• Title/Summary/Keyword: External Quality Assessment

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Study on the Difference of Urine Sediment Preparation for Microscopic Examination (현미경검사를 위한 요침사 표본제작에 따른 차이 연구)

  • Lee, Hyeok-Jae;Park, Chul;Seo, Min-Young
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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    • v.49 no.4
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    • pp.366-373
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    • 2017
  • Urinalysis is considered to be easier and simpler than other tests. It has been known to cause no burden to patients, while offering important information on diagnosing, treating, and determining the prognoses of kidney and urinary tract diseases. Urinary sediments are usually performed by microscopic examination of centrifuged urine by technologist. The guidelines proposed by the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service are actually different from those actually practiced by medical institutions and taught to biomedical students in textbooks. Therefore, we verified whether different sediment preparation methods lead different test results. Specimens that tested positive from the occult blood and leukocyte esterase in the urine dipstick test were randomly selected for a microscopic examination. The differences in the urine sediment preparation affected the sediment concentrations, which influenced the cell grade and cell number per HPF. The first factor in determining the sediment concentration is the centrifugal force. Many medical institutions use 1,500 rpm as the centrifugal speed without considering the radius of the centrifuge; such a value may not be accurate for 400 G. Consequently, there were differences in urine concentrations, which influenced the results. The second factor is the amount of sediment in urine. Different amounts of the remaining supernatant led to different sediment concentration factors, again, causing different results. Furthermore, not only by using a pipette to obtain an accurate amount as stipulated, but also by roughly obtaining a drop, the microscopic examination using such a volume of sediment examined affected the results. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of standardization of urine sediment preparation procedures to promote consistency and accuracy across institutions.

Exclusive correlation analysis for algae and environmental factors in weirs of four major rivers in South Korea (4대강 주요지점에서의 조류 발생인자의 배타적 상관성분석에 대한 연구)

  • Lee, Eun Hyung;Kim, Yeonhwa;Kim, Kyunghyun;Kim, Sanghyun
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.49 no.2
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    • pp.155-164
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    • 2016
  • Algal blooms not only destroy fish habitats but also diminish biological diversity of ecosystem which results into water quality deterioration of 4 major rivers in South Korea. The relationship between algal bloom and environmental factors had been analyzed through the cross-correlation function between concentration of chlorophyll a and other environmental factors. However, time series of cross-correlations can be affected by the stochastic structure such auto-correlated feature of other controllers. In order to remove external effect in the correlation analysis, the pre-whitening procedure was implemented into the cross correlation analysis. The modeling process is consisted of a series of procedure (e.g., model identification, parameter estimation, and diagnostic checking of selected models). This study provides the exclusive correlation relationship between algae concentration and other environmental factors. The difference between the conventional correlation using raw data and that of pre-whitened series was discussed. The process implemented in this paper is useful not only to identify exclusive environmental variables to model Chl-a concentration but also in further extensive application to configure causality in the environment.

An Analysis of Concentrate Competency in Bidding Process for Overseas Project of Domestic Construction Companies (국내건설기업의 해외 프로젝트 입찰단계 우선집중역량 분석)

  • Kim, Ji Hyung;Kim, Yea Sang
    • Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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    • v.15 no.3
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    • pp.23-30
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    • 2014
  • Overseas construction orders of domestic companies had been increased significantly in a short period from $10.9 billion in 2005 to $64.9 billion in 2012. However experts are concerned that quality of growth will not support quantitative growth. This study suggest concentrate competencies for not only winning in bid but also successful execution of domestic companies. 4 Steps which are Pre-Marketing, Bid-Preparation, Bidding, Contract Phase are defined for competency assessment. After drawing specific tasks by phase, survey asking importance and capability of the tasks to the person in charge of bidding and site was conducted by utilizing Likert 7 point scale. According to the result of IPA analysis, domestic construction companies need to ensure internal competencies; Project risk review, Bid team organization, and external competencies; Client needs grasp, Localization strategy, Cooperation establishment. Hearafter domestic construction companies will be able to utilize the result of the study for setting bidding strategy for winning in bid and improving earning rate.

