• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.313-318
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• 2013

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imaging with fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) have been used as a powerful fusion modality in nuclear medicine not only for detecting cancer but also for staging and therapy monitoring. Nevertheless, there are various causes of FDG uptake in normal and/or benign tissues. The purpose of present study was to investigate whether additional delayed imaging can improve the diagnosis to differentiate the rates of FDG uptake at axillary lymph nodes (ALN) between malignant and benign in breast cancer patients. 180 PET/CT images were obtained for 27 patients with ALN uptake. The patients who had radiotherapy and chemotherapy were excluded from the study. $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT scan at 50 min (early phase) and 90 min (delayed phase) after $^{18}F$-FDG injection were included in this retrospective study. The staging of cancers was confirmed by final clinical according to radiologic follow-up and pathologic findings. The standardized uptake value (SUV) of ALN was measured at the Syngo Acquisition Workplace by Siemens. The 27 patients included 18 malignant and 9 ALN benign groups and the 18 malignant groups were classified into the 3 groups according to number of metastatic ALN in each patient. ALNs were categorized less than or equal 3 as N1, between 4 to 9 as N2 and more than 10 as N3 group. Results are expressed as the mean${\pm}$standard deviation (S.D.) and statistically analyzed by SPSS. As a result, Retention index (RI-SUV max) in metastasis was significantly higher than that in non-metastasis about 5 fold increased. On the other hand, RI-SUV max in N group tended to decrease gradually from N1 to N3. However, we could not prove significance statistically in malignant group with ANOVA. As a consequence, RI-SUV max was good indicator for differentiating ALN positive group from node negative group in breast cancer patients. These results show that dual-time-point scan appears to be useful in distinguishing malignant from benign.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.157-176
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• 2018

The purpose of this research is to develop a detection model for companies designated as administrative issue in KOSDAQ market using financial data. Administration issue designates the companies with high potential for delisting, which gives them time to overcome the reasons for the delisting under certain restrictions of the Korean stock market. It acts as an alarm to inform investors and market participants of which companies are likely to be delisted and warns them to make safe investments. Despite this importance, there are relatively few studies on administration issues prediction model in comparison with the lots of studies on bankruptcy prediction model. Therefore, this study develops and verifies the detection model of the companies designated as administrative issue using financial data of KOSDAQ companies. In this study, logistic regression and decision tree are proposed as the data mining models for detecting administrative issues. According to the results of the analysis, the logistic regression model predicted the companies designated as administrative issue using three variables - ROE(Earnings before tax), Cash flows/Shareholder's equity, and Asset turnover ratio, and its overall accuracy was 86% for the validation dataset. The decision tree (Classification and Regression Trees, CART) model applied the classification rules using Cash flows/Total assets and ROA(Net income), and the overall accuracy reached 87%. Implications of the financial indictors selected in our logistic regression and decision tree models are as follows. First, ROE(Earnings before tax) in the logistic detection model shows the profit and loss of the business segment that will continue without including the revenue and expenses of the discontinued business. Therefore, the weakening of the variable means that the competitiveness of the core business is weakened. If a large part of the profits is generated from one-off profit, it is very likely that the deterioration of business management is further intensified. As the ROE of a KOSDAQ company decreases significantly, it is highly likely that the company can be delisted. Second, cash flows to shareholder's equity represents that the firm's ability to generate cash flow under the condition that the financial condition of the subsidiary company is excluded. In other words, the weakening of the management capacity of the parent company, excluding the subsidiary's competence, can be a main reason for the increase of the possibility of administrative issue designation. Third, low asset turnover ratio means that current assets and non-current assets are ineffectively used by corporation, or that asset investment by corporation is excessive. If the asset turnover ratio of a KOSDAQ-listed company decreases, it is necessary to examine in detail corporate activities from various perspectives such as weakening sales or increasing or decreasing inventories of company. Cash flow / total assets, a variable selected by the decision tree detection model, is a key indicator of the company's cash condition and its ability to generate cash from operating activities. Cash flow indicates whether a firm can perform its main activities(maintaining its operating ability, repaying debts, paying dividends and making new investments) without relying on external financial resources. Therefore, if the index of the variable is negative(-), it indicates the possibility that a company has serious problems in business activities. If the cash flow from operating activities of a specific company is smaller than the net profit, it means that the net profit has not been cashed, indicating that there is a serious problem in managing the trade receivables and inventory assets of the company. Therefore, it can be understood that as the cash flows / total assets decrease, the probability of administrative issue designation and the probability of delisting are increased. In summary, the logistic regression-based detection model in this study was found to be affected by the company's financial activities including ROE(Earnings before tax). However, decision tree-based detection model predicts the designation based on the cash flows of the company.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.121-149
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• 2002

