• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.63 no.4
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• pp.421-428
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• 2020

This study investigated a mixture of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) and Lithospermum erythrorhizon (LE) extracts (ALM16), exerts anti-inflammatory effects in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 macrophage cells, and its underlying mechanism. ALM16 was prepared by mixing AM and LE extracts in a ratio of 7:3 (w/w). Cytotoxicity of ALM16 in RAW264.7 cells was not shown up to 200 ㎍/mL of ALM16. The results of this study showed that ALM16 does-dependently inhibits the production of nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2 and pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α) in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. ALM16 not only markedly reduced the protein expression levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, but also inhibited the nuclear translocation and DNA-binding activity of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). In addition, ALM16 specifically inhibited the phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase and extracellular signal-regulated kinases in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In conclusion, these results suggest that ALM16 may exert anti-inflammatory effect by modulating mitogen-activated protein kinase and NF-κB signaling pathways.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8313-8319
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• 2016

We have recently shown that thymoquinone (TQ) has a potent cytotoxic effect and induces apoptosis via caspase-3 activation with down-regulation of XIAP in mouse neuroblastoma (Neuro-2a) cells. Interestingly, our results showed that TQ was significantly more cytotoxic towards Neuro-2a cells when compared with primary normal neuronal cells. In this study, the effects of TQ on cell-cycle regulation and the mechanisms that contribute to this effect were investigated using Neuro-2a cells. Cell-cycle analysis performed by flow cytometry revealed cell-cycle arrest at G2/M phase and a significant increase in the accumulation of TQ-treated cells at sub-G1 phase, indicating induction of apoptosis by the compound. Moreover, TQ increased the expression of p53, p21 mRNA and protein levels, whereas it decreased the protein expression of PCNA, cyclin B1 and Cdc2 in a dose-dependent manner. Our finding suggests that TQ could suppress cell growth and cell survival via arresting the cell-cycle in the G2/M phase and inducing apoptosis of neuroblastoma cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7759-7763
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• 2015

Background: Leukemia accounts for 8% of total cancer cases and involves all age groups with different prevalence and incidence rates in Iran and the entire world and causes a significant death toll and heavy expenses for diagnosis and treatment processes. This study was done to evaluate epidemiology and morphology of blood cancer during 2003-2008. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out based on re-analysis of the Cancer Registry Center report of the Health Deputy in Iran during a 6-year period (2003 - 2008). Statistical analysis for incidence time trends and morphology change percentage was performed with joinpoint regression analysis using the software Joinpoint Regression Program. Results: During the studied years a total of 18,353 hematopoietic and reticuloendothelial system cancers were recorded. Chi square test showed significant difference between sex and morphological types of blood cancer (P-value<0.001). Joinpoint analysis showed a significant increasing trend for the adjusted standard incidence rate (ASIR) for both sexes (P-value<0.05). Annual percent changes (APC) for women and men were 18.7 and 19.9, respectively. The most common morphological blood cancers were ALL, ALM, MM and CLL which accounted for 60% of total hematopoietic system cancers. Joinpoint analyze showed a significant decreasing trend for ALM in both sexes (P-value<0.05). Conclusions: Hematopoietic system cancers in Iran demonstrate an increasing trend for incidence rate and decreasing trend for ALL, ALM and CLL morphology.

• Annals of Laboratory Medicine
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.610-612
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• 2018

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.30-35
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• 2011

In this paper, our effort to apply 3-D Virtual Reality system for stereoscopic visualization of mesh data on the web is briefly described. This study is an extension of our previous and on-going research efforts to develop an automatic grid generation program specialized for wing mesh, named as eGWing. The program is developed by using JAVA programming language, and it can be used either as an application program on a local computer or as an applet in the network environment. In this research advancing layer method(ALM) augmented by elliptic smoothing method is used for the structured grid generation. And to achieve a stereoscopic viewing capability, two graphic windows are used to render its own viewing image for the left and right eye respectively. These two windows are merged into one image using 3D monitor and the viewers can see the mesh data visualization results with stereoscopic depth effects by using polarizing glasses. In this paper three dimensional mesh data visualization with stereoscopic technique combined with 3D monitor is demonstrated, and the current achievement would be a good start-up for further development of low-cost high-quality stereoscopic mesh data visualization system which can be shared by many users through the web.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7619-7625
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• 2015

