Potentillae Chinensis Herba 추출물의 항산화 효능 평가를 위해 DPPH 자유라디칼 소거 활성 과 ABTS 양이온 라디칼 활성 평가를 시행하였다. 세포 실험에서 항염증 평가를 위해 호흡기 점막 상피세 포 NCI,H292와 RAW264.7 세포 대상으로 항염증 효능을 평가하였다. 그 결과, DPPH 자유라디칼 소거 활성과 ABTS 양이온 라디칼 활성 모두 농도 의존적으로 항산화 활성이 증가하는 것으로 나타났다. 세포 MTT 분석 결과, 각 농도 100 μg/ml로 처리한 경우 NCI-H292 세포의 생존율이 70% 미만으로 감소하 였고, 이후 실험은 50 μg/ml로 진행하였다. 항염증 효능 평가에서는 NO생성, TNF-α, IL-1β, PGE2가 감소하였고, COX-2도 50 μg/ml에서 유의하게 감소하였다. Potentillae Chinensis Herba 추출물과 생물 전환 추출물의 뮤신 단백질 발현은 MUC5AC 발현이 유의하게 감소하는 것으로 관찰되었다. 이상의 결과 는 Potentillae Chinensis Herba의 호흡기 점액 단백질 발현을 도와 염증을 억제하는 기능성 소재로 활용하 는데 가치가 있음을 알 수 있다.

This study was conducted targeting 30 residents of Gwangyang industrial complex area from April to May 2017 to assess their level of exposure to VOCs and conduct a health risk assessment for individual exposure. The aim was to understand the difference in levels of indoor, outdoor and personal exposure to VOCs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, p-xylene, o-xylene) and a health risk assessment was conducted to determine whether there was any fatal cause from carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic elements from a respiratory disease patients. In the case of benzene in the air, the geometric levels of the group are indoor, outdoor and personal exposure; on the CTE, RME condition and Monte-Carlo analysis, all subjects were seen to exceed the carcinogenicity tolerance of 10−6 specified by the US EPA. In the case of toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, p-xylene, o-xylene on the CTE, RME condition and Monte-Carlo analysis, the non-carcinogenic standard of 1 was not exceeded.

Viral respiratory infections are common in horses, notably equine herpesvirus infection and equine influenza, which primarily initiate secondary bacterial respiratory infections such as strangles caused by Streptococcus equi equi. A decline in the production of stallions has been associated with these respiratory diseases leading to adverse financial implications. This study investigated the antibody responses against respiratory diseases in horses from Jeju Island a year after vaccination. A low level of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) (11.36%) antibodies was detected from stallions, however a high level of EHV-4 (95.84%) antibodies was detected from horses without vaccination against this infection suggesting that EHV-4 is ubiquitous in this horse population. In case of equine influenza, ranch stallions showed low positive rate (12.06%) whereas stallions from Subtropical Livestock Research Institute displayed higher positive rate (81.32%). Antibody responses against equine influenza and strangles revealed positive rates of 26.32% and 55.12%, respectively. These findings may draw attention towards the importance of developing an improved disease prevention and/or immunization program that will effectively control respiratory diseases in horses.

Respiratory diseases among horses cause economic losses in foals and productivity decreases in horses being raised and in adult horses. In South Korea, fundamental studies of horses’ respiratory diseases and those related to disease occurrence are insufficient. Therefore, the aim if the current study was to use diverse hematological indicators, obtained through hematological tests and measurment of blood antibody level in horses suffering form respiratory diseases, to monitor disease occurrence and prognosis evaluation. Investigations of infection states by horses’ bacterial respiratory diseases, susceptible drugs, and resisted drugs according to pathogens showed differences between farms. Among the β-lactam-based antibiotics, cephalosporin-based antibiotics showed some efficacy against Streptococcus spp. To review age-based changes in erythrocytometer hemograms in hematological tests of riding horses, red blood cell (RBC) tended to gradually decrease with increasing age this tendency was statistically significant. In addition, leukocytometer hemograms analyzed by age showed that total white blood cell counts tended to decrease with increasing age. These results of drug susceptibility tests and hematological tests, which have not been presented thus far, will be useful as standardized data in future breeding management and disease tests of Jeju riding horses.

To analyze the effects of PM10 and PM2.5 on daily mortality cases, the relations of death counts from natural causes, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases with PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were applied to the generalized additive model (GAM) in this study. From the coefficients of the GAM model, the excessive mortality risks due to an increase of 10 μg/m3 in daily mean PM10 and PM2.5 for each cause were calculated. The excessive risks of deaths from natural causes, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases were 0.64%, 1.69%, and 1.16%, respectively, owing to PM10 increase and 0.42%, 2.80%, and 0.91%, respectively, owing to PM2.5 increase. Our result showed that particulate matter posed a greater risk of death from respiratory diseases and is consistent with the cases in Europe and China. The regional distribution of excessive risk of death is 0.24%–0.81%, 0.34%–2.6%, and 0.62%–1.94% from natural causes, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, respectively, owing to PM10 increase, and 0.14%–1.02%, 1.07%–3.92%, and 0.22%–1.73% from natural causes, respiratory diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, respectively, owing to PM2.5 increase. Our results represented a different aspect from the regional concentration distributions. Thus, we saw that the concentration distributions of air pollutants differ from the affected areas and identified the need for a policy to reduce damage rather than reduce concentrations.

Meteorological factors and air pollutants are associated with respiratory diseases, and appropriate use of weather and air quality information is helpful in the management of patients with such diseases. This study was performed to investigate both the utilization of weather and air quality information by, and the needs of, patients with respiratory diseases. Questionnaires were administered to 112 patients with respiratory diseases, 60.7% of whom were female. The rates of bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among patients were 67.0% and 10.7%, respectively. The majority of subjects (90%) responded that prevention was important for respiratory disease management and indicated that they used weather and air quality information either every day or occasionally. However, respondents underestimated the importance of weather and air quality information for disease management and were unaware of some types of weather information. The subjects agreed that respiratory diseases were sensitive to weather and air quality. The most important weather-related factors were diurnal temperature range, minimum temperature, relative humidity, and wind, while those for air quality were particulate matter and Asian dust. Information was gleaned mainly from television programs in patients aged 60 years and older and from smartphone applications for those below 60 years of age. The subjects desired additional information on the management and prevention of respiratory diseases. This study identified problems regarding the utility of weather and air quality information currently available for patients with respiratory diseases, who indicated that they desired disease-related information, including information in the form of action plans, rather than simple health- and air quality-related information. This study highlights the necessity for notification services that can be used to easily obtain information, specifically regarding disease management.