• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.408-420
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• 2020

Purpose: Isoform 2 of tight junction protein claudin-18 (CLDN18.2) is a potential target for gastric cancer treatment. A treatment targeting CLDN18.2 has shown promising results in gastric cancer. We investigated the clinical significance of CLDN18.2 and other cell-adherens junction molecules (Rho GTPase-activating protein [RhoGAP] and E-cadherin) in metastatic diffuse-type gastric cancer (mDGC). Materials and Methods: We evaluated CLDN18.2, RhoGAP, and E-cadherin expression using two-plex immunofluorescence and quantitative data analysis of H-scores of 77 consecutive mDGC patients who received first-line platinum-based chemotherapy between March 2015 and February 2017. Results: CLDN18.2 and E-cadherin expression was significantly lower in patients with peritoneal metastasis (PM) than those without PM at the time of diagnosis (P=0.010 and 0.013, respectively), whereas it was significantly higher in patients who never developed PM from diagnosis to death than in those who did (P=0.001 and 0.003, respectively). Meanwhile, CLDN18.2 and E-cadherin expression levels were significantly higher in patients with bone metastasis than in those without bone metastasis (P=0.010 and 0.001, respectively). Moreover, we identified a positive correlation between the expression of CLDN18.2 and E-cadherin (P<0.001), RhoGAP and CLDN18.2 (P=0.004), and RhoGAP and E-cadherin (P=0.001). Conversely, CLDN18.2, RhoGAP, and E-cadherin expression was not associated with chemotherapy response and survival. Conclusions: CLDN18.2 expression was reduced in patients with PM but significantly intact in those with bone metastasis. Furthermore, CLDN18.2 expression was positively correlated with other adherens junction molecules, which is clinically associated with mDGC and PM pathogenesis.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.43-58
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• 2021

This study analyzes the entrepreneurship policies of the previous Korean administrations from the perspective of the Policy Paradigm by Hall(1993). A total of 195 newspaper articles and 202 government documents were examined to identify policy paradigm shifts through an analysis of policy objectives, policy instruments, and changing quality of policy instruments by each administration. The first paradigm was built during the 5th and 6th Republic, where 'Support for Small and Medium Enterprise Establishment Act' was enacted in 1986 to promote and support start-ups in the manufacturing sector. Next is the so-called 'people's government' period where 'Act on Special Measures for the Promotion of Venture Businesses' was enacted to tackle the challenges posed during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. A new policy goal was set to promote and nurture venture companies seeking subsequent means to achieve it. The third paradigm shift took place during President Moon's administration in order to effectively respond to the issues stemming from the fourth industrial revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the overall revision of the 'Support for Small and Medium Enterprise Establishment Act', the scope of startups were expanded, new industries and technology startups were supported and promoted, and venture investment-related laws were streamlined. In addition, the Small and Medium Business Administration was promoted as the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, enabling them to take initiative in implementing startup policies. Particularly, this study focuses on examining the low survival rate of startup companies and the revitalization of private investment as rising policy issues for recent startups, and suggests the improvement direction due to startup policy paradigm shift.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.19-31
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• 2021

We investigated the distribution characteristics of mussels (Mytilus coruscus) growing in the Geomundo sea area by water depth. The research was also conducted to identify the surrounding benthic organisms. Mussels showed high density and low obesity in low water depths. The lower the density, the higher the obesity level appeared in deeper water. The morphological characteristics also appeared to increase as the water depth deepened. In addition, the shell length and total weight were more strongly correlated at a depth of 12 m than at 2 m. The total weight by the growth of the shell length and shell height was affected by the water depth. The analysis showed that the density and biomass of the algae inhabiting the surroundings decreased somewhat as the water depth increased. In benthic animals, the number of mussels tended to decrease slightly at the point where oysters dominated, at a depth of 2 m. Conversely, the number of oysters tended to decrease in deeper water dominated by mussels. Thus, the spatial competition between oysters and mussels was affected by the water depth. Also, mussels did not appear in areas where large algae flourished, suggesting that the survival of mussels was affected by the presence or absence of large algae.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.115-133
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• 2020

