• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.298-313
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The effectiveness of natural compounds in improving athletic ability has attracted attention in both sports and research. Gynostemma pentaphyllum (Thunb.) leaves are used to make traditional herbal medicines in Asia. The active components of G. pentaphyllum, dammarane saponins, or gypenosides, possess a range of biological activities. On the other hand, the anti-fatigue effects from G. pentaphyllum extract (GPE) and its effective compound, gypenoside L (GL), remain to be determined. MATERIALS/METHODS: This study examined the effects of GPE on fatigue and exercise performance in ICR mice. GPE was administered orally to mice for 6 weeks, with or without treadmill training. The biochemical analysis in serum, glycogen content, mRNA, and protein expressions of the liver and muscle were analyzed. RESULTS: The ExGPE (exercise with 300 mg/kg body weight/day of GPE) mice decreased the fat mass percentage significantly compared to the ExC mice, while the ExGPE showed the greatest lean mass percentage compared to the ExC group. The administration of GPE improved the exercise endurance and capacity in treadmill-trained mice, increased glucose and triglycerides, and decreased the serum creatine kinase and lactate levels after intensive exercise. The muscle glycogen levels were higher in the ExGPE group than the ExC group. GPE increased the level of mitochondrial biogenesis by enhancing the phosphorylation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) protein and the mRNA expression of nuclear respiratory factor 1, mitochondrial DNA, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-δ, superoxide dismutase 2, and by decreasing the lactate dehydrogenase B level in the soleus muscle (SOL). GPE also improved PGC-1α activation in the SOL significantly through AMPK/p38 phosphorylation. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed that GPE supplementation enhances exercise performance and has anti-fatigue activity. In addition, the underlying molecular mechanism was elucidated. Therefore, GPE is a promising candidate for developing functional foods and enhancing the exercise capacity and anti-fatigue activity.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2008

Objectives: SimJeok-Hwan(CP, Cardiotonic Pills) was made to treat patients with coronary arteriosclerosis, angina pectoris and hyperlipidemia. This study was designed to investigate the effects of CP on Proliferation rates neuroglia cells and protective effect of CP against oxidative stress, and also investigate the effects on regional Cerebral Blood Flow(rCBF) in normal rats. Methods: In this experiment, effects of CP on proliferation rates of neuroglia cells were measured using modified MTT methods. Oxidative stress was induced by treatment with 200 mM of hydrogen peroxide for 2 hr. rCBF and MABP were measured using Laser doppler flowmeter. Results: Treatment with CP elevated proliferation rates in C6 cells. In addition, CP protected cell death of C6 cells induced by oxidative stress. In results, rCBF was elevated by treatment with CP in normal rats. But, Mean Arterial Blood Pressure(MABP) did not affected by CP. In addition, the elevation of rCBF was blacked by pre-treatment with 1 mg/kg of indomethacin effectively. On the other hand, pre-treatment with 0.01 mg/kg of methylene blue did not affect rCBF level in normal rats. Conclusions: In conclusion, these results suggest that CP can act as anti-oxidant to protect neuroglia cells and also suggest that CP can elevate rCBF, which are involved in cyclooxygenase pathway.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.75-97
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• 2004

Objectives: To examine whether the socioeconomic characteristics of communities (contextual effects) are related to the self-rated health of community residents after controlling individual characteristics (compositional effects). Methods: A linked data set including information on individuals from raw data of 1998 Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey(KNHNS) and information on the regions where the individuals lived from the socioeconomic statistical indices of Si-Gun-Gu (city-county-ward) in 1998 was established. The contextual factors of communities were generated from these socioeconomic indices through factor analysis. The contextual effects of community over and above the individual characteristics on the self-rated health were investigated using multilevel analysis. Results: The contextual factors of the community expressed as the factor scores have influence on the self-rated health of their residents above the compositional factors. When the communities were categorized into 5 groups (highest, high, middle, low, lowest) according to each of their factor scores, for factor 1 reflecting urbanization reversely, the residents of the communities that had the high, middle, and low factor scores showed significantly poor subjective health status than the residents of the lowest (most urbanized) group. For factor 2 reflecting community services and health resources, the subjective health status of the residents gradually became poorer when the group went from the highest to the lowest, and the low and lowest groups showed a significant difference. For factor 3 reflecting the manufacturing industry, as compared with the communities that have the highest factor scores, the other 4 groups showed significantly poorer subjective health status. And for factor 4 reflecting the scale of the regional government, as compared with the middle group, the rest of the 4 groups showed significantly better self-rated health. Conclusions: There existed regional contextual effects on their residents' health in Korean adults. To make policies tackling these contextual effects possible, more elaborate researches to find more specific factors and to explain the mechanisms of how health is influenced by the contextual factors are needed.

