• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.61-70
• /
• 2017

This study evaluated the human health risk in terms of the excess number of mortality and morbidity in the megacity Mumbai, India due to air pollution. AirQ software was used to enumerate the various health impacts of critical pollutants in Mumbai in past 22 years during 1992-2013. A relationship concept based on concentration-response relative risk and population attributable-risk proportion was employed by adopting World Health Organization (WHO) guideline for concentrations of air pollutants like $PM_{10}$, $SO_2$ and $NO_2$. For the year 1992 in Mumbai, it was observed that excess number of cases of total mortality, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, hospital admission due to COPD, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease were 8420, 4914, 889, 149, 10568 and 4081 respectively. However, after 22 years these figures increased to 15872, 9962, 1628, 580, 20527 and 7905 respectively, but all of these reached maximum in the year 2006. From the result, it is also noted that except COPD morbidity the excess number of cases from 1992-2002 to 2003-2013 increased almost by 30%; and the excess number of mortality and morbidity is basically due to particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) than due to gaseous pollutants.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 1990

An attempt was made to investigate the effect of intracerebroventricular 5-hydroxytrypatamine (5-HT) on the cardiovascular system in urethane-anesthetized rabbit and to elucidate the mechanism of its action. 5-HT given into a lateral ventricle caused clearly a dose-dependent decrease inboth arterial blood pressure and in heart rate. The bradycardia and hypotension induced by 5-HT were significantly attenuated by the prior injection of ketanserin, cyproheptadine or clonidine. Pretreatment of atropine with bilateral vagotomy did not affect both bradycardia and hypotension. Propranolol weakened markedly the breadcardia of 5-HT but did not influence the depressor response of 5-HT. These experimental results suggest that intraventricular 5-HT cause the hypotension and bradyardia in rabbits through the stimulation of serotonergic receptors in brain, which is seemed to be associated to inhibition of sympathetic tone.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.119-124
• /
• 2006

This study was performed to investigate the influence of the spinal adenosine $A_1$ receptors on the central regulation of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), and to define whether its mechanism is mediated by cyclic AMP (cAMP), cyclic GMP (cGMP) or potassium channel. Intrathecal (i.t.) administration of drugs at the thoracic level were performed in anesthetized, artificially ventilated male Sprague-Dawley rats. I.t. injection of adenosine $A_1$ receptor agonist, $N^6$-cyclohexyladenosine (CHA; 1, 5 and 10 nmol) produced dose dependent decrease of BP and HR and it was attenuated by pretreatment of 50 nmol of 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dimethylxanthine, a specific adenosine $A_1$ receptor antagonist. Pretreatment with a cAMP analogue, 8-bromo-cAMP, also attenuated the depressor and bradycardiac effects of CHA (10 nmol), but not with cGMP analogue, 8-bromo-cGMP. Pretreatment with a ATP-sensitive potassium channel blocker, glipizide (20 nmol) also attenuated the depressor and bradycardiac effects of CHA (10 nmol). These results suggest that adenosine $A_1$ receptor in the spinal cord plays an inhibitory role in the central cardiovascular regulation and that this depressor and bradycardiac actions are mediated by cAMP and potassium channel.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.24 no.10
• /
• pp.973-978
• /
• 1991

