• Applied Microscopy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2002

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of deer antler extract on the regeneration of peripheral nerves. Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing about 300 gm were fed deer antler extract for 1, 2, and 3 weeks per oral (1.5 ml/100 gm B.W.), respectively, once a day and transected both sides of sciatic nerve of each leg. After keeping for 6 hours, sciatic nerves taken from proximal part of transected region were treated with conventional transmission electron microscopical method and then observed with electron microscope. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. Sciatic nerves of normal control group were not showing any sprouts and electron dense axolemmal projections were frequently observed. 2. Sciatic nerves of saline treated groups were showing axonal sprouts at the nodes of Ranvier. The length of them was usually short, and numerous vesicles, vacuoles and organelles including neurofilament were contained. The number of nodes of Ranvier containing sprouts from 100 longitudinal sectioned nerve fibers was 29 (29%) in 1 week treated group, 32 (32%) in 2 weeks treated group, and 30 (30%) in 3 weeks treated group, respectively. 3. Sciatic nerves of deer antler treated groups were showing axonal sprouts at the node of Ranvier as well. Although most of the sprouts were short, some sprouts of 2 weeks and 3 weeks treated groups were quite long. Sprouts usually contained numerous vesicles, vacuoles and cell organelles such as neurofilaments and mitochondria. The number of nodes of Ranvier containing sprouts from 100 longitudinal sectioned nerve fibers was 38 (38%) in 1 week treated group, 46 (46%) in 2 weeks treated group, and 48 (48%) in 3 weeks treated group respectively. The results described above explain pretreatment of deer antler extract improves the sprout formation of transected sciatic nerves, and then it suggests deer antler may be effective for the regeneration of peripheral nerves.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.125-130
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• 2012

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a widely used model organism in biological research. Thanks to the availability of well-established knowledge about its neural connectivity, a wide range of studies have been attempted to uncover the relationship between behaviors and the responsible neurons. In our research, the adaptive behavior of C. elegans in solid environments with different surface rigidities is investigated, where the worm adapts to different mechanical stiffnesses by modulating its crawling waveform. The amplitude and wavelength of the crawling waveform decrease as the environment becomes more rigid. Interestingly, the mechanosensation-defective mutant shows different responses to the surface rigidity compared to those of the wild-type worm. To explain the adaptation process in mechanically different environments, we suggest a plausible neural circuit model.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1323-1328
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• 2011

In the current design process for the lower arm used in automobile parts, an optimal solution of its various design variables should be found through exploration of the design space approximated using the response surface model formulated with a first- or second-order polynomial equation. In this study, a multi-level computational DOE (design of experiment) was carried out to explore the design space showing nonlinear behavior, in terms of factors such as the total weight and applied stress of the lower arm, where a fractional-factorial orthogonal array based on the artificial neural network model was introduced. In addition, the tolerance robustness of the optimal solution was estimated using a tolerance optimization with six sigma constraints, taking into account the tolerances occurring in the design variables.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.361-366
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• 2013

Prediction of process parameters is very important in parameter design. If predictions are fairly accurate, the quality improvement process will be useful to save time and reduce cost. The concept of dual response approach based on response surface methodology has widely been investigated. Dual response approach may take advantages of optimization modeling for finding optimum setting of input factor by separately modeling mean and variance responses. This study proposes an alternative dual response approach based on machine learning techniques instead of statistical analysis tools. A hybrid neural network-genetic algorithm has been proposed for the purpose of parameter design. A neural network is first constructed to model the relationship between responses and input factors. Mean and variance responses correspond to output nodes while input factors are used for input nodes. Using empirical process data, process parameters can be predicted without performing real experimentations. A genetic algorithm is then applied to find the optimum settings of input factors, where the neural network is used to evaluate the mean and variance response. A drug formulation example from pharmaceutical industry has been studied to demonstrate the procedures and applicability of the proposed approach.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1993.04a
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• pp.85-85
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• 1993

