• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.405-417
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• 2022

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory immune-mediated condition that has been identified as a potentially malignant oral disorder. Various therapies have been proposed for its management as alternative to corticosteroids. However, no definitive treatment has been identified that can result in complete remission or minimal recurrence. Hyaluronic acid has recently been used as an alternative therapy for the management of OLP. This study aimed to systematically review the effectiveness of Hyaluronic acid in the management of symptomatic OLP. Online electronic databases and manual searches were performed for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English between January 2010 and April 2022. RCTs were identified that compared the efficacy of hyaluronic acid and other interventional therapies at baseline and during follow-up. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the quality of the included studies. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores, Thongprasom sign scores, lesion size, degree of erythema, clinical severity, and disease severity were assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Seven studies were analyzed. Five studies reported a high risk of bias while the remaining two studies reported an unclear risk of bias. The overall quantitative assessment of size, symptoms, degree of erythema, and sign score in OLP lesions treated with HA was not statistically significant compared to that in the control group (P > 0.05). In addition, subgroup analysis comparing HA with placebo or corticosteroids did not yield statistically significant (P > 0.05) results. Qualitatively, both HA and tacrolimus resulted in an effective reduction in signs and symptoms. Clinical/disease severity index/scores were inconsistent. A high degree of heterogeneity was observed among the included studies. None of the included studies reported the side effects of HA. These findings suggest that corticosteroids, tacrolimus, placebo, and HA could be equally effective in OLP management. The clinical/disease severity index or score reduction cannot be determined with certainty. Thus, OLP can be treated with HA as an alternative therapy. Owing to limited clinical trials on HA, high heterogeneity, and high risk of bias in the included studies, definitive conclusions cannot be derived.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.515-526
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• 2013

Purpose: The study aims to evaluate the effects of Tai Chi applied cardiac rehabilitation program(TCCRP) on cardiovascular risks, recurrence risk in ten years, and cardiac specific quality of life in individuals with coronary artery disease. Methods: The sample was comprised of individuals diagnosed with coronary artery disease within six months of the study who were referred by their primary physicians to participate in the TCCRP. The design was a pretest/posttest with non-equivalent groups with 30 in TCCRP program and 33 wait-listed comparison group. Results: The average age of all participants was sixty seven years. At the completion of the TCCRP, the Tai Chi group showed significant reduction in their ten year recurrent risk for coronary artery disease measured by Framingham's algorithm. The quality of life for the experimental group was reported as significantly higher than the comparison group, especially the area of general symptom. Conclusion: The outpatient cardiac rehabilitation with Tai Chi was applied effectively and safely without any complication to individuals with coronary artery disease. Tai Chi can be useful as an alternative exercise for cardiac rehabilitation program which may provide more access to individuals for cardiovascular risk management in the community settings.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.189-197
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• 2003

The Level 3 PSA being termed accident consequence analysis is defined to assess effects on health and environment caused by radioisotopes released from severe accidents of nuclear power plants. In this study consequence analysis on health effects depending on release characteristics of radioisotopes has been peformed using the 3 MACCS code in severe accidents. The results of this study may contribute to identifying the relative importance of various parameters occurred in consequence analysis as well as to assessing risk reduction accident management strategies. Especially three parameters for the purpose of consequence analysis, such as the release height, the heat content, and the duration time, are used to analyze the variation of early fatalities and latent cancer fatalities. Also, in this study risk assessment using the concept, 'products of uncertainty and consequences', has been performed using consequence of MACCS and frequency on source term category 19 scenarios from IPE (Individual Plant Examination) analysis.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.505-529
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• 2022

Radon is a radioactive gas that causes lung cancer deaths. The contingent valuation method (CVM) is used to estimate the value of a statistical life(VSL) of 2.054 billion won for the death due to residential radon in Korea. Residential radon is assumed to have caused 2,330 deaths in 2020, of which the estimated social cost is 4.78 trillion won. When a national compulsory standard of 200Bq/m³ is set for residential radon concentration, the number of lives saved is estimated to be 691, leading to a social benefit of 1.42 billion won. This study reports the origin, characteristics and health risk of residential radon, and emphasizes the importance of a dramatic increase in the budget for residential radon reduction policies.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.681-688
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• 2022

According to a recent study, most construction companies in Korea do not manage risk effectively, and it is judged that the risk management system needs to be improved. In addition, most risk-related studies deal with risks from a macroscopic perspective, and there are few studies dealing with process risks at the project construction stage. Therefore, this study tried to suggest a risk response plan through analysis and classification of risk factors that may occur in retaining work among process risks. To this end, a workshop was held for risk experts to identify and analyze risks that may occur during the construction of retaining work for apartments. As a result of the study, it was expected that savings of KRW 4.97 billion would be possible in the 95 % confidence interval, and the maximum possible cost was reduced from KRW 15 billion to about KRW 10 billion. Based on the risk reduction ratio, it was found that risks that can be reduced without any special input cost, risks with large effects in response to risks, and risks with insignificant effects were found. Therefore, using the types and risk factors presented in this study as guides, it is expected that it will be helpful in successfully operating the project if an appropriate response strategy is prepared and systematically responded to the site conditions.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-150
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• 2017

