• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.76-87
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• 2001

Objective : Zusanli(ST36) and Hoku(Li4) are analgesic acupuncture points frequently used for acupuncture in Oriental medicine. The present study was conducted to see the antinociceptive effects produced by electroacupuncture combined two frequencies(Low, High) and two different acupuncture points(LI4, ST36) in the rat tail flick test. Method : In this study the Rats (Sprague-Dawley, 250-300g) were partially anesthetized with thiopental sodium(40mg/kg, i.p.). The basal reaction time for the tail-flick was 3${\pm}$0.5 sec. Low frequency(3Hz, 5V, biphasic) and high frequency(100Hz, 5V, biphasic) were applied to the inserted needle for the period of insertion(twenty minutes). Experimental groups are divied as follow; a) electroacupuncture stimulation groups at Hoku with or high frequency(L-EA, H-EA), b) electroacupuncture stimulation groups at Zusanli with low or high frequency(1-EA, h-EA), c) low frequency at Hoku and Zusanli(LIEA), d) low frequency at Hoku and high frequency at Zusanli(LhEA), e) high frequency at Hoku and low frequency at Zusanli(HIEA), f) high frequency at Hoku and Zusanli(HhEA) Results : The individual stimulation at either Hoku or Zusanli with low frequency has stronger and longer analgesic effect than high frequency stimulation. In addition, the combined stimulation at Hoku and Zusanli with low frequency has superior effect to individual stimulation with low frequency. LhEA and LIEA have superior effect to other stimulation groups among the combined groups. In order to determine the involvement of opioid system on the different antinociceptive effects, Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, was used in the combined groups. LIEA is the most sensitive when naloxone was administrated among study groups. HhEA is the least sensitive in the administration of naloxone. Conclusion : From results, this study confirmed that the opioid system is involved in analgesic effect of low frequency stimulation of acupuncture point, and we also can suggest the stronger analgesic effect of combining stimulation points is due to the theory of spatial summation in the nervous system.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.207-213
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• 1999

To examine individual variation in drug metabolism catalyzed by flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO), 179 Korean volunteers' urinary molar concentration ratio of theobromine (TB) and caffeine (CA) was determined. Their urine was collected for 1 hr (between 4 and 5 hrs) after they drank a cup of coffee containing 115 mg CA and analyzed by an HPLC system. The lowest TB/CA ratio obtained was 0.40, the highest ratio was 15.17 (38-fold difference), and the median ratio for all subjects was 1.87. The mean was 2.66 with 2.36 S.D.. In 134 nonsmokers, the mean ratio was $2.35{\pm}1.93,$ that of 51 males was $2.30{\pm}2.26$ and 83 females was $2.37{\pm}1.85,$ respectively. There was no significant gender difference in the obtained TB/CA ratio (Mann-Whitney test; p=0.518). There were no smokers among the 83 female volunteers. In the remaining 96 male subjects, the ratio obtained in 51 nonsmokers was $2.30{\pm}2.06$ and that of 45 smokers was $3.62{\pm}3.19.$ This indicated that the TB/CA ratio was increased significantly in smokers (p=0.007). However, when the TB/CA ratios (FMO activity) obtained in all 179 Korean volunteers are compared with the urinary concentration ratios of paraxanthine (PX) plus 1,7-dimethylurate (17U) to CA (CYP1A2 activity), there was a weak but significant correlation (Pearson's correlation coefficient test; $r^2=0.28,$ p＜0.0001). This indicates that, although the urinary TB/CA ratio mostly represents FMO activity, minor contribution by CYP1A2 activity cannot be ignored. In conclusion, the FMO activity measured by taking the urinary TB/CA ratio from normal healthy Korean volunteers shows marked individual variations without significant gender differences and the increased TB/CA ratio observed in cigarette smokers may have been caused by the increased CYP1A2 activity.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.49-53
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• 1998

