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Studies on N-Nitrosamine of Korean Ordinary Soysauce (한국 재래식 간장의 니트로소화합물에 관한 연구)

  • Sung, Nak-Ju;Hwang, Oe-Ja;Lee, Eung-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.125-135
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    • 1988
  • In recent years, the presence of N-nitrosamine, which was produced by the interaction of nitrite and secondary amine, in the fermented foods has been the subject of considerable interest and controversy. In this experiment, the levels of N-nitrosamine such as N-nitrosodimethylamine(NDMA), N-nitrosodiethylamine(NDEA) and N-nitrosodipropylamine(NDPA) in the Korean ordinary soysauce, which were added with ascorbic acid, sorbic acid, and sodium benzoate in the making of it were analyzed by low resolution mass spectrometry, and then the changes of dimethylamine(DMA), nitrate and nitrite nitrogen during the fermentation of it were observed. The contents of DMA nitrogen increased during the fermentation of Korean ordinary soysauce, continuously, but those of DMA nitrogen in the soysauce which had been added with ascorbic acid were inhibited, considerably, until the fermentation of 70days. The levels of nitrate nitrogen during the fermentation of Korean ordinary soysauee decreased, while those of nitrite nitrogen increased. The soysauce which had been incoporated with ascorbic acid in the making of it showed low amounts of nitrite. The concentration of NDMA in the control sample were 2.7 and $8.5{\mu}g/kg$ after the fermentation of 30 and 60 days, respectively, those of NDMA increased during the fermentation of Korean ordinary soysauce, but NDEA and NDPA in all of the soysauce were not detected. The samples were treated with ascorbic acid, sorbic acid, and sodium benzoate in the making of Korean ordinary soysauce were turn out to be effective in preventing the formation of NDMA. Inhibitive actions from food additives as above were, respectively, $82.2{\sim}87.0%$(ascorbic acid), $25.9{\sim}65.4%$(sorbic acid) an $13.2{\sim}63.5%$ (sodium benzoate) in comparison with control sample during the fermentation of Korean ordinary soysauce. NDMA contents were detected below $1.5{\mu}g/kg$ in the soysauce, which food additives were mixed to the pure NaCI in the brewing of it. Free amino acids such as glutamic acid, proline, and histidine were proved to be inhibiting the formation of NDMA during the fermentation of Korean ordinary soysauce. This might be due to the reaction above amino acids and nitrite by Van Slyke reaction.

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The Effect of the IGF-I treated Gingival and Periodontal Ligament Fibroblast on Osteoblasts (IGF-I으로 처리한 치은 및 치주인대 섬유모세포가 골모세포에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Mi-Jeong;Yang, Won-Sik
    • The korean journal of orthodontics
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    • v.31 no.6 s.89
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    • pp.589-600
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    • 2001
  • Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has the local tissue regulating actions. In bone, IGF-I increases the replication of osteoblastic lineage, probably preosteoblasts, and enhances osteoblastic collagen synthesis and matrix composition rates. The purpose of this study was to investigate the local regulatory effect of IGF-I on periodontium totally, both in an autocrine and paracrine manner. To examine the effect of IGF-I directly on osteoblast (OB) of test rats, and indirectlv on OB via periodontal ligament fibroblast (PDLF), and the effect of gingival fibroblast (GF) on OB via cellular paracrine manner for the understanding of humoral action of adjacent tissue, GF and PDLF were obtained from male Sprague-Dawley rats of six to eight weeks of age. OB was obtained iron frontal and parietal calvarial bone of Sprague-Dawley 21day-old-fetus. After each tell was Incubated 24 hours, for collecting conditioned medium, different concentrations of IGF-I (1,10,100 ng/ml,1ml/well) was adding in the GF, PDLF cells, and the supernatant from these cultures was put into the primary OB culture with $1{\times}10^4$cell/ml/well. The experimental group was divided into six groups control OB, IGF-I treated OB, OB culture with conditioned medium from PDLF, OB culture with conditioned medium from IGF-I treated PDLF, OB culture with conditioned medium from GF, OB culture with conditioned medium from IGF-I treated GF. After final IGF-I treatment, OB was Incubated for 24 hours, and alkaline phosphatase activity assay, BMP expression, cell proliferation measurement using MTT assay, total protein measurement, Collagen synthesis assay using western blot, and examination of bone nodule synthesis were done. Alkaline phosphatase expressions were increased in the group of PDLF-IGF-I supernatant treatment. Direct IGF-I treatment with concentrations of 100ng/m1 showed increased viable tell number measured by MTT assay. And IGF-I treatment did not increase total protein amount. The entire experimental group showed BMP2, 4 expression in western blot, and there was no significant difference between control and experimental groups. These results suggested that supernatant from PDLF effects on increasing cellular activities of OB regardless of IGF-I, and at high concentration, IGF-I increases OB tell proliferation.

