• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.929-936
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• 2003

We analysed the surgical outcomes of immediate reoperations after mitral valve repair. Material and Method: Eighteen patients who underwent immediate reoperation for failed mitral valve repair from April 1995 through July 2001 were reviewed retrospectively. There were 13 female patients. The mitral valve disease was regurgitation (MR) in 12 patients, stenosis (MS) in 3, and mixed lesion in 3. The etiologies of the valve disease were rheumatic in 9 patients, degenerative in 8, and endocarditis in 1. The causes of reoperation was residual MR in 13 patients, residual MS in 4, and rupture of left ventricle in 1. Fourteen patients had rerepair for residual mitral lesions (77.8%) and four underwent replacement. Result: There was no early death. After mean follow-vp of 33 months, there was one late death. Echocardiography revealed no or grade 1 of MR (64.3%) in 9 patients and no or mild MS in 11 patients (78,6%). Reoperation was done in one patient. The cumulative survival and freedom from valve-related reoperation at 6 years were 94% and 90%, respectively. The cumulative freedom from recurrent MR and MS at 4 years were 56% and 44%, respectively. Conclusion: This study suggests that immediate reoperation for failed mitral valve repair offers good early and intermediate survival, and mitral valve rerepair can be successfully performed in most of patients. However, because mitral rerepair have high failure rate, especially in rheumatic valve disease, adequate selections of valvuloplasty technique and indication are important to reduce the failure rate of mitral rerepair.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.164-171
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• 1997

Heart transplantation is now accepted as a definitive therapeutic modality in patients with terminal hear failure. The first successful heart transplantation in humans was done in 1967 and the first case in Korea was performed in november, 1992. Since the first case in 1992, more than 50 cases have been performed in Korea. A total of 20 patients underwent orthotopic heart transplantation since November, 1992 in Asan Medicla Center. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the early results and the follow-up course of 20 cases of heart transplantation done in Asan Medical Center. The average age of 20 patients was 39.9$\pm$11.8 years old(20~58). The mean follow-up duration was 14.4$\pm$11.2 months(1~41). All patients are alive till now. The blood type was identical in 14 and compatible in 6 patients. ihe original heart disease was dilated cardiomyopathy in 16, valvular heart disease in 2, ischemic cardiomyopathy in 1, and giant cell myocarditis in 1 patient. HLA cross matching for recipient and donor was done in 18 cases and the results were negative for T-cell and B-cell in 16 patients, pos tive for warm B-cell in 2 patients. Among 6 loci of A, B, and DR, one locus was matched in 8 cases, 2 loci in 5 cases, and 3 loci matched in 1 case. The number of acute allograft rejection averaged 2.8$\pm$0.5 (0~6) per case and the number of acute allograft rejection requiring treatment averaged 1.0$\pm$0.9 (1~3) per case. The time interval from operation to the first acute rejection requiring treatment was 35.5$\pm$20.4 days (5~60). Acute humoral rejection was suspected strongly in 1 case and was successfully treated. The left ventricular ejection fraction measured by echocardiography and/or MUGA scan was dramatically increased from 17.5$\pm$6.8 (9~32)% to 58.9$\pm$2.0 (55~62)% after heart transplantation. Temporary pacing was needed in 5 patients over 24 hours but normal sinus rhythm appeared within 7 days in all cases. One patient has been taken permanent pacemaker implantation due to complete AV block appearing 140 days after heart transplantaion. One patient had cyclosporine-associated n urotoxicity during the immediate postoperative period and was recovered after 27 hours. The heart transplantation of Asan Medical Center is on a developing stage but the early result is comparable to that of well established centers in other countries, even though the long-term follow-up result must be reevaluated. We can conclude that the heart transplantion is a promising therapeutic option in patients with terminal heart failure.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.509-518
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• 1998

