• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.52 no.5
• /
• pp.506-518
• /
• 2002

Background : There have been several studies showing that angiotensin II and the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) contribute to the activation of fibroblast including the pulmonary fibrosis, and apoptosis of the alveolar epithelium in idiopathic intersititial pneumonia. This study was performed to identify the relationship between the serum angiotensin II, ACE and the pulmonary function test (PFT), the dyspnea score, and the cell fraction of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF). Materials and Methods : Twenty three patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia from March, 1999 to October, 2001 at Gachon medical school were enrolled in this study. They were divided into IPF(UIP) (16) and NSIP (7) groups. Twelve of the idiopathic interstitial pneumonia patients (UIP : 5, NSIP : 7) were diagnosed by an open lung biopsy, 11 of IPF patients were diagnosed by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) diagnostic criteria. The PFT values, dyspnea score, serum ACE and angiotensin II were measured, and a bronchoscopy was performed to obtain the BALF. Results : Of all the patients, 7 were in the normal range and 14 showed an increase in the serum level of angiotensin II. In terms of the serum ACE level, 14 patients had an increased level. The DLCO% of the angiotensin II in increased group was significantly lower than the not-increased group (p=0.021). Other factors did not correlate with the serum ACE or the angiotensin II increased group and not-increased group. Conclusion : These results suggest that an increased angiotensin II serum level may be associated with increase in the of alveolar capillary block in the progression of pulmonary fibrosis in idiopathic interstitial pneumonia.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.66 no.4
• /
• pp.295-299
• /
• 2009

Background: There are various etiologies causing bronchiectasis, but the cases without definite causes account for a quite high proportion. It is also uncertain that immunoglobulin G subclass deficiency (IgGSD) is associated with bronchiectasis. Therefore, we tried to measure the frequency of IgGSD in patients with bronchiectasis of unclear etiology, and to observe the clinical features of those patients with bronchiectasis and IgGSD. Methods: For the outpatients of a university hospital who were diagnosed as bronchiectasis by chest CT, we produced comprehensive history taking and physical examinations, and finally selected 31 patients with bronchiectasis of unclear etiology. Results: Two patients had total immunoglobulin G deficiency. The frequency of IgGSD was comparatively high (n=14). When we compared IgGSD group to normal immunoglobulin G subclass group, there were no significant differences in sex, age, and the frequency of sinusitis, bronchial asthma, and the abnormal lung function. Conclusion: In cases of bronchiectasis without definite causes, it can be considered to measure the level of immunoglobulin G subclass. It is also probably worthwhile to further evaluate the relationship between IgGSD and bronchiectasis.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.101-110
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study has been conducted in order to examine the oral health status and dental prostheses status, and the effects of dental prostheses to the oral health related quality of life among the elderly using social welfare centers. Material and methods: For this purpose, the researcher conducted a questionnaire survey and oral examination of 275 samples of old persons using 7 social welfare centers located in Daejeon metropolitan city. The oral health related quality of life was measured by GOHAI (Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index). Results: 1. The less age and the more education and the more subjective economic status and living with spouse of family status, the higher GOHAI showed. 2. Mean age of first using of removable denture is 62.11 years old and average life cycle of removable denture is 10.76years. 57.5% of study subjects use removable denture and complete denture user of study subjects are 13.8%. 3. In the case that they use fixed prostheses rather than removable ones and in the complete denture they use both sides (upper and lower) rather than single side, showed higher GOHAI. 4. In the case that they showed higher degrees of satisfaction with dental prostheses and can use them always and showed no necessity for new dental prostheses and denture adaptation is good, GOHAI showed higher. Conclusion: In order to improve oral health related quality of life among the elderly who have many missing teeth, it is required to restore their masticatory ability to the normal level by restoring the missing teeth which has lost its function through providing proper dental prostheses.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.405-417
• /
• 2010

Previous studies have already shown that mouthguard is effective in protecting jaw bone, teeth and oral tissue against sports trauma. However, other than severe trauma, repetitive force, such as disorders like clenching, cause teeth or oral tissue damage. These kinds of disorders usually present pathologic attrition in the posterior teeth, resorption in alveolar bone, loss of teeth and destruction of occlusion. Wearing a mouthguard is believed to be effective in preventing these disorders. But its effect is not examined thoroughly enough. The purpose of this study is to identify whether mouthguard is effective in reducing strain caused by clenching. Mandibular first molars in the normal occlusal relationship without any history of dental treatment were chosen. Biaxial type strain gauge was placed on the buccal surface of the tooth. Having maximum occlusal force, measured by load cell, as a standard, clenching intensity were divided into three stages; moment of slightly tooth contact, medium bite force (50% of maximum bite force), maximum bite force. Strain occurring in dentition in each stage with and without mouthguard was measured. Changes in strain (on dentition) between each stage and difference in strain, between with or without mouthguard were recorded by PCD-300 analyzer and PCD-30 soft ware. The data was statistically analyzed by Wilcoxon signed rank test. The following results were drawn; Without mouthguard, strain given on dentition increased as the clenching force increased. With mouthguard, strain given on dentition also increased as the clenching force increased. With mouthguard, strain decreased, in all cases of clenching force stages. Data on the moment of slightly tooth contact stage, had no statistical significance. However, with mouthguard, 50-90% of decrease in strain could be obtained in maximum occlusal force, compared to the group without mouthguard. Mouthguard decreased the strain on the dentition, caused by clenching. Therefore, mouthguard seems to be effective in preventing damage on dentition, by acting against clenching, which occurs both consciously and unconsciously during sports activities.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.40-44
• /
• 2011

