• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4177-4183
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• 2015

Background: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in Asia, and the majority type is gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC). Most GAC patients die of recurrence and metastasis. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been thought to be responsible for the initiation, development, metastasis, and ultimately recurrence of cancer. In this study, we aimed to investigate expression and clinical significance of CSCs markers, CD133 and Lgr5, and vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in primary GAC. Materials and Methods: Specimens from 261 Chinese patients with follow-up were analyzed for CD133, Lgr5 protein expression and VM by immunohistochemical and histochemical staining. The Pearson Chi's square test was used to assess the associations among the positive staining of these markers and clinicopathological characteristics. Postoperative overall survival time was were studied by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: In GAC tissues, positive rates of 49.0%, 38.7%, and 26.8% were obtained for CD133, Lgr5, and VM, respectively. The mean score of microvessel density (MVD) was $21.7{\pm}11.1$ in GAC tissues. There was a significantly difference between the positive and negative groups. There was a positive relationship between the VM, the expression of CD133 and Lgr5, and the score of MVD and the grades of tumor, lymph node metastasis, TNM stages (all p<0.05). The overall mean survival time of the patients with CD133, Lgr5, VM, and MVD (${\geq}22$) positive expression was lower than that of patients with negative expression. The score of MVD, positive expression of CD133 and VM were independent prognostic factors of GAC (p<0.05). Conclusions: VM, and expression of CD133, Lgr5, and the score of MVD are related to grades of tumor, lymph node metastasis, TNM stages, and overall mean survival time. It is suggested that CSCs and VM could play an important role in the evolution of GAC.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.95-104
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• 1997

The objectives of this study are to investigate the effect of media on the removal efficiency of nitrate-nitrogen and the biofilm thickness in the fluidized bed biofilm reactor(FBBR) used for the high rate denitrification of nitric acid wastewater. Granular activated carbon(GAC) of 1.274 mm diameter and sand of 0.455 mm diameter were used as the media in the FBBR of 0.05 m diameter and 1.5 m height. As the nitrate-nitrogen concentration of the influent was increased stepwise from 600 to 4800 mg/l, the nitrate- and nitrite-nitrogen concentration of the effluent, biofilm thickness and biofilm dry density were measured to study the effects of media on the denitrification efficiency. The biofilm thickness increased with the substrate loading rate, and the biofilm dry density decreased with the increase of the biofilm thickness. At the influent nitrate-nitrogen concentration of 2400 mg/l, the removal efficiency in the FBBR with GAC was 88%, while that in the FBBR with sand was 99.6%. The biofilm in the FBBR with GAC was so thick, 754.9 $\mu$m, as to increase the mass transfer resistance, compared to that, 143.7 $\mu$m, in the FBBR with sand. The maximum specific denitrification rate in the FBBR with GAC was 15.0 kg-N/m$^3\cdot$ day, while that in the FBBR with sand was 18.0 kg-N/m$^3\cdot$ day. The biomass concentration in the FBBR with sand exhibited the high value 37 kg/m$^3$.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.409-414
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• 2000

In order to examine the availability and effectiveness of crab shell for the removal of heavy metals in aqueous solution the crab shell was compared with cation exchange resin(CER), zeolite granular activated carbon (GAC) and powdered activated carbon(PAC) on aspects of heavy metal removal capacity rate and efficiency. In the removal of Pb, Cd and Cr, the heavy metal removal capacity of crab shell was higher than those of any other sorbents (CER, zeolite, GAC, PAC) and the order of heavy metal removal capacity was crab shell>CER>zeolite>PAC GAC. However in the removal of Cu, the result of crab shell was slightly lower than that of CER. The initial heavy metal removal rate was affected by the sorts of sorbents and metals. In all heavy metals the heavy metal removal rate of crab shell was higher than those of any other sorbents. Under the heavy metal concentration of 1.0 mmole/$\ell$ the heavy metal removal efficiency of crab shell was maintained as 93~100% which was much higher than those of any other sorbents.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.609-618
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• 2009

Repeated phenol spill in the Nakdong River has been a big issue in Korea since 1991. In this study, treatment of phenol in each water treatment process and total water treatment system is evaluated. Phenol was highly volatile, easily oxidized by ozone, and readily absorbed onto GAC. When there was phenol of 0.3mg/L in water, by ozonation of 1mg/L or by GAC adsorption with EBCT of 10minutes or longer, it could be treated to lower than 0.005mg/L, the national drinking water standard of phenol. Even when a sufficient contact time(70minutes) was allowed, only 35 to 40% of phenol could be removed by powdered activated carbon(PAC). Based on the test results, it can be concluded that 1.0mg/L or less concentration of phenol can be treated at the plants adopting the combination process of ozone and GAC down to the safe level. In this study, removal characteristics for phenol were evaluated with the existing pilot plant and demo plant in different advanced water treatment processes(AWTPs). In the future, studies on changes in oxidation and adsorption characteristics caused by competitive matters such as DOC and removal characteristics by other various AWTPs including ozone/filter adsorber need to be performed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.339-344
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• 2009

