• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2019

Purpose: One of the suggested potential mechanisms of tinnitus is an alteration in perception in the neural auditory pathway. The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in laterality in functional connectivity between tinnitus patients and healthy controls using resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI). Materials and Methods: Thirty-eight chronic tinnitus subjects and 45 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Connectivity was investigated using independent component analysis, and the laterality index map was calculated based on auditory (AN) and dorsal attention (DAN), default mode (DMN), sensorimotor, salience (SalN), and visual networks (VNs). The laterality index (LI) of tinnitus subjects was compared with that of normal controls using region-of-interest (ROI) and voxel-based methods and a two-sample unpaired t-test. Pearson correlation was conducted to assess the associations between the LI in each network and clinical variables. Results: The AN and VN showed significant differences in LI between the two groups in ROI analysis (P < 0.05), and the tinnitus group had clusters with significantly decreased laterality of AN, SalN, and VN in voxel-based comparisons. The AN was positively correlated with tinnitus distress (tinnitus handicap inventory), and the SalN was negatively correlated with symptom duration (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that various functional networks related to psychological distress can be modified by tinnitus, and that this interrelation can present differently on the right and left sides, according to the dominance of the network.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4597-4606
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• 2012

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an uncommon adenocarcinoma which arises from the epithelial cells of the bile ducts. The aim of the study was to investigate the cytotoxicity, toxicity, and anticancer activity of a crude ethanolic extract of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) against CCA. Cytotoxic activity against a CCA cell line (CL-6) was assessed by calcein-AM and Hoechst 33342 assays and anti-oxidant activity was evaluated using the DPPH assay. Investigation of apoptotic activity was performed by DNA fragmentation assay and induction of genes that may be involved in the resistance of CCA to anticancer drugs (MDR1, MRP1, MRP2, and MRP3) was examined by real-time PCR. To investigate anti-CCA activity in vivo, a total of 80 OV and nitrosamine (OV/DMN)-induced CCA hamsters were fed with the ginger extract at doses of 1000, 3000, and 5000 mg/kg body weight daily or every alternate day for 30 days. Control groups consisting of 10 hamsters for each group were fed with 5-fluorouracil (positive control) or distilled water (untreated control). Median $IC_{50}$ (concentration that inhibits cell growth by 50%) values for cytotoxicity and anti-oxidant activities of the crude ethanolic extract of ginger were 10.95, 53.15, and $27.86{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. More than ten DNA fragments were visualized and up to 7-9 fold up-regulation of MDR1 and MRP3 genes was observed following exposure to the ethanolic extract of ginger. Acute and subacute toxicity tests indicated absence of any significant toxicity at the maximum dose of 5,000 mg/kg body weight given by intragastric gavage. The survival time and survival rate of the CCA-bearing hamsters were significantly prolonged compared to the control group (median of 54 vs 17 weeks). Results from these in vitro and in vivo studies thus indicate promising anticancer activity of the crude ethanolic extract of ginger against CCA with the absence of any significant toxicity. Moreover, MDR1 and MRP3 may be involved in conferring resistance of CCA to the ginger extract.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.268-279
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• 2018