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder, which is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) that is typically associated with cataplexy, sleep fragmentation and other REM sleep-related phenomenon such as sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucination. Narcoleptic symptoms can be developed from various medical or neurological disorders. A 17-year-old male patient admitted for the evaluation of EDS which started three-month ago. He slept more than 18 hours a day with cataplexy and hypnagogic hallucination. He was obese with body mass index (BMI) of 30.4 kg/$m^2$. After admission he was newly diagnosed to the thyrotoxicosis. T3 391.2 ng/dL (60-181), free T4 4.38 ng/dL (0.89-1.76), TSH <0.01 ${\mu}IU$/mL (0.35-5.5) were measured. His pulse rate ranged 70-90 beats per minute and blood pressure ranged 150/100-120/70 mmHg. Polysomnography revealed many fragmentations in sleep with many positional changes (81 times/h). Sleep onset latency was 33.5 min, sleep efficiency was 47.9%, and REM latency from sleep onset was delayed to 153.6 min. REM sleep percent was increased to 27.1%. Periodic limb movement index was 13.4/h. In the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), average sleep latency was 0.4 min and there were noted 3 SOREMPs (Sleep Onset REM sleep period) on 5 trials. We couldn't discriminate the obvious sleep-wake pattern in the actigraph and his HLA DQB1 $^*0602$ type was negative. His thyroid function improved following treatment with methimazole and propranolol. Vital sign maintained within normal range. Cataplexy was controlled with venlafaxine 75 mg. Subjective night sleep continuity and PLMS were improved with clonazepam 0.5 mg, but the EDS were partially improved with modafinil 200-400 mg. Thyrotoxicosis might give confounding role when we were evaluating the EDS, though sleep fragmentation was one of the major symptoms of narcolepsy, but enormous amount of it made us think of the influence of thyroid hormone. The loss of sleep-wake cycle, limited improvement of EDS to the stimulant treatmen, and the cataplexy not supported by HLA DQB1 $^*0602$ should be answered further. We still should rule out idiopathic hypersomnia and measuring CSF hypocretin level would be helpful.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.46 no.9
• /
• pp.1035-1044
• /
• 2017

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of freeze-dried garlic powder (FDGP) on the lipid metabolism in rats fed a high fat-cholesterol (HFC) diet for 4 weeks to induce hyperlipidemia. The rats were divided into the following four experimental groups: normal diet group (NC), HFC diet group (HFC), HFC+FDGP 5 mg/100 g body weight (BW) group (FGT-1), and HFC+FDGP 15 mg/100 g BW group (FGT-2). Body weight gains and food efficiency ratios were significantly lower in the FGT groups compared to the HFC group, and the food intake was not significantly different in all experimental groups. Serum total lipid, triglyceride, and total cholesterol levels were significantly lower in the FGT groups compared to the HFC group. Total lipid content of the FGT-2 group was reduced by about 9% and 12% compared to the FGT-1 group and HFC group, respectively. The FGT groups also showed about 10% reductions low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, atherogenic index (AI), and cardiac risk factor (CRF) compared to the HFC group. Liver function index (alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase) and lipid components were significantly lower in the FGT groups compared to the HFC group. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances content of serum and liver tissue was reduced in the FGT groups compared to the HFC group, and was lower in the FGT-2 group compared to the FGT-1 group in serum. Antioxidant activities in serum and liver tissue were in the order of FGT-2> FGT-1> HFC group, significantly. In conclusion, FDGP effectively reduced the lipid components of serum and liver tissue. Feeding FDGP did not increase high density lipoprotein-cholesterol, but reduced LDL-cholesterol content, AI and CRF, especially. This shows that FDGP, will be effective in preventing and improving cardiovascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis and hyperlipidemia.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.53-63
• /
• 2011

