• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.105-116
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• 2021

Objectives Lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (L-HIVD) is common disease in which Western-Korean collaborative treatment is performed in Korea. This study aimed to analyze Western-Korean collaborative treatment utilization of Korean patients with L-HIVD using Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service's Patients Sample Data. Methods This study used the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service-National Patient Sample (HIRA-NPS) in 2018. Claim data of L-HIVD patients were extracted. The claim data were rebuilt with the operational concept of 'episode of care' and divided into Korean medicine episode group (KM), Western medicine episode group (WM) and collaborative treatment episode group (CT). General characteristics, medical expenses and healthcare utilization were analyzed. In addition, the difference of average visit day and average medical expenses between non-collaborative group (KM plus WM) and CT were analyzed by the propensity score matching method. Results A Total of 64,333 patients and 365,745 claims were extracted. The number of episodes of WM, KM and CT was 69,383 (92.97%), 3,903 (5.23%), and 1,341 (1.80%) respectively. The frequency of collaborative treatment episode was higher in women and the age of 50s. The most frequently described treatment in CT was acupuncture therapy. As a result of the propensity score matching, the number of visit days and medical expenses in the collaborative treatment group was higher than in the non-collaborative group. Conclusions The analysis of healthcare utilization of Korean-Western collaborative treatment may be used as basic data for establishing medical policies and systematic collaborative treatment model in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.100-107
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• 2005

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.291-302
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• 2012

Purpose: It is to survey old men's utilization status of dental clinic and temporary-binding dentures and then to provide basic data to make a program for manufacturing old men's dentures and their teeth health education. Methods: Random selection was made on old men living in Daejeon and Chungnam, and a survey was conducted from April 15 to May 20, 2011. 500 questionnaires were distributed and 420 questionnaires were collected. Using spss 18.0 program, final analysis was made on 363 questionnaires except for 57 questionnaires which had missing value or showed some doubts about the unreliability. Results: 1. With respect to number of natural teeth as per the age, the upper/lower jaws had meaningful differences (P<.001), which means that the older the person is, the smaller number of natural teeth is. In the meantime, there was no meaningful difference according to sex. 2. With respect to kind of prosthetics installed in a mouth as per the age, there was meaningful difference in the upper jaws (P<.05) but there was no meaningful difference in the lower jaws. It was found out that the older the persons are, the more they use removable dentures while the younger the persons are, the more they use fixed partial dentures. 3. With respect to mouth health condition recognized by oneself, it showed bad (44.4%) and good (10.3%),which means recognition as bad is greater, and the age when prosthetics were first used is dispersed variously from below 40 to over 70. 4. Dental care institutions which they mainly used are hospital and clinics (91.5%), and 66.4% of them visited dental clinics lately. Preferential treatment if they go to dentists is as follows in the order of prosthetics (33.9%), gum treatment (24.2%) and pain treatment (14.9%). 5. 68.4% of them revisited dentists after installation of dentures and the reason for revisit is as follows in the order of poorly fitted dentures (35.1%), painful gum 25.9%, regular check-up 25.4% and difficult chewing 9.6%. Conclusion: As our country enters into an aging society, mouth health problem of old men has come to a serious issue, and therefore, a survey was conducted on some old men with respect to their utilization status of dental clinic and removable dentures in order to provide basic data for improvement of quality of their life, maintenance and enhancement of their mouth health. The study result shows that the older they are, the higher the loss rate of teeth as well as needs for prosthetics are, and thus it is thought the study will help to develop mouth health education program which may improve quality of old men's life by recovery of mouth functions declined due to loss of teeth and by regular check-up, education for mouth health control and following-up control of dentures.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.112-112
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• 2019

