• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 2002

Background: Viral antigens presented on the cell surface in association with MHC class I molecules are recognized by CD8+ T cells. MHC restricted peptides are important in eliciting cellular immune responses. As peptide antigens have a weak immunigenicity, pH-sensitive liposomes were used for peptide delivery to induce effective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. In the previous study, as the HBx peptides could induce specific CTLs in vitro, we tested whether the HLA-A2/$K^b$ transgenic mice that were immunized by HBx-derived peptides could be protected from a viral challenge. Methods: HBx-peptides encapsulated by pH-sensitive liposomes were prepared. $A2K^b$ transgenic mice were immunized i.m. on days one and seven with the indicated concentrations of liposome-encapsulated peptides. Three weeks later, mice were infected with $1{\times}10^7pfu$/head of recombinant vaccinia virus (rVV)-HBx via i.p. administration. The ovaries were extracted from the mice, and the presence of rVV-HBx in the ovaries was analyzed using human TK-143B cells. IFN-${\gamma}$ secretion by these cells was directly assessed using a peptide-pulsed target cell stimulation assay with either peptide-pulsed antigen presenting cells (APCs), concanavalin A ($2{\mu}g/ml$), or a vehicle. To generate peptide-specific CTLs, splenocytes obtained from the immunized mice were stimulated with $20{\mu}g/ml$ of each peptide and restimulated with peptide-pulsed APC four times. The cytotoxic activity of the CTLs was assessed by standard $^{51}Cr$-release assay and intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ assay. Results: Immunization of these peptides as a mixture in pH-sensitive liposomes to transgenic mice induced a good protective effect from a viral challenge by inducing the peptide-specific CD8+ T cells. Mice immunized with $50{\mu}g/head$ were much better protected against viral challenge compared to those immunized with $5{\mu}g$/head, whereas the mice immunized with empty liposomes were not protected at all. After in vitro CTL culture by peptide stimulation, however, specific cytotoxicity was much higher in the CTLs from mice immunized with $5{\mu}g/head$ than $50{\mu}g/head$ group. Increase of the number of cells that intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ secreting cell among CD8+ T cells showed similar result. Conclusion: Mice immunized with XEPs within pH-sensitive liposome were protected against viral challenge. The protective effect depended on the amount of antigen used during immunization. XEP-3-specific CTLs could be induced by peptide stimulation in vitro from splenocytes obtained from immunized mice. The cytotoxic effect of CTLs was measured by $^{51}Cr$-release assay and the percentage of accumulated intracellular IFN-${\gamma}$ secreting cells after in vitro restimulation was measured by flow cytometric analysis. The result of $^{51}Cr$-release cytotoxicity test was well correlated with that of the flow cytometric analysis. Viral protection was effective in immunized group of $50{\mu}g/head$, while in the in vitro restimulation, it showed more spectific response in $5{\mu}g$/head group.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2005

It was clarified that ethanol extract herb-acupuncture solution (EE-UD) and hydrotherapy herb-acupuncture solution (WE-UD) in Ulmus davidiana Planch (Ulmaceae), are the excellent inhibitors of cathepsin K and L. WE-UD inhibited cathepsin K when IC50 value was 5.32 ${\square}g$/ml, and suppressed cathepsin L when IC50 value was 6.34 ${\square}g$/ml. However, EE-UD indicated the activity of inhibiting cathepsin K and L in the level of 1.45 ${\square}g$/ml and 2.43 ${\square}g$/ml, thus it showed more significance than WE-UD. It could be observed that EE-VD is an excellent inhibitor to cathepsin K with Ki value of 0.8 ${\square}g$/ml. This activity is increased by 10-fold even in the analytical experiment when having operations like glutathione in pH 7.0. Also, this supports the mixture of GSH thiolate anion, thus it was thought that this increase in effectiveness is probably attributable to the enhanced chemical function in the combinations of herb-acupuncture solution towards a place of activity in enzyme. WE-UD showed the time-dependent inhibiting property, thus it allowed to know the disunion and the compounding speed in constant cathepsin K during the process of experiment. Finally, EE-UD was proved to suppress the absorbent bone ash in the experiment related to osteoclast in rats for test, and to the bone in rodent. It was proved that WE-UD has the effect of inhibiting the protease in cathepsin K and L, and in collagen of bone. These results strongly suggest that it is effective in preventing the progress of bone damage, which was induced due to cathepsin K. Also, it obtained the conclusion that it is effective to the reabsorption activity of bone in the bone marrow cells.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.388-395
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• 2016

