• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.11-22
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• 2021

Background: This study was to investigate the effects of active stretching and stability exercise on piriformis muscle thickness and low back pain of male patients with chronic low back pain. Design: Randomized Controlled Trial. Methods: 45 male patients participated in this study. All subjects were randomly assigned. Subjects divided into 15 who underwent contract relaxation (CR) of the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) to their hip joints, 15 who underwent a combination of isotonic (CI) of the PNF, and the rest 15 who underwent the two techniques (CR+CI). Real-time diagnostic ultrasound was used to measure thickness of the piriformis muscles. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure degrees of low back pain. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the average values. The SPSS 24.0 was used as the statistical program, and the significance level was set at .05. Results: The CR and the CR+CI groups had more decreased thickness of piriformis muscle when compared to the CI group. The CR+CI group had more decreased pain when compared to the CR and the CI groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that combination of stretching and stability exercise was effective on male patients with chronic low back pain showing limited hip medial rotation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.63-72
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• 2022

Purpose : Several studies have investigated the effects of dynamic stretching (DS) and self-mobilization (SM), however, studies comparing the two interventions are rare. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the effects of DS and SM on ankle strength, dorsiflexion range of motion (DFROM), and balance to determine which is superior. Methods : Thirty-two healthy young adults participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups (SM and DS). DS was performed for the purpose of stretching the medial gastrocnemius muscle. For the SM group, ankle joint SM was performed in three ways. For all participants, the following measurements were performed as pre- and post-tests: isometric strength of dorsiflexor and plantar flexor, weight-bearing lunge test (WBLT) to evaluate DFROM, Tetrax system to evaluate static balance, and y balance test (YBT) to evaluate dynamic balance. Differences before and after the intervention within each group were compared using paired t-test. Also, the variable's variation was compared between groups using an independent t-test. Results : Significant differences were found in ankle dorsiflexor strength, WBLT, YBT, weight distribution index (WDI) (pillow and opened eyes; PO), and stability index (ST) (normal and closed eyes; NC) before and after intervention in the SM group (p<.05). In the DS group, significant differences were found in ankle dorsiflexor and plantar flexor strength, WBLT, YBT anterior, WDI (normal and opened eyes; NO, PO), and ST (NO, NC, PO, pillow and closed eyes) before and after the intervention (p<.05). Ankle plantar flexor strength and WDI (PO) were significantly different between groups. Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, DS or SM can be considered as a possibility for selective use according to variables for improving ankle joint function (DFROM, muscle strength, balance).

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.221-232
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• 2022

Purpose : In this study, rectus abdominis relaxation intervention was administered to office workers who were experiencing low back pain due to sitting for extended periods of time in an incorrect posture. This study aimed to develop an effective treatment program for individuals who experience low back pain. This was done by verifying changes using the Korean Oswestry Disability Index (K-ODI) and considering kyphosis. Both factors are related to low back pain. Methods : This study included 39 office workers with low back pain. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups. 1) The functional massage and self-stretching (FAS) group (n=14). 2) The diaphragmatic breathing and self-stretching (DAS) group (n=13). 3) The self-stretching (S) group (n=12). All groups applied the intervention for 30 minutes a day, thrice a week for four weeks. All participants were evaluated using the K-ODI and thoracic kyphosis measurements before and after the intervention. Results : The findings of this study are as follows. All three groups had improved K-ODI scores after the intervention. The FAS and DAS groups showed a greater effect than the S group. However, there was no difference in effect between the FAS and DAS groups. Kyphosis was not improved in any of groups after the intervention, and there was no difference between the three groups. Conclusion : This study showed that the FAS, DAS, and S programs were effective relaxation interventions that improved the K-ODI for office workers with low back pain. The FAS and DAS programs were more effective than the S program. Therefore, it is recommended to combine relaxation and stretching of the rectus abdominis muscle for office workers who experience low back pain. Clinically, a relaxation intervention that is most appropriate for the patient, depending on his or her condition, should be.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aims to determine the effect of proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) pectoralis minor stretching and lower trapezius strengthening exercise on posture change, shoulder range of motion (ROM), and pain in rotator cuff repair patients with a rounded shoulder posture (RSP). Methods: Following baseline measurements, the subjects (n = 25) with rotator cuff repair were randomized into two groups: the PNF group (n = 13), which engaged in PNF pectoralis minor stretching and lower trapezius strengthening exercise, and the control group (n = 12), which received traditional physical therapy. Each group participated in the intervention five times per week for two weeks. The RSP values for the postural changes, flexion and abduction ROM, and visual analogue scales (VASs) of both groups were recorded at both pre- and post-intervention. In addition, before and after the intervention, a paired t-test was conducted to compare the within-group changes and an independent t-test to compare the between-group differences. Results: After the two-week intervention, both groups experienced significantly decreased RSP and VAS values (p < 0.05) and a significantly increased ROM (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the PNF group showed greater improvements in RSP, ROM, and VAS than the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that PNF pectoralis minor stretching and lower trapezius strengthening exercise reduce posture and shoulder pain and enhance ROM in rotator cuff repair patients with RSP.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.504-508
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• 2010

