• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.377-385
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• 2017

Objectives: Although mercury (Hg) exposure is known to be neurotoxic in humans, its effects on liver function have been less often reported. The aim of this study was to investigate whether total Hg exposure in Korean adults was associated with elevated serum levels of the liver enzymes aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT). Methods: We repeatedly examined the levels of total Hg and liver enzymes in the blood of 508 adults during 2010-2011 and 2014-2015. Cross-sectional associations between levels of blood Hg and liver enzymes were analyzed using a generalized linear model, and nonlinear relationships were analyzed using a generalized additive mixed model. Generalized estimating equations were applied to examine longitudinal associations, considering the correlations of individuals measured repeatedly. Results: GGT increased by 11.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.5 to 18.0%) in women and 8.1% (95% CI, -0.5 to 17.4%) in men per doubling of Hg levels, but AST and ALT were not significantly associated with Hg in either men or women. In women who drank more than 2 or 3 times per week, AST, ALT, and GGT levels increased by 10.6% (95% CI, 4.2 to 17.5%), 7.7% (95% CI, 1.1 to 14.7%), and 37.5% (95% CI,15.2 to 64.3%) per doubling of Hg levels, respectively, showing an interaction between blood Hg levels and drinking. Conclusions: Hg exposure was associated with an elevated serum concentration of GGT. Especially in women who were frequent drinkers, AST, ALT, and GGT showed a significant increase, with a significant synergistic effect of Hg and alcohol consumption.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.465-479
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• 2020

Objective: This study performed a meta-analysis of published trials to determine the effects of zinc on the immune response and production performance of broilers. Methods: A database was built from published literature regarding the addition of zinc forms or doses and their relation to the immune response and production performance of broilers. Different doses or forms of zinc were identified in the database. The recorded parameters were related to the immune response and production performance. The database contained a total of 323 data points from 41 studies that met the criteria. Then, the data were processed for a meta-analysis using a mixed model methodology. The doses or different forms of zinc were considered fixed effects, different studies were treated as random effects, and p-values were used as the model statistics. Results: An increase in zinc dose increased (p<0.05) pancreas metallothionein (MT) and zinc concentrations in the plasma, tibia and meat, all in quadratic patterns, but linearly decreased (p<0.05) the heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio. Regarding the different zinc forms, both inorganic and organic zinc increased (p<0.05) the zinc concentrations in the plasma and tibia, the calcium and phosphorus contents in the tibia, and the antioxidant activity of superoxide dismutase in meat as compared to control. An increase in zinc dose increased average daily gain (ADG) and decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR) following a quadratic pattern (p<0.05). Inorganic and organic zinc decreased (p<0.05) FCR and H/L ratio than that of control, but these two forms were similar for these parameters. Conclusion: Zinc addition has a positive impact on immunity and broiler production. Zinc can suppress stress and inhibit the occurrence of lipid peroxidation in broilers, and it can also improve ADG, FCR, and the quality of broiler carcasses.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.361-367
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of hydrofluoric acid etching treatment on the bonding strength of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal(Y-TZP). Four groups of zirconia-resin cement specimens were prepared; 1) ZGS group (zirconia, no treatment), 2) ZGSH group (zirconia, hydrofluoric acid etching treatment) 3) H-ZGS group (Hybrid zirconia, no treatment) 4) H-ZGSH group (Hybrid zirconia, hydrofluoric acid etching treatment). The shear bond strength between zirconia and porcelain was measured using a Instron Universal Testing Machine(Model DBBP-500, Instron Corporation, Kyonggi, Korea). Data were statistically analyzed using independent t-test and two-way ANOVA(${\alpha}=0.05$). The ceramic-resin cement bonding strength was affected by hydrofluoric acid etching treatment(p<0.05). Digital microscope examination of the fracture surface showed mixed failures with adhesive and cohesive types in hydrofluoric acid etching treatment with treated zirconia and hybrid zirconia groups.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2010

