PURPOSE: This study was performed to design a safe air-pressure reduction system which can absorb rapidlyrising intraluminal pressure during intussusception, and comparison with other reduction systems to test itsclinical availability. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The air-pressure reduction system consisted of a pressure gauge,air insufflators, a pressure controller, buffers, and rapid exhaustion devices, and to determine itsabsorbability, it was connected with a bowel model. By using it in 20 infants with intussusception, we comparedthe absorbability of our air-pressure reduction system with preexisting systems. RESULTS: While extraluminalpressure was applied to the bowel model in which baseline intraluminal pressure was set to 120mmHg, this rose to176mmHg (56mmHg high to standard, 100%) in the direct infusion system, but to only 130 mmHg (10mmHg high tostandard, 17.9%) in a system connected to a large buffer of 10,500 mL capacity. Immediately after the applicationof extraluminal pressure for less than 1 sec, this air-pressure reduction system showed better absorbability thanthe hydrostatic reduction system. Applying this system to 20 infants with intussusception, this was successfullyreduced in 19 cases(95%), without complications. CONCLUSION: In this experiment, it was proved that the systemabsorbed rapid intraluminal pressure elevation. Its use would help prevent bowel perforation during air reductionoccurring during intussusception.
Buffers ; Humans ; Infant ; Intussusception*

It is suggested that calbindin buffers the concentration of intracellular calcium as the calcium binding protein in the cell. In the neurodegerative disease such as Parkinsonian disease, Huntington 'disease, Alzheimer 'disease there is some change of calbindin. The calcium mediated neurotoxicity begins due to the decrease of calbindin gene in those disease. In this study the substantia nigra of the normal rat is immunostained with anti -calbindin antibody, the morphological characteristics and distribution of calbindin positive neurons are studied to confirm the suggestive neuroprotective role of calbindin in the Parkinsonian disease. In the substantia nigra tissues of rats, calbindin was immunostained in the cell body and cellular processes of the polygonal or ovoid neurons. The calbindin immumostained neurons were distributed mainly in the substantia nigra lateralis than substantia nigra compacta and have even distribution from cephalic section to caudal section. The degree of calbindin -immunostaining was similar from medial area to lateral area, from ventral area to dorsal area in the one section of substantia nigra. These results support the potentiative neuroprotective role of calbindin in the Parkinsonian disease.
Animals ; Buffers ; Calbindins* ; Calcium ; Carrier Proteins ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neurons* ; Rats* ; Substantia Nigra*

BACKGROUND: Korean national cancer screening program selected fecal occult blood test (FOBT) as a primary screening method of colorectal carcinoma in adult > or =50 yr old irrespective of symptom. Notice to pre-analytical errors is especially important for the FOBT because examinees collect and submit their specimens to laboratories by themselves. We examined the influences of the fecal storage temperatures, durations and with or without buffer on the FOBT results. METHODS: Thirty FOBT-positive specimens above 100 ng/mL were used for the study from July to August 2008. Quantitative FOBT was performed with OC-sensors II (Eiken Chemical Co., Japan). Each specimen was divided into 4 groups. Two groups in plastic buffer-free containers were kept either at 4degrees C or room temperature (25-28degrees C), respectively. Another two groups in buffer-tubes were also kept either at 4degrees C or room temperature. Each group was repeatedly examined with same method every 24 hr up to 120 hr. RESULTS: Eleven specimens (36.7%) in buffer-free containers converted to negative results (below the 100 ng/mL) after 24 hr and 17 specimens (56.7%) did after 48 hr at room temperature. Ten specimens (33.3%) in buffer-free containers converted to negative after 48 hr at 4degrees C. Specimens contained in buffer-tubes showed little change; 3 specimens (10.0%) at room temperature and no specimen at 4degrees C showed negative conversions after 48 hr. CONCLUSIONS: Buffer-tube minimizes false negative FOBT results during pre-analytical delay of specimen. The examinees using buffer-free containers need to be educated to hand in their specimens to laboratories as soon as possible.
Buffers ; Colorectal Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; *Occult Blood ; *Specimen Handling ; Temperature ; Time Factors

