• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1345-1349
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• 2014

Although many epidemiologic studies investigated the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms and their associations with esophageal cancer, definite conclusions could not be drawn. To clarify the effects of MTHFR polymorphisms on the risk of esophageal cancer, a meta-analysis was here performed in Chinese populations. A total of 16 studies including 3,040 cases and 4,127 controls were involved in this metaanalysis. Overall, significant associations were found between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and esophageal cancer risk when all studies in Chinese populations were pooled into the meta-analysis (T vs. C, OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.06-1.34; TT vs. CC, OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.07-1.70; TT+ CT vs. CC, OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.08-1.54; TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.03-1.37). In subgroup analyses stratified by ethnicity and source of controls, the same results were found in Kazakh (TT vs. CC, OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.02-1.87; TT + CT vs. CC, OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.03-2.18), in not stated populations (T vs. C, OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.08-1.42; TT vs. CC, OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.10-1.96; TT + CT vs. CC, OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.05-1.60; TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.12-1.56), and in hospital-based studies (T vs. C, OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.19-1.51; TT vs. CC, OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.37-2.39; TT + CT vs. CC, OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.26-1.83; and TT vs. CC + CT, OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.13-1.70). In conclusion, this meta-analysis provides evidence that the MTHFR C677T polymorphism contributes to esophageal cancer development in Chinese populations.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated the atmospheric heavy metal concentrations in the particulate matter inside the subway stations of Seoul. In particular, we examined the correlation between the heavy metals and studied the effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation. In six selected subway stations in Seoul, particulate matter was captured at the platforms and 11 types of heavy metals were analyzed. The results showed that the mean concentration of iron was the highest out of the heavy metals in particulate matter, followed by copper, potassium, calcium, zinc, nickel, sodium, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium in that order. The correlation analysis showed that the correlations between the heavy metals was highest in the following order: (Cu vs Zn), (Ca vs Na), (Ca vs Mn), (Ni vs Cr), (Na vs Mn), (Cr vs Cd), (Zn vs Cd), (Cu vs Cd), (Ni vs Cd), (Cu vs Ni), (K vs Zn), (Cu vs K), (Cu vs Cr), (K vs Cd), (Zn vs Cr), (K vs Ni), (Zn vs Ni), (K vs Cr), and (Fe vs Cu). The correlation coefficient between zinc and copper was 0.937, indicating the highest correlation. Copper, zinc, nickel, chromium and cadmium, which are generated from artificial sources in general, showed correlations with many of the other metals and the correlation coefficients were also relatively high. The effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation was also investigated in this study. Cultured cell was exposed to 10 mg/l or 100 mg/l of iron, copper, calcium, zinc, nickel, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium for 24 hours. The cell proliferation in all the heavy metal-treated groups was not inhibited at 10 mg/l of the heavy metal concentration. The only exception to this was with the cadmium-treated group which showed a strong cell proliferation inhibition. This study provides the fundamental data for the understanding of simultaneous heavy metal exposure tendency at the time of particulate matter exposure in subway stations and the identification of heavy metal sources. Moreover, this study can be used as the fundamental data for the cell toxicity study of the subway-oriented heavy metal-containing particulate matter.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.63-69
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• 2020

This study investigated spawning characteristics of Hangang bitterling, Rhodeus pseudosericeus inside the host mussel, Unio douglasiae sinuolatus at the Heukcheon Stream in Korea from April to June 2017. 327 mussels were collected, among them, 34 (14.1%) were spawned mussels of R. pseudosericeus with glochidia. The mean number of R. pseudosericeus embryos with or without glochidia by the mussel gill position was 5.0±3.58 (range, 1~8) vs. 2.8±2.13 (1~9) in the left outer demibranch, 1.5±0.96 (1~3) vs. 1.7±0.82 (1~3) in the left inner demibranch, 1.4±0.51 (1~2) vs. 2.1±1.85 (1~6) in the right inner demibranch, and 6.4±4.82 (1~20) vs. 3.0±1.86 (1~6) in the right outer demibranch. The frequency of R. pseudosericeus embryos with or without glochidia by the mussel gill position was 82.6% vs. 73.4% in the left outer demibranch, 17.4% vs. 9.4% in the left inner demibranch, 26.1% vs. 15.6% in the right inner demibranch, and 58.7% vs. 67.2% in the right outer demibranch. The mean number of R. pseudosericeus embryos with or without glochidia was 8.5±6.43 (1~23) vs. 4.5±3.38 (1~14). The number and frequency of R. pseudosericeus embryos were higher in the mussel with glochidia and the outer demibranchs than those without glochidia and with inner demibranchs.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2017

