• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7789-7794
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• 2015

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a community-based health education and communication programme on reducing liver fluke infections caused by the consumption of uncooked fish among people in a high-risk area of Thailand. Materials and Methods: The study was quasi-experimental in nature, with three-stages. Stage 1 involved a situational and capacity analysis of designated communities in Khon Kaen province. This was followed by the development of a model for community-based health education and communication to prevent liver fluke infections among high-risk people, and, lastly, implementation and evaluation of the model were performed. Data were collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods. In total, 390 people were surveyed, and quasi-experimental and comparison groups, each with 90 people, were assessed between May 2011 and April 2012. Analysis was using statistical OR, 95 % CI, the Willcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test, the chi-square test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The findings showed that most respondents had a high level of knowledge and understanding of liver fluke disease (89.5%, 95% CI:86.0-92.4), and positive attitudes toward the prevention of the disease (94.4%, 95% CI:91.6-96.4). However, with regard to changes in consumption of uncooked fish, most respondents were still in the pre-contemplation phase (55.1%, 95% CI:50.0-60.1), followed by the contemplation phase, 22.6%. Furthermore, four factors were found to be associated with the consumption of uncooked fish - the consumption of alcohol (OR 4.16, 95% CI:1.79-9.65), gender (OR 3.17, 95% CI:1.53-6.54), smoking (OR 3.03, 95% CI:1.31-7.05), and age 40 years and above (OR 2.68, 95% CI:1.02-7.05). After nine months of the health education and communication programme using local media based on local wisdom, culture and persons, the results showed that, compared to the control group, members of the experimental group had a higher level of knowledge, a better attitude and lower levels of ill-advised consumption behaviour. Also, it was found that consumption of uncooked fish, by an assessment of the level of stage of change, was reduced. (p-value 0.002). Conclusions: The health education and communication programme developed as part of the study was effective in changing the consumption of uncooked fish. Therefore, this approach should be promoted in other high-risk areas in Thailand in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.25-36
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• 2000

3-D Spectrograms for 22 events are drawn to discern about whether those are earthquakes or explosions. Generally, in case of explosions relative to the case of earthquakes, amplitude of P phase is more dominantly shown. According to the results on logarithm of spectral ratio of P (Pn, Pg)/Lg after removing free-surface effects from 3-D (U-D, N-S, E-W) seismogram, $-1.2{\sim}-0.9$ is shown for earthquakes and $-0.7{\sim}-0.1$ if shown for explosions. This result is consistent with previous researches (Kim Park, 1997) that -0.6 of spectral ratio between P and Lg after taking logarithm may be the criterion for the discrimination between earthquakes and explosions in Korea. In addition, Complexity is applied to two events as another discrimination method. The value of Complexity of explosion is much smaller than that of earthquake. This may be due to well-developed P-wave in explosion compared to that in earthquake. This result is in accordance with that of 3-D Spectrogram.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.97-108
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• 2019

An automated Praat script was implemented to measure optimal formant frequencies for adults. Optimal formant analysis could be interpreted to show that the deviation of formant frequency that resulted from the two variously combined setting parameters (maximum formant and number of formants) was minimal. To increase the reliability of formant analysis, LPC order should be set differently, based on the gender or vowel type. Praat recommends 5,000 Hz and 5,500 Hz as maximum formant settings and, at the same time, recommends 5 as the number of formants for males and females. However, verification is needed to determine whether these recommended settings are valid for Korean vowels. Statistical analysis showed that formant frequencies significantly varied across the adapted scripts, especially with respect to the data on females. Formant plots and statistical results showed that linear_script and qtone_script are much more reliable in formant measurements. Among four kinds of scripts, the linear and qtone_scripts proved to be more stable and reliable. While the linear_script was designed to have a linearly increased formant step in for-loop, the increment of formant step in the qtone_script was arranged by quarter tone scale (base frequency×common ratio ($\sqrt[24]{2}$)). When looking at the tendency of the formant setting drawn by the two referred algorithms in the context of front vowel [i, e], the maximum formant was set higher; and the number of formants set at a lower value than recommended by Praat. The back vowel [o, u], on the contrary, has a lower maximum formant and a higher number of formants than the standard setting.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 1997

Recent reports indicate that the clinical usefulness of prostate specific antigen (PSA), particulary in the differentiation of benign prostate hyperplasia from prostate cancer, can be improved by measuring the amount of free PSA in serum. Measuring free PSA is especially useful in attempts to improve diagnositc performance of PSA in the diagnostic gray zone of total PSA. The objective of this study was to develop free PSA assay kit using sandwich microplate enzyme immunoassay format. We chose a test format with polyclonal anti-PSA antibodies coated on the wells and monoclonal anti-free PSA antibodies for quantification to gain higher test sensitivity. We adpoted 10 uL of specimen and 2 hours of first incubation time with detecting antibody for free PSA EIA format using microplate. The within-day and between-day precision (%CV) in the high and low concentration ranges were below 4%. The correlation coefficient between in-house free PSA assay and commercial assay kit was r=0.9965 (slope=0.0984, y intercept=0.0173, N=27). No hook effect was found by 40 ng/mL and correlation coefficient (r) value of the fitted linear regression was over 0.995. The recovery tests were in the range of 98.9∼104.1％ for free PSA. In conclusion, in-house free PSA enzyme immune assay is cost effective, simple and rapid and could be useful for the prognosis after theraphy as well as for the differential diagnosis between prostate cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.87-99
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• 1982

