• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2000

Objectives : This study was peformed to identify the risk factors related to the development of hypertension in a rural area. Method : Total of 3,573 subjects in Chung-Song County were interviewed and examined in 1996. The study cohort comprised 2,580 hypertension-free subjects aged above 20. One-year follow up was completed for 1,781 subjects(69.0%) in 1997. General characteristics(age, gender, education level, economic status, marital status), the family history of hypertension, diet, alcohol, smoking, coffee, stress, past history of oral contraceptive and menopausal status in female, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, baseline blood pressure, and serum total cholesterol were considered as risk factors. Results : Multivariate analysis using logistic regression model indicated that age(RH=1.50, 95% CI; 1.15-1.96), the family history of hypertension(RR=2.11, 95% CI; 1.04-4.26), waist-hip ratio(WHR) (RR=2.09, 95%, CI; 1.15-3.79), and baseline systolic blood pressure(130-139/<120mmHg)(RR=3.34, 95% CI; 1.47-7.60) were significant risk factors associated with the development of hypertension above the borderline level in male. In female, age(RR=1.06, 95% CI; 1.03-1.09), change in menopausal status$(no{\rightarrow}yes/no{\rightarrow}no)$ (RR=3.32, 95% CI; 1.01-10.87), baseline systolic blood pressure(120-129/<120mmHg: RR=2.00, 95% CI; 1.02-3.90)(130-139/<120mmHg: RR=2.64, 95% CI; 1.34-5.20) and baseline diastolic blood pressure(85-89/<80mmHg)(RR=4.09, 95% CI; 1.86-8.96) were identified as risk factors. Conclusions : Age and high normal blood pressure were significant risk factors for the development of hypertension above the borderline level. In addition, the family history of hypertension and WHR in men, and the change of menopausal status in women might be significant risk factors in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.137-146
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• 2003

Objectives : Impaired hearing is a prevalent occupational hazard, not only in industry, but also in the armed forces. In military life, noise has unusual characteristics, and constitutes a serious hazard to hearing. The aim of this study was to analyze the hearing threshold data in order to compare the hearing loss among shipyard workers, representing different workers, and a military service background. Methods : A cross-sectional audiological survey, combined with a questionnaire study, was conducted on a stratified random sample of 440 shipyard workers, with long-term exposure to noise. The employees were divided into four groups, according to their working and military service backgrounds, in relation to their exposure to noise. Results : As expected, the working and military noise exposure group (Group I) had significantly poorer hearing than the other groups. The high frequencies (2-8 kHz) showed the greatest difference in terms of poorer fearing in both ears. The prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) was highest in Group I. A logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the dependence of the NIHL in relation to age, smoking, drinking, working duration, ear protection, past history of ear diseases, and working and military sonics backgrounds, on the noise exposure The important factors found to be related to the NIHL, in relation to noise exposure were: age, work duration, and working and military service backgrounds. The adjusted odds ratio estimates for NIML in the right ear were 4.5 times greater (95% CI 1.7-11.6) for the military noise exposed group, and 7.9 times greater (95% CI 2.0-31.3) for the working noise exposed group than in the controls. The hearing thresholds at the pure-tone average and 4 kHz were significantly increased with age and work duration with both the working and military service backgrounds. Conclusions : From these results, specific preventive programs were planned, which should be assessed by epidemiological surveillance of the military noise exposed population.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.35 no.6_1
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• pp.883-893
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• 2019

In this study, crop coefficients were calculated in two different methods and the results were evaluated. In the first method, appropriateness of GLDAS-based evapotranspiration was evaluated by comparing it with observed data of Cheongmi-cheon (CMC) Flux tower. Then, crop coefficient was calculated by dividing actual evapotranspiration with potential evapotranspiration that derived from GLDAS. In the second method, crop coefficient was determined by using MLR (Multiple Linear Regression) analysis with vegetation index (NDVI, EVI, LAI and SAVI) derived from MODIS and in-situ soil moisture data observed in CMC, In comparison of two crop coefficients over the entire period, for each crop coefficient GLDAS K_c and SM&VI K_c, shows the mean value of 0.412 and 0.378, the bias of 0.031 and -0.004, the RMSE of 0.092 and 0.069, and the Index of Agree (IOA) of 0.944 and 0.958. Overall, both methods showed similar patterns with observed evapotranspiration, but the SM&VI-based method showed better results. One step further, the statistical evaluation of GLDAS K_c and SM&VI K_c in specific period was performed according to the growth phase of the crop. The result shows that GLDAS K_c was better in the early and mid-phase of the crop growth, and SM&VI K_c was better in the latter phase. This result seems to be because of reduced accuracy of MODIS sensors due to yellow dust in spring and rain clouds in summer. If the observational accuracy of the MODIS sensor is improved in subsequent study, the accuracy of the SM&VI-based method will also be improved and this method will be applicable in determining the crop coefficient of unmeasured basin or predicting the crop coefficient of a certain area.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.441-448
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• 2015

