• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.518-526
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• 2008

Recently a major goal in asthma therapy is to reduce or prevent the inflammatory response of airway. Eosinophilic accumulation in the tissue is a prominent feature of allergic diseases including asthma. Production of chemokines by bronchial epithelial cells may contribute to the allergic inflammation by recruiting eosinophils. In this study we evaluated the inhibitory effect of Gamichungsangbohatang (GMCSBHT), used traditionally in treating asthma, on secretion of chemokines for eosinophils in human A549 epithelial cells. Chemokines such as eotaxin, RANTES, IL-8 were inhibited in a dose-dependent manner, but IL-16 showed no inhibition by GMCSBHT. These findings indicate that GMCSBHT might be a therapeutic value in treating asthma by suppression of chemokines secretion associated with local accumulation of eosinophils.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5527-5545
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• 2019

Through-wall ultra-wide band (UWB) radar has been considered as one of the preferred and non-contact technologies for the targets detection owing to the better time resolution and stronger penetration. The high time resolution is a result of a larger of bandwidth of the employed UWB pulses from the radar system, which is a useful tool to separate multiple targets in complex environment. The article emphasised on human subject localization and detection. Human subject usually can be detected via extracting the weak respiratory signals of human subjects remotely. Meanwhile, the range between the detection object and radar is also acquired from the 2D range-frequency matrix. However, it is a challenging task to extract human respiratory signals owing to the low signal to clutter ratio. To improve the feasibility of human respiratory signals detection, a new method is developed via analysing the standard deviation based kurtosis of the collected pulses, which are modulated by human respiratory movements in slow time. The range between radar and the detection target is estimated using joint time-frequency analysis (JTFA) of the analysed characteristics, which provides a novel preliminary signature for life detection. The breathing rates are obtained using the proposed accumulation method in time and frequency domain, respectively. The proposed method is validated and proved numerically and experimentally.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.129-139
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• 2019

The human respiratory tract hosts both pathogenic and commensal bacteria. The development of well-conserved 16S rRNA sequencing and culture-independent techniques has enabled many achievements in the study of the human microbiome. Microbial composition of the respiratory tract in early childhood has been shown to correlate to respiratory health in later stages of life. This review highlights current understandings of respiratory microbiota development in healthy children, examples of microbial interactions, impacts on the host immune system, and the relationship between respiratory tract microbiome and respiratory health.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.676-683
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• 2007

A non-invasive respiratory gated radiotherapy system like those based on external anatomic motion gives better comfortableness to patients than invasive system on treatment. However, higher correlation between the external and internal anatomic motion is required to increase the effectiveness of non-invasive respiratory gated radiotherapy. Both of invasive and non-invasive methods need to track the internal anatomy with the higher precision and rapid response. Especially, the non-invasive method has more difficulty to track the target position successively because of using only image processing. So we developed the system to track the motion for a non-invasive respiratory gated system to accurately find the dynamic position of internal structures such as the diaphragm and tumor. The respiratory organ motion tracking apparatus consists of an image capture board, a fluoroscopy system and a processing computer. After the image board grabs the motion of internal anatomy through the fluoroscopy system, the computer acquires the organ motion tracking data by image processing without any additional physical markers. The patients breathe freely without any forced breath control and coaching, when this experiment was performed. The developed pattern-recognition software could extract the target motion signal in real-time from the acquired fluoroscopic images. The range of mean deviations between the real and acquired target positions was measured for some sample structures in an anatomical model phantom. The mean and max deviation between the real and acquired positions were less than 1mm and 2mm respectively with the standardized movement using a moving stage and an anatomical model phantom. Under the real human body, the mean and maximum distance of the peak to trough was measured 23.5mm and 55.1mm respectively for 13 patients' diaphragm motion. The acquired respiration profile showed that human expiration period was longer than the inspiration period. The above results could be applied to respiratory-gated radiotherapy.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.111-120
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• 2021

Asbestos products had been widely used until 2007 in Korea since the 1930s. A total ban on their production and applications has been imposed because of the toxic effect of asbestos fibers on the human health. The inhaled asbestos fibers increase reactive oxygen species and inflammatory reactions in the respiratory airway including the alveolar sac, resulting in DNA damages and secretion of several inflammatory cytokines or chemokines. These paracrine communications promote the proliferation of fibroblasts and the synthesis of collagen fibers, thereby depositing them into the extracellular matrix at the interstitial space of alveoli. The fibrotic tissue hindered the gas exchange in the alveolus. This reviews describes not only the cytotoxic effects of asbestos fibers with different physical or chemical characteristics but also the interaction of cells that make up the respiratory airway to understand the molecular or cellular mechanisms of asbestos fiber-induced toxicity. In addition, we propose a pulmonary toxicity research technique based on the mini-lung that can mimic human respiratory system as an alternative to overcome the limitations of the conventional risk assessment of asbestos fibers.

