• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.266-271
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• 2017

Synthetic cannabinoids are one of most abused new psychoactive substances. The recreational use of abused drug has aroused serious concerns about the consequences of these drugs on infection. However, the effects of synthetic cannabinoid on resistance to tetanus toxin are not fully understood yet. In the present study, we aimed to determine if the administration of synthetic cannabinoids increase the susceptibility to tetanus toxin-induced motor behavioral deficit and functional changes in cerebellar neurons in mice. Furthermore, we measured T lymphocytes marker levels, such as CD8 and CD4 which against tetanus toxin. JWH-210 administration decreased expression levels of T cell activators including cluster of differentiation (CD) $3{\varepsilon}$, $CD3{\gamma}$, CD74p31, and CD74p41. In addition, we demonstrated that JWH-210 induced motor impairment and decrement of vesicle-associated membrane proteins 2 levels in the cerebellum of mice treated with tetanus toxin. Furthermore, cerebellar glutamatergic neuronal homeostasis was hampered by JWH-210 administration, as evidenced by increased glutamate concentration levels in the cerebellum. These results suggest that JWH-210 may increase the vulnerability to tetanus toxin via the regulation of immune function.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.114-122
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• 2013

Background: Drugs should be evaluated in appropriate subjects representing potential population to take the drugs. This study focuses on gender factor and aims to make known the appropriateness of considering gender difference on clinical evaluation of drug with domestic data related to drug use. Methods: To understand gender difference shown in drug use, three types of domestic statistical data (prevalence of chronic disease, number of outpatient with major concerning disease, and consumption of medicine) were analyzed and compared according to gender. Results: Three of fifteen chronic diseases which were analyzed, showed significantly higher prevalence in women than in men, and three were vice versa. Meanwhile, the sex ratio of outpatients was significantly different in 22 major concerning diseases. Among the drug groups coded by Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System, the consumption of most drug groups was generally higher in women than in men except for one group coded G (genito-urinary system and sex hormones). Conclusion: Gender difference should be considered in domestic clinical evaluation of drug and domestic guidance for reflecting gender difference should be established.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.32-43
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• 1994

The 'Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee' decided to restrict the use of vancomycin which was categorized into restricted antimicrobials, among general, reserved and restricted antimicrobials. The committee also established prescribing guidelines of vancomycin in Seoul National University Hospital, May, 1991. Especially, the restricted antimicrobials should be used after approval by infectious disease specialist physician. A retrospective drug use evaluation (DUE) on vancomycin has been conducted to compare with the previous vancomycin DUE study in 1990. 'Criteria for DUE on vancomycin' was modified from Am J Hosp Pharm. Total 65 charts of patients were retrospectively reviewed from July 1991 to June 1992 in Seoul National University Children's Hospital. The justification of use was improved from 56% to 75% comparing with the previous study. In analyzing process indicators, several criteria including body temperature monitoring, WBC monitoring and use of concomitant antibiotics were well documented, but serum creatinine monitoring, culture and sensitivity test and level monitoring were infrequently performed, while the accepted level has been improved. Accepted level for appropriate initial dosage and duration of therapy were decreased. In outcome analysis, blood culture after discontinuing the drug was relatively well documented compared with the previous study. As the results, the approval vancomycin use was shown to be effective and rational in antibiotic therapy. And it is suggested that the above findings should be communicated to the medical staff, and a active intervention, such as feedback control, also be necessary for rational drug use.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.187-202
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• 2013

The electronic medical device industry and the relevant market have been greatly expanded owing to various factors, such as the advent of the aged society and the spread of the desire for well-being in developed countries, and rapid development of China, India and other emerging markets. The electrical stimulator is one of electronic medical devices most commonly used in homes. The electrical stimulator is widely used for pain relief, rehabilitation, muscle conditioning and others. Since it is mainly used in homes, it is very important to assure the safety and performance for protection of users. However, there is no guideline on evaluation of safety and performance of such electrical stimulator for home use. In this study, various local and foreign references were reviewed to develop the internationally harmonized procedures for safety and performance evaluation of the electrical stimulator and test items, specifications and methods are proposed. In addition, such proposed test items were validated to decide the internationally harmonized tests for safety and performance evaluation. This study will contribute to improvement of quality and safety of electrical stimulators for home use and help the Korean medical device industry have the international competitiveness.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.168-180
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• 2022

Ephedra is a genus of the Ephedraceae family and is found in temperate regions, such as Central Asia and Europe. Among the various ephedra species, Ma Huang (Ephedra herb) is derived from the aerial parts of Ephedra sinica S tapf, Ephedra equisetina Bunge, and Ephedra intermedia Schrenk & C.A. Mey. Ma Huang contains various ephedra alkaloids, including (-)-ephedrine, (+)-pseudoephedrine, (-)-norephedrine, (+)-norpseudoephedrine, (-)-methylephedrine, and (+)-methylpseudoephedrine, which are found naturally as single enantiomers, although they can be prepared as racemates. Although the use of Ma Huang in foods is prohibited in Korea, products containing Ma Huang can be imported, and so it is necessary to develop a suitable analytical technique for the detection of Ma Huang in foods. Herein, we report the development of analytical methods for the detection of ephedra alkaloids in products containing Ma Huang. Following sample purification by solid phase extraction, quantitative analysis was performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Additionally, the enantiomers were successfully separated using HPLC-DAD. We successfully analyzed various food samples, where the ephedra alkaloids were qualitatively and quantitatively determined, and the enantiomers were separated. It is expected that these methods may contribute toward preventing the distribution of illegal products containing Ma Huang.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.22-31
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• 2023

