• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.322-327
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to improve the performance of automatic grafting robot using image recognition technique. The stem diameters of tomatoes and cucumber at the time of grafting were $2.5{\pm}0.3mm$ and $2.2{\pm}0.2mm$ for scions and $3.1{\pm}0.7mm$ and $3.6{\pm}0.3mm$ for rootstocks, respectively. The grafting failure was occurred when the different height between scions and rootstocks were over 4 mm and below 2 mm due to the small contact area of both cutting surface. Therefore, it was found that the height difference at the cutting surface of 3 mm is appropriate. This study also found that grafting failure was occurred when the stem diameters of both scions and rootstocks were thin. Therefore, it was suggested to use at least one stem with thicker than the average stem diameter. Field survey on the cutting angle of stems by hand were ranged from 13 to 55 degree for scions and 15 to 67 degree for rootstocks, respectively, which indicates that this could cause the grafting failure problem. However, the automatic grafting robot developed in this study rotates the seedlings 90 degree and then the stems are cut using a cutting blade. The control part of robot use all images taken from grafting process to determine the distance between a center of both ends of stem and a gripper center and then control the rotation angle of a gripper. Overall, this study found that The performance of automatic grafting robot using image recognition technique was superior with the grafting success rates of cucumber and tomato as $96{\pm}3.2%$ and $95{\pm}4%$, respectively.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.36 no.8
• /
• pp.559-565
• /
• 2003

By improving the flow pattern in Fontan circuit, total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC) could result in a better outcome than atriopulmonary connection Fontan operation. For the patients with impaired hemodynamics after atriopulmonary Fontan connection, conversion to TCPC can be expected to bring hemodynamic and functional improvement. We studied the results of the revision of the previous Fontan connection to TCPC in patients with failed Fontan circulation. Material and method: From October1979 to June 2002, eight patients who had failed Fontan circulation, underwent revision of previous Fontan operation to TCPC at Yonsei University Hospital. Intracardiac anomalies of the patients were tricuspid atresia (n=4) and other functional single ventricles (n=4). Mean age at TCPC conversion was 14.0$\pm$7.0 years (range, 4.6~26.2 years) and median interval between initial Fontan operation and TCPC was 7.5 years (range, 2.4~14.3 years). All patients had various degree of symptoms and signs of right heart failure. NYHA functional class was 111 or IV in six patients. Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (n:f), cyanosis (n=2), intraatrial thrombi (n=2), and protein losing enteropathy (PLE) (n=3) were also combined. The previous Fontan operation was revised to extracardiac conduit placement (n=7) and intraatrial lateral tunnel (n=1). Result: There was no operative death. Major morbidities included deep sternal infection (n=1), prolonged pleural effusion over two weeks (n=1), and temporary junctional lachyarrhythrnia (n=1). Postoperative central venous Pressure was lower than the preoperative value (17.9$\pm$3.5 vs. 14.9$\pm$1.0, p=0.049). Follow-up was complete in all patients and extended to 50,1 months (mean, 30.3$\pm$ 12.8 months). There was no late death. All patients were in NYHA class 1 or 11. Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia developed in a patient who underwent conversion to intraatrial lateral tunnel procedure, PLE was recurred in two patients among three patients who had had PLE before the convertsion. There was no newly developed PLE. Conclusion: Hemodynamic and functional improvement could be expected for the patients with Fontan circulatory failure after atriopulmonary connection by revision of their previous circulation to TCPC. The conversion could be performed with low risk of morbidity and mortality.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.154-163
• /
• 1995

