• Korean Journal of Schizophrenia Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2021

Objectives: To examine the opinions regarding recovery and assess their will to recover in outpatients with schizophrenia. Methods: Total 98 stable outpatients with schizophrenia were enrolled. To investigate the outpatients' opinions regarding recovery, we asked the subjects to write down the ways they could think they had recovered from their current disease. We classified their answers and chose final 39 statements. Using this questionnaire, they were asked to what extent they agreed with each statement. Moreover, the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS) was used to measure the subjects' will to recover. Results: Many of the 39 subjects who were surveyed about their opinions on recovery agreed on 11 statements about taking medicine, social life, daily life, social functioning, positivity about life (happiness, hope, confidence, and tranquility), symptoms, occupation, and self-control. The RAS score showed a significant correlation with age (r=-0.26, p<0.01), age at onset (r=0.26, p<0.01), duration of illness (r=-0.52, p<0.01), and number of hospitalization (r=-0.46, p<0.01). Conclusion: This study shows that positivity about life is an important part of the patients' subjective recovery criteria in schizophrenia. Therefore, if clinicians pay more attention to this part of subjective recovery, it would strengthen the patients' will for recovery.

• Asia Pacific Journal of Corpus Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2022

As a milestone progression in China's space exploration history, Chang'e Project has attracted a lot of media attention since its first launching. This study aims to examine and compare the similarities and differences between the Chinese media and the British media in using nouns, verbs, and adjectives to report the Chang'e Project. After categorising the documents based on specific project phases, we created two diachronic corpora to explore the linguistic shifts and similarities and differences of diction employed by the Chinese and British media on the Chang'e Project ideology. This longitudinal study was performed with Lancsbox and the CLAWS web tagger through critical discourse analysis as the theoretical framework. The findings of the current study showed that the Chang'e Project coverage in both media increased on an annual basis, especially after 2019. In contrast to the objectivity and positivity in the Chinese Media, the British Media seemed to be more subjective with more appraisal adjectives in the news reports. Nonetheless, both countries were trying to be objective and formal in choosing nouns and verbs. Ideology-wise, the Chinese news media reports portrayed more positivity on domestic circumstances while the British counterpart was typically more critical. Notably, the study outcomes could catalyse future research on the Chang'e Project and facilitate diplomatic policies.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.181-185
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• 2022

Strongyloides stercoralis infection is not endemic in the Republic of Korea (Korea) with a positivity rate of <1% in stool examination. However, there is a risk of hyperinfection in immunosuppressed individuals. It is necessary to determine the seropositivity of S. stercoralis antibodies in Korea. This study investigated the seropositivity of S. stercoralis antibodies in the southeastern area of Korea. From January 2019 to June 2021, serum samples were collected from participants who visited the study center in the southeastern region of Korea for routine health check-ups. We determined serum levels of specific anti-Strongyloides IgG antibodies in 834 samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We observed that 92 samples (11.0%) tested showed a positive response. The age of the participants was 51±10.7 years, and 43.4% of them were men. The antibody positivity rate based on the location of the participants' residence were 12.3% (Gyoungsangnam-do), 10.2% (Busan), and 10.1% (Ulsan), respectively. Total eosinophil count was associated with positive test results (154.8±152.0 per mm³ versus 202.1±178.9 per mm³, P=0.006). Logistic regression analysis revealed that blood eosinophil count, age above 50 years, and residence in Sacheon were factors associated with the positive status of S. stercoralis antibody. Our finding suggests that it is necessary to test for S. stercoralis in actual clinical settings in Korea.

• Ocean Systems Engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.359-384
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• 2022

We develop in this work a new well-balanced preserving-positivity path-conservative central-upwind scheme for Saint-Venant-Exner (SVE) model. The SVE system (SVEs) under some considerations, is a nonconservative hyperbolic system of nonlinear partial differential equations. This model is widely used in coastal engineering to simulate the interaction of fluid flow with sediment beds. It is well known that SVEs requires a robust treatment of nonconservative terms. Some efficient numerical schemes have been proposed to overcome the difficulties related to these terms. However, the main drawbacks of these schemes are what follows: (i) Lack of robustness, (ii) Generation of non-physical diffusions, (iii) Presence of instabilities within numerical solutions. This collection of drawbacks weakens the efficiency of most numerical methods proposed in the literature. To overcome these drawbacks a reformulation of the central-upwind scheme for SVEs (CU-SVEs for short) in a path-conservative version is presented in this work. We first develop a finite-volume method of the first order and then extend it to the second order via the averaging essentially non oscillatory (AENO) framework. Our numerical approach is shown to be well-balanced positivity-preserving and shock-capturing. The resulting scheme could be seen as a predictor-corrector method. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed scheme are assessed through a carefully selected suite of tests.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2024

