• Strategy21
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• s.37
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• pp.193-241
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• 2015

China, Japan and Korea are the world's top 10 energy consumers, and so very interested in the development of seabed hydrocarbon resources in order to meet their energy demands. The East China Sea is the tri-junction area where three countries' entitlements on the maritime boundaries are overlapped. There are abundant oil reserves in the East China Sea, and therefore competitions among countries are growing to get control of them. Although these countries have concluded the bilateral agreements to jointly develop resources in the East China Sea, they do not function as well. Because joint development and management of seabed petroleum resources can lead to stable development system, and to lower possibility of legal and political disputes, the needs for joint development agreement among three countries are urgent. Meanwhile, Northeast Asian seas are semi-closed seas, which are geographically closed and vulnerable to marine pollution. Moreover there are a lot of nuclear power plants in coastal area, and seabed petroleum resources are being developed. So it is likely to occur nuclear and oil spill accidents. Fukushima nuclear disaster and Bohai Bay oil spill accident in 2011 are the cases to exhibit the potential of major marine pollution accidents in this area. It is anticipated that the risks become higher because power plants and offshore oil platforms are extending gradually. Therefore, the ways to seek the joint marine environmental protection agreement focused on regulation of nuclear power plant and offshore oil platform have to be considered. In this paper, we try to find the way to make joint development and joint environmental protection agreement in Northeast Asian seas. We concentrate on the measure to drive joint development of seabed petroleum deposits in East China Sea's overlap area, despite of maritime delimitation and territorial disputes, and we try to drive joint marine environmental protection system to respond to marine pollution and accidents due to offshore oil platform and nuclear power plants. Through these consideration, we seek solutions to deal with lack of energy, disputes of maritime territorial and boundary delimitation, and marine pollution in Northeast Asia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2979-2982
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• 2016

Background: High dose ionizing radiation can induce ovarian cancer, but the effect of low dose radiation on the development of ovarian cancer has not been extensively studied. We evaluated the effect of low dose radiation and total background radiation, and the radiation delivered to the ovaries during the treatment of rectosigmoid cancer and breast cancer on ovarian cancer incidence. Materials and Methods: Background radiation measurements are from Assessment of Variations in Radiation Exposure in the United States, 2011. Ovarian cancer incidence data are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) of ovarian cancer following breast cancer and rectosigmoid cancer are from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data. Obesity data by US state are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mean ages of US state populations are from the United States Census Bureau. Results: We calculated standardized incidence ratios (SIR) from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, which reveal that in 194,042 cases of breast cancer treated with beam radiation, there were 796 cases of ovarian cancer by 120+ months of treatment (0.41%); in 283, 875 cases of breast cancer not treated with radiation, there were 1,531 cases of ovarian cancer by 120+ months (0.54%). The difference in ovarian cancer incidence in the two groups was significant (p < 0.001, two tailed Fisher exact test). The small dose of scattered ovarian radiation (about 3.09 cGy) from beam radiation to the breast appears to have reduced the risk of ovarian cancer by 24%. In 13,099 cases of rectal or rectosigmoid junction cancer treated with beam radiation in the SEER data, there were 20 cases of ovarian cancer by 120+ months of treatment (0.15%). In 33,305 cases of rectal or rectosigmoid junction cancer not treated with radiation, there were 91 cases of ovarian cancer by 120+ months (0.27%). The difference in ovarian cancer incidence in the two groups was significant (p = 0.017, two tailed Fisher exact test). In other words, the beam radiation to rectum and rectosigmoid that also reached the ovaries reduced the risk of ovarian cancer by 44%. In addition, there was a significant inverse relationship between ovarian cancer in white women and radon background radiation (r = - 0.465. p = 0.002) and total background radiation (r = -0.456, p = 0.002). Because increasing age and obesity are risk factors for ovarian cancer, multivariate linear regression was performed. The inverse relationship between ovarian cancer incidence and radon background was significant (${\beta}=-0.463$, p = 0.002) but unrelated to age (${\beta}=-0.080$, p = 0.570) or obesity (${\beta}=-0.180$, p = 0.208). Conclusions: The reduction of ovarian cancer risk following low dose radiation may be the result of radiation hormesis. Hormesis is a favorable biological response to low toxin exposure. A pollutant or toxin demonstrating hormesis has the opposite effect in small doses as in large doses. In the case of radiation, large doses are carcinogenic. However, lower overall cancer rates are found in U.S. states with high impact radiation. Moreover, there is reduced lung cancer incidence in high radiation background US states where nuclear weapons testing was done. Women at increased risk of ovarian cancer have two choices. They may be closely followed (surveillance) or undergo immediate prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. However, the efficacy of surveillance is questionable. Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy is considered preferable, although it carries the risk of surgical complications. The data analysis above suggests that low-dose pelvic irradiation might be a good third choice to reduce ovarian cancer risk. Further studies would be worthwhile to establish the lowest optimum radiation dose.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2014

