• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.61 no.1
• /
• pp.20-25
• /
• 2006

Background: Although fever is one of the most common and challenging problem in intensive care medicine(ICU), it is difficult to distinguish between infectious and non-infectious causes. Procalcitonin(PCT) has recently been reported to be an indicator of various infectious diseases. This study examined whether or not measuring the serum PCT level in patients with fever in the ICU can help distinguish fevers with infectious causes from those with non-infectious causes. Methods: ICU patients with fever at $38^{\circ}C$ or over from March to August 2005 were prospectively enrolled. The cause of the fever was identified by the culture results and clinical course. The leukocytes, CRP, PCT, IL-6, and $TNF-{\alpha}$ in the fever patients with infectious and non-infectious causes were compared, and the PCT level in the patients with fever in the ICU were compared with those without fever. Results: 1) 42 patients were enrolled and 46 cases of fever were analyzed. 26 cases were considered to be infectious, while 13 cases were considered to be non-infectious. 7 cases were found to have no clear causes. 2) There were no significant differences in the degree of fever, leukocytes count, CRP, IL-6, and $TNF-{\alpha}$ levels in the patiemts with infectious and non-infectious causes. 3) The serum PCT level was higher in those with infectious causes than in those with non-infectious causes ($15.1{\pm}32.57ng/mL$ vs $2.68{\pm}3.63ng/mL$) but there was no statistical significance (p=0.06). 4) The serum PCT level of the ICU patients with fever was significantly higher than in those without fever ($10.94{\pm}27.15ng/mL$ vs $0.45{\pm}0.49ng/mL$) (p=0.02). Conclusion: The serum PCT cannot be used to distinguish the fever in ICU patients with infectious causes from that with non-infectious causes.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.279-286
• /
• 2005

Microbial contamination origin of Kimbab was determined using nine types of ready-to-use ingredients, three each from animal, seafood, and vegetable sources. Effect of radiation on microbiological safety was also investigated. Total aerobic bacteria were not detected in seasoned beef, ham, and seasoned burdock, whereas 3.50, 5.41, 8.83, and 5.07 log CFU/g were detected in surimi gel, seasoned and blanched spinach, dried laver, and cucumber, respectively. Total aerobic bacterial and mold numbers were 8.73 and 5.08 log CFU/g in prepared Kimbab. Gamma irradiation reduced level of contaminated aerobic bacteria and mold population in Kimbab and its ingredients, Salmonella mutagenicity assay (Ames test) showed Kimbub ingredients irradiated at 10 kGy did not show any mutagenicity. These results indicate ready-to-use kimbab ingredients were mostly responsible for total aerobic bacteria and mold population of Kimbab, and low dose irradiation and low temperature storage ($10^{\circ}C$) effectively ensured microbiological safety of Kimbab and ready-to-use ingredients.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.223-230
• /
• 2010