Determining Input Values for Dragging Anchor Assessments Using Regression Analysis (회귀분석을 이용한 주묘 위험성 평가 입력요소 결정에 관한 연구)

  • Kang, Byung-Sun;Jung, Chang-Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.27 no.6
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    • pp.822-831
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    • 2021
  • Although programs have been developed to evaluate the risk of dragging anchors, it is practically difficult for VTS(vessel traffic service) operators to calculate and evaluate these risks by obtaining input factors from anchored ships. Therefore, in this study, the gross tonnage (GT) that could be easily obtained from the ship by the VTS operators was set as an independent variable, and linear and nonlinear regression analyses were performed using the input factors as the dependent variables. From comparing the fit of the polynomial model (linear) and power series model (nonlinear), the power series model was evaluated to be more suitable for all input factors in the case of container ships and bulk carriers. However, in the case of tanker ships, the power supply model was suitable for the LBP(length between perpendiculars), width, and draft, and the polynomial model was evaluated to be more suitable for the front wind pressure area, weight of the anchor, equipment number, and height of the hawse pipe from the bottom of the ship. In addition, all other dependent variables, except for the front wind pressure area factor of the tanker ship, showed high degrees of fit with a coefficient of determination (R-squared value) of 0.7 or more. Therefore, among the input factors of the dragging anchor risk assessment program, all factors except the external force, seabed quality, water depth, and amount of anchor chain let out are automatically applied by the regression analysis model formula when only the GT of the ship is provided.

Microbial Forensics: Comparison of MLVA Results According to NGS Methods, and Forensic DNA Analysis Using MLVA (미생물법의학: 차세대염기서열분석 방법에 따른 MLVA 결과 비교 및 이를 활용한 DNA 감식)

  • Hyeongseok Yun;Seungho Lee;Seunghyun Lim;Daesang Lee;Sehun Gu;Jungeun Kim;Juhwan Jeong;Seongjoo Kim;Gyeunghaeng Hur;Donghyun Song
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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    • v.27 no.4
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    • pp.507-515
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    • 2024
  • Microbial forensics is a scientific discipline for analyzing evidence related to biological crimes by identifying the origin of microorganisms. Multiple locus variable number tandem repeat analysis(MLVA) is one of the microbiological analysis methods used to specify subtypes within a species based on the number of tandem repeat in the genome, and advances in next generation sequencing(NGS) technology have enabled in silico anlysis of full-length whole genome sequences. In this paper, we analyzed unknown samples provided by Robert Koch Institute(RKI) through The United Nations Secretary-General's Mechanism(UNSGM)'s external quality assessment exercise(EQAE) project, which we officially participated in 2023. We confirmed that the 3 unknown samples were B. anthracis through nucleic acid isolation and genetic sequence analysis studies. MLVA results on 32 loci of B. anthracis were analysed by using genome sequences obtained from NGS(NextSeq and MinION) and Sanger sequencing. The MLVA typing using short-reads based NGS platform(NextSeq) showed a high probability of causing assembly error when a size of the tandem repeats was grater than 200 bp, while long-reads based NGS platform(MinION) showed higher accuracy than NextSeq, although insertion and deletion was observed. We also showed hybrid assembly can correct most indel error caused by MinION. Based on the MLVA results, genetic identification was performed compared to the 2,975 published MLVA databases of B. anthracis, and MLVA results of 10 strains were identical with 3 unkonwn samples. As a result of whole genome alignment of the 10 strains and 3 unknown samples, all samples were identified as B. anthracis strain A4564 which is associated with injectional anthrax isolates in heroin users.

