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Effects of Patriotism on Product Evaluation: Focused on the Mediating Effects of Consumer Ethnocentrism (애국심이 제품평가에 미치는 영향: 소비자 자민족중심주의의 매개효과를 중심으로)

  • Hong, Sung-Tai;Kang, Dong-Kyoon
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.71-99
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    • 2010
  • Most of studies on patriotism in the marketing area have focused on ethnocentric tendencies observed in consumption behaviors. On the contrary, there have been few empirical studies on how patriotism in the general sense, indicating affection for, attachment to, and pride in the country, influences consumers' evaluation of domestic and foreign products. Given the current situation that marketing activities appealing to people's patriotism is increasing, this is somewhat surprising. Thus, this study examined empirically how patriotism influences people's evaluation of domestic and foreign products. In addition, we tested whether consumer ethnocentrism works as an intervening variable in the relation between patriotism and product evaluation. The empirical analysis was conducted through a questionnaire survey of undergraduate and graduate students at universities in Seoul. The survey asked about the respondents' patriotism, consumer ethnocentrism, domestic product evaluation, foreign product evaluation, and demographical characteristics. In foreign product evaluation, the respondents were requested to evaluate Chinese and Japanese products. Email was used to send and recover the questionnaires, and 135 replies were used in the analysis. Major findings from the empirical analysis are as follows. First, a significant relationship was observed between patriotism and domestic product evaluation. That is, patriotic participants evaluated domestic products more favorably. On the other hand, no significant relationship was observed between patriotism and foreign product evaluation(See Table 1-1 and 1-2). Next, the effect of patriotism on domestic product evaluation was mediated by consumer ethnocentrism. However, whether the effect of patriotism on domestic product evaluation is mediated by consumer ethnocentrism partially or fully was different according to product(See Table 2-1 and 2-2). Lastly, we tried to analyze the relation between consumer ethnocentrism and product evaluation and comparing the results with findings of previous researches. According to the results, a significant relationship was observed between consumer ethnocentrism and domestic product evaluation but not between consumer ethnocentrism and foreign product evaluation. The meanings of this study are as follows. First, there have been few marketing studies that investigated the relation between patriotism and product evaluation. Thus, this study is meaningful in that it supplemented the limitation of previous research. Second, consumer ethnocentrism was found to mediate the relation between patriotism and domestic product evaluation. Considering the absence of previous research that examined the role of consumer ethnocentrism as an intervening variable, this study is significant in that it expanded the scope of research on consumer ethnocentrism. Third, from the practical aspect, the results of this study suggest that marketing appealing to patriotism is effective in stimulating consumers' purchase and consumption of domestic products. Accordingly, such a marketing strategy is expected to be effective in protecting domestic markets from imported goods and overseas brands and to increase demands for domestic products and brands. However, there is the question of whether the effect of patriotism based marketing strategies in promoting demand for domestic products would persist. That is, this study could not find a significant relation between patriotism and foreign product evaluation, and this means that the increase in patriotism for the home country does not damage people's view to the quality of foreign products negatively. Accordingly, without change in people's perception of foreign products, it is highly likely that the increase in demand for domestic products or brands induced by patriotism elevated at a specific time or situation may not last long. Fourth, the results of this study suggest that the patriotism level may influence consumers' choice behavior toward retailers strongly connected to a specific country or region. That is, consumers with high level patriotism may hesitate or avoid using a retailer associated with some foreign country. Fifth, according to the results of this study, when people's patriotism is stimulated by a specific social situation or event, it can be an opportunity for domestic franchise brands to increase their market performance such as sales and market share and, at the same time, for foreign franchise brands to experience adversities. Therefore, during a period like the Olympic Games or the World Cup when people's sense of belonging or attachment to their country is heightened, domestic franchise brands need to make marketing activities that may lead market opportunities to substantial results and foreign franchise brands to cope with such adversities. Sixth, consumers' brand choice is often made in retail stores. It has been demonstrated by numerous studies that in store stimuli such as point of purchase display can affect consumers' behavior. Considering this, domestic brands facing competition with foreign brands should make continuous efforts to enhance the market performance of their products through developing in store stimuli that can stimulate consumers' patriotism. Finally, based on the major findings of this study, both academic and practical issues were discussed. Suggestions for future studies were provided.