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the inhibitory effects of Bangpungtongsungsan extract (BTS) on fat accumulation in high-fat diet-induced young obese mice. Methods The extract was administered to 3-week-old C57BL/6 male mice fed with a high-fat diet. The experimental groups were divided into a control group (Ctrl), high-fat diet group (HFDF), and BTS treated group after high fat diet feeding (BTST), with 10 mice assigned to each group. Lipid synthesis was observed to confirm the inhibition of fat synthesis. Changes in body weight, body fat percentage, and total cholesterol in the blood were observed to confirm weight control. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1 positivity was observed to confirm the inhibition of fat accumulation in liver tissue. Results Bangpungtongsungsan significantly inhibited lipid synthesis. Changes in body weight, body fat percentage, and total cholesterol in the blood were significantly lower in BTST rats than in HFDF rats. PPAR-γ and SREBP-1 positivity were significantly lower in BTST rats compared to HFDF rats. Conclusions This study confirms the potential of BTST to inhibit fat accumulation in obesity.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.241-271
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• 2012

This questionnaire study examined the processes linking bicultural identity to self-positivity derived from taking multiple perspectives that, in turn, affects marital well-being among marriage immigrant women. Data were drawn from 281 marriage immigrant women residing in large cities in Korea including Seoul metropolitan area. Results of covariance structural analyses supported most study hypotheses: As predicted, bicultural identity contributed to self-positivity composed of taking multiple perspectives, self-acceptance and self-regulation, and the self-positivity, in turn, promoted marital well-being, conceptualized as marital satisfaction and marital stability. Bicultural identity also showd a significant direct positive effect on marital well-being. In path analyses conducted with observed variables, Korean cultural identity and home cultural identity both had significant positive effects on multiple perspective taking, through which these identity variables were positively related to self-acceptance and self-regulation. While self-acceptance was, as expected, positively related to marital satisfaction, thus indirectly promoting marital stability, the positive effect of self-regulation on marital stability was not signifiant. Taking multiple perspectives was found to promote marital well-being through encouraging both self-acceptance and consensus with a spouse. The effect of Korean cultural identity on marital well-being was found to be completely mediated by self-acceptance and consensus with a spouse fostered by taking multiple perspectives. In contrast, the effect of home cultural identity on marital well-being was partly mediated by such paths, and home cultural identity also had a positive direct effect on marital satisfaction and a negative direct effect on marital stability, suggesting its effect on marital well-being is complicated. Yet total effects of both types of cultural identity on marital well-being turned out to be positive. These results suggest that bicultural identity, supposed to be a psychological strength among marriage immigrant women, may indeed function as psychological resources that promote positive attitude as well as marital well-being. Finally, implications for multicultural social work practice are discussed.

• 한국노년학
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.83-102
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• 2018

According to socioemotional selectivity theory, if people perceive their time left in life as expanded, they have a future-oriented goal of life, but if perceive as limited the goal of life is changed into the pursuit of present emotional satisfaction. Thus, if we perceive our time left as getting limited as we get older, we pay more attention to the positive stimuli than the negative ones and remember more the positive stimuli in order to maintain the current emotional state as positive. This is known as the positivity effect. This study examined whether the positivity effect is caused by a limited future time perspective. The participants were presented with scenarios for hypothetical situations in which the future time was expanded or limited, and were encouraged to immerse in the virtual situation by talking about what they would like to do and whom they wanted to spend time with. Then the participants were presented with 48 positive, negative, and neutral emotional pictures and were asked to recall after 10 minutes delay. 75 university students and 65 elderly participated in the study. In the control condition where the future time perspective was not manipulated, the elderly showed the positivity effect but the youth showed the bias toward negative pictures. The elderly in the expanded time condition recalled positive pictures less and negative pictures more than the elderly in the control condition. On the other hand, the youth in the limited time condition recalled less the negative pictures than the youth in the control condition. These results demonstrated that the elderly did not show the positive bias when the future time perspective was expanded, and that the youth showed the positive bias when the future time perspective was limited. These results show that the positivity effect is related with the limited future time perspective.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.3997-4003
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• 2014

