• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2016

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) and to evaluate the influence of PCP prophylaxis in pediatric patients. Methods: From January 2002 to April 2015, patients aged <18 years with a diagnosis of confirmed PCP at our institute were reviewed retrospectively. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were compared according to the groups with or without PCP prophylaxis. Risk factors associated with PCP-related death were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. Results: During study period, a total of 24 patients were diagnosed with PCP by immunofluorescence assay and/or PCR. The median age of the patients was 5 years (range, 3 months-18 years) and 23 (96%) had immunocompromised conditions including hematologic disorders with or without hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (n=15), solid organ transplantation (n=4), and primary immune deficiency (n=4). Most common presenting symptoms were tachypnea and cough (92%, each). At the time of diagnosis, 79% (19/24) and 25% (6/24) suffered from respiratory failure and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), respectively. Mechanical ventilation was required in 8 (33%) patients and 5 (21%) patients died of PCP. Multivariate analysis showed that MODS at initial presentation was an indicator of poor prognosis (OR, 17.1 [95% CI 1.13-257.67]; P=0.04). Compared to the patients without PCP prophylaxis, the frequency of MODS at diagnosis, need for mechanical ventilation and length of hospital days were significantly less common in the children who received PCP prophylaxis. Conclusions: MODS at presentation was a significant predictor for poor outcome and PCP prophylaxis could alleviate the clinical courses of pediatric PCP. Prospective study will be mandatory to determine the risk factors for development and deterioration of PCP in children.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2009

Background: From November 2006, The national health insurance system in the Republic of Korea began to cover prescribed long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency. This study examined the current status of LTOT after national health insurance coverage. Methods: Between November 1, 2006 and June 30, 2008, the medical records of patients who were prescribed LTOT by chest physicians were reviewed. The data was collected from 13 university hospitals. Results: 197 patients (131 male and 66 female) were prescribed LTOT. The mean age was 64.3${\pm}$13.0 years. The most common underlying disease was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n=103, 52.3%). Chest physicians prescribed LTOT using arterial blood gas analysis or a pulse oxymeter (74.6%), symptoms (14%), or a pulmonary function test (11.2%). The mean oxygen flow rate was 1.56${\pm}$0.68 L/min at rest, 2.08${\pm}$0.91 L/min during exercise or 1.51${\pm}$0.75 L/min during sleep. Most patients (98.3%) used oxygen concentrators. Only 19% of patients used ambulatory oxygen supplies. The oxygen saturation before and after LTOT was 83.18${\pm}$10.48% and 91.64${\pm}$7.1%, respectively. After LTOT, dyspnea improved in 81.2% of patients. The mean duration of LTOT was 16.85${\pm}$6.71 hours/day. The rental cost for the oxygen concentrator and related electricity charges were 48,414${\pm}$15,618 won/month and 40,352${\pm}$36,815 won/month, respectively. Approximately 75% of patients had a regular visit by the company. 5.8% of patients had personal pulse oxymetry. 54.9% of patients had their oxygen saturation checked on each visit hospital. 8% of patients were current smokers. The most common complaint with LTOT was the limitation of daily activity (53%). The most common complaint with oxygen concentrators was noise (41%). Conclusion: The patients showed good compliance with LTOT. However, only a few patients used an ambulatory oxygen device or had their oxygen saturation measured.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.4 s.59
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• pp.669-685
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• 1997

Previous studies, reporting the inverse relationship between osteoarthritis and osteoporosis suggest the existence of possible pathophysiologic mechanisms between them. To examinine the hypothesis that 'bone mineral densities of women with osteoarthritis are significantly higher than that of women without osteoarthritis in Korea', subjects from the health and nutritional examination survey in Kuri city were sampled. Samples were selected through multi-stage sampling frame using established clusters in Kuri city. From August 18 to September 10,1997, the survey was conducted. Among the. total number of selected sample population (1,656 people), response .ate was 52.4 percent (348 men and 519 women). 420 women who took BMD measurement, radiologic exam, and anthropometric exam were selected for the analysis. The analytic results are as follows. 1. General characteristics: Mean BMD was $0.493g/cm^2$, mean age was 43.0, mean BMI was $23.9kg/m^2$. The number of women who experienced menopause was 106, hysterectomy was 19. There were 0 case of osteoarthritis of hip, 64 cases of osteoarthritis of knee, and 2 cases of osteoarthritis of hand. 2. Univariate analysis results: Mean BMD of women with the osteoarthritis of knee was significantly lower than that of women without the osteoarthritis of knee(0.4269 vs. $0.5057g/cm^2$). But, there were too few cases of osteoarthritis of hip and hand, so comparative studies of BMD in osteoarthritis of hip and hand could not be conducted. There were significant differences of BMD among pre-menopause group(0.5204), post-menopause group(0.4206), and hysterectomy group(0.4881). Additionally, there were significant differences of BMD among diabetes group(0.4297), impaired glucose tolerance group(0.4874), and normal group(0.5057). Furthermore, age, parity, BMI, bioimpedance were significantly related with BMD. 3. Multivariate analysis results: To examinine the relationship between osteoarthritis and BMD while controlling the other variables' effects which were significant in the univariate analyses, multiple linear regression analysis was done. But, it was found that osteoarthritis of knee was not a significant variable to BMD anymore. While age and menopause had significant negative relationship with BMD. Diabetes, parity, BMI, and bioimpedance did not have significant relationships with BMD. After stratification of subjects according to menopause, multiple linear regression analyses were done to each strata. Consequently, age in post-menopause group, age and osteoarthritis of knee in hysterectomy group showed significant negative relationship with BMD. The results did not support the many results of other previous studies done with white men and women. further studies of biological plausibility to Korean women are recommended. Also it is suggested that longitudinal study to verify the relationship between osteoarthritis and BMD will be valuable.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.463-471
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• 2012