In this study, crosstalk between dominant interconnect pairs in an A/D converter circuit is analyzed in frequency domain and effects of termination conditions on crosstalk are described, based on the practical circuit conditions. An A/D converter circuit is a mixed circuit where both clean and noisy signals coexist such that the circuit probably suffers from distortion by crosstalk. An analog input signal and the reference voltage signal, which dominate the overall conversion performance of the A/D converter circuit, are ready to be distorted by crosstalk and include specific termination conditions, such as non-matching and capacitive termination, respectively. Thus, this study presents the model of crosstalk considering impedance mismatch at both ends and analyzes effects of the practical termination conditions in the analog input and the reference voltage interconnects on crosstalk. A typical circuit configuration of the two interconnects is described and crosstalk including near-end and far-end termination impedances is modeled. Effects of the near-end impedance mismatch in the analog input interconnect and the far-end capacitive termination in the reference voltage interconnect are estimated in the frequency domain by using the model of crosstalk and experiments are performed to confirm the estimated results. Microstrip lines are used as interconnects, involving the increase of loss in high frequencies.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1675-1681
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to detect positional candidate genes located within the support interval (SI) regions based on the results of red blood cell, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin quantitative trait locus (QTL) in Sus scrofa chromosome 13, and to verify the correlation between specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the exonic region of the positional candidate gene and the three genetic traits. The flanking markers of the three QTL SI regions are SW38 and S0215. Within the QTL SI regions, 44 genes were located, and runt-related transcription factor 1, dual-specificity tyrosine-(Y)-phosphorylation regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A), and potassium inwardly-rectifying channel, subfamily J, member 15 KCNJ15-which are reported to be related to the hematological traits and clinical features of Down syndrome-were selected as positional candidate genes. The ten SNPs located in the exonic region of the three genes were detected by next generation sequencing. A total of 1,232 pigs of an $F_2$ resource population between Landrace and Korean native pigs were genotyped. To investigate the effects of the three genes on each genotype, a mixed-effect model which is the considering family structure model was used to evaluate the associations between the SNPs and three genetic traits in the $F_2$ intercross population. Among them, the MCV level was highly significant (nominal $p=9.8{\times}10^{-9}$) in association with the DYRK1A-SNP1 (c.2989 G$F_2$ intercross, our approach has limited power to distinguish one particular positional candidate gene from a QTL region.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.119-124
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• 2011

Objective : This study was carried out to investigate effect of korean medicinal herbs-included hair tonic (MHT) and food (MF) on hair growth in an alopecia model of C57BL/6 mice. Methods : Six-weeks old mice were given laboratory rodent chow diet for 1 week. Then, we used a depilatory for hair removal on mice. The next day, mice were randomized and separated in 3 groups of 6 mice; normal group (N, vehicle epidermal application+normal diet-treated group), positive control group (C, 3% minoxidil sulfate epidermal application+normal diet-treated group), and the treatment group (T, HT epidermal application+ MF diet-treated group). The hair regrowth was determined by photograph, which was taken at 7, 14 and 21 days. And scoring indices, hair density and hair thickness, were evaluated by Folliscope at same day. In addition, the hair regrowth was analyzed insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in the dorsal skin of mice. Results : As a result, not only external appearance but also hair density and hair thickness on dorsal skin were increased more in C, T groups than in N group at 21 days with mixed treatment. Therefore, distinct regrowth pattern is appeared by treatment of herbal tonic and natural food for 21 days. Also, the expressions of IGF-1 on dorsal skin were higher in C, T groups than in N group. Conclusion : These results suggested that this herbal hair tonic and natural food has hair growth promoting activities and may be useful for treatment of bald or alopecia.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.153-168
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• 2003

