• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.229-238
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• 2000

A properly prescribed wheelchair may be able to normalize tone. decrease pathologic reflex activity, improve postural symmetry, enhance range of movement, maintain and/or improve skin conduit)n. increase comfort and sitting tolerance, decrease fatigue, and improve function of the autonomic nervous system. Whereas a poorly prescribed one can actually exacerbate the problems associated with a disability. Maintained for longer without relief, pressure concentrations may also lead to tissue breakdown. Pressure sores continue to be a major problem for many disabled individuals. Many groups of disabled individuals have a very high incidence of pressure sores, including those individuals with spinal cord injuries. hemiplegia, multiple sclerosis. cancer. and the disabled geriatric population. It is important to understand the factors which predispose an individuals to the development of a pressure sores. Those factors can divided into extrinsic factors, related to the individual's immediate environment and intrinsic factors. related to their medical or physical condition. Pressure sores are generally preventable through sensible pressure management based on an understanding of the causes of pressure sores, risk factors and methods of redistributing pressure.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.1 s.90
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• pp.1-11
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• 2005

Recently, there has been extremely active in the research of stem cell biology. Stem cells have excellent potential for being the ultimate source of transplantable cells for many different tissues. Researchers hope to use stem cells to repair or replace diseased or damaged organs, leading to new treatments for human disorders that are currently incurable, including diabetes, spinal cord injury and brain diseases. There are primary sources of stem cells like embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Stem cells from embryos were known to give rise to every type of cell. However, embryonic stem cells still have a lot of disadvantages. First, transplanted cells sometimes grow into tumors. Second, the human embryonic stem cells that are available for research would be rejected by a patient's immune system. Tissue-matched transplants could be made by either creating a bank of stem cells from more human embryos, or by cloning a patient's DNA into existing stem cells to customize them. However, this is laborious and ethically contentious. These problems could be overcome by using adult stem cells, taken from a patient, that are treated to remove problems and then put back. Nevertheless, some researchers do not convince that adult stem cells could, like embryonic ones, make every tissue type. Human stem cell research holds enormous potential for contributing to our understanding of fundamental human biology. In this review, we discuss the recent progress in stem cell research and the future therapeutic applications.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.253-257
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• 2007

Among the arthritis symptoms, chronic pain is the most serious, and it can profoundly affect the quality of human life. Unfortunately, the mechanism of development in arthritis and arthritic pain has not yet been precisely elucidated. Accumulating evidence indicates that nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in nociceptive processing in the spinal cord. However, the modulation mechanism of NO in the peripheral site of arthritis and arthritic pain has not been clarified. Therefore, I determined in the present study which nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was involved in the induction of arthritis and arthritic pain. Monoarthritis was induced by intra-articular injection of carrageenan (2%, $50{\mu}l$) into rats, and resulted in the reduction of weight load on the injected leg, increase of knee joint diameter and inflammatory response. Pre-treatment of rats with L-N6-(1-iminoethyl)-lysine (L-NIL, $500{\mu}g$, in $50{\mu}l$), an inhibitor of inducible NOS (iNOS), partially prevented the induction of pain-related behavior and partially reduced inflammatory response in the synovial membrane in the knee joint. These results suggest that iNOS in the knee joint may play an important role in the induction of pain-related behavior and inflammation, and that NO produced by iNOS may be associated with nociceptive signaling in the peripheral site.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.139-148
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• 2008

Vertebral deformity in hatchery-reared black sea bream (Acanthoparus schlegelii) fingerlings occurred. Deformed fish had a good appetite but no clinical signs were found except the vertebral abnormality and darkness around the dorsal skin of the deformed vertebra. As more than 90% of the hatchery-reared fish exhibited vertebral abnormality, the fingerlings could not be used for commercial seeds any more. No morphological change in the swim bladder was observed. Histopathological changes on the deformed vertebra, gill, liver, and spleen were observed to clarify the cause of the deformity. The vertebra were irregularly deformed upward with the shape of "V" in an alphabetic character causing the spinal cord and dorsal aorta suppressed. The diameters of the muscle fibers around the deformed vertebra, especially, in the dorsal part, were much smaller and more irregular than those in normal fish, and the gabs between the fiber bundles were enlarged. No evidence of inflammatory responses in the lateral musculature were found. On the basis of normal inflation of the swim bladder, cultural environments for growth of the fingerlings, and histopathological alterations in the muscle, vertebra and gills, it is suggested that high speed of water current in the culturing aquaria between 23 to 30 days after hatching was responsible for the development of vertebral abnormality.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.393-399
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• 1994

