• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.127-135
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• 2002

Background : Idiopathic interstitial pneumonia is characterized by chronic inflammation and pulmonary fibrosis. The clara cell 10 kD protein (CC10, also designated CC16) is synthesized by the bronchial epithelium and has been suggested to have a potent anti-inflammatory effect. Therefore, CC-10 might be a candidate for controlling the inflammatory events in patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia. The aim of this study was to determine if the degrees of pulmonary fibrosis in idiopathic interstitial pneumonia is associated with CC-10 in the BAL fluid. Materials and Methods : The BAL fluid was collected from 29 patients and 10 controls. Densitometric analysis of the western blot assay for the CC-10 was subsequently performed. The RI (relative intensity) of each band was compared according to the diagnosis, the radiological degrees of pulmonary fibrosis and the relative proportion of inflammatory cells in the BAL fluid. Results : There were no differences in the CC-10 expression levels in the BAL fluid between the patients (RI $77.5{\pm}75.8%$) and the controls ($70.7{\pm}39.8%$) (p>0.05). In addition, the degrees of pulmonary fibrosis and airway inflammation in patients with usual interstitial pneumonia were not associated with CC-10 expression in the BAL fluid (p>0.05). Conclusion : This study suggests that CC-10 expression is not associated with the degrees of pulmonary fibrosis in patients with usual interstitial pneumonia.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 1999

Background : Open lung biopsy(OLB) has conventionally been regarded as the gold standard for the diagnosis in interstitial lung disease. With recent advances in diagnostic technique such as high resolution computed tomography(HRCT), and transbronchial lung biopsy(TBLB) which provide relatively accurate diagnosis of ILD, it is necessary to reevaluate the role of these methods in the diagnosis of ILD. Methods: We carried out a retrospective analysis of nineteen patients who underwent OLB at Dankook University Hospital for the diagnosis of acute and chronic ILD, between May 1995 and June 1998. By reviewing the medical records, the demographic findings, underlying conditions, HRCT and TBLB findings, OLB diagnosis, therapy after OLB, and complication of OLB were evaluated. Results: Thirteen patients(68.4%) had chronic ILD(symptom duration over 2 weeks prior to OLB), and six patients(31.6%) had acute ILD(symptom duration less than 2 weeks). Specific diagnosis were reached in 92%(12/13) of chronic ILD(5 bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia(BOOP), 2 constrictive bronchiolitis, 3 usual interstitial pneumonia, 1 hypersensitivity pneumonitis, 1 eosinophilic pneumonia), and in all patients of acute ILD(5 acute interstitial pneumonia, 1 pneumocystis carinii pneumonia). HRCT were performed in all patients and a correct first choice diagnosis rate of HRCT was 42%(5/12) in chronic ILD. In chronic ILD patients, 62%(8/13) received specific therapy(steroid therapy in 7 patients and moving in one patient), after OLB, but in acute ILD, all patients received specific therapy(steroid therapy in 5 patients and steroid and antibiotic therapy in one patient) after OLB. The in-hospital mortality after OLB was 5.3%(1/19). Conclusion: OLB is an excellent diagnostic technique with relatively low complications in patients with ILD. Therefore OLB should be considered in patients with ILD when the specific diagnosis is important for the treatment, especially in patients with acute ILD.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2005