From January, 1982, to December, 1990, 15 patients underwent pericardiectomy for chronic constrictive pericarditis on Department Of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, School of Medicine, Pusan National University. There were 9 male and 6 female patients [male to female ratio was 1.5: 1] ranging from 15 years to 63 years old [mean age 35.0]. All patients underwent pericardiectomy through a median sternotomy, partial cardiopulmonary bypass was performed on two patients. There were 3 postoperative death [20%]. Six cases [40%] were tuberculous origin 5 cases [34%] were Idiopathic [nonspecific chronic inflammatory change was considered to idiopathic], 2 cases [13%] were malignant origin, 2 cases [13Yo] were pyogenic origin. Dyspnea on exertion was evident in all patients and abdominal distention, general weakness, palpitation, peripheral edema were found. Eleven patients showed low voltage of QRS wave, 7 patients showed diffuse ST-T wave change, 2 patients showed atrial fibrillation on EKG. There were 6 patient showed pericardial thickening, 5 patients showed evidence of restriction, 5 patients showed pericardial effusion, 4 patients showed low cardiac output on preoperative echocardiogram. Hemodynamic response to pericardiectomy were observed; preoperative CVP 26.8 cmH2O declined to 15.0 cmH2O. Preoperative NYHA Functional class showed class II - 1, class III - 10, class IV - 4, postoperative NYHA functional class showed class I - 7, class II - 4, class Ill - l.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Emotion and Sensibility Conference
• /
• 1999.03a
• /
• pp.221-230
• /
• 1999

Automobile horn's psychoacoustic characteristic and significance as a anturalistic signal of danger makes it a valuable auditory stimulus to study such psychophysiological responses as startle, orienting and defense reactions. However, comparison and differentiation of physiological responses to commercially available horns is a complicated task due to small contrast of technical features of horns and influence of such processes as habituation on physiological outcome with increased number of auditory stimulation trials. In the study on 10 college students we performed comparative analysis of tonic and phasic reactivity of physiological responses mediated by autonomic nervous system in order to identify role of habituation and decrement of autonomic responsivity, as well as possibility o differentiate subjectively most and least preferred and subjectively more appropriate horns according to physiological manifestations. It was showed that electrodermal and cardiovascular reactivity have concurrent patterns of adaptation to repeated stimulation, namely skin conductance variables habituated, cardiac reactivity failed to show signs of habituation, while vascular component of response were facilitated demonstrating marked sensitization. Differentiation of Physiological responses to horns with respect to their subjective rating scores was possible, however electrodermal reactivity was effective only at the first block of trials, while phasic and tonic cardiovascular reactivity differentiate responses during whole course of experiment. There are discussed possible autonomic mechanisms involved in mediation of observed results.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.606-612
• /
• 2005

This study was performed to provide basic data that predict the application of Saengmaegsan(SMS) as medicinal food. SMS has been used in oriental medicine for many years as a therapeutic agent for cerebral disease. We examined the effects of SMS on physiological function in isolated abdominal aorta and femoral artery from rabbit and measured the changes of regional cerebral hood flow(rCBF), which was continually monitored by laser-doppler flowmeter and pressure transducer in anesthetized adult Spargue-Dawley rats through the data acquisition system composed of MacLab and Macintosh computer. The contraction forces by injection of norephinephrine in isolated abdominal aorta and femoral artery were significantly decreased in each concentration of SMS treatment compared with control. rCBF was increased by SMS in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that SMS causes a diverse response of rCBF and arterial diameter. These mechanism in rCBF increase may be mediated by prostaglandis, cyclic GMP and adrenergic $\beta-receptor$. Also mechanism in artery contraction decrease is also mediated by prostaglandis and cyclic GMP. These results indicate that SMS can be nsed as a safe and clinically applicable as a supplementation of diet therapy for cerebral cardiovascular disease patients.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.11-41
• /
• 2011

