• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.44 no.9
• /
• pp.680-687
• /
• 2021

Coronavirus disease, COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), has a higher case fatality rate in European countries than in others, especially East Asian ones. One potential explanation for this regional difference is the diversity of the viral infection efficiency. Here, we analyzed the allele frequencies of a nonsynonymous variant rs12329760 (V197M) in the TMPRSS2 gene, a key enzyme essential for viral infection and found a significant association between the COVID-19 case fatality rate and the V197M allele frequencies, using over 200,000 present-day and ancient genomic samples. East Asian countries have higher V197M allele frequencies than other regions, including European countries which correlates to their lower case fatality rates. Structural and energy calculation analysis of the V197M amino acid change showed that it destabilizes the TMPRSS2 protein, possibly negatively affecting its ACE2 and viral spike protein processing.

• Anxiety and mood
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.17-25
• /
• 2022

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and its association with psychological factors in patients with hypertension. Methods : The Participants included 124 patients with hypertension. Anxiety symptoms were evaluated by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Socio-demographics, perceived stress, state-trait anger, life satisfaction, and ego resiliency were assessed. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were carried out to examine the impact of perceived stress, state-trait anger, and life satisfaction on anxiety symptoms. In addition, moderated regression analysis was performed to explore the moderating effect of ego resiliency between perceived stress and anxiety symptoms. Results : A total of 17 subjects (13.7%) were identified as having anxiety symptoms. Higher perceived stress and state-trait anger, and lower life satisfaction were found to be significant correlates of anxiety symptoms. In the final model, higher levels of perceived stress (β=0.378, p<0.001) and trait anger (β=0.320, p<0.001) were related to higher levels of anxiety symptoms, while a higher level of life satisfaction (β=-0.166, p=0.025) was associated with a lower level of anxiety symptoms. Further, ego resiliency buffered the negative effect of perceived stress on anxiety symptoms. Conclusion : This study demonstrated the prevalence of anxiety symptoms and associated psychological factors among patients with hypertension. Our findings suggest that improving life satisfaction and ego-resiliency as well as controlling stress and anger may be important in the management of anxiety symptoms in patients with hypertension.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.775-793
• /
• 2023

Human decision-making is a complex behavior. A replication of human decision making offers a potential to enhance the capacity of intelligent systems by providing additional user assistance in decision making. By reducing the effort and task complexity on behalf of the user, such replication would improve the overall user experience, and affect the degree of intelligence exhibited by the system. This paper explores individuals' decision-making processes when using recommender systems, and its related outcomes. In this study, human decision-making (HDM) refers to the selection of an item from a given set of options that are shown as recommendations to a user. The goal of our study was to identify IS constructs that contribute towards such decision-making, thereby contributing towards creating a mental model of HDM. This was achieved through recording Electroencephalographic (EEG) readings of subjects while they performed a decision-making activity. Readings from 16 righthanded healthy avid readers reflect that reward, theory of mind, risk, calculation, task intention, emotion, sense of touch, ambiguity and decision making are the primary constructs that users employ while deciding from a given set of recommendations in an online bookstore. In all 10 distinct brain areas were identified. These brain areas that lead to their respective constructs were found to be cingulate gyrus, precentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate, medial frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate, postcentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus (also referred to as dorsolateral prefrontal gyrus (DLPFC)). The identified constructs would help in developing a design theory for enhancing user assistance, especially in the context of recommender systems.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.278-284
• /
• 2002

To examine the global gene expression of osteoclastogenesis-related genes in RAW 264.7 and its differentiated OCLs through the use of Atlas Mouse cDNA Array 2.1 membranes printed with 1176 well-characterized mouse genes involved in biology. Both samples were screened in parallel using cDNA expression arrays. The array results were additionally validated using RT-PCR. The results of cDNA arrays showed that 6 genes were up-regulated >2.5-fold (PKC beta II. POMC, PTEN, etc) and 16 genes were down-regulated >2.5-fold (Osteopontin, Cyclin D1, Cathepsin C, PTMA, etc) in both samples at the mRNA level. RT-PCR analysis of PKC beta II of these differentially expressed genes gave result consistent with cDNA array findings. The result of osteoclastogenesis showed that the PKC beta II gene was overexpressed in OCLs compared with RAW264.7 cell line. Osteoclastogenesis-related genes are differentially expressed in RAW264.7 cell line and its differentiated OCLs. its gene overexpression correlates with osteoclast differentiation in RAW264.7 cell line.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.3729-3734
• /
• 2013

