• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.581-593
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• 2014

Toxoplasmosis is an opportunistic infection caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii is widespread globally and causes severe diseases in individuals with impaired immune defences as well as congenitally infected infants. The high prevalence rate in some parts of the world such as South America and Africa, coupled with the current drug treatments that trigger hypersensitivity reactions, makes the development of immunotherapeutics intervention a highly important research priority. Immunotherapeutics strategies could either be a vaccine which would confer a pre-emptive immunity to infection, or passive immunization in cases of disease recrudescence or recurrent clinical diseases. As the severity of clinical manifestations is often greater in developing nations, the development of well-tolerated and safe immunotherapeutics becomes not only a scientific pursuit, but a humanitarian enterprise. In the last few years, much progress has been made in vaccine research with new antigens, novel adjuvants, and innovative vaccine delivery such as nanoparticles and antigen encapsulations. A literature search over the past 5 years showed that most experimental studies were focused on DNA vaccination at 52%, followed by protein vaccination which formed 36% of the studies, live attenuated vaccinations at 9%, and heterologous vaccination at 3%; while there were few on passive immunization. Recent progress in studies on vaccination, passive immunization, as well as insights gained from these immunotherapeutics is highlighted in this review.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2020

It is well established that cancer patients are more susceptible to infection because of the immunosuppressive status caused by both disease itself and anticancer treatment, including surgery and chemoradiation. Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are generally at high-risk for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and serious adverse outcomes. Although there is an urgent need for guidance in the delivery of safe, quality oncologic care, no international consented recommendation addressed the management of HNC patients in COVID-19 due to limited data. In this review, we summarized the consideration for head and neck oncologic care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on the data and the very recent recommendations from the Korean Cancer Association and National Cancer Center. COVID-19 should be taken into consideration in the comprehensive management of HNC patients, and multidisciplinary evaluation of multilevel surgical-risks, discussion of optimized strategy, and shared-decision-making with the patient are needed to maximize both the safety from infectious pandemic and outcome of surgical and oncologic care.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.669-673
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• 1991

Fructose-l, 6-diphosphate as an additive to cold crystalloid cardioplegia [St. Thomas sol.] was studied prospectively in 60 patients undergoing open heart surgery from January 1, 1991, to June 30, 1991. Thirty patients received cardioplegia with FDP[group I ] and 30 patients received cardioplegia without FDP [group II ]. There were no differences between two groups pre-operatively with regard to age, heart disease, cross-clamp time, cardiac enzymes, or hemodynamic measurements [p>0.05]. Cardiopulmonary bypass was established using ascending aorta and vena cava cannulation employing moderate systemic hypothermia [30oC nasopharyngeal temperature] and hemodilution All patients received cardioplegia through the aortic root at aortic root pressure of 80mm Hg. The composition of the cardioplegic solution and its delivery were identical in both groups except for the addition of FDP[1.5 mg/mL] in group I. The cardioplegic infusate consisted of St. Thomas Hospital solution. The initial dose was infused through the aortic root. Topical myocardial cooling with saline slush was employed in all patients. Recorded operative data were cardiopulmonary bypass and cross-clamp times, amount of cardioplegic infusate. Blood samples for assessment of lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], creatine kinase [CK] and transaminases [GOT, GPT] were obtained before and at 1,2,3,7th postoperative period. Better myocardial protection effect was noted in group I than group II with respect to the % change of cardiac enzymes, although the differences were not significant. We conclude that FDP is a safe additive to crystalloid cardioplegia and may be beneficial in open heart surgery patients.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2015

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) causes a major upper respiratory tract infection often leading to severe illness and death in the elderly. Thus, it is important to induce safe and effective mucosal immunity against this pathogen in order to prevent pnuemocaccal infection. However, this is a very difficult task to elicit protective mucosal IgA antibody responses in older individuals. A combind nasal adjuvant consisting of a plasmid encoding the Flt3 ligand cDNA (pFL) and CpG oligonucleotide (CpG ODN) successfully enhanced S. pneumoniae-specific mucosal immunity in aged mice. In particular, a pneumococcal surface protein A-based nasal vaccine given with pFL and CpG ODN induced complete protection from S. pneumoniae infection. These results show that nasal delivery of a combined DNA adjuvant offers an attractive potential for protection against the pneumococcus in the elderly.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2012

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to get basal user guidelines of safer bag-valve-mask application on patient with normal pulmonary patho-physiologic condition. Methods : This study was accomplished by pre-qualified 25 EMS junior grade students. Participants were instructed randomly compress bag to one-third, half and total and also with differesnt compression speed. Resultant tidal volumes and mean airway pressures obtained in RespiTrainer were analysed in relation to the each compression depth and rate. Results : Demographic difference does not affect tidal volume with any compression depth and rate change. Increasing compression depth is correlated with tidal volume increasement at any compression rate and also with mean airway pressure. If the compression depth is same, compression rate change did not affect significantly the resultant tidal volume or mean airway pressure. Conclusion : Hand size, Experience, BMI dose not affect tidal volume. Compress the 1600 ml bag half to total amount is safe way to offer sufficient tidal volume without risky high airway pressure delivery to patient airway who with normal lung patho-physiologic condition.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2016

