• Applied Microscopy
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2005

Synapses are contact points where one neuron communicates with another. The morphological change of synapses under various physiological or pathological conditions has long been hypothesized to modify their functional properties. 3-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of synapses with serial ultrathin sections has contributed to the understanding of ultrastructural dimensions and compositions of synapses. The 3-D reconstruction procedures, however, require a great amount of expertise as well as include prohibitively timeconsuming processes. Here, we introduce efficient 3-D reconstruction technique using high-voltage electron microscopy (HVEM). Primarily, we established an optimal section thickness and staining condition to observe synaptic structures in detail under HVEM. The result showed that synaptic profiles were preserved at the section thickness of 250 nm without the overlapping of synaptic ultrastructures. An increase in the reaction time of en bloc staining was most efficient to enhance contrast than the extension of postembedding staining or the addition of uranyl acetate during dehydration. Then, 3-D reconstruction of parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses in the rat cerebellum was carried out with serial HVEM images and reconstruction software. The images were aligned and the contours of synapses were outlined on each section. 3-D synapses were finally extracted from the section files by grouping all the synaptic contours. The reconstructed synapse model clearly demonstrated the configuration of pre and postsynaptic components. These results suggest that 3-D reconstruction of synapses using HVEM is much efficient and suitable for massive quantitative studies on synaptic connectivity than conventional TEM approach using numerous ultrathin sections.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.110-119
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• 2002

Objectives : Numbers of patients who have chronic pain seem to be increasing in the psychiatric practice. Many investigators have used models of stress and coping to help explain the differences in adjustment found among persons who experience chronic pain. Coping strategies appear to be associated with adjustment in chronic pain patients. The objectives of this study were to develop a self-report questionnaire which is the most widely used measures of pain coping strategies, Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CSQ) into Korean version and to study the different coping strategies with which chronic pain patients frequently use when their pain reaches a moderate or greater level of intensity. Methods : One hundred twenty-eight individuals with chronic pain conditions and two hundred fifty-two normal controls were administered the Korean version-Coping Strategies Questionnaire(KCSQ) to assess the frequency of use and perceived effectiveness of a variety of cognitive and behavioral pain coping strategies. We also obtained their clinical features in chronic pain patients. Reliability of the questionnaire were analyzed and evaluated differences of coping strategies between two groups. Results : Data analysis revealed that the questionnaire was internally reliable. Chronic pain patients reported frequent use of a variety of pain coping strategies, such as coping self-statements, praying and hoping, catastrophizing, and increase behavior scales which were higher compared to the normal controls. Conclusion: K-CSQ revealed to be a reliable self-report questionnaire which is useful for the assessment of coping strategies in clinical setting on chronic pain. And analysis of pain coping strategies may be helpful in understanding pain for chronic pain patients. The individual K-CSQ may have greater utility in terms of examining coping, appraisals, and pain adjustment. A consideration of pain coping strategies may allow one to design pain coping skills training interventions so as to fit the individual chronic pain patient. Further research is needed to determine whether cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to decrease maladaptive coping strategies can reduce pain and improve the physical and psycho-social functioning of chronic patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.541-547
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• 2003

Purpose : Gap junction intercellular communication(GJIC) is an important mechanism of the bystander effect in herpes simplex thymidine kinase/ganciclovir(HSVtk/GCV) gene therapy Therefore, we attempted to enhance the bystander effect in vitro by exogenous overexpressing connexin 37(Cx37) in cells to increase GJIC. Methods : NIH3T3 cells were transfected with the Cx37 and HSVtk gene or the HSVtk gene alone by the calcium phosphate method, and we detected their expression from these cells by RT-PCR. GCV-mediated cytotoxicity and the bystander effect of each transfectant was then assessed and compared. Results : Cells transfected with HSVtk became sensitive to low concentration of GCV. We found significantly increased cytotoxicity in HSVtk/GCV gene therapy after introduction of the HSVtk and Cx37 genes together compared with the cytotoxicity seen after introduction of the HSVtk gene in vitro. Co-expression of the HSVtk and Cx37 genes potentiates HSVtk/GCV gene therapy through the bystander effect. Conclusion : These results indicated that the increase of GJIC using Cx37 have potentiated the bystander effect of HSVtk/GCV therapy, and may be a new approach to improve response in suicidal cancer gene therapy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.278-283
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• 2000

