• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2022

Objective: This study aimed to describe a distinct subpopulation of azoospermic patients with isolated elevation of follicle-stimulating hormone (iFSH) and poor outcomes of microdissection testicular sperm extraction (microTESE). Methods: A retrospective analysis of microTESE outcomes was conducted among 565 patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA). Testicular pathology was assessed by the dominant histological pattern and Bergmann-Kliesch score (BKS). Descriptive statistics were presented for the iFSH subgroup. Inhibin B levels, the sperm retrieval rate (SRR), and BKS were compared in iFSH patients and other NOA patients. Results: The overall SRR was 33.3% per microTESE attempt. The median BKS was 0.6 (interquartile range, 0-2). Of all NOA patients, 132 had iFSH, and microTESE was successful only in 11 of those cases, with an SRR of 8.3%, while the total SRR in other NOA patients was 38.1% (p<0.001). iFSH had a sensitivity of 32.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 27.4%-36.8%) and specificity of 94.1% (95% CI, 90.8-97.5%) as a predictor of negative microTESE outcomes. Conclusion: Patients with iFSH may harbor a distinct testicular phenotype with total loss of the germ cell population and poor outcomes of surgical sperm retrieval.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.360-367
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• 2022

Tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) protein is a receptor tyrosine kinase encoded by the NTRK1 gene. TrkA signaling mediates the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of neurons and other cells following stimulation by its ligand, the nerve growth factor. Chromosomal rearrangements of the NTRK1 gene result in the generation of TrkA fusion protein, which is known to cause deregulation of TrkA signaling. Targeting TrkA activity represents a promising strategy for the treatment of cancers that harbor the TrkA fusion protein. In this study, we evaluated the TrkA-inhibitory activity of the benzoxazole compound KRC-108. KRC-108 inhibited TrkA activity in an in vitro kinase assay, and suppressed the growth of KM12C colon cancer cells harboring an NTRK1 gene fusion. KRC-108 treatment induced cell cycle arrest, apoptotic cell death, and autophagy. KRC-108 suppressed the phosphorylation of downstream signaling molecules of TrkA, including Akt, phospholipase Cγ, and ERK1/2. Furthermore, KRC-108 exhibited antitumor activity in vivo in a KM12C cell xenograft model. These results indicate that KRC-108 may be a promising therapeutic agent for Trk fusion-positive cancers.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.343-352
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• 2022

Pig slaughterhouses harbor high humidity because of the necessary cleaning that takes place simultaneously with slaughter, which facilitates the existence of mold. Due to the enclosed space, there are several limitations to the control of mold growth with respect to cleaning, ventilation, and drying. In this study, the prevalence of fungi was investigated in four pig slaughterhouses in Korea. Four fungi (Aspergillus niger, Penicillium commune, Penicillium oxalicum, and Cladosporium cladosporioides) were detected with the highest frequency. These four strains were subjected to various treatments to reduce their growth. The fungi were inoculated onto stainless steel (SS) chips and treated with ultraviolet (UV)-C irradiation and hot water. Individual treatments with UV-C (15, 30, 90, 150, 300, and 600 mJ/cm²), and hot water (60, 65, 70, and 83℃) were performed to sanitize the SS chips. Simultaneous cleaning with 60℃ hot water and more than 150 mJ/cm² of UV-C reduced the fungal incidence by > 6.5 Log from 6.6-7.0 Log CFU/cm² (initial count). Our results demonstrate that a combined treatment of UV-C and hot water is the most economical and convenient way to prevent microbiological contamination of small tools (such as knives and sharpeners) and steel surfaces in slaughterhouses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1129-1139
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• 2022

Collision accidents happen frequently. The majority of ships involved in collisions in the coastal areas of Korea are middle and small size ships. The proportion of collision accidents is only 9% of all types of marine accidents; however, the number of casualties resulting from collisions is 34.4% of all human life damages. Generally, as reported by the people involved in these collisions, the navigation lights of the opponent ships were poor and invisible when the accident happened even though the weather and visibility were good. Furthermore, there are many insistences for poor navigation light conditions of the opponent ship in the bay or harbor. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the present conditions and safety of navigation lights. Therefore, in this study, we examined the rules and books of navigation lights and compared it to that of other transportation systems, such as aircraft, trains, and road vehicles. Furthermore, we analyzed the current marine traf ic circumstances and ship collision accidents that happened in the past 5 years. Additionally, a questionnaire was prepared to gather the opinion of ship experts and secure the objectivity for improvement methods of navigation lights. Finally, methods to improve the navigation lights on ships were devised.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.873-882
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze accidents and potential risks occurring at container terminals and to conduct on safety management plans tailored to container terminals. Method: A model for establishing a safety management plan is presented through a case study of container terminal risk assessment and literature analysis. Result: According to the 'Statistics of Accidents in the Harbor Handling Industry', 2,800 people were killed or injured during port work for 10 years from 2011 to 2021. This corresponds to an occupational accident rate of one person every 1.5 days. As a method of improving these accidents and disasters, a highly effective safety management plan should be established to prevent the recurrence of accidents in accordance with the Special Act on Port Safety. It is proposed to establish a safety management plan that reflects the risk assessment of container terminals, safety organization, safety budget, safety rules, and safety education.

