• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2022

Procalcitonin (PCT) can provide an experimental rationale and a diagnostic lead to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections. This study sought to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with high PCT levels, to improve clinical diagnosis, and to determine whether PCT levels were associated with the subsequent development of sepsis in the general population. This was a retrospective observational study conducted on outpatients (N=127) over a year. The general data and laboratory parameters studied were PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), and complete blood count (CBC). The positive rates of CRP and white blood cells (WBCs) in the elevated PCT group were higher than those of the normal group (P<0.05); the specificity and sensitivity of the PCT levels were obviously higher than those of the CRP and WBC levels at diagnosis (P<0.05). The mean PCT levels in the low group were significantly higher than those in the high or moderate group (P<0.001). There was a significant positive correlation with CRP, total WBCs, and neutrophils (P<.001). The main finding of this study was the significant association between an elevated PCT level and CRP and WBC levels, signifying a high diagnostic value. This has important implications for the diagnosis of bacterial infections and therapeutic implications for the use of antibiotic treatment in specific patients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.196-201
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• 2022

Insects have been proposed as new protein sources for human nutrition, and protein availability is affected by insect characteristics. Fermentation can be used to obtain a variety of insect-based ingredients and products with unique properties, but its effect on protein availability is unknown. Fermented cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus) powder consists mainly of protein, and its oral administration has been reported to improve hair growth in androgenetic alopecia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hair-promoting activity of fermented cricket powder in an animal model using male C57BL/6 mice (25-30 g). The abdominal hair of the mouse (2x2.5 cm) was gently removed, and the groups fed as follows: Intact controls (no cricket powder); cricket powder only; and fermented cricket powder only. Food was applied daily for 11 weeks. Observational and physical examinations were performed and the results of the different groups compared. The application of fermented cricket powder significantly (p<0.01) promoted hair growth compared to the intact controls. The C57BL/6 results confirmed increased growth after seven weeks when the proportion of anagen follicles had increased by about 125% and 120% in the control and cricket powder groups, respectively. In conclusion, fermented cricket powder can be seen as a promising alternative alopecia treatment because it promotes hair growth, and, given the powder's composition, trace elements such as amino acids may have contributed to these effects.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.178-194
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• 2022

This study analyzes the trend of domestic research related to science writing education. The subjects of analysis were 152 research papers related to science writing education in Korea from 2004 to 2021. The analysis criteria were set as the research problem, research subject, research method and research application etc. Result of the analysis shows a steady increase until 2014, but decreased afterwards. In the result of the research problems, it was found that most studies were about finding out the effects of scientific writing activities. The research subjects were mostly elementary, middle, and high school students. Qualitative research occupied a large proportion in the results of the research method analysis, and there were many mixed studies that combined quantitative and qualitative research. As for the research application method, the most applied research in regular classes. As a result of analyzing the effect of application, most of the studies were on science concepts, attitudes towards science, thinking skills, and creative problem-solving skills. Writing education such as experimental and observational writing in science classes has been steadily conducted since before the introduction of the 2007 revised curriculum. In particular, the importance of scientific writing as a text-based education is being emphasized from the 2007 revised curriculum to the 2022 revised curriculum overview. Writing is an important learning strategy in science education for students to generate, share, explain, and expand their ideas. Therefore, examining domestic research trends related to science writing education can provide important basic data for setting the future direction of science writing education.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.257-268
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• 2023

Sea ice plays an important role in Earth's climate by regulating the amount of solar energy absorbed and controlling the exchange of heat and material across the air-sea interface. Its growth, drift, and melting are monitored on a regular basis by satellite observations. However, low-resolution products with passive microwave radiometer have reduced accuracy during summer to autumn when the ice surface changes rapidly. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations are emerging as a powerful complementary, but previous researches have mainly focused on winter ice. In this study, sea ice drift tracking was evaluated and analyzed using SAR images and tracker with global positioning system (GPS) during late summer-early autumn period when ice surface condition changes a lot. The results showed that observational uncertainty increases compared to winter period, however, the correlation coefficient with GPS measurements was excellent at 0.98, and the performance of the ice tracking algorithm was proportional to the sea ice concentration with a correlation coefficient of 0.59 for ice concentrations above 50%.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2022