Lack of agricultural information for food supply and demand in Democratic People's republic Korea(DPRK) make people sometimes confused for right and timely decision for policy support. We carried out a study to estimate paddy rice yield in DPRK using MODIS NDVI reflecting rice growth and climate data. Mean of MODIS $NDVI_{max}$ in paddy rice over the country acquired and processed from 2002 to 2014 and accumulated rainfall collected from 27 weather stations in September from 2002 to 2014 were used to estimated paddy rice yield in DPRK. Coefficient of determination of the multiple regression model was 0.44 and Root Mean Square Error(RMSE) was 0.27 ton/ha. Two-way analysis of variance resulted in 3.0983 of F ratio and 0.1008 of p value. Estimated milled rice yield showed the lowest value as 2.71 ton/ha in 2007, which was consistent with RDA rice yield statistics and the highest value as 3.54 ton/ha in 2006, which was not consistent with the statistics. Scatter plot of estimated rice yield and the rice yield statistics implied that estimated rice yield was higher when the rice yield statistics was less than 3.3 ton/ha and lower when the rice yield statistics was greater than 3.3 ton/ha. Limitation of rice yield model was due to lower quality of climate and statistics data, possible cloud contamination of time-series NDVI data, and crop mask for rice paddy, and coarse spatial resolution of MODIS satellite data. Selection of representative areas for paddy rice consisting of homogeneous pixels and utilization of satellite-based weather information can improve the input parameters for rice yield model in DPRK in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.24 no.2 s.88
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• pp.65-78
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• 2006

This paper investigates the cost structure ot the Korea and Japan railroad industry with respect to density, scale and scope economies as well as productivity growth rate using a generalized trans)og multiproduct cost function model. The paper then assumes that the Korea and Japan railway companies pi·educe three outputs (incumbent railway passenger-kilometers. Shinkansen passenger-kilometers, ton-kilometers of freight) using four input factors (labor, fuel, maintenance, rolling stock and capital). The specified cost function includes foul other independent variables: track lengths to reflect network effects, two dummies to reflect nation and ownership effects, and time trend as a proxy for technical change. The simultaneous equation system consisting of a cost function and three input share equations is estimated with the Zellner's iterative seemingly unrelated regression. The unbalanced panel data used in the paper, a total of 154 observations. are collected from the annual records of the Korea National Railroad (KNR) for the yews $1977{\sim}2003$, Japan National Railways (JNR) for the years $1977{\sim}1984$. seven Japan Railways (JR's) for the years $1987{\sim}2003$. The findings show that the Korean and Japanese railways exhibit product-specific and overall economies of density but product-specific diseconomies of scale with respect to incumbent railway passenger-kilometers, Shinkansen-kilometers and ton-kilometers. However, the railways experience mild overall economies of scale which result from economies of scope associated with the joint production of incumbent railway/Shinkansen and feight, freight/incumbent railway and Shinkansen except Shinkansen/incumbent railway and freight. In addition, the economies of density and scale in the KNR, JR east, JR central, and JR west companies at the point of the years $1990{\sim}2003$ average is generally analogous to the above results at the point of sample average. There also appear to be economies of ssope associated with the joint Production of the incumbent railway and Shinkansen in JR central but diseconomies of scope in JR East and JR West. The findings also indicate that the productivity growth rate of the privately-owned JR's is larger than that of the government-owned KNR.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.107-118
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• 2017

