• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2017

Leukocytes in blood components are involved in diverse adverse transfusion reactions such as febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reactions. Therefore, leukocyte reduction is required to reduce these adverse reactions. The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of pre-storage filtration and post-storage filtration. Filtration time, residual leukocyte count, RBC recovery, and hemolysis were assessed after pre-storage or post-storage filtration. Compared to pre-storage filtration, filtration time was prolonged and hemolysis was dramatically increased when post-storage filtration was performed. Residual leukocytes count and RBC recovery after post-storage filtration were similar with those obtained after pre-storage filtration. These results suggest that pre-storage filtration has better efficiency than post-storage filtration. These are thought to contribute to the production of better quality of leukoreduction blood components.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.319-324
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• 2007

One-tube nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was evaluated for its efficacy in detecting Mycobacterium leprae in biopsy samples from leprosy patients. Primers were derived from the M leprae-specific element (RLEP) sequences which yield a 230 bp fragment. The specificity and the sensitivity of the one-tube nested PCR were compared with those of single PCR for detecting M leprae. The results showed that the one-tube nested PCR was about 100 times more sensitive than that of the single indicating the one-tube nested primer sets developed in this study can be an effective screening tool for the detection of M leprae in clinical diagnostic laboratories.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.275-279
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• 2018

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing in prevalence in developed countries but the cause of this increase is unclear. In animal models of IBD and in human IBD patients, alterations in the tight junctional proteins have been observed, suggesting that the intestinal microflora may penetrate the underlying colonic tissue and promote inflammation. Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF) causes inflammatory diarrhea in human and is implicated in inflammatory bowel diseases. However, it is unclear whether alterations in tight junctional proteins occur during ETBF infection in mice. In this brief communication, we report that ETBF infection induces up-regulation of claudin-2 and down-regulation of claudin-5 through B. fragilis toxin (BFT) activity in the large intestine of C57BL/6 mice. In contrast, BFT did not induce changes in tight junctional proteins in the HT29/C1 cell line, suggesting that analysis of biological activity of BFT in vivo is important for evaluating ETBF effects.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2021

A whole-body compression garment (WBCG) is mainly used for cosmetic purpose in Korea. Another case for wearing the WBCG would be while exercising because it allows the body to move easily. But physiological effects of wearing WBCG to the body have not been known much. To investigate whether wearing WBCG would be helpful for conducting exercises, we measured physiological criteria, which could be influenced by the compression, such as cardiovascular and pulmonary function. Twelve female college students participated in this experiment. Increase of blood pressure was monitored in all of the participants when they wore a WBCG just for 10 minutes. Pulmonary function that requires skeletal muscle contraction was decreased by wearing a WBCG. Blood pressure measured after conducting exercise became even lower when wearing a WBCG than non-wearing. Interestingly, heart pulse remained lower when wearing a WBCG than non-wearing during the whole relaxing period after the exercise. Electrocardiogram (ECG) analyses showed that such lower heart rate largely depended on extension of QT time. For that reason, physiological efficiency index (PEI) was higher for wearing WBCG. These results indicate wearing WBCG could enhance exercise efficiency by lowering heart pulse.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.548-553
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• 2016

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely used in cartilage tissue engineering to repair articular cartilage defects. However, hypertrophy of chondrocytes derived from MSCs might hinder the stabilization of hyaline cartilage. Thus, it is very important to find a suitable way to maintain the chondrogenic phenotype of chondrocytes. It has been reported that cordycepin has anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor functions. However, the role of cordycepin in chondrocyte hypertrophy remains unclear. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of cordycepin on chondrogenesis and chondrocyte hypertrophy in MSCs and ATDC5 cells. Cordycepin upregulated chondrogenic markers including Sox9 and collagen type II while down-regulated hypertrophic markers including Runx2 and collagen type X. Further exploration showed that cordycepin promoted chondrogenesis through inhibiting Nrf2 while activating BMP signaling. Besides, cordycepin suppressed chondrocyte hypertrophy through PI3K/Bapx1 pathway and Notch signaling. Our results indicated cordycepin had the potential to maintain chondrocyte phenotype and reconstruct engineered cartilage.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.105-121
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• 2021