Spinal cord compression, an oncologic emergency, is a rare complication of hematologic malignancy Our experience was obtained with a series 32 Patients following retrospective analysis for assessing the role of radiation therapy and identifying the prognostic factors affecting on treatment outcome. Diagnosis was usually made by means of radiologic study such as myelography or computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neurologic examination. Five cases were diagnosed by subjective symptom only with high index of suspicion. In 31 cases, the treatment consisted in radiation therapy alone and the remained one patient had laminectomy before radiation therapy because of diagnostic doubts. Total treatment doses ranged from 800 cGy to 4000 cGy with median of 2000 cGy. Initially large fraction size more than 250 cGy were used in 13 patients with rapidly progressed neurologic deficit. The clinical parameters considered in evaluating the response to treatment were backache, motor-sensory performance and sphincter function. Half of all patients showed good response. Partial response and no response were noted in $37.5\%$ and $12.5\%$, respectively. Our results showed higher response rate than those of other solid tumor series. The degree of neurologic deficit at that time of diagnosis was the most important predictor of treatment outcome. The elapsed time from development of symptoms to start of treatment was significantly affected on the outcome. But histology of primary tumor total dose and use of initial large fraction size were not significantly affect on the outcome. These results confirmed the value of early diagnosis and treatment especially in radiosensitive hematologic malignancy.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.261-263
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• 2009

Methylprednisolone is a synthetic glucocorticoid which is usually taken intravenously for many neurosurgical diseases which cause edema including brain tumor, and trauma including spinal cord injury. Methylprednisolone reduces swelling and decreases the body's immune response. It is also used to treat many immune and allergic disorders, such as arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, asthma, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease. To identify genes expressed during methylprednisolone treatment against neurons of rats (PC12 cells), DNA microarray method was used. We have isolated 2 gene groups (up- or down-regulated genes) which are methylprednisolone differentially expressed in neurons. Lipocalin 3 is the gene most significantly increased among 772 up-regulated genes (more than 2 fold over-expression) and Aristaless 3 is the gene most dramatically decreased among 959 down-regulated genes (more than 2 fold down-expression). The gene increased expression of Fgb, Thbd, Cfi, F3, Kngl, Serpinel, C3, Tnfrsf4 and Il8rb are involved stress-response gene, and Nfkbia, Casp7, Pik3rl, I11b, Unc5a, Tgfb2, Kitl and Fgf15 are strongly associated with development. Cell cycle associated genes (Mcm6, Ccnb2, Plk1, Ccnd1, E2f1, Cdc2a, Tgfa, Dusp6, Id3) and cell proliferation associated genes (Ccl2, Tnfsf13, Csf2, Kit, Pim1, Nr3c1, Chrm4, Fosl1, Spp1) are down-regulated more than 2 times by methylprednisolone treatment. Among the genes described above, 4 up-regulated genes are confirmed those expression by RT-PCR. We found that methylprednisolone is related to expression of many genes associated with stress response, development, cell cycle, and cell proliferation by DNA microarray analysis. However, We think further experimental molecular studies will be needed to figure out the exact biological function of various genes described above and the physiological change of neuronal cells by methylprednisolone. The resulting data will give the one of the good clues for understanding of methylprednisolone under molecular level in the neurons.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.12
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• pp.679-684
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• 2014

GM-CSF plays a role in the nervous system, particularly in cases of injury. A therapeutic effect of GM-CSF has been reported in rat models of various central nervous system injuries. We previously showed that GM-CSF could enhance long-term recovery in a rat spinal cord injury model, inhibiting glial scar formation and increasing the integrity of axonal structure. Here, we investigated molecular the mechanism(s) by which GM-CSF suppressed glial scar formation in an in vitro system using primary astrocytes treated with TGF-${\beta}$. GM-CSF repressed the expression of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG) core proteins in astrocytes treated with TGF-${\beta}$. GM-CSF also inhibited the TGF-${\beta}$-induced Rho-ROCK pathway, which is important in CSPG expression. Finally, the inhibitory effect of GM-CSF was blocked by a JAK inhibitor. These results may provide the basis for GM-CSF's effects in glial scar inhibition and ultimately for its therapeutic effect on neural cell injuries.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2022

