• Clinics in Orthopedic Surgery
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.484-490
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• 2018

Background: The use of three-dimensional multi-segment foot models (3D MFMs) is increasing since they have superior ability to illustrate the effect of foot and ankle pathologies on intersegmental motion of the foot compared to single-segment foot model gait analysis. However, validation of the repeatability of the 3D MFMs is important for their clinical use. Although many MFMs have been validated in normal adults, research on MFM repeatability in children is lacking. The purpose of this study is to validate the intrasession, intersession, and interrater repeatability of an MFM with a 15-marker set (DuPont foot model) in healthy children. Methods: The study included 20 feet of 20 healthy children (10 boys and 10 girls). We divided the participants into two groups of 10 each. One group was tested by the same operator in each test (intersession analysis), while the other group was tested by a different operator in each test (interrater analysis). The multiple correlation coefficient (CMC) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were calculated to assess repeatability. The difference between the two sessions of each group was assessed at each time point of gait cycle. Results: The intrasession CMC and ICC values of all parameters showed excellent or very good repeatability. The intersession CMC of many parameters showed good or better repeatability. Interrater CMC and ICC values were generally lower for all parameters than intrasession and intersession. The mean gaps of all parameters were generally similar to those of the previous study. Conclusions: We demonstrated that 3D MFM using a 15-marker set had high intrasession, intersession, and interrater repeatability in the assessment of foot motion in healthy children but recommend some caution in interpreting the hindfoot parameters.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 2019

A powder mixture of 70 wt% $Al_2O_3$ and 30 wt% hydroxyapatite (HA) is sintered at $1300^{\circ}C$ or $1350^{\circ}C$ for 2 h at normal pressure. An $MgF_2$-added composition to make HA into fluorapatite (FA) is also prepared for comparison. The samples without $MgF_2$ show ${\alpha}$ & ${\beta}$-tricalcium phosphates (TCPs) and $Al_2O_3$ phases with no HA at either of the sintering temperatures. In the case of $1,350^{\circ}C$, a $CaAl_4O_7$ phase is also found. Densification values are 69 and 78 %, and strengths are 156 and 104 MPa for 1,300 and $1,350^{\circ}C$, respectively. Because the decomposition of HA produces a $H_2O$ vapor, fewer large pores of $5-6{\mu}m$ form at $1,300^{\circ}C$. The $MgF_2$-added samples show FA and $Al_2O_3$ phases with no TCP. Densification values are 79 and 87 %, and strengths are 104 and 143 MPa for 1,300 and $1,350^{\circ}C$, respectively. No large pores are observed, and the grain size of FA ($1-2{\mu}m$) is bigger than that of TCP ($0.7{\mu}m{\geq}$) in the samples without $MgF_2$. The resulting $TCP/Al_2O_3$ and $FA/Al_2O_3$ composites fabricated in situ exhibit strengths 6-10 times higher than monolithic TCP and HA.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.47-59
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• 2021

Background: This study aimed to assess the toxicity of Aconitum sinomontanum Nakai (ASN) pharmacopuncture. Methods: To investigate the toxicity of ASN pharmacopuncture, single and 4-week repeated dose toxicity experiments were conducted on BALB/c mice. In the single-dose toxicity experiment, mice were assigned 1 of 4 groups (5 males, 5 females per group). Then, 31.25, 62.5, and 125 mg/kg of ASN pharmacopuncture were administered to the mice in the experimental groups at acupoint ST36, while 0.2 mL of normal saline was administered to the control group at ST36. After a 4-week repeated dose regimen, the mice were assigned into 4 groups (5 males, 5 females per group). Then, 15.625, 31.25, and 62.5 mg/kg of ASN pharmacopuncture at ST36 were administered to the mice in the experimental groups, while 0.2 mL of normal saline was administered to the control group at ST36. Mortality, morbidity, general body and organ weight changes (after 4 weeks repeated dose), serum hematological and biochemical values, and histopathological changes in the liver and kidney were observed. Results: In both single and 4-week repeated dose toxicity experiments, no deaths or symptoms occurred in any of the groups. There were no significant differences between groups in terms of body and organ weights, serum hematological and biochemical values, and specific organ histopathological changes. Conclusion: ASN pharmacopuncture injection did not demonstrate significant toxicity in BALB/c mice compared with the control group, with a no-observed-adverse-effect level for a single dose of >125 mg/kg, and for 4 weeks repeated dose it was more than 62.5 mg/kg/day.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.261-269
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• 2021

