• PNF and Movement
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• 제20권2호
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• pp.235-241
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of low intensity blood flow restriction training (LBFR) on the central nervous system of healthy adults. Methods: Ten healthy right-handed adults (eight males and two females, mean age of 28.6 ± 2.87 years) were selected as study subjects. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted to measure brain activation (BA) following LBFR and non-LBFR. The primary motor area, premotor area, and supplementary motor area, which are closely related to exercise, were set as the regions of interest. Results: The BA recorded during the LBFR condition was 931.7 ± 302.44 voxel, and the BA recorded during the non-LBFR condition was 1,510.9 ± 353.47 voxel. Conclusion: BA was lower during LBFR than during non-LBFR.

• PNF and Movement
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.217-226
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a modified abdominal draw-in maneuver on trunk stability and functional capacity as well as pain in patients with chronic low back pain. Methods: The study included 3 patients with chronic low back pain who volunteered to participate. The modified abdominal draw-in maneuver included a posterior pelvic tilt, a traditional abdominal draw-in maneuver, and a vibration sensory feedback device. Voluntary abdominal contraction using the vibration sensory feedback device was performed by the subjects for more than 1 hour per day, 5 times per week, for 6 weeks along with common low back pain treatment. Electromyographic signals in the rectus abdominis (RA), external oblique (EO), internal oblique (IO), and erector spinae (ES) muscles were measured to compare muscle activation. The degree of pain was measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS), and functional capacity was measured using the Korea Oswestry Disability Index (K-ODI). All results were compared to the means before and after intervention. Results: After the intervention, the RA, EO, and IO showed increased muscle activation and the ES showed decreased muscle activation. The visual analogue scale decreased after intervention and the K-ODI decreased after intervention. Conclusion: Modified abdominal draw-in maneuvers in daily life combined with therapeutic exercises may be effective in relieving pain and dysfunctions in chronic low back pain patients.

• 대한전기학회논문지:전력기술부문A
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• 제48권8호
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• pp.1046-1053
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• 1999

The musculotendon model is presented to show the declines in muscle force and shortening velocity during muscle fatigue due to the repeated functional electrical stimulation (FES). It consists of the nonlinear activation and contraction dynamics including physiological concepts of muscle fatigue. The activation dynamics represents $Ca^{2+}$ binding and unbinding mechanism with troponins of cross-bridges in sarcoplasm. It has the constant binding rate or activation time constant and two step nonlinear unbinding rate or inactivation time constant. The contraction dynamics is the modified Hill type model to represent muscle force - length and muscle force - velocity relations. A muscle fatigue profile as a function of the intracellular acidification, pH is applied into the contraction dynamics to represent the force decline. The computer simulation shows that muscle force and shortening velocity decline in stimulation time. And we validate the model. The model can predicts the proper muscle force without changing its parameters even when existing the estimation errors of the optimal fiber length. The change in the estimate of the optimal fiber length has an effect only on muscle time constant in transient period not on the tetanic force in the steady-state and relaxation periods.

• BMB Reports
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• 제56권3호
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• pp.172-177
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• 2023

BEST family is a class of Ca²⁺-activated Cl- channels evolutionary well conserved from bacteria to human. The human BEST paralogs (BEST1-BEST4) share significant amino acid sequence homology in the N-terminal region, which forms the transmembrane helicases and contains the direct calcium-binding site, Ca²⁺-clasp. But the cytosolic C-terminal region is less conserved in the paralogs. Interestingly, this domain-specific sequence conservation is also found in the BEST1 orthologs. However, the functional role of the C-terminal region in the BEST channels is still poorly understood. Thus, we aimed to understand the functional role of the C-terminal region in the human and mouse BEST1 channels by using electrophysiological recordings. We found that the calcium-dependent activation of BEST1 channels can be modulated by the C-terminal region. The C-terminal deletion hBEST1 reduced the Ca²⁺-dependent current activation and the hBEST1-mBEST1 chimera showed a significantly reduced calcium sensitivity to hBEST1 in the HEK293 cells. And the C-terminal domain could regulate cellular expression and plasma membrane targeting of BEST1 channels. Our results can provide a basis for understanding the C-terminal roles in the structure-function of BEST family proteins.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.321-327
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• 2012

The production of functional activated carbon materials starting from inexpensive natural precursors using environmentally friendly and economically effective processes has attracted much attention in the areas of material science and technology. In particular, the use of plant biomass to produce functional carbonaceous materials has attracted a great deal of attention in various aspects. In this study the preparation of activated carbon has been attempted from rice husks via a chemical activation-assisted microwave system. The rice husks were milled via attrition milling with aluminum balls, and then carbonized under purified $N_2$. The operational parameters including the activation agents, chemical impregnation weight ratio of the calcined rice husk to KOH (1:1, 1:2 and 1:4), microwave power heating within irradiation time (3-5 min), and the second activation process on the adsorption capability were investigated. Experimental results were investigated using XRD, FT-IR, and SEM. It was found that the BET surface area of activated carbons irrespective of the activation agent resulted in surface area. The activated carbons prepared by microwave heating with an activation process have higher surface area and larger average pore size than those prepared by activation without microwave heating when the ratio with KOH solution was the same. The activation time using microwave heating and the chemical impregnation ratio with KOH solution were varied to determine the optimal method for obtaining high surface area activated carbon (1505 $m^2$/g).

