• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.807-814
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• 2013

A fundamental study on laser-tissue interaction was conducted with the aim of developing a therapeutic medical device that can remove lesions on the intestinal wall by irradiating a high-power 808-nm infrared laser light incorporated in an endoscopic system. The perforation depth was linearly increased in the range of 1~4 mm in proportional to laser output (3~12 W) and irradiation time (5~20 s). We demonstrated that the perforation depth during laser irradiation was varied according to the tissue property of each extracted porcine organ. The measurement of the temperature distribution suggests that the energy is localized in the irradiation spot and transferred to deep tissue, which protects the surrounding tissue from thermal injury. These results can be used to set the driving parameters for a laser incision technique as an alternative to conventional surgical interventions.

• Journal of the Korean Operations Research and Management Science Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.117-117
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• 1992

Pubilc utility industries including the electric utility industry are facing a new stream of privatization com-petition with the private sector and deregulation. The necewssity to solve now and in the future power supply and demand problems has been increasing through the sophisticated generation expansion plan(GEP) approach con-sidering not only KEPCo's supply-side resources but also outside resources such as non-utility generation(NUG) demand-side management (DSM). Under the environmental situation in the current electric utility industry a new approach is needed to acquire multiple resources competitively. This study presents the development of a modified electric generation expansion analysis system(EGEAS) model with avoided cost based on the existing EGEAS model which is a dynamic program to develope an optimal generation expansion plan for the electric utility. We are trying to find optimal GEP in Korea's case using our modified model and observe the difference for the level of reliabilities such as the reserve margin(RM) loss of load probability(LOLP) and expected unserved energy percent(EUEP) between the existing EGEAS model and our model. In addition we are trying to calculate avoided cost for NUG resources which is a criterion to evaluate herem and test possibility of connection calculation of avoided cost with GEP implementation using our modified model. The results of our case study are as follows. First we were able to find that the generation expansion plan and reliability measures were largely influenced by capacity size and loading status of NUG resources, Second we were able to find that avoided cost which are criteria to evaluate NUG resources could be calculated by using our modified EGEAS model with avoided cost. We also note that avoided costs were calculated by our model in connection with generation expansion plans.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5275-5279
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• 2013

Background: The XRCC1 (X-ray repair cross complimenting group-I) gene in BER (base excision repair) pathway is essential for DNA repair process. Polymorphisms in this gene are associated with variations in the repair efficiency which might predispose individuals to development of various cancers. Two variants of XRCC1gene (at codon 399), Gln/Gln and Arg/Gln, have been shown to be related to lowered DNA repair capacity and increased genomic instability in multiple studies. Hence our investigation focused on genotyping these variants to correlate with other multiple risk factors in lung cancer (NSCLC) patients since we hypothesized that these variants of the XRCC1 gene might influence disease susceptibility. Materials and Methods: We examined the frequency of the polymorphism in one hundred cases and an almost equal number of controls after recording their demographics with a structured questionnaire. Genomic DNA from blood samples was extracted for PCR studies, followed by RFLP to determine the variants. The significance of the data was statistically analyzed. Results: The three genotypes in cases and controls were Arg/Arg (40% and 54.45%); Gln/Gln (19% and 9.90%), and Arg/Gln (41.0% and 35.64%) respectively. Among these 3 genotypes, we found Gln/Gln and Arg/Gln to show association with lung cancer. Correlating these genotypes with several parameters, we also found that these two variants were associated with risk in males (p<0.05) and with smoking habits (p<0.05). In females Arg/Gln genotype showed association with stage of the disease (p=0.04). This is the first report in South Indian scenario where Arg399Gln genotypes were found to be associated with stage of the disease in females. Conclusions: It is concluded that XRCC1 genotypes Gln/Gln and Arg/Gln may influence cancer susceptibility in patients with smoking habits and these functional SNPs in XRCC1 gene may act as attractive candidate biomarkers in lung cancer for diagnosis and prognosis.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.540-547
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• 2009

