• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.367-373
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• 2018

Background: Fear of local anesthesia (LA) is a significant impediment to dental care as many patients delay or avoid treatment to avert pain. Computer-controlled local anesthetic delivery system (CCLAD), with constant and controlled rate of flow, present a painless alternative. The present study aimed to compare anxiety and pain perceived with conventional and computerized systems, for different stages of anesthesia delivery when administering various nerve blocks. Methods: One hundred patients requiring bilateral LA participated in the study. One side was anesthetized using one system and the contralateral side was anesthetized using the other, in two separate appointments. Patients assigned anxiety scores on a 5-point scale and used the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain determination at needle insertion, during delivery of anesthetic solution, immediately after injection, and at the end of the periodontal procedure. Each patient's preference for the delivery system of future injections was also recorded. Results: Patients reported significantly lower anxiety levels with CCLAD compared to the syringe. Significantly lower mean VAS scores for anesthesia deposition, pain immediately after, and at the end of the periodontal procedure were also noted. However, pain at needle insertion was comparable between the two systems, with no statistical significance. Overall, 64.4% patients preferred CCLAD for future anesthesia. Conclusion: Lower pain perceived with CCLAD and higher preference for the system suggest that CCLAD should replace conventional syringes to allow pain-free dental treatment.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.547-552
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• 2007

Water soluble polymer, poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) was chosen to conjugate with 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-(succinyl) (N-succinyl DPPE) to make a new drug delivery system. PVP with an amine group (amino-PVP) was polymerized by free radical polymerization. The amine group of amino-PVP was conjugated with the carboxylic group of N-succinyl DPPE. The resultant conjugate could form nanoparticles in the aqueous solution; these nanoparticles were termed a lipid-polymer system. The critical aggregation concentration was measured with pyrene to give a value of $1{\times}10^{-3}g/L$. The particle size of the lipid-polymer system, as measured by DLS, AFM and TEM, was about 70 nm. Lipophilic component in the inner part of the lipid-polymer system could derive the physical interaction with hydrophobic drugs. Griseofulvin was used as a model drug in this study. The loading efficiency and release profile of the drug were measured by HPLC. The loading efficiency was about 54%. The release behavior was sustained for a prolonged time of 12 days. The proposed lipid-polymer system with biodegradable and biocompatible properties has promising potential as a passive-targeting drug delivery carrier because of its small particle size.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2017

The aims of the present study were to determine the weaning time for adoption of kittens, and to evaluate the fetal growth rate during pregnant in free-roaming cats. This study was conducted on three pregnant free-roaming cats (one feral cat and two stray cats). Radiography and ultrasonography were performed on the feral cat and on one of the stray cats. In the feral cat, fetal head diameter was measured once during pregnancy to determine the cesarean section (C-sec) time. In the stray cat, serial fetal head diameter was measured from capture to parturition. The body weight of the feral cat's kittens was measured from 4 weeks postpartum because of their wildness. That of the stray cats' kittens was measured immediately after birth. In the feral cat, scheduled C-sec was performed at predicted parturition day by measurement of head diameter, and six healthy kittens were delivered. The stray cats had five and six kittens by natural delivery, respectively. In the body weight gain of feral and stray cat's kittens, two female kittens of the feral cat lost weight rapidly after they were separated from their mother, so they were returned to their mother for 1 more week. After that, the female kittens grew up without difficulty. Body weight gain of the ten kittens born to the two stray cats consistently increased, by approximately 14 g every day, until they were adopted. The body weight of kittens born by natural delivery was on average 77.5 g greater than that of kittens born by C-sec. However, the gap decreased with time. During the stray cat's pregnancy, fetal head diameter increased by 0.042 cm every day. Maximum head size before parturition was 2.43 cm. These results indicate that the weaning time for adoption of kittens was 5-week-old postpartum.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.403-406
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• 2007