This Study aims at investigating the tendency of individual problems that the students at the departments of dental technology are faced with, their efforts and types of activities to solve the problems. Surveyed for this purpose were 700 freshmen to juniors enrolled in the departments of dental technology at the universities across the country and they were analyzed by area, grade and sex. 1. Tendency of Problems The areas of problems the students at the departments of dental technology considered as most serious were health, human relation, view of value and economy in sequence, while the areas they considered as least serious were future course and employment. In general, there were tendencies as follows: divided by grade, the higher the grades of the students are, the higher scores of problems they get(F=12.14, P=.000) : in the areas of health and human relation, as the grade gets higher, the scores of their problems also increase, accordingly(F= 17.58, P=.000)(F=8.39, P=.000) : in the areas of economy, parents and home, freshmen and juniors are found to have higher scores of problems compared to sophomores,:F=7.89, P=.000)(F=11.63, P=.000) : divided by sex, female students recorded higher scores of problems than their counterparts(F=31.85, P=.000) 2. Efforts for Problems View of value, human relation, parents and home appeared to be the areas for which the students made the highest rate of efforts in sequence while the areas for which they paid lowest grade of efforts were health and economy. In other words, the students gave higher scores for human relation and view of value in terms of tendency as well as efforts of problems, while they rated high for health and economy in the tendency but low in the efforts of problems. Divided by grade, freshmen and juniors appeared to score higher points than sophomores in their efforts to solve problems, even though juniors made relatively higher efforts than freshmen(F=6.53, P=.002). Divided by sex, female students scored higher points in their efforts than males(F=15.98, P=.000) 3. Difference of Efforts to Solve Problems. In the analysis into the scores of difference showing the disagreement between the tendency of problems and the efforts to solve problems, the area of health was rated as highest, followed by economy. There was little difference of scores between human relation and view of value, an indicator of agreement between the scores of problems and efforts. The difference of scores between future course and employment, between liberal arts and recreation, between characters/parents and home/school work turned out to be negative in the listed sequence, leading to a conclusion that the students enrolled in the departments of dental technology are making more efforts to solve problems than actually needed in most areas. By grade, there was a significant difference only in the area of health(F=3.00, P=.050). This difference itself was widening as the students come to higher grades. By sex, females showed bigger difference than males. 4. Types of Activities to Solve Problems. The analysis into types of activities to solve problems revealed that the surveyed students seemed to actively cope with the problems in all areas, relying at the same time on personal relationship. Especially in the areas of health, economy, parents, home, human relation, future course and employment, the students appeared to deal with the problems actively as well as emotionally.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2014

In this study, the factors affecting the profitability of the oriental medicine hospitals of University to be analyzed. To do this, profitability indicators and current ratio, liquidity, turnover ratio, cost factors analysis and suggested ways to improve management. The results are as follows, the operating margin(1.17%). the return on assets(3.76%), the net profit to gross revenues(2.37%), and the net profit to total assets(-1.89) were lower than the average of the entire oriental medicine hospitals in Korea(respectively 8.9%, 8.7%, 2.6%, 2.5%). Current ratio(256.76%), quick ratio(231.17%), fixed ratio(121.02%), and total assets turnover(135.69%) were similar to the average of all oriental medicine hospitals in Korea. But growth rate of total assets(-2.21%), and growth rate of patient revenue(1.89%) is low. And salaries(53.39%), materials costs(16.62%), administrative expenses(28.58%) were different to the average of all oriental medicine hospitals in Korea(respectively 35.3%, 10.7%, 45.1%). Meanwhile, the cost ratio of the oriental medicine hospitals of University was 98.59%. It was 7.49% higher than the 91.1% of the average of all oriental medicine hospitals in 2011. Correlation analysis, growth rate of patient revenue and operating margin increased at the same time, and net profit to gross revenues and net profit to total assets with a growth rate of total assets increased. And administrative expenses and profitability indicators showed a negative correlation. It means, in order to improve the profitability of the oriental medicine hospitals of University should focus on reducing administrative expenses. Multiple regression analysis, growth rate of total assets, total assets turnover, administrative expenses, and salaries has affected the profitability. Therefore, in order to improve the profitability of the oriental medicine hospitals of University to increase the total capital and the total capital turnover, and to reduce administrative expenses effort.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.447-456
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• 2008

