• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.140-146
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• 2015

The increase in resistance by pathogenic bacteria to multiple antimicrobial agents has become a significant treat, as the effective antimicrobial agents available for the patients infected by such resistant bacteria are reduced, or even eliminated. Several natural plant extracts have exhibited antibacterial and synergistic activity against various resistant microorganisms. Houttuynia cordata is frequently used by many traditional medicine practicioners for its antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties. This study investigated the antibacterial effects of H. cordata extract against clinical multi-resistant bacteria, and compared the two methods used for the antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Thirty isolates of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, 10), Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE, 10), Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB, 10) were included in this study. The antibacterial effect of H. cordata was tested by disk diffusion and microbroth dilution methods as per CLSI guidelines. In disk diffusion, all isolates (30) showed no inhibition to 30,000 ug/mL of H. cordata. But in the microbroth dilution method, $MIC_{90}$ of H. cordata was 4,096 ug/mL, 8,192 ug/mL and 4,096 ug/mL in MRSA, VRE and CRAB, respectively. These results demonstrate that H. cordata exhibits antibacterial activity against MRSA, VRE and CRAB. Moreover, the microbroth dilution method is a more effective method than disk diffusion to evaluate the antibacterial activity of natural products. The Disk diffusion method used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of natural products required new standard guidelines including inoculum concentration of bacteria.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2002

Background : Tuberculin skin test is a method to examine M. tuberculosis infection and has been used all over the world. But various factors make it difficult to understand testing results. In 2000, the American Thoracic Society recommended that skin test results should be decided by considering risk factors of the tested. In Korea, high tuberculosis infection rate and BCG vaccination rate make it difficult to differentiate current infection, past infection, and no infection by the skin test. This study was attempted to examine a negative predictive value of the skin test to understand how the skin test acts on deciding administration of anti-tuberculosis drug. Methods : From Mar. 1 to Jul. 31 in 2001, the test was performed for patients hospitalized in Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chunchon, Korea by administering Tuberculin PPD RT23 2 TU (0.1 ml)to them that has been currently used in Korea based on Mantoux method. They were decided to be infected with tuberculosis bacilli by following diagnostic standard: 1) tuberculosis bacilli was cultured in sputum by microbiological diagnostic standard or Acid-fast bacilli was proven on a microscopic examination or 2) tuberculosis bacilli was not proven in the aforesaid microbiological test by clinical diagnostic standard, while there was opinion or symptom suitable for tuberculosis by radiographic or histological standard so the doctor decided to apply the tuberculosis treatment. Results : In this study, total 210 patients except 20 patients (8.7%) among 230 hospitalized patients were evaluated. Their average age was 60±16.8 years, and male-female rate was 1.28 : 1 (male: 118, female: 92). Number of patient, who was diagnosed and decided as tuberculosis, was 53(25.2%). Pulmonary tuberculosis was found in 45 patients (84.9%); 22 patients were decided to be positive in the Acid-fast bacilli smear test by microbiological examination (culture positive: 13, culture negative: 9), and 23 patients were decided to be tuberculosis patients by clinical diagnosis standard. Tuberculosis pleuritis was found in 8 patients (15.1%); 4 patients were diagnosed and decided by histological standard, and 4 patients were decided and treated by clinical standard. In differentiating patients into 'Negative' and 'Positive' by the skin test standard of the American Thoracic Society, negative predictive value 92.3%, positive predictive value 47.3%, sensitivity and specificity were 83%, 68.8%, respectively. Conclusion : In hospitalized respiratory patients, there was high negative predictive vlaue 92.3% by tuberculin skin test, therefore skin test would be a important factor for deciding administration of anti-tuberculosis drug on negative skin test patient.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2013

A force calibration of a nanoindenter and a 3D morphology observation of indenters were carried out in this study. A microbalance calibrated with standard weights was used for measuring the loads generated by a nanoindenter. The indentation load could be calibrated from the ratio of measured and generated loads and the first contact load also could be detected from the microbalance data. By analyzing atomic force microscopy images of two indenters, curvature radii of apexes were determined by $19.71{\pm}3.03$ and $1043.94{\pm}50.91$ nm, respectively, for the nearly new indenter A and the severly worn indenter B. Corresponding bluntness depths were estimated by 1.22 and 64.56 nm for the both indenters by overlapping their profiles on the perfect pyramidal shape. In addition, nanoindentation curves obtained from a fused silica reference material with the both indenters showed a depth difference corresponding to the bluntness depth difference along the indentation depth axis. By shifting amounts of the bluntness depths along the horizontal axis, whole nanoindentation curves overlapped on themselves and resulted in nanohardness values consistent within 1.11 % without considering the complex indenter area function of each indenter.

• Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Sports Medicine
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2002

The types of Alpine ski injuries have changed through the years in relationship to the development of skiing equipment. Modern skis, boots and bindings are better at protecting the tibia, which previously was almost as commonly injured as the knee. Since the 1980s, severe knee sprains, most of them involving the anterior cruciate ligament have tripled while injuries of the lower extremity below the knee diminished significantly. However, recent studies show no further improvements in either lower leg fractures or increase in the rates of ACL sprains has occurred. The use of carving skis presents an increased risk for sustaining isolated ACL injuries in more skilled skiers and less skilled skiers are more likely to sustain an ankle fracture than skiers using conventional skis. To restore the trend of diminishing lower leg injury rates, efforts will be needed to motivate skiers to have their equipment serviced by ski shop professionals following ASTM (American Society for Testing and Material) standard procedures. As of now, there are no boots, bindings or skis on the market designed to protect skiers from the ACL injury. The only method proven to reduce ACL injury Is a training program based on recognizing the circumstances that lead to ACL injury in skiing and to avoid these events.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2018

The pullout test, a nondestructive testing(NDT), for pre-installed inserts is perhaps the most widely used technique to estimate the in-situ compressive strength of concrete. It measures the force needed to pullout a standardized metal insert embedded into concrete members. The pullout test was certified by the American Society for Testing and Materials(ASTM) and Canadian Standards Association(CSA) as a reliable method for determining the strength of concrete in concrete structures under construction. To easily estimate the strength of ultra-high-strength concrete, a simplified pullout tester, primarily composed of a standard 12mm bolt with a groove on the shaft as a break-off bolt, an insert nut, and a hydraulic oil pump without a load cell, was proposed. Four wall and two slab specimens were tested for two levels of concrete strength, 80MPa and 100MPa, using a simplified pullout tester with a load cell to verify the advantages of the pullout test and simplified pullout test. The compressive strength of concrete, pullout load, and the rupture of the break-off bolt were measured 11 times, day 1 to 7, 14, 21, 28, and 90. The correlation of the pullout load and the compressive strength of each specimen show a higher degree of reliability. Therefore, a simplified pullout test can be used to evaluate the in-place strength of ultra-high-strength concrete in structures. The prediction equation for the groove diameter of the break-off bolt(y) with the concrete strength(x) was proposed as y=0.0184x+5.4. The results described in this research confirm the simplified pullout's utility and potential for low cost, simplicity, and convenience.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.33-42
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• 2012

This study was performed to find the problems according to interference factors (organic matter, pH, Cr, Mn, Fe, clay, and etc.) when we analyzed the hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] in soils using UV/VIS spectrometer (US EPA 7196A), attempted to evaluate the domestic applicability of analytical method (US EPA 7199) using IC-UV/VIS spectrometer as alternative method. The recovery rate of certified reference materials was 75.0% (US EPA 7196A) and 101.4% (US EPA 7199) by the analytical methods. As the results of performing QA/QC about US EPA 7199, method detection limit (MDL) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were 0.062 mg/kg, 0.196 mg/kg, respectively. The LOQ of US EPA 7199 was lower than that of the current soil official testing method in Korea (0.5 mg/kg). Cr(VI) contents in 23 soil samples were compared by the analytical methods of EPA 7196A and 7199. Cr(VI) was detected in 13 of 23 soil samples by EPA 7196A, while EPA 7199 was not detected in any soil samples. The Cr(VI) content in 23 soil samples by EPA 7196A was not clearly correlated with Cr, Fe, Mn and clay content in the soil samples. However, the contents of Cr(VI) and organic matter of the soil samples had the highest coefficient of determination ($R^2$) of 0.80. In order to evaluate the correlation between the recovery rates of Cr(VI) and organic matter contents in the soil samples, the recovery rates of 5 soil samples added Cr(VI) standard solution were analyzed by the analytical methods. According to the results, the higher the organic matter contents in soil samples, the lower the recovery rates of Cr(VI) by US EPA 7196, while in case of US EPA 7199, the recovery rates were stable regardless of the organic matter contents.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.161-166
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• 2014