The winter-resident Korean bats, Murina leucogaster ognevi, show a circadian cycle of thermoregulation and locomotion in summer, as do other bat species in temperate regions. They are most active between dusk and dawn with body temperature (Tb) of 35-4OC, and are usually torpid in their roost sites for the rest of day with their Tb close to ambient temperature (Ta) of around 15C. The present study was conducted to determine thermogenic and thermolabile properties of the heterothermic bats that would influence their daily feeding activities and ultimately, their energy conservation strategy. Testing on active male Murina, resting metabolic rate (RMR, gauged by oxygen consumption rate) at the lower limit of thermoneutral zone (31C) was 2.0 L kq-1 h-1. The regression slope of RMR below the thermoneutral zone (an index of metabolic thermal sensitivity) was -0.38 L $kg^{-l} h^{-1} C^{-1}$. The metabolic rate at the roost Ta (15C) was 4.5 times the lowest RMR in the active state but becomes nearly zero in the torpid state. This implies that by being torpid during daytime (between dawn and dusk), the individual bats would save about 4.7 kcal each day in mid-summer. Interspecific comparisons of thermal metabolic response over a mass scale suggest that the smaller bats show a relatively higher metabolic rate in thermoneutral zone and a greater thermal sensitivity of metabolism, which follows the general principle seen in homeothermic metabolism. Thermolabile features in metabolic responses seem to be fairly common for these bats in conditions other than a fully active state. Types of thermolabile responses and their energetic significance are discussed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.1305-1318
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• 2007

On a global scale agriculture and in particular enteric fermentation in ruminants is reported to produce about one fourth (21 to 25%) of the total anthropogenic emissions of methane ($CH_4$). Methane is produced during the anaerobic fermentation of hydrolyzed dietary carbohydrates in the rumen and represents an energy loss to the host besides contributing to emissions of greenhouse gases into the environment. However, there appears to be uncertainty in the $CH_4$ estimation from livestock due to the limited availability of data to document the variability at the farm level and also due to the significant impact of diet on the enteric $CH_4$ production. The methane mitigation strategies require robust prediction of emissions from rumen. There are many methods available which would be suitable for measuring $CH_4$ produced from the various stages of animal production. However, several factors need to be considered in order to select the most appropriate technique like the cost, level of accuracy required and the scale and design of the experiments to be undertaken. Selection of any technique depends on the accuracy as each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Screening of mitigation strategies may be evaluated using individual animal before large-scale trials on groups of animals are carried out. In this review various methods for the estimation of methane production from ruminants as well as for the determination of methane production potential of ruminant feeds are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of the methods starting from respiration chamber, ventilated hood, facemask, sulphur hexafluoride ($SF_6$) tracer technique, prediction equations and meteorological methods to in vitro methods are detailed.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2015

In order to grasp the clear concepts and variables to treat Shanghan diseases which has complex meaning by each medical literature, several concepts and analytic method of structuralism from early to late stage encompassing Saussure and Derrida were used. Main concepts are langue and parole, signifiant and signifie, syntagme and paradigme, denotation and connotation, synchronie and diachronie, identity of structure and differance etc. and methods are substituting these concepts to historical Shanghan theories from Zhongjing to Ming-Qing dynasty and comparisons of synchronie about their era. Essential qualities of Shanghan diseases are pathologic phenomena under the order of unification of nature and man formed through concrescence between individual human body and geo-climatico-socio-cultural environmental conditions, neither injuries by cold pathogen nor five types of exopathogenic febrile diseases. The former environmental elements can be inferred from general traits of desires and public pathological aspects of social members, and the latter personal factors from corresponding features to those pathogenic variables. In addition, the concepts of Shanghan disease are added successively up to now via Jin-Yuan's four great masters and Wenbing masters, and thus the new concepts of denotation became another connotation obtaining new signifiant. In this way, for the treatment of Shanghan diseases, new theories should be made for ranging prescription over the wenbing field; reflecting not only climatical variables but also each patient's physio-pathological features and sociocultural variables. Thereby an appropriate and reasonable therapeutical systems can be designed and can guide research direction hereafter.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.658-665
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• 2014

The neural stimulators have been employed to the visual prostheses system based on the functional electrical stimulation (FES). Due to the size limitation of the implantable device, the smaller area of the unit current driver pixel is highly desired for higher resolution current stimulation system. This paper presents a 16-channel compact current-mode neural stimulator IC with digital to analog converter (DAC) sharing scheme for artificial retinal prostheses. The individual pixel circuits in the stimulator IC share a single 6 bit DAC using the sample-and-hold scheme. The DAC sharing scheme enables the simultaneous stimulation on multiple active pixels with a single DAC while maintaining small size and low power. The layout size of the stimulator circuit with the DAC sharing scheme is reduced to be 51.98 %, compared to the conventional scheme. The stimulator IC is designed using standard $0.18{\mu}m$ 1P6M process. The chip size except the I/O cells is $437{\mu}m{\times}501{\mu}m$.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2015