Background: Caspase-3 is a cysteine protease that plays a major role in the process of apoptotic cell death. The dysregulated expression of c-myc contributes to the tumorigenesis in a variety of human cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the expressions of caspase-3 and c-myc and their significances as prognosis markers in patients with completely resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Material and Method: A total 130 consecutive patients who had undergone complete resection without pre-operative radio-therapy or chemotherapy between May 1996 and December 2003 for NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. The median follow-up period of the patients was 50 months (range: $3{\sim}128$ months). The expressions of caspase-3 and c-myc were immuno-histochemically examined, and these were correlated with the clinico-pathologic data. Result: The prevalence of caspase-3 and c-myc expressions in the patients was 68% (88/130) and 59% (77/130), respectively. Significant association was found between the frequency of the expressions of caspase-3 and c-myc (p=0.025). The caspase-3 and c-myc expressions were not significantly associated with the prognosis in all the patients. However, according to stages, a positive caspase-3 expression was significantly correlated with a favorable prognosis for patients with stage IIIa disease (median survival period: 35 months vs. 10 months, p=0.021). Multivariate analysis showed the pathologic stage to be significantly correlated with a good prognosis in all the patients (p=0.024), and with a positive caspase-3 expression, well differentiated tumor and negative neuronal invasion in the patients with stage llla disease (p=0.005, p=0.003, p=0.004, respectively). Conclusion: Caspase-3 and c-myc were frequently expressed in NSCLC, suggesting its possible involvement in tumor development. The caspase-3 expression, as determined with performing immunohistochemical staining, may be a favorable prognostic indicator in patients with completely resected NSCLC an advanced stage (IIIa).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2017

BACKGROUND: The carbon (C) isotope ratio (${\delta}^{13}C$) of dissolved organic C (DOC) is an indicator of water pollution source. In this study, the potential use of two pre-treatments for the ${\delta}^{13}C$ analysis, alkaline persulfate oxidation coupled with carbonate precipitation (precipitation) and freeze drying (drying), were compared to suggest a more feasible pre-treatment method. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two reference materials with different ${\delta}^{13}C$ values were used for the experiments; chemical grade glucose ($-12.0{\pm}0.02$‰) and pig manure compost extract ($-23.3{\pm}0.04$‰). In the precipitation method, the measured ${\delta}^{13}C$ values were consistently lower than the theoretically calculated values as dissolved $CO_2$ could not be removed due to the alkaline property of the reagents and the dissolution of air $CO_2$ into the alkaline solution. The drying method also resulted in more negative ${\delta}^{13}C$ than the calculated ${\delta}^{13}C$; however, the difference was systematic ($3.9{\pm}0.3$‰) and there was a strong correlation (${\delta}^{13}C_{calculated}=0.87{\times}{\delta}^{13}C_{measured}-0.624$, $r^2=0.98$) between the calculated and measured ${\delta}^{13}C$. Calibration of ${\delta}^{13}C$ using the relationship between the calculated and the measured ${\delta}^{13}C$ values produced reliable and accurate ${\delta}^{13}C$ values. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the drying method is more accurate pre-treatment method to minimize the influence of air $CO_2$ compared to the precipitation method for the determination of ${\delta}^{13}C$ of DOC.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.279-284
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• 2008

This study was performed to investigate effect of different soil managements on physical properties and microbial activities in volcanic ash citrus orchard soil. Experiment plots had managed to control weeds on soil for 4 years with clean cultivation (CCM) used with herbicide, natural sod cultivation (NSCM), kentucky blue grass sod cultivation (KBG). Soil samples were taken on October, in both 1998 and 2000 from 3 experimental plots. In NSCM, Soil hardness was lower at 11.8 mm than in CCM. And water stable Aggregation coefficient(>0.5 mm) was high at 26.7% compared with CCM. Soil bulk density and porosity showed no significant among the treatments. Soil acid phosphatase was high in sod cultivation plots and the amount of microbial biomass C was about twice higher at $525.4mg\;kg^{-1}$ in KBG than in CCM. Conclusionally, Sod cultivation improved soil physical properties such as aggregation, hardness and increased microbial activities compared with clean cultivation in citrus orchard soil. Soil total PLFA, acid phosphatase, and microbial biomass C contents were investigated on May in nonvolcanic ash citrus soil. Soil samples were collected at 5 sites each; convention cultivation grown with herbicide, natural sod cultivation grown with 1/2 chemicals, organic cultivation. That sites have been managed for 5 years over. PLFA contents were two times higher at $112.2n\;mol\;g^{-1}$ in organic cultivation than in convention cultivation. According to the PLFA indicator, Gram negative bacteria and actinomycetes in organic cultivation were high compared with convention cultivation, which were at 15.1%, 6.6%, respectively. Soil microbial biomass C contents was about twice higher in organic cultivation than in convention cultivation. Soil acid phosphatase was high at 17.6% in organic cultivation compared with convention cultivation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.24-32
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• 2000

