• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2021

Purpose Plasma renin activity (PRA) test is important for the diagnosis of primary aldosteronism. PRA is an easily deformed substance in vitro and affected by temperature changes. Laboratory of ASAN medical center has consistently found that there was a difference between the initial and re-experimental results. We compared and analyzed the differences in PRA test results according to the sample storage status. Materials and Methods The measurement of PRA was performed by using the radioimmunoassay. From August to September 2020, 43 PRA re-test samples were tested with different sample storage condition. The first group was re-examined by freezing the plasma-separated samples at -18℃, and the second group was re-examined with refrigerated EDTA sample. Also, additional tests were conducted on 13 PRA samples to verify the effect on thawing temperature differences in plasma-separated samples. The same samples were divided into two parts and stored frozen at -18℃, respectively, and thawing samples in room temperature and those in refrigerator were were conducted. Each result was compared and analyzed based on the initial experimental results. Results The results of re-examination after frozen storing plasma separation samples showed a lower correlation than the results of re-examination with EDTA plasma samples in refrigerator. When calculating the percentage based on the initial test results, the average percentage of each was 404.9% and 133.8%. The correlation coefficient was also R=0.8501 and R=0.9966, respectively, showing a higher correlation between plasma in the refrigerated sample EDTA tube. In comparison experiments with differences in thawing temperature, average percentage of the results of initial test and room temperature thawing was 94.3% and the average percentage of the results of refrigerated thawing was 88.0%. After again freezing the sample, the average percentage of the second room temperature thawing result is 107.5%, and the second refrigerated thawing group is 112.7%. Both groups showed an increase from first thawing. Conclusion A comparative analysis of retesting according to differences in sample storage methods in PRA tests showed a higher correlation between the results of retesting of the refrigerated EDTA plasma. And repeated freezing and melting of plasma separation samples, regardless of temperature during defrosting, has been shown to affect results. Therefore, retest of PRA should re-collect plasma from original EDTA plasma to increase reproducibility.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.376-388
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• 1996

The first and the second "Discussion Contest of Scientific Investigation" was evaluated in this study. This contest was a part of 'Korean Youth Science Festival' held in 1993 and 1994. The evaluation was based on the data collected from the middle school students of final teams, their teachers, a large number of middle school students and college students who were audience of the final competition. Questionnaires, interviews, reports of final teams, and video tape of final competition were used to collect data. The study focussed on three research questions. The first was about the preparation and the research process of students of final teams. The second was about the format and the proceeding of the Contest. The third was whether participating the Contest was useful experience for the students and the teachers of the final teams. The first area, the preparation and the research process of students, were investigated in three aspects. One was the level of cooperation, participation, support and the role of teachers. The second was the information search and experiment, and the third was the report writing. The students of the final teams from both years, had positive opinion about the cooperation, students' active involvement, and support from family and school. Students considered their teachers to be a guide or a counsellor, showing their level of active participation. On the other hand, the interview of 1993 participants showed that there were times that teachers took strong leading role. Therefore one can conclude that students took active roles most of the time while the room for improvement still exists. To search the information they need during the period of the preparation, student visited various places such as libraries, bookstores, universities, and research institutes. Their search was not limited to reading the books, although the books were primary source of information. Students also learned how to organize the information they found and considered leaning of organizing skill useful and fun. Variety of experiments was an important part of preparation and students had positive opinion about it. Understanding related theory was considered most difficult and important, while designing and building proper equipments was considered difficult but not important. This reflects the students' school experience where the equipments were all set in advance and students were asked to confirm the theories presented in the previous class hours. About the reports recording the research process, students recognize the importance and the necessity of the report but had difficulty in writing it. Their reports showed tendency to list everything they did without clear connection to the problem to be solved. Most of the reports did not record the references and some of them confused report writing with story telling. Therefore most of them need training in writing the reports. It is also desirable to describe the process of student learning when theory or mathematics that are beyond the level of middle school curriculum were used because it is part of their investigation. The second area of evaluation was about the format and the proceeding of the Contest, the problems given to students, and the process of student discussion. The format of the Contests, which consisted of four parts, presentation, refutation, debate and review, received good evaluation from students because it made students think more and gave more difficult time but was meaningful and helped to remember longer time according to students. On the other hand, students said the time given to each part of the contest was too short. The problems given to students were short and open ended to stimulate students' imagination and to offer various possible routes to the solution. This type of problem was very unfamiliar and gave a lot of difficulty to students. Student had positive opinion about the research process they experienced but did not recognize the fact that such a process was possible because of the oneness of the task. The level of the problems was rated as too difficult by teachers and college students but as appropriate by the middle school students in audience and participating students. This suggests that it is possible for student to convert the problems to be challengeable and intellectually satisfactory appropriate for their level of understanding even when the problems were difficult for middle school students. During the process of student discussion, a few problems were observed. Some problems were related to the technics of the discussion, such as inappropriate behavior for the role he/she was taking, mismatching answers to the questions. Some problems were related to thinking. For example, students thinking was off balanced toward deductive reasoning, and reasoning based on experimental data was weak. The last area of evaluation was the effect of the Contest. It was measured through the change of the attitude toward science and science classes, and willingness to attend the next Contest. According to the result of the questionnaire, no meaningful change in attitude was observed. However, through the interview several students were observed to have significant positive change in attitude while no student with negative change was observed. Most of the students participated in Contest said they would participate again or recommend their friend to participate. Most of the teachers agreed that the Contest should continue and they would recommend their colleagues or students to participate. As described above, the "Discussion Contest of Scientific Investigation", which was developed and tried as a new science contest, had positive response from participating students and teachers, and the audience. Two among the list of results especially demonstrated that the goal of the Contest, "active and cooperative science learning experience", was reached. One is the fact that students recognized the experience of cooperation, discussion, information search, variety of experiments to be fun and valuable. The other is the fact that the students recognized the format of the contest consisting of presentation, refutation, discussion and review, required more thinking and was challenging, but was more meaningful. Despite a few problems such as, unfamiliarity with the technics of discussion, weakness in inductive and/or experiment based reasoning, and difficulty in report writing, The Contest demonstrated the possibility of new science learning environment and science contest by offering the chance to challenge open tasks by utilizing student science knowledge and ability to inquire and to discuss rationally and critically with other students.

