• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.92-111
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• 2002

Objective : Carthami Flos has been used as a herb to promote blood circulation to remove blood stasis in oriental medicine for many centuries, and Amun(GV15) has been used as a meridian point to treat apoplexy etc. To investigate treatment of cerevral vascular disease(CVA) by promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis(活血化瘀法), we observed the experimental effects and mechanism of auqa-acupunture of Carthami Flos(ACF) injected into GV15 on cerevral hemodynamics and cardiovascular system of rats. Method : Aqua-acupuncture of Carthami Flos(ACF) was injected into GV15, and then we investigated experimental effects and mechanism of ACF on the cerebral hemodynamics[regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF), pial arterial diameter(PAD), meal arterial blood pressure(MABP)] and cardiovascular system[cardiac muscle contractile force(CMF), heart rate(HR)I by pretreatment with methylene blue(MTB) and indomethacin(IDN). The changes in rCBF, MABP, CMF and HR were tested by Laser Doppler Flowmetry(LDF), and the changes in PAD was determinated by video microscopy methods and video analyzer. Results :The results were as follows in normal rats ; The changes of rCBF and PAD were significantly increased by ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in a injected time-dependent manner, but MABP was not changed by ACF. The changes of cardiovascular system were increased by ACF in a injected time-dependent manner. And pretreatment with MTB was significantly inhibited ACE induced increase of rCBF and PAD, and was decreased ACF induced increase of HR. And pretreatment with IDN was increased ACF induced MABP and CMF. And the results were as follows in cerebral ischemic rats ; The changes of rCBF was increased stabilizly by treatment with ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in during the period of cerebral reperfusion, but pretreatment with MTB was increased ACF induced increase of rCBF during the period of cerebral reperfusion. The results were as follows in normal rats ; The changes of rCBF and PAD were significantly increased by ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in a injected time-dependent manner, but MABP was not changed by ACF. The changes of cardiovascular system were increased by ACF in a injected time-dependent manner. And pretreatment with MTB was significantly inhibited ACF induced increase of rCBF and PAD, and was decreased ACF induced increase of HR. And pretreatment with IDN was increased ACF induced MABP and CMF. And the results were as follows in cerebral ischemic rats ; The changes of rCBF was increased stabilizly by treatment with ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in during the period of cerebral reperfusion, but pretreatment with MTB was increased ACF induced increase of rCBF during the period of cerebral reperfusion Conclusions : In conclusion, ACF causes a diverse response of rCBF, PAD an HR, and action of ACF is mediated by cyclic GMP. I suggested that ACF has an anti-ischemic effect through the improvement of crebral hemodynamics in a transient cerebral ischemia.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2010

Although chemical sedimentation and ion exchange are usually applied to the treatment of heavy metal ions and radioactive cations, they have some serious disadvantages like a great consumption of chemicals, the disposal of valuable metals, and the secondary pollution of soil by the solid-waste. The advanced countries recently have studied the electrochemical ion exchange, combined electrochemical reduction and ion exchange, for the development of the alternative technique. This study has been performed to investigate the optimum condition for the preparation of the nickel hexacyanoferrate (NiHCNFe) which is an electrochemical ion exchanger. NiHCNFe film was deposited on the surface of nickel plate by chemical method or electrochemical method. The morphology and composition of NiHCNFe were observed by SEM and EDS, respectively. The peak current density of NiHCNFe was measured from the cyclic voltammograms of the continuous oxidation-reduction reaction in a parallel plane ion exchange electrode reactor. It was found that the chemical preparation method was better than the electrochemical method. The concentrated NiHCNFe was apparently deposited on nickel plate when dipping in the preparing solution for 118 h, especially. It also had a best durable performance as an ion exchange electrode.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.183-190
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• 1997

Tocolytics are agents widely used in the treatment of premature labor to inhibit uterine contractions. Ritodrine is most commonly used tocolytic agent and acts by increasing intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate, which decreases the activity of myosin light-chain kinase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the signal network leading to contraction. Physiologic effects associated with the use of ritodrine are due to their effect on bera-l as well as beta-2 receptors. Some of maternal complications of therapy are rachycardia, hyperglycemia, hypokalemia, lactic acidosis, myocardial ischemia, and pulmonary edema. Tocolytics induced pulmonary edema is a serious complication that can lead to marternal death, although infrequent, The incidence varies from 0.5% to 5% of those receiving these agents. Predisposing factors include the concommitant use of corticosteroid, twin gestation, fluid overload (particularly with saline), and anemia. Several mechanisms have been postulated, but the pathogenesis is uncertain. It is suggested that both types of mechanism, hydrostatic and permeability induced, might be involved. The association of tocolytic therapy with pulmonary edema appears to be unique to the pregnant state, because this complication has never been reported in asthmatic patients exposed to high dosages. We report a case of tocolytic induced pulmonary edema developed in 24 hours after delivery.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.493-501
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• 2015

