• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.7 s.87
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• pp.1019-1022
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• 2007

Thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) can improve the clinical outcome of ischemic stroke patients. However, its clinical application is limited by narrow therapeutic time windows and elevated risks of cerebral hemorrhage and brain injury. In part, these effects of tPA has been related to matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) dysregulation. Here, we investigate that the effects of alteplase (tPA with short half-life) and pamiteplase (a modified tPA with long half-life) on the MMP-9 regulation in neurovascualr unit. The total levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in neuronal cells are lower than astrocytes. Alteplase (1-10 ${\mu}g/ml$) induced upregulation of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in rat cortical neurons and astrocytes, respectively. Whereas pamiteplase in a wide range of dose did not affect the MMP-2 and MMP-9 responses in both of cells. These results suggest that pamiteplase with long half-life can be provided as a agent that overcome the side effects of alteplase.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.482-489
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• 1998

Purpose: Radionuclide cisternography may be helpful in understanding pathophysiology of postural head-ache and low CSF pressure in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. The purpose of this study was to characterize radionuclide cisternographic findings of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Materials and Methods: The study population consists of 15 patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Diagnosis was based on their clinical symptoms and results of lumbar puncture. All patients underwent radionuclide cisternography following injection of 111 to 222 MBq of Tc-99m DTPA into the lumbar subarachnoid space. Sequential images were obtained between 112 hour and 24 hour after the injection of Tc-99m DTPA. Radioactivity of the bladder, soft tissue uptake, migration of radionuclide in the subarachnoid space, and extradural leakage of radionuclide were evaluated according to the scan time. Results: Radionuclide cisternogram showed delayed migration of radionuclide into the cerebral convexity (14/15), increased soft tissue uptake (11/15), and early visualization of bladder activity at 30min (6/10) and 2hr (13/13). Cisternography also demonstrated leakage site of CSF in 4 cases and 2 of these were depicted at 30min. Epidural blood patch was done in 11 patients and headache was improved in all cases. Conclusion: The characteristic findings of spontaneous intracranial hypotension were delayed migration of radionuclide and early visualization of the soft tissue and bladder activity. These scintigraphic findings suggest that CSF leakage rather than increased CSF absorption or decreased production may be the main pathophysiology of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. Early and multiple imaging including the bladder and soft tissue is required to observe the entire dynamics of radionuclide migration.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2012

