• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.5
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• pp.390-396
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• 2011

Background: Hyaluronan (HA) is an unbranched glycosaminoglycan. It has been proposed that HA acts as a vehicle for cytokines due to the strong negative charge on its surface. We hypothesized that HA would function like a cytokine scavenger and reduce the inflammatory signaling cascade and this would lead to improved survival in rats suffering with endotoxemia. Methods: Endotoxin (Salmonella, 10 mg/kg) or an equal amount of 0.9% NaCl (NS) was injected into the jugular vein of rats. HA (1,600 kDa, 0.35%) or NS was given at 0.1 mL/kg/h for 3 hours. HA or NS infusion was started at 4 hour after endotoxin injection. The rats were divided into the control and HA groups (n=16 for each group). The mean arterial pressure (MAP) was monitored during HA or normal saline infusion. Survival was assessed every 12 hours for 3 days throughout the experiment. Results: The survival rate (%) of the rats treated with HA was higher (60%) than that of the controls (20%) when HA was infused 4 hours after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection. The bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid of the animals surviving HA or NS infusion 4 hours after LPS showed that the total cell counts and number of neutrophils were significantly (p < 0.01) reduced in the HA treated groups compared with that of the controls (total cell count, $9.2{\times}10^4$/mL vs. $61{\times}10^4$/mL; neutrophils, $21{\times}10^4$/mL vs. $0.2{\times}10^4$/mL, respectively). There was no significant MAP difference between the HA or control groups either with or without endotoxin. Conclusion: Infusion of hyaluronan (1,600 kDa) reduced the BAL total cell count and the number of neutrophils and it improved the survival rate of the endotoxemic rats.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.81-93
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• 2002

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of household income drops on household economic status during economic crisis periods. Using the data taken from Korean Household Panel Study for 1996 and 1998, it was investigated how household income change affected household income, expenditure, and assets/debt. The economic status change of the income-decreased group was compared with that of the income-increased group. The major findings were as follows: Average income of the total sample was 1,905 thousand won in 1996, while 1,419 thousand won in 1998. The household of which income was decreased during the period was 65.1% of total sample. Average income of the group was reduced from 2,263 thousand won to 1,239 thousand won. Among income sources, the amount of income from real asset was found to be the highest decreasing rate, and the amounts of both business and employed-work income were reduced almost up to an half of those in two years ago. The amounts for all expenditure categories were also decreased with decreasing household income. Especially the expenditures for food away from home, leisure, durable, recreation, and vehicle-related expense were found to have the highest income elasticity. The households with decreased income were found to reduce household expenditures by 377 thousand won per month, which was 70.9% of that in 1996. Decreases in household income resulted in decreases in net wealth by 10,170 thousand won. With decreases in household income, the amounts of total insurance and private savings such as gye were decreased, and so were the amounts of real assets and monetary assets.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.59-66
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• 2010

Around a toll plaza, vehicles do such maneuvers as slow down, stop, and speed up to pay their tolls when they use ordinary toll gates. They can be expected more fuel consumptions compared to the vehicles which use the Hi-pass, a Korean type of Electronic Toll Collection System(ETCS). To measure the exact amount of difference between the two gas consumptions, we equipped a test vehicle with a measurement system and constructed a model toll gate on our test field. Through the field tests on fuel consumptions, we could confirm a 36.7 % of energy saving when the test car used the Hi-pass. Then we projected the result on the total traffic volumes which had used national expressway network for five months from January 2009. Projected to the whole traffic, potential cost savings reached 5.34 billion won. We expect this result be frequently mentioned of to prove the fuel efficiency of the Hi-pass system.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.60-66
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• 1999

Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) is known as a potential hepatic carcinogen by single administration. This study was designed to measure the effects of DEN-induced cell damage on the triglyceride and cholesterol concentration in the liver, excluding dietary effects. Fertilized chicken eggs, 10 days before hatching, were randomly divided into three groups (n=20) and each egg was injected 10 ${mu}ell$ of corn oil (vehicle control), 5 $\mu\textrm{g}$ of DEN/10 ${mu}ell$ of DEN/10 ${mu}ell$ into yolk via air sac. After 48 hr and 96 hr incubation, the damage of the chick-embryo liver cell was investigated by electron microscopy and by measuring the concentration of lipid components (total cholesterol, free cholesterol, phospholipid and triglyceride). For eggs administered 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$ of DEN and incuvated 96 hr, in hepatocyte, the nucleus membrane was roughed, the size of nucleolus was apparently increased and euchromatin was accumulated. Mitochondria were condensed and cristae, located mitochondiral inner membrane, were obscured. Additionally, the leaves of triglyceride and cholesterol classes were significantly increased depend on the amount treated with 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$ DEN at 96 hr, but phospholipids component of cell membrane, were decreased with significance. As a conclusion, carcinogen induced hepatic lesion was correlated with the changes in lipid component of liver.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.169-179
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• 2004

There are many inductive loop detectors under the highways in Korea. Among the other detectors, some are image detectors. Almost all image detectors are focused one or two lane of the road and are measuring traffic information. This paper proposes to an algorithm for detecting traffic information automatically from CCTV camera images installed on the highway. The information which is counted in one lane or two contains some critical errors by occlusion frequently in case of passing larger vehicles. In this paper, we use a tracking algorithm in which the detection area include all lanes, then the traffic informations are collected from the vehicles individually using difference images in this detection area. This tracking algorithm is better than lane by lane detecting algorithm. The experiment have been conducted two different real road scenes for 20 minutes. For the experiments, the images are provided with CCTV camera which was installed at Kiheung Interchange upstream of Kyongbu highway, and video recording images at Chungkye Tunnel. For image processing, images captured by frame-grabber board 30 frames per second, 640${\times}$480 pixels resolution and 256 gray-levels to reduce the total amount of data to be Interpreted.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.259-267
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• 1998