Emphysema is characterized by air space enlargement and alveolar destruction. The mechanism responsible for the development of emphysema was thought to be protease/antiprotease imbalance and oxidative stress. A very recent study shows that alveolar cell apoptosis causes lung destruction and emphysematous changes. Thus, this study was performed to support the evidence for the role of apoptosis in the development of emphysema by characterizing cigarette smoke extract (CSE)-induced apoptosis in A549 (type II pneumocyte) lung epithelial cells. CSE induced apoptosis at low concentration (10% or less) and both apoptosis and necrosis at high concentration (20%). Apoptosis was demonstrated by DNA fragmentation using FACScan for subG1 fraction. Discrimination between apoptosis and necrosis was done by morphologic analysis using fluorescent microscopy with Hoecst 33342/propium iodide double staing and electron microscopy. Cytochrome c release was confirmed by using immunofluorescence with monoclonal anti-cytochrome c antibody. However, CSE-induced cell death did not show the activation of caspase 3 and was not blocked by caspase inhibitors. This suggests that CSE-induced apoptosis might be caspase-independent apoptosis. CSE-induced cell death was near completely blocked by N-acetylcystein and bcl-2 overexpression protected CSE-induced cell death. This results suggests that CSE might induce apoptosis through intracellular oxidative stress. CSE also activated p53 and functional knock-out of p53 using stable overexpression of HPV-E6 protein inhibited CSE-induced cell death. The characterization of CSE-induced cell death in lung epithelial cells could support the role of lung cell apoptosis in the pathogenesis of emphysema.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2006

Background : Even though two-month rifampicin (RMP, R) and pyrazinamide (PZA, P) treatment has some advantages over isoniazid (INH, H) treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), it was withdrawn from the list of treatment regimens for LTBI because of reported cases of severe hepatotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to estimate the frequency of hepatotoxicity of RMP and PZA treatment excluding INH in a Korean population. Method : TIn order to recruit patients who were prescribed RMP and PZA excluding INH, 256 INH-resistant tuberculosis patients were investigated through retrospective medical record analysis. A standard four-drug regimen was changed to a RMP/PZA-containing regimen excluding INH in 64 patients (RZ+ group). In the same study period, 146 patients who were prescribed an INH/RMP/PZA-containing standard regimen were randomly selected as a control (HRZ+ group). Clinical characteristics including liver diseases and the frequency of drug-induced hepatitis were compared between the RZ+ and HRZ+ groups. Result : The mean age of patients in the RZ+ group was 50.2 (${\pm}16.2$) and the male-to-female ratio was 36:28. The frequency of underlying liver diseases was 10.9% (7/64), which was not significantly different from that of the HRZ+ group (4.1%, 6/146). Even though the treatment duration of RZ+ ($5.5{\pm}4.8months$) was longer that than that of HRZ+ ($2.7{\pm}2.3months$), the frequency of toxic hepatitis was not significantly different between RZ+ and HRZ+ groups, 3.5% (2/57) and 7.1% (10/140), respectively. Conclusion : Hepatotoxicity was mild and occurred in a minor proportion of patients in a Korean population prescribed an RMP/PZA-containing regimen. A future prospective study including more patients is needed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2003

