• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.71-82
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• 2013

Arterial stiffness(AS) is an important pathologic state of vascular injury. This study was carried out to elucidate the effect of physiological variables on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity(BAPWV), index of AS. Four hundred adults(volunteers) participated in this study. Body indices, biochemical, cardiac and inflammatory markers, and right(Rt)- and left(Lt)-BAPWV were measured. Body mass index(BMI), Rt- and Lt-BAPWV, glucose, triglyceride, alkaline phosphatase(ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase(GGT), creatinine, uric acid, troponin-I(TNI), NT-proBNP and high sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) levels were higher than the reference value of each variable. Rt- and Lt-BAPWV were directly correlated with age, body weight, BMI, glucose, ketone, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, ALP, GGT, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, lipoprotein(a), apolipoprotein-B, blood urea nitrogen, heart rate, TNI, creatine kinase, CK-MB, lactic dehydrogenase, myoglobin, hs-CRP, lipase, reumatoid factor, fibrinogen and D-dimer (P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.001 or P<0.000, respectively), but inversely associated with total bilirubin, uric acid, apolipoprotein-A1 and GFR (P<0.05). These observations suggest that a variety of physiological variables may influence BAPWV, resulting in increased risk or prevention of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular attacks. Therefore, physiological variables affecting BAPWV should be regularly controlled.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.979-985
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• 2001

A fluorometric detection technique for HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) and LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) was developed for application in a fiber-optic immunosensor using a protein A Langmuir-Blodgget (LB) film. For the fluorescence immunoassay, antibodies specific to HDL or LDL were imobilied on the protein A LB film, and a fluorescence amplification method was developed to overcome their weak fluorescence. The deposition of protein A using the LB technique was monitored using a surface pressure-are $({\pi}-A)$ curve, and the antibody immobilization of the protein A LB film was experimentally verified. The immobilized antibody was used to separate only HDL and LDL from a sample, then the fluorescence of he separated HDL or LDL was amplified. The amount of LDL or HDL was measured using the developed fiber optic fluorescence detection system. The optical properties resulting from the reaction of HDL or LDL with o-phtaldialdehyde, detection range, response time, and stability of the immunoassay were all investigated. The respective detection ranges for HDL and LDL were sufficient to diagnose the risk of coronary heart disease. The amplification step increased the sensitivity, while selective separation using the immobilized antibody led to linearity in the sensor signal. The regeneration of the antibody-immobilized substrate could produce a stable and reproducible immunosensor.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2017

Reliable and valid diagnostic screening tools in the primary care setting enable accurate estimation of depression in individuals at risk or in need of treatment, and provide patients with an opportunity to receive optimal treatments. Although there have been extensive studies on screening tools for depression used in domestic mental health settings, there is little consideration and lack of a thorough review of the diagnostic validity of screening tools. In the current review, we selected 13 representative screening tools for depression which were evaluated in a total of 19 validation studies conducted in Korea. We summarized DSM-5 target domains, diagnostic indices, sensitivity, specificity, cut-off scores, and diagnostic validity information for each tool. Finally, the depression measurement expert group was constituted to evaluate the current status of screening tools for depression, and their recommendations for a new screening tool were summarized. This study was conducted as part of the Mental Health Technology Development project to develop the Korean screening tool for depression (K-DEP).

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.407-415
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• 1992

Among 85 patients with anti-HCV positive chronic liver disease, only 21.2% have past history of blood transfusion and over half the cases, they do not have any suspicious risk factors for HCV infection, 3 of 85 families show anti-HCV positive family members. On the other hand, 40 of 60 patients with HBsAg positive chronic liver disease show HBsAg positive family members. In Korea, HBV is transmitted mainly through vertical and intrafamilial infection but HCV disease might be rather horizontal and sporadic than vertical. To define the evident source of infection in sporadic hepatitis C, first of all, simple test with high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of HCV infection would be needed.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.22 no.2 s.57
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• pp.171-175
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• 2007

Indigenous species means a species that is likely, due to historical presence, to occur at a specified site for some portion of its life span. Therefore, indigenous species can be useful as an indicator to assess environmental risk caused by hazardous chemicals in a specific site. So far a few toxicity studies using freshwater species which are indigenous to Korea have been carried out. In this study, a freshwater shrimp (Neocardina denticulata) indigenous to Korea was used for acute toxicity test of heavy metals. Neocardina denticulata were exposed to cadmium chloride $(CdCl_2)$, copper chloride $(CuCl_2)$ and zinc chloride $(ZnCl_2)$ using automatic flow-through system for 96 hours. The 96h LC50s were calculated as 0.043 $(0.042{\sim}0.045)mg\;CdCl_2/L,\;0.104(0.098{\sim}0.113)mg\; CuCl_2/L\;and\;2.021\;(1.633{\sim}2.594)mg\;ZnCl_2/L$. When compaired with some international standard species such as medaka(Oryzias latipes), Neocardina denticulata had high sensitivity. Therefore, this study suggested that Neocardina denticulata have possibilities for a sensitive test species to test heavy metal toxicity in aqua-system.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2017

