• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.158-170
• /
• 2001

Background : Although an oxidants and antioxidants imbalance has been considered in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there is a paucity of reports focussing on the smoking-induced changes of oxidants and antioxidants in COPD. Method : The concentration of antioxidants (ascorbic acid, uric acid, retinol, and $\alpha$- & $\gamma$-tocopherol) was measured in the serum and induced sputum of 30 healthy controls and 34 stable COPD patients using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The inhibition of lipid peroxidation as an index of antioxidant capacity was measured in the serum by a TBA assay. Results : The serum concentration of ascorbic acid, $\alpha$-tocopherol, and retinol were significantly lower in the patients with COPD than in healthy controls ($484.8{\pm}473.3$ vs $1497.8{\pm}819.2\;pmol/L$, $48.38{\pm}17.34$ vs $73.96{\pm}26.29\;pmol/L$, p<0.001, and $9.51{\pm}8.33$ vs $15.01{\pm}5.88\;pmol/L$, p<0.05, respectively, mean$\pm$SD). However, there were little differences in the ascorbic acid and uric acid concentrations in the induced sputum between the COPD patients and the controls. The induced sputum to serum ratio of ascorbic acid was significantly higher in COPD patients compared with healthy control (0.375 vs 0.085, p<0.05). In the normal controls, the serum ascorbic acid concentration was lower in smokers than in nonsmokers ($1073{\pm}536$ vs $1757{\pm}845\;pmol/L$, p<0.05), but the level was still higher than that of the COPD patients (p<0.05). The serum retinol levels were correlated with $FEV_1$ in COPD patients (r=0.58, p<0.05). The products of lipid peroxidation were increased in normal smokers and COPD compared with norma1 nonsmokers ($115.56{\pm}19.93$ vs $120.02{\pm}24.56$ vs $91.87{\pm}20.71\;{\mu}mol/{\mu}mol$ Pi of liposome, p<0.05). Conclusion : Cigarette smoking may induce the dep1etion of serum antioxidants and this depletion of antioxidants is suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of COPD.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.534-541
• /
• 2009

Word recognition test (WRT) for the children can be useful for diagnosing the degree of communication disability, prescribing hearing instruments, planning aural rehabilitation and speech therapy, and determination of site of lesions. The Korean standard monosyllabic word lists for preschoolers (KS-MWL-P) were developed considering the criteria given by the literatures. However, the authors of KS-MWL-P suggested more children should be included to verify homogeneity of the lists using psychometric function curve since only 8 children participated in the developing process. The purpose of this study was to explore the homogeneity of KS-MWL-P for supplementing the limitations of the lists employing psychometric analysis. To 23 preschoolers who have normal-hearing, 100 monosyllabic KS-MWL-P words were examined with the pictures. Psychometric function curve with linear slopes of 20% and 80%'s correct rates through accounting recognition scores of each monosyllabic word at variable intensities from -10 to 40 dBHL was obtained and analyzed. As a result, s-shaped psychometric function curve was presented with increasing correct rate depending on intensity and showed no statistical significant differences among each word and list. The congruous graph shapes among lists also indicated good homogeneity and the list 1,2,3,4's average slopes were 4.48, 3.86, 4.65, 4.50. It was verified that the homogeneity was suitable because the analysis of variance showed no statistical significance among lists (p>0.05). However, KS-MWL-P's order of slope according to the order of the number of items, $1{\sim}10$, $1{\sim}20$, $1{\sim}25$ showed no difference with the p-value of 0.93, 0.59, 0.91, 0.70 for the lists 1,2,3, and 4, respectively. Although KS-MWL-P was assumed that the lower-numbered items were easy for testing younger ages, this study's results could not agree with the author's conclusion. Considering this matter, rearranging of the number of items should be performed according to the analysis of slope suggested by this study for testing younger children with easier items. Other than this, in conclusion, KS-MWL-P was proved to be useful for clinical and rehabilitative evaluating and training tools for preschoolers.