• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.6-14
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• 2008

Objective of this study was to investigate the residual levels of mercury (Hg) in soil for "Top-rice" area and its uptake into rice plant for making sure food safety as compared to "Top-rice" & common rice produced from 2005 to 2006. Hg was analyzed with the direct mercury analyzer (DMA 80, Milestone, Italy), which implements the US/EPA method 7473. The average concentration of Hg in paddy soil was 0.031 mg/kg, which was below at 1/25-1/65 fold of the threshold levels (concern level 4 mg/kg, action level 10 mg/kg) for soil contamination designated by "The Soil Environment Conservation Law" in Korea. The maximum residue level (MRLs) for Hg residue in the polished rice is not designated in Korea. Therefore, Hg contents in the polished rice of "Top-rice" brand and common rice were compared to other country's criteria. Hg contents in the polished rice of "Top-rice" brand was 0.0018 mg/kg, which was lower at 1/10-1/30 fold than the MRLs, 0.02 mg/kg of China criteria and 0.05 mg/kg of Taiwan criteria, respectively. Hg were 0.02788, 0.00896, 0.00182, 0.00189, 0.00166, 0.00452 and 0.00145 mg/kg in soil, rice straw, unhulled rice, rice hulls, brown rice, rice bran, and polished rice produced in 2006 "Top-rice" area, respectively. For the ratio of Hg as compared to Hg contents in soil, there were 0.321 of rice straw ${\gg}$ 0.162 of rice bran ${\gg}$ 0.068 of rice hulls > 0.065 of unhulled rice > 0.060 of brown rice> 0.052 of polished rice. And, the slope of Hg uptakes was steeped as following order; rice straw ${\gg}$ rice bran ${\gg}$ rice hulls > unhulled rice > brown rice > polished rice. It means that the more slope steeped was the more uptakes. For the distribution of Hg uptaken, there was 83.8% into rice straw, and 16.2% into unhulled rice, 2.8% into rice hulls, 12.4% into brown rice, 3.5% into rice bran and 9.7% into polished rice. Consequently, it was appeared that the Hg contamination in the polished rice should not be worried in Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 1991

An experiment has been carefully designed and performed to verify the theory for the echointergration technique of estimating the density of fish school by the use of steel spheres in a laboratory tank. The spheres used to simulate a fish school were randomly distributed throughout the insonified volume to produce the acoustic echoes similar to those scattered from real fish schools. The backscattered echoes were measured as a function of target density at tow frequencies of 50kHz and 200kHz. Data acquisition, processing and analysis were performed by means of the microcomputer-based sonar-echo processor including a FFT analyzer. Acoustic scattering characteristics of a 36cm mackerel was investigated by measuring fish echoes with frequencies ranging from 47.8kHz to 52.0kHz. The fluctuation of bottom echoes caused by the effects of fish-school attenuation and multiple scattering which occurred in dense aggregations of fishes was also examined by analyzing the echograms of sardine schools obtained by a 50kHz telesounder in the set-net's bagnet, and the echograms obtained by a scientific echo sounder of 50kHz in the East China Sea, respectively. The results obtained can be summarized as follows: 1. The measured and the calculated echo shapes on the steel sphere used to simulate a fish school were in close agreement. 2. The waveform and amplitude of echo signals by a mackerel without swimbladder fluctuated irregularly with the measuring frequency. 3. When a collection of 30 targets/m super(3) lied the shadow region behind another collection of 5 targets/m super(3), the mean losses in echo energy for the 30 targets/m super(3) were about -0.4dB at 50kHz and about -0.2dB at 200kHz, respectively. 4. In the echograms obtained in the East China Sea, the bottom echoes fluctuated remarkably when the dense aggregations of fish appeared between transducer and seabed. Especially, in the case of the echograms of sardine school obtained in a set-net's bagnet, the disappearance of bottom echoes and the lengthening of the echo trace by fish aggregations were observed. Then the mean density of the sardine school was estimated as 36 fish/m super(3). It suggests that when the distribution density of fishes in oceans is greater than this density, the effects of fish-school attenuation and multiple scattering must be taken into account as a possible source of error in fish abundance estimates. 5. The relationship between mean backscattering strength (, dB) and target density ($\rho$, No./m super(3)) were expressed by the equations: =-46.2+13.7 Log($\rho$) at 50kHz and =-43.9+13.4 Log($\rho$) at 200kHz. 6. The difference between the experimentally derived number and the actual number of targets gradually decreased with an increase in the target density and was within 20% when the density was 30 targets/m super(3). From these results, we concluded that when the number of targets in the insonified volume is large, the validity of the echo-integration technique of estimating the density of fish schools could be expected.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.8
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• pp.811-816
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• 2003

