• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2006

Purpose: It is well known from clinical experience that acute complications of chemoradiation therapy vary from patients to patients. However, there are no known factors to predict these acute complications before treatment starts. The human XRCC1 gene is known as a DNA base excision repair gene. We investigated the possibilities of XRCC1 gene polymorphisms as a predictor for the acute complications of chemoradiation therapy in colorectal cancer patients. Materials and Methods: From July 1997 to June 2003, 86 colorectal cancer patients (71 rectal cancer, 13 sigmoid colon cancer and 2 colon cancer patients) were treated with chemoradiation therapy at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Inha University Hospital. Twenty-two patients were in stage B, 50 were in stage C, 8 were in stage D and 6 patients were unresectable cases. External radiation therapy was delivered with 10MV X-ray at a 1.8 Gy fraction per day for a total dose of radiation of $30.6{\sim}59.4 Gy$ (median: 54 Gy). All the patients received 5-FU based chemotherapy regimen. We analyzed the acute complications of upper and lower gastrointestinal tract based on the RTOG complication scale. The initial and lowest WBC and platelet count were recorded during both the RT period and the whole treatment period. Allelic variants of the XRCC1 gene at codons 194, 280 and 399 were analyzed in the lymphocyte DNA by performing PCR-RFLP. Statistical analyses were carried out with the SAS (version 6.12) statistical package. Results: When all the variables were assessed on the multivariate analysis, recurrent disease revealed the factors that significantly correlated with upper gastrointestinal acute complications. Arg399Gln polymorph isms of the XRCC1 gene, the radiation dose and the frequencies of chemotherapy during radiation therapy were significantly correlated with lower gastrointestinal complications. Arg399Gln polymorph isms also affected the decrease of the WBC and platelet count during radiation therapy. Conclusion: Although the present sample size was too small for fully evaluating this hypothesis, this study suggests that Arg399Gln polymorph isms of the XRCC1 genes may be used as one of the predictors for acute complications of chemoradiation therapy in colorectal cancer patients.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.85-90
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• 2010

Purpose: To evaluate the rate of tumor response, local control, and treatment-related complications after hypofractionated radiotherapy for recurrent hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC) less than 5 cm in size. Materials and Methods: Among the HCC patients who were treated by radiotherapy (RT) between 2006 and 2007 after the failure of previous treatment, a total of 12 patients were treated with hypofractionated RT. The criteria for hypofractionated RT was as follows: 1) HCC less than 5 cm, 2) HCC not adjacent to a critical organ, 3) HCC without portal vein tumor thrombosis, and 4) less than 15% of normal liver volume that irradiated 50% of the prescribed dose. Hypofractionated RT was performed with 50 Gy delivered in 10 fractions, at a rate of 5 fractions per week. The evaluation of tumor response was determined by CT scans performed at 3 months after the cessation of RT, followed by the evaluation of toxicity by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0. The median follow-up period after radiotherapy was 18 months. Results: A complete response (CR) was achieved in 5 of 12 lesions (41.7%) at CT performed at 3 months after the cessation, whereas the overall complete response was observed in 7 of 12 cases (58.3%). In-field local control rate was sustained in 83.3% of patients. All patients developed intra-hepatic metastases except for 2 patients. The overall survival rate was 90.0% at 1 year and 67.5% at 2 years, respectively. Three patients developed Grade 1 nausea during RT and 1 patient showed a progression of ascites after RT. There was no grade 3 or greater treatment-related toxicities. Conclusion: Hypofractionated RT for small-sized HCC as a salvage therapy showed a 58.3% CR rate and 83.3% of local control. Fifty Gy administered in 10 fractions of partial liver irradiation is considered as a tolerable dose that does not cause severe complications.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2014

Using commercial radish varieties for processing, about 30% of radish was discarded due to the root shape and low purity. To raise the processing ability, we tried to develop a new variety producing H-shaped root. As another characteristic required in variety for processing is high purity, we tried to raise purity using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers for testing seed purity in every segregating generation. To develop Male-sterile (MS) seeding parent, we crossed commercial variety of 'Gwan dong spring' and 'Gyeo ryong spring'. One elite inbred was selected as recurrent parent for the MS plant. The major horticultural traits of selected inbred line were disease resistance, late bolting, heat resistance and bright green root top color. To develop pollen parent, we crossed commercial variety of 'Tae sang king' and 'Seoul spring'. We used individual selection method to develop H-shaped hard root and disease resistant inbred. In each segregating generation, we selected one plant based on phenotype and the uniformity of selected plant was tested by SSR markers using self-pollinated seeds. In the first segregating generation, 64.6% of sib plants shared the same band in PCR amplification using ACMP-490 primer and 66.7% using cnu-316 primer. The uniformity of segregating generations using ACMP-490 and cnu-316 raised in second generation to 68.8%, 70.8%, respectively; in third generation to 93.8%, 100%; in fourth generation to 93.8%, 100%; in fifth generation to 95.8%, 100%; in sixth generation to 100%, 100%. A novel cross was made using selected MS parent and pollen parent. When we checker the horticultural traits using autumn cultivation, the novel cross variety produced H-shaped root comparing other commercial varieties and produced highly uniform radish. Thus we registered this novel cross variety as 'YR ORE' at 2013 (Registration No. 4550).

