• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.405-416
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• 2021

Background: This study investigated the effect of intrathecal Sec-O-glucosylhamaudol (SOG) on the p38/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathways, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB)-related inflammatory responses, and autophagy in a spinal nerve ligation (SNL)-induced neuropathic pain model. Methods: The continuous administration of intrathecal SOG via an osmotic pump was performed on male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 50) with SNL-induced neuropathic pain. Rats were randomized into four groups after the 7th day following SNL and treated for 2 weeks as follows (each n = 10): Group S, sham-operated; Group D, 70% dimethylsulfoxide; Group SOG96, SOG at 96 ㎍/day; and Group SOG192, SOG at 192 ㎍/day. The paw withdrawal threshold (PWT) test was performed to assess neuropathic pain. Western blotting of the spinal cord (L5) was performed to measure changes in the expression of signaling pathway components, cytokines, and autophagy. Additional studies with naloxone challenge (n = 10) and cells were carried out to evaluate the potential mechanisms underlying the effects of SOG. Results: Continuous intrathecal SOG administration increased the PWT with p38/JNK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and NF-κB signaling pathway inhibition, which induced a reduction in proinflammatory cytokines with the concomitant downregulation of autophagy. Conclusions: SOG alleviates mechanical allodynia, and its mechanism is thought to be related to the regulation of p38/JNK MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways, associated with autophagy during neuroinflammatory processes after SNL.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.214-218
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the PMF in the treatment of acidosis and inflammation by monitoring the pH change for the continuity of PMF effect on the blood in the micro-circulation system that mimics the capillaries in the human body. Micro-tubes and micro-channels similar in diameter to those of arteries and arterioles were fabricated using PDMS and connected to a micro-pump for blood circulation. The continuity of PMF effect was verified in a micro-circulation system in-vitro. The pH changes for the circulating blood and for persistence time of PMF stimulus effect were confirmed using the optimized PMF conditions based on the previous studies. Also pH changes were observed by continuously stimulating PMF for a set period of time. The result was observed that the pH of the blood acidified using tBHP continued to rise from immediately after stimulation of PMF to 70 minutes of stimulation, reaching a normal pH range, and then decreasing. Our study showed that PMF has a positive effect on the control of blood pH homeostasis, so it is suggested the possibility of being used as a noninvasive treatment for acidosis treatment and anti- inflammatory treatment.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.239-243
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• 2007

Presence of bottom water nitrite in the Ulleung Basin was remarkable because it is totally unexpected phenomenon at such an oxygen-rich environment. Yet no scientific explanation was set forward. Of several plausible explanations, following the Ockham's suggestion, a leaching of nitrite as an intermediate product of denitrification in the top sediment at the slope is most agreeable to given environmental settings. There seems no complementary process to make up the loss of N in the Ulleung Basin, which seems contribute to the characteristically low N:P ratio in the deep waters. If warming proceeds that weakens the thermohaline circulation, a current biological pump may stall and the phytoplankton assemblage might replaced drastically. If so this will pause an utmost challenge to the ecosystem of the East/Japan Sea. Still there remains a contradictory sedimentary signature that requests further explanation regarding the N (or organic C)-cycle such as extraordinarily high organic carbon content despite abundant oxidants in the overlying waters.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2024

Accurate measurement of blood pressure is essential for classifying an individual's disease, identifying blood pressure-related risks, and managing health. Due to the environmental and health hazards of mercury sphygmomanometers, automatic sphygmomanometers using the oscillometric method are widely used in hospitals as well as in general homes, and have established themselves as a practical standard sphygmomanometer. In this study, we developed a blood pressure simulator using an actuator that provides simulated pressure to an automatic blood pressure cuff. The developed blood pressure simulator adopts an arm-shaped cylindrical shape similar to the situation in which a person measures blood pressure with an automatic blood pressure monitor, and implements a method of transmitting pressure to the cuff using a pressure plate. Accuracy was evaluated through the mean and standard deviation of the difference with the commercialized blood pressure simulator BP PUMP 2, and reproducibility was confirmed using two automatic blood pressure monitors. The developed blood pressure simulator enables automatic blood pressure monitoring in a simple manner and also meets the evaluation standards for accuracy and reproducibility. In the future, as a standardized blood pressure simulator, it is expected to be of great help in evaluating and verifying the performance of automatic blood pressure monitors by supplementing precise hardware and software and building a blood pressure database.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.449-458
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• 2001