Superelastic shape memory alloys (SMAs) are metallic materials that can automatically recover to their original condition without heat treatment only after the removal of the applied load. These smart materials have been wildly applied instead of steel materials to the place where large deformation is likely to concentrate. In spite of many advantages, superelastic SMA materials have been limited to use in the construction filed because there is lack of effort and research involved with the development of the material model, which is required to reproduce the behavior of superelastic SMA materials. Therefore, constitutive material models as well as algorithm codes are mainly treated in this study for the purpose of simulating their hysteretic behavior through numerical analyses. The simulated curves are compared and calibrated to the experimental test results with an aim to verify the adequacy of material modeling. Furthermore, structural analyses incorporating the material property of the superelastic SMAs are conducted on simple and cantilever beam models. It can be shown that constitutive material models presented herein are adequate to reliably predict the behavior of superelastic SMA materials under cyclic loadings.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.105-110
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• 1985

A incubation study was conducted to find out the effects of rice straw and gypsum as soil ameriolite on urease, nitrate and nitrite reductase activities in newly reclaimed saline sandy soil. The results obtained were summarized as follows: 1. Very low urease activities were observed in saline soil if contrast to high productive paddy soil. Urease activities were lower at 5 days than that of 25 and 50 days after incubation. Remarkably high urease activities were obtained by the application of rice straw and gypsum. 2. Comparing with NPK treatment, application of rice straw and gypsum were enhanced the activities of nitrate and nitraite reductase. 3. Positive correlation (r=0.5501 p=0.05) was obtained between urease activities and ammonium nitrogen concentration in soil. 4. Cyclic oxidation and reduction of nitrate and nitrite in soil were obtained in terms of first order microbial kinetics reaction in case of application of rice straw and gypsum, respectively. 5. Positive correlation (r=0.6296 p=0.05) was obtained between the activitie of nitrite reductase and nitrate reductase in soil.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2007

The isolated plantamajoside from Plantago asiatica that is often used as a marker compound in chemotaxonomic studies has various bioactivites such as the inhibitions of cyclic AMP phosphodi-esterase and 5-lipoxygenase, microbial growth and inflammation, and currently demands the generation of toxicity data. The purpose of this study was to examine the toxicities of the single and 14 days repeated dose toxicity in Sprague-Dawley rats orally administrated with plantamajoside at dose levels of 0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg of dried material/kg body weight/day. The results showed that there was no difference in body weight change, food intake, water consumption, or relative organ weight among different dose groups. Also we observed no death and abnormal clinical signs were observed during the experimental period. Between the groups orally administered Plantago asiatica and the control group, there was no statistical significance in hematological test or serum biochemical values. There were no gross findings at final sacrifice. There was no evidence of histopathological alteration mediated by 14 days treatment with Plantago asiatica. These results suggest that no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of the oral application was considered to be more than 2000 mg/kg in rats under the conditions employed in this study. Another observation was performed to investigate the safety of Plantago asiatica in respect of genotoxicity. This substance was examined that Salmonella typhimurium reversion assay (Ames test) in strain TA98, TA100, TA1535. In the reverse mutation test, Plantago asiatica did not induce mutagenicity in Samonella typhimurium with and without metabolic activation. These results indicated that Plantago asiatica had no genotoxicity.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.107-127
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• 2018

Objectives : The present study investigated the anti-obese and blood flow improvement activities of aqueous extracts of ginseng berry (GBe) on the mild diabetic obese mice as compared with metformin. Methods : After end of 56 days of continuous oral administrations of GBe 150, 100 and 50 mg/kg, or metformin 250 mg/kg, anti-obese and blood flow improvement effects - the changes of body weights, body and abdominal fat density by in live dual-energy x-ray absorptionmetry (DEXA), tail bleeding time, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, aorta and serum cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), nitric oxide (NO) and endothelin (ET)-1 levels, aorta phosphorylated PI3K (pPI3K), phosphorylated Akt (pAkt) and phosphorylated p38 MAPK (pp38 MAPK) levels were systemically analyzed. In addition, aorta vascular dilation and constriction related gene mRNA expressions - PI3K, Akt, eNOS, p38 MAPK and ET-1 were also analyzed by realtime RT-PCR. Results : The obesity and related blood flow impairment, induced by 84 days of continuous HFD supply, were significantly inhibited by 56 days of continuous oral treatment of GBe 150, 100 and 50mg/kg, dose-dependently, and they also dramatically normalized the changes of the aorta vascular dilation and constriction related gene mRNA expressions, also dose-dependently. Especially, GBe 150 mg/kg constantly showed favorable inhibitory activities against type II diabetes related obesity and vascular disorders through PI3K/Akt pathway and p38 MAPK mediated cGMP, NO and ET-1 expression modulatory activities, as comparable to those of metformin 250 mg/kg in HFD mice. Conclusion : By assessing the key parameters for anti-obese and blood flow improvement activities on the HFD-induced mild diabetic obese mice, the present work demonstrated that GBe 150, 100 and 50 mg/kg showed favorable anti-obese and blood flow improvement effects in HFD-induced type II diabetic mice, through PI3K/Akt pathway and p38 MAPK mediated cGMP, NO and ET-1 expression modulatory activities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.373-382
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• 2016

