• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.181-187
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• 2018

Objectives: To identify factors responsible for potentially clinically unnecessary cervical cancer screenings in women with prior hysterectomy. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). This study targeted adult women and examined whether they received a both a Papanicolaou (Pap) test and undergone a hysterectomy in the last three years. We conducted multivariate analyses, including weighted proportions and odds ratios (ORs), based on the modified BRFSS weighting method (raking). The inclusion criteria were adult women (>18 years old) who reported having received a Pap test within the last 3 years. Results: Of all women (n=252 391), 72 366 had received a Pap test, and 32 935 of those women (45%, or 12.5 million, weighted) had a prior hysterectomy. We found that age, race/ethnicity, marital status, family income, health status, time since last routine checkup, and health insurance coverage were all significant predictors. Black, non-Hispanic women were 2.23 times more likely to receive Pap testing after a hysterectomy than white women (OR, 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.99 to 2.50). Similarly, the odds for Hispanic women were 2.34 times higher (OR, 2.34; 95% CI, 1.97 to 2.80). The odds were also higher for those who were married (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.27), healthier (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.35), and had health insurance (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.28 to 1.84), after controlling for confounders. Conclusions: We conclude that women may potentially receive Pap tests even if they are not at risk for cervical cancer, and may not be adequately informed about the need for screenings. We recommend strategies to disseminate recommendations and information to patients, their families, and care providers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.355-361
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• 2014

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the immediate effect of low-dye taping on balance performance in subjects with flexible flatfoot. METHODS: Fifteen asymptomatic volunteers who had flexible flatfoot (age, $21.7{\pm}1.81$years; height, $164.80{\pm}7.57cm$; weight, $56.47{\pm}10.48kg$) were participated for this study. Navicular drop test was used to evaluate pronation of foot in three different conditions; non-weight bearing position without low-dye taping, weight bearing position without low-dye taping, weight bearing position with low-dye taping. And balance performance (anterio/ posterior, medial/lateral, and overall) was evaluated using the Biodex Balance System in three different conditions; one-leg standing without low-dye taping, one-leg standing with low-dye taping, and one-leg standing with low-dye taping in one week later. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess navicular height and balance performance across the three testing conditions. RESULTS: Significant and clinically meaningful improvement in navicular height was found after application of the low-dye taping. However, there was no statistically significant change in balance performance. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide evidence to suggest that low-dye taping does not affect balance performance.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2018

Background: Angelica gigas, A. sinensis, and A. acutiloba are commercially important in the herbal medicine market, and among them, A. gigas has the highest economic value and price. However, their similar morphological traits are often used for fraud. Despite their importance in herbal medicine, recognition of the differences between Angelica species is currently inadequate. Methods and Results: A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was developed for direct detection and identification of A. gigas, A. sinensis, and A. acutiloba. The gene for the distinction of species was targeted at ITS in the nucleus and trnC-petN gene in chloroplasts. The optimized multiplex PCR in the present study utilized each Angelica species-specific primer pairs. Each primer pair yielded products of 229 base pairs (bp) for A. gigas, 53 bp for A. sinensis, 170 bp for A. acutiloba. Additionally non-specific PCR products were not detected in similar species by species-specific primers. Conclusions: In the present study, a multiplex-PCR assay, successfully assessed the authenticity of Angelica species (A. gigas, A. sinensis, and A. acutiloba). and whole genome amplification (WGA) was performed after DNA extraction to identify, the species in the product. The detection method of raw materials developed in the present study could be applied to herbal medicine and health functional food management.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.310-316
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• 1997

This experiments comparisons were conducted to establish the effective sap analytical method including quantitative analysis of nitrate and phosphorous, sap extraction method, extraction rate, macerating time and sampling position. Earl's Favorite muskmelon was sown on February 11th, 1993 and transplanted to rockwool slab when three to fourth true leaf appeared. Non-circulating system was employed in this experiment. Sap testing using a sample provides an immediate analysis of nutritional status of the crop and potential problems can be recognized and corrective measures taken. Some methods were recommended UV-spectroscopy for the analysis of nitrate nitrogen, Vanad molybdenium acid method for phosphorous. Optimal extraction rate of sample to water was determined as one to four and the best result observed at 60seconds in macerating duration. Further trials would be requested about sampling time due to the difference according to the sampling time. Given sampling position was favorable for the sap analysis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2809-2813
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• 2014

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) and cleft lip and palate transmembrane1-like (CLPTM1L) and lung cancer risk in a Chinese population. Methods: We performed a hospital-based case-control study, including 980 lung cancer cases and 1000 cancer-free controls matched for age and sex. Each case and control was interviewed to collect information by well-trained interviewers. A total of 5 ml of venous blood was collected for genotype testing of TERT rs2736098 and CLPTM1L rs401681 using TaqMan methodology. Results: The results revealed that the variant homozygote TERT rs2736098TT was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer (OR=2.017, 95%CI=1.518-2.681), especially lung adenocarcinoma (OR=2.117, 95%CI=1.557-3.043) and small cell carcinoma (OR=1.979, 95%CI: 1.174-3.334), compared with the TERT rs2736098CC genotype. Similar results were observed in non-smokers. Conclusion: The TERT rs2736098 polymorphism might affect the susceptibility to lung cancer in Chinese populations. The associations need to be verified in larger and different populations.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.53-61
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• 2000