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture and explore the appropriate number of treatment for postmenopausal women diagnosed with prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension. Methods : A 4-arm randomized open label pilot trial will be performed at 2 centers. Sixty participants will be divided into 2 treatment groups and 2 control groups. Treatment groups will receive acupuncture at 8 points(bilateral GB20, LI11, ST36, SP6) for 4 weeks(treatment group A, 10 total sessions) or 8 weeks(treatment group B, 20 total sessions), while maintaining usual care. Control groups will not receive acupuncture but will be under usual care for 16 weeks(control group C) or 20 weeks(control group D). Each patient's living habits will be corrected and drugs that may affect blood pressure(BP) will be prohibited. Treatment group A and control group C will be evaluated at 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after randomization, while treatment group B and control group D will be evaluated at 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks after randomization. The major outcome variable is the magnitude of change in diastolic BP levels at 4 weeks after randomization; auxiliary outcome variables are (1) diastolic BP change at 8, 16, and 20 weeks, (2) systolic BP change, (3) BP control rate, (4) lipid profiles, and (5) high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Patient safety will be assessed at every visit. Results and Conclusions : The study findings may help develop evidence for the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for BP control.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.18-44
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• 2017

Purpose: The object of this study was to observe the anti-climacterium activity of Gagamguibiondam-tang (GGOT) on ovariectomized (OVX) rats, a well-documented rodent models resembles with women postmenopausal climacterium symptoms, as including cardiovascular diseases, obesity, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, organ steatosis and mental disorders. Methods: In this study, anti-climacteric effects were evaluated separated into three categories; 1) anti-obese, 2) anti-uterine atrophy and 3) anti-osteoporotic effects. Five groups were used (8 rats in each group); sham control, OVX control, GGOT 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg administered groups. Twenty-eight days after bilateral OVX surgery, GGOT were orally administered, once a day for 84 days, and then the changes on the body weight and gain during experimental periods, serum estradiol levels, abdominal fat pad and uterus weights with histopathology of abdominal fat pads (total thickness and mean adipocyte diameters) and uterus (total, epithelial and mucosal thickness, percentages of uterine gland regions) for anti-obese and estrogenic effects. In addition, femur, tibia and fourth or fifth lumbar vertebrae (L4 or L5) wet, dry and ash weights, mineral density (BMD), bone strength (failure load), serum osteocalcin and bone specific alkaline phosphatase (bALP) contents, histological and histomorphometrical analyses - bone mass and structure with bone resorption, were monitored for anti-osteoporosis activity. Results: As a result of OVX, noticeable increases of body weight and gains, food and water consumption, weights of abdominal fat pad deposited in dorsal abdominal cavity, serum osteocalcin levels were demonstrated in this experiment with decrease of uterus, femur, tibia and L5 weights, serum bALP and estradiol levels. In addition, marked hypertrophic changes of adipocytes located in deposited abdominal fat pads, uterine disused atrophic changes, decreases of bone mass and structures of femur, tibia and L4 were also observed in OVX control rats with dramatic increases of bone resorption markers, the Ocn and OS/BS at histopathological and histomorphometrical analysis in this study as compared with sham-operated control rats, suggesting the estrogen-deficient climacterium symptoms - obese and osteoporosis were induced by OVX, respectively. However, these estrogen-deficient climacterium symptoms induced by bilateral OVX in rats were significantly inhibited by 84 days of continuous oral treatment of GGOT 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg, respectively. Especially, GGOT 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg showed clear dose-dependent inhibitory activities on the OVX-induced climacterium signs. Conclusion: The results suggest that oral administration of GGOT 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg has clear dose-dependent favorable anti-climacterium effects - estrogenic, anti-obese and anti-osteoporotic activities in OVX rats in this experiment.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.271-278
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• 2019

