• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2211-2215
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and predictors of post-Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure (LEEP) complications in Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand. Retrospective chart review was performed for 200 patients undergoing LEEP during January 2012 to February 2013. Their mean age was 45 years-old. Fifty-three (26.5%) were menopausal. The three most common preceding abnormal cervical cytology were high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL; 50%), atypical squamous cell cannot exclude HSIL (ASC-H; 10.5%), and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL; 10%). The overall complications prevalence rate was 16.5% (95%CI, 11.4-21.6). Complications included bleeding (11%; 95%CI, 6.66-15.3), offensive discharge (4%; 95%CI, 1.28-6.72), and pelvic inflammatory disease (1.5%; 95%CI, 0.18-3.18). Only mode of delivery was an independent predictor of post-LEEP complications. Women with previous caesarean sections carried an increased risk of complications by 3.9 times (95%CI, 1.21-12.56) compared with vaginal delivery. In conclusion, LEEP is generally safe with an acceptable complication rate. Previous caesarean section was the only independent predictor for post-LEEP complications. However, this predictor still needs prudent evaluation as no clear cause-effect relationship was identified.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1289-1293
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• 2015

Background: Anal intraepithelial lesions (AIL) are likely to represent a precursor for anal cancer. Women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may be at higher risk of anal cancer but a screening program for AIL still is not routinely recommended. We here studied the relationship of dysplastic cells from cervical and anal cytology in HIV-infected women. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted in Prapokklao Hospital, Thailand during 2013-2014. Five hundred and ninety nine HIV-infected women were recruited. Participants who had cytological reports of equally or over "abnormal squamous/glandular cells of undetermined significance" (ASC-US) were classified as abnormal cervical or anal cytology. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate correlations between groups. Results: HIV-infected women with abnormal cervical cytology had 3.8 times more risk (adjusted odd ratio 3.846, 95% confidence interval 1.247-11.862, p-value. 019) for abnormal anal cytology. The major problem of the anal Pap test in this study was the inadequacy of the collected specimens for evaluation (34.4%, 206/599). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of cervical and anal Pap tests were 93.9/12.0, 87.3/96.9, 39.7/21.4, 99.4/94.1 and 88.1/91.4 percent, respectively. Conclusions: Abnormal cervical cytology in HIV-infected women indicates elevated risk for abnormal anal cytology. The sensitivity of the anal Pap test for detection of AIL 2/3 in HIV-infected women was quite low while specificity was excellent. Inadequacy of specimen collection for evaluation was a major limitation. Improvement of sample collection is recommended for future investigations.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.276-281
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• 2016

Corosolic acid (CA), a triterpenoid compound isolated from Lagerstroemia speciosa L. (Banaba) leaves, exerts anti-inflammatory effects by regulating phosphorylation of interleukin receptor- associated kinase (IRAK)-2 via the NF-κB cascade. However, the protective effect of CA against endotoxic shock has not been reported. LPS (200 ng/mL, 30 min) induced phosphorylation of IRAK-1 and treatment with CA (10 μM) significantly attenuated this effect. In addition, CA also reduced protein levels of NLRP3 and ASC which are the main components of the inflammasome in BMDMs. LPS-induced inflammasome assembly through activation of IRAK-1 was down-regulated by CA challenge. Treatment with Bay11-7082, an inhibitor of IκB-α, had no effect on CA-mediated inhibition of IRAK-1 activation, indicating that CA-mediated attenuation of IRAK-1 phosphorylation was independent of NF-κB signaling. These results demonstrate that CA ameliorates acute inflammation in mouse BMDMs and CA may be useful as a pharmacological agent to prevent acute inflammation.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.107-121
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• 2020

Mariculture is regarded as the only option to supply the increasing demands for seaweeds as human food, feeds, fodder, and phycolloids in a sustainable manner. Technologies for culturing a range of seaweed species have been developed successively in Korea since the 1970s. In 2017, Korean marine farms produced 1,761,526 t of seaweed. The key focus of the industry is on the production of Pyropia (523,648 t), Undaria (622,613 t), and Saccharina (542,285 t). Pyropia is economically the most important species in Korea, accounting for up to 68% of total production value. As the top exporter of Pyropia in the world, Korea exported up to US $525 million of Pyropia products to 110 countries in 2018. Other economically important genera include Sargassum, Ulva, Capsosiphon, Codium, and Gracilariopsis, all of which are used for food, and Gelidium, Pachymeniopsis, and Ecklonia which are used as raw material for phycocolloid extraction. Significant work has gone into developing more productive strains of key seaweed species, and in 2012 the Korean government began to certify seaweed varieties. To date, 19 seaweed cultivars have been registered including 13 Pyropia, 5 Undaria, and 1 Saccharina. The industry is now seeking not only to increase productivity but also to add value through processing. Convenience foods and snacks have been developed that target health-conscious consumers and utilize the nutritional properties of seaweeds. The industry is also seeking to promote the sustainability of seaweed farming. One seaweed company in Korea obtained the world's first ASC-MSC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council-Marine Stewardship Council) certification in 2019 and more are expected to follow their lead. With continued research support, the Korean seaweed industry plans to continue to expand to meet new market demands at a sustainable pace.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.124-133
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• 2003

We propose an application of the Object-Oriented design methodology to develop operational flight program(OFP) for stores management computer(SMC) which manages and controls stores inventory, stores activation, launch for missiles, and release of the conventional weapons. For the development of SMC, a military version of PowerPC 603e is used as a central processing unit board and VxWorks real-time operating system is used. The Tornado software development environment(SDE) and the programming language Ada95 are used for OFP development. We design three layerd in the OFP for the independency of the software modules. An avionics system computer(ASC) simulator and a test bench are developed for the SMC integration test and verification test. And the tests are rigorously and successfully conducted.

