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Terms modified by Korean Selected AbstractsAN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE RIDE COMFORT OF THE KOREAN HIGH-SPEED TRAINEXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES, Issue 6 2009Y.-G. Kim First page of article [source] Multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism analysis of 36 mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms for haplogrouping of East Asian populationsELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 1 2005Kazuo Umetsu Abstract We present a reliable, rapid, and economical multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism (APLP) method for analyzing the haplogroup-diagnostic mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) in East Asian populations. By examining only 36 haplogroup-specific mtSNPs in the coding region by using four 9-multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent electrophoresis, we could safely assign 1815 individuals from 8 populations of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Germans to 45 relevant haplogroups. This multiplex APLP analysis of coding-region mtSNPs for haplogrouping is especially useful not only for molecular phylogenetic studies but also for large-scale association studies due to its rapid and economical nature. This is the first panel of mtSNPs in the coding region to be used for haplogrouping of East Asian populations. [source] Frequency of cytochrome P450 2C9 allelic variants in the Chinese and French populationsFUNDAMENTAL & CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 3 2003Jue Quin Yang Abstract Cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) is a polymorphic enzyme responsible for the metabolism of different drugs with low therapeutic index such as oral anticoagulants. CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 are two single nucleotide polymorphic allelic variants. The frequency of these alleles in different ethnic populations is extremely variable. In this study, we compared the frequencies of CYP2C9 allelic variants among 394 Chinese living in Shanghai to 151 French Caucasians living in Paris. The allelic frequencies of CYP2C9 variants of the Chinese and the French subjects were 0.963, 0.001, 0.036 and 0.77, 0.15, 0.08 for CYP2C9*1, CYP2C9*2, CYP2C9*3, respectively. Chinese CYP2C9*3 allelic frequency was twice as lower as the French subjects, but three times higher than Korean (0.036 vs. 0.011). The CYP2C9*2 allele could be detected in only one Chinese subject, whereas it represented the major allelic variant in French Caucasians. The low frequency of the CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 allelic variants in Chinese subjects does not justify their detection in clinical practice, unlike French Caucasians. [source] Difference in subjective well-being between ethnic Korean and Japanese elderly residents in an urban community in JapanGERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 4 2007Jong-Seong Moon Background: The ethnic Korean community in Japan has witnessed the increasing aging of their population structure. The purpose of our study was to clarify the differences in standards of living between elderly ethnic Korean and elderly Japanese populations living in Japan, and to examine whether there is any difference in subjective well-being between the two populations. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey that consisted of items addressing ethnicity, age, gender, literacy, living conditions, mental health, "sense of purpose in life", activities of daily living (ADL), medical history, quality of life (QOL), and receipt of pension benefits and public assistance; the participants were 425 elderly people (ethnic Korean residents in Japan, n = 204; Japanese, n = 221) aged 65 and older living in a community in Osaka City. Findings from the two groups were compared using the Student's t -test and the ,2 test. We also employed multiple linear regression analysis. Results: We found that the ethnic Korean group had less formal education (P < 0.001), lower ADL (P < 0.05) and QOL (P < 0.001), higher illiteracy (P < 0.05) and depression rates (P < 0.001), and a higher prevalence of hypertension, myocardial infarction and diabetes mellitus than the Japanese group. Ethnicity was a significant variable for subjective well-being in simple linear regression analysis. After adjusting for literacy, absence of sense of purpose in life and mental health in multiple regression analysis, ethnicity remained a significant variable. Conclusions: The present findings indicate that ethnic Korean elderly have poor health and social situations compared with the Japanese group, and that there was a difference in subjective well-being between the two ethnic groups. [source] Transnational women's activism in Japan and Korea:the unresolved issue of military sexual slaveryGLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 2 2001Nicola Piper This article is about the transnational links formed between the Korean and Japanese women,s movements in their campaign on behalf of the victims of ,military sexual slavery' during the Second World War. There is a growing literature that examines such networks. Yet, a deeper understanding of the emergence and activities of transnational advocacy networks is needed, particularly in the context of political opportunity structures. Social scientists who have developed the concept of political opportunity structures have, however, not provided a gender-specific analysis of these. Of particular interest is the exploration of the role played by gender in an