Objective of this study is to provide basic information for developing more differentiated and targeted forest healing policy and Korean medical healing programs grounded on consumer preference for forest based Korean medical healing tourism products. The internet survey(CAWI) by percentage quota sampling with 400 Seoulite ages over 30 by the age, area, and gender was conducted, and 317 samples were used for a final analysis. 61.5% of the Seoulite associated 'forest bath/walking in the woods/tree' with an image of a forest based Korean medical healing tourism product, and preference for the product and the intention to use were positive at the percentages of 72.9% and 67.5%, respectively. Preferred areas were Seoul/Gyeonggi-do(53.5%) and Gangwon-do(38.8%). 'Stress solving and refreshment', 'taking a forest bath and a walk', and 'maintaining and promoting health' were the main purposes of the use. As for a therapy, 'walking therapy' was most preferred, and 'ergotherapy' was the next. First priority as for a use facility was 'healing trail', and 'professional medical facility' ranked second. Although important decision attributes were ' cost of use', 'food', and 'friendliness of medical staff', all the other sets of attributes related to use convenience, quality of medical service and tourism activities also recorded high, which forecasts higher consumer expectation for the product. As the result showing differences in consumer preference by the demographic segmentation, differentiated and segmented consumer needs should be considered when planing and managing a product. The scope of the study is limited to a demographic segmentation which is a basic stage of understanding consumer preference, therefore more detailed future researches on complicated and multi-dimensional consumer needs are required.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.135-142
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• 2013

Contour detection is important for many computer vision applications, such as shape discrimination and object recognition. In many cases, local luminance changes turn out to be stronger in textured areas than on object contours. Therefore, local edge features, which only look at a small neighborhood of each pixel, cannot be reliable indicators of the presence of a contour, and some global analysis is needed. The novelty of this operator is that dilation is limited to Deluanary triangular. An efficient implementation is presented. The grouping algorithm is then embedded in a multi-threshold contour detector. At each threshold level, small groups of edges are removed, and contours are completed by means of a generalized reconstruction from markers. Both qualitative and quantitative comparison with existing approaches prove the superiority of the proposed contour detector in terms of larger amount of suppressed texture and more effective detection of low-contrast contour.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.101-106
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• 2004

The process of removal of gummy proteinous material sericin from silk is commonly called as degumming loss or boil-off loss ratio. In the present study, the boil-off loss ratio in the cocoon shells of twelve multivoltine${\times}$bivoltine hybrids and their parents were analysed. Inheritance pattern of boil-off loss ratio was analysed in crosses involving high and low boil-off loss parents, F$_1$s, F$_2$s and back-crosses by parent off spring regression analysis. Heterosis and heterobeltiosis was also analysed for this character, Highly significant (P＞0.01) variations were observed in eight out of ten multivoltine and two out of five bivoltine parents indicating the presence of genetic variation in the expression of boil-off loss ratio. Among F$_1$ hybrids, ten hybrids expressed significant (P＞0.01) variations when compared with control hybrid PM${\times}$NB$_4$D$_2$. Significant negative heterosis was expressed in three multi ${\times}$ bi hybrids viz., BL67${\times}$CSR$_{101}$, 96A${\times}$CSR$_{19}$ and 96C${\times}$CSR$_{19}$, which is desirable for this character, whereas expression of heterobeltiosis was significant only with one hybrid, 96C${\times}$CSR$_{18}$ in desired direction. Studies on inheritance pattern showed that the character is heritable and contribution percentage of female and male in the ratio of 50.9: 49.1 and it appears that both the parents are influencing in the expression of boil-on loss ratio in silkworm. Based on the overall performance and evaluation by multiple trait evaluation index and also considering the expression of the boil-off loss ratio three hybrids vix., BL67 ${\times}$ CSR$_{101}$, 96A${\times}$CSR$_{19}$ and 96C${\times}$CSR$_{18}$ were found superior and recommended for commercial exploitation.n.ion.n.