Nitrate (NO₃^-) plays an important role in aquaculture and ecosystems in the Korea Strait. Observational data propose that ocean currents are crucial to NO₃^- budget in the Korea Strait. However, assessment of budget by currents and biogeochemical processes has not yet been investigated. This study examines seasonal and spatial variations in NO₃^- budget by currents and biological processes in the Korea Strait from 2011 to 2019 using a physical-biogeochemical coupled model. Model results suggest that current-driven net supply of NO₃^- is consumed by uptake of phytoplankton in the Korea Strait. Advective influx is driven by the Tsushima warm current and the influx by the Jeju warm current is approximately one third of it. All of the influxes are transported out to the East Sea through the Korea Strait, of which two third passes through the western channel and the rest through the eastern channel. Annual mean NO₃^- net transport show that currents supply NO₃^- year round except for January, but the budget by biogeochemical processes consumes it every season except for winter.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.57.4-58
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• 2021

Asteroids have undergone various processes such as impacts, space weathering, and thermal evolution. Because they expose their surfaces to space without atmosphere, these evolutional processes have been recorded directly on their surfaces. The remote-sensing observations have been conducted to reveal these evolutional histories of the target asteroids. For example, crater and boulder distributions are unambiguous evidence for past nondestructive impacts with other celestial bodies. Multiband and spectroscopic observations have revealed space-weathering history (as well as compositions). Whereas most physical quantities have been examined intensively using spacecraft and telescopes, only a little has been studied on "the grain size". It is one of the fundamental physical quantities for diagnosing the collisional and thermal history of asteroids. Our group has conducted polarimetric research of asteroids (as well as Moon [1]) to determine the particle size and further investigate the evolutional histories of target asteroids [2],[3]. For example, the existence of regolith on an S-type asteroid, Toutatis, was suggested almost twenty years before space exploration [4]. Moreover, we reported that near-Sun asteroids indicate a signature of submillimeter grains, which could be created by a thermal sintering process by solar radiation [5]. However, it is important to note that in-situ polarimetry has not been reported on the asteroid surface, although the Korean Lunar Exploration Program aims to do polarimetry on the lunar surface [6]. Therefore, it is expected that the polarizer mounted on the Korean Apophis spacecraft can make the first estimate of the grain size and its regional variation over the Apophis surface. In this presentation, we outline research of S-type asteroid surfaces through remote-sensing observations and consider the role of polarimetry. Based on this review, we consider the purpose, potentiality, and strategy of the polarimetry using the onboard device for the Apophis spacecraft. We will report a possible polarization phase curve of Apophis estimated from ordinary chondrites and past observational data of S-type asteroids, taking account of the space weathering effect. Based on this estimation, we will consider the strategy of how to determine the particle size (and space weathering degree) of the Apophis surface. We will also mention the detectability of dust hovering on the surface.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.87-95
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• 2023

Purpose: To quantify the relationship between perceived pain intensity and psychological variables in a sample of participants with temporomandibular disorder, with or without central sensitization (CS). Methods: A cross-sectional study with nonprobability convenience sampling was conducted from January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Pain intensity (Numeric Pain Rating Scale), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire, STAI), catastrophizing (Pain Catastrophizing Scale, PCS), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale, PSS), and sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI) were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0 (IBM Co.), which included descriptive and normality analyses and the calculation of strength of multiple correlational regression. Results: A total of 52 (n=34 female 65.4%; n=18 male 34.6%) subjects with diagnosis of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) were finally included. A total of 26 participants (n=26, 50.0%) were cases suffered from CS (TMD-CS mean=46.62±11.24) while the remaining participants (n=26, 50.0%) were the controls (TMD-nCS mean=26.77, standard deviation [SD]=8.42). The pain intensity was moderate in both groups TMDCS (mean=7.62, SD=0.83) and TMD-nCS (mean=7.05, SD=0.86), anxiety (TMD-CS STAI mean=53.27, SD=11.54; TMD-nCS STAI mean=49, SD=11.55), catastrophizing (TMD-CS PCS mean=46.27, SD=9.75; TMD-nCS PCS mean=26.69, SD=4.97), perceived stress (TMDCS PSS mean=30.35, SD=4.91; TMD-nCS PSS mean=26.12, SD=6.60) and sleep quality (TMD-CS PSQI mean=15.81, SD=3.65; TMD-nCS PSQI mean=12.77, SD=2.76) levels were measured in both groups. In TMD-CS and TMD-nCS, higher anxiety levels were moderately and significantly associated with greater pain intensity β=0.4467 (t=2.477, p=0.021) and β=0.5087 (t=2.672, p=0.014). Nevertheless, catastrophizing, perceived stress and sleep quality were not associated to pain intensity in neither of group. Conclusions: In both TMD-CS and TMD-nCS patients, elevated anxiety levels were moderately and significantly associated with increased pain intensity. However, heightened levels of pain catastrophizing, perceived stress, and poor sleep quality were not significantly associated with increased pain intensity in either of the two analyzed groups.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.381-397
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• 2023