To investigate and accommodate opinions on the revision of the official occupational title of the medical technologist, the Korean Association of Medical Technologists (KAMT) requested 22,638 people registered as its regular members to participate in an online survey and select their two preferred options from the alternative job titles presented. Survey responses were collected from 3,999 people (17.66%). To examine job title preferences among the KAMT members, each respondent was asked to choose two terms from the choice set. As a result, 6,958 responses were obtained, and out of the total responses, 5,555 (79.83%) indicated a choice for a job title that included the word 'analyst' as the preferred alternative. The survey results showed that "Diagnostic Laboratory Analyst" was the most preferred alternative selected by the largest proportion of respondents (2,417 responses, 34.73%), followed by "Clinical Laboratory Analyst" (1,710 responses, 24.57%), "Biomedical Pathology Technologist" (758 responses, 10.89%), "Biomedical Analyst" (730 responses, 10.49%), "Biomedical Laboratory Analyst" (730 responses, 10.03%), and "Clinical Laboratory Scientist" (646 responses, 9.26%). Therefore, based on the responses of the surveyed members, results of consultation and literature review, the Standard Classification of Occupations (SCO), and the current status of the job titles used in major countries, it is suggested that the occupational title of medical technologists should be changed by adopting "Diagnostic Laboratory Analyst", "Biomedical Laboratory Analyst", or "Biomedical Analyst" as their new official job title.

• Proceedings of the Korea Environmental Mutagen Society Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.163-163
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• 2003

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.163-163
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• 2003

Difficulties of long-tenn survival of lung cancer patients treated with conventional therapies require the need for novel approaches and gene therapy holds promise in this area. Several genes are known to have anti-tumor activities and have been used as a gene of delivery, however, a number of problems such as efficiency, specificity of the gene delivery hinder the application of gene therapy.(omitted)

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2012

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial infections and is predominantly caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). UPEC strains generally possess several genes encoding virulent factors, which are mostly adhesins, toxins, bacteriocin and siderophores. E. coli is composed of four main phylogenetic group (A, B1, B2, D) and virulent extra-intestinal strains mainly belong to groups B2 and D. Prescription of ciprofloxacin, a kind of fluoroquinolone group antibiotics, is increasing now a days, but resistance to this drug is also increasing. A total of 188 strains of E. coli were collected. Thirteen strains were collected from healthy students in 2011 and 175 strains from patients with urinary tract infection in 2010. Virulence factor genes (papC, fimG/H, sfaD/E, hlyA, cnf1, and usp) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods for phylogenetic group (A, B1, B2, D) detection. Ciprofloxacin susceptibility test was performed by disk diffusion method. The identified virulence factors (VFs), phylogenetic groups and ciprofloxacin resistance in 13 E. coli strains isolated from healthy students were papC (15.4%), fimG/H (76.9%), sfaD/E (30.8%), hlyA (23.1%), cnf1 (23.1%), usp (7.7%), phylogenetic group A (23%), B1 (8%), B2 (46%), D (23%) and ciprofloxacin resistance (7.7%), while those of in 175 E. coli strains isolated from patients with UTI were papC (41.1%), fimG/H (92.5%), sfaD/E (30.3%), hlyA (10.3%), cnf1 (30.3%), usp (27.4%), phylogenetic group A (9.1%), B1 (5.1%), B2 (60.6%), D (25.1%) and ciprofloxacin resistance (29.7%). In this study, 10 out of 13 E. coli strains (76.9%) from healthy students were found to possess more than one virulence factor associated with adhesion. In addition, one E. coli strain isolated from healthy students who had never been infected with UPEC showed ciprofloxacin resistance. According to these results between the virulence factors and phylogenetic groups it was closely associated, and UPEC strains isolated from patients showed high level of ciprofloxacin resistance.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2007

Nebulin, a giant modular protein from muscle, is thought to act as molecular ruler in sarcomere assembly. In skeletal muscle, the C-terminal ${\sim}50 kDa$ region of nebulin extends into the Z-line lattice. The most recent studies implicated highlighting its extensive isoform diversity and exciting reports revealed its expression in cardiac and non-muscle tissues containing brain. Also these novel findings are indicating that nebulin is actually a multifunctional filament system, perhaps playing roles in signal transduction, contractile regulation, and myofibril force generation, as well as other not yet defined functions. However the binding protein of nebulin and function in brain is still unknown. A novel binding partner of nebulin C-terminal region was identified by screening a human brain cDNA library using yeast two-hybrid system. Nebulin C-terminus binding protein 51 (NCBP51) was contained a RING-finger domain and identified a new isoform of RING finger protein 125 (RNF125). The interaction was confirmed using the GST pull-down assay. NCBP51 belongs to a family of the RING finger proteins and its function remains to be identified in brain. The role of nebulin and NCBP51 will be studied by loss-of-function using siRNA technique in brain.