Purpose : Kawasaki disease is an acute systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology with a predilection for the coronary arteries. Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) is a cytokine which promotes vascular permeability and angiogenesis. We investigated serum VEGF(sVEGF) levels in Kawasaki disease to determine whether sVEGF level can be used as a risk factor to predict the occurrence of coronary artery lesions(CAL) in Kawasaki disease. Methods : We measured sVEGF levels in 11 patients with Kawasaki disease in acute phase(patient group)and 11 normal children(control group) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) method. We investigated the relationship between sVEGF levels and the lumen diameters of coronary artery and other potential CAL risk factors; duration of fever, hemoglobin, WBC counts, platelet counts, ESR, CRP and LDH levels. Results : SVEGF levels of patients in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease(mean $847.9{\pm}495.7pg/mL$) were significantly higher than that of normal controls(mean $279.9{\pm}150.6pg/mL$; P<0.05). SVEGF levels showed significant positive correlation with the lumen diameters of the coronary artery(P<0.05, $r_s=0.75$) in the patient group. There was no significant correlation between sVEGF levels and duration of fever or other laboratory measurements. Conclusion : Our results support the notion that sVEGF level may be considered as a predictive indicator for the occurrence of coronary artery lesions in Kawasaki disease.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.548-553
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• 2003

Purpose : Matrix metalloproteinase(MMP)-9 is known to breakdown the blood-brain barrier by degrading the extracellular matrix of the subendothelial basement membrane in meningitis. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase(TIMP)-1, a known inhibitor of MMP-9, has been postulated to inhibit the proteolytic activity of MMP-9 by bindng to MMP-9, but their interaction has not been fully understood yet. So far, there have been some reports on the relationship of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in bacterial meningitis, but few reports in viral meningitis. Furthermore, there has been no report on this in Korea. We investigated the concentrations of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum of patients with viral meningitis and control subjects, and evaluated their relationship with other clinical parameters of meningitis. Methods : CSF and blood were obtained from 25 subjects with viral meningitis and 14 control subjects. After centrifugation, supernatants were stored at $-20^{\circ}C$ and we assayed concentrations of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 by the sandwich ELISA method. Results : Concentrations of CSF MMP-9 and TIMP-1 were significantly elevated in patients with viral meningitis, when compared with those in control subjects. Their serum levels showed no differences between the two groups. MMP-9 levels were closely correlated with TIMP-1 levels in the CSF($r_s=0.42$, P<0.05). CSF MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratios were significantly higher in patients with viral meningitis than those in the control subjects(P<0.05). Both CSF MMP-9 and TIMP-1 levels positively correlated with CSF total leukocyte counts($r_s=0.43$, P<0.05, $r_s=0.48$, P<0.05). TIMP-1 levels positively correlated with total protein concentrations in the CSF($r_s=0.43$, P<0.05). Conclusion : MMP-9 and TIMP-1 may play an important role in the breakdown and maintenance of BBB in viral meningitis, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2016

