• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.481-491
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• 2024

Paxlovid is the first approved oral treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 and includes nirmatrelvir, a protease inhibitor targeting the main protease (M^pro) of SARS-CoV-2, as one of the key components. While some specific mutations emerged in M^pro were revealed to significantly reduce viral susceptibility to nirmatrelvir in vitro, there is no report regarding resistance to nirmatrelvir in patients and animal models for SARS-CoV-2 infection yet. We recently developed xenograft tumors derived from Calu-3 cells in immunodeficient mice and demonstrated extended replication of SARS-CoV-2 in the tumors. In this study, we investigated the effect of nirmatrelvir administration on SARS-CoV-2 replication. Treatment with nirmatrelvir after virus infection significantly reduced the replication of the parental SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 Omicron at 5 days post-infection (dpi). However, the virus titers were completely recovered at the time points of 15 and 30 dpi. The virus genomes in the tumors at 30 dpi were analyzed to investigate whether nirmatrelvir-resistant mutant viruses had emerged during the extended replication of SARS-CoV-2. Various mutations in several genes including ORF1ab, ORF3a, ORF7a, ORF7b, ORF8, and N occurred in the SARS-CoV-2 genome; however, no mutations were induced in the M^pro sequence by a single round of nirmatrelvir treatment, and none were observed even after two rounds of treatment. The parental SARS-CoV-2 and its sublineage isolates showed similar IC₅₀ values of nirmatrelvir in Vero E6 cells. Therefore, it is probable that inducing viral resistance to nirmatrelvir in vivo is challenging differently from in vitro passage.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.159-178
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• 2021

This study analyzed issues and trends related to ports with 86,611 news articles for the 30 years from 1991 to 2020, using BIGKinds, a big data news analysis service. The analysis was based on keyword analysis, word cloud, relationship diagram analysis offered by BIG Kinds. Analysis results of issues and trends on ports for the last 30 years are summarized as follows. First, during Phase 1 (1991-2000), individual ports such as Busan, Incheon, and Gwangyang ports tried to strengthen their own competitiveness. During Phase 2 (2001-2010), efforts were made on gaining more professional and specialized port management abilities by establishing the Busan Port Authority in 2004, the Incheon Port Authority in 2005, and the Ulsan Port Authority in 2007. During Phase 3 (2011-2020), the promotion of future-oriented, eco-friendly, and smart ports was major issues. Efforts to reduce particulate matters and pollutants produced from ports were accelerated, and an attempt to build a smart port driven by port automation and digitalization was also intensified. Lastly, in 2020, when the maritime sector was severely hit by the unexpected shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, a microscopic analysis of trends and issues in 2019 and 2020 was made to look into the impact the pandemic on the maritime industry. It was found that shipping and port industries experienced more drastic changes than ever while trying to prepare for a post-pandemic era as well as promoting future-oriented ports. This study made policy suggestions by analyzing port-related news articles and trends, and it is expected that based on the findings of this research, further studies on enhancing the competitiveness of ports and devising a sustainable development strategy will follow through a comparative analysis of port issues of different countries, thereby making further progress toward academic research on ports.

• Journal of Korean Home Economics Education Association
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.135-152
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the curriculum implementation of 「Food Safety and Health」, a Home Economics elective course, for high school students. Accordingly, several units of the 「Food Safety and Health」curriculum were piloted in six high schools in Chungbuk, Gyeonggi, Daejeon, and Sejong, and 1,199 questionnaires collected from students who participated in the classes were analyzed. The results are as follows. The 「Food Safety and Health」class had a significant effect on improving the total score of 'food safety and health' knowledge of high school students and scores for sub-dimensional area. Compared to the pre-test, the overall rate of correct answers for the post-test has increased by 7.99%p, and schools that implemented the relevant unit class relatively more had higher improvement scores. In addition, the 「Food Safety and Health」class has positively changed the eating behavior of high school students, and had a significant effect on having a habit of eating a variety of foods evenly. High school students who participated in the 「Food Safety and Health」class evaluated their classes very positively (4.27 out of 5 points), and responded that the content of the class was interesting, easy to understand, and helpful for their diet in daily life. According to the responses to the open-ended questions, students responded that the class was helpful in acquiring food-related knowledge in their real lives, while there were so many limitations for experiencing lab class and group activities due to COVID 19. In preparation for the high school credit system, this study is meaningful that it has expanded the elective courses in home economics area, as well as the right to choose subjects for high school students.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.63-75
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• 2023

This study conducted empirical analysis on the factors affecting the investment performance of 205 domestic venture funds (with a total liquidation amount of 7.25 trillion KRW) newly formed from 2007 to 2017 and completely liquidated as of the end of 2022. Due to the nature of private equity funds, obtaining empirical data is extremely challenging, especially for data post-COVID-19 era liquidations. Nevertheless, despite these challenges, it is meaningful to analyze the impact on the investment returns of domestic venture funds using the most recent data available from the past 10 years. This study categorized the factors influencing venture fund performance into external environmental factors and internal factors. External environmental factors included "economic cycles," "stock markets," "venture markets," and "exit markets," while internal factors included the fund management company's capabilities in terms of "experience," "professional personnel," and "assets under management (AUM)." The fund structure was also categorized into "fund size" and "fund length" for comparative analysis. In summary, the analysis yielded the following results: First, the 3-year government bond yield, which represents economic cycles well, was found to have a significant impact on fund performance. Second, the average 3-month KOSDAQ index return after fund formation had a statistically significant positive effect on fund performance. Third, the number of IPOs, indicating the competition intensity at the time of venture fund liquidation, was shown to have a negative effect on fund performance. Fourth, it was observed that the larger the AUM of the fund management company, the better the fund's returns. Finally, venture fund returns showed variations depending on the year of formation (Vintage). Therefore, when individuals consider investing in venture funds, it is considered a highly effective investment strategy to construct an investment portfolio taking into account not only external environmental factors and internal fund factors but also the vintage year.