The most representative design used in clinical trials is randomization, which is used to accurately estimate the treatment effect. However, comparison between the treatment group and the control group in an observational study without randomization is biased due to various unadjusted differences, such as characteristics between patients. Propensity score weighting is a widely used method to address these problems and to minimize bias by adjusting those confounding and assess treatment effects. Inverse probability weighting, the most popular method, assigns weights that are proportional to the inverse of the conditional probability of receiving a specific treatment assignment, given observed covariates. However, this method is often suffered by extreme propensity scores, resulting in biased estimates and excessive variance. Several alternative methods including trimming, overlap weights, and matching weights have been proposed to mitigate these issues. In this paper, we conduct a simulation study to compare performance of various propensity score weighting methods under diverse situation, such as limited overlap, misspecified propensity score, and treatment contrary to prediction. From the simulation results overlap weights and matching weights consistently outperform inverse probability weighting and trimming in terms of bias, root mean squared error and coverage probability.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.770-778
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• 2023

Sea surface wind is an important variable for elucidating the atmospheric-ocean interactions and predicting the dangerous weather conditions caused by oceans. Accurate sea surface wind data are required for making correct predictions; however, there are limited observational datasets for oceans. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain long-period high-resolution sea surface wind data. First, the ERA5 reanalysis wind field, which can be used for a long period at a high resolution, was regridded and synthesized using the asymmetric typhoon wind field calculated via the Generalized Asymmetric Holland Model of the numerical model named ADvanced CIRCulation model. The accuracy of the asymmetric typhoon synthesized wind field was evaluated using data obtained from Korea Meteorological Administration and Japan Meteorological Administration. As a result of the evaluation, it was found that the asymmetric typhoon synthetic wind field reproduce observations relatively well, compared with ERA5 reanalysis wind field and symmetric typhoon synthetic wind field calculated by the Holland model. The sea surface wind data produced in this study are expected to be useful for obtaining storm surge data and conducting frequency analysis of storm surges and sea surface winds in the future.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.5_1
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• pp.467-479
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• 2023

Satellite altimeters have continuously observed sea surface height (SSH) in the global ocean for the past 30 years, providing clear evidence of the rise in global mean sea level based on observational data. Accurate altimeter-observed SSH is essential to study the spatial and temporal variability of SSH in regional seas. In this study, we used measurements from the Ieodo Ocean Research Station (IORS) and validate SSHs observed by satellite altimeters (Envisat, Jason-1, Jason-2, SARAL, Jason-3, and Sentinel-3A/B). Bias and root mean square error of SSH for each satellite ranged from 1.58 to 4.69 cm and 6.33 to 9.67 cm, respectively. As the matchup distance between satellite ground tracks and the IORS increased, the error of satellite SSHs significantly amplified. In order to validate the correction of the tide and atmospheric effect of the satellite data, the tide was estimated using harmonic analysis, and inverse barometer effect was calculated using atmospheric pressure data at the IORS. To achieve accurate tidal corrections for satellite SSH data in the seas around the Korean Peninsula, it was confirmed that improving the accuracy of tide data used in satellites is necessary.