• Toxicological Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.325-332
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• 2005

The developmental toxicity of water extract of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) was evaluated in rats. Licorice extract (500, 1,000 or 2,000 mg/kg) was dissolved in drinking water and orally administered to male rats from 9 weeks before mating to the day of copulation, and to females from 2 weeks before mating to gestational day 19. On gestational day 20, the animals were sacrificed for Cesarian section, and maternal and fetal abnormalities were examined. Licorice extract neither induce clinical signs, nor affect the body weight gain, feed and water intake, estrous cycle, copulation and fertility rates, blood $17\beta-estradiol$ level and organ weights of dams. Also, the implantation and development including body weights, absorption and death of embryos and fetuses were not influenced by in utero exposure to licorice. In addition, there were no increases in external, visceral and skeletal abnormalities of fetuses. Taken together, it is suggested that no observed adverse effect level of licorice extract is higher than 2,000 mg/kg, and that long-term in utero exposure to licorice might not cause developmental toxicities of embryos and fetuses.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.702-707
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• 2017

Insects and their extract have been traditionally used as medicinal resources in Asia. Recently, Gryllus bimaculatus and the larva of Tenebrio molitor, Protaetia brevitarsis, and Allomyrina dichotoma were enlisted as general food ingredients by Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. As the interest in these insects is growing, the detailed investigation is needed for the standardization of suitable and safe rearing techniques. This survey was conducted via personal interviews about edible insect rearing farms in Korea. The basic feed is fermented oak sawdust for P. brevitarsis and A. dichotoma and wheat bran for T. molitor. The various feed additives are blended with each farm's own recipes. The overall growth condition, including sawdust fermentation method, feeding period, and rearing density, varies among the investigated farms. It seems that weight of last instar larva was correlated with the rearing density and duration of the larval period. The heavy metal contents were analyzed after 48 hour starvation and they were very small amount or not detected in investigated insects. We believe that the present data will contribute to develop and standardize the safe rearing techniques of edible insects in Korea.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.21-28
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• 2019

To examine the mechanical and combustion characteristics of FRTP, either polycarbonate or nylon were used as a matrix, and either glass fiber or carbon fiber were used as the fiber reinforcement. The fiber reinforcement content was differentiated at 0~40 wt%. The tensile strength and heat distortion temperature increased with increasing reinforcement content. When the fiber reinforcement content was above 30 wt%, the flammability rating showed V-0. As the fiber reinforcement content increased from 0 to 40 wt%, the peak heat release rate of polycarbonate decreased by approximately 51% and that of nylon decreased by approximately 24%. The rate of CO generation decreased for a period of time, and then increased. This appears to have resulted from incomplete combustion. The rate of CO₂ generation shows a similar tendency with the heat release rate. As fiber reinforcement content levels increased from 0 to 40 wt%, the CO₂ peak rate of polycarbonate generation decreased by approximately 50% and that of nylon decreased by 28%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6883-6888
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• 2013

Background: Platinum based concurrent chemo-radiation is the de-facto standard of care in the non-surgical management of locally-advanced head and neck cancer of squamous origin. Three-weekly single agent cisplatin at 100 $mg/m^2$ concurrent with radical radiotherapy has demonstrated consistent improvement in loco-regional control and survival. This improvement is however at the cost of considerable hematologic toxicity and poor overall compliance. The routine use of this regime is improbable in developing countries with limited resources. We therefore aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of an alternative regime of weekly cisplatin and concurrent radiotherapy in such patients. Materials and Methods: January-05 and April-12, 188 patients of locally-advanced head and neck cancer of squamous origin were treated with concurrent weekly-cisplatin at $35mg/m^2$ and conventional radiotherapy 60-66Gy/30-33 fractions/5days per week. Results: Overall, 95% patients received planned doses of RT while 74% completed within the stipulated overall treatment time of <50 days. Eighty-two percent received at-least 5 weekly cycles. Grade-III/IV mucositis was seen in 58%/9% respectively, which resulted in mean weight loss of 9.2% from a pre-treatment mean of 54.5 kg. Grade-III hematologic toxicity-0.5%; grade II nephrotoxicity-2.5% and grade III emesis-3% were also seen. Grade-III/IV subcutaneous toxicity-10%/1% and grade-III/IV xerostomia-10%/0% were observed. Complete responses at the primary site, regional nodes and overall disease were seen in 86%, 89% and 83% patients respectively. The median and 5-years disease-free survival were 26 months and 39.4% respectively, while the median and overall survival were 27 months and 41.8% respectively. Conclusions: Weekly-cisplatin at 35 $mg/m^2$ when delivered concurrently with conventional radical RT (at-least 66y/33 fractions) in locally-advanced head and neck cancer is well tolerated with minimal hematologic and neprologic toxicity and can be routinely delivered on an out-patient basis. It is an effective alternative to the standard 3-weekly cisplatin especially in the context of developing countries.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.377-381
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• 2005

