• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.176-184
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• 2004

This study was conducted to compare and estimate the daily PAHs dietary intake from both home-cooking and dining-out, through approach of model diet used in exposure assessment of food contaminants. Food commodities reflecting in model diet were selected from the KHIDI report and were analysed in cooked or uncooked edible forms using HPLC-Fluorscence Detector. The PAHs dietary intake comparison between home-cooking and dining-out was based on one meal intake suggested in model diet and PAHs dietary intake was estimated by using food consumption rate and body weight of the Korean adult group. The daily PAHs dietary intake was calculated by permutation and combination method with assumption that a person consumed 2 meals from home-cooking menu and 1 meal from dining-out menu. The total PAHs levels in 36 food commodities with 200 samples were ranged from 2.00 ug/kg to 141.28 ug/kg and a food showing the highest PAHs level was the stir-fried anchovy. The $TEQ_{BaP}$ levels of PAHs were calculated using benzo(a)pyrene equivalents individual congener level and corresponding TEF value and the $TEQ_{BaP}$ level were ranged from $0.03\;ugTEQ{BaP}$ to $1.31\;ugTEQ_{BaP}$ and a food showing the highest $TEQ_{BaP}$ level was the hamburger. The PAHs dietary intakes per one meal from home-cooking and dining-out were $2.4\times10^{-3}\;ugTEQ_{BaP}/kg/meal\;and\;4.0\times10^{-3}\;ugTEQ_{BaP}/kg/meal$, respectively. This data showed the PAHs dietary intake from dining-out was about 1.7 times higher than from the home-cooking. The daily PAHs dietary intakes of general Korean adult having two meals from home-cooking and one meal from dining-out per a day were ranged between $8.0\times10^{-3}\~9.7\times10^{-3}\;ugTEQ_{BaP}/gg/day$ and mean value as $8.9\times10^{-3}\~9.7\times10^{-3}\;ugTEQ_{BaP}/gg/day$.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2010

Purpose : Extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR) in preterm infants is a major problem in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and it has been related to long-term growth deficit and neurodevelopmental issues. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of and risk factors for EUGR. Methods : The study subjects consisted of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with a gestational age $\leq$32 weeks that were born at the Seoul National University Children's Hospital between November 2005 and April 2009. EUGR was defined as weight for gestation, lower than the 10th percentile on discharge. Results : The frequency of EUGR was 67% (n=111/166). By multiple logistic regression, the presence of small for gestational age (SGA) was the greatest predictor of EUGR, birth weight and daily weight gain during the first 28 days were independent predictors of EUGR. Risk factors for EUGR in non-SGA infants were evaluated because 56% (64/114) of non-SGA infants developed EUGR at discharge. Daily weight gain in the first 28 days was also decreased in EUGR group and independently predicted the risk of EUGR in the non-SGA group. Conclusion : EUGR was a common problem in the NICU. SGA was the most significant predictive factor of the EUGR. Half of the non-SGA infants also developed EUGR, revealing poor weight gain in the early days was as an important predictor. These results support the importance of early nutritional intervention for weight gain which have lagged behind other modern therapeutic interventions when the infant is clinically unstable.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2002

Purpose : The prevalence of symptoms in patients with terminal cancer varies considerably and these symptoms are very difficult to control. However, patients can spend their last days or hours of life without suffering pain with appropriate care. One of the major concerns during last days of life is to predict the time of death. We would like to investigate symptom prevalence during terminal cancer patients' last 48 hours in Korea, and therefore contribute to predict the time of death and to help to determine appropriate treatments. Methods : The data for this study was recorded from 92 of 132 patients who died with terminal cancer at the hospital between February 1 and October 31, 2000. We investigated the symptom prevalence during the last 48 hours through medical obligation record and analyzed the changes of symptom prevalence at the admission, $48{\sim}24$ hours and $24{\sim}0$ hours before death. Results : The predominant symptom prevalence was pain (57.6%), followed by confusion (55.4%), dyspnea (48.9%), voiding difficulty (42.4%) in the last 48 hours before death. From the statistical analysis for the changes of symptom prevalence in time, pain, nausea and vomiting were decreased but noisy and moist breathing, sweating, groan, restlessness and agitation, and loss of consciousness were increased (P<0.05). Conclusion : The results from this study show the tendency to increase of prevalence of noisy and moist breathing, sweating, groan, restlessness and agitation as well as loss of consciousness in 48 hours before death. Therefore the symptoms above can be used for the important indicators to predict the imminent death.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.864-870
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• 2010

