NH Nonghyup Bank announced on the 17th that it visited a pepper farm located in Ansan-si which complained of a shortage of workers during the busy farming season vice president of the management support division and executives and employees attended the rural work helping Vice President Hwang and executives and employees carried out various tasks to prepare for the growing season of pepper fields "I hope it will help farmers who are suffering from a shortage of workers during the farming season We will continue to do our best to listen to the hardships of farmers and promote various support projects." ※ This service is provided by machine translation tool - Visited Kakao Data Center Ansan on the morning of December 24 to review operational status and cheer on employees - KakaoTalk’s average daily traffic is approximately 10 billion messages with New Year’s traffic reaching three times the usual volume; emphasis on the need for a comprehensive response system  - Implemented various measures to enhance service stability including strengthened monitoring systems and redundancy 2024) Kakao announced that CEO Shina Chung visited Kakao Data Center Ansan on the morning of December 24 to ensure the stable delivery of its services The visit was conducted to inspect the infrastructure and service stability of various Kakao platforms ahead of the year-end and New Year’s holidays when traffic surges on KakaoTalk are expected due to Christmas and New Year’s greetings KakaoTalk handles an average of 45,000 messages per second During the transition from December 31 to January 1 traffic spikes to more than three times the usual volume After receiving a briefing on the data center’s operational status and stability measures “The data center is the heart of Kakao’s services Your efforts enable users to share important moments through KakaoTalk Please continue to connect the people’s daily lives with a sense of mission and responsibility.”  Kakao has consistently worked to ensure that users’ critical moments of connection remain uninterrupted by leveraging its expertise in handling peak traffic the company plans to ensure service stability during the holiday season by maintaining systems such as server expansions Kakao has also implemented a comprehensive framework to enhance stability located on the ERICA campus of Hanyang University in Ansan-si is a hyperscale facility spanning 47,378 m2 with 4,000 server racks with a capacity for over 100,000 servers The center was completed in September last year to bolster infrastructure reliability and began operations in January this year Company also planning AI data center in future South Korean Internet company Kakao launched a new data center outside Seoul The company this week officially launched the new facility in Ansan It will host most of the company’s services The company's first in-house data center is capable of housing 120,000 servers and is located on Hanyang University's Erica campus around 30km south of Seoul spanning 47,378 sqm (~510,000 sq ft) of data center space “A data center is a core asset for Kakao, crucial for the stable operation of the company's numerous services that are pervasive in people's daily lives,” CEO Chung Shin-a told press during a tour of the facility “We have worked to create the safest data center in South Korea with a strong sense of responsibility.” The data center partially opened in 2021, but the company officially finished construction in September last year and aimed for a Q1 2024 launch date Kakao first announced plans for the data center in 2020 stating at the time that it would be investing around 400 billion won ($336.6m) into building the facility The motivation for developing an in-house data center was to provide the company with a "stable foundation" for research and development into technology including big data and artificial intelligence as well as to launch its corporate cloud service The new data center reportedly features a four-step fire extinguishing system designed to automatically put out fires originating from batteries and prevent flames from spreading to other batteries CEO Chung said Kakao is also pushing to build its second independent data center with more focus on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in coming years Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia A police officer who was dispatched after receiving a report of drunk driving was charged with injury by bending the arm of a colleague said on the 15th that it is investigating Officer A of Sangnok Police Station in Ansan on charges of professional negligence Lieutenant A is suspected of injuring Officer B of the same police station by breaking the arm at 1:20 am on the road in Sangnok-gu they were dispatched after receiving a report of a vehicle suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and were in a situation to prevent the suspect from fleeing at the scene and the suspect resisted the moment Officer B tried to fill the other wrist but reportedly broke the arm of Sergeant B Sergeant B filed a complaint with the police in December last year claiming that he suffered injuries such as a fractured elbow in the accident and was suffering from aftereffects Officer A stated in a police investigation that "he mistakenly twisted Officer B's arm because he mistook it for the suspect's arm." It was found that Inspector A and Sergeant B worked at the same police station and they did not have much friendship and did not have a grudge relationship The police called in two people to investigate each and as soon as the internal legal review is completed they plan to conclude the investigation by determining whether the charges will be applied "We have requested the investigation review department of the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency to review the law," adding "We are investigating as quickly as possible in accordance with due process." Metrics details We aimed to investigate the effect of chronic particulate matter (PM) exposure on bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in a rat model using chest CT A bleomycin solution was intratracheally administrated to 20 male rats after four weeks of bleomycin treatment to induce lung fibrosis PM suspension (experimental group) or normal saline (control group) was intratracheally administrated for 10 weeks and then both lungs were extracted for histopathologic evaluation One lobe from three rats in each group underwent RNA sequencing and one lobe from five rats in each group was evaluated by western blotting Inflammation and fibrosis scores in both chest CT and pathologic analysis were significantly more aggravated in rats with chronic PM exposure than in the control group Several genes associated with inflammation and immunity were also upregulated with chronic PM exposure Our study revealed that chronic PM exposure in a bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis rat model aggravated pulmonary fibrosis and inflammation which highlight the molecular mechanism of PM’s induction of respiratory diseases high concentrations of PM in a particular season or year-round have persisted in several countries over several years for various reasons this phenomenon caused by air pollution is not expected to be easily improved so the effect of chronic exposure to PM on a diseased lung is an important research topic requiring evaluation CT findings of lung inflammation and fibrosis due to PHMG were well correlated with pathological findings proving the usefulness of chest CT in the evaluation of lung lesions in a rat model there have been few papers verifying the pulmonary effects of PM using chest CT in both experimental animals and humans It is important to clarify the global gene expression profiles in the lungs of PM-exposed rats using RNA-sequencing to better understand the harmful effects of PM on bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis Our study aimed to investigate the effects of chronic PM exposure on a bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis rat model using chest CT Among the 20 rats included in this experiment CT images of 17 rats had unimpaired detectability with high diagnosis confidence whereas one rat in the experimental group and two rats in the control group had mild but insignificant detectability impairment There was no significant difference in the image quality score in both groups (4.90 ± 0.32 vs Examples of inflammation and fibrosis in chest CT imaging and correlated histologic findings (A) Consolidation is shown in the left lower region (white arrows) This consolidation in the differently reformatted CT image of the same rat and same lung region (yellow asterisk) is correlated with the histology section (blue asterisk Histologic finding shows widening of interalveolar spaces with congestion Several foci of lymphoid aggregates are also seen (box (B) Ground glass opacities (GGO) are shown in both lungs (white arrows) This GGO in a differently reformatted CT image of the same rat (yellow asterisk) is correlated with the histology section (blue asterisk The histologic finding shows mild thickening of the alveolar septa with some histiocytes in the alveoli (in box (C) Centrilobular nodules are shown in both lungs (white arrows) Centrilobular nodules in differently reformatted CT image of the same rat (yellow asterisks) are correlated with the histology section (blue asterisks The histologic finding shows peribronchiolar inflammatory cell infiltration with thickening of the alveolar septa Foamy histiocytes and pigmented macrophages are also seen in the alveoli (box (D) Bronchiectasis is in the right superior lobe (white arrows) Bronchiectasis in a differently reformatted CT image of the same rat in the right inferior lobe (yellow asterisks) is correlated with the histology section (blue asterisks The histologic finding shows cystic dilatation of bronchus with mucus secretion in the bronchus (box and (E) Multifocal linear densities in both lungs (white arrows) Multifocal linear densities in a differently reformatted CT image of the same rat in the left lower region (yellow asterisks) are correlated with the histology section (red asterisks The histologic finding shows a confluent fibrotic band with obliteration of the alveoli (box and bronchiectasis/linear densities score were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (all P < 0.05) Table 2 shows the comparison for inflammation and fibrosis in chest CT between the experimental and control groups The total CT score was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (21.10 ± 6.49 vs CT scores were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group in all lobes (all P < 0.001) CT inflammation score and CT fibrosis score were also significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (CT inflammation score: 3.60 ± 0.84 vs P < 0.001; CT fibrosis score: 3.80 ± 0.42 vs Changes in inflammation and fibrosis between the experimental and control groups (A) Inflammation of the experimental group (X200 (B) inflammation of the control group (X200 (C) fibrosis of the experimental group (X100 The specific pathologic findings of the experimental group Analysis of particulate matter regulated gene expression in rat lung tissue Heatmap of particulate matter in 56 regulated genes (> 2 or < -2 folds P < 0.05) based on gene clustering of QuantSeq 3’ mRNA-Seq results The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were significantly enriched in the 30 GO biologic processes (P < 0.05) (Fig. 5). Many genes that respond to the leukocyte chemotaxis/migration and calcium ion/inorganic cation/chemical/metal ion homeostasis were prominently reported in most of the GO pathway analyses. Gene ontology (GO) pathway analysis of differentially expressed genes in the control group versus the experimental group The present study showed that chronic PM exposure aggravated pulmonary fibrosis and inflammation underlying bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis Inflammation and fibrosis scores in both chest CT and pathologic analysis were significantly more aggravated in a bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis rat model with chronic PM exposure than without PM exposure several genes associated with inflammation and immunity were upregulated in a bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis rat model with chronic PM exposure All of these experiments involved simultaneously administrated PM and bleomycin and only demonstrated the short-term exposure effect of PM 50% of the control group did not show bronchiectasis and linear densities suggesting lung fibrosis in CT analysis whereas 100% of the experimental group showed bronchiectasis and linear densities the pathologic fibrosis score of the experimental group was significantly higher than the pathologic fibrosis score of the control group it is presumed that chronic exposure to PM interferes with the recovery of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis and causes persistent inflammation and fibrosis exacerbation Unlike bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis in the murine model which may show recovery chronic exposure to PM may be more lethal in patients with lung fibrosis CT outcomes in a rat lung model with bleomycin plus PM could be used to analyze human chest CT findings There were several limitations in this study RNA sequencing was performed for only three rats because the primary goal of this study was to show the effect of chronic PM exposure in bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis using chest CT and pathologic analysis most of the tissue could not be utilized for RNA sequencing saline buffer with extracted PM was filtered using a 0.2 μm syringe filter to remove the quartz mixed into the PM suspension A 0.2 μm syringe filter was used to exclude the influence of the quartz component on the lungs but some other PM components may have been removed during this process we listed and analyzed the PM components used in this experiment in the supplementary tables chronic PM exposure aggravated pulmonary fibrosis and inflammation underlying bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis These findings were proven by chest CT and pathologic analysis Genetic alterations due to PM exposure may provoke pulmonary inflammation This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Korea University Medical Center (Approval number: Korea-2020–0025-C1) This study was carried out in compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines and all experiments were performed per Korea University guidelines Nine-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats (Raonbio South Korea) were acclimated for one week (three rats per cage) The conditions were as follows: temperature Pelleted food for experimental rodents (Purina South Korea) and filtered tap water were provided ad libitum we collected quartz filters cut into 2 cm × 2 cm pieces and immersed them in 210 ml of a 0.9% saline buffer we filtered the saline buffer with a 0.2 μm syringe filter to remove the quartz component in the PM suspension Supplementary Table 3 describes the final components of the PM suspension and the suction volume of an air sampler is 1,380,000 L/day the amount of airflow extracted by the air sampler over seven days is equal to the respiration volume of a human over 1,000 days (1,380,000 L/day × 7 days / 9,660 L/day = 1,000 days) seven filters collected for seven days were extracted into 210 mL of a saline buffer As this is the same amount humans are exposed to over 1,000 days it was assumed that 0.210 mL of PM suspension is the daily human exposure (210 mL/1,000 days = 0.210 mL/day) and human exposure in one day (24 h) was assumed to be 0.21 mL The total amount administrated to rats (1.5 mL) was assumed to be the same as the human PM exposure in 7.14 days or 171.4 h (1.5 mL / 0.21 mL/day = 7.14 days; 7.14 days × 24 h/day = 171.4 h) All CT images were scanned using a Philips IQon 128-slice dual-layer detector spectral CT scanner (Philips Healthcare USA) with the subject in the supine position All images were obtained in a caudo-cranial direction from the lung base through the thoracic inlet level during inspiration breath-hold using a ventilator for small animals (VentElite The scan time for one rat was less than 10 s One board-certified radiologist with 11 years of experience in thoracic imaging (C.K.) analyzed the CT image quality to determine if it was suitable for evaluating the rat lung tissue The image quality was evaluated on a five-point scale: 1: severely impaired detectability of CT findings; 2: moderately impaired detectability of CT findings; 3: mildly impaired detectability of CT findings; 4: mildly impaired detectability of CT findings but no significant impairment; and 5: unimpaired detectability of CT findings with high confidence in the diagnosis and centrilobular nodules were considered “inflammation” and bronchiectasis/linear densities were considered “fibrosis” These CT findings were evaluated in the four right lung lobes (superior and post-caval lobes) and the three regions of the left lung (upper region The extent of the four CT findings (consolidation and bronchiectasis/linear densities) in each lobe/region was scored (0 = none The total CT score was defined as the sum of the score of any CT findings in the bilateral lungs and the CT parameter scores were defined as the sum of the scored extent of CT findings for inflammation or fibrosis in the bilateral lungs The CT inflammation score was defined as the sum of the CT score for consolidation The CT fibrosis score was the sum of the CT score of the bronchiectasis/linear densities All extracted lung specimens were evaluated by one experienced pathologist with 21 years of experience in thoracic pathology (J.L.) The lungs were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin We cut 4-um-thick paraffin sections from the fixed samples and then performed hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichrome (MT) staining After collecting a small amount of frozen lung tissue for RNA-sequence testing and western blotting slides were made for all lung tissue in 1-mm intervals lesions involving < 0–25%/ < 25–50%/ > 50% of the total lung area) and severity (none/mild/moderate/severe) of inflammation and fibrosis The inflammation and fibrosis pathologic scores were calculated by adding the extent and severity of inflammation and fibrosis 1 = lesions involving < 0–25% of the lung 2 = lesions involving < 25–50% of the lung and 3 = lesions involving > 50% of the lung) and severity as 0 = none and alveolar cell atypia were evaluated in each group One lobe in each rat (three rats in each group) was selected after the radiologist reviewed the correlated chest CTs The radiologist chose lobes with lesions similar to those of the other lobes Lobes with no or too few lesions were excluded the selected lobes were ground up and lysed using a lysis buffer containing 2-mercaptoethanol The total RNA was isolated using Trizol reagent (Invitrogen The RNA quality was assessed by an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies USA) using the RNA 6000 Nano Chip (Agilent Technologies and RNA quantification was performed using a NanoDrop 2000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific real-time PCR was performed in a LightCycler 96 system (Roche Life Science USA) with the following primers: CCL2; 5'-AGCCAACTCTCACTGAAGCC-3' (sense) CXCL10; 5'-GGCCTGGTCCTGAGACAAAA-3' (sense) CXCL13; 5'-TGTAGGTGTTCCAAGGTGAGC-3' (sense) and 5'-CAGTTTTGGGGCAGCCATTC-3' (antisense) and the gene levels were statistically analyzed by a t-test One lobe in each rat (five rats in each group) was selected after the radiologist reviewed the correlated chest CT The radiologist chose lobes with lesions similar to those in the other lobes Lung tissues were lysed in a T-PER™ Tissue Protein Extraction Reagent (Thermo Scientific USA) using a homogenizer (OMNI International Equal amounts of protein extracts (20 μg) were separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using a natural gel and then transferred onto a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane (Atto After blocking with 5% non-fat skim milk for one hour the membrane was incubated overnight with rabbit anti-collagen type I (1:1,000 an appropriate horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-rabbit IgG or anti-mouse IgG antibody (Cell Signaling Technology USA) was used to bind to the primary antibodies Protein band imaging was done using the ChemiDoc Touch Imaging System (Bio-Rad Laboratories) The library for the control and test RNAs was constructed using a QuantSeq 3’ mRNA-Seq Library Prep Kit (Lexogen Austria) per the manufacturer’s instructions 500 ng of the total RNA was prepared and an oligo-dT primer containing an Illumina-compatible sequence at its 5’ end was hybridized to the RNA we initiated the second strand synthesis by a random primer containing an Illumina-compatible linker sequence at its 5’ end The double-stranded library was purified with magnetic beads to remove all reaction components The library was amplified to add the complete adapter sequences required for cluster generation The finished library was purified from the PCR components and high-throughput sequencing was performed as single-end 75 sequencing using a NextSeq 500 (Illumina We identified the genes whose expression was significantly changed (standard P-value < 0.05 and log > 2 or < -2) by PM exposure We used a web-based genome enrichment analysis tool to comprehensively elucidate the functional classification of the DEGs P < 0.05 was used as a threshold for the significantly enriched GO terms The chi-square test for nominal variables and the Mann–Whitney U test for continuous variables were performed to determine differences between CT features and pathologic findings among the groups All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistics 20 (SPSS USA) or MedCalc version 18.5 (MedCalc Software All P-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article Lelieveld, J. et al. Cardiovascular disease burden from ambient air pollution in Europe reassessed using novel hazard ratio functions. Eur. Heart J. 40, 1590–1596. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehz135 (2019) Burnett, R. et al. Global estimates of mortality associated with long-term exposure to outdoor fine particulate matter. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115, 9592–9597. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803222115 (2018) Xu, Z. et al. PM(25) induced pulmonary fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 171, 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.12.061 (2019) Cheng, I. Y. et al. Particulate matter increases the severity of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis through KC-mediated neutrophil chemotaxis. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 21, 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21010227 (2019) Xu, P., Yao, Y. & Zhou, J. Particulate matter with a diameter of ≤2.5 μm induces and enhances bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by stimulating endoplasmic reticulum stress in rat. Biochem. Cell Biol. 97, 357–363. https://doi.org/10.1139/bcb-2018-0053 (2019) Dong, J. et al. Common and distinct mechanisms of induced pulmonary fibrosis by particulate and soluble chemical fibrogenic agents. Arch. Toxicol. 90, 385–402. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-015-1589-3 (2016) Yang, L. et al. Nickle(II) ions exacerbate bleomycin-induced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis by activating the ROS/Akt signaling pathway. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 25, 4406–4418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0525-x (2018) Hu, Y. et al. Effects of particulate matter from straw burning on lung fibrosis in mice. Environ. Toxicol. Pharmacol. 56, 249–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2017.10.001 (2017) Li, Q. et al. Integrative characterization of fine particulate matter-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in mice. Sci. Total Environ. 706, 135687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135687 (2020) Mei, M. et al. Early-life exposure to three size-fractionated ultrafine and fine atmospheric particulates in Beijing exacerbates asthma development in mature mice. Part. Fibre Toxicol. 15, 13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-018-0249-1 (2018) Hansell, D. M. et al. Fleischner Society: glossary of terms for thoracic imaging. Radiology 246, 697–722. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2462070712 (2008) Evaluation of polyhexamethylene guanidine-induced lung injuries by chest CT Evaluation of the long-term effect of polyhexamethylene guanidine phosphate in a rat lung model using conventional chest computed tomography with histopathologic analysis Wang, H. et al. The effect of exposure time and concentration of airborne PM(2.5) on lung injury in mice: A transcriptome analysis. Redox Biol. 26, 101264, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2019.101264 (2019) Lei, X. et al. Differential transcriptional changes in human alveolar epithelial A549 cells exposed to airborne PM(2.5) collected from Shanghai, China. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 25, 33656–33666, doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3090-z (2018) Yang, B., Li, X., Chen, D. & Xiao, C. Effects of fine air particulates on gene expression in non-small-cell lung cancer. Adv. Med. Sci. 62, 295–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advms.2016.12.003 (2017) O'Dwyer, D. N. & Moore, B. B. Animal Models of Pulmonary Fibrosis. Methods Mol. Biol. (Clifton, N.J.) 1809, 363–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8570-8_24 (2018) Liu, T., De Los Santos, F. G. & Phan, S. H. The Bleomycin Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis. Methods Mol. Biol. (Clifton, N.J.) 1627, 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7113-8_2 (2017) Williamson, J. D., Sadofsky, L. R. & Hart, S. P. The pathogenesis of bleomycin-induced lung injury in animals and its applicability to human idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Exp. Lung Res. 41, 57–73. https://doi.org/10.3109/01902148.2014.979516 (2015) Raghu, G. et al. Diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. An Official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT Clinical Practice Guideline. Am. J. Respirat. Crit. Care Med. 198, e44-e68, doi:https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201807-1255ST (2018) Johannson, K. A. et al. Air pollution exposure is associated with lower lung function, but not changes in lung function, patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Chest 154, 119–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2018.01.015 (2018) Conti, S. et al. The association between air pollution and the incidence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Northern Italy. Eur. Respirat. J. 51, 1. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00397-2017 (2018) Winterbottom, C. J. et al. Exposure to ambient particulate matter is associated with accelerated functional decline in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Chest 153, 1221–1228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2017.07.034 (2018) Sesé, L. et al. Role of atmospheric pollution on the natural history of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Thorax 73, 145–150. https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2017-209967 (2018) Dales, R., Blanco-Vidal, C. & Cakmak, S. The Association Between Air Pollution and Hospitalization of Patients With Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Chile: A Daily Time Series Analysis. Chest 158, 630–636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.02.017 (2020) Kamata, H. et al. Carbon black nanoparticles enhance bleomycin-induced lung inflammatory and fibrotic changes in mice. Experim. Biol. Med. (Maywood, N.J.) 236, 315–324. https://doi.org/10.1258/ebm.2011.010180 (2011) Moore, B. B. & Hogaboam, C. M. Murine models of pulmonary fibrosis. Am. J. Physiol. Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 294, L152–160, doi:https://doi.org/10.1152/ajplung.00313.2007 (2008) Pharmacologic differentiation of inflammation and fibrosis in the rat bleomycin model Increased and prolonged pulmonary fibrosis in surfactant protein C-deficient mice following intratracheal bleomycin Bracke, K. R. et al. Role of CXCL13 in cigarette smoke-induced lymphoid follicle formation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 188, 343–355. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201211-2055OC (2013) 5 exposure induces sustained pulmonary fibrosis development during post-exposure period in rats Differential expression of the inflammation-associated chemokines/cytokines in mouse lung after exposure to cigarette smoke and smoking cessation CXCR3 and CCR5 chemokines in induced sputum from patients with COPD BEDTools: a flexible suite of utilities for comparing genomic features Bioconductor: open software development for computational biology and bioinformatics R: A language and environment for statistical computing Download references This study was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment as “the Environmental Health Action Program” (2018001360002) the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018R1D1A1B07049989) We thank Meehye Lee and Joo-Ae Kim for analyzing the concentration of inorganic ions and water-soluble organic carbon in PM samples used in this study These authors contributed equally: Cherry Kim and Sang Hoon Jeong Department of Medical Humanities and Social Medicine All authors read and approved the final manuscript and contributed to the drafting and revising of the paper The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02140-2 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science While child sex offender Cho Doo-soon recently completed his move it was reported that Ansan City rented a house opposite Cho Doo-soon's residence Police officers are always placed in front of Cho Doo-soon's house Local governments are actively investing their administrative power to resolve security insecurity Ansan City recently signed a monthly rent contract for a multi-family house in Wa-dong It is a building located opposite Cho Doo-soon's new residence Cho Doo-soon can be monitored just by opening the window The rental price is estimated to be about 600,000 won per month Cho Doo-soon moved to a multi-family house 2km away from her existing residence on the 25th of last month There are daycare centers and elementary schools within a five-minute walk Ansan City acquired a house to strengthen surveillance and security activities and to improve the treatment of on-site workers' working conditions Ansan City plans to operate the monthly rent room as a civil safety guard post Ansan City has currently formed a three-shift group of seven police officers to conduct 24-hour surveillance and patrol activities around Cho Doo-soon's residence One mobile patrol team is also on a periodic patrol Ansan City plans to help all field workers avoid heat and cold weather at home and use toilets freely such as resolving menstrual phenomena at nearby senior centers It is controversial that an elementary school is located less than 300 meters away from the house where Cho Doo-soon (71) a criminal who was imprisoned for sexual assault on an 8-year-old girl Parents living nearby are complaining of anxiety the Ansan Danwon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province was notified by the Ministry of Justice on the morning of the 23rd of the relocation of Cho Doo-soon's residence The area where Cho Doo-soon recently moved is Wa-dong about 2km away from the existing residence and the move is known to be due to the expiration of the monthly rent contract there is an elementary school 290m away from the house where Cho Doo-soon moved If you expand the range within a 1.5km radius Parents with young children said in an interview with JTBC "I'm nervous about going to school with them because I have only three daughters," adding "I think I'll have to take them with me while I live here." The police plan to cooperate with local governments to deploy Cho Doo-soon's career in the new residential area and strengthen patrols the existing special security center is expected to be relocated to Cho Doo-soon's moving area Cho Doo-soon was sentenced to 12 years in prison in December 2008 for kidnapping sexually assaulting and seriously injuring an elementary school student in front of a church in Ansan City who was released from prison on December 12 has to attach a location tracking electronic device (electronic anklet) for seven years and is also under probation prohibition of excessive drinking (more than 0.03%) prohibition of access to educational facilities and prohibition of contact or contact with victims (within 200m of residential area) according to the current status of schools where sex offenders reside within a radius of 1km Baek Seung-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on the 3rd sex offenders lived within 1km of daycare centers (16,280) has moved to a neighborhood from a house in Ansan According to the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency on the 28th the police were informed by the Ministry of Justice of the relocation of Cho Doo-soon's residence on the morning of the 25th Cho Doo-soon moved from a multi-family house in Wa-dong where she has lived since being released from prison in December 2020 The new house is located in the same wa-dong and is about 2km away from the existing residence Cho Doo-soon is said to have decided to move due to the expiration of the monthly rent contract for the existing residence the police have strengthened patrols by deploying regular patrol cars near Cho Doo-soon's new residence and adding additional careers to the branch which was previously installed near the residence is also considering moving it near Cho Doo-soon's new residence soon "The existing special security center is empty but we are maintaining the old patrol system centering on the new residence," adding "We plan to relocate the special security center as soon as we select a suitable location." who was sentenced to three months in prison by the appeals court for violating the night out restriction order and going out without permission According to the Ansan Danwon Police Station on the 19th who was sentenced to three months in prison for violating the Act on Attachment of Electronic Devices Cho was indicted on charges of leaving his residence in Danwon-gu on December 4 last year and going out without permission for about 40 minutes during the attachment period of location tracking electronic devices (electronic anklets) to 9 p.m.6 a.m.) is prohibited from going out Cho is known to have wandered around police security posts near his residence when he went out without permission He returned home only after a probation officer at the Ansan Probation Office who received a violation alert from the CCTV control center he admitted to going out without permission Cho was released from prison in December 2020 after serving a 12-year prison sentence for kidnapping a first-year elementary school girl in Danwon-gu The court also ordered special compliance with Cho prohibiting access to educational facilities and prohibiting contact and contact with victims (within 200 meters of residence) Cho was arrested in court after the first trial ruling on March 20 this year in which all Kakao's services were stopped for a long time due to the fire was a painful experience left by trauma for Kakao "This is the place where we constantly supplemented and agonized until the completion date with the responsibility of raising data stability to the highest level so that these obstacles do not repeat." (CEO of Kakao Jung-ah) Kakao unveiled the first Kakao Data Center (IDC) Ansan located at Hanyang University's Erika Campus in Ansan-si Kakao Data Center Ansan is Kakao's first in-house data center It was completed in September last year and started operating in January this year It is a two-story building with one basement floor to six floors above ground with a total floor area of 47,378 square meters and boasts a hyperscale that can store 120,000 servers and store 6 exabytes (EB) of data which is called a national platform and has an influence in name and reality The keyword of Kakao Data Center Ansan is stability suffered 127 hours of disruption due to the fire at SK C&C Pangyo Data Center on Saturday Kakao's management bowed down and apologized to the nation Kakao used this situation as a lesson to create a data center that will not stop at any disaster or disaster Kakao has a uninterruptible power grid and duplicated all systems The data center server has built the system to allow uninterrupted operation for 24 hours as it goes down even if power is not supplied for only 0.02 seconds We have prepared spare power that can receive 100% of the main power capacity immediately and operate the data center through an emergency generator even if a problem occurs at the substation It multiplexed the power grid supplied with electricity from KEPCO to the final supply of electricity to the server the process of providing communication from telecommunication companies to servers and the process of supplying cold water from the freezer to the server room At least two data centers are making copies of data and operating tools and updating them in real time it developed and applied its own system that can respond to lithium-ion battery fires that are difficult to extinguish fire I was able to check this system in the computerized battery room the internal monitoring system independently cuts off the power of the battery located within the sphere of influence and lowers the flameproof stream to prevent the spread of flames the fire extinguishing agent is sprayed to attempt initial evolution and the cooling water is continuously sprayed by raising a waterproof cloth to block the ignition it took a total of four minutes for the initial self-fire response system to operate It took about two hours to completely burn it has established the highest level of system to respond to flooding The ground on the ground floor was 1.8m higher than the surrounding area and battery rooms were placed on the ground to prevent flooding damage It secured a safe distance from tsunami damage and applied a wind resistance design that can withstand strong winds of 28 meters per second and an earthquake resistance design that can withstand earthquakes with an intensity of 6.5 or higher When I entered the computer building server room but Kakao runs a pre-cooling freezer system that cools without motors except in summer Kakao Data Center Ansan can store 120,000 servers Cooling tanks and solar panels were densely installed on the roof Since it plays a role in lowering the heat of hardware a resource that is used as much as electricity reducing water and sewage costs by 98% compared to general data centers Electricity consumption has also been minimized through high-efficiency equipment and light emitting diodes (LEDs) Kakao Data Center Ansan's power efficiency index (PUE) is less than 1.3 This is lower than the average PUE (1.91) of data centers in Korea announced by the Korea IT Service Industry Association Kakao predicts that it will be able to reduce annual energy costs by 30% by continuously increasing energy efficiency There are also programs for community communication and cooperation data centers are located in a space away from the city center to protect security is located on a campus with good accessibility Kakao opened part of the Oyeongdong to residents and students were greeting visitors side by side at the entrance of the data center "It is a data center that considers eco-friendliness and co-prosperity with the local community without missing the top priority of stability," said Koh Woo-chan a performance leader of Kakao Infrastructure Technology various services centered on KakaoTalk will be operated in Ansan and we will do our best to ensure that users' daily lives are kept safe and convenient." Kakao is also pushing to build a new data center following the Ansan data center We are currently in the process of selecting the site It plans to design it as a high performance computing (HPC) data center to effectively respond to the future technology environment including the operation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology-based services "The fire at the SK C&C Data Center on October 15 is called 1015 incident internally by Kakao In order to prevent such obstacles from being repeated again the cause was thoroughly analyzed and identified Kakao Data Center." (CEO of Kakao Jung-ah) Kakao held a "Press Meet-up" event at "Kakao Data Center Ansan" located on the campus of Hanyang University in Ansan on the 11th and unveiled its first data center Kakao has leased and used the SK C&C Data Center (IDC) in Pangyo Kakao judged that its own IDC is essential to meet the ever-increasing demand for service traffic and respond to the expansion of related cloud businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI) Kakao decided to build its first IDC in 2018 it finally chose the site of Hanyang University's Erica campus in Ansan a Kakao data center that has been in full operation since its completion in September last year has a hyperscale (a super-large data center that can operate more than 100,000 servers) with a total floor area of 47,378 square meters The building is largely divided into an operation building and a computer building and the computer building where the server is located is about 30,000 square meters about 10% of the server capacity was filled in Ansan Kakao is speeding up its multiplexing work for seamless services and plans to expand servers that can respond to traffic generation sequentially with data center Ansan as the main pillar in the future a "people's messenger," will also be serviced through the data center Ansan the average daily amount of incoming calls exceeds 10 billion cases on KakaoTalk This means that most people send and receive more than 200 KakaoTalk messages per person every day 500,000 traffic is generated per second and 45,000 KakaoTalk messages are sent every