• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.275-280
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• 2008

A brief ischemic insult induces significant protection against subsequent massive ischemic events. The molecular mechanisms known as preconditioning (PC)-induced ischemic tolerance are not completely understood. We investigated whether kinetic changes of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 during reperfusion time-periods after PC were related to ischemic tolerance. Rats were given PC by occlusion of middle cerebral artery (MCAO) for 10 min and sacrificed after the indicated time-periods of reperfusion (1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 18 or 24 h). In PC-treated rats, focal ischemia was induced by occlusion of MCA for 24 h and brain infarct volume was then studied to determine whether different reperfusion time influenced the damage. We report that the most significant protection against focal ischemia was obtained in rats with 8 h reperfusion after PC. Administration of indomethacin (10 mg/kg, oral) or rofecoxib (5 mg/kg, oral) 48 h prior to PC counteracted the effect of PC. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that COX-2 and HO-l protein were induced in PC-treated rat brain, which was significantly inhibited by rofecoxib. Taken together, we concluded that the kinetic changes of COX-2 expression during the reperfusion period after PC might be partly responsible for ischemic tolerance.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2008

Objectives : The present study has been undertaken to investigate the effects of Dipsaci Radix on Muscle Fiber Atrophy and MyoD Expression in Gastrocnemius of MCAO Rats Methods : In order to investigate effects of Dipsaci radix on the skeletal muscle atrophy following stroke, cerebral infarct was induced by the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in the rats. Water extract of Dipsaci radix (184.4 mg/100 g) was treated for 4 weeks, once a day orally, after the MCAO. Effects were evaluated with muscle fiber type composition and cross-sectioned area of muscle fibers in gastrocnemius of the unaffected & affected hind limbs. And MyoD protein expression in gastrocnemius was demonstrated with immunohistochemistry and western blotting. Results : Obtained results were as follows; 1. Infarct volume was not attenuated by Dipsaci radix treatment in the MCAO rats. 2. At the affected-side hind limb of the MCAO rats, the increase of type-I fibers and the decrease of type-II fibers were induced by Dipsaci radix treatment. 3. At the affected-side hind limb of the MCAO rats, decreases of cross-sectioned areas of type-I and type-II fibers were attenuated by Dipsaci radix treatment. 4. At the affected-side hind limb of the MCAO rats, MyoD positive cells were increased by Dipsaci radix treatment. 5. At the affected-side hind limb of the MCAO rats, MyoD expressions were increased by Dipsaci radix treatment. Conclusions : These results suggest that Dipsaci radix has a protective effect against muscle atrophy, through the inhibition of the muscle cell apoptosis, following the central nervous system demage.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2016

Chronic subdural hematomas (CSHs) are generally regarded to be a traumatic lesion. It was regarded as a stroke in 17th century, an inflammatory disease in 19th century. From 20th century, it became a traumatic lesion. CSH frequently occur after a trauma, however, it cannot occur when there is no enough subdural space even after a severe head injury. CSH may occur without trauma, when there is sufficient subdural space. The author tried to investigate trends in the causation of CSH. By a review of literature, the author suggested a different view on the causation of CSH. CSH usually originated from either a subdural hygroma or an acute subdural hematoma. Development of CSH starts from the separation of the dural border cell (DBC) layer, which induces proliferation of DBCs with production of neomembrane. Capillaries will follow along the neomembrane. Hemorrhage would occur into the subdural fluid either by tearing of bridge veins or repeated microhemorrhage from the neomembrane. That is the mechanism of hematoma enlargement. Trauma or bleeding tendency may precipitate development of CSH, however, it cannot lead CSH, if there is no sufficient subdural space. The key determinant for development of CSH is a sufficient subdural space, in other words, brain atrophy. The most common and universal cause of brain atrophy is the aging. Modifying Virchow's description, CSH is sometimes traumatic, but most often caused by degeneration of the brain. Now, it is reasonable that degeneration of brain might play pivotal role in development of CSH in the aged persons.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.67-67
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• 2003