Background: The most important reason for pre-operative administration of medication is to reduce anxiety. Alleviation of fear and anxiety about surgery enables patients to remain comfortable during treatment. Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is a fast-acting drug that is used as a premedication in different circumstances because it has sedative and anti-anxiolytic effects, and stable hemodynamics. It also has the advantage of intranasal administration. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects and hemodynamic stability of DEX by retrospectively analyzing cases in which DEX was administered nasally as a premedication. Methods: Ten patients treated at Dankook University Dental Hospital, recruited between February and April 2015, received intranasal delivery of $2{\mu}g/kg$ DEX, 30 minutes prior to general anesthesia. Anesthesia records of anxiety, blood pressure, respiration, pulse, estimated arterial oxygen saturation ($SpO_2$), and partial pressure, or maximum concentration, of carbon dioxide ($ETCO_2$) were analyzed. Results: Administration of DEX prior to a general anesthetic effectively relieved anxiety. Respiratory depression, the most severe adverse effect of other sedatives, was not observed. Hemodynamic stability under general anesthesia was maintained during treatment and a reduction in emergence delirium was observed upon completion of treatment. Conclusions: Premedication administration of DEX is safe for pediatric patients undergoing dental treatment under general anesthesia.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.398-406
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• 2019

Cancer immunotherapy using gene-modified tumor cells is safe and customized cancer treatment method. In this study, we made gene-modified tumor cells by transferring costimulatory molecules, 4-1BBL and OX40L, into tumor cells using lentivirus vector, and identified anti-cancer effect of gene-modified tumor cells in CT26 mouse colorectal tumor model. We construct pLVX-puro-4-1BBL, -OX40L vector for lentivirus production and optimized the transfection efficiency and transduction efficiency. The transfection efficiency is maximal at DNA:cationic polymer = 1:0.5 and DNA 2 ㎍ for lentivirus production. Then, the lentiviral including 4-1BBL and OX40L was used to deliver CT26 mouse tumor cells to establish optimal delivery conditions according to the amount of virus. The transduction efficiency is maximal at 500 μL volume of lentiviral stock without change in cell shape or growth rate. CT26-4-1BBL, CT26-OX40L significantly inhibited the tumor growth compare with CT26-WT or CT26-β-gal cell line. These data showed the possibility the use of genetically modified tumor cells with costimulatory molecule as cancer immunotherapy agent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.51-55
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• 2021

There are several lasers available for office-based or suspension microlaryngoscopy laser procedures in the treatment of laryngeal diseases. Each has advantages and disadvantages given the depth of penetration per unit of power, absorption in water, spectral absorption characteristics, mode of delivery, safety, and cost. It is important to note that while the proper selection of indication of treatment based on a laser wavelength is critical, of equal importance is selecting the appropriate power setting, focal length (or spot size), and time of exposure. The photoangiolytic lasers precisely target hemoglobin within the microcirculation of the highly vascularized tissue and may have better hemostatic effects and preservation of surrounding normal tissue than the CO₂ laser. Although the choice of laser is purely theoretical and cannot be accurately concluded which parameters of laser (wattage and pulse width) were best to use, photoangiolytic laser surgery is safe and effective for specific laryngeal lesions. In this review, indications for photoangiolytic laser procedures for various laryngeal diseases, laser settings and surgical techniques for specific laryngeal lesions including sulcus vocalis, laryngeal dysplasia, and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis will be introduced. Pros and cons of in-office laser surgery using photoangiolytic laser and flexible CO₂ laser will also be addressed.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2022

With the recent expansion of electric kickboards and bicycle sharing services, more and more people use them. In addition, the rapid growth of the delivery business due to the COVID-19 has significantly increased the use of two-wheeled vehicles and personal mobility. As the accident rate increases, the rule related to the two-wheeled vehicles is changed to 'mandatory helmets for kickboards and single-person transportation' and was revised to prevent boarding itself without driver's license. In this paper, we propose a wearable smart safety equipment, called SafetyHelmet, that can keep helmet-wearing duty and lower the accident rate with the communication between helmets and mobile devices. To make this function available, we propose a safe driving assistance function by notifying the driver when an object that interferes with driving such as persons or other vehicles are detected by applying the YOLO v5 object detection algorithm. Therefore it is intended to provide a safer driving assistance by reducing the failure rate to identify dangers while driving single-person transportation.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.317-325
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• 2022

Polymers are the major constructive material of pharmaceutical formulations that play a prime role in designing effective drug-delivery systems and releasing drugs at their sites of application. Polymers are composed of multiple repeating units of high molecular mass components with attendant properties. Most synthetic polymers are non-biocompatible, expensive, and extremely inclined to deliver adverse impacts. Meanwhile, edible polymers obtained from natural sources have gained remarkable recognition for their promising use in modern medicine. Moreover, polymers derived from natural sources are generally preferred due to certain of their unique features such as abundant availability, biocompatibility, nontoxicity, economical, safe, and effective functions that fit the purpose. Polysaccharides including starch, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and mucilage are identified as a major class of naturally obtained molecules that have a substantial role as functional polymers. This review summarizes the potential role of polysaccharides derived from vegetable sources such as adhesives, anticaking agents, binders, disintegrants, emulsifiers, film-framing agents, and thickeners. This is simply an opportunity to abandon synthetic excipients that hurt our bodies and think back to nature from where we originate.