• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.165-177
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• 2006

Objectives : 1. Clinical trial for the efficacy evaluation of Korean acupuncture techniques in treating frozen shoulder. 2. Development of the standard clinical guidelines of the acupuncture treatment for the frozen shoulder. 3. Development of the new clinical protocol for the acupuncture treatments. 4. Verification of the hypothesis that treating at both the remote and the nearby acupoints according to the meridian theory is more effective than treating at only the nearby acupoints. Methods : 1. Research designed as Single blind, Randomized, Sham acupuncture controlled clinical Trial. 2. Assignment of 86 patients to one of three groups treated at nearby acupoints(group A), remote & nearby acupoints(group B), and sham points(group C) respectively. 3. Trial conducted at KIOM CRC of Dunsan oriental medical hospital, Daejeon Univ. 4. Estimation of the recovery rate of the frozen shoulder in subjects aged over 40. 5. Efficacy evaluation using VAS, SPADI, ROM and Improvement rate. Results : 1. There was no significant difference in VAS among the three groups. 2. Pain related scores in SPADI of the group B were significantly lower than those of the group A. 3. There was no significant difference in disability related scores of SPADI among the three groups. 4. External rotation of upper arm in the group B was significantly improved in comparison with that in the group C. 5. Abduction of upper arm in group A was improved with weak statistical significance in comparison with that in the group C. Conclusion : Acupuncture at both the remote and the nearby acupoints according to the meridian theory is effective to improve external rotation of frozen shoulder, and acupuncture at the nearby acupoints is effective to improve adduction of frozen shoulder. However it is not clear that acupuncture treatment at both the remote and the nearby acupoints according to the meridian theory is more effective than treating at only the nearby acupoints in the treatment of frozen shoulder. Since our study was a short term trial, a long term trial for a more precise evaluation of acupuncture treatment for frozen shoulder will be needed in the future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6585-6590
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• 2013

Background: Although FOLFOX (infusional fluorouracil/leucovorin plus oxaliplatin) is established as a standard chemotherapeutic regimen, the long term efficacy of adjuvant XELOX (oral capecitabine plus intravenous oxaliplatin) in Asian colorectal cancer (CRC) patients remains anecdotal. Moreover, uncertainties persist as to whether pharmacogenetic differences in Asian populations preclude equally tolerable and effective administration of these drugs. Method: One hundred consecutive patients with resected colorectal cancer received adjuvant XELOX (oxaliplatin 130 $mg/m^2$ on day 1 plus capecitabine 900 $mg/m^2$ twice daily on day 1 to 14 every 3 weeks for 8 cycles) at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. Endpoints monitored during follow-up were disease-free survival (DFS) and disease recurrence, overall survival (OS) and adverse events (AEs). Results: The median patient age was 56 years, 56% were diagnosed with rectal cancer and 44% with colonic cancer. After a median follow-up of 4.3 years (95% confidence interval, 3.2-4.7), 24 recurrences were confirmed including 13 patients who died due to progressive disease. Four-year DFS was 81% in colon cancer patients and 67% in rectal cancer patients (p=0.06 by log-rank test). For the cohort as a whole, OS was 90% at 3 years and 84% at 5 years. Treatment-related AEs led to early withdrawal in four patients. The commonest non-hematological AEs were neuropathy (91%), hand-foot syndrome (49%) and diarrhea (46%), while the commonest grade 3/4 AEs were neutropenia (11%) and diarrhea (10%). Conclusion: These results confirm the favourable long term survival benefit with good tolerability in using adjuvant XELOX in treating East Asian colorectal cancer patients.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 2012

