• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.223-226
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• 2014

In the fermented soybean product known as "chungkookjang", diverse bioactive compounds are produced when the soybean proteins are degraded during fermentation. Vascular endothelial cells (EC) are crucial in vein function and the formation of new vessels. A treatment to stimulate formation of new blood vessels is needed in cerebrovascular diseases that lead to ischaemic stroke and heart attack, as well as for diabetic ulcers. VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) simulates EC formation. The effect of Chungkookjang ethanol extract (CEE) on the proliferation of EC was studied. CEE (100, $1000{\mu}g/ml$) and boiled CEE were as effective as VEGF (10 ng/ml) for the proliferation of human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC). The effect of CEE on the migration of HUVEC was investigated using sprout analysis. CEE ($100{\mu}g/ml$) was as effective as VEGF (10 ng/ml) for the migration of HUVEC. Isolation of specific peptides influencing the growth and migration of EC is needed.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.177-196
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• 2006

Objective : This experimental study was designed to determine the effects of BPT on obesity in vivo and in vitro. Methods : in vitro, BPTn extracts of various concentration(50, 100, 200 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$) were added in 3T3-L1 cell. Adipocyte differentiation was measured by Oil Red O staining and Morphological examination. The expression of $C/EBP{\alpha}$ and $PPAR{\gamma}$ receptor was measured by western blot assay and RT-PCR in vivo, Rats were orally administered BPT daily for consecutive four weeks before poloxamer-407 induced hyperlipidemic state. The rats were sacrificed 24 hrs later for poloxamer-407 treated and then serum triglyceride, total cholesterol were measured ; Rats were orally administered BPT daily for consecutive four weeks before triton WR-1339 induced hyperlipidemic state. The rats were sacrificed 40 hrs later for triton WR-1339 treated and then serum triglyceride, total cholesterol were measured ; Rats with obesity were induced by the high fat-diet for six weeks and then serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, hydroxy radical, superoxide dismuatse activity were measured. Results : In vitro, The 3T3-L1 cells' differentiation was significantly decreased by BPT. The expression of $C/EBP{\alpha}$ and $C/EBP{\beta}$ was decreased by BPT. In vivo, BPT significantly reduced serum triglyceride, total cholesterol contents in poloxamer-407 treated rat. BPT significantly reduced serum triglyceride contents in Triton WR-1339 treated rat. Total cholesterol also reduced but did not show a significant change. BPT significantly reduced body weight gain of rat and adipose tissue mass of rats and serum triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol contents and significantly increased HDL-cholesterol, HTR(HDL-cholesterol/Total-cholesterol) in rats with obesity induced by the high fat-diet. BPT reduced blood lipid peroxide, hydroxy radical and increased superoxide dismuatse(SOD) activity.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.190-196
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• 2012

The human exposure of lead has usually detected the amount of lead in the whole blood, however, this method has a shortcoming to give the information on the short-term exposure to lead. In that sense, it is desirable to estimates the level of lead in plasma to draw the chronic bio-marker of lead exposure even though it is difficult to measure lead of several ng/L. An inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method was developed for determining lead in plasma as the chronic bio-marker of lead of workers. To minimize the contamination of lead from the environment, we constructed class 1,000 clean room and compared the amount of floating dust before and after the operation of the clean room. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) of lead in fetal bovine serum were 4.3 ng/L and 12.2 ng/L by NIOSH method (statistical calculation method) and 7.0 ng/L and 22.1 ng/L by signal/noise ratio, respectively. The accuracy was in a range of 92.3-101.3%, and the precision of the assay was less than 4% in the samples spiked in the concentration of 20 ng/L and 2,000 ng/L. The method was simple, reproducible and sensitive enough to permit reliable analysis of lead to the ng/L level in plasma and/or serum. The method was also useful for the biological monitoring of chronic exposure to lead.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.271-281
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• 1999

The nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was used to determine the sequences of reverse transcriptase (RT) codons 41, 67, 70, 210, 215 and 219 of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) pol gene. Template DNA was obtained from uncultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 27 Korean HIV-1 infected patients treated with ZDV and Korean red ginseng. The second PCRs were done for 2 separated regions (RT codons $13{\sim}98$ and $152{\sim}259$) with $5\;{\mu}l$ of the first PCR productNucleotide sequences were determined by direct sequencing. In the 27 patients, CD4+ cell count decreased from $230{\pm}117/{\mu}l$ to $152{\pm}162/{\mu}l$ for $46{\pm}26$ months (Mo), and actual duration of ZDV intake was $72{\pm}16$ Mo. In the 16 patients who had been treated with ZDV therapy ${\ge}25$ Mo, the incidences of 70R, 215F/Y, and 41L were 61%, 28% and 22%, respectively and those of 67N, 210W and 219Q were 17%. The incidences of 215F/Y were 6.7% for group ${\le}12$ Mo treatment, 22.7% for group with 13 to 24 Mo, and 27.8% for group ${\ge}25$ Mo. There was no mutation in 9 patients. It might be associated with the interruption of ZDV therapy for more than 6 months in 6 patients. This study shows that the detection of mutation could be useful prognostic marker with other clinical and virological data, and very low mutation rate is dectected compared to overseas reports.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.386-393
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• 2020