With the development of anticancer chemotherapy and improved radiographic imaging studies, limb salvage operation became possible in the treatment of malignant and aggressive benign tumors. High grade sarcomas of the shoulder or the upper extremity can be surgically treated with a forequarter amputation, shoulder disarticulation or limb salvage surgery such as Tikhoff-Linberg procedure, segmental resection and replacement with endoprosthesis, segmental resection and replantation, or segmental resection and free vascularized bone graft. Among them the limb salvage surgery showed not only preservation of the remained upper extremity but also the excellent functional results. When comparing amputation and limb salvage operation while performing anticancer chemotherapy in both cases, 5 year survival rate, local recurrence, and distant metastasis did not show much difference. We studied 13 cases of limb salvage for the malignant and aggressive benign bone tumor of the upper extremity from March 1986 to December 1993 at Severance hospital. The summarized results were as follows. 1. There were 21 cases of malignant bone tumors and 5 cases of benign aggressive ones. 2. Of the 26 cases of malignant and benign aggressive bone tumors, limb salvage procedures such as Tikhoff-Linberg operation(8 cases), endoprosthetic replacement(2 cases), segmental resection and replantation(2 cases), and segmental resection and free vascularized fibular graft(l case) were done in 13 cases. 3. In 13 patient on whom the limb salvage procedure was performed, there were 3 osteosarcomas, 4 chondrosarcomas, 3 giant cell tumors, 1 Ewing's sarcoma, 1 leiomyosarcoma and 1 chondroblastoma. 4. In 13 patients, there was no local recurrence nor distant metastasis except one who had a segmental resection of the entire humerus part including glenoid and then postoperative anticancer chemotherapy for the treatment of the Ewing's sarcoma of the entire shaft of the humerus with pathological fracture. Local recurrence occurred 2 years and 6 months postoperatively in this Ewing's sarcoma patient, so forequarter amputation was performed and the irradiation and the anticancer chemontherapy were performed, but multiple bony metastasis developed and died of the disease 22 months after local recurrence. 5. The patients were followed-up for I year to 7 years and 5 months(average 4 years 5 months). 6. In 8 cases in which Tikhoff-Linberg procedure was performed, the function of the hand was almost normal. 7. Segmental resection and endoprosthetic replacement was performed in 2 cases, and the function of the remained upper extremity was good with no evidence of aseptic loosening or nerve palsy. 8. In 1 case of segmental resection and free vascularized fibular graft for the patient of the chon drosarcoma in the humerus, the function of the shoulder, elbow and hand was nearly normal. 9. In I case of leiomyosarcoma which involved both forearm muscles and bone near wrist joint, segmental resection and replantation was performed, and the patient has useful hand function.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.38 no.3 s.248
• /
• pp.214-220
• /
• 2005

Extended transseptal approach can provide an excellent view of the mitral valve but the safety of this approach is controversial because this incision requires transaction of the sinus node artery, which in most cases and can result postoperative arrhythmia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate perioperative and longterm conduction disturbances and the cardiac rhythms of patients who underwent an extended transseptal approach for mitral valve surgery. Material and Method: Postoperative cardiac rhythms were analyzed in the 164 consecutive patients who received mitral valve replacements with a extended transseptal approach between March 1992 and July 2003. Result: Of the 84 patients in normal sinus rhythm, 34 ($39\%$) had developed transient junctional rhythm and atrial fibrillation after operation, lasting less than 72 hours in most of cases. No intractable arrhythmias occurred. Most of these arrhythmia were not detected at the time of discharge and only 8 patients ($9\%$) had atrial fibrillation at discharge. Postoperative PR intervals increased for 1 week, then decreased within 2 weeks postoperatively, and returned to normal range by 6 months postoperatively. During the postoperative period, 4 of the 78 patients with preoperative atrial fibrillation developed normal sinus thythm. Conclusion: The post-operative arrhythmias were temporary and showed no significant complications after extended transseptal approach for the mitral valve surgery.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.267-274
• /
• 2008

There are many kinds of anti-oxidant materials in natural plant resources. The Siberian ginseng and Eucommia are well known as anti-oxidant and medicinal plants. To investigate the effect of their anti-oxidant-like activity on telomere quantity and egg quality, diets containing Siberian ginseng leaf and Eucommia leaf at 0.5% and 1% were given Hyline Brown commercial laying hens during two periods of age: 20 to 30 wks and 60 to 70 wks. The amount of telomere in lymphocyte, liver, ovary, heart and lung was analyzed by quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization using telomeric DNA probe. Egg weight, albumin height, Haugh unit, egg yolk color, egg shell color, egg shell thickness, egg shell weight and egg shell density were measured to analyze egg quality. The chickens consuming diets Siberian ginseng and Eucommia had higher telomeric DNA in lymphocytes than control chickens in younger layers whereas no significant differences were detected in all target cells analyzed from older layers. Egg quality was increased in younger hens with dietary supplementation as determined by egg weight, albumin height and Haugh unit but there were no effects in older hens. These results imply that dietary supplementation of Siberian ginseng and Eucommia in layers improves bio-activity and egg quality at early laying stage.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.52 no.1
• /
• pp.87-92
• /
• 2009