international human rights discourse as a political opportunity structure for women's groups in Korea and Japan. This article, thus, explores the ways in which the feminist movements in Korea and Japan have made use of transnational legal means in politicizing and popularizing the issue of ,military sexual slavery' at both regional and global scales. [source] Transglutaminase-1 gene mutations in autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis: Summary of mutations (including 23 novel) and modeling of TGase-1,HUMAN MUTATION, Issue 4 2009Matthew L. Herman Abstract Autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis (ARCI) is a heterogeneous group of rare cornification diseases. Germline mutations in TGM1 are the most common cause of ARCI in the United States. TGM1 encodes for the TGase-1 enzyme that functions in the formation of the cornified cell envelope. Structurally defective or attenuated cornified cell envelop have been shown in epidermal scales and appendages of ARCI patients with TGM1 mutations. We review the clinical manifestations as well as the molecular genetics of ARCI. In addition, we characterized 115 TGM1 mutations reported in 234 patients from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds (Caucasion Americans, Norwegians, Swedish, Finnish, German, Swiss, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Hispanics, Iranian, Tunisian, Moroccan, Egyptian, Afghani, Hungarian, African Americans, Korean, Japanese and South African). We report 23 novel mutations: 71 (62%) missense; 20 (17%) nonsense; 9 (8%) deletion; 8 (7%) splice-site, and 7 (6%) insertion. The c.877-2A>G was the most commonly reported TGM1 mutation accounting for 34% (147 of 435) of all TGM1 mutant alleles reported to date. It had been shown that this mutation is common among North American and Norwegian patients due to a founder effect. Thirty-one percent (36 of 115) of all mutations and 41% (29 of 71) of missense mutations occurred in arginine residues in TGase-1. Forty-nine percent (35 of 71) of missense mutations were within CpG dinucleotides, and 74% (26/35) of these mutations were C>T or G>A transitions. We constructed a model of human TGase-1 and showed that all mutated arginines that reside in the two beta-barrel domains and two (R142 and R143) in the beta-sandwich are located at domain interfaces. In conclusion, this study expands the TGM1 mutation spectrum and summarizes the current knowledge of TGM1 mutations. The high frequency of mutated arginine codons in TGM1 may be due to the deamination of 5, methylated CpG dinucleotides. Hum Mutat 0, 1,12, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Recent trends in breast cancer incidence among 6 Asian groups in the Greater Bay Area of Northern California,INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 6 2007Theresa H.M. Keegan Abstract Asians and Pacific Islanders are typically aggregated in United States (US) cancer statistics even though the few studies that have considered subgroups separately have found marked differences in cancer incidence. The objective of this study was to evaluate trends in breast cancer incidence rates separately for US Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, South Asian and Vietnamese women overall and by age at diagnosis, histologic subtype and stage at diagnosis. Age-adjusted incidence rates and annual percent changes (APC) of new, primary breast cancer diagnosed in the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry of Northern California (1990,2002) were calculated using SEER*Stat. In women under 50 years of age, annual incidence rates decreased for Japanese (APC = ,4.1, p = 0.02) and Filipinas (APC = ,1.9, p = 0.11), and increased or fluctuated in other subgroups over the study period. In women 50 years or older, rates of invasive breast cancer increased for most subgroups, except Filipinas (APC = ,1.3, p = 0.32), and in Japanese until 1998,2000. Rates of breast cancer in situ increased in most subgroups from 1990 to 2002, as did rates of lobular breast cancer for Chinese (APC = +7.46, p < 0.01) women. In Japanese women, rates of lobular breast cancer were highest in 1995,1997 and decreased thereafter. Our data support the notion that the prevalence of established risk factors influence breast cancer incidence, as breast cancer rates increased for more recently immigrated groups and decreased among more established groups, and may suggest leads into other avenues of research, such as genetic differences, that may explain differences in incidence rates among Asian subgroups. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Ethnic Stratification and Inter-Generational Differences in Japan: A Comparative Study of Korean and Japanese Status AttainmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF JAPANESE SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003Myungsoo Kim Abstract: There are plenty of stereotypical discourses concerning the Korean minority in Japan that are widely accepted, not because of their plausibility, but because of the lack of basic empirical data. In order to fill this intellectual vacuum, I conducted a social stratification and mobility survey focusing on resident Korean men in 1995, comparable with the Japanese sample. The purpose of this article is exploratory rather than aimed at hypothesis testing, given the extreme paucity of the earlier empirical data for the ana-lysis of Korean minority status attainment. The results show that: 1For the Korean minority in Japan, class resources translate into educational attainment to a much lower extent than for the Japanese. 