• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.83-89
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• 2007

Effects of alkaline reduced water (ARW) on the scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and diabetes were recently reported. However, no studies have yet been investigated on general drinking effects. In this study, we examined 100 patients hospitalized for senile disease treatment and recuperation. All examines received the ARW for 2 months. WBC level was decreased from $6.34\pm1.9(\times10^9/L)$ to $5.66\pm1.7(\times10^9/L)$. SGPT level was decreased from 27.47$\pm$14 Ut to 23.95$\pm$8.8 U/L. Cholesterol level was increased from 167.9$\pm$32 mg/dl to 176.21$\pm$42 mg/dl within normal range. However, the levels of potassium, adiponectin, SGOT and blood pressure showed no significant difference. The levels of growth hormone and homocysteine and mini-mental state examination also showed no significant difference. We suppose that the slight blood parameter trends indicate an improved physical condition induced by the ARW. Furthermore, we could found no harmful effect of the ARW in this study.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.154-164
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• 2020

Various simulator systems for surgery training have been developed and recently become more widely utilized with technology advancement and change in medical education adopting actively simulation-based training. The authors have developed tissue-instrument interaction modeling and graphical simulation algorithms for an arthroscopic surgery training simulator system. In this paper, we propose algorithms for basic surgical techniques, such as cutting, shaving, drilling, grasping, suturing and knot tying for rotator cuff surgery. The proposed method constructs a virtual 3-dimensional model from actual patient data and implements a real-time deformation of the surgical object model through interaction between ten types of arthroscopic surgical tools and a surgical object model. The implementation is based on the Simulation Open Framework Architecture (SOFA, Inria Foundation, France) and custom algorithms were implemented as pulg-in codes. Qualitative review of the developed results by physicians showed both feasibility and limitations of the system for actual use in surgery training.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2013.12a
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• pp.77-78
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• 2013

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.133-137
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• 2003

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of chlorella diet supplementation. Blood accumulation and urine excretion levels were measured after the Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were fed on a chlorella diet supplementation mixed with 40 ppm of CdCl$_2$. Four groups tested for blood accumulation and urine excretion levels. All four groups fed on a basic diet with a cadmium mixture. The diet for the first group contained only basic diet and the cadmium added to the drinking water. The diet for the three other groups contained cadmium to the drinking water, and 1%, 5% and 10% of chlorella added to the basic diet. A concentration of cadmium for the first group showed a 3.2$\pm$0.4 $\mu\textrm{g}$/I blood accumulation level and 41.5$\pm$32.9 $\mu\textrm{g}$/l urinary excretion level, and the second group, which was fed on the basic diet with 1% of chlorella added and cadmium to the drinking water showed a $1.5\pm$0.6 $\mu\textrm{g}$/l blood level and only l4.l$\pm$1.6 $\mu\textrm{g}$/l urinary excretion level. The other two groups, which were fed on 5% and 10% of chlorella concentration and cadmium to the drinking water did not exhibit any notable effects greater than the group fed on 1% concentration of chlorella. The results suggest that the blood accumulation and urinary excretion of Cadmium are influenced by the chlorella diet supplementation from the concentration of 1% of the basic diet.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.92-102
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• 2015

This work aimed to study whether rice bran extract fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum (LW) promotes functional recovery and reduces cognitive impairment after ischemic brain injury. Ischemic brain injury was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats. Four groups were studied, namely the (1) sham, (2) vehicle, (3) donepezil, and (4) LW groups. Animals were injected with LW once a day for 7 days after middle cerebral artery occlusion. LW group showed significantly improved neurological function as compared to the vehicle group, as well as enhanced learning and memory in the Morris water maze. The LW group showed the greatest functional recovery. Moreover, the LW group showed an enhanced more survival cells anti-apoptotic effect in the cortex and neural cell densities in the hippocampal DG and CA1. In addition, this group showed enhanced expression of neurotrophic factors, antioxidant genes, and the acetylcholine receptor gene, as well as synaptophysin (SYP), Fox-3 (NeuN), doublecortin (DCX), and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) proteins. Our findings indicate that LW treatment showed the largest effects in functional recovery and cognitive improvement after ischemic brain injury through stimulation of the acetylcholine receptor, antioxidant genes, neurotrophic factors, and expression of NeuN, SYP, DCX, and ChAT.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

Leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) is a highly promising target for Parkinson's disease (PD) that affects millions of people worldwide. A three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) analysis was performed on a series of pyrrolopyrimidine-based selective LRRK2 kinase inhibitors. This study was performed to rationalize the structural requirements responsible for the inhibitory activity of these compounds. A reliable 3D-QSAR model was developed using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) technique. The model produced statistically acceptable results with a cross-validated correlation coefficient ($q^2$) of 0.539 and a non-cross-validated correlation coefficient ($r^2$) of 0.871. Robustness of the model was further evaluated by bootstrapping and progressive scrambling analysis. This work could assist in designing more potent LRRK2 inhibitors.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2017

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important signaling protein involved in angiogenesis, which is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. Consequently, blocking of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR-2) by small molecule inhibitors leads to the inhibition of cancer induced angiogenesis. In this study, we performed a two dimensional quantitative structure activity relationship (2D-QSAR) study of 38 N-Phenyl-N'-{4-(4-quinolyloxy) phenyl} urea derivatives as VEGFR-2 inhibitors based on hologram quantitative structure-activity (HQSAR). The model developed showed reasonable $q^2=0.521$ and $r^2=0.932$ values indicating good predictive ability and reliability. The atomic contribution map analysis of most active compound (compound 7) indicates that hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the side chain of ring A and oxygen atom in side chain of ring C contributes positively to the activity of the compounds. The HQSAR model developed and the atomic contribution map can serve as a guideline in designing new compounds for VEGFR-2 inhibition.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.104-111
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• 2012

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent endopeptidases which degrade extracellular matrix (ECM) during embryogenesis, wound healing, and tissue remodeling. Dysregulation of MMP activity is also associated with various pathological inflammatory conditions. In this study, we examined the expression pattern of MMPs during PMA-induced differentiation of THP-1 monocytic cells into macrophages. We found that MMP1, MMP8, MMP3, MMP10, MMP12, MMP19, MMP9, and MMP7 were upregulated during differentiation whereas MMP2 remained unchanged. Expression of MMPs increased in a time-dependent manner; MMP1, MMP8, MMP3, MMP10, and MMP12 increased beginning at 60 hr post PMA treatment whereas MMP19, MMP9, and MMP7 increased beginning at 24 hr post PMA treatment. To identify signal transduction pathways involved in PMA-induced upregulation of MMPs, we treated PMA-differentiated THP-1 cells with specific inhibitors for PKC, MEK1, NF-${\kappa}B$, PI3K, p38 MAPK and PLC. We found that inhibition of the MEK1 pathway blocked PMA-induced upregulation of all MMPs to varying degrees except for MMP-2. In addition, expression of select MMPs was inhibited by PI3K, p38 MAPK and PLC inhibitors. In conclusion, we show that of the MMPs examined, most MMPs were up-regulated during differentiation of monocyte into macrophage via the MEK1 pathway. These results provide basic information for studying MMPs expression during macrophage differentiation.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 1996

Verapamil, a potent calcium channel blocker, has been proved to be one of the modulators to overcome drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy. In the present experiment, the possibility of verapamil as a MDR modulator was investigated by using MTT assay. Sole treatment of verapamil on the HeLa and Caski cervical cancer cell line revealed dose dependent cytotoxicity within a range of tested dose. Combined treatment of verapamil with 5-FU, DDP on two human cervical cancer cell line led to a significant synergistic cytotoxicity. Therefore , these studies showed that verapamil had a possibility to be applicable to cancer chemotherapy in gynecological oncology.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.501-509
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• 2022

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder. Suppression of MAPKs and NF-κB is implicated as a vital mechanism of action of several traditional Chinese medicines for AD therapy. Although overexpression of MAPK mRNA in the skin tissue has been shown in the AD model, the roles of each MAPK in AD pathogenesis have rarely been studied. This study examined the effect of NJK14047, an inhibitor of p38 MAPKs, on AD-like skin lesions induced in BALB/c mice by sensitization and challenges with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) on dorsal skin and ears, respectively. After induction of AD, NJK14047 (2.5 mg/kg) or dexamethasone (10 mg/kg) was administrated for 3 weeks via intraperitoneal injection. Following its administration, NJK14047 suppressed CDNB-induced AD-like symptoms such as skin hypertrophy and suppressed mast cell infiltration into the skin lesions. It also reduced CDNB-induced increase in T_H2 cytokine (IL-13) and T_H1 cytokines (interferon-γ and IL-12A) levels but did not decrease serum IgE level. Furthermore, NJK14047 blocked CDNB-induced lymph node enlargement. These results suggest that NJK14047, a p38 MAPK inhibitor, might be an optimal therapeutic option with unique modes of action for AD treatment.