Purpose: To investigate the differences in treatment outcomes between two radiation techniques, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 160 (IMRT = 23, 3DCRT = 137) patients with stage I glottic cancer treated from January 2005 through December 2016. The IMRT was performed with TomoTherapy (16 patients), volumetric-modulated arc therapy (6 patients), and step-and-shoot technique (1 patient), respectively. The 3DCRT was performed with bilateral parallel opposing fields. The median follow-up duration was 30 months (range, 31 to 42 months) in the IMRT group and 65 months (range, 20 to 143 months) in the 3DCRT group. Results: The 5-year overall survival and 3-year local control rates of the 160 patients were 95.7% and 91.4%, respectively. There was no significant difference in 3-year local control rates between the IMRT and 3DCRT groups (94.4% vs. 91.0%; p = 0.587). Thirteen of 137 patients in the 3DCRT group had recurrences. In the IMRT group, one patient had a recurrence at the true vocal cord. Patients treated with IMRT had less grade 2 skin reaction than the 3DCRT group, but this had no statistical significance (4.3% vs. 21.2%; p = 0.080). Conclusion: IMRT had comparable outcomes with 3DCRT, and a trend of less acute skin reaction in stage I glottic cancer patients.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.467-475
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• 2001

Cardiac arrest, hypoxia, shock or seizure has been known to induce cerebral ischemia. This study was designed to investigate the effect of ischemia on hippocampal pyramidal layer induced by transient bilateral occlusion of the common carotid arteries. Mature Mongolian gerbils were sacrificed at days 2, 4, and 7 after carotid occlusion for 10 minutes. Sham-operated gerbils of control group were subjected to the same protocol except for carotid occlusion. During operation for ischemia, body temperature was maintained $37{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$ in all gerbils. Paraffin-embedded brain tissue blocks were cut into coronal slices and stained with H-E stain or immunostain by TUNEL method. Neurons with the oval and prominent nucleus and without the eosinophilic cytoplasm in the subfield of hippocamapal pyramidal layer were calculated as to be viable neurons. Their chromatins were condensed or clumped. Their nuclei appeared multiangular or irregularly shrinked. The width of the pyramidal layer was reduced due to the loss of nuclei. At day 2 after reperfusion, some neurons in the CA1 subfield were slightly eosinophilic. But most neurons in the CA2 subfield were strongly eosinophilic. At day 4 day, most neurons in the CA1 subfield were severely damaged and at day 7 day, only a few survived neurons were observed. Survived neurons per longitudinal 1mm sector in the CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4 subfields of pyramidal layer were investigated. At day 2, the mean numbers of pyramidal neurons in CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4 subfiedls were 104.5/mm (54.3%), 51.0/mm (33.8%), 105.5/mm (85.6%), and 124.3/mm (93.5%) compared to the nonischemic control group, respectively. At day 4, the mean numbers of pyramidal neurons in CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4 subfields were 3.2/mm (1.7%), 51.5/mm(34.2%), 95.3/mm (77.4%), and 112.5/mm (84.6%), respectively. At day 7, the mean numbers of pyramidal neurons in CA1, CA2, CA3, and CA4 subfiedls were 0.8/mm (0.4%), 5.7/mm(3.8%), 9.8/mm (8.0%), and 5.0/mm (3.7%), respectively. The mean numbers of apoptotic positive neurons in the CA1 subfield at day 2, 4, and 7 after reperfusion were 67.8/mm, 153.2/mm and 123.7/mm, respectively. These results suggest that the transient cerebral ischemia cause severe damages in most neurons at day 7 and that the prosminent apoptotic positive neurons in hippocampal pyramidal layer are the delayed neuronal death induced by ischemia.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 2001

