• 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.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.992-997
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• 2002

Two in vivo experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of novel urease inhibitor hydroquinone (HQ) on ammonia release rate from urea hydrolysis, nitrogen balance, nutrient digestibility and efficiency of microbial protein synthesis. In Exp. 1, twelve crossbred cannulated lambs were randomly assigned within initial body weight block to one of four HQ treatments, which included 0 (control), 30, 60 or 80 mg HQ/kg DM intake. Ammonia concentration and pH of ruminal fluid were immediately measured at 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after feeding. Increasing the dose of HQ tended (p<0.15) to linearly decrease NH3 formation. The ammonia peak concentration (2 h post-feeding) in animals receiving HQ was approximately one-half of that in animals not receiving HQ (p<0.01), and a relatively sustained ammonia release could be obtained at the dose of 30 or 60 mg HQ/kg DM. In Exp. 2, sixteen intact crossbred lambs (weight $40{\pm}0.8kg$) were used in a $2{\times}2$ factorial design experiment. The four rations consisting of soybean meal-based (SBM) or urea-based (Urea) nitrogen source with or without HQ (S1, S0, U1 and U0) were fed in digestion and N balance trials. Apparent digestibility of major nutrients except that of ADF was not affected by either nitrogen source or addition of HQ. Regardless of nitrogen source, supplementation of HQ significantly improved ADF digestibility (p<0.05). The various ration had no effects on N metabolism in the presence of HQ. There was significant difference between total purine derivatives (PD), estimated efficiency of microbial N synthesis (p<0.05) and urea-N excretion (p<0.01) in the urine for the SBM ration and for the Urea ration. However, HQ had little influence on efficiency of microbial N synthesis as proportion of daily intake of total tract digestible OM (p>0.05). No interactions between main nitrogen source and HQ were measured throughout the trial. Results of this study suggest that addition of HQ to ration may improve ADF digestion with having no negative effect on N metabolism and microbial protein production.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.676-681
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• 2004

Acetyl-L-camitine (ALC), a naturally occurring endogenous compound, has been shown to improve the cognitive performance of patients with senile dementia Alzheimer＇s type, and to be involved in cholinergic neurotransmission. Because ALC is an endogenous compound, valida-tion of the analytical methods of ALC in the biological fluids is very important and difficult. This study was presented validation and correction for plasma ALC concentrations and pharmacok-inetics after oral administration of ALC to human volunteers. ALC concentrations in human plasma were corrected by subtracting the concentration of blank plasma from each sample. Precision and accuracy (bias %) for uncorrected ALC concentrations were below 2.6 and 6.5% for intra-days, and 4.0 and 9.4% for inter-days, respectively. Precision and accuracy (bias %)for corrected ALC concentrations were below 10.9 and 6.0% for intra-days, and 10.5 and 16.9% for inter-days, respectively. Quantitation limit was $0.1{\;}\mu\textrm{g}／mL$. After oral administration of a 500 mg ALC tablet to 8 healthy volunteers, the principle pharmacokinetic parameters were 4.2 h of the half-life$ (t_{1/2},{\beta})$, the area under the curve $(AUC_{0{\rightarrow}8){\;}of{\;}9.88{\;}\mu\textrm{g}{\cdot}h/mL$, and 3.1 h of the time ($T_{max}$) to reach $C_{max}$. This study first describes the pharmacokinetic study after oral admin-istration of a single dose of ALC in human volunteers.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.339-343
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• 1991

The objective of this study was to evalute changes of $CO_2$ pressure, pH, precipitation, brix, free sugar, colority, crude saponin and ginsenoside contents of Ginseng Drink Product for ten months at different temperatures $(room\;temp.,\;35^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C)$. The results are as follows : $CO_2$ pressure was decreased after nine month storage at room temp., six months at $35^{\circ}C$ and three months at $50^{\circ}C$. pH and brix nearly constant at various storage temperatures and periods. Precipitation was appeared after five months storage at room temp., two months at $35^{\circ}C$ and one month at $50^{\circ}C$. Sucrose content was decrease, while glucose and fructose contents were increased at high temperature and long period of stroage. Colority and panaxatrial(PT) saponin contents were increased, while panaxadiol(PD) saponin was increased at high temperature and long period of stroage.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.371-377
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• 2017