• Archives of design research
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• v.20 no.3 s.71
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• pp.141-150
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• 2007

This study began with the question: "what influence would the width of river surface have on visual preference, provided that the environment surrounding the river does not change?" to evaluate the visual preference factors of the river scenery which could vary according to the change of water level. To estimate the minimum flow needed for river sceneries, field survey of Youngsan river was carried out to collect the field data and evaluated the visual preference factors to obtain a most preferred W/B ratio. At Youngsan bridge location, the feeling of open space factors, physical characteristic factors and complexity factors appeared to have significant relations to visual preferences. At Imgok bridge location, complexity factors, aesthetic factors and physical characteristic factors have significance to visual preferences. As a result of multi regression modeling, it was found that physical factors affected visual preferences the most at urban river locations and complexity factors affected the most visual preferences at rural river locations. As a results of this study, the most preferred W/B ratio was estimated as which vary from 0.5 to 0.7 and this results can contribute to the field of river landscape design to maximize the users' satisfaction level.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.34 no.4 s.117
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• pp.69-83
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• 2006

Nature rehabilitation has become a major theme in river management in South Korea. An analysis and evaluation of the landscape is a crucial step to select the suitable tracts for developing or conserving land use in the process of landscape planning. The purpose of this paper is to establish a hierarchical procedure for the setting of the landscape units on the various scales at which field biologists performed their observations and to select the preserves through by a suitability model for synthesizing the ecological empirical, and biophysical data. An evaluation process needs to be performed according to the landscape scales: site, local, and regional scales, at which the environmental data were collected, analyzed, and synthesized. Introducing of three level scales was crucially necessary for evaluating the various multi level ecological data for zoning of preserves in river corridors. The evaluation level at different scales are hierarchically established into three phases. The first evaluation phase can be performed by the long length units defined by the ranges of stream widths at regional scale. Secondly, each of these long units can be divided into two or more segments according to its landscape homogeneity at local level. Finally the segments at the last phase can be designated according to the location of the reservoir weirs and bridges at site level. The conceptual model components are adopted for collecting, evaluating, and interpreting the biological and abiotic data at site level. Three preserves are selected, having high potentials for being intensely managed as the Ecological Education Areas in the river. Despite a lot of assumption the results are expected to facilitate discussion and decision making about which frameworks of evaluation are desirable and adaptable for integrating the ecological data into the rehabilitation design process in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.40 no.5 s.110
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• pp.514-532
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to critically examine conventional spatial measures of individual accessibility, which are based on the notion of spatial proximity, the single reference location, and the unlinked travel model. Using space-time accessibility measures with the travel-activity diary data set of Portland Metro, US, three expectations from spatial measures on spatial patterns of individual accessibility were empirically examined: (1) does individual accessibility decrease with an increase of distance from the CBD?; (2) does the spatial pattern of accessibility resemble that of urban opportunity density pattern?; and (3) are spatial patterns of individual accessibility of different socio- demographic population groups basically similar as people in the same area share the same geographic characteristics regardless of gender, race, age, and so on? First of all, the results showed that spatial variations in individual accessibility were not directly determined by spatial proximity and opportunity density as suggested by previous accessibility measures. The spatial pattern of individual accessibility was dramatically different from that of urban opportunity density High peaks of accessibility level were found far away from the CBD and regional centers. This finding might be associated with the importance of multi-reference locations and linked travels in shaping accessibility in reality. Furthermore, this study found that spatial patterns of accessibility clearly differ between men and women. These findings suggest that access requires more than proximity, and that the interaction between person-specific space-time constraints and the consequential availability of urban opportunities in space-time renders different accessibility experiences to people even in the same region, which would be one of the key ingredients missing from conventional spatial measures of accessibility.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the magnitude of artifacts produced by gutta-percha and metal posts on cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans obtained with different tube currents and with or without metal artifact reduction (MAR). Materials and Methods: A tooth was inserted in a dry human mandible socket, and CBCT scans were acquired after root canal instrumentation, root canal filling, and metal post placement with various tube currents with and without MAR activation. The artifact magnitude was assessed by the standard deviation (SD) of gray values and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) at the various distances from the tooth. Data were compared using multi-way analysis of variance. Results: At all distances, a current of 4 mA was associated with a higher SD and a lower CNR than 8 mA or 10 mA (P<0.05). For the metal posts without MAR, the artifact magnitude as assessed by SD was greatest at 1.5 cm or less (P<0.05). When MAR was applied, SD values for distances 1.5 cm or closer to the tooth were reduced (P<0.05). MAR usage did not influence the magnitude of artifacts in the control and gutta-percha groups(P>0.05). Conclusion: Increasing the tube current from 4 mA to 8 mA may reduce the magnitude of artifacts from metal posts. The magnitude of artifacts arising from metal posts was significantly higher at distances of 1.5 cm or less than at greater distances. MAR usage improved image quality near the metal post, but had no significant influence farther than 1.5 cm from the tooth.