• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.113-145
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• 2009

Recently, due to the globalization of the IT(Information Technology) market, devices and systems designed in one country are used in other countries as well. This phenomenon is becoming the key factor for increased interest on cross-cultural, or cross-national, research within the IT area. However, as the IT market is becoming bigger and more globalized, a great number of IT practitioners are having difficulty in designing and developing devices or systems which can provide optimal experience. This is because not only tangible factors such as language and a country's economic or industrial power affect the user experience of a certain device or system but also invisible and intangible factors as well. Among such invisible and intangible factors, the cultural characteristics of users from different countries may affect the user experience of certain devices or systems because cultural characteristics affect how they understand and interpret the devices or systems. In other words, when users evaluate the quality of overall user experience, the cultural characteristics of each user act as a perceptual lens that leads the user to focus on a certain elements of experience. Therefore, there is a need within the IT field to consider cultural characteristics when designing or developing certain devices or systems and plan a strategy for localization. In such an environment, existing IS studies identify the culture with the country, emphasize the importance of culture in a national level perspective, and hypothesize that users within the same country have same cultural characteristics. Under such assumptions, these studies focus on the moderating effects of cultural characteristics on a national level within a certain theoretical framework. This has already been suggested by cross-cultural studies conducted by scholars such as Hofstede(1980) in providing numerical research results and measurement items for cultural characteristics and using such results or items as they increase the efficiency of studies. However, such national level culture has its limitations in forecasting and explaining individual-level behaviors such as voluntary device or system usage. This is because individual cultural characteristics are the outcome of not only the national culture but also the culture of a race, company, local area, family, and other groups that are formulated through interaction within the group. Therefore, national or nationally dominant cultural characteristics may have its limitations in forecasting and explaining the cultural characteristics of an individual. Moreover, past studies in psychology suggest a possibility that there exist different cultural characteristics within a single individual depending on the subject being measured or its context. For example, in relation to individual vs. collective characteristics, which is one of the major cultural characteristics, an individual may show collectivistic characteristics when he or she is with family or friends but show individualistic characteristics in his or her workplace. Therefore, this study acknowledged such limitations of past studies and conducted a research within the framework of 'theoretically integrated model of user satisfaction and emotional attachment', which was developed through a former study, on how the effects of different experience elements on emotional attachment or user satisfaction are differentiated depending on the individual cultural characteristics related to a system or device usage. In order to do this, this study hypothesized the moderating effects of four cultural dimensions (uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs, collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, and power distance) as suggested by Hofstede(1980) within the theoretically integrated model of emotional attachment and user satisfaction. Statistical tests were then implemented on these moderating effects through conducting surveys with users of four digital devices (mobile phone, MP3 player, LCD TV, and refrigerator) in three countries (US, Germany, and Russia). In order to explain and forecast the behavior of personal device or system users, individual cultural characteristics must be measured, and depending on the target device or system, measurements must be measured independently. Through this suggestion, this study hopes to provide new and useful perspectives for future IS research.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.168-177
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• 2013

Purpose: To identify the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of human metapneumovirus infections (hMPV) in children compared to respiratory syncytial virus A (RSV A) and B (RSV B). Method: A retrospective review of medical records was performed in 36 patients with hMPV infection, 106 with RSV A infection, and 51 with RSV B infection, from September 2007 to July 2012. Results: The peak incidence of hMPV infection was observed in May, whereas for RSV infections in November and December. hMPV infection occurred in older patients compared to RSV A and B infection ($29.9{\pm}32.5$ months vs. $13.6{\pm}15.4$ months, P<0.001; $29.9{\pm}32.5$ months vs. $12.1{\pm}13.5$ months, P<0.001, respectively). hMPV infection was more often associated with fever compared to RSV A (97.2% vs. 67.9%, P<0.001), while wheezing was less frequent compared to RSV A and B infection (16.7% vs. 47.2%, P=0.001; 16.7% vs. 37.3%, P=0.037, respectively). hMPV infection was more often diagnosed as pneumonia compared to RSV A infection (72.2% vs. 50.0%, P=0.047) while bronchiolitis was less frequent than in RSV A (5.6% vs. 34.9%, P=0.001) or RSV B infection (5.6% vs. 29.4%, P=0.006). In addition, intravenous antibiotic was more often prescribed for patients with hMPV infection than those with RSV A and B (69.4% vs. 39.6%, P=0.002; 69.4% vs. 43.1, P=0.015, respectively). Conclusion: This study identified characteristics of hMPV infection compared to RSV A and B infection. Seasonality in spring, higher age group, and higher proportion of pneumonia in hMPV infections may be a useful guide for management of respiratory viral infections in children.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1214-1222
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Pueraria lobate-root based combination supplementation containing Rehmannia glutinosa and exercise on histone modification in ovariectomized rat hindlimb skeletal muscle. Sixty rats were fed with high fat diet and randomly assigned into the following groups for 8 weeks: 1)HSV; High fat+Sedentary+Vehicle, 2)HSP; High fat+Sedentary+PR, 3)HSH; High fat+Sedentary+Estradiol, 4)HEV; High fat+Ex+Vehicle, 5)HEP; High fat+Ex+PR, 6)HEH; High fat+Ex+Estradiol. Exercise consisted of low intensity treadmill exercise(1-4th wk:15 m/min for 30 min, 5-8th wk: 18 m/min for 40 min, 5 times/week). The result of this study showed that exercise and Pueraria and Rehmannia glutinosa intake suppressed weight gain. Furthermore, exercise and Pueraria and Rehmannia glutinosa intake increased muscle mass. This study observed H3K9 acetylation and demethylation in plantaris muscle in exercised group, but no difference in soleus muscle. To test whether the decrease in HDAC4, HDAC5 and G9a mRNA levels after exercise and Pueraria/Rehmannia glutinosa intake, HDAC4, HDAC5 and G9a mRNA levels were determined by real-time PCR. Only exercise induced HDAC5 and G9a mRNA reduction in plantaris muscle, but not in soleus muscle. In conclusion, these data demonstrates that exercise and Pueraria/Rehmannia glutinosa intake effect on body compositions. These changes are regulated by epigenetic modifications, such as histone acetylation and methylation. Future studies should focus on gene-specific epigenetics and other epigenetic mechanism for Pueraria/Rehmannia glutinosa intake.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.83-93
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• 1997

