• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.273-278
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• 1989

This study was carried out to investigate effects of Kalopanaxii Cortex extract(K. C. E,) on $CCI_4$-induced liver damage in rabbits and acute toxicity in mice. 1. $LD_{50}(mg/kg)$ of K. C. E. was 7.3g/kg by intraperitoneal administration in mice. 2. K. C. E. groups showed more rapid recovery than the control group in $CCI_4$-intoxicated rabbits and 800mg/kg was the most effective. 3. SGPT and alkaline phosphatase activity showed and apparent decreasing effect within 14 days and 2 days respectively in 800mg/kg. 4. The levels of total cholesterol and total bilirubin showed and apparent decreasing effect within 10 days and 6 days respectively in 800mg/kg. It is suggested that K. C. E. can be administered not only as a therapeutic agent but also a healthy food to shorten the recovery time of hepatic function in liver diseases.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2009

The objectives of the present study is to examine the validity of Charlson Comorbidity Index(CCI) based on medical record data; to utilize the index to determine outcome indexes such as mortality, length of stay and cost for the domestic patients whose have received total hip arthroplasty. Based on medical record date, 1-year Mortality was analyzed to be 0.664 of C statistic. The $R^2$ for the predictability for length of stay and the cost was about 0.0181, 0.1842. Fee of national health insurance and total cost including the cost not covered by insurance, also had statistically significance above 3 points of Charlson point score(p=0.0290, 0.0472; $p.{\le}0.05$). The 1-year mortality index, length of stay and cost of the total hip arthroplasty patients which was obtained utilizing CCI have a limitative prediction power and therefore should be carefully analyzed for use.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.77-84
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• 2006

Indexes have played an important role as a economic indicator or performance indicator in many industries for a long time. In construction industry, indexes, or Construction Cost Index(CCI), have been used to compensate for the gap of time in Estimate Using the Historical Cost Data from Feb. 2004. CCI is composed of index formula and resources. Existing literatures had used Laspyeres Index as a index formula. And, Leontief table, the bills of quantities, and information of price surveyor were used as a resource. When applying Laspyeres formula and the resources to calculating the CCI, the problems such as double application of price fluctuation, calculating the incorrect weights, may be generated. This paper analyzed the existing economic relevant indexes as well as Laspyeres formula. Thus, feasibility of them was analyzed using three practical cases of apartments. And then, Quantity based Base Period Price Index(QBPPI) was developed to consider the characteristics of construction more accurately.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.259-265
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the analgesic effect of substance P (SP) in an animal model of neuropathic pain. An experimental model of neuropathic pain, the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model, was established using ICR mice. An intravenous (i.v.) injection of SP (1 nmole/kg) was administered to the mice to examine the analgesic effects of systemic SP on neuropathic pain. Behavioral testing and immunostaining was performed following treatment of the CCI model with SP. SP attenuated mechanical allodynia in a time-dependent manner, beginning at 1 h following administration, peaking at 1 day post-injection, and decaying by 3 days post-injection. The second injection of SP also increased the threshold of mechanical allodynia, with the effects peaking on day 1 and decaying by day 3. A reduction in phospho-ERK and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) accompanied the attenuation of mechanical allodynia. We have shown for the first time that i.v. administration of substance P attenuated mechanical allodynia in the maintenance phase of neuropathic pain using von Frey's test, and simultaneously reduced levels of phospho-ERK and GFAP, which are representative biochemical markers of neuropathic pain. Importantly, glial cells in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord (L4-L5) of SP-treated CCI mice, expressed the anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10, which was not seen in vehicle saline-treated mice. Thus, i.v. administration of substance P may be beneficial for improving the treatment of patients with neuropathic pain, since it decreases the activity of nociceptive factors and increases the expression of anti-nociceptive factors.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.115-124
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• 2021