The objective of this present study is to understand long term(500 years) thermohydromechanical interaction behavior in the vicinity of a repository cavern on the joint location and repository depth variations. The model includes a saturated discontinuous granitic rock mass, PWR spent nuclear fuel in a disposal canister surrounded with compacted bentonite inside a deposition hole, and mixed bentonite backfilled in the rest of the space within a repository cavern. It is assumed that two joint sets exist within the model. Joint set 1 includes joints of 56$^{\circ}$ dip angle, spaced at 20 m, and joint set 2 is in the perpendicular direction to joint set 1 and includes joints of 34$^{\circ}$ dip angle, spaced at 20 m. In order to understand the behavior change on the joint location variations, 5 different models of 500m in depth are analyzed, and additional 3 different models of 1000 m in depth are analyzed to understand the effect of depth variation.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.923-932
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• 2008

We are likely to face complex multivariate data which can be characterized by having a non-trivial correlation structure. For instance, omitted covariates may simultaneously affect more than one count in clustered data; hence, the modeling of the correlation structure is important for the efficiency of the estimator and the computation of correct standard errors, i.e., valid inference. A standard way to insert dependence among counts is to assume that they share some common unobservable variables. For this assumption, we fitted correlated random effect models considering multilevel model. Estimation was carried out by adopting the semiparametric approach through a finite mixture EM algorithm without parametric assumptions upon the random coefficients distribution.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.189-199
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• 2019

In this research, the relationships among the 31 microsatellite markers with charcoal rot disease resistance related indices in 130 different soybean cultivars and lines were evaluated using association analysis based on the general linear model (GLM) and the mixed linear model (MLM) by the Structure and Tassel software. The results of microsatellite markers showed that the genetic structure of the studied population has three subpopulations (K=3) which the results of bar plat also confirmed it. In association analysis based on GLM and MLM models, 31 and 35 loci showed significant relationships with the evaluated traits, respectively, and confirmed considerable variation of the studied traits. The identified markers related to some of the studied traits were the same which can probably be due to pleiotropic effects or tight linkage among the genomic regions controlling these traits. Some of these relationships were including, the relationship between Sat_252 marker with amount of charcoal rot disease, Satt359, Satt190 and Sat_169 markers with number of microsclerota in stem, amount of charcoal rot disease and severity of charcoal rot disease, Sat_416 marker with number of microsclerota in stem and amount of charcoal rot disease and the Satt460 marker with number of microsclerota in stem and severity of charcoal rot disease. The results of this research and the linked microsatellite markers with the charcoal rot disease-related characteristics can be used to identify the suitable parents and to improve the soybean population in future breeding programs.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.132-141
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• 2021

Objective: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria causes poor uterine receptivity by inducing excessive inflammation at the maternal-fetal interface. This study aimed to investigate the detrimental effects of LPS on the attachment and outgrowth of various types of trophoblastic spheroids on endometrial epithelial cells (ECC-1 cells) in an in vitro model of implantation. Methods: Three types of spheroids with JAr, JEG-3, and JAr mixed JEG-3 (JmJ) cells were used to evaluate the effect of LPS on early implantation events. ECC-1 cells were treated with LPS to mimic endometrial infection, and the expression of inflammatory cytokines and adhesion molecules was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. The attachment rates and outgrowth areas were evaluated in the various trophoblastic spheroids and ECC-1 cells treated with LPS. Results: LPS treatment significantly increased the mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokines (CXCL1, IL-8, and IL-33) and decreased the protein expression of adhesion molecules (ITGβ3 and ITGβ5) in ECC-1 cells. The attachment rates of JAr and JmJ spheroids on ECC-1 cells significantly decreased after treating the ECC-1 cells with 1 and 10 ㎍/mL LPS. In the outgrowth assay, JAr spheroids did not show any outgrowth areas. However, the outgrowth areas of JEG-3 spheroids were similar regardless of LPS treatment. LPS treatment of JmJ spheroids significantly decreased the outgrowth area after 72 hours of coincubation. Conclusion: An in vitro implantation model using novel JmJ spheroids was established, and the inhibitory effects of LPS on ECC-1 endometrial epithelial cells were confirmed in the early implantation process.