• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2023

Purpose: Sports offer several health benefits but are not free of injury risk. Activity dynamics vary across sports, impacting the injury profile and thereby influencing healthcare resource utilization and health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate sports-related major trauma cases and compare differences across sports and activity groups. Methods: A retrospective case notes review of sports-related major traumas over a 5-year period was conducted. Demographic, hospital episode-related, and health outcome-related data were analyzed, and differences were compared across sports and activity groups. The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) at discharge was used as the primary outcome measure and the length of hospital stay as the secondary outcome measure. Results: In total, 76% of cases had good recovery at discharge (GOS, 5), 19% had moderate disability (GOS, 4), and 5% had severe disability (GOS, 3). The mean length of hospital stay was 11.2 days (range, 1-121 days). The most severely injured body region was the limbs (29.1%) and vertebral/spinal injuries were most common (33%) in terms of location. A significant difference (P<0.05) existed in GOS across sports groups, with motor sports having the lowest GOS. However, no significant differences (P>0.05) were found in other health-outcome variables or injury patterns across sports or activity groups, although more competitive sports cases (67%) required admission than recreational sports cases (33%). Conclusions: Spinal injuries are the most frequent sports injuries, bear the worst health outcomes, and warrant better preventive measures. Head injuries previously dominated the worst outcomes; this change is likely due to better preventive and management modalities. Competitive sports had a higher injury frequency than recreational sports, but no difference in health outcomes or injury patterns.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2023

On December 19, 2015, as Article 29-3 (Installation of Accident Recording Devices and Provision of Information) of Motor Vehicle Management Act came into force, In Korea, the EDR (Event Data Recorder) reports are often used for the analysis of various traffic accident cases such as multiple collisions, traffic insurance crimes, and sudden unintended acceleration (SUA), and the others. So many investigators have analyzed the driver's behavior and vehicle situation by comparing the time zero in the EDR report to the actual crash time in dash-cam (or CCTV). Time zero (T0) is defined as the reference time for the record interval or time interval when recording an accident in Article 56-2, Enforcement rule of Performance and Standard for Automobile and Automotive parts. Also in the EDR report, time zero (T0) is defined as whichever of the following occurs first; 1. "wake-up" by an air-bag control system, 2. Continuously running algorithms (by monitoring of longitudinal or lateral delta-V), 3. Deployment of a non-reversible deployment restraint. We have already proposed the "Flowchart & Checklist" to adopt the EDR report for traffic accident investigation and the necessity of specialized institutions or courses to systematically educate or analyze the EDR data. Therefore, in this paper, we report to traffic accident investigators notable points and analysis methods based on some real-world traffic accidents that can be misjudged in specifying time zero (T0).

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1D
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• pp.111-120
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• 2009

Restructuring urban land use patterns from the motor-oriented to transit-oriented ones is a contemporary trend in urban planning and transportation. It is expected that transforming urban land use patterns to be transit and walking friendly would resolve various urban problems such as heavy energy consumptions, air pollutions, and traffic congestions. Korean cities have much potentials for developing transit-oriented urban environments in terms of its density and civil service levels, but the level of transit usage levels and the environmental quality of cities are not good enough for supporting such transition. The purpose of this study is to analyze the urban transit center areas and identify the problems to be solved to create transit-oriented urban environments. Case studies of four urban transit center areas in Seoul Metropolitan region were conducted to examine the spatial characteristics of urban transit center areas and identify their problems. Development density, land use diversity, walk-ability and transit connectivity were the primary feature of interests.

• Clinical Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.88-91
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• 2019

Unexplained pain and weakness, i.e., without obvious predisposing factors, are often encountered by physiatrists and efforts should be made to determine the cause. A 63-year-old male presented with radiating pain in his right arm and mild weakness of the right hand. An electrodiagnostic examination revealed distal symmetric sensory polyneuropathy in the upper and lower extremities, and denervation potentials in the forearm muscles, which were inconsistent with the cervical spine MRI images and symptoms. A predisposing undiscovered disease was revealed, i.e., squamous cell carcinoma in the lung; brain metastasis affecting the left primary motor cortex was also detected. Therefore, we concluded that the pain and weakness were related to paraneoplastic syndrome and brain metastases of the hand knob. The observed denervation potentials were characterized as trans-synaptic changes in the brain metastasis. This case highlights the importance of unexplainable focal pain and weakness in the increasing prevalence of cancer.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.54-65
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• 2024

Background: There is growing international recognition of the need for improvements to national chemical management systems for hazardous chemicals. The European Union has recently introduced the concept of 'essential uses' as a new approach to the management hazardous chemicals by limiting their uses. Objectives: This paper examines the concept of essential uses in chemical management and how to apply it through a case study of essential use. This approach is distinct from the current chemical management system, but seeks to improve its potential benefits by effectively restricting or gradually decreasing the use of hazardous substances. Methods: The concept of essential uses was introduced by reviewing the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Cousins's three essentiality categories applied to PFAS, restriction options assessed in the PFAS restriction proposal under REACH, and the California Safer Consumer Products regulations prioritizing 6PPD in motor vehicle tires. Based on these essential uses concepts for PFAS and 6PPD, uses of benzene were classified in accordance with the essential uses approach for products using benzene in South Korea. Results: The essential use concept is able to manage the restriction and authorization of substances of concern through essential uses and non-essential uses and the feasible substitution of uses and substances. Conclusions: If the concept and methodology of essential uses are clearly established, they can be expected to shift the national chemical management paradigm from regulating substances to limiting uses under the existing substance management system.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.312-327
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• 2024

In this study, a rehabilitation 3D printed wearable device was developed by combining an assembly-type robot hand and an integral-type robot hand through fused deposition 3D printing manufacturing with various hardness TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) filaments. The hardware configuration of the robot hand includes a controller designed with four motors, one small servo motor, and a circuit board. In the case of the assembly-type robot hand model, a 3D printed robot hand was assembled using samples printed with TPU of hardness 87A and 95A. It was observed that TPU with a hardness of 95A was suitable for use due to shape stability. For the integrated-type robot hand model, the external sample using TPU of hardness 95A could be modified through a cutting method, and the hardware configuration is the same as the assembly-type. The system structure of the 3D printed robot hand was improved from an individual control method to a simultaneous transmission method.Furthermore, the system architecture of an integrated 3D printed robotic hand rehabilitation device and the application of the rehabilitation device were developed.