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Suppressive Effects of Defatted Green Tea Seed Ethanol Extract on Cancer Cell Proliferation in HepG2 Cells (HepG2 Cell에서 녹차씨박 에탄올 추출물의 암세포 증식 억제효과)

  • Noh, Kyung-Hee;Min, Kwan-Hee;Seo, Bo-Young;Kim, Hye-Ok;Kim, So-Hee;Song, Young-Sun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.40 no.6
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    • pp.767-774
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    • 2011
  • Defatted green tea seed was extracted with 100% ethanol for 4 hr and then fractionated with petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and butanol. The ethanol and butanol extracts showed greater increases in antiproliferation potential against liver cancer cells than petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, $H_2O$, and hot water extracts did. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the anti-proliferative actions of defatted green tea seed ethanol extract (DGTSE) in HepG2 cancer cells. The DGTSE contained catechins including EGC ($1039.1{\pm}15.2\;g/g$), tannic acid ($683.5{\pm}17.61\;{\mu}g/g$), EC ($62.4{\pm}5.00\;{\mu}g/g$), ECG ($24.4{\pm}7.81\;{\mu}g/g$), EGCG ($20.9{\pm}0.96\;{\mu}g/g$) and gallic acid ($2.4{\pm}0.68\;{\mu}g/g$), but caffeic acid was not detected when analyzed by HPLC. The anti-proliferation effect of DGTSE toward HepG2 cells was 83.13% when treated at $10\;{\mu}g$/mL, of DGTSE, offering an $IC_{50}$ of $6.58\;{\mu}g$/mL. DGTSE decreased CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 protein expressions in a dose-dependent manner. Quinone reductase and antioxidant response element (ARE)-luciferase activities were increased about 2.6 and 1.94-fold at a concentration of $20\;{\mu}g$/mL compared to a control group, respectively. Enhancement of phase II enzyme activity by DGTSE was shown to be mediated via interaction with ARE sequences in genes encoding the phase enzymes. DGTSE significantly (p<0.05) suppressed prostaglandin $E_2$ level, tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) protein expressions, and NF${\kappa}$B translocation, but did not affected nitric oxide production. From the above results, it is concluded that DGTSE may ameliorate tumor and inflammatory reactions through the elevation of phase II enzyme activities and suppression of NF${\kappa}$B translocation and TNF-${\alpha}$ protein expressions, which support the cancer cell anti-proliferative effects of DGTSE in HepG2 cells.

A Study on Commemoration Culture of Vietnam War Memorials in Vietnam (베트남전쟁 메모리얼에 나타난 기념문화)

  • Lee, Sang-Suk
    • Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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    • v.39 no.3
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    • pp.26-38
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this study was to analyze the commemoration culture of Vietnam War Memorials (VWM) in Vietnam. Through site survey, the researcher selected 23 VWM in Vietnam and analyzed 5 categories: memorial type, design concept and narratives, location and spatial form, landscape elements, and content expressed in landscape details. The results are as follows: 1. Because of the long, drawn out Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975, VWM were divided into 10 types mainly as soldier cemeteries based on a traditional memorial style, battlefields and places of tragedies considering sense of place, war museums representing victory and atrocity in war, and peace parks promoting reconciliation and peacemaking. 2. The analysis revealed that the main concepts and narratives of VWM were to value the victims of the Vietnam War, remember soldiers' contributions, highlight the victory in war and resistance to the United States, and express a sense of place. Peacemaking applied only to My Lai Peace Park and Han-Viet Hoa Binh Cong Vien, built by international cooperation. 3. Cemeteries and appreciation memorials were designed to follow a traditional memorial space form that highly regard both axis and symmetry. The design concept at battlefields and places where tragedies occurred depended mainly upon a sense of place and used symbolic landscape elements to compensate for the undefined concept. 4. Sculptures and towers were mainly used to highlight war victory and resistance as the representative style of a Socialist country, weapons and pictures exhibited in war museums and battlefield showed the reality and strain of war. Symbolic elements of Buddhism and Confucianism were often introduced as a way to venerate the memory of deceased persons. 5. The state and heroic actions in the Vietnam War were realistically depicted on sculptures and walls. Also, the symbolic phrase, 'TO-QUOC-GUI-CONG' meaning 'our country remember your achievement', were written on the memorial tower and 'Quagmiire' was used to metaphorically represent the difficulties faced by the U.S. military on battlefields during the war and the uncertainly that pervaded U.S. society in those days. 6. In VWM, ideologies like nationalism, patriotism, socialism, capitalism were mixed and traditional cultures like Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism were inherent. Differing from their Confucianism culture, war heroes, particularly including women, were often described by sculpture, monument, and pictures and the conflict in and outside the country regarding the Vietnam War was shown. Further study will be required to analyze design characteristics of VWM in the u.s. and to understand the difference in commemoration cultures between Vietnam and the U.S.

