• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.167-177
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• 2003

Purpose : To know the trends of antimicrobial susceptibility is critical for antimicrobial treatment. We studied the organisms isolated from blood, urine, stool, and cerebrospinal fluid from 1997 to 2001 to reveal the trends of their antimicrobial susceptibility. Methods : We conducted a retrospective study with isolates obtained from 0~18 year old outpatients and inpatients from 1997 to 2001 at Department of Pediatrics, Hanil general hospital. We gathered the data through the laboratory test files and the origin of microorganisms cultured from blood, urine, stool and cerebrospinal fluid and their antimicrobial susceptibility. Results : Microorganisms were isolated from 226(3.3%) out of 6,974 blood cultures, 365 (8.0%) out of 4,549 urine cultures, 50(1.9%) out of 2,593 stool cultures and 9(1.4%) in 655 cerebrospinal fluid cultures. The most frequently isolated organisms from blood cultures was Staphylococcus epidermidis(33.5%) which was followed by Staphylococcus aureus(19.7%), Escherichia coli(13.8%), and Burkholderia cepacia(9.0%). Among the urine cultures, E. coli was the most common(74.7%) which was followed by Group D Enterococcus(11.3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae(7.1%) and Proteus mirabilis(2.5%). The positive stool cultures all yield Salmonella species. Group D Salmonella was obtained most frequently. Among the positive cerebrospinal fluid cultures, Group B Streptococcus was isolated most frequently. Among the 40 cases of S. aureus in blood cultures, 27 cases were methicillin-resistant. The rates of susceptibility for amikacin, ceftizoxime and ceftriaxone of E. coli isolated from blood cultures were 80%, 100% and 60% in 1997 and 60%, 80% and 60% in 2001. The rates of susceptibility for amikacin, ceftizoxime and ceftriaxone of K. pnumoniae isolated from urine cultures. were 80%, 100% and 80% in 1997 and 50%, 83% and 50% in 2001 Enterococcus was isolated from 6.7% to 15.8% and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus was observed in 17% of Group D Enterococcus isolated from urine cultures. The rates of susceptibility for amikacin, ceftizoxime and ceftriaxone of Group D Salmonella were 96%, 96% and 92% during the study period. Conclusion : Among the blood cultures S. epidermidis, S. aureus, E. coli and B. cepacia were isolated in order of frequency and among the urine cultures E. coli, Group D Enterococcus, K. pneumoniae and P. mirabilis were isolated in order of frequency. During the study period there was no big difference in major organisms isolated from blood and urine. The methicillin-resistant S. aureus was observed in 67% of S. aureus isolated from blood cultures but vancomycin-reistant S. aureus or vancomycin intermediate resistant S. aureus was not observed. The rates of susceptibility to amikacin and the third generation cephalosporin of E. coli isolated from blood cultures and K. pneumoniae from urine cultures have decreased. The isolation rates of Group D Enterococcus and vancomycin resistant Enterococcus have increased.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.593-597
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• 2009

The uterus plays a critical role in pregnancy and steroid hormones, and both estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P4) especially play important roles in the cross-talk between embryos and uterus to support the pregnancy. E2 stimulates uterine growth during early pregnancy to prepare for implantation of embryos. This cross-talk during the implantation period involves hormones (E2 and P4) and growth factors, including insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I). In the uterus of a pregnant pig, the action of E2 is mediated by estrogen receptor-${\beta}$ (ER-${\beta}$). The expression of ER-a was much higher in early pregnancy than in mid- and late- pregnancy, suggesting E2 secretion from embryos enhances transcription of ER-a during early pregnancy. In order to prove whether IGF-I is an E2 target gene, quantitative real-time PCR was performed on ovariectomized murine uterus with E2 and/or P4 treatment(s). Increased IGF-I mRNA expression was observed with E2 treatment, however, it was not significantly induced by P4 treatment, which clearly demonstrates that, in mice, E2 depends on the activation of uterine IGF-I gene expression. The expression of IGF-I in the uterus of pigs was much higher in early pregnancy than in mid- and late- pregnancy and these data exhibited the same expression pattern with the ER-${\beta}$ gene expression in the uterus. It suggests that a positive co-relationship between IGF-I and ER-${\beta}$ expression exists in the uterus, and that both gene expressions of IGF-I and ER-${\beta}$ are regulated by E2. It further suggests that uterine the IGF-I gene expression might be initiated by E2 secreted from embryos to increase ER-${\beta}$ gene expression, and that this increased ER-${\beta}$ further stimulates the expression of IGF-I in the uterus during early pregnancy.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.375-382
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• 2015