Although alternative test methods based on the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) are being developed to replace animal testing in reproductive and developmental toxicology, they are still in an early stage. Consequently, we aimed to develop alternative test methods in male animals using mouse spermatogonial stem cells (mSSCs). Here, we modified the OECD TG 489 and optimized the in vitro comet assay in our previous study. This study aimed to verify the validity of in vitro tests involving mSSCs by comparing their results with those of in vivo tests using C57BL/6 mice by gavage. We selected hydroxyurea (HU), which is known to chemically induce male reproductive toxicity. The 50% inhibitory concentration ($IC_{50}$) value of HU was 0.9 mM, as determined by the MTT assay. In the in vitro comet assay, % tail DNA and Olive tail moment (OTM) after HU administration increased significantly, compared to the control. Annexin V, PI staining and TUNEL assays showed that HU caused apoptosis in mSSCs. In order to compare in vitro tests with in vivo tests, the same substances were administered to male C57BL/6 mice. Reproductive toxicity was observed at 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day as measured by clinical measures of reduction in sperm motility and testicular weight. The comet assay, DCFH-DA assay, H&E staining, and TUNEL assay were also performed. The results of the test with C57BL/6 mice were similar to those with mSSCs for HU treatment. Finally, linear regression analysis showed a strong positive correlation between results of in vitro tests and those of in vivo. In conclusion, the present study is the first to demonstrate the effect of HU-induced DNA damage, ROS formation, and apoptosis in mSSCs. Further, the results of the current study suggest that mSSCs could be a useful model to predict male reproductive toxicity.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.11 s.268
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• pp.828-837
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• 2006

Background: Tissue hypoxia is characteristic of many human malignant neoplasm, and hypoxia inducible factor-1(HIF-1) plays a pivotal role in essential adaptive response to hypoxia, and activates a signal pathway for the expression of the hypoxia-regulated genes, resulting in increasing $O_2$ delivery or facilitating metabolic adaptation to hypoxia. Increased level of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ has been reported in many human malignancies, but in non-small cell lung carcinoma the influence of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ on tumor biology, including neovascularization, is not still defined. In present study the relationship of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression on angiogenetic factors, relationship between the tumor proliferation and HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression, interaction of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression and p53, and relationship between HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression and clinico-pathological prognostic parameters were investigated. Material and Method: Archival tissue blocks recruited in this study were retrieved from fifty-nine patients with primary non-small cell lung carcinoma, who underwent pneumonectomy or lobectomy from 1997 to 1999. HIF-$1{\alpha}$, VEGF(vascular endothelial growth factor), and p53 protein expression and Ki-67 labeling index in tumor tissues were evaluated, using a standard avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex(ABC) immunohistochemistry. Relationship between the HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression and VEGF, p53 overexpression and correlation between the HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expresseion and Ki-67 index were analyzed. Clinico-pathologic prognostic parameters were also analyzed. Result: HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression in cancer cells was found in 24 of 59 cases of non-small cell lung carcinoma(40.7%). High HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression was significantly associated with several pathological parameters, such as pathological TMN stage(p=0.004), pT stage(p=0.020), pN stage (p=0.029), and lymphovascular invasion(p=0.019). High HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression was also significantly associated with VEGF immunoreactivity(p<0.001), and aberrant p53 expression(p=0.040). but was marginally associated with Ki-67 labeling index(p=0.092). The overall 5-year survival rate was 42.3%. The survival curve of patients with a high HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression was worse than that of patients with low-expression(p=0.002). High HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression was independent unfavorable factors with a marginal significance in multivariate analysis performed by Cox regression. Conclusion: It is suggested that high HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression may be associated with intratumoral neovascularization possibly through HIF-VEGF pathway, and high HIF-$1{\alpha}$ expression could be associated with lymph node metastasis and post operative poor prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.760-769
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• 1997

This study aimed to determine factors that influence blood flow through coronary bypass grafts and to analyze relationship between the graft flow and postoperative outcome. Blood flow through 146 bypass grafts(GBF) was measured with transit-time ultrasound flowmeter during coronary artery bypass grafting operations in 50 patients. Single and multiple regression analyses were done for relationships between the GBF and four variables: internal diameter of recipient coronary artery, myocardial value of bypassed branch(es), type of graft, and finding of preoperative myocardial perfusion scan. The relationship between GBF and postoperative scan finding was also analyzed. 1. The mean GBF was significantly higher in sequential grafts than in single vein grafts or in internal thoracic artery grafts(61.5 vs. 46.9 and 42.5 ml/min). 2. Myocardial value and recipient artery diameter were found to be the factors determining GBF. There was no correlation between GHF and presence of perfusion defect in the preoperative scan. 3. Myocardial value was found to be more important than recipient artery diameter in determinintg GBF. 4. Reversible perfusion defects were more frequently found in the areas upplied by grafts with low GBP. But this fact had only mild statistical significance. These results suggest that blood flow through a bypass graft is more determined by the size of its supplyinf: myocardium than by the size of recipient artery. So, we can expect effective improvement in myocardial flow reserve after grafting of small(1~1.5mm) coronary arteries, if they supply substantial area of myocardium.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.197-204
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• 2009

