• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제57권3호
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• pp.101-109
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• 2014

The use of glucocorticoids (GCs) in the perinatal period is suspected of being associated with adverse effects on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes for preterm infants. Repeated administration of antenatal GCs to mothers at risk of preterm birth may adversely affect fetal growth and head circumference. Fetal exposure to excess GCs during critical periods of brain development may profoundly modify the limbic system (primarily the hippocampus), resulting in long-term effects on cognition, behavior, memory, co-ordination of the autonomic nervous system, and regulation of the endocrine system later in adult life. Postnatal GC treatment for chronic lung disease in premature infants, particularly involving the use of dexamethasone, has been shown to induce neurodevelopmental impairment and increases the risk of cerebral palsy. In contrast to studies involving postnatal dexamethasone, long-term follow-up studies for hydrocortisone therapy have not revealed adverse effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes. In experimental studies on animals, GCs has been shown to impair neurogenesis, and induce neuronal apoptosis in the immature brains of newborn animals. A recent study has demonstrated that dexamethasone-induced hypomyelination may result from the apoptotic degeneration of oligodendrocyte progenitors in the immature brain. Thus, based on clinical and experimental studies, there is enough evidence to advice caution regarding the use of GCs in the perinatal period; and moreover, the potential long-term effects of GCs on brain development need to be determined.

• International Neurourology Journal
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.287-294
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• 2018

Purpose: Augmentation cystoplasty (AC) is a surgical procedure used in adults and children with refractory bladder dysfunction, including a small bladder capacity and inadequate bladder compliance, and in whom conservative and medical treatment has failed. This study was aimed to determine the long-term outcomes of AC in children. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 42 patients (31 males; mean age, $14.2{\pm}6.2years$) who underwent AC for neurogenic and nonneurogenic bladder dysfunction, with a median $12.0{\pm}1.5years$ of follow-up. All patients underwent AC using the ileum with or without continent reconstruction. Pre-AC, concurrent, and post-AC procedures and complications were analyzed. Patients who underwent ureterocystoplasty, were lost to follow-up, or had less than 10 years of follow-up were excluded. The primary outcomes were the complication and continence rates, the post-AC linear rate of height and weight gain, and renal function. The Student t-test was used to evaluate between-group differences and the paired t-test was used to evaluate longitudinal changes in measured variables. Results: Renal function was stable or improved in 32 of 42 patients (76.2%), with a post-AC continence rate of 88.1%. Thirty patients (71.4%) required 72 procedures post-AC. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean percentile of height (P=0. 212) or weight (P=0.142) of patients in the pre- and post-AC periods. No cases of bladder perforation or malignancy were detected. Conclusions: We consider AC to be a safe and effective procedure that does not negatively affect future physical growth, while achieving a good rate of stable renal function. Patients need long-term follow-up to address long-term complications.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• 제50권4호
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• pp.292-298
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• 2023

Objective: Ovarian torsion is a gynecological disorder that causes ischemia-reperfusion injuries in the ovary. Our study investigated berberine's short- and long-term effects on ovarian ischemia-reperfusion injuries. Methods: This study included 28 Wistar albino female rats weighing 180 to 220 g, which were divided into four groups: sham (S), torsion/detorsion (T/D), torsion/ detorsion+single dose berberine (T/D+Bb), and torsion/detorsion+15 days berberine (T/D+15Bb). The torsion and detorsion model was applied in all non-sham groups. In the T/D+Bb group, a single dose of berberine was administered, while in the T/D+15Bb group, berberine was administered over a period of 15 days. After the rats were euthanized, their ovaries were excised. The left ovaries were used for histopathologic evaluation, which included ovarian injury scoring and follicle count, while the right ovaries were used for biochemical analyses (tissue transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β] and alpha-smooth muscle actin [α-SMA] levels). Results: The histopathologic evaluation scores for the ovaries were significantly lower in the T/D+B group (p<0.05) and the T/D+15B group (p<0.005) than in the T/D group. The follicle counts in the T/D group were lower than those in both the sham and treated groups (p<0.005). The TGF-β levels were significantly lower in the T/D+15B group (p<0.005), whereas the α-SMA levels did not show a significant difference. Conclusion: Both short- and long-term berberine use could potentially have therapeutic effects on ovarian torsion. Long-term berberine use exhibited anti-inflammatory effects by reducing TGF-β levels, thereby preventing ischemia-reperfusion injuries. Therefore, we suggest that long-term berberine use could be beneficial for ovarian torsion.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.149-159
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• 2022