Evaluation of Internal Phosphorus Loading through the Dynamic Monitoring of Dissolved Oxygen in a Shallow Reservoir (수심이 얕은 저수지에서 용존산소 동적 모니터링을 통한 인 내부부하 평가)

  • Park, Hyungseok;Choi, Sunhwa;Chung, Sewoong;Ji, Hyunseo;Oh, Jungkuk;Jun, Hangbae
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.26 no.6
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    • pp.553-562
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    • 2017
  • In these days, agricultural reservoirs are considered as a useful resource for recreational purposes, tour and cultural amenity for vicinity communities as well as irrigation water supply. However, many of the agricultural reservoirs are showing a eutrophic or hyper-eutrophic state and high level of organic contamination. In particular, about 44.7% of the aged agricultural reservoirs that constructed before 1945 exceed the water quality criteria for irrigational water use. In addition to external loading, internal nutrient loading from bottom sediment may play an important role in the nutrient budget of the aged reservoirs. The objectives of this study were to characterize variations of thermal structure of a shallow M reservoir (mean depth 1.7 m) and examine the potential of internal nutrient loading by continuous monitoring of vertical water temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration profiles in 2015 and 2016. The effect of internal loading on the total loading of the reservoir was evaluated by mass balance analysis. Results showed that a weak thermal stratification and a strong DO stratification were developed in the shallow M Reservoir. And, dynamic temporal variation in DO was observed at the bottom of the reservoir. Persistent hypoxic conditions (DO concentrations less than 2 mg/L) were established for 87 days and 98 days in 2015 and 2016, respectively, during the no-rainy summer periods. The DO concentrations intermittently increased during several events of atmospheric temperature drop and rainfall. According to the mass balance analysis, the amount of internal $PO_4-P$ loading from sediment to the overlying water were 37.9% and 39.7% of total loading during no-rainy season in 2015 and 2016, respectively on August when algae growth is enhanced with increasing water temperature. Consequently, supply of DO to the lower layer of the reservoir could be effective countermeasure to reduce nutrient release under the condition of persistent DO depletion in the bottom of the reservoir.

A Clinical Study of Hypersensitive rhinitis including Allergic rhinitis (알레르기성 비염을 포함하는 과민성 비염 환자에 관한 임상적 연구)

  • Choi, In-Hwa
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.169-182
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    • 2002
  • Background: Allergic rhinitis(AR) is a heterogeneous disorder that despite its high prevalence is often undiagnosed. It is characterized by one or more symptoms including sneezing, itching, nasal congestion, and rhinorrhea. And it is frequently accompanied by symptoms involving the eyes, ears, and throat, including postnasal drainage. There are many different causes of rhinitis in children and adults. Approximately 50$\%$ of all cases of rhinitis are caused by allergy. In the case of rhinitis caused by allergens, symptoms arise as a result of inflammation induced by a gamma globulin E-mediated immune response to specific allergens such as pollens, molds, animal dander, and dust mites. The immune response involves the release of inflammatory mediators and the activation and recruitment of cells to the nasal mucosa. AR is similar to 鼻?, hypersensitive rhinitis in Oriental Medicine. I think hypersensitive rhinitis is including of AR, vasomotor rhinitis and non-allergic rhinitis related with eosinophil increased and so on. Purpose: To perform a clinical analysis of hypersensitive rhinitis including allergic rhinitis and estimate the efficacy of Oriental Medical treatment. Objective: We studied 96 patients who had visited our hospital with complaints of nasal symptoms from March 2000 to February 2002; they had the signs more than 2 - nasal obstruction, watery discharge, sneezing and eye or nasal itching. Parameters Observed & Methods: We treated them with acupuncture & herb-medication. Sometime they used aroma oil or external medicine. 1) the distribution of sex & age groups 2) the clinical type based on duration & the severity of symptom 3) the breakdown of complication & pasl history of Otolaryngologic or allergic disease 4) the clinical assessment and classification of rhinitis(sneezers and runners & blockers) 5) the associated symptoms and signs 6) the classification of Byeonjeung 7) the classification of prescriptions and 8) the efficacy of treatment. Result: 1. In the clinical type of based on duration, the intermittent type was 42.7$\%$ and the persistent was 57.3$\%$. 2. We observed the severity of symptoms based on the quality of life. The mild type was 24.0$\%$ and the moderate-severe was 76.0$\%$. 3. In the clinical assessment and classification of rhinitis, the sneezers and runners type was 69.8$\%$ and the blockers was 30.2$\%$. 4. The most common family history with otolaryngologic or allergic disease were allergic rhinitis(17.7$\%$), urticaria, paranasal sinusitis and T.B.(3.1$\%$). 5. The most common past history with otolaryngologic or allergic disease were paranasal sinusitis(14.6$\%$), atopic dermatitis and asthma(8.3$\%$). It was 31.3$\%$ they had a family history and 44.8$\%$, past history. 6. The most common complication was paranasal sinusitis(15.6$\%$). In decreasing order the others were otitis media with effusion(9.4$\%$), GERD and headache(6.3$\%$), asthma, bronchitis, nasal bleeding and allergic dermatitis(5.2$\%$). 7. Classification through Byeonjeung : ⅰ) 39 cases(34.9$\%$) were classified as showing Deficiency syndrome. The insuffficiency of Qi was 17.7$\%$, deficiency of Kidney-Yang, 12.5$\%$ and Lung-Cold, 10.4$\%$. ⅱ) 57 cases(59.4$\%$) were classified as showing Excess syndrome. The Fever of YangMing-meridian was 35.4$\%$, Lung-Fever, 24.0$\%$. 8. The efficacy of treatments showed: an improvement in 22cases(22.9$\%$); an improvement partly in 24 cases(25.0$\%$); no real improvement or changes in 16 cases(16.7$\%$); and couldn't check the results 18cases(18.6$\%$). Conclusion: We suggest that this study could be utilized as a standard of clinical Oriental Medical treatment when we treat hypersensitive rhinitis including allergic rhinitis.