Yoo Young-kuk's Early Constructivism: Utopianism in (1937) (유영국(劉永國)의 초기 구성주의: <랩소디>(1937)에 나타난 유토피아니즘)

  • 유영아
    • The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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    • no.9
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    • pp.93-121
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    • 2010
  • This study is about Yoo Young-kuk's early works which show constructivism, especially focus on his debut painting, for the 7th Dokuritsu Bijutsu Kyokai(獨立美術協會, the Independent Fine Arts Association) in Tokyo in 1937. The work was painted 2 years after he had started his study in Japan in 1935. It was the first painting that applied Constructivism. played an important role for Constructivism to be a leading art in his abstraction. After this picture, Yoo was soon devoted to the principles of Constructivism-- Faktura(material), Tektonika (tectonics), Tekhnika(technique), space, construction-- in his painterly reliefs. This article examined why Yoo concentrated on Constructivism for , what the characteristics were, and what influences were on other works from 1935 to 1949. In addition, I investigated in which period was painted and how Constructivism was spread in 1930s and early 1940s in chapter 2. I scrutinized Rhapsody in chapter 3. When Yoo created Japan was under the Fifteen Years War(1931-1945), and a major discourse was the Japanese Spirit at that time. It was connected with construction of an ideal nation which the Japanese ultra-national fascism pursued. This ideological pursuit was intended to unite the Japanese people for total war system and to restore a national dignity which had been fallen down due to Manchurian Incident(1931). Thus, on the hand, Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai(國際文化振興, The Society for International Cultural Relations) and the Nippon Kosaku Bunka Renmei(日本工作文化連盟, Japanese Werkbund) were supported financially by the Japanese government. On the other hand, the government enacted regulations to opposing parties which would distract Japanese people's unification. As for the Japanese art world, the merge of art groups was carried out through remodeling of Teikoku Bijutsuin(帝國美術院, The Imperial Fine Arts Academy) in 1935. This brought out continuous dispute and disorder. Young artists who felt difficulty of entering an entry of Imperial Fine Arts Exhibition repeatedly grouped and disbanded for small art groups to build their standing, which they pursued Surrealism and Abstract art. Among them Constructivism was considered as the latest trend and was popular in craft, design, architecture as well as fine arts. In the year before he painted , Avant-garde theatres including Constructivism theatre were introduced in a feature article of September, 1936 in Atelier, which was dealing with mainly avant-garde arts. Books related with Constructivism were translated into Japanese, and Gestaltung Education had become active since the publication of A Compendium of Gestaltung Education("構成敎育大系"(1934)), Salvador Dali(1904-1989) was also introduced, so Surrealism was drawn more attention by young artists. reflected popular trends. Yoo analyzed the Japanese avant-gardists' archaic taste in the Independent Art Association that he submitted his painting to. And then he entitled 'Rhapsody' which derives from Ancient Greek's epic poetry and deliberately set up images in a scene. In chapter 3, I examined a theme which was planned carefully by sorting favorite images from the Japanese Surrealism. was a result that Yoo Young-kuk observed objectively the phenomenon that young artists dreamt of Utopia or longed for Nostalgia passively and lethargically under wars. And then he otherized himself from that circumstance. First of all, for he used the typical icons of Japanese Surrealism such as the horizon, flowing clouds, and vast plain that were considered stereotypes of Arcadia. He, however distinguished himself form those Japanese Surrealists. He made his own vision about Utopia by referring Lyubov Popova(1889-1924)'s stage design. His objective point of view was expressed by positive and dynamic images of structure and human's actions. Constructivism which was attempted in had an effect on other early constructive works, and the principles of Constructivism were sought hard in reliefs, paintings, and photos.