2Korean status attainment patterns deviate from those of their Japanese counterparts. For the Japanese, the crucial status attainment path is secured through educational attainment, which is not the case among Koreans. 3Despite being denied access to such mainstream status attainment paths, major status indicators for Koreans are not significantly different than those of Japanese, and regarding this equality of outcomes, one of the possible explanations is that Korean ethnic disadvantages in the status attainment process may have been overcome by mobilizing informal bilateral ethnic networks. [source] Immigrant Place Entrepreneurs in Los Angeles, 1970,99INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002Ivan Light Proclamations of the death of Los Angeles' growth machine are premature. These proclamations overlook the growing role of immigrant Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs in regional property development. Since 1970, Korean and Chinese entrepreneurs have seriously restructured Los Angeles' morphology, creating hierarchically arranged residential and business clusters for co,ethnic immigrants. Koreatown and Monterey Park are the brand names most familiar to outsiders, but these prominent localities really coexist with a multiplicity of less well,known ethnic communities that owe their origins to immigrant property developers. The immigrant property developers use the classic methods of the growth machine: buy land cheaply, promote it in Chinese or Korean emigration basins, then sell it to co,ethnic immigrants at a profit. In the process, the immigrant property developers reduce the difficulty of immigration to Los Angeles at the same time that they enhance its perceived desirability. The success of the Chinese and Korean developers highlights the hazard of assuming, as is conventionally done, that ethnic residential clustering arises from leaderless social processes. In both these highlighted cases, entrepreneurial elites created residential clusters of co,ethnics from conscious, long,term plans that required political as well as economic savoir,faire. In so doing, the immigrant property developers joined the Los Angeles growth machine whose fortunes, admittedly, have been waning among the native born population of the region. La mort annoncée de la dynamique de croissance de Los Angeles est prématurée. Ce serait oublier le rôle grandissant des chefs d'entreprise immigrés coréens et chinois dans l'aménagement immobilier régional. Depuis 1970, ces entrepreneurs ont considérablement restructuré la morphologie de Los Angeles, créant des ,agglomérats' commerciaux et résidentiels hiérarchisés pour migrants de m?,me ethnie. Si Koreatown et Monterey Park sont des noms bien connus des étrangers, ces lieux dominants coexistent en réalité avec une multiplicité de communautés ethniques moins renommées qui doivent leurs origines à des promoteurs immigrés. Ces derniers appliquent les mécanismes classiques de la prospérité: acheter le terrain bon marché, le promouvoir dans des bassins d'émigration chinois ou coréens, puis le vendre à profità des immigrants co,ethniques. Ainsi, les promoteurs immigrés facilitent l'immigration vers Los Angeles tout en en accentuant l'aspect attractif. La réussite des aménageurs chinois et coréens souligne le risque qu'il y a à supposer, comme bien souvent, que tout regroupement résidentiel ethnique naît de processus sociaux non dirigés. Dans les deux cas exposés, les élites commerciales ont créé des regroupements résidentiels de m?,me ethnie selon des plans délibérés à long terme, impliquant un savoir,faire à la fois politique et économique. Ce faisant, les promoteurs immigrés ont rejoint la dynamique de croissance de Los Angeles qui, il est vrai, a vu décliner les succès au sein de sa population de souche. [source] Korean Immigration Policy Changes and the Political Liberals' Dilemma1INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2008Nora Hui-Jung Kim Recently, Korean low-skilled foreign labor policies have changed in contradictory ways. On the one hand, Korea seems to be moving in a "liberal" direction, because the government is according more rights to foreign workers. On the other hand, Korea seems to be moving in an "illiberal" direction, because the government is according ethnic Korean workers preferential treatment over other foreign workers. I explain this contradictory situation in terms of political liberals' activism. Korean political liberals' activism vis-à-vis migrant workers is two-pronged: first, to afford more rights to all migrant workers and, second, to guarantee equal treatment to all ethnic Koreans. Taken separately, each move is in line with the political liberal principle of promoting nonascriptive, universalistic, and equal treatment. Taken together, these two moves are inherently contradictory , one pushes toward ethnicizing trends and the other pushes toward de-ethnicizing trends of immigration policies. This contradiction, which I call the political liberals' dilemma, divides political liberals and weakens their overall political leverage. [source] Korean mothers' psychosocial adjustment to their children's cancerJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 5 2003Hae-Ra Han PhD RN Background., During the course of adjustment to their child's illness and medical treatment, parents of children with cancer may experience numerous challenges and difficulties. Although parental adjustment has been a research topic for many years, little research has been conducted among families in different cultures and countries. Aim., To identify factors that influence maternal psychosocial adjustment to childhood cancer