The purpose of this study was to utilize Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) to analyze intracerebral regional distributions (hot spot) of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases which were characterized by stenosis and occlusion cerebral vasculature, except for cerebrovascular diseases induced by rupture of cerebral vasculature in terms of Korean people's cerebrovascular diseases, so that it could apply the findings of analysis to clinical practices. This study focused only on analyzing intracerebral regional distributions of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases that are characterized by stenosis and occlusion cerebral vasculature, because there are different etiologic mechanisms of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases like hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases (caused by rupture of cerebral vasculature) and cerebral infarction (induced by atheromatous arteriosclerosis). As a result, this study could come to the following findings of analysis: 1. According to sex ratio analysis, it was found that male group comprised larger portion of total 626 subjects in this study than female one (55.0% > 45.0%). 2. According to analysis on actual intracerebral regional distributions of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, it was found that most subjects (37.5 %) were attacked by such diseases on the right side of cerebral vasculature, which was followed by left side of cerebral vasculature (35.1%) and bilateral cerebral vasculature (27.3%) respectively. 3. According to analysis on actual intracerebral regional distributions of ischemic cerebrovascular diseases, it was found that internal carotid artery (ICA) comprised the largest portion (38.9%) of those distributions, which was followed by middle cerebral artery (MCA, 35.7%), posterior cerebral artery (PCA, 13.4%), anterior cerebral artery (ACA, 6.0%) and vertebral artery (VA, 3.3%) respectively. 4. It was found that there was no subject attacked by any disease on A-com region, and there was only one male subject attacked by cerebrovascular diseases on P-com region. 5. It was found that female group was more susceptible to the attack of cerebrovascular diseases on MCA region than male one (54.6% > 42.2%), which means significant differences depending upon sex on statistical basis ($x^2$ = 9.64, p < .01). 6. It was found that male group was more susceptible to the attack of cerebrovascular diseases on ICA region (56.4% > 46.8%), which means significant differences depending upon sex on statistical basis ($x^2$ = 5.71, p < .05). 7. Moreover, it was also found that male group was more susceptible to the attack of cerebrovascular diseases on BA region (2.3% > 0.4%), which means significant differences depending upon sex on statistical basis ($x^2$ = 4.25, p < .05). 8. However, it was found that there was not any significant difference in intracerebral vasculature-specific distributions of cerebrovascular diseases depending on age of subjects, and stenosis comprised larger portion of cerebrovascular diseases than occlusion.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.332-338
• /
• 2009

A xylan-decomposing bacterium, HY-20, was isolated from the gut of a honeybee, Apis mellifera, and identified as Bacillus sp. The extracellular GH11 xylanase (XylP) gene (687-bp) of strain HY-20 encoded a protein of 228 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 25,522 Da and a calculated pI of 9.33. The primary structure of XylP was 97% identical to that of B. pumilus xylanase (GenBank accession no.: AY526092) that has not been characterized yet. The recombinant His-tagged enzyme (rXylP) overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 harboring pET-28a(+)/xylP was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by cation exchange and gel permeation chromatographies. The purified enzyme exhibited the highest catalytic activity toward birchwood xylan at pH 6.5 and $50^{\circ}C$ and retained approximately 50% of its original activity when pre-incubated at $55^{\circ}C$ for 15 min. The recombinant enzyme was completely inactivated by $Hg^{2+}$ (1 mM) and N-bromosuccinimide (5 mM), while its activity was slightly stimulated by approximately 10% in the presence of $Mn^{2+}$ (1 mM), $Fe^{2+}$ (1 mM), and sodium azide (5 mM). rXylP was able to efficiently degrade various polymeric xylose-based substrates but PNP-sugar derivatives and glucose-based polymers were not susceptible to the enzyme.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.42 no.9
• /
• pp.1412-1418
• /
• 2013

The nutritional components of 14 new cultivars of pak choi (Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis) from China were analyzed and compared with 4 cultivars of Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis) popular in Korea. Leaves were separated into green parts (GP) and white parts (WP) for the analyses. The moisture and ash content in the 14 new cultivars of pak choi were not significantly different from the currently popular cultivars of Chinese cabbage. In addition, the levels of vitamin C and E were very similar between the two kinds of Brassica rapa. In contrast, the overall mineral content was higher in the new pak choi cultivars. Specifically, minerals important for human health, calcium and magnesium, were significantly greater in pak choi cultivars (calcium GP 2.57, WP 2.04; magnesium GP 0.422, WP 0.301 mg/g fresh weight) compared to currently popular cultivars (calcium GP 0.805, WP 0.477; magnesium GP 0.244, WP 0.101 mg/g fresh weight). Although the content of reducing sugars was similar, cellulose content (which correlates with the hardness of plant tissue) was four times higher in the new pak choi cultivars compared to currently popular cultivars. These results demonstrate that the new pak choi cultivars have superb nutritional benefits for human health and could be a good food source as a daily staple vegetable.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.485-492
• /
• 2011

