• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2005

A DNA vaccine methodology using eukaryote expression vectors to produce immunizing proteins in the vaccinated hosts is a novel approach to the development of vaccine and immuno-therapeutics, and it has achieved considerable success over several infectious diseases and various cancers. To further enhance its efficiency, attempts were made to develop novel plasmid vectors containing multiple immunostimulatory CpG motifs, for rapid and strong immune response. First, a 2.9 kb compact plasmid vector (pVAC), containing CMV promoter, polycloning site, BGH poly(A) terminator, ampicillin resistance gene and pBR322 origin was constructed. A pVAC-hEPO was also constructed, which contained a human erythropoietin gene, for evaluating the transfection efficiency of naked plasmid DNA both in vitro and in vivo. To examine the adjuvant effect of multi-CpG motifs on naked plasmid DNA, 22 and 44 enriched and unmethylated CpG motifs were introduced into pVAC to generate pVAC-ISS1 and pVAC-ISS2, respectively. $100{\mu}g$ of pSecTagB, pVAC, pVAC-ISS1 or pVAC-ISS2 were each injected intramuscularly into the tibilias anterior muscle of Balb/c mice. The level of interleukin-6 induced in the mice injected with pVAC-ISS1 and pVAC-ISS2 were significantly elevated after 12 hours, which were almost 2 and 2.5 times higher than that in the mice injected with pSecTagB, respectively. These results suggest that DNA vaccine plasmids with enriched CpG motifs can induce rapid secretion of interleukin-6 by lymphocytes. In conclusion, these vectors can contribute to the development of adjuvant-free DNA vaccinations against infectious diseases and various cancers.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.341-358
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• 1993

In this study, the researcher analyzed relationship between stuents' science anxiety and achivement, and investigated the tendency of the science anxiety by students' variables. For the survey of this study. 5,304 stuents were sampled from the population of Korean secondary school. The researcher adopted R&D procedure for the development of SAMS(science anxiety measurement scale) and the SAT(science achivement test). The instrument SAMS consisted of 38-item scale. Cronbach a for SAMS was 0.92, concurrent validity was 0.66. SAT consist of 2O-item, the reliable coefficent of KR-20 was 0.70. The data were analyzed by using Pearson-Product coefficient and Regression analysis for the correlation between dependent and independent variable. The tendency of science anxiety were analyzed Multi-way analysis of variance, and all hypotheses were evaluated as the significant level of 0.001. Results of this study were summarized as follows : 1) The relationship between the science anxiety and the achivement showed negative correlation(r=-O.24) in all grades. 2) The relationship between the male and the female showed negative correlation (male;r=-Q.23. female=-O.22), but 11ths' humanities course and female of the science course didn't showed correlation. 3) The size of city where the school located showed negative correlation to the students anxiety(big city;-O27. medium;-O.24, small city;-O.22). 4) Tendency of students' science anxiety according to the variable of grades and sex variables was found to significant difference. The effects of interaction were found to significant difference between two variables of grade and sex. sex and local, local and grade. The effects among three variables were formed to significant difference grade, sex and local.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.88-95
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• 2009

This paper is the research on the development of power conversion system for the fuel cell. In composing the DC/DC converters which have high boost voltage ratio, unlike the conventional method a new multi DC/DC converter system is proposed that the diode and the condenser and the reactor can be reduced by connecting the secondary side output of the transformer. In this system the rectifier part and the filter part of the secondary side in the power transformer that is connecting in series are composed into a single module, which is the strong advantage and the number of level can be easily increased. A new variable shift phase switching method is also suggested that it makes possible to reduce the output voltage ripples in the proposed system. All the factors mentioned above have been verified through simulations and experiments, and the proposed converter is considered very useful in the demanded load which requires a wide of the output.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.88-94
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• 2018

The improvement of safety and health education method in construction site was investigated through the survey for workers and delphi technique. The results of preliminary survey done for workers were analyzed using the multi variance analyses, and the questionnaires for delphi survey were composed based on the results of preliminary survey. Finally, the participatory safety and health education method was suggested. The result showed that most of workers were very interested in accident prevention and health. On the contrary, they did not actively participate in safety activities in sites including safety and health education. In order to improve workers' levels of safety consciousness and prevent the construction accident, the participatory safety and health education method that construction workers directly examine and give presentations about accident causes and measures was suggested and verified by tests. One-way instructor-led safety and health education used widely and participatory safety and health education with workers were carried out by dividing participants into two groups. After education, the examination is done for two groups. The test results found that the average score of safety consciousness of the worker group that received participatory safety education was higher than that of the work group that received instructor-led safety education. And the Delphi technique utilizing experts was analyzed that participatory safety education has a great effect on improvement of workers' level of safety consciousness.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.428-437
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• 2002