We investigated the vascular characteristics of tumors and normal tissue using perfusion CT in the rabbit brain tumor model. The VX2 carcinoma concentration of $1{\times}10^7$ cells/ml(0.1ml) was implanted in the brain of nine New Zealand white rabbits (weight: 2.4kg-3.0kg, mean: 2.6kg). The perfusion CT was scanned when the tumors were grown up to 5mm. The tumor volume and perfusion value were quantitatively analyzed by using commercial workstation (advantage windows workstation, AW, version 4.2, GE, USA). The mean volume of implanted tumors was $316{\pm}181mm^3$, and the biggest and smallest volumes of tumor were 497 $mm^3$ and 195 $mm^3$, respectively. All the implanted tumors in rabbits are single-nodular tumors, and intracranial metastasis was not observed. In the perfusion CT, cerebral blood volume (CBV) were $74.40{\pm}9.63$, $16.08{\pm}0.64$, $15.24{\pm}3.23$ ml/100g in the tumor core, ipsilateral normal brain, and contralateral normal brain, respectively ($p{\leqq}0.05$). In the cerebral blood flow (CBF), there were significant differences between the tumor core and both normal brains ($p{\leqq}0.05$), but no significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains ($962.91{\pm}75.96$ vs. $357.82{\pm}12.82$ vs. $323.19{\pm}83.24$ ml/100g/min). In the mean transit time (MTT), there were significant differences between the tumor core and both normal brains ($p{\leqq}0.05$), but no significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains ($4.37{\pm}0.19$ vs. $3.02{\pm}0.41$ vs. $2.86{\pm}0.22$ sec). In the permeability surface (PS), there were significant differences among the tumor core, ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains ($47.23{\pm}25.45$ vs. $14.54{\pm}1.60$ vs. $6.81{\pm}4.20$ ml/100g/min)($p{\leqq}0.05$). In the time to peak (TTP) were no significant differences among the tumor core, ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains. In the positive enhancement integral (PEI), there were significant differences among the tumor core, ipsilateral and contralateral brains ($61.56{\pm}16.07$ vs. $12.58{\pm}2.61$ vs. $8.26{\pm}5.55$ ml/100g). ($p{\leqq}0.05$). In the maximum slope of increase (MSI), there were significant differences between the tumor core and both normal brain($p{\leqq}0.05$), but no significant differences between ipsilateral and contralateral normal brains ($13.18{\pm}2.81$ vs. $6.99{\pm}1.73$ vs. $6.41{\pm}1.39$ HU/sec). Additionally, in the maximum slope of decrease (MSD), there were significant differences between the tumor core and contralateral normal brain($p{\leqq}0.05$), but no significant differences between the tumor core and ipsilateral normal brain($4.02{\pm}1.37$ vs. $4.66{\pm}0.83$ vs. $6.47{\pm}1.53$ HU/sec). In conclusion, the VX2 tumors were implanted in the rabbit brain successfully, and stereotactic inoculation method make single-nodular type of tumor that was no metastasis in intracranial, suitable for comparative study between tumors and normal tissues. Therefore, perfusion CT would be a useful diagnostic tool capable of reflecting the vascularity of the tumors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.848-853
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• 2001

Background: Sternal infection or dehiscence after cardiac surgery through median sternotomy is rare. If suitable treatment is not performed for the complication, however, the mortality is high. For 12 patients with sternal dehiscence or infection, we performed wide excision of the infected and necrotic tissue and covered with muscle flap(s) to obliterate the mediastinal dead space. Material and method: Sternal infection or dehiscence occurred in 13 of patients who underwent cardiac surgery One patient, who died of cerebral infarction before the sternal complication was treated, was excluded in this study. The sternal wound complication occurred in 6 of patients with valve replacement and 6 of patients with coronary bypass surgery, respectively. Since 1991, 9 patients underwent definite surgical debridement and muscle transposition as soon as fever was controlled with closed irrigation and drainage. The necrotic tissue and bone was widely excised and the sternal dead space was eradicated with the single flap or the combined flaps of right pectoralis flap(turnover flap), left pectoralis flap(turnover flap or rotation-advancement flap), and right rectus muscle flap. Result : There was no mortality in 12 patients with coverage of muscle flap(s) for sternal infection or dehiscence The mean interval between the diagnosis of sternal complication and the myoplasty was 6.6$\pm$3.9 days. In 4 patients, one pectoralis muscle flap was used, and in 8 patients both pectoralis muscle flaps were used. For each 1 patient and 2 patients in each group, right rectus muscle flap was added. For the last 3 patients, a single pectoralis flap was used to eradicate the mediastinal dead space and the longer placement of the mediastinal drain catheter was needed. One patient, who had suffered from necrosis of left pectoralis flap(rotation-advancement flap) with subsequent chest wall abscess after coverage of both pectoralis flaps, was managed with reoperation using right rectum flap. Conclusion : Sternal dehiscence or infection after cardiac operation can be readily managed with wide excision of necrotic infected tissue(including bone) and muscle flap coverage after short-term irrigation of sternal wound. The sternal(mediastinal) dead space may be completely eradicated with right pectoralis major muscle flap alone.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.107-119
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• 2002