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The Relationships among Perceived Value, Use-Diffusion, Loyalty of Mobile Instant Messaging Service (모바일 메신저 서비스의 지각된 가치, 사용-확산 그리고 충성도 간의 관계에 대한 연구)

  • Jo, Dong-Hyuk;Park, Jong-Woo;Chun, Hyun-Jae
    • Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.193-212
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    • 2011
  • Mobile instant messaging service is surfacing to an important keyword in the mobile market together with popularization of Smart phones. Mobile instant messaging service in Korea has become popular to the degree of 87.9% usages from total Smartphone holders, and it is expected that using populations will be more enlarged afterwards if considering a fact that its populations of Smartphone is continuously being increased after exceeding 10 million persons (Trend Monitor, June 2011). In the instant messaging market where competitions have been deepened day by day, raising customer's royalties will be the key for company's business survivals and goals of corporate marketing strategies. It could be said that understanding on which factors affect to customer retentions and royalties is very important. Specially, as changing status is being progressed very quickly in case of innovative mobile services like the instant messaging service, research necessities on how many do consumers use the services after accepting them, how much do consumers use them variously, and whether does it connect to long-term relations have been increased, but studies on such matters are in insufficient situations actually. Therefore, this study examined on which effects were affected to use-diffusion and loyalty factors from perceived customer vales' factors having been occurred after accepting the mobile instant messaging service, namely 'functional value', 'monetary value', 'emotional value', and 'social value'. Also, the study looked into what kind of roles do the service usage and using variety play to service's continued using intents as a loyalty index, recommending intents to others, and brand switching intents. And then the study laid the main purpose in trying to provide implications for enhancing customer securities and royalties on the mobile instant messaging service through research's results. The research hypotheses are as follows; H1: Perceived values will affect influences to royalties. H2: Use-Diffusion will affect influences to loyalty. H3: Perceived value will affect influences to loyalty. H4: The use-diffusion will play intermediating roles between perceived values and loyalty. Total 276 cases among collected 284 ones were used for the statistical analysis by SPSS ver. 15 package. Reliability, Factor analysis, regression were done. As the result of research, 'monetary value' and 'emotional value' affected to 'usage' among perceived value factors, and 'emotional value' was appeared as affecting the largest influence. Besides, the usage affected to constant-using intents and recommending intents to others, and using varieties were displayed as affecting to recommending intents to others. On the other hand, 'Using' and 'Using diversity' were appeared as not affecting to 'brand switching intentions'. Meanwhile, as the result of recognizing about effects of perceived values on the loyalty, it was appeared such like 'continued using intents' affected to'functional value', 'monetary value', and 'social value' first, and also 'monetary value', 'emotional value', and 'social value' affected to 'recommending intents to others'. On the other hand, it was shown such like only 'social value' affected influences to 'brand switching intents', and thus contrary results with the factor 'constant-using intents' were displayed. So, it seems that there are many applications to service provides who are worrying about marketing strategies for making consumer retains (constant-using) and new consumer's inductions (brand-switching intents). Finally, as a result of looking into intermediating roles of the use-diffusion factor in relations between conceived values and royalties at hypothesis 4, 'using' and 'using diversity' were displayed as affecting significant influences all together. Regarding to research result's implications, for expanding and promoting continued uses of the mobile instant messaging service by service providers: First, encouraging recognitions on the perceived value connected to users' service usage are necessary. Second, setting up user's use-diffusion strategies are required so as to enhance the loyalty after understanding a fact that use-diffusion patterns affecting to the service's loyalty are different. Finally, methods of raising customer loyalties and making constant relationships have to be grouped by analyzing on what are the customer value's factors that can satisfy users in competitive alterations.

Social Learning Values in the Justification Discourses for One Million-pyeong Park, Busan, South Korea (담론분석을 통한 100만평공원운동의 사회학습적 가치)

