• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.59-63
• /
• 2012

Epilepsy has continued to provide challenges to epileptologists, as a significant proportion of patients continue to suffer from seizures despite medical and surgical treatments. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as a new therapeutic modality that has the potential to improve quality of life and occasionally be curative for patients with medically refractory epilepsy who are not surgical candidates. Several groups have used DBS in drug-resistant epilepsy cases for which resective surgery cannot be applied. The promising subcortical brain structures are anterior and centromedian nucleus of the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, and other nuclei to treat epilepsy in light of previous clinical and experimental data. Recently two randomized trials of neurostimulation for controlling refractory epilepsy employed the strategies to stimulate electrodes placed on both anterior thalamic nuclei or near seizure foci in response to electroencephalographically detected epileptiform activity. However, the more large-scale, long-term clinical trials which elucidates optimal stimulation parameters, ideal selection criteria for epilepsy DBS should be performed before long. In order to continue to advance the frontier of this field, it is imperative to have a good grasp of the current body of knowledge.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.197-202
• /
• 2006

Devices in current market to perform electrical stimulation therapy of the urinary incontinence frequent in aging women are very much impractical to us ε due to the wired configuration. The present study implemented new wireless device to enhance self as well as in-hospital therapy with the easiest and the most convenient application. The therapy system consisted of two modules, called 'master' and 'slave', communicating with each other by the wireless Bluetooth protocol. The patient controls therapy processes on the master module in hand, transmitting the required informations to operate the slave module placed within her pants with the viginal electrode connected, delivering appropriate electrical stimulation. Wireless communication enabled self therapy with clothes on, leading to a great convenience for the patient. The stimulation output signal was comparable to commercialized products in both waveform and stimulation capacity.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.535-539
• /
• 2015

Olfactory stimulation activates multiple signaling cascades in order to mediate activity-driven changes in gene expression that promote neuronal survival. To date, the mechanisms involved in activity-dependent olfactory neuronal survival have yet to be fully elucidated. In the current study, we observed that olfactory sensory stimulation, which caused neuronal activation, promoted activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway and the expression of Bcl-2, which were responsible for olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) survival. We demonstrated that Bcl-2 expression increased after odorant stimulation both in vivo and in vitro. We also showed that odorant stimulation activated Akt, and that Akt activation was completely blocked by incubation with both a PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) and Akt1 small interfering RNA. Moreover, blocking the PI3K/Akt pathway diminished the odorantinduced Bcl-2 expression, as well as the effects on odorant-induced ORN survival. A temporal difference was noted between the activation of Akt1 and the expression of Bcl-2 following odorant stimulation. Blocking the PI3K/Akt pathway did not affect ORN survival in the time range prior to the increase in Bcl-2 expression, implying that these two events, activation of the PI3K pathway and Bcl-2 induction, were tightly connected to promote post-translational ORN survival. Collectively, our results indicated that olfactory activity activated PI3K/Akt, induced Bcl-2, and promoted long term ORN survival as a result.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.118-128
• /
• 2008

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electrical stimulation on healing of impaired wound and alteration of mast cells in experimental diabetic rats. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups : incision (control), diabetes+incision (diabetes) and diabetes + incision + electrical stimulation (D/ES). Diabetes was induced in rats by streptozotocin (STZ) injection (60 mg/kg, one time) and 20 mm length incision wounds were created on the back after shaving hair. The electrical stimulation rats were treated with a current intensity of 30~50 V at 120 pps and $140{\mu}s$ for 10 days from 3 days after STZ injection. The lesion and adjacent skin tissues were fixed with 10% buffered formalin, embedded with paraffin. For wound healing analysis, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and picrosirius red staining were performed. Mast cells (MC) were stained with toluidine blue (pH 0.5) and quantified at ${\times}200$ using a light microscope. The density of keratinocyte proliferation and microvessels in skin tissues were analyzed using a computerized image analysis system on sections immunostained with proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and ${\alpha}$-smooth muscle actin (${\alpha}$-SMA), respectively. The results showed that the wound healing rate, collagen density and neoepidermis thickness, density of PCNA-positive cells and density of ${\alpha}$-SMA-positive vessels were significantly higher in D/ES rats than in diabetic rats. The density of MCs and degranulated MCs in D/ES rats were also significantly higher than those in diabetic rats. These findings suggest that the electrical stimulation may promote the tissue repair process by accelerating collagen production, keratinocyte proliferation and angiogenesis in the diabetic rats, and MCs are required for wound healing of skin in rats.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.110-113
• /
• 2001

In controlling chronic intractable pains, the current therapeutic methods used are exercise, over the counter medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy, opioid medication, neural blockade, operation, etc., spinal cord stimulation being the last resort. Spinal cord stimulation was initiated when Shearly and others clinically tested the Gate control theory of Melzack and Wall. This had triggered the advancement of theoretic research on the mechanism and hardware necessary and has resulted in an accumulation of clinical experiences. This is known to be effective for treating sympathetic pain, arachnoiditis, failed back pain syndrome, radiculopathy, peripheral vascular disease, phantom limb syndrome, post-herpetic neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, and angina pectoris. This report describes our experience in experimental spinal cord stimulation in patients with simultaneous post-herpetic neuralgia and herniated intervertebral disc. There wasn't any improvement in the post-herpetic neuralgia but the symptoms of a herniated intervertebral disc was much ameliorated. This was quite an unexpected result. The patient's back pain returned when the stimulation stopped.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.197-210
• /
• 2000