using a new cultural group: Korean. Methods., A sample of 200 Korean mothers of children with cancer was included in the study. Guided by the double ABCX model of family adjustment and adaptation, a series of variables (i.e. maternal stress, coping, social support and selected illness-related and demographic questions) were examined for their relationships with maternal psychosocial adjustment to childhood cancer. Results., Using a hierarchical multiple regression, we found perceived level of stress, coping, social support, and time since diagnosis to be significant correlates of maternal psychosocial adjustment. Stress accounted for most (50%) of the total variance explained (56%) in maternal adjustment. Conclusion., The results suggest that the stress-coping framework may be appropriate in explaining maternal responses to childhood cancer across cultures. [source] Isolation and partial characterization of a bacteriocin produced by Pediococcus pentosaceus K23-2 isolated from KimchiJOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2008M.S. Shin Abstract Aims:, Screening and partial characterization of a bacteriocin produced by Pediococcus pentosaceus K23-2 isolated from Kimchi, a traditional Korean fermented vegetable. Methods and Results:, A total of 1000 lactic acid bacteria were isolated from various Kimchi samples and screened for the production of bacteriocin. Pediocin K23-2, a bacteriocin produced by the Pediococcus pentosaceus K23-2 strain, showed strong inhibitory activity against Listeria monocytogenes. The bacteriocin activity remained unchanged after 15 min of heat treatment at 121°C or exposure to organic solvents; however, it diminished after treatment with proteolytic enzymes. The bacteriocin was maximally produced at 37°C, when the pH of the culture broth was maintained at 5·0 during the fermentation, although the optimum pH for growth was 7·0. The molecular weight of the bacteriocin was about 5 kDa according to a tricine SDS-PAGE analysis. Conclusions:,Pediococcus pentosaceus K23-2 isolated from Kimchi produces a bacteriocin, which shares similar characteristics to the Class IIa bacteriocins. The bacteriocin is heat stable and shows wide antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, especially L. monocytogenes. Significance and Impact of the Study:, Pediocin K23-2 and pediocin K23-2-producing P. pentosaceus K23-2 could potentially be used in the food and feed industries as natural biopreservatives, and for probiotic application to humans or livestock. [source] Comparison of genetic polymorphisms of the NAT2 gene between Korean and four other ethnic groupsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACY & THERAPEUTICS, Issue 6 2009T. S. Kang MS Summary Background and objective:,N -acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) is responsible for the acetylation of numerous drugs and in the transformation of aromatic and heterocyclinc amines into carcinogenic intermediates. Polymorphism of NAT2 may contribute to interindividual variability in such acetylation. The aim of this study was to determine the allele frequencies of polymorphisms of the NAT2 gene, analyse linkage disequilibrium (LD) block and haplotypes in Koreans and compare them with those of other ethnic groups. Methods:, We analysed genetic polymorphisms in all functional promoter and exons of the NAT2 gene by direct sequencing of genomic DNA from 192 healthy Korean subjects. The LD and haplotype blocks of these subjects were constructed from genotype data using an expectation,maximization algorithm. We compared these allele frequencies, LD block and haplotype structure with those of other ethnic groups registered on the International HapMap database. Results and discussion:, We identified 33 polymorphisms including six novel single nucleotide polymorphisms, ,10778T>C, ,10777A>G, ,10351A>G, ,10199C>T and ,10104G>T in promoter and 578C>T in exon2 (T193M) in the Korean subjects tested. All allele frequencies reported in the Koreans were similar to those of Asians except for one allele (rs4345600, ,9306A>G), whereas African and European groups had different frequencies in exon2. The haplotype structure and LD block among the five groups also revealed significant differences. Conclusion:, Ethnic differences in the NAT2 genotype frequencies may be one of the important factors explaining variability in cancer incidence and drug toxicity. Our observations could be useful in assessing the susceptibility of different populations to cancer and contribute to better predictions of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs that are metabolized by NAT2, in different populations. [source] Inflammatory bowel disease in the Asia,Pacific area: A comparison with developed countries and regional differencesJOURNAL OF DIGESTIVE DISEASES, Issue 3 2010Vineet AHUJA The Asia,Pacific region has been marked as an area with a low incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), although confusion always existed as to whether this low incidence was a result of low diagnostic awareness, a high incidence of infective diarrhoea and its diagnostic overlap or a true low incidence. As epidemiological studies from this region are being made available it is clear that the incidence and prevalence rates of IBD in Asia,Pacific region are low compared with Europe and North America. They are however, increasing rapidly. There are substantial variations in the incidence and prevalence rates of IBD in various ethnic groups in Asia. The highest incidence rates are recorded from India, Japan and the Middle East and there exists a genetic predisposition of South Asians (Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) to ulcerative colitis (UC). It appears that certain racial groups are more prone than others to develop IBD. For instance, Indians in South-East Asia have higher rates than Chinese and Malays. While there is a host genetic predisposition, environmental factor(s) may be responsible for this difference. The clinical phenotypes and complication rates of Asian IBD resemble those of the Caucasian population in general, but some heterogeneity is observed in different regions of Asia. There is no evidence of a north-south or an east-west divide in the Asia,Pacific region. The available studies suggest an increasing incidence of UC in the Asia,Pacific region and hence it is an appropriate time to launch well-designed epidemiological studies so that etiopathogenetic factors can be identified. There is a male predominance in Crohn's disease in the Asian population. The NOD2/CARD15 gene is not associated with CD in the Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indian population. [source] Changes of Volatile Compounds, Lactic Acid Bacteria, pH, and Headspace Gases in Kimchi, a Traditional Korean Fermented Vegetable ProductJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 3 2003J.H. Kang ABSTRACT Headspace volatiles of Kimchi stored at 5 °C increased over a 7 d period by 20.0% and then decreased from 7 to 27 d by 8.3%. Forty volatile compounds including 18 sulfur compounds were identified in Kimchi. Lactic acid bacteria in Kimchi increased from 3.1 to 4.5 (1 × 108cfu/mL) over a 17-d period and decreased by 40% from 17 to 27 d. As the storage time increased from 2 to 27 d, pH decreased from 4.3 to 3.8, headspace oxygen decreased from 14.3 to 1.3%, and headspace carbon dioxide increased from 27.7 to 45.3%. Enzymatic reactions and chemical oxidations in Kimchi explained the changes of volatile compounds, lactic acid bacteria, pH, headspace oxygen and carbon dioxide. [source] Irradiation Effects on Biogenic Amines in Korean Fermented Soybean Paste During FermentationJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 1 2003J.-H. Kim ABSTRACT: Irradiation effects on biogenic amines (BAs) and microbiological populations of Korean fermented soybean paste were investigated during fermentation. Soybean paste was prepared and irradiated with doses of 5,10, and 15 kGy, and then fermented at 25 °C for 12 wk. Bacillus spp. and lactic-acid bacteria decreased by irradiation but increased during fermentation. Biogenic amines detected were putrescine, cadaverine, ,-phenylethylamine, spermidine, spermine, tryptamine, histamine, tyramine, and agmatine. A significant difference was not observed in BA content between control and irradiated samples immediately after gamma irradiation. However, 4 kinds of BAs, putrescine, tryptamine, spermidine, and histamine, showed significant reduction by irradiation during fermentation (P < 0.05). [source] Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis A virus in Korea,JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY AND HEPATOLOGY, Issue 5 2001Kwan Soo Byun Abstract Background: The prevalence of antibodies for hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV) in adolescents and young adults has decreased remarkably following the economic growth in Korea. As a result, this age group has a high risk for HAV infection paradoxically, and over 1500 cases of clinically overt hepatitis A occurred in 1998. Human isolates of hepatitis A virus (HAV) are categorized within four genotypes (I, II, III, and VII). In some geographic regions, closely related isolates cluster, suggesting endemic spread of the virus, while in other regions multiple genotypes circulate. Virtually no data are available with regard to the genetic relatedness of Korean strains of HAV. Methods and Results: A 168 base pair segment encompassing the putative VP1/2A junction of the HAV genome was amplified by RT-PCR and sequenced in sera of 18 Korean patients with a sporadic form of acute hepatitis A. Pairwise comparisons of the nucleic acid and amino acid sequences of 18 Korean isolates with one another revealed that the Korean isolates showed > 94.6% and > 96.4% identity, respectively. All of the 18 Korean isolates clustered within genotype IA, irrespective of the geographic locations and the time that hepatitis occurred. Unique amino acid sequence changes that had never been reported in genotype IA were found in nine of the 18 isolates. These changes were Gln,Ser and Lys,Arg in 2A-19 and 2A-10 amino acid positions. Conclusion: The presence of single genotype and unique mutations may be related with the circulation of endemic HAV over a long period of time in Korea. [source] Bankruptcy Prediction: Evidence from Korean Listed Companies during the IMF CrisisJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING, Issue 3 2000Joo-Ha Nam This paper empirically studies the predictive model of business failure using the sample of listed companies that went bankrupt during the period from 1997 to 1998 when deep recession driven by the IMF crisis started in Korea. Logit maximum likelihood estimator is employed as the statistical technique. The model demonstrated decent prediction accuracy and robustness. The type I accuracy is 80.4 per cent and the Type II accuracy is 73.9 per cent. The accuracy remains almost at the same level when the model is applied to an independent holdout sample. In addition to building a bankruptcy prediction model this paper finds that most of firms that went bankrupt during the Korean economic crisis from 1997 to 1998 had shown signs of financial distress long before the crisis. Bankruptcy