• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.406-412
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• 2011

Background: Development of thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections (TAAD) is attributed to unbearable wall tension superimposed on defective aortic wall integrity and impaired aortic repair mechanisms. Central to this repair mechanisms are well-balanced and adequately functional cellular components of the aortic wall, including endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells (SMCs), inflammatory cells, and adventitial fibroblasts. Adventitial fibroblasts naturally produce aortic extracellular matrix (ECM), and, when aortic wall is injured, they can be transformed into SMCs, which in turn are involved in aortic remodeling. We postulated the hypothesis that adventitial fibroblasts in patients with TAAD may have defects in ECM production and SMC transformation. Materials and Methods: Adventitial fibroblasts were procured from the adventitial layer of fresh aortic tissues of patients with TAAD (Group I) and of multi-organ donors (Group II), and 4-passage cell culture was performed prior to the experiment. To assess ECM production, cells were treated with TNF-${\alpha}$ (50 pM) and the expression of MMP-2/MMP-3 was analyzed using western blot technique. To assess SMC transformation capacity, cells were treated with TGF-${\beta}1$ and expression of SM ${\alpha}$-actin, SM-MHC, Ki-67 and SM calponin was evaluated using western blot technique. Fibroblasts were then treated with TGF-${\beta}1$ (10 pM) for up to 10 days with TGF-${\beta}1$ supplementation every 2 days, and the proportion of transformed SMC in the cell line was measured using immunofluorescence assay for fibroblast surface antigen every 2 days. Results: MMP-3 expression was significantly lower in group I than in group II. TGF-${\beta}1$-stimulated adventitial fibroblasts in group I expressed less SM ${\alpha}$-actin, SM-MHC, and Ki-67 than in group II. SM-calponin expression was not different between the two groups. Presence of fibroblast was observed on immunofluorescence assay after more than 6 days of TGF-${\beta}1$ treatment in group I, while most fibroblasts were transformed to SMC within 4 days in group II. Conclusion: ECM production and SMC transformation are compromised in adventitial fibroblasts from patients with TAAD. This result suggests that functional restoration of adventitial fibroblasts could well be a novel approach for the prevention and treatment of TAAD.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.395-405
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate 1) somatotopic arrangement of the second and third fingers in SI area 2) difference of neural activation in the SI area produced by stimulation with different frequencies 3) correlation between the intensity of tactile perception by different stimulus intensity and the level of brain activation measurable by means of fMRI. Background: Somatosensory cortex can obtain the information of environmental stimuli about "where" (e.g., on the left palm), "what" (e.g., a book or a dog), and "how" (e.g., scrub gently or scrub roughly) to organism. However, compared to visual sense, the neural mechanism underlying the processing of specific electrotactile stimulus is still unknown. Method: 10 right-handed subjects participated in this study. Non-painful electrotactile stimuli were delivered to two different finger tips of right hand. Functional brain images were collected from 3.0T MRI using the single-shot EPI method. The scanning parameters were as follows: TR and TE were 3000, 35ms, respectively, flip angle 60, FOV $24{\times}24cm$, matrix size $64{\times}64$, slice thickness 4mm (no gap). SPM5 was used to analyze the fMRI data. Results: Significant activations produced by the stimulation were found in the SI, SII, the subcentral gyrus, the precentral gyrus, and the insula. In all participants, statistically significant activation was observed in the contralateral SI area and the bilateral SII areas by the stimulation on the fingers but ipsilaterally dominant. The SI area representing the second finger generally located in the more lateral and inferior side than that of the third finger across all the subjects. But no difference in brain area was found for the stimulation of the fingers by different frequencies. And two typical patterns were observed on the relationship between the perceived psychological intensity and the amount of voxels in the primary sensory cortex during the stimulation. Conclusion: It was possible to discriminate the representation sites in the SI by electrotactile stimulation of digit2 and digit3. But we could not find the differences of the brain areas according to different stimulation frequencies from 3 to 300Hz. Application: The results of the study can provide a deeper understanding of somatosensory cortex and offer the information for tactile display for blinds.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.404-409
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• 2014

In this study, the effects of high-pressure homogenizer treatment on the physicochemical properties of wheat bran from different areas were evaluated. The results showed that the high-pressure homogenizer process could effectively decrease particle size and loosen the microstructure of the wheat bran matrix. As the particle size decreased, the bulk density of wheat bran was significantly decreased (p<0.05) and the water-holding capacity, swelling capacity, oil-holding capacity, and cation-exchange capacity were substantially increased. In addition, microscopic analysis revealed the gradual disintegration of the original cell wall structure and the dissociation of bran tissues over the course of high-pressure homogenization treatment. Scanning electron micrographs showed that the process could also effectively separate out the structural components of wheat bran. These results suggest that the high-pressure homogenizer process is an effective method to modify the physicochemical properties of wheat bran and likely other cereal brans, which might provide potential fiber-rich ingredients for use in functional foods.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.101-111
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• 2008

