• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.148-154
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• 2008

Pharmacotherapy was mainly used to treat osteoporosis. However, some researches showed that pharmacotherapy could induce unexpected adverse effects. Some studies showed that whole body vibration affected beneficially osteoporosis. This paper studied the effect of whole body vibration fur osteoporosis compared with the effect of pharmacotherapy. 10 female rats were used and allocated into 4 group, CON, SHAM, DRUG, and WBV. Rats except SHAM group were ovariectomised to induce osteoporosis. Rats in WBV group were stimulated in whole body vibration at magnitude of $1mm_{peak-peak}$ and frequency 45Hz, for 8 weeks (30 min/day, 5 days/week). Rat in DRGU group was orally administered the Actonel (0.58mg/Kg), for 8 weeks (5days/week). The $4^{th}$ lumbar in rats were scanned at a resolution of $35{\mu}m$ at baseline, before stimulation, and 8 weeks after stimulation by In-vivo micro computed tomography. For detecting and tracking changes of biomechanical characteristics (morphological and mechanical characteristics) in lumbar trabecuar bone of rats, structural parameters were measured and calculated from acquiring images and finite element analysis was performed. In the results, loss of quantity and change of structure of trabecular bone in WBV group were smaller than those in both CON and SHAM groups. In addition, mechanical strength in WBV group was stronger than that in both CON and SHAM groups. In contrast, biomechanical characteristics in WBV group were similar with those in DRUG group. These results showed that reasonable whole body vibration was likely to treat osteoporosis and be substituted partly for drug treatment.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제40권5호
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• pp.653-663
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• 2018

Patients with spinal cord injuries cannot move their limbs using their intact muscles. A suitable controller can be used to move their arms by employing the functional electrical stimulation method. In this article, a fuzzy exponential sliding-mode controller is designed to move a musculoskeletal human arm model to track an optimal trajectory in the sagittal plane. This optimal arm trajectory is obtained by developing a policy for the central nervous system. In order to specify the optimal trajectory between two points, two dynamic and static optimal criteria are applied simultaneously. The first dynamic objective function is defined to minimize the joint torques, and the second static optimization is offered to minimize the muscle forces at each moment. In addition, fuzzy logic is used to tune the sliding-surface parameter to enable an appropriate tracking performance. Simulation results are evaluated and compared with experimental data for upward and downward movements of the human arm.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.85-98
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• 1991

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of low - power laser used in the medical field for various purposes to suppress pain responses evoked by noxious electrical or mechanical stimuli. After both inferior alveolar nerves and the left anterior digastric muscle of cats under general anesthesia were exposed, a recording electrode for the jaw opening reflex was inserted into the anterior digastric muscle. The right inferior alveolar nerve was dissected under a surgical microscope until the response of the functional single nerve could be evoked by the electrical stimulation of the dental pulp or oral mucosa. The electrical stimulus was applied with a rectangular pulse of 10 ms duration for measuring the threshold intensity of a single nerve fiber in the inferior alveolar nerve which responds to stimulation of dental pulp and oral mucosa. Then a pulse of 1 ms duration was applied for determination of conduction velocity. A noxious mechanical stimulus to the oral mucosa was applied by clamping the receptive field with an arterial clamp. The Ga-As diodide laser(wave length, 904 nm ; frequency, 1,000 Hz) was irradiated to the prepared tooth cavity, inferior alveolar nerve and oral mucosa as a pulse wave of 2 mW for 6 minutes. This was followed by a continuous wave of 15 mW for 3 minutes. The action potential of the nerve and EMG of the digastric muscle evoked by the noxious electrical stimulus and nerve response to noxious mechanical stimulus were compared at intervals of before, immediately after, and at 5, 10, 20, 40, 60 minutes after laser irradiation. The results were as follows: The conduction velocity of the intrapulpal $A{\delta}$- nerve fiber recorded from the inferior alveolar nerve before irradiation had a mean value of $6.68{\pm}2.07m/sec$. The laser irradiation did not affect the conduction velocity of the AS - nerve fiber and did not change the threshold intensity or amplitude of the action potential either. The EMG of the digastric muscle evoked by noxious electrical stimulation to the tooth was not changed by the laser irradiation, whether in latency, threshold intensity or amplitude. The laser irradiated to the receptive field of the oral mucosa which was subjected to noxious stimuli did not affect the amplitude of the action potential or the frequency either.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.320-324
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• 2001

