• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.229-236
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• 2020

Cutaneous leishmaniosis (CL) is the most common form of leishmaniasis.CL caused by L. major and L. tropica is endemic in 17 provinces of Iran. This study was carried out to elucidate situation of CL in Ardabil province and to predict distribution of Phlebotomus papatasi and Phlebotomus sergenti (Diptera: Psychodidae) as vectors of CL in the region. In this cross-sectional study, data on CL patients were collected from local health centers of Ardabil province, Iran during 2006-2018 to establish a geodatabase using ArcGIS10.3. A total of 20 CL cases were selected randomly and skin samples were collected and analyzed by PCR method. MaxEnt 3.3.3 model was used to determine ecologically suitable niches for the main vectors. A total, 309 CL human cases were reported and the highest incidence rate of disease was occurred in Bilasavar (37/100,000) and Germi (35/100,000). A total of 2,794 sand flies were collected during May to October 2018. The environmentally suitable habitats for P. papatasi and P. sergenti were predicted to be present in northern and central areas of Ardabil province. The most variable that contributed ratio in the modeling were Isothermality and slope factors. Ardabil province is possibly an endemic are for CL. The presence of P. papatasi and P. sergenti justifies local transmission while the vectors of CL are existing in the northern and central areas of the province.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.411.1-411.1
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• 2014

This study evaluates the utility of an antibacterial microneedle composed of green tea extract (GT) and hyaluronic acid (HA), for the efficient delivery of GT. These microneedles have the potential to be a patient-friendly method for the conventional sustained release of drugs. In this study, a fabrication method using a mold-based technique to produce GT/HA microneedles with a maximum area of ${\sim}60mm^2$ with antibacterial properties was used to manufacture transdermal drug delivery systems. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry was carried out to observe the potential modifications in the microneedles, when incorporated with GT. The degradation rate of GT in GT/HA microneedles was controlled simply by adjusting the HA composition. The effects of different ratios of GT in the HA microneedles were determined by measuring the release properties. In HA microneedles loaded with 70% GT (GT70), a continuous higher release rate were sustained for 72 h. The in vitro cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that GT/HA microneedles are not generally cytotoxic to chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO-K1), human embryonic kidney cells (293T), and mouse muscle cells (C2C12), which were treated for 12 and 24 h. Antimicrobial activity of the GT/HA microneedles was demonstrated by ~95% growth reduction of gram negative [Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) and Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium)] and gram positive bacteria [Staphylococcus aureus (S. Aureus) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis)], with GT70. Furthermore, GT/HA microneedles reduced bacterial growth in the infected skin wound sites and improved skin wound healing process in rat model.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.1-10
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• 2010

As various interfacing devices for computational machines are being developed, a new HCI method using hand motion input is introduced. This interface method is a vision-based approach using a single camera for detecting and tracking hand movements. In the previous researches, only a skin color is used for detecting and tracking hand location. However, in our design, skin color and shape information are collectively considered. Consequently, detection ability of a hand increased. we proposed primary orientation edge descriptor for getting an edge information. This method uses only one hand model. Therefore, we do not need training processing time. This system consists of a detecting part and a tracking part for efficient processing. In tracking part, the system is quite robust on the orientation of the hand. The system is applied to recognize a hand written number in script style using DNAC algorithm. Performance of the proposed algorithm reaches 82% recognition ratio in detecting hand region and 90% in recognizing a written number in script style.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2010

The fully implantable hearing devices (FIHDs) have been studied to compensate the defect of conventional hearing aids. Typically, a microphone for FIHDs was implanted under the skin of the temporal bone. So, implantable microphone characteristics can be affected by the eating food, chattering teeth and moving artifact. In this paper, we fabricated the physical model that was similar to characteristics of human temporal bone and skin, and we measured implanted microphone sensitivity for effect of bone conducted noise signal. For the measurement of microphone sensitivity, we applied 1 kHz pure sounds that were transmitted to implanted microphone and sine wave vibrations of varied frequency were simultaneously transmitted through the artificial bone. As a result, sensitivity of implanted microphone can be modified by bone conducted signal and this phenomenon was confirmed at varied frequency band.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.380-385
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• 2012

