• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.121-133
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• 2023

The demand for cement and limestone crushed materials has increased many folds due to the tremendous increase in construction activities in Pakistan during the past few decades. The number of cement production industries has increased correspondingly, and so the rock-blasting operations at the limestone quarry sites. However, the safety procedures warranted at these sites for the blast-induced ground vibrations (BIGV) have not been adequately developed and/or implemented. Proper prediction and monitoring of BIGV are necessary to ensure the safety of structures in the vicinity of these quarry sites. In this paper, an attempt has been made to predict BIGV using artificial neural network (ANN) at three selected limestone quarries of Pakistan. The ANN has been developed in Python using Keras with sequential model and dense layers. The hyper parameters and neurons in each of the activation layers has been optimized using randomized and grid search method. The input parameters for the model include distance, a maximum charge per delay (MCPD), depth of hole, burden, spacing, and number of blast holes, whereas, peak particle velocity (PPV) is taken as the only output parameter. A total of 110 blast vibrations datasets were recorded from three different limestone quarries. The dataset has been divided into 85% for neural network training, and 15% for testing of the network. A five-layer ANN is trained with Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) activation function, Adam optimization algorithm with a learning rate of 0.001, and batch size of 32 with the topology of 6-32-32-256-1. The blast datasets were utilized to compare the performance of ANN, multivariate regression analysis (MVRA), and empirical predictors. The performance was evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R²), mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and root mean squared error (RMSE)for predicted and measured PPV. To determine the relative influence of each parameter on the PPV, sensitivity analyses were performed for all input parameters. The analyses reveal that ANN performs superior than MVRA and other empirical predictors, andthat83% PPV is affected by distance and MCPD while hole depth, number of blast holes, burden and spacing contribute for the remaining 17%. This research provides valuable insights into improving safety measures and ensuring the structural integrity of buildings near limestone quarry sites.

• Applied Microscopy
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.175-183
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• 2002

한국 연근해산 살오징어와 서해낙지의 시엽에서 신경전달물질을 분비하는 neuron의 특성 및 기능을 확인하기 위해 rabbit anti-dopamine (TH)과 rabbit anti-calbindin-$D_{28K}$ 등의 항체를 이용한 면역염색과 면역금지법을 시행한 결과는 다음과 같았다. 항-dopamine을 사용한 면역염색 결과 살오징어에서는 외과립세포층 상단에 위치한 대형 무축삭세포와 수질부의 섬을 이루는 세포들 중 $2{\sim}3$개의 비교적 소량의 세포만이 양성반응을 보인 반면, 서해낙지에서는 외과립세포층 상단 및 중간 부위의 $2{\sim}3$개의 세포와 수질부섬을 이루는 5개 이상의 세포에서 강한 양성반응을 보였다. 항-calbindin-D28k인 경우는 살오징어의 외과립세포층 상단에 위치한 $2{\sim}3$개의 소형 무축삭세포와 내과립세포층 하단에 위치한 $1{\sim}2$개의 세포에서 양성반응을 보인 반면, 서해낙지인 경우는 외과립세포층에서 4개 정도의 세포에서 양성 반응을 보였으나, 내과립세포층에서는 반응을 확인할 수 없었다. 면역금지법을 시행한 결과 살오징어에서는 항-dopamine과 항-calbindin에 면역반응을 보인 세포들의 세포질 $0.5{\mu}m^2$당 $17{\sim}26$개 정도의 비교적 많은 수의 금입자가 표지된 반면, 서해낙지에서는 세포질 $0.5{\mu}m^2$당 평균 10개 정도인 소량의 금입자만이 표지되어, 살오징어가 서해낙지에 비해 표지된 금입자가 거의 2배 정도 많았다.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제8권5호
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• pp.245-251
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• 2004

The effects of fetal mesencephalic cell grafts on the restoration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic function were studied in the intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats. Four weeks after lesioning, transplantation of ventral mesencephalic cells from embryonic day 14 fetuses showed the number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive cells and fiber outgrowth in the grafted striatum, and significantly ameliorated symptomatic motor behavior of the animals, as determined by apomorphine-induced rotation. Furthermore, in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), the numbers of TH + cells and fibers were markedly restored. Dopamine content of ipsilateral SNc was close to that of contralateral SNc $(91.9{\pm}9.8%)$ in the transplanted animals, while the ratio was approximately 32% in sham-grafted animals. These results indicate that grafted cells restored the activity for the dopaminergic neurons located in SNc, although they were transplanted into striatum. In addition, we showed that the implanted fetal cells expressed high level of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), suggesting that the transplanted fetal cells might serve as a dopamine producer and a reservoir of neurotrophic factors. These results may be helpful in consideration of the therapeutic transplantation at early stage of PD.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• 제42권
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• pp.16.1-16.8
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• 2020