probabilities of the sample are consistently high during the period from 1991 to 1996. The evidence of this paper can be seen as complementary to the perspective that traces Asian economic crisis to the vulnerabilities of corporate governance of Asian countries. [source] Relationship Lending, Accounting Disclosure, and Credit Availability during the Asian Financial CrisisJOURNAL OF MONEY, CREDIT AND BANKING, Issue 1 2008WENYING JIANGLI relationship lending; accounting disclosure We examine whether lending relationships benefit firms by making credit more available during periods of financial stress. Our main finding is that during the Asian financial crisis of July 1997 through the end of 1998, relationship lending increased the likelihood that Korean and Thai firms would obtain credit but it had no effect on Indonesian and Philippine firms. We ask if accounting disclosure might explain the observed differences among the three countries for which audit information is available. We find that for Indonesian firms with weak lending relationships, banks replace relationship lending technology with a financial-statement lending technology. Such a result does not hold for Korean and Philippine firms. [source] Comparison of dentine hypersensitivity in selected occidental and oriental populationsJOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 1 2001D. G. Gillam Epidemiological data on dentine hypersensitivity (DH) prevalence are limited. Few studies have compared prevalence between populations. The aim of this investigation, therefore, was to compare the perception and prevalence of DH in two distinct non-periodontal practice populations, one U.K. and one Korean. Completed questionnaires from 557 patients (230 males and 327 females, comprising 115 males and 162 females, mean age 41·7 years (s.d.=14·36), U.K. and 115 males and 165 females, mean age 29·7 years (s.d.=11·86), Korean) were collected. Analysis was by frequency distribution and cross-tabulation (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)). DH prevalence was similar and at levels comparable with those reported previously. Prevalence was higher in the third and fourth decades in both populations. Although there were no differences between U.K. or Korean males and U.K. or Korean females, there was a significant difference between gender reporting of DH, with more females complaining of DH than males (standard normal deviation (SND)=4·3, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0·1134,0·2736). DH appeared to be regarded by patients as not severe in most cases, so treatment was not generally sought. Of those who claimed to have sought treatment, a significant number had received restorative treatment. Of those patients, only 23·3% of U.K. and ,2% of Korean patients claimed to have used a desensitizing dentifrice. Pain from DH was reported as low grade (slight, occasional) occurring over 5 years in both populations. Cold appeared to be the most reported stimulus in the two populations. Less periodontal surgery had been undertaken in these two populations (12·6% U.K. and 7·1% Korean) compared with those referred to a teaching hospital periodontal department (34·5%). This compared favourably with previous findings in the general dental population (15·5%). Discomfort following hygiene therapy did not appear to last ,7 days in either population. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between U.K.- and Korean-based populations in their perception of DH, with the exception that more females complained of sensitivity than males in both groups. Overall, DH was not considered a major dental problem by most patients in either of the populations. [source] Characterization of the Coat Protein Gene of Cymbidium mosaic virus Isolates from IndiaJOURNAL OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 5 2006A. R. Sherpa Abstract The variability in the coat protein (CP) gene sequence of Cymbidium mosaic virus (CymMV) that naturally infects orchids worldwide was investigated. Samples were collected from different regions of India, and the gene encoding the CP of nine isolates was specifically amplified by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The amplified product obtained was cloned, sequenced and multiple sequence alignment of deduced amino acid (aa) sequences revealed considerable homology to CymMV isolates from other countries. The nucleotide sequences and the amino acid sequences were found to be 85,100% identical and 65,100% respectively. Such high sequence conservation suggests that the CymMV CP gene is highly conserved and is a suitable candidate for the development of diagnostic procedures and to provide transgenic resistance to orchids cultivated in different geographical locations. Although recombination is not common among CymMV isolates, one isolate from Cymbidium was found to be a recombinant between a Korean and a Thai isolate of the virus. IHBT communication no: 0451. [source] Acupuncture for Alcohol Dependence: A Systematic ReviewALCOHOLISM, Issue 8 2009Seung-Hun Cho Background:, Acupuncture has been used in the treatment of substance-related disorders for the past 30 years. However, a systematic review to assess the effect of various types of acupuncture for alcohol dependence has not yet been performed. The present systematic review assessed the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods:, Nineteen electronic databases, including English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese databases, were systematically searched for RCTs of acupuncture for alcohol dependence up to June 2008 with no language restrictions. The