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Anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae extract and its hydrolyzed fraction (효모 추출물 SCE 및 그 분획 SCE-40의 항 우울 및 항 불안 효과)

  • Jung, Eun-Yee;Jeong, Min-Suk;Kwon, Young-Bae;Choi, Yoon-Suk;Pyun, Kwang-Ho;Kim, Ki-Won;Shim, In-Sop
    • Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.243-252
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    • 2007
  • Anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae extract and its hydrolyzed fraction. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae extract (SCE) and its hydrolyzed fraction (SCE-40) on depression and anxiety-related behaviors in mice. Actions of SCE and SCE-40 on serotonin, norepinephrine and GABAergic systems in the rat cerebral cortex membranes were also examined. SCE and SCE-40 significantly reduced the immobility time in the forced swimming and tail suspension test in mice. Duration time of the open arms in the elevated plus maze test was significantly increased in the SCE and SCE-40-treated groups, compared with the saline-treated control group. SCE and its fraction SCE-40 significantly inhibited serotonin and norepinephrine transporter and GABA receptor binding, compared to the saline-treated group. In addition, serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake were significantly suppressed by SCE and SCE-40. These results demonstrate that SCE and SCE-40 produce anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects through enhancing central serotonin, norepinephrine and GABAergic transmissions. These results suggest that SCE and SCE-40 as functional food might prove to be an effective antidepressant and anti-anxiety agent.

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A PLS Path Modeling Approach on the Cause-and-Effect Relationships among BSC Critical Success Factors for IT Organizations (PLS 경로모형을 이용한 IT 조직의 BSC 성공요인간의 인과관계 분석)

  • Lee, Jung-Hoon;Shin, Taek-Soo;Lim, Jong-Ho
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.207-228
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    • 2007
  • Measuring Information Technology(IT) organizations' activities have been limited to mainly measure financial indicators for a long time. However, according to the multifarious functions of Information System, a number of researches have been done for the new trends on measurement methodologies that come with financial measurement as well as new measurement methods. Especially, the researches on IT Balanced Scorecard(BSC), concept from BSC measuring IT activities have been done as well in recent years. BSC provides more advantages than only integration of non-financial measures in a performance measurement system. The core of BSC rests on the cause-and-effect relationships between measures to allow prediction of value chain performance measures to allow prediction of value chain performance measures, communication, and realization of the corporate strategy and incentive controlled actions. More recently, BSC proponents have focused on the need to tie measures together into a causal chain of performance, and to test the validity of these hypothesized effects to guide the development of strategy. Kaplan and Norton[2001] argue that one of the primary benefits of the balanced scorecard is its use in gauging the success of strategy. Norreklit[2000] insist that the cause-and-effect chain is central to the balanced scorecard. The cause-and-effect chain is also central to the IT BSC. However, prior researches on relationship between information system and enterprise strategies as well as connection between various IT performance measurement indicators are not so much studied. Ittner et al.[2003] report that 77% of all surveyed companies with an implemented BSC place no or only little interest on soundly modeled cause-and-effect relationships despite of the importance of cause-and-effect chains as an integral part of BSC. This shortcoming can be explained with one theoretical and one practical reason[Blumenberg and Hinz, 2006]. From a theoretical point of view, causalities within the BSC method and their application are only vaguely described by Kaplan and Norton. From a practical consideration, modeling corporate causalities is a complex task due to tedious data acquisition and following reliability maintenance. However, cause-and effect relationships are an essential part of BSCs because they differentiate performance measurement systems like BSCs from simple key performance indicator(KPI) lists. KPI lists present an ad-hoc collection of measures to managers but do not allow for a comprehensive view on corporate performance. Instead, performance measurement system like BSCs tries to model the relationships of the underlying value chain in cause-and-effect relationships. Therefore, to overcome the deficiencies of causal modeling in IT BSC, sound and robust causal modeling approaches are required in theory as well as in practice for offering a solution. The propose of this study is to suggest critical success factors(CSFs) and KPIs for measuring performance for IT organizations and empirically validate the casual relationships between those CSFs. For this purpose, we define four perspectives of BSC for IT organizations according to Van Grembergen's study[2000] as follows. The Future Orientation perspective represents the human and technology resources needed by IT to deliver its services. The Operational Excellence perspective represents the IT processes employed to develop and deliver the applications. The User Orientation perspective represents the user evaluation of IT. The Business Contribution perspective captures the business value of the IT investments. Each of these perspectives has to be translated into corresponding metrics and measures that assess the current situations. This study suggests 12 CSFs for IT BSC based on the previous IT BSC's studies and COBIT 4.1. These CSFs consist of 51 KPIs. We defines the cause-and-effect relationships among BSC CSFs for IT Organizations as follows. The Future Orientation perspective will have positive effects on the Operational Excellence perspective. Then the Operational Excellence perspective will have positive effects on the User Orientation perspective. Finally, the User Orientation perspective will have positive effects on the Business Contribution perspective. This research tests the validity of these hypothesized casual effects and the sub-hypothesized causal relationships. For the purpose, we used the Partial Least Squares approach to Structural Equation Modeling(or PLS Path Modeling) for analyzing multiple IT BSC CSFs. The PLS path modeling has special abilities that make it more appropriate than other techniques, such as multiple regression and LISREL, when analyzing small sample sizes. Recently the use of PLS path modeling has been gaining interests and use among IS researchers in recent years because of its ability to model latent constructs under conditions of nonormality and with small to medium sample sizes(Chin et al., 2003). The empirical results of our study using PLS path modeling show that the casual effects in IT BSC significantly exist partially in our hypotheses.

