• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2010

Recently, the incidents of direct or indirect radiation exposure due to increase of use of radiation or radioisotope are on the increase in medical and industrial circles. If cells are irradiated, free radicals are created through biological process, and cells are directly or indirectly damaged. This research intends to explore into the effect of saponin at the level of cell (in vitro) and entity (in vivo), using red ginseng extract "saponin", as radioprotective agent. In the experiment implemented at the level of cell (in vitro), degree of cell activity was measures by adding mouse mesenchymal stem cells "C3H/10T1/2 cells" into red ginseng extract "saponin(0, 0.05, 0.2, and 0.4 g/L)", and then the optimal concentration of saponin influencing cells was calculated, in 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours after gamma irradiation at the optimal concentration of saponin, each cell survival rate was observed through XTT assay. The best time period of cultivation for the optimal activity of C3H/10T1/2 cells was as 48 hours, and the degree of optimal activity was shown at 0.05 g/L. In 48 hours after irradiation of 5 Gy to C3H/10T1/2 cells at 0.05 g/L, the degree of activity of cells increased by 10%. In the experiment implemented at the level of entity (in vivo), red ginseng extract "saponin" at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day was injected into the abdominal cavity of six-week immature mouse for two weeks. Right after the last abdominal injection, total body irradiation of gamma rays was carried out at a dose of 5 Gy and 10 Gy. And after irradiation, the blood sample was taken, and then the number of red corpuscles was counted. In result, the decrement of experimental group treated with red ginseng extract "saponin" was 2.3 times larger than that of control group. In view of the results so far achieved, it was revealed that red ginseng extract "saponin" has a radiation exposure protection effect in the experiment implemented at the level of cell (in vitro). In case of animal experiment, the decrement of number of red corpuscles decreased. Finally, it is necessary to carry out more various researches continuously.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.4 s.55
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• pp.765-783
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• 1996

This study surveyed and measured the level and structure of cancer deaths and their trends over time for offering the fundamental data of e cancer prevention and control in Pusan city in the future. Authors conducted the study of descriptive epidemiology using materials derived from the computerized data of total 3,722 certified cancer deaths in Pusan city from January 1 to December 31, 1993 registered on the National Statistical Once, the Republic of Korea. The obtained results were as follows: 1. According to the total registered cases of deaths(16,331 cases) in Pusan city during 1993, cancer(3,722 cases) and cerebrovascular disease(2,118 cases) were the first and second cause of deaths as 23.1% and 16.9%, respectively. These pattern showed the change between cancer (14.7%) and cerebrovascular disease(18.5%) in order of frequency in comparison to 1982. Also, the total number of cancer deaths was increased in comparison to 1982. The rate of death certification by physicians was 87.1% of all registered deaths, which was increased to 6.8% in comparison to 1982(80.3%). 2. Crude death rate and cancer specific death rate was 4.06 per 1,000 populations and 93.8 per 100,000 populations(male:117.8, female:70.0), respectively. The former was similar to that of 1982, but the latter was increased to 1.6 times as that of 1982. 3. Age-adjusted cancer specific death rate by standardization with whole country population was 111.9(male:141.5, female:106.7) per 100,000 populations, higher than not age-adjusted cancer specific death rate(93.8), and the sex difference was statistically significant with male predominance (p<0.05). 4. Cancer specific death rate by age was generally increased with age and most of cancer deaths(male:91.8%, female:88.5%) occurred since 40 years old. 5. The major cancer(cancer specific death rate per 100,000 populations) in male was liver(30.6) followed by stomach(25.6), lung(21.9), and GB and EHBD(5.7), in female stomach(15.7), liver(9.9), lung(7.3), and uterus(6.9). The relative frequency of the leading three cancer among total cancer deaths marked 66.3% in male and 47.l% in female, and decreased in comparison to 1982(male:72.2%, female:54.5%). 6. The total ratio of male to female cancer specific death rate showed 1.68 to 1 with male predominance. And the ratio was above 2.0 in larynx, oral cavity & pharynx, esophagus, liver, lung, bladder cancer and the ratio was $1.0\sim1.9$ in stomach, pancreas, gall bladder and EHBD, brain, rectum and anus cancer, leukemia, but the ratio was reversed in thyroid and colon cancer. In conclusion, cancer was the first cause of deaths. The proportion of lung cancer was increased, that of stomach & uterine cancer was decreased relatively, and liver cancer was constantly higher proportion. In the future, it is necessary to conduct the further investigations on the cancer risk factors considering areal specificity.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2005