With the rapid changes in the industry paradigm including the 4th industrial revolution, the survival and sustainable growth of SMEs and venture capital companies are facing a more difficult environment. The organizational capabilities help these companies to overcome the difficulties, such as absorption capacity, innovation capacity, adaptation capacity. It require many interconnected functions and capabilities to increase company performance. This study is based on the research about market adaptation capacity (agility, flexibility)'s mediating effect between organizational capacity(absorption capacity, innovation capacity, adaptation capacity) and corporate performance(financial, non-financial performance). According to the results of empirical analysis, First, Absorption capacity have a significant effect on agility. Second, Innovation capacity have a significant effect on flexibility. Third, Innovation capability have a significant effect on corporate performance. Fourth, Flexibility have a significant effect on corporate performance. Fifth, The mediating effect of flexibility between organizational capability and corporate performance was verified. Finally this paper also propose some suggestions on how to increase corporate performance for SMEs.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.106-116
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• 2021

Background: We evaluated the mid-term outcomes and angiographic patency of redo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods: Of 2,851 patients who underwent isolated CABG at Seoul National University Hospital from 2000 to 2017, 88 underwent redo CABG. Patients' mean age at redo CABG was 66.0±8.0 years. The mean interval between the first-time and redo CABG was 113.0±62.4 months. The mean follow-up duration was 86 months. Early and mid-term clinical outcomes were evaluated. Angiographic patency rates were evaluated early (1-2 days), 1 year, and 5 years after surgery. Comparative analyses between on-pump and off-pump CABG were also performed. Results: The culprits for reoperation were previous grafts (65.6%), native coronary vessels (17.8%), and both (16.7%). Off-pump CABG was performed in 75 cases (85.2%), and the mean number of distal anastomoses was 1.8±0.8. The saphenous vein (39.7%) was used most frequently, followed by the right internal thoracic artery (28.4%), right gastroepiploic artery (21.3%), left internal thoracic artery (7.8%), and radial artery (2.8%). Operative mortality was 1.1%. The overall survival, cumulative incidence of cardiac death, and cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiac events were 71.3%,12.0%, and 23.3% at 5 years after surgery, respectively. The overall angiographic patency rates were 95.7%, 90.1%, and 92.2% on early, 1-year, and 5-year angiograms, respectively. The angiographic patency rates of saphenous vein grafts were 93.1%, 85.6%, and 91.3% on early, 1-year, and 5-year angiograms, respectively. No significant differences in clinical outcomes or angiographic patency rates were observed between the on-pump (n=13) versus off-pump (n=75) groups. Multivariable analysis revealed that age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.07; p=0.005) and chronic kidney disease (HR, 3.85; p=0.001) were risk factors for all-cause mortality. Conclusion: Redo CABG could mostly be performed using the off-pump technique and did not show increased operative mortality and morbidities.

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2021

This study was conducted to do in-depth exploration of coroperate employees' learning experiences for workplace under COVID-19. We collected data through depth interviews from August 10th to November 30th, 2020 with five employees of S Energy company, and a qualitative case study was conducted using Ricci's 3-step analysis procedure. As a result, In the process of adapting from the landing of COVID-19, "The Story of a Distant Country," "No More Safe Zones," "Exploring effective responses created by a Sense of Crisis," and "Learning the changed way of work for adaptation." appeared. In addition, It has been found that the experience of learning in the work environment of the With Corona era includes "learning experience for survival from a sense of crisis", "learning experience for adapting to Untact culture", "learning experience through SNS communication", and "competitive learning experience for performance creation". In conclusion, employees have adapted to changes in the workplace environment through various learning experiences, which can enhance workers' ability to cope with crisis situations and can be used as basic data for an effective learning. In the future, we suggested follow-up researches of corporate employees in various fields.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.551-561
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• 2021

