Heart Transplantation in Pediatric Patients: Twelve-Year Experience of the Asan Medical Center

Heart transplantation is a standard treatment for end-stage heart disease. Pediatric heart transplantation, however, is not frequently performed due to the shortage of pediatric heart donors. This is the first report of pediatric heart transplantation in Korea. Our retrospective study included 37 patients younger than 18 yr of age who underwent heart transplantation at Asan Medical Center between August 1997 and April 2009. Preoperative diagnosis was either cardiomyopathy (n = 29, 78.3%) or congenital heart disease (n = 8, 22.7%). Mean follow up period was 56.9 ± 44.6 months. There were no early death, but 7 late deaths (7/37, 18.9%) due to rejection after 11, 15, 41 months (n = 3), infection after 5, 8, 10 months (n = 3), suspicious ventricular arrhythmia after 50 months (n = 1). There was no significant risk factor for survival. There were 25 rejections (25/37, 67.6%); less than grade II occurred in 17 patients (17/25, 68%) and more than grade II occurred in 8 patients (8/25, 32%). Actuarial 1, 5, and 10 yr survival was 88.6%, 76.8%, and 76.8%. Our midterm survival of pediatric heart transplantation showed excellent results. We hope this result could be an encouraging message to do more pediatric heart transplantation in Korean society

Designing a fashion driving forces website as an educational resource

Electronic educational resources support search activities and manipulate information effectively in learning environments, thus enhancing education. This paper discusses the development of an electronic timeline database that classifies design and fashion details; technological developments; socio-economical influences; availability and popularity within fashion trends; marketing and distribution; and influential people including designers, in a manner that facilitates ease of cross referencing events at the same point in time for a rich analysis of fashion. The study focuses on the driving forces of fashion during the 1920s as a starting point for a much larger database. The data is presented in the form of a website allowing students to better understand fashion trends with macro-environmental and marketing strategies. The electronic resource is a useful tool for fashion, textile and marketing students as an educational interface providing design, production and marketing data for fashion-related products particularly useful for the analysis of fashion trends

Cultural Reinvention: Design management for Korean cultural textile products

The subject dealt with in this thesis is to develop design management models for a translation from a traditional cultural product into a modern product to meet a relevant target market. This thesis provides a review of the basic disciplines of culture, cultural product and design management. Attention is focused on the concept of cultural reinvention as an effective design management tool for producing a successful cultural product, which can fit into a contemporary market. The focus of this research describes how to translate Korean traditional bojagi textile products into modern fashion products for young generation consumers. A cultural reinvention model is proposed for Korean traditional bojagi textiles, which includes the design and target marketing strategies and internet marketing for effective communication with target consumers. To understand the target consumer preferences, a colour experiment was conducted among the target consumers for the Korean traditional five colours (“obangsaek”), which are mainly used for bojagi. For using internet marketing, a Korean bojagi website was developed including an interactive bojagi design tool, which is designed through six categories; history, style, patterns, colours, fabrics of the traditional Korean bojagi and the ‘design your own bojagi’ component. It can be utilised for consumer preference, product development and the early promotion of Korean fashion bojagi fabrics. It also opens up an opportunity to be a research tool as an educational web based interface. Five focus group interviews were conducted among the young generation consumers to evaluate the usability and entertainment (enjoyable) values of the Korean bojagi website. Furthermore, to evaluate the commercial value of the fashion bojagi applications, a Korean bojagi sample book was produced and used for interviewing four fashion companies in the UK. The findings and results of the experiment and the interviews are described and the development of each part of the website and applications is explained and illustrated

Synergistic Effect of Growth Factor Releasing Polymeric Nanoparticles and Ultrasound Stimulation on Osteogenic Differentiation

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively used in the tissue regeneration therapy. Ex vivo therapy with well-differentiated osteogenic cells is known as an efficient treatment for musculoskeletal diseases, including rheumatoid diseases. However, along with its high cost, the current therapy has limitations in terms of restoring bone regeneration procedures. An efficient process for the cell differentiation to obtain a large number of functionalized osteogenic cells is necessary. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to develop strategies to produce sufficient numbers of well-differentiated osteogenic cells from the MSCs. In general, differentiation media with growth factors have been used to facilitate cell differentiation. In the present study, the poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles incorporating the growth factors were included in the media, resulting in releasing growth factors (dexamethasone and β-glycerophosphate) in the media in the controlled manner. Stable growth and early differentiation of osteogenic cells were achieved by the PLGA-based growth factor releasing system. Moreover, low intensity pulsed ultrasound was applied to this system to induce cell differentiation process. The results revealed that, as a biomarker at early stage of osteogenic cell differentiation, Lamin A/C nuclear protein was efficiently expressed in the cells growing in the presence of PLGA-based growth factor reservoirs and ultrasound. In conclusion, our results showed that the ultrasound stimulation combined with polymeric nanoparticles releasing growth factors could potentially induce osteogenic cell differentiation

