• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.96-100
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• 2019

Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is common, although not so well-known variant of cardiovascular autonomic disorder characterized by an excessive heart rate increase on standing. POTS is probably underdiagnosed due to the heterogeneity in both presentation and etiology. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and autonomic features in patients with POTS. We reviewed the medical records of patients with POTS. Medical records include onset age, sex, presenting symptoms, body mass index (BMI) and prognosis. All patients had an autonomic function and laboratory tests. Ninety-nine patients met the inclusion criteria for POTS (51.5% male; mean±SD age, 20.0±9.7 years; mean±SD, BMI 21.9±3.9). Common presenting symptoms were a brief loss of consciousness, dizziness, blurred vision and headache. Autonomic function tests showed abnormal quantitative sudomotor axon reflex testing in 20 patients of 99 POTS patients. The abnormal post-ganglionic sympathetic sudomotor function is generally considered to reflect a neuropathic form of POTS. In treatments, 83 patients were treated by non-pharmacological management including lifestyle changes and 16 patients required the initiation of pharmacological therapies. Most patients with POTS showed a relatively favorable prognosis. POTS is a chronic disease with a substantial subset of patients recovering within a few years after the initial presentation. Future efforts should focus on better understanding of POTS pathophysiology and designing randomized controlled trials for the selection of more effective therapy.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.225-230
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• 1981

The kinetic study of rifamycin B production in batch culture of Nocardia mediterranei was undertaken in part of our endeavor to optimize the fermentation condition. The growth parameters such as $\mu$$_{m}$ and Ks values for nitrogen source were evaluated by employing Monod equation. From the experiments, $\mu$$_{m}$ and Ks were 0.15hr$^{-1}$ and 8.35g/1, respectively. The growth kinetics in batch culture was found successfully interpreted by logistic law, i.e., the initial specific growth rate and the maximum cell mass concentration were determined as function of pH and both found to have maxima. For the production of rifamycin B, a non-growth associated production kinetics was employed and the specific productivity as a function of pH was found to have two maximum points. The yield coefficient and the specific productivity were calculated as mean values in production phase. Utilizing these experimental data as a function of pH, the optimal condition for the rifamycin B production was discussed with regad to the pH effect on the cell growth and production of the antibiotic. As a result, growth phase at pH 6.5 and production phase at pH 7.0 were found to be recommended.ded.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2005

To access the natural products of uncultured microorganisms, we constructed and screened the metagenomic DNA libraries by using a cosmid vector and DNA inserts isolated directly from soil. Initial screening of the libraries in Escherichia coli resulted in the isolation of several clones that produce a dark brown color when grown in LB medium. One of the positive clones, designed pYS85C, was transposon mutagenized and the DNA surrounding the transposon insertions in cosmids that no longer conferred the production of brown pigment to E. coli was sequenced. Annotation of the pYS85C sequence obtained from the transposon mutagenesis experiment indicated a single 393 amino acid open reading frame (ORF) with a molecular mass of about 44.5 kDa, predicted to be a 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenases (HPPDs), was responsible for the observed brown pigment. In a BLAST search against deposited sequence, the translated protein from this ORF showed moderate-level identity (>60%) to the other known HPPDs and was most conserved in the C-terminal region of the protein. These results show that genes involved in natural product synthesis can be cloned directly from soil DNA and expressed in a heterologous host, supporting the idea that this technology has the potential to provide novel natural products from the wealth of environmental microbial diversity and is a potentially important new tool for drug discovery.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2008

