• Translational and Clinical Pharmacology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.111-114
• /
• 2018

Adding to the complexity of caring for critically ill patients is the fact that many of them have a creatinine clearance that exceeds $130mL/min/1.73m^2$. This phenomenon, termed augmented renal clearance (ARC), has only recently been widely recognized and its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. However, ARC has been shown to result in increased dose requirements for drugs that are primarily eliminated by renal excretion, including many antimicrobial agents and enoxaparin. Recognition of ARC is hampered by the fact that the standard creatinine-based equations used to estimate renal function are not accurate in this clinical setting and the diagnosis is best established using both serum and urine creatinine measurements to calculate clearance. So a high index of clinical suspicion and awareness is usually required before this step is taken to confirm the diagnosis of ARC.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea CI
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 2010

Since Augmented Reality (AR) enables users to experience computer-generated content embedded in real environments, AR agents can be visualized among physical objects in the environments where the users exist, and directly interact with them in real-time. We model perceptual attention for autonomous agents in AR environments where virtual and physical objects coexist. Since such AR agents must adaptively perceive and attend to surrounded objects relevant to their goals, our model allows the agents to determine currently visible objects from the description of what virtual and physical objects are configured in the camera's viewing area. A degree of attention is assigned to each perceived object based on its relevance to achieve agents' goals. The agents can focus on a reduced set of perceived objects with respect to the estimated degree of attention. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we implemented an animated character that was overlaid over a miniature version of campus and that attended to buildings relevant to their goals. Experiments showed that our model could reduce the character's perceptual loads even when surroundings change.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2008.02a
• /
• pp.168-173
• /
• 2008

Recently, many researchers have studied on agent-based edutainment systems to improve students' learning experience. In this paper, we present AR Gardening which makes users experience interactive flower gardening with a bluebird, a learning companion agent, squatting in an augmented picture. The proposed system augments the animated bluebird to support interactive edutainment experiences. The bluebird perceives users' actions as well as environmental situations. It then appraises situational information to provide participants with problem-solving guidelines. Moreover, the bluebird responds like a companion than an instructor through anthropomorphic expression. To demonstrate our work, we exhibited the implemented AR Gardening and reviewed participants' responses to the system. In this exhibition, we could find that the learning companion-like bluebird helped users experience how to properly grow the flower in our educational setting. Ultimately, we expect that an augmented peer learning agent is one of the key factors for developing effective edutainment applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.48 no.8
• /
• pp.573-580
• /
• 2020

One of challengeable problems of multi-agent systems is a positioning control. Augmented Cucker-Smale model is using for controlling position and velocity of the multi-agent system. The original model applies same coefficients to all agents in same group, so that does not consider characteristic of each agent. To enhance performance of the original model, this paper transforms original coefficients to Mahalanobis distance coefficients that reflects an initial distribution of multi-agent systems and applies statistical degrees of freedom. This paper not only confirms tendency of enhanced performance of the suggested model by using monte-carlo simulation, but also additionally compares trajectory of the original model with the suggested model to confirm coefficients of Mahalanobis distance performing correctly.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.229-238
• /
• 2022

Severe bacterial infections are frequently accompanied by depressed neutrophil functions. Thus, agents that increase the microbicidal activity of neutrophils could add to a direct antimicrobial therapy. Lysophosphatidylcholine augments neutrophil bactericidal activity via the glycine (Gly)/glycine receptor (GlyR) α2/TRPM2/p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. However, the direct effect of glycine on neutrophil bactericidal activity was not reported. In this study, the effect of glycine on neutrophil bactericidal activity was examined. Glycine augmented bactericidal activity of human neutrophils (EC₅₀ = 238 μM) in a strychnine (a GlyR antagonist)-sensitive manner. Glycine augmented bacterial clearance in mice, which was also blocked by strychnine (0.4 mg/kg, s.c.). Glycine enhanced NADPH oxidase-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and TRPM2-mediated [Ca²⁺]_i increase in neutrophils that had taken up E. coli. Glycine augmented Lucifer yellow uptake (fluid-phase pinocytosis) and azurophil granule-phagosome fusion in neutrophils that had taken up E. coli in an SB203580 (a p38 MAPK inhibitor)-sensitive manner. These findings indicate that glycine augments neutrophil microbicidal activity by enhancing azurophil granule-phagosome fusion via the GlyRα2/ROS/calcium/p38 MAPK pathway. We suggest that glycine could be a useful agent for increasing neutrophil bacterial clearance.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.2179-2183
• /
• 2014