Preclinical Evaluation of UDCA-Containing Oral Formulation in Mice for the Treatment of Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration

As a posterior ocular disease, wet age-related macular degeneration (WAMD) has been known to be related to vision loss, accompanying ocular complications. The intravitreous injection of VEGF antibodies has been reported to be an effective treatment to relieve symptoms of WAMD. However, the limitations of this treatment are high costs and invasiveness. For this reason, oral delivery route can be considered as a cost-effective way and the safest method to deliver drug molecules to the eyes. Accordingly, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) was included in the oral formulation as the potential substance for the cure of WAMD in the animal model. Various pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant or anti-inflammatory effects, have been reported for UDCA and recent reports support the effects of UDCA in ocular treatment. However, due to poor water solubility and low pKa (around 5.0), it has been challenging to formulate aqueous solution of UDCA in the neutral pH range. In the present study, we confirmed the aqueous solubility of the oral UDCA formulation and performed a preclinical study, including pharmacokinetic profiling and WAMD model efficacy study in mice after oral administration of the drug solution. The results demonstrated that the formulation improved bioavailability of UDCA and efficiently delivered UDCA to the eye tissues after oral absorption. UDCA formulation was found to have inhibitory effects of choroidal neovascularization with a functional recovery in mice retinas. Taken together, our results suggest that the oral UDCA formulation could be used as a potent supplement for the cure of WAMD and related retinal diseases

Long-Lasting Exendin-4 Fusion Protein Improves Memory Deficits in High-Fat Diet/Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mice

Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) mimetics have been approved as an adjunct therapy for glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients for the increased insulin secretion under hyperglycemic conditions. Recently, it is reported that such agents elicit neuroprotective effects against diabetes-associated cognitive decline. However, there is an issue of poor compliance by multiple daily subcutaneous injections for sufficient glycemic control due to their short duration, and neuroprotective actions were not fully studied, yet. In this study, using the prepared exendin-4 fusion protein agent, we investigated the pharmacokinetic profile and the role of this GLP-1 mimetics on memory deficits in a high-fat diet (HFD)/streptozotocin (STZ) mouse model of type 2 diabetic mellitus. After induction of diabetes, mice were administered weekly by intraperitoneal injection of GLP-1 mimetics for 6 weeks. This treatment reversed HFD/STZ-induced metabolic symptoms of increased body weight, hyperglycemia, and hepatic steatosis. Furthermore, the impaired cognitive performance of diabetic mice was significantly reversed by GLP-1 mimetics. GLP-1 mimetic treatment also reversed decreases in GLP-1/GLP-1 receptor expression levels in both the pancreas and hippocampus of diabetic mice; increases in hippocampal inflammation, mitochondrial fission, and calcium-binding protein levels were also reversed. These findings suggest that GLP-1 mimetics are promising agents for both diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases that are associated with increased GLP-1 expression in the brain

Legitimising male grooming through packaging discourse:a linguistic analysis

While packaging is a common marketing subject, this illustration paper provides an alternative perspective through the linguistic examination of packaging as discourse, focusing on male grooming, masculinity and metrosexuality. Male grooming is often perceived as trespassing into feminine space and creating ambiguity in gender borders. This study aims to explore how packaging designers negotiate masculinity, in order to persuade men to accept grooming products through social interactions within the packaging of L’Oréal Men Expert. Employing Scollon’s mediated discourse analysis and incorporating the Barthesian order of signification, the study analyses how different social actions within the packaging discourse are mediated by multimodal features. The findings reveal five negotiating strategies, i.e. constructing a hegemonic masculine image; negotiating (a masculinised) metrosexuality; empowering men; giving men a logical reason to groom; and a different portrayal of skincare products. The key aim of this paper is to illustrate the differences between marketing and linguistics and propose possible collaboration