Background: Short-course chemotherapy for 6 months is well established for pulmonary tuberculosis. However, little is known about the efficacy of the short-course chemotherapy for tuberculous pleural effusion. Tuberculous pleural effusion itself may be self-limiting without any treatment, but about two thirds of the patients with tuberculous pleural effusion may subsequently develop pulmonary tuberculosis within 5 years. After completing treatment for tuberculous pleural effusion. prolonged follow-up is necessary for evaluating the efficacy of the treatment There is still no report on the efficacy of 6-month regimens for tuberculous pleural effusion in Korea, where the incidence of tuberculous disease and drug resistance is high. We studied the efficacy of 6 month short-course chemotherapy comparing with 9 month chemotherapy. Method : Retrospective study was done through medical record review in 238 patients with tuberculous pleural effusion who admitted to Asan Medical Center during May 1989-May 1993. The diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion was made by bacteriologic or histopathologic study. Results: Among 238 patients, 38 patients were dropped out during follow-up period. In 2 patients, second line drugs were prescribed according to known drug resistance results. And, in 23 patients, treatment longer than 9 months was done due to accompanying extrapulmonary tuberculosis or durg resistance. In 8 patients, treatment regimen was changed due to hepatotoxicity. Remaining 167 cases (70.2%) completed the treatment as scheduled ; 6 month chemotherapy in 88 cases and 9 month chemotherapy in 79 cases. In 60 patients (35.9%) with pleural effusion only in chest X-ray finding, sputum smear or culture for M.tuberculosis was positive in 6 cases (10.0%), and in 63 patients (37.7%) with radiologically inactive pulmonary tuberculosis, sputum smear or culture was positive in 18 cases (28.6%). In 44 patients (26.3%) with radiologically active pulmonary tuberculosis, the sputum smear or culture was positive in 24 cases (54.5%). In 6-month chemotherapy group (n=88), during mean 23 months (range; 1~61months) follow-up period, pulmonary tuberculosis developed in 1 case (1.4%). In 9-month chemotherapy group(n=79), during mean 23 months (range; 3~70months) follow-up period, pulmonary tuberculosis developed in 2 cases (2.5%). All the cases who developed pulmonary tuberculosis also showed active pulmonary tuberculosis on initial chest X-ray before treatment Conclusion: In patients with tuberculous pleural effusion, the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis after 6 month chemotherapy showed no difference from that after 9 month chemotherapy. Thus, 6 month short-course chemotherapy seems to be an effective treatment for tuberculous pleural effusion.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22
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• pp.54-62
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• 2004

We examined the impacts of anthyopogenic pollutant (benzo〔a〕pyrene) on the growth and photosynthesis of five marine phytoplankton species (Skeletonema costatum, Heterosigma akashiwo, Prorocentrum dentatum, P. minimum, Aknshiwo sanguinea), which are dominant in Korean coastal water. After the 72 h exposure to benzo〔a〕pyrene, the dramatic decrease in cell numbers was observed in the range of 1 to 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ for S. costatum, P. minimum, P. dentatum, whereas for A. sanguinea and H. akashiwo at the low concentrations 0.1 to 1 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ . Among the 5 phytoplankton species, the highest growth inhibition concentration ($IC_{50}$/) was 6.20 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ for P. minimum, followed by 2.14 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ for P. dentatum, 1.68 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ for S. costatum, 0.74 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ for H. akashiwo, 0.10 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ for A. sanguinea. The five species exposed to the low concentration of 1 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ were recovered after transferring to new media, but the species exposed to the high concentrations of 10 and 100 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ were not recovered, with the exception of P. minimum. Those results indicate that the thecate dinoflagellate P. minimum is most tolerant to the chemical and the athecate dinoflagellate A. sanguinea is not. Geneyally, the cell-specific photosynthetic capacity of H. akashiwo exposed to the low concentrations of 0.1 and 1 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ was higher than that of the cells in the control, whereas the cells exposed to the high concentrations of 5 and 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ showed the negligible photosynthetic level by the first few days of the experiment. In the case of the cells exposed to the concentration of 5 $\mu\textrm{g}$ L$^{-1}$ , after 12 days of the experiment the photosynthetic capacity was increased toward the end of the experiment. This indicates that H. akashiwo may utilize the benzo〔a〕pyrene as a carton source for its growth when exposed to low concentrations. Results suggest that anthropogenic pollutants such as benzo〔a〕pyrene may have significant influence on the succession of phytoplankton species composition and the primary production in coastal marine environments.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 1999