The effects and roles of social support and stressors (stressful life events and chronic strains) on psychosocial distress were examined in a model with data from a sample of the white-collar workers (N = 416) in Korea. The findings of this study present that mean levels of psychosocial distress were higher' in the female, youth, unmarried and divorced, and low economic status (monthly income). The analysis also shows that, as expected, stressful life and chronic strains as stressors are positively related to occurrence of psychosocial distress, and social support is negatively related to psychosocial distress. Further, the contribution of social support to predicting psychosocial distress is greater in magnitude than that of stressful events, chronic strains, and sociodemographic variables. There is no evidence that social support buffers the impacts of stressors on psychosocial distress, rather social support takes a role of main or direct effects on psychosocial distress. Therefore, the strength of the social support is an important and meaningful strategy to prevent from stress and mental, physical illness.
Adolescent ; Buffers ; Divorce ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Life Change Events ; Single Person

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of buffer on separate capacity of macroporous resin. To evaluate the quality of ferulic acid liposome and determine its entrapment efficiency.

METHODDifferent type of macroporous resin counterpoised by buffer system of Na2 HPO3-NaH2, PO3 was used to separate the free ferulic acid from the preparation and HPLC was used to determine the concentration of the ferulic acid to calculate the entrapment efficiency.

RESULTThis method had good linearity in the range of 0.56 - 2.8 g x mL(-1) (r = 0.999 6). The precision RSD was less than 1.1%. The adsorption effect of macroporous resin on liposome was reduced while it had no effect on the absorption ability of macroporous resin on the ferulic acid by the usage of buffer. The recovery of HPD450 resin on blank liposome was between 97.2% - 100.8%, while the average recovery is 98.1%.

CONCLUSIONBuffer system can enhance the separate ability of macroporous resin on liposome and free drug.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of different cell lysis buffers on protein quantification with Bradford method and bicinchoninic acid (BCA) method.

METHODSBradford method and BCA method were used to determine the concentration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in different solutions (distilled water, cell lysis buffer used in two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis and three kinds of cell lysis buffers used in conventional two dimensional gel electrophoresis), as well as the protein concentrations of cell lysates using these different lysis buffers. Bradford method was also applied to determine the protein concentrations of samples with repeated freeze thaw cycle, in different colorimetric cylinders, or using different standard curves from different periods.

RESULTThe protein measurements increased for 1.2 to 2 fold when different cell lysis buffers were used in Bradford method, but the measurements increased with the increased concentration of BSA (r=0.989 approximately 0.996, P<0.05). For BCA, measurement reading increased about thousands times higher, even overflowed the limits of machine. Protein measurements didn't change significantly, only showed a declined trend after repeated freeze thaw cycle, while no significant changes were found using different colorimetric cylinders or standard curves from different periods.

CONCLUSIONBradford method may be the choice of the protein quantification in proteomics. However, optimization is required for specific experimental conditions.

OBJECTIVE: Loneliness is a specific risk factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. The present study examined whether the serum oxytocin level would interact with social support and buffers loneliness and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis activity in drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Twenty-six patients with MDD (male:female = 3:23; mean age, 45.54 ± 12.97 years) were recruited. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale and self-reported Measurement of Support Function Questionnaire were administered. Serum oxytocin and cortisol levels were assessed using a commercial immunoassay kits. RESULTS: In MDD patients, a negative association was found between degrees of social support and loneliness (β = −0.39, p = 0.04). The interaction between social support and serum oxytocin level was negatively associated with loneliness (β = −0.50, p = 0.017) and serum cortisol level (β = −0.55, p = 0.020) after adjusting for age. Follow-up analyses showed that the association between higher social support and lower loneliness was observed only in the higher-oxytocin group (r = −0.75, p = 0.003) but not in the lower group (r = −0.19, p = 0.53). The significance remained after further adjusting for sex and depression severity. CONCLUSION: Low oxytocin level is a vulnerability factor for the buffering effect of social support for loneliness and aberrant HPA-axis activity in MDD patients.
Buffers ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Immunoassay ; Loneliness ; Oxytocin ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: The purpose was to investigate the literature on depression among South Korean nurses in order to identify overall trends regarding depression. METHODS: Forty-five papers published between 1998 and 2017 in three Korean databases-RISS4U, DBPIA, and KISS-were analyzed. RESULTS: Depression showed significant positive associations with job stress, burnout, intent to leave, and somatic symptoms such as fatigue and trouble sleeping. Poor work environments such as staff shortage, work overload, and shift work were also positively associated with depression. Higher job satisfaction, resilience, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and social support were negatively correlated with and acted as significant buffers against depression. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that healthcare policymakers must pay more attention to the management and prevention of nurses' depression. In order to effectively do so, poor work conditions, which involve long working hours, high patient-to-nurse ratios, and extreme workloads, should be improved. Simultaneously, nursing managers should implement initiatives such as counseling and competency improvement programs, and stress management to reduce and prevent depression among nurses and strengthen their positive competency. Also, further research is required to clarify the prevalence of depression in South Korean nurses, with more meta-analyses also required to identify variations in depression rates owing to various factors.
Buffers ; Counseling ; Delivery of Health Care ; Depression ; Fatigue ; Job Satisfaction ; Nursing ; Prevalence

