• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 1997

Chunggeumtang has been used in Korea for many centuries as a treatment for respiratory disease. The effect of Chunggeumtang on tracheal smooth muscle is not konwn. The purpose of the present study is to determine the effect of Chunggeumtang on histamine and acetylcholine induced tracheal smooth muscle contraction in rats and guinea pigs. Guinea pig(500g, male) and Sprague Dawley rats (250g, male) were killed by $CO_2$ exposure and a segment (8-10mm) of the thoracic trachea from each rat and guinea pig was cut into equal swegments and mounted 'in pairs' in a tissue bath. Contractile force was measured with force diplacement transducers under 0.5g loading tension. The dose of histamine (His) and acetylcholine (Ach) which evoked 50% of maximal response ($ED_{50}$) was obtained from cumulative dose response curves for histamine and acetylcholine($10^{-7}{\sim}10^{-4}M$). Contractions evoked by His ($ED_{50}$) and Ach ($ED_{50}$) were inhibited significantly by Chunggeumtang. In guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of acetylcholine induced contraction was $6.1%after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and 49.4% (p<0.01) after $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. In rat tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of acetylcholine induced contraction was $6.7%\;after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and $54.2%\;(p<0.01)\;after\;100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. Also, in guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of histamine induced contraction was $30.6%\;(p<0.05)\;after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and $53.0%\;(p<0.01)\;after\;100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. In rat tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of histamine induced contraction was $24.1%\;(p<0.05)\;after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and $55.3%\;(p<0.01)\;after\;100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. Propranolol and indomethacin($10^{-7}M$) slightly but significantly attenuated the inhibitory effects of Chunggeumtang. Following treatment with propranolol, the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 27.6% in guinea pig induced by acetylcholine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 28.7% (p<0.05) in rat induced by acetylcholine contraction and the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 16.2% in guinea pig induced by histamine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 28.7% (p<0.05) in rat induced by histamine contraction. Indomethacin, the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 20.0% in guinea pig induced by acetylcholine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 16.9% (p<0.05) in rat induced by acetylcholine contraction and the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 16.4% in guinea pig induced by histamine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 23.1% (p<0.05) in rat induced by histamine contraction. Methylene blue($10^{-7}M$) did not significantly alter the inhibitory effect of Chunggeumtang. Also, I could find the effects of Chunggeumtang and Chunggeumtanggamorphine on the tracheal smooth muscle in guinea pig and rat did not change significantly. These results indicate that Chunggeumtang can relax histamine and acetylcholine-induced contraction of guinea pig and rat tracheal smooth muscle, and that this inhibition involves sympathetic effects and the release of cyclooxygenase products.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.30 no.3 s.58
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• pp.609-622
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• 1997

Nitrogen dioxide $(NO_2)$ has been regarded as one of the main elements among air pollutants, and we measured $NO_2$ levels of near gas range, kitchen, living room and outdoor on 489 apartments in Pusan area. $NO_2$ were sampled by using Palmes tubes (diffusion tube sampler) during August 16-25, 1995 (summer) and January 15-29, 1996 (winter), respectively. Authors wanted to know comparison of $NO_2$ levels in summer and winter, $NO_2$ levels categorized by variables, and variables affected to $NO_2$ levels. According to this study, we conducted to establish the degree of indoor-outdoor air pollution of urban apartments in Korea and methods to reduce indoor air pollution. The results of this study were summarized as follows: 1) Mean $NO_2$ levels of near gas range, kitchen, living room, and outdoor were $25.9{\pm}10.0ppb,\;23.3{\pm}8.0ppb,\;19.9{\pm}6.1ppb,\;and\;19.0{\pm}6.0ppb$ in summer, and $34.5{\pm}16.8ppb,\;28.2{\pm}13.4ppb,\;25.3{\pm}12.5ppb,\;21.8{\pm}9.8ppb$ in winter, respectively. 2) Mean $NO_2$ levels according to the floor levels were not significantly different in summer, and in winter, $NO_2$ levels were decreased as the floor levels were increasing, but those were increased above 16th floor. 3) Variables showing significant correlation(p<0.05) with $NO_2$ levels were as follows; Summer: floor level, family size, number of family during a meal, number using gas range during rice cooking per day, and natural ventilation. Winter: floor level, family size, number of person who have been respiratory disease in a house, number of family during a meal, total number of meals, and number using gas range during rice or side-dish cooking per day. 4) We suggest that the methods of reducing indoor $NO_2$ levels are ventilation during cooking, complete combustion, decreasing number and time of cooking, and substitution of fuels.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.143-149
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• 2017