Background: Infection with certain human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes is the most important risk factor related with cervical cancer. The objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of HPV infection, the distribution of HPV genotypes and HPV E6/E7 oncogene mRNA expression in Turkish women with different cervical cytological findings in Mersin province, Southern Turkey. Materials and Methods: A total of 476 cytological samples belonging to women with normal and abnormal cervical Pap smears were enrolled in the study. For the detection and genotyping assay, a PCR/direct cycle sequencing approach was used. E6/E7 mRNA expression of HPV-16, 18, 31, 33, and 45 was determined by type-specific real-time NASBA assay (NucliSENS EasyQ$^{(R)}$HPV v1.1). Results: Of the 476 samples, 106 (22.3%) were found to be positive for HPV DNA by PCR. The presence of HPV was significantly more common (p<0.001) in HSIL (6/8, 75%) when compared with LSIL (6/14, 42.9%), ASC-US (22/74, 29.7%) and normal cytology (72/380, 18.9%). The most prevalent genotypes were, in descending order of frequency, HPV genotype 66 (22.6%), 16 (20.8%), 6 (14.2%), 31 (11.3%), 53 (5.7%), and 83 (4.7%). HPV E6/E7 oncogene mRNA positivity (12/476, 2.5%) was lower than DNA positivity (38/476, 7.9%). Conclusions: Our data present a wide distribution of HPV genotypes in the analyzed population. HPV genotypes 66, 16, 6, 31, 53 and 83 were the predominant types and most of them were potential carcinogenic types. Because of the differences between HPV E6/E7 mRNA and DNA positivity, further studies are required to test the role of mRNA testing in the triage of women with abnormal cervical cytology or follow up of HPV DNA positive and cytology negative. These epidemiological data will be important to determine the future impact of vaccination on HPV infected women in our region.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.78-82
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to survey the anti-HBs positivity and titers of antibody in current students who received nationwide vaccination against Hepatitis B virus which targeted infants in 1995. The subjects were 262 students in Gyeongnam province from April 2014 to October 2014. The positive rate of anti-HBs was 55.3% (145 people) and the negative rate of anti-HBs was 44.7% (117 people). Positivity was shown to be higher in women than men. However, there was no statistically significant difference. Of the HBV-vaccinated subjects, 117 (44.7%) had anti-HBs titer <10, which is judged to be negative, 126 (47.8%) had anti-HBs titer 10-499.9 mIU/mL, which is judged to be positive, and 22 (7.3%) had anti-HBs titer more than 500 mIU/mL. The rate of anti-HBs with lower titer (10-99.9 mIU/mL) was 62% in the positive group. Classifying the antibody titer according to age, the rate of anti-HBs positivity in titer with less than 100 mIU/mL was indicated to be 78.3% in cases of 19-20 year old and 46.7% in 21-22 year old, 52.3% in 23-24 year old. A case of the lower titer with 10-99.9 mIU/mL, showed significant difference according to age. As a result of research, the antibody titers is decreased depending on the passage of time. Hence, the checking of anti-HBs titer is needed after Hepatitis B vaccination and many healthy adults will need periodic boosters of hepatitis B vaccine to maintain production of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2010

To understand protozoan, viral, and bacterial infections in diarrheal patients, we analyzed positivity and mixedinfection status with 3 protozoans, 4 viruses, and 10 bacteria in hospitalized diarrheal patients during 2004-2006 in the Republic of Korea. A total of 76,652 stool samples were collected from 96 hospitals across the nation. The positivity for protozoa, viruses, and bacteria was 129, 1,759, and 1,797 per 10,000 persons, respectively. Especially, Cryptosporidium parvum was highly mixed-infected with rotavirus among pediatric diarrheal patients (29.5 per 100 C. parvum positive cases), and Entamoeba histolytica was mixed-infected with Clostridium perfringens (10.3 per 100 E. histolytica positive cases) in protozoan-diarrheal patients. Those infected with rotavirus and C. perfringens constituted relatively high proportions among mixed infection cases from January to April. The positivity for rotavirus among viral infection for those aged $\leq$ 5 years was significantly higher, while C. perfringens among bacterial infection was higher for $\geq$ 50 years. The information for association of viral and bacterial infections with enteropathogenic protozoa in diarrheal patients may contribute to improvement of care for diarrhea as well as development of control strategies for diarrheal diseases in Korea.