There needs disease-predictable signs in order to enable preventive diagnosis and therapy. Then traditional Chinese medicine applies various medical diagnostic equipments used in western medicine to diagnosing sub-healthy state. But such data are not originated from inherent oriental medicine, and not obtained easily in ordinary clinical practice. This paper is to provide synopsis of the ante-disease diagno-therapeutics partly and to show predictable data based on the facial shapes and signs, especially of gall bladder's versus bladder's body and masculine versus feminine shape. Ante-disease means not only the complete healthy state, but also the state unseen any symptoms in macrographically in the course of outbreak of disease. It contains two stages, first one is the former state of disease and second one is untransmitted state of disease. The patterns of ante-disease consist of latent disease, pre-disease, transmission type like senescent syndrome, abnormal reactive syndrome(變證), syndrome of transmission and transmutation. The classification with gall bladder and bladder type manifests the differences of shape, color and size of each organ in comparison of the universal and standard figures of the human being. On the other hand, the classification with masculine and feminine shape contrasts the innate sexual difference and the shape, characteristics originated from in itself. These two classification theories have their own pathologic types and syndrome types with each disease so that disease-predictable data can be constructed based on such a relationship. In addition, this diagnostic method by facial shapes and signs is able to be applied to whole stages from prenatal to present state of disease even if the cause and inducement are not clear. Ante-disease diagno-theraputic system by Gall Bladder's versus Bladder's Body and Masculine versus Feminine Shape is getting more important in the chronic and internal disease in comparison of the acute and traumatic disease. So this study is able to make up for the limit of diagnosis on ante-disease in the field of oriental medicine clinic.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.289-295
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• 1998

The bioequivalence of two nilvadipine products was evaluated in 16 normal male volunteers (age 22-32 yr, body weight 57-80 kg) following sidle oral dose. Test product was Overca $l_{R}$ tablet (Choong-Wae Pharm. Corp., Korea) and reference product was Nivadi $l_{R}$ tablet (Hyundai Pharm. Corp., Korea). Both products contain 4 mg of nilvadipine. One tablet of the test or the reference product was administered to the volunteers, respectively, by randomized two period cross-over study (2$\times$2 Latin square method). The determination of nilvadipine was accomplished using a validated capillary column GC with electron-capture detection. As a result of the assay validation, the quantiflcation of nilvadipine in human plasma by this technique was possible down to 0.5 ng/ml using 1 ml of plasma. Absolute overall recovery from five replicate analyses of nilvadipine-spiked sample were 88.4$\pm$ 10.24% (mean$\pm$ 5.D.) for human plasma of 10 ng/ml. The coefficients of variation (C.V.) were less than 20% and the actual concentration of nilvadipine measured by GC ranged from 80 to 99% in all plasma. Average drug concentrations at each sampling time and pharmacokinetic parameters calculated were not significantly different between two products (p>0.05); the area under the curve from time zero to 8 hr (AUCo-$_{8 hr}$) (22.8$\pm$5.90 vs 22.2$\pm$6.10 ng . hr/ml), maximum plasma concentration ( $C_{max}$) (10.0$\pm$2.85 vs 9.3$\pm$3.28 ng/ml) and time to reach maximum plasma concentration ( $T_{max}$) (1.2$\pm$0.31 vs 1.3 $\pm$0.47 hr). The differences of mean AU $Co_{8hr}$ $C_{max}$, and $T_{max}$ between the two products (2.25, 7.65, and 10.30%, respectively) were less than 20%. The power (1-$\beta$) and treaeent difference (7) for AU $Co_{8hr}$, and $C_{max}$ were more than 0.8 and less than 0.2, respectively. Although the power for Tmax was under 0.8, Tm\ulcorner of the two products was not significantly different from each other (p>0. 05). These results suggest that the bioavailability of Overeat tablet is not significantly different from that of Nivadil tablet. Therefore, two products are bioequivalent based on the current results.sults.lts.lts.lts.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2000