Purpose: Microsatellite instability(MSI) is frequently used as an indicator of microsatellite mutator phenotype(MMP) tumors. MSI has been observed in a percentage of non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). However, its role in tumorigenesis of NSCLC remains unknown. The frequency and pattern of MSI in NSCLC were evaluated and clinical parameters of MSI-positive tumors with those of MSS(microsatellite stable) tumors were compared. Materials and Methods: Twenty surgically resected NSCLCs were analyzed for 15 microsatellite markers located at chromosomes 3p and 9p. The peripheral blood lymphocytes of patients were used as the source of the normal DNA. Results: 1) Of 20 cases, 8(40%) demonstrated MSI. 2) Instability was observed more frequently in tri- and tetra-nucleotide repeats than in dinucleotide repeats. In all cases, instability appeared as a shift of individual allelic bands. 3) LDH was observed in 10(50%) of 20 tumors analyzed. 4) Of 20 cases, MSI-H tumor(showing MSI in the majority of markers) was absent. There were 5 MSI-L tumors(showing MSI in a greater than 10% of markers). 5) No significant difference was observed between MSI-L tumors and MSI-negative tumors in terms of clinicopathologic features such as pack-year history of smoking, histologic subtype, and(delete) stage of disease. There was also no significant difference in the incidence of LDH in relation to the status of MSI. Conclusion: These data strongly suggest that MSI plays different roles in lung and colon cancer. MMP pathway appears to be far less important in the tumorigenesis of NSCLC, caused mainly by cigarette smoke, with little familial tendency.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2006

Background: Extubation failure was associated with poor prognosis and high hospital mortality. Cuff leak test (CLT) has been proposed as a relatively simple method for detecting laryngeal obstruction that predispose toward postextubation stridor (PES) and reintubation. We examined the risk factors of extubation failure and evaluated the usefulness and limitation of CLT for predicting PES and reintubation. Methods: Thirty-four consecutive patients intubated more than 24 hours were examined. The subjects were evaluated daily for extubation readiness, and CLT was performed prior to extubation. Several parameters in the extubation success and failure group were compared. The accuracy and limitation of CLT were evaluated after choosing the thresholds values of the cuff leak volume (CLV) and percentage (CLP). Results: Of the 34 patients studied, 6 (17.6%) developed extubation failure and 3 (8.8%) were accompanied by PES. The patients who had extubation failure were more likely to have a longer duration of intubation and more severe illness. The patients who developed PES had a smaller cuff leak than the others: according to the CLV ($22.5{\pm}23.8$ vs $233.3{\pm}147.1ml$, p=0.020) or CLP ($6.2{\pm}7.3$ vs $44.3{\pm}24.7%$, p=0.013). The best cut off values for the CLV and CLP were 50ml and 14.7%, respectively. The sensitivity, negative predictive value, and specificity of CLT were relatively high, but the positive predictive value was low. Conclusion: The likelihood of developing extubation failure increases with increasing severity of illness and duration of intubation. A low CLV or CLP (<50ml or 14.7%) is useful in identifying patients at risk of PES, but the CLT is not an absolute predictor and should not be used an indicator for delaying extubation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1301-1309
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• 2011

The major function of adipocytes is to store fat in the form of triglycerides. One of the signaling pathways known to affect adipogenesis, i.e. fat formation, is the WNT/${\beta}$-catenin pathway which inhibits the expression and activity of key regulators of adipogenesis. The purpose of this research is to find genes among the WNT/${\beta}$-catenin pathway which regulate adipogenesis by using small interfering (si) RNA and to find the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the gene with serum triglyceride levels in the human population. To elucidate the effects of ${\beta}$-catenin siRNA on adipogenesis key factors, PPAR${\gamma}$ and C/EBP${\alpha}$, we performed real-time PCR and western blotting experiments for the analyses of mRNA and protein levels. It was found that the siRNA-mediated knockdown of ${\beta}$-catenin upregulates adipogenesis key factors. However, upstream regulators of the WNT/${\beta}$-catenin pathway, such as DVL2 and LRP6, had no significant effects compared to ${\beta}$-catenin. These results indicate that ${\beta}$-catenin is a candidate gene for human fat accumulation. In general, serum triglyceride level is a good indicator of fat accumulation in humans. According to statistical analyses of the association between serum triglyceride level and SNPs of ${\beta}$-catenin, -10,288 C>T SNP (rs7630377) in the promoter region was significantly associated with serum triglyceride levels (p<0.05) in 290 Korean subjects. On the other hand, serum cholesterol levels were not significantly associated with SNPs of the ${\beta}$-catenin gene. The results of this study showed that ${\beta}$-catenin is associated with fat accumulation both in vitro and in the human population.