• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.288-297
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• 2002

Purpose: Soft tissue attenuation and scattering are major methodological limitations of myocardial perfusion SPECT. To overcome these limitations, algorithms for attenuation, scatter correction and resolution recovery (ASCRR) is being developed, while quantitative myocardial SPECT has also become available. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of an ASCRR-corrected quantitative myocardial SPECT method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD). Materials and Methods: Seventy-five patients (M:F=51:24, $61.0{\pm}8.9$ years old) suspected of CAD who underwent coronary angiography (CAG) within $7{\pm}12$ days of SPECT(Group-I) and 20 subjects (M:F=10:10, age $40.6{\pm}9.4$) with a low likelihood of coronary artery disease (Group-II) were enrolled. Tl-201 rest/ dipyridamole-stress Tc-99m-MIBI gated myocardial SPECT was performed. ASCRR correction was peformed using a Gd-153 line source and automatic software (Vantage-Pro; ADAC Labs, USA). Using a 20-segment model, segmental perfusion was automatically quantified on both the ASCRR-corrected and uncorrected images using an automatic quantifying software (AutoQUANT; ADAC Labs.). Using these quantified values, CAD was diagnosed in each of the 3 coronary arterial territories. The diagnostic performance of ASCRR-corrected SPECT was compared with that of non-corrected SPECT. Results: Among the 75 patients of Group-I, 9 patients had normal CAG while the remaining 66 patients had 155 arterial lesions; 61 left anterior descending (LAD), 48 left circumflex (LCX) and 46 right coronary (RCA) arterial lesions. For the LAD and LCX lesions, there was no significant difference in diagnostic performance. In Group-II patients, the overall normalcy rate improved but this improvement was not statistically significant (p=0.07). However, for RCA lesions, specificity improved significantly but sensitivity worsened significantly with ASCRR correction (both p<0.05). Overall accuracy was the same. Conclusion: The ASCRR correction did not improve diagnostic performance significantly although the diagnostic specificity for RCA lesions improved on quantitative myocardial SPECT. The clinical application of the ASC-RR correction requires more discretion regarding cost and efficacy.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.316-326
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• 1999

Purpose: We evaluated the feasibility of extracting pure left ventricular blood pool and myocardial time-activity curves (TACs) and of generating factor images from human dynamic N-13 ammonia PET using factor analysis. The myocardial blood flow (MBF) estimates obtained with factor analysis were compared with those obtained with the user drawn region-of-interest (ROI) method. Materials and Methods: Stress and rest N-13 ammonia cardiac PET imaging was acquired for 23 min in 5 patients with coronary artery disease using GE Advance tomograph. Factor analysis generated physiological TACs and factor images using the normalized TACs from each dixel. Four steps were involved in this algorithm: (a) data preprocessing; (b) principal component analysis; (c) oblique rotation with positivity constraints; (d) factor image computation. Area under curves and MBF estimated using the two compartment N-13 ammonia model were used to validate the accuracy of the factor analysis generated physiological TACs. The MBF estimated by factor analysis was compared to the values estimated by using the ROI method. Results: MBF values obtained by factor analysis were linearly correlated with MBF obtained by the ROI method (slope = 0.84, r = 0.91), Left ventricular blood pool TACs obtained by the two methods agreed well (Area under curve ratio: 1.02 ($0{\sim}1min$), 0.98 ($0{\sim}2min$), 0.86 ($1{\sim}2min$)). Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrates that MBF can be measured accurately and noninvasively with dynamic N-13 ammonia PET imaging and factor analysis. This method is simple and accurate, and can measure MBF without blood sampling, ROI definition or spillover correction.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.119-141
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• 2000

