• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.503-508
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• 2016

Biosensors have been used as first-step monitoring tools to detect on-site samples in a simple and cost-effective manner. Numerous recombinant microbial biosensors have been exploited for monitoring on-site toxic chemicals and biological signals. Herein, a recombinant microbial biosensor was constructed for monitoring cadmium. The cadmium responding cadC regulatory gene and it’s promoter from Staphylococcus aureus was amplified through PCR, fused with the lacZ gene, and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells. In the presence of cadmium, the biosensor cells express β-galactosidase showing red color development with chlorophenol red β-galactopyranoside (CPRG) as the enzymatic substrate. The biosensor cells showed the best β-galactosidase activity after 3 hr induction with cadmium at pH 5 and a detection range from 0.01 μM to 10 mM cadmium with a linearity from 0.01 to 0.1 μM cadmium (y = 0.98 x + 0.142, R² = 0.98). Among the heavy metals, cadmium and lead showed good responses, tin and cobalt showed medium responses, and mercury and copper showed no responses. The biosensor cells showed good responses to several waste waters similar to buffer solution, all spiked with cadmium. The biosensor described herein could be applied for on-site cadmium monitoring in a simple and cost-effective manner without sample pretreatments.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1226-1232
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• 2007

Phellinus linteus is a well-known Oriental medicinal fungus that has various biological activities, including immunomodulatory and anti-tumor activities, the mechanisms of which are poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the anti-proliferative activity of the methanol extract of P. linteus-Barley corn (MEPLB) in human lekemic U937 cells. It was found that exposure of U937 cells to MEPLB resulted morphological change and growth inhibition in a dose-dependent manner as measured by trypan blue count and MTT assay. Upon treatment with MEPLB, U937 cells developed many of the hallmark features of apoptosis, including condensation of chromatin and an increase in the sub-G1 population suggesting that the anti-proliferative effect of MEPLB is associated with the induction of apoptosis. The anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of MEPLB were connected with a marked induction of the pro-apoptotic Bax and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21 in a p53-independent manner. Additionally, MEPLB treatment significantly induced the caspase-3 activity in U937 cells. Taken together, the present results suggest that apoptotic signals evoked by MEPLB in human leukemic U937 cells may converge caspase-3 activation through an up-regulation of Bax rather than a down-regulation of Bcl-2 or Bel-xL.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.379-385
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• 2002

Tele-medicine and emergency medical system are necessary for moving from an accidental point or far distance to a hospital and emergency treatment or home treatment before a hospital. Emergency treatment is extremely important in the case of death before arriving a hospital and deformed of disabled by medical treatment delay. A necessary element for this medical system is the emergency communication system. This system is on preparing for an ability of furnishing patient status to a corresponding health service by monitoring the patient at an ambulance of the accident place. This is the transportation of basic biological information of a patient to a medical center by wireless communication system and the corresponding hospital of medical center examine the patient by monitoring, then they can send emergency medical order to the patient for emergency treatment. The TRS is most efficient way of emergency medical communication system, which is currently used with popularity. In this paper studied simultaneously a way of detecting and transporting bio-logical signals, and monitoring of transporting data with communication of voice in the accident place of ambulance.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2005

The hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal hormone axis is centrally controlled by a complex regulatory network of excitatory and inhibitory signals, that is dormant during infantile and juvenile periods and activated at puberty. The kisspeptins are the peptide products of the KiSS-1 gene and the endogenous agonists for the G protein-coupled receptor 54(GPR54). Although KiSS-1 was initially discovered as a metastasis suppressor gene, a recent evidence suggests the KiSS-1/GPR54 system is a key regulator of the reproductive system. Yet the actual role of the KiSS-1/GPR54 system in the neuroendocrine control of gonadotropin secretion remains largely unexplored, the system could be the first missing link in the reproductive hormonal axis. Central or peripheral administration of kisspeptin stimulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, increasing circulating gonadotropin levels in rodents, sheep, monkey and human models. These effects appear likely to be mediated via the hypothalamic GnRH neuron system, although kisspeptins may have direct effects on the anterior pituitary gland. The loss of function mutations of the GPR54(GPR54-/-) have been associated with lack of puberty onset and idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism(IHH). So kisspeptin infusion may provide a novel mechanism for HPG axis manipulation in disorders of the reproductive system.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2003