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.207-216
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• 2009

Trigeminal neuralgia is defined "a sudden, usually unilateral, severe, brief, stabbing, recurrent pain in the distribution of one or more branches of the fifth cranial nerve". The initial treatment of choice for trigeminal neuralgia is medical therapy. In patients with medically intractable pain or intolerable medication side effects, invasive therapeutic approaches are often necessary. Based on the amount of evidence and estimated efficacy, carbamazepine is the drug of choice in the management of trigeminal neuralgia. In case of insufficient or no response to carbamazepine, second-line drugs can be added. In this study, the author tried to review and analyzed the cases of 90 patients whom had visited for treatment of trigeminal neuralgia at the Department of Oral Medicine, Kyungpook National University Hospital from 2003 to 2008. The results were as follows: 1. Trigeminal neuralgia was significantly more common with advancing age, and nearly twice as common in women than men (ratio of 2.1:1) 2. The maxillary branch of the trigeminal nerve involved most often (51.1%), and the right side of the face is affected more commonly than the left (ratio of 2.9:1). 3. 85(94.4%) patients had experiences visiting medical or dental specialties before being referred to the Department of Oral Medicine. 4. 40(44.4%) patients with trigeminal neuralgia had systemic diseases. 5. Treatment with carbamazepine monotherapy was satisfactory initially in 69(76.7%) the patients, and the mean daily dose of carbamazepine was 402.9mg. On the other hand, 16(17.8%) patients expressed effectiveness after combination therapy of carbamazepine and other drugs. 6. Of the 69 patients who had a good initial response to carbamazepine monotherapy, 18 patients became resistant, so that combination therapy of carbamazepine and other drugs were necessary. 7. 54(60%) patients developed side effects such as dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, blood dyscrasias, skin rash and constipation, and 11 of the patients decided to stop tmedicaion due to side effects.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.42-49
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• 2011

QTL analysis for blast resistance was carried out using 140 $BC_3F_3$ lines derived from a cross between Ilpum as a recurrent parent and Moroberekan as a donor parent. 140 $BC_3F_3$ lines with the parents were inoculated with nine blast isolates. To identify QTLs for resistance to nine blast isolates, 134 SSR markers showing polymorphisms between the parents were genotyped for the 140 $BC_3F_3$ lines. A total of 17 resistance QTLs to nine isolates were detected on chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10. The phenotypic variance explained by each QTL ranged from 8.2% to 26.4%. The Moroberekan alleles contributed the positive effect at these 17 QTL loci. In a previous study, the QTL, Pi45(t) for durable resistance to blast was identified using a sequential planting method. To know the relationship between Pi45(t) and the isolate-specific resistance gene, an $F_2$ population was developed from a cross between Ilpum and an introgression line harboring Pi45(t). $F_3$ lines segregating for the Pi45(t) were inoculated to three isolates. $F_3$ lines from the $F_2$ plants with the Moroberekan segment at the target region showed resistance to two isolates. This result seems to indicate that the Pi45(t) and the isolate-specific resistance gene are tightly linked or the resistance is controlled by the same gene(s). The markers linked to genes controlling blast resistance would be useful in developing blast resistance lines in the breeding program.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.288-291
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• 2009

A new commercial rice variety "Donghaejinmi" is a japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) with lodging resistance and high grain quality. It has been developed by the rice breeding team of Yeongdeog Substation, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), RDA. This variety was derived from a cross between "Milyang 64" as a resistance source of brown planthopper (Bph) and "Milyang 165" as grain quality source. The donor parent, "Milyang64" has been backcrossed three times with recurrent parent, "Milyang165" and selected by the pedigree breeding method. The pedigree of "Donghaejinmi", designated as "Yeongdeog 41" in 2003, was YR21259-B-B-68-1. It has a short culm length with 69 cm and medium-late growth time. This variety is resistant to stripe virus and moderately resistant to leaf blast disease with durable resistance. It also has tolerance to unfavorable environment such as cold, dried wind and storm. Milled rice kernel of "Donghaejinmi" is translucent, clear in chalkness and good at eating quality in panel test. The merit of this variety is high head rice ratio, which is essential element to produce an article of superior quality rice brand. The yield potential of "Donhaejinmi" in milled rice is about 6.05 MT/ha at ordinary fertilizer level of local adaptability test. This cultivar would be adaptable to Yeongnam inland plains and eastern costal area of Yeongnam province.