This study proposes a reliability based design criteria for the R.C. superstructures of highway bridges. Uncertainties associated with the resistance of T or rectangular sections are investigated, and a set of appropriate uncertainties associated with the bridge dead and traffic live loads are proposed by reflecting our level of practice. Major 2nd moment reliability analysis and design theories including both Cornell's MFOSM(Mean First Order 2nd Moment) Methods and Lind-Hasofer's AFOSM(Advanced First Order 2nd Moment) Methods are summarized and compared, and it has been found that Ellingwood's algorithm and an approximate log-normal type reliability formula are well suited for the proposed reliability study. A target reliability index (${\beta}_0=3.5$) is selected as an optimal value considering our practice based on the calibration with the current R.C. bridge design safety provisions. A set of load and resistance factors is derived by the proposed uncertainties and the methods corresponding to the target reliability. Furthermore, a set of nominal safety factors and allowable stresses are proposed for the current W.S.D. design provisions. It may be asserted that the proposed L.R.F.D. reliability based design criteria for the R.C. highway bridges may have to be incorporated into the current R.C. bridge design codes as a design provision corresponding to the U.S.D. provisions of the current R.C. design code.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.9-18
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• 1996

Streptococcus mutans has been implicated as primary causative agents of dental caries by insoluble glucan (IG) in human and experimental animals. An attempt was made to search for the ${\alpha}$-1,3 glucanase that degrades IG produced by S. mutans. ${\alpha}$-1,3 glucanase was detected in the culture supernatant of microorganisms, which are isolated from soils on agar medium containing IG as a sole carbon source. This Streptomyces sp. hydrolysed IG produced by immobilized S. mutans and was named as Y9373. This enzyme required ${\alpha}$-1,3 glucan (IG) as an inducer. The optimum conditions for enzyme production were studied. The enzyme was purified by 30~70% $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ precipitation, anion exchange chroma tography on DEAE-cellulose and gel filtration on Sepadex G-75. The purified enzyme has a specific activity of 7840.0 U/mg protein giving 32.1-fold purification and final yield of 0.53%. The molecular weight was estimated to be about 22.5 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The optimum pH and temperature for enzyme reaction were 6.5 and 37$^{\circ}C$, respectively and the enzyme was relatively stable at the temperature below 60$^{\circ}C$. The activity of purified enzyme was enhanced by adding $Co^{2+},\;Mn^{2+}\;and\;Mg^{2+}$ into the medium, whereas inhibited by adding $Hg^{2+},\;Zn^{2+}$ and SDS. The $K_m\;and\;V_{max}$ value of ${\alpha}$-1,3 glucanase for IG were estimated to be 2.50 mM and 0.0431 mM/min, respectively. The thin layer chromatographic analysis of hydrolysates from IG with ${\alpha}$-1,3 glucanase showed that glucose was the main product of reaction. This enzyme activity was about 14 times higher than marketing dextranase as preventive agent against artificial dental caries by S. mutans in TH medium including 5% sucrose after 30 minutes.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.468-475
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• 1988

The cloned B. subtilis cdd gene encoding cytidine/2'deoxycytidine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.5) was expressed in the cdd deficient B. subtilis mutant ED40. The gene was isolted from the cdd complementing plasmid pSO21, and inserted into the EcoR1/Pvu1 sites of pGB215-110 ΔB, which is a temperature sensitivie E. coli-B. subtilis shuttle vector. In the transformed B. subtilis ED4O harboring the resulting plasmid pSO100, cdd was expressed at several hundred fold elevated levels, and the cytidine deaminase activity in E. coli containing pSO100 was twice the level in B. subtilis/pSO0100. The Km value for cytidine of the partially purified enzyme is 1.88$\times$10$^{-4}$M at pH 7.0 and the V$_{max}$ = 11.1 $\mu$mol/min/mg of protein. The enzyme was completely inhibited by 0.1M mercaptoethanol and HgCl$_2$. The inhibition by p-chrolomercurybenzoic acid showed a Ki = 5 uM. These results suggest that sulfhydryl reagents block an active site thiol group, and/or disturb the formation of the tetrameic holoenzyme.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.45-53
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• 2013

