• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.8
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• pp.1606-1616
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• 2011

The blood pressure measuring equipment, which is being supplied and used most widely by being recognized convenience and accuracy now generally, is oscillometric blood pressure monitor. However, a change in blood pressure is basically influenced by diverse elements such as each individual's physiological status and physical condition. Thus, the measurement of blood pressure, which used single element called oscillation in blood pressure of being conveyed to cuff, is not considered on physiological elements such as cardiovascular system status and blood vessel stiffness index, and on external elements, thereby being quite in error. Accordingly, this study detected diverse bio-signals and body informations in each individual as the measurement subject such as ECG, PPG, and Korotkoff Sound in order to enhance convenience and accuracy of measuring blood pressure in the complex measurement equipment, thereby having extracted regression method for compensation in error of oscillometric blood pressure measurement on the wrist, and having improved accuracy of measuring blood pressure. To verify a method of improving accuracy, the blood pressure value in each of SBP, DBP, MAP was acquired through 4-stage experimental procedure targeting totally 51 subjects. Prior to experiment, the subjects were divided into two groups such as the experimental group for extracting regression method and the control group for verifying regression method. Its error was analyzed by comparing the reference blood pressure value, which was obtained through the auscultatory method, and the oscillometric blood pressure value on the wrist. To reduce the detected error, the blood pressure compensation regression method was calculated through multiple linear regression analysis on elements of blood pressure, individual body information, PTT, HR, K-Sound PSD change. Verification was carried out on improving significance and accuracy by applying the regression method to the data of control group. In the experimental results, as a result of confirming error on the reference blood pressure value in SBP, DBP, and MAP, which were acquired through applying regression method, the results of $-0.47{\pm}7.45$ mmHg, $-0.23{\pm}7.13$ mmHg, $0.06{\pm}6.39$ mmHg could be obtained. This is not only the numerical value of satisfying the sphygmomanometer reference of AAMI, but also shows the lower result than the numerical value in SBP : $-2.5{\pm}12.2$ mmHg, DBP : $-7.5{\pm}8.4$ mmHg, which is the mean error in the experimental results of Brram's research for verifying accuracy of Omron RX-M, which shows relatively high accuracy among wrist sphygmomanometers. Thus, the blood pressure compensation could be confirmed to be made within significant level.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.552-561
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• 2012

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of metabolic risk factors associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Recently, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome has increased in Korea. The aim of this study was to develop a Healthy Han-sik Nutrition Education Program (HHNEP) based on commonly recognized Korean foods in order to decrease metabolic syndrome risks. The target population of the HHNEP is adults with metabolic risk factors. The initial version of the HHNEP was developed based on a review of literature and various dietary guidelines by expert committees as well as the results of a survey on the perception of common Korean dishes and foods as Han-sik. The focus group discussion conducted of nine participants from the target population. After minor modification, the final version was developed. The contents included five sections: 1) aims, 2) introduction of Korean Food Guidance System, 3) cholesterol contents in food, 4) menu planning method using Han-sik, and 5) examples of daily Han-sik menu. The Han-sik list was selected based on the results from a Han-sik perception answered by 35 Korean adults aged 30-60 years using 517 frequently consumed Korean foods from the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The nutrition education program was developed based on scientific evidence for the prevention of metabolic syndrome and focuses on tailoring education to an individual's dietary problems. Educational method was developed by a group of expert committees based in planned behavior theory and related research results. The education method consisted of assessment of current diet, four face-to-face nutrition education sessions over 8 weeks, and evaluation after 8 and 16 weeks. Initial version of nutrition education materials and methods was tested for feasibility by a select group of nine Korean healthy adults. Successful implementation of the program would include application by nutritional professionals at the health promotion center of the hospitals, public health center, and work sites. Intervention studies are needed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of this program before large-scale applications.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 1998