Purpose: To investigate differences in clinical features, blood/urinary findings, and prognosis in different age groups of patients with Henoch-$Sch{\ddot{o}}nlein$ purpura (HSP). Methods: A total of 469 patients with HSP were analyzed retrospectively from June 2003 to February 2016. We classified patients into child or adult groups based on their age. Results: The adult group had more patients with anemia (child vs. adult; 7.5% vs. 16.4%), and higher immunoglobulin A (IgA) (30.0% vs. 50.0%) levels, C-reactive protein (34.2% vs. 54.0%) and uric acid (3.1% vs. 12.1%) levels than the child group. The child group was highly positive for Mycoplasma pneumoniae immunoglobulin M (IgM) (34.4%). More patients in the child group presented with high levels of antistreptolysin O (24.7% vs. 2.9%) and high C4 (11.5% vs. 4.2%). Low C3 (1.1% vs. 10.2%) levels, and renal involvement with gross hematuria (8.6% vs. 21.5 %), nonnephrotic proteinuria (1.1% vs. 11.2%), and nephrotic syndrome (1.1% vs. 6.0%) were common in the adult group. Adults also had poorer renal outcomes [persistent hematuria/proteinuria (10.5% vs. 32.8%), and chronic kidney disease (0% vs. 11.2%)] than the child group. Risk factors for renal involvement such as older age and higher level of uric acid were only found in the child group. The risk factors for poor renal outcome were nephrotic syndrome in the child group and gross hematuria in the adult group. Conclusion: In this study, child and adult groups presented with different clinical manifestations of HSP. We found that risk factors for renal involvement included age and high uric acid level in the child group. Moreover, nephrotic syndrome in the child group and gross hematuria in the adult group increased the risk of poor renal outcome.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.391-397
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• 2021

Purpose: Tranexamic acid (TXA) can reduce perioperative blood loss and the frequency of blood transfusions in lower extremity surgery. On the other hand, the effects of TXA on reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) remain undetermined. This study evaluated the efficacy of TXA on perioperative blood loss, transfusion requirements, and the change in the hemotologic index. Materials and Methods: This study evaluated patients who underwent rTSA from September 2009 to July 2020. The patients were classified into two groups. The TXA group were administered TXA intravenously and topical TXA during surgery. The non-TXA group was not administered TXA. The quantity of hemovac drainage, which represented the postoperative blood loss, transfusion requirements, and postoperative change in hemoglobin and hematocrit level, were recorded. Results: The TXA and non-TXA groups consisted of 93 and 84 patients, respectively. The preoperative demographics showed no significant differences in age (72.0±7.0 vs. 71.5±5.8, p=0.656), sex (male:female, 28:65 vs. 23:61, p=0.689) and the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes (hypertension:diabetes:both, 36:3:13 vs. 32:3:8, p=0.806) between the two groups. There were significant differences in the requirements of transfusion (0 vs. 9, p=0.001), hemovac drainage at the 1^st (98.8±61.2 ml vs. 162.7±98.8 ml, p<0.001), the 2^nd postoperative day (73.8±48.4 ml vs. 91.5±54.5 ml, p=0.024), hemoglobin level at the 1^st (11.7±1.2 g/dl vs. 11.2±1.4 g/dl, p=0.048), 3^rd (10.9±1.2 g/dl vs. 10.2±1.2 g/dl, p<0.001), and 6^th (11.2±1.3 g/dl vs. 10.7±1.3 g/dl, p=0.020) postoperative day, and the hematocrit level at the 1^st (35.0%±3.6% vs. 32.5%±3.8%, p=0.001), 3^rd (32.3%±5.0% vs. 29.8%±3.6%, p<0.001), and 6^th (33.5%±3.8% vs. 31.5%±3.7%, p<0.001) postoperative day between the two groups. Conclusion: Intravenous and topical intra-articular TXA can reduce the transfusion requirement and blood loss in rTSA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.49
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• pp.65-72
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between body-calthexis and clothing image preferences in male college students. The sample included 28 male college students and an instrument was developed based on the previous studies. The statistical analyses used for this study were factor analysis cluster analysis and t-test. The result of factor analysis showed that body-cathexis consisted of four areas of body parts: face/head upper body middle body and lower/total body. Clothing image preferences consisted of 'strong vs weak' 'soft vs hard' 'young vs mature' 'mannis vs feminine' and 'distinguished vs undistinguished' images. Cluster analysis revealed that male college students are segmented into two groups. and the two groups differed in regard to clothing image preferences such as 'strong vs weak' 'young vs mature' and 'mannish vs feminine' images. In addition the two consumer segments were different concerning body-cathexis for middle body and all body areas combined. The consumers who preferred feminine weak and mature clothing images were more satisfied with their middle area of the bodies and all body areas combined.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.219-227
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• 2006

