• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.198-201
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study was to assess intra-individual variations of clinicochemical parameters and calculate critical differences in healthy dogs during long-term periods. To calculate the critical difference of clinicochemical parameters, blood samples from 20 apparently clinically healthy dogs were collected once weekly for eight consecutive weeks. The critical difference was calculated as 9.01 mg/dl for urea, 0.52 mg/dl for creatinine, 0.99 g/dl for total protein, 0.39 g/dl for albumin, and 20.64 mg/dl for glucose. If two consecutive results differ by less than the critical difference value, it can be concluded that the difference is probably due to physiological variation. However, when the difference is greater than the critical value, other factors, either related to progression of the disease or the presence of concurrent disease, are more likely to be involved.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2003

The causative role of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in human carcinogenesis is undisputed. Measurements of PAH-DNA adduct levels in easily accessible white blood cells therefore represent useful early endpoints in exposure intervention of chemoprevention studies. The successful applicability of DNA adducts as early endpoints depends on several criteria:i.adduct levels in easily accessible surrogate tissues should reflect adduct levels in target-tissues, ii. toxicokinetics and the temporal relevance should be properly defined.iii. sources of inter- and intra-individual variability must be known and controllable, and finally iv. adduct analyses must have advantages as compared to other markers of PAH-exposure. In general, higher DNA adduct levels or a higher proportion of subjects with detectable DNA adduct levels were found in exposed individuals as compared with non-exposed subjects, but saturation may occur at high exposures. Furthermore, DNA adduct levels varied according to changes in exposure, for example smoking cessation resulted in lower DNA adduct levels and adduct levels paralleled seasonal variations of air-pollution. Intra-individual variation during continuous exposure was low over a short period of time (weeks), but varied significantly when longer time periods (months) were investigated. Inter-individual variation is currently only partly explained by genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in PAH-metabolism and deserves further investigation. DNA adduct measurement may have three advantages over traditional exposure assessment: i. they can smooth the extreme variability in exposure which is typical for environmental toxicants and may integrate exposure over a longer period of time. Therefore, DNA adduct assessment may reduce the monitoring effort. ii. Biological monitoring of DNA adducts accounts for all exposure routes. iii. DNA adducts may account for inter-individual differences in uptake, elimination, distribution, metabolism and repair amongst exposed individuals. In conclusion, there is now a sufficiently large scientific basis to justify the application of DNA adduct measurement as biomarkers in exposure assessment and intervention studies. Their use in risk-assessment, however, requires further investigation.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.25-32
• /
• 2017

Besides their effect on the f0 contour of the following vowel, Korean stops are undergoing a sound change in which a partial or complete consonantal merger on voice onset time (VOT) is taking place between aspirated and lax stops. Many previous studies on sound change have mainly focused on group-normative effects, that is, effects that are representative of the population as a whole. Few systematic quantitative studies of change in adult individuals have been carried out. The current study examines whether the sound change holds for individual speakers. It focuses on inter-speaker and intra-speaker variability on sound change in contemporary Korean. Speech data were collected for thirteen Seoul Korean speakers studying abroad in America. In order to minimize the possible effects of speech production, socio-phonetic factors such as age, gender, dialect, speech rate, and L2 exposure period were controlled when recruiting participants. The results showed that, for nine out of thirteen speakers, the consonantal merger is taking place between the aspirated and lax stop in terms of VOT. There were also intra-speaker variations on the merger in three aspects: First, is the consonantal (VOT) merger between the two stops is in progress or not? Second, are VOTs for aspirated stops getting shorter or not (i.e., the aspirated-shortening process)? Third, are VOTs for lax stops getting longer or not (i.e., the lax-lengthening process)? The results of remarkable inter-speaker and intra-speaker variability indicate a synchronous speech sound change of the stop system in contemporary Korean. Some speakers are early adopters or active propagators of sound change whereas others are not. Further study is necessary to see whether the inter-speaker differences exceed intra-speaker differences in sound change.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.48 no.5
• /
• pp.313-323
• /
• 2015

