• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.3 s.67
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• pp.51-62
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• 2006

Objective: Although chronic non-bacterial prostatitis is a common disease, it is very difficult to treat effectively. Lygodium japonicum has traditionally been used in treatment of urinary tract inflammation and voiding disturbance. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effects and action mechanism of Lygodium japonicum in the rat model of non-bacterial prostatitis induced by castration and testosterone treatment. Methods: Five-month-old rats were treated with $17\beta-estradiol$ after castration for induction of experimental non-bacterial prostatitis, which is similar to human chronic prostatitis in histopathological profiles. Lygodium japonicum and testosterone were administered as an experimental specimen and a positive control, respectively. The prostates were evaluated by histopathological parameters including the epithelial score and epithelio-stromal ratio for glandular damage, proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) labeling index for cyto-proliferation and a TUNEL (deoxyuridine triphosphate biotin nick end-labeling) assay for cell apoptosis. Results: While prostates of control rats revealed severe acinar gland atrophy and stromal proliferation, the rats treated with Lygodium japonicum showed a lesser range of tissue damage. Epithelial score was improved in Lygodium japonicum than that of the control (P<0.05). The epithelio-stromal ratio was lower in Lygodium japonicum when compared to that of the control (P<0.05). Although there was no difference in PCNA and TUNEL positive cells of the glandular epithelia, we found an decreased number of PCNA positive cell and concurrent increase of TUNEL positive cells in the stroma of Lygodium japonicum treated rats (P<0.01). Conclusions: These findings suggest that Lygodium japonicum may protect the glandular epithelial cells and also inhibit stromal proliferation in association with suppression of cyto-proliferation and stimulation of apoptosis. We concluded that Lygodium japonicum may be a useful remedy agent for treating the chronic non-bacterial prostatitis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.17-33
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• 2011

Recently, the utilization of recycled aggregates for backfilling a power transmission pipeline trench has been considered due to the issues of eco-friendly construction and a lack of natural aggregate resource. It is important to identify the physical and thermal properties of domestic recycled aggregates that can be used as a backfill material. This paper evaluated thermal properties of concrete-based recycled aggregates with various particle size distributions. The thermal properties of the recycled aggregates and river sand provided by local vendors were measured using the transient hot wire method and the transient needle probe method after performing the standard compaction test. The needle probe method considerably overestimated the thermal resistivity of recycled aggregates especially at the dry of optimum water content because of experiencing disturbance while the needle probe is being inserted into the specimen. Similar to silica sand, the thermal resistivity of recycled aggregates decreased when the water content increased at a given dry density. Also, this paper evaluated some of the existing prediction models for the thermal resistivity of recycled aggregates with the experimental data, and developed a new prediction model for recycled aggregates. This study shows that recycled aggregates can be a promising backfill material substituting for natural aggregates when backfilling the power transmission pipeline trench.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.664-676
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• 2006

Objective : Although chronic non-bacterial prostatitis is a common disease, it is very difficult to treat effectively. Lygodium japonicum has been traditionally used in treatment of urinary tract inflammation and voiding disturbance. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effects and action mechanism of Lygodium japonicum in the rat model of non-bacterial prostatitis induced by castration and testosterone treatment. Methods : Five-month-old rats were treated with 17$\beta$-estradiol after castration for induction of experimental non-bacterial prostatitis, which is similar to human chronic prostatitis in histopathological profiles. Lygodium japonicum and testosterone were administered as an experimental specimen and a positive control. respectively. The prostates were evaluated by histopathological parameters including the epithelial score and epithelio-stromal ratio for glandular damage. PCNA labeling index for cyto-proliferation and a TUNEL(deoxyuridine triphosphate biotin nick end-labeling) assay for cell apoptosis. Results : While prostates of control rats revealed severe acinar gland atrophy and stromal proliferation, the rats treated with Lygodium japonicum showed a diminished range of tissue damage. Epithelial score was improved in the Lygodium japonicum group over that of the control (P<0.05). The epithelio-stromal ratio was lower in the Lygodiutn japonicum group when compared to that of the control (P<0.05). Although there was no difference in PCNA and TUNEL positive cells of the glandular epithelia. we found an decreased number of PCNA positive cell and concurrent increase of TUNEL positive cells in the stroma of Lygodium japonicum treated rats (P<0.01). Conclusions : These findings suggest that Lygodium japonicum may protect the glandular epithelial cells and also inhibit stromal proliferation in association with suppression of cyto-proliferation and stimulation of apoptosis. We concluded that Lygodium japonicum could be a useful remedy agents for treating chronic non-bacterial prostatitis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.6A
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• pp.535-542
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• 2010

Precise estimation of a structure's dynamic characteristics is indispensable for ensuring stable dynamic responses during lifetime especially for the structures which can experience resonance such as railway bridges. In this paper, the results of forced vibration tests of different excitation methods (vibration exciter and impact hammer) are compared to examine the differences and the cause of differences of extracted natural frequencies. Consequently a natural frequency modification method is suggested to eliminate effects of non-structural disturbance factors. Also, sequential forced vibration tests are performed before and after track construction according to the construction stage of a railway bridge, and the variation of natural frequencies are examined. Effect of added mass of vibration exciter and variation of support condition due to the level of excitation force are concluded as the major cause of natural frequency differences. Thus eliminating these effects can enhance the reliability of the extracted natural frequencies. Construction of track affects not only the mass of structure but also the stiffness of the structure. Also, the amount of increase in stiffness varies according to the level of structural deflection. Therefore, reasonable estimation of the level of structural response during operation is important for precise natural frequency calculation at design phase.