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of mechanical stimulation and growth regulators known to control overgrowth in hot temperature tomato transplants on the seedling quality and the growth and yield after planting. Brushing and impedance were applied as mechanical stimulation, and diniconazole and hexaconazole as chemical growth regulator were used in various ways at different concentrations and treatment times. Diniconazole treatment regardless of concentration and treatment times reduced plant height, leaf area and fresh weight of young plant. Though treatments of high concentration and many times reduced the yield of tomato after planting, these of proper amount and proper times maintained the level of control. Hexaconazole treatment controlled less plant height of transplants than diniconazole, and its effect also didn't support continuously after planting. However, hexaconazole treatment reduced the yield due to little fruit number and malformed plants, and also delayed the harvesting time as compared to the control. Both brushing and impedance controlled plant height of transplants. However, impedance treatment reduced the yield due to malformed plants after planting, and also delayed the harvesting time, while brushing treatment didn't reduced growth and yield as compared to the control. From the above results, it was thought that proper application of brushing and diniconazole can control excessive overgrowth without reducing yield.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.135-141
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• 2009

Purpose: The aim of present study is to evaluate a possibility of clinical application for the effect of low intensity ultrasound stimulation (LIUS) in mechanical characteristics of bone on osteoporotic fractures prevention. Materials and Methods: Eight virgin ICR mice (14 weeks old, approximate weight 25g) were ovariectomized (OVX) to induce osteoporosis. The right hind limbs were then stimulated with LIDS (US Group), whereas left hind limbs were not stimulated (CON Group). Both hind limbs of all mice were scanned by in-vivo micro-CT to acquire two-dimensional (2D) images at 0 week before stimulation and 3 weeks and 6 weeks after stimulation. Three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) models generated by scanned 2D images were used to determine quantitatively the effect of LIUS on strength related to bone structure. Additionally, distributions of Hounsfield units and elastic moduli, which are related to the bone quality, for the bones in the US and CON groups were determined to analyze quantitatively a degree of improvement of bone qualities achieved by LIUS. Results: The result of FE analysis showed that the structural strength in US Group was significantly increased over time (p<0.05), while that in CON Group was statistically constant over time (p>0.05). High values of Hounsfield units obtained from voxels on micro-CT images and high values of elastic moduli converted from the Hounsfield units were dominantly appeared in US Group compared with those in CON Group. Conclusion: These finding indicated that LIUS would improve the mechanical characteristics of osteoporotic bone via the effects of bone structure (bone strength) and quality (Hounsfield unit and elastic modulus). Therefore, the LIUS may decrease effectively the risk of osteoporotic fracture in clinics.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.263-273
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• 1999

When glutamate was infected intrathecally, the result is similar to those produced by TPA injected. The involvement of protein kinase C (PKC) in the nociceptive responses in rat dorsal horn neurons of lumbar spinal cord was studied. In test with formalin, a PKC inhibitor (chelerythrine) inhibited dose-dependently the formalin-induced behavior response. Neomycin also inhibited it significantly. But, a PKC activator (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-ester, TPA) showed reverse effect. When gluatamate was injected intrathecally, we observed the result is smilar to those produced by TPA injection. On the other hand, intrathecal injection of glutamate induced thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia. In Tail-flick test, we examined the involvement of PKC on the glutamate-indeced thermal hyperalgesia. Chelerythrine showed an inhibitory effect and TPA enhanced thermal response. Glutamate decreased the mechanical threshold significantly. A pretreatment of chelerythrine and neomycin inhibited glutamate-induced mechanical hyperalgesia, but the effect of neomycin was not significant. TPA had little effect on the mechanical nociceptive response. These results suggest that the PKC activation through metabotropic receptor at postsynaptic region of spinal cord dorsal horn neurons may influence on the persistent nociception produced by chemical stimulation with formalin, thermal and mechanical hyperalgesia induced by glutamate.