For more than two decades, many investigators have tried a variety of methods for delivering antimicrobial agents to the oral cavity with the objective of eliminating mutans streptococci. In the belief that the effectiveness of chemotherapy might be improved by a more effective delivery system, the intention of the present study was to exploit a new drug delivery system delivering chlorhexidine to the oral cavity. The vehicle delivering chlorhexidine tested in this study was self-curing acrylic resin(polymethyl methacrylate). The powder of the acrylic resin was polymerized with the 5 different liquid preparations, in which $Chlorzoin^{(R)}$ was mixed with five different monomer/Chlorzoin ratios immediately prior to the polymerization, in a stainless steel mold ($40mm{\times}40mm{\times}2mm$). A total of 50 cured resin specimens were divided into 5 groups according to the different monomer preparations. Every specimen was soaked in an airtight container filled with distilled water (100 ml) and then kept in an incubator at $37^{\circ}C$. The solutions (0.8 ml) were collected from the container at every 24 hours, and the amount of released chlorhexidine in the solutions was measured in an ultraviolet spectrophotometer at 250nm. The container was refilled with distilled water every after measurement. This procedure was repeated for 14 days. It was found that chlorhexidine was continuously released from all of the 50 specimens during the experimental period. And it was noted that the pattern of chlorhexidine release was a type of sustained-release preparation, that is, the amount of the released chlorhexidine at the first day in all 5 groups was high (p<0.0001), and then the release was decreased during the rest of the experimental period (p<0.001).

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.895-902
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• 2018

Energy consumption in buildings is close to 40% of the total national energy consumption in developed countries such as US and Japan, and Korea accounts for 24% of total energy consumption. In buildings, HVAC can't freely control the cooling flow rate according to the required calorie, so energy is not used efficiently. Therefore, by using the energy saving valve, the flow rate can be controlled by the required amount of heat and the energy can be saved. In this paper, we define basic conditions and develop control and monitoring boards for building energy saving valves based on PIC processor with low power and high cost-effectiveness. The designed board displays and transmits in real time information about two temperature values, flow values and calculated calories for temperature difference measurement. The developed board will be useful for real - time monitoring of the state of the valve in the future and development of the valve for the offshore.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.135-144
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• 2008

The economic life for three types of military wheeled vehicles with load capacities of 1/4, $1{\cdot}1/4$, and $2{\cdot}1/2$ tones has been evaluated on the basis of the equivalent acquisition and operating costs. The economic life of wheeled vehicles were calculated from 12 to 18 years by using the annual equivalent cost method. The equivalent cost was decided at the lowest point of the total amount of equivalent acquisition cost and operating cost. The operating cost were collected from the field data. The evaluated economic life can be very useful for deciding the total life cycle of these three types of military vehicles. The annual equivalent cost method may be also applied to other military equipments such as communication electronics, weapon systems, and other type of vehicles.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2022

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a gastrointestinal disorder with diverse symptoms but no structural or organic manifestations. Benachio-F^® (herein named 'BF-1') is an over-the-counter liquid digestive formulated with multiple herbal extracts, which has been reported to improve symptoms of FD. A total two experiments were conducted. First, we examined whether BF-1 can modulate the progression of FD through two experimental rat models. A total of three doses (0.3x, 1x, 3x of the human equivalent dose) were used. In the gastric emptying model, both 1x (standard) or 3x (3-fold-concentrated) BF-1 enhanced gastric emptying was compared with that of vehicle-treated animals. In a feeding inhibition model induced by acute restraint stress, treatment with 1x or 3x BF-1 led to a similar degree of restoration in food intake that was comparable to that of acotiamide-treated animals. Among the constituents of BF, fennel is known for its choleretic effect. Thus, we next investigated whether a novel BF-based formula (named 'BF-2') that contains an increased amount of fennel extract (3.5-fold over BF-1), has greater potency in increasing bile flow. BF-2 showed a superior choleretic effect compared to BF-1. Furthermore, the postprandial concentration of serum secretin was higher in animals pretreated with BF-2 than in those pretreated with BF-1, suggesting that the increased choleretic effect of BF-2 is related to secretin production. Our results demonstrate that BF-1 can modulate the pathophysiological mechanisms of FD by exerting prokinetic and stress-relieving effects, and that BF-2 has a better choleretic effect than BF-1.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.197-203
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• 2001

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of crude ginseng saponin (CGS) on clinical pathological parameters in adult female guinea pigs exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). A total of 80 guinea pigs (800$\pm$20 g) were divided into 8 groups: group 1 (normal control group) was given vehicle (com oil containing small amount of acetone and DMSO) and saline; group 2 (single TCDD-treated) received TCDD (1 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg, i.p.) and saline (i.p.); groups 3 and 4 were administered CGS at daily i.p. doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg for 4 weeks, respectively; groups 5 and 6 were administered CGS (10 and 20 mg/kg, respectively) for 5 weeks starting 1 week before TCDD-exposure; groups 7 and 8 were administered CGS (10 and 20 mg/kg, respectively) for 3 weeks from 1 week after TCDD-exposure. CGS was prepared by Diaion HP-20 adsorption chromatography. Body weight of G2 was significantly decreased from the 2nd week after TCDD-exposure (p<0.01). Body weights of the CGS-treated groups were also decreased by TCDD-exposure, but the weight loss was greatly retarded compared with that of G2. Increase in blood glucose, amylase, lipase, total cholesterol. triglyceride, AST and LDL-cholisterol levels by TCDD exposure was significantly attenuated by the CGS-treatment (p<0.05). From these results, we found that saponin the main active ingredient of ginseng, played a protective role against TCDD-induced toxicity in not only male but female guinea pigs.