• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.496-500
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• 2013

Objective : To evaluate the successful fusion rate in postmenopausal women with single-level anterior cervical discectomy and successful fusion (ACDF) and identify the significant factors related to bone successful fusion in pre- and postmenopausal women. Methods : From July 2004 to December 2010, 108 consecutive patients who underwent single-level ACDF were prospectively selected as candidates. Among these, the charts and radiological data of 39 women were reviewed retrospectively. These 39 women were divided into two groups : a premenopausal group (n=11) and a postmenopausal group (n=28). To evaluate the significant factors affecting the successful fusion rate, the following were analyzed : the presence of successful fusion, successful fusion type, age, operated level, bone mineral density, graft materials, stand-alone cage or plating with autologous iliac bone, subsidence, adjacent segment degeneration, smoking, diabetes mellitus, and renal disease. Results : The successful fusion rates of the pre- and postmenopausal groups were 90.9% and 89.2%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the successful fusion rate or successful fusion type between the two groups. In the postmenopausal group, three patients (10.8%) had successful fusion failure. In the postmenopausal group, age and subsidence significantly affected the successful fusion rate (p=0.016 and 0.011, respectively), and the incidence of subsidence in patients with a cage was higher than that in patients with a plate (p=0.030). Conclusion : Menopausal status did not significantly affect bone successful fusion in patients with single-level ACDF. However, in older women with single-level ACDF, the combination of use of a cage and subsidence may unfavorably affect successful fusion.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.41-46
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• 1999

Osteoporosis, which causes mainly fracture of the spine, proximal femur and distal radius by minimal trauma, is a major public health problem and its prevalence is steadily increasing in Korea according to the development of public health care. There are reliable methods for diagnosis based on bone densitometry. Early detection and intervention are important for reducing the incidence of fractures. A consensus definition of osteoporosis, based on bone density measurement, has been developed by the World Health Organization(WHO). In this study, bone mineral density(RMD) was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry(DEXA) at the proximal femur and lumbar spine in 132 post-menopausal women. The purpose of this study is to find influential factors on the BMD of the proximal femur and the lumbar spine and to analyze correlation between BMD and the problematic factors. We obtained the following results : 1. Mean BMD score, T-score and Z-score of the proximal femur were $0.81(g/cm^2)$, -2.45(S.D.) and -2.09(S.D.) respectively and in the lumbar spine were $0.83(g/cm^2)$, -2.02(S.D.), -2.43(S.D.) respectively. 2. In correlation analysis between BMD and many factors, correlation coefficients were -0.467, 0.212, -0.321 and 0.241 in age, height, duration after menopause respectively. BMI and the residuals were comparatively small. 3. Correlation coefficients to age matched BMD, in height and body weight were 0.222 and 0.241, in age and duration after menopause were -0.268, -0.282. 4. The fracture threshold of proximal femur BMD to the 90th percentile was $0.845(g/cm^2)$. 5. At the result of multiple regression analysis, age, body weight, $BMI(kg/m^2)$ and duration after menopause described as significant variables.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.519-526
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• 2000

Osteoporosis has recently been recognized as a major health problem in the elderly population. The disorder is manifested as a loss of bone mass accompanied by structural alteration of bone and increased incidence of fracture. Mandible also may be affected. So, I evaluated panoramic views of 66 postmenopausal women for finding the possibility of useful diagnostic mandibular parmeters of osteoporosis. To know the correlationship between skeleton and mandible, the average of the bone mineral density of lumbar from 2nd to 4th by the dual energy X-ray absorptiometry(DEXA, LUNAR DPZ. USA), and age and mandibular parameters, that is, the number of residual teeth, alveolar ridge resorption ratio, panoramic mandibular index (PMI), mandibular cortical width (MCW), angular cortical thickness (ACT), ramus cortical thickness (RCT), morphology of mandibular inferior cortical (MIC) were compared. And I divided the all tested women to the osteoporotic group and non-osteoporotic group by the use of T-score -2.0, which was derived from skeletal bone mineral density (BMD). To find the correlationship of the each group with mandibular parameters, t-test and discriminant analysis were done. The results of the t-test were that all parameters were highly related with 2 groups (p<0.05). Especially ACT, MIC, age have had even higher correlationship than others (p<0.001). The results of the discriminant analysis by the use of these ACT, MIC and age were that the discriminant function was Z = -2.973+(-1.447)$\times$(ACT)+1.131$\times$(MIC score)+(0.052)$\times$(age), the cutting score was 0.257 and the classification accuracy was 84.8%. Therefore I suggest that the consideration of the angular cortical thickness (ACT), the age of patient and the morphology of mandibular inferior cortical(MIC) may help find the osteoporosis.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic agricultural materials, chitosan and wood vinegar, on the growth and yield of red pepper and soil microflora. In the chitosan treatments, the density of actinomycetes in soils increased, while the density of fungi decreased. Compared with the conventional cultivation, the stem diameter of red pepper was greater in the chitosan or wood vinegar experimental plots at 50 days after transplanting, though there was no difference in chlorophyll content among treatments. The incidence of disease and insect was higher in the treatments of organic agricultural materials than the conventional cultivation, regardless of application frequency. Contents of cations such as Ca and K in leaves and fruits increased by chitosan treatment. In all experimental plots, fruit yield decreased because of diseases and insects. But in chitosan treatment plot with 10 times of application, characteristics of fruits were superior to others and the yield index of red pepper was the highest as 92.4% as compared to the conventional cultivation.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2008