This study was conducted to determine the effects of foliage plants on reducing indoor carbon dioxide ($CO_2$). Five foliage plants such as $Hedera$ $helix$ L., $Ficus$ $benjamina$ L., $Pachira$ $aquatica$, $Chamaedorea$ $elegans$, and $Ficus$ $elastica$ were selected and cultivated in two different growth medium (peatmoss and hydroball). Each plant was placed in an airtight chamber and then treated with the combinations of two different $CO_2$ concentrations (500 or 1,000 ppm) and two different light intensities (50 or $200{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$). The change of $CO_2$ concentration (ppm) in the airtight chamber during day and night was measured and then converted into the photosynthetic rate (${\mu}mol\;CO_2{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$). As the results, each foliage plant reduced $CO_2$ level in the airtight chamber for one hour by photosynthesis. $Pachira$ $aquatica$ and $Ficus$ $elastica$ absorbed $CO_2$ more effectively compared to the other plants. The plants exposed to higher $CO_2$ concentration (1,000 ppm) and higher light intensity ($200{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) showed more effective $CO_2$ elimination rate and photosynthetic rate. The plants that have wide leaves and big leaf areas such as $Pachira$ $aquatica$, $Hedera$ $helix$ L.,and $Ficus$ $elastica$ showed higher photosynthetic rate than the other plants that have smaller leaves. Released $CO_2$ concentration by respiration of the plants during the night was very low compared to the absorbed $CO_2$ concentration by photosynthesis during the day. There was no significant difference between peatmoss and hydroball medium on reducing $CO_2$ concentration and increasing photosynthetic rate. In conclusion, this study suggested that foliage plants can effectively eliminate indoor $CO_2$. Optimum environmental control in relation to photosyntheis and usage of right indoor foliage plants having lots of leaves and showing active photosynthesis even under low light intensity like indoor light condition would be required to increase the elimination capacity of indoor $CO_2$.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1077-1082
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• 1997

To assess the early results, risk factors and optimal timing for coronary artery bypass graft surgery(CABG) after an acute myocardial infarction(AMI), we reviewed our 19 patients who underwent CABG within 30 days after AMI, between June 1994 and October 1996. This study excluded 1 patient whose diagnosis was AMI with ventricular septal rupture. 14 of the patients were male and 5 were female. Their ages ranged from 41 to 77 years(mean age, 60.6$\pm$ 10.4 years), and the amount of time between AMI and CABG ranged from 8 hours to 24 days(mean time, 10.6$\pm$6.4 days). There were 11 anteroseptal infarctions and 8 inferior wall infarctions. 11 patients had trsnsmural infarctions and 8 had subendocardial infarctions. Indications of operations were p imary revascularization and postinfarction angina. Three patients required preoperative intra-aortic balloon pump(IABP) support, and 4 additional patients required IABP to be separated from cardiopulmonary bypass. An average of 3.6 $\pm$ 0.6 vessels per patient were bypassed. The early mortality rate for these 19 patients was 5.3% and late mortality rate was 5.5%, 1-year and 2-year actuarial survival rates were 89.5% Univariate analysis of mortality showed that an ejection fraction less than 30% and intraopretative IABP supports were associated with risk factors(p value=0.018 and 0.015 respectively). Age, sex, time to CABG, emergency operations, types and locations of infarctions were not significant. Although our studies have weak p.oints in that there was only a small number of patients and the lack of long-term results, we could conclude that early myocardial revascularization is relatively safe after AMI for those individuals with an ejection fraction greater than 30%.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.66-76
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• 1997