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, is a result of both mechanical and biological events that destabilize the normal coupling of degradation and synthesis of articular cartilage chondrocytes and extracelluar matrix, and subchondral bone. Although it is likely that the molecular basis of pathogenesis is similar to that of other joints, additional study of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is required due to its unique structure and function. This study was carried out to evaluate the epidemiologic characteristics of TMJ osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of TMJ OA in Patients with temporomandibular disorders (1405 men and 2922 women whose mean age was $30.2\; {\pm}\; 15.4$ and $33.1\;{\pm}\;15.2$ years, respectively) who had visited the TMJ and Orofacial Pain Clinic of Seoul National University Dental Hospital in 2007. Orthopantomograms, TMJ tomograms and transcranial radiographs were used to evaluate degenerative change of the mandibular condyle. The obtained results were as follows: 1. Degenerative change of the mandibular condyle was observed in 883 (20.4%) of 4327 subjects. The prevalence was significantly higher in women (706 patients, 24.1%) than in men (177 patients, 12.6%), and this significant difference between genders was observed in all age groups. 2. The prevalence of degenerative change of the mandibular condyle in TMD patients showed a gentle increase along with age. Such increase was statistically significant in women (P < 0.001), but not in men. 3. Sclerosis was observed the most frequently in all age groups and the mean age of the patients with osteophyte was the highest among four types of degenerative change. 4. Although men showed degenerative change in the left side more often and women showed degenerative change more frequently in both sides, the difference of distribution in sides between genders was not significant. In conclusion, the prevalence of degenerative change of the mandibular condyle in TMD patients is higher in women than in men, and increases steadily with aging, but not as dramatically as in other joints that show a steep increase in prevalence around the age of 45 years. It can be suggested that the epidemiologic characteristic of OA of the TMJ differs from those of other joints, and that a more extensive study based on the general population is necessary.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.41-50
• /
• 2001

The quantification analysis of renal scintigraphy is strongly affected by the location, shape and size of region of interest(ROI). When ROIs are drawn manually, these ROIs are not reproducible due to the operators' subjective point of view, and may lead to inconsistent results even if the same data were analyzed. In this study, the effect of the ROI variation on the analysis of renal scintigraphy when the ROIs are drawn manually was investigated, and in order to obtain more consistent results, methods for automated ROI definition were developed and the results from the application of the developed methods were analyzed. Relative renal function, glomerular filtration rate and mean transit time were selected as clinical parameters for the analysis of the effect of ROI and the analysis tools were designed with the programming language of IDL5.2. To obtain renal scintigraphy, $^{99m}$Tc-DTPA was injected to the 11 adults of normal condition and to study the inter-operator variability, 9 researchers executed the analyses. The calculation of threshold using the gradient value of pixels and border tracing technique were used to define renal ROI and then the background ROI and aorta ROI were defined automatically considering anatomical information and pixel value. The automatic methods to define renal ROI were classified to 4 groups according to the exclusion of operator's subjectiveness. These automatic methods reduced the inter-operator variability remarkably in comparison with manual method and proved the effective tool to obtain reasonable and consistent results in analyzing the renal scintigraphy quantitatively.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.16-23
• /
• 2005

Purpose : In order to investigate the functional brain anatomy associated with mental calculation, functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed. Materials and Methods : In six normal right handed subjects, functional MR images were obtained using a 1.57 MR scanner and the EPI BOLD technique. The study included experiment I and experiment II. Each experiment consisted of five resting and four activation periods with each period of 30 seconds. During the activation period of both experiment I and II, calculation equations[an example: $(4+5)\times8=72$] were presented and the subjects were instructed to decide true or false of them. During the resting period of experiment I, the subjects were instructed to visually fixate on a crosshair. During the resting period of experiment II, two diagrams (an example: $(\bullet,\;\blacksquare)$)were presented and the subjects were instructed to decide they are same or not. For the post-processing of images, the SPM program was used, with the threshold of significance set at p<0.00001. The activated areas during the tasks were assessed. Results : In experiment 1, the inferior frontal gyrus, prefrontal cortex, promoter area, supplementary motor area, and intraparietal sulcus including superior parietal cortex were activated bilaterally. Although these areas were also activated in experiment II, the activated signals in the right frontal and parietal lobes were lessened. Conclusion : The left inferior frontal gyrus and prefrontal cortex and bilateral intraparietal sulci were activated during mental calculation. The right frontal and parietal lobes might be related to attention and decision making.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.344-352
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a daily regimen of green vegetable drink supplementation to male subjects improves the blood pressure and enhances other antioxidant enzyme status, lipid profiles and liver functionalities. Twenty nonsmokers and 19 smokers aged $23{\sim}60$ were given 240 mL of green vegetable drink every day for 8 weeks in addition to their normal diet, and blood samples were drawn before and after the intervention. The 8 weeks of green vegetable drink consumption resulted in a significant decrease of diastolic blood pressure in smokers (p<0.05) as well as in nonsmokers (p<0.01), and systolic blood pressure in smokers (p<0.05). Erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly increased in both nonsmokers and smokers after the trials. Plasma total cholesterol (TC) level was decreased in smokers and plasma TC and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were decreased in nonsmokers while triglyceride (TG) and HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) was not affected in both nonsmokers and smokers by green vegetable drink consumption. Plasma glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), a marker of liver function was significantly reduced in both nonsmokers and smokers and plasma glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) level was significantly reduced in nonsmokers after the supplementation. These results support the hypothesis that green vegetable drink exerts a blood pressure reducing effect and affects not only the activity of antioxidant enzymes, lipid profiles but also plasma GOT and/or GPT levels.