  • Lee, Sungkyung;Kim, Seung-Hwan
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.41 no.5
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    • pp.19-27
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    • 2013
  • This paper claims that the One Million-peyong Park(hereafter abbreviated as OMP) project is different from a typical citizen participatory park project by recognizing the exceptional leadership of the Civic Committee for the One Million-pyeong Park Construction(CCOMPC) in promoting and developing the OMP project. Since 2001 the CCOMPC has published a variety of written promotional materials to inform and educate the public about the project. In terms of approaching the promotional materials, this research focuses on the use of language on how the CCOMPC justifies the OMP project, namely the OMP justification discourse, and considers the discourse as a unique form of social document that represents the perspective of the CCOMPC in explaining the local environmental issues and values of urban parks to the public. Using a discourse analysis method, this research analyzes the justification discourses and investigates how they changed over the three main development phases of the OMP: the initiation and preliminary development phase(1999-2001.2), the development phase (2001.2-2008), and the time period after the greenbelt policy release on Dunchi Island(2008-present). In each discourse, the OMP project is rationalized as a citizen participation park project that (1) aims to enhance the quality of public green space in Busan, (2) is accompanied by various community engagement programs that emphasize the value of urban nature and environmental education to expand citizen participation, and (3) has contributed to the National Urban Park Bill. This research emphasizes the role of the discourses in helping the public gain a critical understanding about the local environment and values of urban parks. By analyzing the contents of the discourses, it explains the social learning values of the OMP expressed in the discourses.

The Growth Promoting Effect of Bifidobacterium bifidum by Combination of Natural Products Bearing Antioxidative Capacity (항산화 천연산물의 조합구성에 의한 Bifidobacterium bifidum의 성장 촉진 효과)

  • 김종덕;신태선
    • Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.388-394
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    • 2002
  • The growth of B. bifidum was promoted by natural products bearing antioxidative capacity and mixed combined two, three and four kinds of them. B. bifidum was expressed a good growth by Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Corni fructus, Beiamcanda chinensis, alone, and two mixed combinations were composed of Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner and Corni fructus, Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner and Beiamcanda chinensis, Nefumbo nuclfera gaertner and Theae folium, three mixed combinations were oraganized with Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Corni fructus and Theae folium, Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Corni fructus and Beiamcanda chinensis, Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Theae folium and Beiamcanda chinensis, and four mixed combinations were formed with Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Theae folium, Beiamcanda chinensis aud Corni fructus, Theae folium, Beiamcanda chinensis, Corni fructus and Glycyrrhizae radix, Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Corni fructus, Teae folium and Glycyrrhizae radix, and Nelumbo nuclfera gaertner, Corni fructus, Beiamcanda chinensis and Glycyrrhizae radix. These few mixed combinations promoted cell growth by 2.6 times than that of control, and its antioxidative capacity was also 5.6 times higher, and the ratio of elimination of hydroxyl radical was more than 80% in each dilution rate. As these combinations of natural products could activate some parts of body, they might be applied to pharmaceuitcal applications, functional foods, also expected to multifunctional fermentative beverages.

Removal of Cochlodinium polykrikoides using the Dredged Sediment from a Coastal Fishery (연안어장 준설퇴적물을 이용한 Cochlodinium polykrikoides 제거)

  • Sun, Young-Chul;Kim, Myoung-Jin;Song, Young-Chae;Ko, Seong-Jeong;Hwang, Eung-Ju;Jo, Q-Tae
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.53-60
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    • 2010
  • In the present study, experiments have been performed to investigate the possibility of removing Cochlodinium polykrikoides using the dredged sediment from a coastal fishery and then to derive the optimal conditions; the amount and particle size of dredged sediment besprinkled into water, the thermal treatment, the types and amounts of additives, and the depth profile of Cochlodinium polykrikoides. Results showed that the optimal amount of dredged sediment besprinkled into water was 6~10 g/L, and the removal efficiency of Cochlodinium polykrikoides after the reaction time for 60 min was 73~93%. Note that, in the real sea water, it is necessary to besprinkle 6~10 $kg/m^3$ of dry dredged sediment on a unit area (1 $m^2$). With decreasing particle size, Cochlodinium polykrikoides could be more efficiently removed. The removal efficiency was 93% with the dredged sediment smaller than 100 ${\mu}m$, whereas it was 51% with that of 100 ${\mu}m$ ${\mu}m$. Since most of dredged sediment (over 90%) was smaller than 100 ${\mu}m$, high efficiency could be obtained by besprinkling only the dredged sediment without pre-treatment. CaO was found to be an effective additive in promoting the removal efficiency (up to 99%). The optimal amount of additive was 5~10%, however, it was necessary to use as small amount of an additive as possible in order to avoid the sharp increase in pH. The removal efficiency increased with increasing depth profile of Cochlodinium polykrikoides. The removal efficiency was 83% at 5 cm depth, whereas it was 93% at 50 cm depth. In the sea water, red tide occurred within 3 m depth, and furthermore most Cochlodinium polykrikoides existed within 1 m depth. It was, therefore, expected that higher removal efficiency of Cochlodinium polykrikoides could be obtained when the dredged sediment was besprinkled into the sea water. The removal efficiency of Cochlodinium polykrikoides was up to 93% when the dredged sediment (<100 ${\mu}m$) was besprinkled into water at the ratio of 10 g/L. This result was comparable to that obtained with loess (90~97%). All the results in the present study indicated that the dredged sediment from a coastal fishery could be successfully used as a substitute of loess for removing the red tide alga.