The job of long distance driving is likely to be fatiguing and requires long period alertness and attention, which make considerable demands of the driver. Driving fatigue contributes to driver related with accidents and fatalities. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the number of hours of driving and driving fatigue using heart rate variability(HRV) signal. With a more traditional measure of overall variability (standard deviation, mean, spectral values of heart rate). Nonlinear characteristics of HRV signal were analyzed using Approximate Entropy (ApEn) and Poincare plot. Five subjects drive the four passenger vehicle twice. All experiment number was 40. The test route was about 300Km continuous long highway circuit and driving time was about 3 hours. During the driving, measures of electrocardiogram(ECG) were performed at intervals of 30min. HRV signal, derived from the ECG, was analyzed using time, frequency domain parameters and nonlinear characteristic. The significance of differences on the response to driving fatigue was determined by Student's t-test. Differences were considered significant when a p value < 0.05 was observed. In the results, mean heart rate(HRmean) decreased consistently with driving time, standard deviation of RR intervals(SDRR), standard deviation of the successive difference of the RR intervals(SDSD) increased until 90min. Hereafter, they were almost unchanging until the end of the test. Normalized low frequency component $(LF_{norm})$, ratio of low to high frequency component (LF/HF) increased. We used the Approximate Entropy(ApEn), Poincare plot method to describe the nonlinear characteristics of HRV signal. Nonlinear characteristics of HRV signals decreased with driving time. Statistical significant is appeared after 60 min in all parameters.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.595-602
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• 1998

Among the apex locators, the frequency dependent type is more accurate and convenient to use than others, But the accuracy of the apex locator is still influenced by the presence of various electrolytes used in root canal treatments. In this study, we have developed a frequency dependent electronic apex locator minimizing the influence of the electrolytes on the measurement of root canal lengths. It was also confirmed that two frequencies of 500Hz and 100kHz are optimal for the measuring impedance compare with commercial product used(400Hz and 8kHz)a and there were no differences in accuracy among the three different types of the waveforms; sinusoidal, triangular, and rectangular waves(p>0.05). Impedance ratio of the two different frequencies represents the position of the file in root canal, and the voltage difference of two signals represents the status of the fluid in the root canal. As a result of compensation using the voltage differences, the errors were decreased on the average from +0.54mm to +0.18mm in $H_2O_2$ solution (p<0.01), and from -0.33mm to -0.01mm in NaOCl solution(p<0.01). The accuracies based on ${\pm}$0.5mm, in $H_2O_2$ and NaOCl solutions were improved with the automatic compensation from 71.1% and 91.1% to 82.2% and 100% respectively.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.182-188
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• 2013

This study aims to develop a practical algorithm which can detect freezing of gait(FOG) in patients with Parkinson's disease(PD). Eighteen PD patients($68.8{\pm}11.1yrs.$) participated in this study, and three($68.7{\pm}4.0yrs.$) of them showed FOG. We suggested two time-domain algorithms(with 1-axis or 3-axes acceleration signals) and compared them with the frequency-domain algorithm in the literature. We measured the acceleration of left foot with a 3-axis accelerometer inserted at the insole of a shoe. In the time-domain method, the root-mean-square(RMS) acceleration was calculated in a moving window of 4s and FOG was defined as the periods during which RMS accelerations located within FOG range. The parameters in each algorithm were optimized for each subject using the simulated annealing method. The sensitivity and specificity were same, i.e., $89{\pm}8%$ for the time-domain method with 1-axis acceleration and were $91{\pm}7%$ and $90{\pm}8%$ for the time-domain method with 3-axes acceleration, respectively. Both performances were better in the time-domain methods than in the frequency-domain method although the results were statistically insignificant. The amount of calculation in the time-domain method was much smaller than in the frequency-domain method. Therefore it is expected that the suggested time domain algorithm would be advantageous in the systematic implementation of FOG detection.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.590-600
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• 2007

