• The prevalence of CPFE in asymptomatic smokers is 3.1 % (63/2,016). • Progression of CPFE is associated with smoking status. • 3.5 years of follow-up period would be needed to identify CPFE progression.

Angelicae Gigantis Radix (AGR) is one of the most widely used herbal medications. AGR is the dried root of Angelica gigas Nakai (Umbelliferae), which is known as Korean angelica. This study investigated the effects of AGR on osteoclast formation using primary bone marrow cells. TNF-alpha treatment increased tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (Trap) positive cells and Trap activity in bone marrow cells. However, AGR significantly decreased both TNF-alpha-induced Trap positive cells and Trap activity. RT-PCR analyses revealed that AGR decreased mRNA levels of Trap and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in TNF-alpha-treated bone marrow cells. In addition, AGR decreased TNF-alpha-induced activation of NF-kappaB. These results suggest that AGR has an inhibitory effect on the formation of osteoclasts and its effect is partially related to the NF-kappaB pathway.

Visual estimation of honeycombing extent on CT can help in the prediction of prognosis in CPFE.

In this paper, we propose a fuzzy diagnostic method based on interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets. For this purpose, we developed an interval-valued interview chart with interval fuzzy degree assigned to the relation among symptoms and diseases, and utilized the interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy weighted arithmetic average operator to aggregate fuzzy information from the symptoms. In addition, we suggest a diagnosis measure using the occurrence proportion of patient's symptoms. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate its practicality and effectiveness.

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