• CELLMED
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.15.1-15.9
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• 2020

Introduction: Buthūr Labaniyya (Acne vulgaris) is a multifactorial disorder of the pilosebaceous units characterized by non-inflammatory and inflammatory clinical lesions. Several Unani medications have been used for centuries to treat acne. Objectives: Evaluation of safety and efficacy of Tila-i Muhāsā in patients with acne vulgaris Materials and Methods: This clinical study was conducted in patients with acne vulgaris. Patients applied Tila-i Muhāsā or 5% Benzoyl Peroxide (BPO) once daily for 6 weeks. Assessment of efficacy was carried out by Global Acne Grading System (GAGS) and Patient Global Assessment (PGA) scores. In addition, overall severity of acne was evaluated on a 5-point Cook's acne grading scale using photographic standards. Assessment of safety was performed through adverse drug reactions, local dermal tolerability, vital signs, and routine laboratory investigations. Results: A total of 60 patients (30 in each group) completed 6 weeks of treatment. The mean percentage reduction in GAGS score at 6 weeks from baseline in Unani group (66.97%) and BPO group (59.09%) was statistically significant (P<0.0001). After 6 weeks of therapy, the mean percentage reduction in PGA score compared to baseline in Unani group (57.44%) and BPO group (50.23%) was statistically significant (P<0.0001). No serious adverse events were reported in both groups; however, mild adverse events occurred more frequently in BPO group (30%) compared to Unani group (10%). Conclusion: Tila-i Muhāsā was found to be effective and safe in the treatment of acne vulgaris. However, further clinical studies with larger sample size and longer duration of therapy need to be conducted.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.187-191
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• 2011

Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB is one of the most potent vascular smooth muscle cell(VSMC) proliferative factors, and abnormal VSMC proliferation by PDGF-BB plays an important role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of YP 12, a newly synthesized obovatol derivative, on the proliferation of PDGF-BB-stimulated rat aortic VSMCs. The anti-proliferative effects of YP 12 on rat aortic VSMCs were examined by direct cell counting and by using $[^3H]$ thymidine incorporation assays. It was found that YP 12 potently inhibited the growth of VSMCs. The pre-incubation of YP 12 (1-4 ${\mu}M$) significantly inhibited the proliferation and DNA synthesis of 25 ng/ml PDGF-BB-stimulated rat aortic VSMCs in a concentration-dependent manner. In accordance with these findings, YP 12 revealed blocking of the PDGF-BB-inducible progression through G0/G1 to S phase of the cell cycle in synchronized cells. Whereas, YP 12 did not show any cytotoxicity in rat aortic VSMCs in this experimental condition by WST-1 assay. These results also show that YP 12 may have potential as an anti-proliferative agent for the treatment of restenosis and atherosclerosis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.271-280
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• 2002

A probabilistic approach to identify the effects of uncertainties of soil strength parameters on searching a critical slip surface with the lowest reliability is introduced. In general construction field, it is impossible for the engineer to always gather a variety of statistical information of soil strength parameters for which lots of laboratory and in-situ soil testing are required and to use it with enough statistical knowledge. Thus, in order that the engineer may easily understand the probabilistic concept for the slope stability analysis, this study proposes a combined procedure to incorporate the engineering probabilistic tools into the existing deterministic slope stability analysis methods. Using UTEXAS 3, a slope stability analysis computer program developed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (U.S. COE), this study provides the results of this probabilistic slope stability analysis in terms of probability of failure or reliability index. This probabilistic method f3r slope stability analysis appears to yield more comprehensive results of slope reliability than does existing deterministic methods with safety factors alone.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.41-48
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• 2022

The mass density of the medium (ρ) used to calculate the maximum shear modulus (G_max) of the saturated ground based on the shear wave velocity is unclear. Therefore, to determine the mass density, a verification formula and five scenarios were established. Laboratory tests were conducted, and the obtained results were compared. The mass density of the medium was assumed to be saturated (ρ_sat), wet (ρ_t), dry (ρ_dry), and submerged conditions (ρ_sub), and the V_s ratios of saturated to dry condition were obtained from each case. Assuming the saturated density (ρ_sat), the V_s ratio was consistent with the value from the resonant column test (RCT) results, and the value from the bender element test results was consistent with the wet density assumption (ρ_t). Considering the frequency range of earthquakes, it is concluded that applying the saturated density (ρ_sat) is reasonable as in the RCT results.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.328-335
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• 2022

