• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.112-112
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• 2003

Voltage-gated $K^{+}$ (Kv) channels represent a structurally and functionally diverse group of membrane proteins. These channels play an important role in determining the length of the cardiac action potential and are the targets for antiarrhythmic drugs. Many $K^{+}$ channel genes have been cloned from human myocardium and functionally contribute to its electrical activity. One of these channels, Kv1.5, is one of the more cardiovascular-specific $K^{+}$ channel isoforms identified to date and forms the molecular basis for an ultra-rapid delayed rectifier $K^{＋}$ current found in human atrium. Thus, the blocker of hKv1.5 is expected to be an ideal antiarrhythmic drug for atrial fibrillation. Chelidonine was isolated from Chelidonium majus L. We examined the effect of chelidonine on the hKv1.5 current expressed in Ltk-cells using whole cell mode of patch clamp techniques. Chelidonine selectively inhibited the hKv1.5 current expressed in Ltk-cells in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas did not affect the HERG current expressed in HEK-293 cells. Additionally, chelidonine reduced the tail current amplitude recorded at -50 mV after 250 ms depolarizing pulses to +60 mV, and slowed the deactivation time course resulting in a 'crossover' phenomenon when the tail currents recorded under control conditions and in the presence of chelidonine were superimposed. We found that chelidonine also inhibited the $K^{+}$ current in isolated human atrial myocytes where hKv1.5 channels were predominantly expressed. Furthermore, we examined the effects of chelidonine on the action potentials in rabbit hearts using conventional microelectrode technique. Chelidonine prolonged the action potential durations (APD) of atrial, ventricular myocytes and Purkinje fibers in a dose-dependent manner. However, the effect of chelidonine on atrial APD was frequency-dependent whereas the effect of chelidonine on the APDs of ventricular myocytes and Purkinje fibers was not frequency- dependent. Also, the selective action of chelidonine on heart was more potent than dofetilide, $K^{+}$ channel blocker.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2011

Topical natural antioxidants are a useful strategy for the prevention of oxidative stress mediated cardiovascular disease including atherosclerosis. From the viewpoint of this underlying principle, the screening of natural plant extracts with scavenging activity for pro-oxidant reactive species is a primary requirement for the development of new topical antioxidant formulations. Euryale ferox Salisbury (EF) is botanical name and it's pharmaceutical name is EURYALES SEMEN (ES). The stems and branchs of EF have been used as a traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of dysentery, diarrhea, leucorrhoea, incontinence and paralysis of joint. In this study, the antioxidant activity of extract from EF was studied in vitro methods by measuring the antioxidant activity and free radical scavenging activity by TEAC and DPPH, measuring the scavenging effects on reactive oxygen species (ROS) [superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical] and on reactive nitrogen species (RNS) [nitric oxide and peroxynitrite] as well as measuring the inhibitory effect on $Cu^{2+}$-induced human LDL oxidation. The EF extracts were found to have a potent scavenging activity, as well as an inhibitory effect on LDL oxidation. In conclusion, the EF extracts have antioxidative effects in vitro system, which can be used for developing pharmaceutical drug against oxidative stress and chronic degenerative disease such as atherosclerosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.539-546
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• 2001

Background: Pulmonary complications in immunocompromised patients are often fatal. Empirical treatment is usually applied based on the clinical and radiological findings because of the risk of the aggressive diagnostic procedures such as open lung biopsy. However, recent advancements in operative procedures and perioperative management has decreased the procedure-related risks. We have prospectively analyzed the risks and benefits of the early application of open lung biopsy in such patients. Material and Method: Forty-two consecutive immunocompromised patients with critical pulmonary complications were included from June, 1996 to December, 1999. The definition of the immunocompromised is as those with chemotherapy and/or other modality for hematologic disorders, with usage of immunosuppressive drug after transplantation, with usage of steroid for more than 1 month, and with primary immunodeficiency disorders. The indication of open lung biopsy was those with no significant improvement after a week of aggressive application of empirical treatment or with rapidly aggressive process. The underlying disease included hematologic disorder(31 patients), post-transplantation(3 patients), chemotherapy for solid tumor(2 patients), and others(6 patients). Operations were done through thoracotomy(conventional or mini-) or VATS.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1-24
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• 2011