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the variation of the molecular size distribution by granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. GAC adsorption was assessed by using the rapid small-scale column test (RSSCT) and high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was used to analyze the molecular size distribution (MSD) in the effluent of GAC column. RSSCT study suggested that GAC adsorption exhibited excellent interrelationship between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) breakthrough and MSD as function of bed volumes passed. After GAC treatment, the nonadsorbable fraction which was about 25percents of influent DOC corresponded to the hydrophilic (HPI) natural organic carbon (NOM) of NOM fractions and was composed entirely of <300 molecular weight (MW) in the HPSEC at the initial stage of the RSSCT operation. The dominant MW fraction in the source water was 1,000~5,000daltons. At the bed volumes 2,500, MW <500 of GAC treated water was risen rather than it of source water. After the bed volumes 7,300 of operation, the MW 1,000~3,000 fraction was closed to about 80percents of DOC found in the GAC influent. The Number-average molecular weight (Mn) value determined using HPSEC for the effluent of GAC column was gently increased as DOC breakthrough progress. The quotient p(Mw/Mn) can be used to estimate the degree of polydispersity was shown greatest value for the GAC effluent at the initial stage of the RSSCT operation.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.103-123
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• 2013

Star clusters are superb astrophysical laboratories containing cospatial and coeval samples of stars with similar chemical composition. We initiate the Sejong Open cluster Survey (SOS) - a project dedicated to providing homogeneous photometry of a large number of open clusters in the SAAO Johnson-Cousins' UBV I system. To achieve our main goal, we pay much attention to the observation of standard stars in order to reproduce the SAAO standard system. Many of our targets are relatively small sparse clusters that escaped previous observations. As clusters are considered building blocks of the Galactic disk, their physical properties such as the initial mass function, the pattern of mass segregation, etc. give valuable information on the formation and evolution of the Galactic disk. The spatial distribution of young open clusters will be used to revise the local spiral arm structure of the Galaxy. In addition, the homogeneous data can also be used to test stellar evolutionary theory, especially concerning rare massive stars. In this paper we present the target selection criteria, the observational strategy for accurate photometry, and the adopted calibrations for data analysis such as color-color relations, zero-age main sequence relations, Sp - MV relations, Sp - $T_{eff}$ relations, Sp - color relations, and $T_{eff}$ - BC relations. Finally we provide some data analysis such as the determination of the reddening law, the membership selection criteria, and distance determination.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.279-287
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• 2015

In order to prepare anode materials for high power lithium ion secondary batteries, carbon composites were fabricated with a mixture of petroleum pitch and coke (PC) and a mixture of petroleum pitch, coke, and natural graphite (PC-NG). Although natural graphite has a good reversible capacity, it has disadvaantages of a sharp decrease in capacity during high rate charging and potential plateaus. This may cause difficulties in perceiving the capacity variations as a function of electrical potential. The coke anodes have advantages without potential plateaus and a high rate capability, but they have a low reversible capacity. With PC anode composites, the petroleum pitch/cokes mixture at 1:4 with heat treatment at $1000^{\circ}C$ (PC14-1000C) showed relatively high electrochemical properties. With PC-NG anode composites, the proper graphite contents were determined at 10~30 wt.%. The composites with a given content of natural graphite and remaining content of various petroleum pitch/cokes mixtures at 1:4~4:1 mass ratios were heated at $800{\sim}1200^{\circ}C$. By increasing the content of petroleum pitch, reversible capacity increased, but a high rate capability decreased. For a given composition of carbonaceous composite, the discharge rate capability improved but the reversible capacity decreased with an increase in heat treatment temperature. The carbonaceous composites fabricated with a mixture of 30 wt.% natural graphite and 70 wt.% petroleum pitch/cokes mixture at 1:4 mass ratio and heat treated at $1000^{\circ}C$ showed relatively high electrochemical properties, of which the reversible capacity, initial efficiency, discharge rate capability (retention of discharge capacity in 10 C/0.2 C), and charge capacity at 5 C were 330 mAh/g, 79 %, 80 %, and 60 mAh/g, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.77-93
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• 2009