The current industrial health service is shifting to health improvement business with 1st primary prevention-focused service from secondary and tertiary prevention-focused business, and Oriental medicine can provide such primary prevention-focused service due to the characteristics of its science. In particular, the advanced concept of health improvement can match the science of health care of Oriental medicine. Notably, what is most important in health improvement is our lifestyle, This does not underestimate the socio-environmental factors, which have lessened their importance due to modernism. The approach of Oriental medicine weighs more individuals' lifestyle and health care through self-cultivation. This matches the new model of advanced health business. Oriental medicine is less systemized than Western medicine, but it can provide ample contents that enhance health. If we conceive health-improvement program based on the advantages provided by these two medical systems, this will influence workers to the benefit of their health. Also, health Program needs to define factors that determine individual lives, and to provide information and technologies essential to our lives. The Oriental medicine approach puts more stress on a subject's capabilities than it does on the effect his surrounding environment can have. This needs to be supported theoretically by not only defining the relations between an individual's health state and his lifestyle, but also identifying the degree to which an individual in the industrial work place practices health improvement lifestyle . This is the first step toward initiating health-improvement business . In order to do this, this researcher conducted a survey by taking random samplings from workers, and can draw the following conclusions from it. 1 The sampled group is categorized into', by sender, female 6.6%, and male 93.4%, with males dominant; by marriage status , unmarried 43.9% and married 55.6%, with both similar percentage, and, by age, below 30, 48.4%, between 30 and 39, 27.4%, between 40 and 49, 18.2%, and over 50, 6.0%. The group further is categorized into; by education, middle school or under 1.7%, high school 30.5%, and junior college or higher 65.8% with high school and higher dominant: and by income, below 1.7 million won 24.2%, below 2.4 million won 14.8%, and above 2.4 million 6.3% Still, the group by job is categorized into collegians with 23.9%, office worker with 10.3%, and professionals with 65.8% , and this group does not include workers engaged in production that are needed for this research, but mostly office workers . 2. The subjects selected for this survey show their degree of practicing health-improvement lifestyle at an average of 2.63, health management pattern at 2.64, and health-related awareness at 2.62 The sub-divisions of health-improvement lifestyle show social emotion (2.87), food (2.66). favorite food (2.59), and leisure activities (2.52), in this order for higher points. It further shows health awareness (2.47) and safety awareness (2.40), lower points than those in health management pattern . 3. In the area of using leisure time for health-improvement, males, older people, married, and people with higher income earn higher marks. And, in the area of food management, the older and married earn higher marks . In the area of favorite food management, females, lower-income bracket, and lower-educated show higher degree of practice , while in the area of social emotion management, the older. married, and higher-income bracket show higher marks. In addition, in the area of health awareness, the older, married, and people with higher-income show higher degree of practice. 4. To look at correlation by overall and divisional health-improvement practice degree , this researcher has analyzed the data using Person's correlation coefficient. The lifestyle shows significant correlation with its six sub-divisions, and use of leisure time, food, and health awareness all show significant correlation with their sub-divisions. And. the social emotion and safety awareness show significant correlation with all sub-divisions except favorite food management.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.1047-1059
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• 1998

Senile Dementia is one of the dispositional mental disorder which has been known to the world since Hippocratic age. It has become a wide-spread social problem all over the world because of chronic disease processes and the demands of dependent care for several years as well as improbability of treatment of it at the causal level. Essentially, life styles of the older generation differ from those of the younger generation. While the fomer is used to the patriarchal system and the spirit of filial piet and respect, the latter is pragmatized and individualized under the effects of the Western material civilization. These differences between the two generations cause conflict between family members. In particular, the pain and conflict of care-givers who take care of a totally dependent dementia patient not only is inciting to the collapse of the family union, but is expanding into a serious social problem. According to this practical difficulty, this study has tried to compare dementia care-givers' experiences inter-culturally and to help set up more proper nursing interventions, describing and explaining them through ethnographies by participant observation and in-depth interviews that enable seeing them in a more close, honest and certain way. It also tries to provide a theoetical model of nusing care for dementia patients which is proper to Korean culture. This study is composed of 12 participants (4 males, 8 females) whose ages range from 37-71 years. The relations of patients are 5 spouses(3 husbands, 2 wives), 4 daughters-in-law, 2 daughters, and 1 son-in-law. The following are the care-givers' meaning of experiences that results of the study shows. The first is "psychological conflict". It contains the minds of getting angry, reproaching, being driven to dispair, blaming oneself, giving up lives, and being afraid, hopeless, and resigned. The second is "physical, social and psychological pressure" . At this stage, care-givers are shown to be under stress of both body and soul for the lack of freedom and tiredness. They also feel constraint because they hardly cope with the care and live through others' eyes. The third is "isolation". It makes the relationship of patient care-giver to be estranged, without understanding each other. They, also, experience indifference such as being upset and left alone. The forth is "acceptance" They gradually have compassion, bear up and then adapt themselves to the circumstances they are in. The fifth is "love". Now they learn to reward the other with love. It is also shown that this stage contains the process of winning others' recognition. The final is "hope". In this stage they really want situations to go smoothly and hope everything will be O.K. These consequences enable us to summarize the principles of cue experience such as, in the early stage, negative response such as physical·psychological confusion, pain and conflict are primary. Then the stage of acceptance emerges. It is an initial positive response phase when care-givers may admit their situations. As time passes by a positive response stage emerges. At last they have love and hope. Three stages we noted above : however, there are never consistent situations. Rather it gradually comes into the stage of acceptance, repeating continuous conflict, pressure and isolation. If any interest and understanding of families or the support of surrounding society lack, it will again be converted to negative responses sooner or later. Otherwise, positive responses like hope and love can be encouraged if the family and the surroundings give active aids and understanding. After all, the principles of dementia care experiences neither stay at any stage, nor develop from negative stages to positive stages steadily. They are cycling systems in which negative responses and positive responses are constantly being converted. I would like to suggest the following based on the above conclusions : First, the systematic and planned education of dementia should be performed in order to enhance public relations. Second, a special medical treatment center which deals with dementia, under government's charge, should be managed. Third, the various studies approaching dementia care experiences result in the development of more reasonable and useful nursing guidelines.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.16 no.1 s.79
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• pp.43-53
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• 2004

