• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.363-374
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• 2017

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of a smoke-free campus policy on college students' receptivity of campus and governmental smoke free policy. The current study utilized pre and post cross-sectional survey in length of nine months. Data were collected from similar major freshmen at two pre matched universities, one representing smoke-free campus in Seoul city and one representing non smoke-free campus in Busan city, Korea. Baseline data were collected in March 2016 and follow-up data were collected in December 2016. No differences were found between initial and follow-up data on receptivity of smoke-free campus policy in both university students revealing that the smoke-free campus policy does not influence in changing student's attitude towards unfavorable direction. Receptivity on governmental smoke free policy demonstrated significant changes among participants in non smoke-free campus. Their receptivity level changed significantly toward unfavorable direction. The implementation of a smoke-free campus policy can give positive impact on students' receptivity of campus as well as governmental smoke free policy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.84 no.3
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• pp.217-225
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• 2021

Background: Despite the proven benefits of dexamethasone in hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, the optimum time for the administration of dexamethasone is unknown. We investigated the progression of COVID-19 pneumonia based on the timing of dexamethasone administration. Methods: A single-center, retrospective cohort study based on medical record reviews was conducted between June 10 and September 21, 2020. We compared the risk of severe COVID-19, defined as the use of a high-flow nasal cannula or a mechanical ventilator, between groups that received dexamethasone either within 24 hours of hypoxemia (early dexamethasone group) or 24 hours after hypoxemia (late dexamethasone group). Hypoxemia was defined as room-air SpO₂ <90%. Results: Among 59 patients treated with dexamethasone for COVID-19 pneumonia, 30 were in the early dexamethasone group and 29 were in the late dexamethasone group. There was no significant difference in baseline characteristics, the time interval from symptom onset to diagnosis or hospitalization, or the use of antiviral or antibacterial agents between the two groups. The early dexamethasone group showed a significantly lower rate of severe COVID-19 compared to the control group (75.9% vs. 40.0%, p=0.012). Further, the early dexamethasone group showed a significantly shorter total duration of oxygen supplementation (10.45 days vs. 21.61 days, p=0.003) and length of stay in the hospital (19.76 days vs. 27.21 days, p=0.013). However, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and in-hospital mortality rates were not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusion: Early administration of dexamethasone may prevent the progression of COVID-19 to a severe disease, without increased mortality.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.192-204
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• 2018

In this study, a 3D CFD analysis method for the combustion process was established for a low calorific value syngas-diesel dual-fuel engine operating under very lean fuel-air mixture condition. Also, the accuracy of computational analysis was evaluated by comparing the experimental results with the computed ones. To simulate the combustion for the dual-fuel engine, a new dual-fuel chemical kinetics set was used that was constituted by merging two verified chemical kinetic sets: n-heptane (173 species) for diesel and Gri-mech 3.0 (53 species) for syngas. For dual-fuel mode operations, the early stage of combustion was dominated by the fuel burning inside or near the spray plume. After which, the flame propagated into the syngas in the piston bowl and then proceeded toward the syngas in the squish zone. With the baseline injection system and piston shape, a significant amount of unburned syngas was discharged. To solve this problem, effects of the injection parameters and piston shape on combustion characteristics were analyzed by calculation. The change in injection variables toward increasing the spray plume volume or the penetration length were effective to cause fast burning in the vicinity of TDC by widening the spatial distribution of diesel acting as a seed of auto-ignition. As a result, the unburned syngas fraction was reduced. Changing the piston shape with the shallow depth of the piston bowl and 20% squish area ratio had a significant effect on the combustion pattern and lessened the unburned syngas fraction by half.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.179-190
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• 2021

Purpose: Reduced port laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (RPLDG) using 3 ports is less invasive than conventional laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (CLDG) using 5 ports. Although RPLDG performed by expert surgeons is safe and feasible, novice surgeons have difficulty performing this procedure. This study evaluated the surgical outcomes and feasibility of RPLDG performed by a novice surgeon. Materials and Methods: The records of 136 patients who underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer performed by a single novice surgeon between May 2016 and December 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Among these 136 patients, 52 underwent RPLDG and 84 underwent CLDG. The clinicopathological characteristics, operative outcomes, and short-term postoperative outcomes of the 2 groups were compared. Results: The percentage of women was significantly higher in the RPLDG group than in the CLDG group (48.1% vs. 31%; P=0.045), but other baseline characteristics did not differ significantly between the groups. Billroth II anastomosis was performed significantly more frequent (90.4% vs. 73.8%, P=0.015) and operation time was significantly shorter (207.1±43.3 min vs. 225.5±44.6 min, P=0.020) in the RPLDG group than in the CLDG group. The time to first flatus, postoperative pain score, length of postoperative hospital stay, and incidence and severity of complications did not differ significantly between the groups. Analysis of the learning curve based on the operation time showed that performing RPLDG on 20-30 patients was required to achieve technical proficiency. Conclusions: RPLDG is a safe and feasible surgical procedure for the treatment of gastric cancer, even when performed by a novice surgeon.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.565-577
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• 2022