Chemical Properties on the Quality of Marketed Roasting Green teas (시판 덖음녹차의 품질에 따른 이화학적 특성)

  • 신미경;장미경;서은숙
    • Korean journal of food and cookery science
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    • v.11 no.4
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    • pp.356-361
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    • 1995
  • This study was conducted to know the quality of marketed green teas which were devided into high, middle and low grade according to the price. we examined the content of water, ash, total nitrogen, tannin, caffeine, chlorophyll and color value and did sensory evaluation. The results were as follows: 1) The content of water was 2.17-3.67% and content of ash was 4.50-5.17%, there were no significant difference in each grade. 2) The content of total nitrogen was 4.38% in high grade, 4.60% in middle grade and 4.68% in low grade. 3) The content of tannin was 11.09% in high grade, 14.22% in middle grade and 14.44% in low grade, middle and low grade were significantly higher than high grade. 4) The nitrogen rate to tannin (N/T) was 39.5% in high grade, 32.6% in middle grade and 32.70% in low grade, N/T rate of high grade was significantly highest than others. 5) The content of caffeine is 1.78% in high grade, 1.32% in middle grade and 0.92% in low grade, high and middle grade were significantly higher than low grade. 6) The content of total chlorophyll is 297.37 mg% in high grade, 192.89 mg% in middle grade and 204.79 mg% in low grade, chlorophyll a was 69.23 mg% in high grade, 51.99 mg% in middle grade and 63.42 mg% in low grade, and chlorophyll b was 228.47 mg% in high grade, 131.21 mg% in middle grade and 141.63 mg% in low grade. 7) Yellow value of high and middle grade were significantly higher than low grade, but blue and red value were no significant diffrence in groups. 8) In sensory evaluation, appearance, taste, odor of high grade were better than others and total score was 15.25 in high grade, 12.97 in middle grade and 9.80 in low grade. 9) Price had a positive correlation with caffeine, appearance and taste, but a negative correlation with tannine. NT rate had a negative correlation with tannine, but a positive correlation with caffeine.

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Metabolites profiling and hypolipidemic/hypocholesterolemic effects of persimmon (Diosyros kaki Thumb.) by different processing procedures: in vitro and in vivo studies (제조방법에 따른 떫은감 (Diosyros kaki Thumb.)의 대사체 프로파일링과 중성지질/콜레스테롤 대사 관련 유전자발현 연구 : in vitro 및 in vivo 연구)

