• Journal of Korean Medical Science
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• v.33 no.50
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• pp.326.1-326.10
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• 2018

Background: This retrospective study analyzed the causes of failure in the management process from the identification of brain-dead potential organ donors to actual donation in Korea over the past 5 years. Methods: Data of 8,120 potential brain deaths reported to the Korea Organ Donation Agency were used, including information received at the time of reporting, donation suitability evaluation performed by the coordinator after the report, and data obtained from interviews of hospital medical staff and the donor's family. Results: From January 2012 to December 2016, the total number of brain-dead potential organ donors in Korea was 8,120, of which 2,348 (28.9%) underwent organ procurement surgery with designated recipients. While the number of transplant donors has increased over time, the ratio of transplant donors to medically suitable brain-dead donors has decreased. The common causes of donation failure included donation refusal (27.6%), non-brain death (15.5%), and incompatible donation (11.6%); 104 potential donors (7.8%) were unable to donate their organs because they were not pronounced brain dead. Conclusion: The rate of successful organ donation may be increased by analyzing the major causes of failure in the brain-dead organ donation management process and engaging in various efforts to prevent such failures.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.394-402
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• 2023

Background: The optimal choice of valve substitute for aortic valve replacement (AVR) in pediatric patients remains a matter of debate. This study investigated the outcomes following AVR using mechanical prostheses in children. Methods: Forty-four patients younger than 15 years who underwent mechanical AVR from March 1990 through March 2023 were included. The outcomes of interest were death or transplantation, hemorrhagic or thromboembolic events, and reoperation after mechanical AVR. Adverse events included any death, transplant, aortic valve reoperation, and major thromboembolic or hemorrhagic event. Results: The median age and weight at AVR were 139 months and 32 kg, respectively. The median follow-up duration was 56 months. The most commonly used valve size was 21 mm (14 [31.8%]). There were 2 in-hospital deaths, 1 in-hospital transplant, and 1 late death. The overall survival rates at 1 and 10 years post-AVR were 92.9% and 90.0%, respectively. Aortic valve reoperation was required in 4 patients at a median of 70 months post-AVR. No major hemorrhagic or thromboembolic events occurred. The 5- and 10-year adverse event-free survival rates were 81.8% and 72.2%, respectively. In univariable analysis, younger age, longer cardiopulmonary bypass time, and smaller valve size were associated with adverse events. The cut-off values for age and prosthetic valve size to minimize the risk of adverse events were 71 months and 20 mm, respectively. Conclusion: Mechanical AVR could be performed safely in children. Younger age, longer cardiopulmonary bypass time and smaller valve size were associated with adverse events. Thromboembolic or hemorrhagic complications might rarely occur.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2002

This paper describes an automatic transplantation machine of optical fiber controlled by PLC. The transplantation operations is a key operation for the optical fiber application products, such as bag, cap, and others. To transplant 200∼500 optical fibers, there are many recurrent manual operation needed with conventional process. In this paper. we propose an automatic machine that reduce transplanting time and enhance product quality. Developed machine includes transplantation, heat cutting and ultraviolet coating operation. Also proposed Machine is controlled by PLC to adjust operation parameters such as pulling length, cycle time, coating time and others. Developed Machine has been applied in the field and found to be a useful system.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.257-262
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• 2021

The pinning method is the traditional method to produce strawberry transplants. But, cultivating the pinning transplant is a labor-intensive operation and needs a long labor period. The cutting method has been considered as an effective alternative to the pinning method, due to the relatively short labor period and works time. This study was conducted to investigate the labor period, work time, and growth between pinning and cutting methods for strawberry transplants. The 'Maehyang' strawberry was cultivated at each pinning and cutting strawberry greenhouses. The time for special works on pinning method (pinning work, elimination of mother plant, and division of daughter plant), and cutting method (cutting collection, pretreatment before storage, and cutting work) were measured. The pinning method needed 6 tasks (planting of mother plant, maintaining of mother plant, pinning work, maintaining of daughter plant, elimination of mother plant, and division of daughter plant) for 158 days, and cutting method needed 4 tasks (collection and storage of cutting, cutting work, misting, and maintaining of transplants) for 113 days to cultivate transplants for fruit. And pinning method needed more work time than the cutting method. There was no significant difference between the growth of pinning and cutting transplants. These results showed that the cutting method saved more labor period, work time than pinning during the nursery period without losing transplant quality.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.101-101
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• 2022