This is a test report of system efficiency for the moving-actuator type Bi-ventricular assist device (AnyHear $t^{MT}$ ) Seoul National University). $AnyHeart^{TM}$), as an energy converter. utilities a brushless DC motor(S/M 566-26A. Sierracin/ Magnedyne, Carlsbad, CA. U.S.A.) generating their pendulous motion in the epicyclic gear train. It is necessary to know about the overall efficiency of the system. The system is subdivided into three parts: motor part, actuator part and blood sac part (including valves, etc.) according to system mechanism. The motor was operated with a variable range of torque. angular speed and width of voltage Pulse In this report. $AnyHeart^{TM}$ is focused on the efficiency of the motor and actuator parts. 4 $\ell/min$ pump output. which is normal condition of $AnyHeart^{TM}$ system, the total system efficiency is 8%, which is composed of 50%, 85% and 17% efficiency (motor Part, actuator Part and blood sac Part) respectively. In the analyzed result. applied input voltage on normal condition of $AnyHeart^{TM}$ is determined. Also speed Profile with considering filling state of blood sac is Provided. In the test of the in vitro mock circulation. some experimental results are Provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Presented approach.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.170-174
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• 2006

For the purpose of developing a high quality agricultural microbial inoculant, methods and materials for improving encapsulation were investigated. Preparation of capsule was conducted by improving extrusion system with micro-nozzle and peristaltic pump. The sodium alginate was selected because of its cheapness, stability of cells, and gel formation ability. The yields, physical properties and gel formation abilities of extractable alginate from sea tangle were investigated by hot water extractable and alkali soluble methods. The extraction yields of hot water extractable alginate (HWEA) and alkali soluble alginate (ASA) from sea tangle were 8 and 20%, respectively. The HWEA was almost not viscous even in 1.5% of the sample solution, whereas the ASA was very highly viscous in above 3% sample solution. The gel formation ability of each samples varied from 1.5% to 5% and the ASA showed a good gel formation ability at 3% solution as commercial alginate (CA). The soil microbial inoculant, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus plantarum and Geotrichum candidum encapsulated sodium alginate with starch and zeolite for stabilizer. The survivability of encapsulated soil microbial inoculant using alginate without stabilizer appeared to be 66, 52, 70 and 50%, respectively. Inclusion of starch and zeolite with alginate bead increased viabilities in Bacillus sp. and Geotrichum candidum by 81-83% and 89%, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.94-131
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• 2007

A review on the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Engineering in 2004 and 2005 has been done. Focus has been put on current status of research in the aspect of heating, cooling, air-conditioning, ventilation, sanitation and building environment. The conclusions are as follows. (1) Most of fundamental studies on fluid flow were related with heat transportation of facilities. Drop formation and rivulet flow on solid surfaces were interesting topics related with condensation augmentation. Research on micro environment considering flow, heat, humidity was also interesting for comfortable living environment. It can be extended considering biological aspects. Development of fans and blowers of high performance and low noise were continuing topics. Well developed CFD and flow visualization(PIV, PTV and LDV methods) technologies were widely applied for developing facilities and their systems. (2) The research trends of the previous two yews are surveyed as groups of natural convection, forced convection, electronic cooling, heat transfer enhancement, frosting and defrosting, thermal properties, etc. New research topics introduced include natural convection heat transfer enhancement using nanofluid, supercritical cooling performance or oil miscibility of $CO_2$, enthalpy heat exchanger for heat recovery, heat transfer enhancement in a plate heat exchanger using fluid resonance. (3) The literature for the last two years($2004{\sim}2005$) is reviewed in the areas of heat pump, ice and water storage, cycle analysis and reused energy including geothermal, solar and unused energy). The research on cycle analysis and experiments for $CO_2$ was extensively carried out to replace the Ozone depleting and global warming refrigerants such as HFC and HCFC refrigerants. From the year of 2005, the Gas Engine Heat Pump(GHP) has been paid attention from the viewpoint of the gas cooling application. The heat pipe was focused on the performance improvement by the parametric analysis and the heat recovery applications. The storage systems were studied on the performance enhancement of the storage tank and cost analysis for heating and cooling applications. In the area of unused energy, the hybrid systems were extensively introduced and the life cycle cost analysis(LCCA) for the unused energy systems was also intensively carried out. (4) Recent studies of various refrigeration and air-conditioning systems have focused on the system performance and efficiency enhancement. Heat transfer characteristics during evaporation and condensation are investigated for several tube shapes and of alternative refrigerants including carbon dioxide. Efficiency of various compressors and expansion devices are also dealt with for better modeling and, in particular, performance improvement. Thermoelectric module and cooling systems are analyzed theoretically and experimentally. (5) According to the review of recent studies on ventilation systems, an appropriate ventilation systems including machenical and natural are required to satisfied the level of IAQ. Also, an recent studies on air-conditioning and absorption refrigeration systems, it has mainly focused on distribution and dehumidification of indoor air to improve the performance were carried out. (6) Based on a review of recent studies on indoor environment and building service systems, it is noticed that research issues have mainly focused on optimal thermal comfort, improvement of indoor air Quality and many innovative systems such as air-barrier type perimeter-less system with UFAC, radiant floor heating and cooling system and etc. New approaches are highlighted for improving indoor environmental condition as well as minimizing energy consumption, various activities of building control and operation strategy and energy performance analysis for economic evaluation.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.194-210
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• 2022