Minocycline is known to protect neurons from microglia-mediated cell death in many experimental models of brain diseases including ischemic stroke, Huntingtons disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinsons disease. When the activity of caspases was assessed using their fluorescent peptide substrates, activation of caspase-2, 3, 8, and 9 was evident within 2 8 hr following oxidative insult with 0.5 mM hydrogen peroxide in PC12 cells. Minocycline significantly attenuated activation of these caspases up to 18 hr, resulting a significant increase in the cell viability as assessed by MTT assay as well as trypan blue staining. However, cleavage of alpha-spectrin and a cdk5 activator p35, which are known to be substrates for calpain, remained unchanged in the presence of minocycline, suggesting that minocycline did not block caspase-3-independent cell death or necrosis. Moreover, co-treatment with minocycline and a calpain inhibitor calpeptin synergistically inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death. These data suggest that minocycline directly inhibited apoptosis, but not necrosis, after oxidative insult in PC12 cells.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.925-932
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to evaluate factors that have correlation with improvement of Cerebrovascular accidents(C.V.A) and to decide ranking of influence about improvement of C.V.A. This observation was made on 153 subjects of C.V.A. that were diagnosed through brain MRI or brain CT. They were hospitalized in the Semyung University Oriental Medicine Hospital from the January 1st 2006 to December 31th 2007. The subjects of this study are divided into two groups. The one group has slight motor disturbance, and the other group has severer motor disturbance. Based on medical treatment chart, we analyze differences of many factors like past history, family history, drinking, smoking, several symptoms with C.V.A., etc between two groups. As a result, The past history of cerebrovascular disease and past history of hypertension are the most influencing factors in improvement of C.V.A.

• The Korean Journal of Rehabilitation Nursing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was to explore the cognitive function of Korean-Chinese stroke patient in China. Method: The study sample was 100 who were possible to communicate and agreed. The data were collected from one Brain's hospital at Yanji in China and by trained nurse from December 12, 2005 to April 28, 2006. The measurement tools were Digit span, Trail making, and MMSE-K. The data were analysed by SPSS Win 11.5 using frequency, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlation coefficients. Results: The mean score of DSF was 5.07, 3.42 of DSB, 161.37 of TMA, 229.28 of TMB, 22.64 of MMSE-K. There was a significant difference in DSF (F=6.35, p=.001), DSB (F=6.10, p=.001), TMA (F=3.53, p=.018), TMB (F=3.26, p=.025), MMSE-K score (F=12.97, p=.000) according to age, and DSF (F=6.67, p=.000), DSB (F=6.01, p=.000), TMA (F=5.82, p=.001), TMB (F=6.23, p=.001), and MMSE-K score (F=13.02, p=.000) according to educational level, and DSF (F=5.35, p=.006), DSB (F=3.16, p=.047), TMA (F=3.30, p=.041), TMB (F=3.42, p=.037), and MMSE-K score (F=4.95, p=.009) according to duration of disease, and DSB (F=3.54, p=.018), and MMSE-K (F=6.05, p=.001) according to frequencies of hospitalization. There was high correlation between DSF and DSB (r=.581, p=.000), TMA and TMB (r=.936, p=.000), MMSE-K and DSF (r=.579, p=.000), MMSE-K and DSB (r=.591, p=.000), DSF and TMA (r=.727, p=.000), and DSF and TMB (r=.721, p=.000). Conclusion: The cognitive evaluation score of Korean-Chinese stroke patients in China was in normal limit. The age, educational level, duration of disease and income were significant demographic characteristic affecting cognitive function. Further study need to compare the cognitive function of Korean-Chinese stoke patients in China and stoke patients in Korea.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.724-728
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• 2002

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene polymorphism, which consists of presence (insertion, I) or absence (deletion, D) of a 250-bp fragment, is associated with ischemic heart disease, renovascular disease, systemic lupus erythematosus. Subjects with the DD genotype have higher levels of circulating ACE than subjects with the II genotype and show an increased tendency towards vascular wall thickness and contribute to the development of vascular disease. But the association between I/D polymorphism of the ACE gene and cerebrovascular disease is still controversial. The aim of this study was to determine whether the DNA polymorphism of the ACE are associated with cerebrovascular disease in Korean population. The study group comprised 377 Korean patients admitted to Kyunghee Oriental Medical Center in the year of 2000 for the treatment of brain infarction or brain hemorrhage. Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) was performed for each patient to determine the stroke phenotype, infarction or hemorrhage. The 183 subjects without evidence of brain infarction or brain hemorrhage were selected from the some ethnical population(control group). Venous blood samples were drawn from each subject for the extraction of DNA. Genotypes of ACE were determined by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the genomic DNA. Case and control genotype frequencies were compared by chi-square testing. Both the patients and the controls were classified respectively into 4 groups: age less than forty years, age forty one to fifty, age fifty one to sixty, age greater than sixty years. There were no significant differences in the distributions of ACE genotypes among the patients with infarction, with hemorrhage and controls (Infarction: D/D 15.8%, I/D 46.7%, I/I 37.5%, Hemorrhage: D/D 15.1%, I/D 46.5%, I/I 38.4%, Control: D/D 18.6%, I/D 50.3%, I/I 31.2%). There was a significant difference in the distribution of ACE genotypes between the age greater than sixty year subgroup of patient with brain hemorrhage and the control (Hemorrhage: D/D 0%, I/D 55.6%, I/I 44.4%, Control: D/D 13.0%, I/D 63.0%, I/I 23.9%; Pearson Chi-Square value 5.956, P<0.05). Furthermore, the frequency of the ACE D/D type declined with increasing age both in the patient and control group (Patient group: age < 50 D/D 21.5%, age > 50 D/D 14.42%; Control group: age < 50 D/D 21.0%, age > 50 D/D 14.2%). In conclusion there is no clear association between ACE polymorphism and cerebrovascular disease in Korean population. Although, there was a tendency for the frequency of the ACE D/D type declined with increasing age in both patients and controls.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2018