This paper explores the photocatalytic sensitivity of cement mortar incorporated with recycled $TiO_2$ from waste water sludge. Basically, $TiO_2$ cluster sank down slowly to the bottom of cement mortar specimen before setting and hardening process. This leads the mismatch of $TiO_2$ concentration on the top and the bottom faces of a specimen. This poorly dispersed $TiO_2$-cement mortar naturally exhibits poor NOx removal efficiency especially on the top of cementitious structure. In architectural engineering application such as building or housing structures, one can simply filp over from the bottom so that more $TiO_2$ concentrated surface can be placed outward into the air. However, in highway pavement case, this could not be applicable due to in-situ installation of concrete pavement. Hence, the dispersion of $TiO_2$ cluster inside the cementitous material is getting important issue onto road construction application. To elaborate this issue, according to our results, silica fume, high-ranged water reducer, viscosity agent, blast furnace slag were not enhanced much of dispersion characteristics of $TiO_2$ cluster. The combination of foaming agent and accelerator of hardening with viscosity agent and small grain size of fine aggregate may help the dispersion of $TiO_2$ inside cementitious materials. Even though the enhanced dispersion were applied to the specimen, NOx removal efficiency doest not change much for the top surface of the specimen. This concurrently affected by the presence of tiny air voids and the dispersion of $TiO_2$ in that these voids could easily adsorbed NOx gas with the aid of large surface area.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.341-351
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• 2009

There is tremendous variability in the ways patients present with taste problems. Because of complex and multifactorial etiological background, it is not simple to evaluate patients with taste disorders. Accurate assessment of patients' status by prudent, thorough history taking and symptom analysis is the most essential for exact diagnosis of taste disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with taste problems as a primary complaint. Consecutive series of 50 patients (12 males and 38 females, mean age $53.6\;{\pm}\;14.7$ years) were included for the present study. All subjects were requested to complete a comprehensive questionnaire. Clinical evaluation procedures included oral examination, interview, questionnaire analysis, panoramic radiography, blood test and measurement of salivary flow rate. The obtained results were as follows: 1. Among the patients, 36 patients (72%) complained of oral mucosal pain or burning sensation. Of these patients, 18 patients (36%) were diagnosed as burning mouth syndrome. 2. Nineteen patients (38%) complained of subjective oral dryness. The flow rate of unstimulated whole saliva was less than 0.1 mL/min in 14 patients (28%) and 17 (34%) had a stimulated whole salivary flow rate of less than 0.5 mL/min. 3. Among the types of taste disorders, hypogeusia, the most frequently reported, was found in 25 patients (50%), dysgeusia in 18 patients (36%), phantogeusia in 15 patients (30%), hypergeusia in 10 patients (20%), and ageusia in 5 patients (10%). Nineteen patients (38%) reported more than one type of taste disorder and the most frequent combination was dysgeusia + hypogeusia (n=6, 12%). 4. Based on data from the medical and dental histories and examinations, the patients were assigned to 12 probable causal categories. Taste disorders due to oral mucosal diseases and idiopathic taste disorder were the most frequent (n=9; 18%, each), followed by psychogenic taste disorder (n=8; 16%), drug-induced taste disorder (n=7; 14%), and taste disorder due to dry mouth (n=6; 12%). These 5 categories of taste disorder accounted for 78% of all cases in this study.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.257-265
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to establish the appropriate guidelines in the sedation techniques and to organize the continuing education programs for the sedation in future under the direction of Committee on Sedation, Education and Research under the Korean Academy of Pediatric Dentistry(KAPD). The surveys on the sedation technique were performed on 111 organizations which practices the sedation and responded to the survey via online and e-mail by February 2014. The collected survey were analyzed. The purpose of sedation was mainly to manage the children's behavior and its uses were primarily on 3~4 years old children. The most frequent duration of treatment was 1~2 hours to treat both maxillary and mandible. The preferred dosages of sedative drugs were chloral hydrate(CH) 50~70 mg/kg, hydorxyzine(Hx) 1~2 mg/kg, and intramuscular midazolam(Mida IM) 0.1~0.2 mg/kg. The preferred combination of the sedative drugs were CH + Hx + $N_2O/O_2$(67.6%), CH + Hx + Mida submucosal administration (SM) + $N_2O/O_2$(29.7%), and Mida IM + $N_2O/O_2$(23.4%). The administration of additional sedatives was carried out at 48%, mainly using Midazolam. 87.5% of the respondents experienced the adverse effects of the sedation such as vomiting/retching, agitation during recovery, subclinical respiratory depression, staggering, and etc. Among them, only 20% periodically retrain the emergency management protocol. About the discharge criteria for patients after the sedation, the respondents either showed a lack of clear criteria or did not follow the recommended discharge criteria. 86% of the respondents expressed the interests in taking a course on the sedation and they wanted to learn mostly about the sedation-related emergency management, the safe dosage of the sedative drugs, and etc. The use of sedation in pediatric dentistry must be consider a patient's safety as top priority and each dentist must show the evidence of sound practices for the prevention of any possible medical errors. Therefore, KAPD must establish the proper sedation guidelines and it needs to provide the systematic technical training program of sedation-related emergency management for pediatric dentists.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.179-188
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• 2000

