• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.433-442
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• 2021

The fermented red ginseng by microorganism is known to increase pharmacological activity in vivo. To evaluate the bioavailablity of red ginseng fermented by probiotics, we conducted the pharmacokinetic study of ginsenoside Rb1, Rd and total ginsenosides (TG, ginsenosides Rb1 + Rd + Rg1 + F2 + Rg3 + compound K) in BALB/C mice. The AUC value of ginsenoside Rb1 in mice serum administered with 600mg/kg drugs showed 21.93 ± 14.68 ng·h/mL (RGw, water extract), 275.211 ± 110.04 ng·h/mL (RGe, 50% ethanol extract) and 404.91 ± 162.57 ng·h/mL (fRGe, fermented red ginseng extract). Analysis of ginsenoside Rd also showed a higher ACU value in fRGe than in RGw or RGe. And the AUC value of total ginsenosides in mice serum treated with 600 mg/kg were observed 42.12 ± 23.44 ng·h/mL (RGw), 321.44 ± 133.5 ng·h/mL (RGe) and 537.33 ± 229.01 ng·h/mL (fRGe), respectively. C_max value of ginsenoside Rb1 in mice administered with 600mg/kg were observed 3.67 ± 3.34 ng/mL (RGw), 23.27 ± 8.81 ng/mL (RGe) and 25.52 ± 7.29 ng/mL (fRGe). These results can be considered that the fermented red ginseng has more bioavailability than that of unfermented red ginseng. In quantitative analysis of the inflammation-related cytokines IL-1β and TNF, no significant difference was found between the fermented red ginseng (fRGe) and the red ginseng (RGe).

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.104-116
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• 2021

In order to reduce the social and economic costs due to the increase in dementia patients, which is a representative senile disease in an aging society, it will be important to prevent dementia and to detect and treat early in high-risk groups. This study reported the results of treatment for the elderly with high risk of dementia and depression who received Korean medicine (KM) treatment in 9 KM clinics. Medical charts were surveyed on 116 patients with high risk of dementia and depression who received KM treatment at 9 KM clinics in Gangseo-gu from September 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The majority of the patients were female(76.72%), the average age was 71.66±7.18 years old, and the average education level was 8.96±3.91 years. The average treatment period was 61.47±10.30 days, the average number of treatments was 15.38±1.06 times, and both acupuncture and herbal medicine were administered. After receiving KM treatment, cognitive assessment scores such as MMSE-DS and MoCA-K, depression-related GDSSF-K score, dementia knowledge, attitude, and preventive behavior, blood debilitation scale, and GQOL-D score were improved compared to before. There was no specific adverse reaction except that one patient with elevated AST and ALT levels was observed. This study showed improvement in cognitive function, depression, dementia-related scale, and quality of life in high-risk groups for dementia and depression over 60 years old who received KM treatment. More systematic and large-scale planned clinical studies will be needed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.93-99
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• 2021

Recently, the miniaturization and digitalization for the inspection devices of point-of-care testing (POCT) are rapidly evolving. In the urine test, a lot of researches on index paper technology are being conducted because people can be self-diagnosed through visual color comparison using a urine test paper, Dipsick. The purpose of this study is to analyze the RGB values from the color changes on Dipstick Pad, which isused for urine test, using a smartphone camera. To this end, the primary, analytes in urine wasdiabetes-related parameters such as glucose, ketone body and pH, which is the most frequently tested elements, and we pursuited to quantify the changes in dipstick color caused from artificial urine containing different ranges of sugar, ketone body, and pH. In this experiment, changes in RGB values under bright and dark illuminances were compared, and changes in RGB value were monitored as a function of concentration of analytes under the ambient illumination of laboratory. As a result, color separation at the bright luminance region was good, but it did not appearat the low luminance region, and the changed profiles in RGB value under different illuminances was suggested to correct the problem of the color separation algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 2021