Objectives The objective of present study was to investigate the effect of Ojeoksangamibang ($W\check{u}j\bar{i}s\check{a}nji\bar{a}w\grave{e}if\bar{a}ng$) extract on recovery of liver function in carbontetrachloride ($CCl_4$)-exposed rat. Methods Male rats weighing $230{\pm}7.21g$ fed experimental diet for 1 week and 28 rats were divided into 4 groups. Each of 7 rats was devided into a control group and experimental groups. We fed a control group of rats a basal diet and administered normal saline (100 mg/kg, 1 time/1 day) for 3 weeks. And we fed each experimental group of rats basal diet and administered an extract of Ojeoksangamibang extracts (100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, 300 mg/kg, 1 time/1 day) for 3 weeks. We measured lipid of plasma and liver, concentration of proinflammatory cytokines ($IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6 and IL-10). Statistical analysis was done by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan's multiple range test with significance level at p<0.05. Results Plasma a-fetoprotein (AFP) and total protein concentration showed a tendency to decrease in Ojeoksangamibang extract-treated groups. However, plasma albumin concentration showed no significant differences in all treatment groups. Activity of plasma Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in the Ojeoksangamibang extract-treated groups, increased addition amount of Ojeoksangamibang extracts tended to decline. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and ${\gamma}$-glutamyl transferase (${\gamma}$-GT) activities showed a tendency to decrease in Ojeoksangamibang extract-treated groups, increased addition amount of Ojeoksangamibang extracts tended to decline. Concentration of plasma triglyceride and total cholesterol showed a lower value than that of control group. The liver $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ concentration were decreased, and IL-10 was increased in Ojeoksangamibang extract groups, compared to control group. Plasma $IL-1{\beta}$, IL-6 and $TNF-{\alpha}$ concentration were decreased, and IL-10 was increased in Ojeoksangamibang extract groups, compared to control group. Conclusions This study suggested that Ojeoksangamibang may alleviate liver inflammatory reaction induced by liver toxicity.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.63-72
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• 2012

The high-flowing concrete requires additionally or excessively more expensive admixture than conventional concrete. So, the concrete has not to be widely used in practical field due to the increase of production price, need of additional facilities, and excessive development of concrete strength in associate with addition of too much cementitious material even though it has more significant advantages than conventional concrete. Thus, this study aims at developing high-flowing concrete with general strength unlike high strength which has been carried out in conventional study. To observe the role of aggregate in the concrete quantitatively and to increase the performance of high-flowing concrete effectively, parametric studies were carried out such as W/C, s/a, fineness modulus of aggregate, contribution degree of particle sizes, and the effect of 13mm aggregate and fine stone powder as a partial replacement of aggregates. And the effect of these factors on performance of the concrete was evaluated by measuring slump-flow and gap of penetration height in U-typed instrument. As a result, it was found that flowability of high-flowing concrete depends upon grading of fine aggregate more significantly than that of coarse aggregate and is enhanced greatly as fineness modulus of fine aggregate decreases and the value of s/a increases. In addition, the application of 13mm aggregate and fine stone powder are expected as a partial replacement of aggregate in order to increase the performance of high-flowing concrete more effectively.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.289-300
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• 2020

Objectives : In this paper, We pointed out medico-historical meaning of Hyang'yak Kugŭppang (鄕藥救急方, Medical Recipes of Local Botanicals for Emergency Use), a medical book of Koryŏ Dynasty, breaking from the existing analysis view based on Hyang'yak (鄕藥), local herbs produced in Korean Peninsula. Methods : For that purpose, we analyzed the clinical characteristics of the diseases and symptoms, strategies of treatment, therapeutic tools, drug formulations, composition of herbal formulas in Hyang'yak Kugŭppang. Results : The following characteristics were confirmed in Hyang'yak Kugŭppang. First, it contained a way to cope with the diseases and symptoms that do not have to check the exterior, interior, cold, and heat. Also, it introduced basic strategies such as reducing, facilitating flow, draining downward, warming, or tonifying, etc. It mainly included herbal medicine as the therapeutic tools, and introduced formulas composed by single herb than complex recipes. It suggested external applications more than internal use, and proposed formulations in the form of decoctions or powders, etc. The herbs of formulas were used by experience without explanations of nature & taste, efficacy of each herbs. Conclusions : Hyang'yak Kugŭppang is a book of medical recipes for emergency use that has been distributed to help gentries, even if they do not have professional medical knowledge, to instantly cope with diseases and symptoms with medicines that are easy to obtain. Previous researches has analyzed the value of Hyang'yak Kugŭppang as a collection of information of hyang'yak, and used it as a historical basis of the uniqueness of Korean medicine. Since Hyang'yak Kugŭppang is not a book specialized for herbs, but rather a clinical medical book that introduces recipes for specific symptoms of diseases, if we pay attention to the clinical characteristics of Hyang'yak Kugŭppang, it will provide an opportunity to describe Koryŏ or Korean medicine in a new way.