• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.930-937
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• 2009

Purpose : We evaluated the effectiveness of treatment and cardiac complications of replacing a high dose of aspirin with a high dose of ibuprofen for children in acute phase of Kawasaki disease. We also analyzed the possibility of replacing a high dose of aspirin with a high dose of ibuprofen to prevent complications such as Reye󰡑s syndrome caused by aspirin. Methods : One hundred eight children with Kawasaki disease were admitted in the pediatrics department from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008. Echocardiography and laboratory tests were performed during diagnosis, and the children were followed-up at 6-8 weeks after the diagnosis. We retrospectively analyzed their characteristics and clinical results. Results : The children were assigned to receive either a high dose of aspirin with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) (aspirin group) or a high dose of ibuprofen with IVIG (ibuprofen group). A total of 55 and 53 children were included in the aspirin and ibuprofen groups, respectively. The mean defervescence period was 6.5${\pm}$2.1 days in the aspirin group, and $6.9{\pm}1.9$ days in the ibuprofen group (P=0.309). The number of failed treatments, during and after treatment, was 8 in the aspirin group and 10 in the ibuprofen group (P=0.547). There were 11 initial cardiac complications in the aspirin group, and 14 in the ibuprofen group, but children who showed improvement at follow-up was 7 and 13 in the aspirin and ibuprofen groups, respectively (P=0.133). Laboratory findings were also improved in both groups. Conclusion : We can be considered whether we will replace high dose of aspirin by high dose of ibuprofen in acute phase of Kawasaki disease. Therefore, we can prevent the severe complications of aspirin use, such as Reye's syndrome.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 2013

This study investigates the case of clinical application for TomoDirect 3D-CRT(TD-3D) and TomoHelical 3D-CRT(TH-3D) with evaluating dose distribution for clinical application in each case. Treatment plans were created for 8 patients who had 3 dimensional conformal radiation therapy using TD-3D and TH-3D mode. Each patients were treated for sarcoma, CSI(craniospinal irradiaion), breast, brain, pancreas, spine metastasis, SVC syndrome and esophagus. DVH(dose volume histogram) and isodose curve were used for comparison of each treatment modality. TD-3D shows better dose distribution over the irradiation field without junction effect because TD-3D was not influenced by target length for sarcoma and CSI case. In breast case, dosimetric results of CTV, the average value of D 99%, D 95% were $49.2{\pm}0.4$ Gy, $49.9{\pm}0.4$ Gy and V 105%, V 110% were 0%, respectively. TH-3D with the dosimetric block decreased dose of normal organ in brain, pancreas, spine metastasis case. SCV syndrome also effectively decreased dose of normal organ by using dose block to the critical organs(spinal cord <38 Gy). TH-3D combined with other treatment modalities was possible to boost irradiation and was total dose was reduced to spinal cord in esophagus case(spinal cord <45 Gy, lung V 20 <20%). 3D-CRT using Tomotherapy could overcomes some dosimetric limitations, when we faced Conventional Linac based CRT and shows clinically proper dose distribution. In conclusion, 3D-CRT using Tomotherapy will be one of the effective 3D-CRT techniques.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.2_1
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• pp.267-282
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• 2018

Despite the continuous development of phenology detection studies using satellite imagery, verification through comparison with the field observed data is insufficient. Especially, in the case of Korean forests patching in various forms, it is difficult to estimate the start of season (SOS) by using only satellite images due to resolution difference. To improve the accuracy of vegetation phenology estimation, this study reconstructed the large scaled forest type map (1:5,000) with MODIS pixel resolution and produced time series vegetation phenology curves from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) derived from MODIS images. Based on the field observed data, extraction methods for the vegetation indices and SOS for Korean forests were compared and evaluated. We also analyzed the correlation between the composition ratio of forest types in each pixel and phenology extraction from the vegetation indices. When we compared NDVI and EVI with the field observed SOS data from the Korea National Arboretum, EVI was more accurate for Korean forests, and the first derivative was most suitable for extracting SOS in the phenology curve from the vegetation index. When the eight pixels neighboring the pixels of 7 broadleaved trees with field SOS data (center pixel) were compared to field SOS, the forest types of the best pixels with the highest correlation with the field data were deciduous forest by 67.9%, coniferous forest by 14.3%, and mixed forest by 7.7%, and the mean coefficient of determination ($R^2$) was 0.64. The average national SOS extracted from MODIS EVI were DOY 112.9 in 2014 at the earliest and DOY 129.1 in 2010 at the latest, which is about 0.16 days faster since 2003. In future research, it is necessary to expand the analysis of deciduous and mixed forests' SOS into the extraction of coniferous forest's SOS in order to understand the various climate and geomorphic factors. As such, comprehensive study should be carried out considering the diversity of forest ecosystems in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2012