Astrocyte, which shares the greatest part of the brain (about 25%), is a land of glial cell that composes the central nervous system along with microglia, ependymal cell and oligodendroglia. It has 7-9nm of fibers in its cytoplasma, which are composed of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin. As for the functions of the astrocyte, it has, so far, been supposed that the astrocyte will play a cytoskeletal role in maintaining the structure of the cerebrum, play a role as a blood-brain barrier so that it can induce migration of the neuron in its development and substances in the blood cannot go into the nervous tissue, and a role of immunology and phagocytosis. However, it was revealed today that it will be a role in preventing expansion of injury by attaching itself to the connective tissue such as the vessel and the pia mater when the nervous tissue or the arachnoid is injured. Microcurrent stimulation can control current, on the basis of A unit. That is, with such devices using it, it is possible to sense, from the outside, the injured current(wound current) of the lesion and to change it into the normal current, thereby promoting the restoration of the cells. In order to examine the effects of microcurrent stimulation on the injured astrocytes in the rabbits, this study was conducted with 24 New Zealand White Rabbit as its subjects, which were divided into 8 animals of the experiment group and 16 animals of the control group. After the animals in the experiment group were fixed to the stereotaxic apparatus, their hair was removed and their premotor area(association area) perforated by the micro-drill for skull-perforation with the depth of 8mm from the scalp. In one week after the injury, 4 animals in the control group and 8 animals in the experiment group were sacrificed and examined with immunohistochemical method. And in three weeks, the remaining 4 animals in the control group and 8 animals in the experiment group were also sacrificed and examined with the same way. The conclusion has been drawn as follows : In the control group sacrificed in one week after the injury, the astrocytes somewhat increased, compared with the normal animals, and in the group sacrificed in three weeks after the injury, they increased more (p < 0.05). The experiment group A in one week showed a little increase, but there was no significant differences, but the experiment group in three weeks showed more increase, compared with the experiment group in one week (p < 0.05). The experiment group B in one week showed more increase than the control group or the experiment group A, and the experiment group in three weeks showed more increase than the experiment group in one week (p < 0.05). Among the astrocytes, fibrous astrocytes were mostly observed, increasing as they are close to the lesion, and decreasing as they are remote from it. The findings show that microcurrent can cause the astrocytes to proliferate and that it will be more effective to stimulate the cervical part somewhat remote from the lesion rather than to directly stimulate the part of the lesion. Thus, microcurrent stimulation can be one of the methods that can activate the reaction of astrocytes, which is one of the mechanism for treating cerebral injury with hemorrhage. Therefore, this study will be used as basic research data for promoting restoration of functions in the patient with injury in the central nervous system.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.265-279
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• 1996

Damage produced by radiation elicits a complex response in mammalian cells, including growth rate changes and the induction of a variety of genes associated with growth control and apoptosis. At doses of 10,000 cGy or greater, the exposed individual was killed in a matter of minutes to a couple of days, with symptoms consistent with pathology of the central nervous system(CNS) including degenerative changes. The nature of the damage in irradiated cells underlies the unique hazards of ionizing radiation. Radiation injury to CNS is a rare event in clinical medicine, but it is catastrophic for the patient in whom it occurs. The incidence of cerebral necrosis has been reported as high as 16% for doses greater than 6,000 cGy. In this study, the effect of radiation on brain tissue was studied in vivo. Jun and p53 genes in the rat brain were induced by whole body irradiation of rat with 600Co in doses between 1 Gy and 100 Gy and analyzed for expression of jun and p53 genes at the postirradiation time up to 6 hours. Northern analyses were done using 1.8 Kb & 0.8 Kb-pGEM-2-JUN/Eco RI/Pst I fragments, 2.0 Kb-php53B/Bam HI fragment and ,1.1 Kb-pBluescript SK--ACTIN/Eco RI fragment as the digoxigenin or [${\alpha}^{32}P$] dCTPlabeled probes for Jun, p53 and ${\beta}$-actin genes, respectively. Jun gene seemed to be expressed near the threshold levels in 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose less than 1 Gy and was expressed in maximum at 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose of 30 Gy. Jun was expressed increasingly with time until 5 or 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in doses of 1 Gy and 10 Gy. After irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose between 20 Gr and 100 Gy, the expression of Jun was however increased to peak in 2 hours and decreased thereafter. p53 gene in this study also seemed to be expressed near the threshold levels in 1 hour after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose less than 1 Gy and was expressed in maximum at 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose of 1 Gy, p53 was expressed increasingly with time until 5 or 6 hours after irradiation of $^{60}$Co in dose between 1 Gy and 40 Gy. After irradiation of $^{60}$Co in doses of 50 Gy and 100 Gy, the expression of p53 was however increased to peak in 2 hours and decreased thereafter. The expression of Jun and p53 genes was not correlative in the brain tissue from rats. It seemed to be very important for the establishment of the optimum conditions for the animal studies relevant to the responses of genes inducible on DNA damage to ionizing radiation in mammalian cells. But there are many limitations to the animal studies such as the ununiform patterns of gene expression from the tissue because of its complex compositions. It is necessary to overcome the limitations for development of in situ Northern analysis.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.288-300
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• 2003