Background: With an increase in the number of breast cancer survivors, greater importance is attached to health-related quality of life, particularly pain and symptom control. This study aimed to identify the factors that are associated with pain in cancer patients based on the patterns of prescribing opioid, non-opioid, and adjuvant analgesics. Methods: This analysis included new patients who had developed breast cancer between 2003 and 2012. The degree of pain was analyzed based on the socio-demographic (age, income quintile, number of hospitalizations, and duration of disease), indicator (Body Mass Index; BMI, Charlson Comorbidity Index; CCI, Cumulative Analgesic Consumption Score; CACS), operation (mastectomy, lymph node dissection), and therapy (chemotherapy, radiation therapy), as well as complication-related variable (lymphedema). Results: As for the patterns of prescribing analgesics by stages, non-opioid and opioid analgesics constituted 30.7 and 69.3%, respectively. The mean value and variance of CACS were 5.596 and 12.567, respectively. The factors that significantly affected the degree of pain were age (≥50; IRR: 1.848, 95% CI 1.564-2.184, p=0.000), income quintile (IRR: 0.964, 95% CI 0.938-0.991, p=0.008), BMI (≥ 25; IRR: 1.479, 95% CI 1.222-1.795, p=0.000), CCI (≥ 4; IRR: 1.649, 95% CI 1.344-2.036, p=0.000), and lymphedema (yes; IRR: 1.267, 95% CI 1.006-1.610, p=0.047). Conclusions: It is necessary to develop systematic and comprehensive pain control measures to improve the quality of life for breast cancer survivors, especially for those who are 50 years or older, lie in the lower-income quintile, have BMI of ≥25 and CCI score ≥ 4, or have lymphedema.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2022

Background: Inflammation is known to underlie the pathogenesis in neuropathic pain. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective mechanisms involved in antinociceptive effects of co-administration of acetaminophen and L-carnosine in chronic constriction injury (CCI)-induced peripheral neuropathy in male Wistar rats. Methods: Fifty-six male Wistar rats were randomly divided into seven experimental groups (n = 8) treated with normal saline/acetaminophen/acetaminophen + L-carnosine. CCI was used to induce neuropathic pain in rats. Hyperalgesia and allodynia were assessed using hotplate and von Frey tests, respectively. Investigation of spinal proinflammatory cytokines and antioxidant system were carried out after twenty-one days of treatment. Results: The results showed that the co-administration of acetaminophen and L-carnosine significantly (P < 0.001) increased the paw withdrawal threshold to thermal and mechanical stimuli in ligated rats compared to the ligated naïve group. There was a significant (P < 0.001) decrease in the levels of nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer B cell inhibitor, calcium ion, interleukin-1-beta, and tumour necrotic factor-alpha in the spinal cord of the group coadministered with acetaminophen and L-carnosine compared to the ligated control group. Co-administration with acetaminophen and L-carnosine increased the antioxidant enzymatic activities and reduced the lipid peroxidation in the spinal cord. Conclusions: Co-administration of acetaminophen and L-carnosine has anti-inflammatory effects as a mechanism that mediate its antinociceptive effects in CCI-induced peripheral neuropathy in Wistar rat.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2023

Background: Along with the increase in the elderly population, concerns about polypharmacy, which can cause medication-related problems, are increasing. This study aimed to find out the association between drug-related factors and readmission in elderly patients within 30 days after discharge. Methods: Data of patients aged ≥65 years who were discharged from the respiratory medicine ward of a tertiary hospital between January and March 2016 were retrospectively obtained. The medication regimen complexity at discharge was calculated using the medication regimen complexity index (MRCI) score, comorbidity status was assessed using the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) were evaluated based on the Beer 2019 criteria, and adverse drug events (ADEs) were examined using the ADE reporting system. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of medication-related problems on hospital readmission after controlling for other variables. Results: Of the 206 patients included, 84 (40.8%) used PIMs, 31 (15%) had ADEs, and 32 (15.5%) were readmitted. The mean age, total medications, MRCI, CCI, and PIMs in the readmission group were significantly higher than those in the non-readmission group. Age significantly decreased the risk of readmission (odds ratio [OR], 0.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84-0.96) after adjusting for sex, length of hospital stay, and ADEs. The use of PIMs (OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.10-5.16) and increased CCI (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.16-1.93) and MRCI (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01-1.07) were associated with an increased occurrence of readmission. Conclusion: PIMs were associated with a significantly greater risk for readmission than MRCI.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.11-18
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• 2009

