• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2019

Supported liquid membrane process usually is used for recovering or enrichment of valuable metals in the industrial wastewater. But, even if the metals in the wastewater was separated with high chemical selectivity, it cannot be enough concentrated since separation performance of supported liquid membrane (SLM) process is limited by concentration gradient between feed solution and stripping solution. If metal concentration in the stripping solution to be enough low, transport of metal through membrane can be accomplishment constantly. Therefore, Electrodialysis (ED) has been placed after SLM process and the stripping solution of SLM was used as the feed solution for the ED process. Transport of ions in the solutions is successfully performed by ED process. Thus, the metal concentration in the stripping solution does not rise as to stop ion transport. Besides, valuable metals easily are concentrated by ED process for re-use. In this study, effects of operation parameters like initial Cd(II) concentration, HCl concentration in the feed solution of SLM and applied voltage are investigated on separation efficiency, flux and permeability of the both processes. As the feed solution concentration increased, all performance values has increased. When initial concentration of 100 mg/L is used, separation performances (SP) are 55% and 70%, for SLM and consecutive process, respectively. The best HCl concentration in the feed solution of SLM has determined as 2 M, in this conditions SP are 64% and 72%, for SLM and consecutive process, respectively. With increased of applied voltage on ED process, SP of the consecutive process has been raised from 72% to 83%. According to the obtained experimental data, consecutive process has better separation performance than SLM. When the separation performances of both processes were compared for the same operating conditions, it was determined higher the separation efficiency, permeability and flux values of the consecutive process, 8%, 9% and %10.6, respectively. Consequently, the use of the consecutive process increases the performance efficiency of both processes. The consecutive process studied has quite a good chemical separation efficiency, and enrichment capability. Moreover, this process requires few water and energy.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.64-78
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• 2019

The background concentrations of heavy metals in Korean coastal sediments were estimated using heavy metal data for 495 sediments obtained from 'National Marine Ecosystem Survey (Coastal ecosystem) in 2016-2017' and the extent of contamination was assessed. Al, Cs, and Li are chosen as appropriate indicators for sediment grain size. In the relationships between heavy metal and indicators concentrations, the lowest slope data were selected through the outlier removal and residual analysis, and the background concentrations were presented as a linear regression line between metal and indicator. Comparing the previous studies for the background concentrations of heavy metals in Korean coastal sediments, concentration levels were generally consistent but those for As and Cd were presented for the first time, and the background concentration using Li as the indicator was presented for the first time.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.396-405
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• 2022

Purpose: This study evaluated the predictive role of fecal calprotectin (FC) measured at an early stage of treatment for monitoring clinical remission (CR) after six months and endoscopic remission (ER) after one year of treatment in pediatric Crohn's disease (CD). Methods: This retrospective study included 45 patients who simultaneously underwent ileocolonoscopy and FC testing during follow-up. FC levels were measured before and after six weeks of treatment. CR was assessed after six months of treatment using Pediatric Crohn' s Disease Activity Index and acute-phase reactants. ER was assessed after one year using the Simple Endoscopic Score for Crohn's Disease. Results: Twenty-nine (64.4%) patients used oral prednisolone for remission induction and 16 (35.6%) patients used anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Thirty (66.7%) patients achieved CR, while 24 (53.3%) achieved ER. The FC level measured after six weeks of treatment could predict CR (χ²=9.15, p=0.0025) and ER (χ²=12.31, p=0.0004). The δFC could predict CR (χ²=7.91, p=0.0049), but not ER (χ²=1.85, p=0.1738). With a threshold of ≤950.4 ㎍/g, FC at week six could predict CR with 76.7% sensitivity and 73.3% specificity. The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.769 (standard error 0.0773, p=0.0005). The same threshold predicted ER with 87.5% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity. The AUC was 0.774 (standard error 0.074, p=0.0002). Conclusion: FC assay at an early stage of treatment can be used as a surrogate marker to predict CR and mucosal healing in pediatric CD.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.895-908
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• 2023

