• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.275-280
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• 2018

Objectives: The project Seoul Atopy Asthma-friendly School investigated the current status of childhood asthma to enable formulation of a preventative policy. We evaluated the current prevalence of childhood asthma in Seoul and its trends and related factors. Methods: The project was conducted annually from 2011 to 2016 and involved around 35 000 children aged 1-13 years. Based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood guidelines, the survey involved parents. The associations of the particulate matter ($PM_{10}$) concentration, and the number of days on which the daily air quality guidance level was exceeded in the 25 districts of Seoul, with the prevalence of asthma were assessed. Results: The age-standardized asthma prevalence in 2011 and 2016 was 6.74 and 4.02%, respectively. The prevalence of lifetime asthma treatment and treatment during the last 12 months tended to decrease from 2011 to 2016. Asthma treatment was significantly correlated with the number of days on which the daily air quality guidance level was exceeded, but not with the $PM_{10}$ concentration. Conclusions: This study reports the prevalence of asthma among children in Seoul and confirmed the relationship between childhood asthma and known risk factors in a large-scale survey.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2002

This paper demonstrates that the largest Lyapunov exponent λ of recurrent neural networks can be controlled efficiently by a stochastic gradient method. An essential core of the proposed method is a novel stochastic approximate formulation of the Lyapunov exponent λ as a function of the network parameters such as connection weights and thresholds of neural activation functions. By a gradient method, a direct calculation to minimize a square error (λ - λ$\^$obj/)$^2$, where λ$\^$obj/ is a desired exponent value, needs gradients collection through time which are given by a recursive calculation from past to present values. The collection is computationally expensive and causes unstable control of the exponent for networks with chaotic dynamics because of chaotic instability. The stochastic formulation derived in this paper gives us an approximation of the gradients collection in a fashion without the recursive calculation. This approximation can realize not only a faster calculation of the gradient, but also stable control for chaotic dynamics. Due to the non-recursive calculation. without respect to the time evolutions, the running times of this approximation grow only about as N$^2$ compared to as N$\^$5/T that is of the direct calculation method. It is also shown by simulation studies that the approximation is a robust formulation for the network size and that proposed method can control the chaos dynamics in recurrent neural networks efficiently.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.150-155
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• 2005

Aqueous extract of antidiarrhoeal formulation (ADF) containing Holarrhena antidysentrica, Aegle marmelos and Punica granatum was investigated for antidiarrhoeal activity against charcoal-induced gut transit, serotonin-induced diarrhoea and $PGE_2-induced$ small intestine enteropooling in rats. The control, standard and test groups of experimental animals were administered with normal saline (p.o.), diphenoxylate hydrochloride (5 mg/kg, p.o.) and ADF (250 mg and 500 mg/kg, p.o.) respectively except the control group of $PGE_2-induced$ small intestine enteropooling which received only 5% ethanol in normal saline (i.p.). Charcoal (10 ml/kg, p.o.) and serotonin $(600\;{\mu}g/kg,\;i.p.)$ were administered after 30 min, while $PGE_2\;(100\;{\mu}g/kg,\;p.o.)$ was administered immediately afterwards. The distance traveled by charcoal in small intestine was measured after 15 and 30 min of charcoal administration, diarrhoea was observed every 30 min for six hour after serotonin administration and the volume of intestinal fluid was measured after 30 min of $PGE_2$ administration. Oral administration of ADF significantly inhibited the frequency of defaecation and decreased the propulsion of charcoal meal through the gastrointestinal tract, reduced the wetness of faecal dropping in serotonin-induced diarrhoea and also reduced the $PGE_2-induced$small intestine enteropooling. ADF may have potential to reduce the diarrhoea in rats.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.438-444
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• 2014