The aim of this study was to evaluate expression of COX-1 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and its prognostic value. mRNA of COX-1 was detected in 42 paired RCC and adjacent normal tissues with quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Expression of COX-1 was also evaluated in 196 RCC sections and 91 adjacent normal tissues with immunohistochemistry. Statistical analysis was performed to assess COX-1 expression in RCC and its prognostic significance. The results of qRT-PCR showed mRNA levels of COX-1 in RCC tissues to be significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.001). Immunohistochemical assays also revealed COX-1 to be overexpressed in RCC tissues (p < 0.001). Statistical analysis demonstrated high expression of COX-1 was correlated with tumour size (p = 0.002), pathological stage (p = 0.003), TNM stage (p = 0.003, 0.007, 0.027, respectively), and tumour recurrence (p < 0.001). Survival analysis indicated patients with high expression of COX-1 had shorter survival time (p < 0.001), and COX-1 was an independent predictor. This is the first study to reveal overexpression of COX-1 in RRC and point to use as a prognostic marker in affected patients.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.1-27
• /
• 2017

It is known that the economic sentiment index and macroeconomic indicators are closely related because economic agent's judgment and forecast of the business conditions affect economic fluctuations. For this reason, consumer sentiment or confidence provides steady fodder for business and is treated as an important piece of economic information. In Korea, private consumption accounts and consumer sentiment index highly relevant for both, which is a very important economic indicator for evaluating and forecasting the domestic economic situation. However, despite offering relevant insights into private consumption and GDP, the traditional approach to measuring the consumer confidence based on the survey has several limits. One possible weakness is that it takes considerable time to research, collect, and aggregate the data. If certain urgent issues arise, timely information will not be announced until the end of each month. In addition, the survey only contains information derived from questionnaire items, which means it can be difficult to catch up to the direct effects of newly arising issues. The survey also faces potential declines in response rates and erroneous responses. Therefore, it is necessary to find a way to complement it. For this purpose, we construct and assess an index designed to measure consumer economic sentiment index using sentiment analysis. Unlike the survey-based measures, our index relies on textual analysis to extract sentiment from economic and financial news articles. In particular, text data such as news articles and SNS are timely and cover a wide range of issues; because such sources can quickly capture the economic impact of specific economic issues, they have great potential as economic indicators. There exist two main approaches to the automatic extraction of sentiment from a text, we apply the lexicon-based approach, using sentiment lexicon dictionaries of words annotated with the semantic orientations. In creating the sentiment lexicon dictionaries, we enter the semantic orientation of individual words manually, though we do not attempt a full linguistic analysis (one that involves analysis of word senses or argument structure); this is the limitation of our research and further work in that direction remains possible. In this study, we generate a time series index of economic sentiment in the news. The construction of the index consists of three broad steps: (1) Collecting a large corpus of economic news articles on the web, (2) Applying lexicon-based methods for sentiment analysis of each article to score the article in terms of sentiment orientation (positive, negative and neutral), and (3) Constructing an economic sentiment index of consumers by aggregating monthly time series for each sentiment word. In line with existing scholarly assessments of the relationship between the consumer confidence index and macroeconomic indicators, any new index should be assessed for its usefulness. We examine the new index's usefulness by comparing other economic indicators to the CSI. To check the usefulness of the newly index based on sentiment analysis, trend and cross - correlation analysis are carried out to analyze the relations and lagged structure. Finally, we analyze the forecasting power using the one step ahead of out of sample prediction. As a result, the news sentiment index correlates strongly with related contemporaneous key indicators in almost all experiments. We also find that news sentiment shocks predict future economic activity in most cases. In almost all experiments, the news sentiment index strongly correlates with related contemporaneous key indicators. Furthermore, in most cases, news sentiment shocks predict future economic activity; in head-to-head comparisons, the news sentiment measures outperform survey-based sentiment index as CSI. Policy makers want to understand consumer or public opinions about existing or proposed policies. Such opinions enable relevant government decision-makers to respond quickly to monitor various web media, SNS, or news articles. Textual data, such as news articles and social networks (Twitter, Facebook and blogs) are generated at high-speeds and cover a wide range of issues; because such sources can quickly capture the economic impact of specific economic issues, they have great potential as economic indicators. Although research using unstructured data in economic analysis is in its early stages, but the utilization of data is expected to greatly increase once its usefulness is confirmed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.751-773
• /
• 1995