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are known for irregular variability on all time scales, down to intra-day variability with relative variations of a few percent within minutes to hours. On such short timescales, unexplored territory, such as the possible existence of a shortest characteristic time scale of activity and the shape of the high frequency end of AGN power spectra, still exists. We present the results of AGN single-dish fast photometry performed with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Observations were done in a “anti-correlated” mode using two antennas, with always at least one antenna pointing at the target. This results in an effective time resolution of less than three minutes. We used all four KVN frequencies, 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz, in order to trace spectral variability, if any. We were able to derive high-quality light curves for 3C 111, 3C 454.3, and BL Lacertae at 22 and 43 GHz, and for 3C 279 at 86 GHz, between May 2012 and April 2013. We performed a detailed statistical analysis in order to assess the levels of variability and the corresponding upper limits. We found upper limits on flux variability ranging from ~1.6% to ~7.6%. The upper limits on the derived brightness temperatures exceed the inverse Compton limit by three to six orders of magnitude. From our results, plus comparison with data obtained by the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory, we conclude that we have not detected source-intrinsic variability which would have to occur at sub-per cent levels.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.85-89
• /
• 2008

This study is to investigate cardiotonic effect of acupuncture on heart rate variability(HRV) analyzed by a nonlinear way(DFA, Detrended Fluctuation Analysis). It was designed as a randomized, single-blind, waiting list-controlled, cross-over study. We assessed heart rate and R-R intervals in Circadian electrocardiography with a Holter monitoring device for twelve hospitalized participants. The compatible analytical program, Zymed, was used for generating the signals of R-R intervals from 24 hour-ECG. In DFA analysis, we produced DFA alpha 1, alpha 2 parameters according to the process of Cygwin module of Linux server. We tested if there was any difference between HRV parameters using SPSS, a statistical package. There was no difference between acupuncture and no treatment group in DFA alpha 2 parameter {95% Confidence Interval (-)0.058 - 0.037, P = .565}. Two group all showed large intra-individual variations. Consequently, acupuncture treatment did not modulate the complexity of HRV in a DFA analysis. This study can be a rationale for acupuncture's properties on cardiovascular and autonomic systems.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.52-56
• /
• 2013

Background Measuring grip and pinch strength is an important part of hand injury evaluation. Currently, there are no standardized values of normal grip and pinch strength among the Korean population, and lack of such data prevents objective evaluation of post-surgical recovery in strength. This study was designed to establish the normal values of grip and pinch strength among the healthy Korean population and to identify any dependent variables affecting grip and pinch strength. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out. The inclusion criterion was being a healthy Korean person without a previous history of hand trauma. The grip strength was measured using a Jamar dynamometer. Pulp and key pinch strength were measured with a hydraulic pinch gauge. Intra-individual and inter-individual variations in these variables were analyzed in a standardized statistical manner. Results There were a total of 336 healthy participants between 13 and 77 years of age. As would be expected in any given population, the mean grip and pinch strength was greater in the right hand than the left. Male participants (137) showed mean strengths greater than female participants (199) when adjusted for age. Among the male participants, anthropometric variables correlated positively with grip strength, but no such correlations were identifiable in female participants in a statistically significant way. Conclusions Objective measurements of hand strength are an important component of hand injury evaluation, and population-specific normative data are essential for clinical and research purposes. This study reports updated normative hand strengths of the South Korean population in the 21st century.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.888-901
• /
• 2020