Background: Cyst enucleation, which extracts only the tumor with the application of Carnoy's solution (CS), has been suggested as a conservative treatment with a low recurrence rate and morbidity. However, there has been a concern that CS's contact with inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) can cause neurons to degenerate and cause sensory dysfunction. The purpose of this retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the neurosensory function after surgical treatment with or without the application of CS. Methods: While controlling the effects of sex, age, follow-up period, and invasion size of the tumor, we performed the binary logistic regression analysis to examine whether or not the sensory function of the patients who were treated with CS (n = 19) for the cyst enucleation procedure was significantly different from those who were not treated with CS (n = 58) at the end of the follow-up period. Results: The logistic regression result showed that the use of CS was not significantly related to the normalness of sensory function at the end of the follow-up period. Rather, the invasion size of the cyst was significantly associated with sensory dysfunction. Conclusions: CS may be used for patients who are diagnosed with OKC and UAM without much fear of its impact on sensory dysfunction. However, a small number of patients who were treated with CS experienced severe sensory damage and did not recover at the end of the follow-up period, suggesting the need for further analysis of these patients.

• 한방재활의학과학회지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.55-68
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• 2013

Objectives This study was to investigate the effects of Yuhyangjeongtong-san on the carrageenin-induced acute inflammation and adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats. Methods Acute inflammation was induced by injection of 2% carrageenin 0.15 ml into right hind foot of rats. Control group was carrageenin injected and taken distilled water, treated group was carrageenin injected and taken Yuhyangjeongtong-san by orally once. 2 hours after injection, plantar temperature and paw volume were measured. 3 hours after, counts of white blood cell (WBC) were performed. Arthritis was induced by injection of complete freund's adjuvant (CFA) into base of tail. Control group was CFA injected and taken distilled water, treated group was CFA injected and taken Yuhyangjeongtong-san by orally for 10 days. 0,5,10 day, body weight, thickness of ankle joint and paw edema were measured. 10 day, counts of WBC, $interleukin-1{\beta}$ ($IL-1{\beta}$) and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) level were analysed. Histochemical study of NADPH-d and immunohistochemical study of c-fos were performed. Results In the carrageenin-induced acute inflammation, neutrophils of treated group were significantly decreased compared with control group. In the adjuvant-induced arthritis, paw edema, total counts of WBC and TNF-${\alpha}$ level in paw exudates were significantly decreased compared with control group, and the number of c-fos positive neurons of treated group was significantly decreased compared with control group. Conclusions On the basis of these results, we concluded that Yuhyangjeongtong-san have anti-arthritic and anti-inflammatory effects.

• BMB Reports
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• 제56권5호
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• pp.308-313
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• 2023

Phenotypic features such as ataxia and loss of motor function, which are characteristics of Parkinson's disease (PD), are expected to be very closely related to cerebellum function. However, few studies have reported the function of the cerebellum. Since the cerebellum, like the cerebrum, is known to undergo functional and morphological changes due to neuroinflammatory processes, elucidating key functional factors that regulate neuroinflammation in the cerebellum can be a beneficial therapeutic approach. Therefore, we employed PD patients and MPTP-induced PD mouse model to find cytokines involved in cerebellar neuroinflammation in PD and to examine changes in cell function by regulating related genes. Along with the establishment of a PD mouse model, abnormal shapes such as arrangement and number of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum were confirmed based on histological finding, consistent with those of cerebellums of PD patients. As a result of proteome profiling for neuroinflammation using PD mouse cerebellar tissues, fetuin-A, a type of cytokine, was found to be significantly reduced in Purkinje cells. To further elucidate the function of fetuin-A, neurons isolated from cerebellums of embryos (E18) were treated with fetuin-A siRNA. We uncovered that not only the population of neuronal cells, but also their morphological appearances were significantly different. In this study, we found a functional gene called fetuin-A in the PD model's cerebellum, which was closely related to the role of cerebellar Purkinje cells of mouse and human PD. In conclusion, morphological abnormalities of Purkinje cells in PD mice and patients have a close relationship with a decrease of fetuin-A, suggesting that diagnosis and treatment of cerebellar functions of PD patients might be possible through regulation of fetuin-A.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.326-334
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• 2019