The current Korean Concrete Design Code(KCI Code) requires the minimum and maximum content of shear s in order to prevent brittle and noneconomic design. However, the required content of the steel reinforcement In KCI Code is quite different to those of the other design codes such as fib-code, Canadian Code, and Japanese Code. Furthermore, since the evaluation equations of the minimum and maximum shear reinforcement for the current KCI Code were based on the experimental results, the equations can not be used for the RC members beyond the experimental application limits. The concrete tensile strength, shear stress, crack inclination, strain perpendicular to the crack, and shear span ratio are strongly related to the lower and upper limits of shear reinforcement. In this research, an evaluation equation for the minimum content of shear reinforcement is theoretical proposed from the Wavier's three principals of the mechanics of materials.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.122-136
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• 2000

Chronic illness requiring attention and management during a long period of time puts great burden onto patients, their family and society. For patients with chronic illnesses, providing social support is the most important, and the fundamental support comes from their spouses. Amount and quality of support from spouses seems to differentiated according to the sex of patients. Female patients tend to believe that their spouses are not very supportive. Therefore, the researchers assessed the burden of husbands of female arthritis patients to discover the factors that result in greater burden. Also, they developed a theoretical model of husbands′ care for their wives through a qualitative research into husbands′ experience. Method 1: The study material was 650 female arthritis patients registered in an arthritis clinic. The questionnaire about the disease experience of female arthritis patients and the burden of husbands were sent. Returned questionnaires numbered 210(32.3%) and 27 were excluded because of inadequate answers. The remaining 183 questionnaires were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 51 years and the mean age of spouses was 55 years. The mean marital period was 28 years. The average duration since diagnosis was 9.1 years. Education level was varied from primary school to graduate school, and average income/month was 1,517,300 won. Method 2: Initial questionnaire studies on the burden of husbands were performed. Among 183 responding husbands, 23 consented to participate for a qualitative research. Data was obtained by direct and telephone interviews. The mean age of participants was 58 years, and the educational level and socioeconomic status also varied. Result: 1. Husbands′ burden: The average burden was 57.68 with a range of 6-96. 2. Burden and general characteristics: The husband′s burden correlated with the age of the patients, numbers in the family, therapy methods, patient′s level of discomfort, patient′s disease severity, patient′s level of dependence and the husband′s understanding of the level of severity. 3. Linear correlation analysis on burden: The husbands′ burden is explained in 22.5% by husband′s recognition of level of severity and husbands′ age. 4. There were four patterns of the burden on husbands: both objectve burden and subjective burden were high(pattern I), both of objectve burden and subjective burden were low(pattern II), objective burden was high but subjective burden was low(pattern III), objective burden was low but subjective burden was high(pattern IV). The pattern was correlated with the family income, educational level of the patients and their husbands, therapy methods, patient′s level of discomfort, patient′s disease severity, patient′s level of dependence and husband′s understanding of level of severity. 5. The core category of the caring experience of the husbands with arthritis patients was "companionship". The causal factor was the patients′ experience due to symptoms : physical disfigurement, pain, immobility, limitation of house chores, and limitation of social activities. Contextural factors are husbands′ identification of housework and husbands′ concern about the disease. The mediating factors are economic problems, fear of aging, feeling of limitation and family support. The strategy for interaction is mind control and how to solve emotional stress. The "companionship" resulted from caring activities, participation of household activities, helping patients′ to coping with emotional experience. 6. Companionship is established through the process of entering intervention, and caring state of mind. Entering intervention is the phase of participation of therapy and involvement of houseworks. The caring phase consists of decision on therapy, providing therapy, providing direct care, and taking over the household role of wife. Through caring phase, the changing phase set a stage in which husbands consolidate the relationship with their wives, and are reminded of the meaning of marriage. As a result, in changing phase, husbands′ companionship is enhanced. In conclusion, nursing care of chronic illnesses should include a family member especially the spouse. All information on disease shoud be provided to patients and whole family member. Strong support should also be provided to overcome difficulties in taking over role of other sex. Then the quality of life of patients and families will be much improved.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.217-230
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• 1998