Despite the importance of the receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand (RANKL)-RANK signaling mechanisms on osteoclast differentiation, little has been studied on how RANK expression is regulated or what regulates its expression during osteoclastogenesis. We show here that insulin signaling increases RANK expression, thus enhancing osteoclast differentiation by RANKL. Insulin stimulation induced RANK gene expression in time- and dose-dependent manners and insulin receptor shRNA completely abolished RANK expression induced by insulin in bone marrow-derived monocyte/macrophage cells (BMMs). Moreover, the addition of insulin in the presence of RANKL promoted RANK expression. The ability of insulin to regulate RANK expression depends on extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) since only PD98059, an ERK1/2 inhibitor, specifically inhibited its expression by insulin. However, the RANK expression by RANKL was blocked by all three mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases inhibitors. The activation of RANK increased differentiation of BMMs into tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive ($TRAP^+$) osteoclasts as well as the expression of dendritic cell-specific transmembrane protein (DC-STAMP) and d2 isoform of vacuolar ($H^+$) ATPase (v-ATPase) Vo domain (Atp6v0d2), genes critical for osteoclastic cell-cell fusion. Collectively, these results suggest that insulin induces RANK expression via ERK1/2, which contributes to the enhancement of osteoclast differentiation.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.62 no.7
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• pp.1009-1013
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• 2013

In this study, we developed a fiber-optic goniometer for the continuous measurement of knee joint angle which provides important medical information on Alzheimer's disease. The fiber-optic goniometer is composed of a light-emitting diode (LED), a plastic optical fiber (POF), and a voltage output photodiode (PD). As a sensing part of the fiber-optic goniometer, a unclad fiber with regular intervals of 1 mm was fabricated to improve efficiency of bending loss according to the angle variation of knee joint. The emitting light with a center wavelength of 470 nm from a LED is guided by a POF to the PD, the transmitted light is then attenuated by the bending loss inside the bent POF. The intensity variation of the light transmitted from the POF gives rise to a change in output voltage in the fiber-optic goniometer. Therefore, we measured the real-time output voltage of the proposed fiber-optic goniometer using the unclad fiber according to the knee joint angle. Through the repeated experiments, the fiber-optic goniometer shows that it has a reversibility and a wide measurable angle range.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2000

The effects of each component (water extracts, alcohol extracts, lipophillic extracts, total saponin, panaxadiol, panaxatriol) of red ginseng on the antioxidative enzyme activities were investigated in the liver in order to screen antioxidative components of red ginseng. 20∼25g ICR mouse which were pretreated with 50 mg/kg body weight of red ginseng component for 15 days. The ability of red ginseng component to protect against oxidative damage to the mouse liver was examined by determining the level of lipid peroxidation (MDA), hydroperoxide (H$_2$O$_2$) and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase. The hepatic total-SOD activity was highest in lipophilic extracts group and panaxadiol group next (p<0.01). The content of hepatic hydroperoxide was lowest in the order of panaxatriol group and alcohol extracts group (p < 0.01). The hepatic catalase activity in the liver was highest in order of lipophillic extracts group (p <0.01) and total saponin group (p<0.05). Finally the lipid peroxidation (MDA) level was lowest in lipophillic extracts group, alcohol extracts group and panaxadiol next (p <0.01). In conclusion, the order of effectiveness of antioxidants was to be lipophillic extracts>panaxadiol >total saponins.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1124-1131
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• 2012