To provide more natural elements in the harsh urban environment, 'planting trees as urban forests' has been emphasized as having an important role, and trees are expected to be as functional as the trees under more natural conditions in rural areas, and provide people with benefits. To do this, urban forest policies needed a better idea of planting methods and management of trees through the theory of landscape ecology, and also the feedback system according to the evaluation and assessment of urban forests. In this case study, a new principle and assessment indices for the evaluation are applied for the 4 urban forests in two Korean metropolitan cities, Daejeon and Ulsan. The evaluation of Korean urban forest-function as biotope and the assessment for the classification of biotope diversity types are carried out. The AUEM(Adding Up Estimation Matrix) is applied for the analysis of urban forests. Unlikely previous researches on the other Korean metropolitan cities, the size of urban forest has less influence on the vegetation diversity. The most frequent biotope grade is the 3rd grade at Namseon park and Mt. Hamwol, while Mt. Bomun and Mt. Yeompo show the 4th grade. The grades of forest-function as biotope are from 3rd to 5th in which lower than average in forest-function grades. This means that the 4 sites are still not-matured forests and less-functional forests as the urban biotope.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2013

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a severe form of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), presenting gradual breakdown of articular cartilage and subchondral bone by the functional load sustained to exceed the physiologic tolerance of the joint. In such a joint loaded, offensive bioactive materials such as matrix degrading proteins, cytokines, and free radicals increase in concentration to shift the tissue response in the joint to degeneration from regeneration or remodeling. Recently, it has been issued that obesity can play an offensive role in pathogenesis of OA in a metabolic way. Adipokines released by adipose cells are present at higher concentration in the arthritic joint and joints of obese individuals. However, because of conflicting data reported, further scientific study should be performed to elucidate the practical role of adipokines in pathogenesis of TMJ OA. As far as the clinical signs and symptoms of TMJ OA are not much different from those of other forms of TMD and any definitive treatment modality to control directly the bone resorptive activity is not available yet, the treatment of TMJ OA should be directed to reduce the physical load and enhance the physiologic tolerance of the joint by means of conservative treatment such as physical therapy, medication, and occlusal splint therapy for sufficient period and, if needed after that, supplementary surgical procedure such as intra-articular injection, arthrocenthesis, and arthroscopic surgery that have turned out to be effective to control OA signs and symtpoms. Enthusiastic reassurance and motivation for patients to control behaviors for themselves to reduce unnecessary functional load in daily life is very important for the joint to reach to more favorable orthopedic stability of the TMJ more quickly, guaranteeing more successful management TMJ OA.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.177-186
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• 2004

Introduction : Recent studies Suggested that there is a strong correlation between acupuncture stimulation and its related cortical activation. Anther study showed that either positive or negative BOLD effects could be observed depending on anatomical structure in acupuncture stimulation. In ttis study, we investigated a new acupoint $KI_6$ (照海), which was known as motor-related acupoint and obtained an evidence that the stimulation of $KI_6$ resulted in either negative or positive BOLD response to stimulation. Methods & Results : 1. Subjects and paradigms : Two separate stimulation paradigms were performed on five healthy (aged 22-23 yrs) in this study. First, the paradigm of acupuncture stimulation was that the acupuncture needle was inserted in acupoints $KI_6$, which is located in lateral side of the foot and then continuously twisted(補瀉를 除外한 捻轉法) for 70 seconds for 10 cycles of activation. During rest period (70 seconds), the needle was completed removed from acupoint. Total 60 cycles were performed and 10 images were obtained per cycle. Second, nonacupoint was randomly selected and the same paradigm was performed as acupoint stimulation. The stimulation protocol comprised 10 cycles of alternating. activation and rest (10 images per cycle). Total 60 cycles were performed and each cycle take about 1.5 sec for motor task. Subjects take an at least 15 minutes break before starting anther paradigm. 2. fMRI mapping : Multi-slice functional images were obtained on a 1.5T Magnetom Vision MRI scanner (Simens Medical, Erlangen, Germany) equipped with high performance whole-body gradients. The BOLD T2 * - weighted images were acquired with acho planar imaging sequence (TR = 1.2 sec, TE = 60 msec, and flip angle = $90_{\circ}$). The other sequence parameter are : FOV = 210 mm, matrix=$64{\times}128$ or $64{\times}64$, slice number=10 and slice thickness = 5 or 8 mm. the anatomic images were obtained with Spin-echo T1-weighted images. The resulting images were then anaiyzed with STIMULATE (CMRR, U. of Minnesota) to generate functional maps using a student T-test (p < 0.005) and cluster analysis. Both positive and negative response were evaluated. Conclusions : We have observed the activation of the motor cortex by stimulating motor-related acupoint ($KI_6$). Among five subjects, negative BOLD response was shown in four and positive response in one. All subjects showed positive response to conventional finger flexion-extension task. To understand the detailed mechanisms of correlation between acupuncture stimulation and BOLD fMRI changes and two typs of response, further study strongly required.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.483-489
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• 2005

To understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate intramuscular fat deposition and its release, cDNA clones expressed in adipose tissues of Korean cattle were identified by differential screening from adipose tissue cDNA library. By partial nucleotide sequencing of 486 clones and a search for sequence similarity in NCBI nucleotide databases, 245 clones revealed unique clones. By a functional grouping of the clones, 14% of the clones were categorized to metabolism and enzyme-related group (stearoyl CoA desaturase, lactate dehydrogenase, fatty acid synthase, ATP citrate lyase, lipoprotein lipase, acetyl CoA synthetase, etc), and 6% to signal transduction/cell cycle-related group (C/EBP, cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein, calmodulin, cyclin G1, cyclin H, etc), and 4% to cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix components (vimentin, ankyrin 2, gelosin, syntenin, talin, prefoldin 5). The obtained 245 clones will be useful to study lipid metabolism and signal transduction pathway in adipose tissues and to study obesity in human. Some clones were subjected to full-sequencing containing open reading frame. The cDNA clone of bovine homolog of human prefoldin 5 gene had a total length of 959 nucleotides coding for 139 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of bovine prefoldin 5 with those of human and mouse showed over 95% identity. The cDNA clone of bovine homolog of human ubiquitin-like/S30 ribosomal fusion protein gene had a total length of 484 nucleotides coding for 133 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of bovine ubiquitin-like/S30 ribosomal fusion protein gene with those of human, rat and mouse showed over 97% identity. The cDNA clone of bovine homolog of human proteolipid protein 2 mRNA had a total length of 928 nucleotides coding for 152 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of bovine proteolipid protein 2 with those of human and mouse showed 87.5% similarity. The cDNA clone of bovine homolog of rat thymosin beta 4 had a total length of 602 nucleotides coding for 44 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of bovine thymosin beta 4 gene with those of human, mouse and rat showed 93.1% similarity. The cDNA clone of bovine homolog of human myotrophin mRNA had a total length of 790 nucleotides coding for 118 amino acids. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences of bovine myotrophin gene with those of human, mouse and rat showed 83.9% similarity. The functional role of these clones in adipose tissues needs to be established.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.365-374
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• 2021

In this study, the effect of enzyme-modified starch used in the preparation of filled hydrogel powder loaded with curcumin (FHP) on redispersibility, thermal and UV stability, and curcumin retention during in vitro digestion was investigated. FHP maintained stability without layer separation when redispersed and showed more stability against UVB than the emulsion powder (EMP). There was no significant difference in the chemical stability of curcumin between rice starch-based filled hydrogel powder (RS-FHP) and enzyme-modified starch-based filled hydrogel powder (GS-FHP). However, the gel matrix of GS-FHP maintained greater stability of lipid droplets in the stomach compared to RS-FHP, thereby improving the retention rate of curcumin after in vitro digestion. GS-FHP could be used as a novel material for developing premixes that require stable formulation and maintenance of functional substances, as it can increase the dispersion stability and retention rate of functional substances after digestion.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.39-48
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• 2021

According to International Associating for the Study of Pain (IASP) definition, neuropathic pain is a disorder characterized by dysfunction of the nervous system that, under normal conditions, mediates virulent information to the central nervous system (CNS). This pain can be divided into a disease with provable lesions in the peripheral or central nervous system and states with an incorporeal lesion of any nerves. Both conditions undergo long-term and chronic processes of change, which can eventually develop into chronic pain syndrome, that is, nervous system is inappropriately adapted and difficult to heal. However, the treatment of neuropathic pain itself is incurable from diagnosis to treatment process, and there is still a lack of notable solutions. Recently, several studies have observed the responses of CNS to harmful stimuli using image analysis technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and optical imaging. These techniques have confirmed that the change in synaptic-plasticity was generated in brain regions which perceive and handle pain information. Furthermore, these techniques helped in understanding the interaction of learning mechanisms and chronic pain, including neuropathic pain. The study aims to describe recent findings that revealed the mechanisms of pathological pain and the structural and functional changes in the brain. Reflecting on the definition of chronic pain and inspecting the latest reports will help develop approaches to alleviate pain.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.3-14
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• 2022

Autonomous equipment requires a large amount of data from various environments. However, it takes a lot of time and cost for an experiment in a real construction sites, which are difficulties in data collection and processing. Therefore, this study aims to develop a virtual environment for autonomous tower cranes technology development and validation. The authors defined automation functions and operation conditions of tower cranes with three performance criteria: operational design domain, object and event detection and response, and minimum functional conditions. Afterward, this study developed a virtual environment for learning and validation for autonomous functions such as recognition, decision making, and control using the Unity game engine. Validation was conducted by construction industry experts with a fidelity which is the representative matrix for virtual environment assessment. Through the virtual environment platform developed in this study, it will be possible to reduce the cost and time for data collection and technology development. Also, it is also expected to contribute to autonomous driving for not only tower cranes but also other construction equipment.