• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.511-519
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this clinical trial was to examine the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture on liver cirrhosis patients suffering from muscle cramps. Methods: Fourteen patients with liver cirrhosis who experienced muscle cramps at least once a week, regardless of cramp location, were enrolled and randomly allocated to an experimental group (n=12) or a control group (n=12). The experimental patients were treated with electroacupuncture at an electrical stimulation frequency of 100 Hz three times a week for four weeks (12 times in total). Muscle cramps were evaluated by a questionnaire that probed subjective symptoms. We analyzed the frequency of muscle cramps 3 times (at screening, 14 th visit, 15 th visit) during 8 weeks. Results: The number of patients with cramps occurring 'more than once a week' was reduced and the proportion of patients decreased in response to electroacupuncture. The number of patients with cramps occurring 'less than once every two weeks' increased and the proportion of patients also increased in response to eletroacupunture. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that electroacupuncture treatment will be beneficial for improving muscle cramps in patients with liver cirrhosis. Electroacupuncture is considered a safe and efficacious treatment for patients with liver cirrhosis who complain of muscle cramps.

• BMB Reports
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

Atherosclerosis is a pathologic process occurring within the artery, in which many cell types, including T cell, macrophages, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells, interact, and cause chronic inflammation, in response to various inner- or outer-cellular stimuli. Atherosclerosis is characterized by a complex interaction of inflammation, lipid deposition, vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, endothelial dysfunction, and extracellular matrix remodeling, which will result in the formation of an intimal plaque. Although the regulation and function of vascular smooth muscle cells are important in the progression of atherosclerosis, the roles of smooth muscle cells in regulating vascular inflammation are rarely focused upon, compared to those of endothelial cells or inflammatory cells. Therefore, in this review, we will discuss here how smooth muscle cells contribute or regulate the inflammatory reaction in the progression of atherosclerosis, especially in the context of the activation of various membrane receptors, and how they may regulate vascular inflammation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 1991

It has been well known that the integrity of airway epithelium is important in development of bronchial hyperreactivity and bronchial asthma. But the mechanisms involved are still unclear. To evaluate that airway epithelium is able to modulate the contraction of guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, we investigated the responsiveness of intact and epithelium-denuded tracheal strips to histamine and acetylcholine. And to evaluate whether cyclooxgenase products play a role in this modulatory mechanism, we also investigated the effect of indomethacin pretreatment on the tracheal responsiveness to histamine. Results were as follows: 1) In guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle the presence of airway epithelium significantly reduced the response to histamine. 2) In the presence of indomethacin dose-response curves and $EC_{50}$ values were similar between intact and epithelium-denuded tracheal strips, that is, indomethacin abolished the influence of epithelium on the contracion of tracheal smooth muscle. 3) The response of tracheal smooth muscle to acetylcholine was similar both in the presence and absence of epithelium. These results suggest that airway epithelium of guinea pig may generate an inhibitory signal to decrease the response of tracheal smooth muscle to histamine and cyclooxygenase products may contrbute to the modulation of airway epithelium on the contracion of tracheal smooth muscle.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.267-272
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• 2011

A number of studies have demonstrated that 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) can induce muscle contraction or relaxation response and enhance secretion in the gastrointestinal tract via a multiplicity of 5-HT receptor subtypes. In the present study, we investigated the pharmacological characterization of the 5-HT-induced contractile response in longitudinal smooth muscle isolated from the feline ileum. Addition of 5-HT into muscle chambers enhanced the basal tone and spontaneous activity in a concentration-dependent manner. The neurotoxin tetrodotoxin did not alter the 5-HT-induced contraction of the longitudinal muscles. Neither atropine nor guanethidine affected the contraction. The 5-HT agonists, 5-methylserotonin hydrochloride and mosapride, also evoked concentration-dependent contractions. The 5-HT-induced contraction was enhanced by the $5HT_2$ receptor antagonist ketanserin and the $5-HT_3$ receptor antagonist ondansetron but was inhibited by the 5-$HT_1$ receptor antagonist methysergide and 5-$HT_4$ receptor antagonist GR113808. These results indicate that 5-$HT_1$ and 5-$HT_4$ receptors may mediate the contraction of the 5-HT-induced response and 5-$HT_2$ and 5-$HT_3$ receptors may mediate 5-HT-induced relaxation in feline ileal longitudinal smooth muscles.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.85-96
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• 2000

Objectives : This experimental study was designed to investigate the effects of hormone changes in the rats with muscle atrophy in response to Strychnos nuxvonica L. Methods : 24 male rats with muscle atropht by hindlimb suspension method as experimental group and 6 normal male rats were used. Experimental group was administered Strychnos nuxvonica L. 3 times a day, 1mg/kg per one dosage P,O, After 2 to 4 weeks hormone changes in blood were analysed. Results and Conclusions : Norepinephrine and Epinephrine level in blood as they act neurotransmitting substances were significantly increased by administering Strychnos nuxvonica L.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.211-216
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• 1993