We tried to extract bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) from the freeze-dried bovine cortical bone (FBCB) for bone graft, which were defatted with chloroform-methanol for 20 days, freeze-dried at $-80^{\circ}C$ for 7 days and sterilized by ethylene oxide gas. Two kg of FBCB were pulverized in a wheel mill to $0.5-2.0mm^3$ cubic in size. The bone particles were demineralized in 0.6N HCI for 10 days at chloroform-methanol$4^{\circ}C$ and defatted with chloroform-methanol for 6 hours at room temperature, which was going to be defatting and demineralized cortical bone (DDM). For extracting BMP, DDM was agitated continuously through 72 hours with magnetic stirrer at $4^{\circ}C$ into 12 times of volume of 6 M guanidine hydrochloride (Gdn-HCl) solution containing proteinase inhibitors to protect BMP such as 2mM N-ethylaleimide, 1mM iodoacetic acid, 1mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and a sterilizer, 1mM sodium azide. The extraction procedure was repeated for three times. All extracted solution was centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 30 min and then, the supernatant was dialyzed with 12 times of volume of deionized water at $4^{\circ}C$ for 24-72 hours, which cut off below 6,000-8,000 molecular weight. The dialyzed specimen contained crude-BMP was centrifuged, freeze-dried, and weighted. Through these processing, we could obtained $84.9\%$ as FBCB, $17.8\%$ as DDM and $0.71\%$ as crude-BMP from the wet cortical bone without cancellous bone, marrow and muscles. The crude-BMP were obtained $68.3\%$ from the first extraction, $29.6\%$ from secondary and $2.1\%$ from tertiary, respectively. It was suggested that high yield of crude-BMP migth be explained by three-time repetition of the extraction processing for crude-BMP with Gdn-Hcl sol.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

Background: Intravenous sedation is effective for dental patients who are anxious. Recently, target-controlled infusion (TCI) has begun to be used widely to administer and titrate propofol and remifentanil during sedation. To investigate the effect and safety of the pharmacologic agents used in anesthetic department, we performed a retrospective study. Methods: Retrospective study of a series of dental procedure under intravenous sedation performed in department of anesthesiology in Dental Hospital of Dankook University was carried out with propofol or propofol/remifentanil between January and August 2011 and January and April 2012. All patients received oxygen by nasal cannula. The average propofol and remifentanil target was 0.5 ${\mu}g/ml$ and 1.0 ng/ml, respectively using a TCI pump. The average peripheral oxygen saturation ($SpO_2$), heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, nasal end-tidal $CO_2$ were recorded at 5-10 minute intervals. The age, gender, weight, procedure and sedation time, type of procedure were also recorded. Results: We included 22 cases of 19 adults (group A) and 6 cases of children (group B). In group A, 4 patients received propofol (group A-P), and 15 patients received propofol with remifentanil (group A-PR). In group B, 6 patients received propofol only. The mean age of group A was 41.1 years old and that of group B was 9.5 years old. No clinically significant complications were noted. There were no case of de-saturation <90%. The median respiratory rate was 13.1 (range 6 to 36) in group A and 19 (range 13 to 25) in group B. The median end tidal $CO_2$ was 36.7 mmHg(range 8 mmHg to 56 mmHg) in group A and 41.7 mmHg (range 30 mmHg to 53 mmHg) in group B. Conclusions: Based on our results, dental sedation using propofol/remifentanil in adult and propofol in children with TCI pump seems to appear as a safe and effective procedure while performing dental procedure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.5-16
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• 2012

