• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.286-293
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• 1991

$^{123}I$, which is applied for the thyroid and other in vivo kinetic study, has a special role in life sciences. The 159 KeV $\gamma-ray$ from $^{123}I$ is almost ideally appropriate for the current imaging instrumentation. Its decay mode (electron capture) and short half-life (13.3 hr) reduced the burden of radiation dose to the patients, and its chemical property makes it easy to synthesize the labelling compounds. In this experiment, the production of $^{123}I$ via the nuclear reaction $^{124}Te(p,2n)^{123}I$ with 28 MeV protons was sutdied. $TeO_2$ is used as a target material, because it has good physical properties. The target was prepared with $TeO_2$ powder and was molten into a ellipsoidal cavity (a=14 mm, b=10 mm, $270.8mg/cm^2$ thick) of pure platinum. The irradiation was carried out in the external proton beam with incident energies range from 28 MeV to 22 MeV, and current was $30{\mu}A$. The loss of $TeO_2$ target was significantly reduced by using $4\pi-cooling$ system in irradiation. The dry distillation method was adopted for the separation of $^{123}I$ from irradiated target, and when it was kept 5 minutes at $780^{\circ}C$, its result was quantitative. The loss of the target material $(TeO_2)$ was below 0.2% for each production run and $^{123}I$ from the dry distillation apparatus was captured with 0.01 N NaOH in $Na^{123}I$ form, then the pH of the solution was adjusted to $7.5\sim9.0$ with HC1/NaOH. The $Na^{123}I$ solution was passed through $0.2{\mu}m$ membrane filter, and sterilized under high pressure and temperature for 30 minutes. The production of $^{123}I$ is acceptable for clinical application based on the quality of USP XXI.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 1992

Pharmacologic coronary vasodilation in conjunction with myocardial scintigraphy has become an accepted alternative to dynamic exercise testing for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. Although dipyridamole has traditionally been used for this purpose, it causes frequent side effect, which at times can be life-threatening. Moreover, dipyridamole dose not elicit maximal coronary vasodilation in a substantial number of patients receiving the usual i.v. dose. Adenosine is an endogenously produced compound that has significant effects as a coronary vasodilator and rapid onset action and extremely short half-life (< 10 seconds). The diagnostic accuracy and safety profile of adenosine $^{99m}Tc-MIBI$ myocardial scintigraphy were evaluated and comparison with exercise $^{99m}Tc-MIBI$ was performed. Twenty-eight subjects underwent $^{99m}Tc-MIBI$ imaging after adenosine infusion and exercise $^{99m}Tc-MIBI$ imaging. Adenosine was infused intravenously at a dose of 0.14mg/kg/body weight per minute for 6 min and MIBI was injected at 3 minute. Adenosine caused an incerease in heart rate ($64{\pm}12$ at baseline versus $74{\pm}16$ beats/min at peak effect, p<0.001), a mild decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and a slightly increase in PR interval(p; NS). Side effects were reported in 92% of patients and were mostly mild in nature and promptly resolved within 1 or 2 minutes of termination of adenosine infusion. Facial flushing (53%), chest pain (36%), mild dyspnea (39%), headache (21%), throat discomfort (21%) were frequent symptoms. ST segment depression (> 1 mm) and second degree AV block in electrocardiography occured in 11% of the patients, respectively. The overall sensitivity and specificity for individual coronary stenoses in 16 patients underwent coronary angiography were 88% and 95%, respectively. The agreement ratio of segmental perfusion between adenosine and exercise images was 92% (Kappa index=0.82). In conclusion, $^{99m}Tc-MIBI$ myocardial perfusion scintigraphy with intravenous adenosine is a feasible, safe and highly accurate noninvasive technique for the detection of coronary artery disease and results are at least comparable with those of exercise $^{99m}Tc-MIBI$ scintigraphy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.246-260
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• 2013