Backgrounds: Danggui, one of the major herbs in Korean traditional medicine consists of three species: Angelica gigas of Korea, Angelica sinensis of China, and Angelica acutiloba of Japan. Despite its importance in Korean traditional medicine, recognition of the clinical differences between its three species is insufficient. Objectives: The purpose of the present review is to suggest evidence in using Angelica gigas, Angelica sinensis, and Angelica acutiloba distinctively in clinic, by comparing their pharmacological effects and bioactive compounds. Methods: We searched articles published from 2000 to 2009 in Pubmed, EMbase, and RISS. The search keywords were "Angelica gigas", "Angelica sinensis", "Angelica acutiloba", "dongquei", "toki", "Angelicae Radix", "Archangelica officinalis Hoffm.", "Garden Angelica", "Chinese angelica root", "tangkuei", and "danggui". 861 articles were searched. Among them, we selected 143 articles which met our inclusion criteria. Results: This review summarizes active constituents, experimental studies, clinical studies, pharmacokinetics, side effects and toxicity, drug interaction, and industrial use of Angelica gigas, Angelica sinensis, and Angelica acutiloba. Conclusions: While Angelica sinensis and Angelica acutiloba are relatively similar, Angelica gigas is quite different from the others in main active constituents and genetic form. The main experimental studies of Danggui are cardiovascular studies, central nervous system studies and anti-cancer activity. Even though there were cases in which the three species show similar pharmacological effects, the mechanism was not always shared. Therefore, distinguished use of Angelica gigas, Angelica sinensis and Angelica acutiloba is needed.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1152-1157
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• 2008

Hyperlipidemia has been treated as one of the most important etiological cause factor in 21th century. The cortex and root of Acanthopanax sessiliflorus (AR), a herbal medicine, have been used for several diseases including cardiovascular diseases in Oriental countries. Recently, we reported that AR has anti-hyperlipidemic action. BS-01 was made using extract from AR. For these reasons, we investigated the effects of BS-01 as anti-hyperlipidemic drug through measurement of body weights, cholesterol levels, total lipid, phospholipid in serum. In our results, mice induced by high fat diet elevated body weight level compared to naive group. And total lipid in serum was also elevated by induction of hyperlipidemia. In BS-01 group, body weight of mice was lowered significantly compared to that of control group. Oral administration of BS-01 decreased total cholesterol and triglyceride level back to that of naive mice. HDL and LDL cholesterol levels were not affected by BS-01. In addition, total lipid level, which elevated by induction of hyperlipidemia was also lowered by oral administration of BS-01. Finally, free fatty acid level was lowered in BS-01 group. These results demonstrate that BS-01 lowered body weight and titers involved in hyperlipdemia such as total cholesterol, triglyceride, free fatty acid and total lipid. In these results, we demonstrate that BS-01 has anti-hyperlipidemic action.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1508-1515
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• 1992

Between 1975 and 1992, forty five patients with trachea stenosis received tracheoplasty for relief of obstruction. The causes of airway problem are brain contusion[19 cases, 40%], cerebrovascular disease[3 cases, 7%], drug intoxication[8 cases, 18%], psychotic problem[2 cases, 4%], trachea tumor[3 cases, 7%], adult respiratory distress syndrome[9 cases, 20%] and direct trauma[1 case, 2%]. Direct causes of trachea stenosis were complications of tracheostomy[36 cases, 80%], complications of nasotracheal intubation[5 cases, 11%], tumor[3 cases, 6%] and trauma[1 case, 2%]. Thirty one patients underwent the sleeve resection and end-to-end anastomosis. Five patients performed a wedge resection and end-to-end anastomosis. Forteen patients received the Montgomery T-tube for relief of airway obstruction. Four patients have done simple excision of granulation tissue. Two, subglottic stenosis patients were received Rethi procedure[anterior division of cricoid cartilage, wedge partial resection of lower thyroid cartilage and Montgomery T-tube molding] and the other subglottic stenosis patient underwent permanent trachea fenestration. Including cervical flexion in all patients postoperatively, additional surgical techniques for obtain tension-free anastomosis were hyoid bone release technique in two cases, and hilar mobilization, division of inferior pulmonary ligament and mobilization of pulmonary vessel at the pericardium were performed in one case. Cervical approach was used in 39 cases, cervicomediastinal in 12 cases and transthoracic in one case. Complications of tracheoplasty were formation of granulation tissue at the anastomosis site[3 cases], restenosis[9 cases], trachea-innominate artery fistula[2 cases], wound infection[2 cases], separation of anastomosis[2 cases], air leakage[3 cases], injury to a recurrent laryngeal nerve[temporary 8 cases, permanent 2 cases] and hypoxemia[1 case]. Surgical mortality for resection with primary reconstruction was 6.7%, with one death due to postoperative respiratory failure and two deaths due to tracheo-innominate artery fistula.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.914-920
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• 1989

