• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.494-500
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• 2019

Objective: Feed consumption contributes a large percentage for total production costs in the poultry industry. Detecting genes associated with feeding traits will be of benefit to improve our understanding of the molecular determinants for feed efficiency. The objective of this study was to identify candidate genes associated with feed conversion ratio (FCR) via genomewide association study (GWAS) using sequence data imputed from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel in a Chinese indigenous chicken population. Methods: A total of 435 Chinese indigenous chickens were phenotyped for FCR and were genotyped using a 600K SNP genotyping array. Twenty-four birds were selected for sequencing, and the 600K SNP panel data were imputed to whole sequence data with the 24 birds as the reference. The GWAS were performed with GEMMA software. Results: After quality control, 8,626,020 SNPs were used for sequence based GWAS, in which ten significant genomic regions were detected to be associated with FCR. Ten candidate genes, ubiquitin specific peptidase 44, leukotriene A4 hydrolase, ETS transcription factor, R-spondin 2, inhibitor of apoptosis protein 3, sosondowah ankyrin repeat domain family member D, calmodulin regulated spectrin associated protein family member 2, zinc finger and BTB domain containing 41, potassium sodium-activated channel subfamily T member 2, and member of RAS oncogene family were annotated. Several of them were within or near the reported FCR quantitative trait loci, and others were newly reported. Conclusion: Results from this study provide valuable prior information on chicken genomic breeding programs, and potentially improve our understanding of the molecular mechanism for feeding traits.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.163-169
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• 2022

This study was conducted to examine an alternative cultivating method that uses coir substrates in a hydroponically cultured system. Three treatment conditions were applied with one-layer substrate (10 cm height) with a coir chip and dust ratio of 5:5 (Treatment A), two-layer coir substrate (20 cm height) with a coir chip and dust ratio of 5:5 (Treatment B), one-layer coir substrate (15 cm height) with a coir chip and dust ratio of 7:3 (Treatment C). The control condition was a plastic container filled with a coir chip and dust ratio of 5:5. Various criteria were measured and compared between the treatments and the control. The yield of strawberry was smaller in the control than in the treatments. No significant difference in growth characteristic was found in the height treatments of the coir substrates. The net photosynthetic rate of the treatments was 14.68-15.76 µmol CO₂·m^-2·s^-1. This does not show a statistically significant difference. The root activity was better in treatment B and C than in treatment A and the control. The length and width of leaves were measured as 4.04-4.13 cm and 3.26-3.34 cm. These results are not statistically significant. The leaf length and width ratio was 1.27 in the control and 1.24 in the treatments. The findings show that no statistically significant benefit was found when utilizing coir substrates with different height treatments in the hydroponic culture system. However, the harvested fruit per plant weights 72.38 g in treatment A and 48.69 g in treatment C. The number of harvested fruit was least in treatment C in which a coir chip and dust ratio of 7:3 was applied. Therefore, further research is needed to examine how the chip and dust ratio in coir substrate affects growth characteristics.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.369-375
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• 2005

Purpose : Many inborn errors of metabolism can be completely cured with early detection and early treatment. This is why neonatal screening on inborn errors of metabolism is implemented worldwide. In this study, a cost-benefit analysis was performed on the neonatal screening of phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism in Korea. Methods : This study included 2,908,231 neonates who took the neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism in Korea from January 1991 to December 2003. From those neonates, the incidence rates of phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism were measured. Furthermore, based on 495,000 babies born in 2002, were calculated and compared the total costs in case when neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism is implemented, and when not. Results : If the neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism is implemented, benefits far exceed costs at a ratio of 1.77 : 1 in phenylketonuria, and 11.11 : 1 in congenital hypothyroidism. In terms of wons, the present neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism will gain us more than 29 billion wons every year. Conclusion : This study only concerns the monetary aspects of the neonatal screening. Therefore, the benefits of the neonatal screening is underestimated by ignoring precious but not measurable values such as quality of life. However, the present neonatal screening on phenylketonuria and congenital hypothyroidism is found to be beneficial and should continue for the good of the nation as well as that of the patients.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6D
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• pp.771-778
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• 2011