In recent years, due to climate change, the livestock industry has become more interested in the production of forage crops. In Korea, more than 74% of forage crops are cultivated in winter rice fields. In particular, Italian ryegrass (IRG) is depends on imports for more than 70% of its seeds. In generally, the IRG rapeseed cultivation method involves sowing from early October to mid-October by drill sowing seeding or spot seedling. However, the sowing period is delayed due to frequent rainfall during. And, same period require a lot of seeds. However, raising seedlings and transplanted IRG will overcome weather conditions and reduce the amount of seeds. This study was intended to be applied to the domestic IRG seed industry in the future through growth and quantity evaluation according to transplant time and planting density for the production of good quality IRG seeds in rice paddy fields. In this study, transplanting time (October 20, October 30, November 10) and planting density (50, 70, and 80) were cultivated at the National Institute of Crop Science in 2021. The amount of fertilizer applied was adjusted to (N-P₂O₅-K₂O) 4.5-12-12 (kg/10a), and then 2.2(kg/10a) of nitrogen was added each year. For the growth survey, leaf area, canopy coverage, plant length, and seed yield were investigated. Along with the transplanting time, the plant length was higher on October 20 than on October 30 and November 10. On the other hand, leaf area index changes differed depending on the transplanting time and planting density, and were particularly high on October 20, 80 density and 70 density, but similar on October 30 and November 10. 1000 seed weight showed no difference with transplanting time and planting density. On the other hand, the seed yield was 215(kg/10a) for 80 density on October 20, 211(kg/10a) for 70 density, 118(kg/10a) for 50 density, and 80 density for October 30 and November 10. and 70 density did not differ. On the other hand, the 50 density on October 30 and November 10 were 164(kg/10a) and 147(kg/10a) respectively. As can be seen from this study, the earlier the transplant, the higher the seed yield. However, the 50 density was reduced in yield compared to the 70 density and 80 density.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.399-404
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• 2020

Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng) is associated with a variety of therapeutic effects, including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, vasorelaxative, antiallergic, antidiabetic, and anticancer effects. Accordingly, the use of ginseng has reached an all-time high among members of the general public. However, the safety and efficacy of ginseng in transplant recipients receiving immunosuppressant drugs have still not been elucidated. Transplantation is the most challenging and complex of surgical procedures and may require causation for the use of ginseng. In this regard, we have previously examined the safety, immunological benefits, and protective mechanisms of ginseng with respect to calcineurin inhibitor-based immunosuppression, which is the most widely used regimen in organ transplantation. Using an experimental model of calcineurin inhibitor-induced organ injury, we found that ginseng does not affect drug levels in the peripheral blood and tissue, favorably regulates immune response, and protects against calcineurin inhibitor-induced nephrotoxicity and pancreatic islet injury. On the basis of our experimental studies and a review of the related literature, we propose that ginseng may provide benefits in organ transplant recipients administered calcineurin inhibitors. Through the present review, we aimed to briefly discuss our current understanding of the therapeutic benefits of ginseng related to transplant patient survival.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2006

Accumulation of nitrate in green vegetables is undesirable due to potential risks to human health. Lettuce was cultivated in pots under greenhouse conditions with compost applications of 2,000 and 4,000 kg/10a, and the growth and nitrate accumulation of lettuce were compared with those found in the lettuce cultivated with chemical fertilizers of recommended levels. Content of $NH_4-N$ in the soils of compost applications were much lower than those found in the soil of chemical fertilizer application. Two weeks after lettuce transplant $NH_4-N$ was not found in the soils of compost applications, and in the soils of chemical fertilizers application $NH_4-N$ was not found three weeks after lettuce transplant. One week after lettuce transplant content of $NO_3-N$ was much higher in the soils of compost applications, and the contents were rapidly decreased. While, the content of $NO_3-N$ in the soil of chemical fertilizers application was rapidly increased due to the nitrification of $NH_4$ released from the applied urea. At the time of harvest contents of $NO_3-N$ in the soils of compost applications were less than 1.4 mg/kg, but in the soil of chemical fertilizers application the content of $NO_3-N$ was 54.2 mg/kg. Contents of $NH_4$ in lettuce were about 20 mg/kg FW and were not much different among the treatments. However, contents of $NO_3$ in lettuce were significantly different between the treatments of chemical fertilizer and compost. There were significant differences in fresh and dry weights, and growth of lettuce in the compost treatment of 4,000 kg/10a was highest among the treatments. These results indicate that the cultivation with compost only as N source can produce higher yield of lettuce and significantly reduce nitrate accumulation as compared to the conventional cultivation with chemical fertilizers.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.630-634
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• 2009