This study was carried out to investigate antimicrobial activity and characteristics of Asparagus cochinchinenesis which was steamed and fermented with lactic acid bacteria. A. cochinchinensis was prepared to steaming process which was washed and freeze dried. A. cochinchinensis was steamed at $95^{\circ}C$ for 12 h and dried by hot air at $50^{\circ}C$ for 24 h. After steaming process, A. cochinchinensis was fermented with lactic acid bacteria (Leuconostoc mesenteroides 4395, Lactobacillus sakei 383 and Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 11322). Ethyl acetate extracts of fermented A. cochinchinensis had antimicrobial activities for the respiratory disease bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli). A. cochinchinensis had highest antimicrobial activity for the P. aeruginosa which fermented with L. mesenteroides 4395. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of A. cochinchinensis fermented with L. mesenteroides 4395 was 10 mg/mL for S. aureus, S. epidermidis, E. coli and 5 mg/mL for P. aeruginosa. The MIC of A. cochinchinensis fermented with L. sakei 383 and A. cochinchinensis fermented with L. plantarum KCCM 11322 were the same. Total sugar was decreased from $863.33{\pm}17.47mg/mL$ to $722.67{\pm}5.51mg/mL$ during the steaming process. But reducing sugar was increased from $99.36{\pm}1.32mg/mL$ to $109.29{\pm}2.71mg/mL$ during the steaming process. Total sugar was decreased to 301.50-361.42 mg/mL and reducing sugar was decreased to 27.39-62.20 mg/mL during the fermentation process.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.59-63
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• 2019

Purpose The motion due to respiration of patients undergoing PET/CT is a cause of artifacts in image and registration error between PET and CT images. The degree of displacement and distortion for tumor, which affects the measurement of Standard Uptake Value (SUV) and lesion volume, is especially higher for tumors that is small or located at the base of lungs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of prone position in the correction of image distortion due to respiration of patients in PET/CT. Materials and Methods The imaging equipment used in this study was PET/CT Discovery 600 (GE Healthcare, MI, USA). 20 patients whose lesions were identified in the middle and lower lungs from May to August 2018 were enrolled in this study. After acquiring whole body image in the supine position, additional images of the lesion area were obtained in the prone position with the same conditions. SUVmax, SUVmean, and volume of the lesion were measured for each image, and the displacement of the lesion on PET and CT images were measured, compared, and analyzed. Results The SUVmax, SUVmean, and volume, and displacement of the lesion were $4.72{\pm}2.04$, $3.10{\pm}1.38$, $4.68{\pm}3.20$, and $4.64{\pm}1.88$, respectively for image acquired in the supine position and $5.89{\pm}2.42$, $3.97{\pm}1.65$, $2.13{\pm}1.09$, and $2.24{\pm}0.84$, respectively for image acquired in the prone position, indicating that, for all the lesions imaged, SUVmax and SUVmean were higher and volume and displacement were smaller in the images acquired in prone position compared to those acquired in supine one(p<0.05). Conclusion These results showed that the prone position PET/CT imaging improves the quality of the image by increasing the SUV of the lesion and reducing the respiratory artifacts caused by registration error between PET and CT images. It is considered that the PET/CT imaging in the prone position is helpful in the diagnosis of the disease as an economical and efficient methods that correct registration error for the lesions in basal lung and reduce artifacts.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2019