Four Thai - rumen fistulated male swamp buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), about four years old with $400{\pm}20kg$ liveweight, were randomly assigned according to a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design to receive dietary treatments. The treatments were: ground corn cob (GCC) replacement for cassava chip (CC) in concentrate at 0% (T1); GCC replacement at 33% (T2); GCC replacement at 67% (T3); and GCC replacement at 100% (T4), respectively. During the experiment, concentrate was offered at 0.5% BW while 5% urea-treated rice straw was given at ad libitum. The result revealed that there was no effect of GCC replacement on DMI among treatments. In addition, digestibilities of DM, OM and CP were not different while aNDF linearly increased with an increasing level of GCC replacement. However, GCC replacement did not affect rumen fermentation such as ruminal pH, $NH_3$-N and VFA concentration; except C3 proportion which was the highest at 33% replacement while the lowest was at 100% replacement. All replacements of GCC resulted in similar protozoal and bacterial populations and microbial protein synthesis (MPS). Purine derivatives (PD) concentration in urine and PD to creatinine (PDC) index were varied with time of urination and among treatments at 0 to 8 and 8 to 16 h post feeding and higher values were shown among the GCC replacement groups. However at 16 to 24 h-post feeding, it was untraceable. In addition, creatinine concentration was similar among all treatments at every sampling time. Based on the above results, GCC can be used as an energy source for swamp buffalo fed with rice straw. Spot sampling of urine can be used for purine derivatives determination.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.179-184
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• 2016

Bone morphogenetic protein 9 (BMP9) is a potent inducer of osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. The Wnt antagonist Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1) is involved in skeletal development and bone remodeling. Here, we investigated the role of Dkk1 in BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. We found that overexpression of BMP9 induced Dkk1 expression in a dose-dependent manner, which was reduced by the P38 inhibitor SB203580 but not the ERK inhibitor PD98059. Moreover, Dkk1 dramatically decreased not only BMP9-induced alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity but also the expression of osteocalcin (OCN) and osteopontin (OPN) and matrix mineralization of C3H10T1/2 cells. Furthermore, exogenous Dkk1 expression inhibited Wnt/β-catenin signaling induced by BMP9. Our findings indicate that Dkk1 negatively regulates BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation through inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and it could be used to optimize the therapeutic use of BMP9 and for bone tissue engineering.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2007

Purpose: The estrogen receptor (ER), which is over-expressed in ER-positive breast tumors, has been imaged by positron emission tomography (PET) using $[^{18}F]$ labeled estrogen ligands, especially $[^{18}F]FES$. However, $[^{18}F]$ has relatively short-lived half-life ($t_{1/2}$ =1.8 h) and the labeling yield of radio-fluorination is usually low compared with $^{64}Cu\;(t_{1/2}=12.7\;h)$. 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (cyclen) is used to form stable metal complexes with copper, indium, gallium, and gadolinium. With these in mind, we prepared cyclen-based Cu complexes which mimic estradiol in aspect of two hydroxyl groups. Materials and Methods: 1.7-Protected cyclen, 1.7-bis (benzyloxycarbonyl)-cyclen was synthesized according to the reported procedure. After introducing two 4-benzyloxybenzyl groups at 4,10-positions, the benzyloxycarbonyl and benzyl groups were removed at the same time by hydrogenation on Pd/C to give 1,7-bis(4-hydroxybenzyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (1). Results: The prepared ligand 1 was fully characterized by $^1H,\;^{13}C$ NMR, and mass spectrometer. The synthesized ligand was reacted with copper chloride and copper perchlorate to give copper complexes $[Cu(1)]^{2+}2(CIO_4^-)\;and\;[Cu(1)Cl]^+Cl^-$ which were confirmed by high-resolution mass (FAB). Conclusion: We successfully synthesized a cyclen derivative of which two phenol groups are located on trans position of N-atoms. And, two Cu(ll) complexes of +2 and +1 overall charge, were prepared as a potential PET tracers for ER imaging.