Preliminary feasibility study on Busan metro line #1 in Yangsan line (Nopo-Bukjeong) depending on active volume of mass transportation between Yangsan city and Busan city was conducted. As the study concluded that it's valid, the necessity to establish the metro railroad network connecting to Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam Province is demanded to improve the transportation issues in Ungsang area vulnerable to metro service and to drive the balanced development between metropolitan cities. In addition, the volume of transportation depending on methods in target areas and road traffic assignment are surveyed to put a stress on the necessity to establish the metro railroad network. As the demand of transportation for alternative lines is predicted, the budget and benefits for construction for each alternative line set for the rough economic analysis depending on traffic volume for each method and traffic assignment results. The total project budget necessary for construction of proposal line #1 set as effective one among target three lines in this project is calculated in 794.32 billion won. Construction accounts for the most expensive in expenses for project and contingency allowances, purchases for vehicles and collateral expense are followed in orders. However, compensation for lands is not counted. In particular, according to economic analysis in proposal #1, ratio of benefit/cost (B/C) is 0.584, net present value (NPV) is -217.47 billion won, the internal rate of return (IRR) is analyzed in 0.604 %. At the current stage, it is not economically feasible, but the B/C is 0.737 in long-term upon construction of Yangsan line between Wolpheong and Yongdang which is proposal line #3. Therefore, when Busan metro basic plan is reorganized to aim the benefit of residents in Ungsang area vulnerable to the metro service, we think it must be necessary to establish the metro railroad network connecting to Busan-Yangsan-Ulsan which is proposal line #2 by extending the existing Sinjeong line and including this task line in high-ranked plan related to metro railroad.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.228-239
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• 2009

Purpose: 4DCT scans performed for radiotherapy were retrospectively analyzed to assess the possible benefits of respiratory gating in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and established the predictive factors for identifying patients who could benefit from this approach. Materials and Methods: Three treatment planning was performed for 15 patients with stage I~III NSCLC using different planning target volumes (PTVs) as follows: 1) PTVroutine, derived from the addition of conventional uniform margins to gross tumor volume (GTV) of a single bin, 2) PTVall phases (patient-specific PTV), derived from the composite GTV of all 6 bins of the 4DCT, and 3) PTVgating, derived from the composite GTV of 3 consecutive bins at end-exhalation. Results: The reductions in PTV were 43.2% and 9.5%, respectively, for the PTVall phases vs. PTVroutine and PTVgating vs. PTVall phases. Compared to PTVroutine, the use of PTVall phases and PTVgating reduced the mean lung dose (MLD) by 18.1% and 21.6%, and $V_{20}$ by 18.2% and 22.0%, respectively. Significant correlations were seen between certain predictive factors selected from the tumor mobility and volume analysis, such as the 3D mobility vector, the reduction in 3D mobility and PTV with gating, and the ratio of GTV overlap between 2 extreme bins and additional reductions in both MLD and $V_{20}$ with gating. Conclusion: The additional benefits with gating compared to the use of patient-specific PTV were modest; however, there were distinct correlations and differences according to the predictive factors. Therefore, these predictive factors might be useful for identifying patients who could benefit from respiratory-gated radiotherapy.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.87-130
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• 2015

In a case in which National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) pays medical care expenses to a victim of a traffic accident resulting in injury or death and asks the assailant for compensation of its share in the medical care expenses, as the precedent treats the subrogation of a claim set by National Health Insurance Act the same as that set by Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, it draws the range of its compensation from the range of deduction, according to the principle of deduction after offsetting and acknowledges the compensation of all medical care expenses borne by the NHIC, within the amount of compensation claimed by the victim. However, both the National Health Insurance Act and the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act are laws that regulate social insurance, but medical care expenses in the National Health Insurance Act have a character of 'an underinsurance that fixes the ratio of indemnification,' while insurance benefit on the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act has a character of full insurance, or focuses on helping the insured that suffered an industrial accident lead a life, approximate to that in the past, regardless of the amount of damages according to its character of social insurance. Therefore, there is no reason to treat the subrogation of a claim on the National Health Insurance Act the same as that on the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. Since the insured loses the right of claim acquired by the insurer by subrogation in return for receiving a receipt, there is no benefit from receiving insurance in the range. Thus, in a suit in which the insured seeks compensation for damages from the assailant, there is no room for the application of the legal principle of offset of profits and losses, and the range of subrogation of a claim or the amount of deduction from compensation should be decided by the contract between the persons directly involved or a related law. Therefore, it is not reasonable that the precedent draws the range of the NHIC's compensation from the principle of deduction after offsetting. To interpret Clause 1, Article 58 of the National Health Insurance Act that sets the range of the NHIC's compensation uniformly and systematically in combination with Clause 2 of the same article that sets the range of exemption, if the compensation is made first, it is reasonable to fix the range of the NHIC's compensation by multiplying the medical care expenses paid by the ratio of the assailant's liability. This is contrasted with the range of the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation's compensation which covers the total amount of the claim of the insured within the insurance benefit paid in the interpretation of Clauses 1 and 2, Article 87 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. In the meantime, there are doubts about why the profit should be deducted from the amount of compensation claimed, though it is enough for the principle of deduction after offsetting that the precedent took as the premise in judging the range of the NHIC's compensation to deduct the profit made by the victim from the amount of damages, so as to achieve the goal of not attributing profit more than the amount of damage to a victim; whether it is reasonable to attribute all the profit made by the victim to the assailant, while the damages suffered by the victim are distributed fairly; and whether there is concrete validity in actual cases. Therefore, the legal principle of the precedent concerning the range of the NHIC's compensation and the legal principle of the precedent following the principle of deduction after offsetting should be reconsidered.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.599-604
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• 2007