Purpose Lung Ventilation Scan(LVS) images directly inhaled radiation gas to evaluate lung ventilation ability. Therefore, it is influenced by various factors related to inhalation, including number of breaths, respiratory duration, respiration rate, and breathing method. In actual LVS examinations, it is difficult for objectify the patient's ability to inhale, and there is currently no known index related to inhalation. Therefore, this study confirms the correlation between counts per second(cps) in LVS and the results of pulmonary function test(PFT) and evaluate its usefulness as an objective indicator of inhalation. Materials and Methods From October 2010 to September 2018, 36 Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease(COPD) patients who had both LVS and PFT were classified by severity(Mild, Moderate, Severe). LVS was performed by creating Technegas with Vita Medical's Technegas Generator and inhaling it to the patient. LVS images were acquired with Philips's Forte equipment., and PFT used Carefusion's Vmax Encore 22. The correlation between the cps measured by setting the region of interest(ROI) of both lungs on the LVS and the forced vital capacity(FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second($FEV_1$), $FEV_1/FVC$ of the results of PFT was compared and analyzed. Results We analyzed the correlation between cps of LVS using Technegas and the results of PFT by classifying COPD patients according to severity. Correlation coefficient between $FEV_1/FVC$ and cps was Severe -0.773, Moderate -0.750, and Mild -0.437. The Severe and Modulate result values were statistically significant(P<0.05) and Mild was not significant(P=0.155). On the other hand, the correlation coefficient between FVC and cps was statistically significant only in Mild and it was 0.882(P<0.05). Conclusion According to the study, we were able to analyze correlation between cps of LVS using Technegas and the results of PFT in COPD Patients. Using this result, when performing a LVS, the results of PFT can be used as an index of inhaling capacity. In addition, it is thought that it will be more effective for the operation of the exam rooms.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2021

Objectives : This study was designed to investigate datas related to panic attack and treatment in emergency room of panic disorder patients who visited emergency room for panic attack. Methods : A retrospective analysis of medical records was conducted on 92 patients with panic disorder who visited Chungju Konkuk university hospital emergency department due to panic attack and had bodily symptoms from 1st January 2010 to 31th December 2019. In addition to demographic characteristics and comorbid disorders, triggering stressors and alcohol consumption were corrected as pre-panic attack datas, bodily symptoms at the time of panic attack were corrected as datas during attack, electrocardiogram trial, consultation with psychiatrist, admission and information of used psychotropic drugs were corrected as post-attack data. Depending on size of data, Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used. Collected data was analyzed using R 4.03. Results : Cardiovascular disease was accompanied by 5.4% and depressive disorder was the most common coexisting mental disorder. Among triggering stressors, economic problem/work-related stress was significantly higher in men than women (𝛘²=4.322, p<0.005). The most common physical symptom during attack was circulatory (65.2%), followed by respiratory (57.6%), numbness-paralysis (33.7%), dizziness (19.6%), gastro-intestinal (14.1%) and autonomic symptom (12.0%). Electrocardiogram was taken at higher rate when patients complained circulatory symptom (𝛘²=8.46, p<0.005). The psychotropic drug most commonly used in emergency room was lorazepam, used in 92.1%. Conclusions : The most common bodily symptom during panic attack was circulatory symptom and the most common triggering stressor in men was economic problem/work-related stress. The most commonly used psychotropic for panic attack was lorazepam.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2023

Due to the development of industry, interest in air pollutants has increased. Air pollutants have affected various fields such as environmental pollution and global warming. Among them, environmental diseases are one of the fields affected by air pollutants. Air pollutants can affect the human body's skin or respiratory tract due to their small molecular size. As a result, various studies on air pollutants and environmental diseases have been conducted. Asthma, part of an environmental disease, can be life-threatening if symptoms worsen and cause asthma attacks, and in the case of adult asthma, it is difficult to cure once it occurs. Factors that worsen asthma include particulate matter and air pollution. Asthma is an increasing prevalence worldwide. In this paper, we study how air pollutants correlate with the number of emergency room admissions in asthma patients and predict the number of future asthma emergency patients using highly correlated air pollutants. Air pollutants used concentrations of five pollutants: sulfur dioxide(SO₂), carbon monoxide(CO), ozone(O₃), nitrogen dioxide(NO₂), and fine dust(PM₁₀), and environmental diseases used data on the number of hospitalizations of asthma patients in the emergency room. Data on the number of emergency patients of air pollutants and asthma were used for a total of 5 years from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2017. The model made predictions using two models, Informer and LTSF-Linear, and performance indicators of MAE, MAPE, and RMSE were used to measure the performance of the model. The results were compared by making predictions for both cases including and not including the number of emergency patients. This paper presents air pollutants that improve the model's performance in predicting the number of asthma emergency patients using Informer and LTSF-Linear models.