Surface insolation is one of the major indicators for climate research over the Earth system. For the climate research, long-term data and wide range of spatial coverage from the data observed by two or more of satellites of the same orbit are needed. It is important to improve the continuity and consistency of the derived products, such as surface insolation, from different satellites. In this study, surface insolations based on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-9) and Multi-functional Transport Satellites (MTSAT-1R) were compared during overlap period using physical model of insolation to find ways to improve the consistency and continuity between two satellites through comparison of each channel data and ground observation data. The thermal infrared brightness temperature of two satellites show a relatively good agreement between two satellites : rootmean square error (RMSE)=5.595 Kelvin; Bias=2.065 Kelvin. Whereas, visible channels shown a quite different values, but it distributed similar tendency. And the surface insolations from two satellites are different from the ground observation data. To improve the quality of retrieved insolations, we have reproduced surface insolation of each satellite through adjustment of the Cloud Factor, and the Cloud Factor for GOES-9 satellite is modified based on the analysis result of difference channel data. As a result, the insolations estimated from GOES-9 for cloudy conditions show good agreement with MTSAT-1R and ground observation : RMSE=$83.439W\;m^{-2}$ Bias=$27.296W\;m^{-2}$. The result improved accuracy confirms that the modification of Cloud Factor for GOES-9 can improve the continuity and consistency of the insolations derived from two or more satellites.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2005

The procedure of soil sampling for on-farm quick test of soil nitrate is very important to improve practical application without weighing or drying soil. To improve application of test strip reflectometer as a quick on-farm analytical procedure for the estimation of soil nitrate concentration, three sampling methods such as gravimetric sampling (GS), particle density sampling (PDS) and bulk density sampling (BDS) for on-farm analytical procedure were investigated with twelve soils of 45 to $281mg\;kg^{-1}$ nitrate nitrogen concentration. The nitrate nitrogen concentrations measured from different soils were compared with two analytical methods, ion electrode method as a standard laboratory analysis (SLA) and test strip reflectometer at three moisture conditions, viz. air dried soil, 20 and 40% of maximum water holding capacity (MWHC). Nitrate nitrogen concentration measured by test strip reflectometer was significantly correlated with that of SLA, and the coefficients of variation (CV) were in the range of 3.5 to 10.9%. These CV values less than 10.9% were thought to be acceptable for the measurement of soil nitrate as an on-farm real time analytical procedure. The nitrate nitrogen concentration by BDS for test strip reflectometer as well as ion electrode method was more similar to that of SLA compared with those by GS and PDS especially in case of moist soils. This result suggests that the BDS is more useful than GS and PDS in case of on-farm analytical procedure of soil nitrate for moist soils. Further the practical measurement by BDS could be improved by substituting the bottle cap with a larger container.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1157-1163
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• 2012

This study was performed a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) among three rice production systems in order to analyze the difference of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions and environment impacts. Its life cycle inventory (LCI) database (DB) was established using data obtained from interview with conventional, without agricultural chemical and organic farming at Gunsan and Iksan, Jeonbuk province in 2011. According to the result of LCI analysis, $CO_2$ was mostly emitted from fertilizer production process and rice cropping phase. $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ were almost emitted from rice cultivation phase. The value of carbon footprint to produce 1 kg rice (unhulled) on conventional rice production system was 1.01E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ and it was the highest value among three rice production systems. The value of carbon footprints on without agricultural chemical and organic rice production systems were 5.37E-01 $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ and 6.58E-01 $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$, respectively. Without agricultural chemical rice production system whose input amount was the smallest had the lowest value of carbon footprint. Although the yield of rice from organic farming was the lowest, its value of carbon footprint less than that of conventional farming. Because there is no compound fertilizer inputs in organic farming. Compound fertilizer production and methane emission during rice cultivation were the main factor to GHGs emission in conventional and without agricultural chemical rice production systems. In organic rice production system, the main factors to GHGs emission were using fossil fuel on machine operation and methane emission from rice paddy field.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1143-1152
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• 2012