This study analyzed the differences in aerobic and anaerobic exercise ability and growth-related indicators, depending on the polymorphism of the ACE and the ACTN3 genes, to understand the genetic influence of exercise ability in the growth process of children. The subjects of the study consisted of elementary school students (n=856, age $10.32{\pm}0.07yr$). The anthropometric parameters, physical fitness and growth factors were compared among groups of the ACE I/D or the ACTN3 R577X polymorphisms. There were no significant differences between the anthropometric parameters, physical fitness and growth factors for the ACE gene ID or the ACTN3 gene R577X polymorphism. However, the DD type of ACE gene was highest in the side step test (p<0.05), and the DD type was significantly higher than the II+ID type (p<0.05) in the early bone age. The combined group of the ACE gene II+ID and the ACTN3 gene XX type significantly showed lower early bone age (p< 0.05). This study did not find any individual or compounding effects of the polymorphism in the ACE I/D or the ACTN3 R577X polymorphisms on the anthropometric parameters, physical fitness and growth factors of Korean children. However, the exercise experience and the DD type of the ACE gene may affect the early maturity of the bones.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.181-186
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• 2016

Glucose tolerance tests have been devised to determine the speed of blood glucose clearance. Diabetes is often tested with the standard oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), along with fasting glucose level. However, no single test may be sufficient for the diagnosis, and the World Health Organization (WHO)/International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has suggested composite criteria. Accordingly, a single multi-class trait was constructed with three of the fasting phenotypes and 1- and 2-hour OGTT phenotypes from the Korean Association Resource (KARE) project, and the genetic association was investigated. All of the 18 possible combinations made out of the 3 sets of classification for the individual phenotypes were taken into our analysis. These were possible due to a method that was recently developed by us for estimating genomic associations using a generalized index of dissimilarity. Eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were found to have the strongest main effect are reported with the corresponding genes. Four of them conform to previous reports, located in the CDKAL1 gene, while the other 4 SNPs are new findings. Two-order interacting SNP pairs of are also presented. One pair (rs2328549 and rs6486740) has a prominent association, where the two single-nucleotide polymorphism locations are CDKAL1 and GLT1D1. The latter has not been found to have a strong main effect. New findings may result from the proper construction and analysis of a composite trait.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.896-902
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• 2008

Yukmijihwang-tang(YM) is used in Oriental medicine for treatments of diverse systemic symptoms including neurological dosorders. The present study was performed to examine potential effects of YM on growth-promoting activity of injured sciatic nerve axons. YM treatment in the injured sciatic nerve induced enhanced distal elongation of injured axons when measured 3 and 7 days after injury. Retrograde tracing of sciatic nerve axons showed YM-mediated increases in the number of DiI-labeled dorsal root ganglion (DRG) sensory neurons and spinal cord motor neurons at 3 days after injury. Hoechst nuclear staining showed that non-neuronal cell population was largely elevated by YM treatment in distal nerve area undergoing axonal regeneration. Furthermore, phospho-Erk1/2 protein levels were upregulated by YM treatment in the injured nerve area. These data suggest that YM may play a role in facilitated axonal regeneration in injured peripheral nerves. Further investigations of individual herbal components would be useful to explore effective molecular components and develop therapeutic strategies.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2018

The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive validity of the five organ pattern identification questionnaire(FOPIQ). Data collection was conducted from 190 people who were randomly selected from the general population living in D city from October 2016 to June 2017, and the collected data were analyzed by SPSS 23.0 Statistics Program. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to know the relation between the expert's score and FOPIQ's one. The cut-off value, sensitivity and specificity were analyzed through ROC-curve. Significant p was <.05. The pearson correlation coefficient was .735, .756, .762, .736, and .513 between individual score of FOPIQ and that of the experts in liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney, respectively. The cut-off value of the FOPIQ was 46.209, 47.276, 45.336, 48.823, and 42.508 in liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney respectively. The AUC derived from the cut-off value of the FOPIQ was .907, .854, .888, .902, and .781 respectively. This study suggests that the FOPIQ could be valid to apply for general population in clinics as well as health checkups.