Exessive sweating of the palms and soles, is a psychologically and occupationally distressing and sometimes disabling condition. Hyperhidrosis is one of the common abnormalities in autonomic nervous system. There were no specific treatment on hyperhidrosis, so invasive thoracic sympathectomy via axillary thoracotomy or cervical approach had been used. Video-assisted thoracic surgery(VATS) is now mostly performed for treating of the palmar and axillary hyperhidrosis. From March 1996 to March 1997, 15 patients with bilateral palmar hyperhidrosis had been treated by the bilateral thoracic sympathectomy(T2, T3, T4) with thoracoscopic resection. The patient were evaluated preoperative and postoperative Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging (DITI) at Kyung-Hee University Hospital. There were no case of the thoracotomy conversion. There were 3 complications ; pulmonary edema in 1 case, Horner's syndrome in 1 case, and gustatory hyperhidrosis in 1 case. More than half of the patients also had compensatory sweating in the lower abdomen, the buttocks, the back and the thighs. In conclusion, most of the patients were satisfied with the postoperative results of the thoracoscopic sympathectomy, including no more palmar and axillary sweating, less pain, better cosmetic appearances, decreased sweating of the face and soles. In addition, intraoperative temperature monitoring of the hands could estimate the successful thoracoscopic sympathectomy and the preoperative and postoperative Digital infrared thermographic imaging(DITI) could especially be the technique for the objective manifestation of the successful results of the thoracoscopic sympathectomy.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.105-114
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• 2005

Embryonic stem(ES) cells have tremendous potential as a cell source for cell-based therapies. Realization of that potential will depend on our ability to understand and manipulate the factors that influence cell fate decision and to develop methods for getting enough cell numbers for clinical applications. Hematopoiesis has been widely studied, and hematopoietic differentiation from ES cells is a good model to study lineage commitment. In this study, we investigated stemness and compared the efficiency of hematopoietic differentiation using two different mouse embryonic stem cell lines TC-1 and B6-1. Although the two cell lines showed known stem cell properties with minor differences, the embryoid body formation efficiency in methylcellulose was much higher in TC-1 than B6-1. When measured potentials of hematopoietic differentiation using functional(colony-forming cell) and phenotypic(specific marker expression) assays, we found that TC-1 can differentiate into hematopoietic cells in methylcellulose culture but B6-1 cannot. These results imply that we can improve the efficiency of hematopoietic cell differentiation by selection of proper cell lines and this may be also applied in the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.2 s.20
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• pp.33-41
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• 1976

Agkistrodon halys (Crotalidae) is the only species of poisonous snakes in Korea, and is divided into three subspecies; Agkistrodon bromhoffii brevicaudus, Agkistrodon calaginosus and Agkistrodon saxatilis. With the three venoms, the pharmacological actions on the cardiovascular system and intestine as well as some toxicological characteristics were studied. In addition, the precipitin test in an agar gel medium was employed for immunological comparison of the venoms and the sera of envenomed patients. The results obtained were as follows: Lyophilized venoms contained solids of $211{\sim}273mg/ml$, and LD50 to mice were 1.73 and 0.86 mg/kg in venoms of Agkistrodon bromhoffii brevicaudus obtained on July and October respectively, and 0.40 and 0.32 mg/kg in Agkistrodon calaginosus and the venoms of Agkistrodon saxatilis obtained on October was 2.29 mg/kg. Isoelectric focusing of lyophilized snake venoms showed 19 to 22 protein fractions and 2 to 3 isoamylase fractions. Acute irreversible hypotension was caused by the intravenous injection of large doses of venoms in rabbits and cats, but at the small doses, acute hypotension followed by slow recovery. Little changes of cardiac movements by the venom injection despite of marked hypotension were showed except bradycardia and arrhythmia prior the death. Also no changes on the isolated rabbit atria by the snake venoms were noted. The hypotensive effect of the snake venoms was prevented by the bilateral vagotomy or atropine pretreatment (1 mg/kg), but they did not affect when already the hypotension has undergone. In the isolated rabbit duodenum, small doses of venom increased the phasic movement, while large doses decreased after spastic contraction. With the injection of venoms in dog, strong contraction of gall-bladder was caused and it was not blocked by the pretreatment with phenoxybenzamine (10 mg/kg) or atropine (1.4 mg/kg). In the venoms of Agkistrodon bromhoffii brevicaudus and Agkistrodon calaginosus, at least 5 antigenic components were detected, and four of them were shared in common with each other. Polyvalent antivenin (Wyeth Lab. USA) had three common precipitating antibodies with the venom of Agkistrodon bromhoffii brevicaudus and Akistrodon calaginosus. In the serum of envenomed patients, no precipitating antibodies were seen to the venoms and little changes in serum protein, GOT and GPT were observed. In conclusion, the snake venoms obtained in Korea were highly toxic and caused chiefly the vascular collapse leading to death. This vascular collapse was resulted largely by cholinergic effects, and not cardiotoxin of venoms. In human, it is likely that precipitating antibodies to venom were not produced by an envenomed incidence to poisonous snakes.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.269-278
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• 2011