Background : Mycobacterium abscessus is the most common respiratory pathogen in rapidly growing mycobacteria and is resistant to all of the first-line antituberculosis drugs. This report describes the clinical and radiographic characteristics in patients with pulmonary disease caused by M. abscessus. Materials and Methods : Twelve patients with pulmonary disease caused by M. abscessus who fulfilled the 1997 American Thoracic Society diagnostic criteria for a nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary infection were observed over a five-and-a-half year period. The clinical characteristics and chest radiographic findings were analyzed, retrospectively. Results : The patients were predominantly female(11/12, 92%) and nonsmokers(12/12, 100%). Coughing (10/12, 83%), sputum(10/12, 83%) and hemoptysis(10/12, 83%) were the common symptoms and they had prolonged periods from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of their disease(median 6.5 years). Eleven (92%) patients had a previous history of being treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. The sputum specimens were acid-fast bacilli smear-positive in all patients. All patients were administered antituberculosis drugs. Six (50%) patients were treated with second-line antituberculosis drugs on account of persistent smear-positive sputum specimens. The chest radiographs showed that reticulonodular opacities(11/12, 92%) were the most common pattern of abnormality, followed by cavitary lesions(5/12, 42%). The computed tomography findings suggested bronchiolitis from the centrilobular nodules with a tree-in-bud appearances(9/10, 90%) and bronchiectasis (9/10, 90%) were the most common, followed by well-defined nodules smaller than 10-mm in diameter(7/10, 70%). Conclusions : M. abscessus pulmonary disease should be recognized as a cause of chronic mycobacterial lung disease, and respiratory isolates should be assessed carefully.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.224-230
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of several variables on the durability of wood pellets fabricated with torrefied larch (LAR) and tulip tree (TUT) chips. Microscopic observation by scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer was also performed to identify the surface of the wood pellets visually. In addition, torrefied-LAR and TUT pellets were fabricated with the addition of moisture, lignin, starch and protein as binders, and durabilities of the pellets were analyzed statistically. Durabilities of torrefied-LAR and TUT pellets were lower than one of non-torrefied-LAR and TUT pellets. Durabilities of both pellets fabricated with the wood chips, which were torrefied with $230^{\circ}C$ and 30 min, were the highest among all torrefaction conditions used in this study. From the microscopic observations, lignin was distributed broadly on the surface of non-torrefied wood pellets, whereas congregated partially on the surface of torrefied wood pellets. Durability of LAR pellets increased with the addition of moisture, but that of TUT pellets was reduced. Addition of binders contributed to increase the durability of LAR and TUT pellets. As a binder, lignin and protein were more effective than starch for improving the durability. In conclusion, mild torrefaction treatment, such as $230^{\circ}C$ and 30 min, might be an optimal condition to minimize the durability reduction of the LAR and TUT pellets. In addition, when torrefied woody materials with high and low specific gravities are used as a raw material for the production of durable wood pellets, it might be required to adjust moisture content and torrefaction conditions of woody materials, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.84-91
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• 2020

The efficiency of the synthetic magnesium silicate used in basic polyols and edible oil purification is evaluated by its purification ability and filtration rate and is affected by the particle size and surface area of magnesium silicate. In this study, it was investigated the change on the particle size of magnesium silicate was influenced by the reaction temperature, injection rate, injection order (Si, Mg) and Mg/Si reaction mole ratio. The synthesized magnesium silicate was compared and analyzed for the synthesis, grinding, and refining processes. In the synthesis process, the reaction temperature and feed rate did not affect the average particle size change of magnesium silicate, while the reaction molar ratio of Mg / Si and the order of injection acted as main factors for the change of average particle size. The average particle size of magnesium silicate increased by 8.7 ㎛ from 54.4 ㎛ to 63.1 ㎛ at Mg injection when Mg molar ratio increased from 0.125 to 0.500, and increased by about 4.8 ㎛ from 47.3 ㎛ to 52.1 ㎛ at Si injection. The average particle size according to the order of injection was 59.1 ㎛ for Mg injection and 48.4 ㎛ for Si injection and the difference was shown 10.7 ㎛, therefore the filtration rate was about 2 times faster under the condition of Mg injection. That is, as the particle size increases, the filtration time is shortened and washing filtration rate can be increased to improve the productivity of magnesium silicate. The cake form of separated magnesium silicate after filtration becomes a solid through drying process and is used as powdery adsorbent through the grinding process. As the physical strength of the dried magnesium silicate increased, the average particle size of the powder increased and it was confirmed that this strength was affected by the reaction molar ratio. As the reaction molar ratio of Mg / Si increased, the physical strength of magnesium silicate decreased and the average particle size after grinding decreased by about 40% compared to the average particle size after synthesis. This reduction of strength resulted in an improvement of the refining ability due to the decrease of the average particle size and the increase of the amount of fine particle after the pulverization, but it resulted in the decrease of the purification filtration rate. While the molar ratio of Mg/Si was increased from 0.125 to 0.5 at Mg injection, the refining ability increased about 1.3 times, but the purification filtration rate decreased about 1.5 times. Therefore, in order to improve the productivity of magnesium silicate, the reaction molar ratio of Mg / Si should be increased, but in order to increase the purification filtration rate of the polyol, the reaction molar ratio should be decreased. In the synthesis parameters of magnesium silicate, the order of injection and the reaction molar ratio of Mg / Si are important factors affecting the changes in average particle size after synthesis and the changes of particle size after grinding due to the changes of compressive strength, therefore the synthetic parameter is an important thing that determines productivity and refining capacity.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.27 no.12C
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• pp.1288-1298
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• 2002