This study examines the awareness of traditional Korean food culture among immigrant housewives in multicultural families, with the aim of introducing educational plans suitably designed for them. Our survey shows that Korean traditional holidays most well-known to the immigrant housewives are New Year's Day and Chusuk. Sambok and Chusuk are at the top in terms of preference. Samgyetang, Ddukguk, and Ogokbab are among the best known festive food to immigrant housewives for holidays such as New Year's Day, Jeongwol Daeboreum, Sambok, Chusuk, and Dongji; Samgyetang is the most preferred food, followed by Ddukguk and Patjuk. In addition, a vast majority of immigrant housewives who have ever attended Korean traditional cuisine education programs found the need for such an experience, with the score of 4.16 out of 5. In addition, the survey shows the order in which the immigrant housewives want to learn: the recipe of Korean food (53.5%), followed by table setting and manners (16.5%) and then nutrition (15%). The recipe of interest for most respondents is the one concerning daily food (69.5%). And more than half of the respondents prefer cooking practice as a desirable educational method. The difficulties that they have when attending such an educational course are usually inability to understand the language, difficulty in identifying the ingredients (seasonal), and lack of cultural understanding. The most preferred educational method is direct lecture (71.5%), followed by written materials such as books and newspaper (10.5%) and the Internet (9.5%). Finally, strategies for promoting traditional food culture are suggested as following: developing educational resources (31.5%), making various educational programs more available (25%), narrowing the cultural gap (22%), and improving the educational environment (21.5%). Therefore, this study proposes that there is a need to develop and diffuse Korean traditional food culture first, and then provide many immigrant housewives with a variety of educational programs. It is expected that these efforts will solve the problems caused by cultural differences in the early stage of international marriages and eventually contribute to the harmony in multicultural families.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1670-1674
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• 2007

Duffy binding protein (DBP) plays a critical role in Plasmodium vivax invasion of human red blood cells. We previously reported a single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) that was specific to P. vivax DBP (PvDBP). However, the stabilization and the half-life of scFvs have not been studied. Here, we investigated the effect of PEGylated scFvs on their biological activity and stability in vitro. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that three clones (SFDBII-12, -58, and -92) were formed as monomers (about 70 kDa) with PEGylation. Clone SFDBII-58 gave the highest yield of PEGylated scFv. Binding analysis using BIAcore between DBP and scFv showed that both SFDBII-12 and -58 were decreased approximately by two folds at the level of binding affinity to DBP after PEGylation. However, the SFDBII-92 clone still showed a relatively high level of binding affinity ($K_D=1.02{\times}10^{-7}\;M$). Binding inhibition assay showed that PEGylated scFv was still able to competitively bind the PvDBP and playa critical role in inhibiting the interactions between PvDBP protein expressed on the surface of Cos-7 cells and Duffy receptor on the surface of erythrocytes. When both scFvs and their PEGylated counterparts were exposed to trypsin, scFv was completely degraded only after 24 h, whereas 35% of PEGylated scFvs remained intact, maintaining their stability against the proteolytic attack of trypsin until 72 h. Taken together, these results suggest that the PEGylated scFvs retain their stability against proteolytic enzymes in vivo, with no significant loss in their binding affinity to target antigen, DBP.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1532-1539
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• 2012