• Journal of Korea Spatial Information System Society
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• v.3 no.1 s.5
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• pp.75-87
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• 2001

The advantages of using components result from their reusability between applications. Applications can be easily implemented by adding components. In this paper, we described the design and implementation process of ASC(Application Service Component) for component-based GIS applications. In our project, there are 5 applications : Road Facility Management, Urban Planning, Cadastral Map Management, Water Supply Management, and Sewerage Management. All of them use MapBase component which supports common GIS functionality. Although they are different applications, some parts of them are same. We analyzed the developed results in 1st and 2nd year, and the achievement of UIS(Urban Information System) project in Busan Metro City in Korea. The UIS of Busan was consisted of 5 applications to equal with our project. Then, we extracted 11 common used components between 5 applications, and implemented 5 common components of them and 2 additional components. They were Authority, GISReport, IndexMap, Measurement, Search, Symbol Manager, and Attribute Display. As we offered them to companies developing application components, they were able to reduce the development time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.6
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• pp.768-777
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• 2006

The purpose of this study lies in formulating the landscape preference model using a conditional logit that involves the effect of visual elements as well as landscape itself on landscape preferences. To measure landscape preferences, a photo-questionnaire composed of paired photographs of the Cairngorms National Park of Scotland and the Jirisan National Park of Korea was distributed to visitors to the Jirisan National Park of Korea. Visual elements of landscape quantitatively measured by photogrammetry were reduced to orthogonal principal components that were subsequently used as explanatory variables in a conditional logit. As a result, the mixed conditional logit including the effect of landscape itself satisfied the Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives (IIA) property and showed reliable goodness of fit (${\rho}^2=0.25$). It was concluded that the mixed conditional logit including the effect of landscape itself was appropriate for landscape preference model rather than usual conditional logit excluding the effect.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.533-543
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• 2021

Myocardial fibrosis (MF) is the result of persistent and repeated aggravation of myocardial ischemia and hypoxia, leading to the gradual development of heart failure of chronic ischemic heart disease. Triptolide (TPL) is identified to be involved in the treatment for MF. This study aims to explore the mechanism of TPL in the treatment of MF. The MF rat model was established, subcutaneously injected with isoproterenol and treated by subcutaneous injection of TPL. The cardiac function of each group was evaluated, including LVEF, LVFS, LVES, and LVED. The expressions of ANP, BNP, inflammatory related factors (IL-1β, IL-18, TNF-α, MCP-1, VCAM1), NLRP3 inflammasome factors (NLRP3, ASC) and fibrosis related factors (TGF-β1, COL1, and COL3) in rats were dete cted. H&E staining and Masson staining were used to observe myocardial cell inflammation and fibrosis of rats. Western blot was used to detect the p-P65 and t-P65 levels in nucleoprotein of rat myocardial tissues. LVED and LVES of MF group were significantly upregulated, LVEF and LVFS were significantly downregulated, while TPL treatment reversed these trends; TPL treatment downregulated the tissue injury and improved the pathological damage of MF rats. TPL treatment downregulated the levels of inflammatory factors and fibrosis factors, and inhibited the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome. Activation of NLRP3 inflammasome or NF-κB pathway reversed the effect of TPL on MF. Collectively, TPL inhibited the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome by inhibiting NF-κB pathway, and improved MF in MF rats.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.201-208
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• 2022

Neuroinflammation is defined as a neurological inflammation within the brain and the spinal cord. In neuroinflammation, microglia are the tissue-resident macrophages of the central nervous system, which act as the first line of defense against harmful pathogens. Dexmedetomidine (Dex) has an anti-inflammatory effect in many neurological conditions. Additionally, the microRNA-30a-5p (miR-30a-5p) mimic has been proven to be effective in macrophages in inflammatory conditions. This study aimed to investigate the synergistic anti-inflammatory effects of both miR-30a-5p and Dex in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced BV2 cells. This study showed that miR-30a-5p and Dex decreased nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) translocation in LPS-induced BV2 cells. MiR-30a-5p and Dex alleviated tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), LPS-induced phosphorylation c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38. Also, the expression of the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 inflammasome (NLRP3), cleaved caspase-1, and ASC was inhibited. Furthermore, LPS-stimulated nitric oxide (NO) production, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression were attenuated by Dex and miR-30a-5p. Our results indicate that a combination of Dex and miR-30a-5p, attenuates NF-κB activation, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, and inflammatory mediators involved in LPS-induced inflammation and inhibits the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in LPS-activated BV2 cells.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2023

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome is a necessary process to induce fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a kind of NAFLD that encompasses the spectrum of liver disease. It is characterized by inflammation and ballooning of hepatocytes during steatosis. We tested whether inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome could prevent the development and pathology of NASH. We identified loganin as an inhibitor of the NLRP3 inflammasome and investigated whether in vivo administration of loganin prevented NASH symptoms using a methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet model in mice. We found that loganin inhibited the NLRP3 inflammasome activation triggered by ATP or nigericin, as shown by suppression of the production of interleukin (IL)-1β and caspase-1 (p10) in mouse primary macrophages. The speck formation of apoptosisassociated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC) was blocked by loganin, showing that the assembly of the NLRP3 inflammasome complex was impaired by loganin. Administration of loganin reduced the clinical signs of NASH in mice fed the MCD diet, including hepatic inflammation, fat accumulation, and fibrosis. In addition, loganin reduced the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome components in the liver. Our findings indicate that loganin alleviates the inflammatory symptoms associated with NASH, presumably by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation. In summary, these findings imply that loganin may be a novel nutritional and therapeutic treatment for NASH-related inflammation.