Geotechnical buried structures with relatively light weight have been suffering from uplift damage due to liquefaction in the past earthquakes. The factor of safety approach by Koseki et al. (1997a), which is widely used in seismic design, predicts the triggering of uplift. However, a method for "quantitative" estimates of the uplift displacement has yet to be established. Estimation of the uplift displacement may be an important factor to be considered for designing underground structures under the framework of performance-based design (ISO23469, 2005). Therefore, evaluation of the uplift displacement of buried structure in liquefied ground during earthquakes is needed for a performance-based design as a practical application. In order to predict the uplift displacement quantitatively, a simplified method is derived based on the equilibrium of vertical forces acting on buried structures in backfill during earthquakes (Tobita et al., 2012). The method is verified through comparisons with results of centrifuge model tests and damaged sewerage systems after the 2004 Niigata-ken Chuetsu, Japan, earthquake. The proposed flow diagram for performance-based design includes estimation of the uplift displacement as well as liquefaction limit of backfill.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.15-30
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• 2017

Objectives: Hwangryunhaedok-tang (HHT; Huanglianjiedu-tang, Orengedoku-to), a traditional herbal formula, is used for treating inflammation, hypertension, gastritis, liver dysfunction, cerebrovascular diseases, dermatitis and dementia. The objective of this study was to assess the sub-acute toxicity of HHT in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, and its effect on the activities of human microsomal cytochrome P450s (CYP450s) and UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). Methods: Male and female SD rats were orally administered HHT once daily at doses of 0, 500, 1000 and 2000 mg/kg for 4 weeks. We analyzed mortality, clinical observations, body weight, food consumption, organ weights, urinalysis, hematology, serum biochemistry, and histopathology. The activities of major human CYP450s (CYP1A2, CYP3A4, CYP2B6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP2E1) and UGTs (UGT1A1, UGT1A4, and UGT2B7) were assessed using in vitro fluorescence- and luminescence-based enzyme assays, respectively. Results: No toxicologically significant changes related to the repeated administration of HHT were observed in both male and female SD rats. The no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) value was more than 2000 mg/kg/day for both sexes. HHT inhibited the activities of human microsomal CYP1A2, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP2E1, whereas it weakly inhibited the activities of CYP2B6, CYP2C9, CYP3A4, and UGT1A1. In addition, HHT negligibly inhibited the activities of human microsomal UGT1A4 and UGT2B7 with $IC_{50}$ values in excess of $1000{\mu}g/mL$. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that HHT may be safe for repeated administration up to 4 weeks. In addition, these findings provide information on the safety and effectiveness of HHT when co-administered with conventional drugs.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.127-133
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• 2015

Objectives : Previous studies have shown that the amount of melittin, the main active ingredient in bee venom pharmacopuncture, tends to decrease substantially with time during pharmacopuncture manufacture. This study aimed to assess whether the stability of bee venom pharmacopuncture improved with pharmacopuncture additives. Methods : Components were measured using high performance liquid chromatography. Acute toxicity and antigenicity tests by subcutaneous and venous routes were conducted at Korea Pharmaceutical Test & Research Institute and mortality, adverse reactions, and body weight changes were assessed. Results : Stability tests using additives revealed that bee venom without additives was most stable. Bee venom pharmacopuncture without additives was further tested for toxicity in subcutaneous and venous administration in mice and no changes pertaining to toxicity were found over the testing period. Conclusions : Bee venom pharmacopuncture without additives was found to be most stable, and further, it did not show toxicity or antigenicity in subcutaneous and venous administration in mice.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.744-754
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• 2017

In this study, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was conducted with the aim of developing a post-disaster refugee housing performance index system (PPS) to improve the post-disaster refugee housing (PRH) performance criteria for the foundation of quality-based development. The PRH was defined as a mid-term temporary housing facility that is used for a certain period before the permanent housing is established. The safety, rapidity, reusability, habitability, and economy were derived from major performance factors through prior research. A hierarchical PPS was organized by linking the major performance factors with the whole life cycle process of PRH. The priority of each performance index of PPS was determined quantitatively using the analytic hierarchy process through an expert survey. Based on AHP analysis, the performance criterion of the total weight 1-10 ranking and the performance criterion of the first rank in each category were classified into the essential performance criterion (must be achieved) and the others were classified into the recommended performance criterion (optional achieved) and the performance index was constructed considering all stages of PRH development. With the completion of the PRH performance index, it is expected that victims will be able to secure stable residence and return to their daily lives quickly.