• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2023

Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is known to play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. LRRK2 is predominantly expressed in the lung as well as the brain. However, it is unclear whether LRRK2 expression correlates with the pathogenesis of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC). This study analyzes the prognostic significance of LRRK2 in LUSC using the Kaplan-Meier plotter tool. High expression of LRRK2 is known to be associated with a bad prognosis in patients with LUSC. Patients with high LRRK2 expression, tumor mutational burden, high neoantigen load, and even gender correlation reportedly have the worse survival rates. In the gene expression profiling interactive analysis (GEPIA) database, the severity of pathogenesis in LUSC with high LRRK2 expression positively corresponds to a high expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines but not inflammatory cytokines. Similarly, the increased expression of interleukin (IL)10-related genes was shown to be significantly linked in LRRK2-high LUSC patients having a poor prognosis. Moreover, the tumor immune estimation resource (TIMER) database suggests that macrophages are one of the cellular sources of IL10 in LRRK2-high LUSC patients. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the postulated LRRK2-IL10 axis is a potential therapeutic target and prognostic biomarker for LUSC.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4B
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• pp.345-354
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• 2006

Drought brings on long term damage in contrast to flood, on economic loss in the region, and on ecologic and environmental disruptions. Drought is one of major natural disasters and gives a painful hardship to human beings. So we have tried to quantify the droughts for reducing drought damage and developed the drought indices for drought monitoring and management. The Palmer's drought severity index (PDSI) is widely used for the drought monitoring but it has the disadvanges and limitations in that the PDSI is estimated by considering just climate conditions as pointed out by many researchers. Thus this study uses the SWAT model which can consider soil conditions like soil type and land use in addition to climate conditions. We estimate soil water (SW) and soil moisture index (SMI) by SWAT which is a long term runoff simulation model. We apply the SWAT model to Soyang dam watershed for SMI estimation and compare SMI with PDSI for drought analysis. Say, we calibrate and validate the SWAT model by daily inflows of Soyang dam site and we estimate long term daily soil water. The estimated soil water is used for the computation of SMI based on the soil moisture deficit and we compare SMI with PDSI. As the results, we obtained the determination coefficient of 0.651 which means the SWAT model is applicable for drought monitoring and we can monitor drought in more high resolution by using GIS. So, we suggest that SMI based on the soil moisture deficit can be used for the drought monitoring and management.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2019

This study assessed the risk of disaster by using QRE(Quick Risk Estimation - UNISDR Roll Model City of Basic Evaluation Tool) tools for three natural disasters and sixteen social disasters managed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The criteria for selecting 19 disaster types in Seoul are limited to disasters that occur frequently in the past and cause a lot of damage to people and property if they occur. We also considered disasters that are likely to occur in the future. According to the results of the QRE tools for disaster type in Seoul, the most dangerous type of disaster among the Seoul city disasters was "suicide accident" and "deterioration of air quality". Suicide risk is high and it is not easy to take measures against the economic and psychological problems of suicide. This corresponds to the Risk ratings(Likelihood ranking score & Severity rating) "M6". In contrast, disaster types with low risk during the disaster managed by the city of Seoul were analyzed as flooding, water leakage, and water pollution accidents. In the case of floods, there is a high likelihood of disaster such as localized heavy rains and typhoons. However, the city of Seoul has established a comprehensive plan to reduce floods and water every five years. This aspect is considered to be appropriate for disaster prevention preparedness and relatively low disaster risk was analyzed. This corresponds to the disaster Risk ratings(Likelihood ranking score & Severity rating) "VL1". Finally, the QRE tool provides the city's leaders and disaster managers with a quick reference to the risk of a disaster so that decisions can be made faster. In addition, the risk assessment using the QRE tool has helped many aspects such as systematic evaluation of resilience against the city's safety risks, basic data on future investment plans, and disaster response.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2003

