• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.415-424
• /
• 1995

Combined models, specified by two or more modeling formalisms, can represent a wide variety of complex systems. This paper describes a methodology for the development of combined models in two model types of discrete event and continuous process. The methodology is based on transformation of continuous state space into discrete one to homomorphically represent dynamics of continuous processes in discrete events. This paper proposes a formal structure which can combine model of the DES and the CS within a framework. The structure employs the DEVS formalism for the DES models and differential or polynomial equations for the CS models. To employ the proposed structure to specify a DEVS/CS combined model, a modeler needs to take the following steps. First, a modeler should identify events in the CS and transform the states of the CS into the DES. Second, a modular employs the formalism to specify the system as the DES. Finally, a moduler developes sub-models for the CS and continguos states of the DES and establishs one-to-one correspondence between the sub-models and such states. The proposed formal structre has been applied to develop a DEVS/CS combined model for the human cardiovascular system. For this, the cardiac cycle is partitioned into a set of phases based on events identified through observation. For each phase, a CS model has been developed and associated with the phase. To validate the DEVS/CS combined model developed, then simulate the model in the DEVSIM + + environment, which is a model simulation results with the results obtained from the CS model simulation using SPICE. The comparison shows that the DEVS/CS combined model adequately represents dynamics of the human heart system at each phase of cardiac cycle.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
• /
• v.1996 no.11
• /
• pp.74-79
• /
• 1996

This paper describes a methodology for the development of models of discrete event system(DES). The methodology is based on transformation of continuous state space into discrete one to homomorphically represent dynamics of continuous processes in discrete events. This paper proposes a formal structure which can couple DES models within a framework. The structure employs the DEVS formalism for the DES models. The proposed formal structure has been applied to develop a DEVS model for the human cardiovascular system. For this, the cardiac cycle is partitioned into a set of phases based on events identified through VisSim simulation in the CS of the electrical analog model. VisSim is the simulation tool of visual environment for developing continuous, discrete, and hybrid system models and performing dynamic simulation. For each phase, a CS of the electrical analog model for the cardiovascular system has been simulated by VisSim 2.0. To validate this model, first develop the DEVS model, then simulate the model in the DEVSIM++ environment. It has same simulation results for the data obtained from the CS simulation using VisSim. The comparison shows that the DEVS model represents dynamics of the human heart system at each phase of cardiac cycle.

• Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.98-104
• /
• 2023

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) in end-stage renal disease patients and its change after kidney transplantation (KT). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent KT between 2007 and 2018 at two tertiary centers. We analyzed 488 patients (median age, 53 years; 58% male) who had obtained echocardiography both before and within 3 years after KT. Conventional echocardiography and LV GLS assessed by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography were comprehensively analyzed. Patients were classified into three groups according to the absolute value of pre-KT LV GLS (|LV GLS|). We compared longitudinal changes of cardiac structure and function according to pre-KT |LV GLS|. RESULTS: Correlation between pre-KT LV EF and |LV GLS| were statistically significant, but the constant was not high (r = 0.292, p < 0.001). |LV GLS| was widely distributed at corresponding LV EF, especially when the LV EF was > 50%. Patients with severely impaired pre-KT |LV GLS| had significantly larger LV dimension, LV mass index, left atrial volume index, and E/e' and lower LV EF, compared to mildly and moderately reduced pre-KT |LV GLS|. After KT, the LV EF, LV mass index, and |LV GLS| were significantly improved in three groups. Patients with severely impaired pre-KT |LV GLS| showed the most prominent improvement of LV EF and |LV GLS| after KT, compared to other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in LV structure and function after KT were observed in patients throughout the full spectrum of pre-KT |LV GLS|.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 1999.11a
• /
• pp.1159-1162
• /
• 1999

The ECG signal is very important information for diagnosis of patient and a cardiac disorder. It is hard to remove the noise because that is mixed with a lot of noise, and the error of the filtering will distort the ECG signal. The existing method for the filtering of the ECG signal has structure that has many steps for filtering, so that structure is complex and the processing speed is slow. For the improvement of that problem, we propose the method of filtering that has simple structure using the RBF neural networks and have good results.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.426-437
• /
• 2024