second Kakao explained that the traffic level of KakaoTalk is at the level that all spectators at the World Cup Stadium continue to send KakaoTalk messages every second "Even we have a huge responsibility for the fact that a single IT company not even a telecommunications service provider manages this level of traffic 365 days and 24 hours a day Kakao will continue to do its best to ensure that important connection moments of service users continue to be stable." Kakao has built a system that enables data center Ansan to operate 24 hours a day without interruption △The entire process from receiving electricity from the power grid to finally supplying electricity to the server △The process of providing communication from the telecommunications company to the server △Not only did it duplicate operating facilities such as cold water supply chains from refrigerators to server rooms but it also multiplexed data and operating tools Kakao explained that it has established an environment that can minimize inconvenience felt by users and shorten recovery time as much as possible even if some systems have problems It also has an uninterruptible power grid that can operate large-scale servers without a hitch a preliminary power grid has been set up to receive 100% of the capacity of the main power immediately and both substations are designed to operate data centers through emergency generators without power interruptions even if problems arise it has strengthened the connection and stability between data centers "In addition to the main data center where the service takes place copies of data and operating tools are made and updated in real time in at least two physically separated data centers Kakao Data Center Ansan has applied a strong disaster design so that services can be operated continuously in various natural disasters and disasters such as fires Kakao focused on preparing a response system to extinguish the fire early The uninterruptible power supply (UPS) room and the battery room were separated into fire barriers and temperature sensors were installed on all electric panels to immediately respond to an abnormal temperature rise it developed and applied its own fire response system in preparation for lithium-ion battery fires which are very difficult to extinguish fires and the system has now applied for a patent The fire response system developed by Kakao consisted of four stages the internal monitoring system automatically detects it cuts off the power of the battery that is affected by the fire and prevents the fire from spreading to a flame-retardant stream the fire extinguishing agent is sprayed step by step to try to extinguish the initial evolution and the cooling water is continuously sprayed by raising a waterproof cloth to block the source of the fire If the fire is not extinguished through this it will be able to control the customized fire in the data center in connection with the fire department "When a fire breaks out on a battery cabinet module basis it is differentiated from other IDC by having an independent fire response system for each battery cage to prevent it from spreading to other batteries as much as possible." Special-grade seismic design was also applied to respond to earthquakes This is in accordance with the seismic design standards of domestic nuclear power plants and has the ability to withstand strong earthquakes of 6.5 or higher on the Richter it was prepared to withstand strong winds of 28m/s in consideration of the maximum wind speed in Ansan-si The ground floor on the first floor was designed to be about 1.8 meters higher than the surrounding surface to keep data safe from flood damage and UPS were placed on the ground floor to prepare for possible flooding It is located in an area of 10m above sea level on average and is more than 18km away from the Sihwa Embankment so it is possible to operate a data center stably even when a tsunami occurs water plays a role in lowering the heat of the hardware and since it is a resource used as much as electricity equipment has also been prepared to minimize water usage Kakao introduced and manages the Water Use Effectiveness (WUE) in Ansan In order to increase the water efficiency index a high-efficiency free cooling system that operates in three modes according to the change of the season was applied and rainwater and supplemental water provided for emergencies were reused as landscaping water and fire fighting water to save about 98% of water and sewage costs compared to general data centers data center Ansan uses high-efficiency equipment and LEDs to minimize electrical energy consumption and installs solar panels on exterior materials and rooftops to secure power data center Ansan's Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is less than 1.3 lower than the average of 1.91 domestic data center PUE announced in a report by the Korea IT Service Industry Association Such efforts are expected to reduce total energy consumption by 30% and reduce annual energy costs by about 3.1 billion won "We expect to reduce carbon emissions by 15% by reducing 30GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity per year." This means that it saves twice the total amount of lithium batteries produced in Korea (about 15 GWh) per year The entire outer wall is also made of solar panels This is the background of the data center Ansan receiving the first grade of the building energy efficiency rating certificate and the highest grade certificate of green building certification in recognition of the use of energy efficiency technology and the application of energy-saving architecture we are trying to save energy by gradually increasing the cooling temperature of the server room from 23 degrees to 27 degrees." have been created as open spaces to communicate with local communities which is located deep in the mountains and is deserted data center Ansan is differentiated in that it is located on a university campus was divided into an operation building and a computer building instead of a single building Some spaces in Oyeong-dong consist of Hanyang University's ERICA campus and space for industry-academia cooperation "Kakao Data Center Ansan is Kakao's first data center that considers eco-friendliness and co-prosperity with the local community without missing the top priority of stability," Koh Woo-chan Kakao's infrastructure technology performance leader "We will do our best to ensure that users' daily lives are kept safe and convenient." CEO of Kakao Jung Shin-ah also said at the meeting "As Kakao's services connect the daily lives of the whole people in real time we created the Kakao Data Center Ansan with the aim of making stability a safe data center that does not stop at any disaster or disaster," adding "We will actively invest in infrastructure to support new services that Kakao will introduce in the future and technologies and changes in 10 years." If you are worried that you might miss your chance to enjoy Korea’s winter illuminations relax because there is a place lit up year-round About a 50-minute drive from Camp Humphreys the Starlight Village Photo Land (안산별빛마을포토랜드) is a small yet wonderful display featuring thousands of colorful LED lights The village is divided into a couple of smaller theme sections where you’ll find various shining displays like heart-shaped tunnels and swings for couples Grab a hot drink at the Starlight Café before heading out to explore the village It took me about an hour – with coffee in hand - to soak it all in located in the middle of a forest covered with a wide spread of pure white light small capsules that have unique backgrounds like a realistic moon photo or famous paintings were the most Instagram-able spot for youngsters many foreign travelers were busy posing for photos The Ansan Starlight Village is accessible from any city in the Gyeonggi-do area so take a day trip with family and friends to be dazzled by the beautiful light displays wait till it warms up because the village isn’t just a winter wonderland located right next to the ticket booth for Starlight Village This house of mirrors is not part of the village and there is a separate fee (4,000 won) but I highly recommend kicking off your day here because it closes three hours before the park which made be wonder what I was getting into But as made my way through the house of mirrors bumping into and touching just about everything in front of me Though the repeated reflections of my figure in the mirrors confused and amused me it was a blast to navigate my own way through this fun-filled house of mirrors Tta-tteu-tan eum-nyo han jan sa-deu-ri-kkeyo Read now > Sign up for our weekly newsletter of articles from Japan The Ansan Danwon Police Precinct's special public safety center is located right in front of a multi-unit residence where child rapist Cho Doo-soon lives A booth installed by the Ansan city government to let security guards stay and guard the neighborhood of Cho Doo-soon [SON SUNG-BAE] Korea.net hosts networking event for Honorary Reporters Accord with Japan to protect both nations' people abroad A bilateral agreement with Japan will bolster cooperation in protecting the nationals of both nations abroad Click here to read more about the latest summit between leaders of both countries Talks with NZ seek to upgrade ties to strategic partnership Korea and New Zealand have agreed to advance talks on elevating the bilateral Partnership for the 21st Century concluded Korea and New Zealand have agreed to advance talks on elevating the bilateral Partnership for the 21st Century concluded in 2006 to a comprehensive strategic partnership Mixed boccia pair to face Hong Kong for Paralympic gold the Jeong-Kang pair will face in the final Hong Kong in mixed pair BC3 boccia 🌕 S-Tier food for Chuseok 🌕 | K-Cuisine Relay | Ep.28 Galbijjim & Samsaeknamul “Reading is so sexy!” — Headlined by The Guardian (UK)　| Balance Talk | Ep Korean German architect in Seoul seeks to innovate Hanok Grassroots group seeks to clean up trash from Jeju waters Polish capital hosts Korean cultural event at Breakfast Market Hanbok-clad children play traditional games President Yoon attends opening of Cyber Summit Korea Descendants of Korean War veterans attend event in Incheon Multicultural families attend Chuseok event Address by President Yoon Suk Yeol on the 79th Liberation Day Keynote Address by President Yoon Suk Yeol at the NATO Public Forum K-pop management innovation changes global music industry Korea-French friendship to drive future partnership Denmark's digital strategy to preserve global democracy 10th workshop of European Association for Korean Language Education (EAKLE) PNP launches TOP COP special class to enhance tourist safety K-Culture Extravaganza Lights Up Jozi: Korean Cultural Centre Unveils ‘Travelling Korea’ Korean Restaurant to open soon in Abuja-Envoy Jusung Gabriel Park & Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra Production Design: Scene Architects Build On-Screen Worlds Metrics details The goals of this study were to determine whether bone density measured using CT (CTBD) can show significant differences in bone loss according to smoking status and pack-years and to examine the correlation between CTBD and bone mineral density when measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA-BMD) in males without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) 1,011 males without airflow obstruction ≥50 years old were included CTBD and DEXA-BMD were compared among groups with different smoking statuses The correlation between CTBD and DEXA-BMD and the association of CTBD with pack-years were also investigated CTBD of all vertebral bodies (VBs) and DEXA-BMD of all VBs without L1 showed significant differences among never CTBD was significantly lowest in ≥30-pack-year smokers and was significantly lower in ≥30-pack-year smokers than in <15-pack-year smokers (all P < 0.05) There were significant correlations between DEXA-BMD and CTBD at all VB levels (correlation coefficient [r] A lower CTBD had a significant association with a 15 ≤ x < 30-pack-year smoking history and ≥30-pack-year smoking history while there was no association with never-smokers CTBD demonstrated significant differences in bone quality according to smoking status and pack-years in males without COPD it is important to investigate the relationship between smoking and CTBD in a normal population without COPD and no study has been published on this topic yet the purpose of this study was to determine whether CTBD can show significant differences in bone quality according to smoking status and pack-years and to examine the correlation between CTBD and DEXA-BMD in males ≥50 years old without COPD Clinical characteristics, pulmonary function test (PFT), DEXA-BMD, CTBD, and emphysema volume on CT of the entire study cohort, participants <65 years old, and participants ≥65 years old are shown according to smoking status in Table 1 Among the three groups (the entire study cohort there were no significant differences in age and emphysema index (EI) between never-smokers and ever-smokers never-smokers were significantly taller than ever-smokers in both the entire study cohort (P = 0.03) and in the group of participants <65 years old (P = 0.04) there were significantly more current drinkers and higher levels of alcohol consumption in ever-smokers than in never-smokers (all P < 0.001) FEV1/FVC (the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity) was significantly lower in ever-smokers than in never-smokers in the three study groups and daily alcohol consumption (all P < 0.01) There were no significant differences in DEXA-BMD values in any VBs between never-smokers and ever-smokers in the entire study cohort as well as among participants <65 years old and ≥65 years old Comparisons of the clinical characteristics, PFT, DEXA-BMD, and CTBD between never, former, and current smokers are shown in Table 2 The trends that CTBD and DEXA-BMD of current smokers were lower than those of former and never smokers and that CTBD and DEXA-BMD of former smokers were lower than those of never smokers were shown in all