• Archives of design research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.379-388
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• 2002

Since policies of each local government toward regional development have been focusing on only development of the individual applied items such as a character merchandise, co-regional brand, and developing a speciality for the region, the adverse effects of design have been came out. So we carried out this research to minimize the adverse effect of design and also we would like to give the opportunity of thinking of a new way to activate local economy, to create regional identity and to develop local resources by applying the Cl program which have bean used as the way of business improvement coping with the conceptional change of competitiveness with a comprehensive view. Therefore, for design to play an important role in regional development, as standing on the basis of regional development it is necessary to attain the various goals such as activating administrative organization, improving the administrative image, and making the local in go unique. And also it is necessary to develop the communicational strategy as an innovative and expressive program which can consider human network development as an regional resource. To carry out this communicational strategy effectively, in particular, it is not only inevitable to operate the strategic and comprehensive programs promoting the regional development according to the of 6 stages design develop cent program which consists of region's self-verification and self-recognition, self-determination, development of self-innovation, visibility to unify the regional images, creating the design system, and carrying out and verifying the program, but also it is necessary to apply regional development system which can change the regional basic plan, aiming at regional development, into unique regional trait that has an future image by improving the program with constant management and feedback through verifying the design program.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.463-475
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• 2005

This paper aims at examining the current states of regional industrial structures, and secondly, analyzing the specialized industries in Youngnam Area, and finally, elucidating its policy implications. The main results of this paper are as follows. The characteristics of specialized industries are different between regions, in terms of static-dynamic dimension, static dimension and dynamic dimension. As a results, the effects of the activating strategies of regional specialized industries are quite different by regions. Therefore, some policy implications are elucidated, as follows. Firstly, different strategy may be committed according to the characteristics of specialized industries. Secondly, the activating strategies of regional specialized industries and regional innovation strategies may be confused considering the changing trends into knowledge based economies.

• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2017

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a community-based muscle and joint self-management program with muscle stretching and muscle strengthening exercises for community-dwelling older adults. Methods: The study was a pre-and-post design in a single group, which examined the effects after the intervention of muscle and joint self-management program for 6 weeks, on the 42 subjects of the elderly who registered in a Community Senior Center in J city. Data analyses were conducted with paired t-test by using a SAS (version 9.2 for Windows) program. Results: The effectiveness of muscle and joint self-management program on shoulder flexibility and right knee extension (flexibility) were significantly improved (t= 2.72, p= .010; t= -2.26, p= .029). Joint symptoms (pain, stiffness), physical functioning, depression, fatigue, and left knee extension were not significantly improved after the muscle and joint self-management program. Conclusion: The results showed the possibility of this 6-week exercise program in improving shoulder and knee flexibility for community-dwelling older adults.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.137-148
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• 2016

Objectives : This study was performed to review articles concerning acupuncture or moxibustion treatment for Complex Regional Pain Syndromes. Methods : On-line databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Ovid-EMBASE, NDSL and OASIS were searched to find articles concerning acupuncture or moxibustion treatment for Complex Regional Pain Syndromes. Several overlapping articles and those not relevant to the topic were excluded, as well as review articles and commentaries. Results : 16 case reports were selected through the procedure, all of which presented successful treatment cases of Complex Regional Pain Syndromes with acupuncture and moxibustion. Most of them presented one single patient case and were published in Korea. However, almost half of them were printed in English, and had been continuously published since 2005. It was remarkable that pharmacopuncture was predominantly used to treat Complex Regional Pain Syndromes. Also, we noted that Chinese scalp acupuncture needs to be studied further as two successful cases were presented from the U.S army. Conclusion : The results show that several case reports have been published regarding Complex Regional Pain Syndromes treated with acupuncture and moxibustion. However, all of them were case reports which are given low status in Evidence-Based Medicine. We expect that a more diverse range of articles, including case control studies, cohort studies and randomized controlled trials will be performed in the near future, and that a unified outcome measure will be developed for Complex Regional Pain Syndromes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4285-4289
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• 2015