Recently, we reported that immunostimulation of primary rat cortical astrocyte caused stimulation of glucose deprivation induced apoptotic cell death. To enhance the understanding of the mechanism of the potentiated cell death of clucose-deprived astrocyte by immunostimulation, we investigated the effect of immunostimulation on the glucose deprivation induced cell death of rat C6 glioma cells. Co-treatment of C6 glioma cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, $1\;{\mu}\textrm{g}/ml$) and interferon ${\gamma}(IFN{\gamma},\;100U/ml)$ is serum free condition caused marked elevationo f nitric oxide production ($>50\;{\mu}M$). In this condition, glucose deprivation caused significant release of lactate dehdrogenase (LDH) from C6 glioma cells while control cells did not show LDH release. To investigate whether elevated level of nitric oxide is responsible for the enhanced LDH release in glucose-deprived condition, C6 glioma cells were treated with 3-morphorinosydnonimine (SIN-1) and it was observed that SIN-1 caused increase in LDH release from glucose-deprived C6 glioma cells. Treatment of C6 glioma cells with $25\;{\mu}M$ of pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) which inhibit Nuclear factor kB (NF-kB) activation, caused complete inhibition of nitric oxide production. Treatment of C6 glioma cells with NO synthase inhibitors, $N^{G}$-nitro-L-arginine (NNA) or L-$N{\omega}$-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), caused inhibition of nitric oxide production and also glucose deprivation induced cell death of cytokine-stimulated C6 glioma cells. In addition, diaminohydroxypyrimidine (DAHP, 5 mM) which inhibits the synthesis of tetrahydrobiopterine (BH4), one of essential cofactors for iNOS activity, caused complete inhibition of NO production from immunostimulated C6 glioma cells. The results from the present study suggest that immunostimulation causes potentiation of glucose deprivation induced death of C6 glioma cells which is mediated at least in part by the increased production of nitric oxide. The vulnerability of immunostimulated C6 glioma cells to hypoglycemic insults may implicate that the elevated level of cytokines in various ischemic and neurodegenerative diseases may play a role in their pathogenesis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.463-469
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• 2012

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, inflammatory disease of the skin with increased transepidermal water loss. Both an abnormal inflammatory response and a defective skin barrier are known to be involved in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis. Protease activated receptor 2 (PAR2) belongs to a family of G-protein coupled receptors and is activated by both trypsin and a specific agonist peptide, SLIGKV-$NH_2$. PAR2 is expressed in suprabasal layers of the epidermis and regulates inflammatory responses and barrier homeostasis. In this study, we show that nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) inhibits the PAR2-mediated signal pathway and plays a role in skin barrier recovery in atopic dermatitis. Specifically, NDGA reduces the mobilization of intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ in HaCaT keratinocytes by down-regulating inflammatory mediators, such as interleukin-8, thymus and activation-regulated chemokine and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 in HaCaT keratinocytes. Also, NDGA decreases the protein expression of involucrin, a differentiation maker of keratinocyte, in both HaCaT keratinocytes and normal human epidermal keratinocytes. We examined NDGA-recovered skin barrier in atopic dermatitis by using an oxazolone-induced atopic dermatitis model in hairless mice. Topical application of NDGA produced an increase in transepidermal water loss recovery and a decrease in serum IgE level, without weight loss. Accordingly, we suggest that NDGA acts as a PAR2 antagonist and may be a possible therapeutic agent for atopic dermatitis.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.38-44
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• 2011

Cisplatin is widely used for various types of cancers. However, its side effects, most notably, renal toxicity often limit its clinical utility. Although previous metabolomic studies reported possible toxicity markers, they used small number of animals and statistical approaches that may not perform best in the presence of intra-group variation. Here, we identified urinary biomarkers associated with renal toxicity induced by cisplatin using NMR-based metabolomics combined with Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures-Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA). Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=22) were treated with cisplatin (10 mg/kg single dose), and the urines obtained before and after treatment were analyzed by NMR. Multivariable analysis of NMR data presented clear separation between non-treated and treated groups. The OPLS-DA statistical results revealed that 1,3-dimethylurate, taurine, glucose, glycine and branched-chain amino acid (isoleucine, leucine and valine) were significantly elevated in the treated group and that phenylacetylglycine and sarcosine levels were decreased in the treated group. To test the robustness of the approach, we built a prediction model for the toxicity and were able to predict all the unknown samples (n=14) correctly. We believe the proposed NMR-based metabolomics with OPLS-DA approach and the resulting urine markers can be used to augment the currently available blood markers.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2008