methodological qualities of eligible studies were assessed using the criteria described in the Cochrane Handbook. Results:, Eleven studies, which comprised a total of 1,110 individual cases, were systematically reviewed. Only 2 of 11 trials reported satisfactorily all quality criteria. Four trials comparing acupuncture treatment and sham treatments reported data for alcohol craving. Three studies reported that there were no significant differences. Among 4 trials comparing acupuncture and no acupuncture with conventional therapies, 3 reported significant reductions. No differences between acupuncture and sham treatments were found for completion rates (Risk Ratio = 1.07, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.91 to 1.25) or acupuncture and no acupuncture (Risk Ratio = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.79 to 1.67). Only 3 RCTs reported acupuncture-related adverse events, which were mostly minimal. Conclusions:, The results of the included studies were equivocal, and the poor methodological quality and the limited number of the trials do not allow any conclusion about the efficacy of acupuncture for treatment of alcohol dependence. More research and well-designed, rigorous, and large clinical trials are necessary to address these issues. [source] Korean 4- to 11-year-old student conceptions of heat and temperatureJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 2 2007Seoung-Hey Paik The aim of the present study is to shed light on the conceptions that young students have of heat and temperature, concepts that are both important in school science curricula and closely related to daily life. The subjects of the study were students from a rural district in South Korea and they ranged in age from 4 to 11 years. Interviews were conducted with each student on the basis of questions on temperature, thermal insulation, and heat equilibrium. After calculating the frequency and percentage of student responses and analyzing the rationale for their answers, it was found that younger students tended to view temperature as "size" or a "summation of numbers." This tendency gradually diminished in older students. Most students had alternative conceptions of thermal insulation regardless of age; however, reasoning differed according to age. Younger students displayed a greater tendency to view insulation as a material property, whereas older students showed a greater tendency toward rational heat and temperature conceptions. Most students did not have clear concepts of heat equilibrium regardless of age, but possessed numerous alternative conceptions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 284,302, 2007 [source] Identifying units in interaction: Reactive tokens in Korean and English conversationsJOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 3 2004Richard F. Young Reactive tokens are conversational resources by which a listener co-constructs a speaker's turn at talk. The resources that are available include the forms of the reactive tokens themselves, their duration, and their placement by the listener in the current speaker's turn. The present paper is a contrastive study of the use of these resources by Americans in English, and by Koreans in their native language and in English, and in it we show the ecological relationship between the resources that a language provides and their use in constructing active listenership. Although previous research on English has found listeners use reactive tokens to pass up the opportunity for a full turn at talk, we show that, in Korean, reactive tokens are often elicited by the current speaker and the listener is obligated to provide them. We present evidence that Korean bilinguals transfer some conversational resources from their native language when they take part in conversation in English. [source] Negotiating conflict within the constraints of social hierarchies in Korean American discourseJOURNAL OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS, Issue 3 2003M. Agnes Kang This paper provides an interactional account of conflict negotiation strategies in Korean American discourse. With specific attention to the sociolinguistic phenomenon of codeswitching among Korean Americans, I argue that speaking Korean at particular moments evokes ideologies of social hierarchy that serve to mitigate potential conflicts. The Korean social ideology of relative status has a major influence on how bilingual Korean Americans interact with one another, regardless of whether they are using Korean or English. The use of codeswitching, among other mitigating strategies in discourse, serves to instantiate these hierarchical relationships and introduces particular social norms that guide the observable actions used in navigating meaning and social relations. The data analyzed here show how the evocation of Korean social ideologies may serve as an identifiable characteristic of Korean American discourse. [source] HBV core sequence: definition of genotype-specific variability and correlation with geographical originJOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS, Issue 6 2004M. Jazayeri Summary., There are eight genotypes and nine subtypes of HBV. Small differences in geographical origin are associated with sequence changes in the surface gene. Here, we compared core gene sequences from different genotypes and geographical regions. Specific combinations of 24 amino acid substitutions at nine residues allowed allocation of a sequence to a subtype. Six of these nine residues were located in different T cell epitopes depending on HBV geographical area and/or genotype. Thirty-seven nucleotide