Because sows are industrially vital for swine production, monitoring for their health or disorder status is important to ensure high reproductive performance. Especially, ambient temperature changes in different season, especially during summer, are directly influenced to the reproductive performance of sows. Although the serum biochemical parameters are widely applied in the veterinary medicine with wide ranges for the physiological process, the values are also influenced by several factors such as age, breed, gender, and stress. In addition, domestic sows in Korea-specific reference interval (RI) for serum biochemistry has not been established yet. Therefore, the present study was aimed to evaluate seasonal variation of RIs in the serum biochemistry in domestic sows in Korea at different seasons and to establish normal RIs using a RI finding program (Reference Value Advisor). Significant difference (p < 0.05) on the different seasons were identified in several serum biochemical parameters including BUN, CRE, GGT, GLU, ALB, TP, LDH and Na in sows. Therefore, we further established RIs, specific in domestic sows in Korea regardless of season. The established RIs based on the serum biochemical values provide a baseline for interpreting biochemical results in the domestic sows in Korea, regardless of seasonal effect. It may contribute to develop a strategy for better reproductive performance by improving breeding management practice and evaluating health of pig herds, which facilitate to avert the economic loss in summer infertility in sows.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2023

Objectives This study is designed to evaluate the safety of palmul-tang soft extract in healthy male volunteers. Methods Twelve healthy male volunteers were recruited. And this study was conducted in a single center. As a result of the laboratory test, the safety was evaluated by collecting vital signs of volunteers. Twelve subjects were assigned by serial number according to the registration order. For safety evaluation, blood samples were collected and vital signs were checked four times throughout the test period, including screening, pre-administration, post-administration (after 48 hours) and post-administration (after 7 days). The difference in variables was summarized as the mean±standard deviation. The normality was performed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk test. If normality is satisfied, a paired t-test is applied. Otherwise, the Wilcoxon sign rank test, which is a nonparametric method, is applied. The significance was p<0.05. The incidence of all side effects is expressed as a percentage. Results In the case of red blood cell, hemoglobin, and hematocrit values, the result of normality test of variables for the difference value before and after administration is significant level p<0.05. However, all laboratory test values before and after administration did not deviate from the normal range. Also the deviations in the normal range could not be seen as significance related to this clinical trial. And no side effects related to clinical trial drugs were observed. Conclusions The soft extract of palmul-tang was considered safe for healthy male volunteers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of the low dye taping technique on the static and dynamic balancing ability and navicular bone drop when the low dye taping technique was divided into elastic and non-elastic taping. METHODS: The subjects of the study were 31 volunteers without musculoskeletal disorders. The length (L) and anterior (A), posteromedial, and posterolateral values of the arch in the NO (normal eyes open), NC (normal eyes closed), PO (pillow with eyes open), and PC (pillow with close eyes closed) states were evaluated when barefoot and when Kinesio tape and non-elastic tape were applied. The measurements were analyzed using repeated ANOVA and an independent t-test. Post hoc tests were performed using a Fisher's LSD. RESULTS: A significant difference was found in the arch L and A values using a foot scanner (p < .05). In addition, there was a significant difference in dynamic balance in the three directions (p < .05), and no difference was found in the case of static balance. As a result, non-elastic tape application helps improve the dynamic balance ability and arch of the foot. CONCLUSION: The non-elastic tape technique is helpful for the foot arch function, and there is no difference in the static balance ability between Kinesio tape and non-elastic tape. Nevertheless, non-elastic tape is more helpful for the dynamic balance ability than Kinesio taping.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1339-1355
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• 2023

Localization is a hot research spot for many areas, especially in the mobile robot field. Due to the weak signal of the global positioning system (GPS), the alternative schemes in an indoor environment include wireless signal transmitting and receiving solutions, laser rangefinder to build a map followed by a re-localization stage and visual positioning methods, etc. Among all wireless signal positioning techniques, Wi-Fi is the most common one. Wi-Fi access points are installed in most indoor areas of human activities, and smart devices equipped with Wi-Fi modules can be seen everywhere. However, the localization of a mobile robot using a Wi-Fi scheme usually lacks orientation information. Besides, the distance error is large because of indoor signal interference. Another research direction that mainly refers to laser sensors is to actively detect the environment and achieve positioning. An occupancy grid map is built by using the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method when the mobile robot enters the indoor environment for the first time. When the robot enters the environment again, it can localize itself according to the known map. Nevertheless, this scheme only works effectively based on the prerequisite that those areas have salient geometrical features. If the areas have similar scanning structures, such as a long corridor or similar rooms, the traditional methods always fail. To address the weakness of the above two methods, this work proposes a coarse-to-fine paradigm and an improved localization algorithm that utilizes Wi-Fi to assist the robot localization in a geometrically similar environment. Firstly, a grid map is built by using laser SLAM. Secondly, a fingerprint database is built in the offline phase. Then, the RSSI values are achieved in the localization stage to get a coarse localization. Finally, an improved particle filter method based on the Wi-Fi signal values is proposed to realize a fine localization. Experimental results show that our approach is effective and robust for both global localization and the kidnapped robot problem. The localization success rate reaches 97.33%, while the traditional method always fails.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.217-229
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• 2024

