• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.7-16
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• 2005

Objectives : Scrophulariae Radix (SRE) is commonly used in combination with other herbs as a nutrient and health strengthening agent, and to remove 'heat' and replenish vital essence. The water-based extract of this herb can lower blood pressure in both anesthetized and concious animals, and exhibits an anti-inflammatory activity. But, there is lack of studies regarding the effects of SRE on the immunological activities in molecular levels. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of SRE on the regulatory mechanism of cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) in Raw 264.7 cells. Method : After the treatment of Scrophulariae Radix methanol extract, cell viability was measured by MTT assay, NO production was monitored by measuring the nitrite content in culture medium. COX-2 and iNOS were determined by Immunoblot analysis, and levels of cytokine were analyzed by sandwich immunoassays. Results : Results provided evidence that SRE inhibited the production of nitrite and nitrate (NO), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), $interleukin-1{\beta}\;(IL-1{\beta})$ and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and the activation of phospholylation of inhibitor ${\kappa}B{\alpha}\;(p-I{\kappa}B{\alpha})$ in Raw 264.7 cells activated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Conclusion : These findings suggest that Scrophulariae Radix can produce anti-inflammatory effect, which may playa role in adjunctive therapy in Gram-negative bacterial infections.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.233-248
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• 2017

Uniform laws and regulations and reasonable design is necessary for the prevention of possible fire in super high-rise building. To this end, this study focused on super high-rise and massive building-related architectural review performance-based design (PBD) evaluation disaster impact assessment (DIA), and provided fire engineering measures for improving fire prevention on the basis of performance-based design by analyzing the buildings subject to these systems and problems in terms of contents. Above all, in the aspect of law and standard improvement, first, with regard to dual parts of two statutes though significant portion of them has the same contents in performance-based design (PBD) evaluation and disaster impact assessment (DIA), it is necessary to operate the systems after making them conform with each other and consolidating or abolishing them. Second, if it is impossible to consolidate or abolish performance-based design (PBD) evaluation and disaster impact assessment (DIA), the areas of contents of performance-based design (PBD) evaluation and disaster impact assessment (DIA) should be precisely classified and established. Next, engineering improvement measures against fire hazard in super high-rise building are as follows. First, it is necessary to revise the provisions of straight-run stairs in special escape stairs. And in case of installing a mechanical smoke exhaust system instead of smoke vent, sandwich pressurization used in the United Stated should be permitted. Second, with regard to smoke control system for special escape stairs, it was shown that there was necessity for revising the standards in order to enable air to be supplied according to section in case of fire, carrying out performance-based design, and the like from the early design stages to the completion stages. In the future, it is expected that an epoch-making contribution will be made to a decrease in casualties and property damage due to fire in case of super high-rise building where the results can be reflected after carrying out a study on maintenance and carrying out an additional study on other considerations of super high-rise building together with reflecting the improvement measures provided in the above-mentioned study.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2004

Background : Pulmonary hypertension is a poor prognostic factor in patients with chronic respiratory disease. However, diagnosing pulmonary hypertension is a difficult procedure which often requires an invasive test. Thus new alternative biochemical markers would be useful in clinical field and are in search. We sought to assess the role of plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide(NT-proBNP) in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Method : We measured plasma NT-proBNP level in twenty nine patients suspected for pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension was defined as being right ventricular systolic pressure more than 35 mm Hg estimated by Doppler echocardiography. Plasma NT-proBNP level was measured by electrochemiluminescence sandwich immunoassay. Results : The log-transformed values for plasma NT-proBNP levels showed a linear correlation (correlation coefficiency: 0.783, p-value <0.001) with right ventricular systolic pressure. Plasma NT-proBNP levels closely correlated with right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, interventricular septal flattening and right ventricular dilatation. Conclusion : Our results suggest that the measurement of plasma NT-proBNP level is an useful marker of the presence of pulmonary hypertension.