In this study, a series of three-dimensional numerical parametric study was conducted to investigate deformation mechanisms of an existing box culvert due to an adjacent multi-propped basement excavation in clays. Field measurements from an excavation case history are first used to calibrate a baseline Hardening Soil Small Strain (HS-small) model, which is subsequently adopted for parametric study. Results indicate that the basement-box culvert interaction along the basement centerline can be considered as a plane strain condition when the length of excavation (L) reaches 14 H_e (i.e., final excavation depth). If a plane strain condition (i.e., L/H_e=12.0) is assumed for analyzing the basement-box culvert interaction of a short excavation (i.e., L/H_e=2.0), the maximum settlement and horizontal movement of the box culvert are overestimated significantly by up to 15.7 and 5.1 times, respectively. It is also found that the deformation of box culvert can be greatly affected by the basement excavation if the distance between the box culvert and retaining wall is less than 1.5 H_e. The induced deformation in the box culvert can be dramatically reduced by improving the ground inside the excavation or implementing other precautionary measures. For example, by adding jet grouting columns within the basement and installing an isolation wall behind the retaining structures, the maximum settlements of box culvert are shown to reduce by 37.2% and 13.4%, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2012

The aim of this study was to investigate phenotypic characteristics, morphometric measurements, reproduction and production performances of Aseel chicken of Bangladesh. The dominant feather color of neck/hackles was red in both males (56.14%) and females (54.16%) while the sickle feather color was mostly black in both chickens (71.93% vs. 54.17%). The predominant saddle and breast feather colors were red (40.35%) and black (64.91%), respectively, in male whereas most frequent observed color was pale brown in female (58.33 and 50.0%, respectively). The predominant feather color of wing bow and wing bay was found black (68.42 and 80.70%, respectively) in male but only pale brown color was observed in females (62.5 and 54.17%, respectively) for these two characters. Different phenotypic measurements such as the average shank length and circumference were $12.79{\pm}0.13$ and $7.8{\pm}0.08$ cm, respectively, in male and $10.21{\pm}0.25$ and $5.81{\pm}0.21$ cm, respectively, in female. Keel length was $14.39{\pm}0.19$ cm in male and $10.79{\pm}0.23$ cm in female. The average adult live weight in male was measured $3749.12{\pm}83.44$ g while in female it was $2062.50{\pm}105.26$ g. The age of 1st lay was found to be 28.86 weeks. Total number of eggs laid per year ranged between 24~48, number of clutch/hen/year varied from 2 to 4 and number of eggs/clutch/hen was found to be 10~12. The average live weight of Aseel chicken at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 17 weeks of age were recorded as $31.14{\pm}0.55$, $48.63{\pm}3.99$, $116.57{\pm}5.72$, $138.40{\pm}5.91$, $212.88{\pm}4.82$, $361.00{\pm}9.72$, $577.50{\pm}42.86$, $743.75{\pm}24.65$, $1086.00{\pm}26.02$, $1402.00{\pm}24.54$ and $1432.00{\pm}27.00$ g respectively. Finally, this phenotypic characterization as well as productive and reproductive performances of Aseel chicken will give the baseline information to researcher for further study and for planning any on-ward conservation and implement strategy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.69 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2010

Background: Data comparing the clinical characteristics and outcomes in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP-COPD) and acute exacerbation (AECOPD) are very limited. Methods: Eighty episodes of hospitalization in 65 CAP-COPD patients, and 111 episodes of hospitalization in 82 AE-COPD patients were included in this study. The baseline characteristics, clinical presentations, potential bacterial pathogens and clinical outcomes in these patients were retrospectively reviewed and compared. Results: No significant differences were found between the two groups in parameters related to COPD and co-morbidities, except a higher rate of male among CAP-COPD patients. Clinical presentations by symptoms and laboratory findings on admission were significantly more severe in CAP-COPD patients, who showed higher rates of fever and crepitation, but less wheezing than AE-COPD patients. S. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosae were the most common bacterial pathogens in both groups. With no difference in the overall hospital mortality between both groups, the mean length of hospital stay was significantly longer in the CAP-COPD patients than in AE-COPD patients (15.3 vs. 9.8 days, respectively, p<0.01). Additional analysis on CAP-COPD patients showed that systemic steroid use did not influence the length of hospital stay. Conclusion: Although there was no significant difference in bacterial pathogens and overall hospital mortality between the two groups, CAP-COPD patients had more severe clinical symptoms and laboratory findings at presentation, and longer hospital stay than AE-COPD patients.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.28-41
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• 2003