Objective: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a diagnostic tool that provides precise and reproducible information about cardiac structure, function, and tissue characterization, aiding in the monitoring of chemotherapy response in patients with light-chain cardiac amyloidosis (AL-CA). This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of CMR in monitoring responses to chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study, we enrolled 111 patients with AL-CA (50.5% male; median age, 54 [interquartile range, 49-63] years). Patients underwent longitudinal monitoring using biomarkers and CMR imaging. At follow-up after chemotherapy, patients were categorized into superior and inferior response groups based on their hematological and cardiac laboratory responses to chemotherapy. Changes in CMR findings across therapies and differences between response groups were analyzed. Results: Following chemotherapy (before vs. after), there were significant increases in myocardial T2 (43.6 ± 3.5 ms vs. 44.6 ± 4.1 ms; P = 0.008), recovery in right ventricular (RV) longitudinal strain (median of -9.6% vs. -11.7%; P = 0.031), and decrease in RV extracellular volume fraction (ECV) (median of 53.9% vs. 51.6%; P = 0.048). These changes were more pronounced in the superior-response group. Patients with superior cardiac laboratory response showed significantly greater reductions in RV ECV (-2.9% [interquartile range, -8.7%-1.1%] vs. 1.7% [-5.5%-7.1%]; P = 0.017) and left ventricular ECV (-2.0% [-6.0%-1.3%] vs. 2.0% [-3.0%-5.0%]; P = 0.01) compared with those with inferior response. Conclusion: Cardiac amyloid deposition can regress following chemotherapy in patients with AL-CA, particularly showing more prominent regression, possibly earlier, in the RV. CMR emerges as an effective tool for monitoring associated tissue characteristics and ventricular functional recovery in patients with AL-CA undergoing chemotherapy, thereby supporting its utility in treatment response assessment.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.282-288
• /
• 2008

Tissue ischemia resulting from the constriction or obstruction of blood vessels leads to an illness that may affect many organs including the heart, brain, and legs. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in the field of therapeutic angiogenesis and the new approaches are expected to cure those "no-option patients" who are unsuited to conventional therapies. Although single angiogenic growth factor may be successful in inducing angiogenesis, combination of multiple growth factors is increasingly sought these days to augment the therapeutic responses. This trend is proper in light of the fact that blood vessel formation is a complex and multi-step process that requires the actions of many different factors. To meet the growing need for functionally significant blood flow recovery in the ischemic tissues, a novel strategy that can provide concerted actions of multiple factors is required. One way to achieve such a goal is to use a transcription factor that can orchestrate the expression of multiple target genes in the ischemic region and thus induce significant level of angiogenesis. Here, a putative transcription factor, cardiac ankyrin repeat protein (CARP), was evaluated in adenoviral vector context for angiogenic activity in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The results indicated significant increase in proliferation, capillary-like structure formation, and induction of vascular endothelial growth factor, a typical angiogenic gene. Taken together, these results suggest that CARP represents itself as a novel target for therapeutic angiogenesis and warrants further investigation.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.159-165
• /
• 2011

To explore the role of histone deactylase (HDAC) activation in an in vivo model of hypertrophy, we studied the effects of Trichostatin A (TSA). TSA subjected to thoracic aortic banding (TAB)-induced pressure stress in mice. In histological observations, TAB in treated mice showed a significant hypertrophic response, whereas the sham operation remained nearly normal structure with partially blunted hypertrophy. TSA treatment had no effect (measured as HW/BW) on sham-operated animals. TAB animals treated with vehicle manifested a robust ~50% hypertrophic response (p<0.05 vs sham). TAB mice treated with 2 mg/kg/day TSA manifested a blunted growth responses, which was significantly diminished (p<0.05) compared with vehicle-treated TAB mice. TAB mice treated with a lower dose of TSA (0.5 mg/kg/day) manifested a similar blunting of hypertrophic growth (~25% increase in heart mass). Furthermore, to determine activity duration of TSA in vitro, 1 nM TSA was added to H9c2 cells. Histone acetylation was initiated at 4 hr after treatment, and it was peak up to 18 hr, then followed by significantly reduced to 30 hr. We also analyzed the expression of p53 following TSA treatment, wherein p53 expression was elevated at 4 hr, and it was maintained to 24 hr after treatment. ERK was activated at 8 hr, and maintained till 30 hr after treatment suggesting an intracellular signaling interaction between TSA and p53 expression Taken together, it is suggested that HDAC activation is required for pressure-overload growth of the heart. Eventually, these data suggest that histone acetylation may be a novel target for therapeutic intervention in pressure-overloaded cardiac hypertrophy.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.181-187
• /
• 2016