Although IVF-ET is widely applied in the treatment of couples with male factor infertility, it may fail in many infertile couples with normal semen parameters, and certain couples cannot be accepted for standard IVF-ET due to unfertilization or extremely low fertilization rate of oocytes. Recently, several procedures of microassisted fertilization (MAF) using micromanipulation have been introduced, and pregnancies and births have been obtained after partial zona dissection (PZD), subzonal insertion (SUZI), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). This clinical study was performed to develop and establish ICSI as an effective procedure of MAF in infertile couples who could not undergo standard IVF-ET repetitively because of failure in fertilization or extremely low fertilization rate of oocytes with the conventional fertilization technique in the previous IVF-ET cycles. From March, 1995 to May, 1996, 27 cycles of IVF-ET with ICSI in 19 infertile patients were included in study group, and the outcomes of ICSI were analyzed according to fertilization rate, cumulative embryo score (CES), and pregnancy rate. The number of oocytes retrieved after controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) was $10.50{\pm}6.13$ in 30 previous cycles, and $10.57{\pm}5.53$ in 27 ICSI cycles. In ICSI cycles, the number of oocytes optimal for ICSI procedure was $7.89{\pm}4.30$, and the fertilization rate of $67.9{\pm}20.2%$ could be obtained after ICSI. The number of embryos transferred was $1.43{\pm}2.40$ in previous cycles, and $4.36{\pm}1.77$ with the mean CES of $41.8{\pm}27.4$ in ICSI cycles. In ICSI cycles, the overall pregnancy rate was 29.6% (8/27) per cycle and 42.1% (8/19) per patient with the clinical pregnancy rate of 22.2% (6/27) per cycle and 31.6% (6/19) per patient. In conclusion, MAF of human oocytes with ICSI is a promising fertilization method for IVF-ET patients, especially with the past history of failure in fertilization or low fertilization rate of oocytes in the previous IVF-ET cycles, and ICSI using micromanipulation procedures applied to human oocytes will provide a range of novel techniques which may dramatically improve the pregnancy rate in IVF-ET program and contribute much to effective management of infertile couples.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.206-220
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• 2015

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between practice and infectious diseases in elementary, middle and high school students. Methods: In 16 metropolitan cities and province of the Korea, the students who from fourth grade of elementary school to third grade of high school were surveyed by personal interviews and an web-based online survey from 5 to 25 September, 2014. We analyzed data with chi-square test and logistic regression analysis. Results: Common cold, diarrhea, and eye infections were more prevalent among students in higher grade than lower grade. In particular, common cold was more prevalent among girls than boys, using hand sanitizer than washing with soaps, and students who wash the dorsal side of hand than not wash the dorsal side of hand. Conclusions: Higher-grade students showed low status of hand washing practice. Hand washing was determined as the fact which influences to increase the prevention of communicable disease such as common cold. Considering the fact that youth groups have higher risk of being infected due to their group life, schools are recommended to provide adequate educations regarding proper hand washing practice with soap.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2014

