• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.346-354
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• 2002

Background : Dyspnea and a limitation in exercise performance are important cause of disability in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). A depleted nutritional state is a common problem in patients with a severe degree of chronic airflow limitation. This study was carried out to assess the factors determining the maximum exercise capacity in patients with COPD. Methods : The resting pulmonary function, nutritional status, and maximum exercise performance was assessed in 83 stable patients with moderate to severe COPD. The nutritional status was evaluated by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Maximum exercise performance was evaluated by maximum oxygen uptake($VO_2max$). Results : Among the 83 patients, 59% were characterized by nutritional depletion. In the depleted group, a significantly lower peak expiratory flow rate(p<0.05), Kco(p<0.01) and maximum inspiratory pressure(p<0.05), but a significantly higher airway resistance(p<0.05) was observed. The maximum oxygen uptake and the peak oxygen pulse were lower in the depleted group. The $VO_2max$ correlated with some of the measures of the body composition : fat-free mass(FFM), fat mass(FM), body mass index(BMI), intracellular water index(ICW index), and pulmonary function : forced vital capacity(FVC), forced inspiratory vital capacity(FIVC), diffusion capacity(DLCO) : or maximum respiratory pressure : maximum inspiratory pressure(PImax), maximum expiratory pressure(PEmax). Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that the FFM, DLCO and FIVC accounted for 68.8% of the variation in the $VO_2max$. Conclusion : The depletion of the FFM is significant factor for predicting the maximum exercise performance in patients with moderate to severe COPD.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.51-56
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• 2003

The structuring of Web information supports a strong user side viewpoint that a user wants his/her own needs on snooping a specific Web site. Not only the depth first algorithm or the breadth-first algorithm, but also the Web information is abstracted to a hierarchical structure. A prototype system is suggested in order to visualize and to represent a semantic significance. As a motivating example, the Web test site is suggested and analyzed with respect to several keywords. As a future research, the Web site model should be extended to the whole WWW and an accurate assessment function needs to be devised by which several suggested models should be evaluated.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.91-95
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• 2004

This study aims to analyze realities of oral health and related factors, and establish Structural Equation Modeling. The subjects of study were 9,340 elderly over age 65 who took the health examination(the first) for the local insured which National Health Insurance Corporation carried out in the survey area mentioned below from January 2002 to December 2002. The areas surveyed were 4 big cities including Seongbuk-ku, Seoul, 5 medium cities including Wonjusi, Gangwon-do, and 5 Counties including Yeong deok County, Kyeongbuk. Considering location and the scale of population, firstly, big unit areas(metropolitan city, province) were selected according to convenience, secondly, low unit areas(city, county, district) were selected randomly. The subjects were the elderly who took all tests including an oral examination and filled in the questionnaire. Major results from analysis are as follows: 1. Review of Composition Conception Validity As a result of analyzing composition conception validity of SEM including posture test, urine test, blood test, habits of eating, drinking and smoking, oral symptoms, and oral health status, using fit index such as GFI, CFI, TLI, and RMSEA, all were within fit range and composition conception validity was recognized. 2. As a result of analyzing SEM to find the relationship between each factor and oral health status, it was confirmed that all factors except urine test affected oral health status and the synthetic SEM to explain it could be established. In result, we could verify that the elderly of rural areas who had lesser experience of visiting a clinic and oral prophylaxis had a higher rate of caries, missing teeth, and denture need, and drinking and smoking negatively affected the rate of caries, periodontal, and missing teeth. Also, periodontal diseases were observed from 43.2% of the total elderly and much from the lower age. Most of oral disease can be prevented by right oral health behavior. Therefore through oral health professionals from each district public health center of the nation, oral health education for the elderly about right eating habits and oral health care should be carried out systematically and policy change to increase access to dental service is required lest that visiting a dental clinic should be impossible or oral health behaviors such as oral prophylaxis and denture wearing should be neglected by economic, geographical barriers. Also, to establish SEM to explain the relationship between oral health status and systemic health, more accurate test methods and effective index development should be preceded. Because items developed by National Health Insurance Corporation applied to this study without alteration, structuring a model had the uppermost limit. Continual study seems to be needed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.2
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• pp.157-168
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• 2020