Objective: A set of microsatellite markers with high polymorphism from Tsaiya duck were used for the genetic monitoring and genetic structure analysis of Brown and White Tsaiya duck populations in Taiwan. Methods: The synthetic short tandem repeated probes were used to isolate new microsatellite markers from the genomic DNA of Tsaiya ducks. Eight populations, a total of 566 samples, sourced from Ilan Branch, Livestock Research Institute were genotyped through novel and known markers. The population genetic variables were calculated using optional programs in order to describe and monitor the genetic variability and the genetic structures of these Tsaiya duck populations. Results: In total 24 primer pairs, including 17 novel microsatellite loci from this study and seven previously known loci, were constructed for the detection of genetic variations in duck populations. The average values for the allele number, the effective number of alleles, the observed heterozygosity, the expected heterozygosity, and the polymorphism information content were 11.29, 5.370, 0.591, 0.746, and 0.708, respectively. The results of analysis of molecular variance and principal component analysis indicated a contracting Brown Tsaiya duck cluster and a spreading White Tsaiya duck cluster. The Brown Tsaiya ducks and the White Tsaiya ducks with Pekin ducks were just split to six clusters and three clusters when K was set equal to 6 and 3 in the Bayesian cluster analysis. The individual phylogenetic tree revealed eight taxa, and each individual was assigned to its own population. Conclusion: According to our study, the 24 novel microsatellite markers exhibited a high capacity to analyze relationships of inter- and intra-population in those populations with a relatively limited degree of genetic diversity. We suggest that duck farms in Taiwan could use the new (novel) microsatellite set to monitor the genetic characteristics and structures of their Tsaiya duck populations at various intervals in order to ensure quality breeding and conservation strategies.

• Development and Reproduction
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.227-238
• /
• 2006

Genomic DNAs(gDNAs) were isolated from the venus clam(Gomphina aequilatera) from Samcheok(venus clam from Samcheok; VCS) and Wonsan(venus clam from Wonsan; VCW) located in the East Sea of the Korean Peninsula. The amplified products were generated by agarose gel electrophoresis(AGE) with oligonucleotides primer, detected by staining with ethidium bromide and viewed by ultraviolet ray. The seven arbitrarily selected primers BION-21, BION-23, BION-25, BION-27, BION-29, BION-31 and BION-33 generated the shared loci, polymorphic, and specific loci, with the molecular sizes ranging from 150 bp to 2,400 bp. In this study, 147 polymorphic loci(147/954 loci, 15.41%) in VCS population and 274(274/996 loci, 27.51%) in VCW population were generated with seven primers. These results suggest the genetic variation in VCW population is higher than in VCS population. Especially, the 700 bp bands generated by the primer BION-21 were identified commonly in two Gomphina populations, which identified populations and/or species. This specific primer was found to be useful in the identification of individuals and/or population, resulting from the different DNA polymorphism among individuals/species/population. Two Gomphina populations between the individual SAMCHEOK no. 03 and WONSAN no. 22 showed the longest genetic distance(0.696) in comparison with other individuals used. The complete linkage cluster analysis indicating three genetic groupings and dendrogram revealed close relationships among individual identities within two geographical populations of venus clam(G. aequilatera) from the Samcheok and Wonsan. The intra-species classification and clustering analyses inferred from molecular markers supported the traditional taxonomy of the species based on morphological characters such as shell size, shape and color. Accordingly, as mentioned above, RAPD analysis showed that VCS population was more or less separated from VCW population.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.97-111
• /
• 1990

This paper examines the effect of redistributive inheritance tax on income distribution and social welfare. The model used here is the Overlapping-Generations Model consisting of individuals with different bequest motives where the lifetime income distribution in each cohort is determined endogeneously by the dynamic bequest process. It is shown that the introduction of redistributive inheritance tax can improve the vertical equity in the sense that the increase in tax rate reduces the coefficient of variations of intra-cohort income distribution in steady-state. However, it is also shown that, the effect on social welfare, when measured by Benthamite SWF, is uncertain in general. The numerical simulations show that, in spite of its equity-enhancing effect, the tax increase can actually lower the steady-state social welfare within the plausible range of parametric values, through the long-run output effect as well as the deadweight welfare loss incurred by tax distortion. Hence, the problem of equity-efficiency trade-off can arise in this case. However, if both the market interest rate and the elasticity of marginal utility in individual's preference function are sufficiently high, it is shown to be possible that the steady-state social welfare is enhanced by the introduction of inheritance tax.