• Clinical and Molecular Hepatology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.392-401
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• 2018

Background/Aims: Leptin is associated with metabolic disorders, which predispose one to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The role of leptin in NAFLD pathogenesis is not fully understood. We aim to investigate the association between serum leptin level and severity of NAFLD using U.S. nationally representative data. Methods: Data were obtained from the United States Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. NAFLD was defined by ultrasound detection and severity of hepatic steatosis in the absence of other liver diseases. The severity of hepatic fibrosis was determined by NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS). We used multivariate survey-weighted generalized logistic regression to evaluate the association between leptin level and the degree of NAFLD. We also performed subgroup analyses by body mass index (lean vs. classic NAFLD). Results: Among 4,571 people, 1,610 (35%) had NAFLD. By ultrasound findings, there were 621 people with mild, 664 with moderate, and 325 with severe steatosis. There were 885 people with low NFS (<-1.455, no significant fibrosis), 596 with intermediate NFS, and 129 with high NFS (>0.676, advanced fibrosis). Leptin levels for normal, mild, moderate and severe steatosis were $10.7{\pm}0.3ng/mL$, $12.1{\pm}0.7ng/mL$, $15.6{\pm}0.8ng/mL$, $16{\pm}1.0ng/mL$, respectively (trend P-value<0.001). Leptin levels for low, intermediate, and high NFS were $11.8{\pm}0.5ng/mL$, $15.6{\pm}0.8ng/mL$, $28.5{\pm}3.5ng/mL$, respectively (trend P-value<0.001). This association remained significant even after adjusting for known demographic and metabolic risk factors. In the subgroup analysis, this association was only prominent in classic NAFLD, but not in lean NAFLD. Conclusions: Serum leptin level is associated with the severity of NAFLD, especially in classic NAFLD patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10217-10223
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• 2015

Hyperactivated ${\alpha}2$-6-sialylation on N-glycans due to overexpression of the Golgi enzyme ${\beta}$-galactoside: ${\alpha}2$-6-sialyltransferase (ST6Gal-I) often correlates with cancer progression, metastasis, and poor prognosis. This study was aimed to determine the association between ST6Gal-I expression and the risk of recurrence and survival of patients with localized clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) following surgery. We retrospectively enrolled 391 patients (265 in training cohort and 126 in validation cohort) with localized ccRCC underwent nephrectomy at a single center. Tissue microarrays were constructed for immunostaining of ST6Gal-I. Prognostic value and clinical outcomes were evaluated. High ST6Gal-I expression was associated with Fuhrman grade (p<0.001 and p=0.016, respectively) and the University of California Los-Angeles Integrated Staging System (UISS) score (p=0.004 and p=0.017, respectively) in both cohorts. Patients with high ST6Gal-I expression had significantly worse overall survival (OS) (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) and recurrence free survival (RFS) (p<0.001 and p=0.002, respectively) than those with low expression in both cohorts. On multivariate analysis, ST6Gal-I expression remained associated with OS and RFS even after adjusting for the UISS score. Stratified analysis suggested that the association is more pronounced among patients with low and intermediate-risk disease defined by the UISS score. High ST6Gal-I expression is a potential independent adverse predictor of survival and recurrence in ccRCC patients, and the prognostic value is most prominent in those with low and intermediate-risk disease defined by the UISS score.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.1445-1453
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• 2013

The scale-up criterion of constant oxygen mass transfer coefficient ($k_La$) was applied for the production of itaconic acid (IA) in a 50 L pilot-scale fermentor by the fungal cells of Aspergillus terreus. Various operating conditions were examined to collect as many $k_La$ data as possible by adjusting the stirring speed and aeration rate in both 5 L and 50 L fermentor systems. In the fermentations performed with the 5 L fermentor, the highest IA production was obtained under the operating conditions of 200 rpm and 1.5 vvm. Accordingly, we intended to find out parallel agitation and aeration rates in the 50 L fermentor system, under which the $k_La$ value measured was almost identical to that ($0.02sec^{-1}$) of the 5 L system. The conditions of 180 rpm and 0.5 vvm in the 50 L system turned out to be optimal for providing almost the same volumetric amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) into the fermentor, without causing shear damage to the producing cells due to excessive agitation. Practically identical fermentation physiologies were observed in both fermentations performed under those respective operating conditions, as demonstrated by nearly the same values of volumetric ($Q_p$) and specific ($q_p$) IA production rates, IA production yield ($Y_{p/s}$), and specific growth rate (${\mu}$). Specifically, the negligible difference of the specific growth rate (${\mu}$) between the two cultures (i.e., $0.029h^{-1}$ vs. $0.031h^{-1}$) was notable, considering the fact that ${\mu}$ normally has a significant influence on $q_p$ in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites such as itaconic acid.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.3-18
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• 2013