Purpose : Many gene polymorphisms are associated with coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease. Catechol-O- methyltransferase (COMT) plays an important role in the metabolism of catecholamines, catechol estrogen, and catechol drugs. Polymorphisms of the COMT gene are reported to be associated with myocardial infarction and coronary artery abnormalities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between COMT gene polymorphisms and coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease patients. Methods : One hundred and one Korean children with Kawasaki disease and 306 healthy Korean control subjects were enrolled in this study. The polymorphisms of the COMT gene were analyzed by direct sequencing. Results : There were no differences in the genotype and allelic frequency of the rs4680 and rs769224 polymorphic sites between Kawasaki disease and control subjects. Further, no significant difference was found in the rs4680 polymorphism between patients with coronary artery abnormalities and patients without coronary artery abnormalities (codominant P=0.32, dominant P=0.74, recessive P=0.13). However, the distribution of the rs769224 polymorphism was significantly different between patients with coronary artery abnormalities and patients without coronary artery abnormalities (codominant P= 0.0077, dominant P=0.0021, recessive P=0.16). Conclusion : Our results indicate that the polymorphisms of the rs769224 gene might be related to the development of coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.39 no.6_2
• /
• pp.1635-1650
• /
• 2023

Under global warming, the steadily increasing sea surface temperature (SST) severely impacts marine ecosystems,such as the productivity decrease and change in marine species distribution. Recently, the catch of Todarodes Pacificus, one of South Korea's primary marine resources, has dramatically decreased. In this study, we analyze the marine environment that affects the formation of fishing grounds of Todarodes Pacificus and develop seasonal habitat suitability index (HSI) models based on various satellite data including Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) data to continuously manage fisheries resources over Korean exclusive economic zone. About 83% of catches are found within the range of SST of 14.11-26.16℃,sea level height of 0.56-0.82 m, chlorophyll-a concentration of 0.31-1.52 mg m^-3, and primary production of 580.96-1574.13 mg C m^-2 day^-1. The seasonal HSI models are developed using the Arithmetic Mean Model, which showed the best performance. Comparing the developed HSI value with the 2019 catch data, it is confirmed that the HSI model is valid because the fishing grounds are formed in different sea regions by season (East Sea in winter and Yellow Sea in summer) and the high HSI (> 0.6) concurrences to areas with the high catch. In addition, we identified the significant increasing trend in SST over study regions, which is highly related to the formation of fishing grounds of Todarodes Pacificus. We can expect the fishing grounds will be changed by accelerating ocean warming in the future. Continuous HSI monitoring is necessary to manage fisheries' spatial and temporal distribution.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.21-26
• /
• 2010

As the causative agent of Anthrax, Bacillus anthracis causes an acute fatal disease in herbivores such as cattle, sheep, and horses as well as humans. The therapeutics and prevention of anthrax currently available are based on antibiotics and the live attenuated vaccine strains, which may be problematic due to the emergency of antibiotic resistant strains or residual virulence in those vaccine strains. Therefore, it has been required to develop novel therapeutics and vaccines which are safer and applicable to humans. Recently, the development of the multivalent vaccine targeting both spores and vegetative cells of B. anthracis along with anthrax toxin has been reported. In our attempts to screen potential candidates for those multivalent vaccines, the whole genomic expression library of B. anthracis was constructed in this study. To the end, the partial digests of the genomic DNA from B. anthracis (ATCC 14578) with Sau3AI were ligated with the inducible pET30abc expression vectors, resulting in approximately $1{\times}10^5$ clones in E. coli BL21(DE3). The redundancy test by DNA nucleotide sequencing was performed for the randomly selected 111 clones and found 56 (50.5%) B. anthracis genes, 17 (15.3%) vector sequences, and 38 (34.2%) unknown genes with no sequence homology by BLAST. An inducible expression of the recombinant proteins was confirmed by Western blot. Interestingly, some clones could react with the antiserum against B. anthracis. These results imply that the whole genomic library constructed in this study can be applied for analyzing the immunomes of B. anthracis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.556-560
• /
• 1999

