• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2024

Purpose: Cancer is the leading cause of death in Koreans, with breast cancer being the most common among women. Breast cancer readily metastasizes, and the existing treatment processes impose a significant burden on patients. This study examined whether pomegranate-derived exosome-like nanovesicles (PNVs) have anti-cancer effects by inhibiting cell infiltration and metastasis while increasing apoptosis on breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Methods: Initially, exosome-like nanovesicles were isolated from pomegranate using ultracentrifugation. Subsequently, the size range of these nanovesicles was confirmed using nanoparticle tracking analysis. The ability of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells to internalize these natural nanovesicles was assessed with flourescence microscope. The anti-cancer effects of the PNVs were confirmed by applying various concentrations of PNVs (10, 50, 100 ㎍/mL) to MDA-MB-231 cells and systematically assessing their impact on cell viability and migration. Results: The round shape of the lipid bilayer in the PNVs was confirmed, providing crucial insights into their structural properties. We demonstrate that PNVs-associated DiD dye can be efficiently internalized by the MDA-MB-231 cells. The data showed that the PNVs inhibited cell viability, invasion rates, and migration in MDA-MB-231 cells. In addition, PNVs were absorbed into the MDA-MB-231 cells, leading to an increased expression of apoptosis proteins, such as cleaved caspase-3 and phosphorus-JNK, in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, a reduction in cell infiltration and decreased expression of the transition markers MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins were observed. Conclusion: For the first time, this study suggests that PNVs may be useful in the prevention or treatment of breast cancer by inhibiting the infiltration and metastasis of MDA-MB-231 cells and inducing apoptosis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.28-53
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• 2024

In general, high-level radioactive waste (HLW) generated as a result of nuclear power generation should be disposed within the country. Determination of the disposal site and host rock for HLW deep geological repository is an important issue not only scientifically but also politically, economically, and socially. Considered host rock types worldwide for geological disposal include crystalline rocks, sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks, and salt dome. However, South Korea consists of various rock types except salt dome. This paper not only analyzed the geological and rock mechanical characteristics on a nationwide scale with the preliminary results on various rock type studies for the disposal host rock, but also reviewed the characteristics and possibility of various rock types as a host rock through deep drilling surveys. Based on the nationwide screening for host rock types resulted from literature review, rock distributions, and detailed case studies, Jurassic granites and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (Jinju and Jindong formations) were derived as a possible candidate host rock types for the geological disposal. However, since the analyzed data for candidate rock types from this study is not enough, it is suggested that the disposal rock type should be carefully determined from additional and detailed analysis on disposal depth, regional characteristics, multidisciplinary investigations, etc.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed at developing a novel tube thoracostomy technique using the sternum, a fixed anatomical structure, as an indicator to reduce the possibility of incorrect chest tube positioning and complications in patients with chest trauma. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the data of 184 patients with chest trauma who were aged ≥18 years, visited a single regional trauma center in Korea between April and June 2022, and underwent chest computed tomography (CT) with their arms down. The conventional gold standard, 5th intercostal space (ICS) method, was compared to the lower 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 of the sternum method by analyzing CT images. Results: When virtual tube thoracostomy routes were drawn at the mid-axillary line at the 5th ICS level, 150 patients (81.5%) on the right side and 179 patients (97.3%) on the left did not pass the diaphragm. However, at the lower 1/2 of the sternum level, 171 patients (92.9%, P<0.001) on the right and 182 patients (98.9%, P= 0.250) on the left did not pass the diaphragm. At the 5th ICS level, 129 patients (70.1%) on the right and 156 patients (84.8%) on the left were located in the safety zone and did not pass the diaphragm. Alternatively, at the lower 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 of the sternum level, 139 (75.5%, P=0.185), 49 (26.6%, P<0.001), and 10 (5.4%, P<0.001), respectively, on the right, and 146 (79.3%, P=0.041), 69 (37.5%, P<0.001), and 16 (8.7%, P<0.001) on the left were located in the safety zone and did not pass the diaphragm. Compared to the conventional 5th ICS method, the sternum 1/2 method had a safety zone prediction sensitivity of 90.0% to 90.7%, and 97.3% to 100% sensitivity for not passing the diaphragm. Conclusions: Using the sternum length as a tube thoracostomy indicator might be feasible.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.173-192
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• 2024