A controlled atmosphere (CA) regimen was optimized during 3 consecutive harvest seasons as the basis of practical modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) storage for quality maintenance and extension of storage potential of fresh Ligularia fischeri leaves. Leaves were harvested in April or May and forced-air cooled to $4^{\circ}C$ before punch-hole MAP (control, where gas concentrations were same as air) and CA treatments. CA regimens adjusted stepwise during 3 experimental years were: 1 and 3% $O_2$, respectively combined with 5 and 10% $CO_2$ in the first year, 3% $O_2$ fixed in combination with 0, 2.5, and 5% $CO_2$ in the second year, and 3% $O_2$ fixed in combination with 2.5 and 5% $CO_2$ in the third year. In the first year, higher incidence of black discoloration was observed with the reduction of respiration under 10% $CO_2$ CA conditions regardless of $O_2$ levels at 1 or 3%. In the second and third year, the incidence of the disorder seemed not to be clearly relevant to CA conditions showing slightly higher incidence only after 4- or 5-week storage + 5-day shelf life. Although texture and appearance quality were maintained better under the 3% $O_2$ + 2.5% $CO_2$condition after 4-week storage + 5-day shelf life, effects of CA on the extension of storage period was slight. Overall results indicated that Ligularia fischeri leaves are very susceptible to $CO_2$ injury. $CO_2$ concentration should be adjusted below 2.5% for safe and effective CA or MAP storage to maintain quality even during short-term storage.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2009

Accurate solar radiation data are critical to evaluate major physiological responses of plants. For most upland crops and orchard plants growing in complex terrain, however, it is not easy for farmers or agronomists to access solar irradiance data. Here we suggest a simple method using a sun-slope geometry based topographical coefficient to estimate daily solar irradiance on any sloping surfaces from global solar radiation measured at a nearby weather station. An hourly solar irradiance ratio ($W_i$) between sloping and horizontal surface is defined as multiplication of the relative solar intensity($k_i$) and the slope irradiance ratio($r_i$) at an hourly interval. The $k_i$ is the ratio of hourly solar radiation to the 24 hour cumulative radiation on a horizontal surface under clear sky conditions. The $r_i$ is the ratio of clear sky radiation on a given slope to that on a horizontal reference. Daily coefficient for slope correction is simply the sum of $W_i$ on each date. We calculated daily solar irradiance at 8 side slope locations circumventing a cone-shaped parasitic volcano(c.a., 570m diameter for the bottom circle and 90m bottom-to-top height) by multiplying these coefficients to the global solar radiation measured horizontally. Comparison with the measured slope irradiance from April 2007 to March 2008 resulted in the root mean square error(RMSE) of $1.61MJ\;m^{-2}$ for the whole period but the RMSE for April to October(i.e., major cropping season in Korea) was much lower and satisfied the 5% error tolerance for radiation measurement. The RMSE was smallest in October regardless of slope aspect, and the aspect dependent variation of RMSE was greatest in November. Annual variation in RMSE was greatest on north and south facing slopes, followed by southwest, southeast, and northwest slopes in decreasing order. Once the coefficients are prepared, global solar radiation data from nearby stations can be easily converted to the solar irradiance map at landscape scales with the operational reliability in cropping season.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.173-184
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to analyse the problems of 'Science Inquiry Experiment Contest(SIEC)' which was one of 8 programs of 'The 2nd Student Science Inquiry Olympic Meet(SSIOM)'. The results and conclusions of this study were as follows: 1. It needs to reconsider the role of practical work within science experiment because practical work skills form one of the mainstays in current science. But the assessment of students' laboratory skills in the contest was made little account of. It is necessary to remind of what it means to be 'good at science'. There are two aspects: knowing and doing. Both are important and, in certain respects, quite distinct. Doing science is more of a craft activity, relying more on craft skill and tacit knowledge than on the conscious application of explicit knowledge. Doing science is also divided into two aspects, 'process' and 'skill' by many science educators. 2. The report's and checklist's assessment items were overlapped. Therefore it was suggested that the checklist assessment items were set limit to the students' acts which can't be found in reports. It is important to identify those activities which produce a permanent assessable product, and those which do not. Skills connected with recording and reporting are likely to produce permanent evidence which can be evaluated after the experiment. Those connected with manipulative skills involving processes are more ephemeral and need to be assessed as they occur. The division of student's experimental skills will contribute to the accurate assess of student's scientific inquiry experimental ability. 3. There was a wide difference among the scores of one participant recorded by three evaluators. This means that there was no concrete discussion among the evaluators before the contest. Despite the items of the checklists were set by preparers of the contest experiments, the concrete discussions before the contest were necessary because students' experimental acts were very diverse. There is a variety of scientific skills. So it is necessary to assess the performance of individual students in a range of skills. But the most of the difficulties in the assessment of skills arise from the interaction between measurement and the use. To overcome the difficulties, not only must the mark needed for each skill be recorded, something which all examination groups obviously need, but also a description of the work that the student did when the skill was assessed must also be given, and not all groups need this. Fuller details must also be available for the purposes of moderation. This is a requirement for all students that there must be provision for samples of any end-product or other tangible form of evidence of candidates' work to be submitted for inspection. This is rather important if one is to be as fair as possible to students because, not only can this work be made available to moderators if necessary, but also it can be used to help in arriving at common standards among several evaluators, and in ensuring consistent standards from one evaluator over the assessment period. This need arises because there are problems associated with assessing different students on the same skill in different activities. 4. Most of the students' reports were assessed intuitively by the evaluators despite the assessment items were established concretely by preparers of the experiment. This result means that the evaluators were new to grasp the essence of the established assessment items of the experiment report and that the students' assessment scores were short of objectivity. Lastly, there are suggestions from the results and the conclusions. The students' experimental acts which were difficult to observe because they occur in a flash and which can be easily imitated should be excluded from the assessment items. Evaluators are likely to miss the time to observe the acts, and the students who are assessed later have more opportunity to practise the skill which is being assessed. It is necessary to be aware of these problems and try to reduce their influence or remove them. The skills and processes analysis has made a very useful checklist for scientific inquiry experiment assessment. But in itself it is of little value. It must be seen alongside the other vital attributes needed in the making of a good scientist, the affective aspects of commitment and confidence, the personal insights which come both through formal and informal learning, and the tacit knowledge that comes through experience, both structured and acquired in play. These four aspects must be continually interacting, in a flexible and individualistic way, throughout the scientific education of students. An increasing ability to be good at science, to be good at doing investigational practical work, will be gained through continually, successively, but often unpredictably, developing more experience, developing more insights, developing more skills, and producing more confidence and commitment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.358-363
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• 2000