VBs although current smokers were significantly younger than former and never smokers CTBD of all VBs and all DEXA-BMD values without DEXA-BMD of L1 showed significant differences between never and T10 of the ever-smoker group with different pack-years (G1 [light] and T10 were significantly lowest in the heavy smokers group and were also significantly lower in heavy smokers than in light smokers (all P < 0.05) and T10 were significantly lowest in heavy-smokers (all P < 0.05) only the DEXA-BMD of L2 showed a significant difference between the groups after adjustment (P = 0.04) The associations of CTBD of all VBs with pack-years on multiple linear regression analysis are shown in Table 4 a lower CTBD value was significantly associated with moderate smokers (β [SE] values of CTBD of T4 respectively; all P < 0.05) and heavy smokers (β [SE] values of CTBD of T4 respectively; all P < 0.01) when compared with never smokers Table 5 shows the correlations between DEXA-BMD at each VB There were significant correlations between DEXA-BMD and CTBD at all VB levels among the whole study cohort (correlation coefficient [r] Pack-years also had a significant negative correlation with DEXA-BMD and CTBD at all VBs in the whole study cohort (r −0.030 ~ −0.022; P < 0.01) and in ever-smokers (r This study provided evidence that smoking is associated with decreased bone density measured by chest CT in male subjects ≥50 years old without COPD Current smokers showed significantly lower bone densities than former and never smokers Lower bone density on CT was significantly associated with more pack-years CTBD also showed a significant correlation with DEXA-BMD and CTBD and DEXA-BMD were significantly correlated with pack-years and T10 were all significantly lower in ever-smokers than in never-smokers among males ≥50 years old without COPD the significantly lowest CTBD of T10 and L1 and T10 were shown in heavy smokers after adjustment for covariates there were no significant differences in the DEXA-BMD values of any VBs between never-smokers and ever-smokers all CTBD values and some of the DEXA-BMD values of current smokers were significantly lower than those of former and never smokers; however DEXA-BMD of L1 did not show significant differences between the groups the lower CTBD of the thoracic and lumbar VBs in ever-smokers was associated with higher pack-years although only the DEXA-BMD of L2 was significantly lowest in heavy smokers among ever-smokers This may suggest that CTBD is a more sensitive method than DEXA-BMD The advantage of CTBD is that it avoids these artifacts and thus can provide a more accurate value for bone mineral loss an increasing need for chest CT screening and surveillance of pulmonary nodules in smokers has emerged if additional information on the bone density of the thoracic and lumbar spine in CT screening for smokers could be given it would help detect not only lung nodules but also bone mineral loss at an earlier stage chest CT screening for smokers will increase opportunities for identifying and treating osteoporosis in this at-risk population Since bone mineral loss becomes severe with aging in order to distinguish the influences of aging on bone mineral loss we conducted an additional analysis by dividing the study population into two groups: participants <65 years old and participants ≥65 years old ever-smokers showed significantly lower CTBD of the T10 and L1 VBs and lower mean CTBD of T4 only the CTBD of the L1 VB was significantly lower in ever-smokers than in never-smokers These results were due to the effects of aging rather than smoking on bone mineral loss as shown in multivariate linear regression analyses the sample size of never-smokers was relatively small compared with ever-smokers this cohort was recruited from a specific area in Korea which is characterized mainly by industrial complexes These subjects might not be a representative sample of the whole nation and further studies with a larger sample population are required to clarify those uncertainties DEXA-BMD was measured only for the lumbar spine while CTBD was mainly measured for the thoracic spine DEXA usually does not measure the thoracic spine and correlation analysis in our study revealed a significant correlation between CTBD and DEXA-BMD we did not investigate the prevalence of vertebral fractures because these data were not in available in this cohort we measured bone density at only one point based on which it was difficult to predict the future potential of vertebral fracture the correlation between the prevalence of CTBD and vertebral fractures should be studied using longitudinal data data regarding pack-years or alcohol consumption were entirely self-reported and this might cause under- or over-estimation of the smoking effect trained staff conducted all interviews for quality control because one radiologist measured all CTBD values the variability of measured values between observers (i.e. interobserver-variability) could not be analyzed CTBD showed significant differences in bone quality according to smoking status and pack-years in males ≥50 years old without COPD Significantly lower CTBD were shown in ever-smokers than in never-smokers and lower CTBD was associated with more pack-years Current smokers showed significantly lower CTBD than former and never smokers CTBD was significantly correlated with DEXA-BMD a total of 5,012 participants were examined as a baseline and follow-up examinations have been performed biennially The eighth set of follow-up examinations was performed in 3,083 individuals between April 2015 and December 2016 1,334 males ≥50 years old underwent both chest CT and DEXA The exclusion criteria were: a) underlying lung disease such as COPD (FEV1/FVC <0.70) or pulmonary tuberculosis b) taking anti-osteoporotic medications affecting bone metabolism 1,011 subjects were selected for the analysis All participants were interviewed by trained health nurses or medical doctors to collect data on sex smoking status (never-/ever-smokers or never/former/current-smokers) 15 ≤ x < 30 pack-years; and heavy smokers Trained staff measured the height and weight of each participant using standard protocols The following CT scanning parameters were employed: detector configuration 75 mAs without current modulation; and section thickness Each subject was examined in the supine position with a deep inspiratory breath hold PFT parameters are expressed in liters and percentages and the following spirometric values were investigated: FEV1 For quantitative analysis of emphysema volume all CT images were analyzed with commercial software (IntelliSpace Portal 7.0 Philips Healthcare This tool performs 4 steps: (1) lung segmentation Total lung volume and emphysema volume with a threshold of −950 HU were measured All continuous variables are expressed as mean ± SD and categorical variables are expressed as percentages and EI were compared between smoking status groups (never/ever-smokers and never/former/current smokers) in the entire study cohort as well as in participant groups <65 years and ≥65 years Pearson correlations were calculated between DEXA-BMD and CTBD were also compared between groups having different pack-years using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or Chi-squared test Bonferroni’s post hoc test for multiple comparisons was performed Multivariate linear regression analyses were performed and the regression coefficient (β) and SE were calculated to assess the association of aging with CTBD and the association of CTBD with pack-years Those statistical analyses were performed using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute The data in this study are based on a strictly managed cohort from the Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) and cannot be disclosed without permission Effect of spinal degenerative changes on volumetric bone mineral density of the central skeleton as measured by quantitative computed tomography A meta-analysis of the effects of cigarette smoking on bone mineral density Pompe, E. et al. Inter-observer and inter-examination variability of manual vertebral bone attenuation measurements on computed tomography. European radiology 26, 3046–3053, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-4145-x (2016) Guglielmi, G., Grimston, S. K., Fischer, K. C. & Pacifici, R. Osteoporosis: diagnosis with lateral and posteroanterior dual x-ray absorptiometry compared with quantitative CT. Radiology 192, 845–850, https://doi.org/10.1148/radiology.192.3.8058958 (1994) Budoff, M. J. et al. Measurement of thoracic bone mineral density with quantitative CT. Radiology 257, 434–440, https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.10100132 (2010) Jaramillo, J. D. et al. Reduced Bone Density and Vertebral Fractures in Smokers. Men and COPD Patients at Increased Risk. Annals of the American Thoracic Society 12, 648–656, https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.201412-591OC (2015) Pompe, E. et al. Smokers with emphysema and small airway disease on computed tomography have lower bone density. International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 11, 1207–1216, https://doi.org/10.2147/copd.s103680 (2016) Budoff, M. J. et al. Measurement of phantomless thoracic bone mineral density on coronary artery calcium CT scans acquired with various CT scanner models. Radiology 267, 830–836, https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.13111987 (2013) Romme, E. A. et al. Bone attenuation on routine chest CT correlates with bone mineral density on DXA in patients with COPD. Journal of bone and mineral research: the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 27, 2338–2343, https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.1678 (2012) Budoff, M. J. et al. Trabecular bone mineral density measurement using thoracic and lumbar quantitative computed tomography. Academic radiology 19, 179–183, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2011.10.006 (2012) Inoue, D., Watanabe, R. & Okazaki, R. COPD and osteoporosis: links, risks, and treatment challenges. International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 11, 637–648, https://doi.org/10.2147/copd.s79638 (2016) Okazaki, R., Watanabe, R. & Inoue, D. Osteoporosis Associated with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Journal of bone metabolism 23, 111–120, https://doi.org/10.11005/jbm.2016.23.3.111 (2016) Watanabe, R. et al. Osteoporosis is highly prevalent in Japanese males with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is associated with deteriorated pulmonary function. Journal of bone and mineral metabolism 33, 392–400, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-014-0605-7 (2015) Lin, C. H. et al. Risk factors for osteoporosis in male patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Taiwan. PeerJ 6, e4232, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4232 (2018) Pompe, E. et al. Bone density loss on computed tomography at 3-year follow-up in current compared to former male smokers. European journal of radiology 89, 177–181, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrad.2017.02.011 (2017) Lee, J. H. et al. Amount of smoking, pulmonary function, and bone mineral density in middle-aged Korean men: KNHANES 2008-2011. Journal of bone and mineral metabolism 36, 95–102, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-017-0811-1 (2018) Grampp, S. et al. Quantitative CT assessment of the lumbar spine and radius in patients with osteoporosis. AJR. American journal of roentgenology 167, 133–140, https://doi.org/10.2214/ajr.167.1.8659357 (1996) Genant, H. K. et al. Noninvasive assessment of bone mineral and structure: state of the art. Journal of bone and mineral research: the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 11, 707–730, https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.5650110602 (1996) National Lung Screening Trial Research, T. et al. Reduced lung-cancer mortality with low-dose computed tomographic screening. N Engl J Med 365, 395–409, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1102873 (2011) Download references This study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP) (NRF-2016R1A2B4012155 the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) grant (No Korea university Ansan hospital research grant (O1700681 This work (study) was supported by a research grant from Philips Company Cherry Kim and Soriul Kim contributed equally Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism Division of Pulmonary Sleep and Critical Care Medicine Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46830-4 Metrics details Sex differences in the in-hospital management of sepsis exist Previous studies either included patients with sepsis that was defined using previous definitions of sepsis or evaluated the 3-h bundle therapy this study sought to assess sex differences in 1-h bundle therapy and in-hospital management among patients with sepsis and septic shock defined according to the Sepsis-3 definitions This observational study used data from Korean Shock Society (KoSS) registry Adult patients with sepsis between June 2018 and December 2021 were included in this study The primary outcome was adherence to 1-h bundle therapy Propensity score matching (PSM) and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed PSM yielded 2380 matched patients (1190 men and 1190 women) 1-h bundle therapy was performed less frequently in women than in men (13.0% vs broad-spectrum antibiotics were administered less frequently in women than in men (25.4% vs whereas adequate fluid resuscitation was performed more frequently in women than in men (96.8% vs In multivariable logistic regression analysis 1-h bundle therapy was performed less frequently in women than in men [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.559; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.245–1.951; p < 0.001] after adjustment broad-spectrum antibiotics were administered less frequently to women than men (aOR 1.339 whereas adequate fluid resuscitation was performed more frequently for women than for men (aOR 0.629 Invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring was performed less frequently in women than in men length of stay in the emergency department and renal replacement therapy use were comparable for both the sexes Among patients with sepsis and septic shock 1-h bundle therapy was performed less frequently in women than in men Continuous efforts are required to increase adherence to the 1-h bundle therapy and to decrease sex differences in the in-hospital management of patients with sepsis and septic shock obtaining blood cultures before antibiotic administration for patients in whom vasopressor support is indicated various in-hospital managements significantly affect patient survival in sepsis this study aimed to assess sex differences in 1-h bundle therapy and in-hospital management among patients with sepsis and septic shock which were defined in accordance with the Sepsis-3 definitions We hypothesized that 1-h bundle therapy and in-hospital management would be performed less frequently in women than in men Adult patients with suspected or confirmed infection and patients with either hypotension despite fluid resuscitation or hyperlactemia were enrolled in the KoSS registry with a diagnosis of sepsis at ≥ 6 h after admission to the emergency department who were transferred from other hospitals without the inclusion criteria of the KoSS upon arrival at the emergency department and who were transferred to another hospital from the emergency department were excluded from the KoSS registry The data collection for the KoSS registry was approved by the Institutional Review Board of each participating hospital This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki The Institutional Review Board of the Korea University Ansan Hospital approved this study (2023AS0109) and waived the requirement for informed consent because of the observational nature of the study Patients with unknown time variables for the 1-h bundle component and those with missing variables for calculating the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) and Acute Physiologic Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores were excluded from the study The following data were extracted from the KoSS registry: age in-hospital management including 1-h bundle therapy The primary outcome was adherence to the 1-h bundle therapy in accordance with the Surviving Sepsis Campaign of 2018 The secondary outcomes were adherence to each component of the 1-h bundle therapy invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring Normally distributed and continuous variables were expressed as means and standard deviations and were compared using the Student’s t-test Non-normally distributed and continuous variables were expressed as medians and interquartile ranges and compared using the Mann–Whitney U test Categorical variables were expressed as numbers and percentages and compared using Fisher’s exact test or the chi-square test Propensity score matching was performed using the 1:1 nearest neighbor-matching method with a caliper width of 0.2 without replacement variables were compared using a statistical test for paired data A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used for analyzing 28-day survival Restricted cubic spline analysis was performed to evaluate the sex-stratified nonlinear relationship between age Four knots were used for the restricted cubic spline curve after adjusting for variables that were used in the multivariable logistic regression analysis Subgroup analyses were performed according to septic shock status the adjusted association between sex and adherence to bundle therapy was evaluated for each bundle therapy cutoff timepoint the association between adherence to bundle therapy according to each cutoff timepoint and 28-day survival was evaluated after adjustment Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 R version 4.0.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing Austria) was used for statistical analysis Between April 2018 and December 2021, 3,264 patients with sepsis were registered in the KoSS registry. Among them, 58 were excluded because of unknown timepoints for the bundle therapy component and 77 were excluded because of missing data on variables used to calculate the APACHE II or SOFA score. Finally, 3,129 patients were included in this study (Fig. 1). APACHE Acute Physiologic Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation and 1,876 (60.0%) patients had septic shock The in-hospital and the 28-day mortality rates were 26.8% and 25.2% Multivariable logistic regression analysis of the matched cohort and lactate were adjusted in the multivariable model Sex-stratified adjusted predicted probability of adherence to the bundle therapy according to age (A) and APACHE II score (B) The shaded area shows the 95% confidence interval for the predicted probabilities point estimate Subgroup analysis according to septic shock status Women presented with altered mental status more frequently than men (p = 0.029). The initial presentation of febrile status, hypotension, tachypnea, and quick SOFA ≥ 2 was comparable for both the sexes (Supplementary Table 2) according to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign of 2018 was performed less frequently in women than in men broad-spectrum antibiotics were administered less frequently in women than in men whereas adequate fluid resuscitation was performed more frequently in women than in men Sex differences in adherence to the 1-h bundle therapy persisted in various subgroup analyses Among the other in-hospital management methods invasive arterial blood pressure monitoring was performed less frequently in women than in men; however other in-hospital management methods and survival rates were similar for both the sexes we used a multicenter prospective registry and used propensity score matching for unbalanced covariables The results of the multivariable logistic regression analysis of the pre-matched and matched cohorts and the results of the subgroup analysis were similar thus indicating the statistical robustness of the results Prompt administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics to patients with suspected sepsis (even without ruling out other diseases or waiting for the results of other studies) and reducing overcrowding may improve adherence to the overall bundle therapy in emergency departments Continuous efforts to increase adherence to the 1-h bundle therapy especially focusing on the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics To improve adherence to overall 1-h bundle therapy and decrease sex differences the improvement of broad-spectrum antibiotics administration within 1 h is required in women whereas the improvement of adequate fluid resuscitation is required in men further studies are needed to determine sex differences in each component of bundle therapy to generalize these results Exploratory analysis revealed that the sex difference in bundle therapy reduced after 98 min and adherence to bundle therapy for up to 3 h showed a survival benefit As antibiotic administration is a significant contributing factor to adherence to bundle therapy the protective effect of antibiotics within 3 h may be relevant to the results of the exploratory analysis The protective effect of 3 h bundle may lead to similar mortality in both sexes mortality was similar between sexes after balancing for SOFA score and lactate in propensity score matching analysis might be a more contributing factor for mortality other unmeasured factors such as fluid balance or nutritional status during hospital admission might affect the mortality This study also found no sex-related differences in mortality in a subgroup of patients with septic shock Sex differences in mortality may not have been revealed in our study owing to the high proportion of patients with septic shock uncollected variables in the ICU or after hospital admission may have contributed to the mortality in patients with sepsis further studies on sex-related differences in mortality rates are required there may be unmeasured effects of the COVID pandemic on the sex difference in in-hospital management Continuous efforts are needed to increase adherence to 1-h bundle therapy and decrease sex differences The datasets used and analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request Acute Physiologic Assessment and Chronic Health Evaluation Singer, M. et al. The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA 315, 801–810. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.0287 (2016) Reinhart, K. et al. Recognizing sepsis as a global health priority—A WHO resolution. N. Engl. J. Med. 377, 414–417. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1707170 (2017) Kim, J., Kim, K., Lee, H. & Ahn, S. Epidemiology of sepsis in Korea: A population-based study of incidence, mortality, cost and risk factors for death in sepsis. Clin. Exp. Emerg. Med. 6, 49–63. https://doi.org/10.15441/ceem.18.007 (2019) Evans, L. et al. Surviving sepsis campaign: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021. Intensive Care Med. 47, 1181–1247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-021-06506-y (2021) Levy, M. M., Evans, L. E. & Rhodes, A. The surviving sepsis campaign bundle: 2018 update. Intensive Care Med. 44, 925–928. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-018-5085-0 (2018) Sunden-Cullberg, J., Nilsson, A. & Inghammar, M. Sex-based differences in ED management of critically ill patients with sepsis: A nationwide cohort study. Intensive Care Med. 46, 727–736 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-019-05910-9 (2020) Ko, R. E. et al. Influence of gender on age-associated in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis and septic shock: A prospective nationwide multicenter cohort study. Crit. Care 27, 229. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-023-04515-5 (2023) Nachtigall, I. et al. Gender-related outcome difference is related to course of sepsis on mixed ICUs: A prospective, observational clinical study. Crit. Care 15, R151. https://doi.org/10.1186/cc10277 (2011) Hao, Y. et al. Sex differences in in-hospital management and outcomes of patients with acute coronary syndrome. Circulation 139, 1776–1785. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.037655 (2019) Song, J. et al. Sex-related disparities in the in-hospital management of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Resuscitation 173, 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2022.02.003 (2022) Samuelsson, C., Sjöberg, F., Karlström, G., Nolin, T. & Walther, S. M. Gender differences in outcome and use of resources do exist in Swedish intensive care, but to no advantage for women of premenopausal age. Crit. Care 19, 129. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-015-0873-1 (2015) Madsen, T. E. et al. The DISPARITY study: Do gender differences exist in Surviving Sepsis Campaign resuscitation bundle completion, completion of individual bundle elements, or sepsis mortality?. J. Crit. Care 29(473), e7-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2014.01.002 (2014) Mikkelsen, M. E. et al. Factors associated with nonadherence to early goal-directed therapy in the ED. Chest 138, 551–558. https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.09-2210 (2010) You, J. S. et al. Relationship between time of emergency department admission and adherence to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign bundle in patients with septic shock. Crit. Care 26, 43. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-022-03899-0 (2022) Shin, T. G. et al. Korean Shock Society septic shock registry: A preliminary report. Clin. Exp. Emerg. Med. 4, 146–153. https://doi.org/10.15441/ceem.17.204 (2017) Rhodes, A. et al. Surviving sepsis campaign: International guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock: 2016. Intensive Care Med. 43, 304–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-017-4683-6 (2017) Im, Y. et al. Time-to-antibiotics and clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis and septic shock: A prospective nationwide multicenter cohort study. Crit. Care 26, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-021-03883-0 (2022) Shin, T. G. et al. The adverse effect of emergency department crowding on compliance with the resuscitation bundle in the management of severe sepsis and septic shock. Crit. Care 17, R224. https://doi.org/10.1186/cc13047 (2013) Linnér, A. et al. Short- and long-term mortality in severe sepsis/septic shock in a setting with low antibiotic resistance: A prospective observational study in a Swedish university hospital. Front. Public Health 1, 51. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2013.00051 (2013) Madsen, T. E. & Napoli, A. M. The DISPARITY-II study: Delays to antibiotic administration in women with severe sepsis or septic shock. Acad. Emerg. Med. 21, 1499–1502. https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.12546 (2014) Luethi, N. et al. Gender differences in mortality and quality of life after septic shock: A post-hoc analysis of the ARISE study. J. Crit. Care 55, 177–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2019.11.002 (2020) Sakr, Y. et al. The influence of gender on the epidemiology of and outcome from severe sepsis. Crit. Care 17, R50. https://doi.org/10.1186/cc12570 (2013) Prest, J., Sathananthan, M. & Jeganathan, N. Current trends in sepsis-related mortality in the United States. Crit. Care Med. 49, 1276–1284. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000005017 (2021) Xu, J. et al. Association of sex with clinical outcome in critically ill sepsis patients: A retrospective analysis of the large clinical database MIMIC-III. Shock 52, 146–151. https://doi.org/10.1097/SHK.0000000000001253 (2019) Cerceo, E., Rachoin, J. S., Gaughan, J. & Weisberg, L. Association of gender, age, and race on renal outcomes and mortality in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. J. Crit. Care 61, 52–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2020.10.007 (2021) Wernly, B., Bruno, R. R., Mamandipoor, B., Jung, C. & Osmani, V. Sex-specific outcomes and management in critically ill septic patients. Eur. J. Intern. Med. 83, 74–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejim.2020.10.009 (2021) Peltan, I. D. et al. ED door-to-antibiotic time and long-term mortality in sepsis. Chest 155, 938–946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2019.02.008 (2019) Download references We would like to acknowledge and thank to the Korean Shock Society (KoSS) Investigators: Sang-Min Kim Byuk Sung Ko (Hanyang University Seoul Hospital) Sung-Joon Park (Korea University Guro Hospital) Yoon Sun Jung (Seoul National University Hospital) Juhyun Song (Korea University Anam Hospital) Ji Eun Hwang (Seoul National University Bundang Hospital) Hui Jai Lee (Seoul Metropolitan Government–Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center) Gu Hyun Kang (Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital) Seok Hun Ko (Kyung Hee University Hospital) Chiwon Ahn (Chung-Ang University Hospital) Hyungoo Shin (Hanyang University Guri Hospital) These authors contributed equally: Sung-Hyuk Choi and Jong-Hak Park A list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper Seoul National University College of Medicine Seoul National University Bundang Hospital Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital contributed to study conception and design contributed to data collection and data curation contributed to investigation and methodology contributed to formal analysis and interpretation All authors have made substantial contributions to drafting the article All authors read and approved the final manuscript Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55421-x Breaking news for everyone's consumption coli outbreak that has affected 100 people while more than 3,000 students and teachers recently got food poisoning in Japan The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has been investigating an Enterohemorrhagic E coli (EHEC) outbreak with the local municipality and relevant ministries since mid-June EHEC is also known as Shiga toxin-producing E The outbreak in a kindergarten in Ansan-si Gyeonggi Province had 58 confirmed cases as of late June with 114 people showing symptoms Most of these are students of the kindergarten but three are family members of pupils A total of 21 people — 19 kindergarten students and two family members — were in hospital for inpatient care Sixteen people — 14 students and two family members — had onset of symptoms suspected to be hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) a type of kidney failure associated with E and four people were receiving dialysis treatment KCDC advised people to wash hands and maintain good personal hygiene separate cookware and ensure that people with diarrhea or other symptoms do not cook food Annual tracking for STEC by KCDC suggests the number of cases is relatively low The outbreak is believed to have affected 3,453 people after they ate a supplied lunch that included fried chicken Symptoms included diarrhea and abdominal pain but are not thought to be serious coli was detected in the feces of some patients and was later found in the seaweed salad coli O157 outbreak occurred in primary schools in Sakai City EHEC is a reportable disease in Japan and usually about 4,000 cases are reported annually in the country coli infection include abdominal cramps and diarrhea that can become bloody The incubation period can range from three to eight days and most patients recover within 10 days coli is transmitted to humans primarily through consumption of contaminated food (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.) The 834MW Ansan gas-fired combined cycle power plant (CCPP) is located in the city of Ansan in Gyeonggi-Do Province The 834MW Ansan gas-fired combined cycle power plant (CCPP) is located in the city of Ansan in Gyeonggi-Do Province The plant operates using combined heat and power generation processes and is the first H-class 2+1 multi-shaft power plant installed in Korea Construction began in November 2012 and was completed in January 2015 Korea South-East Power and POSCO Engineering & Construction The KRW887bn ($790m) project was funded by the Korea Development Bank and Korea Finance Corporation The Ansan CCPP uses liquefied natural gas (LNG) as its main fuel and is expected to achieve a fuel utilisation factor of more than 75% It is projected to produce NOx emissions of 7ppm making it one of the world’s most efficient and eco-friendly fossil fuel-fired power plants The power plant is equipped with Siemens’ state-of-the-art power plant technology three SGen6-2000H hydrogen-cooled generators and a SPPA-T3000 instrumentation and control system It also includes two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) produced by BHI under licence from Siemens It operates at an efficiency rate of more than 60% in combined cycle operations and rotates at a speed of 3,600rpm Ansan’s gas turbine package consists of a standardised basic design with a flexibility to be modified as per the geographical location and according to customer requirements The turbine achieves higher efficiency through an evolutionary 3D blading system and uses fast acting variable guide vanes Benson once-through HRSGs include a thin-walled separator for improving operational flexibility instead of the high-pressure drum found in traditional boilers The steam generators maintain natural circulation flow characteristics in order to achieve flow stability and even heat distribution It is expected that waste heat from the power plant will be delivered to HUCES’ district heating facility in Hyangnam The 1,500MW Az-Zour North gas-fired combined cycle power plant is located at Az-Zour Electricity generated at Ansan CCPP will be sold to Power Exchange of Korea while the heat generated will be sold to Ansan Urban Development KOSEP was responsible for the construction management and operations and maintenance (O&M) of the plant Siemens and POSCO Engineering & Construction were awarded the engineering procurement and construction contract for the power plant Siemens was also contracted for the supply of power island equipment and the instrumentation and control system The company will also provide long-term maintenance services for the generators and HRSGs BHI was subcontracted by Siemens to supply two Benson HRSGs while Alstom supplied three generator circuit breakers Swan Systems Engineering was contracted for a sampling and analysis system as well as one shelter-based sampling system for the HRSGs Samhwa was awarded the contract for the design inspection and testing of the Line Mixer for the project FZA was contracted to provide site-specific environmental loads of structural and non-structural components of the plant KEPS performed a design review and construction management support while Pyunghwa Engineering was contracted to conduct technical audits and design reviews Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network. ※ This service is provided by machine translation tool, NAVER papago. The world-leading LED company Seoul Semiconductor (Head office: Ansan-si, Korea, CEO: Chung Hoon Lee, hereinafter Seoul Semiconductor) announced that SunLike, which implements light which comes closest to sunlight, received an RG-1 Eye Safety certification based on the safety of its light source and was recognized for the highest level of safety amongst 25W COB type LED. The interest in the impact of light on health has increased tremendously with the award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to professor Jeffrey C. Hall from Maine University, professor Michel Rosbash from Brandeis University and professor Michael Young from Rockefeller University of USA, acknowledging the causal relationship between biorhythms and human health. So the natural light LED SunLike, which acquired the RG-1 grade in Eye Safety certification, is in the spotlight as a next generation light source. * What is TRI-R technology? TRI-R is a registered trademark of Toshiba Material Co., Ltd. It is a natural light LED light source technology that reproduces the solar spectrum developed by the concept and spectrum technology of natural light. Editor y Director General de smartlighting ©2023 smartlighting / A Journal on Lighting Technologies The court sentenced Cho Doo-soon, a sex offender who left his residence in violation of the night out restriction order, to prison. On the 20th, the Suwon District Court's Ansan Branch Criminal Chamber 5 (Judge Jang Soo-young) sentenced Cho Doo-soon (72) to three months in prison for violating the Electronic Device Attachment Act. "The defendant committed the crime even though he knew that he should not violate the compliance," the court said. "The violation cannot be taken lightly even once, and the defendant is not seriously reflecting on himself, such as changing the amount of fines and seeking a reduction in the amount in the investigative agency and the court." He added, "Although it is less than the year demanded by the prosecutor, the sentence was decided in consideration of the fact that it was close to the legal upper limit of the fine of 10 million won, which is the usual labor center attraction period, and that the defendant committed the crime during the period of conviction and is feared to flee." Cho Doo-soon, who was sentenced to court arrest, said to himself, "I don't know what you mean," adding, "Is it wrong to enter the (police) post?" Cho Doo-soon was charged with leaving his residence in Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do at around 9:05 p.m. on December 4 last year and leaving without permission for about 40 minutes. Cho, who lives alone with his wife, was found to have violated the law even though surveillance personnel and CCTVs at police and city hall posts outside the residence were being monitored at all times. After confirming Cho's unauthorized outing, the control center contacted the Ansan Probation Office, and the probation officer took him home, who was near a police post in front of the residence. At the time, Cho said, "I had a fight with my wife. He explained to probation officers why he argued with his wife when he could not go out, such as "It was difficult to live in prison." Probation officers demanded Cho return home, but Cho refused for a while. Cho Doo-soon was released from prison on December 12, 2020, after being sentenced to 12 years in prison for kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and seriously injuring a first-year elementary school girl in front of a church in Ansan in December 2008. The court bans Cho Doo-soon from going out at night (from 9 p.m. to 9 p.m.)6 a.m.), prohibition of drinking (more than 0.03%), prohibition of access to educational facilities, and prohibition of contact and contact with victims (within 200m of residence) were ordered. `; }) .catch((error) => { console.error( '두 번째 API 요청 중 오류가 발생했습니다:' error ); dataContainer.innerHTML = '두 번째 데이터를 불러오는 중 오류가 발생했습니다 there was an unexpected change in the archery team selection competition which is said to be more difficult than the Olympic gold medal failed to participate in this year's Paris Olympics after failing to win the third round of selection Ansan ranked 21st overall with a total score of 14.5 points in the first to third rounds of the 2024 national archery team at Gwangju International Archery Field on the 11th and was eliminated without making the top 16 the top 16 players from men and women will advance to the fourth round by the third round the top eight players from men and women will be selected according to their final performance but failed to secure many points due to poor performances in the second and third rounds Ansan will not be able to participate in the 33rd Olympic Games to be held in Paris three-time Hangzhou Asian Games champion Shim Eui-hyun took first place with a total of 55 points until the third round Lim Hae-jin came in second (46 points) and Yeom Hye-jung came in third (45 points) came in 11th (35.5 points) and Kang Chae-young came in 13th (33.5 points) and Oh Jin-hyuk passed the third round in 1st a two-time winner of the Hangzhou Asian Games will continue his competition by ranking fifth Each of the eight men and women who passed the third round of the competition will qualify for the national archery team They will determine the three male and female protagonists who will compete in the Paris Olympics through two final evaluation matches from March to April Anyone who resides in South Korea for more than 6 months is automatically registered to Korean health insurance (and it is not free) It is possible to be exempted from this under certain conditions Attention! If you don’t request exemption, you will have to pay for this insurance. In 2024, the monthly cost is around 150,000 KRW. Exemption is not mandatory, so you can absolutely keep it in addition to your own private insurance (which is mandatory for the WHV application) Keep reading to learn more about exemption You can qualify for this exemption if you have a private health insurance whose coverage is equivalent to that of Korean public health insurance According to experiences of past and current working holiday makers in Korea the NHIS (National Health Insurance Service) requires you to have insurance with a coverage amount of 1 billion KRW If these conditions are not met, the NHIS will reject your request for exemption (exceptions apply for qualifying nationals of France, Japan, and the US; requirements explained later) you should already have private health insurance double check whether your insurance policy meets the requirements for exemption as defined by the NHIS The NHIS writes the following in its Guidance for foreigners: “Date of Loss of Eligibility: when submitting the “Employee Health Insurance Withdrawal Application” form within 14 days of the date when acquisition of eligibility was reported the date of acquisition of eligibility becomes the date of loss of eligibility” It seems possible to seek exemption in the 14 days after you are added to Korean public health insurance (which would occur 6 months following your initial entry into