This study was conducted to provide information regarding changes in antioxidant activity in response to conching temperatures, conching times, and cacao mass content (CMC) in dark chocolate. The radical scavenging activities and functional components of cacao nibs were highest for raw cacao nib (R0) under all conditions. Moreover, antioxidant activities and functional compounds increased during roasting for 25 min. As the conching temperature increased, the radical scavenging activities and functional components increased. Quantitative analysis of major catechin-derived compounds by HPLC revealed that R0 had the highest value for other roasted cacao nibs in all aspects (P<0.05). The content of procyanidin B2, catechin, and epicatechin increased during roasting for 25 min. Finally, evaluation of couvertures revealed that procyanidin B1 content increased as conching time increased to 48 h, except for 70% CMC and conched at $60^{\circ}C$ (HH) and 70% CMC and conched at $50^{\circ}C$. Overall, HH48 contained the richest catechin-derived components.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.872-880
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• 2014

This study was conducted to assess the characteristics and satisfactions related with facility foodservice for the elderly in the Northern Gyeonggi-do area (Republic of Korea). To accomplish this, a survey was conducted to investigate the general characteristics of the elderly, health information, and satisfaction with the foodservice of a welfare facility in the area. The main sources of health information for both the male and female elderly included 'health professionals' (49.0, 45.7%) and the 'mass media' (34.4, 33.5%), and they were revealed to trust the information from 'health professionals' (65.6, 59.5%), more so than the 'mass media' (19.8, 20.8%). The principal diseases of the elderly were 'hypertension' (27.1%), 'diabetes' (21.9%), 'palsy' (19.8%) in males, and 'hypertension' (32.4%), 'diabetes' (24.9%), 'arthritis' (15.0%) in females. Most male and female elderly indicated the main reasons for skipping a meal to be 'no appetite' (37.5, 53.8%) and 'indigestion'(19.1, 17.3%), respectively. The facility foodservice was used by the male elderly for the reasons of 'irritating to cook' (28.1%), 'to meet a friend' (26.0%), and 'economic' (14.6%), while the female elderly used it for the reasons of 'economic' (25.4%), 'to meet a friend' (23.1%), and 'irritating to cook' (23.1%). The reasons for satisfaction with the facility were subject to 'meal supply' (28.0, 37.2%), 'social exchanges' (20.0, 22.3%), and 'good facilities' (18.7, 18.2%). Regarding the officers and nurses of the facility, 13.3% and 9.3% of males and 8.3% and 12.4% of females indicated satisfaction, respectively. The satisfaction with foodservice influenced the welfare facilities, and providing a successful environment for foodservice requires strengthening of the education of facilities employees to become friendlier. Based on these results, greater efforts should be made to provide meaningful information regarding the facility foodservice for the elderly related to the silver service industry in the Northern Gyeonggi-do area as soon as possible.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2007

This study was conducted to investigate how the qualities of the stream water vary during the event in the regrowth and rehabilitation catchments in Yangju, Gyeonggido, from June to September 2005. During the observation periods, we sampled the stream water continuously by an auto-sampler (ISCO, 6712FR). The sampled waters were analyzed for suspended solid concentration, electrical conductivity and pH. The suspended solid concentration during the event increased concurrently with the stream flow. The peak of suspended solid concentration usually precedes the peak flow. The maximum value of suspended solid concentration was 420.89 mg/l in the event 1 at the regrowth catchment. Among the events simultaneously sampled at both catchments, the maximum values of suspended solid concentration were 212.8 mg/l and 58.24 mg/l in the event 3 at the regrowth and rehabilitation catchment respectively. The maximum value of EC in each event showed in the early stage of rising limb. EC decreased during the rising limb, and then showed minimum value at peak flow. EC gradually increased to pre-event value after minimum one. pH varied in similar pattern with EC. The maximum value of suspended solid concentration during each event was 2.8 to 4.3 times higher at the regrowth catchment than at the rehabilitation catchment. And the EC during each event was higher at the regrowth catchment than at the rehabilitation catchment. This results indicate that a disturbed forest soil during clear cutting at regrowth catchment still has been unstable.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.213-218
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• 2007