We established a top-down methodology to estimate carbon footprint as national mean value (reference) with the statistical data on agri-livestock incomes in 2007. We also established LCI (life cycle inventory) DB by a bottom-up methodology with the data obtained from interview with farmers from 4 large-scale farms at Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do province to estimate carbon footprint in 2011. This study was carried out to compare top-down methodology and bottom-up methodology in performing LCA (life cycle assessment) to analyze the difference in GHGs (greenhouse gases) emission and carbon footprint under conventional rice cultivation system. Results of LCI analysis showed that most of $CO_2$ was emitted during fertilizer production and rice cultivation, whereas $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ were mostly emitted during rice cultivation. The carbon footprints on conventional rice production system were 2.39E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ by top-down methodology, whereas 1.04E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ by bottom-up methodology. The amount of agro-materials input during the entire rice cultivation for the two methodologies was similar. The amount of agro-materials input for the bottom-up methodology was sometimes greater than that for top-down methodology. While carbon footprint by the bottom-up methodology was smaller than that by the top-down methodology due to higher yield per cropping season by the bottom-up methodology. Under the conventional rice production system, fertilizer production showed the highest contribution to the environmental impacts on most categories except GWP (global warming potential) category. Rice cultivation was the highest contribution to the environmental impacts on GWP category under the conventional rice production system. The main factors of carbon footprints under the conventional rice production system were $CH_4$ emission from rice paddy field, the amount of fertilizer input and rice yield. Results of this study will be used for establishing baseline data for estimating carbon footprint from 'low carbon certification pilot project' as well as for developing farming methods of reducing $CO_2$ emission from rice paddy fields.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.949-960
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• 1997

Background. Limited ischemic tolerance of the lung has remained one of the factors that limits the expansion of pulmonary transplantation as a treatment for end-stage pulmonary disease. Numerous studies on safe long term preservation for lung transplantation has been performed for the purpose of developing ideal preservation solution with extracellular type or intracellular type solutions. In this. study, we examined the efficacy of L DG solution in lung preservation longer than 20 hours by comparison with modified Euro-Collins solution. Iwethods. Thirty-(our adult mongrel dogs were divided into two groups. Donor lungs were flushed with LPDG solution(n=9) or modified Euro-Collins(MEC) solution(n=8) and stored for 24 hours at 1$0^{\circ}C$. All donor lungs were perfused through the pulmonary arteries with solutions containing prostaglandin El and verapamil. Left canine lung allotransplantations wereperformed. Assessment(hemodynamic indices and arterial blood gas analysis) of left implanted lung was made by occluding the right pulmonary artery for ten minutes using pulmonary artery Cuff. Assessment was repeated at the interval of 30 minutes, one hour, and two hours later after reperfusion and then chest X-ray, computed tomogram and lung perfusion scan were obtained. In survival dogs follow-up studies were done with assessment with chest X-ray, computed tomogram of the chest and lung perfusion scan on 7th day postoperatively. After preservation above 20 hours, pathological examinations for ultrastructural findings on right lung were performed in each group. Results. With respect to arterial oxygen tension, LPDG group was superior to MEC but there was no statistical significance for 2 hours after reperfusion. Mean pulmonary artery pressure was less increased(p < 0.05) and cardiac output higher(p <0.05) than MEC group until 2 hours after reperfusion. After 2 hours of reperfusion, both groups showed transplanted lung function deteriorated gradually. Perfusion scan of the transplanted lung in LPDG group showed better perfusion rate in immediate post-reperfusion, 3 days and 7 days later respectively but there was no statistical significance and corelation with PaO2 and computed tomoRravhic views. In scanning electron microscopy of pulmonary artery after preservation, LPDG group relatively shows less irregular protrusion of the inner surface of endothelial cell of poulmonary artery than MEC group. Conclusions, e concluded that LPDG solution can offer safe lung preservation above 20 hours with adequate immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of the infection.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.206-213
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• 2009

