• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.7
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• pp.221-225
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• 2018

Purpose: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common endocrine disorder in children. Thyroid hormone deprivation results not only in mental retardation but also growth retardation. This study investigates the final height (FH) in Korean patients with CH detected by newborn screening and examines factors that may affect the FH. Methods: The medical records of Korean CH patients (n=45) were reviewed. The FH was examined and target height (TH) was calculated based on mid-parental height. The FH z score (FHZ) and TH z score (THZ) were computed using the 2007 Korean National Growth Chart. The FHZ and THZ were compared with a Student t test. The impact of the etiology of CH (athyreosis, dyshormonogenesis, ectopic thyoid, hypoplastic thyroid), initial serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level, initial free thyroxine (T4) level, and time of therapy initiation based on FH was assessed. Results: The mean FHZ was $0.10{\pm}1.01$ for male patients and $-0.11{\pm}1.09$ for female patients. There were no significant differences between FHZ and THZ for both female (P=0.356) and male patients (P=0.237). No significant relationship was found between FH and the etiology of CH, initial TSH level, initial free T4 level, and the time of therapy initiation. Conclusion: Early intervention and satisfactory management do not appear to impede growth in Korean patients with CH. Thus, early detection and proper management of patients with CH detected by newborn screening program are necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 2012

Outlier detection and treatment process is highly required as the first step for the statistical analysis of the monitoring data having many outliers frequently occurred in the coastal environmental monitoring projects. In this study, the outlier detection method using the approximate and detail (or residual) components of the (raw) data is suggested. The approximate and detail components of the data can be separated by the diverse filtering and smoothing methods. The decomposition of the data is carried out by the harmonic analysis and local regression curve, respectively. Then, the Grubbs' test and modified z-score method widely used to detect outliers in the data are applied to the detail components of the water temperature data. The new data set is reconstructed after removed the outliers detected by these methods. It can be shown that the suggested process is successfully applied to the outlier detection of the coastal water temperature monitoring data provided by the Real-time Information System for Aquaculture Environment, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI).

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.274-280
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• 2009

To survey the status of quality control of major ingredients of 'Ssanghwatang (Oriental medicine used for fatigue)', we analyzed 1,024 samples (9 kinds) of medical herbs to determine amounts of ashes, acid-insoluble ashes, loss on drying that are major elements to ensure basic quality of herbal drugstuffs. After ash analysis, Paeoniae Radix (from China) failed to meet the herbal standard criterion. After yielding Z-score(indicating the probability of exceeding its criterion) Zizyphi Fructus, Zingiberis Rhizoma, Paeoniae Radix, Rehmanniae Radix Preparata became objects of intense quality control (=IQC). Analysis on loss on drying shows Cinnamomi Cortex was unsuitable and was put under the IQC. In case of respective heavy metals, Angelicae Gigantis Radix, Cnidii Rhizoma, Cinnamomi Cortex exceeded the maximum permissible range for Cd. The 3 kinds of sub-standards were put to the IQC. Statistic figures showed a significant correlation (t-test, p<0.01) between country-of-origin and sub-quality rates. Compared to domestic one, imported medicinal herbs were less suitable in regard of acid-insoluble ash, loss on drying and Pb/Hg content. Meanwhile, amounts of Acid-insoluble ash showed positive relation with amounts of Pb (r=0.202) and As (r=0.243) among heavy metals leading to an inference that herbs of which root/rhizome is used for medical purposes attribute its high heavy metal content to the fine earth/sand being stuck to its root stalk.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.168-177
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• 2015

Purpose: Brain surface intensity model (BSIM)-based cortical thickness analysis does not require complicated 3D segmentation of brain gray/white matters. Instead, this technique uses the local intensity profile to compute cortical thickness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of BSIM-based cortical thickness analysis using images from elderly participants. Materials and Methods: Fifteen healthy elderly participants (ages, 55-84 years) were included in this study. High-resolution 3D T1-spoiled gradient recalled-echo (SPGR) images were obtained using 3T MRI. BSIM-based processing steps included an inhomogeneity correction, intensity normalization, skull stripping, atlas registration, extraction of intensity profiles, and calculation of cortical thickness. Processing steps were automatic, with the exception of semiautomatic skull stripping. Individual cortical thicknesses were compared to a database indicating mean cortical thickness of healthy adults, in order to produce Z-score thinning maps. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated in order to evaluate inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities. Results: ICCs for intra-rater reliability were excellent, ranging from 0.751-0.940 in brain regions except the right occipital, left anterior cingulate, and left and right cerebellum (ICCs = 0.65-0.741). Although ICCs for inter-rater reliability were fair to excellent in most regions, poor inter-rater correlations were observed for the cingulate and occipital regions. Processing time, including manual skull stripping, was $17.07{\pm}3.43min$. Z-score maps for all participants indicated that cortical thicknesses were not significantly different from those in the comparison databases of healthy adults. Conclusion: BSIM-based cortical thickness measurements provide acceptable intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. We therefore suggest BSIM-based cortical thickness analysis as an adjunct clinical tool to detect cortical atrophy.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.677-693
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• 2013