Objectives : Aseptic meningitis is a major cause of Korean childhood morbidity late spring and early summer. However, the nationwide incidences of the disease have not been reported. This study was conducted to evaluate the availability of National Health Insurance data (NHID) for the study of an epidemiological trend in the surveillance of aseptic meningitis in children. Methods : All the claims, under A87, A87.8, and A87.9 by ICD-10, among children below 15 years of age, to the National Health Insurance Corporation, between January and December 1998, were extracted. A survey of the medical record of 3,874 cases from 136 general hospitals was peformed. The availability of the NHID was evaluated by the three following methods: 1) The diagnostic accuracy (the positive Predictive value : proportion of the confirmed aseptic meningitis among the subjects registered as above disease-codes in NHID) was evaluated through a chart review, and according to age, gender, month and region of disease-occurrence. 2) The distribution of confirmed cases was compared with the distribution of total subjects from the NHID, for subjects in General hospitals, or the subjects surveyed. 3) The proportion of confirmed CSF test was confirmed, and the relating factor, which was the difference in CSF-test rate, analyzed. Results : Among 3,874 cases, CSF examinations were peformed on 1,845 (47.6%), and the CSF-test rates were different according to the medical utility (admission vs. OPD visit) and the severity of the symptoms and signs. The diagnostic accuracy for aseptic meningitis, and during the epidemic (May-Aug) and sporadic (Sept-Apr) periods, were 85.0 (1,568/1,845), 86.0 (1,239/l,440) and 81.2% (329/405), respectively. The distributions by age, sex, month or period (epidemic/sporadic) and region, in the confirmed cases, were similar to those in the NHID, in both the subjects at General hospitals and in those surveyed, to within ${\pm}7%$. Conclusions : In this paper, the NHID for the subjects registered with an aseptic meningitis disease-code might be available for an epidemiological study on the incidence-estimation of childhood aseptic meningitis, as the NHID could include both the probable and definite cases. On the basis of this result, further studies of time-series and secular trend analyses, using the NHID, will be peformed.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.43 no.5 s.311
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• pp.89-100
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• 2006

The carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is very important, because the severity of it is an independent predictor of transient cerebral ischemia, stroke, and coronary events such as myocardial infarction. The conventional image processing to measure the IMT has not been satisfactory, because the methods have relied on the manual section drawing and a regional segmentation by differential estimation. We propose a new image processing technology effective to extract features from the carotid artery image whose pixels have the directional vector properties with composed color distribution. The technique we presented here is not by differential variation but by verification of the layer properties of carotid artery image. Iterated vertical and horizontal analysis and segmentation of the IMT image show the vector characteristics. This new technique makes it possible to cluster the layers statistically, and to classify mathematical correlation between regions and resulting in correct measurements of thickness and its variation. The advantages and effectiveness of this approach are applicable to region process and character extraction of such a vector image.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.132-146
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• 2017

Appropriate speed limits at a reasonable level in urban roads are highly important factors for efficient and safe movement. Thus, it is greatly necessary to develop the objective models or methodology based on engineering study considering factors such as traffic accident rates, roadside development levels, and roadway geometry characteristics etc. The purpose of this study is to develop the estimate model of appropriate speed limits at each road sections in urban roads using traffic information big data and field specific data and to review the effects of accident decrease. In this study, the estimate method of appropriate speed limits in directional two or more lanes of urban roads is reflecting features of actual variables in a form of adjustment factor on the basis of the maximum statutory speed limits. As a result of investigating and testing influential variables, the main variables to affect the operating speed are the function of road, the existence of median, the width of lane, the number of traffic entrance/exit path and the number of traffic signal or nonsignal at intersection and crosswalk. As a result of testing this model, when the differences are bigger between the real operating speed and the recommended speed limits using model developed in this study, the accident rate generally turns out to be higher. In case of using the model proposed in this study, it means accident rate can be lower. When the result of this study is applied, the speed limits of directional two or more lane roads in Seoul appears about 11km/h lower than the current speed limits. The decrease of average operating speed caused by the decrease of speed limits is 2.8km/h, and the decrease effect of whole accidents according to the decrease of speed is 18% at research road. In case that accident severity is considered, the accident decrease effects are expected to 17~24% in fatalities, 11~17% in seriously injured road user, 6~9% in slightly injured road user, 5~6% in property damage only accidents.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.151-165
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• 1997