Background: Previous series have suggested that younger patients with primary lung cancer exhibit a more aggressive disease course with a worse prognosis, as compared to older patients, although this issue is still debatable. Material and Method: We reviewed the medical records of 79 patients (32 patients 50 years and younger (Group I) and 47 patients 70 years and older (Group II)) who underwent curative resection for primary lung cancer between July 2000 and June 2008. Result: The median age of the patients was 46.5 years in Group I and this was 73 years in Group II. The older patients were more likely to have major comorbidities (44% versus 77%, respectively; p=0.003). Histological examinations identified that the minor histological types (excluding non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)) were predominantly found in the Group I patients (16% versus 2%, respectively; p=0.037). For the TNM staging of the NSCLC, with excluding the minor histologic types, a higher proportion of patients had stage III disease in Group I (33% versus 13%, respectively; p=0.038). There was no significant difference in major morbidity (16% versus 30%, respectively; p=0.148) and operative mortality (0% versus 4.3%; p=0.512) between the groups. The mean follow-up interval was 33 months (range: $1{\sim}98$ months) for patients in both groups. For the patients with NSCLC, the five-year overall survival rate was 52.3% for Group I and 53.7% for Group II (p=0.955). The rate of freedom from recurrence at five years was significantly lower for the Group I patients than for the Group II patients (39.4% versus 70.4%, respectively; p=0.027), and only being a member of Group I impacted recurrence, based on the Cox proportional hazard analysis (p=0.034). Of the patients who had recurrence, four patients in Group I underwent aggressive surgical treatment. All of these patients exhibited long-term survival (range: $46{\sim}87$ months). Conclusion: In our study, the early outcome and long-term survival were similar for the younger and older patients after curative resection of primary lung cancer. However, we think that younger patients require meticulous follow-up as they had a tendency to proceed to surgery with advanced stage disease, a higher recurrence rate than did the older patients and the survival rates were improved, even for the recurred cases, with early aggressive treatment.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2009

Background: The principal surgical technique for treating an abdominal aortic aneurysm since the 1960s has been the transperitoneal approach, yet there have been some recent studies that have reported improved surgical results with using the retroperitoneal approach. However, there are only limited clinical Korean studies that have, compared between the transperitoneal and retroperitoneal approaches. Material and Method: This study included 36 patients who had been diagnosed as having an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta and they were surgically treated between January 2001 and July 2007. The patients were subdivided into the retroperitoneal approach group (n=17) and the transperitoneal approach group (n=19), and they were compared in terms of the preoperative risk factors, the postoperative complications and the operative mortality. The risk factors of operative mortality risk and long-term survival for the 36 patients were assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Result: There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of gender, age, the underlying disease, a history of smoking, rupture of aneurysm, the preoperative symptoms, the operation time and the incidence of postoperative complications. However, the duration of postoperative fasting, the number of days of having an indwelling nasogastric tube and the length of the stay in the intensive care unit were significantly short for the retroperitoneal approach group (p<0.05). There was a 16.7% rate of operative mortality (6/36) and five of the deaths were attributed to preoperative ruptured aneurysm. On univariate analysis, a higher preoperative serum creatinine level (SCr ${\geq}$1.8 mg/dL, p=0.016) and ruptured aneurysm (p<0.001) were the significant risk factors of operative mortality. As assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method, the long-term survival was comparable between the groups and the five-year survival rate of all the patients was 57.5%. Conclusion: In the present study, a retroperitoneal approach has several advantages such as a shorter intensive care unit stay, a shorter duration of postoperative fasting and a shorter duration of an indwelling nasogastric tube. Therefore, unless there is any contraindication for a retroperitoneal approach, it could be considered as a primary surgical access for repairing an abdominal aortic aneurysm.