Among the various seismic data processing sequences, the velocity analysis is the most time consuming and man-hour intensive processing steps. For the production seismic data processing, a good velocity analysis tool as well as the high performance computer is required. The tool must give fast and accurate velocity analysis. There are two different approches in the velocity analysis, batch and interactive. In the batch processing, a velocity plot is made at every analysis point. Generally, the plot consisted of a semblance contour, super gather, and a stack pannel. The interpreter chooses the velocity function by analyzing the velocity plot. The technique is highly dependent on the interpreters skill and requires human efforts. As the high speed graphic workstations are becoming more popular, various interactive velocity analysis programs are developed. Although, the programs enabled faster picking of the velocity nodes using mouse, the main improvement of these programs is simply the replacement of the paper plot by the graphic screen. The velocity spectrum is highly sensitive to the presence of the noise, especially the coherent noise often found in the shallow region of the marine seismic data. For the accurate velocity analysis, these noise must be removed before the spectrum is computed. Also, the velocity analysis must be carried out by carefully choosing the location of the analysis point and accuarate computation of the spectrum. The analyzed velocity function must be verified by the mute and stack, and the sequence must be repeated most time. Therefore an iterative, interactive, and unified velocity analysis tool is highly required. An interactive velocity analysis program, xva(X-Window based Velocity Analysis) was invented. The program handles all processes required in the velocity analysis such as composing the super gather, computing the velocity spectrum, NMO correction, mute, and stack. Most of the parameter changes give the final stack via a few mouse clicks thereby enabling the iterative and interactive processing. A simple trace indexing scheme is introduced and a program to nike the index of the Geobit seismic disk file was invented. The index is used to reference the original input, i.e., CDP sort, directly A transformation techinique of the mute function between the T-X domain and NMOC domain is introduced and adopted to the program. The result of the transform is simliar to the remove-NMO technique in suppressing the shallow noise such as direct wave and refracted wave. However, it has two improvements, i.e., no interpolation error and very high speed computing time. By the introduction of the technique, the mute times can be easily designed from the NMOC domain and applied to the super gather in the T-X domain, thereby producing more accurate velocity spectrum interactively. The xva program consists of 28 files, 12,029 lines, 34,990 words and 304,073 characters. The program references Geobit utility libraries and can be installed under Geobit preinstalled environment. The program runs on X-Window/Motif environment. The program menu is designed according to the Motif style guide. A brief usage of the program has been discussed. The program allows fast and accurate seismic velocity analysis, which is necessary computing the AVO (Amplitude Versus Offset) based DHI (Direct Hydrocarn Indicator), and making the high quality seismic sections.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.123-135
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• 2012

Purpose: It is essential to minimize the movement of tumor due to respiratory movement at the time of respiration controlled radiotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer patient. Accordingly, this Study aims to evaluate the usefulness of restricted respiratory period by comparing and analyzing the treatment plans that apply free and restricted respiration period respectively. Materials and Methods: After having conducted training on 9 non-small cell lung cancer patients (tumor n=10) from April to December 2011 by using 'signal monitored-breathing (guided- breathing)' method for the 'free respiratory period' measured on the basis of the regular respiratory period of the patents and 'restricted respiratory period' that was intentionally reduced, total of 10 CT images for each of the respiration phases were acquired by carrying out 4D CT for treatment planning purpose by using RPM and 4-dimensional computed tomography simulator. Visual gross tumor volume (GTV) and internal target volume (ITV) that each of the observer 1 and observer 2 has set were measured and compared on the CT image of each respiratory