• Journal of Korean Port Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.35-55
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• 1989

Today, about 99% of total import and export cargo in Korea is being transported through the port. The general trends of cargo handling show increases in capacity and speed, In order to cope with these trends, it is not only required to raise the efficiencies of port operation and function but also necessary to decide the optimal amount of the skilled labor force for cargo handling in the port. Cargo handling in the port is basically relied on the cargo handling facilities. Therefore, it is very important to reserve the amount of labor force for cargo handling system has been developed up to a certain level but the personnel management system which is the superior structure has not been followed well. In this study, therefore, we show a method to determine the required amount of labor force for cargo handling considering the amount of cargo and type of cargo handling work per each cargo, and the optimal amount labor force in cope with the fluctuation of the basic cargo handling labor force with respect to the time of in and out cargo flow in the viewpoint of minimizing the expences due to reservation of extra labor force than needed and firing employment of labor force using the Dynamic Programming. The derived algorithm is introduced into the computer simulation for Pusan port with the analyzed real data such as amount of cargo handling in the port with respect to working hour, cargo capacity, working step, the ratio of cargo handling facility and actual number of workers and we estimated the required labor force. As a result of analysis the labor force of Pusan port showed the over-employment such as maximum 21.4%, minimum 8.2% when we assumed that the averages of actual working hours and days were 8 hours in a day and 20 day in a month.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 2006

Coulomb's theory has traditionally been used for the estimation of active earth pressure acting on rigid walls. However, many experimental data show that active earth pressures on rough, rigid walls are nonlinearly distributed. This is due to the arching effects produced by friction between the wall and backfill materials when the wall translates away from the backfill. Although there are analyses that take arching into consideration f3r a horizontal backfill surface and a vertical rigid wall, these analyses were derived for homogeneous backfill. Therefore, it is not possible to use these analyses for a caisson backfilled with crushed rock and sand, a common type of rigid wall for harbor structures. In this study, a new formulation for calculation of the nonlinear active earth pressure acting on a caisson backfilled with crushed rock and sand is proposed considering both internal friction angles and unit weights of the crushed rock and sand.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.99-104
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• 2007

The deep soil mixing, on ground modification technique, has been used for many diverse applications including building and bridge foundations, port and harbor foundations, retaining structures, liquefaction mitigation, temporary support of excavation and water control. This method has the basic objective of finding the most efficient and economical method for mixing cement with soil to secure settlements through improvement of stability on soft ground. In this research, the experiments were conducted on a laboratory scale with the various test conditions of mixing method; the angle of mixing wing, mixing speed. Strength and shapes of improved soil of these test conditions of deep mixing method were analysed. From the study, it was found that the mixing conditions affect remarkably to the strength and shapes of improved soils.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.77-85
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• 2007

In order to estimate undrained shear strength and evaluate cone factors, various in-situ and laboratory test results at new harbor construction area near Pusan were analyzed. To evaluate Nk values and equation applicable in Korea, measured and theoretical cone factors were compared based on the test results. For comparison, various analytical solutions were adopted and used. Adopted methods include cavity expansion solutions of Baligh (1975) and Yu (1993) and steady state solutions of Teh and Houlsby (1991) and Yu et al. (2000). According to the result of comparison, cavity expansion solutions were found to be reasonable for the CPTu-based undrained shear strength evaluation.

• ALGAE
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.249-264
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• 2022

Two genera of the Rhodymeniales, Halopeltis and Leptofauchea, are here reported for the first time from the Hawaiian Islands and represent the deepest records for both genera. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), rbcL, and large subunit ribosomal DNA (LSU) sequences for Hawaiian specimens of Leptofauchea revealed one well-supported clade of Hawaiian specimens and three additional lineages. One of these clades is described here as Leptofauchea huawelau sp. nov., and is thus far known only from mesophotic depths at Penguin Bank in the Main Hawaiian Islands. L. huawelau sp. nov. is up to 21 cm, and is the largest known species. An additional lineage identified in the LSU and rbcL analyses corresponds to the recently described L. lucida from Western Australia, and is a new record for Hawai'i. Hawaiian Halopeltis formed a well-supported clade along with H. adnata from Korea, the recently described H. tanakae from mesophotic depths in Japan, and H. willisii from North Carolina, and is here described as Halopeltis nuahilihilia sp. nov. H. nuahilihilia sp. nov. has a distinctive morphology of narrow vegetative axes that harbor constrictions along their length. The current distribution of H. nuahilihilia includes mesophotic depths around W. Maui, W. Moloka'i, and the island of Hawai'i in the Main Hawaiian Islands. Few reproductive characters were observed because of the small number of specimens available; however, both species are distinct based on phylogeny and morphology. These descriptions further emphasize the Hawaiian mesophotic zone as a location harboring many undescribed species of marine macroalgae.