• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.573-584
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• 2021

Background and objective: This study was conducted with 10 men and women in their 50s-60s to investigate the effect of agro-healing activities on the improvement of mental health. Methods: The experimental group participated in total 8 sessions of agro-healing activities, once a week for 2 hours each, at a care farm in Wanju-gun. Physiological measurements were taken with an electroencephalogram (EEG), Salivettes samples, and blood pressure before and after the activities. Results: As a result of analyzing the changes in brainwaves of the experimental group before and after agro-healing activities, relative slow alpha (RSA), relative fast alpha (RFA), and ratio of alpha to high beta (RAHB), the indices of stability and relaxation, increased after the program with statistical significance. Also, the ratio of SMR to theta (RST) of the attention index increased on the right frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and left occipital lobes, and relative low beta (RLB) increasd on the frontal lobes, temporal lobes, and occipital lobes after the program with statistical significance. The sympathetic nervous system activity, which is a stress index, decreased after the program, whereas the parasympathetic nervous system activity, which is a relaxation index, increased, showing statistical significance (p < .05). As a result of analyzing the changes in blood pressure after the program, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure decreased from prehypertension to normal blood pressure, showing statistical significance. SThese results indicate that participating in agro-healing activities at a care farm for the 50-60s helps reduce stress and improve stability and relaxation as well as attention. Conclusion: Thus, developing and applying customized agro-healing programs for participants will have a positive effect on brain activity and psychophysiological improvement by relieving tension and stress. However, there are limitations in generalizing the results of this study since most of agro-healing farms have low accessibility that leads to a low level of participants.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.689-692
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• 2006

In this study, an implementation of a system for measuring more accurate blood pressure by non-invasive methods of oscillometric was performed to reduce errors and weaknesses of the existing invasive blood pressure measurement methods. The system is composed of pressure control, signal measurement and blood pressure signal processing units. To verify the validity of the system, tests of characteristics evaluations for pressure measurement unit, extraction of characteristic ratios for blood pressure estimation, blood pressure tracking by oscillometric method were performed. A group of five adult male was selected for the clinical test of the implemented system. The results of the oscillometric method in comparison with auscultatory method are that the maximum ratios of PAD of average, systolic and diastolic arterial pressure are 1.38%, 1.63% and 2.97% with SEP of 5.00, 3.72 and 4.34.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.125-134
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• 1992

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Ginseng saponin on the cadmium which is widely distributed in the environment, results in immune system alteration. For the experiments, 125 mice of ICR strain were used. The experimental groups were divided into 5 groups a control, a cadmium alone treatment group, three Cd and saponin (10, 50, 100 mg/kg) combined treatment groups. The mice were allocated 25 to each group and observed for 8 weeks. The results of experiment are as follows: 1. Body weight growth rates during 8 weeks were as this control group 36.47%, Cd alone group 32.48%, saponin combined treatment group (10, 50, 100 mg/kg) 32.49%, 39.17%, 24.27% respectively. 2. In all groups, the relative weights of liver and kidney were increased, compared with control group. In the case of spleen, saponin combined treatment group (50, 100 mg/kg) was high to the significant level compared with a control group (p<0.05). Thymus was not. 3. On blood lymphocyte count observation, Cd alone treament group has 25.6% less than control group, and saponin combined treatment group have increasing trends. but in thymus and spleen, there was no trends like blood. 4. On antibody titer, there was no difference among groups. 5. On total serum protein, saponin (100 mg/kg) combined treatment group was high to significant level compared with control group (p<0.05), and other treatment groups have increasing trends. 6. Cd accumulation in kidney was higher than in liver, and all treatment groups were high to the very significant level compared with the control group (p<0.05), but there was no difference among groups. From the results of this study, it can be concluded that the oral administration of Cd results in alteration of immune system and Ginseng saponin prevents this effect. But, Cd accumulation was not affected by saponin.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.102-115
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• 2016

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to find out the characteristics of dysmenorrhea patients with the Inbody test results by Sasang constitutions. Methods: The data from the 541 participants were collected using a structured measurement of menstrual pain. Based on the survey responses, we had 329 women with dysmenorrhea as the test group and 212 women without dysmenorrhea as the control group. The clinical trials subjects were asked to respond to another questionnaire for identifying their constitutional types and undergo Inbody test. Results: The result of a comparison of the test and control groups showed that the DSOM test showed that the scores of blood deficiency, qi stagnation, blood stasis and phlegm were significantly higher in dysmenorrhea. The result of the taeumin's test groups showed that the DSOM test showed that the scores of heat were significantly higher. For the Sasang constitution, there is a difference on the cause of the outbreak. Taeumin from blood deficiency, blood stasis, dampness, heart, kidney, phlegm and lung is associated with dysmenorrhea. Soeumin from blood deficiency, qi stagnation, blood stasis, liver, heart, spleen and phlegm is associated with dysmenorrhea. The ratio of overweight of taeumin was low in blood deficiency and yin deficiency. The ratio of lowweight of soeumin was high in heat. Conclusions: The DSOM test showed that the scores of blood deficiency, qi stagnation, blood stasis and phlegm were significantly higher in dysmenorrhea.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.310-315
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• 2007