The discovery of microRNA (miRNA) is one of the major scientific breakthroughs in recent years and has revolutionized current cell biology and medical science. miRNAs are small (19~25nt) noncoding RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression by targeting the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of specific messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for degradation of translation repression. Genetic ablation of the miRNA machinery, as well as loss or degradation of certain individual miRNAs, severely compromises immune development and response, and can lead to immune disorders. Several sophisticated regulatory mechanisms are used to maintain immune homeostasis. Regulatory T (Treg) cells are essential for maintaining peripheral tolerance, preventing autoimmune diseases and limiting chronic inflammatory diseases. Recent publications have provided compelling evidence that miRNAs are highly expressed in Treg cells, that the expression of Foxp3 is controlled by miRNAs and that a range of miRNAs are involved in the regulation of immunity. A large number of studies have reported links between alterations of miRNA homeostasis and pathological conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as psychiatric and neurological diseases. Although it is still unclear how miRNA controls Treg cell development and function, recent studies certainly indicate that this topic will be the subject of further research. The specific circulating miRNA species may also be useful for the diagnosis, classification, prognosis of diseases and prediction of the therapeutic response. An explosive literature has focussed on the role of miRNA. In this review, I briefly summarize the current studies about the role of miRNAs in Treg cells and in the regulation of the innate and adaptive immune response. I also review the explosive current studies about clinical application of miRNA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.242-247
• /
• 1997

A flavone glycoside was separated from the aerial part of Circium japonicum var ussuriense Kitamura and the effect on cardiovascular system was investigated. The cadiovascular contractility of this compound was observed in the artria and aortae from normal rats. It increased the spontancous beat in right atria and the contractile force in left atria, and caused the contraction of thoracic aortae. For the blood pressure, it had ascending effect. The effective component, which acted on stimulation and contraction in the artria and aortae of rats was fractionated with n-BuOH, separated and identified by column chromatography, UV, IR, $^1H-NMR$ and $^{13}C-NMR$. The chemical structure for this component was determined to be $hispidulin-7-{\alpha}-rhamnopyranosyl(1{\rightarrow}2)-{\beta}-D-glucopyranoside$.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.49 no.sup1
• /
• pp.60-67
• /
• 2016

Background: Coronary angioplasty has been replacing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) because of the relative advantage in terms of recovery time and noninvasiveness of the procedure. Compared to other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, Korea has experienced a rapid increase in coronary angioplasty volumes. Methods: We analyzed changes in procedure volumes of CABG and of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from three sources: the OECD Health Data, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) surgery statistics, and the National Health Insurance claims data. Results: We found the ratio of procedure volume of PCI to that of CABG per 100,000 population was 19.12 in 2014, which was more than triple the OECD average of 5.92 for the same year. According to data from NHIS statistics, this ratio was an increase from 11.4 to 19.3 between 2006 and 2013. Conclusion: We found that Korea has a higher ratio of total procedure volumes of PCI with respect to CABG and also a more rapid increase of volumes of PCI than other countries. Prospective studies are required to determine whether this increase in absolute volumes of PCI is a natural response to a real medical need or representative of medical overuse.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.23-31
• /
• 1975

The effects of ethanol intravenously administered on the mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate responses to electrical stimulation of vagus nerve and the hypothalamus were studied in the cats. Also investigated were the effects of ethanol on the cardiovascular responses to bilateral carotid occlusion and to intravenously injected epinephrine and acetylcholine separately. The results obtained from the present study were as follows; 1. In 1.0 ml/kg and 2.0 ml/kg of ethanol infused groups the mean arterial blood pressure increased gradually and reached plateaus in 10 minutes after ethanol infusion while no marked changes in blood pressure were observed in 0.5 ml/kg of ethanol infused group. 2. The pressor responses elicited by the electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus were depressed directly proportionally to amount of ethanol infused. In 0.5 ml/kg of ethanol infused group the pressor response was reduced to 84.5% of control value and it declined to 17.0% of control in 2.0 ml/kg of ethanol infused group. 3. After ethanol administration the heart rate decreased slightly and also was decreased positive chronotropic effect elicited by hypothalamic stimulation. In several cases even negative chronotropic responses were observed during electrical stimulation in the hypothalamus. 4. Since the pressor responses to bilateral carotid occlusion was reduced by ethanol administration it is suggested that activity of baroreceptor is inhibited by ethanol. 5. No changes were observed in the negative chronotropic effect Produced by electrical stimulation of the vegus nerve of ethanol infused animal. And cardiovascular responses to intravenously injected epinephrine and acetylcholine were not influenced by ethanol either.