뇌동맥계는 일과성 저혈압에 반응하여 혈관확장이 야기되고, 혈압 상승시에는 혈관수축이 일어남으로서 뇌혈류가 일정하게 조절된다. 이러한 자가조절은 뇌손상 등의 병적 상태에서 야기된다. 연구의 목적은 \circled1 Cromakalim, CGRP(calcitonin-gene related peptide), 및 substance P에 의하여 뇌연막동맥의 직경이 어떻게 변동하는가를 관찰하고 \circled2 이들 신경성 peptide의 작용에 대하여 $K^{＋}$ 통로 개방 봉쇄제인 glibenclamide의 전처치 효과를 검색하고 \circled3 Capsaicin 전처치가 뇌혈류 자가조절에 어떻게 영향을 미치는가를 검색하였다. 그 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. 뇌혈류 자가조절은 대퇴동맥을 통한 사혈에 의하여 혈압하강을 일으킬 때 뇌연막 동맥은 이완하였고, reservoir내의 혈액을 체내로 주입함로서 혈압반전을 일으켰을 때는 혈관 수축이 일어났다. 2. 연막동맥은 glibenclamide (1~3$\mu$M)의 관류에 의하여는 영향을 받아니하였다. 3. 혈압변동에 따른 혈관직경의 변화를 회기직선으로 분석하였다. Glibenclamide 1과 3$\mu$M의 전처치 관류에 의하여 혈압하강에 따른 혈관 이완경사도와 혈압반전에 따른 혈관수축 경사도가 대조군에 비하여 현저히 약화되었다. 4. Cromakalim (0.1-30$\mu$M)의 각 농도를 대뇌표면에 관류시 연막동맥의 기초직경은 약물농도에 의존하여 증가되었고, 이는 glibenclamide (1$\mu$M) 전처치 관류에 의하여 억제되었다. 5. CGRP (0.1~100 nM)와 substance P (0.1~10nM)도 용량에 의존하여 혈관이완을 일으켰다. 전자는 glibenclamide (1$\mu$M) 전처치 관류에 의하여 억제되었으나 후자는 영향을 받지 아니하였다. 6. Capsaicin(50 nmol: intracisternally) 주사에 의하여 뇌혈류자가조절의 변동이 초래되었다. 이상의 결과들을 종합하면 CGRP가 혈압변동에 의하여 반사적으로 유리되고, 이는 glibenclamide-sensitive $K^{＋}$ 통로에 작용하는 것으로 시사된다.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.71-81
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• 2011

Adfreeze bond strength is a primary design parameter, which determines bearing capacity of pile foundation in frozen ground. It is reported that adfreeze bond strength is influenced by various affecting factors like freezing temperature, confining pressure, characteristics of pile surface, soil type, etc. However, several limited researches have been performed to obtain adfreeze bond strength, for past studies considered only few affecting factors such as freezing temperature and type of pile structures. Therefore, there exists a limitation of estimating the design parameter of pile foundation with various factors in frozen ground. In this study, artificial neural network algorithm was involved to predict adfreeze bond strength with various affecting factors. From past five studies, 137 data for various experimental conditions were collected. It was divided by 100 training data and 37 testing data in random manner. Based on the analysis result, it was found that it is necessary to consider various affecting factors for the prediction of adfreeze bond strength and the prediction with artificial neural network algorithm provides enough reliability. In addition, the result of parametric study showed that temperature and pile type are primary affecting factors for adfreeze bond strength. And it was also shown that vertical stress influences only certain temperature zone, and various soil types and loading speeds might cause the change of evolution trend for adfreeze bond strength.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.220-226
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• 2017

Dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) are neurotransmitters and hormones that exist in small amounts but have important role in the body. Serum and 24-hour urine are used as specimens, and are usually examined by HPLC-MS. In this study, we tried to detect DA and 5-HT by competitive ELISA using antigen-antibody (Ab) reaction. After immobilizing $5{\mu}g/mL$ BSA conjugate on a 96-well surface, hormone and primary Ab, which are respectively diluted to different concentrations, were treated. Then, HRP-conjugated secondary Ab and TMB were added to measure absorbance. The regression equation and $R^2$ value were calculated based on absorbance, and sensitivity of Ab to hormone as well as the correlation between hormone concentration and absorbance were determined. In DA ELISA, $R^2$, the correlation between the concentration of hormone and absorbance, was the highest by 0.91 when anti-dopamine Ab was diluted 6,000 times and 7,000 times. In 5-HT ELISA, $R^2$ was bigger than 0.90 in every concentration except 3,000 times and 6,000 times. Both DA and 5-HT were not effectively detected at low concentrations (less than $1.0{\times}10^{-7}M$); and because reference value of serum DA is lower than this, HPLC-MS was required to detect serum DA. However, competitive ELISA may be effective in detecting 24-hour urine DA, serum, and 24-hour 5-HT. Further studies are needed to detect hormones more accurately at lower concentrations.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2008