• The Journal of Korean Oriental Chronic Disease
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2005

Background and Objective: The importance of the presence of eosinophils in the airways of patients with fetal asthma has long been recognized, but the mechanism by which these cells are recruited and retained in the lung are only now being elucidated. Eotaxin is a potent and specific eosinophil chemoattractant that is mobilized in the respiratory epithelium after allergic stimulation. Material and Methods: We used water extracts of Liripois Tuber and pulmonary epithelial cell lines A549(human typeII-like epithelial cells) and human eosinophils. We estimated cytotoxic effects of Liripois Tuber via MTS assay, and estimated the effects of Liripois Tuber on chemokines from prestimulated A549 cells by sandwich ELISA and RT-PCR. We conducted chemotaxis assay on prestimulated eosinophils treated with Liripois Tuber. Result: In this study we demonstrated that $TNF-{\alpha}$, IL-4 and $IL-1{\beta}$ induced the accumulation of chemokines mRNA in the pulmonary epithelial cell lines A549 in dose-dependent manner. Chemokines were inhibited by Liripois Tuber in dose-dependent manner. The eosinophil migration was inhibited at high concentration of Liripois Tuber. Conculusion: These findings indicate that the supression of the expression of chemokines can be accomplished by Liripois Tuber treatment, raising the possibility that Liripois Tuber might be of therapeutic value in diseases such as asthma.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.199-212
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• 2005

Objective : Airway inflammation is now regarded as a defining feature of asthma. The importance of eosinophits in the airway inflammation of asthma patients is widely recognized, and eosinophils mobilization in the respiratory epithelium is activated by chemoattractants and cytokines. This study was designed to examine the extent of the ability of Moutan Cortex Radicis to inhibit eosinophil chemotaxis of pulmonary epithelium after allergic stimulation. Material and Methods : Water extracts of Moutan Cortex Radicis and pulmonary epithelial cell lines A549(human type II-like epithelial cells) and human eosinophils were used. Cytotoxic effects of Moutan Cortex Radicis were estimated via MTS assay, and the effects of Moutan Cortex Radicis on chemokines from prestimulated A549 cells were estimated by sandwich ELISA and RT-PCR. Chemotaxis assay on prestimulated eosinophils treated with Moutan Cortex Radicis. was conducted Result : In this study we demonstrated that $TNF-{\alpha}$ and IL-4, $IL-1{\beta}$ induced the accumulation of chemokines' mRNA in the pulmonary epithelial cell lines A549 in a dose-dependent manner. Chemokines of eotaxin, ICAM-1, YCAM-1, IL-8, IL-16 were inhibited by Moutan Cortex Radicis in a dose dependent manner, but RANTES showed no inhibition due to Moutan Cortex Radicis. Eosinophil migration was inhibited at high concentrations of Moutan Cortex Radicis. Conculusion : These findings are indicative of supression of chemokines accomplished by Moutan Cortex Radicis treatment, demonstrating the potential therapeutic value of Moutan Cortex Radicis for treating diseases such as asthma.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2020

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is characterized by repeated recurrence in the respiratory system, such as the pharynx, larynx, and trachea, caused by the human papilloma virus. The main treatment is surgical removal of the papilloma. However repeated recurrence of RRP in multiple areas is burdened for the surgeon. In addition to the surgery, various adjuvant therapies have been studied to reduce the recurrence. Literature review was conducted with a focus on the adjuvant treatments for RRP.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.323-328
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• 2008

A patient with respiratory disorders such as a sleep apnea is increasing as the obese patient increase on the modern society. Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) devices are used in curing patient with respiratory disorders and turn out to be efficacious for patients of 75%. However, these devices are required for evaluating their performance to improve their performance by the mechanical breathing simulator. Recently, the mechanical breathing simulator was studied by the real time feedback control. However, the mechanical breathing simulator by an open loop control was specially required in order to analyze the effect of flow rate and pressure after operating the breathing auxiliary devices. Therefore the aims of this study were to make the mechanical breathing simulator by a piston motion and a valve function from the characteristic test of valve and motor, and to duplicate the flow rate and pressure profiles of some breathing patterns: normal and three disorder patterns. The mechanical simulator is composed cylinder, valve, ball screw and the motor. Also, the characteristic test of the motor and the valve were accomplished in order to define the relationship between the characteristics of simulator and the breathing profiles. Then, the flow rate and pressure profile of human breathing patterns were duplicated by the control of motor and valve. The result showed that the simulator reasonably duplicated the characteristics of human patterns: normal, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), mild hypopnea with snore and mouth expiration patterns. However, we need to improve this simulator in detail and to validate this method for other patterns.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.208-220
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• 2006

Objective: Eosinophils are typically characterized by a bilobar nucleus with highly condensed chromatin and cytoplasm containing two major types of granules, specific and primary granules, and lipid bodies. The role of inflammation in asthma and other allergic diseases of the airways is widely appreciated, and airway inflammation is now included as a defining feature of asthma. The importance of the presence of eosinophils in the airways of patients with fetal asthma has long been recognized, but the mechanism by which these cells are recruited and retained in the lungs are only now being elucidated. Eotaxin is a potent and specific eosinophil chemoattractant that is mobilized in the respiratory epithelium after allergic stimulation. Methods : Water extracts of Armeniacae Amarum Semen(AAS) and pulmonary epithelial cell lines A549(alveolar typeII epithelial cells) and human eosinophils were used. Cytotoxic effects of AAS and MIS assay were estimated, as well as the effects of AAS on chemokines from prestimulated A549 cells by sandwich ELISA and RI-PCR. Chemotaxis assay was conducted on prestimulated eosinophils treated with AAS. Results : In this study it is demonstrated that $TGF-{\alpha}$, IL-4 and $IL-1{\beta}$ induced the accumulation of chemokine mRNAs in the alveolar epithelial cell lines A549 in dose-dependent manner. Eotaxin and IL-8 were inhibited by AAS in dose-dependent manner(p<0.05). Eosinophil migration was inhibited at high concentrations of AAS(p<0.05). Conculusions : These findings are indicative of suppression of eotaxin and IL-8, and suggest that this is accomplished through AAS treatment. This raises the possibility that AAS is of therapeutic value in diseases such as asthma.