Bleomycin and cyclophosphamide are widely used and effective anti-cancer agents for treatment of various forms of cancer. Bleomycin has no myelotoxicity, but because of potential risk of pulmonary complications including interstitial pneumonitis and idiopathic interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, it has been limited in use. Some investigator has also suggested that cyclophosphamide can induce pulmonary toxicity like bleomycin. Recently, The combination chemotherapy including bleomycin and cyclophosphamide has been adopted effectively in some types of cancer. But there are no available literatures for synergistic effect of pulmonary toxicity in combination chemotherapy including these two drugs. We tried this study to observe synergism of pulmonary toxicity using these two drugs in rats. The animals were divided into five groups: group 1 received intra-peritoneal injection of saline, group 2-a received only bleomycin 0.1 mg [0.4 mg/kg] by intra-peritoneal injection twice a week, group 2-b received only bleomycin 0.5 mg [2 mg/kg] by intra-peritoneal injection twice a week, group 3-a received bleomycin 0.1 mg [0.4 mg/kg] twice a week +cyclophosphamide 5 mg [20 mg/kg] two weeks interval by intra-peritoneal injection, group 3-b received bleomycin 0.5 mg [2 mg/kg] twice a week + cyclophosphamide 5 mg[20 mg/kg] two weeks interval by intra-peritoneal injection. The animals were sacrificed at 2 and 4 weeks later. Lung tissues were obtained and observed by light microscope. The results are as follows: 1. The pathologic findings of group 1 were normal without change. 2. There was no difference between group 2-a and group 3-a at 2 weeks later, group 3-a, however, revealed more severe change in lung tissue at 4 weeks later compared with group 2-a. 3. In group 3-b there was more severe pulmonary injury compared with group 2-b at 2 and 4 weeks later. We conclude that the combined administration of bleomycin and cyclophosphamide induce more severe pulmonary toxic effect than bleomycin administration alone and the combination chemotherapy including these two drugs will be require special attention to selection of the dose of each drug.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2010

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects 4-12% of chool-age children worldwide and is characterized by three core symptoms: hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. Although standard pharmacological treatments, such as methylphenidate and atomoxetine, are available, concerns about drug-induced psychological and cardiovascular problems, as well as growth retardation and sleep disturbances, highlight the continuing need for new therapeutic interventions. Using a neonatal hypoxia-induced hyperactivity model in rats, the potential positive role that oral administration of red ginseng extract may have in relation to the hyperactive phenotype was investigated. Hypoxia was induced in 2-day-old male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat pups by placing them in a nitrogen chamber for 15 min. The neonatal hypoxia-induced rats showed a significant increase in hyperactivity phenotype, such as increased movement duration, movement distance, and rearing frequency, which was determined by monitoring their spontaneous locomotor activity using the Ethovision video tracking system. One week of oral treatment with red ginseng extract decreased the hyperactivity phenotype of the neonatal hypoxia-induced rats and increased the locomotor activity of the control rats. In the neonatal hypoxia-induced rats, expression of the norepinephrine transporter in the forebrain was increased, and red ginseng treatment partially prevented its up-regulation, while increasing its level in the control rats. Taken together, these results suggest that red ginseng extract decreased the neonatal hypoxia-induced hyperactivity phenotype, although it increased locomotor activity in normal animals.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2008

Therapeutic ultrasound which is developed for rehabilitation therapy have already been used for healing joint contracture, synechia, acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Medical devices for pain-relief and healing using therapeutic ultrasound are actively being developed. This study measured the change of PTT with the transmitted ultrasound through the human body to find out the increase of compliance of blood vessels. Measurement method of PTT in this study is employed as useful ways to acquire physiological information of patients in the clinical case in order to measure the change of mechanical characteristics of blood vessels. This study confirmed the PTT change of rehabilitation patients through the thermal effects of ultrasound by using PTT and also found that it is possible to increase PTT by adjusting the warm water and ultrasound. The increase of PTT means the decrease of the pulse wave velocity from the cardiovascular system to the peripheral arteries. The physiological effects occurred using the warm water and ultrasound.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2016

Background: A job-specific Worker's Health Surveillance (WHS) for hospital physicians is a preventive occupational health strategy aiming at early detection of their diminished work-related health in order to improve or maintain physician's health and quality of care. This study addresses what steps should be taken to determine the content of a job-specific WHS for hospital physicians and outlines that content. Methods: Based on four questions, decision trees were developed for physical and psychological job demands and for biological, chemical, and physical exposures to decide whether or not to include work-related health effects related to occupational exposures or aspects of health reflecting insufficient job requirements. Information was gathered locally through self-reporting and systematic observations at the workplace and from evidence in international publications. Results: Information from the decision trees on the prevalence and impact of the health- or work-functioning effect led to inclusion of occupational exposures (e.g., biological agents, emotionally demanding situations), job requirements (e.g., sufficient vision, judging ability), or health effects (e.g., depressive symptoms, neck complaints). Additionally, following the Dutch guideline for occupational physicians and based on specific job demands, screening for cardiovascular diseases, work ability, drug use, and alcohol consumption was included. Targeted interventions were selected when a health or work functioning problem existed and were chosen based on evidence for effectiveness. Conclusion: The process of developing a job-specific WHS for hospital physicians was described and the content presented, which might serve as an example for other jobs. Before implementation, it must first be tested for feasibility and acceptability.