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the changes of surgical patients' body temperature in applying warming to patients. The study of an effective nursing intervention, which aims to prevent hypothermia during surgical operations, use of anesthesia, and to remove dermal discomforts. The nonequivalent control group pre-test/post-test design was used for this quasi-experimental study. Method: The study subjects were adult patients who would take a surgical operation under general anesthesia in C Hospital; the surgical operations done were, total abdominal hysterectomy or Myomectomy; 20 patients were included in experimental group I, 20 patients were included in experimental group II, and 20 patients were in the comparative group. The total number of study subjects was 60. The data was collected from September the 1st, 2001 to October the 20th, 2001. The data was analyzed by SPSS program, F-test and Repeated measures of ANOVA. Multi-comparison method of DUNCAN was used for the sections that show the significant differences at the level of p<.05, which was a posterior examination. Result: 1) "The body temperatures of the three groups of patients will be respectively different at the end of the operations; experimental group I to which warming was applied before the operations, experimental group II to which warming was applied during the operations, and the comparative group with no warming being given," showed (F=12.609, p=.000). 2) "Degrees of shivering symptoms for the three groups will be respectively different at the end of the operations; experimental group I which applied warming before operations, experimental group II which applied warming during operations and the comparative group with no warming." Showed assumed (F=6.626, p=.000). Conclusion: Summing up the above study, the warming assumed during operations was a more effective nursing intervention for preventing patients' hypothermia than the warming assumed before operations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.14
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• pp.5755-5762
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• 2015

Background: Short-course preoperative radiation (SCRT) with delayed surgery was found to increase pathologic complete response (pCR) rates in several trials. However, there was no clear answer on whether SCRT or long-course chemo-radiotherapy (LCRT) is more effective. Therefore we conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SCRT versus LCRT, both with delayed surgery, for treatment of rectal cancer. Materials and Methods: The literature was searched from PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and clinicaltrials.gov up to November, 2014. Quality of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was evaluated according to the Cochrane's risk of bias tool of RCT. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system was used to rate the level of evidence. Review Manager 5.3 was employed for statistical analysis. Pooled risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: Three RCTs, with a total of 357 rectal cancer patients, were included in this systematic review. Metaanalysis results demonstrated there were no significantly differences in sphincter preservation rate, local recurrence rate, grade 3~4 acute toxicity, R0 resection rate and downstaging rate. Compared with SCRT, LCRT was associated with significant increase in the pCR rate [RR=0.49, 95%CI (0.31, 0.78), P=0.003]. Conclusions: In terms of sphincter preservation rate, local recurrence rate, grade 3~4 acute toxicity, R0 resection rate and downstaging rate, SCRT with delayed surgery is as effective as LCRT with delayed surgery for management of rectal cancer. LCRT significantly increased pCR rate compared with SCRT. Due to risk of bias and imprecision, further multi-center large sample RCTs were needed to confirm this conclusion.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.1913-1918
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• 2014

Background: The study is the first of its kind to be conducted in Saudi Arabia (KSA), aiming to analyze the effectiveness of an intervention program in improving the knowledge of oral cancer among the youth. Materials and Methods: A total of 1,051 young Saudis (57% males and 43% females with a mean age of $20.4{\pm}1.98$) were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. Knowledge assessment was accomplished using a closed-ended questionnaire which was subjected to reliability tests. Prevalence of risk factors in relation to gender was analyzed using the chi-squared test. Effectiveness was calculated by comparing the pre- and post-intervention means, using the two-tailed paired t-test. Multiple logistic regression was employed in order to determine factors associated with awareness of risk habits, signs/symptoms and prevention of oral cancer. The significance level in this study was set at 0.05. Results: Females were seen to be more into the habit of sheesha smoking (3.3% rather than the use of other forms of risk factors. Prevalence of diverse risk factors such as cigarette smoking (20%), sheesha (15.3%), khat (27%) and shamma (9%) was seen among males. Gender and the use of modifiable risk factors among the study sample were significantly (p<0.001) associated with effectiveness of the intervention. The intervention program was highly effective (p<0.001) in improving the knowledge of oral cancer among the youth in Jazan, KSA. Multivariate analysis revealed that age and gender are the most significant factors affecting knowledge. Conclusions: The study gives a direction for further public health initiatives in this oral cancer prone region.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.15-28
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• 2019