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between coronary artery calcification and risk factors of cardiovascular disease with multidetector computed tomography. Methods: Data were collected from 5,899 males between 30 and 59 years old by interview, survey, physical examination, blood test, and multidetector computed tomography in the university hospital from January 2010 to December 2011. We confirmed the coronary artery calcium scores of subjects by multidetector computed tomography and identified risk factors of cardiovascular disorders. We investigated the relationship between coronary artery calcification and risk factors of cardiovascular disorders. Results: Mean calcium score of the coronary arteries in 5,899 participants was 8.20, and 773 participants (13.1%) exhibited coronary artery calcification. The presence of coronary artery calcification was correlated to risk factors of cardiovascular disease (age, blood pressure, triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, glucose, Apolipoprotein A-1, Apolipoprotein B, body mass index, waist circumference) and risk assessment tools of cardiovascular disorders. Significant predicted factors of coronary artery calcification had different patterns in each age group (30-39, 40-49, 50-59 years old). Conclusions: We confirmed the relationship between coronary artery calcification and either typical risk factors of cardiovascular disease or risk assessment tools of cardiovascular disease. In addition, we also observed that the pattern of these factors varied according to age. Therefore, age-related variation needs to be considered in management strategies to prevent cardiovascular disease.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2014

This research aimed to understand the relevance between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sleep quality for dental hygiene students in certain areas. It was conducted on 344 students from four universities in Jeollabuk-do from May to September 2013 using a structured questionnaire. The following are the results. 57.6% of the IBS bowel movement conditions were mixed type, 10.5% constipation type, 7.6% uncategorized, and 6.1% diarrhea type. For sleep quality based on the subjects' general characteristics, third years were 11.45, second years 10.90, and first years 9.53 (p=0.034). The sleep quality was statistically significantly lower as the years increased, and even for IBS (p=0.026), it was low and showed a significant difference. For difference in sleep quality based on IBS presence, habitual sleep efficiency, sleeping pill dosage (p=0.043), and day time functional disorder (p=0.007) showed statistically significant differences and lower sleep quality than the control group. For difference in sleep quality based on IBS bowel movement condition, mixed type was the highest for sleep disturbance at 6.86, constipation type was 1.00 for habitual sleep efficiency, constipation type was 1.42 for subjective sleep quality, uncategorized type was 0.15 for sleeping pill dosage but not statistically significant. In day time functional disorder, constipation type was the highest at 2.61 and showed a significant difference (p=0.012). The correlation between the sub-factors of sleep quality was positive. Based on the above study results, we learned that for IBS, sleep quality becomes lower as the year increases, and functional disorder was observed during day time due to low sleep quality. Education on IBS symptoms is needed, adequate stress management method to alleviate symptoms and prevention programs for correct diet must be developed to enhance sleep quality.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.180-195
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• 2011

A balanced trophic model for Sinjido marine ecosystem was constructed using ECOPATH model and data obtained 1994 in the region. The model integrates available information on biomass and food spectrum, and analyses ecosystem properties, dynamics of the main species populations and the key trophic pathways of the system, and then compares these results with those of other marine environments. The model comprises 17 groups of benthic algae, phytoplankton, zooplankton, gastropoda, polychaeta, bivalvia, echinodermata, crustacean, cephalopoda, goby, flatfish, rays and skates, croaker, blenny, conger, flatheads, and detritus. The model shows trophic levels of 1.0~4.0 from primary producers and detritus to top predator as flathead group. The model estimates total biomass(B) of 0.1 $kgWW/m^2$, total net primary production(PP) of 1.6 $kgWW/m^2/yr$, total system throughput(TST) of 3.4 $kgWW/m^2/yr$ and TST's components of consumption 7%, exports 43%, respiratory flows 4% and flows into detritus 46%. The model also calculates PP/TR of 0.012, PP/B of 0.015, omnivory index(OI) of 0.12, Fin's cycling index(FCI) of 0.7%, Fin's mean path length(MPL) of2.11, ascendancy(A) of 4.1 $kgWW/m^2/yr$ bits, development capacity(C) of 8.2 $kgWW/m^2/yr$ bits and A/C of 51%. In particular this study focuses the analysis of mixed trophic impacts and describes the indirect impact of a groupb upon another through mediating one based on 4 types. A large proportion of total export in TST means higher exchange rate in the study region than in semi enclosed basins, which seems by strong tidal currents along the channels between islands, called Sinjido, Choyakdo and Saengildo. Among ecosystem theory and cycling indices, B, TST, PP/TR, FCI, MPL and OI are shown low, indicating the system is not fully mature according to Odum's theory. Additionally, high A/C reveals the maximum capacity of the region is small. To sum up, the study region has high exports of trophic flow and low capacity to develop, and reaches a development stage in the moment. This is a pilot research applied to the Sinjido in terms of trophic flow and food web system such that it may be helpful for comparison and management of the ecosystem in the future.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.551-556
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• 2012