Sorption of cyanide on granular activated carbon and attenuation of the cyanide by UV-light over a wide range of conditions such as pH and concentration were investigated through batch experiments. Cyanide uptake by activated carbon is much effective at $[CN]_{ini}$ < 2 mg/L. The sorption of cyanide on activated carbon at pH 7.0 is greater than that of pH 9.0. It is found that the ratio of CN uptake to CN in solution increases at pH 9.0 whereas at pH 7.0 the ratio decreases, suggesting that reactivity of activated carbon increases as a function of pH. The sorption of cyanide rapidly increases during the first 30 min, followed by sharp desorption until 3hr, and then the sorption increases and reaches the maximum sorption during the duration of experiments, implying that the sorption mode could be changed through conformational change during the initial stage of the cyanide uptake by activated carbon. Total amount of cyanide desorbed from the activated carbon during the period of desorption experiments is less than 1.5% of total sorbed cyanide, indicative of strong and stable sorption of cyanide on the activated carbon. The sorption with mixture of activated carbon and Ham-Baek sludge shows less effective on the removal of the cyanide. It is noted that UV-light is much effective on the removal of cyanide but also the attenuation is achieved until $[CN]_{tot}$ is up to 10 mg/L. Our findings demonstrate that both activated carbon and UV-light are very effective on the attenuation of cyanide over a wide range of environmental conditions.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.217-226
• /
• 2004

This study was canied out to evaluate the quality characteristics of the fermented pork with Korean traditional seasonings. The samples, outside muscle of pork ham were cut to cube(7 ${\times}$ 12 ${\times}$ 2cm) and five Korean traditional seasonings such as garlic paste(TI), pickled Kimchi(T2), pickled Kimchi juice(T3), soybean paste(T4), red pepper paste(T5) were seasoned by the proportions of meat to seasonings(1 : 1). The seasoned samples were fennented at - 1 ${\pm}$ 1$^{\circ}C$ for 20 days. According to proximate composition analysis, all pork samples contained protein 20 ${\sim}$ 22%, fat 3 ${\sim}$ 5%, moisture 64 ${\sim}$ 70% and ash 1.8 ${\sim}$ 2.0%. However, T5 had high crude fat level and relatively low moisture content. The highest pH among treatments was shown in TI whereas T3 showed the lowest. Water holding capacity(WHC) of T4 and T5 were higher, while those values were lower in T3 compared with other treatment. Shear force value was the highest in T5, while it was the lowest in T4. TBARS value of T3 was the highest, while that was the lowest in T4. Moreover the highest VBN value was observed in T4 due to fermentation of soy protein. However, the lowest VBN value shown in Tl indicated the inhibition of protein degradation by the garlic. The highest saccarinity was shown in T5 but it was the lowest of in T3. Salinity was shown to be high in T2 and low in T5. $L^*$ values of T4 was higher both at the surface and inner side of samples than the others but T5 showed the lowest value. T2 showed the highest $a^*$ value but T4 and T5 showed the lowest. In the result of sensory evaluation for cooked meat, T5 had the highest score in all item including overall acceptability, while T4 had the lowest score. Unsaturated fatty acid(UFA) ratio of T5 and n were 72.16 and 69.93 respectively, and the ratio of UFA/Saturated fatty acid(SFA) were higher in the order of T5 >T4> T3 >Tl >T2. Overall quality characteristics were higher in the order of T5 >T2 >Tl >T4 >T3.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.416-421
• /
• 2008