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Assessment of the usefulness of the Machine Performance Check system that is an evaluation tools for the determination of daily beam output (일간 빔 출력 확인을 위한 평가도구인 Machine Performance Check의 유용성 평가)

  • Lee, Sang Hyeon;Ahn, Woo Sang;Lee, Woo Seok;Choi, Jin Hyeok;Kim, Seon Yeon
    • The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.65-73
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    • 2017
  • Purpose: Machine Performance Check (MPC) is a self-checking software based on the Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID) to measure daily beam outputs without external installation. The purpose of this study is to verify the usefulness of MPC by comparing and correlating daily beam output of QA Beamchecker PLUS. Materials and Methods: Linear accelerator (Truebeam 2.5) was used to measure 10 energies which are composed of photon beams(6, 10, 15 MV and 6, 10 MV-FFF) and electron beams(6, 9, 12, 16 and 20 MeV). A total of 80 cycles of data was obtained by measuring beam output measurement before treatment over five months period. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the consistency of the beam output between the MPC and the QA Beamchecker PLUS. In this study, if the Pearson correlation coefficient is; (1) 0.8 or higher, the correlation is very strong (2) between 0.6 and 0.79, the correlation is strong (3) between 0.4 and 0.59, the correlation is moderate (4) between 0.2 and 0.39, the correlation is weak (5) lower than 0.2, the correlation is very weak. Results: Output variations observed between MPC and QA Beamchecker PLUS were within 2 % for photons and electrons. The beam outputs variations of MPC were $0.29{\pm}0.26%$ and $0.30{\pm}0.26%$ for photon and electron beams, respectively. QA Beamchecker PLUS beam outputs were $0.31{\pm}0.24%$ and $0.33{\pm}0.24%$ for photon and electron beams, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient between MPC and QA Beamchecker PLUS indicated that photon beams were very strong at 15 MV, and strong at 6 MV, 10 MV, 6 MV-FFF and 10 MV-FFF. For electron beams, the Pearson correlation coefficient were strong at 16 MeV and 20 MeV, moderate at 9 MeV and 12 MeV, and very weak at 6 MeV. Conclusion: MPC showed significantly strong correlation with QA Beamchecker PLUS when testing with photon beams and high-energy electron beams in the evaluation of daily beam output, but the correlation when testing with low-energy electron beams (6 MeV) appeared to be low. However, MPC and QA Beamchecker PLUS are considered to be suitable for checking daily beam output, as they performed within 2 % of beam output consistency during the observation. MPC which can perform faster than the conventional daily beam output measurement tool, is considered to be an effective method for users.