Purpose: To analyze retrospectively the outcome of postoperative radiation therapy with or without concurrent chemotherapy for curatively resected stage II pancreatic cancer with T3 or N1 disease. Materials and Methods: Between January 1996 and December 2005, twenty-eight patients completed adjuvant radiation therapy at Ajou University Hospital. The patients had either pathologic T3 stage or N1 stage. The radiation target volume encompassed the initial tumor bed identified preoperatively, resection margin area and celiac nodal area. In the case of N1 patients, the radiation field extended to the lower margin of the L3 vertebra for covering both para-aortic lymph nodes bearing area. The median total radiation dose was 50 Gy. Ten patients received concurrent chemotherapy. Results: Thirteen patients (46%) showed loco-regional recurrences. The celiac axis nodal area was the most frequent site (4 patients). Five patients showed both loco-regional recurrence and a distant metastasis. Patients with positive lymph nodes had a relatively high probability of a distant metastasis (57.1%). Patients that had a positive resection margin showed a relatively high local failure rate (57.1%). The median disease-free survival period of all patients was 6 months and the 1-and 2-year disease free survival rates were 27.4% and 8.2%, respectively. The median overall survival period was 9 months. The 2-and 3-year overall survival rates were 31.6% and 15.8%, respectively. Conclusion: The pancreatic cancer patients with stage II had a high risk of local failure and a high risk of a distant metastasis. We suggest the concurrent use of an effective radiation-sensitizing chemotherapeutic drug and adjuvant chemotherapy after postoperative radiation therapy for the treatment of patients with stage II pancreatic cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.404-413
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• 2013

This study was conducted to assess the dietary habits and behaviors of college students in the Northern Gyeonggi-do Region(Republic of Korea). To accomplish this, a survey was conducted to investigate the preference, intake frequency and menus of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks by male and female students. Most male and female students had irregular breakfasts with the main reasons for skipping a meal 'not enough time' (47.3, 45.5%) and 'irritating' (19.0, 21.9%), respectively. The principal breakfast menu for both was 'rice and side dishes'. The lunch time for male and female students was regular, and the lunch cost made up most of their spending money. The snack time of male and female students was mostly 'between lunch and dinner'. The snack menus of male and female students were 'cookies' (25.8, 19.0%), 'drinks' (18.0, 14.4%), and 'breads' (16.9, 13.2%), respectively. For male students, the reasons of snack intake were 'hunger' (46.1%), 'boredom' (15.7%), and 'habitual' (9.0%). For female students, the reasons were 'hunger' (28.2%), 'habitual' (22.4%), 'boredom' (15.5%). Half of the college students had regular delivery foods for reasons of 'hygiene', 'taste', and 'nutrition' in the order and in consideration of being the elderly. The facility foodservice was also used half of the college students for the reasons of being 'economic' (30.9, 22.6%), and 'liberated from preparing meals' (21.4, 23.8%), respectively. Both male and female students were found to have less knowledge of the facility foodservice in the elderly. Based on these results, greater efforts should be made to provide meaningful information regarding the dietary habits and behaviors of college students, especially, when elderly.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2004

To determine lethal temperature of birdsfoot trefoil(BFT) and italian ryegrass(IRG) at heat-stressed conditions, seedlings grown in a small pots fur 4 weeks were subjected to different temperature regimes of heat treatment. No apparent damage was observed BFT and IRG were treated at 45, 50 or $60^{\circ}C$ for 1 h. And also heat treatments at 60, 65 and $70^{\circ}C$ for 1 h, both of them were withered and showed damage symptom on their leaves but it was not lethal conditions for the whole plants. By contrast, most of plants were prominently withered within one day after heat treatment at $80^{\circ}C/60min$. When BFT was exposed to $80^{\circ}C/60$ min, they were died within 6 days but there was found that new shoots were regenerated from the plants that had been treated at $80^{\circ}C$ within 55 min. IRC was also died within 2 days that exposed to $80^{\circ}C/20$ min but there was found that new shoots were regenerated from the plants that had been treated at $80^{\circ}C$ within 15 min. These results indicate that heat killing temperatures of BFT and IRG plants are $80^{\circ}C/60$ min an $80^{\circ}C/20$ min respectively. Simple viability assay system established in this study will be useful for selection and characterization of heat-tolerant transgenic BFT and IRG plants.