• Korean Security Journal
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• no.40
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• pp.209-242
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• 2014

This study is to understand sure the primary crime prevention has been incidence as a social problem intended for parents through the analysis of the Crime Prevention Design (CPTED) CPTED element of recognize elements that target crime prevention strategy to effectively help students be and an object of the present invention is to provide a policy suggestion haryeoneunde proposed basic data required for orientation. To achieve the study objectives such as the core framework in this study IPA: Importance-Performance Analysis) also was selected. Subjects of study in 2010 Gyeongju Elementary parents name and were 203 first research group investigating the secondary school population of the region in 2014 to nomadic parents of 297 people sampled selection. Questionnaire that use by this study applies "Important-Performance Analysis : IPA" technique that Martilla & James(1977) presented and analyzed awareness for CPTED elements of strategy for student's crime prevention to elementary school pupil students' parentse. It was the first group, 0.886, 0.920, 0.895 and 2nd group 0.880, 0.906, 0.878 that reliability of (Cronbach' s ${\alpha}$) the importance, and believability of run chart was the first group, 0.880, 0.917, 0.878 and 2nd group, 0.735, 0.840, 0.830. Analysis of the data carried out frequency analysis, reliability analysis, Frequency analysis was performed, paired sample t-Test for the reliability analysis, and the technical statistical analysis of the data is. The analysis of lattice bars execution through the IPA, the importance of the primary parents elements of CPTED strategies are generally very high, but found that the variation depending on the components that Performance. This study, an important element of the strategy to eliminate the school building for students from inside and outside the criminal fears CPTED is a mechanical surveillance in the first group, organizational surveillance, and the second group is the region intensified I'll showed mechanically and organizational factors in the investigation, and request that the investment is urgently important element is also execution low, crime prevention personnel security higher importance than expanding the front door. The analysis result of this study expects that basic data can be used in policy direction presentation that examines closely CPTED elements of strategy for crime prevention of students and applies CPTED's component effectively at elementary school hereafter.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.245-252
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• 2009