The monthly inventory of dissolved inorganic carbon (C_T) and its fluxes were simulated using a box-model for the southeastern Yellow Sea, bordering the northern East China Sea. The monthly C_T data was constructed by combining the observed data representing four seasons with the data adopted from the recent publications. A 2-box-model of the surface and deep layers was used, assuming that the annual C_T inventory was at the steady state and its fluctuations due to the advection in the surface box were negligible. Results of the simulation point out that the monthly C_T inventory variation between the surface and deep box was driven primarily by the mixing flux due to the variation of the mixed layer depth, on the scale of -40~35 mol C m^-2 month^-1. The air to sea CO₂ flux was about 2 mol C m^-2 yr^-1 and was lower than 1/100 of the mixing flux. The biological pump flux estimated magnitude, in the range of 4-5 mol C m^-2 yr^-1, is about half the in situ measurement value reported. The C_T inventory of the water column was maximum in April, when mixing by cooling ceases, and decreases slightly throughout the stratified period. Therefore, the total C_T inventory is larger in the stratified period than that of the mixing period. In order to maintain a steady state, 18 mol C m^-2 yr^-1 (= 216 g C m^-2 yr^-1), the difference between the maximum and minimum monthly CT inventory, should be transported out to the East China Sea. Extrapolating this flux over the entire southern Yellow Sea boundary yields 4 × 10⁹ g C yr^-1. Conceptually this flux is equivalent to the proposed continental shelf pump. Since this flux must go through the vast shelf area of the East China Sea before it joins the open Pacific waters the actual contribution as a continental shelf pump would be significantly lower than reported value. Although errors accompanied the simple box model simulation imposed by the paucity of data and assumptions are considerably large, nevertheless it was possible to constrain the relative contribution among the major fluxes and their range that caused the C_T inventory variations, and was able to suggest recommendations for the future studies.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.62-73
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• 2017

To identify a solution for the restricted availability of healthy lungs and the high risk of immune rejections following organ transplantation, tissue engineering techniques for culturing lungs have been studied by many research groups. The most promising method for culturing lungs is the utilization of a bio-scaffold that was prepared using harvested organs from human donors or other animals by removing their original cells. In this study, a pulsatile perfusion pump was used to alleviate the cell removal effect with the high fluid-dynamic power of the perfusion stream during the decellularization process, while other conventional studies focused on chemical methods to identify efficient detergents. The purpose of this study was to analyze the developed device by using energy equivalent pressure (EEP), which is an indicator of pulsatility, to understand the characteristics of pulsatile energy transmitted according to the load size by using the artificial model and compare it with the measured EEP. The pulsatility of the device can be estimated with the concept of fluid-dynamic energy during a particular constant time period or fluid-dynamic power represented as EEP and EEP increment. Because the measured EEP of perfusion flow during decellularization can be changed by the amount of fluid leakage and the degree of clogging in the capillary vessels, EEP should be measured to determine whether the decellularization is progressing without problems. The decrement of EEP caused by the high perfusion resistance was observed from some experimental results that were obtained with artificial models. EEP can be used to monitor the decellularization process after analyzing the varying EEP according to the amount of load. It was confirmed that the EEP was maintained at a high level in the experiment using the harvested lungs from 12-13-week-old rats. In addition, it was confirmed that the cell removal time was faster than when continuous perfusion was performed. In this study, pulsatile power delivered to the lungs was measured to monitor the process of cell removal, and it serve as the evidence for efficient decellularization.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1660-1666
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• 2017

Objective: Burial is associated with environmental effects such as the contamination of ground or surface water with biological materials generated during the decomposition process. Therefore, bacterial communities in leachates originating from the decomposing bovine carcasses were investigated. Methods: To understand the process of bovine (Hanwoo) carcass decomposition, we simulated burial using a lab-scale reactor with a volume of $5.15m^3$. Leachate samples from 3 carcasses were collected using a peristaltic pump once a month for a period of 5 months, and bacterial communities in samples were identified by pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Results: We obtained a total of 110,442 reads from the triplicate samples of various sampling time points (total of 15 samples), and found that the phylum Firmicutes was dominant at most sampling times. Differences in the bacterial communities at the various time points were observed among the triplicate samples. The bacterial communities sampled at 4 months showed the most different compositions. The genera Pseudomonas and Psychrobacter in the phylum Proteobacteria were dominant in all of the samples obtained after 3 months. Bacillaceae, Clostridium, and Clostridiales were found to be predominant after 4 months in the leachate from one carcass, whereas Planococcaceae was found to be a dominant in samples obtained at the first and second months from the other two carcasses. The results showed that potentially pathogenic microbes such as Clostridium derived from bovine leachate could dominate the soil environment of a burial site. Conclusion: Our results indicated that the composition of bacterial communities in leachates of a decomposing bovine shifted continuously during the experimental period, with significant changes detected after 4 months of burial.