As information communication technology developed we could check our blood pressure, pulsation electrocardiogram, SpO2 and blood test easily at home. To check our health at ordinary times is able though interlocking the house medical instrument with the wireless public data network This service will help the inconvenience to visit the hospital everytime and will save the individual's time and cost. In each house an organism data which is detected from the human body will be transmitted to the distance hospital and will be essentially applied through wireless public data network The medical information transmit system is utilized by wireless close range network It would transmit the obtained organism signal wirelessly from the personal device to the main center system in the hospital. Remote telemetry system is embodied by utilizing wireless media access protocol. The protocol is embodied by grafting CSMA/CA(Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) protocol falling mode which is standards from IEEE 802.11. Among the house care telemetry system which could measure blood pressure, pulsation, electrocardiogram, SpO2 the study embodies the ECC(electrocardiograph) measure part. It within the ECC function into the movable device and add 900㎒ band wireless public data interface. Then the aged, the patients even anyone in the house could obtain ECG and keep, record the data. It would be essential to control those who had a health-examination heart diseases or more complicated heart diseases and to observe the latent heart disease patient continuously. To embody the medical information transmit system which is based on wireless network. It would transmit the ECG data among the organism signal data which would be utilized by wireless network modem and NCL(Native Control Language) protocol to contact through wireless network Through the SCR(Standard Context Routing) protocol in the network it will be connected to the wired host computer. The computer will check the recorded individual information and the obtained ECC data then send the correspond examination to the movable device. The study suggests the medical transmit system model utilized by the wireless public data network.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.197-201
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• 2007

Oil soluble licorice extract(licorice extract) is an officially approved cosmetic component as a whitening ingredient in Korea. The durability of licorice, during which the whitening effect can be maintained in optimum condition, must be accurately defined. Since the cosmetics durability under real condition is relatively longer than its development time. It is needed to predict the real durability interval from the experimental measurement under simulated operating conditions. We analyzed the relationship between the licorice lifetime and the high temperature condition by using Arrhenius equation. We have established the constant stress test with temperature of $50^{\circ}C$, $55^{\circ}C$, and $60^{\circ}C$ condition, within which no formulation change of licorice products is expected for the accelerated stress test. In this paper, the lifetime of licorice in cosmetics was defined as time period for its 10% contents reduction. We observed that the lifetime of licorice is 580 h at $50^{\circ}C$, 319 h at $55^{\circ}C$ and 166 h at $60^{\circ}C$. Using the above experimental data, we obtained the equation for the relationship between the licorice lifetime and temperature as follows; log(lifetime)=-35.0243 + 1.15322$\times$(11604.83/temperature). From this equation, the lifetime of licorice at $25^{\circ}C$ can be estimated as 26 months. The estimated result was verified by measuring full lifetime of licorice. In fact, there was no significant difference between the estimated lifetime and real measurement within 95 % significance level. This study can be applied to other useful cosmetic components for the fast estimation of the exact durability.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2003

Purpose: We report upon a web-based system for Patterns of Care Study (PCS) devised for Korean radiation oncology. This PCS was designed to establish standard tools for clinical quality assurance, to determine basic parameters for radiation oncology processes, to offer a solid system for cooperative clinical studies and a useful standard database for comparisons with other national databases. Materials and Methods: The system consisted of a main server with two back-ups in other locations. The program uses a Linux operating system and a MySQL database. Cancers with high frequencies in radiotherapy departments in Korea from 1998 to 1999 were chosen to have a developmental priority. Results: The web-based clinical PCS .system for radiotherapy in www.pcs.re.kr was developed in early 2003 for cancers of the breast, rectum, esophagus, larynx and lung, and for brain metastasis. The total number of PCS study items exceeded one thousand. Our PCS system features user-friendliness, double entry checking, data security, encryption, hard disc mirroring, double back-up, and statistical analysis. Alphanumeric data can be input as well as image data. In addition, programs were constructed for IRB submission, random sampling of data, and departmental structure. Conclusion: For the first time in the field of PCS, we have developed a web-based system and associated working programs. With this system, we can gather sample data in a short period and thus save, cost, effort and time. Data audits should be peformed to validate input data. We propose that this system should be considered as a standard method for PCS or similar types of data collection systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.223-233
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to analyze the dietary habits and perception of vegetable intake of elementary students in Gwangju and Jeonnam Gokseong county. Data collection was conducted from 5th and 6th grade students of elementary schools in Gwangju and Jeonnam Gokseong county using a structured questionnaire survey. The SPSS program was used for statistics processing and data analysis. The chi-square test was also conducted. In terms of dietary intake habits, female students consumed their meals slower than male students. Information on dietary habits and nutrition was commonly obtained from family, including the mother or father who commonly prepared meals at home. Snacks were commonly consumed less than twice daily, with the Gwangju area having a higher frequency of snacks than the Jeonnam area. Elementary students indicated that vegetables were their least favorite food, with female students having a higher interest in vegetables than male students. The pattern and perception of vegetable intake came when the students (that did not eat vegetables) were lectured by their parents on the nutritive value of vegetables. Most students understood the important nutritional ingredients of vegetables. In the case of an interest in vegetables, the Gwangju area showed significantly more comprehension than the Jeonnam area on the definition and role of dietary fiber, the dental benefits of dietary fiber, and the identification of the environment-friendly certification mark.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.31-40
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• 2019

