• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2013

Objectives Non-major depression with fewer symptoms than required for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th edition diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) has consistently been found to be associated with functional impairment. In this study, we aim to estimate the cognitive impairment and the quality of life in elderly patients with subsyndromal depression (SSD) compared with non-depressive elderly (NDE). Methods The Korean version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was administered to 194 outpatients with depression and 108 normal controls. SSD is defined as having five or more current depressive symptoms with core depressive symptoms (depressive mood or loss of interest or pleasure) during more than half a day and more than seven days over two weeks. Depression was evaluated by the Korean form of Geriatric Depression Scale of a 15-item short version. Global cognition was assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination in the Korean version of CERAD assessment packet (MMSE-KC). Subjective cognitive impairment was assessed by the Subjective Memory Complaint Questionnaire. Quality of life was evaluated by the Korean Version of Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey. Results The mean score of the MMSE-KC in the SSD group was lower than that in the NDE group with adjustment for age, gender, and education [F = 4.270, p = 0.04, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA)]. If we defined those having Z-score of MMSE-KC < -1.5 as a high risk group of cognitive impairment, the odds ratio for the high risk group of cognitive impairment was 1.86 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.04-3.34] in SSD and 7.57 (95% CI 3.50-16.40) in MDD compared to NDE. The scores of physical component summary (F = 9.274, p = 0.003, ANCOVA) and mental component summary (F = 53.166, p < 0.001, ANCOVA) in the SSD group were lower than those in the NDE group with adjustment for age, gender, and education. Conclusions The subjects with SSD, as well as those with MDD, showed impairment of global cognition and also experienced low quality of life in both physical and mental aspects, compared to the NDE group.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.61-72
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• 2018

Different types of traditional Korean clothes (Hanbok) are appearing in the market with the increasing interest of culture consumers. In order to turn traditional Korean clothes into everyday clothes that adequately reflect various demands of culture consumers, it is important to satisfy both functional and emotional aspects of clothing. However, there is lack of existing studies on emotions of culture consumers while wearing traditional Korean clothes. In this study, 28 emotional words regarding traditional Korean clothes were extracted by applying the Delphi method and conformity rating survey to 182 emotional words reported in existing studies and references from areas such as psychology, linguistics, and sensibility engineering. The 28 selected emotional words can be used to express emotions felt by culture consumers about traditional Korean clothes. Also, words were grouped based on the correlation according to factor analysis. Based on common characteristics, the emotional words were classified into 6 categories of 'pleasure,' 'aesthetic sense,' 'harmony,' 'novelty,' 'likability,' and 'stability.' These 6 emotional categories were concluded to represent emotions of consumers about traditional Korean clothes. The 28 emotional words and 6 representative emotions noted in this study can be used as basic data for measuring emotions of culture consumers of traditional Korean clothes. A future study task is to design a detailed assessment scale to measure emotions of culture consumers about traditional Korean clothes using representative emotions.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.71-78
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• 2014

Objectives : Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD) represent significant clinical problems, resulting in functional decline, caregiver distress, institutionalization and increased mortality. A recent study showed gender differences have important role in the development of BPSD, but relationship between BPSD and gender has never been studied in Korea. This study was designed to examine whether patients with Alzheimer's disease show gender differences in behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD). Methods : Ninety-eight subjects with Alzheimer's disease were included in this study. We carried out history taking and cognitive assessment for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease based on DSM-IV. Cognitive impairment and BPSD were measured using the Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR) and the Korean Neuropsychiatric Inventory(K-NPI). Independent samples t-test was used to examine the differences across gender in BPSD. Correlation analysis between MMSE, CDR, GDS and NPI was performed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results : There were no significant gender differences between the gender in BPSD. We found statistically significant negative correlations between MMSE with NPI total score, and with scores of several sub-domains such as hallucination. Conclusions : This study showed that gender differences in BPSD are not significant. Further research is necessary to identify whether BPSD affect gender differences or individual differences.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.75-86
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• 2020

This study examined the effects of auricular acupressure on the pain and quality of life of lung cancer patients. Forty-four participants, and were divided into an experimental group (n=22) and a placebo control group (n=22). The patients in the experimental group received vaccaria seed to the four auricular acupressure points. In contrast, the patients in the placebo control groups received auricular acupressure on cancer-related points unrelated to pain. The intervention was implemented for six weeks, with five consecutive days a week. The pain intensity, pain pressure threshold, and quality of life score were used to validate the effects of the treatment. The pain intensity of the experimental group showed a significant decrease compared to the placebo control group after the intervention (Z=-2.78, p=.006). The pain pressure threshold of the experimental group showed a significant increase compared to the placebo control group after the intervention (Z=-2.69, p=.007). The quality of life among lung cancer patients showed a significant increase after the intervention compared to the placebo control group (t=3.20, p=.003). Therefore, auricular acupressure can be used as a proven nursing intervention method for lung cancer patients from cancer-related pain and the quality of life.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4685-4690
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• 2015

Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between cosmetic outcome (CO), body image, and quality of life in post breast-conserving therapy (BCT) women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study concerned one-year post-completed BCT Thai women. The data included subjective and objective CO with a questionnaire covering demographic and clinical data, anti-hormonal treatment status, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, Self-Reported Cosmetic Outcomes (SRCO), Self-Reported Breast Symmetry (SRBS), Body Image Scale (BIS), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy with Breast Cancer subscale (FACT-B). Participants had breast photographs taken for the evaluation of objective cosmetic outcome (OCO) after breast cancer conservation treatment. The relationship between CO and FACT-B was tested using Spearman's rank correlation Results: A total 127 participants volunteered for the study. The participant characteristics were age 52(${\pm}9$), Buddhist 87%, married 65%, body mass index 25.0(${\pm}4.6$), breast cup size A-C 91%, college educated 60%, employed 66%, ECOG 0-1 95%, tumor size less than or equal to 2 cm 55%, no lymph node metastasis 98%, and taking tamoxifen 57%. Two percent of the participants regretted their decision to undergo BCT. The SRCO was excellent in 2%, good in 68%, fair in 30%, and poor in 0%. For SRBS, rates were 17%, 58%, 24% and 1% for excellent, good, fair and poor cosmetic outcomes, respectively. The BCCT scores were excellent 24%, good 39%, fair 32%, and poor 6%. The median total QOL score of the participants was 130 (93-144). There was no significant correlation between CO and FACT-B scores. Conclusions: The significance of CO for FACT-B in Thai women with breast cancer could not be assessed in detail because of a very low level of correlation. The results may be due to the effects of cultural background.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.264-276
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• 2010

The objectives of this study were to introduce the methods of soil respiration measurement, to review soil respiration studies conducted in Korea, and to suggest potential issues generated from using various methods for soil respiration measurement. According to the measurement principles, the methods of soil respiration measurements are classified as: alkali absorption method (AA), closed chamber method (CC), closed dynamic chamber method (CDC), and open flow method (OF). Based on the litereaure review on soil respiration studies in Korea, the CDC method was mostly used by the researchers (62%), followed by the AA (17%), OF (13%) and CC (8%) methods. Along with these methods, various instruments were used such as LI-6400-09, EGM-3, EGM-4, and automatic soil respiration chamber. Most of the soil respiration measurements were carried out in forest ecosystems and the reported soil respiration showed a wide range of variations from 130 to 900 mg $CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$. Continuous monitoring of soil respiration with minimal disturbance and the potential inconsistency in measurements are still the challenges facing the researchers, causing a paucity in quality datasets of sufficient quantity. Few attempts of intercomparison among different methods hinder the data users from synthetic analysis and assessment of the collected datasets. In order to better estimate soil carbon budget and understand their exchange mechanisms in key ecosystems of Korea, it is necessary to measure soil respiration at various plant functional types, soils, and climate conditions over a decadal time scale along with the study on the partitioning of soil respiration into autotrophic and heteorotrophic components.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.85 no.2
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• pp.195-209
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to suggest objective basic data for the national park development through the quantitative analysis of the visual quality included in the physical environment of the Dukyu National Park. For this, spatial images structure of physical elements have been analyzed by factor analysis algorithm and degree of visual quality have been measured mainly by questionnaires. Result of this thesis can be summarized as follows. Factors covering the spatial image of the Dukyu National Park landscape have been found to be the overall synthetic evaluation spatial, appeal, natural quality and physical factors such as the overall the synthetic evaluation, spatial and appear yield high factor scores. Thus, these factors can be considered to represent the site spatial image of Dukyu Korean-National Park. By using the control method for the number of factors, Total variance explained by the factors has been obtained as 45.46% and 45.45%. Principal variables of main factors explained above may be the scaling containing the functional criteria of quantitative approach for landscape management of national park development. According to difference of special image from each place, for these variables that decided the visual quality can be differed, and even the same place due to landscape control point change the visual quality can be affected affirmately or negatively, according to recognized by the landscape control point.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.253-261
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• 2007