This paper investigates the possibility of expanding pay-for-performance (P4P) program as a provider payment system, in terms of financial, economical, and political sustainability. In order to expand the sustainable P4P, P4P should have usefulness in terms of economic value as well as efficiency in the financial aspects of health care. More importantly, the P4P would be politically sustainable only when both providers and consumers can accept. Korea's healthcare system seems to have logical ground for the P4P program financially and economically. However, how well the P4P can work remains to be proven in its implementation. After 43 tertiary hospitals applied the P4P program for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and C-section in 2007, the number of hospitals adopting the P4P program for AMI and C-section has increased to 316 in 2011, and an incentive for hospitals applying the P4P has risen to 2% from 1% of health insurance benefits. This shows that the P4P program introduced by Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service is quite successful. In addition, people are aware of the need for improved P4P program and policy alternatives have been already made. Therefore, it is very important to come up with politically supportable strategies that can make providers and consumers accept the P4P program while maintaining the governance of the existing health insurance policy. To this end, there are some tasks to be considered. First, the expansion of the P4P program should be placed on the agenda of the Health Insurance Policy Review Committee, the highest decision-making body, and a separate agency for P4P planning should be established. Second, for more efficient P4P program, the processes of review and assessment, currently carried out separately, should be integrated into a single process. Third, infrastructure to measure the quality of medical services should be sharply expanded. Fourth, the current paradigm for the assessment should be changed. Lastly, a P4P program for consumers should be considered. Given that the consumers in Korea can use medical services freely, the National Health Insurance Corporation could initiate the P4P program for consumers as a means of controlling excessive use of medical services and adjusting consumer's moral hazard.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.8
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• pp.1115-1119
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• 2013

The carbon nanotube/poly-vinylidene fluoride (CNT/PVDF) composite films for the use of electronic devices were fabricated by spray coating method using the CNT/PVDF solution, which was prepared by adding PVDF pellets into the CNT dispersed N-Methyl-2-pyrroli-done (NMP) solution. The CNT/PVDF composite films were peeled off from the glass substrate and were investigated by the scanning electron microscopy, which revealed that the CNTs were uniformly dispersed in the PVDF films and thickness of the films were approximately $20{\mu}m$. The capacitance of the CNT/PVDF films increased dramatically by adding CNTs into the PVDF matrix, and finally saturated approximately 1880 pF. However, the I-V curves didn't show any saturation effect in the CNT concentration range of 0 ~ 0.04 wt%. Therefore we can control the performance of the devices from the CNT/PVDF composite film by adjusting the current level resulted from the CNT concentration with the uniform capacitance value.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.360-366
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• 2012

There have been many studies to find out association between the face characteristics and some diseases or the personality and the health state, but there have been few association studies between the face characteristics and the yin/yang personality. We would like to suggest that the yin/yang personality is associated with the face characteristics. We collected 1,471 subjects from the February, 2008 to July, 2010. We divided into three groups of subjects by a yin/yang personality score and analyzed the face characteristics after adjusting for age. The Analysis of Covariance and Scheffe test was conducted to certify the difference among three groups. P-value for significance was under 0.05. The significant face characteristics were SH36 in men, and FD50_51, SH36, FArea04, FAreaRatio4, FR01, FR05 in women. There is some association between the face characteristics and the yin/yang personality.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