With the advance of robot capabilities and functionalities, construction robots assisting construction workers have been increasingly deployed on construction sites to improve safety, efficiency and productivity. For close-proximity human-robot collaboration in construction sites, robots need to be aware of the context, especially construction worker's behavior, in real-time to avoid collision with workers. To recognize human behavior, most previous studies obtained 3D human poses using a single camera or an RGB-depth (RGB-D) camera. However, single-camera detection has limitations such as occlusions, detection failure, and sensor malfunction, and an RGB-D camera may suffer from interference from lighting conditions and surface material. To address these issues, this study proposes a novel method of 3D human pose estimation by extracting 2D location of each joint from multiple images captured at the same time from different viewpoints, fusing each joint's 2D locations, and estimating the 3D joint location. For higher accuracy, the probabilistic representation is used to extract the 2D location of the joints, considering each joint location extracted from images as a noisy partial observation. Then, this study estimates the 3D human pose by fusing the probabilistic 2D joint locations to maximize the likelihood. The proposed method was evaluated in both simulation and laboratory settings, and the results demonstrated the accuracy of estimation and the feasibility in practice. This study contributes to ensuring human safety in close-proximity human-robot collaboration by providing a novel method of 3D human pose estimation.

• Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2024

Purpose: The effectiveness of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination schemes and the combination of vaccines of various platforms for administering booster doses is still being studied since it will depend on the population's response to vaccines. We aimed to evaluate the safety, protection, and immunogenicity of the Salvadorean population's third dose booster COVID-19 vaccine and the potential benefit of homologous vs. heterologous regimens. Materials and Methods: This is an analytical observational cohort study in a population aged 18 to 65 years that was primarily vaccinated with AstraZeneca, Sinovac, or Pfizer/BioNTech. Volunteers were recruited (n=223) and followed up for 3 months after receiving the 3rd vaccine (BNT162b2) as a booster. Adverse reactions were monitored, serum anti-spike immunoglobulin G (IgG) was assessed by chemiluminescence, and a polymerase chain reaction was carried out when subjects developed clinical signs. Results: The cohorts finally included 199 participants, and we observed only mild adverse effects in all cohorts. A significant increase in specific IgG levels was found after the booster dose in all cohorts. The heterologous scheme with Sinovac showed the greatest increase in antibody titer, and a decrease was observed in all participants after 3 months. During the follow-up period, 30 participants showed symptomatology compatible with COVID-19, but only four were laboratory-confirmed and they showed mild clinical signs. Conclusion: These findings indicate that the booster doses used were safe and promoted an immediate increase in immunogenicity, which decreased over time. The heterologous regimen showed stronger immunogenicity compared to the messenger RNA-based homologous scheme.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2023

As the social and economic value of living modified organisms (LMOs) increase, so do the potential risks they pose to humans and the environment. Therefore, all laboratories using LMOs must establish an LMO laboratory in accordance with the standards required by regulations. Recently, in high school, LMO-related experimental programs have been developed for their educational effects. Also, in this case, it is necessary to comply with the regulation for LMO laboratories. However, high schools are still unfamiliar with the LMO laboratory, and it is difficult for teachers to manage an LMO laboratory because its implementation applies the same standards to general research institutes. In this study, we used causal chain analysis to discover the difficulties each teacher faced while setting up an LMO laboratory by examining three cases. The difficulties experienced by teachers are as follows: the first problem is "reluctance to set up an LMO laboratory," because of "administrative tasks for laboratory registration" and "difficulty in persuading colleagues." The second problem is a difficulty for teachers to operate LMO laboratory in blind spots, due to "inflexible installation and closure," "medical waste disposal," and "LMO education that does not fit the school context." Through this study, although the difficulty of running an LMO laboratory is caused by a lack of necessity and insufficient consideration of the school context, the more fundamental cause was a lack of collaborative planning between the educational field and the operating institutions. The teachers who participate in this research suggest that "using shared LAB" and "preparing opportunities for knowledge sharing" can be considered as strategies for operating the school's LMO laboratory. We feel that this study will provide a useful reference for teachers or schools planning to build an LMO laboratory.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.43-55
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• 2008