Glucosamine (GS) is well known for the treatment of inflammation. However, the mechanism and efficacy of GS for skin inflammation are unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects and mechanism of GS in the mouse 12-O-tetradecanoyl 13-acetate (TPA)-induced ear edema model. TPA-induced ear edema was evoked in ICR or transglutaminase 2 (Tgase-2) (-/-) mice. GS was administered orally (10-100 mg/kg) or topically (0.5-2.0 w/v %) prior to TPA treatment. Orally administered GS at 10 mg/kg showed a 76 or 57% reduction in ear weight or myeloperoxidase, respectively, and a decreased expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), NF-${\kappa}B$ and Tgase-2 in TPA-induced ear edema by western blot and immunohistochemistry. Role of Tgase-2 in TPA ear edema is examined using Tgase-2 (-/-) mice and TPA did not induce COX-2 expression in ear of Tgase-2 (-/-) mice. These observations suggested that Tgase-2 is involved in TPA-induced COX-2 expression in the inflamed ear of mice and antiinflammatory effects of glucosamine is mediated through suppression of Tgase-2 in TPA ear edema.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2019

Background: Physicians tend to overcorrect when applying the acellular dermal matrix for reconstructive option because of volume decrement problem after absorption comparing with initial volume. However, there are no studies on the exact volume decrement and absorption rate with commercial products in South Korea. To figure out absorption rate of acellular dermal matrix product in South Korea (Megaderm), authors designed this experiment. Methods: Nine mice were used and randomly divided into three groups by the time with sacrificing. The implant (Megaderm) was tailored to fit a cuboid form ($1.0cm{\times}1.0cm$ in length and width and 2.0 mm in thickness). A skin incision was made at anterior chest with blade #15 scalpel with exposing the pectoralis major muscle. As hydrated Megaderm was located upon the pectoralis major muscle, the skin was sutured with Ethilon #5-0. After the surgical procedure, each animal group was sacrificed at 4, 8, and 12 weeks, respectively, for biopsies and histological analysis of the implants. All samples were stained with routine hematoxylin and eosin staining and Masson's trichrome staining and the thickness were measured. A measurements were analyzed using Friedman test. Statistically, the correlation between thicknesses of Megaderm before and after implantation was analyzed. Results: After sacrificing the animal groups at postoperative 4, 8, 12 weeks, the mean tissue thickness values were $2.10{\pm}1.03mm$, $2.17{\pm}0.21mm$, and $2.40{\pm}0.20mm$ (p= 0.368), respectively. The remaining ratios after absorption comparing with after initial hydrated Megaderm were 82.7%, 85.4%, and 94.5%, respectively. In histopathological findings, neovascularization and density of collagenous fiber was increased with time. Conclusion: Author's hypothesis was absorption rate of implant would be increased over time. But in this experiment, there is no statistical significance between mean absorption thickness of implant and the time (p= 0.368). Also it can be affected by graft site, blood supply, and animals that were used in the experiment.

• Mycobiology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.242-249
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• 2019

Betaine derivatives are considered major ingredients of shampoos and are commonly used as antistatic and viscosity-increasing agents. Several studies have also suggested that betaine derivatives can be used as antimicrobial agents. However, the antifungal activity and mechanism of action of betaine derivatives have not yet been fully understood. In this study, we investigated the antifungal activity of six betaine derivatives against Malassezia restricta, which is the most frequently isolated fungus from the human skin and is implicated in the development of dandruff. We found that, among the six betaine derivatives, lauryl betaine showed the most potent antifungal activity. The mechanism of action of lauryl betaine was studied mainly using another phylogenetically close model fungal organism, Cryptococcus neoformans, because of a lack of available genetic manipulation and functional genomics tools for M. restricta. Our genome-wide reverse genetic screening method using the C. neoformans gene deletion mutant library showed that the mutants with mutations in genes for cell membrane synthesis and integrity, particularly ergosterol synthesis, are highly sensitive to lauryl betaine. Furthermore, transcriptome changes in both C. neoformans and M. restricta cells grown in the presence of lauryl betaine were analyzed and the results indicated that the compound mainly affected cell membrane synthesis, particularly ergosterol synthesis. Overall, our data demonstrated that lauryl betaine influences ergosterol synthesis in C. neoformans and that the compound exerts a similar mechanism of action on M. restricta.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.265-279
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• 2008