interval. Moreover, the amplitude of movement of tumor was measured by measuring the center of mass (COM) at the phase of 0% which is the end-inspiration (EI) and at the phase of 50% which is the end-exhalation (EE). In addition, both observers established treatment plan that applied the 2 respiratory periods, and mean dose to normal lung (MDTNL) was compared and analyzed through dose-volume histogram (DVH). Moreover, normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) of the normal lung volume was compared by using dose-volume histogram analysis program (DVH analyzer v.1) and statistical analysis was performed in order to carry out quantitative evaluation of the measured data. Results: As the result of the analysis of the treatment plan that applied the 'restricted respiratory period' of the observer 1 and observer 2, there was reduction rate of 38.75% in the 3-dimensional direction movement of the tumor in comparison to the 'free respiratory period' in the case of the observer 1, while there reduction rate was 41.10% in the case of the observer 2. The results of measurement and comparison of the volumes, GTV and ITV, there was reduction rate of $14.96{\pm}9.44%$ for observer 1 and $19.86{\pm}10.62%$ for observer 2 in the case of GTV, while there was reduction rate of $8.91{\pm}5.91%$ for observer 1 and $15.52{\pm}9.01%$ for observer 2 in the case of ITV. The results of analysis and comparison of MDTNL and NTCP illustrated the reduction rate of MDTNL $3.98{\pm}5.62%$ for observer 1 and $7.62{\pm}10.29%$ for observer 2 in the case of MDTNL, while there was reduction rate of $21.70{\pm}28.27%$ for observer 1 and $37.83{\pm}49.93%$ for observer 2 in the case of NTCP. In addition, the results of analysis of correlation between the resultant values of the 2 observers, while there was significant difference between the observers for the 'free respiratory period', there was no significantly different reduction rates between the observers for 'restricted respiratory period. Conclusion: It was possible to verify the usefulness and appropriateness of 'restricted respiratory period' at the time of respiration controlled radiotherapy on non-small cell lung cancer patient as the treatment plan that applied 'restricted respiratory period' illustrated relative reduction in the evaluation factors in comparison to the 'free respiratory period.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 2012

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of an IMRT treatment plan according to whether there was a shell-type pseudo target during radiation therapy for patients in Stage III or IV of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: After setting an IMRT (Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy, IMRT) plan for when there was a shell-type pseudo target (SPT) and when there was none (WSPT) with 22 patients in Stage III or IV of NSCLC, the investigator analyzed dose-volume histograms (DVHs) and made assessment with dosimetric comparisons such as homogeneity index (HI) inside the tumor target, conformity index (CI) of the tumor target, spinal cord maximum dose, Esophagus $V_{50%}$, mean lung dose (MLD), and $V_{40%}$, $V_{30%}$, $V_{20%}$, $V_{10%}$, $V_{5%}$. Results: The mean CI of WSPT and SPT was $1.22{\pm}0.04$ and $1.16{\pm}0.032$ ($.000^*$), respectively, and the mean HI of WSPT and SPT was $1.06{\pm}0.015$ and $1.07{\pm}0.014$ ($.000^*$), respectively. In SPT, the mean of each CI difference decreased by $-5.16{\pm}2.54%$, while HI increased by average $0.81{\pm}0.47%$. Esophagus $V_{50%}$ recorded $14.54{\pm}12.01%$ (WSPT) and $12.14{\pm}11.09%$ ($.000^*$, SPT) with the mean of SPT differences dropping by $-26.37{\pm}25.05%$. Mean spinal cord maximum dose was $3,898.44{\pm}1,075.0$ cGy (WSPT) and $3,810.8{\pm}1,134.9$ cGy ($.004^*$, SPT) with SPT dropping by average $-3.36{\pm}5.81%$. As for lung $V_{X%}$, the mean of $V_{5%}$ and $V_{10%}$ differences was $-1.62{\pm}2.29%$ ($.006^*$) and $-1.98{\pm}5.02%$ ($.005^*$), respectively with SPT making a decrease. The mean of V20%, V30%, and V40% differences was $-3.51{\pm}3.07%$ ($.000^*$), $-4.84{\pm}6.01%$ ($.000^*$), and $-6.16{\pm}8.46%$ ($.001^*$), respectively, with SPT making a decrease with statistical significance. In MLD assessment, SPT also dropped by average $-2.83{\pm}2.41%$ ($.000^*$). Those results show that SPT allows for mean 169 cGy (Max: 547 cGy, Min: 6.4 cGy) prescription dose. Conclusion: An IMRT treatment plan with SPT during radiation therapy for patients in Stage III or IV of NSCLC will help to reduce the risk of lung toxicity and radiation-induced pneumonia by cutting down radiation doses entering the normal lung, reduce the local control failure rate during radiation therapy due to increasing prescription doses to a certain degree, and increase treatment effects.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.3
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• pp.218-247