The authors investigated the bacterial community attached to granular activated carbon(GAC) particles and the susceptibility of the community to chlorine disinfection. The study was carried out at the G Water Treatment Plant in Seoul, which was in full-scale operation. Bacteria attached to the surface of GAC increased gradually with treatment from $0.4{\times}106{\sim}8.5{\times}106 CFU/g$. TOC removal was under 1.0 mg/L due to increased bacterial community on the surface of GAC. It was found that TOC removal was closely related with physical and biological parameters such as pore volume and the number of attached bacteria. When the washed and the attached cells were disinfected with 1.0mg/L of chlorine for 1 hour, the washed cells with chlorination could be controlled, but the number of the attached cells increased gradually. The results suggest a possibility that the treatment and disinfection barriers can be penetrated and pathogenic bacteria may break into the drinking water supplying system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2012

The present study investigates treatment methods for removal of arsenic from wastewater. The granular activated carbon (GAC) with the coating of iron chloride ($FeCl_3$) was used for the treatment of a low concentration of arsenic from wastewater. Batch experiments were performed to investigate the synthesis of Fe-GAC (Iron coated granular activated carbon), effects of pH, adsorption kinetics and the Langmuir model. The synthesized Fe-GAC with 0.1 M $FeCl_3$ shows best removal efficiency. Adsorption studies were carried out in the optimum pH range of 4-6 for arsenic removal. The Fe-GAC showed promising results by removing 99.4% of arsenic. In the adsorption isotherm studies, the observed data fitted well with the Langmuir models. In continuous column study showed that As(V) could be removed to below 0.25 mg/L within 1,020 pore volume. Our results suggest that the surface modified granular activated carbon treated with $FeCl_3$ for effective removal of arsenic from wastewater.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.121-129
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• 1997

This study was performed to delineate the removal phenol in solutions using of ozone, ozone/$H_2O_2$ and ozone/GAC. The disinfection by-product of phenol by ozonation, hydroquinone, was analyzed and it's control process was investigated. The followings are the conclusions that were derived from this study. 1. The removal efficiency of phenol by ozonation was 58.37%, 48.34%, 42.15%, and 35.41% which the initial concentration of phenol was 5 mg/l, 10 mg/l, 15 mg/l, and 20 mg/l, respectively. 2. The removal efficiency of phenol by ozonation was 42.95% at pH 4.0 and 69.39% at pH 10, respectively. The removal efficiencies were gradually increased, as pH values were increased. 3. With the ozone/$H_2O_2$ combined system, the removal efficiency of phenol was 72.87%. It showed a more complete degradation of phenol with ozone/$H_2O_2$ compared with ozone alone. 4. When ozonation was followed by filtration on GAC, phenol was completely removed. 5. Oxidation, if carried to completion, truly destroys the organic compounds, converting them to carbon dioxide. Unless reaction completely processed, disinfection by-products would be produced. To remove them, ozone/GAC treatment was used. The results showed that disinfection by-product of phenol by ozonation, hydroquinone, was completely removed. These results suggested that ozone/GAC should also be an appropriate way to remove phenol and its by-product.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.597-604
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• 2011

This study was performed to compare finished water quality among three different processes. A detailed assessment of performance was carried out during the five months of operation. Finished water quality was evaluated on the basis of parameters such as Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), $UV_{254}$ absorbance, haloacetic acid formation potential (HAAFP), geosmin, 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB), heterotrophic bacteria and total coliform bacteria. The treatment processes were Process 1 (coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation-sand filtration-ozone-GAC), Process 2 (coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation -microfiltration-ozone-GAC), and Process 3 (coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation- sand filtration-GAC), compared side by side in the pilot testing. Process 2 was found to have better removal efficiency of DOC, $UV_{254}$ absorbance, HAAFP and heterotrophic bacteria in comparison with process 1 and process 3 under identical conditions. Geosmin, 2-MIB and total coliform bacteria were not detected in finished water from each process.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.104-108
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• 2013

The adsorption characteristics of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in aqueous solution using granular activated carbon (GAC), activated carbon fiber (ACF), modified ACF (NaACF), and a mixture of GAC and NaACF (GAC/NaACF) have been studied. The surface properties, such as morphology, surface functional groups, and composition of various adsorbents were determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. The specific surface area, total pore volume, and pore size distribution were investigated using nitrogen adsorption, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) methods. In this study, NaACF showed a high adsorption capacity and rate for heavy metal ions due to the improvement of its ion-exchange capabilities by additional oxygen functional groups. Moreover, the GAC and NaACF mixture was used as an adsorbent to determine the adsorbent-adsorbate interaction in the presence of two competitive adsorbents.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2016

World Health Organization reported that heart-related diseases such as coronary artery stenoses show the highest occurrence rate which may cause heart attack. Using Computed Tomography angiography images will allow radiologists to detect and have intervention by creating 3D roadmapping of the vessels. However, it is often complex and difficult do reconstruct 3D vessel which causes very large amount of time and previous researches were studied to segment vessels more accurate automatically. Therefore, in this paper, Region Competition, Geodesic Active Contour (GAC), Multi-atlas based segmentation and Active Shape Model algorithms were applied to segment aortic root from CTA images and the results were analyzed by using mean Hausdorff distance, volume to volume measure, computational time, user-interaction and coronary ostium detection rate. As a result, Extracted 3D aortic model using GAC showed the highest accuracy but also showed highest user-interaction results. Therefore, it is important to improve automatic segmentation algorithm in future