This study was performed to determine the antimutagenic and anticytotoxic effects of soybean paste (doenjang) added deep sea water salt and see tangle in Salmonella Typhimurium TA98, TA100 and human cancer cell lines. In the Ames test, methanol extract of doenjang did not exhibit any mutagenicity but showed substantial inhibitory effects against mutation induced by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) and 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO). The methanol extracts of doenjang ($200{\mu}g$/plate) added deep sea salt and see tangle (doenjang C) showed approximately 89.1% and 70% inhibitory effect on the mutagenesis induced by MNNG and 4NQO against TA100 strain, whereas 84.4% inhibitions were observed on the mutagenesis induced by 4NQO against TA98 strain. The cytotoxic effects of doenjang methanol extracts against the cell lines with human cervical adenocarcinoma (HeLa), human hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep3B), human gastric carcinoma (AGS), human lung carcinoma (A549) and human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) were inhibited with the increase of the extract concentration. The treatment of 1.0 mg/mL doenjang C of methanol extracts showed strong cytotoxicities of 71%, 74.4%, 66.2%, 77.3%, and 71.2% against HeLa, Hep3B, AGS, A549, and MCF-7, respectively. In contrast 1 mg/mL treatment of doenjang C methanol extracts had only $10{\sim}40%$ cytotoxicity on normal human embryonal kidney cell (293). Doenjang methanol extract inhibited significantly the tumor growth in mice injected sarcoma-180 cells. Especially, doenjang C methanol extract showed an inhibition of tumor cell activity of 33% by the administration of 25 mg/kg methanol extracts.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.219-226
• /
• 2005

By analyzing the severally clinical characteristics such as the prevalence by gender and age, and the developmental region, and the developmental factor in terms of vertebral compression fracture, which was diagnosed by MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging), the following conclusions were obtained. 1. The general characteristics in 183 research subjects, were 70 men (38.0%) and 113 women (62.0%), and aged from the minimum 16 years old to the maximum 84 years old. 2. Among 183 persons with abnormal findings in vertebral compression fracture, the single compression fracture was included 111 persons (60.7%) with 38 men (34.0%) and 73 women (66.0%), and women in their 60s were largest with 32 persons. 3. As the multiple compression fracture was included 72 persons (39.3%) among 183 research subjects, and as the incidence had 182 cases, this is what classified the case in which one person with abnormal findings has the compression fracture at the levels with more than one, and there were 70 cases (38.0%) in men and 112 cases (62.0%) in women, and it is being indicated the large frequency in women in their 60s and in their 70s. 4. The developmental regions in the single compression fracture and the multiple compression fracture, were generated about 70% of the whole at $T11{\sim}L2$. 5. In terms of the prevalence by cause for compression fracture in 183 whole subjects, it was largest with 41.4% in the fracture caused by trauma in case of men, and with 70.0% in what was caused by the osteoporosis in case of women, and as for a case that combined men and women, it was largest with 56.8% in the vertebral compression fracture caused by osteoporosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.34 no.12
• /
• pp.895-900
• /
• 2001

Background : This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of preoperative placement of intraaortic balloon pump(IABP) in reducing operative risk and facilitating posterior vessel OPCAB in high risk patients with left main disease( 75％ stenosis), intractable resting angina, postinfarction angina, or left ventricular dysfunction(ejection fraction 35％). Material and Method : One hundred eighty- nine consecutive patients who underwent multi-vessel OPCAB including posterior vessel revascularization were studied. The patients were divided into group I(n=74) that received preoperative or intraoperative IABP and group II(n=115) that did not receive IABP. In group I, there were 39 patients with left main disease, 40 patients with intractable resting angina, 14 patients with left ventricular dysfunction and 7 patients with postinfarction angina. Ten patients received intraoperative IABP support due to hemodynamic instability during OPCAB. Result : There was one operative mortality in group I and two mortalities in group II. The average number of distal anastomoses was not different between group I and group II(3.5$\pm$0.9 vs 3.4$\pm$0.9, p=ns). There were no significant differences in the number of posterior vessel anastomosis per patient between the two groups. There were no differences in ventilator support time, length of hospital stay, and morbidity between the two groups. There was one case of IABP-related complication in group I. Conclusion : IABP facilitates posterior vessel OPCAB in high risk patients, with comparable surgical results to low risk patients