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancers, such as papillary and follicular cancers, have a favorable prognosis. However, poorly differentiated thyroid cancers, such as medullary, squamous and anaplastic advanced thyroid cancers, are very aggressive and insensitive to radioiodine treatment. Thus, novel therapies that attenuate metastasis are urgently needed. We found that both PDGFC and PDGFRA are predominantly expressed in thyroid cancers and that the survival rate is significantly lower in patients with high PDGFRA expression. This finding indicates the important role of PDGF/PDGFR signaling in thyroid cancer development. Next, we established a SW579 squamous thyroid cancer cell line with 95.6% PDGFRA gene insertion and deletions (indels) through CRISPR/Cas9. Protein and invasion analysis showed a dramatic loss in EMT marker expression and metastatic ability. Furthermore, xenograft tumors derived from PDGFRA geneedited SW579 cells exhibited a minor decrease in tumor growth. However, distant lung metastasis was completely abolished upon PDGFRA gene editing, implying that PDGFRA could be an effective target to inhibit distant metastasis in advanced thyroid cancers. To translate this finding to the clinic, we used the most relevant multikinase inhibitor, imatinib, to inhibit PDGFRA signaling. The results showed that imatinib significantly suppressed cell growth, induced cell cycle arrest and cell death in SW579 cells. Our developed noninvasive apoptosis detection sensor (NIADS) indicated that imatinib induced cell apoptosis through caspase-3 activation. In conclusion, we believe that developing a specific and selective targeted therapy for PDGFRA would effectively suppress PDGFRA-mediated cancer aggressiveness in advanced thyroid cancers.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.361-370
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• 2022

This paper suggested a plan to increase the start-up survival rate by identifying independent variables that significantly affect start-up success through analysis of the founder's internal and external factors. As a result of this study, it was found that internal factors (financial ability, risk sensitivity) and external factors (start-up environment, start-up support policy) had a direct positive (+) effect on start-up success. Meanwhile, self-efficacy for business models partially mediated the relationship between factors(financing ability, risk sensitivity, start-up environment and start-up support policies) and start-up success. Self-efficacy for business models fully mediated the relationship between factors(start-up expertise and challenge spirit) and start-up success. Finally, trust in business models partially mediated the relationship between factors(start-up expertise, risk sensitivity, and start-up support policies) and start-up success. And the trust in business models fully mediated the factors(the spirit of challenge, start-up environment) and start-up success.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.202-216
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• 2022

Animals exhibit certain behaviors and movement patterns as they react to their internal needs, external stimuli, and surrounding environments. They have a bounded range in which they mostly spend their time, and it is referred to as a home range. Based on the fact that the home range is a critical area for the survival and preservation of species, there has been a growing body of research on developing more precise home range estimation methods to use the estimated ranges as a ground for establishing an effective conservation policy since the early 1940s. Recent rapid advancements in telemetry technology that resulted in the presence of autocorrelation between locations with short time intervals revealed the limitations of the existing estimators. Many novel estimators have been developed to compensate for it by incorporating autocorrelation in calculating home ranges. However, studies on the animal home range are still in their early stage in Korea, and newly developed methodologies have not yet been adopted. Therefore, this study aims to introduce the foreign home range estimation methods and foster domestic research activities on home ranges. Firstly, we compared and contemplated seven estimators by categorizing them into geometrical and statistical methodologies and then divided them into estimators that assume independent observations and those that consider autocorrelation in each category. After that, the home ranges of black-tailed gulls (Larus crassirostris) were calculated using GPS tracking data for the month of June and derived home range estimators by applying the methodology introduced in this study. We analyzed and compared the results to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Lastly, we proposed a guideline that can help researchers choose an appropriate estimator for home range calculation based on the animal location data characteristics and analysis purpose.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.629-637
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• 2022

It is at risk of depletion of biodiversity due to indiscriminate overfishing of ecosystems and destruction of habitats. Intensive fertilizers or development of related facilities to increase agricultural production in poor indigenous areas devastate the soil. Preservation of biodiversity is now emerging as an important issue of global human coexistence. After the Post-2020 GBF Declaration, all governance in agricultural development in indigenous agricultural areas should be supported and promoted as biodiversity conservation measures. A compromise plan to reduce ecosystem development and biodiversity loss can help establish public governance policies. In this paper, a viability kernel used for viable control feedback analysis is introduced to solve conflicting economic and ecological problems in ecosystem conservation, and a mathematical model on biodiversity conservation by the viability kernel is examined. Because all species in the ecosystem are interdependent, if the balance is broken, biodiversity is depleted, which is irreversible and eventually leads to extinction. For sustainable use and harmony of biological resources, a lot of policy consideration is required, such as creative governance that can efficiently protect all species. Subsidies or tax incentives have a direct impact on biodiversity conservation. The recovery of species in a state of decreasing biodiversity can be said to be of great economic value. Biodiversity will allow indigenous producers to be proud of their unique traditional knowledge and have a positive impact on local tourism, thereby enhancing regional identity and greatly contributing to the survival and prosperity of mankind.