Recent research efforts have focused on combining high dynamic range imaging with super-resolution reconstruction to enhance both the intensity range and resolution of images. The processes developed to date start with a set of multiple-exposure input images with low dynamic range (LDR) and low resolution (LR), and require several procedural steps: conversion from LDR to HDR, SR reconstruction, and tone mapping. Input images captured with irregular exposure steps have an impact on the quality of the output images from this process. In this paper, we present a simplified framework to replace the separate procedures of previous methods that is also robust to different sets of input images. The proposed method first calculates weight maps to determine the best visible parts of the input images. The weight maps are then applied directly to SR reconstruction, and the best visible parts for the dark and highlighted areas of each input image are preserved without LDR-to-HDR conversion, resulting in high dynamic range. A new luminance control factor (LCF) is used during SR reconstruction to adjust the luminance of input images captured during irregular exposure steps and ensure acceptable luminance of the resulting output images. Experimental results show that the proposed method produces SR images of HDR quality with luminance compensation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.58
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• pp.171-203
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• 2017

There has been a growing number of research about children's development indicators and child well-being indicators. After the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and concluding observations on the second report of Korea, the effort to monitor and measure children's rights and the use of child rights indicators has increased within policy and academic research. However, few indicators provide a realization of children's rights. The purpose of this paper was to analyze children's own perceptions of their rights and to develop a children's rights index to measure children's rights. In this study, a children's rights index was developed from 38 indicators categorized into nine components and four domains (survival rights, development rights, protection rights, and participation rights) to measure children's rights. Data were gathered from 17,000 elementary and middle school children and their parents in 16 cities. The survey revealed significant differences in the children's rights index by region and age group. There was also a correlation between the economic circumstances of both households and communities and the children's rights index. In the light of the findings, it is suggested that there is a need to increase public investment on children and to raise awareness of children's rights in order to improve children's rights and to decrease disparity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.313-322
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• 2024

Mutations within the SCN5A gene, which encodes the α-subunit 5 (Na_V1.5) of the voltage-gated Na⁺ channel, have been linked to three distinct cardiac arrhythmia disorders: long QT syndrome type 3, Brugada syndrome (BrS), and cardiac conduction disorder. In this study, we have identified novel missense mutations (p.A385T/R504T) within SCN5A in a patient exhibiting overlap arrhythmia phenotypes. This study aims to elucidate the functional consequences of SCN5A mutants (p.A385T/R504T) to understand the clinical phenotypes. Whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used to analyze the Na_V1.5 current (I_Na) in HEK293 cells transfected with the wild-type and mutant SCN5A with or without SCN1B co-expression. The amplitude of I_Na was not altered in mutant SCN5A (p.A385T/R504T) alone. Furthermore, a rightward shift of the voltage-dependent inactivation and faster recovery from inactivation was observed, suggesting a gain-of-function state. Intriguingly, the co-expression of SCN1B with p.A385T/R504T revealed significant reduction of I_Na and slower recovery from inactivation, consistent with the loss-of-function in Na⁺ channels. The SCN1B dependent reduction of I_Na was also observed in a single mutation p.R504T, but p.A385T co-expressed with SCN1B showed no reduction. In contrast, the slower recovery from inactivation with SCN1B was observed in A385T while not in R504T. The expression of SCN1B is indispensable for the electrophysiological phenotype of BrS with the novel double mutations; p.A385T and p.R504T contributed to the slower recovery from inactivation and reduced current density of Na_V1.5, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.590-598
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• 2005