• The Journal of Korea Assosiation for Disability and Oral Health
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.46-50
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• 2013

Developmental disorders are a group of psychiatric conditions originating in childhood that involve serious impairments in different areas. These disorders comprise language disorders, learning disorders, motor disorders and autism spectrum disorders. Midazolam is a short-acting drug in the benzodiazepine class developed by Hoffmann-La Roche in the 1970s. The drug is used for treatment of acute seizures, moderate to severe insomnia, and for inducing sedation and amnesia before medical procedures. It possesses profoundly potent anxiolytic, amnestic, hypnotic, anticonvulsant, skeletal muscle relaxant, and sedative properties. The anterograde amnesia property of midazolam is useful for premedication before surgery to inhibit unpleasant memories. This article presents a case report including caries treatment of a 8-year-old male patient with developmental disorders using oral midazolam premedication as an alternative method of behavior management prior to general anesthesia.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.43 no.2 s.308
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• pp.30-39
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• 2006

Iris recognition is that identifies a user based on the unique iris texture patterns which has the functionalities of dilating or contracting pupil region. Iris recognition systems extract the iris pattern in iris image captured by iris recognition camera. Therefore performance of iris recognition is affected by the quality of iris image which includes iris pattern. If iris image is blurred, iris pattern is transformed. It causes FRR(False Rejection Error) to be increased. Optical defocusing is the main factor to make blurred iris images. In conventional iris recognition camera, they use two kinds of focusing methods such as lilted and auto-focusing method. In case of fixed focusing method, the users should repeatedly align their eyes in DOF(Depth of Field), while the iris recognition system acquires good focused is image. Therefore it can give much inconvenience to the users. In case of auto-focusing method, the iris recognition camera moves focus lens with auto-focusing algorithm for capturing the best focused image. However, that needs additional H/W equipment such as distance measuring sensor between users and camera lens, and motor to move focus lens. Therefore the size and cost of iris recognition camera are increased and this kind of camera cannot be used for small sized mobile device. To overcome those problems, we propose method to increase DOF by iris image restoration algorithm based on focus value of iris image. When we tested our proposed algorithm with BM-ET100 made by Panasonic, we could increase operation range from 48-53cm to 46-56cm.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.16-26
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• 2007

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a serine protease catalyzing the proteolytic conversion of plasminogen into plasmin, which is involved in thrombolysis. During last two decades, the role of tPA in brain physiology and pathology has been extensively investigated. tPA is expressed in brain regions such as cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and cerebellum, and major neural cell types such as neuron, astrocyte, microglia and endothelial cells express tPA in basal status. After strong neural stimulation such as seizure, tPA behaves as an immediate early gene increasing the expression level within an hour. Neural activity and/or postsynaptic stimulation increased the release of tPA from axonal terminal and presumably from dendritic compartment. Neuronal tPA regulates plastic changes in neuronal function and structure mediating key neurologic processes such as visual cortex plasticity, seizure spreading, cerebellar motor learning, long term potentiation and addictive or withdrawal behavior after morphine discontinuance. In addition to these physiological roles, tPA mediates excitotoxicity leading to the neurodegeneration in several pathological conditions including ischemic stroke. Increasing amount of evidence also suggest the role of tPA in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis even though beneficial effects was also reported in case of Alzheimer's disease based on the observation of tPA-induced degradation of $A{\beta}$ aggregates. Target proteins of tPA action include extracellular matrix protein laminin, proteoglycans and NMDA receptor. In addition, several receptors (or binding partners) for tPA has been reported such as low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP) and annexin II, even though intracellular signaling mechanism underlying tPA action is not clear yet. Interestingly, the action of tPA comprises both proteolytic and non-proteolytic mechanism. In case of microglial activation, tPA showed non-proteolytic cytokine-like function. The search for exact target proteins and receptor molecules for tPA along with the identification of the mechanism regulating tPA expression and release in the nervous system will enable us to better understand several key neurological processes like teaming and memory as well as to obtain therapeutic tools against neurodegenerative diseases.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.330-335
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• 2017

The demand for electric motor fuel cells has surged in the automotive industry, leading to a recent increase in the demand for square aluminum cans used as fuel cell battery casings. The air vent located on the bottom of the rectangular battery casing prevents large explosions by intermittent pressure release prior to the accumulation of abnormally high pressures. Conventionally, the square cup battery casing is produced via six-step deep drawing, with the outer shape of the vent being manufactured by welding to the square battery casing. On the other hand, this study directly incorporated the air vent outlet into the bottom surface of the rectangular casing. The product of a coupled finite element analysis technique applying the thickness and contour generated from the square cup multi-step deep drawing formation analysis was used as the forging input shape. The results yielded increased prediction accuracy and the advanced prediction of defects, such as swelling and fracture. Based on the results of the initial analyses, two of the generated forging shapes were determined to be suitable, with the optimal forging shape being determined by molding analysis. The results presented here were validated by mold fabrication and a subsequent comparison of the actual and analytical results.