Molecular and cultivation techniques were used to characterize the bacterial communities of biobead reactor biofilms in a sewage treatment plant to which an Aerated Up-Flow Biobead process was applied. With this biobead process, the monthly average values of various chemical parameters in the effluent were generally kept under the regulation limits of the effluent quality of the sewage treatment plant during the operation period. Most probable number (MPN) analysis revealed that the population of denitrifying bacteria was abundant in the biobead #1 reactor, denitrifying and nitrifying bacteria coexisted in the biobead #2 reactor, and nitrifying bacteria prevailed over denitrifying bacteria in the biobead #3 reactor. The results of the MPN test suggested that the biobead #2 reactor was a transition zone leading to acclimated nitrifying biofilms in the biobead #3 reactor. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences cloned from biofilms showed that the biobead #1 reactor, which received a high organic loading rate, had much diverse microorganisms, whereas the biobead #2 and #3 reactors were dominated by the members of Proteobacteria. DGGE analysis with the ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) gene supported the observation from the MPN test that the biofilms of September were fully developed and specialized for nitrification in the biobead reactor #3. All of the DNA sequences of the amoA DGGE bands were very similar to the sequence of the amoA gene of Nitrosomonas species, the presence of which is typical in the biological aerated filters. The results of this study showed that organic and inorganic nutrients were efficiently removed by both denitrifying microbial populations in the anaerobic tank and heterotrophic and nitrifying bacterial biofilms well-formed in the three functional biobead reactors in the Aerated Up-Flow Biobead process.

• Asian Spine Journal
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1106-1116
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• 2018

Study Design: Prospective observational study. Purpose: To evaluate the disability domains relevant to Indian patients with low backache and propose a modified disability questionnaire for such patients. Overview of Literature: The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) is a self-reported measurement tool that measures both pain and functional status and is used for evaluating disability caused by lower backache. Although ODI remains a good tool for disability assessment, from the Indian perspective questions related to weight lifting and sexual activity of ODI are questioned in some of the earlier studies. Activities of daily living in Indian patients vary substantially from those in other populations and include activities like bending forwards, sitting in floor and squatting which are not represented in the ODI. Methods: In this prospective observational study, a seven-step approach was used for the development of a questionnaire. Thirty patients were interviewed to identify the most challenging issue they faced while performing their daily activities (by free listing) and understand how important the questionnaire items were in terms of the standard ODI. Thus, a comprehensive disability questionnaire comprising 14 questions was developed and administered to 88 patients. Both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative methods (to establish the validity, reliability, and correlation with the Visual Analog Scale [VAS] and Rolland Morris disability questionnaire) were used to identify the 10 questions that best addressed the disability domains relevant to Indian patients. Results: According to free listing, four new questions pertaining to bending forward, sitting on the floor, walking on uneven surfaces, and work-related disabilities were included. In the second phase, wherein the questionnaire with 14 items was used, 56.8% patients did not answer the questions related to sexual activity, whereas 23.8% did not answer those related to walking on uneven surfaces. The modified questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=0.892) and correlation with the Rolland Morris questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha=0.850, p>0.05), as well as with the VAS score for disability (Cronbach's alpha=0.712, p>0.05) and pain (Cronbach's alpha=0.625, p>0.05). Conclusions: A modified disability questionnaire that was designed by adding two questions related to bending forward and work status and removing questions related to sexual activity and weight lifting or traveling (depending on the occupation) can help evaluate disability caused by back pain in Indian population.

• Journal of Korean Society of Neurocognitive Rehabilitation
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2018

The purpose of the present study was to determine correlations between the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Korean (MoCA-K) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) targeting stroke patients, and it seeks to analyze the influence among each factor to establish the fundamental research in evaluating the functional performance capability of stroke patients. The study was conducted between December 2017 and March 2018 and the target of the study was 34 stroke patients who are hospitalized and treated in Y rehabilitation hospital located in Goyang city. Following in criteria of how participants were selected. First, a person without the onset of 6months or more. Second, a person who can communicate and score over 20 points on MMSE-K. Third, a person without unilateral neglect. Fourth, a person without lower motor neuron lesion and orthopedic disease on the bilateral lower extremity. Fifth, a person without audiovisual problem and history of using drug or surgery that influence athletic function. sixth, patients who agreed on participating in the study. The evaluation was processed by measuring BBS, MoCA-K, and MBI with the occupational therapist and physical therapist. Also, one assistant was participated in measuring balanced ability for the safety reason. It was found that significantly correlates (p<.01) with BBS and MoCA-K (r=.459), BBS and MBI (r=.550), MoCA-K and MBI (r=.565). This study is meaningful that it provided the basis for the active use of BBS, MoCA-K and MBI as a clinical evaluation tool and its usefulness.