IPCC showed that calculation of climate vulnerability index requires standardization process of various proxy variables for the estimation of climate exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. In this study, four different methodologies of standardization methods: Z-score, Rescaling, Ranking, and Distance to the reference country, are employed to evaluate climate vulnerability-VRI (Vulnerability-Resilience Indicator) over Korean peninsula, and the error ranges of VRI, arising from employing the different standardization are estimated. All of proxy variables are provided by CCGIS (Climate Change adaptation toolkit based on GIS) which hosts information on both past and current socio-economic data and climate and environmental IPCC SRES (A2, B1, A1B, A1T, A1FI, and A1 scenarios) climate data for the decades of 2000s, 2020s, 2050s, and 2100s. The results showed that Z-score and Rescaling methods showed statistically undistinguishable results with minor differences of spatial distribution, while Ranking and Distance to the reference country methods showed some possibility to lead the different ranking of VRI among South Korean provinces, depending on the local characteristics and reference province. The resultant VRIs calculated from different standardization methods showed Cronbach's alpha of more than 0.84, indicating that all of different methodologies were overall consistent. Similar horizontal distributions were shown with the same trends: VRI increases as province is close to the coastal region and/or it close toward lower latitude, and decreases as it is close to urbanization area. Other characteristics of the four different standardization are discussed in this study.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.487-491
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Although globally the numbers of children diagnosed with failure to thrive (FTT) have decreased, FTT is still a serious pediatric problem. We aimed to investigate the effects of zinc supplementation for 6 months on growth parameters of infants and children with FTT. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this retrospective study, of the 114 participants aged between 4 months and 6 years, 89 were included in the zinc supplementation group and were provided with nutrition counseling plus an oral zinc supplement for 6 months. The caregivers of the 25 participants in the control group received nutrition counseling alone. Medical data of these children, including sex, age, height, weight, serum zinc level, and serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) level were analyzed. RESULTS: Zinc supplementation for 6 months increased weight-for-age Z-score and serum zinc levels (5.5%) in the zinc supplementation group of underweight category children. As for stunting category, height-for-age Z-score of the participants in the zinc supplementation group increased when compared with the baseline, and serum zinc levels increased in the normal or mild stunting group. Serum IGF1 levels did not change significantly in any group. Thus, zinc supplementation was more effective in children in the underweight category than those in the stunted category; this effect differed according to the degree of the FTT. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that zinc supplementation may have beneficial effects for growth of infants and children with FTT, and zinc supplementation would be required according to degree of FTT.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.890-900
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• 2000

The aim of this investigation was to collect the baseline data about growth, dietary behaviors, nutrient intakes and dietary quality of children at child care centers for planning nutritional management program. The dietary intakes were measured by weighing method for intakes at child care centers and by dietary records by children\\`s mothers for intakes at home. The weight and height were measured and calculated z-scores by using standard of the same age groups. The children were 163 boys and 168 girls and the mean age were 55.6 months(12-78 months) and 56.0 months(16-78 months). respectively. The Z-score for height(0.33) and weight(0. 11) showed that the growth of children were above average. Nutrients intakes such s energy, protein, fiber, iron, sodium, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin B$_1$, vitamin C, niacin of boys from lunch and snack at day care centers were significantly higher than those of girls, and the meals at child care centers provided 20-37% of RDAs. The daily energy intakes were 1332.2kcal(83.1% RDA), protein 44. 26g(109.3% RDA), calcium 437.73mg(72.4% RDA), iron 7.24mg(72.4% RDA), vitamin A 459.6RE(113.1% RDA),vitamin B$_1$ 0.74mg(93.4% RDA), vitamin B$_2$0.79mg(79.7% RDA), niacin 7.66mg(69.9% RDA) and vitamin C 56.84mg(142.1% RDA). The nutrients which more than 50% of subjects ate less than 75% RDA were calcium, iron, niacin, and vitamin B$_2$.The average mean adequacy ratio was 0.80 and mean dietary variety score was 22.42, and those are positively correlated to % RDA of nutrient intakes. In summary, the children using child care centers consumed most nutrients below level of RDA and the nutritional management program at child care center is required to enhance the nutritional status of them. (Korean J Nutrition 33(8) : 890-900, 2000)