With the widespread use of laser in medical and industrial settings, the incidence of laser injury to the ocular continues to grow among workers involved in handling lasers. The aim of this study is to compare ocular damages after irradiation with various laser wavelengths and power density. Ocular of pigmented rats was irradiated with $CO_2$ laser, 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser, and 532 nm diode laser. We observed damage of cornea, lens, and retina using slit lamp microscope and funduscopy. H&E staining of histopathology were applied to study the specimens. The higher exposure ($200mW/cm^2$, 10 sec) with $CO_2$ laser resulted in severe damage at the cornea. For the 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser, the higher exposure than $10mW/cm^2$ (10 sec) resulted in damage at the cornea and lens. Further, with the 532 nm diode laser, retinal lesions were induced when $10mW/cm^2$ (0.25 sec) was delivered to the eye. Theses results suggest that the ocular damages are different from various laser wavelength and power density.

• Korean Journal of Crystallography
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.73-80
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• 1996

The single crystal growth has been carried out with the newly designed 1-T HB(single temperature zone horizontal Bridgman) system for GaAs crystals of 2 inch diameter doped with Si, Zn or undoped. With this method, incidence probability of single crystallinity was shown to be 0.73. Lattice defects evaluated from EPD(etch pit density) measurement were in the range of 5,000-20,000/cm2, dependent upon the doping condition. For the undoped GaAs crystals, carrier concentrations from the Hall measurement were ∼1×1016/cm3 at the seed part, which were less than half the concentrations of double of triple temperature zone(2-T, 3-T) HB grown crystals. By the 1-T HB method, therefore, GaAs crystals can be grown successfully with better yield and higher purity.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.11
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• pp.777-784
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• 2014

Epidemiologic studies have shown that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a strong risk factor, whilst high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) reduces the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Therefore, strategies to manage dyslipidemia in an effort to prevent or treat CHD have primarily attempted at decreasing LDL-C and raising HDL-C levels. Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the exchange of cholesteryl ester for triglycerides between HDL and VLDL and LDL. We have published the first report indicating that a group of Japanese patients who were lacking CETP had extremely high HDL-C levels, low LDL-C levels and a low incidence of CHD. Animal studies, as well as clinical and epidemiologic evidences, have suggested that inhibition of CETP provides an effective strategy to raise HDL-C and reduce LDL-C levels. Four CETP inhibitors have substantially increased HDL-C levels in dyslipidemic patients. This review will discuss the current status and future prospects of CETP inhibitors in the treatment of CHD. At present anacetrapib by Merck and evacetrapib by Eli Lilly are under development. By 100mg of anacetrapib HDL-C increased by 138%, and LDL-C decreased by 40%. Evacetrapib 500 mg also showed dramatic 132% increase of HDL-C, while LDL-C decreased by 40%. If larger, long-term, randomized, clinical end point trials could corroborate other findings in reducing atherosclerosis, CETP inhibitors could have a significant impact in the management of dyslipidemic CHD patients. Inhibition of CETP synthesis by antisense oligonucleotide or small molecules will produce more similar conditions to human CETP deficiency and may be effective in reducing atherosclerosis and cardiovascular events. We are expecting the final data of prospective clinical trials by CETP inhibitors in 2015.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.35.1-35.9
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• 2022