Objective: To evaluate the impact of endometriosis on IVF-ET cycles and to compare IVF outcomes between stage I/II and stage III/IV endometriosis. Methods: We analyzed 697 patients (1,199 cycles) with endometriosis (stage I-II:638 cycles, stage III-IV: 561 cycles) and 325 pts (459 cycles) with tubal factor as controls between January 1994 and April 2004. Pts with endometriosis were diagnosed by laparoscopy and medical and surgical treatment were done in 353 cycles (55.3%) and 466 cycles (83.1%) of stage I-ll/stage III-IV endometriosis. Cycles with age>35 years or FSH>20 miU/mL or severe male factor infertility were excluded. Results: The number of retrieved oocytes ($9.97{\pm}7.2$ vs. $13.4{\pm}7.9$ (p<0.0001 )), total number of embryos ($6.5{\pm}4.8$ vs. $9.1{\pm}5.6$ (p<0.0001)), and good quality embryos ($2.43{\pm}1.6$ vs. $2.74{\pm}1.7$ (p=0.013)) significantly decreased in stage III-IV endometriosis than in control. But pregnancy rate of stage III-IV endometriosis was comparable with control (35.7% vs. 36.8%). Fertilization rate and number of total embryos were lower in stage I-II endometriosis than in control ($64.8{\pm}22.9$ vs. $70.8{\pm}20.8$ (p<0.0001), $7.6{\pm}5.0$ vs. $9.1{\pm}5.6$ (p<0.0001)). In patients with medical and surgical treatment of endometriosis, pregnancy rate and live birth rate was significantly lower in stage I-II than in stage III-IV endometriosis (29.2 vs. 36.2 (%), p=0.045, 23.9 vs. 31.5 (%), p=0.043). There was no difference in the mean age, but the duration of infertility was significantly longer ($56.5{\pm}26.3$ vs. $46.9{\pm}25.8$ (mon), p<0.0001) and fertilization rate was lower ($64.7{\pm}23.3$ vs. $70.5{\pm}22.7$ (%), p=0.001) in stage I-II than stage III-IV endometriosis. Conclusion: We suggest that IVF should be considered earlier in patients with minimal to mild endometriosis because of significantly decreased fertilization rates.

• 대한예방의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.1-15
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• 1999