Background: In vitro, in vivo and clinical studies have demonstrated anti-cancer effects of deuterium depleted water (DDW). The nature of this agents action, cytotoxic or cytostatic, remains to be elucidated. We here aimed to address the point by examining effects on different cell lines. Materials and Methods: 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) -based cytotoxicity analysis was conducted for human breast, stomach, colon, prostate cancer and glioblastoma multiforme cell lines as well as human dermal fibroblasts. The cell lines were treated with decreasing deuterium concentrations of DDW alone, paclitaxel alone and both. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Treatment with different deuterium concentrations of DDW alone did not impose any significant inhibitory effects on growth of cell lines. Paclitaxel significantly decreased the survival fractions of all cell lines. DDW augmented paclitaxel inhibitory effects on breast, prostate, stomach cancer and glioblastoma cell lines, with influence being more pronounced in breast and prostate cases. Conclusions: DDW per se does not appear to have inhibitory effects on the assessed tumor cell lines as well as normal fibroblasts. As an adjuvant, however, DDW augmented inhibitory effects of paclitaxel and thus it could be considered as an adjuvant to conventional anticancer agents in future trials.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.5-13
• /
• 1967

It has been reported by some investigators that pressor response of rabbits to sympathetic ganglionic stimulants was weak. In this paper it was attempted to investigate this problem more thorouglhy in urethane anesthetized rabbits. 1) In rabbits the approximate doses to elicit increase of about 20 mmHg of blood pressure were $100\;{\mu}g/kg$ with DMPP, $50\;{\mu}g/kg$ with Wy-615, $500\;{\mu}g/kg$ with TMA and with nicotine. The pressor activity of these substances was markedly augmented by treating animals with syrosingopine. 2) In adrenal-ligated rabbits pressor activity of the substances was markedly reduced. Treating the adrenal-ligated animals with syrosingopine augmented significantly the pressor activity of these substances except DMPP. Direct injection of DMPP and TMA into the adrenal produced mole pressor response than intravenous injection did. These date suggest that DMPP has greater effect on the adrenal medulla than the other substances. 3) In vagotomized and atropinized rabbits the pressor activity of these compounds was more marked than in normal rabbits. 4) The above facts indicate that the pressor activity of the ganglionic stimulants in rabbits was definitely low than in cats and dogs. The low responsiveness of the rabbits to these agents was discussed in the light of catecholamine releasing mechanisms, and extraganglionic actions of these substances.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.02a
• /
• pp.579-582
• /
• 2009

With the aid of the increasing interests of Context-aware Augmented Reality Agent (AR Agent), various researches of AR Agent have been performed to explore the possibility of the agent as novel interface and the entity responding autonomously by user's input. However, in previous works, AR Agents are lack of specific method for using various contextual information. To revolve around those problems, we propose the Behavior Generation System for Context-aware AR Agent using layered architecture. Based on Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model and Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) searching, the sequence of agent behavior has been selected in behavior planning layer. Then, the agent evaluates appropriateness of behaviors using previous behavior and the type of input before activation. This behavior generation system can be applied for edutainment, game, and assistant agent, which need intuitive and effective behaviors to convey information. Through this research, we expect that the Context-aware AR Agent could support for not only information delivery, but also the capability of effective communication for user.

• International Journal of Contents
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.25-43
• /
• 2016

An agent-centric event planning method is proposed for providing pedagogical experiences in an immersed environment. Two-level planning is required at in a macro-level (i.e., inter-event level) and an intra-event level to provide realistic experiences with the objective of learning declarative knowledge. The inter-event (horizontal) planning is based on search, while intra-event (vertical) planning is based on hierarchical decomposition. The horizontal search is dictated by several realistic types of association between events besides the conventional causality. The resulting schematic plan is further augmented by conditions associated with those agents cast into the roles of the events identified in the plan. Rather than following a main story plot, all the events potentially relevant to accomplishing an initial goal are derived in the final result of our planning. These derived events may progress concurrently or digress toward a new main goal replacing the current goal or event, and the plan could be merged or fragmented according to their respective lead agents' intentions and other conditions. The macro-level coherence across interconnected events is established via their common background world existing a priori. As the pivotal source of event concurrency and intricacy, agents are modeled to not only be autonomous but also independent, i.e., entities with their own beliefs and goals (and subsequent plans) in their respective parts of the world. Additional problems our method addresses for augmenting pedagogical experiences include casting of agents into roles based on their availability, subcontracting of subsidiary events, and failure of multi-agent event entailing fragmentation of a plan. The described planning method was demonstrated by monitoring implementation.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.208-213
• /
• 2006

Rat aortic ring preparations were mounted in organ baths, exposed to sodium cyanide $(0.01{\sim}1.0\;mM)$ for 10 min, and then subjected to contractile agents or relaxants such as acetylcholine, sodium nitroprusside and isoproterenol. Presence of low concentration of sodium cyanide did not affect the contractile response to KCl or phenylephrine in the aortic rings with intact endothelium or endothelium denuded. Sodium nitroprusside but not acetylcholine or isoproterenol augmented phenylephrine-induced intact or denuded vascular contraction in the presence of low concentration of sodium cyanide. In conclusion, this study provides the evidence concerning the potentiating effect of sodium nitroprusside on the contraction induced by phenylephrine in rat aortic rings regardless of endothelial function.