• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.2 s.82
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• pp.248-253
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• 2007

This research investigated whether exposure of diesel exhaust particulate (DEP) and particulate matter (PM) effects on airway remodeling in asthma induced Balb/c and IL-10 knock out (KO) mouse. Mice were sensitized with intraperitoneal injection with ovalbumin, followed by challenges with intranasal ovalbumin. After that mice placed in inhalation chamber and exposed to DEP and $PM(10\;mg/m^3)$. The evidence of airway remodeling was assessed by masson's trichrome staining and PAS staining. The stainability of masson's trichrome and PAS reaction were increased in asthma-induced Baltic mice groups compared with control mice groups. More intensive stainability for masson's trichrome and PAS were appeared in the asthma-induced DEP and PM-exposed groups than asthama-induced groups. But, not significantly increased subepithelial fibrosis and the nember of goblet cell hyperplasia in asthma-induced IL-10 KO mice groups and asthma-induced+DEP and PM-exposed IL-10 KO mice than IL-10 KO mice groups. These results indirectly suggesting that exposure to DEP and PM in asthmatic patients might be aggravate clinical symptoms and IL-10 which seems to play a central role in allergic asthma. In conclusion, DEP and PM exposure might have additive effects on the ovalbumin- induced asthma in a murine model.

• The Journal of Small Business Innovation
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.35-50
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• 2017

The aims of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of firms financial status quo and the scale of financial support on SMEs overall performance. We have gathered the financial guarantee data from 1998 to 2013, provided by Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT), to analyze the effectiveness of Financial policy. To classify both financial status quo and scale of financial support, we utilized the following variables; Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR) and newly guaranteed amount ratio. To take the measurement of the overall performance, we employed profitability, growth ratio and activity index. To minimize the effect of repeated financial support (redundancy benefits), firms were selected based on the following criteria: firms that receive no financial support prior to implementing such policy over the last 3 years and no new financial support over the last 2 years. Results suggest that firms with higher ICR and large newly guaranteed amount influence on financial performance in terms of profitability index. Firms with lower ICR and large scale financial support showed a better performance compare to firms with small-scale financial support. Firms with large-scale financial support, irrespective of ICR inclined to have better performance to those of small-scale financial support in terms of growth index. For activity index, however, firms with large scale support led to higher performance in the short term. In turn, our analysis presents objective perspective with respect to the effectiveness of financial policy through credit guarantee on overall performance of SMEs. This study, therefore, implies that well-balanced SMEs supporting policy may lead to better directions.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.655-663
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• 2002

Liver fibrosis is a prepathological state wherein damaged liver tissues in chronic liver diseases, such as hepatitis, are not repaired to normal tissues, but converted to fibrous tissue. 5-(2-Pyrazinyl)-4-methyl-1,2-dithiol-3-thione (oltipraz), a cancer chemopreventive agent, is effective against a wide variety of chemical carcinogens. Recently, we reported that oltipraz inhibits liver fibrogenesis (Kang et al., 2002). In the present study, the effects of oltipraz in combination with dimethyl-4,4'-dimethoxy-5,6,5',6'-dimethylene dioxybiphenyl-2,2'-dicarboxylate (DDb) on dimethylnitrosamine (DMN)-induced liver fibrogenesis were assessed in rats. Oltipraz (30 mg/kg body weight, po, 3 times per week for 4 weeks) was found to inhibit the increases in plasma ALT, AST and bilirubin by DMN, whereas DDB (30 mg/kg body weight, po, 3 times per week for 4 weeks) attenuated the increases in the plasma ALT and bilirubin. The lowered plasma protein and albumin contents in DMN-treated rats were completely restored by oltipraz, but not by DDB. DDB decreases liver cell injury and inflammation through inhibition of nuclear factor-kB. DMN increased the accumulation of liver collagen, as indicated by the increase in the 4-hydroxyproline content in liver homogenates, which was reduced by treatment with oltipraz, but not by DDB. Given the differential effect between oltipraz and DDB, the potential enhancement of antifibrotic efficacy by the drugs was assessed in the animal model. Despite the minimal effect of DDB on DMN-induced fibrogenesis, DDB (5-25 mg/kg), administered together with oltipraz (25-5 mg/kg), showed an additive protective effect against hepatotoxicity and fibrosis induced by DMN, which was shown by the blood chemistry parameters and histopathological analysis. The adequate composition ratio of oltipraz to DDB was 5:1. These results provide information on the pharmaceutical composition, comprising of oltipraz and DDB as the active components, for the treatment and/or prevention of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.364-375
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• 2011