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats are motifs of 1 to 6 nucleotides in length present in both coding and non-coding regions of DNA. These are found widely distributed in the whole genome of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, bacteria, and viruses and are used as molecular markers in studying DNA variations, gene regulation, genetic diversity and evolutionary studies, etc. However, in vitro microsatellite identification proves to be time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, the present research has been focused on using an in-house built java pipeline to identify, analyse, design primers and find related statistics of perfect and compound microsatellites in the seven complete genome sequences of coronavirus, including the genome of coronavirus disease 2019, where the host is Homo sapiens. Based on search criteria among seven genomic sequences, it was revealed that the total number of perfect simple sequence repeats (SSRs) found to be in the range of 76 to 118 and compound SSRs from 01 to10, thus reflecting the low conversion of perfect simple sequence to compound repeats. Furthermore, the incidence of SSRs was insignificant but positively correlated with genome size (R² = 0.45, p > 0.05), with simple sequence repeats relative abundance (R² = 0.18, p > 0.05) and relative density (R² = 0.23, p > 0.05). Dinucleotide repeats were the most abundant in the coding region of the genome, followed by tri, mono, and tetra. This comparative study would help us understand the evolutionary relationship, genetic diversity, and hypervariability in minimal time and cost.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.270-277
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• 2023

Background: As per guidelines for treating dyslipidemia, the recommended low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level in extremely high-risk patients, including those with coronary artery diseases is <55 mg/dL. Although this recommendation has been adopted in the guidelines for dyslipidemia in various countries, there is limited evidence of its efficacy in reducing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), especially among East Asian patients. This study aimed to investigate whether an LDL-C value below 55 mg/dL is associated with decreased risk of CVDs. Methods: Seven clinical trials including 50,970 patients that compared intensive lipid-lowering therapy with less therapy or placebo in patients who had >6 months of follow-up, those with a sample size of ≥150 were selected as the final literature for analysis. Risk ratios (RR) using random effects were represented with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the reliability of the results. Results: An LDL-C level of <55 mg/dL was related to significantly reduced events of major CVDs (RR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.80-0.98) and myocardial infarction (RR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.73-0.90) and a reduced risk of ischemic stroke (RR 0.79; 95% CI 0.69-0.89, mean follow-up=2 years). However, an LDL-C level below 55 mg/dL did not reduce the incidence of CVD in intensive therapy in East Asian patients. Conclusions: A goal LDL-C value below 55 mg/dL was identified to be related to a decreased risk of developing CVD. However, the relation to LDL-C below 55 mg/dL with a decreased risk of CVD was not observed in East Asian patients.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.41-51
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• 1995

Bone mass accretion during puberty appears to be critical in the development of peak bone mass. Although bone density of females in Korea has been studied, only a few studies have related bone mass with anthropometric patterns or puberty in the pubescent girls. This study was conducted as part of a study of major determinants of bone development during puberty. Subjects were aged 14∼16 yr(mean 14.97), and had no history of disorders or dedication use likely to influence bone or calcium metabolism. Bone mineral density and content were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry using a Lunar DPX+Scanner (Lunar Madison, WI). Also, total body fat, and total lean body mass were assessed using a Lunar DPX dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer, Pubertal status was assessed according to the Marshall and Tanner guidelines. Serum levels of osteocalcin was measured by RIA using a commercial kit assay. Skinfold measurements were taken with a skinfold caliper(Lange Caliper, USA). Data were analyzed using the regression and GLM procedure of the statistical package SAS. The results indicated that the observed means for lumbar spine BMD and femoral BMD correspond to approximately 91% and 96% of the means for young adult females, respec tively. All subjects were menarchal, with the majority being in the middle to end stages of pubertal development. Total body BMD was positively related to fat mass(P<0.001), lean body mass and time since menarche, and negatively related to urine pyridinoline, serum alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin. The data indicate that girls who reported lower age for menarche had significantly higher bone densities than girls who reported higher age for menarche. Attaining peak skeletal bone mass during puberty may reduce the incidence of osteoporosis in later life. this finding suggests that early menarche may augment peak bone mass, influencing the extent of bone loss later in adulthood. The results suggest that good nutrition in childhood appears to be needed not for growth and development, but possibly also to assure an optimal peak of bone mass and thus greater latitude for the maintenance or skeletal integrity in the face of bone losses. Troeps skinfold thickness was a better predictor of total BMD and total BMC than was any other skinfold thickness. The study did not find a relationship between total BMD and body fat %, but total fat was significantly positively related to total BMD(r=0.49) and total BMC(r=0.60). It supports earlier report that there was a significant correlation between TBMD and body weight. Conclusively, total fat, lean body mass and pubertal development could influence BMD in pubescent girls. Clearly, longitudinal studies are required to assess the effect of puberty on peak bone mass, and to define further the potential determinants of peak bone mass.