Retinal prosthesis is regarded as the most feasible method for the blind caused by retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or age related macular degeneration (AMD). Recently Korean consortium launched for developing retinal prosthesis. One of the prerequisites for the success of retinal prosthesis is the optimization of the electrical stimuli applied through the prosthesis. Since electrical characteristics of degenerate retina are expected to differ from those of normal retina, we performed voltage stimulation experiment both in normal and degenerate retina to provide a guideline for the optimization of electrical stimulation for the upcoming prosthesis. After isolation of retina, retinal patch was attached with the ganglion cell side facing the surface of microelectrode arrays (MEA). $8{\times}8$ grid layout MEA (electrode diameter: $30{\mu}m$, electrode spacing: $200{\mu}m$, and impedance: $50k{\Omega}$ at 1 kHz) was used to record in-vitro retinal ganglion cell activity. Mono-polar electrical stimulation was applied through one of the 60 MEA channel, and the remaining channels were used for recording. The electrical stimulus was a constant voltage, charge-balanced biphasic, anodic-first square wave pulse without interphase delay, and 50 trains of pulse was applied with a period of 2 sec. Different electrical stimuli were applied. First, pulse amplitude was varied (voltage: $0.5{\sim}3.0V$). Second, pulse duration was varied $(100{\sim}1,200{\mu}s)$. Evoked responses were analyzed by PSTH from averaged data with 50 trials. Charge density was calculated with Ohm's and Coulomb's law. In normal retina, by varying the pulse amplitude from 0.5 to 3V with fixed duration of $500{\mu}s$, the threshold level for reliable ganglion cell response was found at 1.5V. The calculated threshold of charge density was $2.123mC/cm^2$. By varying the pulse duration from 100 to $1,200{\mu}s$ with fixed amplitude of 2V, the threshold level was found at $300{\mu}s$. The calculated threhold of charge density was $1.698mC/cm^2$. Even after the block of ON-pathway with L-(1)-2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB), electrical stimulus evoked ganglion cell activities. In this APB-induced degenerate retina, by varying the pulse duration from 100 to $1200{\mu}s$ with fixed voltage of 2 V, the threshold level was found at $300{\mu}s$, which is the same with normal retina. More experiment with APB-induced degenerate retina is needed to make a clear comparison of threshold of charge density between normal and degenerate retina.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.133-141
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• 1993

Present study investigated the differences in psychological tests responses between chronic motor tic disorder and tourette's disorder to clarify whether chronic motor tic and tourette's disorder constitute a single disorder on a continuum or not. Based on the diagnosis by child psychiatrists 29 chronic motor tic disorder and 10 tourette's disorder children between the age of 6 to 13 were selected, and the psychological tests responses of two diagnostic groups were compared. The results showed that tourette's disorder is more related to neulological problems than chronic motor tic disorder. Also it was found that children with tourette's disorder have more difficulties in social-emotional adjustment than children with chronic motor tic disorder. These results suggested that interactions among neurological factor, emotional factor and temperamental characristics might be more involved in tourette's disorder than in chronic motor tic disorder. The limitations of present study and the need for futher research on the comorbidity of tourette's disorder and ADHD were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.66-71
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• 2008

This study was conducted to predict optimum leaching conditions for functional components of black tea. Two variables were used to determine the optimum leaching temperature and leaching time with a five-level central composite design and response surface methodology. Soluble solid, reducing sugar, total phenolics, and total flavonoid contents increased as leaching temperature and time increased. The ranges of maximum leaching conditions for these components were $78.28{\sim}87.08^{\circ}C$ and $3.97{\sim}4.27min$. Vitamin C level was maximal at $61.29^{\circ}C$ and 2.68 min. Electron donating ability showed the highest values at $68.30^{\circ}C$ and 0.54 min. Based upon the superimposed results, it was predicted that the optimal ranges of leaching conditions for some functional components from black tea were $63{\sim}79^{\circ}C$ for $1.5{\sim}2.1$ min.