An adequate method to identify chromium separation, Cr(III) and Cr(VI), in water samples were studied by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC) coupled with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectometer(ICP-MS) equipped with Dynamic Reaction Cell(DRC). The characteristic distribution of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in the raw water taken at the six water intake stations in Seoul, was analyzed by the method developed by the authors. The chromium species separated by HPLC was isocratically conducted by using tetrabutylammonium phosphate monobasic(1.0 mM TBAP), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid(0.6 mM EDTA) and 2% v/v methanol as the mobile phase. 5% v/v methanol was used as flushing solvent. A reactive ammonia($NH_3$) gas was used to eliminate the potential interference of $ArC^+$. Several Parameters such as solvent ratio, pH, flow rate and sample injection volume were optimized for the successful separation and reproducibility. Although it has been reported thai the separation sensitivity of Cr(III) is superior to that of Cr(VI), the authors observed Cr(VI) was more sensitive than Cr(III) when ammonia($NH_3$) gas was used as the reaction gas. It took less than 3 minutes to analyze chromium species with this method and the estimated detection limits were $0.061\;{\mu}g/L$ for Cr(III) and $0.052\;{\mu}g/L$, for Cr(VI). According to the results from the analysis on chromium species in the raw water of the six intake stations, the concentrations of Cr(III) ranged from 0.048 to $0.064\;{\mu}g/L$(ave. $0.054\;{\mu}g/L$) while that of Cr(VI) ranged from 0.014 to $0.023\;{\mu}g/L$(ave. $0.019\;{\mu}g/L$). Recovery ratio was very high($90.1{\sim}94.1%$). There were two or three times more Cr(III) than Cr(VI) in the raw water.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.249-256
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• 2009

The amount of nutrients from the effluents of rice culture - free-range ducks (RCFD) paddy fields and the effects of natural wetlands located at downstream of RCFD on water quality and aquatic plants was evaluated. This was carried out in a 61.9 ha paddy fields in Ulsan, Gyeongnam, where downstream is a 5.9 ha natural wetland, 61% of which was covered with well-developed aquatic plants. The amounts of T-N and T-P in the effluent from paddy field with RCFD were 13.7 and $2.5kg\;ha^{-1}$, respectively, which is 1.2~2.5 times higher than those observed in conventional rice culture practice. The amount of runoff from the RCFD area, calculated using the revised TANK model, was $543mm\;ha^{-1}$ with 808 kg of T-N and 130 kg of T-P during rice cultivation period. The dominant aquatic plants in the wetland includes Phragmites communis, Zizania latifolia, Persicaria thunbergii. etc. The nutrient contents of the aquatic plants which amounted to 761 kg of T-N and 103 kg of T-P were almost equivalent to 94% and 79% of the T-N and T-P in RCFD and CRC effluent. Therefore, the use and maintenance of wetlands in RCFDs area could be a good solution to management the non-point pollution from duck feces in RCFD paddy fields.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.98-109
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• 2007

Over the last twenty years, farmers in Western Australia have begun to change land management practices to minimise the effects of salinity to agricultural land. A farm plan is often used as a guide to implement changes. Most plans are based on minimal data and an understanding of only surface water flow. Thus farm plans do not effectively address the processes that lead to land salinisation. A project at Broomehill in the south-west of Western Australia applied an approach using a large suite of geospatial data that measured surface and subsurface characteristics of the regolith. In addition, other data were acquired, such as information about the climate and the agricultural history. Fundamental to the approach was the collection of airborne geophysical data over the study area. This included radiometric data reflecting soils, magnetic data reflecting bedrock geology, and SALTMAP electromagnetic data reflecting regolith thickness and conductivity. When interpreted, these datasets added paddock-scale information of geology and hydrogeology to the other datasets, in order to make on-farm and in-paddock decisions relating directly to the mechanisms driving the salinising process. The location and design of surface-water management structures such as grade banks and seepage interceptor banks was significantly influenced by the information derived from the airborne geophysical data. To evaluate the effectiveness ofthis planning., one whole-farm plan has been monitored by the Department of Agriculture and the farmer since 1996. The implemented plan shows a positive cost-benefit ratio, and the farm is now in the top 5% of farms in its regional productivity benchmarking group. The main influence of the airborne geophysical data on the farm plan was on the location of earthworks and revegetation proposals. There had to be a hydrological or hydrogeological justification, based on the site-specific data, for any infrastructure proposal. This approach reduced the spatial density of proposed works compared to other farm plans not guided by site-specific hydrogeological information.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.607-617
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• 2002