Background : The decision to institute mechanical ventilation for patients with COPD is very difficult. The accurate information regarding weaning success and long-term survival will improve communication with patients and family and enhance informed consent. The aims of this study are to describe outcomes and identify variables associated with survival for patients experiencing mechanical ventilation with an acute respiratory failure of COPD. Methods : The 53 cases of mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit in the National Medical Center from 1989 to 1998 were included. Data were collected retrospectively from medical records. Weaning success rate and 3 month and 1 year survival rates were estimated. Factors associated with weaning success and survival were determined. Results : Weaning sucess was 55%. For success group with 29 cases, 3 months survival rate was 61% and 1 year survival rate 37%. APACHE II scores in weaning success group were significantly lower than those in the failure group. Factors such as age, sex, comorbid-illnes. previous steroid use, causes of respiratory failure, RVH or arrhythmia on EKG, serum albumin level, arterial blood pH, $PaO_2$, $PaCO_2$, $FEV_1$ duration of mechanical ventilation and steroid use during mechanical ventilation were not associated with weaning success. Only age and serum albumin level were associated with 3 month and 1 year survival. No COPD patients of age more than 75 years and serum albumin level less than 3g/dl had survived at 1 year after weaning success. Conclusion : While weaning success from mechanical ventilation can be predicted by APACHE II score in COPD patients, long-term outcomes of survivors may be influenced by nutritional status and age.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1154-1166
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• 1998

Background : In the management of patients whose primary chemotherapy has failed, careful assessment is essential. It is important to find out as accurate a chemotherapy history as possible. Preferably it should contain the drugs which has never used before. The purpose of present study is establishment of retreatment regimen for pulmonary tuberculosis. The present report concerns the results of retreatment of pulmonary tuberculosis patients treated at National Masan Tuberculosis Hospital. Methods : Retrospective cohort study was made of 104 drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis patients who were treated by five regimens between Jan. 1994 and Nov. 1996. All the patients taken medicine for second anti-tuberculosis regimens for the first time. We separated the patients by three groups(Group I ; OFX+PTA+CS+PAS+Aminoglycoside, Group II : PZA+PTA+CS+PAS+Aminoglycoside, Group III : PZA+OFX+PTA+PAS+Aminoglycoside). Results : The age distribution was most frequent in fourth decade(36patients, 34.6%) and the mean age was 42.6 year. The sex distribution was more frequent in the males(81 patients, 85.7%). There was 31 patients(29.8%) with combined diseaes, 18 patients with complication and 24 patients(27.9%) with family history. Primary chemotherapy regimens were HERZ(S or K) in 48 patients (46.2%), HER(S or K) in 41 patients(39.4%) and others in 15 patients(14.4%). Result of drug sensitivity test showed that the resistance to INH and RFP is in 68 patients(65.4%), RFP is 12 patients(11.5%), INH is in 3 patients(2.9%) and all sensitive to INH and RFP is 3 patients(2.9%). The clinical symptoms on admission were coughing(89.4%), sputum(69.2%), dyspnea on exertion(37.5%), weight loss(33.7%) blood tinged sputum(15.4%) and others. The extent of disease on the radiograph was far-advanced in 73 patients(70.2%), moderate in 28 patients(26.9%) and minimal in 3 patients(2.9%). The side effects for drugs were gastrointestinal troubles in 31 patients(29.8%), arthralgia in 22 patients(21.2%), skin rash in 12 patients(11.5%) and others. The negative conversion rate on sputum AFB smear was 85.6%(87.5% in Group I, 80.0% in Group II and 90.5% in Group III). The average negative conversion time on sputum was 4 month(4.0 month in Group I, 4.6 month in Group II and 3.0 month in Group III). Conclusion : In the retreatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, ofloxacin is useful drug for the patients who are not available to use PZA and combination of PZA and OFX can be use effectively substituting for CS.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.309-320
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• 1997