Baicalein is one of the main flavonoids derived from roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, a traditional Oriental medicine. Although baicalein has high antitumor effect on several human carcinomas, the mechanism responsible for this property is not unclear. In this study, the data revealed that baicale-ininduced growth inhibition was associated with the induction of apoptosis connecting with cytochrome c release, down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-xl and increased the percentage of cells with a loss of mitochondria membrane permeabilization. Baicalein also induced the proteolytic activation of caspases and cleavage of PARP; however, blockage of caspases activation by z-VAD-fmk inhibited baicalein-induced apoptosis. In addition, baicalein enhanced the formation of autophagosomes and up-regulated LC3-II/LC3-I ratio. Interestingly, the pretreatment of bafilomycin A1 recovered baicalein-induced cell death suggesting that autophagy by baicalein roles as protective autophagy. Taken together, our results indicated that this flavonoid induces apoptosis and cell protective autophagy. These data means combination treatment with baicalein and autophagy inhibitor might be a promising anticancer drug.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.60 no.7
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• pp.18.1-18.12
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• 2018

Background: Xanthosine treatment has been previously reported to increase mammary stem cell population and milk production in cattle and goats. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms associated with the increase in stem cell population and milk production remain unclear. Methods: Primiparous Beetal goats were assigned to the study. Five days post-partum, one mammary gland of each goat was infused with xanthosine (TRT) twice daily ($2{\times}$) for 3 days consecutively, and the other gland served as a control (CON). Milk samples from the TRT and CON glands were collected on the 10th day after the last xanthosine infusion and the total RNA was isolated from milk fat globules (MEGs). Total RNA in MFGs was mainly derived from the milk epithelial cells (MECs) as evidenced by expression of milk synthesis genes. Significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) terms using PANTHER and gene networks were generated using STRING db. Results: Preliminary analysis indicated that each individual goat responded to xanthosine treatment differently, with this trend being correlated with specific DEGs within the same animal's mammary gland. Several pathways are impacted by these DEGs, including cell communication, cell proliferation and anti-microbials. Conclusions: This study provides valuable insights into transcriptomic changes in milk producing epithelial cells in response to xanthosine treatment. Further characterization of DEGs identified in this study is likely to delineate the molecular mechanisms of increased milk production and stem or progenitor cell population by the xanthosine treatment.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.558-564
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• 2010

Cleaning up the landfill soil by phytoremediation in association with biomass production and utilization of biosolid as a soil amendment will be an attractive green technology. In order to examine this integrated green technology, in the current study of pot trial, heavy metal removal rate and biomass production were determined following cultivation of three different plant species in the landfill soil incorporated with biosolid at two different levels (25 ton $ha^{-1}$ and 50 ton $ha^{-1}$). Among the three plant species including Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), giant sunflower (Helianthus giganteus. L), and giant cane (Arundo donax. L), sunflower appeared to produce the largest biomass yield (19.2 ton $ha^{-1}$) and the produced amounts were magnificently increased with biosolid treatment compared to the control (no biosoild treatment). The increased production associated with biosolid treatment was common for other plant species and this was attributed to the biosolid originated nutrients as well as the improved soil physical properties due to the organic matter from biosolid. The elevated heavy metals in soil which was originated from the incorporated biosolid were Cu and Zn. Based on the phytoavailable amount of heavy metals from biosolid, the removed amount by plant shoots were 95% and 165% for Cu and Zn, respectively, when sunflower was grown. This indicated that mitigation of heavy metal accumulation in soils achieved by the removal of metal through sunflower cultivation enables the successive treatment of biosolid to soils. Moreover, sunflower showed heavy metal stabilization ability in the rhizosphere resulting in alleviation of metal release to ground water.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 2018

