) from Alagille syndrome (ALGS). Materials and Methods: This study included 32 infants with BA and 12 infants with ALGS groups who had undergone DTI. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) of the liver were calculated twice by two separate readers and hepatic tissue was biopsied. Statistical analyses were performed to determine the mean values of the two groups. The optimum cut-off values for DTI differentiation of BA and ALGS were calculated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results: The mean hepatic MD of BA (1.56 ± 0.20 and 1.63 ± 0.2 × 10^-3 mm²/s) was significantly lower than that of ALGS (1.84 ± 0.04 and 1.79 ± 0.03 × 10^-3 mm²/s) for both readers (r = 0.8, p = 0.001). Hepatic MD values of 1.77 and 1.79 × 10^-3 mm²/s as a threshold for differentiating BA from ALGS showed accuracies of 82 and 79% and area under the curves (AUCs) of 0.90 and 0.91 for both readers, respectively. The mean hepatic FA of BA (0.34 ± 0.04 and 0.36 ± 0.04) was significantly higher (p = 0.01, 0.02) than that of ALGS (0.30 ± 0.06 and 0.31 ± 0.05) for both readers (r = 0.80, p = 0.001). FA values of 0.30 and 0.28 as a threshold for differentiating BA from ALGS showed accuracies of 75% and 82% and AUCs of 0.69 and 0.68 for both readers, respectively. Conclusion: Hepatic DTI parameters are promising quantitative imaging parameters for the detection of hepatic parenchymal changes in BA and ALGS and may be an additional noninvasive imaging tool for the differentiation of BA from ALGS.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.50 no.4
• /
• pp.262-269
• /
• 2023

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare semen parameters and sperm DNA fragmentation (SDF) and explore the relationship between semen parameters and SDF between 2 and 7 days of abstinence and a short abstinence period (within 4 hours) in oligozoospermic infertile patients. Methods: Two semen samples were collected from infertile oligozoospermic men (n=34) after an abstinence period of 2 to 7 days and within 4 hours, respectively. Sperm parameters were compared between the two abstinence duration groups, including semen volume, sperm concentration, total sperm count, sperm motility, total motile sperm count (TMSC), morphology, and SDF. Results: The semen volume, concentration, and total sperm count were significantly decreased after 4 hours of abstinence than after 2 to 7 days of abstinence, with median differences of 1.2 mL (p<0.001), 2×10⁶/mL (p=0.011), and 9.6×10⁶/ejaculation (p<0.001), respectively. TMSC was significantly lower after a short abstinence, with a median difference of 4.24×10⁶/ejaculate (p<0.001). However, there were no significance differences in the percentage of motility, the SDF, and the percentage of sperm with normal morphology. Interestingly, volume, concentration, total sperm count, sperm motility, and SDF, but not TMSC, exhibited significant linear correlations between the two abstinence groups in univariate regression analysis, except for TMSC. Conclusion: In oligozoospermic men, the volume, concentration, and total sperm count were significantly lower after a short abstinence period, but without adverse effects on sperm motility and SDF.