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• 1989

As mentioned above, I got the next conclusion since I had considered the medical contents of the ancient period(上古時代) and the era of the old-Korea(古朝鮮時代) through several bibliographic records. 1. There were Pung-baeg(風伯), Uh-sa(雨師), Un-sa(雲師) that were the names of the governmental officials during the ancient period of Whan-ung(桓雄). Among them, Uh-sa specially managed the treatment for diseases. When we think of the significance of Pung(風)-which means the winds, Uh(雨)-which means the rain, Un(雲)-which means of clouds, we will find out that the human life will be affected by all kinds of phenomena of the nature. So I can infer that ancestries could prevent and treat diseases with adjusting them tn the changes in the weather. 2. There were five government officials(五事) in the ancient period of Whan-ung(桓雄上古時代). They are Uh-ga(牛加), Ma-ga(馬加), Ku-ga(狗加), Cheo-ga(猪加) and Yang-ga(羊加), and had charges of five important duties. Among them, Cheo-ga was set to a charge of treatment for diseases. So we can notice that there existed people who treated for diseases professionally. When we think of the meanings of Uh(牛)-which intends cows or bulls. Ma(馬)-which intends horses, Ku(狗)-which intends dogs, Cheo(猪)-which intends wild boars and Yang(羊)-which intends sheep, we can see that livestocks would be raised at that time, and they came to have more chances to digest meat. Since the digestion of meat became to be a burden on the stomach and the intestines, it might cause a lot of indigestive troubles. 3. When I compared Tan-gun Pal-ga(檀君八加) with the Oh-ga(五加) in the ancient period of Whan-ung(桓雄上古時代), I could tell that the community of Tan-gun's period is more advanced and specialized than one of Whan-ung's. When I think of the next sentence ; "The Prince Imperial, Bu-u(夫虞) become to be a Ro-ga(鷺加), who treat for diseases professionally.", I am sure that the treatment for diseases was more importment than any other things, because he was the third son of Tan-gun(檀君). 4. According to Tan-gun(檀君) mythology, Whan-ung(桓雄) came down from the heaven of the pure Yang(純陽) to the earth and then changed into a man who had had more Yang(陽) than Yin(陰). And a bear came up from the underground(or the cave) to the ground and then changed into a women who had had more Yin(陰) than Yang(陽). So both of them became to hold together. This story implicated that ancestors had taken a serious view of each of them, namely the ancestors didn't give the ascendance to the one side of them, and made much account of the mutual harmony. So I am sure that this fact coincided with the basic theories of oriental medical science. To refer to two proverbs of Tan-gun mythology that are "Ki-Sam-Chil-Il(忌三七日)" which means caring for twenty one days, and "Pul-Gyon-Il-Gwang-Baeg-Il(不見日光百日)" which means keeping indoors for one hundred days, I can tell you that "twenty-one-day" involves the principle of the birth of life, and "one-hundred-day" contains a preparatory period or the period of death to bear another life. 5. From the medical stuff, such as wormwood(艾), garlic(蒜), or wonder-working herbage(靈草), that had been written at the bibliographic papers of the ancient period(上古時代) and the era of the old-Korea(古朝鮮時代), I consider that many people might get a lot of women's diseases, indigestive troubles, and other diseases that were caused by the weakness, but with using various spices, such as the leaves of water pepper(蔘), they could prevent the occurrance of all kinds of diseases previously. So I regard this treatment as the medicine from food. 6. One of the sayings at Nae-gyong(內經) is that "The stone accupuncture(砭石) came from the orient." We can see both "wonder-wor-king wormwood(靈草)" and "dried wormwood(乾艾)" in the several bibliographic papers of the ancient history of the old-Korea(朝鮮上古史). From these records, I can be convinced that ancestors would utilize the acupuncture(針) and the moxa cautery(灸) to cure a patient of a disease. 7. Even though someone claimed that the book, "medical science and chemistry(醫學化學)" and "medical treatment(醫學大方)" had had been written during the ancient period of the old-Korea(上古朝鮮時代), such a fact can't have been ascertained historical evidence. But it has been handed down that there existed the original phonetic alphabet, such as the "Ka-Im-To alphabet(加臨土文字)" at that time. The terms about the diseases, which had been occurred at the community of the old-Korea(古朝鮮地域), were recorded fragmentarily at other records after that time. The origin of confucianism came from the race of the eastern barbarians, and Tae-Ho-Pok-Hi(太嗅伏義) and the king. Sun(舜) came from the eastern barbarians, too. The divination of tortoise shells at the country of Un(殷) is another from which was developed at the eastern barbarians' fortune-telling of animal bones. From these facts, I can infer that, by all means, they might record the medical knowledge which had been stored for thousands of years while contacting with china directly.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.737-744