In conventional diagnostic ultrasound strain imaging, when displaying strain image on a monitor, human visual characteristics are utilized such that hard regions are displayed as dark and soft regions are displayed as bright. Thus, hard regions representing tumor or cancer are displayed as dark, decreasing the contrast inside the lesion. Because the lesion area is stiff and thus displayed as dark, a method of inverting the image brightness and thereby increasing the contrast in the lesion for better diagnostic purposes is proposed wherein a postcompression signal is extended in the time domain by a factor corresponding to the reciprocal of the amount of the applied compression using a technique termed globally uniform stretching. Experiments were carried out to verify the proposed method on an ultrasound elasticity phantom with radio-frequency data acquired from a diagnostic ultrasound clinical scanner. It is found that the new method improves the contrast-to-noise ratio by a factor of up to about 1.8 compared to a conventional strain imaging method that employs a reversed gray color map without globally uniform stretching.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.477-481
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• 1998

Colored components in black tea were extracted, freeze-dried, and analysed to investigate the possibility using as a natural dye. Fractionation of the colored components was carried out by gel permeation chromatography. The colored components in black tea were elected into seven fractions. Each fraction was analyzed by UV spectrophotometer. The early fluted fractions 1-4 did not show any absorption peaks in 320-700 nm and showed the increase in absorption as it approaches to short wavelength and are considered as highly polymerized colored substances. Fractions 5-6 showed tar at 350 m and are considered as thearubigins. Fraction 7 showed absorption peaks at 376 nm and 456 nm and is considered as theaflavin. IR spectra of each fraction show: Strong C=0 stretching band at 1650 cm-1 appears in fractions 1-4, but not in fractions 5-7. Strong C=0 stretching band at 1700 cm-L appears in fraction 3-7. C=0 stretching band at 1610 cm-1 appears as a shoulder in fraction 4 and progressively changes into strong peak in fraction 5-7. From these results, it is assumed that colored components in black tea consist of polyphenolic substances having different molecular weight which were formed during tea manufacturing process. The colorants from black tea infusion were applied to silk, wool, cotton and nylon fabrics. Black tea colorants showed high affinity to wool, silk and nylon, but very low affinity to cotton fabrics.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.235-253
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• 2015

In this research, a simple but accurate sinusoidal plate theory for the thermomechanical bending analysis of functionally graded sandwich plates is presented. The main advantage of this approach is that, in addition to incorporating the thickness stretching effect, it deals with only 5 unknowns as the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), instead of 6 as in the well-known conventional sinusoidal plate theory (SPT). The material properties of the sandwich plate faces are assumed to vary according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The core layer is made of an isotropic ceramic material. Comparison studies are performed to check the validity of the present results from which it can be concluded that the proposed theory is accurate and efficient in predicting the thermomechanical behavior of functionally graded sandwich plates. The effect of side-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, the volume fraction exponent, and the loading conditions on the thermomechanical response of functionally graded sandwich plates is also investigated and discussed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1054-1062
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• 2005

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop and to evaluate a health promotion program for elderly. Method: Subjects were 63 elderly women (experimental group:33, control group:30). The study was a nonequivalant control group pretest-posttest design. The data was analyzed with an SPSS Window program, then the data was computed for the purpose of each study. Result: 1. In designing the program, the experimental group was given health education - 2 times per week, for 8 weeks - and they participated in recreation programs and stretching exercises five times a week. 2. Stretching exercises including health education, significantly affected the total Cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, health behavior and self-efficacy. 3. The body fat weight was not significantly affected by the stretching exercises. Conclusion: This program was tested to promote the health of elderly and verified as an effective nursing intervention program, because the outcome of this program ascertains that this program enhances self efficacy of exercise, reduces Cholesterol and triglyceride levels' Increases HDL-cholesterol, and helps promote the understanding of heath behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.317-320
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• 2016

Efficient copper removal from water was achieved by using surface modified silica spheres with 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) using base catalyst. The surface modification of silica spheres was performed by hydrolysis and condensation reactions of the MPTMS. The characteristic infrared absorption peaks at 2929, 1454, and 1343 cm⁻¹ represent the −CH₂ stretching vibration, asymmetric deformation, and deformation, respectively. The absorption peaks at 2580 and 693 cm⁻¹ corresponding the −SH stretching vibration and the C-S stretching vibration indicate the incorporation of MPTMS to the surface of silica spheres. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) image of the surface modified silica sphere (SMSS) shows nano-particles of MPTMS on the surface of silica spheres. High concentration of copper solution (1000 ppm) was used to test the copper removal efficiency and uptake capacity. The FESEM image of SMSS treated with the copper solution shows large number of copper lumps on the surface of SMSS. The copper concentration drastically decreased with increasing the amount of SMSS. The residual copper concentrations were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. The copper removal efficiency and uptake capacity with 1000 ppm of copper solution were 99.99 % and 125 mg/g, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.139-146
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• 2005

We selected six kinds of stretching exercises that can be easily acquired and put to practical use by back pain patients and arranged the practicing order of the exercising method after measuring the % MlVC of the muscle power when a normal person was exercising with a surface EMG. Among the patients complaining of back pain, 20 case groups were given the selected exercise and physical therapy, and 20 control groups were only given a physical therapy. Before and 2 weeks, 4weeks, 6 weeks and 8 weeks after the exercise therapy, a muscle power was measured with a fitness machine and the effectiveness of the exercise was compared. After six weeks difference of the muscle power between the case group and control group was shown, and after 8weeks the case group manifested the stronger muscle power than that of the control group in both male and female. Exercising therapy clearly seems to be helpful in strengthening the muscle power of the back pain patients.