The ${\alpha}$-galactosidase-coding gene agaAJB13 was cloned from Sphingomonas sp. JB13 showing 16S rDNA (1,343 bp) identities of ${\leq}97.2%$ with other identified Sphingomonas strains. agaAJB13 (2,217 bp; 64.9% GC content) encodes a 738-residue polypeptide (AgaAJB13) with a calculated mass of 82.3 kDa. AgaAJB13 showed the highest identity of 61.4% with the putative glycosyl hydrolase family 36 ${\alpha}$-galactosidase from Granulicella mallensis MP5ACTX8 (EFI56085). AgaAJB13 also showed <37% identities with reported protease-resistant or Sphingomonas ${\alpha}$-galactosidases. A sequence analysis revealed different catalytic motifs between reported Sphingomonas ${\alpha}$-galactosidases (KXD and RXXXD) and AgaAJB13 (KWD and SDXXDXXXR). Recombinant AgaAJB13 (rAgaAJB13) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The purified rAgaAJB13 was characterized using p-nitrophenyl-${\alpha}$-D-galactopyranoside as the substrate and showed an apparent optimum at pH 5.0 and $60^{\circ}C$ and strong resistance to trypsin and proteinase K digestion. Compared with reported proteaseresistant ${\alpha}$-galactosidases showing thermolability at $50^{\circ}C$ or $60^{\circ}C$ and specific activities of <71 U/mg with or without protease treatments, rAgaAJB13 exhibited a better thermal stability (half-life of >60 min at $60^{\circ}C$) and higher specific activities (225.0-256.5 U/mg). These sequence and enzymatic properties suggest AgaAJB13 is the first identified and characterized Sphingomonas ${\alpha}$-galactosidase, and shows novel protease resistance with a potential value for basic research and industrial applications.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2012

Lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory mucocutaneous disease that affects multiple sites of the body. Often it involves the oral mucosa, but also involve other sites such as skin, genitals, scalp and nails. There is no clear cause of oral lichen planus (OLP), current data suggest that OLP is a T-cell mediated autoimmune disorder which may have an altered self-peptide triggering apoptosis of oral epithelial cells. Usually OLP appears in middle-aged women which tends to be chronic with periods of exacerbation and remission. There are many theories those causes the OLP such as psychological and environmental factors, genetic tendency, drugs and more. 60-70% of lichen planus is accompanied by oral lesions, and more than half of its cases are not able to defined by their skin. In this study, among all the possibility(possible) theories, we tried to evaluate the influence of emotional stress in exacerbating OLP. There were thirty patients with a clinical or histological diagnosis of OLP and other thirty subjects who did not show any signs of systemic disorders include OLP. They were evaluated by using modified Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). As a result, a significantly higher level of stress was found in the OLP patients than the control group. Therefore it could be concluded that psychological stressors play an important role in the exacerbating OLP.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.2059-2065
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• 2013

This goal of this research was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the National Cancer Screening Program (NCSP) for breast cancer in the Republic of Korea from a government expenditure perspective. In 2002-2003 (baseline), a total of 8,724,860 women aged 40 years or over were invited to attend breast cancer screening by the NCSP. Those who attended were identified using the NCSP database, and women were divided into two groups, women who attended screening at baseline (screened group) and those who did not (non-screened group). Breast cancer diagnosis in both groups at baseline, and during 5-year follow-up was identified using the Korean Central Cancer Registry. The effectiveness of the NCSP for breast cancer was estimated by comparing 5-year survival and life years saved (LYS) between the screened and the unscreened groups, measured using mortality data from the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation and the National Health Statistical Office. Direct screening costs, indirect screening costs, and productivity costs were considered in different combinations in the model. When all three of these costs were considered together, the incremental cost to save one life year of a breast cancer patient was 42,305,000 Korean Won (KW) (1 USD=1,088 KW) for the screened group compared to the non-screened group. In sensitivity analyses, reducing the false-positive rate of the screening program by half was the most cost-effective (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, ICER=30,110,852 KW/LYS) strategy. When the upper age limit for screening was set at 70 years, it became more cost-effective (ICER=39,641,823 KW/LYS) than when no upper age limit was set. The NCSP for breast cancer in Korea seems to be accepted as cost-effective as ICER estimates were around the Gross Domestic Product. However, cost-effectiveness could be further improved by increasing the sensitivity of breast cancer screening and by setting appropriate age limits.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2007