After performing mandibular setback surgery, we found some changes in patterns and organs of speech. This investigation was undertaken to investigate the aspect and degree of speech patterns according to the amount of surgical setback in mandibular prognathic patients. Thirteen patients with skeletal Class III malocclusion were studied preoperative and postoperative over 6 months. They had undergone the mandible setback operation via bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy(BSSRO). We split the patients into two groups. Group 1 included patients whose degree of mandibular setback was 6mm or less, and Group 2 above 6mm. Control group was two adults wish normal speech patterns. A phonetician performed narrow phonetic transcriptions of tape-recorded words and sentences produced by each of the patients and the acoustic characteristics of the plosives, fricatives, and flaps were analyzed with a phonetic computer program (Computerized Speech Lab(CSL) Model 4300B(USA)). The results are as follows: 1. Generally, Patients showed longer closure duration of plosives, shorter VOT(voice onset time) and higher ratio of closure duration against VOT. 2. Patients showed more frequent diffuse distribution than the control group in frication noise energy of fricatives. 3. In fricatives, frequency of compact from were higher in group 1 than in group 2. 4. Generally, a short duration of closure for /ㄹ/ was not realized in the patient's flaps. Instead, it was realized as fricatives, sonorant with a vowel-like formant structure, or trill type consonant. 5. Abnormality of the patient's articulation was reduced, but adaptation of their articulation after surgery was not perfect and the degree of adaptation was different according to the degree of surgical setback.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.307-315
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• 2001

Objective: To evaluate the clinical outcomes and influencing factors of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in patients with failed pregnancy after microsurgical reversal of tubal sterilization. Materials and Methods : From January, 1997 to December, 2000, IVF-ET was performed in two groups; the study TR (tubal reanastomosis) group consisted of 147 cycles in 66 patients with failed microsurgical reversal of tubal sterilization, and the control group of 115 cycles in 67 patients with bilateral tubal occlusion (BTO). The two groups were evaluated and compared for clinical characteristics, clinical pregnancy rates, and factors influencing the outcomes of IVF-ET. Results: Compared with the control BTO group, age and the previous parity were significantly higher ($36.3{\pm}2.7$ vs. $33.6{\pm}2.0$ years, p<0.05; $1.6{\pm}0.7$ vs. $0.2{\pm}0.4$, p<0.05), and the clinical pregnancy rate per cycle was significantly lower (23.8% (35/147) vs. 29.3% (34/115), p<0.05) in the TR group. Difference in the clinical pregnancy rates was age-related, since there was no significant difference between the two groups, except for the previous parity ($1.6{\pm}0.7$ vs. $0.1{\pm}0.3$, p<0.05), when the patients aged 37 years or older were excluded. No difference was found in terms of the following: the proportion of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) cycles with GnRH agonist ultrashort protocol, the duration of COH, the dosage of gonadotropins used, and the numbers of oocytes retrieved and of embryos transferred, irrespective of age correction. Conclusions: The outcomes of IVF-ET following the failed microsurgical reversal of tubal sterilization depend upon patient age. The previous fertility of patients does not seem to be a factor of better IVF-ET prognosis.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2000