Purpose : This study is aimed to develop and validate the clinical practice education program and clinical competence scale of occupational therapy student. Methods : The development of the clinical practice education program used the delphi technique method, which had a total of five steps. Based on the occupational therapist's job analysis, the first stage assessed the importance of 21 experts, and the second stage examined the importance of 19 new specialists to derive constitutive factors. In the third stage, in-depth interviews were conducted with three experts based on the derived factors, and in the fourth stage, the final clinical practice education program was derived. In the final stage, the details of the clinical training program were drawn up based on the themes and were reviewed by two experts. Structured and unstructured interviews were conducted with 43 job experts. Results : The expert survey through the delphi technique was conducted three times, and content analysis and descriptive statistics were conducted to examine the distribution of responses. The final 11 educational program topics and contents were derived. Topics are confirmation of client information, evaluation and intervention, cognitive therapy, spinal cord injury, brain injury, musculoskeletal disorders, pediatric occupational therapy, interventions in activities of daily living, driving rehabilitation, vocational rehabilitation, occupational therapy assessment tool, safety training and management. Conclusion : The clinical practice education program reduce the difference between school education and clinical education of occupational therapy student. Occupational therapy helps college student understand occupational therapy practices and improve the quality of clinical education. Through more research and supplementation of clinical practice education programs in the future, it is suggested that clinical practice education be successfully operated in various practice institutions and used as basic data for designing and evaluating useful educational models.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.267-279
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• 2014

Objective: The objective of this study was to define the Dynamic Sitting (DS) through trend analysis and research on the Dynamic Chair (DC) and applied technologies. Background: The effects of changing posture on the human body have been studied to find out healthy sitting postures. It is believed that changing posture is effective in reducing disc pressure on spinal cord and preventing back pain and musculoskeletal disease. But, the definition of DS and trends of DC have not been researched yet. Therefore, trend analysis of DC and its applied technologies are required to define dynamic sitting posture. Method: We researched the type of occupant postures from previous studies. And then, sitting behaviors were classified into three types; (1) sitting and standing, (2) working and studying, (3) taking a rest. Results: Variety shapes of DC and applied technologies were found out. From the result, the trend of DC and applied technology were summarized from three perspectives. ; (1) changing the chair functions according to user's intention, (2) conversion of dynamic chair technologies to office chair mechanism, (3) enables the user to change their sitting posture without operating control device. Conclusion: From this study, we defined dynamic sitting posture and analyzed the trend of DC and its applied technologies. This result might be used to develop an office chair for healthy sitting. But further investigation is required to figure out the technologies and functions for development of healthy chair. Application: The results of the publishing trend analysis might help to determine design concept of office chair.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.743-748
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to determine the molecular characteristics of the horse vascular endothelial growth factor alpha gene ($VEGF{\alpha}$) by constructing a phylogenetic tree, and to investigate gene expression profiles in tissues and blood leukocytes after exercise for development of suitable biomarkers. Using published amino acid sequences of other vertebrate species (human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, cow, pig, chicken and dog), we constructed a phylogenetic tree which showed that equine $VEGF{\alpha}$ belonged to the same clade of the pig $VEGF{\alpha}$. Analysis for synonymous (Ks) and non-synonymous substitution ratios (Ka) revealed that the horse $VEGF{\alpha}$ underwent positive selection. RNA was extracted from blood samples before and after exercise and different tissue samples of three horses. Expression analyses using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) showed ubiquitous expression of $VEGF{\alpha}$ mRNA in skeletal muscle, kidney, thyroid, lung, appendix, colon, spinal cord, and heart tissues. Analysis of differential expression of $VEGF{\alpha}$ gene in blood leukocytes after exercise indicated a unimodal pattern. These results will be useful in developing biomarkers that can predict the recovery capacity of racing horses.