A cost analysis for hospitalized patients was performed based on the KDRG classification in order to determine an appropriate nursing fee under the PPS(Prospective Payment System). The data was collected from 20 nursing units of three tertiary hospitals and two secondary hospitals from August 26 to September 15, 1996. The study consisted of 148 inpatients diagnosed for lens procedures(KDRG 03900), tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy(KDRG 16100), Cesarean section(KDRG 37000), or vaginal delivery(KDRG 37300) without any complications. The direct or indirect nursing hours of each patients were measured. Then, direct or indirect nursing expenditures of four nursing units, operating room and delivery room were computed. Finally, the resources used including average total nursing hours, average length of stay and average nursing cost of each KDRG were estimated as follows; 1) The average total nursing hours were 640 minutes for lens procedures, 403 minutes for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy, 934 minutes for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, 1,094 minutes for Cesarean section and 631 minutes for vaginal delivery. Significant differences were found in average total nursing hours among hospitals. 2) The average length of stay in lens procedures were 5 days, 4 days for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy, 6 days for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, 8 days for Cesarean section and 3 days for vaginal delivery. All results were within normal determined by the Ministry of Health and Welfare although significant differences existed among hospitals, especially with average length of stay for leng procedures between tertiary hospitals and secondary hospitals which was greater than for those of others. 3) The average nursing cost were 87,146 Won for lens procedures, 69,600 Won for tonsillectomy &/or adenoidectomy, 128,337 Won for appendectomy with complicated principal diagnosis, 151,769 Won for Cesarean section and 85,403 Won for vaginal delivery. These costs were 7.6%, 13.0%, 13.0%, 16.0% and 22.0%, respectively, of the official price fixed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare under the prospective payment system. Research for the analysis of nursing costs according to the severity of illness for those KDRGs shoud be carried out within the period of the PPS pilot project. In addition, a proper nursing fee schedule for a new reimbursement system based upon the result of the above research should be prepared in the near future.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.77-84
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• 2013

With the increase in occurrence frequency and severity of natural disasters due to climate changes arising from global warming, damage in the landscaping field is rising. This leads to legal disputes, and is increasing social and economic damage, too. Especially even though landscape trees which are highly affected by external environments, suffer lots of damage from natural disasters, there is no specific scope of disaster criteria and thus it brings plenty of problems of damage restoration and compensation. Therefore, this study aims to suggest that gives ways to improve related criteria for damage of landscape trees from natural disasters. For this objective, this study analyzed damage cases of landscape trees and precedents, and compared Korean and Japanese legal systems and criteria regarding natural disasters with each other. The analysis result showed that opinions of experts have a great deal of influence on judgment results, since there is no definite legal basis on damage from natural disasters in the landscaping field. This implies the need for a professional and objective appraisal process. According to the comparative analysis of Korean and Japanese legal systems and criteria regarding natural disasters, Korea lacked in laws and criteria on natural disasters of landscape plants in Korea, whereas there were concrete disaster assessment standards of landscape trees in Japan. For improving natural disaster-related systems and criteria in the landscaping field, therefore, this study presented 'Revision of related laws', 'Revision of appraisal and loss assessment criteria', 'Revision of standard specification of landscaping project', 'Compulsory insuring against disasters', 'Reasonable fulfillment of contract', and 'Compulsory cost estimation for disaster restoration', as improvement plans.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.93-102
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• 2012

The frequency and severity of traffic accidents related to signalized intersections in urban areas have been more serious than those in both arterial segments and crosswalks. Especially, traffic accidents involved with injuries and fatalities have caused by traffic signal violations within intersections. Therefore, many countries including Korea have installed the red light enforcement camera (RLE) to reduce traffic accidents associated with the traffic signal violation. Meanwhile, many methodologies have been studied in terms of safety impacts estimation of red light enforcement, which, however, cannot be easy to conduct. In this study, safety impacts was estimated for intersections of Chicago downtown area using SPF models and EB approach. As a result, for all crash types and target traffic accident types such as "angle", "rear end", "sideswipe in the same and other directions", "turn", and "head on", fatal crashes were reduced by 26% and 38%. However, RLE may increase property-demage-only-crashes by 3.23% and 1.16%, respectively.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.37-46
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• 2021

Government agencies, such as police and local governments, strive to prevent traffic hazards and create a comfortable road environment by pormoting transportation and road facilities. To this end, roads and transportation facilities are enhanced and adjusted, and improvement projects in areas with frequent traffic accidents are carried out. Usually, improvement projects in areas with frequent traffic accidents vary by projects and region. Moreover, these projects are carried out under the supervision of a person in charge and related parties. Hence, civil complaints and subjectivity are reflected in deriving priorities for the improvement projects, limiting the efficiency of the project. To this end, a study was conducted to estimate the direction of improvement of the project target site. This study comprehensively considered road, traffic, and accident conditions of representative projects with high effectiveness in handling traffic accidents. The results of the study state that the accuracy of estimating the improvement project was around 88%. In addition, the study found that there was a strong relationship between traffic volume, accident rate, and accident severity in estimating the improvement direction.