• Laboratory Medicine Online
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2011

Background: Laboratory diagnosis of new influenza A (H1N1) is crucial for managing patients and establishing control and prevention measures. We compared the diagnostic accuracies of the real time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) test recommended for the confirmation of the new flu and the viral culture method used conventionally for viral disease with that of the rapid antigen test (RAT). Methods: We performed RAT, R-mix culture, and real-time PCR by using 861 respiratory samples collected from December 2009 to January 2010 and evaluated the abilities of these methods to detect new influenza A. The relationship among the positive rates of RAT, grades of culture, and the cycle threshold (Ct) values of rRT-PCR was also evaluated. Results: Of the 861 patients, 308 (35.8%) were diagnosed with new influenza A. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values of the tests were respectively as follows: 59.7%, 99.5%, 98.4%, and 81.6% for RAT; 93.2%, 100%, 100%, and 96.3% for R-mix culture; and 95.8%, 100%, 100%, and 97.7% for rRT-PCR. Samples with weak positive grade in culture and those with Ct values of 30-37 in rRT-PCR showed positivities as low as 25.3% and 2.3% in RAT, respectively. The hospitalization rate and death rate of the confirmed patients were 3.2% and 0.3%, respectively, and gastrointestinal symptoms were observed in 7.2% of the patients. Conclusions: R-mix culture and rRT-PCR tests showed excellent reliability in the diagnosis of new influenza A and could be very useful, especially for samples with low viral load.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.12-24
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• 2024

The number of pediatric coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases worldwide are increasing compared to the early phase of the pandemic, along with highly transmissible severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus variant and the increase in adult COVID-19 vaccination. We conducted a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of the COVID-19 vaccines and the observational retrospective studies on adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination in adolescents. Seventeen studies were finally included in this systematic review. Meta-analysis showed that although vaccination in adolescents was significantly effective to prevent COVID-19 infection in retrospective studies (risk ratio [RR], 0.29; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.22-0.37; I² =100%), however the effect of preventing COVID-19 infection was lower than in RCTs (RR, 0.05; 95% CI, 0.01-0.27). In five retrospective studies, the pooled estimated proportion of participants with myocarditis and/or pericarditis was 2.33 per 100,000 of the population (95% CI, 0.97-5.61 per 100,000). Sub-group analysis with sex and vaccine doses showed that male (5.35 per 100,000) and the second dose (9.71 per 100,000) had significantly higher incidence of myocarditis and/or pericarditis than female (1.09 per 100,000) and the first dose (1.61 per 100,000), respectively. Our study showed that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in adolescent recipients were favorable and effective against COVID-19 in RCT as well as observational studies. The safety findings of BNT162b2 vaccine in adolescents were explored and we found the difference of safety according to sex and vaccine doses. The occurrence of adverse events after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination should be monitored.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.7.1-7.19
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• 2024

Viral load and the duration of viral shedding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are important determinants of the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019. In this study, we examined the effects of viral doses on the lung and spleen of K18-hACE2 transgenic mice by temporal histological and transcriptional analyses. Approximately, 1×10⁵ plaque-forming units (PFU) of SARS-CoV-2 induced strong host responses in the lungs from 2 days post inoculation (dpi) which did not recover until the mice died, whereas responses to the virus were obvious at 5 days, recovering to the basal state by 14 dpi at 1×10² PFU. Further, flow cytometry showed that number of CD8+ T cells continuously increased in 1×10² PFU-virus-infected lungs from 2 dpi, but not in 1×10⁵ PFU-virus-infected lungs. In spleens, responses to the virus were prominent from 2 dpi, and number of B cells was significantly decreased at 1×10⁵ PFU; however, 1×1² PFU of virus induced very weak responses from 2 dpi which recovered by 10 dpi. Although the defense responses returned to normal and the mice survived, lung histology showed evidence of fibrosis, suggesting sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our findings indicate that specific effectors of the immune response in the lung and spleen were either increased or depleted in response to doses of SARS-CoV-2. This study demonstrated that the response of local and systemic immune effectors to a viral infection varies with viral dose, which either exacerbates the severity of the infection or accelerates its elimination.