• Journal of the Korean Child Neurology Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.205-209
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• 2018

Purpose: Several studies have shown that magnesium plays an important role in modulating N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-related seizures by blocking NMDA ion channel receptors. Clinicians usually measure total serum magnesium levels instead of biologically active ionized magnesium levels. We compared the serum ionized magnesium ($iMg^{2+}$) level between epileptic children with and without a history of fever-triggered seizure (FTS). Methods: All epileptic children who visited the outpatient clinic or pediatric emergency department at Korea University Guro Hospital between January 2015 and July 2017 were included. Only epileptic children aged 1-8 years who were newly diagnosed within 2 years were included. Results: There were 12 children with FTS and 16 without FTS. Median serum $iMg^{2+}$ level was 0.93 (0.85-1.14, quartile) mEq/L. Serum $iMg^{2+}$ level was significantly lower in epileptic children with FTS (0.86 mEq/L) compared to those without FTS (1.10 mEq/L) (P=0.005). No difference was noted in clinical variables between the two groups. Lower serum $iMg^{2+}$ level significantly increased the risk of having FTS in epileptic children based on multivariable logistic regression analysis (odds ratio [OR]=0.028). Conclusion: Serum $iMg^{2+}$ level was significantly lower in epileptic children with FTS than in those without FTS. Measurement of biologically active serum $iMg^{2+}$ level could be considered in epileptic children with recurrent FTS. A large-scale prospective study is warranted.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.spc1
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• pp.1143-1154
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• 2021

The selection of activation function has a great influence on the groundwater level prediction performance of artificial neural network (ANN) model. In this study, five activation functions were applied to ANN model for two groundwater level observation wells in the middle mountainous area of the Pyoseon watershed in Jeju Island. The results of the prediction of the groundwater level were compared and analyzed, and the optimal activation function was derived. In addition, the results of LSTM model, which is a widely used recurrent neural network model, were compared and analyzed with the results of the ANN models with each activation function. As a result, ELU and Leaky ReLU functions were derived as the optimal activation functions for the prediction of the groundwater level for observation well with relatively large fluctuations in groundwater level and for observation well with relatively small fluctuations, respectively. On the other hand, sigmoid function had the lowest predictive performance among the five activation functions for training period, and produced inappropriate results in peak and lowest groundwater level prediction. The ANN-ELU and ANN-Leaky ReLU models showed groundwater level prediction performance comparable to that of the LSTM model, and thus had sufficient potential for application. The methods and results of this study can be usefully used in other studies.

• The Korean Journal of Medicine
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• v.93 no.6
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• pp.538-547
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• 2018

Background/Aims: The impact of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function and filling pressure on clinical outcomes in young patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been poorly studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of LV diastolic function and LV filling pressure on major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) in young patients with AMI. Methods: A total of 200 young patients (males < 45 year, females < 55 year) with AMI were divided into two groups according to the diastolic function; normal (n = 46, $39.5{\pm}5.3$ years) versus abnormal (n = 154, $43.5{\pm}5.1$ years). Results: Despite regional wall motion abnormalities, normal LV diastolic function was not uncommon in young AMI patients (23.0%). During the 40 months of clinical follow-up, MACEs developed in 26 patients (13.0%); 14 re-percutaneous coronary intervention (7.0%), 8 recurrent MI (4.0%), and 4 deaths (2.0%). MACEs did not differ between the normal and abnormal diastolic function group (13.6% vs. 10.9%, p = 0.810), but MACEs were significantly higher in the high LV filling pressure group than the normal LV filling pressure group (36.8% vs. 10.5%, p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, high LV filling pressure was an independent predictor of MACEs (hazard ratio 3.022, 95% confidence interval 1.200-7.612, p = 0.019). Conclusions: This study suggested that measurement of the LV filling pressure (E/e' ratio) would be useful in the risk stratification of young patients with AMI. However, it would be necessary to monitor this category of patient more carefully.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.443-446
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• 2008

'Gangbaek' is a japonica rice variety developed and registered by the rice breeding team of Department of Rice and Winter Cereal Crop, NICS, RDA in 2006. 'Gangbaek' was derived from a cross between 'Suweon345' with good grain quality and 'DV85' resistant to bacterial blight, $K_{3a}$. $F_1$ plants were grown in the greenhouse in winter of 1992/1993 and backcrossed with 'Suweon345' as the recurrent parent. Plants resistant to $K_{3a}$ race of bacterial blight (BB) were selected from $BC_1F_1$ to $BC_4F_1$ and used as parents in the backcrossing processes. This variety has about 120 days growth duration from transplanting to harvesting in west-southern coast and Honam plain of Korea. It is about 69 cm in culm length and tolerance to lodging. In reaction to biotic and abiotic stresses, it shows moderately resistance to blast, and resistance to bacterial blight pathogen, $K_1$, $K_2$, $K_3$ and $K_{3a}$, but susceptible to other major diseases and insect pests. The milled rice of 'Gangbaek' exhibits translucent, relatively clear non-glutinous endosperm and midium short grain. It has lower amylose content of 18.6% and protein content of 6.4% compared with 'Nampyeongbyeo'. The milled rice yield performance of this variety is about 5.28 MT/ha in local adaptability test for three years. This cultivar would be adaptable to the bacterial blight-prone area in the south-western coastal and Honam plain of Korea.