Purpose: This study utilized a strong quasi-experimental design to test the hypothesis that the implementation of a policy to expand dental care services resulted in an increase in the usage of dental outpatient services. Methods: A total of 45,650,000 subjects with diagnoses of gingivitis or advanced periodontitis who received dental scaling were selected and examined, utilizing National Health Insurance claims data from July 2010 through November 2015. We performed a segmented regression analysis of the interrupted time-series to analyze the time-series trend in dental costs before and after the policy implementation, and assessed immediate changes in dental costs. Results: After the policy change was implemented, a statistically significant 18% increase occurred in the observed total dental cost per patient, after adjustment for age, sex, and residence area. In addition, the dental costs of outpatient gingivitis treatment increased immediately by almost 47%, compared with a 15% increase in treatment costs for advanced periodontitis outpatients. This policy effect appears to be sustainable. Conclusions: The introduction of the new policy positively impacted the immediate and long-term outpatient utilization of dental scaling treatment in South Korea. While the policy was intended to entice patients to prevent periodontal disease, thus benefiting the insurance system, our results showed that the policy also increased treatment accessibility for potential periodontal disease patients and may improve long-term periodontal health in the South Korean population.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.440-449
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• 2023

Background: This study aimed to analyze the prehospital process and reperfusion therapy process of acute ischemic stroke in Busan metropolitan area and examine the impact of living arrangement on the early management and functional outcomes of acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Methods: The patients who diagnosed with AIS and received reperfusion therapy at the Busan Regional Cardiovascular Center between September 2020 and May 2023 were selected. We investigated the patients' hospital arrival time (onset to door time) and utilization of 119 emergency ambulance services. Additionally, various time matrices related to reperfusion therapy after hospital were examined, along with the functional outcome at the 90-day after treatment. Results: Among the 753 AIS patients who underwent reperfusion therapy, 166 individuals (22.1%) were living alone. AIS patients living alone experienced significant delays in symptom detection (p<0.05) and hospital arrival compared to AIS patients with cohabitants (370.1 minutes vs. 210.2 minutes, p<0.001). There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of 119 ambulance utilization and time metrics related with the reperfusion therapy. Independent predictors of prognosis in AIS patients were found to be age above 70, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at admission, tissue plasminogen activator, living alone (odds ratio [OR], 1.785; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.155-2.760) and interhospital transfer (OR, 1.898; 95% CI, 1.152-3.127). Delay in identification of AIS was shown significant correlation (OR, 2.440; 95% CI, 1.070-5.561) at living alone patients. Conclusion: This study revealed that AIS patients living alone in the Busan metropolitan region, requiring endovascular treatment, face challenges in the pre-hospital phase, which significantly impact their prognosis.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.357-361
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• 2001

The possibility of producing Cr$_2$O$_3$powder from waste magnesia-chromium refractory was investigated by sulfuric acid reaction, alkali fusion, water leaching & purification and heat treatment. The effects of temperature, the amount of NaOH added and the flow rate of air on chromium extraction efficiency in an alkali fusion step were investigated. The fusion product was leached with methanol to solve free-NaOH, and then leached with water to produce a Na$_2$CrO$_4$solution. The purity of chrome(Ⅵ) oxides, prepared both from monochromate with an impurity content and monochromate purified with $CO_2$were also examined. The purified monochromate solution was reduced from Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(III) with NaHSO$_3$solution. The reduced solution was neutralized with NaOH to produce Cr(OH)$_3$. Water washing was treated to eliminate Na$_2$SO$_4$from neutralized Cr(OH)$_3$slurry. The washed Cr(OH)$_3$was dried and thermally treated to produce Cr$_2$O$_3$powder. The properties like lightness and hue of Cr$_2$O$_3$fabricated in this study were L=47.47, a=-14.40 and b=17.21.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.1083-1091
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• 2013

Internet addiction is a social problem occurring by overuse of internet. And internet addiction is associated with pathologic personality but clinic study about Internet addiction disorder is lack. This study was designed to evaluate the relationship between internet addiction and pattern of internet utilization. We conducted a questionnaire survey on 1,984 middle school students in Gwang -Ju. We questioned about internet addiction, general characteristics, pattern of internet utilization. 11.8% of total number were internet addiction. Sex, religion, duration, time, place, obscene sites, most frequent using service is associated with internet addiction. Family number, occupation of parents, using internet in home, use of parents isn't associated with internet addiction. We show interest in general characteristics and pattern of internet utilization about internet addiction. So we council youths about internet problem in accordance with this study results. Then internet addiction and other psychologic problem are decreased.