Background: The objective of our study was to analyze the neuroprotective effects of ginsenoside derivatives Rb1, Rb2, Rc, Rd, Rg1, and Rg3 against glutamate-mediated neurotoxicity in HT22 hippocampal mouse neuron cells. Methods: The neuroprotective effect of ginsenosides were evaluated by measuring cell viability. Protein expressions of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), Bcl2, Bax, and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) were determined by Western blot analysis. The occurrence of apoptotic and death cells was determined by flow cytometry. Cellular level of $Ca^{2+}$ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were evaluated by image analysis using the fluorescent probes Fluor-3 and 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate, respectively. In vivo efficacy of neuroprotection was evaluated using the Mongolian gerbil of ischemic brain injury model. Result: Reduction of cell viability by glutamate (5 mM) was significantly suppressed by treatment with ginsenoside Rb2. Phosphorylation of MAPKs, Bax, and nuclear AIF was gradually increased by treatment with 5 mM of glutamate and decreased by co-treatment with Rb2. The occurrence of apoptotic cells was decreased by treatment with Rb2 ($25.7{\mu}M$). Cellular $Ca^{2+}$ and ROS levels were decreased in the presence of Rb2, and in vivo data indicated that Rb2 treatment (10 mg/kg) significantly diminished the number of degenerated neurons. Conclusion: Our results suggest that Rb2 possesses neuroprotective properties that suppress glutamate-induced neurotoxicity. The molecular mechanism of Rb2 is by suppressing the MAPKs activity and AIF translocation.

• Journal of Korean Dental Science
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.58-66
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• 2013

Purpose: The inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) can be damaged as a result of minor oral surgical procedure such as third molar extraction or implant placement. Repair of the injured IAN involves difficulty of access, and research studies are limited to elucidating the process of regeneration by surgical methods. This study sought to establish the rabbit animal model to apply polymeric membrane functionalized with nerve growth factor after a crush lesion for the evaluation of nerve regeneration using the electrophysiologic method. Materials and Methods: The IAN of 2 adult male New Zealand white rabbits (4 nerves) were exposed bilaterally, and crush injury rendered by jeweler's forceps was applied. Nerve conduction velocity was examined electrophysiologically using electromyography before, after, and 4 weeks after the crush injury. To evaluate the regeneration, the pattern of action potential of IAN was recorded, and the characteristics of neurons were histologically observed. Result: After the crush injury, afferent activity decreased in the injured group. Electromyography could not be recorded after four weeks because tissues surrounding the injured nerve collapsed. Decrease in the mean number of axons was observed in the injured part with membrane. Conclusion: Despite the limited result, the present animal model study may provide a possible way to research on the methods of enhancing the recovery of nerve injuries in clinical situations. For clinically widespread acceptance, however, it should gain more consecutive and scientific evidences.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.353-358
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• 2014

Control of blood pressure is maintained by the interaction between the arterial baroreflex and vestibulosympathetic reflex during postural changes. In this study, the contributions of vestibular receptors and baroreceptors to the maintenance of blood pressure following acute hypotension were compared in terms of phosphorylated extracellular regulated protein kinase (pERK) expression in the nucleus tractus solitaries (NTS). Expression of pERK in the NTS was measured in conscious rats that had undergone bilateral labyrinthectomy (BL) and/or sinoaortic denervation (SAD) 5, 10, 20, and 40 min following acute hypotension induced by sodium nitroprusside (SNP) infusion. Expression of pERK increased significantly in the NTS in the control group following SNP infusion, and the expression peaked at 10 min after SNP infusion. The number of pERK positive neurons increased following SNP infusion in BL, SAD, and BL+SAD groups, although the increase was smaller than in control group. The BL group showed a relatively higher reduction in pERK expression than the SAD group, and the pERK expression in the NTS was localized to the caudal portion of the nuclei in the BL and SAD groups. These results suggest that the vestibular receptors may play a key role in maintaining blood pressure following acute hypotension; thus, the vestibular system may contribute to compensate for orthostatic hypotension.

• 대한전기학회논문지:시스템및제어부문D
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• 제55권2호
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• pp.45-51
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• 2006

In this paper, we propose a new architecture of Information Granulation based genetically optimized Self-Organizing Fuzzy Polynomial Neural Networks (IG_gSOFPNN) that is based on a genetically optimized multilayer perceptron with fuzzy polynomial neurons (FPNs) and discuss its comprehensive design methodology involving mechanisms of genetic optimization, especially information granulation and genetic algorithms. The proposed IG_gSOFPNN gives rise to a structurally optimized structure and comes with a substantial level of flexibility in comparison to the one we encounter in conventional SOFPNNs. The design procedure applied in the construction of each layer of a SOFPNN deals with its structural optimization involving the selection of preferred nodes (or FPNs) with specific local characteristics (such as the number of input variables, the order of the polynomial of the consequent part of fuzzy rules, and a collection of the specific subset of input variables) and addresses specific aspects of parametric optimization. In addition, the fuzzy rules used in the networks exploit the notion of information granules defined over system's variables and formed through the process of information granulation. That is, we determine the initial location (apexes) of membership functions and initial values of polynomial function being used in the premised and consequence part of the fuzzy rules respectively. This granulation is realized with the aid of the hard c-menas clustering method (HCM). To evaluate the performance of the IG_gSOFPNN, the model is experimented with using two time series data(gas furnace process and NOx process data).