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyse sleep habits and sleep disorders in the elderly population ased 65-84 years. Methods : Epidemiological survey was performed at home by means of semi structured interviews in the city of Pusan, Korea. Subjects were randomly selected. The questionnaire consisted of 128 items including demographic findings, sleep habits, sleep disorders, somatic illnesses, and psychological distresses. Results : (1) The mean retiring time was 10.28 h (SD 1.30 h) and the mean wake-up time was 5.24 h (SD 1.33 h). The mean duration of sleep was 5.63 h (SD 1.80 h). The mean sleep onset time was 44.51 min. The mean frequency of daytime napping was 2.49 (SD 3.23). The subjects reported they woke up an average of 2.05 (SD 1.59) times per night. All of the above results were not related to age or gender. However, the mean frequency of difficulty in initiating/maintaining sleep was 2.2 times for men and 3.2 times for women (p<0.05). (2) The prevalence of insomnia was 57.7% and was not related to age or gender. Difficulty in initiating sleep was the most commonly reported insomnia complaint(52.4%). Early morning awakening was reported by 50.0% of patients and difficulty in maintaining sleep was reported by 45.1% of them. Worrying in bed and physical pain were strong contributing factor to insomnia. Conclusions : The results of our study showed several characteristics of sleep habits in the elderly. Sleep disorder in old age is not inevitable or trivial. Since sleep disturbance in older adults is common and distressing, it has implications for general health and well-being. Active concern and therapeutic intervention for the sleep habits and sleep disorders in the elderly are needed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.732-737
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• 2009

Background: Many video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomies are performed as a potential alternative to thoracotomy despite the controversy about the safety and the associated morbidity/mortality rates. Material and Method: Between November 2006 and August 2008, we performed 87 lobectomies (VATS 36, Thoracotomy 51) and we retrospectively reviewed the surgical treatment results. A VATS lobectomy was performed by a 4~5 cm thoracotomy without rib spreading and this included anatomic hilar dissection, individual vessel and bronchus stapling and lymph node dissection. Result: We studied 52 male and 35 female patients whose age ranged from 6 to 79 (average age: $59.8{\pm}15.0$ years). The cases were diagnosed with lung cancer (66) (SQC 24, ADC 38, others 4), pulmonary metastasis (2), carcinoid (2) and benign diseases (17). There was no intraoperative death. Postoperative complications were seen in 5 (15.6%) VATS and 33 (64.7%) thoracotomies, and perioperative death caused by adult respiratory distress syndrome occurred in 1 (2.8%) VATS and 3 (5.9%) thoracotomies. Three patients Underwent conversion to thoracotomy (8.3%). The mean time to chest tube removal was 6 days for VATS and 9.4 days for thoracotomy (p<0.001), and the mean length of the hospital stay was 8 days for VATS and 12.8 days for thoracotomy (p<0.001). Conclusion: VATS lobectomy can be performed safely with low morbidity/mortality rates. Furthermore, all the patients benefited from earlier postoperative rehabilitation and less pain and they were candidates for an earlier return to normal activities.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.251-267
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• 2021

Remotely sensed vegetation indices (VIs) are empirically related with gross primary productivity (GPP) in various spatio-temporal scales. The uncertainties in GPP-VI relationship increase with temporal resolution. Uncertainty also exists in the eddy covariance (EC)-based estimation of GPP, arising from the partitioning of the measured net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) into GPP and ecosystem respiration (RE). For two forests and two agricultural sites, we correlated the EC-derived GPP in various time scales with three different near-surface remotely sensed VIs: (1) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), (2) enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and (3) near infrared reflectance from vegetation (NIRv) along with NIRvP (i.e., NIRv multiplied by photosynthetically active radiation, PAR). Among the compared VIs, NIRvP showed highest correlation with half-hourly and monthly GPP at all sites. The NIRvP was used to test the reliability of GPP derived by two different NEE partitioning methods: (1) original KoFlux methods (GPP_Ori) and (2) machine-learning based method (GPP_ANN). GPP_ANN showed higher correlation with NIRvP at half-hourly time scale, but there was no difference at daily time scale. The NIRvP-GPP correlation was lower under clear sky conditions due to co-limitation of GPP by other environmental conditions such as air temperature, vapor pressure deficit and soil moisture. However, under cloudy conditions when photosynthesis is mainly limited by radiation, the use of NIRvP was more promising to test the credibility of NEE partitioning methods. Despite the necessity of further analyses, the results suggest that NIRvP can be used as the proxy of GPP at high temporal-scale. However, for the VIs-based GPP estimation with high temporal resolution to be meaningful, complex systems-based analysis methods (related to systems thinking and self-organization that goes beyond the empirical VIs-GPP relationship) should be developed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.321-330
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• 1999

