• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.54-63
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• 2003

Objectives : This study aimed to elucidate the effects of TBE on hyperlipidemia. Methods : We studied the effects of TBE on hyperlipidemia through gene expressions related with lipid metabolism and serum triglyceride as well as total and HDL-cholesterol levels, and perceived histological changes. Results : The present studies demonstrate that TBE can reduce the rise in plasma cholesterol and TG levels induced by a high-cholesterol diet and also reverse pre-established hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglycemia. In the TBE group total cholesterol levels decreased, TG levels decreased, but HDL-cholesterol levels also decreased. In the analysis of absolute and relative liver weight, TBE inhibited the weight gain induced by a high-cholesterol diet. In the histological observations, lipid droplet and apoptotic change in the TBE treated group were less compared with the control group. In the serum biochemical analysis, a difference of serum AST and ALT changes among groups was not shown, but TG and total cholesterol levels were less and HDL level decreased compared with the control group. In the gene expression related with TG and cholesterol metabolism, DGAT decreased slightly but ACAT decreased more as compared with control and Lipidil groups. Conclusion : From this study, we can infer that TBE possesses a hypolipidemic effect by inhibiting the intestinal absorption and storage of exogenous and endogenous cholesterol.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.6
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• pp.700-706
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• 2018

Objective : Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) is a minimally invasive procedure designed to treat various spinal pathologies. The maximum number of levels to be injected at one setting is still debatable. This study was done to evaluate the usefulness and safety of multilevel PV (more than three vertebrae) in management of osteoporotic fractures. Methods : This prospective study was carried out on consecutive 40 patients with osteoporotic fractures who had been operated for multilevel PV (more than three levels). There were 28 females and 12 males and their ages ranged from 60 to 85 years with mean age of 72.5 years. We had injected 194 vertebrae in those 40 patients (four levels in 16 patients, five levels in 14 patients, and six levels in 10 patients). Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used for pain intensity measurement and plain X-ray films and computed tomography scan were used for radiological assessment. The mean follow-up period was 21.7 months (range, 12-40). Results : Asymptomatic bone cement leakage has occurred in 12 patients (30%) in the present study. Symptomatic pulmonary embolism was observed in one patient. Significant improvement of pain was recorded immediate postoperative in 36 patients (90%). Conclusion : Multilevel PV for the treatment of osteoporotic fractures is a safe and successful procedure that can significantly reduce pain and improve patient's condition without a significant morbidity. It is considered a cost effective procedure allowing a rapid restoration of patient mobility.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.349-357
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• 2015

Objectives: The 2007 Korea National Survey for Environmental Pollutants in the Human Body found the highest blood mercury levels nationwide among residents in Seoksan-ri, Goro-myeon, Gunwi-gun, Gyeonsangbuk-do. With the aim to reduce the blood mercury levels of residents in this region, we conducted this study to identify the association between mercury exposure levels and shark meat consumption. Methods: This survey was conducted with 118 participants in Seoksan-ri before the Chuseok festival and 113 residents were added afterwards. Information on participants was collected via questionnaires. Total mercury concentrations in biological samples were measured using a mercury analyzer with the gold-amalgam collection method. Results: To identify this, we conducted mercury exposure level analysis before and after the Chuseok festival and found that blood and urinary mercury levels after Chuseok (GM of $6.9{\mu}g/L$ in blood and $1.68{\mu}g/g$_cr in urine) were higher than those before (GM of $5.29{\mu}g/L$ in blood and $1.44{\mu}g/g$_cr in urine). This area maintains a custom of using shark meat as one of the ancestral rite foods, and the performance of such rites and shark meat consumption have been identified as main sources of mercury exposure. Other than this, smoking, dental amalgam treatment and residential period in the area also contributed to an increase in mercury exposure levels. On the other hand, recent consumption of oriental medicine and vaccination did not have a significant influence on mercury levels. Conclusion: The results were attributed to the local custom of consuming shark meat with high mercury concentrations during rituals taking place during the festival and ancestral rites. Given that the blood mercury levels in 23.2% of the residents exceeded the HBM II values recommended by the German Commission on Human Biological Monitoring, it is suggested that further appropriate actions and follow-up measures be taken to reduce the mercury exposure levels of the residents that exceeded the reference values.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.48-54
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• 2020

Researchers recognized air pollution changes causing diseases and difficulties in living due to environmental pollution following various human activities, and have studied how to avoid fine dust harmful to the human respiratory system to be healthy. To this end, Arduino is used to equip fine dust level sensors in drones to measure the fine dust levels, visualize the measurements with LED indicator colors depending on the measurements to inform users of the danger of fine dust, and use the benefits of drones to specify dangerous fine dust zones and measure the fine dust levels. Users can see the changes depending on the fine dust levels in real time with the LED indicators. This will contributes to measuring fine dust levels easily in dangerous areas. Mission Planner (ArduPilot) is used to set up the GPS of drone, and store the data from the dust sensor as contents. This study aims to establish a method for improving the environment to measure fine dust levels with drones with LED indicators for fine dust, and reduce fine dust.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.914-920
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• 1998

The effect of dietary pectin, tangerine pulp meal, propionate, lactate or fumarate on cholesterol (C) and triacylglycerol(TG) levels in the serum and liver, and the effect of pectin on dietary C absorption were studied in a series of three experiments. Mature female Sprague Dawley rats were fed a control diet or diets containing 5% pectin, 5% tangerine pulp meal, 3% propionate, 3% lactate 3% fumarate, or 10% pectin. Serum total C levels were lower(p<0.05) in rats fed the diet containing 5% pectin than in control rats after a 4-week feeding period(93.8 vs 119.2mg/100mL). Serum HDL, LDL+VLDL C levels were not different among diet groups. Liver total C level was also lower(p<0.05) in rats fed the diet containing 5% pectin than in control rats, but liver TG level was not influenced by diet. Dietary propionate, lactate or fumarate did not reduce serum C, indicating that propionate is not a regulator of serum C. However, dietary pectin(10%) increased fecal excretion of dietary C(or its metabolites) more than 70% over a control value. Our data indicate that dietary pectin reduces serum and liver C levels by increased fecal secretion of dietary C, but not by its fermentation product propionate or other gluconeogenic substrates. (Korean J Nutrition 31(5) : 914∼920, 1998)