Broussonetia kazinoki Siebold. (B. kazinoki) has long been used in the manufacture of paper in Asian countries. Although B. kazinoki leaves (BK) have been employed in dermatological therapy, use of BK has not been tested in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). Using Nc/Nga mice, which are genetically predisposed to develop AD-like skin lesions, we confirmed the efficacy of BK in AD treatment. BK extract was applied topically to Dermatophagoides farinae-induced AD-like lesions in Nc/Nga mice, and the effects were assessed both clinically and by measuring skin thickness on the back and ears. We measured the effects of BK extract on plasma levels of IgE and IL-4. We also measured the ability of BK extract to inhibit the secretion of hTARC in HaCaT cells after stimulation by TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$. We found that BK extract significantly reduced ear and dorsal skin thickness and the clinical signs of AD, as well as significantly down-regulating the plasma levels of IgE and IL-4 (p<0.01 for each comparison). Moreover, $500{\mu}g/mL$ of BK extract inhibited hTARC secretion in HaCaT cells by activated TNF-${\alpha}$/IFN-${\gamma}$ by about 87%. These findings suggest that topical application of BK extract has excellent potential in the treatment of AD.

• CELLMED
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.27.1-27.6
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• 2020

Cancer is one of the leading cause of mortality in India as well as worldwide. The management of cancer by conventional therapy has shown life threatening adverse effects. The researchers are now exploring the natural way of treatment. Unani system of medicine have rich literature for cancer and many compound formulations have been described in this system. Unani system of medicine is based on holistic approach and treat human being as a unit with natural herbs, mineral and animal origin drugs. An important compound Unani formulation (CUF) from the literature has been chosen to explore the Unani claim of its anticancer activity. The phytochemical constituents were assessed using standard phytochemical screening method. Antioxidant property of this formulation was assessed by DPPH assay. The DPPH free radical scavenging assay was carried out by colorimetric method and ascorbic acid was taken as a positive control. Three different extracts of CUF on different concentrations were used to screening on human breast cancer (BCC) MCF-7 cell line. For the estimation of in-vitro cytotoxic potency of the investigated extracts was assessed on MTT assay by using trypan blue method and paclitaxel was used as the standard. Hydro-ethanolic (HE) extract showed highest free radical scavenging activity among all extracts. DPPH Assay showed substantial antioxidant activity of these extracts in hydro-ethanol extract at 1㎍ concentration of CUF. The CUF showed antioxidant and anticancer activity. The claim made by Unani physician has been proved.

• CELLMED
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.7.1-7.6
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• 2020

Plants produce a wide range of active principles, making them a rich source of different types of medicines. Without any knowledge of the phytoconstituents or active principles the medicinal plants itself or in the form of polyherbal formulations, were used by all society of human being from ancient times for prevention and cure of disease, but most of the traditional formulations including the formulation of Ayurveda and Unani have not been scientifically validated in order to establish the pharmacopoeial standards to improve the efficacy. Globally, the people become conscious that uses of synthetic drugs for a long period is not safe; the trend of medical society at large is looking at alternatives from natural, safe sources to combat diseases. Due to this comprehension, it has been increased the demand for plant-derived medicine, and on the other side, it is extremely important to standardize the polyherbal formulations and validate them scientifically to improve their safety and efficacy. The polyherbal Unani formulation Safuf-e-Muallif is widely used and recommended in Unani system of medicine (USM) as a spermatogenic agent, semen thickening agent, etc. to treat sexual disorders viz. premature ejaculation, nocturnal emission, etc. The study mainly deals with phytochemical screening for the detection of nature of phytoconstituents and analytical technique like High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) for developing fingerprint of Safuf-e-Muallif revealing specific identities of the drug. The phytochemical screening and HPTLC fingerprint profile for SM reported here may be used as a reference standard for quality control purpose in future.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.7-14
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• 2020

Objectives : Pyeongwi-san is widely used in Korean medicine for acute indigestion or gastrodynia. As a therapeutic agent for digestive diseases of modern people, in order to confirm the mechanism of Pyeongwi-san on digestive tract disease and the difference of therapeutic efficacy between its formulation, a comparative efficacy test was conducted on digestive tract disease animal model. Methods : For LPS enteritis animal model, male SD rats were intraorally treated with different formulation types of Pyeongwi-san, and then intraperitoneally administered LPS one hour later to induce enteritis. After 5 hours, blood was collected and TNFα, IL-1β, IL-6 and PGE2 were confirmed by ELISA. For acute gastritis animal model, male SD rats were intraorally treated with different formulation types of Pyeongwi-san according to the prescribed concentration, and then intraorally administered 60% ethanol and 150 mM HCl one hour later to induce acute gastritis. After 5 hours, blood was collected and TNFα,IL-6 were confirmed by ELISA. Results : In the LPS-administered enteritis animal model, Pyeongwi-san decreased TNFα, IL-1β, PGE2 and especially IL-6. Pyeongwi-san also decreased IL-6 in acute gastritis animal model. In addition, there was no significant difference in efficacy between the two formulations when compared with inflammatory markers. Conclusions : The efficacy of Pyeongwi-san was confirmed in the inflammatory markers related to digestive inflammatory diseases, and the efficay between two formulations of Pyeongwi-san was relatively similar. Further studies are needed to investigate the new applicability of Pyeongwi-san on different inflammatory diseases that have similar inflammation markers identified in this experiment.