Background : Early diagnosis and proper antibiotic treatment are very important in the management of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) because of its high mortality. Bronchoscopy with a protected specimen brush (PSB) has been considered the standard method to isolate the causative organisms of VAP. However, this method burdens consumer economically to purchase a PSB. Another useful method for the diagnosis of VAP is quantitative cultures of aspirated specimens through bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), for which the infusion of more than 120 m1 of saline has been recommended for adequate sampling of a pulmonary segment. However, occasionally it leads to deterioration of the patient's condition. We studied the diagnostic efficacy of minibronchoalveolar lavage (miniBAL), which retrieves only 25 ml of BAL fluid, in the isolation of causative organisms of VAP. Methods: We included 38 consecutive patients (41 cases) suspected of having VAP on the basis of clinical evidence, who had received antibiotics before the bronchoscopy. The two diagnostic techniques of PSB and miniBAL, which were performed one after another at the same pulmonary segment, 'were compared prospectively. The cut-off values for quantitative cultures to define causative bacteria of VAP were more than $10^3$ colony-forming units (cfu)/ml for PSB and more than $10^4$ cfu/ml for BAL. Results: The amount of instilled normal saline required to retrieve 25 ml of BAL fluid was $93{\pm}32 ml$ (mean${\pm}$SD). The detection rate of causative agents was 46.3% (19/41) with PSB and 43.9% (18/41) with miniBAL. The concordance rate of PSB and miniBAL in the bacterial culture was 85.4% (35/41). Although arterial blood oxygen saturation dropped significantly (p<0.05) during ($92{\pm}10%$) and 10 min after ($95{\pm}3%$) miniBAL compared with the baseline ($97{\pm}3%$), all except 3 cases were within normal ranges. The significantly elevated heart rate during ($l25{\pm}24$/min, p<0.05) miniBAL compared with the baseline ($1l1{\pm}22$/min) recovered again in 10 min after ($111{\pm}26$/min) miniBAL. Transient hypotension was developed during the procedure in two cases. The procedure was stopped in one case due to atrial flutter. Conclusion: MiniBAL is a safe and effective technique to detect the causative organisms of VAP.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.1 s.270
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• pp.37-44
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• 2007

Background: It is known that long-term survival rate in patients underwent bronchial sleeve lobectomy for primary lung cancer is at least equal to that in patients underwent pneumonectomy, and bronchial sleeve lobectomy is performed in patients with suitable tumor location even in patients have adequate pulmonary function. Sleeve pneumonectomy is performed when carina was invaded by tumor or tumor location was near to the carina. We performed this study to know our results of sleeve resection for primary lung cancer. Material and Method: We analyzed retrospectively the medical records of 45 patients who underwent sleeve lobectomy or sleeve pneumonectomy for primary lung cancer by one thoracic surgeon from May 1990 to July 2003 in Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University. Follow-up loss was absent and last follow-up was performed in April 5, 2005. Kaplan-Meyer method and log-lank test were used to know long-term survival rate and p-value. Result: Mean age was 60 years old and male to female ratio 41:1. Histologic types were squamous cell carcinoma were 39, adenocarcinoma were 4, and others were 2 patients. Pathologic stages were I 14, II 14, and III 17 patients. Nodal stages were N0 23, N1 13, and N2 9 patients. Types of operation were sleeve lobectomy 40 and sleeve pneumonectomy 5 patients. Operative mortality was 3 patients and its cause was respiratory complications. Early complications were pneumonia 4, atelectasis 8, air leakage more than 7 days 6, and atrial fibrillation 4 patients. In 19 patients tumor was recurred. Local recurrence was 10 and systemic metastasis was 9 patients. Overall 5, 10-year survival rate were 54.2%, 42.5%. The 5, 10-year survival rates according to the pathologic stage were 83.9%, 67.1% in stage I, 55%, 47.1% in II, 33.3%, 25% in III, and significance difference was present between stage I and III. The 5, 10-year survival rate according to the lymph node involvement were 63.9%, 54.6% in N0, 53,8%, 46.5% in N1, 28.5%, 14.2% in N2, and significance difference was present between N0 and N2. Conclusion: Because bronchial sleeve lobectomy for primary lung cancer could be performed safely and shows acceptable long-term survival rate, it could be considered primary in case of suitable tumor location if complete resection is possible. Although sleeve pneumonectomy for primary lung cancer shows somewhat high operative mortality rate, it could be considered in view of curative treatment.