This study was carried out to obtain the basic data for selecting the applicable crops in reclaimed land during desalinization period. A pot experiment was conducted with 5 different electrical conductivities of the saturated extracts $(ECe\;1,\;3,\;9,\;14,\;and\;16\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1})$ of soils taken from the Dae-Ho reclaimed tidal lands. Eight crops (Chinese cabbage, radish, tomato, red pepper, buckwheat, soybean, sesame, and green perilla) were grown for 37days. Plant height and number of leaves were surveyed on 2 and 4 weeks after seeding, and on harvest time (5 weeks). After harvest, dry weights of harvested crops were measured and soil chemical properties were analyzed. Emergence rates of crops were comparatively high except sesame. For sesame, there was no emergence at ECe over $3\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. Growth and dry weight decreased significantly as increasing ECe. The ECe which decreased 50% of dry weight index were $14.2\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for radish, $11.4\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for Chinese cabbage, $10.2\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for red pepper, $8.9\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for buckwheat and green perilla, $8.6\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for soybean, and $8.9\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for tomato. At higher ECe that start the growth inhibition, increasing $1\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ in ECe, 7.7, 6.5, 5.9, 5.6, 5.2, and 4.9% of dry weight decreased for buckwheat, green perilla, Chinese cabbage, radish, soybean, and tomato (red pepper), respectively. The critical value of ECe for crop survival except sesame was $15.4\;{\sim}\;23.1\;dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2006

There is growing concern that dietary soy intake is associated with protection of breast cancer. However, questions persist on the potential adverse effects of the main soy constituent genistein(GS) on female reproductive physiology. In this study, we examined whether prepubertal exposure to GS affected on the onset of puberty and the associated reproductive parameters such as hormone receptor expressions in female rats. GS(100mg/kg/day) was administrated daily from postnatal day 25(PND 25) to the day when the first vaginal opening(VO) was observed, and the animals were sacrificed on the day after VO occurred. Gross anatomy and tissue weight were compared to test the GS's effect on the cell proliferation. Furthermore, histological studies were performed to assess the structural alterations in tissues. Specific radioimmunoassay(RIA) were carried out to measure serum LH levels. To determine the transcriptional changes in progesterone receptors(PR), total RNAs were extracted from ovary and uterus and were applied to semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). As a results, advanced VO was shown in the GS group(PND $31.2{\pm}0.6$) compared to the vehicle group (PND $35.3{\pm}0.7$). GS treatment significantly increased wet weight of ovaries and uteri compared to the vehicle group. Increased serum LH levels were also shown in the GS group. Graafian follicles and corpora lutea(CL) were observed only in the ovaries from GS treated animals. Similarly, hypertrophy of luminal and glandular uterine epithelium were found only in the GS group. Collectively, these effects were probably due to the estrogenic effects of GS. In the semi-quantitative RT-PCR studies, the transcriptional activities of PR in both ovary and uterus from GS-treated group were significantly higher than those from the vehicle group. The present studies demonstrated that acute exposure to GS, at levels comparable to the ranges of human exposure, during the critical period of prepubertal stage activates the reproductive system resulting precocious puberty in immature female rats.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.505-514
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• 2014