In the speech recognition under the noisy environments, reducing the mismatch introduced between training and testing environments is an important issue. Spectral subtraction is widely used technique because of its simplicity and relatively good performance in noisy environments. In this paper, we introduce histogram method as a reliable noise estimation approach for spectral subtraction. This method has advantages over the conventional noise estimation methods in that it does not need to detect non-speech intervals and it can estimate the noise spectra even in time-varying noise environments. Even though spectral subtraction is performed using a reliable average noise spectrum by the histogram method, considerable amount of residual noise remains due to the variations of instantaneous noise spectrum about mean. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new over-estimation technique based on distribution characteristics of histogram used for noise estimation. Since the proposed technique decides the degree of over-estimation adaptively according to the measured noise distribution, it has advantages to be few the influence of the SNR variation on the noise levels. According to speaker-independent isolated word recognition experiments in car noise environment under various SNR conditions, the proposed histogram-based over-estimation technique outperforms the conventional over-estimation technique.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.467-480
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• 2014

This study was focused on measurement methods for stone cultural heritages by analyzing Ultrasonic (P-wave) velocity variations according to the water content and anisotropy of rocks. As a result of analyzing of rock properties, the water content and saturation degree were rapidly changed at the beginning of drying and then showed exponential curve which their rates of change gradually decreased. However, P-wave velocity and its rate of change maintained constant values after natural drying of 10 hours. Therefore, the ultrasonic measurement for stone cultural heritages should be performed after natural drying of 10 hours considering the weather and moisture conditions. In addition, the highest values of anisotropy coefficient exhibited in granite and limestone, and indirect method was insensitive to anisotropy compared to direct method. However, all rocks remained anisotropy by indirect method. Accordingly, ultrasonic measurement considering various directions is required. The research results will contribute to customized non-destructive testing and precise diagnosis for lithological characteristics of stone cultural heritage.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.48-52
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• 2012

Objective: This study was performed to analyze the single-dose toxicity of Aconitum kusnezoffii Reichb. pharmacopuncture (AKRP). Methods: All experiments were conducted at the Korea Testing & Research Institute (KTRI), an institute authorized to perform non-clinical studies, under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). Twenty (20) Sprague-Dawley rats were chosen for the pilot study. The animals were divided into four groups of five animals per group: group 1 (G1) being the control group with each animal receiving an injection of 0.3 ml of saline and groups 2, 3, and 4 (G2, G3, and G4) being the experimental groups with each animal receiving an injection of 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3 ml of AKRP, respectively. This study was conducted with the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee. Results: No deaths occurred in any of the 4 groups, and the $LD_{50}$ of AKRP administered via IV was higher than 1.77 ml/kg. Some changes in the weights of the male rates were observed between the control group and the experimental groups, but no significant differences were noted in the weights of the female rats. To check for abnormalities in organs and tissues, we stained representative sections of each specified organ with Hematoxylin & Eosin for light microscopic examination. The results showed no significant differences in any of the organs or tissues. Conclusions: The above findings suggest that Aconitum kusnezoffii Reichb. pharmacopuncture is a relatively safe treatment. Further studies on the subject should be conducted to yield more concrete evidence.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.438-447
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• 2007

This technical report is to introduce the research on SRM (Synthetic Rock Mass) which was presented in 2007 ISRM Congress at Lisbon by Prof, Fairhurst who speak with emphasis on its importance and potential in rock engineering. The Synthetic Rock Mass approach to jointed rock mass characterization (Pierce et al. 2007) is reviewed relative to existing empirical approaches and current understanding of jointed rock mass behaviour. The review illustrates how the key factors affecting the mechanical behaviour of jointed rock masses may be considered and demonstrates that the SRM approach constitutes a significant step forward in this field. This technique, based on two well-established methods, Bonded Particle Modelling in PFC-3D (Potyondy and Cundall, 2004) and Discrete Fracture Network simulation, employs a new sliding joint model that allows for large rock volumes containing thousands of pre-existing joints to be subjected to any non-trivial stress path. Output from SRM testing includes rock mass brittleness and strength, evolution of the full compliance matrix and primary fragmentation.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.43 no.5 s.311
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• pp.52-61
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• 2006

Orthogonal wavelet tansform which is generally used in image and signal processing applications has limited performance because of lack of shift invariance and low directional selectivity. To overcome these demerits complex wavelet transform has been proposed. In this paper, we present an efficient image denoising method using dual-tree complex wavelet transform and Bernoulli-Gauss prior model. In estimating hyper-parameters for Bernoulli-Gaussian model, we present two simple and non-iterative methods. We use hypothesis-testing technique in order to estimate the mixing parameter, Bernoulli random variable. Based on the estimated mixing parameter, variance for clean signal is obtained by using maximum generalized marginal likelihood (MGML) estimator. We simulate our denoising method using dual-tree complex wavelet and compare our algorithm to well blown denoising schemes. Experimental results show that the proposed method can generate good denoising results for high frequency image with low computational cost.