Factors Affecting South Korean Disaster Officials' Readiness to Facilitate Public Participation in Disaster Management Using Smart Technologies (재난안전 실무자의 스마트 재난관리 준비도에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 실증 연구 - 스마트 기술을 활용한 재난관리 민간참여 중심으로 -)

  • Lyu, Hyeon-Suk;Kim, Hak-Kyong
    • Korean Security Journal
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    • no.62
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    • pp.35-63
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    • 2020
  • As the frequency and intensity of catastrophic disasters increase, there is widespread public sentiment that government capacity for disaster response and recovery is fundamentally limited, and that the involvement of civil society and the private sector is ever more vital. That is, in order to strengthen national disaster response capacity, governments need to build disaster systems that are more participatory and function through the channels of civil society, rather than continuing themselves to bear sole responsibility for these "wicked problems." With the advancement of smart mobile technology and social media, government and society as a whole have been called upon to apply these new information and communication technologies to address the current shortcomings of government-led disaster management. As illustrated in such catastrophic disasters as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 2010 Haitian earthquake, and Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005, the realization of participatory potential of smart technologies for better disaster response has enabled citizen participation via new smart technologies during disasters and resulted in positive impact on the management of such disasters. In this context, this study focuses on the South Korean context, and aims to analyze Korean government officials' readiness for public participation using smart technologies. On this basis, it aims to offer policy suggestions aimed at promoting smart technology-enabled citizen participation. For this purpose, it proposes a particular model, termed SMART (System, Motivation, Ability, Response, and Technology).

Antecedents of Technological Innovation Orientation and Its Impact on Technological Innovation Performance: A Case of Korean IT SMEs (기술혁신지향성의 선행요인과 기술혁신성과에 미치는 영향: 국내 IT 중소기업 사례)

  • Moon, Chang-Ho;Kim, Si-Yeon
    • Journal of Technology Innovation
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.49-84
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    • 2016
  • The importance of technological innovation orientation, which denotes the firm's general direction of thought toward steadily pursuing and promoting technological innovation in the long run for its viability and competitiveness, is on the rise. Although the technological innovation orientation has conceptually and practically important implications for securing the firm's sustainable competitive advantage, to date there has been limited research systematically analyzing the role of the technological innovation orientation for the firm's successful technological innovation and performance. Recognizing such deficiency in previous research regarding technological innovation orientation, this study selected internal and external critical factors which might affect the technological innovation orientation, and proposed and empirically examined a research model and hypotheses demonstrating the contingency relationships among the antecedent factors, technological innovation orientation and technological innovation performance. In the proposed research model, the selected antecedents of technological innovation orientation included two internal factors of CEO's technical-function experience and cross-functional integration and two external factors of environmental uncertainty and intensity of competition, and eventually it was suggested that these antecedent factors affected the firm's technological innovation performance via the technological innovation orientation. In addition, the research model suggested that the two environmental factors of environmental uncertainty and intensity of competition had a positive moderation effect on the relationship between technological innovation orientation and technological innovation performance. Analysis of data on sample of 86 Korean IT SMEs showed that CEO's technical-function experience, cross-functional integration and environmental uncertainty had a positive impact on the firm's technological innovation orientation and that the technological innovation orientation positively influenced the firm's technological innovation performance. The results also revealed that environmental uncertainty positively moderated the relationship between the firm's technological innovation orientation and technological innovation performance. The theoretical and practical implications for the results of this study were discussed.