We study the internal structure under the artificial mountain of Heumkyeonggak-nu, a Korean water-powered clock in the early Joseon dynasty. All the puppets on the artificial mountain are driven by the rotational force generated by the water wheel at their designated time. We design a model that work with three parts of the artificial mountain. At the upper part of the artificial mountain to the east, west, north and south, there are four puppets called the Four Mystical Animal Divinity and four ladies called the Jade Lady respectively. The former rotates a quarter every double hour and the latter rings the bell every hour. In the middle part of this mountain is the timekeeping platform with four puppets; the Timekeeping Official (Hour Jack), the Bell-, Drum-, and Gong-Warriors. The Hour Jack controls time with three warriors each hitting his own bell, drum, and gong, respectively. In the plain there are 12 Jade Lady puppets (the lower ladies) combined with 12 Oriental Animal Deity puppets. In his own time a lady doll pops out of the hole and her animal doll gets up. Two hours later, the animal deity lies down and his lady hides in the artificial plain. These puppets are regularly moved by the signal such as iron balls, bumps, levers, and so on. We can use balls and bumps to explain the concept of the Jujeon system. Iron balls were used to manipulate puppets of the timekeeping mechanism in Borugak-nu, another Korean water-powered clock in Joseon dynasty, which was developed earlier than Heumgyeonggak-nu. According to the North Korea's previous study (Choi, 1974), it is obvious that bumps were used in the internal structure of Heumgyeonggak-nu. In 1669, The armillary clock made by Song, I-young was also utilized bumps. Finally we presented mock-ups of three timekeeping systems.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2003

Objectives: A new software (Cardiac SPECT Analyzer: CSA) was developed for quantification of volumes and election fraction on gated myocardial SPECT. Volumes and ejection fraction by CSA were validated by comparing with those quantified by Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) software. Materials and Methods: Gated myocardial SPECT was peformed in 40 patients with ejection fraction from 15% to 85%. In 26 patients, gated myocardial SPECT was acquired again with the patients in situ. A cylinder model was used to eliminate noise semi-automatically and profile data was extracted using Gaussian fitting after smoothing. The boundary points of endo- and epicardium were found using an iterative learning algorithm. Enddiastolic (EDV) and endsystolic volumes (ESV) and election fraction (EF) were calculated. These values were compared with those calculated by QGS and the same gated SPECT data was repeatedly quantified by CSA and variation of the values on sequential measurements of the same patients on the repeated acquisition. Results: From the 40 patient data, EF, EDV and ESV by CSA were correlated with those by QGS with the correlation coefficients of 0.97, 0.92, 0.96. Two standard deviation (SD) of EF on Bland Altman plot was 10.1%. Repeated measurements of EF, EDV, and ESV by CSA were correlated with each other with the coefficients of 0.96, 0.99, and 0.99 for EF, EDV and ESV respectively. On repeated acquisition, reproducibility was also excellent with correlation coefficients of 0.89, 0.97, 0.98, and coefficient of variation of 8.2%, 5.4mL, 8.5mL and 2SD of 10.6%, 21.2mL, and 16.4mL on Bland Altman plot for EF, EDV and ESV. Conclusion: We developed the software of CSA for quantification of volumes and ejection fraction on gated myocardial SPECT. Volumes and ejection fraction quantified using this software was found valid for its correctness and precision.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2016

Purpose By ingestion of 18F-FDG of kidney of PET/CT during the inspection, if additional examination is required, depending on whether you want to water intake, we want to confirm a change in the rate of decrease of F-18 FDG of the kidney. Materials and Methods The 80 patients without kidney disease were performed PET/CT examination. Device was analyzed after setting the kidney to a three-dimensional region of interest. In patients require additional examination, and inspection after 30 minutes, a PET/CT torso examination after the water of the 500 cc ingested at a time. After the addition of both water intake group and no hydration group of kidney of SUV, it was compared with PET/CT torso scan. Results High and low of the kidney SUV did not show a significant difference in the rate of decrease. Reduction rates of background (BKG) of additional examination was 2.8% and reduction rates of SUV was 49.7% (Hydration) : -6.8% (No hydration), so did show a significant difference. In the image blind test, the average point score of hydration and no hydration was 34.25 : 17.25. Conclusion An undercurrent of 18F-FDG in the kidney at the time of torso examination, it was confirmed that the reduction rate after the addition of water intake is high. It is considered that can be expected to improve the quality of an image due to a decrease in elongation through the kidneys examination with additional fluid intake as needed intake.