• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.291-307
• /
• 2016

Evaluation of the extinction risk of endangered plants at international, national as well as at regional levels is essential to the implementation of plans for direct conservation activities. Reports indicate that 34 endangered plants are distributed in the middle eastern area of Korea. For each endangered plant, we investigated the sites, area of extents, population size, and factors that affect population extinction. We assessed risk factors based on 10 evaluation criteria including the results from the investigation and the life traits each endangered plant has. As a result of evaluating the risk factors, these 34 endangered plants are classified into 3 groups: the first category comprises 12 endangered plants that require active and urgent conservation of habitats due to multiple risk factors; the second group has 16 endangered plants that should be able to persist with the removal of a few direct risk factors; the third category has 6 endangered plants that can persist with minimal management due to comparatively large distributed area and numerous individuals. It was found that most major risk factors in the population of endangered plants are caused by disruption of habitats and population extinction due to the increase of human habitation in the concerned areas, development and illegal harvesting. Futhermore, ecological collapse from decreasing habitats and malfunctioning mechanism of extinction and regeneration due to the changes of vegetational environment can be the other causes. From the area of the present investigations, we selected 5 regions according to the number of species and the frequency of appearance and importance of conservation measures. Also, we suggested a conservation strategy according to the regional characteristics. We suggest that the method for evaluating extinction risk of endangered plants includes distributional data and life traits of species. In addition, we underscore the necessity for understanding population dynamics and ecological niche of the each target species.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.64 no.1
• /
• pp.8-14
• /
• 2008

Background: Acinetobacter infections are difficult to treat as they often exhibit multiple resistance to the antibiotics that are currently available for the treatment of pneumonia. Colistin is active against gram-negative bacteria, including the multiple drug resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter species. However, intravenous administration of colistin was abandoned because of its nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. The aims of this study were to examine the efficacy and safety of colistin administered by aerosol in the treatment of pneumonia caused by MDR Acinetobacter baumannii. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from Dec. 2006 to Aug. 2007 who had been diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia due to MDR Acinetobacter baumannii and had been treated with nebulized colistin. Results: 31 patients received aerosolized colistin. The average duration of the treatment was $14{\pm}7$ days and the daily dose of ranged from 225 mg to 300 mg. All patients received concomitant intravenous antimicrobial agents. The average length of the stay in the ICU was $34{\pm}21$ days and in the hospital $58{\pm}52$ days. The overall microbiological eradication was observed in 25 patients (80.6%). 14 of these (56%) were cured, and 11 (44%) were infected with other microorganisms. The overall crude mortality of the ICU was 48%. Nephrotoxicity and significant bronchial constriction did not occur in any patient during neublized colistin treatment. Conclusion: Nebulized colistin may be a safe and effective option in the treatment of pneumonia due to MDR Acinetobacter baumannii. Its role in therapy warrants further investigation in comparative studies.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.219-226
• /
• 1990

Enalapril maleate tablets of two different producers were tested for bioequivalence. Enalapril is rapidly metabolized to an active metabolite, enalaprilat which inhibits angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). The pharmacokinetics of enalapril maleate and the time course of inhibition of plasma ACE activity after administration of the drugs were studied. Two single doses of 10mg each of enalapril maleate were administered orally to twelve male volunteers in a balanced, randomized, two-way crossover investigation. Plasma enalaprilat concentrations were determined over a 23-hour after the dose by enzyme inhibition assay and enalapril by the same method following in vitro hydrolysis. Urinary recoveries of enalapril and enalaprilat were determined for the calculation of renal clearance. Plasma ACE activity was determined by an enzyme assay. Peak plasma levels of enalapril were observed about 1 hour after the doses, and practically all enalapril had disappeared from plasma within 6 hour. Peak enalapril concentrations of both formulations were almost identical ($Vasotec^{\circledR}$, 61.38 ng/ml; $Beartec^{\circledR}$, 64.27 ng/ml). The values of the pharmacokinetic parameters of enalaprilat computed for $Vasotec^{\circledR}$ and $Beartec^{\circledR}$ tablets are presented in that order; area under the curve=330.63:320.96 $ng{\cdot}hr/ml$; peak concentration=38.63:39.43 ng/ml; time to peak=3.83:4.08 hour; elimination half-life=3.95:3.92 hours. No statistically significant difference was detected when area under the curve and all other parameters were compared. Using criteria of 95% confidence interval for the comparison of these parameters, only the upper limits of area under the curve and time to peak of enalapril were over 120%. All the parameters of enalaprilat were acceptable. Percent inhibition of plasma ACE to plasma enalaprilat concentration showed the sigmoid concentration-inhibition relationship. Time courses of plasma ACE inhibition after the administration of both formulations were quite similar. The formulations were found to be equivalent when compared on the premise that no significant difference was detected when pharmacokientic parameters and inhibition of ACE activity were compared, based on the confidence limits analysis.