To examine the anti-obese activity of miscellaneous cereal grains, 80% ethanol extracts from eight selected miscellaneous cereal grains were compared for their cytotoxic effects on 3T3-L1 murine preadipocytes. The ethanol extract of proso millet exhibited the highest cytotoxicity. Further fractionation of the ethanol extract with methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol showed that the cytotoxicity of the ethanol extract was mainly partitioned into the butanol fraction. As compared with differentiated mature adipocytes, 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were more susceptible to the cyctotoxicity of the butanol fraction. When each organic solvent fraction (25 ${\mu}g/ml$) was added during the differentiation period for 6 days, the cell viability was not affected significantly except for the butanol fraction, but the intracellular lipid accumulation declined to a level of 81.5%~50.3% of the control. The Oil Red O staining data also demonstrated that the ethanol extract as well as the butanol fraction could inhibit the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes into mature adipocytes. The presence of the butanol extract during the induced adipocytic differentiation also resulted in a significant reduction in the expression levels of critical adipogenesis mediators $(C/EBP{\alpha}$, $PPAR{\gamma}$, aP2, and LPL) to a barely detectable or undetectable level and the cells retained the fibroblast-like morphology of 3T3-L1. In 3T3-L1 cells, the cytotoxicity of the butanol fraction (50-100 ${\mu}g/ml$) was accompanied by mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\psi}m$) loss, caspase-3 activation, and PARP degradation. Taken together, these results indicate that proso millet grains possess pro-apoptotic and anti-adipocytic activities toward adipocytes, which can be applicable to prevention of obesity.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.249-259
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• 2010

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of four lifestyle-related diseases, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and hypercholesterolemia, on oral health in the rural elderly in Korea. Methods: We enrolled 399 subjects over 60 years of age over a six year period, year 2000-2006/ year 2001-2007. All subjects received a routine health examination as part of a program conducted by the National Health Insurance Corporation at Seongju-gun Public Health Center in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, South Korea. All subjects were surveyed and examined to determine their general and oral health statuses. Results: Our results suggest that the duration of lifestyle-related diseases has a significant influence on oral health. The following factors were all significant in the results of analyses: duration of diabetes, tooth decay, which teeth had decayed, missing and filled teeth(DMFT), duration of hypertension, and duration of obesity and hypercholesterolemia(p<0.05). Our results also suggest that the number of lifestyle related diseases has a significant influence on oral health. Subjects with more than two diseases had significantly greater numbers of missing teeth and greater numbers of DMFT(p<0.01). The results of simple regression analysis indicate that patients exhibiting longer durations of diabetes also exhibit more tooth decay, and that patients exhibiting longer durations of hypertension and obesity are characterized by greater numbers of missing teeth. The longer the duration of any of the four lifestyle-related diseases we considered, the more DMFT we observed. Multiple regression analyses also demonstrated that longer duration of lifestyle-related disease was associated with greater numbers of missing teeth. As the number of lifestyle-related diseases increased, DMFT also increased. Conclusions: In summary, lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and hypercholesterolemia have significant influences on oral health in the elderly. In this context, the prevention and management of lifestyle-related disease is critical for the maintenance and promotion of oral health.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.49-61
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• 2006

The present mobile phone industry has significant effect on the domestic economy and has taken root as the core item that has the responsibility to lead the Korean economy for a considerable period of time. As the mobile phone market becomes gigantic, the mobile phone is being used by people in broader age bracket, and functions or designs preferred by people of various age are getting more diverse. Like that, as the mobile phone has greater effect on and meaning in our daily lives, consumers of mobile phone have growing expectation of the mobile phone Now, the core function of voice communication via the mobile phone is not a great concern to consumers. But the function, such as more convenient and friendly information input and output, processing and storage, and the design, which is more sophisticated and optimized for the user environment, are being demanded, not just the simple voice communication. And as the modern design is getting more similar to the objects of traditional high art consumed by consumers every day, the aesthetic aspect of design can play an important role, as the factor that differentiates the product, in creating new value which forms the spiritual and emotional value of human beings to improve the quality of living, and in addition, the willingness of consumers to buy is determined by the design that they prefer the most. Like that, a new design of mobile phone based on a new dimension and preferred by the consumers the most is urgently required to be developed by shedding light on the factors related to the preference of consumers on the basis of the analysis on the aesthetic aspect, which can be said to be the most critical factor in the design process. Therefore, this study aims to identity the common preference and different factors of aesthetic aspects through the analysis on the aesthetic aspects of the mobile phone preferred by users among countries, and figure out the formative artistic factors of aesthetic aspects that are considered to be important, in order to propose the guideline on the aesthetic aspect of mobile phone that can be applied to the design of mobile phone practically.