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a gaseous molecule produced from heme by heme oxygenase (HO). Endogenous CO production occurring at low concentrations is thought to have several useful biological roles. In mammals, especially humans, a proper neurovascular unit comprising endothelial cells, pericytes, astrocytes, microglia, and neurons is essential for the homeostasis and survival of the central nervous system (CNS). In addition, the regeneration of neurovascular systems from neural stem cells and endothelial precursor cells after CNS diseases is responsible for functional repair. This review focused on the possible role of CO/HO in the neurovascular unit in terms of neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and synaptic plasticity, ultimately leading to behavioral changes in CNS diseases. CO/HO may also enhance cellular networks among endothelial cells, pericytes, astrocytes, and neural stem cells. This review highlights the therapeutic effects of CO/HO on CNS diseases involved in neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and angiogenesis. Moreover, the cellular mechanisms and interactions by which CO/HO are exploited for disease prevention and their therapeutic applications in traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke are also discussed.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.78-83
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• 2009

Fibromuscular dysplasiais an uncommon condition of idiopathic, non-inflammatory and non-atherosclerotic disease of the musculature of arterial walls. The disease is rare, but it commonly affects young and middle aged women. Isolated intracranial cerebral fibromuscular dysplasia is extremely rare because cerebral fibromuscular dysplasia usually affects extracranial vessels. A 20-year-old woman was admitted with light hemiplegia and global aphasia. Brain MRI and MRA demonstrated acute left middle cerebral artery territory infarction with a multifocal stenosis and dilatation of the left middle cerebra artery and left internal carotid. The characteristic conventional cerebral angiographic findings demonstrated a typical string-of-beads appearance in the left distal internal carotid artery and proxiaml portion of the left middle cerebral artery, which suggested a medial type fibromuscular dysplasia. We report a case of isolated intracranial fibromuscular dysplasia with left middle cerebral artery territory infarction. Fibromuscular dysplasia should he considered as a stroke risk factors in children and young adults, especially in patients with no known cardiovascular risk factors.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.1 s.31
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• pp.48-83
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• 1996

Our conclusions for function evaluation tools of Stroke patients are as follows. 1. Evaluating tools of Activities of Daily Living, Katz Index, Barthel Index, Modified Barthel Index have high validity and reliability because of ease of measuring, high accuracy, consistency, sensitivity and sufficient stastistics, but they mainly measure motor function except sense, mentation, language, and social conception. Therefore cerebrovascular disease and brain injury in trauma patients with lacked acknowledgement and sensation, we are not able to apply these tools. 2. PULSES Profile is a useful scale for measuring the patient's over-all status, upper and lower limb functions, sensory components, excretary functions, and intellectual and emotional adaptabilities. It is recognized as a good, useful tool to evaluate patient's whole function. 3. Motor Assessment Scale was designed to measure the progress of stroke patients. The scale was supplemented with upper arm function items. We believe that the Motor Assessment Scale could be a useful evaluation tool with inter-rater reliability ,test-retest reliability. 4. The existing evaluation tools, Katz Index, Barthel Index, Modified Barthel Index, PULSES Profile, Motor Assessment Scale, mainly measured the rehabilitational motor function of sequela of cerebrovascular patients. On the other hand CNS & INH stroke scale can measure cerebrovascular disease patient's neurologic deficits and over-all stautus, which are recognition ability, speech status, motor function, sensory function, activities of daily living. Those scales have been recognized as useful tools to measure function of cerebrovascular disease patients and have increased in use. 5. Every function evaluation tool was recognized to have some validity and inter-rater, test-retest reliability in items of each evaluation tool and total scores of each evaluation tools, but it is thought that none of these scales have been fully validated and proved reliable. Therefore afterward, the development of a highly reliable rating system may best be accomplished by a careful comparison of several tools, using the same patients and the same observers in order to choose the most reliable items from each. 6. Ideal evaluation tools must have the following conditions; (1) It should show the objective functional statues at the same time. (2) It should be repeated consecutively to know changed function status. (3) It should be easy to observe the treatment program. (4) It should have the same result with another rater to help rater exchange information with treatment team members. (5) It should be practical and simple. (6) The patient should not suffer from the observer.