• Archives of design research
• /
• v.18 no.4 s.62
• /
• pp.287-296
• /
• 2005

The street image in a business area is so much affected by Facade that the front side of a roadside building makes. Recently, for the indiscreet and intemperate advertising signboard of the front side of roadside buildings, a streetscape becomes more disordered than before, so now we need to do research about signboards of roadside buildings for a streetscape image. In this research, we focused on a streetscape with difference of occupation density of signboard in the business area via investigation and analysis about occupation density of signboards of the front side of roadside buildings, and we suggested optimum occupation density of signboards for supporting the road image positively. An object of research is the street in the business area that has many pedestrians and active passing zone of cars. We investigated and analyzed how to feel street images on the rate of occupation density of roadside building's signboards of in the chosen street. As a result of using an adjective that we use for estimating street view images for extraction of street images, we could know 2 factors. We named that one is the image of recognition, and the other is the image of feelings. We knew that signboard density of street of heavily recognized images is from 20% to 30% and, signboard density of street of heavily feeling images is from 50% to 60%. We also could know that people feel both images of recognition and images of feeling in specific density, 30 to 50%. Through this result of research, we can suggest Facade on signboard density with the recognition and the feeling and use images of the street view as materials to be more specific and more special.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 1992

The usefulness of hyperthermia for cancer therapy has been established. The purpose of the present investigation was to access feasibility of heating normal lung and the temperature and power requirement were compared with that for liver as solid organ in rabbits by using radiofrequent heating machine. In this study, 20 rabbits were divided into 2 groups according to the heating site and the method of temperature measurement; in group I : lung heating and temperature measuring in skin, esophagus and lung parenchyme; in group II : liver heating and temperature measuring in skin and liver parenchyme. The results were as follows; 1) When the maximum temperature was almost same in lung heating group and liver heating group, the power for liver heating was lesser required than the power for lung heating (p<0.05). 2) The temperature of esophagus for the measurement of mediastinum temperature was $1.1{\pm}0.9^{\circ}C$ higher than the temperature of lung parenchyme (p<0.05). Therefore the above findings suggest lung, air containing organ, is well heated as same as liver, solid organ. So more active trials of lung heating in the lung cancer must be likely considered. But when the lung is heated, the esophageal temperature is higher than lung parenchyme, so the mediastinum damage must be considered seriously.

• Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.239-248
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study was to analyze risk factors for nosocomial pneumonia in patients admitted to NS ICU, and to provide a basic data to decrease respiratory nosocomial infection rate engendered from medical environments in NS ICU. The study site was the NS ICU at a university hospital located in Seoul, Korea. The subjects were 31 patients diagnosed with nosocomial pneumonia, who were selected from the initial list of 300 potential subjects who had been a) admitted between September 1999 and January 2000, and September 2000 and January 2001, b) resided at the NS ICU over 72 hours. The diagnostic standard of nosocomial pneumonia was based on the nosocomial infection guides of C university hospital. The data were analyzed using frequencies and logistic regression analysis. The sputums obtained from the subjects were cultivated and causal viruses were separated. The results were as follows: 1. The nosocomial pneumonia rate was $10.3\%$. There were 7 types of causal viruses separated from the sputum. and the most prevalent type of virus was MRSA as $62.2\%$. 2. The factors significantly influencing the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia included age, the residential duration at the NS ICU, GCS scores, diabetes mellitus, insertion of tracheal tube and its duration, tracheostomy and its length of insertion, the use of artificial ventilator and the length of its use, and the insertion of naso-gastic tube. The most significant risk factor among these was the insertion of tracheal tube (odds ratio=18.684. $95\%$ CI=6.849-50.974), followed by the use of tracheostomy (odds ratio=15.419, $95\%$ CI=6.615-35.942), the insertion of naso-gastric tube (odds ratio=14.875, $95\%$ CI=6.396-34.595), and the use of artificial ventilator (odds ratio=13.000. $95\%$ CI=5.633­30.001). 3. Regarding the use of the mechanical aids, the insertion of tracheal tube resulted in 12.968 times increase of the nosocomial pneumonia rate, and the use of artificial ventilator lead 6.714 times increase of the nosocomial pneumonia rate. One point increase of the GCS score resulted in the 1.210 times increase of the nosocomial pneumonia rate. For patients who had tracheal tube, tracheostomy, and artificial ventilator, one day increase of their residential duration at NS ICU lead 1.073 times increase of the nosocomial pneumonia rate. 4. In terms of duration of the mechanical aid usage, one day increase in the use of artificial ventilator engendered 1.080 times increase in the nosocomial pneumonia rate. One day increase of the residential duration at the NS ICU lead 1.604 times increase in the nosocomial pneumonia rate. As one point of the GCS score increased, 0.876 times decrease of the nosocomial pneumonia rate was reported. These study findings show that the risk factors significantly influencing the incidence of nosocomial pneumonia include the use of tracheal tube, tracheostomy, naso-gastic tube, and artificial ventilator. It is recommended that nurses working at NS ICU should pay more attention to the patients with these factors as the risky group for the nosocomial pneumonia, and thus make more active efforts to provide nosocomial pneumonia prevention strategies for them. In further studies patients admitted to the different types of ICUs such as internal medicine or surgery unit ICU will be also included, and more wide investigation of nosocomial pneumonia risk factors will be conducted through one-year longitudinal follow up.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.125-155
• /
• 2010