Currently oxidation-reduction titration method for the assay method using the hazardous reagent, carbon tetrachloride, for cefroxadine capsules has been used in Korean Pharmaceutical Codex. We developed and validated an alternative HPLC assay method by substituting the use of the hazardous reagent, carbon tetrachloride, to the use of less toxic ones like acetonitrile. The linearity of the calibration curves in the desired concentration range was good ($r^2$ > 0.999). Relative standard deviations of intra-day precision were ranged between 0.30% and 0.69% and inter-day precision were ranged between 0.47% and 0.82%. Accuracy was obtained with recoveries in range of 100.20% and 100.56%. Developed method was applied to the determination of cefroxadine in commercial cefroxadine capsule and could be expected to become valuable tools for revising the Korean Pharmaceutical Codex.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.548-551
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• 2014

In order to reduce toxicity on the human body, four new cleaning agents (1-4) containing ester and ether functionalities have been invented. The synthesized cleaning agents's physical properties, biodegradabilities, and $LD_{50}$ values, which were conducted by Korea Testing Certification Institute by using standard method, showed excellent values. A specimen for cleaning ability was prepared by cutting in $60{\times}40mm$ size of stainless steel plate. The surface of the above specimens was treated with four different kinds of contaminants, such as cutting oil, anti-rust oil, drawing oil, and lubricating oil. Contaminated specimens were then immersed in compounds (1-4) for 1 to 5 minutes to dissolve oil in the cleaning agent. The data indicate that all compounds (1-4) exhibit good cleaning ability toward four contaminant oils. It is also confirmed that these compounds can be applicable to various industrial cleaning fields as nontoxic and biodegradable cleaning agents because of their excellent biodegradabilities and $LD_{50}$ values.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.223-226
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• 2009

The plastics are widely utilized in the inside of vehicles. The dynamic tensile characteristics of auto-body plastics are important in a prediction of deformation mode of the plastic component which undergoes the high speed deformation during car crash. This paper is concerned with the dynamic tensile characteristics of the auto-body plastics at intermediate strain rates. Quasi-static tensile tests were carried out at the strain rate ranged from 0.001/sec to 0.01/sec using the static tensile machine(Instron 5583). Dynamic tensile tests were carried out at the strain rate ranged from 0.1/sec to 100/sec using the high speed material testing machine developed. Conventional extensometry method is no longer available for plastics, since the deformation of plastic is accompanied with localized deformation. In this paper, quasi-static and dynamic tensile tests were performed using ASTM IV standard specimens with grids and images from a high speed camera were analyzed for strain measurement. True stress-strain relations and the actual strain rates at each deformation step were obtained by processing load data and deformation images, assuming the plastics to deform uniformly in each grid.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.244-253
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• 2003

Purpose: This study was done for the purpose of testing the effects of hand moxibustion on pain in the knee joint, range of motion of the knee, and discomfort during ADL in elderly persons with knee joint pain. Method: Nonequivalent control group pre-post test research design was used. The participants were 35 elders who had knee joint pain. Sixteen were assigned to the experimental group and 19 to the control group. The instruments used for this study were the CRS (Graphic rating scale) for knee joint pain, goniometer for knee joint ROM, and modified ADL questionnaire developed by Lee. Analysis of data was done by percents, means and standard deviation, $x^2$-test, t-test, and ANCOVA using SPSS WIN 10.0. Result: The pain score for the right knee joint after hand moxibustion was significantly different between the experimental group and the control group after hand moxibustion (p=.035). The pain score for the left knee joint was not significantly different between the experimental group and the control group after hand moxibustion (p=.075). Right and left knee ROM scores were significantly different between the experimental group and the control group after hand moxibustion (Right p=.000, Left p=.034). Discomfort of ADL score was not significantly different between the experimental group and the control group after hand moxibustion (p=.053). Conclusion: In summary, knee joint pain in elders after hand moxibustion decreased and knee ROM in elders after hand moxibustion increased. So it would be useful for nurses to provide hand moxibustion as an alternative therapy to elders with knee joint pain in the community and thus reduce joint pain and increase knee ROM.