Selective ${\beta}_1$-agonist and antagonists are used for the treatment of cardiac diseases including congestive heart failure, angina pectoris and arrhythmia. Selective ${\beta}_1$-antagonists including nebivolol have high binding affinity on ${\beta}_1$-adrenergic receptor, not ${\beta}_2$-receptor mainly expressed in smooth muscle. Nebivolol is one of most selective ${\beta}_1$-blockers in clinically used ${\beta}_1$-blockers including atenolol and bisoprolol. We tried to develop clinically useful cardiac PET tracers using a selective ${\beta}_1$-blocker. Nebivolol is $C_2$-symmetric and has two chromane moiety with a secondary amino alcohol and aromatic fluorine. We adopted the general synthetic strategy using epoxide ring opening reaction. Unlike formal synthesis of nebivolol, we prepared two chromane building blocks with fluorine and iodine which was transformed to diaryliodonium salt for labelling of $^{18}F$. Two epoxide building blocks were readily prepared from commercially available chromene carboxylic acids (1, 8). Then, the amino alcohol building block (15) was prepared by ammonolysis of epoxide (14) followed by coupling reaction with the other building block, epoxide (7). Diaryliodonium salt, a precursor for $^{18}F$-aromatic substitution, was synthesized in moderate yield which was readily subjected to $^{18}F$-aromatic substitution to give $^{18}F$-labelled nebivolol.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.310-312
• /
• 2012

Cytochrome $b_5$ is involved in the reduction of methemoglobin back to hemoglobin, thereby maintaining normal function of the blood to carry oxygen around. Congenital abnormal condition of this enzyme causes a rare disease called methemoglobinemia. At least 4 different retropseudogenes are reported so far for cytochrome $b_5$. However, type III pseudogene has attracted most attention because it contains open reading frame in its structure. Although there is no evidence yet if this pseudogene is actually expressed in the cell or the blood the possibility of its expression needs to be elucidated. We have isolated type III pseudogene by polymerase chain reaction and cloned into pGEX-4T-1 expression vector followed by SDS-PAGE. Protein was expressed and the size of the expressed protein was 28 kDa as expected in its genetic code. This result also shows that the protein is not harmful for the viability of the microorganism. This study may contribute to the genetic diagnosis of cardiac diseases, possibly caused by cytochrome $b_5$.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.86-89
• /
• 2011

Traumatic ventricular septal defect (VSD) resulting from blunt chest injury is a very rare event. The mechanisms of traumatic VSD have been of little concern to dateuntil now, but two dominant theories have been described. In one, the rupture occurs due to acute compression of the heart; in the other, it is due to myocardial infarction of the septum. The clinical symptoms and timing of presentation are variable, so appropriate diagnosis can be difficult or delayed. Closure of traumatic VSD has been based on a combination of heart failure symptoms, hemodynamics, and defect size. Here, we present a case of a 4-year-old boy who presented with a traumatic VSD following a car accident. He showed normal cardiac structure at the time of injury, but after 8 days, his repeated echocardiography revealed a VSD. He was successfully treated by surgical closure of the VSD, and has been doing well up to the present. This report suggests that the clinician should pay great close attention to the patients injured by blunt chest trauma, keeping in mind the possibility of cardiac injury.