• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 1983

Diuretic renal scan, a modified method of conventional radionuclide renography by administration of intravenous furosemide was performed in 54 patients with suspected urinary tract obstruction. Two showed normal responses, 41 showed increased washout patterns, and the remainder 15 revealed no changes in response to the furosemide administration. IVP was done in 34 patients. In comparision to the diuretic renal scan, the following results were obtained. 1) Patients with normal results by the scan, showed normal IVP findings also. 2) 10 patients who showed delayed excretory patterns not influenced by the diuretics administration. 9 patients revealed obstructive lesions and hydronephrotic changes, and CPN was diagnosed for the remainder one and the one patient without obstruction was diagnosed as chronic pyelonephritis. 3) 22 patients showed positive results to the diuretics. Among them 10 patients had positive results in IVP. but, were not related to the speed of decrement of the renal activity after the furosemide administration.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.964-972
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• 2000

We report three patients with pulmonary hypertension in Takayasu's arteritis, who showed long-term favorable response, clinically and hemodynamically, to the nitric oxide donor, molsidomine. In these patients, the inhaled nitric oxide was effective in reducing pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) as was shown in the acute vasodilator response test using the invasive hemodynamic monitoring. Molsidomine (single oral dose of 4 mg) was also effective in reducing PAP and PVR in the acute test, but nifedipine was not. With 4 mg of molsidomine three times daily, their dyspnea, exercise capacity and hemodynamic parameters were improved. These favorable responses have lasted during the 1st and 3rd month follow-up in all patients.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.3
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• pp.224-234
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• 2011

Background: Little data is available regarding hospitalized patients with nursing home-acquired pneumonia (NHAP). This is unfortunate because there is an increasing number of elderly persons who are living in nursing homes in Korea. The aim of this study was to compare clinical characteristics and treatment responses of NHAP with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods: Patients with pneumonia who were admitted from eight nursing homes or from their own homes were enrolled between May 2007 and April 2009. Their clinical characteristics and treatment responses were reviewed retrospectively, and differences between the two groups were analyzed. Results: Of 110 Patients with pneumonia, 66 (60%) were from nursing homes and their median age was 84. In the NHAP group, functional performance status was significantly poorer, classical symptoms of pneumonia were less severe, and multi-lobe involvement (on chest radiographs) was more frequent than in the CAP group. Patients with NHAP more frequently showed lymphocytopenia, anemia, hypoalbuminemia, hypoxemia, and elevated blood urea nitrogen on admission. The mean CURB-65 score was 2.2 in the NHAP group, higher than 1.7 in the CAP group (p=0.004), and multi-drug resistant pathogens were also highly identified in NHAP group (39% vs. 10%, p=0.036). The mean duration of antibiotic therapy was greater for the NHAP (12.6 days) than for the CAP group (6.6 days) (p<0.001). The mortality rate was 23% in NHAP group, which was significantly higher than 5% in the CAP group (p=0.014). Conclusion: NHAP should be more intensively investigated because of the higher frequency of multi-drug resistant pathogens and mortality than the CAP.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.298-305
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• 2012

The general term flavonoids is often used to categorize a family of natural compounds that are highly abundant in all higher plants, and which in recent years have attracted scientific interest as therapeutics. Lutein is a xanthophyll and one of 600 known naturally occurring carotenoids. It is found in green vegetables such as spinach and kale, and has been demonstrated to exert anti-inflammatory activities. However, its anti-allergic effect in the Th1/Th2 immune response is poorly understood. In this study, we attempt to determine whether lutein regulates inflammatory mediators in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine asthma model. To address this, mice were sensitized and challenged with OVA, and then treated with lutein before the last OVA challenge. Administration of lutein significantly suppressed the OVA-induced airway hyper-responsiveness. It also resulted in a significant alleviation of the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the bronchoalveolar lavage. Additionally, lutein attenuated the increased expression of Th2 responses in OVA-challenged mice. These results demonstrate that lutein is a potent inhibitor that reduces Th2 immune responses. Furthermore, they show that the immunopharmacological function is mediated by a pathway that involves and is regulated by Th2 immune response.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.115-130
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• 2024

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is continuously increasing worldwide, with approximately 1 million new cases expected annually by 2025. Data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry in 2023 revealed that the survival rate of patients with HCC was only 40%, unlike patients with other major cancers with a 5-year survival rate of up to 80%, highlighting the need for improved outcomes. The prognosis of HCC significantly changed following research on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Several studies have demonstrated that the overall survival of patients treated with first-line combination therapies, such as atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1) and bevacizumab (anti-VEGF) or durvalumab (anti-PD-L1) and tremelimumab (anti-CTLA-4), was higher than that of patients treated with sorafenib. Research to identify biomarkers that can predict ICI responses is ongoing, enabling the selection of suitable patients before drug initiation. Moreover, studies of the tumor microenvironment in HCC enhance our understanding of immune responses, helping us identify new therapeutic strategies. Additionally, clinical trials are being conducted for emerging immunotherapies beyond ICIs, such as adoptive cell therapy. Based on these ongoing scientific researches and the development of various therapeutic modalities, multiple options are being established for patients with HCC who do not respond well to first-line treatments. Consequently, treatment options and survival rates of patients with advanced HCC could be significantly enhanced in the future.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2011