Purpose: To obtain regional blood flow and tissue-blood partition coefficient with time-activity curves from ${H_2}^{15}O$ PET, fitting of some parameters in the Kety model is conventionally accomplished by nonlinear least squares (NLS) analysis. However, NLS requires considerable compuation time then is impractical for pixel-by-pixel analysis to generate parametric images of these parameters. In this study, we investigated several fast parameter estimation methods for the parametric image generation and compared their statistical reliability and computational efficiency. Materials and Methods: These methods included linear least squres (LLS), linear weighted least squares (LWLS), linear generalized least squares (GLS), linear generalized weighted least squares (GWLS), weighted Integration (WI), and model-based clustering method (CAKS). ${H_2}^{15}O$ dynamic brain PET with Poisson noise component was simulated using numerical Zubal brain phantom. Error and bias in the estimation of rCBF and partition coefficient, and computation time in various noise environments was estimated and compared. In audition, parametric images from ${H_2}^{15}O$ dynamic brain PET data peformed on 16 healthy volunteers under various physiological conditions was compared to examine the utility of these methods for real human data. Results: These fast algorithms produced parametric images with similar image qualify and statistical reliability. When CAKS and LLS methods were used combinedly, computation time was significantly reduced and less than 30 seconds for $128{\times}128{\times}46$ images on Pentium III processor. Conclusion: Parametric images of rCBF and partition coefficient with good statistical properties can be generated with short computation time which is acceptable in clinical situation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.363-375
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• 2018

Intraoperative monitoring (IOM) utilizes electrophysiological techniques as a surrogate test and evaluation of nervous function while a patient is under general anesthesia. They are increasingly used for procedures, both surgical and endovascular, to avoid injury during an operation, examine neurological tissue to guide the surgery, or to test electrophysiological function to allow for more complete resection or corrections. The application of IOM during pediatric brain tumor resections encompasses a unique set of technical issues. First, obtaining stable and reliable responses in children of different ages requires detailed understanding of normal age-adjusted brain-spine development. Neurophysiology, anatomy, and anthropometry of children are different from those of adults. Second, monitoring of the brain may include risk to eloquent functions and cranial nerve functions that are difficult with the usual neurophysiological techniques. Third, interpretation of signal change requires unique sets of normative values specific for children of that age. Fourth, tumor resection involves multiple considerations including defining tumor type, size, location, pathophysiology that might require maximal removal of lesion or minimal intervention. IOM techniques can be divided into monitoring and mapping. Mapping involves identification of specific neural structures to avoid or minimize injury. Monitoring is continuous acquisition of neural signals to determine the integrity of the full longitudinal path of the neural system of interest. Motor evoked potentials and somatosensory evoked potentials are representative methodologies for monitoring. Free-running electromyography is also used to monitor irritation or damage to the motor nerves in the lower motor neuron level : cranial nerves, roots, and peripheral nerves. For the surgery of infratentorial tumors, in addition to free-running electromyography of the bulbar muscles, brainstem auditory evoked potentials or corticobulbar motor evoked potentials could be combined to prevent injury of the cranial nerves or nucleus. IOM for cerebral tumors can adopt direct cortical stimulation or direct subcortical stimulation to map the corticospinal pathways in the vicinity of lesion. IOM is a diagnostic as well as interventional tool for neurosurgery. To prove clinical evidence of it is not simple. Randomized controlled prospective studies may not be possible due to ethical reasons. However, prospective longitudinal studies confirming prognostic value of IOM are available. Furthermore, oncological outcome has also been shown to be superior in some brain tumors, with IOM. New methodologies of IOM are being developed and clinically applied. This review establishes a composite view of techniques used today, noting differences between adult and pediatric monitoring.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.111-117
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• 1999