This study aims to understand the changes in the beauty industry due to the pandemic from the consumer's perspective based on consumers' opinions about their skin online before and after the pandemic. Furthermore, this study tries to derive strategies for companies and governments to support sustainable growth and innovation in the beauty industry. To this end, posts on social media from 2017 to 2022 that contained the keyword 'skin concerns' are collected, and after data preprocessing, 96,908 posts are used for the structural topic model. To examine whether consumers' interest areas related to skin change according to the pandemic situation, the analysis period is divided into 7 periods, and the variables that distinguish each stage are used as meta-variables for the structural topic model. As a result, it is found that consumers' interests can be divided into 22 topics, which can be categorized into four main categories: beauty manufacturing, beauty services, skin concerns, and other. The results of this study are expected to be utilized in construction of product development and marketing strategies of related companies and the establishment of economic support policies by the government in response to changes in demand in the beauty industry due to the pandemic.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2024

Lipid metabolic disorders are commonly encountered in clinical practice. Dyslipidemia and its prevalence rate are strongly associated with the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular disease worldwide. We conducted a genetic analysis to determine the association between genetic polymorphisms of the ABO gene in adults middle-aged (40~69 years) with dyslipidemia in the Korean population. A total of 6,750 subjects from the Korea Association REsource (KARE) were selected for this study. Using the genetic and epidemiologic data of 4,403 dyslipidemia cases and 2,347 normal controls from the KARE, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ABO gene were analyzed for their genetic correlation. Eleven SNPs out of the ABO gene demonstrated a statistically significant association with dyslipidemia. Among them, rs8176707 in ABO gene statistically showed the most significant correlation with dyslipidemia (P-value=0.002, odds ratio=0.82, 95% confidence interval=0.78~0.86). The minor allele of T polymorphism within the ABO intron genetic region was associated with a decreased risk of dyslipidemia. This study uncovered a significant association between genetic polymorphism in the ABO gene and dyslipidemia. This finding suggest that ABO SNPs markers have a genetic correlation with the etiology of dyslipidemia.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.141-153
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• 2024

The 2022 revised science curriculum aims to develop the ability to solve scientific problems arising in daily life and society based on convergent thinking stimulated through participation in research activities using artificial intelligence (AI). Therefore, we developed a science-AI convergence education program that combines the science curriculum with artificial intelligence and employed it in convergence classes for high school students. The aim of the science-AI convergence class was for students to qualitatively understand the movement of a damped pendulum and build an AI model to predict the position of the pendulum using the block coding platform KNIME. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted to understand and interpret the learners' experiences. Based on Giorgi's phenomenological research methodology, we described the learners' learning processes and changes, challenges and limitations of the class. The students collected data and built the AI model. They expected to be able to predict the surrounding phenomena based on their experimental results and perceived the convergence class positively. On the other hand, they still perceived an with the unfamiliarity of platform, difficulty in understanding the principle of AI, and limitations of the teaching method that they had to follow, as well as limitations of the course content. Based on this, we discussed the strengths and limitations of the science-AI convergence class and made suggestions for science-AI convergence education. This study is expected to provide implications for developing science-AI convergence curricula and implementing them in the field.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.67-85
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• 2023

Purpose - This study seeks to investigate the determinants of global sourcing intention in clothing sewing industry, in particular with its focus on women's knit wear production. Design/methodology/approach - This study collected a unique set of qualitative data through 31 in-depth interviews with fashion brands, promotion agencies, and sewing factories between July 2023 and October 2023. In addition, it analyzed the dataset using the MAXQDA to complement the research findings. Findings - We have two findings. First, the interviewees commonly mentioned the following factors as reasons for considering global sourcing: the human factors(aging of skilled technicians and labor shortages), the financial factors(gap in production unit prices at home and abroad), the relational factors(lack of novelty), and the physical factors(loss of production infrastructure and network), while the human factors(skilled workforce), the production factors(delivery date and product quality), and the relational factors(timely communication and mutual trust) as reasons for continuing domestic sourcing. Additional code analysis of interview also supports this finding. On the other hand, there was also a subtle difference between buyers(brands) and suppliers(promotion agencies and processing plants), and buyers consider the exact delivery date critical so that they could see trend-sensitive women's knit wear on time, and suppliers took production costs, labor costs, and labor shortages, which are financial factors, more seriously. Research implications or Originality - This study provides a richer and more balanced view of existing literature, which has generally tended to introduce global sourcing across the clothing industry despite the existence of various diversity within the industry. In addition, through qualitative research, we introduce that the sewing industry is carried out according to complex factors, and by revealing and categorizing the determinants of global sourcing, we supplement the existing research on the clothing sewing industry centered on survey. On a practical note, this study introduces that there is a difference in view of domestic sourcing and global sourcing between buyers(brands) and suppliers(promotion agencies and sewing factories), suggesting practical implications for revitalizing networks and deriving win-win cooperation network models among members in the future.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.211-227
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• 2024