Purpose: Blood hemoglobin levels are known to influence response to radiotherapy. This retrospective analysis compared the effect of hemoglobin levels upon response to radiation among patients treated with radiation alone (by accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy) versus those treated with concurrent cisplatin chemoradiotherapy. Materials and Methods: Among patients treated for locally advanced carcinoma of the cervix (LACC) during 2009-10, a total of 60 fulfilled the eligibility criteria. In this time frame, external beam radiotherapy was delivered with either concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT, n=31) (45Gy over 25 fractions, with weekly cisplatin at 40mg/m2), or with accelerated hyperfractionated radiotherapy (AHRT, n=29) (20Gy over 10 daily fractions over the first two weeks, followed by 30Gy over 20 fractions over the next two weeks, with two fractions of 1.5Gy per day, without the use of chemotherapy). Mean weekly hemoglobin (MWH) levels of all patients were calculated as the arithmetic means of weekly recorded blood hemoglobin levels. As per MWH, patients in both of the AHRT or the CRT groups were classified into two subgroups-those with MWH between 10-10.9g/dL, or with MWH>11g/dL. Complete response (CR) to external beam RT phase (prior to brachytherapy) was declared after clinical examinations and computed tomography. The CR rate was noted for both MWH sub-groups within each of the AHRT and CRT groups. Results: Within the AHRT group, patients with MWH>11g/dL had a much better CR rate in comparison to those with MWH:10-10.9g/dL (80% vs. 21.1%) which was statistically significant (p 0.0045). Within the CRT group, there was no significant difference in the outcomes within the MWH>11g/dL and MWH:10-10.9g/dL sub-groups (CR rates of 80% vs. 61.9%, p=0.4285). Conclusions: The importance of maintaining a minimum hemoglobin level of 11g/dL during RT is much greater for patients treated with RT alone, than for patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Enhanced haemoglobin levels during RT may to an extent negate the ill-effects that may otherwise arise due to non-use of concurrent chemotherapy.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.228-235
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• 2021

Backgroud: Ginsenoside compound K (GK) is a major metabolite of protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides and has remarkable anticancer activities in vitro and in vivo. This work used an ionic cross-linking method to entrap GK within O-carboxymethyl chitosan (OCMC) nanoparticles (Nps) to form GK-loaded OCMC Nps (GK-OCMC Nps), which enhance the aqueous solubility and stability of GK. Methods: The GK-OCMC Nps were characterized using several physicochemical techniques, including x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential analysis, and particle size analysis via dynamic light scattering. GK was released from GK-OCMC Nps and was conducted using the dialysis bag diffusion method. The effects of GK and GK-OCMC Nps on PC3 cell viability were measured by using the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide assay. Fluorescent technology based on Cy5.5-labeled probes was used to explore the cellular uptake of GK-OCMC Nps. Results: The GK-OCMC NPs had a suitable particle size and zeta potential; they were spherical with good dispersion. In vitro drug release from GK-OCMC NPs was pH dependent. Moreover, the in vitro cytotoxicity study and cellular uptake assays indicated that the GK-OCMC Nps significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of GK toward the PC3 cells. GK-OCMC Nps also significantly promoted the activities of both caspase-3 and caspase-9. Conclusion: GK-OCMC Nps are potential nanocarriers for delivering hydrophobic drugs, thereby enhancing water solubility and permeability and improving the antiproliferative effects of GK.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.88-96
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• 2013

Much attention has been needed in water resource management at the watershed due to drought and flooding issues caused by climate change in recent years. Increase in air temperature and changes in precipitation patterns due to climate change are affecting hydrologic cycles, such as evaporation and soil moisture. Thus, these phenomena result in increased runoff at the watershed. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model has been used to evaluate rainfall-runoff at the watershed reflecting effects on hydrology of various weather data such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed. For bias-correction of RCP data, at least 30 year data are needed. However, for most gaging stations, only precipitation data have been recorded and very little stations have recorded other weather data. In addition, the RCP scenario does not provide all weather data for the SWAT model. In this study, two scenarios were made to evaluate whether it would be possible to estimate streamflow using measured precipitation and long-term average values of other weather data required for running the SWAT. With measured long-term weather data (scenario 1) and with long-term average values of weather data except precipitation (scenario 2), the estimate streamflow values were almost the same with NSE value of 0.99. Increase/decrease by ${\pm}2%$, ${\pm}4%$ in temperature and humidity data did not affect streamflow. Thus, the RCP precipitation data for Hongcheon watershed were bias-corrected with measured long-term precipitation data to evaluate effects of climate change on streamflow. The results revealed that estimated streamflow for 2055s was the greatest among data for 2025s, 2055s, and 2085s. However, estimated streamflow for 2085s decreased by 9%. In addition, streamflow for Spring would be expected to increase compared with current data and streamflow for Summer will be decreased with RCP data. The results obtained in this study indicate that the streamflow could be estimated with long-term precipitation data only and effects of climate change could be evaluated using precipitation data as shown in this study.