changes were associated uniquely with specific genotypes and subtypes. Unique amino acid and nucleotide variants were found in a majority of sequences from specific countries as well as within subtype ayw2 and adr. Specific nucleotide motifs were defined for Korean, Indian, Chinese, Italian and Pacific region isolates. Finally, we observed amino acid motifs that were common to either South-east Asian or Western populations, irrespective of subtype. We believe that HBV strains spread within constrained ethnic groups, result in selection pressures that define sequence variability within each subtype. It suggests that particular T cell epitopes are specific for geographical regions, and thus ethnic groups; this may affect the design of immunomodulatory therapies. [source] Is the Acquisition Order of Grammatical Morphemes Impervious to L1 Knowledge?LANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 4 2009Articles, Evidence From the Acquisition of Plural - s, Possessive 's In SLA, it has been often assumed that the effect of the first language (L1) is not very strong in the acquisition of grammatical morphemes (e.g., Ellis, 1994; Mitchell & Myles, 2004). However, such an assumption has not been systematically examined in the literature. This article reviews the morpheme studies conducted with native speakers of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Spanish to test the effect of the L1 in the acquisition of grammatical morphemes. The review reveals that although Spanish L1 learners' acquisition order generally conforms to the "so-called" natural order (Krashen, 1977), native speakers of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese mostly acquire plural ,s,and articles later than, and possessive,'s,earlier than, is predicted by the natural order. This indicates that learners can acquire a grammatical morpheme later or earlier than predicted by the natural order, depending on the presence or absence of the equivalent category in their L1. This suggests that L1 transfer is much stronger than is portrayed in many SLA textbooks and that the role of L1 in morpheme acquisition must be reconsidered. [source] Influence of First Language Orthographic Experience on Second Language Decoding and Word LearningLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 1 2008Megumi Hamada This study examined the influence of first language (L1) orthographic experiences on decoding and semantic information retention of new words in a second language (L2). Hypotheses were that congruity in L1 and L2 orthographic experiences determines L2 decoding efficiency, which, in turn, affects semantic information encoding and retention. College-level English L2 learners with typologically similar (Korean) and dissimilar (Chinese) L1 backgrounds were participants. Their decoding efficiency was measured by a pseudoword naming task with phonologically regular and irregular conditions. They learned the meaning of the pseudowords paired with pictures. Subsequent recall tasks showed that the Korean group had better overall retention but greater impairment with the irregular pseudowords. These findings suggest that L1 orthographic distance influences L2 word learning processes. [source] Language in the Balance: Lexical Repetition as a Function of Topic, Cultural Background, and Writing DevelopmentLANGUAGE LEARNING, Issue 3 2001Dudley W. Reynolds Writers' use of lexical repetition changes in relation to writing topic, cultural background, and development of writing ability. As the principal means of explicitly marking cohesion in a text, lexical repetition offers insight into how texts are structured and the balance of old and new information. Nonnative writers (134) from four cultural backgrounds (Arab, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish) and NS high school students (57) wrote a timed assessment essay on either a descriptive or a persuasive topic. Multiple regression analysis indicates that writing ability measures are the most important variables for predicting changes in repetition usage, with less significant effects found for topic and cultural background. Discussion focuses on how characteristics of learner texts change in relation to different combinations of the independent variables. [source] The Contribution of Collaborative and Individual Tasks to the Acquisition of L2 VocabularyMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008YOUJIN KIM Over the past 2 decades, research has demonstrated that learner collaboration facilitates second language (L2) acquisition (Lapkin, Swain, & Smith, 2002; McDonough, 2004; Storch, 1998, 2004; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Adopting a sociocultural perspective (e.g., Swain & Lapkin, 1998), the current study compared the effectiveness of collaborative and individual tasks on the acquisition of L2 vocabulary by Korean as a second language (KSL) learners (N= 32). The learners completed a pretest, a dictogloss task, and two posttests over a 3-week period. Half the learners carried out the dictogloss in pairs, but the other half worked individually while thinking aloud. The collaborative dialogue and think-aloud protocols were transcribed, and language-related episodes (LREs) were identified. The results indicated that although the learners who participated in the collaborative task had a similar number of LREs as the learners who worked individually, they performed significantly better on the vocabulary tests. The pedagogical implications for the use of collaborative tasks to promote the acquisition of L2 vocabulary are discussed. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||