Determining lateral earth pressure coefficient (EPC) K is a classic problem in geotechnical engineering. It is a key parameter for estimating the stresses in backfilled openings. For backfilled openings with rigid and immobile walls, some suggested using the Jaky's at-rest earth pressure coefficient K₀ while other suggested taking the Rankine's active earth pressure coefficient K_a. A single value was proposed for the entire backfilled opening. To better understand the distributions of stresses and K in a backfilled opening, a series of laboratory tests have been conducted. The horizontal and vertical normal stresses at the center and near the wall of the opening were measured. The values of K at the center and near the wall were then calculated with the measured horizontal and vertical normal stresses. The results show that the values of K are close to K_a at the center and close to K₀ near the wall. Furthermore, the experimental results show that the horizontal stress is almost the same at the center and near the wall, indicating a uniform distribution from the center to the wall. It can be estimated by analytical solutions using either K_a or K₀. The vertical stress is higher near the center than near the wall. Its analytical estimation can only be done by using K_a at the center and K₀ near the wall. Finally, the test results were used to calibrate a numerical model of FLAC2D, which was then used to analyze the influence of column size on the stresses and K in the backfilled opening.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.238-244
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• 2012

Toxic effects of heavy metal (Pb, Cr, As) were examined by the hatching rates of fertilized eggs in the oliver flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus. Eggs were exposed to Pb, Cr, As (0, 10, 100, 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000 ppb) and then normal hatching rates were investigated after 48 h. The normal hatching rates in the control condition (not including heavy metal) were greater than 80%, but suddenly decreased with increasing of heavy metal concentrations. Pb, Cr and As reduced the normal hatching rates in concentration-dependent way and a significant reduction occurred at concentration grater than 100, 100, 500 ppb, respectively. The ranking of heavy metal toxicity was Cr>As>Pb, with $EC_{50}$ values of 415, 518 and 1,029 ppb, respectively. The no-observed-effect-concentration (NOEC) and lowest-observed-effect-concentration (LOEC) show each 100 bbp and 500 ppb of normal hatching rates in exposed to Pb and As. The NOEC and LOEC of normal hatching rates in Cr were 10 ppb and 100 ppb, respectively. From these results, the normal hatching rates of P. olivaceus have toxic effect at greater than the 100 ppb concentrations in Pb, As and the 10 ppb concentrations in Cr in natural ecosystems. These results suggest that biological assay using the normal hatching rates of P. olivaceus are very useful test method for the toxicity assessment of a toxic substance as heavy metal in marine ecosystems.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.28-30
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• 2017

Purpose Anti-Glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody test (GAD Ab) has been used as a predictor of type 1 diabetes. GAD Ab has also been shown to be highly potent in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with suspected diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Recently, it has been known that clinical significance of GAD Ab using CSF is useful for the neurological disorders. However, the reference value of anti-GAD Ab has been provided only for serum. In this experiment, we estimated the reference value of anti-GAD antibody for CSF in neurological patients. Materials and Methods A total of 211 neurological patients were enrolled. Serum and CSF were analyzed by radioimmunoassay (RIA) using commercial RIA anti-GAD Ab kit (RSR, London, United Kingdom). Normal saline was used as the normal CSF control because CSF is most similar to 0.9% normal saline. Results The mean value of normal CSF control was 1.97 U/mL, and two standard deviations (2SD) was 1.44 U/mL. Based on this data, the expected reference range of CSF could be estimated from 0.54 U/mL to 3.40 U/mL Conclusion The reference range of normal CSF control using normal saline obtained with Hoffmann's method. However, there will be a need to validate the CSF reference values using human normal CSF.