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the timing of tooth calcification and the change of tooth position with tooth developmental stage on the mandibular teeth. Seven hundred seventy two children(male:446, female:326), 3 to 12 years of age were examined radiographically with panoramic film. Dental development was determined by inspecting radiographs and assigning a rating according to consecutive stages defined by Moorrees, and tooth cusp position and root terminus position were measured from the lower border of mandibular body and calculated the position index to evaluate the movement of tooth with developmental stage. The results were as follows. 1. There were no significant differences between boys and girls in the timing of calcification until crown completion, but timing of calcification tend to be faster in girls than in boys after root initiation stage. 2. In terms of mean age, crown completion of central incisor in boys and girls occurred at the age of 3.71, 4.05 years, at 4.44, 4.60 years for the lateral incisor, at 5.35, 5.11 years for the canine, at 6.62, 6.36 years for the first premolar, at 7.36, 7.17 years of second premolar, at 3.51, 3.69 years of first molar, and at 7.90, 7.64 years for the second molar respectively. Apex 1/2 closed stage of central incisor occurred at the age of 8.70 in boys, 8.18 in girls, at 9.55, 8.99 years for the lateral incisor, at 12.48, 11.60 years for the canine, at 12.30, 12.01 years for the first premolar, at 12.19, 12.26 years of second premolar, at 9.12, 8.87 years of first molar, and at 12.59, 12.45 years for the second molar respectively. 3. There was no noticeable movement of cusp tip until crown completion (Crc), but showed rapid movement toward occlusion plane after root initiation(Ri) and again maintain stable position after root completion stage(Rc). 4. Root terminus position was stable until root 1/4 formation stage(R1/4), followed by rapid movement toward occlusal plane and was stable again after root 3/4 formation stage(R3/4). 5. Developmental stage at the time of alveolar bone penetration by cusp tip varied with each of the permanent teeth. 6. Canine tooth follicle was at the lowest position in the mandibular body during the early stage of calcification, followed by second premolar, first premolar, lateral incisor, second molar, first molar and central incisor in order.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2001

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of performing nuclear medicine quality control in korea and to test selected protocols of quality control of nuclear medicine counting system and gamma camera. Materials and Methods: Fifty three hospitals were included to investigate the current status of nuclear medicine quality control in korea. The precision of dose calibrator and thyroid uptake system was measured with Tc-99m 35.52 MBq for 2 minuets and Tc-99m 5.14 MBq for 10 sec every one minute, respectively. The sensitivity of CeraSPECT$^{TM}$ with low energy high resolution parallel hole collimator was measured using two cylindrical phantoms with 15 cm in diameter and 12 cm and 30 cm in heights containing Tc-99m. The correction factor for sensitivity of CeraSPECT$^{TM}$ was calculated using phantom data. The system planar sensitivity, uniformity, count rate and spatial resolution were measured for Varicam gamma camera with low energy high resolution parallel hole collimator using 140 keV centered 20% energy window, 256$\times$256 or 512$\times$512 matrix sizes. Results: The quality control of dose calibrator and well counter were showed poor performance status. On the other hand, The quality control of gamma camera and other systems were showed relatively good performance status. The results of precision of dose calibrator and thyroid uptake system was $\pm$1.4%(<$\pm$5%) and chi^2=29.7(>16.92), respectively. It showed that the sensitivity of CeraSPECT$^{TM}$ was higher in center slices compared with the edge slices. After correction of nonuniform sensitivities for patient data, it showed better results compare with prior to correction. System planar sensitivity of Varicam gamma camera was 4.39 CPM/MBq. The observed count rate at 20% loss was 102,407 counts/sec (head 1), 113,427 counts/sec (head 2), when input count rate was 81,926 counts/sec (head 1), 90,741 counts/sec (head 2). The spatial resolution without scatter medium were 8.16 mm of FWHM and 14.85 mm of FWTM. The spatial resolution with scatter medium were 8.87 mm of FWHM and 18.87 mm of FWTM. Conclusion: It is necessary to understand the importance of quality control and to perform quality control of nuclear medicine devices.vices.