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Radioimmunoassay Reagent Survey and Evaluation (검사별 radioimmunoassay시약 조사 및 비교실험)

  • Kim, Ji-Na;An, Jae-seok;Jeon, Young-woo;Yoon, Sang-hyuk;Kim, Yoon-cheol
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.34-40
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    • 2021
  • Purpose If a new test is introduced or reagents are changed in the laboratory of a medical institution, the characteristics of the test should be analyzed according to the procedure and the assessment of reagents should be made. However, several necessary conditions must be met to perform all required comparative evaluations, first enough samples should be prepared for each test, and secondly, various reagents applicable to the comparative evaluations must be supplied. Even if enough comparative evaluations have been done, there is a limit to the fact that the data variation for the new reagent represents the overall patient data variation, The fact puts a burden on the laboratory to the change the reagent. Due to these various difficulties, reagent changes in the laboratory are limited. In order to introduce a competitive bid, the institute conducted a full investigation of Radioimmunoassay(RIA) reagents for each test and established the range of reagents available in the laboratory through comparative evaluations. We wanted to share this process. Materials and Methods There are 20 items of tests conducted in our laboratory except for consignment tests. For each test, RIA reagents that can be used were fully investigated with the reference to external quality control report. and the manuals for each reagent were obtained. Each reagent was checked for the manual to check the test method, Incubation time, sample volume needed for the test. After that, the primary selection was made according to whether it was available in this laboratory. The primary selected reagents were supplied with 2kits based on 100tests, and the data correlation test, sensitivity measurement, recovery rate measurement, and dilution test were conducted. The secondary selection was performed according to the results of the comparative evaluation. The reagents that passed the primary and secondary selections were submitted to the competitive bidding list. In the case of reagent is designated as a singular, we submitted a explanatory statement with the data obtained during the primary and secondary selection processes. Results Excluded from the primary selection was the case where TAT was expected to be delayed at the moment, and it was impossible to apply to our equipment due to the large volume of reagents used during the test. In the primary selection, there were five items which only one reagent was available.(squamous cell carcinoma Ag(SCC Ag), β-human chorionic gonadotropin(β-HCG), vitamin B12, folate, free testosterone), two reagents were available(CA19-9, CA125, CA72-4, ferritin, thyroglobulin antibody(TG Ab), microsomal antibody(Mic Ab), thyroid stimulating hormone-receptor-antibody(TSH-R-Ab), calcitonin), three reagents were available (triiodothyronine(T3), Tree T3, Free T4, TSH, intact parathyroid hormone(intact PTH)) and four reagents were available are carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA), TG. In the secondary selection, there were eight items which only one reagent was available.(ferritin, TG, CA19-9, SCC, β-HCG, vitaminB12, folate, free testosterone), two reagents were available(TG Ab, Mic Ab, TSH-R-Ab, CA125, CA72-4, intact PTH, calcitonin), three reagents were available(T3, Tree T3, Free T4, TSH, CEA). Reasons excluded from the secondary selection were the lack of reagent supply for comparative evaluations, the problems with data reproducibility, and the inability to accept data variations. The most problematic part of comparative evaluations was sample collection. It didn't matter if the number of samples requested was large and the capacity needed for the test was small. It was difficult to collect various concentration samples in the case of a small number of tests(100 cases per month or less), and it was difficult to conduct a recovery rate test in the case of a relatively large volume of samples required for a single test(more than 100 uL). In addition, the lack of dilution solution or standard zero material for sensitivity measurement or dilution tests was one of the problems. Conclusion Comparative evaluation for changing test reagents require appropriate preparation time to collect diverse and sufficient samples. In addition, setting the total sample volume and reagent volume range required for comparative evaluations, depending on the sample volume and reagent volume required for one test, will reduce the burden of sample collection and planning for each comparative evaluation.