• CELLMED
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• v.13 no.14
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• pp.18.1-18.13
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• 2023

Background and objectives: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is recognized as the most prevalent type of vaginal infection, impacting approximately 19-24% of women in their reproductive years. The recurrence rate of BV is significant, negatively impacting the well-being of affected women. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic effects of a polyherbal Unani formulation and metronidazole in treating bacterial vaginosis. Methodology: In this prospective patient blinded standard controlled trial, a total of 40 individuals with a clinical diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis were randomly assigned to receive either an active control treatment (n = 20) or a test drug (n = 20). In the test drug combination of Acacia catechu, Azadirachta indica and Quercus infectoria in tablet (1g) form in the dose of 2 tablets orally twice daily with water was administered for 3 weeks. In the active control standard drug, metronidazole 400 mg tablet, orally twice daily was given for one week. The primary outcome measure was clinical cure; H. negative Amsel's criteria and a reduction in subjective symptoms, while the secondary outcome measure was an improvement in SF-36 quality of life (QOL). Results and conclusion: Both the experimental treatment and the metronidazole demonstrated a significant clinical cure for bacterial vaginosis as well as an increase in health-related quality of life. Based on these findings, it appears that the test medication is a potent Unani formulation for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. A well conducted trial with a bigger sample size is required to corroborate these findings.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.80-85
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• 2008

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one of the common diseases in elderly men. Recently, the old-aged population has increased, with the interest in the clinical importance of BPH ever growing. This study is designed to investigate the effects of KH-305 on BPH induced rat. The herb formulation KH-305 is consisted of Rubus coreanus, Cornus officinalis and Cuscuta chinensis. An experimental prostatic hyperplasia was induced in male rats by the administration of testosterone propionate, 3 mg/kg SC, for 2 months. The rats were divided into 3 experimental groups: the control, BPH-induced, oral KH-305 ingestion group. After 2 months, the prostates were removed, and analyzed for their prostatic weight and histological examination. The prostate weights were measured in each group, and found to be 820${\pm}$38mg, 3140${\pm}$26mg, 1880${\pm}$21mg in the control, BPH-induced, and oral KH-305 ingestion group, respectively. The BPH induced group showed statistically significant increases in their prostatic weights compared with control group(p<0.05) but oral KH-305 ingestion group showed more significant decreases than BPH-induced group statically(p<0.05). Histologically injected testosterone lead to prostatic hyperplasia in rats, but oral KH-305 ingestion decreased this change. These results suggest that KH-305 may be effective in treatment of BPH, and complementary medicine of BPH.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.387-392
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• 2008

Alfuzosin, an Alphal-adrenoceptor antagonist is used for the treatment of patients with voiding and in a lesser extent storage lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The objective of this study was to formulate sustained release alfuzosin HCl granules and assess their formulation variables. The $Eudragit^{(R)}$ as a polymer, sustained release membrane, and dibutyl sebacate (DBS) as a plasticizer were used. Multi-coated alfuzosin HCl delivery systems composed of sugar sphere, various excipients, $Eudragit^{(R)}$ and HPMC (hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose), Cellulose Acetate were prepared by fluid-bed coater. Membrane layer were used $Eudragit^{(R)}$ RS PO and NE 30D. And the alfuzosin HCl coated beads were coated immediate release drug layer for initial burst. Its dissolution test was carried out compared to conventional products ($XATRAL^{(R)}$ XL). The release rate of drug from coated beads was higher than that from $XATRAL^{(R)}$ XL in pH 6.8.