Korea) working holiday makers choose to seek exemption even before being added to public health insurance to avoid missing any deadlines and being forced to pay the monthly fees We advise that you start a bit early as well the NHIS will send you a letter informing you of upcoming registration to public health insurance We advise that you do not wait until you receive this letter to start your exemption request as it is possible that the letter may be delayed or lost To request exemption, go to the NHIS centre of your place of residence. No appointment is needed. Bring the following documents based on your nationality (see source): *According to accounts from working holiday makers in Korea a translation by the Papago app (for example) is sufficient You’ll be greeted at the counter by someone who speaks English The representative will give you an Application for Exclusion for Health Insurance for Overseas Korean and Foreigner There are other NHIS centres in the Seoul region You can go to one of them for your exemption application Find more details about the NHIS centres on this website The NHIS does not mention other centres in the rest of the country please consider sharing it in the comments below According to some working holiday makers in Korea it is also possible to apply for exemption remotely via phone (service available in English) You can contact the NHIS to ask for instructions Contact the NHIS A few months after the start of your working holiday you will receive a letter (at the address that you provided when applying for your Residence Card) saying that you owe an outstanding balance to Korea for health coverage a past participant shared with us that she had gone to the Korean insurance bureau in Sindorim It is possible that you will need to pay a few months’ insurance If you didn’t apply for exemption during your WHV remember to surrender your Residence Card at the end of your WHV Otherwise you will still be registered and billed for Korean public insurance The city of Ansan in Gyeonggi Province encompasses islands Among its islands are the three inhabited islands of Daebu — which comprises the cluster of Daebu and 10 deserted islands including Nue Island and Halmi Island Daebu Island (40.34km²) is a prime travel destination near Seoul boasting incredible scenery as well as a view of mudflats during low tide as well as the sunset It’s a great place for socially distanced travel to escape the monotony of the everyday the port has become a popular spot for travelers to take pictures of the sunset as the sun disappears beyond the horizon behind three towering wind power generators (known as the “triplets”) and the deserted island of Nue Travelers can also make special memories in Ansan by walking along the sea route that appears twice a day during low tide I could see the route emerging as the sea retreated: a 1-kilometer cement road showing me the way to Nue Island from Tando Port The walkable path appears and disappears with the ebb and flow of the Yellow Sea This means that the ocean landscape changes between high and low tide Those wishing to walk along this road need to time their visit to the tide times travelers heading toward the island risk getting stranded Tide times can be found on the Daebu Island website (daebudo.com) or the website Bada Time (badatime.com) Walking along the pathway when the waters have receded visitors can see the tidal flats sprawling on either side This is a setting for all sorts of tidal flat activities After a roughly 20-minute walk past the “triplets” toward Nue Island I could see a large sculpture measuring 7 meters in height This sculpture in the shape of a person was built with bamboo and rebar Next to the sculpture was a sign that read “K-Portrait” (created by Choi Pyung-gon The work is a representation of people living in the contemporary era It was put in place as part of a public art program by the Ansan Cultural Foundation that combines art with nature I walked along the sea route until I reached Nue the name literally means “silkworm” — so given because the island resembles a silkworm when seen from a distance While there are no people living on the rocky island it has its own life growing on it: the island is dominated by green pines Several stacked stones — known in Korean as “doltap” — had been put in place by visitors making wishes on them A walk around Nue’s full circumference is not especially taxing It’s a small island with an area of 0.4 square kilometers which means you can see all of it in a 30-minute walk One site worth seeing on the island is the lighthouse observatory at its summit The exhibits on display there include various images and archival materials related to Nue’s natural environment along with models of lighthouses in Korea and overseas visitors can take in the landscape of surrounding islands — including Daebu Island and Tan Island — and their fishing villages put in place to help ocean vessels travel safely Operating hours vary with the tide times; admission is free Five minutes by car from the Tan Island harbor visitors can see an unusual landscape: the Daebu Mine Sedimentary Rocks (Gyeonggi Provincial Monument No which includes a lake and the titular rock layer dinosaur tracks and 23 plant and animal fossils were discovered during the extraction of rocks Some of the fossils are on display today at the Ansan Fishing Village Folk Museum; three particularly well-preserved specimens have been left in place at the layer Based on dating of the sedimentary particles deposited by the eruption of a volcano the sedimentary rock layer is estimated to have been formed around 70 million years ago — after the Mesozoic Era The area had not yet attracted many visitors The concrete structures once used for the quarry remained in place surrounded by the odd doltap erected by visitors The Daebu Mine Sedimentary Rocks have a path that allows visitors to walk around its perimeter I took the path up to the top of a low hill where I could see the beautiful landscape of the Yellow Sea The hill had two observation platforms at the top I could look out on the lake and the vast cliff face of the mine’s rock layer I could see the vast expanse of the Yellow Sea It’s a hidden observation site with few visitors For those looking to taste more of Daebu Island’s hidden charms I recommend walking along the Daebu Haesol Path It’s an opportunity to walk the full perimeter of Daebu Island along the coast The first course in particular is renowned for its scenery offering sights and activities at the “Ant’s Waist” (gaemiheori) arch bridge and the Jonghyeon fishing experience tourism village The course winds around Bungmang Hill and Gubong Island traveling over the arch bridge to the setting sun observatory “Every course on the Daebu Haesol Path has a different landscape with its hills a cultural tourism guide for the city of Ansan “For those who would like to see fishing village landscapes which starts at the Heulgot village center,” she said which includes the Daebu Mine Sedimentary Rocks.” I headed toward Bungmang Hill (101.7 meters) to start my walk along the first Daebu Pine Forest Road course This is a low-slung mountain on Gubong Island The course goes for 11.3 km from its starting point at the Daebu Island Tourist Information Center to its ending point at Donju Seoman Road The route that starts at Bungmang Hill midway along the first course is a walking trail that allows hikers to see the ocean landscape as they listen to the sounds of the waves and seagulls The hill had many pine trees that had grown profusely in the ocean breeze I could also see the “Daebu Haesol Path Course No 1” ribbons that had been hung from the trees to help hikers avoid losing their way After about 50 minutes of walking on the hill road This bridge connects Gubong Island with its uninhabited neighbor Gokkal Island Its presence allows hikers to travel to Gokkal even when the tide is high visitors can venture down below the bridge and walk along the gravel beach the setting sun observatory is roughly a 10-minute walk away The location affords a view of both Incheon Bridge and the Yellow Sea sunset At the center of the observatory is a work called “Keeping the Sunset in the Heart,” which artistically represents the setting sun and its colors The sight of the setting sun framed by the rounded band and sunset-shaped structure is famous for its beauty This place is considered the top spot for picture-taking on Daebu Island As you make your way back from the observatory I recommend walking along the coast rather than through the hills The typical course is to hike through the hills to visit the sunset observatory and then to return along the coast after seeing the sun set over the ocean you can only follow the coastal role below the observatory when the tide is out a walk along the coast is a chance to see the sea up close as it sparkles in the sun while listening to the sounds of the waves and the gulls It gives the sense of enjoying a work of art created by nature Also visible on the coastal route are Halmae (Old Woman) Rock and Harabae (Old Man) Rock which are referred to collectively as the “Gubong menhirs.” The legend goes that after her husband went out to fish the old woman waited so long that she turned into a rock; returning and finding her in that condition the old husband turned into a rock himself The large rocks offer their own spectacular sunset view Those visiting via public transportation can take the No 123 bus toward Tan Island from the stations of Ansan and Oido along Line 4 of the Seoul Subway they can disembark at Bangameori Wharf or the last stop at Tando Harbor The premier dish on Daebu Island is kalguksu knife-cut noodles with bajirak short-necked clams or assorted seafood Thanks to the fresh clams caught along the island’s fertile tidal flats the noodle soup boasts an exquisitely rich and homey flavor Restaurants specializing in kalguksu can be found all over the island Worthwhile stops: Daebu Island also has an arboretum with an ocean view it is located at 399 Daebuhwanggeum Road in Ansan’s Danwon District (031-8008-6795) It boasts a total area of 1.01 million square meters and some 1,000 varieties of coastal flora and other plants Other distinctive spots include the “Imagination Observatory,” where visitors can take in the Yellow Sea coast landscape of Nue and the eco-ponds of Bada Neourwon and Amseogwon Near the harbor on Tan Island is the Ansan Fishing Village Folk Museum (7 Daebuhwanggeum Road which offers a glimpse at fishing lives and culture It includes exhibits showing daily life for people in Daebu’s island villages as well as various examples of organisms from the tidal flat ecosystem It’s open from 9 am to 6 pm (closed Mondays) Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr] One of the most colorful places I went to during my stay in South Korea was the Ansan Star Village We went to Ansan Star Village in Gyeonggi Province after our visit to OneMount Waterpark’s big slides and OneMount Snow Park’s adorable snow dogs in Goyang City The ride to Ansan Star Village was a bottom-numbing one hour long It was almost sundown when we reached Ansan Star Village It was one of the newest attractions in the highly populated Gyeonggi Province and that was one of the reasons why KTO incuded this in our itinerary We were welcomed by the park manager when we got there and warmly led us to the in-house restaurant for dinner I was so happy when he told us that they will be serving us Beef Bulgogi—my one-and-only favorite Korean dish—for supper The Beef Bulgogi was cooked in front of us who only ate ready-to-serve Beef Bulgogi back in my hometown Manila I have stuck with the principle that one can’t really enjoy or immerse himself in a culture’s food if he doesn’t eat it the way the natives do And during our dinner in Ansan Star Village and me and my travel buddies had to Indian-sat on the floor I really had a hard time sitting like that because of my huge tummy But the deliciously cooked Beef Bulgogi and the generous amount of side dishes served to us reminded me of my traveling-foodie-mantra (with the help of a small chair LOL) and I immensely enjoyed it and to the park that was literally a Star Village but the Ansan Star Village continued to be bright the Ansan Star Village gets its glamour from the sceneries (aka perfect backdrops for selfies) and hidden artworks covered in festive lights akin to the stars of the night sky attracts people from all walks of life—including me Some of the notable spots in the park are the Proposal Road They are mostly tunnels covered in bright lights we didn’t come to Ansan Star Village for romantic purposes so we just wandered around like lone wolves together I felt like I was walking amidst the night sky itself Each corner was dotted with stars for lights I thought that it had this certain charm that appeals to virtually anyone and as we strolled around in a river of stars we all smiled to ourselves and passed the time Experience Strolling the night skies in South Korea’s Ansan Star Village Special thanks to Korea Tourism Organization and AirAsia for making this trip possible. Get fresh travel stories straight into your inbox Melo Villareal is the Online Publisher of Outoftownblog.com He is an Accountant by profession who left the corporate world at the age of 23 to explore his beautiful country and the rest of the world Melo works as a part-time Social Media Manager for local and international clients His full-time work focuses on discovering interesting culture explore different cuisines and take memorable photos from local and international destinations he's visiting Get the best travel stories straight into your inbox Some of the pages on this travel blog contain affiliate links Whenever you buy something or book travel-related services through one of these affiliate links We get a small commission at no extra cost to you we only recommend products and services that we feel are helpful and beneficial to our readers To use social login you have to agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. Privacy Policy Here you'll find all collections you've created before.