Given that single blockade with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) can achieve only partial and undurable suppression of the Renin Angiotensin System (RAS), it has been hypothesized that dual blockage would be more beneficial in the management of blood pressure (BP) reduction and prevention of progressive chronic kidney disease (CKD) than either agent alone. Thus, it has been suggested that the combination of an ACEI and an ARB might provide renal benefits to hypertensive patients over and above BP reduction. However, this might also expose patients to additive or synergistic side effects. We attempted to conduct a systematic review to evaluate the benefits and harms of combination therapy in hypertensive patients with or without kidney diseases. MEDLINE and KoreaMed were searched for relevant randomized clinical trials in adult hypertensive patients with or without diabetes (restricted to 1997, limited to trials published in English). Results were summarized using the random-effects model, and between-studies heterogeneity was estimated with $I^2$. A final analysis of ten trials (23,928 patients) revealed that the combination of an ACEI and an ARB reduced blood pressure (SBP/DBP) by 3.95/2.02 mmHg (95% confidence interval [CI], -4.38 to -3.53/-2.33 to -1.71) compared with ACEI monotherapy, and 2.83/2.64 mmHg (95% CI, -3.25 to -2.41/-4.95 to -0.33) compared with ARB monotherapy. Eight trials (391 patients) demonstrated a significant reduction in 24h-proteinuria (weighted mean difference, 0.16 g/day, 95% CI, -0.26-0.05), but they did not translate into an improvement in GFR. Tests for heterogeneity showed no difference in effect among the studies. The combination therapy reduced proteinuria by 30% (95% CI, 23% to 37%) and 39% (95% CI, 31% to 48%) compared with ACEI monotherapy and ARB monotherapy, respectively. However, in patients who had proteinuria more than 0.5 g/day, the combination therapy failed to show significant reduction in urinary protein excretion. The current cumulative evidence suggests that diabetic patients with proteinuria on dual RAS blockade have an increase risk of adverse events such as hyperkalemia, hypotension, and so on, compared with ACEI or ARB alone. It is, therefore, proposed that the combination therapy should not be routinely used for the treatment of hypertension with or without compelling indications.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.44 no.3 s.140
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• pp.189-197
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• 2005

Cellulose-digesting bacteria were isolated from hindgut of Allomyrina dichotoma (Coleoptera: Dynastidae). The bacterial isolates were identified as Yersinia sp. and Bacillus sp. The addition of the identified bacteria to diet increased growth rate of the cetoniid beetle, Protaetia brevitarsis senlensis (Coleoptera: Cetoniidae), probably by digesting cellulose nutrient contained in the oak tree sawdust diet. An additive of wheat flour at more than 10% to the sawdust diet significantly enhanced growth of P. brevitarsis senlensis. Trimmed branches of apple trees have been disposed in the apple farms and could be used for a diet component of the cetoniid beetle when the cellulose-digesting bacteria were mixed with the derived-sawdust. Resulting manure from mass rearing of P. brevitarsis senlensis contained high organic matters and trace amounts of toxic metals. When the manure were splayed on soil, it was effective as a natural compost and significantly stimulated lettuce growth. This research suggests a model technology to use cellulose-digesting bacteria to use for culturing grub, which results in natural recycles of trimmed branches in apple farms as grub diet, and to use grub manure as a natural compost.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.209-220
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• 2014

In this paper, we analyze the discriminability of features for the classification of transient signals with an ambient noise in a shallow water. For the classification of the transient signals, robust features for the variance of a noise are required due to a low SNR under a marine environment. In the modelling the ambient noise in shallow water, theoretical noise model, Wenz's observation data from the shallow water, and Yule-walker filter are used. Discrimination of each feature of the transient signals with an additive ambient noise is analyzed by utilizing a Fisher score. As the analysis of a classification accuracy about the transient signals of 24 classes using the selected features with a high discriminability, the features selected in the environment without a noise relatively have a good classification accuracy. From the analyzed results, we finally select a total 16 features out of 28 features. The recognition using the selected features results in the classification accuracy of 92% in SNR 20dB using Multi-class SVM.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.468-474
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• 2005

PLGA and PCL copolymers initiated by carbitol as drug carriers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of L-lactide (LA), glycolide (GA), and $\varepsilon-caprolactone(\varepsilon-CL)$. Implantable wafers were simply fabricated by direct compression method after physical mixing of copolymers and bovine serum albumin-fluorescein isothiocyanate (BSA-FITC) as a model protein drug. The release amounts of BSA-FITC from wafers were determined by fluorescence intensity using the fluorescence spectrophotometer. Also, the release behavior of BSA-FITC on wafers was controlled by adding the additives such as collagen, small intestinal submucosa (SIS), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), and poly(thylene glycol) (PEG). The wafer prepared by PLGA and PCL exhibited slow release within $10\%$ for 30 days. But, those prepared by a variety of additives exhibited the controlled BSA release patterns with a dependence on the additive contents. furthermore, the wafers containing natural materials such as collagen and SIS showed more zero-order release profile than that with synthetic materials such as PVP and PEG. It was confirmed that the release of BSA from implantable wafers could be easily controlled by adding natural additives.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2002