This study investigated the relationship between economic growth and energy security risk levels in Korea using linear and non-linear ARDL methods. While there are many studies on the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth, few studies focus on the relationship between energy security and economic growth considering 4A dimensions of energy security such as energy availability, accessibility, acceptability, and affordability. Energy risk index from Global Energy Institue and GDP data from world bank are used for ARDL and NARDL analysis. Our result of ARDL shows that there is no long-term relationship between energy security risk levels and economic growth. On the other hand, NARDL result shows that there is an asymmetric relationship between economic growth and energy security risk levels in the long run. The results show the importance of expending further research on ensuring energy security to policymakers.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• 제26권6호
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• pp.41-60
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• 2022

Purpose - The policy implications of free trade agreements have traditionally been a matter of debate among economists. The official signing of the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement provides economists with a quasi-natural experiment to analyze the FTA's policy effects. This article aims to more accurately understand the impact of Korea's FTA accession on the macro economy. Design/methodology - This study adopts the counterfactual method based on panel data to find common factors in the generation process of macro data to fit the counterfactual path, to accurately evaluate the effect of the macro policy. Findings - Our research results show that the signing of the Korea-China FTA has a relatively significant short-term positive effect on Korea's economic growth. On average, Korea's real GDP growth rate has increased by 2.1%. This study finds evidence in support of FTA signing not having a significant impact on Korea's GDP growth in the long run. Additionally, we evaluated the impact of the FTA on Korea's imports and exports and found that it had a significant positive impact in the short term, but the trade effect of the FTA is significantly affected by the external macro-environment. Originality/value - First, this study uses macro panel data at the national level to examine the impact of the Korea-China FTA on Korea, and more accurately describes the policy effect of the FTA. Second, our empirical results show that the Korea-China FTA policy impact is subject to occasional changes in the external environment, such as the geopolitical conflict (crisis) between Korea and China, and the US-China trade war. Finally, the analysis shows that the short-term effect of FTA is significant but the long-term is uncertain, which provides empirical evidence for the debate on whether joining FTA can promote national economic growth.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.89-94
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• 2014

Objectives : This study was conducted naturalistically in order to observe the long-term effects of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications on growth rates among Korean school-aged boys with ADHD. Methods : Participants in the study were boys with ADHD aged 6 to 11 years who have taken ADHD medication, methylphenidate (extended release) or atomoxetine. They attended scheduled visits monthly or bimonthly for clinical assessment with measurement of height and weight. In this study, 35 boys with ADHD (mean age at baseline=$7.90{\pm}1.77$ years ; mean age at endpoint= $12.54{\pm}1.91$ years) were included, with a mean follow-up period of 4.64 years (${\pm}1.62$ years), ranging from 2 to 9.7 years. Height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) measurements were converted to "age-corrected Z-scores" using data from Growth Charts provided by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2007. Results : Age-corrected endpoint growth parameters (height, weight, BMI Z-scores) did not differ significantly from the baseline values (height t=0.027 ; weight t=-0.61 ; BMI t=-1.86, in paired t-test). Especially high correlation was observed between the baseline and endpoint height Z-scores (r=0.876, p<.001), for which the coefficient of determination $r^2$ was 0.767, meaning that the amount of variability in endpoint height Z-scores explained by the baseline height Z-scores was 76.7%. Conclusion : Our results suggested that the long-term effects of ADHD medications on growth parameters to be tolerable in Korean school-aged boys with ADHD.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• 제17권10호
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• pp.45-53
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• 2016