The idea of using hand gestures for human-computer interaction is not new and has been studied intensively during the last dorado with a significant amount of qualitative progress that, however, has been short of our expectations. This paper describes a dynamic Bayesian network or DBN based approach to both two-hand gestures and one-hand gestures. Unlike wired glove-based approaches, the success of camera-based methods depends greatly on the image processing and feature extraction results. So the proposed method of DBN-based inference is preceded by fail-safe steps of skin extraction and modeling, and motion tracking. Then a new gesture recognition model for a set of both one-hand and two-hand gestures is proposed based on the dynamic Bayesian network framework which makes it easy to represent the relationship among features and incorporate new information to a model. In an experiment with ten isolated gestures, we obtained the recognition rate upwards of 99.59% with cross validation. The proposed model and the related approach are believed to have a strong potential for successful applications to other related problems such as sign languages.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.503-507
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• 1998

Percutaneous absorption and model membrane variations of melationin (MT) in aqueous-based propylene glycol and $2-hydroxypropyl-{\beta}-cyclodextrin $vehicles were investigatted. the excised hairless mouse skin (HMS) and two synthetic ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and microporous polyethylene (MPE) were selected as a model membrane. the solubility of MT was determined by phase equilibrium study. the vertical $Franz{\circledR}$ type cell was used for diffusion study. The concentration of MT was determined using reverse phse HPLC system. The MT solubility was the highest in a mixture of PG and $2-HP{\beta}CD$. The percutaneous absorption of MT through excised HMS increased as the solubility increased. However, the permeability coefficient decreased and then slightly increased in mixture of PG and $2-HP{\beta}CD$. On the other hand, both flux and permeability coefficient through EVA membrane decreased as the solubility increased. No MT was detected over 12 h after starting diffusion through MPE membrane. The flux of MT was dependent on the type of membrane selected. Flux of MT was greatest in excised HMS followed by EBA and MPE membrane. Flux of MT through EVA membrane was 5-20 times lower when compared to excised HMS. Interestingly, volumes of donor phase when MPE membrane was used, significantly increased during the study period. the HMS might be applicable to expect plasma concentration of MT in human subjects based on flux and pharmacokinetic parameters as studied previously. the current studies may be applied to deliver MT transdermally using aqueous-based vehicles and to fabricate MT dosage forms.

• Anatomy & Biological Anthropology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.143-149
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• 2018

Leucocyte extravasation has been known to play an important role in inflammatory reactions including contact dermatitis. Previous studies suggested that CD99 regulates ${\beta}1$ integrin activity and may be a novel therapeutic target molecule for inflammatory diseases. In this study, the effects of CD99-derived peptide, CD99CRIII3, on inflammatory reactions in contact dermatitis mouse model were investigated. CD99CRIII3 decreased ${\beta}1$-integrin activity in human monocytic U937 cells. CD99CRIII3 inhibited the adhesion of U937 monocytes to human umbilical vein endothelial cells and their extravasation through human umbilical vein endothelial cells. CD99CRIII3 reduced inflammation in the phorbol myristate acetate-induced contact dermatitis mice in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that CD99CRIII3 suppresses the extravasation of monocytes and inflammatory reactions in the animal model of the contact dermatitis, suggesting that CD99CRIII3 could be a new drug candidate against inflammatory skin diseases.