Background : Because unplanned readmissions to intensive care unit(ICU)might be related with undesirable patient outcomes, we investigated the pattern of and reason for unplanned ICU readmission to provide baseline data for reducing unplanned returns to ICU. Methods : The subjects included all patients who readmitted to ICU during the same hospitalization at a tertiary referral hospital between January 1st and June 30th 2002. Quality improvement(QI) nurse collected the data through medical records and a medical director reviewed the data collected. Results : 1) The average unplanned ICU readmission rate was 5.6%(gastroenterology 14.6%, pediatrics 12.7%, pulmonology 11.9%, neurosurgery 6.3%, general surgery 5.3%, chest surgery 3.9%, and cardiology 3.3%). 2) Among the unplanned readmissions, more than 50% of cases were from patients older than 60 years, and the main categories of diagnose at hospital admission were neurologic disease(29.9%) and cardiovascular disease(27.6%). 3) Of unplanned ICU readmissions, 41.8% had recurrence of the initial problems, 44.8% had occurrence of new problems. And 9.7% required post-operative care after unplanned operations. 4) The most common cause responsible for unplanned ICU readmission were respiratory problem(38.3%) and cardiovascular problem(14.3%). 5) About 40% of unplanned ICU readmission occurred within 3 days after ICU discharge. 6) Average length of stay of the readmitted patients to ICUs were much longer than that of non-readmitted patients. 7) Hospital mortality rate was much higher for unplanned ICU readmitted patients(23.6%) than for non-readmitted patients(1.5%) (P<0.001). Conclusions : This study showed that the unplanned ICU readmitted patients had poor outcomes(high morality and increased length of stay). In addition study results suggest that more attention should be paid to patients in ICU with poor respiratory function or elderly patients, and careful clinical decisions are required at discharged from ICU to general ward.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.64-64
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• 2019

Screening and identification of genetic resources based on their phytoconstituents and morphological characters potentially provide baseline data for researchers, breeders, and nutraceutical companies who wish to formulate a nutrient-dense diet and health beneficial supplement. Thus, we evaluated the amount of total phenolic content and major phenolic compounds; examined if phenolic compounds could be used as distinguishing factors for perilla genetic resources; and investigated the relation between some quantitative and qualitative morphological characters with the contents of phenolic compounds in 360 accessions obtained from National Agrobiodiversity Center gene bank, Jeonju, Korea. Total phenolic content (TPC) was estimated using Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric assay. Individual phenolic compounds were determined using an Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography system equipped with Photodiode Array detector. Considerable variations were observed in TPC (7.99 to 117.47 mg GAE/g DE), rosmarinic acid (RA) (ND to 19.19 mg/g DE), caffeic acid (CA) (ND to 0.72 mg/g DE), apigenin-7-O-diglucuronide (ADG) (ND to 1.24 mg luteolin equivalent (LUE)/g DE), scutellarein-7-O-glucuronide (SG) (ND to 4.32 mg LUE/g DE), and apigenin-7-O-glucuronide (AG) (ND to 1.60 mg LUE/g DE). RA was the most dominant phenolic compound in most accessions (95.3%) followed by SG. The adaxial leaf color was light green, green and dark green in 13.8%, 65.0%, and 21.1 % of the accessions, respectively. 78.8% of the accessions had light green color at the abaxial side with the remaining being described as green. Most of the accessions (96.9%) were cordate shape, the remaining being eclipse. Intensities of green pigment at abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces were correlated with contents of individual phenolic compounds and TPC whereas leaf length and width had no correlation with TPC, CA and RA, and negatively correlated with ADG, AG, and SG. Leaf shape was not related with content of phenolic compounds, color of leaves, or the length or width of leaves. Accessions IT57426, IT157434, IT267710, and IT267712 which contained relatively high contents of TPC and major phenolic compounds (RA and SG) could be used for further research in breeding and bioassay test. Our study result showed the contents of total phenolics and individual phenolic compounds along with the morphological characters could be useful distinguishing factors for perilla genetic resources.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.520-524
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• 2023

Regalecus russellii, which spends most of its life in the deep sea, occasionally appears in coastal waters. However, the reasons for its appearance remain unclear. In Korea, R. russellii mainly appears along the eastern coastal waters, and most of them are caught in fishing gear, such as gill nets, or are stranded on the shore; nevertheless, the frequency of appearance is extremely low. Even if found, this species is often identified to be morphologically similar to Trachipterus ishikawae, and comprehensive analysis to identify the species through sample collection is limited. Consequently, information on the biological characteristics of R. russellii appearing in the coastal waters of Korea is scarce. Herein, the anatomical characteristics of R. russellii caught in a gill net off the Gangwon-do coast on March 14, 2023, were analyzed, and coastal water temperature was measured using an ocean buoy. Our results showed that the individual was male, its total length was 320 cm, body weight was 27.52 kg, body length was 26.62 cm, gonad weight was 619.45 g, and liver weight was 218.71 g. The stomach was full of euphausiids. The water temperature changed drastically at 15-30 m roughly a week before the R. russellii individual was caught, and the subsurface water temperature was lower than 10 ℃. Our findings provide baseline data to understand the ecological characteristics of R. russellii appearing along the eastern coast of the Korea.