According to the 2007 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) report, a congenital diagnosis, infantile transplantation and being on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) at the time of transplant are risk factors for mortality for the patients who undergo a heart transplant, and a large body weight ratio also increases the risk of mortality. The patient of this case underwent a Ross operation and mitral valve repair due to left ventricle outflow track obstruction and mitral regurgitation. But the baby was treated with ECMO due to heart failure after the operation. When he was 3-months-old and had been. on 30 days of ECMO, he underwent a heart transplant with a heart that had a high donor-recipient weight ratio (4.42). We present this case from a technical standpoint and we include a review of the relevant literature.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.2-10
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• 2017

Early detection and proper management of kidney rejection are crucial for the long-term health of a transplant recipient. Recipients are normally monitored by serum creatinine measurement and sometimes with graft biopsies. Donor-derived cell-free deoxyribonucleic acid (cfDNA) in the recipient's plasma and/or urine may be a better indicator of acute rejection. We evaluated digital PCR (dPCR) as a system for monitoring graft status using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based detection of donor DNA in plasma or urine. We compared the detection abilities of the QX200, RainDrop, and QuantStudio 3D dPCR systems. The QX200 was the most accurate and sensitive. Plasma and/or urine samples were isolated from 34 kidney recipients at multiple time points after transplantation, and analyzed by dPCR using the QX200. We found that donor DNA was almost undetectable in plasma DNA samples, whereas a high percentage of donor DNA was measured in urine DNA samples, indicating that urine is a good source of cfDNA for patient monitoring. We found that at least 24% of the highly polymorphic SNPs used to identify individuals could also identify donor cfDNA in transplant patient samples. Our results further showed that autosomal, sex-specific, and mitochondrial SNPs were suitable markers for identifying donor cfDNA. Finally, we found that donor-derived cfDNA measurement by dPCR was not sufficient to predict a patient's clinical condition. Our results indicate that donor-derived cfDNA is not an accurate predictor of kidney status in kidney transplant patients.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.24.1-24.12
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• 2022

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in immunocompromised, especially transplant recipients, may induce a weaker immune response. But there are limited data on the immune response after COVID-19 vaccination in liver transplant (LT) recipients, especially on the comparison of Ab responses after different vaccine platforms between mRNA and adenoviral vector vaccines. Thus, we conducted a prospective study on LT recipients who received two doses of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (ChAdOx1), mRNA-1273, or BNT162b2 vaccines compared with healthy healthcare workers (HCWs). SARS-CoV-2 S1-specific IgG Ab titers were measured using ELISA. Overall, 89 LT recipients (ChAdOx1, n=16 [18%]) or mRNA vaccines (mRNA-1273 vaccine, n=23 [26%]; BNT162b2 vaccine, n=50 [56%]) received 3 different vaccines. Of them, 16 (18%) had a positive Ab response after one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 62 (73%) after 2 doses. However, the median Ab titer after two doses of mRNA vaccines was significantly higher (44.6 IU/ml) than after two doses of ChAdOx1 (19.2 IU/ml, p=0.04). The longer time interval from transplantation was significantly associated with high Ab titers after two doses of vaccine (p=0.003). However, mycophenolic acid use was not associated with Ab titers (p=0.53). In conclusion, about 3-quarters of LT recipients had a positive Ab response after 2 doses of vaccine, and the mRNA vaccines induced higher Ab responses than the ChAdOx1 vaccine.