• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.41 no.7
• /
• pp.914-920
• /
• 2012

We investigated the effects of heat treatment and extraction method on the antioxidant activities of five medicinal plants: Cyperus rotundus, Eucommia ulmoides, Bupleurum falcatum, Achyranthes japonica Nakai, and Akebia quinata. Extraction was performed with only ultrasound, ultrasound after heating at $130^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours, and reflux extraction with distilled water. The phenolic contents of reflux extraction and ultrasound extraction after heating were higher than only ultrasound extraction, and ultrasound extraction after heating samples was higher than reflux extraction except for Eucommia ulmoides and Cyperus rotundus. Total flavonoid content was higher in reflux and ultrasound extraction after heating samples than only ultrasound extraction, except for Cyperus rotundus. ABTS radical scavenging activity was higher in reflux extraction and ultrasound extraction after heating a sample, than only ultrasound extraction. DPPH radical scavenging activity was higher in reflux extraction except for Achyranthes japonica Nakai and Akebia quinata. The reducing power of ultrasound extraction after heating was higher with Achyranthes japonica Nakai. From the results of this study, we can expect to increase the antioxidant activity of medicinal plant extracts by applying suitable extraction and pretreatment conditions on the type of medicinal plant.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.23-30
• /
• 2013

The sludge disposal is a major economic factor in the sewage treatment facility operation. Moreover, since the ocean dumping will be prohibited by Korean environmental law from 2013, sludge should be eliminated or sludge volumetric reduction should be performed urgently. In this study, improvement of the sewage sludge dewaterability was investigated by ultrasound and electric field treatment. Sludge was treated by a single or in combination of either the electric field or ultrasound on a pilot pretreatment facility, then it was dewatered by lab-scale filter press. The operating input energy of ultrasound device was varied from 225~1,200 kJ/L and electric field device was varied from 4.5~24 kJ/L. The water contents of dewatered sludge cake treated with ultrasound (1,200 kJ/L) and combination of ultrasound/electric field (1,224 kJ/L) were decreased 10~12% by comparing non-treated sludge. At that time, water contents were 65~66%. The combination treatment of ultrasound/electric field was effective to reduce water content of dewatered sludge cake, however, water content was not changed by a single treatment of electric field because of low energy density.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.195-207
• /
• 2023

Background: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the pericapsular nerve group (PENG) block and intra-articular injection (IAI) of steroid-bupivacaine in the treatment of hip osteoarthritis (OA). Methods: After randomization, patients received either a PENG block or IAI under ultrasound-guidance. Clinical evaluations were recorded at baseline, day 1, and weeks 1, 4, and 8 post-intervention. The numerical rating scale (NRS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), Harris Hip Scale (HHS) scores, pain medication use determined by a quantitative analgesic questionnaire, and patient satisfaction were evaluated. Results: Sixty patients were included in this study. NRS scores improved significantly for both groups during the follow-up compared to pretreatment (P < 0.001), with better pain scores for the PENG group (P < 0.001) at day 1 with larger effect size (Cohen's d = 4.62), and IAI group at 4 (Cohen's d = 5.15) and 8 (Cohen's d = 4.33) weeks (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in pain medication consumption (P = 0.499) and patient satisfaction (P = 0.138) between groups. Patients in the IAI group experienced significant improvement in HHS (Cohen's d = 2.16, P = 0.007) and WOMAC (Cohen's d = 1.02, P = 0.036) scores at 8 weeks compared to the PENG group. Conclusions: The ultrasound-guided PENG block provides effective pain relief which improves functionality and quality of life in hip OA patients up to 2 months. The PENG block can be considered an easy, safe, and useful alternative treatment modality for hip OA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.375-378
• /
• 2005

The objective of this study was to clarify the possibility of adsorption trichloroethylene (TCE) of pretreated granular activated carbon (GAC). The chemical solution used for the acidic treatment was phosphoric acid. In addition, the effect of ultrasound on GAC assessed in this experiments. It was observed that the adsorption of TCE were different based on pH value of pretreated GAC. However, natural water such as groundwater has various factors like ionic strength and hardness etc. Therefore, more laboratory work is needed to study about pretreated GAC.

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.143-148
• /
• 2006

The ultrasonics is a new technology in waste activated sludge(WAS) treatment. Ultrasonic treatment is well known method for the break up of microbial cells to extract out a variety of intercellular materials inside microorganism cell. This study was done to investigate the effects of the ultrasonic frequency and power on disruption of biosolids in WAS and to examine the effect on methane production of WAS treated by ultrasonics. Biosolids disruption with ultrasound is more effective at ultrasonic frequency of 40 kHz and power of 0.3 watt/mL. In the digestion with WAS pretreated by sonication time for 10 minute at 40 kHz and 0.3 watt/mL, the total quantity of generated methane increased by 75%, as compared with experimental control(non-treatment).