Osteoporosis is the consequence of an imbalance between osteoclastic and osteoblastic activity, coupled with an increased rate of bone turnover observed with menopause. Estrogen is generally considered to maintain bone mass through suppression of bone resorption. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rat femoral trabecular change not only in the deficiency of estrogen but also in the administration of estrogen following ovariectomy(OVX). 30 female Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to bilateral OVX or sham surgery(control). Groups of OVX were divided into 4 groups. The first group was injected daily with vehicle alone for 20 days after 20 weeks following OVX. The additional groups of OVX was injected daily with low, medium, or high doses of $17{\beta}-estradiol$(10, 25 or $50{\mu}g/kg$ BW, respectively). All rats were sacrified 23 weeks after OVX, and their femur were processed for H&E, MT stain and histomorphometry. The results were as follows; 1. In the histomorphometric analysis, the trabecular bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular thickness and trabecular seperation were respectively $31.2{\pm}8.3%$, $54.3{\pm}4.8{\mu}m$ and $280.7{\pm}16.4{\mu}m$ in vehicle treated OVX group and $48.6{\pm}7.3%$, $90.4{\pm}4.5{\mu}m$ and $126.3{\pm}5{\mu}m$ in sham operation group, and they showed statistical significance compare to control group. 2. The trabecular bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular thickness and trabecular separation were respectively $44.4{\pm}4.3%$, $109.5{\pm}12.3{\mu}m$ and $94.9{\pm}8.5{\mu}m$ in low doses of $17{\beta}-estradiol$ injected group and they showed statistical significance compare to OVX group. 3. The trabecular bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular thickness and trabecular separation were respectively $44.4{\pm}4.3%$, $109.5{\pm}12.3{\mu}m$ and $94.9{\pm}8.5{\mu}m$ in medium doses of $17{\beta}-estradiol$ injected group and they showed statistical significance compare to OVX group, but they didn't show statistical significance compare to low doses of $17{\beta}-estradiol$ injected group. 4. The trabecular bone volume/tissue volume, trabecular thickness and trabecular separation were respectively $46.4{\pm}4.5%$, $154.4{\pm}13.2{\mu}m$ and $113.7{\pm}12.8{\mu}m$ in high doses of $17{\beta}-estradiol$ injected group and they also showed statistical significance compare to OVX group, but they didn't show statistical significance compare to other experimental groups. From the above results, metaphyseal bone formation was markedly reduced in OVX rate but treatment of OVX rats with $17{\beta}-estradiol$ resulted in normalization of femur trabecular bone volume. But they didn't show statistical significance the effect of bone formation according to the dose dependency.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.459-466
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• 2011

Purpose: This study evaluated the capability of bone formation with silk fibroin/nano-hydroxyapatite/corn starch composite scaffold as a bone defect replacement matrix when grafted in a calvarial bone defect of rabbits $in$ $vivo$. Methods: Ten New Zealand white rabbits were used for this study and bilateral round-shaped defects were formed in the parietal bone (diameter: 8.0 mm). The silk fibroin 10% nano-hydroxyapatite/30% corn starch/60% composite scaffold was grafted into the right parietal bone (experimental group). The left side (control group) was grafted with a nano-hydroxyapatite (30%)/corn starch (70%) scaffold. The animals were sacrificed at 4 weeks and 8 weeks. A micro-computerized tomography (${\mu}CT$) of each specimen was taken. Subsequently, the specimens were decalcified and stained with Masson's trichrome for histological and histomorphometric analysis. Results: The average ${\mu}CT$ and histomorphometric measures of bone formation were higher in the control group than in the experimental group at 4 weeks and 8 weeks after surgery though not statistically significant ($P$ >0.05). Conclusion: The rabbit calvarial defect was not successfully repaired by silk fibroin/nano-hydroxyapatite/corn starch composite scaffold and may have been due to an inflammatory reaction caused by silk powder. In the future, the development of composite bone graft material based on various components should be performed with caution.