Painting or thermally sprayed metal coating is often used in corrosion protection of steel structures. In recently, duplex coating system which combines thermally sprayed metals with paint is selected as a new generic type of coatings on steel structures under the highly corrosive environments. In this study, the structural steel specimens were surface treated, thermally sprayed with zinc, zinc-15%aluminum alloy, aluminum and aluminum-5%magnesium alloy, and finally sealing or painted with acrylic urethane. And as a reference specimens, steel specimens were painted with acrylic urethane after surface treatment. Circular defects with 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mm in diameters and line defect with 2.0 mm width, which reach the steel substrate were created on all specimens. The specimens were exposed into an environmental testing chamber controlled by the ISO 20340, which is a laboratory cyclic accelerated exposure test condition of spraying/UV/low temperature, for up to 175 days. Based on the corrosion tests, corrosion deterioration from the initial defects were evaluated and weathering performance of the specimens are compared.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2002

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is the inducible from of the rate-limiting enzyme of heme degradation; it regulates the cellular contents of heme. HO-1 is up-regulated by various stimuli including oxidative stress so that it is thought to participate in general cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress in mammalian cells. To investigate the role of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway on nitrogen oxidative stress-induced HO-1 gene expression, RAW 264.7 cell cultures were treated with sodium nitroprusside (SNP). SNP increased the expression of HO-1 mRNA and protein, time- and concentration-dependently. Treatment with H89, PKA inhibitor, but not LY83583, guanylate cyclase inhibitor, significantly diminished the HO-1 expression by SNP, indicating that cAMP plays a crucial role in the induction of HO-1. Incubation with cAMP-elevating agents, such as forskolin or isoproterenol resulted in up-regulation of the expression of HO-1. Forskolin-induced expression of HO-1 was inhibited by H89. Furthermore, propranolol, $\beta$-adrenoceptor blocker, inhibited the isoproterenol-induced HO-1 expression, supporting the importance of cAMP in the induction of HO-1 expression. Higenamine-S, but not higenamineR, enhanced the HO-1 expression induced by SNP. Furthermore, cellular toxicity induced by hydrogen peroxide was attenuated by the presence of SNP, which was further increased by the presence of ZnPPIX, HO-1 inhibitor. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that up-regulation of HO-1 expression in RAW 264.7 cells involves PKA signal pathway.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1039-1048
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• 2007

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether leptin is a metabolic signal for gonadotropin secretion in ewes. In the first experiment, twenty-eight cyclic Chal ewes were assigned randomly to an energy restricted, no leptin group (ERNL) (60% of maintenance; n = 14) and an energy normal, no leptin group (ENNL) (100% of maintenance; n = 14) for 71 days (6 estrous cycles). Estrus was synchronized with seven consecutive injections of $PGF_{2{\alpha}}$ Biweekly, body weight (BW) and body condition score (BCS) were determined and blood samples were collected to measure plasma leptin concentration. Blood samples were also taken to determine plasma progesterone concentration twice weekly. After each PG injection from the second injection to the end of experiment, four ewes were selected and blood samples were collected at 20 minutes and at hourly intervals for 3 h to detect plasma LH and FSH concentration. In the second experiment, after the ceasing of the estrous cycle caused by energy restriction, six acyclic ewes were selected and randomly allotted to two groups (n = 3) and received the following treatment for four days. Ewes in an energy restricted, leptin group (ERL) were fed with a ration which provided 60% of maintenance energy requirements and intravenously injected with $4{\mu}g$ leptin/kg BW daily. Ewes in an energy excess, no leptin group (EENL) were fed with a ration that provided 180% (120%+60%) of maintenance energy requirements and intravenously injected with 1 ml saline daily. In both groups, blood samples were collected at 20 minutes and at hourly intervals for 3 h before feeding on d 0 and d 5, and for 3 h before and after injections as above on d 2 and d 4 to detect plasma LH and FSH concentration. In the first experiment, BW and BCS from the $2^{nd}$ estrous cycle, and leptin from the $3^{rd}$ estrous cycle to the end of the experiment significantly (p<0.05) decreased. In ERNL ewes, mean plasma concentrations of FSH significantly (p<0.01) decreased from the $4^{th}$ estrous cycle to d 71 and LH pulsatile secretion was suppressed on d 71, so that, mean plasma concentrations of LH (p<0.05), LH pulse frequency (p<0.01) and LH pulse amplitude (p<0.05) significantly decreased. In the second experiment, injection of leptin significantly increased mean circulating concentrations of LH (p<0.05), LH pulse frequency (p<0.01), LH pulse amplitude (p<0.05) and mean circulating concentrations of FSH (p<0.01) and leptin (p<0.01). High energy intake significantly (p<0.05) stimulated pulsatile secretion of LH and leptin secretion (p<0.01), but non-significantly increased plasma FSH concentration. The results of this study indicate that leptin is a metabolic signal for the GnRH-LH/FSH axis in feed-restricted fat-tailed ewes.