We, clinical nurse specialists practising and guiding student practice in a Community health nursing clinic, wanted to develop a family pattern appraisal consistent with Rogers' conceptual system, the nursing model guiding our practice. We use Rogers' model because it is harmonious with the traditional Korean view of the one human, natural and cosmic world. The purpose of our research was to contribute to science - based nursing practice, not only, one helpful model, but also a model of how to use, in guiding practice, a conceptual system which reflects nurse practitioners' philosophy of nursing, is intellectually satisfying, and enriches meaning in daily nursing life. The research objectives were to review the literature on Rogers' model and analyse it according to Kim's five - level analytical framework, to explore Rogers' definition of family, to review appraisals based on Rogers' model, and to develop a family appraisal which is culturally appropriate for use in our community. This work including the use of the appraisal and its refinement with families in our practice which was done during 1994 and 1995, in Seoul, in the Capital of the Republic of Korea. At the highest level of analysis, Rogers conceptual system emphasizes acausality and multidimentional meaning ; the world view is characterized by process, movement and wholeness. The epistemology Is one of holism and the knowledge base includes all forms of experience, from sensory to mystical, objective, and subjective. At the metaparadigm level, nursing focuses on the unitary human being and the environment. At the level of nursing philosophy, the model identifies human being, nursing, nurse, and illness and health. At the paradigm level the model assumes the irriducibility of the human to parts, noncausality and continual change. Rogers' practice methodology consists of pattern manifestation appraisal and deliberative mutual patterning. Under-standing patterns and patterning of people is the key to helping them achieve their potential. At the theory level, the basic assumptions, key concepts, and homeodynamic principles were identified. Rogers states the family energy field is an undividable, four-dimensional negentropic energy field which is in a larger envircinmental field show-ing such characteristics as cannot be predicted by knowledge of individual family members. Based on the word of Rogers scholars, we chose Rogers' correlates of patterning to understand the family unit as a whole-frequency, rhythms, motion, time perception, sleeping-waking beyond waking, pragmatic -imaginative-visionary to develop the appraisal. We, also used some of Barrel's (1988) criteria including interpersonal network and professional health care access and use, and Cordon's (1982) criteria including self perception - self concept modified to fit the family. Our family Pattern appraisal included 1. Influencirg data, 2. Professional health care access and use, 3. Family self perception-self concept, 4. Family interpersonal network, 5. Sleep-wake-be-yond waking, 6. Pragmatic-imaginary-visionary, 7. Family frequency and rhythm, 8. Family motion, 9. Family time perception. The appraisal was used with four families and modified to eliminate overlap and to make it possible for the family member to express themselves more easily. We plan to gain more experience with the appraisal toward further development of the tool.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.7-15
• /
• 1975