Ontologies have been adopted in various business and scientific communities as a key component of the Semantic Web. Despite the increasing importance of ontologies, ontology developers still perceive construction tasks as a challenge. A clearly defined and well-structured methodology can reduce the time required to develop an ontology and increase the probability of success of a project. However, no reliable knowledge-engineering methodology for ontology development currently exists; every methodology has been tailored toward the development of a particular ontology. In this study, we developed a Graduation Screen Ontology (GSO). The graduation screen domain was chosen for the several reasons. First, the graduation screen process is a complicated task requiring a complex reasoning process. Second, GSO may be reused for other universities because the graduation screen process is similar for most universities. Finally, GSO can be built within a given period because the size of the selected domain is reasonable. No standard ontology development methodology exists; thus, one of the existing ontology development methodologies had to be chosen. The most important considerations for selecting the ontology development methodology of GSO included whether it can be applied to a new domain; whether it covers a broader set of development tasks; and whether it gives sufficient explanation of each development task. We evaluated various ontology development methodologies based on the evaluation framework proposed by G$\acute{o}$mez-P$\acute{e}$rez et al. We concluded that METHONTOLOGY was the most applicable to the building of GSO for this study. METHONTOLOGY was derived from the experience of developing Chemical Ontology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid by Fern$\acute{a}$ndez-L$\acute{o}$pez et al. and is regarded as the most mature ontology development methodology. METHONTOLOGY describes a very detailed approach for building an ontology under a centralized development environment at the conceptual level. This methodology consists of three broad processes, with each process containing specific sub-processes: management (scheduling, control, and quality assurance); development (specification, conceptualization, formalization, implementation, and maintenance); and support process (knowledge acquisition, evaluation, documentation, configuration management, and integration). An ontology development language and ontology development tool for GSO construction also had to be selected. We adopted OWL-DL as the ontology development language. OWL was selected because of its computational quality of consistency in checking and classification, which is crucial in developing coherent and useful ontological models for very complex domains. In addition, Protege-OWL was chosen for an ontology development tool because it is supported by METHONTOLOGY and is widely used because of its platform-independent characteristics. Based on the GSO development experience of the researchers, some issues relating to the METHONTOLOGY, OWL-DL, and Prot$\acute{e}$g$\acute{e}$-OWL were identified. We focused on presenting drawbacks of METHONTOLOGY and discussing how each weakness could be addressed. First, METHONTOLOGY insists that domain experts who do not have ontology construction experience can easily build ontologies. However, it is still difficult for these domain experts to develop a sophisticated ontology, especially if they have insufficient background knowledge related to the ontology. Second, METHONTOLOGY does not include a development stage called the "feasibility study." This pre-development stage helps developers ensure not only that a planned ontology is necessary and sufficiently valuable to begin an ontology building project, but also to determine whether the project will be successful. Third, METHONTOLOGY excludes an explanation on the use and integration of existing ontologies. If an additional stage for considering reuse is introduced, developers might share benefits of reuse. Fourth, METHONTOLOGY fails to address the importance of collaboration. This methodology needs to explain the allocation of specific tasks to different developer groups, and how to combine these tasks once specific given jobs are completed. Fifth, METHONTOLOGY fails to suggest the methods and techniques applied in the conceptualization stage sufficiently. Introducing methods of concept extraction from multiple informal sources or methods of identifying relations may enhance the quality of ontologies. Sixth, METHONTOLOGY does not provide an evaluation process to confirm whether WebODE perfectly transforms a conceptual ontology into a formal ontology. It also does not guarantee whether the outcomes of the conceptualization stage are completely reflected in the implementation stage. Seventh, METHONTOLOGY needs to add criteria for user evaluation of the actual use of the constructed ontology under user environments. Eighth, although METHONTOLOGY allows continual knowledge acquisition while working on the ontology development process, consistent updates can be difficult for developers. Ninth, METHONTOLOGY demands that developers complete various documents during the conceptualization stage; thus, it can be considered a heavy methodology. Adopting an agile methodology will result in reinforcing active communication among developers and reducing the burden of documentation completion. Finally, this study concludes with contributions and practical implications. No previous research has addressed issues related to METHONTOLOGY from empirical experiences; this study is an initial attempt. In addition, several lessons learned from the development experience are discussed. This study also affords some insights for ontology methodology researchers who want to design a more advanced ontology development methodology.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.13-22
• /
• 1975