We performed experimental studies on the muscle activities in the lower limbs for the different movement patterns on an unstable platform. A training system for postural control using an unstable platform that we previously developed was applied for the experiments. This unstable platform provides 360 degrees of movement allowing for training of posture in various directions and provides simultaneous excitations to visual sensory, somatic sensation and vestibular organs. Compare with the stable platform, keeping body balance on the unstable platform requests more effective sensation from vision, vestibular sense and somatic sense. Especially, the somatosensory inputs from the muscle proprioceptors and muscle force are crucial. To study the muscle activities for the different movement patterns and find the best training method for improving the ability of postural control through training and improving the lower extremity muscular strength, fifteen young healthy participants went through trainings and experiments. The participants were instructed to move the center of pressure following the appointed movement pattern while standing on the unstable platform. The electromyographies of the muscles in the lower limbs were recorded and analyzed in the time and the frequency domain. Our experimental results showed the significant differences in muscle activities for the different movement patterns. Especially, the spectral energy of electromyography signals in muscle for the movement pattern in anterior-posterior direction was significantly higher than those occurred in the other patterns. The muscles in the lower leg, especially tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius were more activated compared to the others for controlling the balance of body on the unstable platform. The experimental results suggest that, through the choice of different movement pattern, the training for lower extremity strength could be performed on specific muscles in different intensity. And, the ability of postural control could be improved by the training for lower extremity strength.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.411-419
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• 2003

This paper aims at developing 'gyro-mouse' which provides decent and comfortable human-computer interface that supports the usage of such software as an internet-browser in PC for the people paralyzed in upper limbs. This interface operates on information collected from head movement to get the cursor control. The interface is composed of two modules. One is hardware module in which the head horizontal and vertical angular velocities are detected and transmitted into PC. The other is a PC software that translates the received data into movement and click signals of the mouse. The ANN (artificial neural network) learns the quick nodding pattern of each user as click input so that it can provide user-friendly interface. The performance of the system was evaluated by three indices that are click recognition rate. error in cursor position control. and click rate of the moving target box. The performance result of the gyro-mouse was compared with that of the optical-mouse to assess the efficiency of the gyro-mouse. The average click recognition rate was 93%, average error in cursor position control was 1.4∼5 times of optical mouse. and the click rate with 50 pixels target box was 40%(30 clicks/min) to that of optical mouse. The click rate increased monotonously with the number of trial from 35% to 44%. The suggested system is expected to provide a new possibility to communicate with the society.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.597-606
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• 2008

Resorption of alveolar bone in periodontitis is due to excessive differentiation and activation of osteoclasts. Bacterial antigens causing periodontitis activates CD4 T cells, which leads to expressing RANK ligand (RANKL) on CD4 T cells. RANKL binds RANK on preosteoclasts or osteoclasts, and enhances the differentiation preosteoclasts into osteoclasts and the activation of mature osteoclasts. CD137, one of TNF receptor (TNFR) family, expressed on activated T cells binds with CD137 ligand (CD137L) on antigen presenting cells. Cross-linking of CD137 by CD137L acts as T cell co-stimulatory signals and, therefore, enhances the activation of T cell. In this study, I elucidated the biological responses of CD137L on (pre)osteoclasts and RANKL on T cells in the context of in vivo interaction between T cells and osteoclasts. RAW264.7, murine monocytic cells, constitutively express CD137L. Ligation of CD137L with anti-CD137L mAb inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclast formation in a dosedependent manner. Bone marrow cells are expressed CD137L by the treatment with M-CSF. Cross-linking of CD137L abolished M-CSF/ RANKL-evoked the formation of multi-nucleated osteoclasts. Both mouse CD4 and CD8 T cells are expressed RANKL following their activation. Ligation of RANKL with OPG, the decoy receptor for RANKL, inhibited both CD4 and CD8 T cell proliferation. These effects were attributed to RANKL-induced apoptosis. These data indicate that CD137L and RANKL on osteoclasts and T cells, respectively provide them with inhibitory signal.