Insect industry has been focused as production of food, animal feed, pollinator and for environmental remediation. Hermetia illicens, called as black soldier fly (BSF) is famous as nutritive feed. In this study, to evaluate the antithrombotic activities of BSF, the larvae (instar 2~6), pupae, residue after adult emergence [RAAE] and adult of Hermetia illicens [black soldier fly, BSF] were collected and their ethanol extracts were prepared. Growth of BSF larvae was very rapid and the weight of larvae was increased to 25-folds during 10 days cultivation. The ethanol extraction ratios showed from 1.0% (pupae) to 18.5%(adults). The highest total polyphenol, total flavonoid, and total sugar contents were observed in RAEE (17.2 mg/g), pupae (3.4 mg/g), and instar 6 (37.6 mg/g), suggesting that metabolic changes occur during the life cycle of the BSF. Anti-coagulation assay showed that extracts of RAEE, instar 6 and pupa of BSF significantly inhibited thrombin, prothrombin, and blood coagulation factors. Furthermore, the extracts of RAEE, instar 3 and adult of BSF showed a strong platelet aggregation inhibitory activity. Our results suggest that pupae and RAEE of BSF have potential as antithrombotic agents. This is the first study to provide evidence of the antithrombotic activity of the BSF and bioactivity alterations during its life cycle.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1400-1408
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• 2016

The black currant (Ribes nigrum L.) is belong to the Grossulariaceae family, and has piquant berries, which can be eaten as raw or as processed foods, such as jams, jelly, juice and syrups. In this study, the fresh juice of black currant (FJBC) from Austria and its subsequent organic solvent fractions, such as hexane fraction, ethylacetate (EA) fraction, butanol fraction and water residue, were prepared and their in-vitro anti-oxidant, anti-coagulation and anti-platelet aggregation activities were evaluated. The FJBC and EA fraction, which has concentrated polyphenol and flavonoid, showed strong radical scavenging activities and reducing power. The $RC_{50}s$ of EA fraction against DPPH anion, ABTS cation, nitrite were 136.3, 66.2 and $115.5{\mu}g/ml$, respectively, those are 1/10, 1/16, and 1/7.7 of $RC_{50}s$ of vitamin C. In anti-coagulation assay, the FJBC, EA and butanol fraction showed significant inhibitory activities against thrombin, prothrombin and coagulation factors. Furthermore, the anti-platelet aggregation activities of EA and butanol fraction were the stronger than that of aspirin. The concentrations required for 50% platelet aggregation inhibition of aspirin, EA and butanol fraction were 0.395, 0.192 and 0.261 mg/ml, respectively. The EA and butanol fraction have no hemolysis activities up to 0.5 mg/ml against human red blood cells. The results suggest that the FJBC and its EA and butanol fraction have high potentials as novel anti-thrombosis agents. This report provides the first evidence of anti-thrombosis activity of black currant.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.49-53
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• 2016

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common syndrome resulting in kidney damage and malfunction within a few days or even a few hours. The diagnosis of AKI depends on routine biochemical tests, including serum creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and electrolytes. Plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a biomarker that shows correlation with the severity of acute infections and kidney injuries. The predictive value in other conventional assays for kidney functions has been reported to cause distraction for AKI syndrome. The aim of this study is to verify the predictive value of plasma NGAL in patients with established AKI. The NGAL kit for checkup demonstrates sensitivity of ${\geq}300$ (92.2%), ${\geq}200$ (95.6%), ${\geq}100$ (99.6%), specificity of ${\geq}300$ (95.1%), ${\geq}200$ (97.3%), ${\geq}100$ (99.4%), positive predictability of ${\geq}300$ (93.3%), ${\geq}200$ (93.4%), ${\geq}100$ (99.2%), and negative predictability of ${\geq}300$ (96.7%), ${\geq}200$ (97.7%), ${\geq}100$ (98.1%), respectively. The plasma NGAL compared with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been shown to be an early predictive biomarker of AKI. The NGAL kit, recently developed for point-of-care of plasma specimens, is thought to be a useful and reliable biomarker for the early diagnosis of decreased kidney functions.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2009