To elucidate the action of the cholinergic and ${\alpha}_2$-adrenergic nerve on the isolated ileal smooth muscle of the dog, effect a of electrical field stimulation were investigated on the pretreatment of the physostigmine; cholinestrase inhibitor, yohimbine; ${\alpha}_2$-adrenoceptor blocker, atropine ; cholinergic receptor blocker and phentolamine; non-selective $\alpha$-adrenoceptor blocker from physiograph. 1. The contractile response induced by electrical field stimulation was the frequency (2-40 Hz)-dependent manner. 2. The contractile response induced by electrical field stimulation was markedly increased by the pretreatment of physostigmine$(1{\mu}M)$; cholinestrase inhibitor. 3. The contractile response induced by electrical field stimulation was increased by the pretreatment of yohimbine$(1{\mu}M)$; ${\alpha}_2$-adrenoceptor blocker. These finding suggest that it was powerful excitatory action by cholinergic nerve and inhibitory action by ${\alpha}_2$-adrenergic nerve on ileal smooth muscle of the dog.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 1994

In this paper, a DSP and microcomputer-based EMG controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES) system, for restoring walking of paraplegics at the patients' own command, is presented. The above-lesion EMG is a time-varying nonstationary signal and its autoregressive (AR) parameters are identified by the nonstationary identification algorithm using a DSP chip. The identified AR parameters are used for the cloassification of the function and the control of the movement. The below-lesion response-EMG signal is used as a measure of muscle fatigue. This FES system is designed to measure muscle fatigue and control the stimulation intensity according to the amplitude of the response-EMG signal. While the automatic electrical intensity control is obtained by identifying the movement, the proposed FES system is suitable for the automatic control of paraplegic walking.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.76-81
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• 2004

Problems with the control, oscillatory motion and compliance of pneumatic systems have prevented their widespread use in advanced robotics. However, their compactness, power/weight ratio, ease of maintenance and inherent safety are factors that could be potentially exploited in sophisticated dexterous manipulator designs. These advantages have led to the development of novel actuators such as the McKibben Muscle, Rubber Actuator and Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Manipulators. However, some limitations still exist, such as a deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the changes in the external inertia load in the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. To overcome this problem, a switching algorithm of the control parameter using a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) is newly proposed. This estimates the external inertia load of the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is demonstrated through experiments with different external inertia loads.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1388-1400
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• 2004

Problems with the control, oscillatory motion and compliance of pneumatic systems have prevented their widespread use in advanced robotics. However, their compactness, power/weight ratio, ease of maintenance and inherent safety are factors that could be potentially exploited in sophisticated dexterous manipulator designs. These advantages have led to the development of novel actuators such as the McKibben Muscle, Rubber Actuator and Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Manipulators. However, some limitations still exist, such as a deterioration of the performance of transient response due to the changes in the external inertia load in the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. To overcome this problem, a switching algorithm of the control parameter using a learning vector quantization neural network (LVQNN) is newly proposed. This estimates the external inertia load of the pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is demonstrated through experiments with different external inertia loads.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2022

We injected infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) to pacific whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, and observed closely with using light microscope and transmission electron microscope (TEM) for 4-8 days post infection (dpi). As clinical signs, abdominal bodies had mild opaque muscles at 5 dpi. And the mortality was shown at 6 dpi. At 8 dpi, most injected shrimps had severe opaque muscles and humped back that cause of movement disorder. As results of histopathological examinations, local parts of abdominal body muscle had muscle fiber hyalinization, muscle fiber atrophy, rounded muscle fibers, myofibrillar hypertrophy in size, a decrease in number of myofibrils and phagocytosis from the sarcolemmas by multiple hemocytes at 4 dpi. Especially, myofibrillar hypertrophy appeared at the whole or random part of single muscle fiber not in specific locations like the center or edge of muscle fiber. At 6-7 dpi, multiple muscle necrosis, muscle fiber segmentation, myofibril lysis ap- peared and a few hemocytes were infiltrated at lesions. At 8 dpi, extensive muscle necrosis, multiple myofibril lysis and muscle fiber atrophy were shown, and very few hemocytes were infiltrated. In early stage of infection, local viral myositis with zenker's degeneration were shown. These lesions appeared multiply after the early stage. In late stage of infection, extensive coagulative muscle necrosis appeared with few of inflammatory response such as hemocytes infiltration. The lack of hemocytes infiltration response at the late stage might be disadvantage for Litopenaeus vannamei to defense against IMNV and to recover, because hematocytes (granulocyte, semi-granulocyte) eliminate pathogen and damaged tissues from infection sites and help recover. As results of the TEM observation, IMNVs that had nonenveloped icosahedral capsid which was 30-40 nm diameter were in myofibril and beside tubules of sarcoplasmic reticulum and moved to the certain direction. The micro-tears and micro-trau- mas in myofibrils caused muscle fiber necrosis. And semi-granulocytes engulfed IMNVs to eliminate virus.