The study was carried out to characterize the pharmacokinetics after intravenous (iv, 20 mg/kg) and oral (p.o. 100 mg/kg) administration as oxytetracycline (OTC) and tiamulin (TIA) mixture in swine and to determine interaction between OTC and TIA against various pig pathogenic bacteria. The antibacterial effects of OTC in combination with TIA in vitro showed synergistic effect against Salmonella typhimurium 1925, Pasteurella multocida Type A, P. multocida Type D, Krebsiella Pneumoniae 2001, K. Pneumoniae 1560, K. Pneumoniae 2208, Haemophillus pleuropneumonia S 2, and H. pleuropneumonia S 5, but against additive effect E. coli K88ab and S. choleraesuis on the basis of fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index. On the while, after i.v. and p.o. administration of OTC and TIA mixture, each OTC and TIA concentrations in plasma were fitted to an open two-compartment model. After i.v. administration of OTC-TIA mixture, the mean distribution half-life ($T_{1/2{\alpha}}$) of OTC and TIA in plasma showed 0.29 h and 0.17 h, and the mean elimination half-life ($T_{1/2{\beta}}$) of those was 4.36 h and 6.64 h, respectively. The mean volume of distribution at steady state ($Vd_{ss}$) of OTC and TIA was $0.85{\ell}/kg$ and $2.44{\ell}/kg$, respectively. After oral administration of OTC and TIA mixture, the mean maximal absorption concentrations ($C_{max}$) of OTC and TIA were $0.60{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ at 1.07 h ($T_{max}$) and $1.68{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ at 1.85 h ($T_{max}$), respectively. The mean elimination half-life ($T_{1/2{\beta}}$) of those showed 6.84 h and 6.36 h. In conclusion, we could suggest in this study that the combination of OTC and TIA may be recommended for the antibacterial therapy against polymicrobial infections, and both OTC and TIA showed large distribution to tissues and high $C_{max}$ after p.o. administration.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.3 s.83
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• pp.396-401
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• 2007

This research investigated whether exposure of diesel exhaust particulate (DEP) and particulate metter (PM) effect on intercellular. adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression in asthma-induced Balb/c and IL-10 knock out (KO) mouse. Mouse was sensitized with intraperitoneal injection with ovalbumin, followed by challenges with intranasal ovalbumin. After induction of asthma mouse placed in the inhalation chamber and exposed to DEP and PM (10 $mg/m^3$). The evidences of pulmonary inflammation were assessed by immunohistochemical stain and westen blot against ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in the lung tissue. In the immunohistochemical stain, positive reactions for ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 were much stronger in asthma-induced groups and asthma-induced group with DEP or PM than control groups. Although mild positive reactions were appeared in asthma-induced IL-10 KO mice groups, positive reactions were very strong in the asthma-induced group with DEP or PM. In Western blot, expression of VCAM-1 was increased in asthma-induced group with DEP or PM than asthma-induced groups. In the IL-10 KO mouse, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 expression were increased in asthma-induced group with DEP or PM than asthma-induced groups. DEP and PM exposure have additive effects on the aggravation of inflammatory signs in the asthma-induced murine model. These results suggest that inhalation of DEP and PM in asthmatic patients may aggravate clinical symptoms.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.319-325
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• 2018

The use of 3D printing (Additive Manufacturing) technology has expanded from initial model production to the mass production of parts in the industrial field based on the continuous research and development of materials and process technology. As a representative polymer material for 3D printing, the polyamide-based material, which is one of the high-strength engineering plastics, is used mainly for manufacturing parts for automobiles because of its light weight and durability. In this study, the specimens were fabricated using Selective Laser Sintering, which has excellent mechanical properties, and the flexural characteristics were analyzed according to the temperature of the two types of polyamide 12 and glass bead reinforced PA12 materials. The test specimens were prepared in the directions of $0^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$, and $90^{\circ}$ based on the work platform, and then subjected to a flexural test in three test temperature environments of $-25^{\circ}C$, $25^{\circ}C$, and $60^{\circ}C$. As a result, PA12 had the maximum flexural strength in the direction of $90^{\circ}$ at $-25^{\circ}C$ and $0^{\circ}$ at $25^{\circ}C$ and $60^{\circ}C$. The glass bead-reinforced PA12 exhibited maximum flexural strength values at all test temperatures in the $0^{\circ}$ fabrication direction. The tendency of the flexural strength changes of the two materials was different due to the influence of the plane direction of the lamination layer depending on the type of stress generated in the bending test.