Recently, the major viral diseases, Newcastle disease (ND), infectious bronchitis (IB), low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI), avian pneumovirus infection (APV), Marek's disease (MD) and infectious bursal disease (IBD), have led to huge economic losses in chicken industry of Korea. To evaluate prevalence of the major viral disease infections in broiler breeder and broiler farms, epidemiological survey has been conducted in Jeonbuk province from 2005 to 2007 by serological ELISA test for APV, PCR for MD, and RT-PCR for ND, IB, LPAI and IBD, respectively. A total of 424 cases was submitted to our laboratory for diagnosis of the major viral disease from broiler breeder and broiler farms in the above period. The diagnosed results were analysed for the detection rate of infections on basis of years, seasons and ages, respectively. This study was showed that the detection rates of ND and APV were considerably high for every years regardless of seasons and ages in both broiler breeder and commercial broiler. In comparison with detection rates of ND and APV, IB and LPAI were lower but detected around 10% for every years. Especially, detection rate of IB was significantly high in commercial broiler than in broiler breeder. Therefore, to minimize economic losses for broiler breeder and broiler farms, it will need for effective countermeasures to decrease detection rate of the viral respiratory diseases. Although the detection rates of MD and IBD were gradually decreased from 2005 to 2007 in both broiler breeder and commercial broiler, it will continually make an effort about disease control for increasing productivity in chicken industry.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.203-223
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• 2014

The extensive use of prestressed reinforced concrete (PSC) highway bridges in marine environment drastically increases the sensitivity to both fatigue-and corrosion-induced damage of their critical structural components during their service lives. Within this scenario, an integrated method that is capable of evaluating the fatigue reliability, identifying a condition-based maintenance, and predicting the remaining service life of its critical components is therefore needed. To accomplish this goal, a procedure for fatigue reliability prediction of PSC highway bridges is proposed in the present study. Vehicle-bridge coupling vibration analysis is performed for obtaining the equivalent moment ranges of critical section of bridges under typical fatigue truck models. Three-dimensional nonlinear mathematical models of fatigue trucks are simplified as an eleven-degree-of-freedom system. Road surface roughness is simulated as zero-mean stationary Gaussian random processes using the trigonometric series method. The time-dependent stress-concentration factors of reinforcing bars and prestressing tendons are accounted for more accurate stress ranges determination. The limit state functions are constructed according to the Miner's linear damage rule, the time-dependent S-N curves of prestressing tendons and the site-specific stress cycle prediction. The effectiveness of the methodology framework is demonstrated to a T-type simple supported multi-girder bridge for fatigue reliability evaluation.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.211-218
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary Chungkookjang (Korean fermented soybean) powder on blood glucose level, lipid profiles, antioxidant enzymes activities and histological changes in kidney of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats of three groups including nondiabetic group fed normal diet (NC), diabetic group fed normal diet (DC) and diabetic group fed Chungkookjang diet (DCH; 100 g/kg diet) were reared for 8 weeks. The serum glucose, triglycelide and total lipid levels in the DCH group were significantly lower (P<0.05) than the DC group. The renal xanthine oxidase, catalase and glutathione S-transferase activities in the DC group were significantly higher than the NC group. The xanthine oxidase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione S-transferase activities in the DCH group were significantly lower than the DC group (P<0.05). Tubular epithelial change, such as Armanni-Ebstein cells, was significantly reduced in the DCH group compared to the DC group. In conclusion, these results indicated that Chungkookjang supplement seems to be beneficial to correct the hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia as well as to protect kidney against diabetic changes.