Vitamin D is a cofactor responsible for autoimmune disorders. There is no agreement in the studies investigating the association between vitamin D and fibromyalgia. This study aims to combine the conflicting results of the primary studies which compared these patients with control groups regarding the serum concentration of vitamin D. This meta-analysis has been designed based on PRISMA guidelines. Relevant keywords were searched in PubMed, Science direct, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google scholar and primary studies were selected. After screening the eligible studies according to inclusion/exclusion criteria, we investigated the risk of bias in the selected studies and also the heterogeneity between the primary results using Cochrane (Q) and I-squared ($I^2$) indices. The primary results were combined using inverse variance method and Cohen statistics as well as a random effects model. Publication bias was assessed using Egger test. Sensitivity analysis was applied to investigate the influence of each primary study on the final result of the meta-analysis. Suspected factors in the heterogeneity were assessed using meta-regression models. We entered 12 eligible studies in the meta-analysis including 851 cases compared with 862 controls. The standardized mean difference of Vitamin D between the two groups was -0.56 (95% confidence interval: -1.05, -0.08). Our meta-analysis showed that vitamin D serum levels of patients with fibromyalgia was significantly lower than that of control group.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2008

To assess the impact of molinate on freshwater aquatic organisms, acute and chronic toxicity studies for waterfleas were conducted. In acute toxicity studies for Daphnia magna, and Moina macrocopa, the 48-h $EC_{50}$ values were 11.4 and 8.3 mg/L respectively. And in reproduction toxicity studies for the same species, the NOEC's were 2.5 and 2.0 mg/L respectively. These results suggest that waterfleas have simillar sensitivity to molinate. On the other hand, the NOEC for 3-generation toxicity of moina macrocopa 0.16 mg/L, was much lower than those of acute values. This studies concludes that molinate has minimal risk to waterfleas in river.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9927-9931
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• 2014

The objectives of this study were to examine serum periplakin expression in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder and in normal controls, and to examine relationships with clinicopathological findings. Detection of serum periplakin was performed in 50 patients and 30 normal controls with anti-periplakin antibodies using the automatic dot blot system, and a micro-dot blot array with a 256 solid-pin system. Levels in patients with urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder were significantly lower than those in normal controls (0.31 and 5.68, respectively; p<0.0001). The area under the receiver-operator curve level for urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder was 0.845. The sensitivity and specificity, using a cut-off point of 4.045, were 83.7% and 73.3%, respectively. In addition, serum periplakin levels were significantly higher in patients with muscle-invasive cancer than in those with nonmuscle-invasive cancer (P = 0.03). In multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, none of the clinicopathological factors was associated with an increased risk for progression and cancer-specific survival. Examination of the serum periplakin level may play a role as a non-invasive diagnostic modality to aid urine cytology and cystoscopy.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.123-128
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• 2017

Background and aims: The KCNQ1 S140G mutation involved in $I_{ks}$ channel is a typical gene mutation affecting atrial fibrillation. However, despite the possibility that the S140G gene mutation may affect not only atrial but also ventricular action potential shape and ventricular responses, there is a lack of research on the relationship between this mutation and ventricular fibrillation. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the correlation and the influence of the KCNQ1 S140G mutant gene on ventricular fibrillation through computer simulation studies. Method: This study simulated a 3-dimensional ventricular model of the wild type(WT) and the S140G mutant conditions. It was performed by dividing into normal sinus rhythm simulation and reentrant wave propagation simulation. For the sinus rhythm, a ventricular model with Purkinje fiber was used. For the reentrant propagation simulation, a ventricular model was used to confirm the occurrence of spiral wave using S1-S2 protocol. Results: The result showed that 41% shortening of action potential duration(APD) was observed due to augmented $I_{ks}$ current in S140G mutation group. The shortened APD contributed to reduce wavelength 39% in sinus rhythm simulation. The shortened wavelength in cardiac tissue allowed re-entrant circuits to form and increased the probability of sustaining ventricular fibrillation, while ventricular electrical propagation with normal wavelength(20.8 cm in wild type) are unlikely to initiate re-entry. Conclusion: In conclusion, KCNQ1 S140G mutation can reduce the threshold of the re-entrant wave substrate in ventricular cells, increasing the spatial vulnerability of tissue and the sensitivity of the fibrillation. That is, S140G mutation can induce ventricular fibrillation easily. It means that S140G mutant can increase the risk of arrhythmias such as cardiac arrest due to heart failure.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.46-57
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to identify the elements of virtuous cycle to lay a foundation for the coevolution of corporations and communities based on the entrepreneurship and social capital of social enterprises. The study first set out to add the pursuit of social goals to the components of entrepreneurship, namely innovation, progressive spirit, and risk sensitivity and categorized social capital into structural, cognitive, and relational capital. The study set six hypotheses and performed correlation and regression analysis to empirically analyze mediator effect of social capital in relationship between entrepreneurship and social enterprise performance. The findings were summarized as follows: First, relational capital had full mediated effect between entrepreneurship and economic performance of social enterprise. Second, relational capital had full mediated effect between entrepreneurship and social performance of social enterprise.