Free radicals are thought to be the most important cause of the reperfusion injury subsequent to ischemia. The antioxidant status of the tissue affected by ischemia-reperfusion is of great importance for the primary endogenous defense against the free radical induced injury. Therefore, antioxidant therapy has been shown to be beneficial in neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and cerebral ischemia. In this study, the protective effects of Chungpesagan-tang (CST) was investigated against ischemia/reperfusion-induced cytotoxicity in SK-N-MC neuronal cells It was found out that low concentration of CST was highly effective in protecting neuronal cells against ischemia/reperfusion-induced cytotoxicity. The inhibitory effect of CST on malondialdehyde formation during ischemia/reperfusion-induced oxidative stress in SK-N-MC cells showed obvious dose-dependent responses. Also, CST showed relatively high inhibitory activity to xanthine oxidase induced by ischemia/reperfusion environment Therefore, it is thought that CST has both antioxidant and xanthine oxidase inhibitory effect and can be used for clinical applications for protection of neuronal cells from ischemia-reperfusion injury.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.39-45
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• 1976

This study was conducted to see whether the hippocampectomy exerted facilitatory influence upon gastric ulceration in animals, and if so, whether the effect of hippocampectomy could be suppressed by adrenalectomy. 107 male rats were divided into 5 groups: rats that had over 90% of their hippocampal tissue removed through an opening on each side of the cerebral cortex(hippocampal group, N=21), rats that received bilateral adrenalectomy(adrenal group, N=29), rats that received adrenalectomy as well as hippocampectomy(hippocampo-adrenal group, N=10), rats that received damage to each side of the cortex over the hippocampus(cortical control group, N=20), and rats that had solely their head skin incised(normal control group, N=27). All rats were kept without restraint or food deprivation until on the 25th day after surgery, the stomach of each rat was inflated with 7ml of physiological saline and then removed under deep anesthesia. The mucosal surface was sketched under dissecting microscope, and enlarged photographs$(4{\times})$ were taken. The percentage of animals developing gastric ulcer in each animal group was calculated, the number of ulcer in each stomach was counted, and the total area of ulceration per stomach was measured on the Photograph with the aid of superimposed graph paper and expressed as permillage of total area of the glandular mucosa. Results obtained were as follows: 1. The percentage of animals developing gastric ulcer was significantly larger in the hippocampal group than they were in the hippocampo-adrenal, the adrenal, the cortical, and the normal control groups. 2. The mean number of ulcer per stomach was significantly larger in the hippocampal group than they were in the adrenal, the cortical control, and the normal control groups, while no significant difference existed between the hippocampal and the hippocampo-adrenal groups. 3. Total area of ulcer per stomach was significantly larger in the hippocampal group than they were in the cortical control and the normal control groups, but no significant differ-ence existed among the hippocampal, the adrenal, and the hippocampo·adrenal groups. 4. All measured values of the adrenal group were not significantly different from those of the hippocampo-adrenal, the cortical control, and the normal control groups. It is inferred from the above results that the hippocampus exerts an inhibitory influence upon gastric ulceration and that the hippocampal influence is mediated only partly through suppression of pituitary·adrenal activity.