• Composites Research
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• 제32권5호
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• pp.211-215
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• 2019

The cell culture process under in vitro condition is much different from the actual human body environment. Therefore, in order to precisely simulate the human body environment, a dynamic cell culture device capable of delivering mechanical stimulation to cells is essential. However, conventional dynamic cell culture devices require relatively complicated devices such as tubes, pumps, and motors, and the mechanical stimuli delivered is also simple. In this study, an electro-active polymer actuator as a driving component is introduced to design simply driven dynamic cell culture device without complicated components. The device is capable of delivering relatively complex mechanical stimuli to the cells.

• Journal of Life Science
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• 제25권5호
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• pp.585-593
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• 2015

Stress fiber (SF) alteration is mediated by cellular receptors, which, upon interaction with the extracellular counterpart, signal to the actin cytoskeleton for remodeling. This association is mediated by a variety of scaffold and signaling factors, which control the mechanical and signaling activities of the interaction site. The heterotrimeric transmembrane lymphotoxin α1β2 (LTα1β2), a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family of cytokines, including soluble homotrimeric lymphotoxin (LT α), plays an important role in lymphoid tissue architecture. Ligation between LTα1β2 and the lymphotoxin β receptor (LTβR) activates signal-cascade in fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs). We found LTβR stimulation using an agonistic anti-LTβR antibody alone or combined with LTα or TNFα induced changes in the actin and plasticity of cells. To clarify the involvement of myosin underlying the alteration, we analyzed the effect of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) with an MLCK inhibitor (ML7), the phosphorylation level of myosin light chains (MLC), and the level of phospho-myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (MYPT1) after treatment with an agonistic anti-LTβR antibody for cytoskeleton reorganization in FRCs. The inhibition of MLCK activity induced changes in the actin cytoskeleton organization and cell morphology in FRC. In addition, we showed the phosphorylation of MLC and MYPT1 was reduced by LTβR stimulation in cells. A DNA chip revealed the LTβR stimulation of FRC down-regulated transcripts of myosin and actin components. Collectively, these results suggest LTβR stimulation is linked to myosin regarding SF alteration in FRC.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.155-160
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of aqua-acupuncture a mixture of bos taurus domesticus and selenarctos thiberanus, and bos taurus domesticus, selenarctos thiberanus and Moschus moschiferus on an animal model of arthritic pain. Under halothane anesthesia, arthritic pain was induced by the injection of $2\%$ carrageenan into the left knee joint cavity of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The responses of afferents to a movement cycle were recorded before and after aqua-acupuncture. The aqua-acupuncture at acupoints reduced neural responses to noxious movement stimulation. Aqua-acupuncture at Zusanli inhibited neural responses of articular afferents to noxious stimulation more than at Hegu. These results indicate that aqua-acupuncture of a mixture of bos taurus domesticus and selenarctos thiberanus, and bos taurus domesticus, selenarctos thiberanus and Moschus moschiferusmay provide a potent strategy in relieving arthritic pain.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.67-78
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study were to examine the anti-hyperalgesic effects of combination of electroacupuncture and microcurrent on anti-hyperalgesia in local hyperalgesia zone. Methods: It used 24 rats for experiment, divided them into control group, electroacupuncture group (EA group), microcurrent group (MC group), combination of electroacupuncture with microcurrent (EA+MC group), caused hyperalgesia by injecting ${\lambda}-carrageenan$ into hindpaw. Thickness of hindpaw, mechanical pain threshold (MPT), thermal pain threshold (TPT), noxious flexion withdrawal reflex (NFR) and somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) were measured immediately after induction, at 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours after induction. The electrical stimulation was given once a day for three days, 20min per session. Results: Change of thickness, MPT, and TPT showed significant difference in all groups compared to control group. In particular, there were remarkable difference in EA+ME group. In particular there were remarkable differences in EA group and EA+MC group. Change of NFR(% threshold, % reaction time, % RMS) and SEP showed mainly significant differences in EA group and EA+ME group compared to control group. In particular, there were remarkable difference in EA+ME group. Conclusion: The above results suggest that appropriate combination of microcurrent with electroacupuncture for pain control will be very desirable.