The database for the oriental medicine had been existed in documentation in past times and it has been developed to the database type for random accesses in the information society. However, the aspects of the database are not so diversified and the database for the bio herbal material exists in widened type dictionary style. It is a situation that the database which handles the in-depth raw herbal medicines is not sufficient in its quantity and quality. Korean wild grape is a deciduous plant categorized into the Vitaceae and it was found experimentally that it has various medical effects. It is one of the medical materials with higher potentiality of academic study and commercialization recently because it has a bigger possibility to be applied into diverse industrial fields including the medical product for health, food and beauty. We constituted the cooperative system among the Muju cluster business group for Korean mountain wild grapes, Physiology Laboratory in Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine and Medical Classics Laboratory in Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine with a view to focusing on such potentiality and a database for Korean wild grapes was made a touchstone for establishing the in-depth database for the single bio medical materials. First of all, the literatures based on the North East Asia in ancient times had been categorized into the classical literature (Korean literature published by government organization, Korean classical literature, Chinese classical literature and classical literature fro Korean and Chinese oriental medicine) and modern literature (Modern literature for oriental medicine, modern literature for domestic and foreign herbal medicine) to cover the eastern and western research records and writings related to Korean wild grapes and the text-mining work has been performed through the cooperation system with the Medical Classics Laboratory in Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine. First of all, the data for the experiment and theory for Korean wild grape were collected for the Medline database controlled by the Parliament Library of USA to arrange the domestic and foreign theses with topic for Korean wild grapes and the network hyperlink function and down load function were mounted for self-thesis searching function and active view based on the collected data. The thesis searching function provides various auxiliary functions and the searching is available according to the diverse searching/queries such as the name of sub species of Korean wild grape, the logical intersection index for the active ingredients, efficacy and elements. It was constituted for the researchers who design the Korean wild grape study to design of easier experiment. In addition, the data related to the patents for Korean wild grape which were collected from European Patent Office in response to the commercialization possibility and the system available for searching and view was established in the same viewpoint. Perl was used for the query programming and MS-SQL for database establishment and management in the designing of this database. Currently, the data is available for free use and the address is as follows. http://163.180.41.43:8011/index.html

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2007

Purpose: Clinically, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurs within 72 hours after acute exposure of risk factors. Because of its high fatality rate once ARDS progresses, early detection and management are essential to reduce the mortality rate. Accordingly, studies on early changes of ARDS were started, and serum ferritin, as well the as injury severity score (ISS), which has been addressed in previous studies, thought to be an early predictive indicator for ARDSMethods: From March 2003 to March 2005, we investigated 50 trauma patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit in Dongguk University Medical Center, Gyeongju. The patients were characterized according to age, sex, ISS, onset of ARDS, time onset of ARDS, serum ferritin level (posttraumatic $1^{st}\;&\;2^{nd}$ day), amount of transfused blood, and death. Abdominal computed topography was performed as an early diagnostic tool to evaluate the onset of ARDS according to its diagnostic criteria. The serum ferritin was measured by using a $VIDAS^{(R)}$ Ferritin (bioMeriux, Marcy-1' Etoile, France) kit with an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay method. For statistical analysis, Windows SPSS 13.0 and MedCalc were used to confirm the probability of obtaining a predictive measure from the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Results: The ISS varied from 14 to 66 (mean: 33.8) whereas the onset of ARDS could be predicted with the score above 30 (sensitivity: 90.0%, specificity: 60.0%, p<0.05). On the posttraumatic $1^{st}$ day, the serum ferritin levels were measured to be from 31 mg/dL to 1,200 mg/dL (mean: 456 mg/dL), and the onset of ARDS could be predicted when the value was over 340 mg/dL (sensitivity: 80.0%, specificity: 65.0%, p<0.05). On the posttraumatic $2^{nd}$ day, the serum ferritin levels were measured to be from 73 mg/dL to 1,200 mg/dL (mean: 404 mg/dL), and the onset of ARDS could be predicted when the value was over 627 mg/dL (sensitivity: 60.0%, specificity: 92.5%, p<0.05). The serum ferritin levels and the ISS were significantly higher on the posttraumatic $1^{st}$ and $2^{nd}$ day in the ARDS group, suggesting that they are suitable indices predicting the onset of ARDS, however relationship between the serum ferritin levels and the ISS was not statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, we discovered increasing serum ferritin levels in multiple- trauma patients on the posttraumatic $1^{st}$ & $2^{nd}$ day and concluded that both the serum ferritin level and the ISS were good predictors of ARDS. Although they do not show statistically significant relationship to each other, they can be used as independent predictive measures for ARDS. Since ARDS causes high mortality, further studies, including the types of surgery and the methods of anesthesia on a large number of patients are essential to predict the chance of ARDS earlier and to reduce the incidence of death.