X-ray image analysis is a very important field to improve the early diagnosis rate and prediction accuracy of periodontal disease. Research on the development and application of artificial intelligence-based algorithms to improve the quality of such dental X-ray images is being widely conducted worldwide. Thus, the aim of this study was to design a super-resolution algorithm for predicting periodontal disease and to evaluate its applicability in dental X-ray images. The super-resolution algorithm was constructed based on the convolution layer and ReLU, and an image obtained by up-sampling a low-resolution image by 2 times was used as an input data. Also, 1,500 dental X-ray data used for deep learning training were used. Quantitative evaluation of images used root mean square error and structural similarity, which are factors that can measure similarity through comparison of two images. In addition, the recently developed no-reference based natural image quality evaluator and blind/referenceless image spatial quality evaluator were additionally analyzed. According to the results, we confirmed that the average similarity and no-reference-based evaluation values were improved by 1.86 and 2.14 times, respectively, compared to the existing bicubic-based upsampling method when the proposed method was used. In conclusion, the super-resolution algorithm for predicting periodontal disease proved useful in dental X-ray images, and it is expected to be highly applicable in various fields in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.401-409
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of static recovery and dynamic recovery methods on heart rate, blood lactic acid concentration, and blood glucose during recovery after walking at the speed of 80bpm and 130+30bpm upon trekking of forest slopes in Taejo Mountain in Cheonan. 9 men in their 20s and 30s who had no abnormality in walking was subject to this experience. The result of through static recovery and dynamic recovery methods while trekking at the speed of 80bpm and 130+30bpm were analyzed by two-way repeated ANOVA. When there was a significant difference, the repeated method of contrast was applied to compare and analyze. The heart rate at 80bpm condition was significantly different depending on the method(p=.008) and time(p=.000) and there was no significant difference in blood lactic acid concentration for the recovery method(p=.401), but there was a significant difference depending on the time(p=.000). Blood glucose did not show significant difference according to the recovery method(p=.093), and there was significant difference depending on the time of static recovery method(p=.002). The heart rate in 130bpm + 30bpm condition was significantly different depending on to the method(p=.002) and time(p=.000), blood lactic acid concentration was significantly different depending on the method(p=.001) and time(p=.000), and blood glucose concentration was not significantly different between the time(p=090) and the method(p=.721).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.358-367
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• 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as an international health emergency. Current diagnostic tests are based on the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) method, which is the gold standard test that involves the amplification of viral RNA. However, the RT-qPCR assay has limitations in terms of sensitivity and quantification. In this study, we tested both qPCR and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) to detect low amounts of viral RNA. The cycle threshold (CT) of the viral RNA by RT-PCR significantly varied according to the sequences of the primer and probe sets with in vitro transcript (IVT) RNA or viral RNA as templates, whereas the copy number of the viral RNA by ddPCR was effectively quantified with IVT RNA, cultured viral RNA, and RNA from clinical samples. Furthermore, the clinical samples were assayed via both methods, and the sensitivity of the ddPCR was determined to be equal to or more than that of the RT-qPCR. However, the ddPCR assay is more suitable for determining the copy number of reference materials. These findings suggest that the qPCR assay with the ddPCR defined reference materials could be used as a highly sensitive and compatible diagnostic method for viral RNA detection.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.677-685
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• 2021

Cannabis sativa L. belongs to the Cannabaceae family and is an annual herbaceous flowing plant. The plants can be classified into narcotic marijuana and nonnarcotic hemp. Different parts of C. sativa L. have been used as food, medicine, cosmetics, fiber and textile. However, the use of leaf, flower, and seed of C. sativa L was forbidden in Korea in January 1977 as a result of the Cannabis Control Act due to the narcotic properties. The plant's mature stems have limited uses for the production of fiber and sheets. Recently, various cannabinoids, terpenes and essential fatty acids were identified from C. sativa L., and their safety and useful bio-activities, such as neuroprotective, anti-inflammation, antithrombosis, antiepileptic, and antimicrobial activities, and the relief of pain, have been highlighted. Furthermore, the process of reduction of tetrahydrocannabinol, a representative narcotic compound, and the isolation of cannabidiol, a nonnarcotic active compound in C. sativa L., have been determined. These findings resulted in the legalization of C. sativa L. in Korea for medical use in December 2018 and the exclusion of C. sativa L. from the narcotic list of the UN Commission on Narcotics Drugs (UNCND) in December 2020. Therefore, developments of various high-value added products have commenced worldwide. Additionally, in 2021, the Korean government deregulated special zones based on hemp. In this study, the current status and the prospect of the hemp industry, as well as essential techniques for developing new hemp products, are provided for the activation of the Korea Green-Rush.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2021