The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to define the relationship between the experience of Sanhuujori, Korean traditional non-professional postpartal care after delivery and abortion and present health status of chronic arthritis female patient who visited to outpatient clinic of rheumatic internal medicine at a hospital located in Seoul, Korea. A convenience sample of 64 women who orally agreed to be a participant and data were collected form October 1996 to May, 1997 for sis months by way of interview with semistructured questionnaire. The data were analyzed by the SPSS pc program using t-test, ANOVA and Scheffe test as a post hoc and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of the study were as follows ; Mean age of participants was 53.2 years and mean number of children was 3.1. Mean frequency of abortion was 2.1 times per woman. Seventy four percentage of respondents did not have Sanhujori after abortion. The mean period of Sanhujori after delivery was 17.7, 15.2, 13.8 days from the first child to third child and shorter than that of general woman such as 20.0, 19.0, 17.3 days in the previous study. On the subjective evaluation of whether the women did Sanhujori well or not, the rate of 'did Sanhujori wrongly' was the highest rank in each child where as general woman 'did Sanhujori well' at the first child, 'moderate' at the second and third child and 'did Sanhujori wrongly' at the 4th and fifth child. The health status implies both subjective health status women perceived and the rate of complaints of physical symptom distress women are experiencing presently. The respondents of 82.5% perceived them as unhealthy or sick and 68.9% of women complained more than two symptoms. Mean number of physical symptom distress women complained was 2.33. The main sites of physical symptom distress were upper & lower extremities 69.1% including knee and hand, whole body 19.1%, neck 3.7%, waist & shoulders 2.7% respectively. The characteristics of the symptoms were mostly pain 60%, swelling 19.8%, rigidity & deformity 7.9% respectively, sensation of heat 6.8% and weakness 1.7%. Women perceived the etiology of the chronic arthritis as stress 25.8%, 'did Sanhujori wrongly' & overwork 23.4% respectively, genetic 12.9%, malnutrition, 4.8%, and aging process 3.2%. There were significant positive correlation between subjective health status and the period of Sanhujori after delivery of the second child(r=-0.22) and negative correlation with the number of child at the level of 5% of significance statistically(r=0.27). There were significant negative correlation between the rate of complaints of physical symptom distress and the subjective evaluation whether she did Sanhujori well or not at the level of 5% of significance statistically(r=-0.23). And the rate of complaints of physical symptom distress in the group of women who experienced abortion was significantly higher than that of women who did not experience it at the level of 5% significance statistically(t=2.00) In conclusion, this finding reconfirmed the possible relationship between health status of chronic arthritis female patient and the experience of Sanhujori after delivery & abortion. It provides a challenge to the professional care givers to research further on the effects of Sanhujori on the health status, health recovery after abortion or delivery from the various aspects through the crosssectional and longitudinal research for the refinement of the reality of not only as cultural phenomenon but as conceptual model for the appropriateness of intervention and quality of care for desirable health outcomes.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.546-555
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• 2014