Disposal of waste containing heavy metals into the environment is a major threat to human health and can result in toxic or chronic poisoning in aquatic life. In the current study, metal-resistant Raoultella ornithinolytica was isolated from metal-contaminated samples collected from the Tanjaro River, located southwest of Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. R. ornithinolytica was identified by partial amplification of 16S rRNA. The uptake potency of heavy metals was assessed using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and indicated that R. ornithinolytica removed 67, 89, 63.4, 55.6, 56.5, 65, and 61.9% of Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Zn, Co, and Fe, respectively. These removal rates were influenced by temperature, pH, and contact time; at 35℃ and pH 5 with a change in the incubation time, the reduction rate improved from 89 to 95% for Pb, from 36.4 to 45% for Cu, and from 55.6 to 64% for Ni. Gene analysis indicated that R. ornithinolytica contained pbrT, chrB, nccA, iroN, and czcA genes, but the pcoD gene was absent. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) images showed evidence of metal ion binding on the cell wall surface with different rates of binding. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) detected different mechanisms for metal particle localization; cell surface adsorption was the main mechanism for Pb, Zn, and Co uptake, while Cd, Ni, and Fe were accumulated inside the cell. The current study describes, for the first time, the isolation of R. ornithinolytica from metal-contaminated water, which can be used as an eco-friendly biological expedient for the remediation and detoxification of metals from contaminated environments.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.473-480
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• 2024

We systematically reviewed radiological abnormalities in patients with prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection, defined as persistently positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results for SARS-CoV-2 for > 21 days, with either persistent or relapsed symptoms. We extracted data from 24 patients (median age, 54.5 [interquartile range, 44-64 years]) reported in the literature and analyzed their representative CT images based on the timing of the CT scan relative to the initial PCR positivity. Our analysis focused on the patterns and distribution of CT findings, severity scores of lung involvement on a scale of 0-4, and the presence of migration. All patients were immunocompromised, including 62.5% (15/24) with underlying lymphoma and 83.3% (20/24) who had received anti-CD20 therapy within one year. Median duration of infection was 90 days. Most patients exhibited typical CT appearance of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), including ground-glass opacities with or without consolidation, throughout the follow-up period. Notably, CT severity scores were significantly lower during ≤ 21 days than during > 21 days (P < 0.001). Migration was observed on CT in 22.7% (5/22) of patients at ≤ 21 days and in 68.2% (15/22) to 87.5% (14/16) of patients at > 21 days, with rare instances of parenchymal bands in previously affected areas. Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection usually presents as migrating typical COVID-19 pneumonia in immunocompromised patients, especially those with impaired B-cell immunity.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.33-41
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• 2001

Currently, the compression is one of the most important technology in multimedia society. Audio files arc rapidly propagated throughout internet Among them, the most famous one is MP-3(MPEC-1 Laver3) which can obtain CD tone from 128Kbps, but tone quality is abruptly down below 64Kbps. MPEC-II AAC(Advanccd Audio Coding) is not compatible with MPEG 1, but it has high compression of 1.4 times than MP 3, has max. 7.1 and 96KHz sampling rate. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that decreased the capacity of AAC encoding computation but increased the processing speed by optimizing psychoacoustic model which has enormous amount of computation in MPEG 2 AAC encoder. The optimized psychoacoustic model algorithm was implemented by C++ language. The experiment shows that the psychoacoustic model carries out FFT(Fast Fourier Transform) computation of 3048 point with 44.1 KHz sampling rate for SMR(Signal to Masking Ratio), and each entropy value is inputted to the subband filters for the control of encoder block. The proposed psychoacoustic model is operated with high speed because of optimization of unpredictable value. Also, when we transform unpredictable value into a tonality index, the speed of operation process is increased by a tonality index optimized in high frequency range.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.239-247
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• 2008

Objective of this study was to investigate residual the levels of heavy metals in rice grain and soils of "Top-Rice" and common rice cultivation areas from 2005 to 2007. Soil and rice grain samples were taken from 33 "Top-rice" areas and neighboring paddies, and analyzed for the elements using ICP-OES and ICP-TOF-MS after acid digestion. A concentration of arsenic in paddy soil was 1.33 mg/kg which was below 1/5-1/11 fold of the threshold levels(concern: 4 mg/kg, action: 10 mg/kg), and paddy soil was 0.06 mg/kg of Cd(cadmium) being below 1/25-1/67 fold of the limits(concern: 1.5 mg/kg, action: 4 mg/kg). A level of Cu(copper) in paddy soil was 4.57 mg/kg which was below 1/11-1/27 fold of the threshold levels(concern: 50 mg/kg, action: 125 mg/kg), and Pb(lead) concentration in paddy soil was found to be a 4.68 mg/kg. In addition, Hg(mercury) concentration in paddy soil was to be a 0.03 mg/kg, which was below 1/131-1/328 fold of the threshold levels(concern: 4 mg/kg, action: 10 mg/kg). The average concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Hg in the polished rice samples were 0.037, 0.043, 0.280, 0.048 and 0.002 mg/kg, respectively. These levels are lower than those of other countries in rice grains. Assuming the rice consumption of 205.7 g/day by total dietary supplements in Korea, the amount of total weekly metal intake of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Hg by polished rice were estimated to be 0.0892, 1.035, 6.712, 1.161 and 0.054 ${\mu}g/kg$ body weigh/week, respectively. The PTWI(%) of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Hg were 5.95(inorganic arsenic), 0.26(total arsenic), 14.79, 0.19, 4.65 and 1.07% estimated to be 0.0892, 1.035, 6.712, 1.161 and 0.054 ${\mu}g/kg$ body weigh/week, respectively. In conclusion, it was appeared that the heavy metals contamination in the brown and polished rice should not be worried in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.233-235
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• 2003