Purpose: To evaluate the extent of pain response and objective response to palliative radiotherapy (RT) for bone metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma according to RT dose. Materials and Methods: From January 2007 to June 2010, palliative RT was conducted for 103 patients (223 sites) with bone metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment sites were divided into the high RT dose and low RT dose groups by biologically effective dose (BED) of 39 $Gy_{10}$. Pain responses were evaluated using the numeric rating scale. Pain scores before and after RT were compared and categorized into 'Decreased', 'No change' and 'Increased'. Radiological objective responses were categorized into complete response, partial response, stable disease and progression using modified RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors) criteria; the factors predicting patients' survival were analyzed. Results: The median follow-up period was 6 months (range, 0 to 46 months), and the radiologic responses existed in 67 RT sites (66.3%) and 44 sites (89.8%) in the high and low RT dose group, respectively. A dose-response relationship was found in relation to RT dose (p=0.02). Pain responses were 75% and 65% in the high and low RT dose groups, respectively. However, no statistical difference in pain response was found between the two groups (p=0.24). There were no differences in the toxicity profiles between the high and low RT dose groups. Median survival from the time of bone metastases diagnosis was 11 months (range, 0 to 46 months). The Child-Pugh classification at the time of palliative RT was the only significant predictive factor for patient survival after RT. Median survival time was 14 months under Child-Pugh A and 2 months under Child-Pugh B and C. Conclusion: The rate of radiologic objective response was higher in the high RT dose group. Palliative AT with a high dose would provide an improvement in patient quality of life through enhanced tumor response, especially in patients with proper liver function.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.187-194
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• 2016

A single fire event within a fire area can cause multiple initiating events considered in internal events probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). For an example, a fire event in turbine building fire area can cause a loss of the main feed-water and loss of off-site power initiating events. This fire initiating event could result in special plant responses beyond the scope of the internal events PSA model. One approach to address a fire initiating event is to develop a specific fire event tree. However, the development of a specific fire event tree is difficult since the number of fire event trees may be several hundreds or more. Thus, internal fire events PSA model has been generally constructed by modifications of the pre-developed internal events PSA model. New accident sequence logics not covered in the internal events PSA model are separately developed to incorporate them into the fire PSA model. Recently, many fire PSA models have fire induced initiating event fault trees not shown in an internal event PSA model. Up to now, there has been no analytical comparative study on the constructions of fire events PSA model using internal events PSA model with and without fault trees of initiating events. In this study, the changing process of internal events PSA model to fire events PSA model is analytically presented and discussed.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.127-153
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• 2012

This paper presents an advanced computational method for the prediction of the responses in the frequency domain of general linear dissipative structural-acoustic and fluid-structure systems, in the low-and medium-frequency domains and this includes uncertainty quantification. The system under consideration is constituted of a deformable dissipative structure that is coupled with an internal dissipative acoustic fluid. This includes wall acoustic impedances and it is surrounded by an infinite acoustic fluid. The system is submitted to given internal and external acoustic sources and to the prescribed mechanical forces. An efficient reduced-order computational model is constructed by using a finite element discretization for the structure and an internal acoustic fluid. The external acoustic fluid is treated by using an appropriate boundary element method in the frequency domain. All the required modeling aspects for the analysis of the medium-frequency domain have been introduced namely, a viscoelastic behavior for the structure, an appropriate dissipative model for the internal acoustic fluid that includes wall acoustic impedance and a model of uncertainty in particular for the modeling errors. This advanced computational formulation, corresponding to new extensions and complements with respect to the state-of-the-art are well adapted for the development of a new generation of software, in particular for parallel computers.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.596-604
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• 2005

Objectives : Geopungjeseub-tang(Gufengchushi-tang) has been used in oriental medicine for many centuries as a therapeutic agent for hemiplegia caused by deficiency of qi(氣虛) and damp phlegm(濕痰). This study was performed to evaluate effects of Geopungjeseub-tang extract(GJT) on hemodynamics[regional cerebral blood flow(rCBF), pial arterial diameter(PAD), mean arterial blood pressure(MABP), heart rate(HR)] in normal rats and in rats with cerebral ischemia by middle cerebral artery(MCA) occlusion. Also, effects of adrenergic ${\beta}-receptor$, cyclooxygenase on response to GJT were evaluated. Methods : Laser-doppler flowmetry(LDF) measured changes of rCBF, MABP and HR. Video microscope and width analyzer measured changes in PAD. Results : rCBF and PAD increased after treatment with GJT(10mg/kg, i.v.) during the period of cerebral reperfusion, and pretreatment with indomethacin raised rCBF and PAD increased after treatment with GJT during the same period as above. Pretreatment with propranolol decreased rCBF, but increased after GJT treatment, but raised PAD increased after GJT treatment during this period of reperfusion. Conclusion : CR caused diverse responses were observed in rCBF and PAD after treatment with GJT. ACF action is mediated by adrenergic ${\beta}-receptor$ and cyclooxygenase. Result suggest that GJT has an anti-ischemic effect through the improvement of cerebral hemodynamics and has theraputic potential for cerebral apoplexy.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.398-408
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• 2005

Objective: Graves' disease encompasses hyperthyroidism and diffused goiter associated with auto-antibodies to the thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH) receptors. In clinical environment, treatments of Graves' disease have many side effects such as recurrence and hypothyroidism. We've studied the effects of Sipyukmiyukieum on DNA synthesis, cAMP synthesis, and MHC-class II expression of FRTL-5 thyroid cells were studied. Methods: DNA synthesis was investigated by using BrdU staining and cAMP synthesis by ELISA kit, and expression of $interferon-{\gamma}$ activated MHC class II by Flow cytometer. Results: After introduction of Sipyukmiyukieum, significant inhibition of DNA synthesis. cAMP synthesis, and expression of $interferon-{\gamma}$ activated MHC class II of FRTL-5 thyroid cells was observed. Conclusions: Judging from these results, Sipyukmiyukieum has potential as a potent herbal treatment for inhibiting the enlargement of goiter, synthesis of abnormal thyroidal hormones, and autoimmuine responses of Graves' disease.