Background: Aberrant microRNA expression has been associated with the pathogenesis of a variety of human malignancies including oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). In this study, we examined primary oral SCCs for the expression of 6 candidate miRNAs, of which five (miR-34a, miR-143, miR-373, miR-380-5p, and miR-504) regulate the tumor suppressor TP53 and one (miR-99a) is involved in AKT/mTOR signaling. Materials and Methods: Tumor tissues (punch biopsies) were collected from 52 oral cancer patients and as a control, 8 independent adjacent normal tissue samples were also obtained. After RNA isolation, we assessed the mature miRNA levels of the 6 selected candidates against RNU44 and RNU48 as endogenous controls, using specific TaqMan miRNA assays. Results: miR-34a, miR-99a, miR-143 and miR-380-5p were significantly down-regulated in tumors compared to controls. Moreover, high levels of miR-34a were associated with alcohol consumption while those of miR-99a and miR-143 were associated with advanced tumor size. No significant difference was observed in the levels of miR-504 between the tumors and controls whereas miR-373 was below the detection level in all but two tumor samples. Conclusions: Low levels of miR-380-5p and miR-504 that directly target the 3'UTR of TP53 suggest that p53 may not be repressed by these two miRNAs in OSCC. On the other hand, low levels of miR-34a or miR-143 may relieve MDM4 and SIRT1 or MDM2 respectively, which will sequester p53 indicating an indirect mode of p53 suppression in oral tumors.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.147-156
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• 2001

Titanomagnetites, the primary magnetic mineral in submarine basalts, generally has undergone some degree of low temperature oxidation to cation-deficient titanomaghemites. Synthetic analogues of natural titanomaghemite have been prepared by the removal of iron mechanism employing a low-temperature aqueous oxidation method. Along with the low-temperature oxidation of titanomagnetite, magnetic properties of titanomagnetite change sensitively. The results show that as the degree of oxidation increases, the Curie temperature (Tc) increases from $166^{\circ}C$ to $400^{\circ}C$, saturation magnetization (Ms) at room temperature decreases from 126.30 kAlm (25.26 emu/g) to 16.55 kAlrn (3.31 emu/g) monotonously, and coercive force (Hc) and coercivity of remanence (Hcr) increase from 6.13 kAlm (77 Oe) and 23.24 kAlm (292 Oe) to 38.83 kNm (488 Oe) and 47.03 kAlm (591 Oe), respectively. Low field susceptibility (X) decreases from $2023{\times}10^{-6}SI$ to $84{\times}10^{-6}S1$. Based on the results of this study, it is interpreted that the NRM intensity variations of the oceanic crust of presetnt day to 30 Ma is due to the formation of titanomahemites of various degree of oxidation by the low-temperature aqueous oxidation of titanomagnetite, while the magnetic intensity changes of the oceanic crust older than 30 Ma is presumably caused by the combined effect of the formation of titanomaghemites and subsequent inversion of titanomagnemites. DetaileJ causes of the variations of NRM intensity of the oceanic crust may be revealed by systematic studies of the oceanic-floor basalts in the future.

• Archives of design research
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• no.16
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• pp.17-25
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• 1996