Ferroelectric Ce-doped $Bi_4Ti_3O_{12}$ (BCT) thin films were deposited by liquid delivery metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) onto a $Pt(111)/Ti/SiO_2/Si(100)$ substrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to identify the crystal structure, the surface, and the cross-section morphology of the deposited ferroelectric flims. After annealing above $640^{\circ}C$, the BCT films exhibited a polycrystalline structure with preferred (001) and (117) orientations. The BCT lam capacitor with a top Pt electrode showed a large remnant polarization ($2P_r$) of $44.56{\mu}C/cm^2$ at an applied voltage of 5 V and exhibited fatigue-free behavior up to $1.0{\times}10^{11}$ switching cycles at a frequency of 1 MHz. This study clearly reveals that BCT thin film has potential for application in non-volatile ferroelectric random access memories and dynamic random access memories.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.2805-2826
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• 2021

In most cases, the routing policy of networks shows a preference for a static one-to-one mapping of communication pairs to routing paths, which offers adversaries a great advantage to conduct thorough reconnaissance and organize an effective attack in a stress-free manner. With the evolution of network intelligence, some flexible and adaptive routing policies have already proposed to intensify the network defender to turn the situation. Routing mutation is an effective strategy that can invalidate the unvarying nature of routing information that attackers have collected from exploiting the static configuration of the network. However, three constraints execute press on routing mutation deployment in practical: insufficient route mutation space, expensive control costs, and incompatibility. To enhance the availability of route mutation, we propose an OpenFlow-based route mutation technique called Polymorphic Path Transferring (PPT), which adopts a physical and virtual path segment mixed construction technique to enlarge the routing path space for elevating the security of communication. Based on the Markov Decision Process, with considering flows distribution in the network, the PPT adopts an evolution routing path scheduling algorithm with a segment path update strategy, which relieves the press on the overhead of control and incompatibility. Our analysis demonstrates that PPT can secure data delivery in the worst network environment while countering sophisticated attacks in an evasion-free manner (e.g., advanced persistent threat). Case study and experiment results show its effectiveness in proactively defending against targeted attacks and its advantage compared with previous route mutation methods.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.892-897
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• 2003

Anticancer drugs have serious side effects arising from their poor malignant cells selectivity, Since insulin receptors highly express on the cytomembrane of some kind of tumor cells, using insulin as the vector was expected to reduce serious side effects of the drugs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the tumor targeting effect of the newly synthesized mitoxantrone-insulin conjugate (MIT-INS) with the drug loading of 11.68%. In vitro stability trials showed MIT-INS were stable in buffers with different pH (2-8) at $37^{\circ}C$ within 120 h (less than 3% of free MIT released), and were also stable in mouse plasma within 48 h (less than 1 % of free MIT released). In vivo study on tumor-bearing mice showed that, compared with MIT [75.92 $\mu g \cdot$ h/g of the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) and 86.85 h of mean residence time (MRT)], the conjugates had better tumor-targeting efficiency with enhanced tumor AUC of 126.53 1l9 h/g and MTR of 151.95 h. The conjugate had much lower toxicity to most other tissues with targeting indexes ($TI^c$) no larger than 0.3 besides good tumor targeting efficiency with $TI^c$ of 1.67. The results suggest the feasibility to promote the curative effect in ca.ncer chemotherapy by using insulin as the vector of anti-cancer drugs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2335-2340
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• 2014