In this paper, a hierarchical link allocation algorithm between mobile stations (MSs) and the corresponding base station (BS) by an optimal utilization of relay stations (RSs) is proposed to improve throughput of RS systems. In the proposed hierarchical algorithm, each RS operates cognitive radio functions to sense the degree of satisfaction in the quality of services (QoSs) and then selects the candidate set of MSs to have links with the RS. Such information is reported to the BS, where an auction process is performed to get an optimal allocation of communication links between the MSs and the BS. To maximize system throughput, the proposed auction algorithm is conducted upon bidding prices of communication links, considering both the co-channel interference (CCI) information shared among adjacent cells and the QoS enhancement information for each MS collected from RSs. The BS then switches the communication links of the auction winner MSs through the corresponding RS. The computer simulation shows that the proposed algorithm enhances the user QoS more than the conventional algorithm, especially for RS systems with more users requiring higher QoS. The proposed algorithm has also been proved to have more robust performance than the conventional one when the traffic load is higher and the CCI becomes stronger.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.252-259
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• 2016

Neuropathic pain is a complex state showing increased pain response with dysfunctional inhibitory neurotransmission. The TREK family, one of the two pore domain $K^+$ (K2P) channel subgroups were focused among various mechanisms of neuropathic pain. These channels influence neuronal excitability and are thought to be related in mechano/thermosensation. However, only a little is known about the expression and role of TREK-1 and TREK-2, in neuropathic pain. It is performed to know whether TREK-1 and/or 2 are positively related in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of a mouse neuropathic pain model, the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model. Following this purpose, Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analyses were performed using mouse DRG of CCI model and compared to the sham surgery group. Immunofluorescence staining of isolectin-B4 (IB4) and TREK were performed. Electrophysiological recordings of single channel currents were analyzed to obtain the information about the channel. Interactions with known TREK activators were tested to confirm the expression. While both TREK-1 and TREK-2 mRNA were significantly overexpressed in DRG of CCI mice, only TREK-1 showed significant increase (~9 fold) in western blot analysis. The TREK-1-like channel recorded in DRG neurons of the CCI mouse showed similar current-voltage relationship and conductance to TREK-1. It was easily activated by low pH solution (pH 6.3), negative pressure, and riluzole. Immunofluorescence images showed the expression of TREK-1 was stronger compared to TREK-2 on IB4 positive neurons. These results suggest that modulation of the TREK-1 channel may have beneficial analgesic effects in neuropathic pain patients.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.221-231
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• 1997

This paper presents an analysis of a hybrid direct-sequence/slow frequency hopped code division multiple access(DS/SFH-CDMA) system employing noncoherent M-ary frequency shift keying(MFSK) modulation in a multiple m-distribution fading environment. Multipath interfer- ence(MPI) and multiuser interference(MUI) is taken into accout and the spectral efficiency is calculated for uncoded as well as simple channel coding systems. The predetection multipath CCI canceller in conjunction with convolution coding is employed for improving the bit error rate(BER) performance. The BER of noncoherent hybrid system is obtained using a Gaussian interference approximation. From the results, we know that the error performance more deteriorates as the depth of fading becomes deeper. The DS part of the modulation combats the multipath interference, whereas the FH part is a predetection against large multiuser interference. It is shown that, for the con- sidered types of a channel coding, the use of a predetection coding is still essential for obtained a satisfactory bit error performance. The results show that the capacity of the DS/SFG-CDMA MFSK communication system increases in proportion to the length of PN code sequence in the presence of AWGN and MUI. In m-distribution fading environment the capacity increases in proportion to the fading index. The capacity is increased and error performance is improved when the CCI Canceller and Convolution code technique are adopted, respectively. From the results, it is known that the error performance of $4\times10^{-2}$ by adopting Canceller technique. Also convolutional coding technique is the improvement of error performance attains about $10^{-5}$ in code rate 1/2.