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide(NO) is known to have protective effects on an ischemic heart and to exert triggering effects on ischemic preconditioning. However, the effects of NO during the ischemic period have not been investigated. To investigate the role of exogenous nitric oxide in a model of ischemic heart cell death, we studied the effects of ischemic preconditioning and ischemia in a normal and an ischemic buffer. METHODS: Rat cardiac myoblast cells(H9c2) were cultured in a normal and an ischemic buffered medium. For the ischemic culture of heart cells, the cells were cultured in a dessicator with GasPak for 5 hrs. In ischemic preconditioning, the cells were pretreated with ischemic buffer for 5 min and then perfused with normal medium for 30 min. For the measurement of the cytotoxicity, a MTT(3-4-5dimethylthiazol-2-yl-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay was performed. A DAPI(4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride) staining procedure and a flow cytometry analysis were performed to confirm apoptotic cell death by ischemia. RESULTS: Cell viability, as determined by using a MTT assay, showed that the preconditioned group treated with NO showed more cell death than with the not-preconditioned groups in both normal and ischemic buffers. But, In normal medium and not-preconditioned groups, NO showed protective effect according to the concentrations(100, 1000 microM) . No treatment with NO produced the different results. In normal medium, the protective effect of ischemic preconditioning was demonstrated, but no protective effect of ischemic preconditioning could be seen in the case of the ischemic buffer. The DAPI staining and flow cytometry analysis of heart cells showed characteristic apoptotic features. CONCLUSION: NO added in the ischemic phase had deterious effects on heart cells. Ischemic preconditioning was more harmful than ischemia alone. The toxicity of the cells was characteristic apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Buffers ; Cell Death ; Cell Survival ; Flow Cytometry ; Heart ; Ischemia ; Ischemic Preconditioning ; Myoblasts, Cardiac* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Rats

PURPOSE: Serum alkaline phosphatase (sALP) levels show great variation with age and sex in children and adolescents. We aimed to study pediatric age- and sex-specific reference ranges for sALP and how the pattern changed according to age . METHODS: Cross-sectional results from 1366 healthy Korean children and adolescents (10-19.9 years) from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. We constructed age- and sex-specific reference data for sALP with a Hitachi Automatic Analyzer 7600 using Pureauto S ALP. We assessed its peak both in relation to age. RESULTS: Reference values for sALP according to age were constructed. Peak sALP levels were found at 12-13 years in boys (P < 0.001). Total sALP levels decreased to the adult level at the age of 17 in boys and 15 in girls, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study provides reference values for sALP by age for Korean children and adolescents. This normative data that includes upper and lower limits will provide a basis from which to better evaluate sALP levels, especially for bone disorders such as rickets and vitamin D deficiency. However, caution should be made in interpreting sALP levels because different buffers might lead to different values in the same serum.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Buffers ; Child ; Humans ; Nutrition Surveys ; Reference Values ; Rickets ; Sex Characteristics ; Vitamin D Deficiency