As the use of e-liquid cigarettes is rapidly increasing worldwide, it multiplies the potential risk undisclosed to the health of non- and smokers. To reduce the hazard, each country has its own set of regulations for controlling e-liquids. In Korea, the narrow definition of tobacco makes it difficult and have been steadily occurring tax evasion exploiting the difference in natural and artificial nicotine. Therefore, it is very important to distinguish source of nicotine for their regulation. To find biochemical discriminant markers, this study established analysis methods based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple Quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) for nicotine enantiomers and tobacco alkaloids targeted using the difference in pathways of nicotine biosynthesis and chemical synthesis. The method was validated by experimenting linearity (R² > 0.999), recovery (80.99-108.41 %), accuracy (94.11-109.73 %) and precision (0.04-8.27 %). Then, the results for discrimination of the nicotine obtained from analysis of 65 commercial e-liquid products available in Korean market was evaluated. The method successfully applied to the e-liquids and one sample labelled 'synthetic nicotine' for tax exemption was found to contain a natural nicotine product. This method can be used to determine whether an e-liquid product uses natural or artificial nicotine and monitor non-taxable e-liquid products. The method is more scientific than the existing one, which relies only on field evidence.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.261-275
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• 2022

BACKGROUND: Prior to implementing a positive list system (PLS), there is a need to establish acceptable daily intake (ADI) and maximum residue limit (MRL) for veterinary drugs that have been approved a few decades ago in South Korea. On top of that, chronic dietary exposure assessment of veterinary drug residues should be performed to determine whether the use of these veterinary drugs would cause health concerns or not. METHODS AND RESULTS: To establish the ADI, the relevant toxicological data were collected from evaluation reports issued by international organizations. A slightly modified global estimate of chronic dietary exposure (GECDE) model was employed in the exposure assessment owing to the limited residual data. Therefore, only the ADI of ephedrine was established due to insufficient data for the other veterinary drugs. Thus, instead of ADI, the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) value was used for the other drugs. Lastly, the hazard index (HI) was calculated, except for etizazole hydrochloride, due to the potential of mutagenicity. CONCLUSION(S): The HI values of ephedrine, menichlopholan, and anacolin were found to be as high as 6.4%, suggesting that chronic dietary exposure to the residues from these uses was unlikely to be a public health concern. Further research for exposure assessment of veterinary drug residues should be performed using up-todate Korean national health and nutrition examination survey (KNHANES) food consumption data. In addition, all relevant available data sources should be utilized for identifying the potentials of toxicity.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.388-394
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• 2010

Metabolomics aims at the comprehensive, qualitative and quantitative analysis of wide arrays of endogenous metabolites in biological samples. It has shown particular promise in the area of toxicology and drug development, functional genomics, system biology and clinical diagnosis. In this study, analytical technique of MS instrument with high resolution mass measurement, such as time-of-flight (TOF) was validated for the purpose of investigation of amino acids, sugars and fatty acids. Rat urine and serum samples were extracted by selected each solvent (50% acetonitrile, 100% acetonitrile, acetone, methanol, water, ether) extraction method. We determined the optimized liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOFMS) system and selected appropriated columns, mobile phases, fragment energy and collision energy, which could search 17 metabolites. The spectral data collected from LC/TOFMS were tested by ANOVA. Obtained with the use of LC/TOFMS technique, our results indicated that (1) MS and MS/MS parameters were optimized and most abundant product ion of each metabolite were selected to be monitorized; (2) with design of experiment analysis, methanol yielded the optimal extraction efficiency. Therefore, the results of this study are expected to be useful in the endogenous metabolite fields according to validated SOP for endogenous amino acids, sugars and fatty acids.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.280-284
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• 2010

Approvals of medical device increase every year as industry of medical device grows. Therefore KFDA keeps trying to improve approval systems. However, the firms of medical device are in trouble due to regulation amendment, a firm of small size, exchange of the person in charge. The staffs of KFDA increase their work load because applicants of approval of medical device aren't used to writing of document. Therefore the firm of medical device in business have a long term. KFDA develops eight guidance document item by item for one-step evaluation and approval for Medical Devices because applicants of approval of medical device write documents easily. KFDA reviewer can carry on quick reviewing in use of this eight guidances. This guidance are improved on satisfaction of applicants of approval of medical device.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2019

A major predictor of the efficacy of natural or synthetic cannabinoids is their binding affinity to the cannabinoid type I receptor ($CB_1$) in the central nervous system, as the main psychological effects of cannabinoids are achieved via binding to this receptor. Conventionally, receptor binding assays have been performed using isotopes, which are inconvenient owing to the effects of radioactivity. In the present study, the binding affinities of five cannabinoids for purified $CB_1$ were measured using a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique as a putative non-isotopic receptor binding assay. Results were compared with those of a radio-isotope-labeled receptor binding assay. The representative natural cannabinoid ${\Delta}^9$-tetrahydrocannabinol and four synthetic cannabinoids, JWH-015, JWH-210, RCS-4, and JWH-250, were assessed using both the SPR biosensor assay and the conventional isotopic receptor binding assay. The binding affinities of the test substances to $CB_1$ were determined to be (from highest to lowest) $9.52{\times}10^{-3}M$ (JWH-210), $6.54{\times}10^{-12}M$ (JWH-250), $1.56{\times}10^{-11}M$ (${\Delta}^9$-tetrahydrocannabinol), $2.75{\times}10^{-11}M$ (RCS-4), and $6.80{\times}10^{-11}M$ (JWH-015) using the non-isotopic method. Using the conventional isotopic receptor binding assay, the same order of affinities was observed. In conclusion, our results support the use of kinetic analysis via SPR in place of the isotopic receptor binding assay. To replace the receptor binding affinity assay with SPR techniques in routine assays, further studies for method validation will be needed in the future.