, \l!ernatives in multi dimensional decision prohlems generally possess numerous attrihutes by which they can be describ('d and compared, The ('\';dllation factors include all attributes that have Ic\'(']s specified by quantitative and qualitativc objectil'l'S, Howev'('f since qualitative factors arc difficul! to quantify as num('ral estimates, these factors have tended to bl' ignored without regard for their importance to human contrnl. In this study, the author adapted :j ('va]uation methods with critrria which have qualitative and qualitative attributes: the Intuitive Evaluation ~1cthods the Accumulativc' Evaluation Model the Benchmarking Evaluation Methods, and studied the corrC'iation between them, The results show that Ill(' :j Mrthods have reciprocal relationships under reliability (r=O, (XX)]] In order to removl' obstacles of desi!;n ev'aluation ( lots of timl' l'llnsumption, constr;lints of placc" difficulties of hu!;!' data procc'ssin!;), it is necessary to be developed a new ('va]uation syst('rn which could prov'idc' effective rat in!; of desi!;n v'alm's 10 make value judw'rnents, , \l!ernatives in multi dimensional decision prohlems generally possess numerous attrihutes by which they can be describ('d and compared, The ('\';dllation factors include all attributes that have Ic\'(']s specified by quantitative and qualitativc objectil'l'S, Howev'('f since qualitative factors arc difficul! to quantify as num('ral estimates, these factors have tended to bl' ignored without regard for their importance to human contrnl. In this study, the author adapted :j ('va]uation methods with critrria which have qualitative and qualitative attributes: the Intuitive Evaluation ~1cthods the Accumulativc' Evaluation Model the Benchmarking Evaluation Methods, and studied the corrC'iation between them, The results show that Ill(' :j Mrthods have reciprocal relationships under reliability (r=O, (XX)]] In order to removl' obstacles of desi!;n ev'aluation ( lots of timl' l'llnsumption, constr;lints of placc" difficulties of hu!;!' data procc'ssin!;), it is necessary to be developed a new ('va]uation syst('rn which could prov'idc' effective rat in!; of desi!;n v'alm's 10 make value judw'rnents,alm's 10 make value judw'rnents,

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.247-258
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• 2019

Background: Astragali radix (A) and Lithospermi radix (L) have long been used as traditional medicines due to their known anti-inflammatory effects. This study aimed at evaluating, their optimal mixing ratio and their functional compounds by investigating the inhibitory effects of mixed extracts of A and L and their active compounds on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Methods and Results: A and L extracts were obtained by extraction at $80^{\circ}C$ using 50% and 70% fermented alcohol, respectively, and then mixed at a ratio of 5 : 5, 6 : 4, 7 : 3 and 8 : 2 (w/w). The activities of MMP-1, MMP-3, and MMP-13 were evaluated in interleukin-1beta ($IL-1{\beta}$)-induced SW1353 cells. The extract mixtures showed synergistic inhibitory effects on MMP-3 and MMP-13, higher than the effects of the individual A and L extracts. The 7 : 3 mixture (ALM16) showed the most effective MMPs inhibitory activity, while among the active ingredients, calycosin-7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside and lithospermic acid exhibited excellent MMPs inhibitory activity. Additionally, an HPLC method was established for simultaneous quantification of the effective components of the extract mixtures, and validated by measuring the linearity, precision and accuracy of the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). Conclusions: ALM16 showed the most effective MMPs inhibitory activity. Calycosin-O-${\beta}$-D-glucoside, calycosin and lithospermic acid were identified as useful candidates, as they were the major functional compounds in the MMP inhibitory activity. Summarily, ALM16 might be a highly effective in osteoarthritis management, owing to its because it exhibits a protective effect on cartilage via excellent inhibition of MMPs.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.24 no.3 s.64
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• pp.157-162
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• 1985

Leaf damage rate and actual damaged leaf area by the apple leaf miner (ALM), Phyllonorycter ringoniella(Matsumura), and its parasitism were investigated in 1982 and 1983 in apple orchards. Percent leaf damage was higher in the occasionally sprayed orchards than in the periodically sprayed orchards from May to August, but the trend was reversed after September. Seasonal changes of the leaf damage seemed to be different with the varieties of apple trees. A few species of Eulophidae and Holcothorax testaceipes R. of Encyrtidae were the predominant parasites of the ALM. Overall percent parasitism was highest in the 5th (overwintering) generation, and conspicuously decreased in the 3rd-4th generation (July-August) when insecticides were sprayed periodically. Actual damaged leaf area per mine of the ALM was apparently different with the generations; $0.67cm^2$ for the 1st, $0.8{\sim}0.9cm^2$ for the 2nd-4th on the first growth shoot, and $1.49cm^2$ for the overwintered generation on the second growth shoot. When ALM leaf damage rate was about $53{\sim}73%$, the decrease in the photosynthetic area to the damaged leaf was about $6{\sim}8%$.