In a case-control study to evaluate the factors involved in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, polymorphisms of the p53 gene were compared in 68 cases mostly infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 68 controls matched for sex and age: DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes was analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism method and direct sequencing. Polymorphisms analyzed were those in exon 4 (CCC vs. CGC, Pro vs. Arg at codon 72, Al allele vs. A2 allele), intron 2 (C vs. G at nucleotide 38, Al vs. A2), intron 3 (C vs. A at nucleotide 65, Al vs. A2; absence and presence of 16 base pair repeat at nucleotides 24 to 39, Al vs. A2), intron 6 (A vs. G at nucleotide 62, Al vs. A2) and intron 7 (C and T vs. T and G at nucleotides 72 and 92, Al vs. A2). A significantly higher frequency of the allele for CCC (Pro, Al) at codon 72 of exon 4 was found in cases (39%) than in controls (26%) (p<0.05). Highly significant linkage of the polymorphisms in exon 4, intron 2, intron 3 and intron 7, and between the intron 3-16 bp duplication and polymorphism in intron 6 also was found. Matched Fair analysis showed significantly higher frequencies of certain haplotypes (1-1-1-1-2-2 or 1-1-2-1-2-1 for exon 4, intron 2, intron 3, the intron 3-16 bp duplication, intron 6 and intron 7) in cases than in controls (p=0.014, OR=2.27, 95% CI= 1.08-5.12). No preference of specific p53 polymorphisms for specific HCV genotype was detected. These findings suggest that in hepatocarcinogenesis mainly due to HCV infection, genetic factors may be involved and that genetic markers can serve as predictors of a high-risk group for hepatocarcinogenesis.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.53-65
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• 2014

The current research examines whether pitch contour shapes in North Kyungsang pitch accent contrasts provide a phonetic dimension for phonological discreteness in a mimicry task. Two pitch accent continua resynthesized were created for HH vs. HL and HH vs. LH. To confirm a phonetic dimension for accounting for pitch accent categories in North Kyungsang Korean, the mimicries of speakers of two dialects (i.e., North Kyungsang & South Cholla) were compared. One of the findings showed that, for North Kyungsang speakers, the range of mean f0 peak times was a phonetic dimension undergoing a continuous shift within a stimulus continuum for both HH vs. HL and HH vs. LH. On the other hand, for South Cholla speakers, there were no apparent shifts around categorical boundaries for either HH vs. HL or HH vs. LH. Regarding individual mimicries on f0 peak timing, there are many variations. For HH vs. LH, three North Kyungsang speakers showed a discrete pattern reflecting a shift in phonological categories, but for HH vs. HL, there was no such distinction showing a categorical shift, though there were statistically significant differences for two speakers. Interestingly, one of the North Kyungsang speakers showed a continuous phonetic dimension for both HH vs. HL and HH vs. LH. Lastly, the f0 valley timing did not exhibit a discrete or gradient phonetic dimension for speakers of either dialect. On the basis of these results, what is interesting is that the tonal target such as high tone in North Kyungsang pitch accent categories within the autosegmental-metrical (AM) theory may be realized within individual cognitive systems for representing the interaction of perception and production.

• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.28-39
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• 2021

Purpose : This study investigated the occurrence of postoperative ileus and its related factors in patients after spinal surgery. Methods : After a retrospective review of data from patients who underwent spinal surgery at a single hospital located in Busan from 2012 through 2016, a total of 253 patients were included. The subjects were divided into non-ileus and ileus groups. We compared patient-, surgery-, and postoperative hematological-related factors. Results : A total of 41 (16.2%) out of 253 patients experienced postoperative ileus. Data analysis revealed significant differences between the two groups in mean age (68.44 vs 60.50 years), occupation (9.8 vs 28.8%), cardiovascular comorbidity (63.4 vs 37.7%), approach of surgery (supine/prone: 29.3/70.7 vs 12.7/87.3%), duration of anesthesia (5.86 vs 4.43 hours), narcotic use (75.6 vs 56.6%), postoperative serum hemoglobin level (3 days: 10.81 vs 11.41 g/dL), postoperative serum protein (immediately/3 days: 5.30/5.43 vs 5.62/5.68 g/dL), postoperative albumin level (3 days: 3.17 vs 3.40 g/dL), postoperative C-reactive protein level (3 days: 11.44 vs 8.36 mg/dL), postoperative bed stabilization period (3.32 vs 2.50 days), and onset of bowel movement (2.59 vs 1.94 days). In multivariate logistic regression, age and time of anesthesia were independent risk factors of postoperative ileus. Conclusion : To detect ileus after spinal surgery early, nurse education is needed with intensive screening on advanced age, surgery-related factors, and postoperative hematological indices.