The load distribution and deformation of rock socketed drilled shafts subjected to axial loads were evaluated by a load transfer approach. The emphasis was laid on quantifying the end bearing load transfer characteristics of rock socketed drilled shafts based on 3D Finite Difference (FD) analysis performed under varying rock strength and rock mass conditions. From the results of FD analysis, it was found that the ultimate unit toe resistance ($q_{max}$) was influenced by both rock strength and rock mass conditions, while the initial tangent of end bearing load transfer curve ($G_{ini}$) was only dependent on rock strength. End bearing load transfer function of drilled shafts socketed in rock was proposed based on the FD analysis and the field loading tests which were performed on weathered rock in South Korea. Through the comparison with the results of the field loading tests, it is found that the load transfer curve by the present study is in good agreement with the general trend observed by field loading tests, and thus represents a significant improvement in the prediction of load transfer behavior of drilled shaft.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.289-294
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• 2003

To quantify nutrient loading from emergent macrophytes through leaching in the littoral zones of Paldang Reservoir, we conducted incubation experiments using leaf litter of the emergent macrophyte, Zizaniz latifolia. To separate the leaching process from microbial decay, we used $HgCl_2$ to suppress microbial activity during the experiment. We measured electric conductivity, absorbance at 280nm, total nitrogen and dissolved inorganic nitrogen, total phosphorus and soluble reactive phosphorus, Na, K, Mg and Ca amounts in leaf litter and in water. In addition, we examined the effects of water temperature and ion concentrations of ambient water on the leaching process. A total of 6% of the initial ash-free dry mass of leaf litter was lost due to leaching during incubation (four days). Electric conductivity and A280 continued to increase and saturate during the incubation. To compare reaching rates of different nutrients, we fitted leaching dynamics with a hyperbolic saturation function [Y=AㆍX/(B+X)]. From these fittings, we found that ratios of leaching amounts to nutrient concentration in the litter were in the order of K > Na > Mg > P > Ca > N. Leaching from leaf litter of Z. latifolia was dependent on water temperature while it was not related with ion concentrations in the ambient water. Our results suggest that the leaching process of nutrients, especially phosphorus, from aquatic macrophytes provides considerable contribution to the eutrophication of the Paldang Reservoir ecosystem.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.48.2-48.2
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• 2015

van Dokkum and Conroy revisited the strong Na I lines at $8200{\AA}$ found in some giant elliptical galaxies and interpreted it as evidence for bottom-heavy initial mass function. Jeong et al. later found a lot of galaxies showing strong Na D doublet absorption line at $5900{\AA}$ (Na D excess objects; a.k.a. NEOs) and showed that their origins can be different for different types of galaxies. While the excess in Na D seems related with interstellar medium in late-type galaxies, smooth-looking early-type NEOs suggest no compelling sign of ISM contributions. To test this finding, we measured doppler shift in the Na D line. We hypothesized that ISM is more likely to show blueshift due to outflow caused by either star formation or AGN activities. In order to measure the doppler shift, we tried both Gaussian and Voigt functions to fit each galaxy spectrum near the Na D line. We found that Voigt profiles reproduce the shapes of the Na D lines markedly better. Many of late-type NEOs clearly show blueshift in their Na D lines, which is consistent with the former interpretation that the Na D excess found in them is related with star formation-caused gas outflow. On the contrary, early-type NEOs do not show any notable doppler component, which is also consistent with the interpretation of Jeong et al. that the Na D excess in early-type NEOs is likely not related with ISM activities but purely stellar in origin.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.659-667
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• 2011

The study of bipedal robot is towards similar shape and function with human. In this paper, we propose a human-like walking pattern compatible to the flexible foot with toe and heel structure. The new walking pattern for a bipedal robot consists of ZMP, center of mass (CoM), and ankle trajectory and is drawn by considering human kinesiology. First, the ZMP trajectory moves forward without stopping at a point even in the single support phase. The corresponding CoM trajectory to the ZMP one is derived by solving differential equations. As well, a CoM trajectory for the vertical axis is added by following the idea of human motion. The ankle trajectory closely mimics the rotational motion of human ankles during taking off and landing on the ground. The advantages of the proposed walking pattern are demonstrated by showing improved stability, decreased ankle torque, and the longer step length capability. Specifically, it is interesting to know that the vertical CoM motion is able to compensate for the initial transient response.