The congenital missing of teeth is common, which takes place since the proliferation and differentiation are not allowed in that tooth bud fail to start development. The purpose of this study is to research incidence rate, number, and missing part of congenital missing teeth, and to study whether a person who has missing teeth has other abnormality of teeth or not. For this study, 1,520 subjects(aged 2.9$\sim$17) who had visited pediatric dentist department of Chonbuk national university dental hospital within 2 years were examined with an panoramic radiograph; exempting third molar missing state. The obtained results are as follows. 1. 8.88% among total subjects show missing teeth; male 9.05%, female 8.64% 2. The most frequently missing permanent teeth were the mandibular second premolars(22.3%). The most frequently missing primary teeth are mandibular lateral incisors(50%). 3. 43.3% patients have one permanent missing tooth, 34.3% have two, and 10.4% have more than six, respectively. In primary teeth, 86.7% patients have one missing tooth, and 13.3% have two missing teeth. 4. 18 patients(13.3%) have missing teeth as well as hyperdontia, while some patients have microdont, ectopic eruption, and fusion teeth.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the tooth surface caries patterns in the primary dentition according to breast or bottle feeding. The subjects of study were 815 children, 36 to 71 months old, in Iksan, Cheongju and Ulsan cities. The caregivers of the children were asked which they fed between the breast milk and the infant formula during the 1st year after birth and the duration of feeding. There was no significant difference in dmfs between the breast milk group and the infant formula group(significance level 0.05, same below). Tooth groups, tooth surface groups, teeth, and tooth surfaces which had significantly higher dmfs in the breast milk group than in the infant formula group were upper anterior teeth(tooth groups), upper incisors' buccal and proximal surfaces(tooth surface groups), upper incisors and upper second molars(teeth), upper central incisors' buccal and distal surfaces, upper lateral incisors' buccolingual and proximal surfaces, upper 2nd molars'lingual, proximal, and occlusal surfaces, and lower 2nd molars' buccal and distal surfaces. In the breast milk group, tooth groups, tooth surface groups, teeth, and tooth surfaces which dmfs significantly increased as the duration of the feeding increased were upper anterior teeth and upper molars(tooth groups), upper anterior teeth's proximal surfaces, upper molars' buccolingual, proximal, and occlusal surfaces, lower molars' proximal surfaces(tooth surface groups), upper anterior teeth, upper molars, lower 2nd molars(teeth), upper anterior teeth's proximal surfaces, upper 1st molars'buccolingual, proximal, and occlusal surfaces, upper 2nd molars' buccal surfaces, and lower 2nd molars'mesial surfaces(tooth surfaces). In the infant formula group, dmfs increased after 3 years of feeding, but the difference was not significant. Caries prevention is necessary in case of breastfeeding more than two years.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.186-195
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• 2015

This research was conducted to investigate effect the plant growth regulators (PGRs) on the characteristics of fruit and flesh softening, using GA3 and thidiazuron (TDZ) treatments in 'Heukboseok' grapes. The total yield obtained under PGR treatment was 88.3% lower than the target production when a single treatment with $GA_3$ of low concentrations was used, but the expected yield was recovered by combined treatment with TDZ and $GA_3$. When harvested on the basis of color, the harvest rate up to 100 days after full bloom (DAFB) was low with the $GA_3$ single treatment, but was increased by the addition of TDZ, with the second TDZ mixed treatment being particularly effective. The soluble solids content in the PGR-treated samples demonstrated no significant changes after 90 DAFB, while the acidity content decreased rapidly starting from 90 DAFB. Measured on the basis of sugar and acidity content, maturity was reached much earlier in treated fruit than in the non-treated fruit. Firmness was maintained at a higher level until the final harvest time after PGR treatment compared to untreated grapes according to epidermis thickness and flesh density increase to activity cell division and expansion by $GA_3$ and TDZ. In particular, the fruit quality was improved based on the delay of softening in primary and secondary treatments of $25mg{\cdot}L^{-1}\;GA_3+2.5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ TDZ. The production of seedless fruit was difficult, even with the inclusion of TDZ, reaching the highest seedless rate of only 65.5%. Fruit cracking was rare, occurring at a rate of about 0.0~0.9% in all treatments. Accordingly, 'Heukboseok' grapes should be harvested within 100 days after full bloom (DBFB) before a rapid decrease of firmness, conferred by primary and secondary treatments with $25mg{\cdot}L^{-1}\;GA_3+2.5mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ TDZ.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2002