This paper illustrates the inter-relationship between the theta/alpha ratio of the EEG signal and multiple HRV related parameters associated with the cardiovascular system response during event-related stimuli. Both EEG and PPG signals were simultaneously recorded in 21 healthy subjects. All subjects had their attention focused on the CNT program for nine minutes. Time-frequency analysis was applied to the EEG and PPG signals. The theta/alpha ratio was extracted from the EEG results, and the HRV features, including beat interval(1), SDNN(2), RMSSD(3), NN50(4), LF(5), HF(6), and LFIHF(7), were extracted from the PPG. Through multiple linear regression, the relationship ($R^2$) between the multiple combined features and the theta/alpha rhythm was identified. As a result, the combinations of $R^2$($R^2=0.253$; seven dimensions) and the theta/alpha ratio indicated a higher inter-relationship value than those of other combinations. The combinations of features that were greater than three dimensions, based on {SDNN(2), HF(6)}, generally showed higher $R^2$ value. We demonstrate that the high dimensional combinations had a higher correlation than did the low dimensional combinations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.263-271
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• 2016

On account of population aging and increasing cardiovascular disorders, acute cardiac arrest cases are escalating each year. In order to increase the survival rate of the patients, rapid cardiopulmonary resuscitation is necessary. For this reason, the government is expanding the supply of Automated External Defibrillators(AED). However, the AEDs cannot be effectively deployed to the incident cases that occur outdoors, for the installed AEDs are mostly located indoors. After analyzing the distribution of incident cases within the study area, about 11% of cardiac arrest incidents occurred in open spaces including sidewalks and residential areas. This study was conducted to increase the survival rate of the patients by allocating 41 additional AEDs in the study area using a GIS based location-allocation method. To conduct a feasibility study, the density of a senior floating population covered by the same number of AEDs placed at random and the density covered by the experiment were compared. In conclusion, having excluded outliers caused by geological and social factors, results showed that AEDs placed through GIS based location-allocation covered 5% more of the senior floating population density.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.629-639
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• 2016

The present study was designed to investigate the characteristics of gintonin, one of components isolated from Korean Ginseng on secretion of catecholamines (CA) from the isolated perfused model of rat adrenal gland and to clarify its mechanism of action. Gintonin (1 to $30{\mu}g/ml$), perfused into an adrenal vein, markedly increased the CA secretion from the perfused rat adrenal medulla in a dose-dependent fashion. The gintonin-evoked CA secretion was greatly inhibited in the presence of chlorisondamine ($1{\mu}M$, an autonomic ganglionic bloker), pirenzepine ($2{\mu}M$, a muscarinic $M_1$ receptor antagonist), Ki14625 ($10{\mu}M$, an $LPA_{1/3}$ receptor antagonist), amiloride (1 mM, an inhibitor of $Na^+/Ca^{2+}$ exchanger), a nicardipine ($1{\mu}M$, a voltage-dependent $Ca^{2+}$ channel blocker), TMB-8 ($1{\mu}M$, an intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ antagonist), and perfusion of $Ca^{2+}$-free Krebs solution with 5mM EGTA (a $Ca^{2+}$chelater), while was not affected by sodium nitroprusside ($100{\mu}M$, a nitrosovasodialtor). Interestingly, LPA ($0.3{\sim}3{\mu}M$, an LPA receptor agonist) also dose-dependently enhanced the CA secretion from the adrenal medulla, but this facilitatory effect of LPA was greatly inhibited in the presence of Ki 14625 ($10{\mu}M$). Moreover, acetylcholine (AC)-evoked CA secretion was greatly potentiated during the perfusion of gintonin ($3{\mu}g/ml$). Taken together, these results demonstrate the first evidence that gintonin increases the CA secretion from the perfused rat adrenal medulla in a dose-dependent fashion. This facilitatory effect of gintonin seems to be associated with activation of LPA- and cholinergic-receptors, which are relevant to the cytoplasmic $Ca^{2+}$ increase by stimulation of the $Ca^{2+}$ influx as well as by the inhibition of $Ca^{2+}$ uptake into the cytoplasmic $Ca^{2+}$ stores, without the increased nitric oxide (NO). Based on these results, it is thought that gintonin, one of ginseng components, can elevate the CA secretion from adrenal medulla by regulating the $Ca^{2+}$ mobilization for exocytosis, suggesting facilitation of cardiovascular system. Also, these findings show that gintonin might be at least one of ginseng-induced hypertensive components.