From the study of movements of $Ca^{++}$ in frog cardiac muscle, Niedergerke (1963) postulated that $Ca^{++}$ necessary for the cardiac contraction is stored in a specific pool. Langer et al (1967) and DeCaro (1967) also found a close relationship between the change of $Ca^{++}$ flux kinetics and the change of contractile force. According to the studies of several investigators, Ca II (Bailey and Dressel 1968) or phase I and II (Langer 1965, Langer et al 1967, 1971) in the $Ca^{++}$ washout curve was associated with cardiac contractility. This investigation was aimed to elucidate the anatomical region of the contractile active $Ca^{++}$ pool. At the same time, it was assumed in this study that $Ca^{++}$ in the sarcoplasmic reticulumn represents one of the major intracellular $Ca^{++}$ pool and cardiac contractility was also dependent on the intracellular $Ca^{++}$ concentration. Consequently, this experiment was performed at different temperatures to activate to activate inhibit the deactivating process of activated $Ca^{++}$ in the intracellular space to see if changes in the contractility decay curve existed at different temperatures. The isolated hearts of rabbits and turtles (Amyda maackii) were attached to the perfusion apparatus according to the method employed by Bailey and Dressel (1968). The isolated hearts were initally perfused with a full Ringer solution containing 2 mg/ml of inulin for 1 hr, and then $Ca^{++}$ and inulin-free Ringer solution was perfused while the isometric tension was recorded and a serial sample of perfusion fluid dripping from the cardiac apex was collected for 10 sec throughout experimental period. The above procedure was performed at $23^{\circ}C$, $30^{\circ}C$ and $38^{\circ}C$ on the rabbit heart and $10{\sim}13^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$, $30^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$ on the turtle heart. After determination of $Ca^{++}$ and inulin concentration of the samples, the $Ca^{++}$, inulin washout curve and the contractile tensin decay curve were analysed according to the method of Riggs (1963). The results were summarized as follows; 1. In the rabbit heart, there are 2 inulin compartments, 3 $Ca^{++}$ compartments and sing1e exponential decay of contractile tension. In the turtle heart, there are $1{\sim}2$ inulin compartments, $1{\sim}2$ $Ca^{++}$ compartments and $1{\sim}2$ phases of contractile tension decay. The fact that the inulin space was divided into 3 compartments in the washout curve in these hearts indicates the presence of heterogeneity in cardiac perfusion, i.e., overfused and underperfused area. 2. Ca I a9d Ca II in these hearts were found to have $Ca^{++}$ in the ECF compartments because their half times in the washout curves were far smaller than those of the inulin washout curves in the rabbit heart and similar to those of the inulin washout curves in the turtle heart. Ca III in the rabbit heart may have originated from the intracellular $Ca^{++}$ store. But no Ca III in the turtle heart was found. This may be due to the fact that the iutracellular $Ca^{++}$ pool in the turtle heart was too small to detect using this experimental procedure since sarcoplasmic reticulumn in the turtle heart is poorly developed. 3. In the rabbit heart, there were no chages in the half time of Ca I, Ca II, inulin I and inulin II at different temperatures, but the half time of Ca III was significantly prolonged at lower temperatures, and the half time of the contractile tension decay tended to be prolonged at lower temperatures but this was not significant. In the turtle heart, there were no changes in the half time of Ca I, Ca II, inulin 1, inulin II and phase I of the contractile tension decay at different temperatures, but the half time of phase II of the contractile tension decay was significantly prolonged at lower temperatures. This finding indicates that intracellu!ar $Ca^{++}$ in these hearts was also responsible particulary for maintaining the cardiac contractility at the lower temperatures. 4. The half times of contractile tension decay were shorter than those of Ca II in the $Ca^{++}$ washout curves in both animal hearts. According to the above results it was shown that $Ca^{++}$ in ECF is primarily and $Ca^{++}$ in the intracellular space is partially associated with the cardic contractility.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.179-185
• /
• 2009