Prospects for development of cosmetic industry using natural products in Chungbuk (충북지역의 천연 자원을 활용한 화장품 산업의 발전 전망)

  • Hwang, Hyung seo
    • Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2018.10a
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    • pp.26-27
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    • 2018
  • With entry into force of the Nagoya Protocol to promote the fair sharing of the benefits of accessing and utilizing genetic resources, much support has been given to research on the development of biomaterials and products using domestic natural resources. Conservation and resource-saving of native species became very important through Nagoya Protocol enactment. The trend of cosmetic industry has been shifing from use synthetic chemicals to natural biomaterials, due to the safety regulations on new materials, ban on animal experiments, and expansion of cosmeceuticals range. In addition, functional cosmetic range has been expanded from whitening, wrinkle improvement, and ultraviolet shielding, to hair loss, hair loss alleviation, acne relaxation, and moisturizing of atopic skin, thus causing the activation of research about field of efficacy evaluation on natural biomaterials and commercialization. Chungbuk province is fostering the bio industry as a key industry for regional economic growth. For this purpose, Osong Biotechnology Complex/Ochang Science Industrial Complex in middle area, Jecheon biovalley in northern region, and Chungju Enterprise city have been established, thus playing a pivotal role in Bio innovative cluster in Korea. In particular, it was established the osong cosmetics clinical research support center to develop the cosmetics industry in chungbuk, thereby supporting clinical trials, efficacy evaluations, overseas certification, and overseas market entry in order to advance into the global market. In addition, oriental plants such as astragalus propinquus, schisandra chinensis, eucommia, alpiniae oxyphyllae fructus and biancaea sappan are being actively studied as global cosmetic ingredients through the promotion of various national research and development projects using natural materials in chungbuk province. The chungbuk natural product industry is expected to grow further throughout cosmetics industry development in the future, as companies and research institutes are actively promoting the secure index of effective material in natural products and effective material commercialization.

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Effects of Aqua-Acupuncture of Carthami Flos(GV15) on the Changes of Cerebral Hemodynamics in Rats (아문(瘂門)(GV15)의 홍화약침(紅花藥針)이 백서(白鼠)의 뇌혈류역학(腦血流力學) 변동(變動)에 미치는 영향(影響))

  • Ahn, Young-sun;Wei, Tung-shuen;Cho, Myung-rae;Chae, Woo-seok;Yun, Yeo-choong
    • Journal of Acupuncture Research
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    • v.19 no.5
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    • pp.92-111
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    • 2002
  • Objective : Carthami Flos has been used as a herb to promote blood circulation to remove blood stasis in oriental medicine for many centuries, and Amun(GV15) has been used as a meridian point to treat apoplexy etc. To investigate treatment of cerevral vascular disease(CVA) by promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis(活血化瘀法), we observed the experimental effects and mechanism of auqa-acupunture of Carthami Flos(ACF) injected into GV15 on cerevral hemodynamics and cardiovascular system of rats. Method : Aqua-acupuncture of Carthami Flos(ACF) was injected into GV15, and then we investigated experimental effects and mechanism of ACF on the cerebral hemodynamics[regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF), pial arterial diameter(PAD), meal arterial blood pressure(MABP)] and cardiovascular system[cardiac muscle contractile force(CMF), heart rate(HR)I by pretreatment with methylene blue(MTB) and indomethacin(IDN). The changes in rCBF, MABP, CMF and HR were tested by Laser Doppler Flowmetry(LDF), and the changes in PAD was determinated by video microscopy methods and video analyzer. Results :The results were as follows in normal rats ; The changes of rCBF and PAD were significantly increased by ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in a injected time-dependent manner, but MABP was not changed by ACF. The changes of cardiovascular system were increased by ACF in a injected time-dependent manner. And pretreatment with MTB was significantly inhibited ACE induced increase of rCBF and PAD, and was decreased ACF induced increase of HR. And pretreatment with IDN was increased ACF induced MABP and CMF. And the results were as follows in cerebral ischemic rats ; The changes of rCBF was increased stabilizly by treatment with ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in during the period of cerebral reperfusion, but pretreatment with MTB was increased ACF induced increase of rCBF during the period of cerebral reperfusion. The results were as follows in normal rats ; The changes of rCBF and PAD were significantly increased by ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in a injected time-dependent manner, but MABP was not changed by ACF. The changes of cardiovascular system were increased by ACF in a injected time-dependent manner. And pretreatment with MTB was significantly inhibited ACF induced increase of rCBF and PAD, and was decreased ACF induced increase of HR. And pretreatment with IDN was increased ACF induced MABP and CMF. And the results were as follows in cerebral ischemic rats ; The changes of rCBF was increased stabilizly by treatment with ACF($120{\mu}{\ell}/kg$) in during the period of cerebral reperfusion, but pretreatment with MTB was increased ACF induced increase of rCBF during the period of cerebral reperfusion Conclusions : In conclusion, ACF causes a diverse response of rCBF, PAD an HR, and action of ACF is mediated by cyclic GMP. I suggested that ACF has an anti-ischemic effect through the improvement of crebral hemodynamics in a transient cerebral ischemia.