The process of electromembrane transformation of L-lysine monohydrochlorides into their zwitterionic form in four- and two-chamber electrodialysis apparatus was investigated. The process of transformation at various concentrations of lysine monohydrochloride (0.1-0.6 mol.L-1) was studied and it was established that at the optimum density of current optimal concentrations of lysine hydrochloride during electrodyalisis was in the range of 0.2-0.4 mol.L-1. It was determined that the process of total transformation was accomplished when pH of the lysine solution achieved 10. Changes of concentrations of $Cl^-$ ions and lysine diffused into the neighboring chamber were determined depending on the time. The method developed by us allows adjusting the removal coefficient of $Cl^-$ ions during transformation to a maximal value, the losses of lysine diffused into the next chamber after its return to the technological cycle being less than 1.0 %. The specific energy consumption during the process of transformation in two- and four-chamber electrodialyzers was 0.19 and 0.205 A.h.kg-1 and the current efficiency was 75.9 and 73.1 %, correspondingly. Study of the process of electromembrane transformation allowed obtaining zwitterionic form of L-lysine from L-lysine monohydrochloride with minimal reagent and energy consumption.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.2358-2366
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• 2013

Iron oxide (ferrihydrite, hematite, and magnetite) coated silica gels were prepared using a low-cost, easily-scalable and straightforward method as the adsorbent material for arsenic removal application. Adsorption of the anionic form of arsenic oxyacids, arsenite ($AsO^{2-}$) and arsenate ($AsO{_4}^{3-}$), onto hematite coated silica gel was fitted against non-linear 3-parameter-model Sips isotherm and 2-parameter-model Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm. Adsorption kinetics of arsenic could be well described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model and value of adsorption energy derived from non-linear Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm suggests chemical adsorption. Although arsenic adsorption process was not affected by the presence of sulfate, chloride, and nitrate anions, as expected, bicarbonate and silicate gave moderate negative effects while the presence of phosphate anions significantly inhibited adsorption process of both arsenite and arsenate. When the actual efficiency to remove arsenic was tested against 1 L of artificial arsenic-contaminated groundwater (0.6 mg/L) in the presence competing anions, the reasonable amount (20 g) of hematite coated silica gel could reduce arsenic concentration to below the WHO permissible safety limit of drinking water of $10{\mu}g/L$ without adjusting pH and temperature, which would be highly advantageous for practical field application.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.519-530
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• 2015

The geometric chart has proven more effective than Shewhart p or np charts to monitor the proportion nonconforming in high-quality processes. Implementing a geometric chart commonly requires the assumption that the in-control proportion nonconforming is known or accurately estimated. However, accurate parameter estimation is very difficult and may require a larger sample size than that available in practice in high-quality process where the proportion of nonconforming items is very small. Thus, the error in the parameter estimation increases and may lead to deterioration in the performance of the control chart if a sample size is inadequate. We suggest adjusting the control limits in order to improve the performance when a sample size is insufficient to estimate the parameter. We propose a linear function for the adjustment constant, which is a function of the sample size, the number of nonconforming items in a sample, and the false alarm rate. We also compare the performance of the geometric charts without and with adjustment using the expected value of the average run length (ARL) and the standard deviation of the ARL (SDARL).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.1075-1079
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• 1999

Adult German cross $(German{\times}British{\times}Russian)$ angora rabbits (one year age), 32 in number were divided randomly into four groups $(T_1-T_4)$ with equal sex ratio and fed diets containing $T_1$ groundnut cake (GNC); $T_3$, soyaflakes (SF); $T_4$, sunflower cake (SFC) and $T_2$, a mixture of all the three cakes along with green forage as roughage for a period of 9 months. Nine per cent protein was added from each protein source. Fibre level was maintained by adjusting the level of rice phak in the diets. The diets were iso-nitrogenous and contained similar level of fibre. DMI through roughage was not affected due to source of protein in the diet, however, DMI through concentrate was higher $(p{\leq}0.05)$ with SFC diet, which resulted in higher total feed intake in the group $(T_4)$. Body weights increased up to second shearing, thereafter it decreased due to summer depression. Diet containing soyaflakes sustained higher wool yield whereas, it was lowest $(p{\leq}0.05)$ on SFC diet. Wool attributes (staple length, medullation, fibre diameter) were not affected due to source of protein in the diet. Digestibility of fibre and its fractions (ADF, cellulose, hemicellulose) decreased $(p{\leq}0.05)$ with incorporation of SFC in the diets. Balance of calcium was lowest whereas, that of nitrogen was highest with SFC diet $(T_4)$. Biological value of N and net protein utilization was better when different protein sources were mixed together $(T_2)$. Protein quality of soyaflakes proved better for wool production followed by groundnut cake and mixture of three protein sources. Sunflower cake alone or in combination decreased wool production which may be checked by supplementation of amino acids and energy.