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• 2005

Purpose : Infants and children with cardiovascular diseases often present with respiratory symptoms. However, missed or delayed evaluation for potential airway problem may complicate overall prognosis. The aim of this study is to determine the clinical characteristics of these patients and explore the cause of airway problem. Methods : We reviewed the medical records of 64 patients(M : F=33:31, mean age : $6.3{\pm}7.5$ months) whose airway problems were proven by computed tomography or bronchoscopy in perioperative periods at the Asan Medical Center from January 1997 to June 2004. Patients were divided into two groups based on the duration of ventilator care : ${\leq}7$ days(group 1 : 23 cases, M : F=10 : 13) and >7 days(group 2 : 41 cases, M : F=23 : 18). Results : The patients in group 2 significantly developed more post-operative respiratory symptoms than group 1(P<0.001) and had more airway problems including extrinsic obstruction, intrinsic anomaly, and combined problem than group 1 although not significantly different(P=0.082). Among underlying diseases, the most common diseases were vascular anomaly(26.2 percent) and aortic arch anomaly(26.2 percent) in group 1 and pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect(22.4 percent) in group 2. The most frequent respiratory symptoms were recurrent wheezing pre-operatively and failure of ventilator weaning post-operatively. The major types of airway anomaly were tracheomalacia and tracheal stenosis(in each case 18.2 percent). Nineteen patients with persistent airway problems underwent aortopexy or other vascular correction. Of the 19 patients, 13(68.4 percent) were improved, but 2 failed in weaning ventilator and 4 died of non-airway problems. Conclusion : Early evaluation and treatment for potential airway problems may affect natural or surgical prognosis in patients with cardiovascular diseases presenting with respiratory symptoms.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.213-219
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• 1972

In order to utilize sweet potatoes for the material of Takju, brewing experiments with raw sweet potatoes, sweet potato chips powder and its koji were conducted; and various tests were carried out on effect of the treatments of acid, alkali, polyphenol oxidase inhibitor, oxidizing and reducing agents upon the prevention against coloring of sweet potato chips by steaming, and on peeling effect of sweet potatoes by the alkali and heat treatments. The results obtained were as follows. 1) In the case of brewing with raw sweet potatose, each plot showed low acid and ethanol content, and its finished Takju had an undersirable color and odor. The plots which were mashed after peeling showed higher ethanol contents than the plots mashed without peeling. 2) In the case of brewing with sweet potato chips powder, each plot contained considerably more amount of ethanol than the plots brewed with raw sweet potatoes, white it contained less amount of acid. The ethanol contents of the plots using wheat bran koji were $10.5{\sim}11.4$ per cent 4 days after mashing, and were higher than those of the plots using malts powder. Their finished Takju was inferior in quality because of the lack of acid and being darkened gradually in process of time. 3) The kojies which were made of sweet potato chips powder with Neurospora sitophila or Aspergillus oryzae had good appearance, but the Takju mashes brewed with these contained remarkably less amount of ethanol. 4) Effect of the treatments of acid, alkali, polyphenol oxidase inhibitor and organic solvents such as ether and ethanol upon the prevention against coloring of sweet potato chips was not recognized. Alum and burnt alum were effective a little on the decolorization, and among the oxidizing and reducing agents tested, potassium permanganate was most effective. 5) Darkening of sweet potato chips powder in course of heating after mixing with water was not affected by pectin and amino acids, but by tannin. 6) Sweet potatoes were not peeled easily by friction after soaking in the boiling solution of 3 per cent alkali for 6 minutes and peeled in boiling water for 12 minutes. From the viewpoint of the results above mentioned, it seems to be necessary to study further on the isolation of microorganisms which are able to decompose the coloring substances and yeasts which are adequate for the fermentation of sweet potatoes in order to utilize sweet potatoes for Takju brewing, because brewing with raw sweet potatoes, sweet potato chips powder and its koji was unsuccessful, and effect of the various treatments on the decolorization of sweet potatoes was not recognized.