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The Ability of Cervus Elaphus Sibiricus Herbal Acupuncture to Inhibit the Generation of Inflammatory Enzymes on Collagen-induced Arthritis Mice (녹용약침(鹿茸藥鍼)이 CIA 모델 생쥐의 염증인자 생성억제에 미치는 영향)

  • Hwang, Jong-Soon;Hwang, Ji-Hye;Lee, Hyun-Jin;Lee, Dong-Gun;Kang, Min-Joo;Back, Song-Ook;Cho, Hyun-Seok;Kim, Kyung-Ho;Kim, Kap-Sung
    • Journal of Acupuncture Research
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    • v.24 no.6
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    • pp.1-14
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    • 2007
  • Backgrounds : Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA) is known as the chronic inflammatory diseasethat induces persistent inflammation in the joint cavity. The destruction of cartilage occurs as the result of bones destoyed by pannus, several influential cytokines induced by the synovial capsulitis, varieties of proteinases, $O_2$ radicals, and the secondary degenerative changes of articular cartilage. The type 2 collagen-induced arthritis model is used in recent experimental research on rheumatoid arthritis. Cervus elaphus sibiricus (Nockyong) has the effect of relieving pain by nourishing the muscles, joints, and bones. It is also known to be efficacious in promoting and enhancing the immune system. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Cervus elaphus sibiricus herbal acupuncture to inhibit the generation of proinflammatory enzyme on type 2 collagen-induced arthritis. I investigated the inhibition of mRNA transcription of MIF(macrophage migration inhibitory factor), $TNF-{\alpha}$(Tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$) and MMP-9 (matrix metalloproteinase-9) of Cervus elaphus sibiricus herbal acupuncture using an in vitro test. Also investigated was the inhibition of differentiation of Th 1 cells and activation of cytokines(MIF, $TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-6, MMP-9), which are known to cause initial RA ,and are also related to the morphology of the synovial membranes of the joint capsule, by an in vivo test, using CIA(collagen induced arthritis) model mice. Materials & methods : The laboratory animals used in this experiment were 4 week-old DBA female mice, weighing approximately 20 grams, and adjusted to the laboratory environment. The experiment was divided into the normal group(NOR)-no treated group, control group(CON)-CIA induced group, and sample group(SAM)-Cervus elaphus sibiricus herbal acupuncture treated group. RA was induced in the mice via injection of $50{\mu}{\ell}$ C II mixed CFA. The Cervus elaphus sibiricus herbal acupuncture solution was applied on $GB_{35}$(陽陵泉) for 26 days from the 3rd day of RA inducement. The concentration of the solution was determined via a MTT assay. To research the effect on the expression of MIF, $TNF-{\alpha}$ and MMP-9 mRNA, RT-PCR was performed on synovial membrane cells from the knee joint of CIA mice. C II induced RA knee joint's histo-chemical synovial membrane was observed using a specimen model via the Hematoxilin and Eosin dying technique. Results : The expression of mRNA of RA-related cytokines such as MIF, $TNF-{\alpha}$, and MMP-9 dosedependently decreased in the cell from the synovial membranes of the joint, which is treated with Cervus elaphus sibiricus herbal acupuncture solution. In mice treated with Cervus elaphus sibiricusherbal acupuncture, the damage of synovial membranes of the joint was lessened, and differentiation of Th 1 cells was suppressed. The activation of RA-related cytokines such as MIF was suppressed, and the generation of $TNF-{\alpha}$ and MMP-9 showed a statistically significant decreas. Conclusions : It is speculated that Cervus elaphus sibiricus herbal acupuncture has the therapeutic effect of palliating the damage of the tissue impaired by RA by inhibition of the initial RA progression and by regulating excessive differentiation of Th 1 cell as it suppresses the generation of RA-related cytokines during the highest stage of RA by acting on pro-inflammatory enzymes.

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