Purpose: The objective of this study was to describe the frequency of hepatobiliary dysfunction (HD) at our hospital and determine the possible risk factors and complications associated with the development of HD in very low birth weight infants (VLBWI) treated with parenteral nutrition (PN). Methods: A retrospective study of VLBWI (n=92) that required PN between 2004 and 2008 in the NICU at the Bucheon St. Marys Hospital of Catholic University was performed. HD was defined by a direct bilirubin (DB) >2 mg and a transaminase of 60 IU/L defined cholestasis and liver injury. Groups I, II, and III were limited to cases of cholestasis, liver injury without cholestasis, and no abnormalities, respectively. The VLBWI were compared to each other. Results: Thirty-six subjects (39.1%) had cholestasis and 51 (55.4%) had liver injury. In addition, 36 (39.1%), 19 (20.7%), and 37 (40.2%) subjects were classified as groups I, II, and III, respectively. The three groups showed significant differences in gestational age, 1- and 5-minute Apgar scores, use of surfactant, duration of parenteral nutrition, frequency of RBC transfusions, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) (P<0.05). The multiple regression analysis with cholestasis as the dependent variable, showed a significant correlation with gestational age, use of surfactant, frequency of RBC transfusions, and PDA. Conclusion: Various factors, such as birth weight, gestational age, 1- and 5-minute Apgar scores, use of surfactant for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), frequency of RBC transfusions, BPD, and PDA may be related to hepatobiliary dysfunction in VLBWI treated with PN.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.153-157
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• 2014

Purpose: SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease, characterized by various autoantibody. The detection of Anti double-stranded DNA (Anti-ds DNA) is important in the diagnostics of SLE, and include the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) diagnostic criteria for SLE. Also SLE disease activity and correlativity with the level Anti-ds DNA antibody have been reported and Anti-ds DNA antibody quantitative test is very useful for tracing before and after SLE treatment. When These Anti-ds DNA antibody test (Farr assay: $^{125}I$ labeled ds-DNA and bound Anti-ds DNA antibodies complex in serum is precipitated by ammonium sulfate and used to centrifugation, measured it) inhaled supernatant after centrifugation, a lipemic specimen does not facilitate the formation of precipitate and also occurs situation was inhaled with precipitate. To solve these problems, The Influence of the degree of lipemic specimen was evaluated. Materials and Methods: September 2012 to February 2013, We selected lipemic samples (n=81) of specimen commissioned by Anti-ds DNA antibody test. Lipemic samples were done pre-treatment (high-speed centrifugation: 14,000 rpm 5 mins) used a micro-centrifuge (Eppendorf Model 5415D). At the same time lipemic specimen and pre-treatment samples were performed Anti-ds DNA antibody test (Anti-ds DNA kit, Trinity Biotech, Ireland). Statistical analysis were analyzed Pearson's correlation coefficients and regression and paired t-test, and Difference (%). Results: Experimental group 1 (Lipemic Specimen Anti-ds DNA Ab concentration ${\leq}7IU/mL$) at y=0.368X+4.732, $R^2=0.023$, Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.154, paired t-test (P=0.003), Difference (%) mean 65.7 and showed a statistically significant difference. Experimental group 2 (Lipemic Specimen Anti-ds DNA Ab concentration ${\geq}8IU/mL$) at y=0.983X+0.298, $R^2=0.994$, Pearson's correlation coefficient showed 0.997, paired t-test (P=0.181), Difference (%) mean -5.53 made no statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Lipemic sample of low Anti-ds DNA Ab concentration (2.5-7 IU/mL) and the result is obtained pre-treatment (high-speed centrifugation: 14,000 rpm 5 mins) were made a significant difference statistically. Anti-ds DNA is one of the primary auto-antibodies present in patients with SLE, and remain an important diagnostic test for SLE. Therefore, we recommend preprocessing (high-speed centrifugation: 14,000 rpm 5 mins) in order to exclude the influence of lipemic specimen.