Dyslipidemia is the multiple lipid metabolic disorders which is one of the high risk factors for the atherosclerotic diseases. It increases the morbidity and mortality and therefore, must be treated with antilipidemic agents. HMG-Co A reductase inhibitors (statins), one of many antidyslipidemic agents, have shown to be significant improvement from the various cholesterol levels. Especially, data from many comparative trials suggest that rosuvastatin is more effective than atorvastatin among many other statins. The aims of this study were to evaluate the efficacy and safety between rosuvastatin and atorvastatin in the treatment of Korean patients with dyslipidemia. Currently the Korean Society of Lipidology and Atherosclerosis based on the Korean health screening data suggests that Korean patients with dyslipidemia should be treated by the target cholesterol levels according to the Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines of the US National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP-ATP III). We reviewed retrospectively all medical histories of the total 392 dyslipidemic patients with atorvastatin or rosuvastatin from June 1st, 2004 to August 31st, 2006 in Chungbuk National University Medical Center. Patients were classified as total 4 groups by the NCEP-ATP III Guidelines. The numbers of enrolled patients were each 5 mg atorvastatin (n=34), 10 mg atorvastatin (n=148), 5 mg rosuvastatin (n=94) and 10 mg rosuvastatin (n=82). In comparison between groups, rosuvastatin groups in the lowering LDL-C had better efficacies, and the results were each 22% (5 mg atorvastatin), 33.3% (10 mg atorvastatin), 35% (5 mg rosuvastatin) and 41.3% (10 mg rosuvastatin) with the dose relationship (P=0.000). Rosuvastatin groups also have shown to be more significantly reducing Total Cholesterol levels compared to atorvastatin groups with the no dose relationship (P=0.000). In the lowering of non-HDL cholesteroles, rosuvastatin groups showed significantly better efficacies than atorvastatin with the dose-relationship (P=0.000). Each medication groups did not demonstrate the differences in the changing of HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels (P=0.096, 0.309, respectively). In conclusion, rosuvastatin was better efficacious than atrovastatin in reducing LDL-C Total Chol, and Tg. Therefore, rosuvastatin is a good antilipidemic agents for Korean patients with dyslipidemia and it can use to minimize the morbidity and mortality related to the cardiovascular diseases in Korean.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2014

${\alpha}$-Asarone exhibits a number of pharmacological actions including neuroprotective, anti-oxidative, anticonvulsive, and cognitive enhancing action. The present study investigated the effects of ${\alpha}$-asarone on pro-inflammatory cytokines mRNA, microglial activation, and neuronal damage in the hippocampus and on learning and memory deficits in systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated C57BL/6 mice. Varying doses of ${\alpha}$-asarone was orally administered (7.5, 15, or 30 mg/kg) once a day for 3 days before the LPS (3 mg/kg) injection. ${\alpha}$-Asarone significantly reduced TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ mRNA at 4 and 24 hours after the LPS injection at dose of 30 mg/kg. At 24 hours after the LPS injection, the loss of CA1 neurons, the increase of TUNEL-labeled cells, and the up-regulation of BACE1 expression in the hippocampus were attenuated by 30 mg/kg of ${\alpha}$-asarone treatment. ${\alpha}$-Asarone significantly reduced Iba1 protein expression in the hippocampal tissue at a dose of 30 mg/kg. ${\alpha}$-Asarone did not reduce the number of Iba1-expressing microglia on immunohistochemistry but the average cell size and percentage areas of Iba1-expressing microglia in the hippocampus were significantly decreased by 30 mg/kg of ${\alpha}$-asarone treatment. In the Morris water maze test, ${\alpha}$-asarone significantly prolonged the swimming time spent in the target and peri-target zones. ${\alpha}$-Asarone also significantly increased the number of target heading and memory score in the Morris water maze. The results suggest that inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines and microglial activation in the hippocampus by ${\alpha}$-asarone may be one of the mechanisms for the ${\alpha}$-asarone-mediated ameliorating effect on memory deficits.