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2010

Adipocyte differentiation in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) is not as efficient as that in murine pre-adipocytes when induced by adipogenic agents including insulin, dexamethasone, and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IDX condition). Therefore, the promotion of adipocyte differentiation in hBM-MSCs has been used as a cell culture model to evaluate insulin sensitivity for anti-diabetic drugs. In hBM-MSCs, $PPAR{\gamma}$ agonists or sulfonylurea anti-diabetic drugs have been added to IDX conditions to promote adipocyte differentiation. Here we show that troglitazone, a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma ($PPAR{\gamma}$) agonist, significantly reduced the levels of anti-adipogenic $PGE_2$ in IDX-conditioned hBM-MSC culture supernatants when compared to $PGE_2$ levels in the absence of $PPAR{\gamma}$ agonist. However, there was no difference in the mRNA levels of cyclooxygenases (COXs) and the activities of COXs and prostaglandin synthases during adipocyte differentiation in hBM-MSCs with or without troglitazone. In hBM-MSCs, troglitazone significantly increased the mRNA level of 15-hydroxyprostaglandin dehydrogenase (HPGD) which can act to decrease $PGE_2$ levels in culture. These results suggest that the role of $PPAR{\gamma}$ activation in promoting adipocyte differentiation in hBM-MSCs is to reduce anti-adipogenic $PGE_2$ levels through the up-regulation of HPGD expression.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.310-317
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• 2013

To investigate the effects of coated liposome from Discorea rhizoma extract (DRE) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced, we evaluated changes in body weight, fasting blood glucose, blood insulin and blood lipid concentrations in mice. Mice were divided into four groups: (DC), diabetic DRE at 10 mg/kg (DRE-1), diabetic DRE at 50 mg/kg (DRE-2), and diabetic DRE at 250 mg/kg (DRE-3). Mice had free access to water and diet (10 weeks). The DC group showed higher blood cholesterol than the DRE-1, DRE-2, DRE-3 groups. In glucose tolerance test, the DRE-1, DRE-2, and DRE-3 groups increased after 30 minutes in decremental glycemic response area under the curve. Fasting blood glucose levels in the DRE groups significantly decreased through 4 weeks. Plasma total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol concentrations were also lower in the DRE groups. On the other hand, the DRE-1, DRE-2 and DRE-3 groups showed higher HDL-cholesterol and insulin levels than the DC group. Moreover, blood glucose and lipid levels significantly decreased in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice treated with DRE. These results indicate that DRE may reduce elevated blood glucose levels and serum lipid concentrations in hypoglycemic and diabetic mice, suggesting its usefulness as a functional food.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.19-29
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• 2011

The uncertainty of a project generates risks hindering the goal achievement of the project, and the risks affect the success or failure of the project significantly. Risk management, a part of the project management, includes various processes, and there are also various tools or techniques applicable to that. In an organization, the application of project management develops gradually from low to high maturity, and the organization should choose and implement a method of application proper for the level of its maturity. This article suggests a method to reduce inefficiency of the management and how to apply risk management by levels of maturity for easier application. For this, the stages of project management maturity levels were divided into the introduction, development, and maturity step, and methods of risk management suitable for each stage were applied. And methods of risk management that need to be applied by the levels of project maturity are divided into three factors : risk management processes, risk management tools and techniques, and risk management standards and templates. It is expected to be favorable approaches for the application of risk management in an organization to divide those factors into more concrete processes, tools, techniques, and standards and apply them by the levels of management maturity.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 2005

A simple construction, low cost, and a fault tolerant power electronic drive have made the switched reluctance drive a strong contender for many applications. But the switched reluctance drive exhibits higher levels of vibration and acoustic noise than most competing drives. The main source of vibration in the switched reluctance drive is generated by the rapid change of radial magnetic force when the phase current is extinguished during commutation. In this paper, some excitation methods are proposed to reduce the vibration and acoustic noise of the switched reluctance drive. The excitation strategies considered in this research are 1-phase, 2-phase and hybrid excitation methods. The 1-phase method is the conventional approach, while in the 2-phase method, the two phases are excited simultaneously. The hybrid excitation has 2-phase excitation using a long dwell angle as well as conventional 1-phase excitation. The vibration and acoustic noise are compared and tested. The suggested 2-phase and hybrid strategies reduce acoustic noise because the schemes reduce the abrupt change in excitation level by using distributed and balanced excitation.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.52-60
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• 2019

A fast hologram calculation approach is proposed to reduce computational load by avoiding the recalculation of redundancy information. In the proposed method, the hologram is divided into several sub-holograms that record and reconstruct different views of 3D objects. The sub-hologram is generated from its adjacent calculated sub-holograms by only adding the holograms of difference images between an adjacent pair of views. The repetitive information of two adjacent views is called angular redundancy. Therefore, avoiding the recalculation of this angular redundancy can considerably reduce the computational load. Experimental results confirm that the proposed method can reduce the computational time for the statue head, rabbits, and car to 4.73%, 6.67%, and 10.4%, respectively, for uniform intensity, and to 56.34%, 57.9%, and 66.24%, respectively, for 256 levels intensity, when compared to conventional methods.