Purpose: Blowout fractures of the orbit are common sequelae to blunt facial trauma and now increasing in number due to automobile accidents, violence and industrial disasters. There are some reports of diagnosis and treatment of this fracture, but detailed data provided in overall aspects are very few. We analysed extensive data to provide guide line of blowout fracture patients care. Methods: We retrospectively studied 387 orbital blowout fracture patients who had been followed up at least 3-6 months. Their hospital records were reviewed according to causes, fracture site, operation methods, and follow up results, etc. Results: The ratio of males to females was 7 : 3 and fractures were most often seen in the 20-29 age group. 180(47%) patients had medial orbital wall fractures, 155(40%) patients had floor fractures and 52(13%) patients had a combination of orbital floor and medial wall fractures. The highest associated bone fracture was the nasal bone(37%). The open reduction was done in the 324 patients(83.7%) and insertion materials were used in the 249 patients(77%). Total 45 patients(14%) complained of residual diplopia and 26 patients(8%) kept mild enophthalmos. 24 patients(7%) showed some restriction of extraocular muscle movements. Conclusion: We broadly surveyed the information of blow out fracture patients and believe that this study provides important prognostic information that can be of benefit to both patient and surgeon during preoperative counseling and postoperative analysis of orbital blowout fractures.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.191-199
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• 2012

Rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS), one of measures for on site rainwater management, have been promoted by laws, regulations and guidelines and have been increased. However, more evaluation of economic feasibility on RWHS is still needed due to seasonal imbalance of rainfall and little experiences and analysis on design and operation of RWHS. In this study, we investigated tank capacity of RWHS to secure economic validity considering catchment area and water demand, which is affected by building scale. Moreover, sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the effect of design factors, cost items and increase rate of water service charge on economic feasibility. The BCR (benefit cost ratio) is proportional to the increase in tank capacity. It is increased steeply in small tank capacity due to the effect of cost and, since then, gently in middle and large tank capacity. In case of 0.05 in the rate of tank volume to catchment area and 0.005 in water demand to catchment area, BCR was over one from the tank capacity of 160 $m^{3}$ taking into account of private benefits and from the tank capacity of 100 $m^{3}$ taking into account of private and public benefits. Sensitivity analysis shows that increase of water demand can improve BCR values with little cost so that it is needed to extend application of rainwater use and select a proper range of design factor. Decrease of construction and maintenance cost reduced the tank volume to secure economic validity. Finally, increase rate of water service charge had considerable impact on economic feasibility.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2020

Precast concrete elements in accelerated bridge construction (ABC) extends from superstructure to substructure, precast pile foundation has proven a benefit for regions with fragile ecological environment and adverse geological condition. There is still a lack of knowledge of the seismic behavior and performance of the precast pile foundation. In this study, a 1/8 scaled model of precast pile foundation with elevated cap is fabricated for quasi-static test. The failure mechanism and responses of the precast pile-soil interaction system are analyzed. It is shown that damage occurs primarily in precast pile-soil interaction system and the bridge pier keeps elastic state because of its relatively large cross-section designed for railways. The vulnerable part of the precast pile with elevated cap is located at the embedded section, but no plastic hinge forms along the pile depth under cyclic loading. Hysteretic curves show no significant strength degradation but obvious stiffness degradation throughout the loading process. The energy dissipation capacity of the precast pile-soil interaction system is discussed by using index of the equivalent viscous damping ratio. It can be found that the energy dissipation capacity decreases with the increase of loading displacement due to the unyielding pile reinforcements and potential pile uplift. It is expected to promote the use of precast pile foundation in accelerated bridge construction (ABC) of railways designed in seismic regions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1455-1459
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• 2014

We report a sensitive and reliable FRET-based nanotechnology assay for efficient detection and quantification of bisulfite-unmodified or modified DNA. Bisulfite-untreated DNA or bisulfite-treated DNA is subjected to PCR amplification with biotin-conjugated primers so that the amounts of bisulfite-untreated and treated DNA can be differentiated. Streptavidin-coated quantum dots (QDs) are used to capture biotinylated PCR products intercalated with SYBR Green, enabling FRET measurement. Key features of our method include its low intrinsic background noise, high resolution, and high sensitivity, enabling detection of as little as 1.75 ng of bisulfite-untreated DNA in the presence of an approximately 1,000-fold excess of bisulfite-untreated DNA compared to bisulfate-treated DNA, with the use of PCR reduced (as low as 15 cycles). SYBR Green as an intercalating dye as well as a FRET acceptor allows for a single-step preparation without the need for primers or probes to be chemically conjugated to an organic fluorophore. Multiple acceptors per FRET donor significantly enhance the signal-to-noise ratio as well. In consideration of the high relevance of bisulfite treatment to DNA methylation quantitation, our system for FRET measurement between QDs and intercalating dyes can be generally utilized to analyze DNA methylation and to potentially benefit the scientific and clinical community.