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.397-403
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• 2020

In order to synchronize a remote system time to the reference time like Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), it is required to compare the time difference between the two clocks. The time comparison data may have some outliers and the time synchronization performance can be significantly degraded if the outliers are not removed. Therefore, it is required to employ an effective outlier detection algorithm for keeping high accurate system time. In this paper, an outlier detection method is presented for the time difference data of GNSS time transfer receivers. The time difference data between the system time and the GNSS usually have slopes because the remote system clock is under free running until synchronized to the reference clock time. For investigating the outlier detection performance of the proposed algorithm, simulations are performed by using the time difference data of a GNSS time transfer receiver corrected to a free running Cesium clock with intentionally inserted outliers. From the simulation, it is investigated that the proposed algorithm can effectively detect the inserted outliers while conventional methods such as modified Z-score and adjusted boxplot cannot. Furthermore, it is also observed that the synchronization performance can be degraded to more than 15% with 20 outliers compared to that of original data without outliers.

• Korean Journal of Exercise Nutrition
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.36-43
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• 2021

[Purpose] Exercise is a key factor in preventing obesity and metabolic syndrome. Sumo wrestlers increase their body size from childhood for athletic advantage; however, the risk of metabolic syndrome in junior sumo wrestlers is undetermined. Preventive measures against pediatric obesity should be initiated during childhood to prevent obesity in adulthood, considering its high global incidence. We comparatively evaluated the risk factors for metabolic syndrome in junior sumo wrestlers and children with obesity. [Methods] We enrolled 70 male children (age 9-17 years [sumo group, n = 14] and 9-14 years [other sports and non-exercise groups, n = 28 each]) and evaluated their anthropometric parameters (height, weight, body mass index z-score, obesity rate, waist circumference, waist to height ratio) and hematological parameters (total, low-density, high-density, and non-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; triglycerides; plasma glucose, and glycated hemoglobin levels). [Results] The BMI z-score, obesity rate, waist circumference (p < 0.05, along with the non-exercise group), and systolic blood pressure were significantly higher and the high-density cholesterol level was lower in the sumo group than in the other sports group (p < 0.05). The waist to height ratio was significantly higher in the non-exercise group than in the other sports group (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found in other blood lipid, plasma glucose (significantly lower level than the reference range in the sumo group, p < 0.05), and glycated hemoglobin (within the reference range in all groups) levels among the three groups. [Conclusion] Junior sumo wrestlers had a larger body size and higher blood pressure than children with obesity who exercised regularly. This provides direction for future research into targeted preventive interventions against metabolic syndrome for junior sumo wrestlers with large body size.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.60-69
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• 2023

Purpose: Despite enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) and/or allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, individuals with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) I or II often experience significant growth deficiencies. This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of recombinant human growth hormone (hGH) treatment in children diagnosed with MPS I or II. Materials and Methods: A total of nine pediatric patients-four with MPS I and five with MPS II-underwent treatment with ERT and hGH at Samsung Medical Center. Results: The mean hGH dose administered was 0.26±0.03 mg/kg/week. In the MPS I group, three patients showed an increase in height Z-score from -4.09±0.83 to -3.68±0.43 after 1 year of hGH treatment, and to -3.10±0.72 by the end of the hGH regimen. In the MPS II group, while the height Z-score of four patients decreased according to standard growth charts, it improved from 1.61±1.79 to 2.71±1.68 based on the disease-specific growth chart through hGH treatment. Two patients discontinued hGH treatment due to lack of efficacy after 22 and 6 months each of treatment, respectively. No new-onset neurological symptoms or necessity for prosthetic or orthopedic surgery were reported during hGH treatment. Conclusion: This study provides insights into the impact of hGH on MPS patients, demonstrating its potential to reverse growth deceleration in some cases. Further research is needed to explore the long-term effects of hGH on changes in body composition, muscle strength, and bone health in this population.