The ALCYONE multidimensional fuel performance code codeveloped by the CEA, EDF, and AREVA NP within the PLEIADES software environment models the behavior of fuel rods during irradiation in commercial pressurized water reactors (PWRs), power ramps in experimental reactors, or accidental conditions such as loss of coolant accidents or reactivity-initiated accidents (RIAs). As regards the latter case of transient in particular, ALCYONE is intended to predictively simulate the response of a fuel rod by taking account of mechanisms in a way that models the physics as closely as possible, encompassing all possible stages of the transient as well as various fuel/cladding material types and irradiation conditions of interest. On the way to complying with these objectives, ALCYONE development and validation shall include tests on $PWR-UO_2$ fuel rods with advanced claddings such as M5(R) under "low pressure-low temperature" or "high pressure-high temperature" water coolant conditions. This article first presents ALCYONE V1.4 RIA-related features and modeling. It especially focuses on recent developments dedicated on the one hand to nonsteady water heat and mass transport and on the other hand to the modeling of grain boundary cracking-induced fission gas release and swelling. This article then compares some simulations of RIA transients performed on $UO_2$-M5(R) fuel rods in flowing sodium or stagnant water coolant conditions to the relevant experimental results gained from tests performed in either the French CABRI or the Japanese NSRR nuclear transient reactor facilities. It shows in particular to what extent ALCYONE-starting from base irradiation conditions it itself computes-is currently able to handle both the first stage of the transient, namely the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction phase, and the second stage of the transient, should a boiling crisis occur. Areas of improvement are finally discussed with a view to simulating and analyzing further tests to be performed under prototypical PWR conditions within the CABRI International Program. M5(R) is a trademark or a registered trademark of AREVA NP in the USA or other countries.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.351-360
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to predict visual-spatial working memory performance through the characteristics of an electroencephalogram (EEG) in the resting state. The 31 study participants, middle school students with various to academic performance, were underwent visual-spatial working memory test in the Comprehensive Attention Test (CAT) on December in 2014. Each 7 and 6 participants were divided into an Excellent Working Memory (EWM) group and Poor Working Memory (PWM) group depending on the forward/backward working memory scores. The EEG measurements and analysis of the data from a Brain Function Tester were performed by the two groups. A Mann-Whitney Test was used to examine the statistical differences between them. The activation of high beta (${\beta}H$) at the Fp1 and Fp2 sites in the left and right hemisphere, and that of the low beta (${\beta}L$) in the right hemisphere in the EWM group was significantly higher than that in the PWM group. In conclusion, there is a correlation between the visual-spatial working memory performance and the activation of ${\beta}H$ and ${\beta}L$ in the resting state and a close correlation that of ${\beta}L$ in the right hemisphere in terms of mental activity and faculty. Therefore, the visual-spatial working memory performance can be predicted by the activation of ${\beta}H$ and ${\beta}L$ in the resting state. The activation of EEG can be applied as an assessment tool and provide basis data for visual-spatial working memory performance.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.480-498
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• 1997

This study was to investigate the protective and anticirrhotic effects of Mockhyangjokisan and Haewooljoweetang on the liver cirrhosis or fibrosis induced by prolonged bile duct ligation; a new experimental model for cirrhosis and the intraperitoneal injection of dimethylnitrosamine in the rat. The development of fibrosis or cirrhosis and its inhibition by the two prescriptions were examined by the chemical analysis of AST, ALT, and hydroxyproline. The results obtained were as follows. 1. The increase of serum asparate aminotransferase induced by bile duct ligation was inhibited by the administration of Mockhyangjokisan and Haewooljoweetang extract. 2. The increase of serum alanine aminotransferase induced by bile duct ligation was inhibited by the administration of Mockhyangjokisan and Haewooljoweetang extract. 3. The increased level of serum AST and AL T induced by the intraperitoneal injection of dimethylnitrosamine was inhibited by the administration of Mockhyangjokisan and Haewooljoweetang extract. 4. The increasing level of hydroxyproline volume in the damaged liver tissues in the rat was decreased by the oral administration of Mockhyangjokisan and Haewooljoweetang extract. But there were no significant differences in the inhibition rate between the two experimental groups.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.705-715
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• 2016

The purpose of this research is to analyze elementary students' attention characteristics through attention test and eye tracking on real science classes. The SMI's ETG(eye tracker glasses) mobile eye tracker was used to analyze the attention process of elementary students'. The sampling rate of the ETG is 30Hz. The participants of attention test were elementary 155 6th-grade elementary students and the participants for the eye-tracker were six 6th-grade male students. The eye movements were analyzed using the 'BeGaze Mobile Video Analysis Package' program. The results of this research are as follows. First, the attention test results of elementary students showed high correlation between selective attention and sustained attention (.85) and low correlation between selective attention and self-regulation (.32). Second, the attention types of elementary students were divided into four; attention, inattention, easygoing and hasty. Third, elementary students' attention were divided into top-down, bottom-up, default mode network through analysis of elementary students′ eye-movements during real science classes. Also their attention shift occurred frequently due to various reasons in real class situation. There were three reasons that made elementary students fail to handle knowledge-dependent top-down attention; 1) the cognitive failure of target caused by failing to focus attention, 2) the absence of prior knowledge on target object, 3) the analogical failure of prior knowledge. Finally, elementary students' attention process were schematized based on the analysis of students' eye movements and attention test. This research is expected to be utilized as basic data for developing effective teaching strategies, teaching-learning models and instructional materials.