To implement elliptic curve cryptosystem in GF(2$\^$m/) at high speed, a fast divider is required. Although bit-parallel architecture is well suited for high speed division operations, elliptic curve cryptosystem requires large m(at least 163) to support a sufficient security. In other words, since the bit-parallel architecture has an area complexity of 0(m$\^$m/), it is not suited for this application. In this paper, we propose a new serial-in serial-out systolic array for computing division operations in GF(2$\^$m/) using the standard basis representation. Based on a modified version of tile binary extended greatest common divisor algorithm, we obtain a new data dependence graph and design an efficient bit-serial systolic divider. The proposed divider has 0(m) time complexity and 0(m) area complexity. If input data come in continuously, the proposed divider can produce division results at a rate of one per m clock cycles, after an initial delay of 5m-2 cycles. Analysis shows that the proposed divider provides a significant reduction in both chip area and computational delay time compared to previously proposed systolic dividers with the same I/O format. Since the proposed divider can perform division operations at high speed with the reduced chip area, it is well suited for division circuit of elliptic curve cryptosystem. Furthermore, since the proposed architecture does not restrict the choice of irreducible polynomial, and has a unidirectional data flow and regularity, it provides a high flexibility and scalability with respect to the field size m.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.908-913
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• 2001

Paper sludge Ash (PA) and Fly Ash (FA) wastes are usually land-filled for reclamation or substituted for cements as a resource. It could also offer some advantages when they are substituted for clay to preserve the environment. To recycle those wastes, the sintered specimen made of PA-FA-Clay system were examined to find the microstructure and physical properties. The ratio of clay to wastes was fixed as 30:70 by wt%, while PA to FA within waste portion were varied in the range of $1:6{\sim}7:0$. Those specimens were fired in $1150{\sim}1350^{\circ}C$. It was found that the relative density of sintered specimen was increased with amount of PA added at low sintering temperature (i.e, $1150{\sim}1200^{\circ}C$). This is due to increased amount of liquid during sintering. It is shown, however that at high sintering temperature ($1250{\sim}1350^{\circ}C$), the relative density of specimens was decreased with amount of PA added. This is because of overfiring phenomenon which may be able to induce an inhomogeneous microstructure and increased porosity. The mechanical properties of sintered specimen were depended upon the homogeneity of microstructure in accordance with SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and pore size distribution analysis. For example, the compressive strength of 10PA-60FA-30Clay specimen sintered at $1225^{\circ}C$ was twice higher than that of 70PA-30Clay specimen even thought the relative density of those specimen was similar. This decreased strength of 70PA-30Clay specimen appears to be an inhomogeneity of microstructure due to overfiring.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2009

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the difference in three dimensional tooth movement using three different wire sizes($0.018{\times}0.025-in,\;0.016{\times}0.022-in$ 0.016-in) on a NiTi scissors-bite corrector. Methods: Computed tomography(CT) images of the experimental model before and after tooth movement were taken and reconstructed into three dimensional models for superimposition. The direction and the amount of tooth movement were measured and analyzed statistically. Results: The lingual and intrusive movements of the crown of the maxillary second molar were increased as the size of the NiTi wire increased. The roots of the maxillary second metals moved buccally except for the 0.016-in group. The intrusive movement of the roots of the maxillary second molars was increased as the size of the NiTi wire increased. Due to the use of orthodontic mini-implants, anchorage loss was under 0.2 mm on average. Conclusions: The $0.018{\times}0.025-in$ NiTi wire was most effective in lingual and intrusive movement of the maxillary second molar which was in scissors-bite position. Indirect skeletal anchorage with a single orthodontic mini-implant was rigid enough to prevent anchorage loss.