Background: The cause of spontaneous pneumothorax is not yet but it is certain that intrathoracic air comes from ruptured bulla. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery(VATS) or open thoracotomy is recommended for thoracic incision in recurrent pneumothorax. However, recurrent rate after bullectomy with the VATS is very high compared to mini-thoracotomy, 3% to 20% and below 2%, respectively. Material and Method: This retrospective analysis was performed on 16 re-operated cases among 446 surgically treated pneumothorax of the 737 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax diagnosed at Yongdong Severance Hospital from Nov. 1992 to June 1997. Result: Among the 446 surgically-treated patients in 737 case of spontaneous pneumothorax, 16 patients underwent re-operation, showing a 3.5% re-operation rate. Male-to-female ratio was 15 to 1 and mean age at initial attack was 20.2 years(ranging from 15 to 50). Mean hospital stay was 6.34 days(ranging from 2 to 20 days) and mean chest tube indwelling period was 4.2 days(ranging from 1-10 days). Median follow-up was 46 months(range 10-66 months). Three different surgical methods were applied : video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery(VAST) in 281 cases, of whom 2 underwent local anesthesia; subaxillary mini-thoracotomy in 159 cases and limited lateral thoracotomy in the remaining 6 cases. Three different re-operative surgical methods were applied ; video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VAST) in 6 cases, subaxillary mini-thoracotomy in 9 cases, and limited lateral thoracotomy in the remaining 1 case. The underlying etiological factors of the recurrent pneumothorax after bullectomy were o erlooking type(9) and new growing type(7). Mean recurrent period from previous operation was 1 month for overlooking type and 18 months for new growing type. Conclusion: The underlying etiological factors of recurrent pneumothorax lead to re-operation were new-growing and over-looking type. We need additional treatments besides resecting blebs of prevent the recurrence rate and more gentle handling with forceps due to less damage to the pleura.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
• /
• v.49 no.3
• /
• pp.235-244
• /
• 2017

'Manbaek' is a bacterial blight resistant mid-late maturing rice cultivar with high grain quality. 'Manbeak' was derived from anther culture using the backcross combination, $Hopum^*2/SR30075$. 'Hopum' is a mid-late maturing rice cultivar with high grain quality and 'SR30075' is a pyramid line carrying three bacterial blight resistance genes. 'Manbaek' was selected through the pedigree method, yield trials, and local adaptability tests. 'Manbeak' carrying two bacterial blight resistance gene Xa3 and xa5 showed high-level and broad-spectrum resistance against bacterial blight. 'Manbaek' was resistant to K3a, mostly virulent race in Korea, and exhibited resistance reaction against 16 Korean bacterial blight isolates. 'Manbaek' was a mid-late maturing rice. The heading date of 'Manbaek' was August 19th, which was 5 days later than that of 'Nampyeong'. Manbaek' was a lodging-tolerant rice with short culm and dark green leaf. Due to the low viviparous germination, 'Manbaek' could be a useful material to prevent pre-harvest sprouting. 'Mabeak' was resistant to bacterial blight and rice stripe virus, but susceptible to other virus diseases and insect pests. The yield of 'Manbaek' was similar to 'Nampyeong'. 'Manbaek' showed excellent grain appearance and good tastes of cooked rice, so that it could contribute to improving the quality of bacterial blight resistant cultivars. 'Manbaek', bacterial blight resistant cultivar with high grain quality, is suitable for the cultivation at bacterial blight prone area and has been utilized in the breeding programs for enhancing the resistance against bacterial blight (Registration No. 6069).