The axial-flow type blood pump(XVAD) which has been developed in our group consists of mechanical parts (an impeller, a diffuser and a flow straightener) and electrical parts (a motor and a magnetic bearing). The magnetic bearing system fully levitates the impeller to remove mechanical coupling with other parts of the pump with constant gap, which needs non-contact type gap sensing. Conventional gap sensors are too large to be adopted to the implantable axial -flow type blood pump. Thus, in this paper, the compact eddy current type gap sensor system proper for the implantable axial-flow type blood pump was developed and its performance was evaluated in vitro. The developed eddy current type gap sensor system is a transformer type and has a differential probe. Sensor coil(probe) has small dimensions(6 mm diameter, 2 mm thickness) and its optimal inductance was determined as 0.068 mH for the measurement range of $0\sim3mm$. It could be manufactured with 130 turns of the 0.04 mm diameter copper coil. The characteristics of the developed eddy current type gap sensor system was evaluated by in vitro experiment. At experiment, it showed satis(actory performance to apply to the magnetic bearing system of the XVAD. It could measure the gap up to 3mm, but the linearity was decreased at the range of $1.8\sim3.0mm$. Moreover, it showed no difference in different media such as the water and the blood at the temperature range of $35\sim40^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.678-681
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• 2007

In this study, an implementation of a system for measuring more accurate blood pressure by non-invasive methods of oscillometric was performed. The system were composed of pressure control, signal measurement, blood pressure signal processing units and wireless sensor network parts. For verify the validity of the system, tests of characteristics evaluations for pressure measurement unit, extraction of characteristic ratios for blood pressure estimation, blood pressure tracking by oscillometric method were performed. A group of five adult male was selected for the clinical test of the implemented system. The results of the oscillometric method in comparison with auscultatory method are that the maximum ratios of PAD of average, systolic and diastolic arterial pressure are 1.38%, 1.63% and 2.97% with SEP of 5.00, 3.72 and 4.34.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.255-267
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• 2015

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease, a chronic debilitating disease affecting ruminants worldwide. In the present study, we aimed to determine the major gene networks and pathways underlying the immune response to MAP infection using whole-blood cells, as well as provide the potential transcriptional markers for identifying the status of MAP infection. We analyzed the transcriptional profiles of whole-blood cells of cattle identified and grouped according to the presence of MAP-specific antibodies and the MAP shed by them. The grouping was based on the results obtained by ELISA and PCR analyses as follows: i) Test1 group: MAP-negative results obtained by ELISA and positive results obtained by PCR; ii) Test2 group: MAP-positive results obtained by ELISA and negative results obtained by PCR; iii) Test3 group: MAP-positive results obtained by ELISA and positive results obtained by PCR; iv) uninfected control: MAP-negative results obtained both by ELISA and PCR analysis. The results showed down-regulated production and metabolism of reactive oxygen species in the Test1 group, activation of pathways related to the host-defense response against MAP (LXR/RXR activation and complement system) in the Test2 and Test3 groups, and anti-inflammatory response (activation of IL-10 signaling pathway) only in the Test3 group. Our data indicate a balanced response that serves the immune-limiting mechanism while the host-defense responses are progressing.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2023

The prevalence of diabetes continues to increase worldwide, and the problem is also important in Korea, and about 14% of Korean adults have diabetes. Alcohol consumptions are increasing rapidly around the world and are recognized as one of the major problems in the country. Alcohol consumption is an environmental factor previously known to be associated with the risk of developing diabetes. Alcohol consumption can cause problems in the endocrine system and gastrointestinal function, and oxidative stress of acetaldehyde, an ethanol metabolite, can damage beta cells in the pancreas. In the present study, we found the effect of alcohol intake on fasting blood sugar and the difference between men and women in the risk of diabetes according to alcohol intake. In men, the high-drinking group had a higher risk of diabetes than the non-drinking group (OR, 1.41; P=0.058). In women, the Moderate-drinking group had a lower risk of diabetes compared to the non-drinking group (OR, 0.42; P=0.039). The high-drinking group had a higher risk of diabetes than the non-drinking group (OR, 2.97; P=0.034). The group that consumed more than the WHO's daily alcohol intake risk standard tended to have a higher risk of diabetes than the group that did not (OR, 5.48; P=0.001). This study suggest that moderate alcohol consumption reduce the risk of developing diabetes, and high alcohol consumption increase the risk of developing diabetes.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.889-896
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• 2006

This study was arranged to investigate effects of maternal nursing potential on immune metabolites in blood, body weight gain and occurrence of disease in Hanwoo calves. Forty experimental calves were used and allocated into two groups with different maternal nursing potential. Thus, high or low maternal nursing potential group had twenty calves, respectively. The concentrations of IGF-I, RBC, Ca and IP in blood were similar between two groups, except for RBC. RBC concentration in blood from high maternal nursing potential group was significantly higher compared with low maternal nursing potential group at 5 days after birth (p<0.05). The concentrations of IgG, albumin, total protein and GGT in blood were similar between two groups during the whole experimental period. The days from birth had no effects on the concentration of IgG, albumin and GGT in blood from two groups, except for total protein. Similarly, the maternal nursing potential had no direct effect on body weight of calves, but body weight in high maternal nursing potential group tended to be higher compared with low maternal nursing potential group at 6 months age. The occurrence of respiratory disease and diarrhea in high maternal nursing potential group was relatively lower compared with low maternal nursing potential group. Therefore, the present study indicating that maternal nursing potential had effect on growth, and immune system in relation to disease in calves.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.693-696
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• 2006

In this study, we made the system to measure variation of blood flow using bio-electrical impedance analysis method. The system, which could measure variation of impedance according to pressure change by artificial pressure, consists of pressure measurement and impedance measurement by 4-electrode method. Pressure measurement splits into semiconducting pressure sensor and electronic circuit for processing output signal. In addition, impedance measurement splits into constant current source circuit and lock-in amplifier for detection impedance signal. We experimented feature of impedance measurement using standard resistance to evaluate the system characteristic. As well as, we experimented to estimate variation of blood flow by measuring impedance and blood flow resistance ratio using mean arterial pressure and variation of blood flow with experimental group. As result of this study, blood flow resistance ratio and variation of blood flow were definitely in inverse proportion and were -0.96776 as correlation coefficient by correlation analysis.