Madecassoside, an active ingredient extracted from Centella asiatica, is used for treatment of various skin disorders in humans. However, the effect of madecassoside on the skin of dogs and cats has not been studied yet. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical efficacy of topical madecassoside cream in dogs and cats with skin diseases. A total of twenty-one dogs and ten cats with various skin diseases were included in the study. The 1% topical madecassoside cream was applied to the animal's skin lesion at least once a day for 7 days, and the skin condition was evaluated before the application of madecassoside cream (day 0) and 7 days after the application (day 7). The skin condition was scored by five clinical indices: canine atopic dermatitis extent and severity index-4 (CADESI-4), coat condition, pruritus, scale, and general condition. In dogs, all five clinical indices (CADESI-4, coat condition, pruritus, scale, and general condition) were significantly decreased on day 7 compared to those on day 0 (p < 0.0001, p < 0.05, p < 0.001, p < 0.01, and p < 0.05, respectively). In cats, the CADESI-4 and scale were significantly decreased on day 7 compared to those on day 0 (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively). No adverse effects were observed during the trial period in the dogs and cats included in this study. The results of this study demonstrate that the topical madecassoside cream is applicable to skin lesions in dogs and cats.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.721-731
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitude, infection management intention and educational needs among nurses with no experience of new respiratory infectious diseases (NRID: SARS and MERS). Data were collected from 162 nurses working at the general hospitals in B city using structured questionnaires from October 10 to 31, 2017. The infection management intention of NRID was high in those who were over 30 years old, married, highly educated, and had a total working experience of more than 5 years. Nurses' infection management intention for NRID showed a positive correlation between knowledge of NRID (r=.27, p<.001) and attitude toward NRID (r=.65, p<.001). In other words, the higher the knowledge score for NRID, the more positive the attitude and the higher the infection management intention. In addition, the knowledge score related to incubation period, treatment, isolation, and release criteria was low while the educational needs were high. Therefore, in preparation for the possibility of NRID relapse and other NRID in the future, a systematic program addressing these educational needs for nurses should be periodically implemented to enhance infection management.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.406-414
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• 2018

The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of characteristics of maritime telemedicine (service quality, recognition or not of service, health counselling service experience or not) on seafarer's satisfaction, and also analyze the effect of seafarer's satisfaction on loyalty. This study's data was collected from the Research Report of Survey of telemedicine service subjects in 2017 conducted in the maritime telemedicine pilot project. However, only 103 seafarers who received maritime telemedicine (Tele-Monitering) services were analyzed statistically. The main results of this study were as follows. ⅰ) Better service quality led to higher levels of satisfaction, ii) High levels of seafarer's satisfaction led to high levels of loyalty, iii) Seafarers whose age is under 50 than 30 years old are less satisfied, ⅳ) In total boarding career, Seafarers with more than 5 years but less than 10 years were more satisfied than seafarers with less than 5 years, ⅴ) Seafarers with more than 10 years but less than 15 years were more satisfied than seafarers with less than 5 years, ⅵ) Seafarers with more than 15 years but less than 20 years were more satisfied than seafarers with less than 5 years, ⅶ) Also, Seafarers in excess of 20 years were more satisfied than seafarers with less than 5 years, In conclusion, ⅰ) Better service quality led to higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty. Accordingly, the improvement of service quality is not only an important factor in improving satisfaction and loyalty, but also plays an important role in forming a positive image of maritime telemedicine. ⅱ) Seafarers with younger age and lower overall total boarding career were more satisfied. It is believed that the seafarer who are willing to use telemedicine and who are willing to refer to others are young.