  • Park, Soo-Yeon;Oh, Eun-Kyung;Lim, Yeni;Shin, Ji-Yoon;Jung, Hee-Ah;Park, Song-Yi;Lee, Jin Hee;Choe, Jeong-Sook;Kwon, Oran
    • Journal of Nutrition and Health
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.275-286
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    • 2018
  • Purpose: Our previous study demonstrated that persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thumb.) at different stages of ripening provided different protective effects against high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFD)-induced dyslipidemia in rats. In this study, we compared the metabolites profile and gene expressions related to triglyceride (TG)/cholesterol metabolism in vitro and in vivo after treating with persimmon water extracts (PWE) or tannin-enriched persimmon concentrate (TEP). Methods: Primary and secondary metabolites in test materials were determined by GC-TOF/MS, UHPLC-LTQ-ESI-IT-MS/MS, and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. The expression of genes related to TG and cholesterol metabolism were determined by RT-PCR both in HepG2 cells stimulated by oleic acid/palmitic acid and in liver tissues obtained from Wistar rats fed with HFD and PWE at 0, 150, 300, and 600 mg/d (experiment I) or TEP at 0, 7, 14, and 28 mg/d (experiment II) by oral gavage for 9 weeks. Results: PLS-DA analysis and heatmap analysis demonstrated significantly differential profiling of metabolites of PWE and TEP according to processing of persimmon powder. In vitro, TEP showed similar hypolipidemic effects as PWE, but significantly enhanced hypocholesterolemic effects compared to PWE in sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2), HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), cholesterol $7{\alpha}-hydroxylase$ (CYP7A1), and low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene expression. Consistently, TEP and PWE showed similar hypolipidemic capacity in vivo, but significantly enhanced hypocholesterolemic capacity in terms of SREBP2, HMGCR, and bile salt export pump (BSEP) gene expression. Conclusion: These results suggest that column extraction after hot water extraction may be a good strategy to enhance tannins and long-chain fatty acid amides, which might cause stimulation of hypocholesterolemic actions through downregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis gene expression and upregulation of LDL receptor gene expression.

Imaging Neuroreceptors in the Living Human Brain

  • Wagner Jr Henry N.;Dannals Robert F.;Frost J. James;Wong Dean F.;Ravert Hayden T.;Wilson Alan A.;Links Jonathan M.;Burns H. Donald;Kuhar Michael J.;Snyder Solomon H.
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.17-23
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    • 1984
  • For nearly a century it has been known that chemical activity accompanies mental activity, but only recently has it been possible to begin to examine its exact nature. Positron-emitting radioactive tracers have made it possible to study the chemistry of the human mind in health and disease, using chiefly cyclotron-produced radionuclides, carbon-11, fluorine-18 and oxygen-15. It is now well established that measurable increases in regional cerebral blood flow, glucose and oxygen metabolism accompany the mental functions of perception, cognition, emotion and motion. On May 25, 1983 the first imaging of a neuroreceptor in the human brain was accomplished with carbon-11 methyl spiperone, a ligand that binds preferentially to dopamine-2 receptors, 80% of which are located in the caudate nucleus and putamen. Quantitative imaging of serotonin-2, opiate, benzodiazapine and muscarinic cholinergic receptors has subsequently been accomplished. In studies of normal men and women, it has been found that dopamine and serotonin receptor activity decreases dramatically with age, such a decrease being more pronounced in men than in women and greater in the case of dopamine receptors than serotonin-2 receptors. Preliminary studies in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders suggests that dopamine-2 receptor activity is diminished in the caudate nucleus of patients with Huntington's disease. Positron tomography permits quantitative assay of picomolar quantities of neuro-receptors within the living human brain. Studies of patients with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, acute and chronic pain states and drug addiction are now in progress. The growth of any scientific field is based on a paradigm or set of ideas that the community of scientists accepts. The unifying principle of nuclear medicine is the tracer principle applied to the study of human disease. Nineteen hundred and sixty-three was a landmark year in which technetium-99m and the Anger camera combined to move the field from its latent stage into a second stage characterized by exponential growth within the framework of the paradigm. The third stage, characterized by gradually declining growth, began in 1973. Faced with competing advances, such as computed tomography and ultrasonography, proponents and participants in the field of nuclear medicine began to search for greener pastures or to pursue narrow sub-specialties. Research became characterized by refinements of existing techniques. In 1983 nuclear medicine experienced what could be a profound change. A new paradigm was born when it was demonstrated that, despite their extremely low chemical concentrations, in the picomolar range, it was possible to image and quantify the distribution of receptors in the human body. Thus, nuclear medicine was able to move beyond physiology into biochemistry and pharmacology. Fundamental to the science of pharmacology is the concept that many drugs and endogenous substances, such as neurotransmitters, react with specific macromolecules that mediate their pharmacologic actions. Such receptors are usually identified in the study of excised tissues, cells or cell membranes, or in autoradiographic studies in animals. The first imaging and quantification of a neuroreceptor in a living human being was performed on May 25, 1983 and reported in the September 23, 1983 issue of SCIENCE. The study involved the development and use of carbon-11 N-methyl spiperone (NMSP), a drug with a high affinity for dopamine receptors. Since then, studies of dopamine and serotonin receptors have been carried out in over 100 normal persons or patients with various neuropsychiatric disorders. Exactly one year later, the first imaging of opitate receptors in a living human being was performed [1].

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