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.43 no.3
• /
• pp.169-173
• /
• 2016

Objective: To determine the preferred regimen for women with adenomyosis undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF), we compared the IVF outcomes of fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycles with or without gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist pretreatment and of frozenthawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles following GnRH agonist treatment. Methods: This retrospective study included 241 IVF cycles of women with adenomyosis from January 2006 to January 2012. Fresh ET cycles without (147 cycles, group A) or with (105 cycles, group B) GnRH agonist pretreatment, and FET cycles following GnRH agonist treatment (43 cycles, group C) were compared. Adenomyosis was identified by using transvaginal ultrasound at the initial workup and classified into focal and diffuse types. The IVF outcomes were also subanalyzed according to the adenomyotic region. Results: GnRH agonist pretreatment increased the stimulation duration ($11.5{\pm}2.1days$ vs. $9.9{\pm}2.0days$) and total dose of gonadotropin ($3,421{\pm}1,141IU$ vs. $2,588{\pm}1,192IU$), which resulted in a significantly higher number of retrieved oocytes ($10.0{\pm}8.2$ vs. $7.9{\pm}6.8$, p=0.013) in group B than in group A. Controlled ovarian stimulation for freezing resulted in a significantly higher number of retrieved oocytes ($14.3{\pm}9.2$ vs. $10.0{\pm}8.2$, p=0.022) with a lower dose of gonadotropin ($2,974{\pm}1,112IU$ vs. $3,421{\pm}1,141IU$, p=0.037) in group C than in group B. The clinical pregnancy rate in group C (39.5%) tended to be higher than those in groups B (30.5%) and A (25.2%) but without a significant difference. Conclusion: FET following GnRH agonist pretreatment tended to increase the pregnancy rate in patients with adenomyosis. Further largescale prospective studies are required to confirm this result.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.362-367
• /
• 2006

Waste activated sludge(WAS) collected from domestic wastewater treatment plant is biomass that contains large quantities of organic matter. However, relevant literature show that the bio-hydrogen yield using WAS was too low. In this study, the effect of pretreatment of WAS on hydrogen yield was investigated. Pretreatment includes acid and alkali treatments, grinding, heating, ozone and ultrasound methods. After pretreatment organic matters of WAS were solubilized and soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD) was increased by 14.6 times. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of pre-treatment methods and buffer solution, hydrogen partial pressure, and sodium ion on hydrogen production from WAS by using heated anaerobic mixed cultures. Experimental results showed that addition of buffer solution, efficient pre-treatment method with alkali solution, and gas sparging condition markedly increased the hydrogen yield to 0.52 mmol $H_2/g$-DS.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.317-322
• /
• 2005

Various recovery methods were investigated to maximize hemicellulose recovery from lignocellulosic material hydrolyzed by pure water. The pretreatment conditions of water hydrolysis were $170\~180^{\circ}C$ and 1 hour of reaction time. The percentage of hemicellulose solubilized increased as the temperature increased from 170 to $180^{\circ}C$. However, significant decomposition of sugar was observed at temperature of $180^{\circ}C$. From the results of water hydrolysis, the total amount of glucan in solid residue and liquid hydrolyzate was close to the total glucan in the original biomass. For hemicellulose, however, there was a significant difference between both contents. To prove this difference, various recovery methods were proposed. From the total sugar accountability (sugar in liquid + sugar in solid), it was confirmed that hemicellulose recovery in the hydrolyzate was increased if the product including both hydrolyzate and solid residue was physically stimulated by such as heating and ultrasound irradiation. This indicated that, in commercial scale processes that much bigger substrate sizes are used and a sufficient amount of leaching solvent can not be used after pretreatment, a significant amount of oligomers could be trapped in the solid matrix.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.810-815
• /
• 2010

Ultrasonic sludge pre-treatment has been studied to enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion by increasing sludge hydrolysis which is regarded as the rate-limiting-step of anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effect of ultrasonic pre-treatment on sludge hydrolysis (solubilization) and methane production was investigated. Sludge solubilization efficiency increased with ultrasonic energy input. However, it is uneconomical to apply more than 720 kJ/L as the solubilization efficiency per energy input declines afterwards. Volatile fatty acids concentration increased after the ultrasonic sludge hydrolysis. Anaerobic batch digestion showed that methane volume reached 64.7 and 84.5 mL after 18 days of incubation with the control sludge and ultrasonically hydrolyzed sludge, respectively. Methane production potential, maximum methane production rate, and the lag time of modified Gompertz equation were changed from 70 mL, 6.4 mL/day, and 1.2 days to 89 mL, 9.6 mL/day, and 0.5 day, respectively, after the ultrasonic sludge treatment. The results proved that ultrasonic pre-treatment contributed significantly not only for the methane production but also for the reduction of anaerobic digestion time which is critical for the performance of anaerobic sludge digestion.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.147-157
• /
• 2021

Coronary microembolization (CME) is associated with cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac dysfunction. Puerarin confers protection against multiple cardiovascular diseases, but its effects and specific mechanisms on CME are not fully known. Hence, our study investigated whether puerarin pretreatment could alleviate cardiomyocyte apoptosis and improve cardiac function following CME. The molecular mechanism associated was also explored. A total of 48 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into CME, CME + Puerarin (CME + Pue), sham, and sham + Puerarin (sham + Pue) groups (with 12 rats per group). A CME model was established in CME and CME + Pue groups by injecting 42 ㎛ microspheres into the left ventricle of rats. Rats in the CME + Pue and sham + Pue groups were intraperitoneally injected with puerarin at 120 mg/kg daily for 7 days before operation. Cardiac function, myocardial histopathology, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis index were determined via cardiac ultrasound, hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and hematoxylin-basic fuchsin-picric acid (HBFP) stainings, and TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining, respectively. Western blotting was used to measure protein expression related to the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) pathway. We found that, puerarin significantly ameliorated cardiac dysfunction after CME, attenuated myocardial infarct size, and reduced myocardial apoptotic index. Besides, puerarin inhibited cardiomyocyte apoptosis, as revealed by decreased Bax and cleaved caspase-3, and up-regulated Bcl-2 and PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β pathway related proteins. Collectively, puerarin can inhibit cardiomyocyte apoptosis and thus attenuate myocardial injury caused by CME. Mechanistically, these effects may be achieved through activation of the PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β pathway.