Metformin is the most commonly prescribed anti-diabetic drug with relatively minor side effect. Substantial evidence has suggested that metformin is associated with decreased cancer risk and anticancer activity against diverse cancer cells. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib has shown powerful activity for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia and also induces growth arrest and apoptosis in colorectal cancer cells. In this study, we tested the combination of imatinib and metformin against HCT15 colorectal cancer cells for effects on cell viability, cell cycle and autophagy. Our data show that metformin synergistically enhances the imatinib cytotoxicity in HCT15 cells as indicated by combination and drug reduction indices. We also demonstrate that the combination causes synergistic down-regulation of pERK, cell cycle arrest in S and $G_2/M$ phases via reduction of cyclin B1 level. Moreover, the combination resulted in autophagy induction as revealed by increased acidic vesicular organelles and cleaved form of LC3-II. Inhibition of autophagic process by chloroquine led to decreased cell viability, suggesting that induction of autophagy seems to play a cell protective role that may act against anticancer effects. In conclusion, our present data suggest that metformin in combination with imatinib might be a promising therapeutic option in colorectal cancer.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.123-138
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• 2022

Purpose - This study compares the performances of dynamic asset allocation strategies using Korean stocks and U.S. dollar, which have been negatively correlated for a long time, to examine the diversification effects in the portfolios of them. Design/methodology/approach - In the current study, we use KOSPI200 index, as a proxy of the aggregated portfolio of Korean stocks, and USDKRW foreign exchange rate to implement various portfolio management strategies. We consider the equally-weighted, risk-parity, minimum variance, most diversified, and growth optimal portfolios for comparison. Findings - We first find the enhancement of risk adjusted returns due to risk reduction rather than return increasement for all the portfolios of consideration. Second, the enhancement is more pronounced for the trading strategies using correlations as well as volatilities compared to those using volatilities only. Third, the diversification effect has become stronger after the global financial crisis in 2008. Lastly, we find that the performance of the growth optimal portfolio can be improved by utilizing the well-known momentum phenomenon in stock markets to select the length of the sample period to estimate the expected return. Research implications or Originality - This study shows the potential benefits of adding the U.S. dollar to the portfolios of Korean stocks. The current study is the first to investigate the portfolio of Korean stocks and U.S. dollar from investment perspective.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.86-91
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• 2006

There are 3 different hypotheses on how statins may affect bones, through promoting bone formation, inhibiting bone resorption or through anti-inflammatory effect. In the 3 cross-sectional studies above, one showed increase BMD at hip and spine, one showed increase BMD only at mid-forearm and one showed that the risk reduction in fractures is not explained by the changes in BMD however, all 3 studies showed a decrease in risk of fracture associated with statins. In the 2 prospective cohort studies, one showed the use of statins was not associated with BMD at any skeletal site or decreasing the risk of fracture, and the other showed statins except pravastatin decreased in risk of vertebrate fracture but not affecting lumbar spine BMD. All of case-control studies indicated reduction in fracture risk but did not provide any data regarding BMD. 2 of the randomized, controlled studies showed no significant reduction in fracture risk as well as statins' effects on BMD. Finally, one longitudinal study showed statin use reduced fracture risk and increased BMD. Among the conflicting results shown above, even when statin use was shown to increase BMD, it does not seem to account for the reduction in fracture risk. There may be different ways that statins affect bone other than those hypotheses proposed above. Many studies seem to agree that pravastatin does not have any effect on bone. Some studies suggested that the reason statins did not achieve clinically significant increases in BMD in some studies, is due to the low affinity of statins on bone; statins are designed to act in the liver therefore their effective concentration in extrahepatic tissue is low. The limitations to those studies discussed above. Many studies did not account for the change of lifestyle while subjects' were on statins. Increases in weight bearing exercise and changes in diet might affect BMD and thus reduce risk of fractures. Mental alertness and vision acuity might prevent falls from occurring; many statin-users in the studies were young so the risk of fractures from falls would be decreased. Almost all of the studies failed exclude patients with neurological problems. During study periods, many subjects may have been started on drugs for diseases that usually occur with aging which could cause drowsiness and lead to falls. The sample sizes used in some of the trials were small and the duration of treatment and follow up might not have been long enough to see clinically relevant results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2002.11b
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• pp.60-66
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• 2002

Aryl hydrocarbons, environmental contaminants accumulate in tissue and pose potential risk in human health. 2,3,7,8-Tertachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) is known as a most potent toxicant among aryl hydrocarbons. TCDD elicits numerous toxic responses in experimental animals and human, including hepatic carcinoma, pulmonary and skin tumor in adult rodents, craniofacial abnormality during mouse embryogenesis, chloracne, reproductive abnormality, immunotoxicity, endocrine effects in exposed humans.(omitted)

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.696-706
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to verify experimentally debris reduction facilities for culverts installed in small rivers. A culvert is defined as a structure laid under a road or a railroad that passes through an inner urban area or downtown area to make an artificial canal. Culverts are generally categorized into road culverts or waterway culverts, among which the latter are artificial structures designed to discharge running water into a river. At the time of floods, the structural safety of waterway culverts can be undermined by the accumulation of debris, such as soil, boughs and weeds, and they may be at risk of overflowing due to blockages. Debris reduction facilities are necessary to prevent such damage. In this study, the effects of the three existing types of debris reduction facilities were examined through hydraulic experiments. The results of the experiments showed that vertical separation to divert debris reduced the accumulation rate by 27.65 to 31.39 percent. The two types of screen designed to block and divert debris, respectively, were found to have excellent debris blocking abilities. However, when the effects of the rising water level are considered simultaneously, the screen to divert debris was found to show superior effects. The screen to block debris can be considered to have excellent debris blocking ability, but requires the continuous collection of the debris, due to the high risk of rising water levels caused by its accumulation.