This study examined the association of cytokine gene polymorph isms with intrahepatic bile duct wall fibrosis in human clonorchiasis. A total of 240 residents in Heilongjiang, China underwent ultrasonography, blood sampling, and stool examination. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites for $IFN-{\gamma}$ (+874 T/A), IL-10 (-1,082 G/A, -819 C/T, -592 C/A), $TNF-{\alpha}$ (-308 G/A), and $TGF-{\beta}1$ (codon 10 T/C, codon 25 G/C) genes were observed with the TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. No significant correlation was observed between individual cytokine gene polymorphisms and intrahepatic duct dilatation (IHDD). Among individuals with clonorchiasis of moderate intensity, the incidence of IHDD was high in those with $IFN-{\gamma}$ intermediate-producing genotype, +874AT (80.0%, P=0.177), and in those with $TNF-{\alpha}$ low-producing genotype, -308GG (63.0%, P=0.148). According to the combination of $IFN-{\gamma}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ genotypes, the risks for IHDD could be stratified into high (intermediate-producing $IFN-{\gamma}$ and low producing $TNF-{\alpha}$), moderate, and low (low-producing $IFN-{\gamma}$ and high producing $TNF-{\alpha}$) risk groups. The incidence of IHDD was significantly different among these groups (P=0.022): 88.9% (odds ratio, OR=24.0) in high, 56.5% (OR=3.9) in moderate, and 25.0% (OR=1) in low risk groups. SNP of $IFN-{\gamma}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ genes may contribute to the modulation of fibrosis in the intrahepatic bile duct wall in clonorchiasis patients.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.163-184
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• 2003

This study was conducted to survey the farm which suffered from disease similar to classical swine fever(CSF) in Gyeongbuk province. Clinical signs appeared first in a few number of growing pigs which showed specific signs of diarrhea, depression, sleepiness, and reluctance to get up or to eat. Younger piglets may have appeared chilled, shiver and huddle together. As the disease progresses the affected pig's skin went red and purple. In histopathological signs, there were many haemorrhages throughout the body and larger haemorrhages in some organs such as lymph nodes. And there is a precipitous fall in the number of circulating leukocytes in the blood. In spite of insisting of farmer which did not vaccinate to classical swine fever, significant antibody production was detected in these affected pigs at enzyme-linked immuonsorbent assay. According to the above results at first glance, these affected pig suspected with CSF in clinical signs and histopathological lesions only. Because the symptoms and post-mortem picture were very similar to CSF, these false positive results would have been dangerous to diagnostician. But by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and comparative nucleotide sequence analysis, the disease was correctly diagnosed with post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome(PMWS) and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome(PRRS) compoundly. And the antigen which were detected the lesion similar to CSF virus, was confirmed with LOM vaccine strain of CSF. In most national CSF eradication program and in countries which are free of the CSF virus, vaccination against CSF is not practiced and generally is not allowed. But now in Korea, routine vaccination is practiced because of outbreaking the CSF repeatedly. When CSF is diagnosed the whole herd and other in contact animal are slaughtered continuously.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2007

The purpose of the clinically reportable range (CRR) in clinical chemistry is to estimate linearity in working range. The reportable range includes all results that may be reliably reported, and embraces two types of ranges: the analytical measurement range (AMR) is the range of analyte values that a method can directly measure on the specimen without any dilution, concentration, or other pretreatment not part of the usual assay process. CAP and JCAHO require linearity on analyzers every six months. The clinically reportable range is the range of analyte values that a method can measure, allowing for specimen dilution, concentration, or other pretreatment used to extend the direct analytical measurement range. The AMR cannot exceed the manufacturer's limits. Establishing AMR is easily accomplished with Calibration Verification Assessment and experimental Linearity. For example: The manufacturer states that the limits of the AST on their instrument are 0-1100. The lowest level that could be verified is 2. The upper level is 1241. The verified AMR of the instrument is 2-1241. The lower limit of the range is 2, because that is the lowest level that could be verified by the laboratory. The laboratory could not use the manufacturer's lower limit of 2 because they have not proven that the instrument values below 2 are valid. The upper limit of the range is 1241, because although the lab has shown that the instrument is linear to 1241, the manufacturer does not make that claim. The laboratory needs to demonstrate the accuracy and precision of the analyzer, as well the validation of the patient AMR. Linearity requirements have been eliminated from the CLIA regulations and from the CAP inspection criteria, however, many inspectors continue to feel that linearity studies are a part of good lab practice and should be encouraged. If a lab chooses to continue linearity studies, these studies must fully comply with the calibration/calibration verification requirements of CLIA and/or CAP. The results of lower limit and upper limit of clinically reportable range were total protein (2.1 - 79.9), albumin (1.3 - 39), total bilirubin (0.2 - 106.2), alkaline phosphatase (13 - 6928.2), aspartate aminotransferase (24 - 7446), alanine aminotransferase (13 - 6724.2), gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (16.64 - 9904.2), creatine kinase (15.26 - 4723.8), lactate dehydrogenase (127.66 - 13231.8), creatinine (0.4 - 129.6), blood urea nitrogen (8.67 - 925.8), uric acid (1.6 - 151.2), total cholesterol (48.52 - 3162), triglycerides (36.91 - 3367.8), glucose (31 - 4218), amylase (21 - 6694.2), calcium (3.1 - 118.2), inorganic phosphorus (1.11 - 108), HDL (11.74 - 666), NA (58.3 - 1800), K (1.0 - 69.6), CL (38 - 1230).