Heavy metal contents in commercial horticultural growing media were investigated Fifty-three samples were collected nationwide during 2000 to 2001 and heavy metals in the samples were analyzed by ICP-OES after acid digestion and 0.1N HCl extraction. Average contents of total Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Pb, and Zn by acid digestion in the growing media were 0.69, 35.7, 14.9, 15.5, 12.7, and 54.8 mg/kg DW, respectively. The ranges of heavy metal in the growing media were $0{\sim}1.82$, $0{\sim}259.8$, $1.6{\sim}69.5$, $0{\sim}60.7$, $0{\sim}36.5$, $12.9{\sim}124.0\;mg/kg$ DW for Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Pb, and Zn, respectively. Heavy metal contents in the commercial horticultural growing media were showed lower levels than the permitted levels for quality control described by Korean Standard Analytical Method for Growing Media. Average contents and ranges of 0.1 N HCl extractable heavy metals were 0.08 and $0{\sim}0.20$ for Cd, 0.38 and $0{\sim}2.10$ for Cr, 1.45 and $0{\sim}4.03$ for Cu, 0.85 and $0{\sim}3.31$ for Ni, 0.84 and $0{\sim}2.21$ for Pb, and 30.68 and $0.18{\sim}88.45\;mg/kg$ DW for Zn, respectively. These concentrations by 0.1 N HCl extraction showed much less levels than those of total heavy metals by acid digestion.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2017

Objectives: The hazardous metals content of medicinal herbs distributed in the Daegu area was investigated, and the place of origin and the content of herbicides and medicinal components were studied. Methods: An analysis of hazardous metals content (10 types) was carried out on 164 samples of 99 types of herbal medicines. Among the total samples, 45 were domestic and 119 were imported. Hg was analyzed by the amalgamation method. Other hazardous metals content (nine types) was digested using the microwave method and measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Results: The mean values of the hazardous metals content in the herbal medicines were Pb 1.0833 mg/kg, As 0.0136 mg/kg, Cd 0.0840 mg/kg, Cr 3.7120 mg/kg, Cu 4.2666 mg/kg, Mn 40.080 mg/kg, Ni 1.4330 mg/kg, Sb 0.1053 mg/kg, Al 202.64 mg/kg and Hg 0.0062 mg/kg. Three of the samples violated the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) regulatory guidance on cadmium (less than 0.3 mg/kg). The measured values of heavy metals (Pb, As, Cd, Hg) showed levels below the recommended levels for herbal medicines in MFDS regulatory guidance. In the comparison of domestic samples with imported herbal medicines, it was found that one domestic and two imported samples surpassed the maximum residue limits for cadmium. The median values of the hazardous metals detected in the three medicinal parts of the root, leaf (branch), and flower (seed and fruit) were as follows. Cr, Ni, Sb and Al were highly detected in roots, Pb, Cd, Mn, Hg in leafs (branch), and As, Cu in flowers (seed and fruit). Conclusion: There were various kinds of hazardous metals which were detected at high levels according to the place of origin of the medicinal herb and the parts the plant. For hazardous metals for which no acceptance criteria have been established, safety standards should be further studied and managed to ensure the safety of herbal medicines.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the residue amount of harmful materials on the 153 commercial medical herbs in Gwangju area. It was performed using the GC-ECD, GC-NPD, GC-MSD and the LC-UVD, LC-FLD, LC-MSD to analyze 200 pesticides. The heavy metals were determined using a Mercury analyzer and AAS. The sulfur dioxides were analyzed by modified Monnier-Williams method. The residual pesticides were detected in 7 samples, and were over MRLs (Maximum Risk Levels) in 2 samples (1.3%). The mean values of heavy metal contents (mg/kg) were Pb, 0.570; Cd, 0.081; As, 0.082; Hg, 0.0093. The measured values of Pb, As, Hg showed within MRLs. The excess samples of MRLs were 3 samples (changchul 2, cheongung 1) on Cd. The sulfur dioxides were over MRLs in 7 samples (4.6%), hwanggi and gugija. These results will be used to establish on the regulation of commercial medical herbs in Gwangju area.