The maximum breathing capacity (MBC) and the maximum mid-expiratory flow rate (MMF) are widely used in evaluation of the ventilatory function, among various parameters of pulmonary function. The MBC volume is the amount of gas which can be exchanged per unit time during maximal voluntary hyperventilation. Performance of this test, unlike that of single breath maneuvers, is affected by the integrity of the respiratory bellows as a whole including such factors are respiratory muscle blood supply, fatigue, and progressive trapping of air. Because of this, the MBC and its relation to ventilatory requirement correlates more closely with subjective dyspnea than does any other test. The MMF is the average flow rate during expiration of the middle 50% of the vital capacity. The MMF is a measurement of a fast vital capacity related to the time required for the maneuver and the MMF relates much better to other dynamic tests of ventilatory function and to dyspnea than total vital capacity, because the MMF reflects the effective volume, or gas per unit of time. Therefore, it is important to have a prediction formula with one can compute the normal value for the subject and the compare with the measured value. However, the formulas for prediction of both MBC and MMF of the Korean children and adolescents are not yet available in the present. Hence, present investigation was attempt to derive the formulas for prediction of both MBC and MMF of the Korean children and adolescents. MBC and MMF were measured in 1,037 healthy Korean children and adolescents (1,035 male and 1,002 female) whose ages ranged from 8 to 18 years. A spirometer (9L, Collins) was used for the measurement of MBC and MMF. Both MBC and MMF were measured 3times in a standing position and the highest values were used. For measurement, the $CO_2$ absorber and sadd valve were removed from the spirometer in order to reduce the resistance in the breathing circuit and the subject was asked to breathe as fast and deeply as possible for 12 seconds in MBC and to exhale completely as fast as possible after maximum inspiration for MMF. During the measurement, investigator stood by the subject to give a constant encouragement. All the measured values were subsequently converted to values at BTPS. The formulas for MBC and MMF were derived by a manner similar to those for Baldwin et al (1949) and Im (1965) as function of age and BSA or age and height. The prediction formulas for MBC (L/min, BTPS) and MMF (L/min, BTPS) of the Korean children and adolescents as derived in this investigation are as follows: For male, MBC=[41.70+{$2.69{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}BSA$ $(m^{2})$ MBC=[0.083+{$0.045{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm) For female, MBC=[45.53+{$1.55{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}BSA$ $(m^2)$ MBC=[0.189+{$0.029{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm) For male, MMF= [0.544+{$0.066{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm) For female, MMF=[0.416+{$0.064{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm)

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.159-178
• /
• 2007

Lee & Kang (2002) showed that simultaneous phonological rehearsal significantly delayed the performance of multiplication but not subtraction, whereas holding an image in the memory delayed subtraction but not multiplication. This result indicated that arithmetic function is related to working memory in a subsystem-specific manner. The aim of the current study was to examine the neural correlates of previous finding using fMRI. For this goal, dual task conditions that required suppression or no suppression were manipulated. In general, several areas were more activated in the interference conditions than in the less interference conditions, although both conditions were dual condition. More important finding is that the specific areas activated in the phonological suppression rendition were right inferior frontal gyrus, left angular, and inferior parietal lobule, while the areas activated in the other condition were mainly in the right superior temporal gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus. Furthermore, the areas activated in the phonological or visual less suppression condition were right medial frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and bilateral medial frontal gyri, anterior cingulate cortices, and parahippocampal gyri, respectively. These results revealed that sharing the processing code invokes interference, and its neural basis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.2447-2451
• /
• 2015

Background: Human papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is often associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT); their coexistence improves PTC prognosis. Osteopontin, a secreted glycoprotein, plays a role in cell survival, immunity, and tumor progression, its expression being associated with a poor prognosis and metastasis in several malignancies. Osteopontin overexpression correlates with aggressive clinicopathological features in PTC. Lymph node metastases and large tumor size positively correlate with osteopontin positivity. This study aimed to: (1) confirm osteopontin overexpression in human PTC samples; (2) compare osteopontin expression levels in PTC cases with and without HT; and (3) identify correlations between tumor aggressiveness and osteopontin expression levels. Materials and Methods: Plasma osteopontin was assessed in 45 patients with PTC, 22 patients with PTC and HT, and 24 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Thyroid tissue osteopontin mRNA and protein levels were analyzed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, respectively. Results: Plasma osteopontin levels were significantly higher in PTC patients than in healthy controls. Plasma osteopontin, tissue osteopontin mRNA, and tissue osteopontin protein levels were significantly lower in patients with PTC and HT than in those with PTC alone. In advanced disease stage cases, osteopontin mRNA and protein expression levels were lower in patients with PTC and HT than in those with PTC alone. However, the osteopontin expression level was not significantly associated with the TNM stage. Conclusions: Plasma osteopontin, tissue osteopontin mRNA, and tissue osteopontin protein levels were significantly lower in patients with PTC and HT than in those with PTC alone, suggesting that HT attenuates PTC aggressiveness through negative regulation of osteopontin expression.