The sensitivity of forest soil to acidification in the Republic of Korea (ROK) was evaluated based on pH_H2O, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and base saturation (BS). Sensitivity to acidification was categorized into three grades: adequate level (AL, pH ≧ 4.2, CEC ≧ 15cmol/kg, BS ≧ 15%), caution level (CL, at least one indicator is below AL), and severe Level (SL, all three indicators are below AL). Soil samples were collected from the 65 stationary monitoring plots (40 × 40 ㎢), distributed throughout ROK. Only 19% of soil samples were classified as AL, while 66% and 15% were CL and SL, respectively. The median of pH_H2O, CEC, BS, and Ca/Al indicator in AL soils was pH 4.64, 20.7cmol/kg, 29%, and 6.3, respectively. Moreover, BC_ex (K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺) and available phosphorus (AP) concentration compared with a threshold value and molar ratio of BC_ex and AP to total nitrogen (TN) was high. This indicates that AL soils have a good nutrient condition. The molar Ca/Al ratio, an indicator for toxicity of exchangeable aluminum (Al_ex), was more than 1, indicating no negative impact of Al_ex on plant growth. On the contrary, the median of pH_H2O, CEC, and BS in SL soils was pH 4.02, 13.2cmol/kg, and 10%, respectively. The Ca/Al index was less than 0.6, which indicates that negative impacts of Al_ex on plants were high. Furthermore, both the concentration of BC_ex in SL soils and the BC_ex/TN ratio were the lowest among the three acidity degrees. This shows that SLsoils can be degraded by soil acidification compared with less acidic soils.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.29-40
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine the association among bone mineral density (BMD), biochemical bone markers, nutrients, and salt intake in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. We evaluated 431 subjects who visited a health promotion center of a university hospital between January 2008 and July 2009. We excluded those who were taking medications or who had an endocrine disorder affecting osteoporosis. The subjects were divided into premenopausal (n = 283) and postmenopausal (n = 143) women. We evaluated the correlation among BMD of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total femoral, as well as biochemical bone markers, hormone, serum profiles, general characteristics, nutrient intakes, and food intake frequencies. From a stepwise multiple regression analysis, lumbar spine BMD was positively correlated with weight (p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with osteocalcin (OC)(p < 0.001), Femoral neck BMD was positively correlated with weight (p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with C-telopeptide (CTx) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP)(p < 0.001, p < 0.05). In premenopausal women, femoral total BMD was positively correlated with BMI (p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with CTx (p < 0.001). In postmenopausal women, lumbar spine BMD was positively correlated with calcium intake (p < 0.01) and negatively correlated with sodium intake (p < 0.01). Femoral neck and femoral total BMD were both positively correlated with weight (p < 0.001), and femoral neck BMD was negatively correlated with age and ALP (p < 0.001, p < 0.05). Femoral total BMD was negatively correlated with age and OC (p < 0.001, p < 0.01). These results suggest that reducing sodium intake may play an important role delaying bone resorption and preventing a decrease in BMD.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.176-182
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• 2016

When inflammatory reaction is in progress, the macrophages release inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), and product inflammatory mediators, including inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). We conducted this study to evaluate the anti-inflammatory efficacy on each water extract of Acanthopanacis cortex, Achyranthes radix, and Eucommiae cortex, and to investigate whether they inhibit the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine. Acanthopanacis cortex, Achyranthes radix, and Eucommiae cortex were extracted with water and freeze-dried. Acanthoside D, 20-hydroxyecdysone, and pinoresinol diglucoside as an index material were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to ensure that the components of each extracts were extracted well. RAW 264.7 cell line, stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to cause an inflammatory response, was treated with each water extract at various concentrations to determine the anti-inflammatory efficacy. Then, the anti-inflammatory efficacy was confirmed by a nitric oxide (NO) assay, and the mRNA expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured by real time PCR. As a result, the indicator materials were detected from each extract, and Acanthopanacis cortex water extract (ACWE) and Achyranthes radix water extract (ARWE) were shown to have a high activity than Eucommiae cortex water extract (ECWE) in NO assay. In Korea, traditionally it prescribed a combination of medicinal herbs. This study confirmed the anti-inflammatory response of these medicinal plants in arthritis and its synergistic effect when used in combination with western medicine.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.75-84
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• 2013