Purpose : This study was peformed to study normative blood pressure data in full-term neonates that may be used to facilitate Identification of neonatal hypertension.Methods : 383 newborns born in our hospital from May 2003 to January 2004 were enrolled in this study Using an oscillometric device(BP-88 NEXT, COLIN Corp.), their blood pressures were measured more than one time within a week after birth. According to each clinical variable such as sex, delivery mode, birth weight, gestational age and presence of maternal disease or perinatal problems, we divided the population into groups and calculated the mean blood pressures of each group. We compared mean blood pressures between the divided groups according to each clinical variable statistically.Results : Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the Population was 70.8$\pm$ 10.9 mmHg and 43.4 $\pm$ 8.0 mmHg, respectively. There was no satistically significant difference in blood pressure according to clinical variables. Mean systolic pressure showed positive correlation with birth weight and gestational age(r=0.1420, 0.03130).Conclusion : Our results are almost in agreement with Zubrow's data from 695 newborns in U.S.A, 1995. Our data may be helpful for early detection and management of neonatal hypertension, thereby maintaining renal function ,and preventing possible complications of renal disease.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2006

Purpose : Conservative management of multicystic dysplastic kidney(MCDK) without nephrectomy has recently been advocated. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical course of conservatively managed MCDK and to find out possible predictive factors for involution of MCDK by ultrasonography(US). Methods : A retrospective analysis was made on 45 patients(26 boys and 20 girls) in whom MCDK was detected and had been traced by US between Dec. 1993 and Aug. 2005 at Severance Hospital. Results : Median follow-up time was 30 months(range 2-102 months). All patients under-went radionuclide scans and voiding eystourethrograms. The serial follow-up US showed complete involution in 11(24%), partial involution in 19(41%), and no interval change or increased in cyst size in 13(28%) patients. Nephrectomy was done in 3 patients(7%) due to relapsing urinary tract infection(UTI) and severe abdominal distension. The mean age of complete involution of MCDK was 37 months(range 12-84 months). Episodes of UTI were present in 17 patients(37%) and additional genitourinary(GU) abnormalities were found in 22 patients(44%). Hypertension and renal insufficiency was complicated in one patient. No child developed malignant tumor. Univariate analysis showed that five variables were associated with complete involution of the MCDK; gender, site, UTI episode, additional GU abnormalities, and renal length on initial US. After adjusting using the Pearson model, the presence of additional GU abnormalities was exclusively associated with complete involution among the 5 variables(P=0.034). Conclusion : In our review of 46 cases of MCDK, non-surgical approach for patients with MCDK was advisable and we could predict poor prognosis when MCDK is associated with other GU anomalies.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.197-206
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• 2013

The present study investigated whether leukemia-maintaining cells reside in a differentiation-resistant fraction using a megakaryocytic differentiation model of K562 cells. Treatment with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) significantly inhibited the colony-forming efficiency of the K562 cells. At a PMA concentration of 1 nM or higher, colony was not formed, but approximately 40% of K562 cells still survived in soft agar. Approximately 70% of colony-forming cells that were isolated following the removal of PMA after exposure to the agent were differentiated after treatment with 10 nM PMA for 3 days. The differentiation rate of the colony-forming cells was gradually increased and reached about 90% 6 weeks after colony isolation, which was comparable to the level of a PMA-treated K562 control. Meanwhile, imatinib-resistant variants from the K562 cells, including K562/R1, K562/R2, and K562/R3 cells, did not show any colony-forming activity, and most imatinib-resistant variants were CD44 positive. After 4 months of culture in drug-free medium, the surface level of CD44 was decreased in comparison with primary imatinib-resistant variants, and a few colonies were formed from K562/R3 cells. In these cells, Bcr-Abl, which was lost in the imatinib-resistant variants, was re-expressed, and the original phenotypes of the K562 cells were partially recovered. These results suggest that leukemia-maintaining cells might reside in a differentiation-resistant population. Differentiation therapy to eliminate leukemia-maintaining cells could be a successful treatment for leukemia if the leukemia-maintaining cells were exposed to a differentiation inducer for a long time and at a high dose.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.314-322
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• 2008

Purpose: It is widely recognized that good quality control (QC) program is essential for adequate imaging diagnosis using gamma camera. The purpose of this study is to survey the current status of QC of gamma cameras in Republic of Korea for implementing appropriate nationwide quality control guidelines and programs. Methods: A collection of data is done for personnel, equipment and appropriateness of each nuclear medicine imaging laboratory's quality control practice. This survey is done by collection of formatted questionnaire by mails, emails or interviews. We also reviewed the current recommendations concerning quality assurance by international societies. Results: This survey revealed that practice of quality control is irregular and not satisfactory. The irregularity of the QC practice seems due partly to the lack of trained personnel, equipment, budget, time and hand-on guidelines. Conclusion: The implementation of QC program may cause additional burden to the hospitals, patients and nuclear medicine laboratories. However, the benefit of a good QC program is obvious that the hospitals can provide good quality nuclear medicine imaging studies to the patients. It is important to use least cumbersome QC protocol, to educate the nuclear medicine and hospital administrative personnel concerning QC, and to establish national QC guidelines to help each individual nuclear medicine laboratory.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.190-197
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• 2001

Noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) was the highest rate (43.5%~58.5% from 1996 to 1998) of positive findings through specific medical program in Korea. There were much more NIHL at workers of automobile manufacturing factories than other manufacturing factories. The specific aim of the present study was to determine the noise exposure of automobile press lines, according to their job titles, press line types(auto, semiauto), dosimeter parameters setting. There were a total 11 press lines sampled at a automobile manufacturing company. Among those press lines, 10 press lines were autolines with acoustic enclosure, one semiauto press line was no aucostic enclosure Noise exposure data were sampled for an work shift using noise dosimeter, which recorded both time-weighted average(TWA) and 1-min average. The mean OSHA TWA(Korea TWA with threshold 90) was $80.7dB(A){\pm}4.7dB(A)$ for leader, $82.8dB(A{\pm}4.5dB(A)$ for pallette man, $76.7dB(A){\pm}4.3dB(A)$ for press operators, $76.6dB(A){\pm}5.6dB(A)$ for crane operators, $77.1dB(A){\pm}2.8dB(A)$ for forklift drivers, whereas the mean NIOSH TWA was $88.9dB(A){\pm}1.7dB(A)$ for leader, $89.6dB(A){\pm}2.1dB(A)$ for pallette man, $86.7dB(A){\pm}1.8dB(A)$ for press operators, $88.5dB(A){\pm}2.0dB(A)$ for crane operators, $87.7dB(A){\pm}1.0dB(A)$ for forklift drivers. While L10 for NIOSH TWA samples was 84.8 dB(A) ~ 87.3 dB(A), L10 for OSHA TWA samples was 69.5 dB(A) ~ 77.4 dB(A). L10 means that the TWA for 90% of the samples exceeded L10. Among OSHA TWA(Korea TWA with threshold 90) samples for pallette man, 7.7 % exceeded 90 dB(A), the OSHA permissible exposure level, but OSHA TWA samples for the other job titles didn't. Among NIOSH TWA samples, the samples over 85 dB(A), the NIOSH recommended exposure limit, was 100% (leaders), 83.3 %(operators), 97.4%(palletteman), 100%(forklift drivers), 91.7 %(crane operator). The results of One-way random effects analysis of variance models shows that the difference between job titles was significant by OSHA TWA(p<0.05), but not significant by NIOSH TWA(p>0.05). NIOSH TWA samples were significantly higher than OSHA TWA samples(P<0.05). Regression analysis was used to obtain relationships between OSHA TWA samples and NIOSH TWA samples. In this case the coefficient of determination = 0.90, which shows the high degree association between two methods. Regression equation, NIOSH TWA = 0.552 * OSHA TWA + 42.13 dB(A), shows that if OSHA TWA is known, NIOSH TWA can be predicted by the equation. The mean TWA difference between threshold 80 dBA and 90 dBA was significant(p<0.01). While the TWA noise exposures were 7.7% above the Korea(OSHA) PEL, they were more than 83.3% over NIOSH REL. Automobile workers were exposed to noise level that could be potentially damaging to their hearing. It found that there is approximately 25% excess risk of hearing loss even if a worker is protected to the PEL in according to NIOSH study.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.80-88
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• 2013

Carrot (Daucus carota L. var. sativa) is one of the most extensively used vegetable crops in the world and a significant source of nutrient because of its high content of ${\beta}$-carotene, well known as the precursor of vitamin A carotenoid. However, seed-hairs generated and elongated from the epidermal cell of seeds inhibit absorption and germination by various factors such as carotol and so on. Accordingly, mechanical hair removal process is essential before commercialization of carrot seeds. Because of this process, producers will have additional losses such as time consuming, manpower, capital and so on. Furthermore, physical damage of seeds causes irregular germination rate. To overcome such cumbersome weaknesses, new breeding program for developing hairless-seed carrot cultivar has been needed and studies for molecular markers related to seed-hair characteristic is needed for a new breeding program. Therefore, in this study, cDNA libraries from seeds of short-hair seed phenotype CT-SMR 616 OP 659-1 line, hairy-seed phenotype CT-SMR 616 OP 677-14 line and short-hair seed phenotype CT-ATR 615 OP 666-13 line, hairy-seed phenotype CT-ATR 615 OP 671-9 were constructed, respectively. Furthermore, 1,248 ESTs in each line, total 4,992 ESTs were sequenced. As a result, 19 SNP sites and 14 SNP sites in each of 2 combinations were confirmed by analyzing these EST sequences from short-hair and hairy-seed lines. Then we designed SNP primer sets from EST sequences of SNP sites for high resolution melting (HRM) analysis. Designed HRM primers were analyzed using hairy seed phenotype CT-SMR 616 OP 1040 line and short-hair seed phenotype CT-SMR 616 OP 1024, 1025, 1026 lines. One set of HRM primers showed specific difference between the melting curves of hairy and short-hair seed phenotype lines. Based on this result, allele-specific (AS) PCR primers were designed for easier selection between hairy-seed carrot and hairless seed carrot. These results of HRM and AS-PCR are expected to be useful in breeding of hairless seed carrot cultivar as a molecular marker.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.531-537
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• 2013