• The Korean Nurse
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.52-70
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• 1996

This historical research was conducted to analyze and categorize the titles which were presented in the journal, The Korean Nurse, from August 1962 to October 1995. Titles which were published with the purpose of educating graduate nurses and to update 0 their nursing knowledge to improve professional practice were included. There were 348 articles published from the beginning of publication in August, 1962 to October, 1995. All of the journals were reviewed except nine missing journals which were not available in any library. According to the characteristics of the articles in the periodical, the articles were divided into three periods. In each of the three peroids there were five categories: Subject, Clinical Practice, Fundamentals of Nursing Science, Nursing Administration, Others. These categories were adopted from Kim's(1994) division system which was developed to analyze nurse's insurance education program. The special feature peroid was from August, 1962 to December, 1974. In this period the articles were presented in an unorganized manner in the area of special feature or main issue. The largest area was the subject category(44%). The second largest area wes the fundamental of nursing science category(31%). From May, 1975 to December, 1977, the articles with the educational purposes were published in a designated area called continuing education. This period was labelled as the continuing education period. Among the published articles in this period, 45% focused on the subject category and 45% on the fundamentals of nursing science category. In this period the articles were focusing on nurses 'work in specific areas such as industry, nurses' aid schools, and nursing administration, articles on physical assessment first started to appear. The written continuing education period was from January 1978 to October, 1995. All the educational articles published in this area were analyzed and categorized into five areas as for the other periods. 48% of the articles focused on the subject category. In the mid-eighties, the term nurse specialist first.appeared and ten years later in 1990, the titles were subdivided into more specific titles, such as, home nursing, industrial nursing, emergency nursing, 23% were in the fundamental nursing science category and they dealt with nursing process, nursing theories, theory development. For the content analysis, three articles, one from each period, dealing with cardiovscular diseases were selected for comparsion. First, the special feature period, the title of the article was on diet therapy for cardiovascular disease patients, but instead the content was about rest, hygiene, medication, observation. They recommended rings to prevent bed sores, which is now considered as a cause for bed sores. In the continuing education period, the content was more focused on rehabilitation rather than general nursing .care. It became more specific, systematic, and organized compared with the special feature period. In the written continuing education period, the focus was on rehabilitation, not broadly, but very specifically on exercise. The further research on the content analysis is recommended along with a comparison of the trends in the Journal of Nurses Academic Society.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2013

Notch1 has been reported to be highly expressed in triple-negative and other subtypes of breast cancer. Mutant p53 (R280K) is overexpressed in MDA-MB-231 triple-negative human breast cancer cells. The present study aimed to determine whether the mutant p53 can be a potent transcriptional activator of the Notch1 in MDA-MB-231 cells, and explore the role of this mutant p53-Notch1 axis in curcumin-induced apoptosis. We found that curcumin treatment resulted in an induction of apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells, together with downregulation of Notch1 and its downstream target, Hes1. This reduction in Notch1 expression was determined to be due to the decreased activity of endogenous mutant p53. We confirmed the suppressive effect of curcumin on Notch1 transcription by performing a Notch1 promoter-driven reporter assay and identified a putative p53-binding site in the Notch1 promoter by EMSA and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis. Overexpression of mutant p53 increased Notch1 promoter activity, whereas knockdown of mutant p53 by small interfering RNA suppressed Notch1 expression, leading to the induction of cellular apoptosis. Moreover, curcumin-induced apoptosis was further enhanced by the knockdown of Notch1 or mutant p53, but it was decreased by the overexpression of active Notch1. Taken together, our results demonstrate, for the first time, that Notch1 is a transcriptional target of mutant p53 in breast cancer cells and suggest that the targeting of mutant p53 and/or Notch1 may be combined with a chemotherapeutic strategy to improve the response of breast cancer cells to curcumin.