To develop an Enoki mushroom packaging method, mushrooms were stored at $1^{\circ}C$ for 12 days after passive MAP packaging(PM), vacuum packaging(VM), and gas flushing packaging(AM), after investigation of film thickness influences on respiration rates and gas compositions(LDPE films 20, 40, and 60 m in thickness were tested). Enoki mushrooms had respiration rates of 26.4 mL $CO_2/kg/hour$ at $0^{\circ}C$, 80.0 mL $CO_2/kg/hour$ at $10^{\circ}C$, 130.9 mL $CO_2/kg/hour$ at $20^{\circ}C$, and 130.9 mL $CO_2/kg/hour$ at $30^{\circ}C$. A film thickness of 20 m was chosen for further tests to maintain the oxygen concentration above the minimum growth level; the thinnest film offered a higher gas transmittance rate than did the thicker films. No anaerobic respiration was evident over 12 days of storage using any packaging method, with the exception of VM. AM, using a high concentration of $CO_2$, restricted respiration rate. Mushrooms packaged using the VM method showed the greatest weight loss and extent of discoloration among the packaging methods tested, followed by AM mushrooms using 50% $CO_2/10%\;O_2/40%\;N_2$. Mushrooms packaged by the VM and PM methods developed a serious off-flavor after 2 days of storage, and a high stipe elongation rate after 5 days of storage, respectively. However, AM using 50% $CO_2/10%\;O_2/40%\;N_2$ of various gas ratios tested, allowed Enoki mushrooms to be maintained for up to 12 days without development of off-flavor, discoloration, or moldiness.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.220-229
• /
• 2009

Strain improvement and morphology investigation in bioreactor cultures were undertaken in suspended cultures of Phellinus linteus mycelia for mass production of protein-bound polysaccharides(soluble ${\beta}$-D-glucan), a powerful immuno-stimulating agent. Phellineus sp. screened for this research was identified as Phellinus linteues through ITS rDNA sequencing method and blast search, demonstrating 99.7% similarity to other Phellinus linteus strains. Intensive strain improvement program was carried out by obtaining large amounts of protoplasts for the isolation of single cell colonies. Rapid and large screening of high-yielding producers was possible because large numbers of protoplasts ($1{\times}10^5{\sim}10^6\;protoplasts/ml$) formed using the banding filtration method with the cell wall-disrupting enzymes could be regenerated in relatively high regeneration frequency($10^{-2}{\sim}10^{-3}$) in the newly developed regeneration medium. It was demonstrated that the strains showing high performances in the protoplast regeneration and solid growth medium were able to produce 5.8~6.4%(w/w) of ${\beta}$-D-glucan and 13~15 g/L of biomass in stable manners in suspended shake-flask cultures of P. linteus mycelia. In addition, cell mass increase was observed to be the most important in order to enhance ${\beta}$-D-glucan productivity during the course of strain improvement program, since the amount of ${\beta}$-D-glucan extracted from the cell wall of P. linteus mycelia was almost constant on the unit biomass basis. Therefore we fully investigated the fungal cell morphology, generally known as one of the key factors affecting cell growth extent in the bioreactor cultures of mycelial fungal cells. It was found that, in order to obtain as high cell mass as possible in the final production bioreactor cultures, the producing cells should be proliferated in condensed filamentous forms in the growth cultures, and optimum amounts of these filamentous cells should be transferred as active inoculums to the production bioreactor. In this case, ideal morphologies consisting of compacted pellets less than 0.5mm in diameter were successfully induced in the production cultures, resulting in shorter period of lag phase, 1.5 fold higher specific cell growth rate and 3.3 fold increase in the final biomass production as compared to the parallel bioreactor cultures of different morphological forms. It was concluded that not only the high-yielding but also the good morphological characteristics led to the significantly higher biomass production and ${\beta}$-D-glucan productivity in the final production cultures.