The average annual and winter ambient air temperatures in Korea have risen by 0.7 and $1.4^{\circ}C$, respectively, during the last 30 years. Radish (Raphanus sativus), one of the most important cool season crops, may well be used as a model to study the influence of climatic change on plant growth, because it is more adversely affected by elevated temperatures than warm season crops. This study examined the influence of transplanting time, nitrogen fertilizer level, and climate parameters, including air temperature and growing degree days (GDD), on the performance of a radish cultivar 'Mansahyungtong' to estimate crop growth during the spring growing season. The radish seeds were sown from April 24 to May 22, 2012, at internals of 14 days and cultivated with 3 levels of nitrogen fertilization. The data from plants sown on April 24 and May 8, 2012 were used for the prediction of plant growth as affected by planting date and nitrogen fertilization for spring production. In our study, plant fresh weight was higher when the radish seeds were sown on $24^{th}$ of April than on $8^{th}$ and $22^{nd}$ of May. The growth model was described as a logarithmic function using GDD according to the nitrogen fertilization levels: for 0.5N, root dry matter = 84.66/(1+exp (-(GDD - 790.7)/122.3)) ($r^2$ = 0.92), for 1.0N, root dry matter = 100.6/(1 + exp (-(GDD - 824.8)/112.8)) ($r^2$ = 0.92), and for 2.0N, root dry matter = 117.7/(1+exp (-(GDD - 877.7)/148.5)) ($r^2$ = 0.94). Although the model slightly tended to overestimate the dry mass per plant, the estimated and observed root dry matter and top dry matter data showed a reasonable good fit with 1.12 ($R^2$ = 0.979) and 1.05 ($R^2$ = 0.991), respectively. Results of this study suggest that the GDD values can be used as a good indicator in predicting the root growth of radish.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.37 no.3 s.108
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• pp.344-354
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• 2004

A pilot study was performed from September 2000 to April 2004 to examine the feasibility of the wetland-pond system for the agricultural reuse of reclaimed water. The wetland system was a subsurface flow type, with a hydraulic residence time of 3.5 days, and the subsequent pond was 8 $m^3$ in volume (2 m ${\times}$ 2 m ${\times}$ 2 m) and operated with intermittent-discharge and continuous flow types. The wetland system was effective in treating the sewage; median removal efficiencies of $BOD_5$ and TSS were above 70.0%, with mean effluent concentrations of 27.1 and 16.8 mg $L^{-1}$, respectively, for these constituents. However, they did often exceed the effluent water quality standards of 20 mg $L^{-1}$. Removal of T-N and T-P was relatively less effective and mean effluent concentrations were approximately 103.2 and 7.2 mg $L^{-1}$, respectively. The wetland system demonstrated high removal rate (92 ${\sim}$ 90%) of microorganisms, but effluent concentrations were in the range of 300 ${\sim}$ 16,000 MPN 100 $mL^{-1}$ which is still high for agricultural reuse. The subsequent pond system provided further treatment of the wetland effluent, and especially additional microorganisms removal in addition to wetland-pond system could reduce the mean concentration to 1,000 MPN 100 $mL^{-1}$ from about $10^5$ MPN 100 $mL^{-1}$ of wetland influent. Other parameters in the pond system showed seasonal variation, and the upper layer of the pond water column became remarkably clear immediately after ice melt. Overall, the wetland system was found to be adequate for treating sewage with stable removal efficiency, and the subsequent pond was effective for further polishing. This study concerned agricultural reuse of reclaimed water using natural systems. Considering stable performance and effective removal of bacterial indicators as well as other water quality parameters, low maintenance, and cost-effectiveness, wetland- pond system was thought to be an effective and feasible alternative for agricultural reuse of reclaimed water in rural area.