Introduction: Seaweed is a sustainable and underexplored source of bioactive compounds with potent anti-inflammatory activities. However, studies on the interaction between seaweed and genes on inflammation are limited. Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the relationships between seaweed consumption and the polygenic risk scores (PRS) and their interactions with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels. Methods: Information on seaweed consumption was collected using a food frequency questionnaire, which included laver, kelp, and sea mustard among the items consumed. A total of 31 hs-CRP-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected using genome-wide association studies and clumping analysis, and the individual PRS were calculated by weighting the effect size of each allele in the selected SNPs of 39,369 middle-aged (≥40 years) Koreans using the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES)-Health Examinees (HEXA) cohort data. To investigate the interaction between seaweed intake and the PRS on hs-CRP levels >1 mg/L, hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were assessed using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Results: During a mean follow-up period of 4.8 years, we recorded 436 patients with elevated hs-CRP levels. Women in the highest tertile of the PRS with the lowest quartile of seaweed intake had an increased incidence of elevated hs-CRP levels compared with women in the lowest tertile of the PRS with the lowest seaweed intake quartile (HR 2.34, 95% CI 1.23-4.45). No significant association was observed among the men. Conclusion: In conclusion, we identified a new interaction between the PRS, seaweed intake, and inflammation in Korean women, and this study suggests that the interaction between the identification of genetic predisposition and dietary seaweed intake may have an impact on determining the risk of developing hyperinflammation in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.50-60
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• 2024

To promote the application of reliability-based design within the Korean coastal engineering community, the author conducted reliability analyses and optimized the design of a vertical-type breakwater, considering multiple limit states in the seas off of Pusan and Gunsan - two representative ports in Korea. In this process, rather than relying on design waves of a specific return period, the author intentionally avoided such constraints. Instead, the author characterized the uncertainties associated with wave force, lift force, and overturning moment - key factors significantly influencing the integrity of a vertical-type breakwater. This characterization was achieved by employing a probabilistic model derived from the frequency analysis results of long-term in-situ wave data. The limit state of the vertical-type breakwater encompassed sliding, overturning, and collapse failure, with the close interrelation between wave force, lift force, and moment described using the Nataf joint probability distribution. Simulation results indicate, as expected, that considering only sliding failure underestimates the failure probability. Furthermore, it was shown that the failure probability of vertical-type breakwaters cannot be consistently secured using design waves with a specific return period. In contrast, breakwaters optimally designed to meet the reliability index requirement of 𝛽-3.5 to 4 consistently achieve a consistent failure probability across all sea areas.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.307-317
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of merchants' perceptions of service quality, youth mall creation, and traditional market revitalization on management performance to derive factors that can improve the self-sustainability of the traditional market. In particular, it was intended to predict the practical effect of the youth mall creation project by including merchants' perceptions of the rapidly emerging youth mall to revitalize the traditional market. In this study, 430 small business owners from five private traditional markets in Iksan were surveyed, the research model was verified by analyzing the technical statistics, reliability, and validity of the data collected using the SPSS 21.0 program, and the hypothesis was verified through correlation and regression analysis. Although youth malls are actively promoted at the government level to revitalize traditional markets and improve management performance, this study confirmed that the creation of youth malls in traditional markets does not directly affect traditional market revitalization and management performance, confirming that policies to create youth malls that can actually help revitalize traditional markets and improve management performance in the future need to be promoted.