Paclitaxel is hydrophobic in nature and is recognized as a highly toxic anticancer drug, showing adverse effects in normal body sites. In this study, we developed a polymeric nano drug carrier for safe delivery of the paclitaxel to the cancer that releases the drug in a sustained manner and reduces side effects. N-isopropylacrylamide/vinyl pyrrolidone (NIPAAm/VP) nanoparticles were synthesized by radical polymerization. Physicochemical characterization of the polymeric nanoparticles was conducted using dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance, which confirmedpolymerization of formulated nanoparticles. Drug release was assessed using a spectrophotometer and cell viability assays were carried out on the MCF-7 breast cancer and B16F0 skin cancer cell lines. NIPAAm/VP nanoparticles demonstrated a size distribution in the 65-108 nm range and surface charge measured -15.4 mV. SEM showed the nanoparticles to be spherical in shape with a slow drug release of ~70% in PBS at $38^{\circ}C$ over 96 h. Drug loaded nanoparticles were associated with increased viability of MCF-7 and B16F0 cells in comparison to free paclitaxel. Nano loaded paclitaxel shows high therapeutic efficiency by sustained release action for the longer period of time, i increasing its efficacy and biocompatibility for human cancer therapy. Therefore, paclitaxel loaded (NIPAAm/VP) nanoparticles may provide opportunities to expand delivery of the drug for clinical selection.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.709-713
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to develop novel intestinal specific drug delivery systems with pH sensitive swelling and drug release properties. The carboxyl group of ibuprofen was converted to a vinyl ester group by reacting ibuprofen and vinyl acetate as an acylating agent in the presence of catalyst. The glucose-6-acrylate-1, 2, 3, 4-tetraacetate (GATA) monomer was prepared under mild conditions. Cubane-1, 4-dicarboxylic acid (CDA) linked to two 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) group was used as the crosslinking agent (CA). Methacrylic-type polymeric prodrugs were synthesized by the free radical copolymerization of methacrylic acid, vinyl ester derivative of ibuprofen (VIP) and GATA in the presence of cubane cross linking agent. The structure of VIP was characterized and confirmed by FTIR, $^1H$ NMR and $^{13}C$ NMR spectroscopy. The composition of the cross-linked three-dimensional polymers was determined by FTIR spectroscopy. The hydrolysis of drug polymer conjugates was carried out in cel-lophane membrane dialysis bags, and the in vitro release profiles were established separately in enzyme-free simulated gastric and intestinal fluids (SGF, pH 1 and SIF, pH 7.4). The detection of a hydrolysis solution by UV spectroscopy at selected intervals showed that the drug can be released by hydrolysis of the ester bond between the drug and polymer backbone at a low rate. Drug release studies showed that increasing the MAA content in the copolymer enhances the rate of hydrolysis in SIP. These results suggest that these polymeric prodrugs can be useful for the release of ibuprofen in controlled release systems.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant surge in glove usage, as recommended by the World Health Organization. Despite efforts to ensure the quality and safety of gloves, glove-associated skin diseases such as hand dermatitis have become ubiquitous, particularly among health care workers. This review discusses the prevalence, causes, and risk factors of hand dermatitis, as well as research efforts in medical gloves in the past decade to overcome glove-related hand dermatitis. Research papers from 2013 to 2022 were reviewed, selecting only 49 relevant papers from the Ovid, PubMed, and Scopus databases. The average prevalence of hand dermatitis among health care workers increased from 21.08% to 37.24% upon the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cases are likely due to allergies to latex proteins, rubber additives, and accelerators commonly found in gloves. Using alternatives to latex gloves, such as accelerator-free and latex-free glove options, can help reduce allergy-induced hand dermatitis. Strict hand hygiene practices, such as frequent hand washing and the use of sanitizers, are also contributing factors in contracting hand dermatitis. Over the past decade, glove research advancements have focused mainly on reducing or immobilizing latex proteins. These include the use of biodegradable dialdehyde, sodium alginate, arctigenin, bromelain, papain, UV-LED, prototype photoreactors, and structure-modified nanosilica with silane A174. Two effective hand dermatitis preventive measures, i.e. an additional layer of glove liners and the use of gentle alcohol-based hand sanitizer, were recommended. These advancements represent promising steps towards mitigating hand dermatitis risks associated with glove usage.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.553-564
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• 2001

The purpose of this research was to observe the management system of 18 free meal service centers for the low-income homebound elderly in Chungcheongbuk-Do In order researchers interviewed staff members of the free meal service centers. Based on the results of interviews with staff members of the meal service organization. only two centers used a standard recipe. and most of the meal preparation was controlled under the experience of volunteers. Only two meal service centers employed dietitians due to the lak of budgets. The cost of a meal per day ranged from ￦ 556 to ￦2,750 and the number of attendants at meal service ranged from 35 to 350 persons. The budget for most of the meal service centers is not enough to provide meals for the elderly who want to participated in free meal service programs. Home delivery meal service was not considered due to the lake of manpower and areal dispersion in rural ares. Most meal service organizations did not cooperate with other community service organizations. Several improvement strategies are recommended for the effective running of the free meal service centers. First, a nutrition specialist should be included in the staff members of the service organization to provide nutritious meal service to the elderly Second, a joint control system might be introduced into the present system to reduced the cost and the recover the limitations of areal dispersion. Third, service, coordination should be considered to overcome the problem of lake resources.