Purpose : To clarify the clinical benefit derived from the combined modality therapy (CMT) consisting of chemotherapy (CT) and involved field radiotherapy (RT) for stage I and II angiocentric lymphomas of the head and neck. Materials and Methods : Of 143 patients with angiocentric lymphoma of the head and neck treated at our hospital between 1976 and 1995, 104 patients (RT group) received involved field RT alone with a median dose of 50.4 Gy (range : 20~70 Gy), while 39 patients (CMT group) received a median 3 cycles (range : 1~6 cycles) of CT before involved field RT. The response rate, patterns of failure, complications, and survival data of the RT group were compared with those of the CMT group. Results : Despite a higher response rate, local failure was the most common pattern of failure in patients of both groups. The patterns of failure, including the systemic relapse rate were not influenced by the addition of combination CT. Although both modalities were well tolerated by the majority of patients, aberrant immunologic disorders or medical illnesses, such as a hemophagocytic syndrome, sepsis, intractable hemorrhage, or the evolution of second primary malignancies were more frequently observed in patients of the CMT group. The prognosis of patients in the RT group was relatively poor, with a 5-year overall actuarial survival rate of 38% and disease-free survival rate of 32%, respectively. However, their clinical outcome was not altered by the addition of systemic CT. Achieving complete remission was the most important prognostic factor by univariate and multivariate analyses, but treatment modality was not found to be a prognostic variable influencing survival. Conclusions : Involved field RT alone for angiocentric lymphoma of the head and neck was insufficient to achieve an improved survival rate, but the addition of CT to involved field RT failed to demonstrate any therapeutic advantage over involved field RT alone.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.92-101
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• 2009

Purpose: Scintimammography is one of the screening tests for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. It has been widely accepted as very useful in assessing masses that have not been detected in breast scanning. This method is highly sensitive and specific with respect to the diagnosis of primary and relapsing breast cancer. It has some difficulties, however, in detecting tumors sized 1 cm and below due to the radioactivity around the breast and the geometrical structure of the equipment. The recent introduction of high-resolution Breast-specific Gamma Imaging (BSGI) has made it possible to more accurately discriminate between malignant and benign tumors than with any other test method. Thus, the possibility of an unnecessary biopsy being performed has decreased. The purpose of this study was to examine the diagnostic capacity of mammography, breast sonography, and scintimammography, which are used for the early diagnosis of known breast cancer, and of BSGI, and to evaluate the skillfulness of radiologists. Materials and Methods: The 53 volunteers participants who had no clinical manifestation of breast cancer underwent the BSGI in February 2009. In the BSGI procedure, scanning images were obtained from the craniocaudal projection (CC) and the mediolateral Oblique projection (MLO), as well as from the additional $80{\times}80$-matrix-sized views at various angles in the Present Time method, 10 minutes after the 25 mCi $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI was injected. Results: The results of the BSGI showed that two participants had masses in their breast tissue. As the results of the diagnosis of four participants were not clear, they were retested and the results of the second test were negative. The results of the clinical screening test for breast cancer showed that the sensitivity of BSGI, scintimammography, mammography, and breast sonography was 86.5%, 77.8%, 85~90%, and 66.7%, respectively, and that their specificity was 92.4%, 84.2%, 20~42%, and 68%, respectively. Conclusion: The autodiagnosis and breast cancer screening test are needed for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. It was not easy, however, to accurately determine the presence of a mass in the breast using the existing breast cancer screening test. The patients with unclear test findings were made to undergo a histologic biopsy for a more accurate diagnosis. It is expected that the BSGI can provide useful information for the early diagnosis of breast cancer and of primary breast cancer, and will reduce the performance of unnecessary biopsies because of its higher sensitivity and specificity than existing breast cancer screening tests.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.219-226
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• 2014

The effects of different stocking densities on the growth and survival rate of the abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, were investigated in marine net cage for two years. Stocking density was set 15, 30, 45 and 60 percentage $(=per.)/m^2$ with share to cross-sectional area per shelter. The primary rearing period (PRP) and the secondary rearing period (SRP) were conducted by a year. One year mean water temperature of PRP and SRS showed the difference about $2^{\circ}C$. In the growth (initial mean shell length of abalone : $36.14{\pm}2.28mm$) of PRP, the absolute growth rate (ARG), daily growth rate (DGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) of the $15per./m^2$ were higher than those of density groups (P < 0.05). Survival rates of all density groups were showed no significant difference. In the growth (mean shell length of abalone : $55.26{\pm}6.93mm$) of SRP, ARG, DGR and SGR of stocking density groups showed no significant difference except for $45per./m^2$ density group. Survival rate in the low-density (15, $30per./m^2$) was more than 70%, and those of the high-density (45, $60per./m^2$) were less than 31% and 9%, respectively. These results showed that the appropriate stocking density for $15per./m^2$ was seven hundred fifty number per one net cage ($2.4{\times}2.4m$), during PRP using 3-4 cm abalone in length. Also for the secondary rearing period, the optimal stocking density (shell length 5-6 cm of abalone) consider with the economical efficiency was determined to be $30per./m^2$, resulting the productivity improved.