Objectives : This study aimed to systematically and comprehensively review controlled clinical trials on the effectiveness and safety of Chuna Manual Therapy for stroke. Methods : By October 7, 2019, three core databases and three domestic databases were searched. Seven major academic journals on the related field were also hand-searched. Methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Meta-analysis was conducted and the quality of its evidence was assessed using the GRADE methodology. Results : Five articles met the eligibility criteria. The results of most of included studies were in favor of Chuna Manual Therapy. No study described any adverse events during or after the clinical trials. Meta-analysis of three eligible studies showed that the pre- and post-treatment scores on the Modified Barthel Index (mean difference 8.00, 95% confidence interval 0.26 to 15.74) and Berg Balance Scale (mean difference 3.57, 95% confidence interval 0.64 to 6.51) of the Chuna-treated group were significantly different, but only marginally higher than those of the non-treatment group. Thus, the level of evidence gathered from these studies was assessed to be low. Conclusions : Based on current available evidence, any confirmative conclusions cannot be made on the effectiveness and safety of Chuna Manual Therapy for stroke because of the small sample size, low methodological quality, presence of statistical heterogeneity, and missing safety information. More rigorously designed large-scale multi-center studies are needed to establish more specific and credible evidence to support or oppose the use of Chuna Manual Therapy for stroke.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.66-72
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• 2018

The proper position of a multi-leaf collimator (MLC) is essential for the quality of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT) dose delivery. Task Group (TG) 142 provides a quality assurance (QA) procedure for MLC position. Our study investigated the QA validation of the mechanical leaf gap measurement and the maintenance procedure. Two $VitalBeam^{TM}$ systems were evaluated to validate the acceptance of an MLC position. The dosimetric leaf gaps (DLGs) were measured for 6 MV, 6 MVFFF, 10 MV, and 15 MV photon beams. A solid water phantom was irradiated using $10{\times}10cm^2$ field size at source-to-surface distance (SSD) of 90 cm and depth of 10 cm. The portal dose image prediction (PDIP) calculation was implemented on a treatment planning system (TPS) called $Eclipse^{TM}$. A total of 20 VMAT plans were used to confirm the accuracy of dose distribution measured by an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and those predicted by VMAT plans. The measured leaf gaps were 0.30 mm and 0.35 mm for VitalBeam 1 and 2, respectively. The DLG values decreased by an average of 6.9% and 5.9% after mechanical MLC adjustment. Although the passing rates increased slightly, by 1.5% (relative) and 1.2% (absolute) in arc 1, the average passing rates were still within the good dose delivery level (>95%). Our study shows the existence of a mechanical leaf gap error caused by a degenerated MLC motor. This can be recovered by reinitialization of MLC position on the machine control panel. Consequently, the QA procedure should be performed regularly to protect the MLC system.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.28-33
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• 2017

Purpose: To investigate and compensate the effects of respiration-induced B0 variations on fat quantification of the bone marrow in the lumbar spine. Materials and Methods: Multi-echo gradient echo images with navigator echoes were obtained from eight healthy volunteers at 3T clinical scanner. Using navigator echo data, respiration-induced B0 variations were measured and compensated. Fat fraction maps were estimated using $T2^*$-IDEAL algorithm from the uncompensated and compensated images. For manually drawn bone marrow regions, the estimated B0 variations and the calculated fat fractions (before and after compensations) were analyzed. Results: An increase of temporal B0 variations from inferior level to superior levels was observed for all subjects. After compensation using navigator echo data, the effects of the B0 variations were reduced in gradient echo images. The calculated fat fractions show significant differences (P < 0.05) in L1 and L3 between the uncompensated and the compensated. Conclusion: The results of this study raise the need for considering respiration-induced B0 variations for accurate fat quantification using gradient echo images in the lumbar spine. The use of navigator echo data can be an effective way for the reduction of the effects of respiratory motion on the quantification.