At present, coffee consumption amount is annually on the rise in Korea, which results in about 0.27 million tons of coffee waste annually. They are mostly classified as food waste and deserted with moisture contained, being a serious environmental issue. Existing slope greening techniques, which are vegetation based soil-media hydroseeding measures, have problems such as lack of coherence, dryness or lack of organic matters. Therefore in order to assess usability of Spent Coffee Ground (SCG), medium-to long-term growth test was conducted under the indoor and outdoor conditions. According to the result of growth test, when SCG was mixed with existing base materials, moisturizing power increased and organic matter content was reinforced, promoting germination and growth in a medium term. Among others, under the condition when supply of water was discontinued, withering rate was lower than existing base materials and diverse phenomena resulting from lack of nutrition decreased. Therefore, SCG as a waste organic matter with abundant nitrogen has the characteristic of inhibiting early growth but was found to have a quality favorable to long-term growth resulting from water containing ability and the supply of organic mater and is judged to be a material to replace or complement existing base materials.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.1-17
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• 2024

Forest management is known to beneficially influence stand structure and wood production, yet quantitative understanding as well as an illustrative depiction of the effects of different management approaches on tree growth and stand dynamics are still scarce. Long-term management of beech forests must balance public interests with ecological aspects. Efficient forest management requires the reliable prediction of tree growth change. We aimed to develop a novel hybrid simulation approach, which realistically simulates short- as well as long-term effects of different forest management regimes commonly applied, but not limited, to German low mountain ranges, including near-natural forest management based on single-tree selection harvesting. The model basically consists of three modules for (a) natural seedling regeneration, (b) mortality adjustment, and (c) tree growth simulation. In our approach, an existing validated growth model was used to calculate single year tree growth, and expanded on by including in a newly developed simulation process using calibrated modules based on practical experience in forest management and advice from the local forest. We included the following different beech forest-management scenarios that are representative for German low mountain ranges to our simulation tool: (1) plantation, (2) continuous cover forestry, and (3) reserved forest. The simulation results show a robust consistency with expert knowledge as well as a great comparability with mid-term monitoring data, indicating a strong model performance. We successfully developed a hybrid simulation that realistically reflects different management strategies and tree growth in low mountain range. This study represents a basis for a new model calibration method, which has translational potential for further studies to develop reliable tailor-made models adjusted to local situations in beech forest management.

• Journal of Practical Engineering Education
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.31-39
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• 2017

Due to quantitative growth focused on short-term field placement and excessive competition between universities, the need for long-term field placement model is increasing and participation of government and universities is increasing for effective on-the-job training. In order to solve the problems of shortage of R&D manpower in small and medium sized companies, Kumoh Institute of Technology and three participating universities have been conducting industrial internship as R&D long-term field placement program from 2015. Students undertake long-term on-the-job training in the R & D department for six months to improve their R & D skills and strengthen their work capacity. In this paper, we propose effective ways of stimulating cooperative employment through long-term field placement in R&D departments from pre-preparation stage to ending stage through comparative analysis of cases of industrial internship in 2015 and 2016.

• 한국사회정책
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.287-320
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• 2018

This study aimed to analyze the characteristics and problems of the quasi-market for welfare technology in the long-term care service area in South Korea. The qualitative interviews to the developers of welfare technology were conducted. The main results are as follows. First, the long-term care insurance (LTC) in South Korea has helped to create the limited amount of the effective demands for welfare equipments with low technology. Second, the systemic features of the LTC, however, have constraint the quantitative expansion as well as qualitative growth of the quasi-market for welfare technology. The low level of financial support combined with strict regulations has obstructed qualitative competition in the market. Third, they tend to develop the standardized and minimum welfare equipments for the serious needy for long-term care instead of welfare technology promoting independency of the elderly. Based on the results, this study provided the predictions for the growth of welfare technology and suggested some policy implications.