The final aim of this study is to develop a biofiltration system integrated with plant vegetation for improving indoor air quality effectively depending on indoor space and characteristics. However, to approach this final goal, several requirements such as constant pressure drops (PDs) and soil moisture contents (SMCs), which influence the capacity design for a proper ventilation rate of biofiltration system, should be satisfied. Thus, this fundamental experiment was carried out to adjust a proper wind speed and to ensure a stabilization of initial SMCs within biofilter for uniform distribution of SMCs and PDs, and for normal plant growth, especially avoiding root stress by wind. Therefore, we designed horizontal biofliter models and manufactured them, and then calculated the ventilation rate, air residence time, and air-liquid ration based on the biofilter depending on three levels of wind speed (1, 2, and $3cm{\cdot}s^{-1}$). The relative humidity (RH) and PD of the humidified air coming out through the soil within the biofilter, and SMC of the soil and plant growth parameters of lettuce and duffy fern grown within biofilter were measured depending on the three levels of wind speed. As a result of wind speed test, $3{\cdot}sec^{-1}$ was suitable to keep up a proper RH, SMC, and plant growth. Thus, the next experiment was set up to be two levels of initial SMCs (low and high initial SMC, 18.5 and 28.7%) within each biofilter operated and a non-biofiltered control (initial SMC, 29.7%) on the same wind speed ($3cm{\cdot}sec^{-1}$), and measured on the RH and PD of the air coming out through the soil within the biofilter, and SMC of the soil and plant growth parameters of Humata tyermani grown within biofilter. This result was similar to the first results on RHs, SMCs, and PDs keeping up with constant levels, and three SMCs did not show any significant difference on plant growth parameters. However, two biofiltered SMCs enhanced dry weights of the plants slightly than non-biofiltered SMC. Thus, the stability of this biofiler system keeping up major physical factors (SMC and PD) deserved to be adopted for designing an advanced integrated biofilter model in the near future.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.77-84
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• 2019

Objectives : The Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale (IIRS) is a well-validated self-report instrument for assessing negative impact of chronic illness and/or adverse effects of its treatment on everyday life domains. Although extensive literature probed its psychometric properties in medical illness, little attention was paid for its validity for psychiatric population. This study aimed to test factorial structure of the Korean Version of the IIRS (IIRS-K) in a consecutive sample of psychiatric outpatients. Methods : Data set of 307 first-visit patients of psychiatric clinic at Guri Hanyang univ. Hospital were used. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency were tested in IIRS-K. We also checked Spearman's correlation analysis between IIRS-K, Zung's self-report anxiety scale and Zung's self-report depression scale. Results : 76.9% of the patients were with anxiety disorder and depressive disorder. The principal component factor analysis of the IIRS-K extracted three-factor structure accounted for 63.2% of total variance that was contextually similar to the original English version. This three-factor solution showed the best fit when tested confirmatory factor analysis compared to the original IIRS, two-factor model of IIRS-K suggested from medical outpatients, and one-factor solution. The IIRS-K also showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.90) and good convergent validity with anxiety and depression scales. Conclusions : The IIRS-K showed the three-factor structure that was similar but not identical to original version. Overall, this study proved factorial validity of the IIRS-K and it can be used for Korean clinical population.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.796-803
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• 2008

Mutations in the APP gene lead to enhanced cleavage by ${\beta}-$ and ${\gamma}-secretase$, and increased $A{\beta}$ formation, which are closely associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like neuropathological changes. Recent studies have shown that exercise training can ameliorate pathogenic phenotypes ($A{\beta}-42$, BDNF, GLUT-1 and HSP70) in experimental models of Alzheimer's disease. Here, we have used NSE/APPsw transgenic mice to investigate directly whether exercise training ameliorates pathogenic phenotypes within Alzheimer's brains. Sixteen weeks of exercise training resulted in a reduction of $A{\beta}-42$ peptides and also facilitated improvement of cognitive function. Furthermore, GLUT -1 and BDNF proteins produced by exercise training may protect brain neurons by inducing the concomitant expression of genes that encode proteins (HSP-70) which suppress stress induced neuron cell damages from APPsw transgenic mice. Thus, the improved cognitive function by exercise training may be mechanistically linked to a reduction of $A{\beta}-42$ peptides, possibly via activation of BDNF, GLUT-1, and HSP-70 proteins. On the basis of the evidences presented in this study, exercise training may represent a practical therapeutic management strategy for human subjects suffering from Alzheimer's disease.