In order to investigate the ecological factors affecting milk intake frequency of adolescents, the questionnaire survey was conducted with 929 middle and high school students living in Chungnam urban area through October and November 2004. The subjects consumed milk 8.6$\pm$6.7 times per week, other beverages 4.4$\pm$4.1 times per week and drinking water 3.7$\pm$2.1 cups per day. Of the students 77.3% took balanced meals, 72.8% ate regularly and 36.2% ate adequate amount. About 61% had breakfast everyday and nearly a half students snacked once a day. Nutritional knowledge scores about milk was 7.2$\pm$1.7 and milk attitude scores was 28.1$\pm$6.5. The subjects spent daily 1.8$\pm$1.1, 1.9$\pm$1.1, and 1.0$\pm$0.5 hours for computer use, TV watching and exercise, respectively. Milk intake frequencies were positively correlated with excercise, snack frequency, meal balance and regularity, breakfast frequency, food attitude score and milk preference, while showed negative correlationships with TV watching and computer use. Intake frequency of fruit-tasted and chocolate milk showed inverse correlation with nutritional knowledge. Subjects without either school store or vending machine took milk more frequently than those with one or both did. Of the correlated variables, milk preference was the most important influencing factor to milk intake frequency according to the stepwise linear regression analysis, which presented other 5 important influencing factors as food attitude, school vending facilities, excercise, snacking frequency and watching TV. In conclusion, the improvement of milk preference is the most important and effective way to promote milk consumption in adolescents. The favorite ways of drinking milk, nutritional benefit of milk, healthy beverage and good snacking should be taught in nutrition education. Also physical activities should be recommended to students rather than watching TV, computer use and vending facilities selling soft drinks should be limited to be established inside school.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.314-320
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• 2010

As the nature of triathlons is competition in three successive sports, triathletes experience elevated levels of stress on the body that are absent in single-sport athletic events, and consequently there are more potential medical problems to prepare for. Triathletes can also experience problems such as hypothermia, heat illness, excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation, musculoskeletal injuries and trauma, immunosuppression, and haemolysis. Depending on the potentiality of such above-listed problems occurring in any given race, race organizers will prepare preventative measures and treatments accordingly. Olympic distance is not the only triathlon racing distance. Sprints, which are normally around half the Olympic distance, are common distances, as well as Long (2 km swim, 80 km bike, 20 km run), Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42 km run), and ultra-distance events varying in length. Races of longer duration normally result in a higher percentage of athletes experiencing the above-mentioned medical problems, as well as inducing additional health risks such as hyponatraemia. Minimizing the occurrences of serious health issues is possible through the following means: carefully preparing for the probable race-day weather conditions; proper management and organization of the race; preparing an extensive water-safety and ground-course safety plan; distributing necessary nutrition along the course; and stressing the importance for athletes to have proper knowledge concerning race nutrition, biomechanical technique, physical preparation, and utilization of safe equipment. While risks of competing in triathlon are many, the instances of such medical problems are not excessive, and the triathlon has a reputation of being a reasonably safe sport as long as athletes with high risk take added precautions.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.912-918
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• 2020

The Korean native black goat (Capra hircus coreanae) is the goat species to be officially registered in Korea under the Food and Agriculture Organization. The object of this study is to establish a set of microsatellite (MS) markers for the individual identification and parentage verification of goats. In this study, we analyzed alleles of MS markers in crosses between Korean native black goats and crossbred goats (n=304 animals), and, based on the diversity of alleles for each marker, we selected 11 MS markers for individual identification and parentage verification. Using these 11 MS markers, the probabilities of different individuals with the same genotype being found within random and half-sib mating populations were 5.58×10^-10 and 1.15×10^-7, respectively. The parentage verification accuracy was 0.999996 when information about the parents was available and 0.999833 with no information. Thus, even given the total rearing population of 576,150 animals in South Korea, we concluded that these markers could be used for the individual identification and parentage verification of goats. Moreover, by analyzing the genetic relationships between the four lines of Korean native black goats and the crossbred goats, we verified the genetic characteristics of Korean native black goats, confirming their conservation value as a unique genetic resource.