Purpose: This qualitative research was conducted to explore the experiences of social workers encountering peer conflicts among abused boys living in child counseling protection center (center) and psychosocially intervening to resolve peer conflicts. Methods: The participants were four social workers who were caring for twenty abused boys at the center. Data were collected through participatory observation, in-depth interview, and field data. The collected data were analyzed by emic coding. Results: First, the experiences of social workers encountering peer conflict phenomena among abused boys were ‘psychological distortion from abuse trauma’, ‘manifestation of impulse or aggression to trivial stimuli’, and ‘lack of mutual respect among peers’. Second, the experiences of social workers intervening in resolving peer conflicts among abused boys were ‘stabilize offended feeling’, ‘maintain stability through verbal and non-verbal interventions’, ‘apply positive techniques to improve peer relations’, and ‘help abused children overcome trauma and grow’. Conclusion: Social workers confirmed that the role of social welfare experts was important to secure understanding and insight into peer conflicts between abused children and to convert the pain of abused children into positive energy. The results of this study will help social welfare professionals develop a family-centered abuse trauma recovery program for abused children.

Central precocious puberty (CPP) is less common in boys than girls; very little data is reported on effect of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog (GnRHa) treatment in boys with CPP. The aim of the study was to evaluate growth changes in boys with CPP and early puberty (EP) treated with GnRHa therapy for 1 year. In 60 (39 CPP and 21 EP) boys with confirmed diagnosis of CPP and EP, auxological [height, height standard deviation score (Ht SDS), bone age (BA), Predicted adult height (PAH)] and endocrinological parameters were obtained at baseline, at 6 months, and at 1 year after GnRHa treatment in boys with CPP and EP. During the treatment a decline in Ht SDS and growth velocity, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone levels were observed (p＜0.01); and a deceleration in the maturation of bones after 1 year GnRHa treatment was observed (p＜0.01). PAH SDS was increased during treatment with GnRHa (p＜0.01). There was significant difference in PAH SDS between organic CPP and non-organic CPP (p＜0.05). The present data indicate that GnRHa therapy significantly improves growth prognosis in boys with CPP and EP.

The purpose of this paper is to look into pro analysis in which null argument is identified as zero pronoun (namely, pro) for the Korean null argument constructions. It has been argued that the pro analysis is superior to the ellipsis analysis in which null argument is identified as empty NP. However, this paper points out that there still seem to be potential problems with the pro analysis. It is proven that the validity of continuation test which is provided as a test for the pro analysis is questionable in respects of theory and empiricism. Furthermore, it is shown in this paper that while under the pro analysis only sloppy like identity interpretation is yielded out in the Korean null argument constructions, in fact genuine sloppy identity interpretation is yielded out in them. This means that the ellipsis analysis must be still useful even though the pro analysis is more pervasive in explaining the Korean null argument constructions.

This study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity and population structure of 70 amaranth accessions collected from South and Southeast Asia using 14 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. In total, 67 alleles were detected, with an average of 4.79 per locus. Rare alleles comprised a large portion (46.3%) of the detected alleles, and 29 unique alleles associated with rice accessions were also discovered. The mean major allele frequency (MAF), genetic diversity (GD) and polymorphic information content (PIC) of the 14 SSR loci were 0.77, 0.36, and 0.34, respectively. A model-based structural analysis revealed the presence of three subpopulations. The genetic relationships revealed by the neighbor-joining tree method were fairly consistent with the structure-based membership assignments for most of the accessions. All 70 accessions showed a clear relationship to each cluster without any admixtures. We observed a relatively low extent of genetic exchange within or among amaranth species from South and Southeast Asia. The genetic diversity results could be used to identify amaranth germplasms and so facilitate their use for crop improvement.