Background : There are many suggested methods for the indirect determination of anaerobic threshold(AT) using the changes of ventilatory parameters in response to ventilatory load accompanying the increase of blood lactic acid level during exercise and the threshold derived from them is called ventilatory threshold(VT). They include ventilatory equivalent method(VEM), End-tidal $PO_2$ method($PETO_2$). V-slope method(VSM), and respiratory quotient method(RQ). But in the patients with chronic airway obstruction(CAO), the AT determined by ventilatory methods may not reflect true AT because the patients with CAO show inadequate ventilatory response to the increase of blood lactic acid level during excercise. Methods : For the investigation of detection rate and reliability of above four VT determination methods in the patients with CAO, we performed the symptom-limited and maximal incremental exercise test in 17 patients with CAO and 12 normal controls. The incremental workload was 10 W /min in CAO group and 25 W/min in control group. The reliability of VT in each group was investigated by the calculation of Spearman correlation coefficient. Results : The detection rates of VT were 100% by RQ, 91.7% by both VEM and $POETO_2$, and 83.3% by VSM in normal control group, while 94.1% by RQ, 64.7% by VEM and $PETO_2$, and 83.3% by VSM in CAO group. Good correlations were noted among VEM, $POETO_2$, and VSM except RQ in normal control group. But there was no significant correlation except between VEM and $PETO_2$ in CAO group. Conclusions : RQ is very sensitive but crude and VEM is near similar to $PETO_2$. The clinical usefulness of VT determined by ventilatory method might be limited in patients with severe CAO.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 2000

Background : Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase is a natural inhibitor that counteracts pro teolytic enzymes essential to the invasion of cancer cell. Whether or not TIMP-2 gene transfer via adenovirus could inhibit the invasion of lung cancer cell iη vitro was evaluated for the future purpose of gene therapy against lung cancer. Methods : Recombinant adenovirus-TIMP-2(Ad-TIMP-2) was generated by homologous recombination after pACCMV-TIMP-2 and pJM17 were cotransfected into 293 cell by standard calcium phosphate coprecipitate method. Calu-6, one of the most invasive lung cancer cells, was transduced with Ad-TIMP-2 or Ad-$\beta$gal. Anchorage-independent growth and invasiveness were assessed by soft agar clonogenicity assay and invasion assay using two-chamber, well divided by matrigel. Results : Ad-TIMP-2 transduced calu-6 cells produced biologically active TIMP-2 more than 50 times more than parental calu-6. TIMP-2 gene transfer did not suppress the in vitro tumorigenicity. However, two chamber well assay revealed that Ad-TIMP-2 transduction reduced the invasiveness of calu-6 efficiently (12% compared with parental cell) even at low 10moi. Conclusion : Even though TIMP-2 gene transfer did not inhibit in vitro tumorigenicity, it did inhibit invasion of lung cancer cell in vitro. The inhibition of invasion by Ad-TIMP-2 may be a useful strategy for the treatment of lung cancer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1371-1377
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• 2006

Gene polymorphisms that are associated with sodium homeostasis in the body, such as $\alpha-adducin$ (ADDI, Gly460Trp), angiotensinogen (AGT, Met235Thr), and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE, Ins/Del) may increase the risk for the development of hypertension. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between the singular and combined effects of ADD1, AGT, ACE genotypes, and blood pressure in elderly population. Moreover, we examined the interaction of sodium intake and polymorphisms of aforementioned genes and their effects on blood pressure. Among one hundred and nine female subjects, aged 60 and over (mean 75.9 yr), the major alleles for ADD1, AGT, and ACE polymorphisms in the studied population were Gly (66.1%), Thr (64.2%), Ins (83.5%), respectively. Analysis on the combined effects of genetic variation showed that subjects who were both ADD1 Trp/Trp and ACE Del/Del homozygotes had significantly higher systolic blood pressure (p=0.01). Similarly, ACE Del/Del homozygotes who had AGT Met allele had significantly higher diastolic blood pressure (p<0.001). However, in single-gene analyses, no association was found between any specific genotype and blood pressure. In subjects with low sodium intake, ADD1 Trp/Trp homozygotes had significantly higher systolic blood pressure than subjects who had ADD1 Gly allele (138 mmHg vs. 127 mmHg, p=0.03). There was no difference in blood pressure between ADD1 Trp/Trp and ADD1 Gly/Gly or Gly/Trp, in subjects with high sodium intake. In summary, this study shows that interactions between the ADD1, AGT and ACE genes influence systolic and diastolic blood pressure in elderly subjects, and dietary sodium intake can modulate the effects of ADD1 Gly460Trp polymorphisms on systolic blood pres sure.