Soil freezing is a phenomenon arising due to temperature difference between atmosphere and ground, and physical properties of soils vary upon the phase change of soil void from liquid to solid (ice). A heat-transfer mechanism for this case can be explained by the conduction in soil layers and the convection on ground surface. Accordingly, the evaluation of proper thermal properties of soils and the convective condition of ground surface is an important task for understanding freezing phenomenon. To describe convection on ground surface, simplified coefficient methods can be applied to deal with various conditions, such as atmospheric temperature, surface vegetation conditions, and soil constituents. In this study, two methods such as n-factor and convection coefficient for the convective ground surface boundary were applied within a commercial numerical program (TEMP/W) for modeling soil freezing phenomenon. Furthermore, the numerical results were compared to laboratory testing results. In the series of the comparison results, the convection coefficient is more appropriate than n-factor method to model the convective boundary condition.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.257-269
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• 2017

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the risk of metabolic factors in adults consuming 3-in-1 coffee from the 2012~2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Methods: A total of 5,872 subjects (male = 2,253, female = 3,619) aged 19~64 yrs were presented with food frequency questionnaires, and they were classified according to coffee consumption level and types of coffee consumed (black coffee, ${\leq}1$ time/day of 3-in-1 coffee, > 1 and ${\leq}2$ times/day of 3-in-1 coffee, > 2 times/day of 3-in-1 coffee). Analysis was conducted by gender for age-stratified groups: 19~39 (male = 968 and female = 1,285) and 40~64 (male = 1,468, female = 2,151) yrs old. Results: Black coffee consumption was associated with a significantly higher education level and household income compared to 3-in-1 coffee consumption in both males and females. The > 2 times/day group had significantly more smokers compared to other patterns of coffee consumption in both males and females. In the 40~64 yrs age group, males and females in the > 2 times/day group had significantly lower density of micronutrients such as fiber, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium compared with black coffee consumption. In the 40~64 yrs age group, males (OR: 2.03, 95% CI: 1.13~3.64) in the > 2 times/day group were at a higher risk of metabolic syndrome compared with black coffee consumption after multivariable adjustment. Conclusion: We found that frequency of 3-in-1 coffee consumption may be associated with prevalence of metabolic syndrome in males aged 40~64 yrs.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.565-577
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• 2016

The objective of this study is to propose a method for computing the Natural Drought Index (NDI) that does not consider man-made drought facilities. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to estimate the NDI. Three monthly moving cumulative runoff, soil moisture and precipitation were selected as input data of the NDI during 1977~2012. Observed precipitation data was collected from KMA ASOS (Korea Meteorological Association Automatic Synoptic Observation System), while model-driven runoff and soil moisture from Variable Infiltration Capacity Model (VIC Model) were used. Time series analysis, drought characteristic analysis and spatial analysis were used to assess the utilization of NDI and compare with existing SPI, SRI and SSI. The NDI precisely reflected onset and termination of past drought events with mean absolute error of 0.85 in time series analysis. It explained well duration and inter-arrival time with 1.3 and 1.0 respectively in drought characteristic analysis. Also, the NDI reflected regional drought condition well in spatial analysis. The accuracy rank of drought onset, termination, duration and inter-arrival time was calculated by using NDI, SPI, SRI and SSI. The result showed that NDI is more precise than the others. The NDI overcomes the limitation of univariate drought indices and can be useful for drought analysis as representative measure of different types of drought such as meteorological, hydrological and agricultural droughts.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2002

This research investigated experimentally on the population growth in the aquatic microcosm with the wastewater of plating factory. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of culture conditions of the characteristic growth pattern of the examined species. Population of the system is consists of three organisms; Chlorella vulgaris as a producer, Cyclidium glaucoma as a consumer and Pseudomonas putida as a decomposer. The different growth patterns of each population are followed by surfactant type; Especially C. glaucoma was sensitive, Ch. uvlgaris was maintained population size stably even at high level of surfactant and p. putida was not significantly affected. After treatment of waste water from plating factory, it began to be affected at 1.0% solution treatment to Ch. vulgaris which the cell number was decreased prominently after 2 days, and C. glaucoma was disappeared at 2.5% solution treatment. P. putida was showed increasing pattern according to treatment concentration, at 2.5% solution and population size grew double. The result from current microcosm study indicates that this model system can be applied to environmental assessment method for various pollutants.