• 한국전문물리치료학회지
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.73-80
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• 2005

We investigated the activation of the cerebral cortex during active movement, passive movement, and functional electrical stimulation (FES), which was provided on wrist extensor muscles. A functional magnetic resonance imaging study was performed on 5 healthy volunteers. Tasks were the extension of right wrist by active movement, passive movement, and FES at the rate of .5 Hz. The regions of interest were measured in primary motor cortex (M1), primary somatosensory cortex (SI), secondary somatosensory cortex (SII), and supplementary motor area (SMA). We found that the contralateral SI and SII were significantly activated by all of three tasks. The additional activation was shown in the areas of ipsilateral S1 (n=2), and contralateral (n=1) or ipsilateral (n=2) SII, and bilateral SMA (n=3) by FES. Ipsilateral M1 (n=1), and contralateral (n=1) or ipsilateral SII (n=1), and contralateral SMA (n=1) were activated by active movement. Also, Contralateral SMA (n=3) was activated by passive movement. The number of activated pixels on SM1 by FES ($12{\pm}4$ pixels) was smaller than that by active movement ($18{\pm}4$ pixels) and nearly the same as that by passive movement ($13{\pm}4$ pixels). Findings reveal that active movement, passive movement, and FES had a direct effect on cerebral cortex. It suggests that above modalities may have the potential to facilitate brain plasticity, if applied with the refined-specific therapeutic intervention for brain-injured patients.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제30권5호
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• pp.267-271
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• 2020

Cerium oxide (ceria, CeO₂) is one of the most wide-spread oxide supporting materials for the precious metal nanoparticle class of heterogeneous catalysts. Because ceria can store and release oxygen ions, it is an essential catalytic component for various oxidation reactions such as CO oxidation (2CO + O₂ 2CO₂). Moreover, reduced ceria is known to be reactive for water activation, which is a critical step for activation of water-gas shift reaction (CO + H₂O → H₂ + CO₂). Here, we apply van der Waals-corrected density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with U correction to study the mechanism of water chemisorption on CeO₂(111) surfaces. A stoichiometric CeO₂(111) and a defected CeO₂(111) surface showed different water adsorption chemistry, suggesting that defected CeO₂ surfaces with oxygen vacancies are responsible for water binding and activation. An appropriate level of water-ceria chemisorption energy is deduced by vdW-corrected non-local correlation coupled with the optB86b exchange functional, whereas the conventional PBE functional describes weaker water-ceria interactions, which are insufficient to stabilize (chemisorb) water on the ceria surfaces.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.77-82
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• 2011

Purpose: Recently, many studies have demonstrated that application of external stimulation can modulate cortical excitability of the human brain. We attempted to observe cortical excitability using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or functional electrical stimulation (FES). Methods: We recruited two healthy subjects without a history of neurological or psychiatric problems. fMRI scanning was done during? each constant anodal tDCS and FES session, and each session was repeated three times. The tDCS session consisted of three successive phases (resting phase: 60sec dummy cycle: 10sec tDCS phase: 60sec). The FES session involved stimulation of wrist extensor muscles over two successive phase (resting phase: 15sec FES phase: 15sec). Results: The average map of the tDCS and FES analyses showed that the primary sensory-motor cortex area was activated in all subjects. Conclusion: Our findings show that cortical activation can be induced by constant anodal tDCS and FES. They suggest that the above stimuli have the potential for facilitating brain plasticity and modulating neural excitability if applied as specific therapeutic interventions for brain injured patients.

• BMB Reports
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• 제52권6호
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• pp.360-372
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• 2019

Macrophages play an essential role not only in mediating the first line of defense but also in maintaining tissue homeostasis. In response to extrinsic factors derived from a given tissue, macrophages activate different functional programs to produce polarized macrophage populations responsible for inducing inflammation against microbes, removing cellular debris, and tissue repair. However, accumulating evidence has revealed that macrophage polarization is pivotal in the pathophysiology of metabolic syndromes and cancer, as well as in infectious and autoimmune diseases. Recent advances in transcriptomic and metabolomic studies have highlighted the link between metabolic rewiring of macrophages and their functional plasticity. These findings imply that metabolic adaption to their surrounding microenvironment instructs activation of macrophages with functionally distinct phenotypes, which in turn probably leads to the pathogenesis of a wide spectrum of diseases. In this review, we have introduced emerging concepts in immunometabolism with focus on the impact on functional activation of macrophages. Furthermore, we have discussed the implication of macrophage plasticity on the pathogenesis of metabolic syndromes and cancer, and how the disease microenvironment manipulates macrophage metabolism with regard to the pathophysiology.

• PNF and Movement
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.231-236
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare cerebral motor area activation between the diagonal and straight movements of the lower extremity. Methods: The subjects of this study consisted of two right-handed adults. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted to measure brain activation following the diagonal and straight movements of the lower extremity. The primary motor area, premotor area, and supplementary motor area, which are closely related to exercise, were set as the regions of interest. Results: The brain activation by diagonal movement was an average of $1036{\pm}75$ voxel, and brain activation by straight exercise was an average of $773{\pm}55$ voxel. Conclusion: Based on these results, we conclude that the activation of the cerebral motor area is more effective for diagonal movements than for straight movements.