Suppressive role of $Na^+-Ca^{2+}$ exchange in myocardial tension generation was examined in the negative frequency-force relationship (FFR) of electric field stimulated left atria (LA) from postnatal developing rat heart and in the whole-cell clamped adult rat ventricular myocytes with high concentration of intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ buffer (14 mM EGTA). LA twitch amplitudes, which were suppressed by cyclopiazonic acid in a postnatal age-dependent manner, elicited frequency-dependent and postnatal age-dependent enhancements after $Na^+-reduced,\;Ca^{2+}-depleted$ (26 Na-0 Ca) buffer application. These enhancements were blocked by caffeine pretreatment with postnatal age-dependent intensities. In the isolated rat ventricular myocytes, stimulation with the voltage protocol roughly mimicked action potential generated a large inward current which was partially blocked by nifedipine or $Na^+$ current inhibition. 0 Ca application suppressed the inward current by $39{\pm}4%$ while the current was further suppressed after 0 Na-0 Ca application by $53{\pm}3%.$ Caffeine increased this inward current by $44{\pm}3%$ in spite of 14 mM EGTA. Finally, the $Na^+$ current-dependent fraction of the inward current was increased in a stimulation frequency-dependent manner. From these results, it is concluded that the $Ca^{2+}$ exit-mode (forward-mode) $Na^+-Ca^{2+}$ exchange suppresses the LA tension by extruding $Ca^{2+}$ out of the cell right after its release from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in a frequency-dependent manner during contraction, resulting in the negative frequency-force relationship in the rat LA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 1998.11a
• /
• pp.73-76
• /
• 1998

We give pressure stimulation into organic thin films and detect the induced displacement current. then manufacture a device under the accumulation condition that the state surface pressure is 15[mN/m]. In processing of a device manufacture. We can see the process is good from the change of a surface pressure for organic thin films and transfer ratio of area per molecule. The structure of manufactured device is Au/organic thin films(polyimide)/Au, the number of accumulated layers are 31,35, and 41. I-V characteristic of the device is measured from 0[V] to +5[V]. The maximum value of measured current is increased as the number of accumulated layers are decreased. The resistance for the number of accumulated layers, the energy density for an input voltage show desired results, and the insulation of a thin film is better as the interval between electrodes is larger.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2020

PURPOSE: This study investigated the efficacy of interferential current (IFC) treatment on the improvement of pain, disability, and balance in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain. METHODS: A double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted with 40 patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups: the IFC treatment group (n = 20) and the placebo treatment group (n = 20). The IFC group received 30 minutes of IFC treatment on the lumbar region, while the placebo group received IFC treatment without real electrical stimulation. The intervention was administered five days a week for two weeks. RESULTS: The primary outcomes of resting pain and pain during functional movement were measured by a visual analogue scale. The secondary measurements included the Oswestry disability index (ODI) for low back pain and postural sway. The measurements were performed before and after the two-week intervention period. Compared to the placebo treatment group, the IFC treatment group showed significantly greater improvement in pain during anterior trunk flexion in the standing position (p = .029), ODI (p = .039), and postural sway when subjects stood with their eyes closed (p = .010) at the end of the intervention. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that IFC treatment can improve pain, disability, and postural sway, thus, highlighting the benefits of somatosensory stimulation from IFC.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.77-87
• /
• 2017

The purpose of This study was to compare the effect of Convergence-Based russian current(RC) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation(TENS) on pain, muscle strength, function of knee who had a surgical anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction(ACLR). A total of 40 Participants divided into 2 groups, with ACLR, were assigned to russian current group(RCG) or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation group(TENSG). Both groups were measured by varieties of tests: visual analog scale(VAS), knee flexion & extension muscle strength, knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score(KOOS), korean lower extremity functional scale(LEFS). Both groups has shown significant changes within the measurements of VAS, Knee Flexion & Extension muscle strength, KOOS and LEFS. The RCG had more significant increase within knee extension muscle strength, LEFS compared to TENSG. By studying this research, both interventions were effective to ACLR patients, moreover, RC was more effective for knee muscle strength and lower extremity function than the TENS.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.20 no.9
• /
• pp.127-132
• /
• 2019

This study examined the change in the attention of University students after being given Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). The participants were divided randomly into two group (tDCS vs. Control). tDCS was applied to 37 university students ($23.08{\pm}3.33years$). The tDCS group was applied 2 mA, for 13 minutes twice over a 26 minute period ($n_1=19$). The control ($n_2=18$) was not applied after padding and was applied twice for 13 minutes over a 26 minute period. This study was conducted from September 3 to 28, 2018 and three times a week for a total of four weeks. The electroencephalogram was confirmed to affect attention. tDCS showed significant improvement in the results in the sensory motor rhythm wave (p<0.01, 95% CI: -1.955, -0.459), middle beta wave (p<0.05; 95% CI: 0.027, 0.943), and power ratio (p<0.01, 95% CI: -1.764, -0.315). The results showed that tDCS application increased the attention ability significantly. These results can be applied to attention deficit disorder (ADHD) patients and college students.